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Afghan defense minister hopes US stays after 2014
By RAHIM FAIEZ | Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan's defense minister expressed optimism on Tuesday that the United States will not abandon his country after foreign combat troops leave at the end of 2014.
Bismullah Khan Mohammadi said he does not believe America will repeat the mistake it made after the 1989 Soviet pullout from Afghanistan and "forget" his country.
Many Afghans felt abandoned by the U.S. after 1989. U.S. support to mujahedeen fighters who had battled the Soviets dried up a few years later and Afghanistan then sank into civil war. That was followed by the rise of the Taliban and the Sept. 11 attacks by al-Qaida, which was using Afghanistan as a sanctuary.
"I believe that they will not leave Afghanistan alone, they will help Afghanistan in different areas. I am optimistic that U.S. will support us and help us. especially with our security," Mohammadi said.
Mohammadi, who accompanied Afghan President Hamid Karzai on a visit to Washington last week, said does not think the U.S. wants Afghanistan to once again become an al-Qaida safe haven.
"Because they also believe that if Afghanistan once again becomes a safe haven for the terrorists they will not be safe. So I don't think they will repeat the same mistake as they did in the 1980s in Afghanistan, in which they forgot Afghanistan and that was the main reason which Afghanistan turned into the safe haven for the international terrorists," Mohammadi told reporters.
Although the United States and its allies have committed themselves to fund the Afghan economy and security forces for a few years after 2014, a military presence hinges on a bilateral security agreement that includes the contentious issue of immunity from Afghan law for American troops.
The issue of jurisdiction is not negotiable for the U.S., which will not leave any troops in Afghanistan after 2014 if it is not resolved. And if the U.S. does not receive such guarantees to stay on, it is doubtful any of its allies who say they plan to keep troops here in a training and mentoring role will stay either.
In Iraq, it was the Iraqi government's refusal to grant such jurisdiction that caused U.S. troops to completely quit that country.
Mohammadi said he thought the security agreement with the U.S. will be successfully negotiated within the next eight or nine months.
His comments came one day after Karzai said that a meeting of the nation's elders should convene to decide on the issue of immunity from local prosecution.
Karzai last convened a "loya jirga" — a national assembly of elders — in late 2011 to decide whether Afghanistan should sign a strategic partnership with the U.S. The deal was signed last May after the assembly overwhelmingly approved it.
Despite nearly 12 years of foreign military intervention in Afghanistan, security remains elusive in many parts of the country.
Officials in southern Kandahar province said Tuesday that three civilians were killed when the donkey they were riding on struck a buried bomb. A man, his wife and their young son were all killed Monday when the animal stepped on the explosive, hidden on a path in Miyanishin district outside of Kandahar city, according to provincial government spokesman Javid Faisal.
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Associated Press Writer Patrick Quinn contributed to this report from Kabul.
Afghans want withdrawal of village police trainers
By Kevin Sieff, Tuesday, January 15, 5:12 AM The Washington Post
KABUL — Days after Afghan President Hamid Karzai and President Obama seemed to agree on the future role of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, a division has emerged over one of the American military’s most prized defense programs.
Top Afghan officials said Obama’s pledge last week to remove U.S. troops from Afghan villages should apply to Special Operations forces charged with training the Afghan Local Police. But U.S. officials said they assumed that the policy would apply only to traditional military operations and would include an exemption for the police trainers, whose mission they see as critical to security throughout Afghanistan.
The dispute underscored just how difficult negotiations over a long-term security partnership could be during the next year. The disagreement, like others before it, centers on the fundamental question of what will keep Afghans safe: U.S. officials say the local police program thwarts insurgents, but Karzai insists that it invites attacks.
The broader Afghan interpretation of the troop withdrawal, which Afghan officials said they believed would happen within weeks, would derail much of the Special Operations forces’ mission in Afghanistan and halt the expansion of the fastest-
growing Afghan security force, one that has cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
About 4,500 Special Operations personnel are charged with training the Afghan Local Police, or ALP, a force of 18,500 villagers who are armed, paid and taught to defend their communities against encroaching insurgents. The force, which operates in 94 districts, was slated to expand to 26,000 members by the end of 2014, with units dedicated to securing remote locations where traditional Afghan forces are weak or nonexistent.
Although Karzai approved the creation of the local police forces, he has long expressed a general opposition to the presence of Western troops in Afghan villages, saying they are often a source of instability and tension and could be easily replaced with an all-Afghan force.
“Our position is that such trainings should not take place in the Afghan villages,” Karzai spokesman Aimal Faizi said in an interview Monday. “The presence of foreign troops puts the lives of villagers in danger by attracting [insurgent] attacks. If Afghan forces are unable at this stage to take control of villages, how will they do so after international troops leave?”
A prized U.S. program
Ending the village-level training would mean the termination of one of the U.S. military’s most valued missions in Afghanistan. Gen. John R. Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, told Congress last year that the ALP is “an important mechanism for holding the ground in Afghanistan.”
Col. Thomas Collins, a spokesman for the NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan, said the training is “important to ensure that the ALP continue to grow in capability and effectiveness, and that the overall security situation across Afghanistan continues to improve.”
U.S. officials said they are pushing for an interpretation of the Obama-Karzai pledge that would allow for the ALP training program to continue.
“We envision that small numbers of coalition soldiers will continue to provide hands-on training to ALP forces at the village level,” Collins said.
Both sides seemed open Monday to negotiating an understanding about the program, though it was unclear whether or how quickly that would happen. Despite apparently steadfast Afghan opposition to the program, Karzai’s message was contradicted by his ambassador to the United States, Eklil Hakimi, who said Special Operations personnel could remain in villages as long as they played a supporting role.
“Afghans will be in the lead,” Hakimi told reporters in Washington.
“These are details which we will work out in the coming days with our Afghan friends and allies,” a senior U.S. official said. “The ALP plays a vital role in protecting the villages of Afghanistan, and its role will be worked out in the near future.”
Karzai has made clear that he would link his demand for a withdrawal of Western forces from Afghan villages to any discussions about the larger issue of a long-term U.S. military presence in Afghanistan — and to his government’s willingness to grant American troops diplomatic immunity beyond 2014.
“We understand that the issue of immunity is of very specific importance for the United States, as was for us the issue of sovereignty and detentions and the continued presence of international forces in Afghan villages,” Karzai said at a news conference with Obama at the White House last week.
At the event, Karzai mentioned the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghan villages three times. After returning to Afghanistan, he told Kabul-based reporters, “When foreigners leave, Afghanistan will never become unsafe; it will become safer.”
Frustration over local police
Karzai initially opposed the formation of the local police program, fearing that it would give rise to lawless militias. He came to accept the force, largely at the urging of U.S. military commanders, but remained skeptical of the ALP’s recruits and their ability to protect Afghan civilians.
Some Afghan officials said Karzai’s current objection to village-level trainers is based largely on his perception of the ALP, a force with which he has grown increasingly frustrated. In recent months, Karzai has met with a number of civilians who accused the local police of rape, murder and theft in their villages, Faizi said.
“People from every corner of Afghanistan have complained to him about the ALP’s abuse of power,” Faizi said. “Looking at the number of complaints . . . it’s definitely the viewpoint at the palace that the ALP is not a long-term solution.”
Many Western human rights organizations share that assessment.
“The creation of the ALP is a high-risk strategy to achieve short-term goals in which local groups are again being armed without adequate oversight or accountability,” a 2011 Human Rights Watch report said.
Since the program began in 2010, there have been at least three instances of ALP recruits turning their guns on their U.S. counterparts.
But American officials stand by the program, calling it a sustainable solution to one of Afghanistan’s most complicated problems: securing far-flung villages where the Taliban has traditionally found haven. Rather than protecting the population, U.S. officials said of the program, American troops were teaching the population to protect itself.
US to support Afghan village operations: envoy
AFP 14/01/2013
WASHINGTON - The US military will keep providing logistical support in villages as it hands over the security lead to Afghan forces this spring, Afghanistan's envoy to Washington said Monday.
US President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced Friday that the United States would speed up the transfer of security responsibility, preparing for the withdrawal of US combat forces by the end of 2014.
In a joint news conference at the White House, Karzai said Afghan forces would be fully responsible for protection by spring and that "the American forces will be no longer be present in Afghan villages."
Ambassador Eklil Hakimi, addressing reporters in Washington in the wake of Karzai's visit, clarified that US forces would still be present but in a supporting role.
"We still need the logistical support and other support from coalition forces. So now would be a joint operation with Afghans to be in the lead, with the support that we receive from your side," he said.
Hakimi said the two governments and military leaders would work out the exact number of troops to stay after 2014 when the United States withdraws its 66,000 combat troops from Afghanistan, ending its longest war.
The Obama administration has proposed troops levels as low as several thousand and said it was open to leaving no troops at all in Afghanistan, although experts see such statements as partially a negotiating strategy.
The United States is pressing for Afghanistan to grant all its remaining troops immunity from local courts, an issue that scuttled proposals to keep a residual US force in Iraq.
Afghan MPs warn against total pullout of US troops
Disaster and civil war will follow if all US forces leave after 2014, leaders warn, as Obama and Karzai prepare to hold talks
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 10 January 2013
Afghan politicians have reacted with alarm to a White House announcement that it is considering a complete withdrawal of US troops after 2014, warning that disaster and civil war would follow.
The Obama administration has said it is considering the so-called "zero option" of a complete pullout despite earlier recommendations from the top military commander in Afghanistan to keep soldiers there to help the government.
That option and the angry reaction from Afghan officials are likely to dominate talks between President Barack Obama and his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai, in Washington on Friday.
The meeting was already likely to be tense given ongoing strains in their relationship over the war.
"If Americans pull out all of their troops without a plan the civil war of the 1990s would repeat itself," said Naeem Lalai, a lawmaker from volatile Kandahar province, the birthplace of the Taliban.
"It [full withdrawal] will pave the way for the Taliban to take over militarily," Lalai told the Reuters news agency.
When the Soviets left Afghanistan in 1989 after a decade-long war, financial aid dried up and the Afghan communist government collapsed, leading to infighting between warlords. A civil war paved the way for the Taliban's rise to power.
The United States has about 68,000 troops in Afghanistan and that number is expected to reduce sharply ahead of 31 December 2014, the official end of the Nato-led combat mission in the country.
Nato and its partners are trying to train Afghanistan's 350,000 security personnel but questions remain over how their effectiveness against insurgents and leading Afghan officials had assumed some US troops would stay.
"If American forces leave Afghanistan without properly training the Afghan security forces and equipping them it would be a disaster," said member of parliament Mirwais Yasini.
Shukria Barekzai, another MP, said a total withdrawal after 2014 would be equivalent to the United States "accepting defeat".
The Taliban said the US "zero option" was speculative and it had no comment for the moment.
The US deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said on Tuesday that the complete withdrawal was "an option that we would consider".
He made clear that a decision on post-2014 troop levels was not expected for months and would be made based on two US security objectives in Afghanistan: denying a safe haven to al-Qaida and ensuring Afghan forces were trained and equipped so that they, not foreign forces, could secure the nation.
Washington officials have privately said the White House is seeking a post-2014 presence of between 3,000 and 9,000 troops, which is significantly less than the 6,000 to 15,000 number given by the top commander, US General John Allen.
Australian troops' transition in Afghanistan ahead of schedule: Defence Minister
CANBERRA, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Australian troops will be withdrawn sooner than expected, and the transition will be completed in Uruzgan Province, Afghan by the end of 2013, Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith said Tuesday.
Australia still has some 1550 troops in Afghanistan, most operating in Uruzgan province. But the security responsibility has been handed over progressively to the Afghan army and police. Previously, the timetable for a formal transition extended to the first quarter of 2014.
"For some time, the prime minister and I have been saying that our advice and our expectation is that transition in Uruzgan province itself would occur either by the end of 2013 or by the first quarter of 2014," he told a press conference.
"All of our advice and assessment and analysis and view is now that transition will be complete in Uruzgan province by the end of this year."
He said it is possible that Australia will provide a Special Forces contribution to the help meet the country's ongoing security needs as long as it has an "appropriate mandate" to operate in Afghanistan.
Smith added that he hopes to strike a long-term agreement with Afghanistan over issues including development assistance and trade.
Senate GOP leader optimistic about Afghanistan
By DONNA CASSATA | Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States should keep a residual force of about 10,000 in Afghanistan after combat forces leave at the end of 2014, the Senate Republican leader said Monday after a series of meetings with military leaders in the country.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, who led a congressional delegation to Afghanistan and Israel, expressed optimism about an 11-year war that now stands as the longest in American history, and the prospect of Afghans assuming a lead role in the fighting.
"My observation about Afghanistan at this point is this is the first time I've left there with a sense of optimism," he told reporters in a conference call. "I think there's a widely held view among the American military leaders there — we met with Gen. (John) Allen — that this has a very great potential for a happy ending after 2014, provided we have a residual force that we can provide for training."
The United States now has 66,000 troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. and its NATO allies agreed in November 2010 that they would withdraw all their combat troops by the end of 2014, but they haven't decided on the scope of future missions to contain al-Qaida and the size of a remaining force.
Obama administration officials gave the first clear signal last week that it might leave no troops in the country after December 2014. Administration officials in recent days have said they are considering a range of options for a residual U.S. troop presence of as few as 3,000 and as many as 15,000, with the number linked to a specific set of military-related missions like hunting down terrorists.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is believed to favor an option that would keep about 9,000 troops in the country.
McConnell said the military leaders were somewhat cautious about pushing for a specific number as the decision will be made by the White House. The Kentucky lawmaker, who made his seventh trip to Afghanistan, did make his own recommendation.
"I think we're going to need a minimum of about 10,000 troops to provide adequate training and counterterrorism in the post-2014 period and we anticipate there will be forces from other countries that will remain here beyond 2014 as well," McConnell said.
The number from the Senate GOP leader could influence other members of Congress as they weigh the continued American presence in Afghanistan amid increasing war-weariness from constituents.
A sticking point for President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who met last week, is whether any U.S. troops remaining after 2014 would be granted immunity from prosecution under Afghan law. Immunity is a U.S. demand that the Afghans have resisted, saying they want assurances on other things — like authority over detainees — first.
"There is a widely held view that the Afghan army is definitely coming up to speed," McConnell said at a stop in Aviano, Italy. "I'm optimistic that this country will be able to maintain itself after we're largely gone."
In a separate appearance, Afghan ambassador to Washington H.E. Eklil Hakimi said under security negotiations to flesh out what the two presidents decided last week, U.S. special operations troops could stay at their posts in the villages, with Afghan special operations forces leading the program to train local militiamen to fight the Taliban.
"Afghans will be in in the lead," he said.
His remarks to reporters Monday clarified Karzai's remarks Friday when he stated all foreign forces would leave Afghan villages in the spring.
He declined to say how many troops should remain, adding "it's up to experts and generals to decide."
Hakimi also predicted progress on reconciliation talks with the Taliban, aided by another release of Taliban prisoners by Pakistan. But this time, Afghan officials have asked Pakistan to let them know when, where and whom is being released.
"We are in talks to make sure to have a proper monitoring mechanism, and they should notify us and do things in a systematic manner," Hakimi said.
McConnell was joined on the congressional trip by four Republican senators — John Barrasso of Wyoming, Jeff Flake of Arizona, Ted Cruz of Texas and Deb Fischer of Nebraska. Flake, Cruz and Fischer were just sworn in a week ago.
In Israel, they met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. McConnell said the threat from Iran tops Israel's list of concerns.
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AP Intelligence Writer Kimberly Dozier contributed to this report.
Back in Afghanistan, Karzai shifts tone on US troop immunity
Failure to agree on an immunity deal in Iraq ensured that US forces pulled out completely by the end of 2011, further diminishing America's influence there.
By Scott Peterson | Christian Science Monitor
A diplomatic dance has commenced between the US and Afghanistan over a US request for legal immunity that would enable a contingent of American troops to stay on beyond 2014.
Failure to agree on an immunity deal in Iraq ensured that US forces pulled out completely by the end of 2011, further diminishing American influence there despite toppling Saddam Hussein in 2003 and fighting a bloody counterinsurgency to backstop the governments that followed. Now, observers are watching to see how Afghanistan will handle the issue, which would determine just how many soldiers stay past a 2014 deadline for withdrawal of combat troops.
"I can tell you with relatively good confidence that they will say 'alright, let's do it,' " President Hamid Karzai told CNN in an interview during a visit last week to the US. "And I'm sure that they will understand."
But freshly back in Kabul after meeting President Obama in Washington, Mr. Karzai today gave off subtle signals that suggest a deal may not be so easy. He said final agreement may depend on the decision of a loya jirga, or national gathering of elders, and shrugged off the impending withdrawal of the NATO-led foreign forces by saying the country afterwards will be a "more secure and a better place."
“The US is standing firm by its demand for immunity for its soldiers," Karzai said today. "The Afghan government can’t decide on this. This is up to the Afghan nation to decide. The loya jirga will decide."
The loya jirga's final decision would come in eight or nine months, though the outcome is not necessarily guaranteed, he added.
Karzai and his government have sent mixed signals in the past about their desire to have a residual force on hand after a primary US troops withdrawal, in turns claiming that American and NATO force actions now help fuel Taliban insurgency, or keep it in check.
Afghan officials have raised concerns about granting immunity to residual US forces in Afghanistan, a prerequisite demanded by Washington to let any forces stay on after the bulk of its 66,000 troops – along with most other NATO forces – withdraw by the end of 2014.
A legal immunity agreement, which the US has with most other sovereign governments where US troops are based or deployed, would mean that American soldiers would not be subject to local courts, law, or jurisdiction.
A limited number of US troops staying on after 2014 will be necessary for "broader security and stability," Karzai told CNN.
Standing next to Obama on Friday, Karzai said US troops would be in Afghanistan “in small numbers, very, very small numbers like in Germany, Turkey, or South Korea, like in Japan."
Obama says US troops will begin to diminish their role in Afghanistan as early as this spring.
Yet US officials have discussed keeping anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000 American troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014, for training, Special Forces counter-insurgency operations, and supporting Afghan Army and police efforts.
“It will not be possible for us to have any kind of US troop presence post-2014 without assurances that our men and women who are operating there are [not] in some way subject to the jurisdiction of another country,” Obama said.
Karzai said: "The issue of immunity is under discussion [and] it is going to take eight or nine months before we reach agreement."
INTERVIEW-Specter of 2014 haunts Afghan economy, finmin says
Reuters By Anna Yukhananov Jan 14, 2013
WASHINGTON - Worries that instability could undermine the Afghan economy after most foreign troops leave in 2014 could send investors scurrying for the exits and harm the economy, even though growth prospects are sound, Afghanistan's finance minister said.
In an interview with Reuters, Omar Zakhilwal blamed think tanks and the media for spreading negative perceptions about Afghanistan's prospects post-2014, which he said could scare off investors and wealthy citizens. Worries about instability have spurred a flight of capital.
"Right now the trend is to speak negatively about Afghanistan, about what's going to come up in 2014," Zakhilwal said. "Our voice ... against this onslaught of negativity is not easy.
"It is the fear about 2014, and this generated fear by the media, that is more of concern than any of the real substantive issues," he said.
U.S. President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai last week agreed to speed up the handover of combat operations in Afghanistan to Afghan forces, raising the prospect of an accelerated U.S. withdrawal from the country.
In Kabul on Monday, Karzai said the country will be "more secure" after foreign troops leave.
Zakhilwal, speaking late on Friday at the conclusion of the official Afghan visit to the United States, said he expects the economy to grow 5 percent to 6 percent after the withdrawal, despite a contraction in military spending, as development aid will continue to flow in. More than 90 percent of Afghanistan's national budget comes from foreign donations.
"It will have an impact, but the impact will not be to the extent that comes as a severe shock to us," he said of the planned drawdown of NATO troops.
CORRUPTION PLEDGES
Major donors in July pledged to give Afghanistan more than $16 billion in aid through 2015, in exchange for reforms to fight widespread corruption.
Despite intense fiscal pressures of their own, donor nations say they are determined to keep helping Afghanistan, in part to ensure it does fall back into conditions that gave the fundamentalist Taliban a foothold in the 1990s after the withdrawal of Soviet troops.
But many foreign aid groups are also growing impatient with the Karzai government's failure to take decisive steps to combat waste and fraud.
Canadian-educated and fluent in English, Zakhilwal helped convince donors in July of Afghanistan's commitment to fighting corruption.
In the interview, he said Afghanistan has complied with governance pledges so far, such as setting dates for its election and meeting revenue targets from the International Monetary Fund.
He also called on donors to live up to their side of the bargain, which includes giving more money directly to the Afghan government rather than to contractors or aid groups - a focus of meetings in Washington.
"There are commitments from both sides, and they are interdependent," Zakhilwal said. "Our delivery depends on the donors' delivery."
In a study last May, the World Bank estimated that only 10 percent to 25 percent of aid given to non-government sources actually stays in Afghanistan, with the rest flowing out with contractor salaries or imports.
NOT A SLOGAN
Championed by international donors for his integrity in a country mired in graft, Zakhilwal himself became the target of an anti-corruption probe earlier this year over transferring money to overseas accounts.
He has denied any wrongdoing and has said the transfers were the result of work conducted before he entered the government.
In the interview, he said corruption is still a problem in Afghanistan and one that often becomes politicized as officials point fingers rather than find solutions.
"Corruption is used blanketly, sometimes more as a slogan than as a problem," Zakhilwal said.
Zakhilwal also heralded the imminent conclusion of the government's probe into the Kabulbank banking scandal.
The theft of about $935 million from the bank in 2010, and subsequent foot-dragging in prosecuting those responsible, delayed millions of dollars in aid payments. Among those linked to the scandal are relatives of Karzai and the bank's current and former chiefs.
The outcome of the case is seen as a crucial barometer of Afghanistan's commitment to the rule of law and stable finances.
Zakhilwal said $170 million to $180 million of the stolen funds have been recovered, along with another $70 million to $100 million in assets, which will be sold for cash.
He also said a new banking law would strengthen oversight of banks and make it more difficult to manipulate the system.
"I would say we are at the final stages of resolving this lingering issue, and this chapter will be closed," he said. (Reporting by Anna Yukhananov; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
Afghanistan in 2015
A 'light footprint' strategy could be the best U.S. option after Western forces leave.
January 15, 2013 Los Angeles Times
Almost two years remain before a NATO-led international military force in Afghanistan is supposed to turn over full security responsibility to the Afghan military. But the Obama administration and its critics are already sparring over the size of the residual U.S. presence that will stay on after 2014.
The administration indicates that it will amount to only a few thousand troops — some officials have even floated the notion that none would remain after 2014 — while its critics, including Republicans in Congress, have insisted that at least 10,000 and perhaps three times that number will be necessary to prevent Afghanistan from backsliding into instability.
We don't presume to know the precise number of troops that will be necessary in 2015 to ensure that Al Qaeda and associated groups can't use Afghan territory to launch further attacks on Americans, the rationale for the U.S. invasion after 9/11. But The Times' David S. Cloud and Alexandra Zavis report that the administration believes it could meet that objective with a "light footprint" strategy — similar to the one it has pursued in Pakistan — emphasizing commando raids and drone missile strikes against Al Qaeda fighters.
Both the president and advocates of a large residual force insist that Afghan forces are improving their effectiveness. Ideally that process will continue so that in 2015, the Afghan army can competently prosecute the war against Taliban insurgents without significant support from the U.S. military. Meanwhile, it is to be hoped, the Afghan government will root out the corruption that has undermined its authority.
But if that doesn't occur, as many believe it will not, and the U.S. is still able to mount an effective counter-terrorism effort without many boots on the ground, the light footprint strategy should be implemented. A large residual force might be justifiable if it functioned effectively as a deterrent, as the 28,000 U.S. forces in South Korea do. But U.S. troops in Afghanistan are daily in harm's way. As Obama pointed out in his weekend address, more than 2,000 Americans have given their lives in Afghanistan. More will die this year and next, even if the administration accelerates its withdrawal.
When it invaded Afghanistan in 2011 to overthrow the Taliban regime that had harbored Osama bin Laden, the United States — perhaps unintentionally — assumed a moral obligation to assist that country in its political and economic reconstruction. It is discharging that responsibility and will continue to do so even after Afghans take complete charge of their security. But as Obama also said Saturday, "after more than a decade of war, the nation we need to rebuild is our own."
On Its Way Out, the US Will Give Afghanistan Its Very Own Fleet of Drones
By Adam Clark Estes | The Atlantic Wire
In his first media appearance since visiting President Obama in Washington, Hamid Karzai announced that the United States had agreed to give his country a fleet of drones. The Afghan President didn't specify how many or which kind of drones Afghanistan would get, but he was careful to explain that the unmanned vehicles would be unarmed. American troops will even stick around and show Afghan forces how to use them. "They will train Afghans to fly them, use them and maintain them," said Karzai at a news conference. "Besides drones, Afghanistan will be provided with other intelligence gathering equipment which will be used to defend and protect our air and ground sovereignty." That includes 20 helicopters and at least four C-130 transport planes.
You could call it a parting gift. Karzai capped off his visit to the U.S. with a press conference in the White House East Room, where he and Obama stood side-by-side as they announced an expedited plan to transition power from the 66,000 American forces in Afghanistan to the Afghan army whose abilities were "exceeding initial expectations." More specifically, the two leaders said that the plan was for Afghan troops to be in full control by December 2012. Obama said that "this war will come to a responsible end," while Defense Secretary Leon Panetta later hinted at the equipment that the U.S. would make available to its allies to ease the transition.
Critics of America's drone program will surely take issue with the U.S. bequeathing a new fleet to Afghanistan. As Stanley McChrystal, the very architect of the war in Afghanistan, recently pointed out, our drone program isn't winning us many friends around the world. "[Drones] are hated on a visceral level, even by people who've never seen one or seen the effects of one," said McChrystal, adding that drones bolster the "perception of American arrogance that says, 'Well we can fly where we want, we can shoot where we want, because we can.'" It doesn't help that we don't exactly know how many people, including civilians, our drone strikes have killed.
Meanwhile, the Afghan army is completely inexperienced with drones. American troops actually made it a point not to let their Afghan counterparts fly drone missions or even learn how to operate the unmanned vehicles. The increasingly frequent green-on-blue attacks certainly didn't do much to enstill trust between the two armies. But remember: we're not giving Afghanistan armed drones. They'll get a neutered fleet that's only capable of running surveilance missions. It's unclear how the U.S. will keep track of the drones or keep the Afghans from arming them.
In a way, giving drones to Afghanistan was really America's only option. If these aircraft were important enough to the anti-terrorism efforts in Afghanistan for the Obama administration to weather worldwide criticism, it would be silly to bring the whole program home when we left. And the fact that we're taking the bombs off of them, quite frankly, is a sign of progress. Of course, the U.S. will undoubtedly keep some armed drones of their own in region.
Afghan Air Force Complete by 2016: Isaf
TOLOnews.com By Haseeb Maudoodi Monday, 14 January 2013
The Afghan air force is expected to be complete by 2016 in both equipment and staff training, Isaf spokesman Gen. Gunter Katz said Monday.
"Isaf will continue its enduring support [for the Afghan National Security Forces]. I can give you one area which is well known to you – it's the air force. We had to start from zero and it takes just a while to build the air force. It's not the weakness of Afghan National Security Forces, it's normal," Katz said.
"We need to train those guys in particular in English language and it takes very long, you know, to train them on technical issues and pilot training takes a while. We expect the air force to be ready by 2016."
He also said Isaf and Nato welcomes the government's decision to soon move into the fifth tranche of the security transition.
"Mr. Karzai is in a position to announce the fifth tranche earlier, that means in spring. I think this what has been said and because of the progress ANSF has made, this is something Isaf and Nato welcomes,"
Katz's comments come on the same day that President Hamid Karzai revealed that the US will purchase four cargo planes, 20 Mi-17 helicopters and intelligence-gathering drones for the Afghan air force by end of this year.
Afghan conflicts leave 11 dead, 21 militants detained
KABUL, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Taliban-linked militancy and cleanup operations elsewhere in the militancy-plagued Afghanistan have left 11 people including three civilians dead over the past 24 hours, officials said on Tuesday.
In the latest mop up against Taliban militants, three Taliban fighters were killed in Logar province 60 km south of Afghan capital Kabul on Tuesday, the NATO-led coalition troops said in a statement released here.
"During an operation in Baraki Barak district, Logar province, an Afghan and coalition security force killed three insurgents and arrested a Taliban leader," the statement added.
The arrested leader was an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) expert who oversaw a group of insurgents operating in the province, according to the statement.
Five Taliban fighters were killed and seven others sustained injuries in an identical operation which launched in Bakwa district of Farah province 695 km west of Kabul on Monday and wrapped up Tuesday morning, Inspector General Police of Farah province, Aqa Mir Kintoz told Xinhua.
Meantime, a Taliban-linked roadside bombing claimed the lives of three civilians in Taliban former stronghold Kandahar on Monday, a local official said Tuesday.
"A mine planted by Taliban rebels on a road in Mianshin district of Kandahar province 450 km south of Kabul, went off Monday afternoon killing three innocent civilians including a woman and her child," district governor Rozi Khan told Xinhua.
Moreover, the Afghan and NATO-led forces, according to officials have arrested 21 suspected Taliban militants during joint and independent operations elsewhere in the conflict-ridden country since Monday.
Taliban militants, who often spurn the claims made by government officials, have yet to make comment over military activities and possible causalities in Afghanistan over the past 24 hours.
Politicians Criticise Karzai for Agreeing to Earlier Transition
TOLOnews.com By Sharif Amiry Monday, 14 January 2013
Afghan politicians have joined the senate in its disapproval of the decision for an earlier transition from US forces to Afghan forces this year.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai agreed with his US counterpart Barack Obama last week that Afghan security forces should take the lead on all matters of security by the spring, instead of the summer, while the foreign combat forces will move into a support role.
"From a technical point of view I don't agree with this decision because it's not for our interest and generally it's not a logical plan," former Afghan Minister of Interior and member of Rights and Justice party Hanif Atmar said Sunday. "Accelerating the process will put unnecessary pressure on the Afghan security forces."
Senators have also spoken out against the decision, saying Saturday that it will increase the challenges ahead of the 2014 presidential election to secure the country.
However, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) supported the move arguing that the abilities of the security forces are improving.
"There will be challenges definitely, but we have taken the risks into consideration in our planning," head of operational department of the MOD Afzal Aman said. "Our capabilities will increase if our air force is strengthened."
Meanwhile, other pundits argue that Afghanistan's security rests on more than the strength of the armed forces.
"The security forces can combat the Taliban, but foreign interference, corruption, drug trafficking and weak governance puts the government in a fragile position," former Deputy Minister of Interior Hadi Khalid said.
There are around 66,000 US troops in Afghanistan helping the Afghan military forces fight insurgency.
US Will Not Interfere in Afghan Elections: Karzai
TOLOnews.com By Shakeela Ahbrimkhil Monday, 14 January 2013
The US will not interfere in Afghanistan's elections, President Hamid Karzai said Monday, a matter that he raised with the US officials during his official visit to Washington last week.
Karzai said the US will help where asked in order for the Afghan presidential and provincial government elections of 2014 to go ahead, but will not "interfere".
"We only hope that they will help us if they want, but not to interfere in Afghanistan's elections – they promised they will not interfere in our election. Instead what help we ask of them, they will help us," Karzai said at a press conference in Kabul.
He did not elaborate on what actions might be regarded as interfering.
Karzai said that the elections, planned for April 5 2014, will happen on time and will use the voter registration cards that were valid in the 2009 election.
He dismissed the plan touted by the Independent Election Commission (IEC) to cancel the old voter registration cards, instead supporting the decision of the Council of Ministers to retain the old cards.
"If we cancel these cards, and we are unable to make new cards or no one will give money for [new cards], and then we end up with no cards and no election, then I will be blamed," he said.
"We will correct what we have in our hands. This is the decision of Afghanistan Cabinet. When we don't have money we have to use that equipment which we have in our hands," he added.
Insecurity, lack of accurate census data, and insufficient budget are other challenges ahead of the 2014 elections.
The IEC has said that using the old cards of the last election will increase the risk of voter fraud.
Ministers May Be Impeached for Ignoring Parliament Summons
TOLOnews.com By Sharif Amiry Monday, 14 January 2013
Four government ministers who did not appear before parliament as requested on Monday may face impeachment for ignoring the explicit summons.
Seven other ministers who were also requested to appear for questioning by parliament did show, but the session was postponed because of the absence of the four ministers who did not attend.
The four ministers – Minister of Defence Bismillah Mohammadi, Interior Mujtaba Patang, Urban Development Dr.Hassan Abdullahi, and Higher Education Sarwar Danish – may now face a formal vote of no-confidence, MPs said.
Parliament issued the summons last month for 11 ministers to be questioned after the Ministry of Finance released figures showing that the 11 ministries had not spent more than 50 percent of their development budget in the Persian year of 1390 (March 2011-March 2012).
The four ministers who were absent were all appointed during the financial year and therefore claim to not be responsible for the portfolio spending because they were not in charge of it for the period under consideration.
"The four ministers including Defence, Interior, Higher Education and Urban Development Affairs, who took their positions in the 1390 solar year were forbidden to attend by the government," speaker of the house Abdul Raouf Ibrahimi said.
According to some reports, President Hamid Karzai said the four ministers should not have to attend such questioning.
But many MPs said the ministers' decision not to attend was misguided and they will face consequences for not appearing.
"The president should know that a minister is to answer [for the ministry] at any minute," MP Ramazan Bashardost said.
"By no means can the government stand against impeachment," MP Shukria Barekzai said.
"If the four ministers don't come, it means that we are not able to impeach powerful people such as these four ones," MP Hafiz Manssor said.
It is not clear when the session for the questioning of the ministers will be postponed until.
Afghanistan's oldest woman passes away
KABUL, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan's oldest woman Khanum Hasno has passed away, a local newspaper Daily Mandegar reported Tuesday.
Khanum Hasno, having 465 grandchildren and far grandchildren, died at age 136. According to the newspaper she was also possibly the oldest woman of the world.
She died in a village of Nangarhar province 120 km east of Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday, according to Daily Mandegar.
However, her name has not been registered as oldest woman of the world in the Guinness Book of world record, the newspaper added.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
By RAHIM FAIEZ | Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan's defense minister expressed optimism on Tuesday that the United States will not abandon his country after foreign combat troops leave at the end of 2014.
Bismullah Khan Mohammadi said he does not believe America will repeat the mistake it made after the 1989 Soviet pullout from Afghanistan and "forget" his country.
Many Afghans felt abandoned by the U.S. after 1989. U.S. support to mujahedeen fighters who had battled the Soviets dried up a few years later and Afghanistan then sank into civil war. That was followed by the rise of the Taliban and the Sept. 11 attacks by al-Qaida, which was using Afghanistan as a sanctuary.
"I believe that they will not leave Afghanistan alone, they will help Afghanistan in different areas. I am optimistic that U.S. will support us and help us. especially with our security," Mohammadi said.
Mohammadi, who accompanied Afghan President Hamid Karzai on a visit to Washington last week, said does not think the U.S. wants Afghanistan to once again become an al-Qaida safe haven.
"Because they also believe that if Afghanistan once again becomes a safe haven for the terrorists they will not be safe. So I don't think they will repeat the same mistake as they did in the 1980s in Afghanistan, in which they forgot Afghanistan and that was the main reason which Afghanistan turned into the safe haven for the international terrorists," Mohammadi told reporters.
Although the United States and its allies have committed themselves to fund the Afghan economy and security forces for a few years after 2014, a military presence hinges on a bilateral security agreement that includes the contentious issue of immunity from Afghan law for American troops.
The issue of jurisdiction is not negotiable for the U.S., which will not leave any troops in Afghanistan after 2014 if it is not resolved. And if the U.S. does not receive such guarantees to stay on, it is doubtful any of its allies who say they plan to keep troops here in a training and mentoring role will stay either.
In Iraq, it was the Iraqi government's refusal to grant such jurisdiction that caused U.S. troops to completely quit that country.
Mohammadi said he thought the security agreement with the U.S. will be successfully negotiated within the next eight or nine months.
His comments came one day after Karzai said that a meeting of the nation's elders should convene to decide on the issue of immunity from local prosecution.
Karzai last convened a "loya jirga" — a national assembly of elders — in late 2011 to decide whether Afghanistan should sign a strategic partnership with the U.S. The deal was signed last May after the assembly overwhelmingly approved it.
Despite nearly 12 years of foreign military intervention in Afghanistan, security remains elusive in many parts of the country.
Officials in southern Kandahar province said Tuesday that three civilians were killed when the donkey they were riding on struck a buried bomb. A man, his wife and their young son were all killed Monday when the animal stepped on the explosive, hidden on a path in Miyanishin district outside of Kandahar city, according to provincial government spokesman Javid Faisal.
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Associated Press Writer Patrick Quinn contributed to this report from Kabul.
Afghans want withdrawal of village police trainers
By Kevin Sieff, Tuesday, January 15, 5:12 AM The Washington Post
KABUL — Days after Afghan President Hamid Karzai and President Obama seemed to agree on the future role of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, a division has emerged over one of the American military’s most prized defense programs.
Top Afghan officials said Obama’s pledge last week to remove U.S. troops from Afghan villages should apply to Special Operations forces charged with training the Afghan Local Police. But U.S. officials said they assumed that the policy would apply only to traditional military operations and would include an exemption for the police trainers, whose mission they see as critical to security throughout Afghanistan.
The dispute underscored just how difficult negotiations over a long-term security partnership could be during the next year. The disagreement, like others before it, centers on the fundamental question of what will keep Afghans safe: U.S. officials say the local police program thwarts insurgents, but Karzai insists that it invites attacks.
The broader Afghan interpretation of the troop withdrawal, which Afghan officials said they believed would happen within weeks, would derail much of the Special Operations forces’ mission in Afghanistan and halt the expansion of the fastest-
growing Afghan security force, one that has cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
About 4,500 Special Operations personnel are charged with training the Afghan Local Police, or ALP, a force of 18,500 villagers who are armed, paid and taught to defend their communities against encroaching insurgents. The force, which operates in 94 districts, was slated to expand to 26,000 members by the end of 2014, with units dedicated to securing remote locations where traditional Afghan forces are weak or nonexistent.
Although Karzai approved the creation of the local police forces, he has long expressed a general opposition to the presence of Western troops in Afghan villages, saying they are often a source of instability and tension and could be easily replaced with an all-Afghan force.
“Our position is that such trainings should not take place in the Afghan villages,” Karzai spokesman Aimal Faizi said in an interview Monday. “The presence of foreign troops puts the lives of villagers in danger by attracting [insurgent] attacks. If Afghan forces are unable at this stage to take control of villages, how will they do so after international troops leave?”
A prized U.S. program
Ending the village-level training would mean the termination of one of the U.S. military’s most valued missions in Afghanistan. Gen. John R. Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, told Congress last year that the ALP is “an important mechanism for holding the ground in Afghanistan.”
Col. Thomas Collins, a spokesman for the NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan, said the training is “important to ensure that the ALP continue to grow in capability and effectiveness, and that the overall security situation across Afghanistan continues to improve.”
U.S. officials said they are pushing for an interpretation of the Obama-Karzai pledge that would allow for the ALP training program to continue.
“We envision that small numbers of coalition soldiers will continue to provide hands-on training to ALP forces at the village level,” Collins said.
Both sides seemed open Monday to negotiating an understanding about the program, though it was unclear whether or how quickly that would happen. Despite apparently steadfast Afghan opposition to the program, Karzai’s message was contradicted by his ambassador to the United States, Eklil Hakimi, who said Special Operations personnel could remain in villages as long as they played a supporting role.
“Afghans will be in the lead,” Hakimi told reporters in Washington.
“These are details which we will work out in the coming days with our Afghan friends and allies,” a senior U.S. official said. “The ALP plays a vital role in protecting the villages of Afghanistan, and its role will be worked out in the near future.”
Karzai has made clear that he would link his demand for a withdrawal of Western forces from Afghan villages to any discussions about the larger issue of a long-term U.S. military presence in Afghanistan — and to his government’s willingness to grant American troops diplomatic immunity beyond 2014.
“We understand that the issue of immunity is of very specific importance for the United States, as was for us the issue of sovereignty and detentions and the continued presence of international forces in Afghan villages,” Karzai said at a news conference with Obama at the White House last week.
At the event, Karzai mentioned the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghan villages three times. After returning to Afghanistan, he told Kabul-based reporters, “When foreigners leave, Afghanistan will never become unsafe; it will become safer.”
Frustration over local police
Karzai initially opposed the formation of the local police program, fearing that it would give rise to lawless militias. He came to accept the force, largely at the urging of U.S. military commanders, but remained skeptical of the ALP’s recruits and their ability to protect Afghan civilians.
Some Afghan officials said Karzai’s current objection to village-level trainers is based largely on his perception of the ALP, a force with which he has grown increasingly frustrated. In recent months, Karzai has met with a number of civilians who accused the local police of rape, murder and theft in their villages, Faizi said.
“People from every corner of Afghanistan have complained to him about the ALP’s abuse of power,” Faizi said. “Looking at the number of complaints . . . it’s definitely the viewpoint at the palace that the ALP is not a long-term solution.”
Many Western human rights organizations share that assessment.
“The creation of the ALP is a high-risk strategy to achieve short-term goals in which local groups are again being armed without adequate oversight or accountability,” a 2011 Human Rights Watch report said.
Since the program began in 2010, there have been at least three instances of ALP recruits turning their guns on their U.S. counterparts.
But American officials stand by the program, calling it a sustainable solution to one of Afghanistan’s most complicated problems: securing far-flung villages where the Taliban has traditionally found haven. Rather than protecting the population, U.S. officials said of the program, American troops were teaching the population to protect itself.
US to support Afghan village operations: envoy
AFP 14/01/2013
WASHINGTON - The US military will keep providing logistical support in villages as it hands over the security lead to Afghan forces this spring, Afghanistan's envoy to Washington said Monday.
US President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced Friday that the United States would speed up the transfer of security responsibility, preparing for the withdrawal of US combat forces by the end of 2014.
In a joint news conference at the White House, Karzai said Afghan forces would be fully responsible for protection by spring and that "the American forces will be no longer be present in Afghan villages."
Ambassador Eklil Hakimi, addressing reporters in Washington in the wake of Karzai's visit, clarified that US forces would still be present but in a supporting role.
"We still need the logistical support and other support from coalition forces. So now would be a joint operation with Afghans to be in the lead, with the support that we receive from your side," he said.
Hakimi said the two governments and military leaders would work out the exact number of troops to stay after 2014 when the United States withdraws its 66,000 combat troops from Afghanistan, ending its longest war.
The Obama administration has proposed troops levels as low as several thousand and said it was open to leaving no troops at all in Afghanistan, although experts see such statements as partially a negotiating strategy.
The United States is pressing for Afghanistan to grant all its remaining troops immunity from local courts, an issue that scuttled proposals to keep a residual US force in Iraq.
Afghan MPs warn against total pullout of US troops
Disaster and civil war will follow if all US forces leave after 2014, leaders warn, as Obama and Karzai prepare to hold talks
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 10 January 2013
Afghan politicians have reacted with alarm to a White House announcement that it is considering a complete withdrawal of US troops after 2014, warning that disaster and civil war would follow.
The Obama administration has said it is considering the so-called "zero option" of a complete pullout despite earlier recommendations from the top military commander in Afghanistan to keep soldiers there to help the government.
That option and the angry reaction from Afghan officials are likely to dominate talks between President Barack Obama and his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai, in Washington on Friday.
The meeting was already likely to be tense given ongoing strains in their relationship over the war.
"If Americans pull out all of their troops without a plan the civil war of the 1990s would repeat itself," said Naeem Lalai, a lawmaker from volatile Kandahar province, the birthplace of the Taliban.
"It [full withdrawal] will pave the way for the Taliban to take over militarily," Lalai told the Reuters news agency.
When the Soviets left Afghanistan in 1989 after a decade-long war, financial aid dried up and the Afghan communist government collapsed, leading to infighting between warlords. A civil war paved the way for the Taliban's rise to power.
The United States has about 68,000 troops in Afghanistan and that number is expected to reduce sharply ahead of 31 December 2014, the official end of the Nato-led combat mission in the country.
Nato and its partners are trying to train Afghanistan's 350,000 security personnel but questions remain over how their effectiveness against insurgents and leading Afghan officials had assumed some US troops would stay.
"If American forces leave Afghanistan without properly training the Afghan security forces and equipping them it would be a disaster," said member of parliament Mirwais Yasini.
Shukria Barekzai, another MP, said a total withdrawal after 2014 would be equivalent to the United States "accepting defeat".
The Taliban said the US "zero option" was speculative and it had no comment for the moment.
The US deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said on Tuesday that the complete withdrawal was "an option that we would consider".
He made clear that a decision on post-2014 troop levels was not expected for months and would be made based on two US security objectives in Afghanistan: denying a safe haven to al-Qaida and ensuring Afghan forces were trained and equipped so that they, not foreign forces, could secure the nation.
Washington officials have privately said the White House is seeking a post-2014 presence of between 3,000 and 9,000 troops, which is significantly less than the 6,000 to 15,000 number given by the top commander, US General John Allen.
Australian troops' transition in Afghanistan ahead of schedule: Defence Minister
CANBERRA, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Australian troops will be withdrawn sooner than expected, and the transition will be completed in Uruzgan Province, Afghan by the end of 2013, Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith said Tuesday.
Australia still has some 1550 troops in Afghanistan, most operating in Uruzgan province. But the security responsibility has been handed over progressively to the Afghan army and police. Previously, the timetable for a formal transition extended to the first quarter of 2014.
"For some time, the prime minister and I have been saying that our advice and our expectation is that transition in Uruzgan province itself would occur either by the end of 2013 or by the first quarter of 2014," he told a press conference.
"All of our advice and assessment and analysis and view is now that transition will be complete in Uruzgan province by the end of this year."
He said it is possible that Australia will provide a Special Forces contribution to the help meet the country's ongoing security needs as long as it has an "appropriate mandate" to operate in Afghanistan.
Smith added that he hopes to strike a long-term agreement with Afghanistan over issues including development assistance and trade.
Senate GOP leader optimistic about Afghanistan
By DONNA CASSATA | Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States should keep a residual force of about 10,000 in Afghanistan after combat forces leave at the end of 2014, the Senate Republican leader said Monday after a series of meetings with military leaders in the country.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, who led a congressional delegation to Afghanistan and Israel, expressed optimism about an 11-year war that now stands as the longest in American history, and the prospect of Afghans assuming a lead role in the fighting.
"My observation about Afghanistan at this point is this is the first time I've left there with a sense of optimism," he told reporters in a conference call. "I think there's a widely held view among the American military leaders there — we met with Gen. (John) Allen — that this has a very great potential for a happy ending after 2014, provided we have a residual force that we can provide for training."
The United States now has 66,000 troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. and its NATO allies agreed in November 2010 that they would withdraw all their combat troops by the end of 2014, but they haven't decided on the scope of future missions to contain al-Qaida and the size of a remaining force.
Obama administration officials gave the first clear signal last week that it might leave no troops in the country after December 2014. Administration officials in recent days have said they are considering a range of options for a residual U.S. troop presence of as few as 3,000 and as many as 15,000, with the number linked to a specific set of military-related missions like hunting down terrorists.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is believed to favor an option that would keep about 9,000 troops in the country.
McConnell said the military leaders were somewhat cautious about pushing for a specific number as the decision will be made by the White House. The Kentucky lawmaker, who made his seventh trip to Afghanistan, did make his own recommendation.
"I think we're going to need a minimum of about 10,000 troops to provide adequate training and counterterrorism in the post-2014 period and we anticipate there will be forces from other countries that will remain here beyond 2014 as well," McConnell said.
The number from the Senate GOP leader could influence other members of Congress as they weigh the continued American presence in Afghanistan amid increasing war-weariness from constituents.
A sticking point for President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who met last week, is whether any U.S. troops remaining after 2014 would be granted immunity from prosecution under Afghan law. Immunity is a U.S. demand that the Afghans have resisted, saying they want assurances on other things — like authority over detainees — first.
"There is a widely held view that the Afghan army is definitely coming up to speed," McConnell said at a stop in Aviano, Italy. "I'm optimistic that this country will be able to maintain itself after we're largely gone."
In a separate appearance, Afghan ambassador to Washington H.E. Eklil Hakimi said under security negotiations to flesh out what the two presidents decided last week, U.S. special operations troops could stay at their posts in the villages, with Afghan special operations forces leading the program to train local militiamen to fight the Taliban.
"Afghans will be in in the lead," he said.
His remarks to reporters Monday clarified Karzai's remarks Friday when he stated all foreign forces would leave Afghan villages in the spring.
He declined to say how many troops should remain, adding "it's up to experts and generals to decide."
Hakimi also predicted progress on reconciliation talks with the Taliban, aided by another release of Taliban prisoners by Pakistan. But this time, Afghan officials have asked Pakistan to let them know when, where and whom is being released.
"We are in talks to make sure to have a proper monitoring mechanism, and they should notify us and do things in a systematic manner," Hakimi said.
McConnell was joined on the congressional trip by four Republican senators — John Barrasso of Wyoming, Jeff Flake of Arizona, Ted Cruz of Texas and Deb Fischer of Nebraska. Flake, Cruz and Fischer were just sworn in a week ago.
In Israel, they met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. McConnell said the threat from Iran tops Israel's list of concerns.
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AP Intelligence Writer Kimberly Dozier contributed to this report.
Back in Afghanistan, Karzai shifts tone on US troop immunity
Failure to agree on an immunity deal in Iraq ensured that US forces pulled out completely by the end of 2011, further diminishing America's influence there.
By Scott Peterson | Christian Science Monitor
A diplomatic dance has commenced between the US and Afghanistan over a US request for legal immunity that would enable a contingent of American troops to stay on beyond 2014.
Failure to agree on an immunity deal in Iraq ensured that US forces pulled out completely by the end of 2011, further diminishing American influence there despite toppling Saddam Hussein in 2003 and fighting a bloody counterinsurgency to backstop the governments that followed. Now, observers are watching to see how Afghanistan will handle the issue, which would determine just how many soldiers stay past a 2014 deadline for withdrawal of combat troops.
"I can tell you with relatively good confidence that they will say 'alright, let's do it,' " President Hamid Karzai told CNN in an interview during a visit last week to the US. "And I'm sure that they will understand."
But freshly back in Kabul after meeting President Obama in Washington, Mr. Karzai today gave off subtle signals that suggest a deal may not be so easy. He said final agreement may depend on the decision of a loya jirga, or national gathering of elders, and shrugged off the impending withdrawal of the NATO-led foreign forces by saying the country afterwards will be a "more secure and a better place."
“The US is standing firm by its demand for immunity for its soldiers," Karzai said today. "The Afghan government can’t decide on this. This is up to the Afghan nation to decide. The loya jirga will decide."
The loya jirga's final decision would come in eight or nine months, though the outcome is not necessarily guaranteed, he added.
Karzai and his government have sent mixed signals in the past about their desire to have a residual force on hand after a primary US troops withdrawal, in turns claiming that American and NATO force actions now help fuel Taliban insurgency, or keep it in check.
Afghan officials have raised concerns about granting immunity to residual US forces in Afghanistan, a prerequisite demanded by Washington to let any forces stay on after the bulk of its 66,000 troops – along with most other NATO forces – withdraw by the end of 2014.
A legal immunity agreement, which the US has with most other sovereign governments where US troops are based or deployed, would mean that American soldiers would not be subject to local courts, law, or jurisdiction.
A limited number of US troops staying on after 2014 will be necessary for "broader security and stability," Karzai told CNN.
Standing next to Obama on Friday, Karzai said US troops would be in Afghanistan “in small numbers, very, very small numbers like in Germany, Turkey, or South Korea, like in Japan."
Obama says US troops will begin to diminish their role in Afghanistan as early as this spring.
Yet US officials have discussed keeping anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000 American troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014, for training, Special Forces counter-insurgency operations, and supporting Afghan Army and police efforts.
“It will not be possible for us to have any kind of US troop presence post-2014 without assurances that our men and women who are operating there are [not] in some way subject to the jurisdiction of another country,” Obama said.
Karzai said: "The issue of immunity is under discussion [and] it is going to take eight or nine months before we reach agreement."
INTERVIEW-Specter of 2014 haunts Afghan economy, finmin says
Reuters By Anna Yukhananov Jan 14, 2013
WASHINGTON - Worries that instability could undermine the Afghan economy after most foreign troops leave in 2014 could send investors scurrying for the exits and harm the economy, even though growth prospects are sound, Afghanistan's finance minister said.
In an interview with Reuters, Omar Zakhilwal blamed think tanks and the media for spreading negative perceptions about Afghanistan's prospects post-2014, which he said could scare off investors and wealthy citizens. Worries about instability have spurred a flight of capital.
"Right now the trend is to speak negatively about Afghanistan, about what's going to come up in 2014," Zakhilwal said. "Our voice ... against this onslaught of negativity is not easy.
"It is the fear about 2014, and this generated fear by the media, that is more of concern than any of the real substantive issues," he said.
U.S. President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai last week agreed to speed up the handover of combat operations in Afghanistan to Afghan forces, raising the prospect of an accelerated U.S. withdrawal from the country.
In Kabul on Monday, Karzai said the country will be "more secure" after foreign troops leave.
Zakhilwal, speaking late on Friday at the conclusion of the official Afghan visit to the United States, said he expects the economy to grow 5 percent to 6 percent after the withdrawal, despite a contraction in military spending, as development aid will continue to flow in. More than 90 percent of Afghanistan's national budget comes from foreign donations.
"It will have an impact, but the impact will not be to the extent that comes as a severe shock to us," he said of the planned drawdown of NATO troops.
CORRUPTION PLEDGES
Major donors in July pledged to give Afghanistan more than $16 billion in aid through 2015, in exchange for reforms to fight widespread corruption.
Despite intense fiscal pressures of their own, donor nations say they are determined to keep helping Afghanistan, in part to ensure it does fall back into conditions that gave the fundamentalist Taliban a foothold in the 1990s after the withdrawal of Soviet troops.
But many foreign aid groups are also growing impatient with the Karzai government's failure to take decisive steps to combat waste and fraud.
Canadian-educated and fluent in English, Zakhilwal helped convince donors in July of Afghanistan's commitment to fighting corruption.
In the interview, he said Afghanistan has complied with governance pledges so far, such as setting dates for its election and meeting revenue targets from the International Monetary Fund.
He also called on donors to live up to their side of the bargain, which includes giving more money directly to the Afghan government rather than to contractors or aid groups - a focus of meetings in Washington.
"There are commitments from both sides, and they are interdependent," Zakhilwal said. "Our delivery depends on the donors' delivery."
In a study last May, the World Bank estimated that only 10 percent to 25 percent of aid given to non-government sources actually stays in Afghanistan, with the rest flowing out with contractor salaries or imports.
NOT A SLOGAN
Championed by international donors for his integrity in a country mired in graft, Zakhilwal himself became the target of an anti-corruption probe earlier this year over transferring money to overseas accounts.
He has denied any wrongdoing and has said the transfers were the result of work conducted before he entered the government.
In the interview, he said corruption is still a problem in Afghanistan and one that often becomes politicized as officials point fingers rather than find solutions.
"Corruption is used blanketly, sometimes more as a slogan than as a problem," Zakhilwal said.
Zakhilwal also heralded the imminent conclusion of the government's probe into the Kabulbank banking scandal.
The theft of about $935 million from the bank in 2010, and subsequent foot-dragging in prosecuting those responsible, delayed millions of dollars in aid payments. Among those linked to the scandal are relatives of Karzai and the bank's current and former chiefs.
The outcome of the case is seen as a crucial barometer of Afghanistan's commitment to the rule of law and stable finances.
Zakhilwal said $170 million to $180 million of the stolen funds have been recovered, along with another $70 million to $100 million in assets, which will be sold for cash.
He also said a new banking law would strengthen oversight of banks and make it more difficult to manipulate the system.
"I would say we are at the final stages of resolving this lingering issue, and this chapter will be closed," he said. (Reporting by Anna Yukhananov; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
Afghanistan in 2015
A 'light footprint' strategy could be the best U.S. option after Western forces leave.
January 15, 2013 Los Angeles Times
Almost two years remain before a NATO-led international military force in Afghanistan is supposed to turn over full security responsibility to the Afghan military. But the Obama administration and its critics are already sparring over the size of the residual U.S. presence that will stay on after 2014.
The administration indicates that it will amount to only a few thousand troops — some officials have even floated the notion that none would remain after 2014 — while its critics, including Republicans in Congress, have insisted that at least 10,000 and perhaps three times that number will be necessary to prevent Afghanistan from backsliding into instability.
We don't presume to know the precise number of troops that will be necessary in 2015 to ensure that Al Qaeda and associated groups can't use Afghan territory to launch further attacks on Americans, the rationale for the U.S. invasion after 9/11. But The Times' David S. Cloud and Alexandra Zavis report that the administration believes it could meet that objective with a "light footprint" strategy — similar to the one it has pursued in Pakistan — emphasizing commando raids and drone missile strikes against Al Qaeda fighters.
Both the president and advocates of a large residual force insist that Afghan forces are improving their effectiveness. Ideally that process will continue so that in 2015, the Afghan army can competently prosecute the war against Taliban insurgents without significant support from the U.S. military. Meanwhile, it is to be hoped, the Afghan government will root out the corruption that has undermined its authority.
But if that doesn't occur, as many believe it will not, and the U.S. is still able to mount an effective counter-terrorism effort without many boots on the ground, the light footprint strategy should be implemented. A large residual force might be justifiable if it functioned effectively as a deterrent, as the 28,000 U.S. forces in South Korea do. But U.S. troops in Afghanistan are daily in harm's way. As Obama pointed out in his weekend address, more than 2,000 Americans have given their lives in Afghanistan. More will die this year and next, even if the administration accelerates its withdrawal.
When it invaded Afghanistan in 2011 to overthrow the Taliban regime that had harbored Osama bin Laden, the United States — perhaps unintentionally — assumed a moral obligation to assist that country in its political and economic reconstruction. It is discharging that responsibility and will continue to do so even after Afghans take complete charge of their security. But as Obama also said Saturday, "after more than a decade of war, the nation we need to rebuild is our own."
On Its Way Out, the US Will Give Afghanistan Its Very Own Fleet of Drones
By Adam Clark Estes | The Atlantic Wire
In his first media appearance since visiting President Obama in Washington, Hamid Karzai announced that the United States had agreed to give his country a fleet of drones. The Afghan President didn't specify how many or which kind of drones Afghanistan would get, but he was careful to explain that the unmanned vehicles would be unarmed. American troops will even stick around and show Afghan forces how to use them. "They will train Afghans to fly them, use them and maintain them," said Karzai at a news conference. "Besides drones, Afghanistan will be provided with other intelligence gathering equipment which will be used to defend and protect our air and ground sovereignty." That includes 20 helicopters and at least four C-130 transport planes.
You could call it a parting gift. Karzai capped off his visit to the U.S. with a press conference in the White House East Room, where he and Obama stood side-by-side as they announced an expedited plan to transition power from the 66,000 American forces in Afghanistan to the Afghan army whose abilities were "exceeding initial expectations." More specifically, the two leaders said that the plan was for Afghan troops to be in full control by December 2012. Obama said that "this war will come to a responsible end," while Defense Secretary Leon Panetta later hinted at the equipment that the U.S. would make available to its allies to ease the transition.
Critics of America's drone program will surely take issue with the U.S. bequeathing a new fleet to Afghanistan. As Stanley McChrystal, the very architect of the war in Afghanistan, recently pointed out, our drone program isn't winning us many friends around the world. "[Drones] are hated on a visceral level, even by people who've never seen one or seen the effects of one," said McChrystal, adding that drones bolster the "perception of American arrogance that says, 'Well we can fly where we want, we can shoot where we want, because we can.'" It doesn't help that we don't exactly know how many people, including civilians, our drone strikes have killed.
Meanwhile, the Afghan army is completely inexperienced with drones. American troops actually made it a point not to let their Afghan counterparts fly drone missions or even learn how to operate the unmanned vehicles. The increasingly frequent green-on-blue attacks certainly didn't do much to enstill trust between the two armies. But remember: we're not giving Afghanistan armed drones. They'll get a neutered fleet that's only capable of running surveilance missions. It's unclear how the U.S. will keep track of the drones or keep the Afghans from arming them.
In a way, giving drones to Afghanistan was really America's only option. If these aircraft were important enough to the anti-terrorism efforts in Afghanistan for the Obama administration to weather worldwide criticism, it would be silly to bring the whole program home when we left. And the fact that we're taking the bombs off of them, quite frankly, is a sign of progress. Of course, the U.S. will undoubtedly keep some armed drones of their own in region.
Afghan Air Force Complete by 2016: Isaf
TOLOnews.com By Haseeb Maudoodi Monday, 14 January 2013
The Afghan air force is expected to be complete by 2016 in both equipment and staff training, Isaf spokesman Gen. Gunter Katz said Monday.
"Isaf will continue its enduring support [for the Afghan National Security Forces]. I can give you one area which is well known to you – it's the air force. We had to start from zero and it takes just a while to build the air force. It's not the weakness of Afghan National Security Forces, it's normal," Katz said.
"We need to train those guys in particular in English language and it takes very long, you know, to train them on technical issues and pilot training takes a while. We expect the air force to be ready by 2016."
He also said Isaf and Nato welcomes the government's decision to soon move into the fifth tranche of the security transition.
"Mr. Karzai is in a position to announce the fifth tranche earlier, that means in spring. I think this what has been said and because of the progress ANSF has made, this is something Isaf and Nato welcomes,"
Katz's comments come on the same day that President Hamid Karzai revealed that the US will purchase four cargo planes, 20 Mi-17 helicopters and intelligence-gathering drones for the Afghan air force by end of this year.
Afghan conflicts leave 11 dead, 21 militants detained
KABUL, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Taliban-linked militancy and cleanup operations elsewhere in the militancy-plagued Afghanistan have left 11 people including three civilians dead over the past 24 hours, officials said on Tuesday.
In the latest mop up against Taliban militants, three Taliban fighters were killed in Logar province 60 km south of Afghan capital Kabul on Tuesday, the NATO-led coalition troops said in a statement released here.
"During an operation in Baraki Barak district, Logar province, an Afghan and coalition security force killed three insurgents and arrested a Taliban leader," the statement added.
The arrested leader was an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) expert who oversaw a group of insurgents operating in the province, according to the statement.
Five Taliban fighters were killed and seven others sustained injuries in an identical operation which launched in Bakwa district of Farah province 695 km west of Kabul on Monday and wrapped up Tuesday morning, Inspector General Police of Farah province, Aqa Mir Kintoz told Xinhua.
Meantime, a Taliban-linked roadside bombing claimed the lives of three civilians in Taliban former stronghold Kandahar on Monday, a local official said Tuesday.
"A mine planted by Taliban rebels on a road in Mianshin district of Kandahar province 450 km south of Kabul, went off Monday afternoon killing three innocent civilians including a woman and her child," district governor Rozi Khan told Xinhua.
Moreover, the Afghan and NATO-led forces, according to officials have arrested 21 suspected Taliban militants during joint and independent operations elsewhere in the conflict-ridden country since Monday.
Taliban militants, who often spurn the claims made by government officials, have yet to make comment over military activities and possible causalities in Afghanistan over the past 24 hours.
Politicians Criticise Karzai for Agreeing to Earlier Transition
TOLOnews.com By Sharif Amiry Monday, 14 January 2013
Afghan politicians have joined the senate in its disapproval of the decision for an earlier transition from US forces to Afghan forces this year.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai agreed with his US counterpart Barack Obama last week that Afghan security forces should take the lead on all matters of security by the spring, instead of the summer, while the foreign combat forces will move into a support role.
"From a technical point of view I don't agree with this decision because it's not for our interest and generally it's not a logical plan," former Afghan Minister of Interior and member of Rights and Justice party Hanif Atmar said Sunday. "Accelerating the process will put unnecessary pressure on the Afghan security forces."
Senators have also spoken out against the decision, saying Saturday that it will increase the challenges ahead of the 2014 presidential election to secure the country.
However, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) supported the move arguing that the abilities of the security forces are improving.
"There will be challenges definitely, but we have taken the risks into consideration in our planning," head of operational department of the MOD Afzal Aman said. "Our capabilities will increase if our air force is strengthened."
Meanwhile, other pundits argue that Afghanistan's security rests on more than the strength of the armed forces.
"The security forces can combat the Taliban, but foreign interference, corruption, drug trafficking and weak governance puts the government in a fragile position," former Deputy Minister of Interior Hadi Khalid said.
There are around 66,000 US troops in Afghanistan helping the Afghan military forces fight insurgency.
US Will Not Interfere in Afghan Elections: Karzai
TOLOnews.com By Shakeela Ahbrimkhil Monday, 14 January 2013
The US will not interfere in Afghanistan's elections, President Hamid Karzai said Monday, a matter that he raised with the US officials during his official visit to Washington last week.
Karzai said the US will help where asked in order for the Afghan presidential and provincial government elections of 2014 to go ahead, but will not "interfere".
"We only hope that they will help us if they want, but not to interfere in Afghanistan's elections – they promised they will not interfere in our election. Instead what help we ask of them, they will help us," Karzai said at a press conference in Kabul.
He did not elaborate on what actions might be regarded as interfering.
Karzai said that the elections, planned for April 5 2014, will happen on time and will use the voter registration cards that were valid in the 2009 election.
He dismissed the plan touted by the Independent Election Commission (IEC) to cancel the old voter registration cards, instead supporting the decision of the Council of Ministers to retain the old cards.
"If we cancel these cards, and we are unable to make new cards or no one will give money for [new cards], and then we end up with no cards and no election, then I will be blamed," he said.
"We will correct what we have in our hands. This is the decision of Afghanistan Cabinet. When we don't have money we have to use that equipment which we have in our hands," he added.
Insecurity, lack of accurate census data, and insufficient budget are other challenges ahead of the 2014 elections.
The IEC has said that using the old cards of the last election will increase the risk of voter fraud.
Ministers May Be Impeached for Ignoring Parliament Summons
TOLOnews.com By Sharif Amiry Monday, 14 January 2013
Four government ministers who did not appear before parliament as requested on Monday may face impeachment for ignoring the explicit summons.
Seven other ministers who were also requested to appear for questioning by parliament did show, but the session was postponed because of the absence of the four ministers who did not attend.
The four ministers – Minister of Defence Bismillah Mohammadi, Interior Mujtaba Patang, Urban Development Dr.Hassan Abdullahi, and Higher Education Sarwar Danish – may now face a formal vote of no-confidence, MPs said.
Parliament issued the summons last month for 11 ministers to be questioned after the Ministry of Finance released figures showing that the 11 ministries had not spent more than 50 percent of their development budget in the Persian year of 1390 (March 2011-March 2012).
The four ministers who were absent were all appointed during the financial year and therefore claim to not be responsible for the portfolio spending because they were not in charge of it for the period under consideration.
"The four ministers including Defence, Interior, Higher Education and Urban Development Affairs, who took their positions in the 1390 solar year were forbidden to attend by the government," speaker of the house Abdul Raouf Ibrahimi said.
According to some reports, President Hamid Karzai said the four ministers should not have to attend such questioning.
But many MPs said the ministers' decision not to attend was misguided and they will face consequences for not appearing.
"The president should know that a minister is to answer [for the ministry] at any minute," MP Ramazan Bashardost said.
"By no means can the government stand against impeachment," MP Shukria Barekzai said.
"If the four ministers don't come, it means that we are not able to impeach powerful people such as these four ones," MP Hafiz Manssor said.
It is not clear when the session for the questioning of the ministers will be postponed until.
Afghanistan's oldest woman passes away
KABUL, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan's oldest woman Khanum Hasno has passed away, a local newspaper Daily Mandegar reported Tuesday.
Khanum Hasno, having 465 grandchildren and far grandchildren, died at age 136. According to the newspaper she was also possibly the oldest woman of the world.
She died in a village of Nangarhar province 120 km east of Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday, according to Daily Mandegar.
However, her name has not been registered as oldest woman of the world in the Guinness Book of world record, the newspaper added.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com