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15 militants killed in Afghanistan
KABUL, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Up to 15 Taliban militants have been killed in separate operations in different Afghan provinces, authorities said Sunday.
"Afghan and coalition forces killed six insurgents, detained one, and located two weapons caches during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours," the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement.
Afghan Border Police killed six insurgents during an engagement in Achin District in Nangarhar province 120 km east of Kabul, the ISAF's statement said.
The weapons caches were found in eastern Khost and neighboring Paktia province, the ISAF forces said in the statement.
In addition, Afghan army and police launched a cleanup operation on Saturday in the country's Helmand province, 555 km south of Kabul, to clear the militants in areas in Nad Ali and Marjah Districts, killing nine armed Taliban militants, a spokesman for provincial government, Ahmad Zirak, told Xinhua on Sunday.
He said the Afghan army troops also detained a Taliban fighter, who shot dead a teenage girl in Nad Ali District, during the operation.
The Taliban has been waging an insurgency since its regime was toppled by a U.S.-led invasion in late 2001.
News Analysis: Karzai optimistic on peace in Afghanistan but Taliban insurgents continue its attacks
By Abdul Haleem
KABUL, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has told the media that the U.S. and foreign troops would no longer wage war against the Taliban after 2014, saying that they have to chase the al-Qaida and other terrorist groups in their sanctuaries outside of Afghanistan and not inside the country.
In a press conference held in his fortified Palace on Jan. 14, Karzai also officially announced that the U.S. administration has agreed to hand over the notorious Bagram detention center to the Afghan government.
Hundreds of Taliban militants and al-Qaida loyalists are still detained at the Bagram prison.
To encourage them to give up fighting, the President also called on Taliban insurgents who think of Afghanistan and want to participate in rebuilding their embattled country to return to the fold of the laws and resume normal life.
Karzai also assured the nation that after the complete pullout of all foreign forces from Afghanistan in 2014, the country will be more stable and peaceful.
But just two days after Karzai's optimistic remarks on the country's future, a major attack against the country's National Directorate for Security (NDS) or national spy agency in Kabul city occurred on Wednesday killing six people, presumably the attackers, while 30 others, all civilians, were injured. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
During his three-day official visit to Washington, D.C. that ended on Jan. 11, President Karzai had extensive talks with U.S. officials led by President Barack Obama on topics that include the future of Afghanistan, the two countries' bilateral relations, peace talks with Taliban, and the forging of a security pact that would govern the security arrangement with the U.S. after the 2014 pullout.
The President said that the Afghan traditional Loya Jirga, or grand assembly of elders and tribal chieftains, will decide whether U.S. troops will enjoy immunity from prosecution after 2014.
Immunity from local suits for their forces while serving in Afghanistan has been the most contentious issue in the proposed security accord between the two countries.
Echoing President Karzai's remarks, Masuom Stanikzai, secretariat chief of the government-backed peace body, the High Peace Council, told journalists on Tuesday that the Taliban have no more reason to fight the government since the U.S. has already agreed to turn over Bagram prison to Afghan forces and to complete their pullout in 2014.
But the Taliban, which has been fighting both the Afghan government and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force ( ISAF) over the past decade, has repeatedly turned down the government's peace offer.
The Taliban has also scored the Karzai government for negotiating a security pact with the U.S. and insisted on an unconditional withdrawal of all foreign forces before it would negotiate with the government.
In a statement posted on its website, the Taliban described the proposed security pact with U.S. as a personal act of President Karzai with U.S. administration, noting such agreement would have no legitimacy and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (old name of Taliban ousted regime) would continue its jihad or holy war against all foreign troops like what they have been doing in the past 11 years.
In its statement, the Taliban also described the U.S. long-term presence in Afghanistan as the main cause of instability in the region as it called on regional and western nations to help push all American forces out of Afghanistan.
The Taliban said the proposed security pact with the U.S. would "sell" the country's independence to the U.S, as it vowed to thwart its signing.
In an article posted on its website Thursday, the Taliban said that granting judicial immunity to American soldiers is in fact granting permanent presence of U.S. military in Afghanistan, which would eventually enable the occupying troops "to control Afghanistan and monitor neighboring states."
U.N. Report Said to Allege Widespread Torture by Afghans
Wall Street Journal By YAROSLAV TROFIMOV and MARIA ABI-HABIB January 20, 2013
KABUL - A United Nations report due to be released on Monday alleges that widespread torture and abuse of detainees continues at Afghan police and intelligence service facilities, people who viewed the document say, creating a new hurdle for the transition of security responsibilities by the U.S.-led coalition.
The issue of detentions is highly charged in Afghanistan, with President Hamid Karzai repeatedly demanding that all detainees held by the U.S. and allies be transferred immediately to Afghan custody. Following talks with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington earlier this month, Mr. Karzai said that the U.S. would immediately hand over the Afghans held at the main U.S. detention center at Bagram.
But credible allegations of torture could make such transfers illegal under U.S. law and the legislation of many other coalition allies. "It is a cause for grave concern, and will certainly have repercussions," said a Western diplomat familiar with the U.N. report. Ending abuse of detainees, the diplomat added, is one of the commitments that Mr. Karzai's government reiterated last year, in exchange for continued Western aid once most U.S.-led troops go home in 2014.
The 100-page U.N. report was based on several hundred interviews across Afghanistan, with about half the interviewed detainees and former detainees alleging torture or abuse by the Afghan National Directorate of Security and Ministry of Interior, according to people who viewed the document. The Afghan government rebutted some of these allegations, and promised to investigate others, in a lengthy response attached to the document, these people say.
Overall, the U.N. report paints a bleak picture, pointing to few improvements since a similar report in October 2011 drew international attention to the issue, forcing the U.S. and allies to halt the transfer of detainees to nine Afghan facilities. At that time Western officials with knowledge of detainee treatment described some of the facilities—particularly those run by the NDS—as"nail-collecting factories" because of the brutal interrogation techniques there.
The coalition later resumed transfers to some of these facilities, saying that Afghan detention conditions have improved.
The latest U.N. report, in addition to drawing attention to continuing abuse, also points to the existence of torture at unofficial, off-the-books detention facilities that are operated by the Afghan government, and that cannot be monitored by human-rights groups, according to people who viewed the document.
Earlier this month, as the latest U.N. report was being prepared and its main findings circulated to Afghan and coalition officials, the coalition said it once again moved to halt some transfers.
Handovers to specific Afghan detention facilities were stopped as a result of "information" from human rights groups "determined to be credible," said Jamie Graybeal, the deputy public affairs officer for the International Security Assistance Force. Such information, Mr. Graybeal said, includes reports on detainee conditions provided by the U.N. and human rights groups.
These reports help "in determining whether allegations of inappropriate treatment of detainees warrant suspension of ISAF detainee transfers to affected facilities," Mr. Graybeal wrote in response to emailed questions.
Afghanistan's Ministry of Interior declined to comment officially on the new U.N. findings, although an official at the ministry denied any abuse at detention centers. A spokesman for NDS said he hadn't heard of the report and was unaware whether top NDS officials had received it.
"We don't torture detainees and we treat them in accordance to the law. Our detention centers are open, and human rights and other organizations visit the centers regularly to observe the situation and are satisfied with them," said the spokesman, Shafiqullah Taheri.
Speaking on Thursday, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, James Cunningham, said that the issue of detentions and Bagram is unlikely to affect the talks with Kabul on a bilateral security agreement that outlines what U.S. military presence will remain in Afghanistan after 2014.
"There are no allegations of human rights or other issues" either on the U.S. side or the Afghan side of the Bagram detention facility, Mr. Cunningham said. "We have obligations under our own law, and under international law, for the treatment of the prisoners that we take." —Nathan Hodge and Habib Khan Totakhil contributed to this article.
Write to Yaroslav Trofimov at yaroslav.trofimov@wsj.com and Maria Abi-Habib atmaria.habib@dowjones.com
Afghan parliament approve budget draft for 1392
By Sayed Jawad - January 20 2013, 3:57 pm Khaama Press
The Afghan budget draft for the upcoming Afghan calendar year 1392 was finally approved by Afghan lawmakers on Sunday after months of scuffle.
According to reports the Afghan finance ministry has revised the budget draft after Afghan parliament rejected the draft two times.
The budget draft was introduced to the Afghan parliament on late November which was rejected by Afghan lawmakers on 21 December for the first time and was later once again rejected on 16 January 2013.
The draft was revised by Afghan finance ministry and according to reports additional budget for a number of infrastructure projects including road construction project and provincial airports development has been added to the draft.
In the meantime Afghan finance ministry officials are saying that the amount of the budget draft remains unchanged however allocation of funds to various projects have been revised.
Finance Minister Hazrat Omer Zakhilwal said the current budget draft can not fulfill all the requirements of the Afghan people however the current budget draft has been prepared considering the facilities and income of the government.
He said over $1 billion of the budget will be spent on military equipments and Afghan security institutions and the government will be left with $2 billion to spend on development projects.
Afghanistan on the horizon as Dubai's DP World plots growth
The National By Rebecca Bundhun Jan 20, 2013
Dubai's DP World is exploring opportunities to develop ports in countries including Afghanistan and Myanmar as it aims to gain a foothold in underdeveloped markets with potential for growth.
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are also on the ports company's radar, said DP World.
"In all these places the infrastructure is lacking," it said. "There's a waiting period for ships. It's inefficient."
Afghanistan presents one new, but risky, territory for the company, it said.
"It's a difficult country, difficult terrain, but it is in these difficult places that you have good opportunities," said the company.
DP World is looking at opportunities to develop dry ports and inland ports within landlocked Afghanistan.
Another market of interest is Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, which only recently started to open up politically and economically.
"Myanmar is exploratory at the moment because they're just opening up," said DP World. "It's an interesting place and we have to be there. It needs development. We are talking to ... government, local partners. It's an opportunity for us."
No figure for the potential investment into these markets has been disclosed, but with current infrastructure being severely limited, DP World would have to develop the ports from scratch.
The company is also aiming to expand its presence in India, where it is already the country's largest ports operator.
The company operates five Indian container ports, including facilities in Mumbai and Kochi, as well as a train service for cargo. It has invested more than US$1 billion (Dh3.67bn) in the country.
"We are looking at other opportunities for growth in India," said Anil Singh, DP World's managing director for the subcontinent.
Plans to develop a port in Kulpi, in the north-east have been delayed as the company negotiates with the state government on infrastructure to support the project.
"There are some conditions that the [state] government satisfy, such as road connectivity, before we sign the agreement," said Mr Singh. "Until that is done building a port doesn't make sense."
DP World is in the process of restructuring its business in India to bring the assets under one holding company in the country. Its new holding company, Hindustan Ports, was approved by India's foreign investment promotion board last week, said Mr Singh. Some of its assets were acquired after DP World bought the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation company (P&O) in 2005.
"We are looking at trying to restructure our assets," said Mr Singh. "When we acquired P&O it was very patchy. Some of it was in Australia, some of it was in Mauritius, some of it was in London. So what we are doing is consolidating everything and bringing it onshore [in India]."
As part of its growth in the region, DP World is in the bidding stage for a port project in Chittagong in Bangladesh and recently won a contract to build and operate a $200 million facility in Mumbai to expand India's largest container port.
business@thenational.ae
Ariana and Kam Air to Merge
TOLOnews.com By Shahla Murtazawi Saturday, 19 January 2013
Ariana Afghan Airlines will merge with the privately-owned Afghan airline Kam Air, airline officials said Saturday, although the final agreement has not been inked.
Kam Air president Zmarai Kamgar said the merging of the two Afghan carriers makes sense in the face of the stiff competition from international airlines.
"We pioneered the merger," he said. "A suggestion was sent from Kam Air to the Council of Ministers, following which, it was sent from the Council to the president. The council, fortunately, then confirmed the merger of Kam Air and Ariana."
"The result is yet not clear, but talks between Ariana and us continue," he added. "Once the companies merge, the ministers of Finance, Economics, and Transport will be bound to find ways to improve their work."
"According to the new act by the Council of Ministers, the air industry is experiencing problems, and to resolve these issue the Council has decided it would be better if Kam Air and Ariana merge," Ariana president Naseer Ahmad Hakimi told TOLOnews.
"We reviewed the act and there have been two meetings at the Ministry of Aviation and Transportation, but no steps have been taken yet," he added.
Meanwhile, the High Office of Oversight and Anti-Corruption confirmed that the office received a report indicating the Council of Ministers have decided to merge the two airlines.
"I received a report which showed the Council of Ministers has decided to merge Kam Air with Afghanistan's air company, Ariana Afghan Airlines which has been taking the Afghan flag to different countries for more than fifty years," Azizullah Lodin, Head of High Office of Oversight and Anti-Corruption said.
"The report mentioned that works for the matter are underway. They have written how much the losses would be. I reviewed it and wrote a letter to the president to review the matter as well," he added.
Ariana Afghan Airlines is believed to have millions of properties both inside and outside the country.
Charity helps foreign troops take Afghanistan pets home
Nowzad was founded by a former British marine. It helps departing soldiers recover their forbidden pets from bases and fly them to their new homes.
Los Angeles Times By David Zucchino January 19, 2013
KABUL, Afghanistan - She was just an ordinary brown mutt, a stray, but Pvt. Conrad Lewis loved her.
Lewis, a British paratrooper in Afghanistan's Helmand province, adopted the dog and named her Pegasus. Everyone called her Peg.
In his letters home, Lewis described Peg as a member of his military family: "I have taught her to sit and give me her paw.... She patrols with us, she is not afraid of the Taliban or their bullets."
When Lewis was on Christmas leave in Britain in 2010, he told his father, Tony, that Peg was so important to him that he wanted to bring her home when he returned from his deployment. "That's your job, Dad," he said.
Two months later, in February 2011, Pvt. Lewis was dead at 22, shot by a sniper.
Tony Lewis and his wife, Sandi, were determined to honor their son's wish. A friend put them in touch with Pen Farthing, a former British Royal Marine whose charity, Nowzad, helps reunite adopted pets with soldiers and contractors after they leave Afghanistan.
The parents, the charity and Conrad's fellow paratroopers hatched a plan: Peg was slipped aboard a military helicopter, then disguised as a military working dog. Afghan army soldiers were paid to deliver her to Kabul.
The Nowzad kennels in the Afghan capital nursed her back to health. Six months later, in November 2011, Peg leaped into the arms of Tony and Sandi Lewis in Claverdon, Warwickshire.
"Having her here means so much to us," Tony Lewis said on Thanksgiving Day. "She is a link to Conrad's time in Afghanistan, a symbol of his sacrifice. She is something he loved, and we love her too.... She has his spirit."
Obia, a skinny white mongrel, was packed up and ready to travel from the Nowzad kennels.
A computer chip had been implanted in his neck to identify him. He'd been given a rabies shot and vaccinations. He was free of distemper, parvo virus, mange, ticks and worms. And, although Obia protested, his manhood had been surgically removed.
Obia was headed to the United States along with Stan, an excitable tabby cat. Obia will be reunited with an American soldier who had adopted him. Stan, freshly neutered, was headed back to an American security contractor who had transferred home.
"And here's Bruno — yes, hello, Bruno! You're going next!" Nowzad kennel manager Louise Hastie cooed to an eager, slobbering mastiff soon to be reunited with a soldier now in Italy.
Rescued dogs and cats yowled and meowed at Hastie, a former British soldier, in the noisy Nowzad compound on Kabul's dusty western shoulder.
Hastie hustled from cage to cage, tending to pets whose owners apparently can't bear to live without them. "Re-homing," she calls it.
More than 400 dogs, and a few cats, have been flown to new homes overseas by Nowzad. But first, most have to be recovered from military bases, where pets are technically against regulations. Then they are driven along insurgent-infested roads to the capital by an underground network of hired Afghan drivers.
The dogs don't travel in pet containers. That would give them away as pets of Westerners. They ride freely in the vehicle, the Afghan way, barking furiously until they're safely in Hastie's arms.
Nowzad's efforts "are almost like military operations: They require a lot of planning and precision," Hastie said as she stroked the ears of Ladybug, a lazy stray dog who wandered into her kitchen one day and never left.
Most pets go to the United States or Britain, but some have been flown to Australia, Germany, Canada, South Africa and Italy. Hastie negotiates the exhausting business of health certificates, blood tests, quarantines, customs clearances, manifests and pet flight containers.
In addition to Peg, the charity has delivered Lexie, a small white stray, to the family of another fallen soldier. Lexie was sent in June 2011 to the Michigan family of Marine Sgt. David Day, 26, who had contacted Nowzad for help in sending her to his home a month before he was killed in combat in April 2011.
More typical are dogs like Rio, the malnourished pup of a stray, adopted by U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Bob Cook in Afghanistan last year. Cook called Hastie just in time to save Rio from euthanasia at his base.
Hastie cared for Rio at Nowzad while Cook raised money from friends and strangers to send the dog to Cheektowaga, N.Y., where Rio joined Cook's wife, Kristin, in November 2011. Rio was waiting for Cook when he returned from deployment in March.
"She greeted me at the door; she's the love of my life," Cook said.
Rescuing a dog costs $3,500 to $4,000. A cat rescue costs about $2,500. On average, soldiers, contractors or families contribute $500 to $1,000 per rescue. Donations from animal lovers worldwide take care of the remainder.
"It's bloody expensive," Hastie said, citing flights, food, boarding, medical treatment, wages for Afghan staff members.
Nowzad was founded in 2007 by Farthing. While serving in Helmand province in 2006, he rescued a stray from an organized dogfight and named it Nowzad, after a district in Helmand. He eventually got Nowzad home to Britain and later decided to help other soldiers recover their pets.
"The dogs want nothing more than human company — and to be fed," Farthing said from his home in Britain. "And the soldiers want nothing more than a bit of normality in their daily routine."
But most soldiers wait until they're about to transfer home to contact Nowzad.
"Normally we receive an emotional plea for help in getting the dog away from the base just as the soldier is about to be sent home," Farthing said. "We have to work extremely quickly to make it all happen."
Nowzad's headquarters is in Britain, with an office in Peoria, Ill., and the kennels in Kabul.
In Kabul, Nowzad relies on the efforts of Hastie, a slender, harried woman who dotes on the animals. She sleeps in snatches, awakened by round-the-clock calls from soldiers wanting their pets rescued or delivered. Her email account is clogged with notes of thanks from soldiers whose pets have been safely delivered.
"It's a 24-hour-a-day job," Hastie said, raising her voice to be heard over the howling of Sherak, a huge mastiff that greeted her with a clumsy lunge. She's paid a modest salary, which she figures works out to a few cents an hour.
"I don't do this for the money," she said. "I do it to make a difference, for the animals and for the people who care about them."
Hastie's home, next to the kennels, houses 14 rescued dogs — Rocky, Socks, Malik, Panda and so on — that are now her pets. They and the kennel animals outside constantly compete for Hastie's attention.
Here's Buster, a stray dog who had a bullet removed from his leg. Here's Mouse, a female mutt whose leg was amputated after a car accident.
And here's Joey, a skeletal creature Hastie found in the street "looking for a place to die." Sores and infections festered on the dog's coat and snout. Hastie figured Joey was certain to die, but she has nursed him back to health. He greeted her with a tortured wag of his tail.
A few rescued dogs have been adopted by Afghans, but Joey and the others will probably also be adopted by Hastie. Her heart melts, she confessed, at the sight of a stray.
Hastie, who had served seven months in Iraq with the British army, heard about Nowzad three years ago when she was back in Iraq as a contractor. She offered her services and was eminently qualified: She'd already helped several of her friends get pets out of Iraq.
"The only word to describe Louise is intrepid," said Susan Chadima, an American veterinarian who volunteers at the kennels.
Chadima spoke as she sliced into Sweet Pea, a rescue cat she had anesthetized. Sweet Pea was having her ovaries and uterus removed. She followed Garfield, a short-haired cat, who had just undergone neutering on the same surgical table.
Controlling the dog and cat population is a central mission for Nowzad in a country where people sometimes poison or shoot strays. Many Afghans consider canines filthy, using them only for protection, livestock herding or dogfights.
"If we can control the population and make these animals clean and healthy, maybe we can change attitudes," Chadima said.
Even Chadima has a Nowzad dog: Callie, a stray who had been hit by a car in Kabul. Chadima sewed her back together; the dog is now in the care of her husband in Maine.
A Chicago charity recently asked Nowzad to supply therapy dogs for soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder. Hastie sent Kala and Pippa, two female dogs who she thought had the right personalities for therapy.
Nowzad also took in Ted, a U.S. military working dog suffering the canine equivalent of PTSD after sniffing for bombs in combat. Hastie arranged for Ted to get a quiet home by reuniting him with his handler, an American soldier now in Germany.
Not all pet stories end happily. Two stray dogs taken in died of rabies. Another dog, trained by Afghans to fight, bit both Hastie and Farthing. He's still at the kennel, but he's not going to be anyone's pet.
Next to the kennel, Hastie bent down to greet seven dogs that had just arrived — "the Magnificent Seven," she called them. They had been adopted by soldiers who were scheduled to return to the U.S. Hastie was arranging for the dogs to rejoin them.
The soldiers were willing to contribute money, but Hastie still needed a lot more, about $25,000.
"We'll raise it," she said. She looked into the sad brown eyes of one of the seven dogs and told him, "You've hit the jackpot."
In Warwickshire, Peg has made her peace with the Lewises' bulldog, Fergie, but still competes with him for attention and food. She has also taken to stealing his bed.
"Peg is cute, fun, cheeky, very streetwise and smart" and bold and dominant just like Conrad, said Tony Lewis.
Sandi Lewis can't look after her son anymore. "But we can look after his beloved dog."
Peg gave Conrad something he needed at a pivotal juncture in his young life, his father said: love, comfort and loyalty. "The least she deserves is a loving home back with us."
david.zucchino@latimes.com
IED Casualties Up 124% Among Afghan Troops
TOLOnews.com Saturday, 19 January 2013
Afghan troops suffered a 124 percent increase in the number of casualties from improvised explosive attacks last year, a sign of their increasing role on the battlefield, according to the Pentagon.
The 2012 statistics show the number of attacks against Afghans rose in the second half of 2012.
For US troops, however, deaths and injuries from improvised explosive devices (IED) in Afghanistan dropped by almost half in the same year, the Pentagon said.
More surveillance equipment, metal detectors and intensive training have also helped bring down the US casualties, according to Lt. Gen. Michael Barbero, the Pentagon's Joint IED Defeat Organisation chief.
IEDs have been one of the top threats for the US forces in Afghanistan but is clearly in decline, killing 104 US troops in 2012 compared with 196 in 2011, a 46 percent drop. The makeshift bombs also wounded fewer troops, from 3,542 in 2011 to 1,744 in 2012, a 50 percent drop, according to Pentagon statistics.
There were 15,222 IED "events" in 2012 - an event being a bomb that explodes, is found and defused, or the discovery of a cache of explosives. Overall, IED attacks in Afghanistan dropped by about 8 percent in 2012 from a record high in 2011.
Barbero said the Afghan Taliban insurgents will continue to use IEDs "as the weapon of choice" when the spring fighting season starts in Afghanistan.
There are around 66,000 US troops in Afghanistan helping over 300,000 Afghan security forces fight insurgency.
Afghan Carpet Producers Seek Educational Institute
TOLOnews.com Saturday, 19 January 2013
Afghan Carpet Producers and Exporters Association is seeking to set up an educational institute of carpet weaving to maintain the high level of skill required for the industry to thrive, the association said Saturday.
Association officials said that a carpet weaving institute will also pave the way for standardisation of the carpet industry in the country, but so far there has been little government interest in the idea.
"We frequently suggest this to the Commerce and Education Ministries to create the institute but they take it easy, while it is a basic necessity in this industry," an Association official Haji Nabi said.
The institute would cover subjects such as production of raw materials, carpet planning, weaving, painting and the process of selling carpets in order to ensure high calibre carpet weavers in the industry.
Haji Nabi said that most of the the people currently working in the carpet industry do not even have basic literacy so they are not as capable of using the technologies available to facilitate work in this industry.
The association's officials believe that by standardising the industry they will open up more more opportunities for the growth of carpet weaving and exports in all Afghanistan.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
KABUL, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Up to 15 Taliban militants have been killed in separate operations in different Afghan provinces, authorities said Sunday.
"Afghan and coalition forces killed six insurgents, detained one, and located two weapons caches during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours," the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement.
Afghan Border Police killed six insurgents during an engagement in Achin District in Nangarhar province 120 km east of Kabul, the ISAF's statement said.
The weapons caches were found in eastern Khost and neighboring Paktia province, the ISAF forces said in the statement.
In addition, Afghan army and police launched a cleanup operation on Saturday in the country's Helmand province, 555 km south of Kabul, to clear the militants in areas in Nad Ali and Marjah Districts, killing nine armed Taliban militants, a spokesman for provincial government, Ahmad Zirak, told Xinhua on Sunday.
He said the Afghan army troops also detained a Taliban fighter, who shot dead a teenage girl in Nad Ali District, during the operation.
The Taliban has been waging an insurgency since its regime was toppled by a U.S.-led invasion in late 2001.
News Analysis: Karzai optimistic on peace in Afghanistan but Taliban insurgents continue its attacks
By Abdul Haleem
KABUL, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has told the media that the U.S. and foreign troops would no longer wage war against the Taliban after 2014, saying that they have to chase the al-Qaida and other terrorist groups in their sanctuaries outside of Afghanistan and not inside the country.
In a press conference held in his fortified Palace on Jan. 14, Karzai also officially announced that the U.S. administration has agreed to hand over the notorious Bagram detention center to the Afghan government.
Hundreds of Taliban militants and al-Qaida loyalists are still detained at the Bagram prison.
To encourage them to give up fighting, the President also called on Taliban insurgents who think of Afghanistan and want to participate in rebuilding their embattled country to return to the fold of the laws and resume normal life.
Karzai also assured the nation that after the complete pullout of all foreign forces from Afghanistan in 2014, the country will be more stable and peaceful.
But just two days after Karzai's optimistic remarks on the country's future, a major attack against the country's National Directorate for Security (NDS) or national spy agency in Kabul city occurred on Wednesday killing six people, presumably the attackers, while 30 others, all civilians, were injured. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
During his three-day official visit to Washington, D.C. that ended on Jan. 11, President Karzai had extensive talks with U.S. officials led by President Barack Obama on topics that include the future of Afghanistan, the two countries' bilateral relations, peace talks with Taliban, and the forging of a security pact that would govern the security arrangement with the U.S. after the 2014 pullout.
The President said that the Afghan traditional Loya Jirga, or grand assembly of elders and tribal chieftains, will decide whether U.S. troops will enjoy immunity from prosecution after 2014.
Immunity from local suits for their forces while serving in Afghanistan has been the most contentious issue in the proposed security accord between the two countries.
Echoing President Karzai's remarks, Masuom Stanikzai, secretariat chief of the government-backed peace body, the High Peace Council, told journalists on Tuesday that the Taliban have no more reason to fight the government since the U.S. has already agreed to turn over Bagram prison to Afghan forces and to complete their pullout in 2014.
But the Taliban, which has been fighting both the Afghan government and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force ( ISAF) over the past decade, has repeatedly turned down the government's peace offer.
The Taliban has also scored the Karzai government for negotiating a security pact with the U.S. and insisted on an unconditional withdrawal of all foreign forces before it would negotiate with the government.
In a statement posted on its website, the Taliban described the proposed security pact with U.S. as a personal act of President Karzai with U.S. administration, noting such agreement would have no legitimacy and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (old name of Taliban ousted regime) would continue its jihad or holy war against all foreign troops like what they have been doing in the past 11 years.
In its statement, the Taliban also described the U.S. long-term presence in Afghanistan as the main cause of instability in the region as it called on regional and western nations to help push all American forces out of Afghanistan.
The Taliban said the proposed security pact with the U.S. would "sell" the country's independence to the U.S, as it vowed to thwart its signing.
In an article posted on its website Thursday, the Taliban said that granting judicial immunity to American soldiers is in fact granting permanent presence of U.S. military in Afghanistan, which would eventually enable the occupying troops "to control Afghanistan and monitor neighboring states."
U.N. Report Said to Allege Widespread Torture by Afghans
Wall Street Journal By YAROSLAV TROFIMOV and MARIA ABI-HABIB January 20, 2013
KABUL - A United Nations report due to be released on Monday alleges that widespread torture and abuse of detainees continues at Afghan police and intelligence service facilities, people who viewed the document say, creating a new hurdle for the transition of security responsibilities by the U.S.-led coalition.
The issue of detentions is highly charged in Afghanistan, with President Hamid Karzai repeatedly demanding that all detainees held by the U.S. and allies be transferred immediately to Afghan custody. Following talks with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington earlier this month, Mr. Karzai said that the U.S. would immediately hand over the Afghans held at the main U.S. detention center at Bagram.
But credible allegations of torture could make such transfers illegal under U.S. law and the legislation of many other coalition allies. "It is a cause for grave concern, and will certainly have repercussions," said a Western diplomat familiar with the U.N. report. Ending abuse of detainees, the diplomat added, is one of the commitments that Mr. Karzai's government reiterated last year, in exchange for continued Western aid once most U.S.-led troops go home in 2014.
The 100-page U.N. report was based on several hundred interviews across Afghanistan, with about half the interviewed detainees and former detainees alleging torture or abuse by the Afghan National Directorate of Security and Ministry of Interior, according to people who viewed the document. The Afghan government rebutted some of these allegations, and promised to investigate others, in a lengthy response attached to the document, these people say.
Overall, the U.N. report paints a bleak picture, pointing to few improvements since a similar report in October 2011 drew international attention to the issue, forcing the U.S. and allies to halt the transfer of detainees to nine Afghan facilities. At that time Western officials with knowledge of detainee treatment described some of the facilities—particularly those run by the NDS—as"nail-collecting factories" because of the brutal interrogation techniques there.
The coalition later resumed transfers to some of these facilities, saying that Afghan detention conditions have improved.
The latest U.N. report, in addition to drawing attention to continuing abuse, also points to the existence of torture at unofficial, off-the-books detention facilities that are operated by the Afghan government, and that cannot be monitored by human-rights groups, according to people who viewed the document.
Earlier this month, as the latest U.N. report was being prepared and its main findings circulated to Afghan and coalition officials, the coalition said it once again moved to halt some transfers.
Handovers to specific Afghan detention facilities were stopped as a result of "information" from human rights groups "determined to be credible," said Jamie Graybeal, the deputy public affairs officer for the International Security Assistance Force. Such information, Mr. Graybeal said, includes reports on detainee conditions provided by the U.N. and human rights groups.
These reports help "in determining whether allegations of inappropriate treatment of detainees warrant suspension of ISAF detainee transfers to affected facilities," Mr. Graybeal wrote in response to emailed questions.
Afghanistan's Ministry of Interior declined to comment officially on the new U.N. findings, although an official at the ministry denied any abuse at detention centers. A spokesman for NDS said he hadn't heard of the report and was unaware whether top NDS officials had received it.
"We don't torture detainees and we treat them in accordance to the law. Our detention centers are open, and human rights and other organizations visit the centers regularly to observe the situation and are satisfied with them," said the spokesman, Shafiqullah Taheri.
Speaking on Thursday, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, James Cunningham, said that the issue of detentions and Bagram is unlikely to affect the talks with Kabul on a bilateral security agreement that outlines what U.S. military presence will remain in Afghanistan after 2014.
"There are no allegations of human rights or other issues" either on the U.S. side or the Afghan side of the Bagram detention facility, Mr. Cunningham said. "We have obligations under our own law, and under international law, for the treatment of the prisoners that we take." —Nathan Hodge and Habib Khan Totakhil contributed to this article.
Write to Yaroslav Trofimov at yaroslav.trofimov@wsj.com and Maria Abi-Habib atmaria.habib@dowjones.com
Afghan parliament approve budget draft for 1392
By Sayed Jawad - January 20 2013, 3:57 pm Khaama Press
The Afghan budget draft for the upcoming Afghan calendar year 1392 was finally approved by Afghan lawmakers on Sunday after months of scuffle.
According to reports the Afghan finance ministry has revised the budget draft after Afghan parliament rejected the draft two times.
The budget draft was introduced to the Afghan parliament on late November which was rejected by Afghan lawmakers on 21 December for the first time and was later once again rejected on 16 January 2013.
The draft was revised by Afghan finance ministry and according to reports additional budget for a number of infrastructure projects including road construction project and provincial airports development has been added to the draft.
In the meantime Afghan finance ministry officials are saying that the amount of the budget draft remains unchanged however allocation of funds to various projects have been revised.
Finance Minister Hazrat Omer Zakhilwal said the current budget draft can not fulfill all the requirements of the Afghan people however the current budget draft has been prepared considering the facilities and income of the government.
He said over $1 billion of the budget will be spent on military equipments and Afghan security institutions and the government will be left with $2 billion to spend on development projects.
Afghanistan on the horizon as Dubai's DP World plots growth
The National By Rebecca Bundhun Jan 20, 2013
Dubai's DP World is exploring opportunities to develop ports in countries including Afghanistan and Myanmar as it aims to gain a foothold in underdeveloped markets with potential for growth.
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are also on the ports company's radar, said DP World.
"In all these places the infrastructure is lacking," it said. "There's a waiting period for ships. It's inefficient."
Afghanistan presents one new, but risky, territory for the company, it said.
"It's a difficult country, difficult terrain, but it is in these difficult places that you have good opportunities," said the company.
DP World is looking at opportunities to develop dry ports and inland ports within landlocked Afghanistan.
Another market of interest is Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, which only recently started to open up politically and economically.
"Myanmar is exploratory at the moment because they're just opening up," said DP World. "It's an interesting place and we have to be there. It needs development. We are talking to ... government, local partners. It's an opportunity for us."
No figure for the potential investment into these markets has been disclosed, but with current infrastructure being severely limited, DP World would have to develop the ports from scratch.
The company is also aiming to expand its presence in India, where it is already the country's largest ports operator.
The company operates five Indian container ports, including facilities in Mumbai and Kochi, as well as a train service for cargo. It has invested more than US$1 billion (Dh3.67bn) in the country.
"We are looking at other opportunities for growth in India," said Anil Singh, DP World's managing director for the subcontinent.
Plans to develop a port in Kulpi, in the north-east have been delayed as the company negotiates with the state government on infrastructure to support the project.
"There are some conditions that the [state] government satisfy, such as road connectivity, before we sign the agreement," said Mr Singh. "Until that is done building a port doesn't make sense."
DP World is in the process of restructuring its business in India to bring the assets under one holding company in the country. Its new holding company, Hindustan Ports, was approved by India's foreign investment promotion board last week, said Mr Singh. Some of its assets were acquired after DP World bought the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation company (P&O) in 2005.
"We are looking at trying to restructure our assets," said Mr Singh. "When we acquired P&O it was very patchy. Some of it was in Australia, some of it was in Mauritius, some of it was in London. So what we are doing is consolidating everything and bringing it onshore [in India]."
As part of its growth in the region, DP World is in the bidding stage for a port project in Chittagong in Bangladesh and recently won a contract to build and operate a $200 million facility in Mumbai to expand India's largest container port.
business@thenational.ae
Ariana and Kam Air to Merge
TOLOnews.com By Shahla Murtazawi Saturday, 19 January 2013
Ariana Afghan Airlines will merge with the privately-owned Afghan airline Kam Air, airline officials said Saturday, although the final agreement has not been inked.
Kam Air president Zmarai Kamgar said the merging of the two Afghan carriers makes sense in the face of the stiff competition from international airlines.
"We pioneered the merger," he said. "A suggestion was sent from Kam Air to the Council of Ministers, following which, it was sent from the Council to the president. The council, fortunately, then confirmed the merger of Kam Air and Ariana."
"The result is yet not clear, but talks between Ariana and us continue," he added. "Once the companies merge, the ministers of Finance, Economics, and Transport will be bound to find ways to improve their work."
"According to the new act by the Council of Ministers, the air industry is experiencing problems, and to resolve these issue the Council has decided it would be better if Kam Air and Ariana merge," Ariana president Naseer Ahmad Hakimi told TOLOnews.
"We reviewed the act and there have been two meetings at the Ministry of Aviation and Transportation, but no steps have been taken yet," he added.
Meanwhile, the High Office of Oversight and Anti-Corruption confirmed that the office received a report indicating the Council of Ministers have decided to merge the two airlines.
"I received a report which showed the Council of Ministers has decided to merge Kam Air with Afghanistan's air company, Ariana Afghan Airlines which has been taking the Afghan flag to different countries for more than fifty years," Azizullah Lodin, Head of High Office of Oversight and Anti-Corruption said.
"The report mentioned that works for the matter are underway. They have written how much the losses would be. I reviewed it and wrote a letter to the president to review the matter as well," he added.
Ariana Afghan Airlines is believed to have millions of properties both inside and outside the country.
Charity helps foreign troops take Afghanistan pets home
Nowzad was founded by a former British marine. It helps departing soldiers recover their forbidden pets from bases and fly them to their new homes.
Los Angeles Times By David Zucchino January 19, 2013
KABUL, Afghanistan - She was just an ordinary brown mutt, a stray, but Pvt. Conrad Lewis loved her.
Lewis, a British paratrooper in Afghanistan's Helmand province, adopted the dog and named her Pegasus. Everyone called her Peg.
In his letters home, Lewis described Peg as a member of his military family: "I have taught her to sit and give me her paw.... She patrols with us, she is not afraid of the Taliban or their bullets."
When Lewis was on Christmas leave in Britain in 2010, he told his father, Tony, that Peg was so important to him that he wanted to bring her home when he returned from his deployment. "That's your job, Dad," he said.
Two months later, in February 2011, Pvt. Lewis was dead at 22, shot by a sniper.
Tony Lewis and his wife, Sandi, were determined to honor their son's wish. A friend put them in touch with Pen Farthing, a former British Royal Marine whose charity, Nowzad, helps reunite adopted pets with soldiers and contractors after they leave Afghanistan.
The parents, the charity and Conrad's fellow paratroopers hatched a plan: Peg was slipped aboard a military helicopter, then disguised as a military working dog. Afghan army soldiers were paid to deliver her to Kabul.
The Nowzad kennels in the Afghan capital nursed her back to health. Six months later, in November 2011, Peg leaped into the arms of Tony and Sandi Lewis in Claverdon, Warwickshire.
"Having her here means so much to us," Tony Lewis said on Thanksgiving Day. "She is a link to Conrad's time in Afghanistan, a symbol of his sacrifice. She is something he loved, and we love her too.... She has his spirit."
Obia, a skinny white mongrel, was packed up and ready to travel from the Nowzad kennels.
A computer chip had been implanted in his neck to identify him. He'd been given a rabies shot and vaccinations. He was free of distemper, parvo virus, mange, ticks and worms. And, although Obia protested, his manhood had been surgically removed.
Obia was headed to the United States along with Stan, an excitable tabby cat. Obia will be reunited with an American soldier who had adopted him. Stan, freshly neutered, was headed back to an American security contractor who had transferred home.
"And here's Bruno — yes, hello, Bruno! You're going next!" Nowzad kennel manager Louise Hastie cooed to an eager, slobbering mastiff soon to be reunited with a soldier now in Italy.
Rescued dogs and cats yowled and meowed at Hastie, a former British soldier, in the noisy Nowzad compound on Kabul's dusty western shoulder.
Hastie hustled from cage to cage, tending to pets whose owners apparently can't bear to live without them. "Re-homing," she calls it.
More than 400 dogs, and a few cats, have been flown to new homes overseas by Nowzad. But first, most have to be recovered from military bases, where pets are technically against regulations. Then they are driven along insurgent-infested roads to the capital by an underground network of hired Afghan drivers.
The dogs don't travel in pet containers. That would give them away as pets of Westerners. They ride freely in the vehicle, the Afghan way, barking furiously until they're safely in Hastie's arms.
Nowzad's efforts "are almost like military operations: They require a lot of planning and precision," Hastie said as she stroked the ears of Ladybug, a lazy stray dog who wandered into her kitchen one day and never left.
Most pets go to the United States or Britain, but some have been flown to Australia, Germany, Canada, South Africa and Italy. Hastie negotiates the exhausting business of health certificates, blood tests, quarantines, customs clearances, manifests and pet flight containers.
In addition to Peg, the charity has delivered Lexie, a small white stray, to the family of another fallen soldier. Lexie was sent in June 2011 to the Michigan family of Marine Sgt. David Day, 26, who had contacted Nowzad for help in sending her to his home a month before he was killed in combat in April 2011.
More typical are dogs like Rio, the malnourished pup of a stray, adopted by U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Bob Cook in Afghanistan last year. Cook called Hastie just in time to save Rio from euthanasia at his base.
Hastie cared for Rio at Nowzad while Cook raised money from friends and strangers to send the dog to Cheektowaga, N.Y., where Rio joined Cook's wife, Kristin, in November 2011. Rio was waiting for Cook when he returned from deployment in March.
"She greeted me at the door; she's the love of my life," Cook said.
Rescuing a dog costs $3,500 to $4,000. A cat rescue costs about $2,500. On average, soldiers, contractors or families contribute $500 to $1,000 per rescue. Donations from animal lovers worldwide take care of the remainder.
"It's bloody expensive," Hastie said, citing flights, food, boarding, medical treatment, wages for Afghan staff members.
Nowzad was founded in 2007 by Farthing. While serving in Helmand province in 2006, he rescued a stray from an organized dogfight and named it Nowzad, after a district in Helmand. He eventually got Nowzad home to Britain and later decided to help other soldiers recover their pets.
"The dogs want nothing more than human company — and to be fed," Farthing said from his home in Britain. "And the soldiers want nothing more than a bit of normality in their daily routine."
But most soldiers wait until they're about to transfer home to contact Nowzad.
"Normally we receive an emotional plea for help in getting the dog away from the base just as the soldier is about to be sent home," Farthing said. "We have to work extremely quickly to make it all happen."
Nowzad's headquarters is in Britain, with an office in Peoria, Ill., and the kennels in Kabul.
In Kabul, Nowzad relies on the efforts of Hastie, a slender, harried woman who dotes on the animals. She sleeps in snatches, awakened by round-the-clock calls from soldiers wanting their pets rescued or delivered. Her email account is clogged with notes of thanks from soldiers whose pets have been safely delivered.
"It's a 24-hour-a-day job," Hastie said, raising her voice to be heard over the howling of Sherak, a huge mastiff that greeted her with a clumsy lunge. She's paid a modest salary, which she figures works out to a few cents an hour.
"I don't do this for the money," she said. "I do it to make a difference, for the animals and for the people who care about them."
Hastie's home, next to the kennels, houses 14 rescued dogs — Rocky, Socks, Malik, Panda and so on — that are now her pets. They and the kennel animals outside constantly compete for Hastie's attention.
Here's Buster, a stray dog who had a bullet removed from his leg. Here's Mouse, a female mutt whose leg was amputated after a car accident.
And here's Joey, a skeletal creature Hastie found in the street "looking for a place to die." Sores and infections festered on the dog's coat and snout. Hastie figured Joey was certain to die, but she has nursed him back to health. He greeted her with a tortured wag of his tail.
A few rescued dogs have been adopted by Afghans, but Joey and the others will probably also be adopted by Hastie. Her heart melts, she confessed, at the sight of a stray.
Hastie, who had served seven months in Iraq with the British army, heard about Nowzad three years ago when she was back in Iraq as a contractor. She offered her services and was eminently qualified: She'd already helped several of her friends get pets out of Iraq.
"The only word to describe Louise is intrepid," said Susan Chadima, an American veterinarian who volunteers at the kennels.
Chadima spoke as she sliced into Sweet Pea, a rescue cat she had anesthetized. Sweet Pea was having her ovaries and uterus removed. She followed Garfield, a short-haired cat, who had just undergone neutering on the same surgical table.
Controlling the dog and cat population is a central mission for Nowzad in a country where people sometimes poison or shoot strays. Many Afghans consider canines filthy, using them only for protection, livestock herding or dogfights.
"If we can control the population and make these animals clean and healthy, maybe we can change attitudes," Chadima said.
Even Chadima has a Nowzad dog: Callie, a stray who had been hit by a car in Kabul. Chadima sewed her back together; the dog is now in the care of her husband in Maine.
A Chicago charity recently asked Nowzad to supply therapy dogs for soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder. Hastie sent Kala and Pippa, two female dogs who she thought had the right personalities for therapy.
Nowzad also took in Ted, a U.S. military working dog suffering the canine equivalent of PTSD after sniffing for bombs in combat. Hastie arranged for Ted to get a quiet home by reuniting him with his handler, an American soldier now in Germany.
Not all pet stories end happily. Two stray dogs taken in died of rabies. Another dog, trained by Afghans to fight, bit both Hastie and Farthing. He's still at the kennel, but he's not going to be anyone's pet.
Next to the kennel, Hastie bent down to greet seven dogs that had just arrived — "the Magnificent Seven," she called them. They had been adopted by soldiers who were scheduled to return to the U.S. Hastie was arranging for the dogs to rejoin them.
The soldiers were willing to contribute money, but Hastie still needed a lot more, about $25,000.
"We'll raise it," she said. She looked into the sad brown eyes of one of the seven dogs and told him, "You've hit the jackpot."
In Warwickshire, Peg has made her peace with the Lewises' bulldog, Fergie, but still competes with him for attention and food. She has also taken to stealing his bed.
"Peg is cute, fun, cheeky, very streetwise and smart" and bold and dominant just like Conrad, said Tony Lewis.
Sandi Lewis can't look after her son anymore. "But we can look after his beloved dog."
Peg gave Conrad something he needed at a pivotal juncture in his young life, his father said: love, comfort and loyalty. "The least she deserves is a loving home back with us."
david.zucchino@latimes.com
IED Casualties Up 124% Among Afghan Troops
TOLOnews.com Saturday, 19 January 2013
Afghan troops suffered a 124 percent increase in the number of casualties from improvised explosive attacks last year, a sign of their increasing role on the battlefield, according to the Pentagon.
The 2012 statistics show the number of attacks against Afghans rose in the second half of 2012.
For US troops, however, deaths and injuries from improvised explosive devices (IED) in Afghanistan dropped by almost half in the same year, the Pentagon said.
More surveillance equipment, metal detectors and intensive training have also helped bring down the US casualties, according to Lt. Gen. Michael Barbero, the Pentagon's Joint IED Defeat Organisation chief.
IEDs have been one of the top threats for the US forces in Afghanistan but is clearly in decline, killing 104 US troops in 2012 compared with 196 in 2011, a 46 percent drop. The makeshift bombs also wounded fewer troops, from 3,542 in 2011 to 1,744 in 2012, a 50 percent drop, according to Pentagon statistics.
There were 15,222 IED "events" in 2012 - an event being a bomb that explodes, is found and defused, or the discovery of a cache of explosives. Overall, IED attacks in Afghanistan dropped by about 8 percent in 2012 from a record high in 2011.
Barbero said the Afghan Taliban insurgents will continue to use IEDs "as the weapon of choice" when the spring fighting season starts in Afghanistan.
There are around 66,000 US troops in Afghanistan helping over 300,000 Afghan security forces fight insurgency.
Afghan Carpet Producers Seek Educational Institute
TOLOnews.com Saturday, 19 January 2013
Afghan Carpet Producers and Exporters Association is seeking to set up an educational institute of carpet weaving to maintain the high level of skill required for the industry to thrive, the association said Saturday.
Association officials said that a carpet weaving institute will also pave the way for standardisation of the carpet industry in the country, but so far there has been little government interest in the idea.
"We frequently suggest this to the Commerce and Education Ministries to create the institute but they take it easy, while it is a basic necessity in this industry," an Association official Haji Nabi said.
The institute would cover subjects such as production of raw materials, carpet planning, weaving, painting and the process of selling carpets in order to ensure high calibre carpet weavers in the industry.
Haji Nabi said that most of the the people currently working in the carpet industry do not even have basic literacy so they are not as capable of using the technologies available to facilitate work in this industry.
The association's officials believe that by standardising the industry they will open up more more opportunities for the growth of carpet weaving and exports in all Afghanistan.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com