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U.S. officials failed to verify that fuel for Afghan forces did not come from Iran, report says
Washington Post By Ernesto Londoño Thursday, January 31, 2013
American officials in Afghanistan have failed to verify that fuel purchased for Afghan security forces in recent years did not come from Iran, which would constitute a violation of U.S. sanctions, according to an inspector general report issued Wednesday.
The report warned that “it will become more difficult” to make sure assistance to Afghanistan complies with sanctions on Iran as the U.S. military footprint in the country continues to shrink over the next two years. The United States intends to start giving a fuel stipend for Afghan forces to the Afghan Ministry of Defense in March, rather than directly supplying units in the field.
“Our report again demonstrates the critical importance that oversight plays in the contracting process,” Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John F. Sopko said in a statement. “It is essential that the Department of Defense continues to implement strict controls over the fuel supply process to ensure taxpayer funds are not used in violation of Iranian sanctions.”
Between 2007 and 2012, the report said, the U.S. government did not have a reliable way of verifying that its Afghan providers were not buying from Iran as they supplied fuel worth nearly $1.1 billion to the Afghan army. The Pentagon asked Congress for $323 million for fuel purchases for Afghan security forces during 2013. U.S. military officials estimate that the Afghan army will need $2.8 billion to keep its security vehicles running between 2014 and 2018.
Afghanistan imports most of its oil from Russia, Turkmenistan and Iran. Investigators from the inspector general office, known as SIGAR, found that some fuel imported from other neighbors may have been blended with Iranian petrol.
The report of a possible violation of Iran sanctions is the latest critical review of the U.S. military’s fuel procurement for Afghans. SIGAR and other U.S. agencies have said the military does not have enough safeguards to ensure that the fuel it provides to local security forces is not siphoned off.
In response to a draft of the report, the training command said it is taking numerous steps to enhance accountability in its fuel procurement system, including a new requirement that vendors must agree not to buy Iranian fuel.
The United States bars American companies from doing business with Iran and prohibits spending U.S. taxpayer funds on Iranian products. The measure is designed to cut off the Islamic republic from the global economy, a pressure tactic to persuade Tehran to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
Iran is the third-largest exporter of crude in the world, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
1,400 fresh graduates in Afghan army
KABUL, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- A total of 1,400 soldiers graduated from Kabul Military Training Center (KMTC) on Thursday and were commissioned to Afghan National Army (ANA), General Aminullah Patyannai commander of KMTC said.
"After completion of three-month training, some 1,400 soldiers graduated from Kabul Military Training Center on Thursday morning and were commissioned to army to serve the nation," Patyannai told audience in a graduation ceremony in KMTC complex, eastern edge of capital city of Kabul.
The newly graduated soldiers are ready to be deployed to any part of the country to provide security for their people, he further said.
According to Patyannai, the soldiers had received training under U.S., NATO and Afghan trainers.
Currently the Afghan army or ANA has more than 175,000 soldiers, according to Patyannai.
The Afghan government and NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan (NTM-A) have stepped up efforts to train and equip Afghan police and army as NATO-led ISAF forces have handed over the security responsibilities of areas where more than 75 percent of the population lives, part of a process which will run through 2014 when the country takes over full leadership of its own security duties.
Abdullah Accuses Govt of Controlling IEC
TOLOnews.com By Haseeb Maudoodi Wednesday, 30 January 2013
National Coalition leader Abdullah Abdullah Wednesday claimed that the government is attempting to control Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC), pointing to the recent pressure it has brought to bear on the commission's decisions.
Following government demands, the senate did not approve an IEC-recommended and parliament-backed structure of having foreign observers on the board of the Electoral Complaints Commission which oversees the election ballot.
More recently, the IEC has caved to another government demand – to use the old voting registration system and voting cards in the next presidential election, despite the IEC's insistence that it will greatly increase the chances of fraud.
Abdullah addressed a gathering in the Kabul mosque calling for people to not accept any fraud or violations of the law.
"The time of fraud has passed and the people now want their rights. The government has put such pressure [on the IEC] that the election officials have announced that we are surrendering to the government," Abdullah said.
Head of Eqtidar-e-Milli party Sayed Ali Kazimi said at the gathering that the government has transgressed the law.
"The election law was approved by parliament but the government has kept it in senate," he said.
IEC spokesman responded to Abdullah's comments saying that the commission will not allow anyone to intervene the in the electoral affairs.
"All want to intervene to their own benefit but our promise to the people is that we will not surrender to any person or any group," Noor Mohammad Noor told TOLOnews Wednesday in a telephone interview.
However, on Monday IEC chief Fazil Ahmad Manawi clearly told TOLOnews that the commission backed down from its demand for new voter registrations and cards because of the refusal of the government.
"If our previous plans were accepted, as we promised we could guarantee the transparency of the election but we didn't have any other alternative," he said of the IEC shift.
"We have some other measures that can guarantee transparency, but one thing is clear: we cannot implement our programmes [as we want] and we don't want to be fighting with the government. We want go forward in harmony and the election should be held in a transparent environment," he added.
Taliban shadowy district governor killed in E. Afghan raid
GHAZNI, Afghanistan, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- A Taliban shadowy district governor was killed in an operation in Afghanistan's eastern province of Ghazni overnight, the provincial police chief said Thursday.
"A local Taliban leader named Adam Khan who served as the insurgent shadowy district governor for Ghazni's Andar district were killed and two suspected Taliban fighters detained in an operation conducted by police in Ali Qala area of the district Wednesday night," police chief Zarawar Zahid told reporters in a press briefing here.
He said Khan was responsible for anti-government and subversive activities in the province 100 km south of capital Kabul.
"The killed leader was involved in organizing a suicide attack that left a policeman and a civilian dead and 13 people wounded in provincial capital Ghazni city on January 26," Zhaid added.
The Taliban insurgent group, which has been waging an insurgency of more than one decade, has yet to confirm the death of their leader.
Afghan father hands over 'bomber son' to police
30 January 2013 BBC News
An Afghan father in the northern city of Kunduz has handed over his teenaged son to police after becoming worried he might have been groomed to become a suicide bomber.
The father told the BBC he had been worried about his son for some time.
He said he panicked on hearing of a suicide attack in the city on Saturday.
At least 10 police were killed in the attack on a crowded market, including the city's head of counter-terrorism and another high ranking officer.
Police spokesman Sayed Sarwar Husseini told a press conference on Tuesday that the father's actions had "prevented another bloody attack and lethal casualties".
'Radicalised'
The father cannot be named to protect his family's identity.
"I was in the shop when I heard there was a suicide attack, and I was worried it could have been carried out by my second son," he said.
The father rushed home, but initially could not find the youth before finally tracking him down at a house in the city.
When the men who were with his son refused to let him come home - saying they would send him back the next day - the father made the decision to call the police and give them the address.
The father said that he did so because he feared the 16-year-old might have been radicalised.
Police later raided the house and arrested the youth and another person.
They told the BBC that they believed the house where the arrests were made was rented by people who had been "preparing suicide attackers", although no bomb-making material was found.
The father told the BBC that the family returned to Kunduz late last year after living in Pakistan for 30 years.
He said that his son had "completely changed" after disappearing without trace for several months before their departure.
When he re-joined the family, he had become "very withdrawn", the father said.
He said that his son had received religious instruction and had begun to read the Koran avidly.
"I was worried about his behaviour," the father said. "He told us that he was with Pakistanis and that they were regularly giving him medicine."
The father became so worried that he decided to leave Pakistan. But even in Kunduz, he says, his son continued contacting Pakistani men.
The youth is now in police custody - his father says that he will now go through a re-education programme.
Correspondents say that the father is being hailed by the authorities as an example of how ordinary people can help to counter youth radicalisation.
US Air Force aims to transfer C-130 planes to Afghanistan
Reuters By Andrea Shalal-Esa Wed Jan 30, 2013
* Alenia seeks renewal of existing G222 contract
* Air Force sees 2 C-130s in Afghanistan by end of 2013
The U.S. Air Force on Wednesday said it hoped to deliver two C-130 transport planes to Afghanistan by the end of 2013 and two more in 2014 after deciding to end a deal with Italy's Finmeccanica SpA for 20 G222 cargo planes.
Air Force spokesman Ed Gulick said details were still being worked out, but the Air Force was "aggressively pushing for delivery of two C-130H models in late calendar year 2013 and two additional ones before the end of calendar 2014."
"The Afghan Government has requested four C-130 aircraft as a replacement for the G222, and the U.S. Air Force is currently developing and accessing strategies to identify C-130 aircraft that could be made available for transfer to the (Afghan Air Force) at some point in the near future," he said.
Gulick said the Air Force was "committed to provide an effective and sustainable airlift capability for our Afghan partners as soon as possible." He said plans were also being assessed for training Afghan crews to fly and service the larger four-engine C-130 transport planes.
The U.S. decided in December not to renew a contract with Alenia Aermacchi, a unit of Finmeccanica, when it expires in March after years of problems with Alenia's work on the contract. The Air Force has already spent $590 million on the program, but will not exercise a $60 million option that would have extended the deal for an additional year.
The contract is part of the Pentagon's overall effort to equip the Afghan military as U.S.-led forces prepare to withdraw from the country after more than a decade of war.
It remains unclear what the Air Force will do with the 16 G222 aircraft that have been already been delivered to Afghanistan, or how Afghan forces will provide airlift for troops after the Alenia contract ends in March and before the first two C-130s arrive in Afghanistan later this year.
Alenia defends its work on the program, and says the twin-engine G222, an earlier model of Alenia's C-27J cargo plane, is one of the safest, most durable cargo planes available.
An Alenia spokesman said the company was in talks with U.S. lawmakers about the Air Force's decision to back away from the G222 deal, and what could be done to ensure that Afghan forces had continued airlift capability until the C-130s arrived.
He said the program was on budget and meeting or exceeding requirements at this point after an admittedly rocky start. "We're flying missions every day," said the spokesman.
"We're not disputing the Air Force's decision to bring in C-130s; that's their prerogative," said the spokesman. "We just want to see if there's a way to continue providing airlift until those other planes get there."
Gulick said it was not yet clear where the Air Force would get the used four C-130H aircraft for transfer to Afghanistan. The Air Force has 145 C-130 planes, while the National Guard has 191 and the Air Force reserve has 102. It was not immediately clear how many of those were H-models.
Lockheed Martin Corp, which builds the planes, is not producing the H-models anymore, having shifted to the newer J-model planes.
Gulick said the Alenia program had been plagued with problems, including issues keeping a sufficient number of planes ready for use.
The Stars and Stripes newspaper quoted a spokesman for the Afghan defense ministry earlier this month as saying that Washington now planned to deliver four C-130 transport planes to Afghanistan instead of the G222s, but the Air Force had not confirmed those plans until Wednesday.
Afghan Contractor Failings on Bomb Barriers Being Probed
Bloomberg By Tony Capaccio Jan 30, 2013
U.S. investigators are widening a criminal investigation into whether Afghan contractors failed to install barriers to protect troops from improvised bombs or billed for substandard work.
The inquiry stems from the killing of two American soldiers in July on a highway in Ghazni province in eastern Afghanistan. An Afghan contractor didn’t install grates that could have prevented insurgents from planting bombs in culverts carrying water under roadways, according to the U.S. Special Inspector for Afghanistan Reconstruction.
The probe is being expanded beyond Ghazni province based on evidence that failure to install the barriers or shoddy work on the U.S.-financed “culvert denial systems” may be widespread, John Sopko, the inspector general, said in an e-mail and in a speech this month in Washington.
“We launched a criminal investigation and have been working closely with the military and Afghan authorities to bring those responsible to justice,” said Sopko, whose office is an independent agency created by Congress to oversee U.S. spending in Afghanistan.
Congress has appropriated almost $89 billion since 2002 for reconstruction of Afghanistan. The U.S. is working with Afghan security forces and the judicial system to prepare for the departure of most American and allied forces by December 2014. ‘Deep-Seated’ Corruption
“While there has been major progress” in Afghanistan’s reconstruction, the country’s “reputation for corruption is deep-rooted and widespread, Sopko said in a report released today. The wrongdoing ‘‘involves many foreigners, including U.S. commissioned and non-commissioned officers and enlisted personnel, federal civilians, contractors, and subcontractors,’’ he said.
The president of the company involved in the Ghazni province incident was arrested last weekend by the Afghan attorney general’s office on evidence developed by the inspector general and the U.S. military, according to Sopko’s office.
‘‘The prompt reporting of this dangerous situation by U.S. commanders enabled us to move quickly and issue an alert letter” in October, Sopko said.
Sopko’s investigators this month participated with U.S. troops in operations to survey roads and clear improvised bombs.
The inspector general’s Special Projects unit will conduct a “targeted evaluation” of systems installation throughout the country over the next four months. Spot Welding
Colonel Thomas Collins, a U.S. Army spokesman in Afghanistan, said in an e-mail that the U.S. hired a different company to complete the work in Ghazni province.
The first company “improperly installed” 122 grates along part of Highway 1 between Ghazni City and the border of Wardak Province, the inspector general said. It was paid $361,680 under the contract.
Instead of using concrete to anchor the grates, the company relied on “spot welding, making it easier for insurgents to tamper with them.”
The company “also fraudulently submitted misleading photographs claiming that culverts had protection work installed when in fact no work had been completed,” the inspector general said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tony Capaccio in Washington atacapaccio@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Walcott atjwalcott9@bloomberg.net
Afghanistan: It's worse in the winter
As temperatures in Kabul drop to well below freezing during the night, the country seems no closer to lasting peace or long-term economic stability.
Global Post By Chris Sands January 30, 2013
KABUL, Afghanistan - Mohammad Baqir left northern Afghanistan a year ago, seeking work away from his local mining community. Today he sells coal next to a busy Kabul street that has turned to mud in the rain, ice and snow.
Every winter the infrastructure of this rapidly expanding city struggles under the weight of the severe weather. There are regular power cuts, roofs collapse and children are at risk of dying from the cold.
Although life has improved for many people since the 2001 invasion, hopes of a comprehensive US-led nation-building program have been replaced by the realization that this could be as good as conditions get in the capital and elsewhere.
"When we hear about the situation on the TV and radio the government is saying it doesn't have the budget to solve all these problems," said Baqir.
"The Turkish government promised several times that it would pave this road and the mayor is making an effort, but it's no use — they are just taking dust from one place to another."
Back in 2002, US President George W. Bush vowed to rebuild Afghanistan with a modern Marshall Plan — a program devised to help lift Europe from the ruins of World War II.
But as the temperatures in Kabul drop to well below freezing during the night and people struggle through another winter, the country seems no closer to lasting peace or long-term economic stability.
While much of capital has been transformed, it remains a city where even basic services are unavailable to residents.
Houses often have no running water or sanitation and there is a limited electricity supply. The gas generators businesses use during blackouts and the wood-burning stoves that heat homes only add to the thick pollution that hangs in the air.
People like Baqir settle here because life is even harder in rural areas. He earns the equivalent of roughly $200 a month, much of which he sends to his family in Samangan province.
Opposite his workplace is an Afghan military academy. Heroin addicts gather a short distance away and the river nearby is full of garbage.
Asked why conditions were still this tough in the capital, Baqir accused President Hamid Karzai of siphoning off money meant for reconstruction.
"He takes a piece for himself and then gives the rest to his vice presidents. His vice presidents take a piece and give the rest to the ministers and so on down," he said.
The sense that local officials and the international community have failed the poor was keenly felt last winter, when dozens of children living in Kabul's refugee camps died from the cold.
This time the United Nations was quick to announce it has been distributing food, blankets and warm clothing across the country.
The government has also tried to emphasize its role in these efforts. As well as sending supplies to rural communities, the Afghan National Disaster Management Authority offers compensation to people affected by avalanches, landslides and floods.
A single payment of about $1,000 is available to the family of anyone killed, with $200 to $400 awarded for the destruction or damage of property. The same fund is used to compensate the victims of war-related violence.
Decades of conflict and unrelenting poverty have, however, left a lot of people devoid of hope.
Reza Gul returned to Afghanistan from exile in Pakistan five years ago and is now living in a refugee camp of mud huts in the east of Kabul. Aged around 50 or 60 and a widow, she spends her days begging for money outside a local mosque.
Her son is disabled, having been injured as a child during the 1992-1996 civil war. “Our life is bitter,” she said. “Without God I have nothing.”
It is the combined strain of these social, economic and security pressures that is expected to place the country in such a precarious position when America and its allies pull out.
According to John F. Sopko, the United States' special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, since 2002 Congress has provided nearly $90 billion to help with development and rebuilding.
How much of that has benefited those most in need is increasingly open to question as the 2014 withdrawal date approaches.
In a report published last October, Sopko warned that “the stakes are high, and time is of the essence.” Others are already resigned to the fact that it may already be too late.
Khan Jan Alokozai, a vice chairman at the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries, told GlobalPost not enough has been done to ensure the country can progress in the longterm.
“Besides the war, in the last 10 years one problem that has risen up is the administrative corruption that all the commanders and government authorities have a hand in,” he said.
“When the international community is not here, like wolves they will eat the nation.”
Pakistani Taliban enter fray around strategic NATO routes
Fighting between rival militant groups near the Khyber Pass has reportedly claimed more than 70 lives over the past week.
Christian Science Monitor By Taha Siddiqui, Correspondent January 30, 2013
Islamabad, Pakistan - Clashes between rival militant groups in the tribal region next to the Afghanistan border has reportedly claimed more than 70 lives since fighting broke out last week. The area lies near the Khyber Pass, a main route for NATO supply trucks to Afghanistan, making it pivotal to the US war effort there and to Pakistan's revenues.
Fighting flared after a third militant group – the Pakistani Taliban – moved into an area already being fought over by two other outfits and the Pakistani military. On the run from its traditional strongholds in another part of the tribal belt, the Pakistani Taliban recently pushed into key parts of the Khyber Agency in a bid to control lucrative trading routes and establish a firmer base of operations.
The fighting now pits the Pakistani Taliban and a local militant group against a pro-government militant outfit and the Pakistani military. The military has tried since 2009 to gain full control over such a sensitive area, but has had to settle for a divide-and-conquer strategy of pitting one set of militants against another. The arrival of the Pakistani Taliban, an implacable foe of the government, complicates this already delicate balancing act.
“The government cannot let the area go into [Pakistani Taliban] control so it is trying to militarily deal with the situation and also by making sure militants continue to fight with each other, and no groups gets too strong enough to use the NATO routes as a pressure tactic on Pakistan and the international community,” says Nizam Dawar, a development specialist who has an office in Khyber Agency.
The military is playing off a turf war that dates back directly to the mid-2000s when Lashkar-e-Islam, a banned militant group that has now joined hands with the Pakistani Taliban, tried to establish its control over the trade routes in the area. Locals claim that the pro-government group Ansar-ul-Islam sprouted, with support of the government, to stop this from happening. While these specific groups are relatively new, such skirmishes have been recorded since at least British times, with rival tribal groups vying to control the same routes of trade through the mountains between the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia.
Speaking on the phone from an undisclosed location, Sadat Afridi, the spokesperson of pro-government Ansar-ul-Islam, said that the Pakistani Taliban had recently pushed into the area to also gain a foothold there.
“The fresh offense is because they are trying again to take over this area. But we will fight with them and not let that happen,” Mr. Afridi says. He denies that his group gets government support, but says they do operate rather freely in Khyber Agency since they "do not challenge the writ of the Pakistani state."
There are a number of reasons why the Pakistani Taliban have joined the fray now.
“The Pakistani Taliban are giving full support to Lashkar-e-Islam and together they want to take control of these trade routes now more than ever with 2014 approaching,” says Mr. Dawar, referencing the date for the pullout of US and NATO forces from Afghanistan.
The region also gives the Pakistani Taliban easier access to the settled areas around one of Pakistan's major cities, Peshawar – and from there, targets inside Pakistan's heartland. In the past couple of months, they have attacked the Peshawar airport and killed a provincial minister in a suicide bombing. Earlier, they took responsibility for the attempted killing of 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai, a girls' education activist.
On the up side for the Pakistani government, their Taliban foe may also have been forced to seek new territory. The tribal areas of North and South Waziristan, where the Pakistani Taliban were once thought to have the strongest hold, have become hostile in recent months for them because they are creating trouble for the Afghan Taliban based there. The two groups are allies, but separate. The Afghan Taliban are focused on fighting NATO and the Afghan government, and allegedly enjoy support from elements in the Pakistani security establishment. The Pakistani Taliban, meanwhile, are bent on attacking the Pakistani state, prompting military pursuit.
“There was a jirga [council of elders] backed by the 'good' [Afghan] Taliban in the South Waziristan area a few months ago, which asked the [supporters of the] Pakistani Taliban to vacate their area,” says Safdar Dawar Hayat, who reports from the tribal belt.
Mr. Hayat adds that this had the effect of forcing the Pakistani Taliban leadership out of the region. They found refuge in North Waziristan, but now local elders there want to expel them too, and may get the backing of the Afghan Taliban.
As a refuge, Khyber offers an attractive space, says Hayat. “It is all a jungle out there. The topography of this region in Khyber Agency makes a great place for Pakistani Taliban to hide and yet continue their fight against the Pakistani state.”
Pakistan says militant bases broken up near Afghan border
Reuters Jan 30, 2013
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Pakistani security officials broke up more than a dozen militant sanctuaries in the Khyber tribal region this week and killed 23 fighters, they said, while tribal sources said pro-Taliban groups killed 20 pro-government militants.
The Lashkar-e-Islam and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant groups attacked villages in the Tirah region and killed residents when they tried to stop them entering the area, the security officials said, requesting anonymity.
Tirah is a maze of valleys on a route from Afghanistan to the Pakistani city of Peshawar.
The Pakistani military and pro-government militias have since 2009 clawed back territory from the Taliban, who once controlled land a few hours' drive from the capital of Islamabad.
Pakistani government officials say the NATO withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in 2014 might strengthen the Taliban in Pakistan. The Afghan and Pakistani Taliban are separate groups but strong allies.
Tribal sources said 43 people, 20 of them members of the pro-government militant group Ansar ul-Islam, had been killed and more than two dozen wounded during two days of heavy fighting in Tirah.
The sources said the TTP and Lashkar-e-Islam militants had captured four important posts from members of the Ansar ul-Islam and advanced towards the strategically important Maidan area which is close to Bara subdivision, near Peshawar.
Peshawar is just 100 miles (160 km) east of Islamabad.
Pakistani troops were sent to fight alongside the tribesmen and Ansar ul-Islam to stop the fall of Bara, the sources said.
"Once Bara subdivision is captured by the militants, they would easily carry out attacks in Peshawar and that's why the government has been using all resources to foil the militants' attempt," Khayal Gul Afridi, a noted tribal elder, said in Bara.
Ihsanullah Ihsan, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, said the group had inflicted heavy losses on their opponents and captured important positions. (Reporting by Jibran Ahmad; Editing by Nick Macfie and Sanjeev Miglani)
Amid Afghanistan war, U.S. aid is there for an injured child
When a small Afghan boy was shot in the head, his father did an unusual thing: He took him to a U.S. base.
Los Angeles Times By David Zucchino January 30, 2013
KABUL, Afghanistan - When he saw the flowing blood, Mohammed Anwar at first thought his son was dead. Five-year-old Muqadas had been shot in the head in June during a firefight between U.S. forces and Taliban insurgents in eastern Afghanistan.
But Anwar's quick response not only saved his son's life, it also secured modern medical treatment that has allowed Muqadas to resume a normal life.
Thousands of Afghan civilians are killed or maimed each year in warfare, and most are doomed to rudimentary medical care in this impoverished country. In Muqadas' case, there was no hospital or clinic near his home, so Anwar drove to a U.S. military base about a mile from his remote village in Lowgar province. When gate guards saw his critically wounded son, they rushed him inside, where U.S. Army medics worked to stop the bleeding.
Within minutes, Anwar recalled, he and his son were placed aboard a medevac helicopter for a 10-minute flight to the American medical facility at Bagram air base near Kabul. There, emergency medical treatment saved the boy's life.
The U.S. military specializes in treating serious wounds, including head and brain injuries caused by bullets or shrapnel. The Bagram hospital is staffed by specialists such as neurosurgeons, and has sophisticated medical equipment not available in Afghan hospitals.
Muqadas emerged from an eight-day coma partially paralyzed and with severe neurological damage. He was transferred to a medical program run by the U.S. Agency for International Development. Treated by Western and Afghan doctors and nurses, the boy has since learned to walk and talk normally.
Since December 2011, USAID's Afghan Civilian Assistance Program has provided medical treatment for 180 Afghan patients. That's a tiny fraction of the tens of thousands of Afghans wounded in fighting or by mines or roadside bombs since 2001, but for Muqadas, the care probably saved him from lifelong paralysis.
"He couldn't walk; he could hardly open his eyes," Anwar said in a Kabul civilian hospital ward where his son is undergoing outpatient physical therapy. He gestured toward the boy, who sat quietly in his lap. "And look at him now."
Muqadas whispered to his father and smiled shyly. A plump boy with cropped black hair and a round face, he's active and energetic and plays with other children. He is undergoing therapy for partial paralysis in his left foot, which causes a slight limp.
Three months ago, the boy was confined to a hospital bed. He had difficulty speaking, eating and drinking.
"He lay on the bed like a piece of meat," said Dr. Abdul Shakur Furmoli, who has helped direct Muqadas' care under the USAID program. "Now this child is 99% returned to his normal life. He has a small limp — that's all — and we're working to correct that."
The assistance program, known as ACAP, is designed to treat Afghans wounded during combat between U.S. and coalition forces and insurgents, regardless of which side is directly responsible. (In its latest casualty report, the United Nations said that in 2011, at least 3,021 Afghans were killed and 4,507 wounded in war-related incidents, with insurgents responsible for 77% of the deaths.)
In Muqadas' case, American officials at the ACAP program said they were unable to determine which side fired the bullet that struck the boy. Anwar said he didn't know; he said his son was wounded after Taliban fighters fired on two U.S. helicopters.
The bullet remains embedded in the boy's skull, left there by doctors at Bagram. Because Muqadas' brain is healing, Furmoli said, there is no medical reason to risk surgery to remove the projectile.
Since his son was wounded, Anwar has left his job as a driver to devote himself to the boy's care. The program has given him $225 to help pay for travel costs. He makes regular three-hour trips from his village to take Muqadas for physiotherapy treatment at the Kabul hospital.
Muqadas is unusual not only because he received American medical treatment, but also because his father took him to U.S. forces in the first place. Much more often, program officials said, it is they who seek out wounded Afghans after receiving reports of civilian casualties in clashes between coalition forces and insurgents.
Since 2007, more than 11,000 Afghan families affected by the war have also received non-medical assistance through the program: food, emergency supplies, livestock or help in starting a small business. Muqadas' family, for instance, got help setting up a small grocery after he was shot.
The medical portion of the program is scheduled to end in September 2014. But USAID plans to continue many other programs that assist Afghan civilians well past 2014, said Kevin O'Loughlin, an agency spokesman in Kabul.
Anwar says he realizes that his son defied the odds in a country where dozens of civilians die unnecessarily of wounds each month, many from substandard medical care or no care at all. Even when Muqadas was in a coma at Bagram, Anwar said, American military doctors assured him his son would recover.
"Every day, they came to me and told me that one day he would be a normal little boy again," he said.
He hasn't yet told Muqadas that he has a bullet in his head. He said he told him he was hit by a rock.
The boy occasionally complains of headaches, Anwar said, but otherwise acts like any other 5-year-old boy. He seems grateful to be living an ordinary life except for his outpatient therapy.
"Every morning," his father said, "he wakes up and kisses his own hand."
david.zucchino@latimes.com
Kidnappers kill 11-year-old Afghan kid in Herat province
By Meena Haseeb - 31 Jan 2013, 1:00 pm Khaama Press
According to local security officials in western Herat province of Afghanistan, an Afghan kid was assassinated after he was kidnapped two months ago in this province.
A local security official speaking on the condition of anonymity said the kid was kidnapped two months back and his dead body was found on Wednesday night at Khesh-e-Pushtan area in Enjil district.
Ali Sina, the 11-year-old Afghan kid belonged to a rich family and one of the prominent merchants of western Herat province.
The security source also added that kidnappers had taken enough money from the family of the kid during the past two months.
He said Afghan security forces have arrested two suspected women in connection the kidnapping case and are under the investigation.
This comes as kidnapping cases have dramatically increased across the country specifically in western provinces of Afghanistan which has created tensions among the local residents.
Afghan kids are also smuggled outside of the country besides kidnapping for ransom.
Three Local Taliban Leaders Captured
TOLOnews.com Wednesday, 30 January 2013
Three Local Taliban leaders were captured Wednesday in operations in the north and south of Afghanistan.
Two leaders were captured in a joint Afghan and Nato troop operation in Nahr-e Saraj district of southern Helmand province, Isaf said.
"The first detained Taliban leader is believed to be directly responsible for orchestrating assassinations of Afghan National Security Force members, overseeing attacks on Afghan Local Police checkpoints and directing attacks against Afghan and coalition forces," Isaf said in its operations update Wednesday.
He is also accused of overseeing the acuquisition and transfer of multiple heavy weapons and improvised explosive devices (IED) to Taliban fighters operating in Nahr-e Saraj, Isaf added.
The second detained Taliban leader is believed to be directly responsible for transporting and financing IED-making materials, IED placement and the executing IED attacks against Afghan and coalition forces, Isaf said.
Four suspected insurgents were also captured during the raid.
The statement said that a third local Taliban leader was captured in Khanabad district of northern Kunduz province Wednesday.
He is accused of being directly involved in planning and executing IED attacks against security forces and government officials.
Meanwhile in eastern Nangarhar province Wedensday, two insurgents were killed and nine others were captured after being fired upon during a security operation in search of a Taliban facilitator in the Khugyani district.
The facilitator was not captured but several firearms and ammunition were seized.
Isaf did not disclose the names of any of the local leaders it said were captured.
Gay Afghan man granted asylum over persecution risk
By Mirwais Adeel - 31 Jan 2013, 10:52 am Khaama Press
According to reports a gay Afghan man has been granted asylum by refugee appeals board of Denmark considering the persecution risk his sexuality poses in Afghanistan.
The man’s judge said it was a precedent-setting judgment which was taken this week and provides asylum for the homosexual asylum seekers.
Lawyer Kåre Traberg Smidt quoted by Politiken newspaper said, “People normally have to demonstrate they are being persecuted in their home country in order to be granted asylum. They needed to be able to show they had actually experienced problems.”
Flygtningenævnet also ruled that the man would face a high risk of persecution if he returns home and there was enough grounds to argue for granting him asylum despite that the man did not experience any persecution due to his sexuality.
He also said to to reconsider all asylum cases that are first rejected by the Immigration Service (Udlændingestyrelsen), except those that are considered ‘manifestly unfounded’.
This comes as the board earlier emphasized that individuals must have actually faced persecution in order to qualify for asylum and it was not enough to earn asylum by belonging to a persecuted group only.
In the meantime an official in Danish Refugee Council (DRC) Eva Singer said Flygtningenævnet is starting to shift its perspective by taking such a decision.
Meanwhile an Afghan man was granted asylum last September after he converted from Islam to Christianity in Denmark and according to Flygtningenævnet the man would face persecution if he returned to Afghanistan, where people who abandon Islam are considered ‘apostates’ and may face the death penalty.
Considering the basic human right the board emphasized that man could practice Christianity in private but will not be allowed it practice openly.
But Singer quoted by The Copenhagen Post said, “The verdict supports the view that individuals may be persecuted because of their background, in this case that the man is a homosexual, which is so tied into his personality that it is too hard to hide.”
However Singer said the particularly high risk to homosexuals in Afghanistan played an important role in the appeals board’s decision and individuals from lower-risk countries may not necessarily be so lucky.
Many countries around the world persecute homosexuals. The Ugandan parliament has been attempting to pass laws that would subject homosexuals to the death penalty. In Russia, new laws outlawing “homosexual propaganda” were recently passed which essentially outlaw homosexuals from kissing in public.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
Washington Post By Ernesto Londoño Thursday, January 31, 2013
American officials in Afghanistan have failed to verify that fuel purchased for Afghan security forces in recent years did not come from Iran, which would constitute a violation of U.S. sanctions, according to an inspector general report issued Wednesday.
The report warned that “it will become more difficult” to make sure assistance to Afghanistan complies with sanctions on Iran as the U.S. military footprint in the country continues to shrink over the next two years. The United States intends to start giving a fuel stipend for Afghan forces to the Afghan Ministry of Defense in March, rather than directly supplying units in the field.
“Our report again demonstrates the critical importance that oversight plays in the contracting process,” Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John F. Sopko said in a statement. “It is essential that the Department of Defense continues to implement strict controls over the fuel supply process to ensure taxpayer funds are not used in violation of Iranian sanctions.”
Between 2007 and 2012, the report said, the U.S. government did not have a reliable way of verifying that its Afghan providers were not buying from Iran as they supplied fuel worth nearly $1.1 billion to the Afghan army. The Pentagon asked Congress for $323 million for fuel purchases for Afghan security forces during 2013. U.S. military officials estimate that the Afghan army will need $2.8 billion to keep its security vehicles running between 2014 and 2018.
Afghanistan imports most of its oil from Russia, Turkmenistan and Iran. Investigators from the inspector general office, known as SIGAR, found that some fuel imported from other neighbors may have been blended with Iranian petrol.
The report of a possible violation of Iran sanctions is the latest critical review of the U.S. military’s fuel procurement for Afghans. SIGAR and other U.S. agencies have said the military does not have enough safeguards to ensure that the fuel it provides to local security forces is not siphoned off.
In response to a draft of the report, the training command said it is taking numerous steps to enhance accountability in its fuel procurement system, including a new requirement that vendors must agree not to buy Iranian fuel.
The United States bars American companies from doing business with Iran and prohibits spending U.S. taxpayer funds on Iranian products. The measure is designed to cut off the Islamic republic from the global economy, a pressure tactic to persuade Tehran to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
Iran is the third-largest exporter of crude in the world, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
1,400 fresh graduates in Afghan army
KABUL, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- A total of 1,400 soldiers graduated from Kabul Military Training Center (KMTC) on Thursday and were commissioned to Afghan National Army (ANA), General Aminullah Patyannai commander of KMTC said.
"After completion of three-month training, some 1,400 soldiers graduated from Kabul Military Training Center on Thursday morning and were commissioned to army to serve the nation," Patyannai told audience in a graduation ceremony in KMTC complex, eastern edge of capital city of Kabul.
The newly graduated soldiers are ready to be deployed to any part of the country to provide security for their people, he further said.
According to Patyannai, the soldiers had received training under U.S., NATO and Afghan trainers.
Currently the Afghan army or ANA has more than 175,000 soldiers, according to Patyannai.
The Afghan government and NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan (NTM-A) have stepped up efforts to train and equip Afghan police and army as NATO-led ISAF forces have handed over the security responsibilities of areas where more than 75 percent of the population lives, part of a process which will run through 2014 when the country takes over full leadership of its own security duties.
Abdullah Accuses Govt of Controlling IEC
TOLOnews.com By Haseeb Maudoodi Wednesday, 30 January 2013
National Coalition leader Abdullah Abdullah Wednesday claimed that the government is attempting to control Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC), pointing to the recent pressure it has brought to bear on the commission's decisions.
Following government demands, the senate did not approve an IEC-recommended and parliament-backed structure of having foreign observers on the board of the Electoral Complaints Commission which oversees the election ballot.
More recently, the IEC has caved to another government demand – to use the old voting registration system and voting cards in the next presidential election, despite the IEC's insistence that it will greatly increase the chances of fraud.
Abdullah addressed a gathering in the Kabul mosque calling for people to not accept any fraud or violations of the law.
"The time of fraud has passed and the people now want their rights. The government has put such pressure [on the IEC] that the election officials have announced that we are surrendering to the government," Abdullah said.
Head of Eqtidar-e-Milli party Sayed Ali Kazimi said at the gathering that the government has transgressed the law.
"The election law was approved by parliament but the government has kept it in senate," he said.
IEC spokesman responded to Abdullah's comments saying that the commission will not allow anyone to intervene the in the electoral affairs.
"All want to intervene to their own benefit but our promise to the people is that we will not surrender to any person or any group," Noor Mohammad Noor told TOLOnews Wednesday in a telephone interview.
However, on Monday IEC chief Fazil Ahmad Manawi clearly told TOLOnews that the commission backed down from its demand for new voter registrations and cards because of the refusal of the government.
"If our previous plans were accepted, as we promised we could guarantee the transparency of the election but we didn't have any other alternative," he said of the IEC shift.
"We have some other measures that can guarantee transparency, but one thing is clear: we cannot implement our programmes [as we want] and we don't want to be fighting with the government. We want go forward in harmony and the election should be held in a transparent environment," he added.
Taliban shadowy district governor killed in E. Afghan raid
GHAZNI, Afghanistan, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- A Taliban shadowy district governor was killed in an operation in Afghanistan's eastern province of Ghazni overnight, the provincial police chief said Thursday.
"A local Taliban leader named Adam Khan who served as the insurgent shadowy district governor for Ghazni's Andar district were killed and two suspected Taliban fighters detained in an operation conducted by police in Ali Qala area of the district Wednesday night," police chief Zarawar Zahid told reporters in a press briefing here.
He said Khan was responsible for anti-government and subversive activities in the province 100 km south of capital Kabul.
"The killed leader was involved in organizing a suicide attack that left a policeman and a civilian dead and 13 people wounded in provincial capital Ghazni city on January 26," Zhaid added.
The Taliban insurgent group, which has been waging an insurgency of more than one decade, has yet to confirm the death of their leader.
Afghan father hands over 'bomber son' to police
30 January 2013 BBC News
An Afghan father in the northern city of Kunduz has handed over his teenaged son to police after becoming worried he might have been groomed to become a suicide bomber.
The father told the BBC he had been worried about his son for some time.
He said he panicked on hearing of a suicide attack in the city on Saturday.
At least 10 police were killed in the attack on a crowded market, including the city's head of counter-terrorism and another high ranking officer.
Police spokesman Sayed Sarwar Husseini told a press conference on Tuesday that the father's actions had "prevented another bloody attack and lethal casualties".
'Radicalised'
The father cannot be named to protect his family's identity.
"I was in the shop when I heard there was a suicide attack, and I was worried it could have been carried out by my second son," he said.
The father rushed home, but initially could not find the youth before finally tracking him down at a house in the city.
When the men who were with his son refused to let him come home - saying they would send him back the next day - the father made the decision to call the police and give them the address.
The father said that he did so because he feared the 16-year-old might have been radicalised.
Police later raided the house and arrested the youth and another person.
They told the BBC that they believed the house where the arrests were made was rented by people who had been "preparing suicide attackers", although no bomb-making material was found.
The father told the BBC that the family returned to Kunduz late last year after living in Pakistan for 30 years.
He said that his son had "completely changed" after disappearing without trace for several months before their departure.
When he re-joined the family, he had become "very withdrawn", the father said.
He said that his son had received religious instruction and had begun to read the Koran avidly.
"I was worried about his behaviour," the father said. "He told us that he was with Pakistanis and that they were regularly giving him medicine."
The father became so worried that he decided to leave Pakistan. But even in Kunduz, he says, his son continued contacting Pakistani men.
The youth is now in police custody - his father says that he will now go through a re-education programme.
Correspondents say that the father is being hailed by the authorities as an example of how ordinary people can help to counter youth radicalisation.
US Air Force aims to transfer C-130 planes to Afghanistan
Reuters By Andrea Shalal-Esa Wed Jan 30, 2013
* Alenia seeks renewal of existing G222 contract
* Air Force sees 2 C-130s in Afghanistan by end of 2013
The U.S. Air Force on Wednesday said it hoped to deliver two C-130 transport planes to Afghanistan by the end of 2013 and two more in 2014 after deciding to end a deal with Italy's Finmeccanica SpA for 20 G222 cargo planes.
Air Force spokesman Ed Gulick said details were still being worked out, but the Air Force was "aggressively pushing for delivery of two C-130H models in late calendar year 2013 and two additional ones before the end of calendar 2014."
"The Afghan Government has requested four C-130 aircraft as a replacement for the G222, and the U.S. Air Force is currently developing and accessing strategies to identify C-130 aircraft that could be made available for transfer to the (Afghan Air Force) at some point in the near future," he said.
Gulick said the Air Force was "committed to provide an effective and sustainable airlift capability for our Afghan partners as soon as possible." He said plans were also being assessed for training Afghan crews to fly and service the larger four-engine C-130 transport planes.
The U.S. decided in December not to renew a contract with Alenia Aermacchi, a unit of Finmeccanica, when it expires in March after years of problems with Alenia's work on the contract. The Air Force has already spent $590 million on the program, but will not exercise a $60 million option that would have extended the deal for an additional year.
The contract is part of the Pentagon's overall effort to equip the Afghan military as U.S.-led forces prepare to withdraw from the country after more than a decade of war.
It remains unclear what the Air Force will do with the 16 G222 aircraft that have been already been delivered to Afghanistan, or how Afghan forces will provide airlift for troops after the Alenia contract ends in March and before the first two C-130s arrive in Afghanistan later this year.
Alenia defends its work on the program, and says the twin-engine G222, an earlier model of Alenia's C-27J cargo plane, is one of the safest, most durable cargo planes available.
An Alenia spokesman said the company was in talks with U.S. lawmakers about the Air Force's decision to back away from the G222 deal, and what could be done to ensure that Afghan forces had continued airlift capability until the C-130s arrived.
He said the program was on budget and meeting or exceeding requirements at this point after an admittedly rocky start. "We're flying missions every day," said the spokesman.
"We're not disputing the Air Force's decision to bring in C-130s; that's their prerogative," said the spokesman. "We just want to see if there's a way to continue providing airlift until those other planes get there."
Gulick said it was not yet clear where the Air Force would get the used four C-130H aircraft for transfer to Afghanistan. The Air Force has 145 C-130 planes, while the National Guard has 191 and the Air Force reserve has 102. It was not immediately clear how many of those were H-models.
Lockheed Martin Corp, which builds the planes, is not producing the H-models anymore, having shifted to the newer J-model planes.
Gulick said the Alenia program had been plagued with problems, including issues keeping a sufficient number of planes ready for use.
The Stars and Stripes newspaper quoted a spokesman for the Afghan defense ministry earlier this month as saying that Washington now planned to deliver four C-130 transport planes to Afghanistan instead of the G222s, but the Air Force had not confirmed those plans until Wednesday.
Afghan Contractor Failings on Bomb Barriers Being Probed
Bloomberg By Tony Capaccio Jan 30, 2013
U.S. investigators are widening a criminal investigation into whether Afghan contractors failed to install barriers to protect troops from improvised bombs or billed for substandard work.
The inquiry stems from the killing of two American soldiers in July on a highway in Ghazni province in eastern Afghanistan. An Afghan contractor didn’t install grates that could have prevented insurgents from planting bombs in culverts carrying water under roadways, according to the U.S. Special Inspector for Afghanistan Reconstruction.
The probe is being expanded beyond Ghazni province based on evidence that failure to install the barriers or shoddy work on the U.S.-financed “culvert denial systems” may be widespread, John Sopko, the inspector general, said in an e-mail and in a speech this month in Washington.
“We launched a criminal investigation and have been working closely with the military and Afghan authorities to bring those responsible to justice,” said Sopko, whose office is an independent agency created by Congress to oversee U.S. spending in Afghanistan.
Congress has appropriated almost $89 billion since 2002 for reconstruction of Afghanistan. The U.S. is working with Afghan security forces and the judicial system to prepare for the departure of most American and allied forces by December 2014. ‘Deep-Seated’ Corruption
“While there has been major progress” in Afghanistan’s reconstruction, the country’s “reputation for corruption is deep-rooted and widespread, Sopko said in a report released today. The wrongdoing ‘‘involves many foreigners, including U.S. commissioned and non-commissioned officers and enlisted personnel, federal civilians, contractors, and subcontractors,’’ he said.
The president of the company involved in the Ghazni province incident was arrested last weekend by the Afghan attorney general’s office on evidence developed by the inspector general and the U.S. military, according to Sopko’s office.
‘‘The prompt reporting of this dangerous situation by U.S. commanders enabled us to move quickly and issue an alert letter” in October, Sopko said.
Sopko’s investigators this month participated with U.S. troops in operations to survey roads and clear improvised bombs.
The inspector general’s Special Projects unit will conduct a “targeted evaluation” of systems installation throughout the country over the next four months. Spot Welding
Colonel Thomas Collins, a U.S. Army spokesman in Afghanistan, said in an e-mail that the U.S. hired a different company to complete the work in Ghazni province.
The first company “improperly installed” 122 grates along part of Highway 1 between Ghazni City and the border of Wardak Province, the inspector general said. It was paid $361,680 under the contract.
Instead of using concrete to anchor the grates, the company relied on “spot welding, making it easier for insurgents to tamper with them.”
The company “also fraudulently submitted misleading photographs claiming that culverts had protection work installed when in fact no work had been completed,” the inspector general said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tony Capaccio in Washington atacapaccio@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Walcott atjwalcott9@bloomberg.net
Afghanistan: It's worse in the winter
As temperatures in Kabul drop to well below freezing during the night, the country seems no closer to lasting peace or long-term economic stability.
Global Post By Chris Sands January 30, 2013
KABUL, Afghanistan - Mohammad Baqir left northern Afghanistan a year ago, seeking work away from his local mining community. Today he sells coal next to a busy Kabul street that has turned to mud in the rain, ice and snow.
Every winter the infrastructure of this rapidly expanding city struggles under the weight of the severe weather. There are regular power cuts, roofs collapse and children are at risk of dying from the cold.
Although life has improved for many people since the 2001 invasion, hopes of a comprehensive US-led nation-building program have been replaced by the realization that this could be as good as conditions get in the capital and elsewhere.
"When we hear about the situation on the TV and radio the government is saying it doesn't have the budget to solve all these problems," said Baqir.
"The Turkish government promised several times that it would pave this road and the mayor is making an effort, but it's no use — they are just taking dust from one place to another."
Back in 2002, US President George W. Bush vowed to rebuild Afghanistan with a modern Marshall Plan — a program devised to help lift Europe from the ruins of World War II.
But as the temperatures in Kabul drop to well below freezing during the night and people struggle through another winter, the country seems no closer to lasting peace or long-term economic stability.
While much of capital has been transformed, it remains a city where even basic services are unavailable to residents.
Houses often have no running water or sanitation and there is a limited electricity supply. The gas generators businesses use during blackouts and the wood-burning stoves that heat homes only add to the thick pollution that hangs in the air.
People like Baqir settle here because life is even harder in rural areas. He earns the equivalent of roughly $200 a month, much of which he sends to his family in Samangan province.
Opposite his workplace is an Afghan military academy. Heroin addicts gather a short distance away and the river nearby is full of garbage.
Asked why conditions were still this tough in the capital, Baqir accused President Hamid Karzai of siphoning off money meant for reconstruction.
"He takes a piece for himself and then gives the rest to his vice presidents. His vice presidents take a piece and give the rest to the ministers and so on down," he said.
The sense that local officials and the international community have failed the poor was keenly felt last winter, when dozens of children living in Kabul's refugee camps died from the cold.
This time the United Nations was quick to announce it has been distributing food, blankets and warm clothing across the country.
The government has also tried to emphasize its role in these efforts. As well as sending supplies to rural communities, the Afghan National Disaster Management Authority offers compensation to people affected by avalanches, landslides and floods.
A single payment of about $1,000 is available to the family of anyone killed, with $200 to $400 awarded for the destruction or damage of property. The same fund is used to compensate the victims of war-related violence.
Decades of conflict and unrelenting poverty have, however, left a lot of people devoid of hope.
Reza Gul returned to Afghanistan from exile in Pakistan five years ago and is now living in a refugee camp of mud huts in the east of Kabul. Aged around 50 or 60 and a widow, she spends her days begging for money outside a local mosque.
Her son is disabled, having been injured as a child during the 1992-1996 civil war. “Our life is bitter,” she said. “Without God I have nothing.”
It is the combined strain of these social, economic and security pressures that is expected to place the country in such a precarious position when America and its allies pull out.
According to John F. Sopko, the United States' special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, since 2002 Congress has provided nearly $90 billion to help with development and rebuilding.
How much of that has benefited those most in need is increasingly open to question as the 2014 withdrawal date approaches.
In a report published last October, Sopko warned that “the stakes are high, and time is of the essence.” Others are already resigned to the fact that it may already be too late.
Khan Jan Alokozai, a vice chairman at the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries, told GlobalPost not enough has been done to ensure the country can progress in the longterm.
“Besides the war, in the last 10 years one problem that has risen up is the administrative corruption that all the commanders and government authorities have a hand in,” he said.
“When the international community is not here, like wolves they will eat the nation.”
Pakistani Taliban enter fray around strategic NATO routes
Fighting between rival militant groups near the Khyber Pass has reportedly claimed more than 70 lives over the past week.
Christian Science Monitor By Taha Siddiqui, Correspondent January 30, 2013
Islamabad, Pakistan - Clashes between rival militant groups in the tribal region next to the Afghanistan border has reportedly claimed more than 70 lives since fighting broke out last week. The area lies near the Khyber Pass, a main route for NATO supply trucks to Afghanistan, making it pivotal to the US war effort there and to Pakistan's revenues.
Fighting flared after a third militant group – the Pakistani Taliban – moved into an area already being fought over by two other outfits and the Pakistani military. On the run from its traditional strongholds in another part of the tribal belt, the Pakistani Taliban recently pushed into key parts of the Khyber Agency in a bid to control lucrative trading routes and establish a firmer base of operations.
The fighting now pits the Pakistani Taliban and a local militant group against a pro-government militant outfit and the Pakistani military. The military has tried since 2009 to gain full control over such a sensitive area, but has had to settle for a divide-and-conquer strategy of pitting one set of militants against another. The arrival of the Pakistani Taliban, an implacable foe of the government, complicates this already delicate balancing act.
“The government cannot let the area go into [Pakistani Taliban] control so it is trying to militarily deal with the situation and also by making sure militants continue to fight with each other, and no groups gets too strong enough to use the NATO routes as a pressure tactic on Pakistan and the international community,” says Nizam Dawar, a development specialist who has an office in Khyber Agency.
The military is playing off a turf war that dates back directly to the mid-2000s when Lashkar-e-Islam, a banned militant group that has now joined hands with the Pakistani Taliban, tried to establish its control over the trade routes in the area. Locals claim that the pro-government group Ansar-ul-Islam sprouted, with support of the government, to stop this from happening. While these specific groups are relatively new, such skirmishes have been recorded since at least British times, with rival tribal groups vying to control the same routes of trade through the mountains between the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia.
Speaking on the phone from an undisclosed location, Sadat Afridi, the spokesperson of pro-government Ansar-ul-Islam, said that the Pakistani Taliban had recently pushed into the area to also gain a foothold there.
“The fresh offense is because they are trying again to take over this area. But we will fight with them and not let that happen,” Mr. Afridi says. He denies that his group gets government support, but says they do operate rather freely in Khyber Agency since they "do not challenge the writ of the Pakistani state."
There are a number of reasons why the Pakistani Taliban have joined the fray now.
“The Pakistani Taliban are giving full support to Lashkar-e-Islam and together they want to take control of these trade routes now more than ever with 2014 approaching,” says Mr. Dawar, referencing the date for the pullout of US and NATO forces from Afghanistan.
The region also gives the Pakistani Taliban easier access to the settled areas around one of Pakistan's major cities, Peshawar – and from there, targets inside Pakistan's heartland. In the past couple of months, they have attacked the Peshawar airport and killed a provincial minister in a suicide bombing. Earlier, they took responsibility for the attempted killing of 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai, a girls' education activist.
On the up side for the Pakistani government, their Taliban foe may also have been forced to seek new territory. The tribal areas of North and South Waziristan, where the Pakistani Taliban were once thought to have the strongest hold, have become hostile in recent months for them because they are creating trouble for the Afghan Taliban based there. The two groups are allies, but separate. The Afghan Taliban are focused on fighting NATO and the Afghan government, and allegedly enjoy support from elements in the Pakistani security establishment. The Pakistani Taliban, meanwhile, are bent on attacking the Pakistani state, prompting military pursuit.
“There was a jirga [council of elders] backed by the 'good' [Afghan] Taliban in the South Waziristan area a few months ago, which asked the [supporters of the] Pakistani Taliban to vacate their area,” says Safdar Dawar Hayat, who reports from the tribal belt.
Mr. Hayat adds that this had the effect of forcing the Pakistani Taliban leadership out of the region. They found refuge in North Waziristan, but now local elders there want to expel them too, and may get the backing of the Afghan Taliban.
As a refuge, Khyber offers an attractive space, says Hayat. “It is all a jungle out there. The topography of this region in Khyber Agency makes a great place for Pakistani Taliban to hide and yet continue their fight against the Pakistani state.”
Pakistan says militant bases broken up near Afghan border
Reuters Jan 30, 2013
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Pakistani security officials broke up more than a dozen militant sanctuaries in the Khyber tribal region this week and killed 23 fighters, they said, while tribal sources said pro-Taliban groups killed 20 pro-government militants.
The Lashkar-e-Islam and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant groups attacked villages in the Tirah region and killed residents when they tried to stop them entering the area, the security officials said, requesting anonymity.
Tirah is a maze of valleys on a route from Afghanistan to the Pakistani city of Peshawar.
The Pakistani military and pro-government militias have since 2009 clawed back territory from the Taliban, who once controlled land a few hours' drive from the capital of Islamabad.
Pakistani government officials say the NATO withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in 2014 might strengthen the Taliban in Pakistan. The Afghan and Pakistani Taliban are separate groups but strong allies.
Tribal sources said 43 people, 20 of them members of the pro-government militant group Ansar ul-Islam, had been killed and more than two dozen wounded during two days of heavy fighting in Tirah.
The sources said the TTP and Lashkar-e-Islam militants had captured four important posts from members of the Ansar ul-Islam and advanced towards the strategically important Maidan area which is close to Bara subdivision, near Peshawar.
Peshawar is just 100 miles (160 km) east of Islamabad.
Pakistani troops were sent to fight alongside the tribesmen and Ansar ul-Islam to stop the fall of Bara, the sources said.
"Once Bara subdivision is captured by the militants, they would easily carry out attacks in Peshawar and that's why the government has been using all resources to foil the militants' attempt," Khayal Gul Afridi, a noted tribal elder, said in Bara.
Ihsanullah Ihsan, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, said the group had inflicted heavy losses on their opponents and captured important positions. (Reporting by Jibran Ahmad; Editing by Nick Macfie and Sanjeev Miglani)
Amid Afghanistan war, U.S. aid is there for an injured child
When a small Afghan boy was shot in the head, his father did an unusual thing: He took him to a U.S. base.
Los Angeles Times By David Zucchino January 30, 2013
KABUL, Afghanistan - When he saw the flowing blood, Mohammed Anwar at first thought his son was dead. Five-year-old Muqadas had been shot in the head in June during a firefight between U.S. forces and Taliban insurgents in eastern Afghanistan.
But Anwar's quick response not only saved his son's life, it also secured modern medical treatment that has allowed Muqadas to resume a normal life.
Thousands of Afghan civilians are killed or maimed each year in warfare, and most are doomed to rudimentary medical care in this impoverished country. In Muqadas' case, there was no hospital or clinic near his home, so Anwar drove to a U.S. military base about a mile from his remote village in Lowgar province. When gate guards saw his critically wounded son, they rushed him inside, where U.S. Army medics worked to stop the bleeding.
Within minutes, Anwar recalled, he and his son were placed aboard a medevac helicopter for a 10-minute flight to the American medical facility at Bagram air base near Kabul. There, emergency medical treatment saved the boy's life.
The U.S. military specializes in treating serious wounds, including head and brain injuries caused by bullets or shrapnel. The Bagram hospital is staffed by specialists such as neurosurgeons, and has sophisticated medical equipment not available in Afghan hospitals.
Muqadas emerged from an eight-day coma partially paralyzed and with severe neurological damage. He was transferred to a medical program run by the U.S. Agency for International Development. Treated by Western and Afghan doctors and nurses, the boy has since learned to walk and talk normally.
Since December 2011, USAID's Afghan Civilian Assistance Program has provided medical treatment for 180 Afghan patients. That's a tiny fraction of the tens of thousands of Afghans wounded in fighting or by mines or roadside bombs since 2001, but for Muqadas, the care probably saved him from lifelong paralysis.
"He couldn't walk; he could hardly open his eyes," Anwar said in a Kabul civilian hospital ward where his son is undergoing outpatient physical therapy. He gestured toward the boy, who sat quietly in his lap. "And look at him now."
Muqadas whispered to his father and smiled shyly. A plump boy with cropped black hair and a round face, he's active and energetic and plays with other children. He is undergoing therapy for partial paralysis in his left foot, which causes a slight limp.
Three months ago, the boy was confined to a hospital bed. He had difficulty speaking, eating and drinking.
"He lay on the bed like a piece of meat," said Dr. Abdul Shakur Furmoli, who has helped direct Muqadas' care under the USAID program. "Now this child is 99% returned to his normal life. He has a small limp — that's all — and we're working to correct that."
The assistance program, known as ACAP, is designed to treat Afghans wounded during combat between U.S. and coalition forces and insurgents, regardless of which side is directly responsible. (In its latest casualty report, the United Nations said that in 2011, at least 3,021 Afghans were killed and 4,507 wounded in war-related incidents, with insurgents responsible for 77% of the deaths.)
In Muqadas' case, American officials at the ACAP program said they were unable to determine which side fired the bullet that struck the boy. Anwar said he didn't know; he said his son was wounded after Taliban fighters fired on two U.S. helicopters.
The bullet remains embedded in the boy's skull, left there by doctors at Bagram. Because Muqadas' brain is healing, Furmoli said, there is no medical reason to risk surgery to remove the projectile.
Since his son was wounded, Anwar has left his job as a driver to devote himself to the boy's care. The program has given him $225 to help pay for travel costs. He makes regular three-hour trips from his village to take Muqadas for physiotherapy treatment at the Kabul hospital.
Muqadas is unusual not only because he received American medical treatment, but also because his father took him to U.S. forces in the first place. Much more often, program officials said, it is they who seek out wounded Afghans after receiving reports of civilian casualties in clashes between coalition forces and insurgents.
Since 2007, more than 11,000 Afghan families affected by the war have also received non-medical assistance through the program: food, emergency supplies, livestock or help in starting a small business. Muqadas' family, for instance, got help setting up a small grocery after he was shot.
The medical portion of the program is scheduled to end in September 2014. But USAID plans to continue many other programs that assist Afghan civilians well past 2014, said Kevin O'Loughlin, an agency spokesman in Kabul.
Anwar says he realizes that his son defied the odds in a country where dozens of civilians die unnecessarily of wounds each month, many from substandard medical care or no care at all. Even when Muqadas was in a coma at Bagram, Anwar said, American military doctors assured him his son would recover.
"Every day, they came to me and told me that one day he would be a normal little boy again," he said.
He hasn't yet told Muqadas that he has a bullet in his head. He said he told him he was hit by a rock.
The boy occasionally complains of headaches, Anwar said, but otherwise acts like any other 5-year-old boy. He seems grateful to be living an ordinary life except for his outpatient therapy.
"Every morning," his father said, "he wakes up and kisses his own hand."
david.zucchino@latimes.com
Kidnappers kill 11-year-old Afghan kid in Herat province
By Meena Haseeb - 31 Jan 2013, 1:00 pm Khaama Press
According to local security officials in western Herat province of Afghanistan, an Afghan kid was assassinated after he was kidnapped two months ago in this province.
A local security official speaking on the condition of anonymity said the kid was kidnapped two months back and his dead body was found on Wednesday night at Khesh-e-Pushtan area in Enjil district.
Ali Sina, the 11-year-old Afghan kid belonged to a rich family and one of the prominent merchants of western Herat province.
The security source also added that kidnappers had taken enough money from the family of the kid during the past two months.
He said Afghan security forces have arrested two suspected women in connection the kidnapping case and are under the investigation.
This comes as kidnapping cases have dramatically increased across the country specifically in western provinces of Afghanistan which has created tensions among the local residents.
Afghan kids are also smuggled outside of the country besides kidnapping for ransom.
Three Local Taliban Leaders Captured
TOLOnews.com Wednesday, 30 January 2013
Three Local Taliban leaders were captured Wednesday in operations in the north and south of Afghanistan.
Two leaders were captured in a joint Afghan and Nato troop operation in Nahr-e Saraj district of southern Helmand province, Isaf said.
"The first detained Taliban leader is believed to be directly responsible for orchestrating assassinations of Afghan National Security Force members, overseeing attacks on Afghan Local Police checkpoints and directing attacks against Afghan and coalition forces," Isaf said in its operations update Wednesday.
He is also accused of overseeing the acuquisition and transfer of multiple heavy weapons and improvised explosive devices (IED) to Taliban fighters operating in Nahr-e Saraj, Isaf added.
The second detained Taliban leader is believed to be directly responsible for transporting and financing IED-making materials, IED placement and the executing IED attacks against Afghan and coalition forces, Isaf said.
Four suspected insurgents were also captured during the raid.
The statement said that a third local Taliban leader was captured in Khanabad district of northern Kunduz province Wednesday.
He is accused of being directly involved in planning and executing IED attacks against security forces and government officials.
Meanwhile in eastern Nangarhar province Wedensday, two insurgents were killed and nine others were captured after being fired upon during a security operation in search of a Taliban facilitator in the Khugyani district.
The facilitator was not captured but several firearms and ammunition were seized.
Isaf did not disclose the names of any of the local leaders it said were captured.
Gay Afghan man granted asylum over persecution risk
By Mirwais Adeel - 31 Jan 2013, 10:52 am Khaama Press
According to reports a gay Afghan man has been granted asylum by refugee appeals board of Denmark considering the persecution risk his sexuality poses in Afghanistan.
The man’s judge said it was a precedent-setting judgment which was taken this week and provides asylum for the homosexual asylum seekers.
Lawyer Kåre Traberg Smidt quoted by Politiken newspaper said, “People normally have to demonstrate they are being persecuted in their home country in order to be granted asylum. They needed to be able to show they had actually experienced problems.”
Flygtningenævnet also ruled that the man would face a high risk of persecution if he returns home and there was enough grounds to argue for granting him asylum despite that the man did not experience any persecution due to his sexuality.
He also said to to reconsider all asylum cases that are first rejected by the Immigration Service (Udlændingestyrelsen), except those that are considered ‘manifestly unfounded’.
This comes as the board earlier emphasized that individuals must have actually faced persecution in order to qualify for asylum and it was not enough to earn asylum by belonging to a persecuted group only.
In the meantime an official in Danish Refugee Council (DRC) Eva Singer said Flygtningenævnet is starting to shift its perspective by taking such a decision.
Meanwhile an Afghan man was granted asylum last September after he converted from Islam to Christianity in Denmark and according to Flygtningenævnet the man would face persecution if he returned to Afghanistan, where people who abandon Islam are considered ‘apostates’ and may face the death penalty.
Considering the basic human right the board emphasized that man could practice Christianity in private but will not be allowed it practice openly.
But Singer quoted by The Copenhagen Post said, “The verdict supports the view that individuals may be persecuted because of their background, in this case that the man is a homosexual, which is so tied into his personality that it is too hard to hide.”
However Singer said the particularly high risk to homosexuals in Afghanistan played an important role in the appeals board’s decision and individuals from lower-risk countries may not necessarily be so lucky.
Many countries around the world persecute homosexuals. The Ugandan parliament has been attempting to pass laws that would subject homosexuals to the death penalty. In Russia, new laws outlawing “homosexual propaganda” were recently passed which essentially outlaw homosexuals from kissing in public.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com