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Study: Afghans paid nearly $4 billion in bribes last year
By Shashank Bengali February 7, 2013, 7:11 a.m.
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghans paid bribes totaling about $3.9 billion last year -- twice the country’s domestic revenue -- and two-thirds of the population says it’s acceptable for civil servants to take kickbacks for providing basic services, according to a U.N. survey released Thursday.
The results indicate corruption is deeply rooted in Afghanistan despite President Hamid Karzai’s pledges to clean up the problem and years of internationally backed efforts to curb the country’s extensive networks of bribery and patronage.
The data also point to the toxic impact of the billions of dollars in foreign aid and contracts that have poured into Afghanistan over the last decade, inflating even the cost of bribes. While fewer Afghans than in 2009 reported making such payoffs, the total cost of the bribes jumped by 40%, suggesting that poorer Afghans were less likely to be able to afford public services.
“We see some improvements, but by the same token, the problem is extremely serious,” said Jean-Luc Lemahieu, regional representative for the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime, which released the survey along with the Afghan government’s anti-corruption body. “Corruption is rampant in Afghanistan and the perception of the population is we cannot escape this.”
The survey polled 6,700 Afghans from across the country and found that half of them paid a bribe to a public sector worker in 2012. That figure was down from 59% in 2009, the last year the survey was conducted.
But 68% of those polled said that it was acceptable for civil servants to augment their low salaries by taking small bribes from people in exchange for providing public services. A similar figure said it was sometimes acceptable for a civil servant to be hired based on family ties or friendships.
Among the most troubling findings, the survey’s authors said, was that education had become one of the government sectors most plagued by graft. Fifty-one percent of respondents said they paid a bribe to a teacher in 2012, up from 16% in 2009.
The data are a worrying sign for Karzai and his Western sponsors, who say that endemic corruption undermines public confidence in the government and pushes some Afghans to support the Taliban.
“It says the rich who can easily pay get better access to services, while the poor who cannot pay may not get access,” Lemahieu said. “That alienates a lot of the population, makes them frustrated, and in the worst scenario can fuel the insurgency.”
The U.N. and Afghanistan’s High Office for Oversight and Anticorruption also polled civil servants and found that more than half of the country’s teachers and police officers -- and nearly 30% of public prosecutors -- had gotten their jobs through personal, tribal or ethnic connections. More than 21% of teachers said they paid a bribe to get their job.
Despite Karzai’s repeated pledges, the Afghan government has done almost nothing to rein in corruption at any level. With the international military presence winding down, U.S. officials say that much of their future support to the Afghan government will be conditional on cleaning up corruption.
But Karzai himself has sometimes seemed ambivalent about the nature of the problem and has accused foreigners of fueling corruption by awarding contracts to top Afghan officials or their relatives to curry favor with his government.
In a speech in December, Karzai said “the large part” of corruption in his country was “hundreds of millions dollars that are not ours. We shouldn't blame ourselves for that. That part is from others and imposed on us.”
Anti-Corruption Office Probes MPs Property Holdings
TOLOnews.com By Shakeela Ahbrimkhil Wednesday, 06 February 2013
The High Office of Oversight and Anti-Corruption (HOO) has inspected land-holdings of about 70 top Afghan officials including ministers, provincial governors, and members of the Supreme Court, finding a strong disparity between income and assets.
The anti-corruption office began the task its chief describes as onerous following grave concerns that property ownership in many cases was unclear.
"We have ministers who have houses coming out of ground like mushrooms – not one, but tens of houses," HOO chief Azizullah Lodin told TOLOnews in an interview Wednesday.
"There should be questions asked: where has it all come from? It can't be purchased by the salary from the ministry. The $2,200 they receive is only for the daily expenses they have for other ministers, provincial governors, and other officials," he added.
According to HOO's findings so far, none of the MPs have registered their properties because the country's constitution does not require them too. However, Lodin said that given the problems surrounding corruption in Afghanistan, the MPs should also be required to register their assets.
"We wrote a letter to the parliament to require the MPs to register their properties. They rejected this and said that, 'Based on the constitution, we don't have this obligation, our name is not mentioned in the constitution and we won't register our properties.' So, we addressed this issue to the president so that they can inspect it," Lodin said.
The process of registration of assets of government officials and senior staff has been implemented in six provinces across the country. Currently around 70,000 government staff have registered their properties.
Lodin acknowledged that even if registrations were mandatory, it would be very difficult to check their accuracy given the country struggles to have basic statistics on its population.
Nevertheless, he said it might be possible with cooperation from different organisations – especially those of security – in order to check registrations and avoid "difficulties" throughout inspections.
Interview With Gen. John R. Allen on Leaving Afghanistan
New York Times (blog) By MATTHEW ROSENBERG February 6, 2013
The New York Times interviewed Gen. John. R. Allen on Sunday, a week before his scheduled departure from Afghanistan after 19 months as the commander of the American and allied forces.
Following are some of General Allen’s comments. Brief explanations have been provided in brackets.
On his relationship with President Hamid Karzai:
“I wanted him to understand that he was always going to have my loyalty and I was always going to work with him. In fact, I said a number of times, ‘I’m proud to have served you at the same time I served my own leadership, whether it’s a NATO leadership or U.S. leadership.’ Now, I wanted him to believe it because it happened to be true. I think our personalities matched in that regard.”
“Now, we’ve had some tough times. This has been a time of really dramatic change for the campaign. When I got here, I measured success in how well we and how often we were fighting. Today, it’s a very different environment. The Afghans are virtually entirely in the lead across Afghanistan.”
“This is what I’ve learned about the president. If you listen to him, he’s got some pretty good ideas, and often the controversy that has arisen in the relationships hasn’t been because necessarily you disagree with the ideas. It’s because you haven’t listened to them early enough.”
“And sometimes it’s been strained. I don’t think he ever believes that actions that I have taken were ever intended to disadvantage him as the president, or not do everything I possibly could for the Afghan people. I told him, I’m prepared to die in this country on behalf of his people. I take that very seriously.”
On civilian casualties:
“I’ve met with the families of the casualties that we’ve inflicted. I’ve flown to the villages to personally apologize for the casualties, and do what I can to do the right thing for those families. I’ve taken measures with respect to the employment of certain kinds of fires.” ["Fires” is common military shorthand for a variety of munitions, from bullets to missiles to mortar shells.]
“We had a couple of pretty rough incidents where Afghans were killed by the delivery of aviation fires. I eventually said to President Karzai that civilian structures, tents, potential areas where civilians might be either taking refuge or hiding or living, I’m not going to deliver any more fires on those structures unless my troops are pinned down, can’t move, and the only option they have is to deliver fires on these structures, or I decide, the senior leader out here, I decide to deliver fires on these structures.”
“The civilian causalities as a result of air fires plummeted immediately. It was probably the decision I could have made long before that and none of our forces were put at risk, or a greater risk because of this.”
On the aftermath of the burning of Korans at Bagram Air Base:
“I have to tell you, I thought this could be it for the relationship.
“I immediately got on the phone to a number of Afghan media outlets, immediately cut a video apologizing for this as sincerely as I could possibly appear and sound because this was going to be bad, it could be really bad. I called the president, I went to see him, apologized to him for this. It was completely inadvertent but this culture deserved that apology. We were in their home, so to speak. We are guests in their home and even though it was an accident, even though it was not intentional, we had made a bad mistake, a real error and the people deserved my apology, the president deserved my apology.
“He accepted it and I think in many respects, the personal nature of our relationship was what tempered the language coming out of the palace, the relief, his own engagement with the media and so on. Because of both of our actions, both of them supporting each other, we were able to keep this from being the result of a bad mistake from being something that could have really fractured the relationship.”
On the fallout in March after an American soldier killed 16 villagers in the southern Afghan district of Panjwai, which he first heard about when he was in the United States to testify before Congress:
“The first phone call was something of the effect of — we’ve got mixed reporting from Panjwai. We think an American soldier maybe shot some people and my response was, ‘All right. Let’s develop the situation quickly. Tell me what we got in front of us because we’ve got to make the Afghans were included on this.’ ”
“Then the phone calls started coming in and the numbers started going up and pretty quick and this is as bad a circumstance as you might have imagined.”
“I called President Karzai from home and we had a long conversation about it. I promised him once again that we would take all steps, measures, take all actions necessary to get to the bottom of this and we would do a full and complete investigation and those people necessary would be held accountable.”
“This was still unfolding. It was one shooter. It was multiple shooters. There were wild rumors associated with things that he had done in addition to shooting. So the information environment was wide open at this point. And both for the purposes of internal stability in Afghanistan for the purposes of preserving our relationship we were working very, very hard to confirm what we knew to be the facts and try very hard to get after the rumors that were just flying.”
“Once again, when he could have been angry, when it could have been a very negative conversation, I mean, he was tutorial. He explained to me why this is bad for the relationship, why this is bad for the campaign, and why this will shake the confidence of the Afghan people, his personal gesture of measured conversation with me. He wasn’t angry.”
On why the United States should stay engaged in Afghanistan:
“I put it in the context of this has been worth it. This is bigger than anyone of us. It’s bigger than the president. It’s bigger than the president of Afghanistan, because this isn’t about today. This is about tomorrow. This is about doing all we can to facilitate President Karzai with his desire to be successful. But it’ll be about doing all we can do to set up his successor for success.”
On overcoming the skepticism of officials in Washington, who often express frustration with Mr. Karzai:
“For this president, at this moment of its history, the Afghanistan history, to be able to hold together these tribes and these ethnic groups with these kinds of challenges has got to be one of the hardest jobs going. And so I try to paint the context of the challenges that he faces, the history from which he originates and help conceivably, he will interpret our actions. He may not understand what we are trying to do, or may misinterpret what we’re trying to do or say. And frankly, one of the great things about our democracy is also one of the hardest things about our democracy: That is, we don’t always speak with the same voice.
“So he’ll hear a voice from one part of the government, it will be different for another part of the government and he’ll see to square the differences. It’s not a criticism, it just is who we are. The farther you are away from Kabul, the farther you are away from the palace, the farther you are away from the history of this country in the complexities of society, the easier it is to generalize, frankly.”
On the need for the Afghan government to better serve its people and stamp out corruption within its ranks:
“We’ve worked very hard, obviously, to build a capacity in those. But when your ability to survive the night, or put food on the table was — well, for many years are functionally, what tribe you were part of, or what group you were part of. And those patronage networks undertook economic opportunities which made them some respect, criminal patronage networks.
“They can only survive because institutions of governance are weak. And so now, we find ourselves in this — at this very moment when the future of the country relies on the strength of institutions. The criminal patronage networks recognized that their future, their survival can only be sustained by keeping these institutions weak. That’s the moment we find ourselves in, and the presidential directive on any corruption and government reform and the Mutual Accountability Framework came out of Tokyo.
“These created very helpful, very useful, both domestic and international expectations for reform. So we need to see how smoothing past the written word and the spoken word and start moving towards action. I think the president, if he were sitting here would tell you that they have achieved some good action, good results in his presidential decree. The Mutual Accountability Framework is constantly being audited to see that there’s progress on reform. But again, we’re still pretty fresh in the process and we’ve got to let this play out some more.”
On the future of the war and Afghanistan:
“Let me make sure I’m clear on this. Nothing is sure in a post-conflict society. But I think the indicators, as far as I’m concerned, are that we’re on the right trajectory. What you have to understand, what people have to understand is some of these reforms take a very long time. In an environment where human rights were crashed under multiple different invasions or civil wars or the Taliban, creating once again the kind of bias for human rights that we would all expect in the Western society, just doesn’t come easily to this country.
“Nothing will happen in this country without security. And that security is being purchased every single day by the Afghan National Security Forces. And then, on the platform of that security, this president has announced a program or platform that he intends to follow. Now, he’s moving forward in some areas, he’s having resistance in others, but we just have to expect this is going to take time. That’s where huge patience has to come in. That’s where the decade of transformation comes in.”
On the surge of “insider attacks” against Westerners that took place in 2012:
“The losses became to this particular means of attack became very troubling, very significant, and tragic. And while on the tactical level and on the operational level, we were able to deal with the problem. This was becoming a strategic crisis — a strategic crisis in capitals, a strategic crisis for the alliance — and the Taliban saw this. They knew this. They saw that. They saw that the future of the A.N.S.F. relied on our being close, partner or adviser inside the Afghan formations.
“We were very careful in our reaction to insider attacks. Not to wall ourselves off from the Afghans and create distance. I used to tell them, you may not be able to do anything about the linear distance that you have to deal with but there’s a lot you can do about your proximity and the closer you all feel to each other, the more secure you will be. And that’s in an environment where we’re transitioning to being advisers almost entirely across Afghanistan. That has to be one of the operative principles for philosophically how we’re going to live with the Afghans. You treat them like brothers. You live with them like they’re family. That reduces the unknowns, it reduces the potential for cultural affront, and it makes you more secure.”
“That doesn’t mean we’re not going to keep a close eye on the environment. We still have these people called Guardian Angels because there are enemies in the ranks and they’re waiting to take that shot.”
“We took a lot of measures and the numbers are down. But I don’t in any way want anybody to become complacent about the number being down. I don’t want anyone to lift up on the security measures that they’re taking or reduce the attentiveness that they have to the environment around. So, I want everybody to be attentive and we’re going to periodically refresh our training both at the very lowest levels and for the units coming in. So, we’re not going to give up on this.”
Afghan peace talks a complicated process: Aimal Faizi
By Meena Haseeb - 07 Feb 2013, 12:14 pm Khaama Press
Afghan presidential palace spokesman Aimal Faizi has said that certain nations are struggling to control Afghan peace process in a bid to gain political benefits from the talks.
Mr. Faizi did not disclose further details regarding the exact nation looking to gain control over Afghan peace talks however his gesture was probably towards neighboring Pakistan. In an interview with the Radio Free Europe (RFE) Aimal Faizi described Afghan peace talks a very complicated process.
He said, “Apparently we are holding talks with the Taliban group but practically other nations are also having role behind the Afghan peace process. Unfortunately a number of the nations want to gain benefits from Afghan peace talks and have control over the process.”
However Mr. Faizi emphasized that the Afghan government will step up efforts to start an Afghan led peace negotiations with militants.
Aimal Faizi’s comments are followed after a trilateral summit hosted by British prime minister David Cameron in London where the three leaders agreed to include Taliban group in Afghan peace process within the next six months.
But the Taliban group in Afghanistan dismissed the outcome of the summit.
In the meantime former US ambassador to Afghanistan also insisted that the Afghan war will not be ended unless Taliban group does not join peace process.
Former US ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald E. Neumann following an interview with The Voice of America (VOA) said Pakistan does not have full control over the Taliban group.
He said, “I think Pakistan’s agreement is very important and it will be very difficult if Pakistan does not agree to reach a peace agreement. I don’t think Pakistan will have a complete control to implement peace without Taliban since the two parties are important.”
However political analysts argue with Neumann’s remarks and believe that Pakistan is supporting the Taliban group since they would not be able to continue to their fight for almost a decade without Islamabad’s support.
In the meantime Afghanistan, Pakistan and United Kingdom during the trilateral summit also agreed with the Taliban liaison office in Qatar.
The three leaders however emphasized that the office will only be used for peace talks between Taliban group and Afghan high peace council.
So, this is the office that will investigate Afghanistan's Kam Air?
Key questions about the credibility of the Afghan attorney general's office as it prepares to investigate accusations that Kam Air is involved in drug-smuggling.
Christian Science Monitor By Dan Murphy, Staff writer February 6, 2013
Yesterday, I wrote about Afghan airline Kam Air, which was removed from a US military contracting blacklist for alleged involvement in drug smuggling after complaints from the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai.
The US military in Afghanistan says that the blacklisting has simply been "suspended" pending an Afghan government investigation. That investigation will likely be carried out by the attorney general's office. Who will ultimately decide? Since Afghanistan's politics is only slightly less convoluted and conspiratorial than Florence under the Medici family, I can't really say.
But in doing some reading for the story, I scanned the latest quarterly report from the special inspector general for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), which contains an amusing – or horrifying, depending on your perspective – anecdote on political maneuvering and dysfunction at the Afghan attorney general's office.
The Jan. 30 document dryly notes that the "Afghan Attorney General Office (AGO) made no significant anti-corruption indictments or prosecutions this quarter. Afghan prosecutors continued to complain that they lack supervisors’ support for prosecutions," and then launches into the story of how the director general of the attorney general's anticorruption unit (ACU) lost his job last year, according to the US Embassy in Kabul.
"A group of prosecutors in the AGO’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) set up the Unit’s Director General by supplying him with alcohol and encouraging him to denigrate the Attorney General while videotaping the incident, according to State. This led to his arrest and subsequent removal from his post. State noted that although the replacement is a reputable prosecutor, it will be difficult for the ACU to function effectively if it continues to be full of internal rivalry and intrigue."
Afghanistan's Attorney General Mohammed Ishaq Aloko has been on the job since 2008, a period when political meddling in prosecutions has been rife. For years, US officials in Afghanistan have privately complained that he's intervened to quash investigations into friends or allies of Karzai. The US has also alleged that Aloko and Karzai have been involved in the pre-trial release of insurgents.
For instance, in a 2009 embassy cable released by WikiLeaks, then-Ambassador Karl Eibenberry writes that:
On numerous occasions we have emphasized with Attorney General Aloko the need to end interventions by him and President Karzai, who both authorize the release of detainees pre-trial and allow dangerous individuals to go free or re-enter the battlefield without ever facing an Afghan court. On July 29th, Legal Adviser Harold Hongju Koh and Deputy Ambassador Frances Ricciardone demarched Attorney General Muhammad Ishaq Aloko about our concern over pre-trial releases and presidential pardons of narco-traffickers (Reftel Kabul 02245)... Despite our complaints and expressions of concern to the (government of Afghanistan), pre-trial releases continue.
Also in 2009, Mr. Aloko bristled at a US complaint about the specific release of the nephew of a powerful Afghan warlord and insurgent.
When Ricciardone explained to ALOKO about the crucial link between rule of law and sovereignty, ALOKO challenged the Ambassador to define sovereignty, and declared that decisions about releases were Afghan problems, 8 implying that the U.S. should stay out of them. Ambassador Ricciardone pressed ALOKO on why, contrary to explicit agreement, the GIRoA allowed 150 pre-trial releases from the (Afghanistan National Detention Facility), including the recent release without trial of Abdullah Shahab, nephew of anti-American Mujahideen leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Shahab had admitted to video-taping attacks against U.S. forces for use as Taliban propaganda. ALOKO responded that a familial relationship to Hekmatyar had nothing to do with Shahab's case and that his camera activities were not illegal. ALOKO argued that when the U.S. transfers detainees to the GIRoA, the U.S.-provided evidence against some detainees is insufficient for prosecution, so he is sometimes left with no other choice than to release the detainee
rather than let their cases take up time in already overburdened court.
That cable makes it clear that the US has had little faith or trust in Aloko for some time. Aloko told the US diplomats in his meeting that he had no involvement in the pre-trial releases of a number of drug traffickers that US forces had handed over to the Afghan government. The US diplomat who wrote the cable adds in a short parenthetical aside after recording Aloko's position: "(Note: ALOKO's claimed lack of involvement in the narcotics cases is not credible.)"
So, this is the office that will investigate Kam Air. In a statement on the matter earlier this week, US Forces – Afghanistan wrote: "The Afghan Government and USFOR-A remain mutually committed to transparency and combating corruption."
We'll see.
NATO Helicopter Crashes In East Afghanistan
February 7, 2013 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan says one of its helicopters has crashed in eastern Afghanistan but there were no fatalities.
An ISAF statement says an investigation is under way to determine the cause of the February 7 crash.
It provided no further details on the incident.
An ISAF spokesman told the AFP news agency that initial reports indicates there was no enemy activity at the time of the crash.
A Taliban spokesman told AFP in a text message that the helicopter was shot down by rocket fire in the Tagab district of Kapisa Province and burst into flames.
He claimed all onboard were killed.
Kapisa Province Governor Mehrabuddin Safi said the incident happened in an area where a "clearance operation was ongoing" against militants.
With reporting by AFP
For U.S. Leader in Afghan War, Much Time Making Peace
New York Times By MATTHEW ROSENBERG February 6, 2013
KABUL, Afghanistan - After 19 months in Afghanistan, Gen. John R. Allen, the commander of American and coalition forces here, is leaving a war that has become as much about damage control and crisis diplomacy as fighting the Taliban.
Dispatched to begin winding down combat operations, General Allen spent much of his final year here contending with a series of disasters that he now refers to as meteor strikes: a video of Marines urinating on Taliban corpses, the accidental burning of Korans by American soldiers, civilian deaths in coalition airstrikes, and the massacre of 16 civilians by an American soldier.
Then there was a surge in violence against coalition service members by Afghan soldiers and police officers, known as insider attacks, that by late summer had jeopardized the effort to train Afghan forces to be able to fight on their own. At the least, it added urgency to a troop withdrawal that was already being accelerated ahead of the 2014 deadline.
But of all the challenges faced by General Allen, who on Sunday will hand his command to Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. and leave Afghanistan, one remains as central today as it was when he landed in Kabul: keeping President Hamid Karzai’s distrust of the United States in check, and keeping the Obama administration committed to an ally who has tested the limits of its patience.
“It can be really tough,” General Allen acknowledged in an interview this week.
Referring to his dual role as commander of American troops and the leader of the military coalition that fights alongside Afghan forces, he said: “I wanted President Karzai to understand that while I had certainly been selected by President Obama to come out here, I very much saw myself serving President Karzai as well. This was the great struggle.”
The uneasy — and, at times, overtly hostile — relationship between Mr. Karzai and Washington has defined the final years of the war in Afghanistan. Breakdowns in the relationship have been paralleled by both the deterioration of the war effort and declining political will in the United States to remain engaged in the longest American combat deployment in history.
Initiatives seen as critical by American officials and commanders have been among the most contested by their Afghan allies. Coalition plans to establish the Afghan Local Police as a network of defense militias, for instance, were initially opposed and only grudgingly approved by Mr. Karzai. And governance issues like American-backed efforts to sever criminal patronage networks among Afghan officials have repeatedly been shut down by the Afghan leader.
General Allen’s predecessor, Gen. David H. Petraeus, had a stormy relationship with Mr. Karzai. By the time General Allen assumed command, the Afghan leader’s talk of coalition forces as occupiers with little regard for the lives of ordinary Afghans had grown sharper.
Restoring a modicum of trust fell to General Allen and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, who was appointed around the same time for his second turn as ambassador.
Mr. Crocker’s prior relationship with Mr. Karzai provided a foundation, General Allen said. He recalled how when he and Mr. Crocker went to present their credentials to the Afghan president, the ambassador spoke of his first meeting at the presidential palace with Mr. Karzai, in January 2002, when they sat together wrapped in blankets and huddled over a lantern because there was no electricity.
But that was in comparatively happier times: the Taliban were on the run, Mr. Karzai was a darling of the West and many Afghans saw American soldiers as liberators.
“When you think about how far he had come and the depths and the nature of the relationship we have with President Karzai, I was taking the lead, frankly, in that,” General Allen said.
Even as he was working to repair a deteriorating relationship, though, the meteor strikes hit.
On more than one occasion, General Allen saw the most urgent need as the one to say sorry — and mean it, even when Republicans at home were condemning what they claimed was the Obama administration’s needless eagerness to apologize.
That was the case when American soldiers at Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, inadvertently threw a box of Korans into a incineration pit in February 2012, leading to days of riots and stepped up attacks against American troops.
“I thought this could be it for the relationship,” General Allen said, adding that he “immediately cut a video apologizing for this as sincerely as I could possibly appear and sound, because this was going to be bad, it could be really bad. I called the president. I went to see him.”
Despite the immediate violence, Mr. Karzai and General Allen were able to keep the episode “from being something that could have fractured the relationship,” the general said.
On that occasion and others, he added, “it was a personal relationship, I think, that saves the day.”
A few months later, General Allen found himself apologizing again, this time to the relatives of 18 people killed in a coalition airstrike. He had flown to the site of the bombing, in Logar Province, south of Kabul, to personally deliver his apology. Afghan officials responded warmly.
“There is a tremendous respect for General Allen here,” said Janan Mosazai, the spokesman for the Afghan Foreign Ministry, “because of the sympathy and respect that he brought to his job in dealing with the Afghan people and the Afghan government.”
The sympathy was also returned after General Allen’s mother died last year. He had not told anyone in the Afghan government before flying home to bury her. Then, while eating with his family in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, “I get a phone call from the palace saying, ‘President Karzai wants to talk to you,’ ” General Allen said.
“So I’m in the parking lot, it’s just surreal,” he said. “Talking to the president of Afghanistan, who is gripped with emotion saying words to the effect that our mothers are so precious to us.”
Whether the good will engendered by General Allen will outlast his tenure is unlikely to be clear even well after he is firmly ensconced in his new role as the top commander of NATO forces in Europe. The Obama administration has yet to hash out with Afghan officials what, if any, force will remain after the NATO mission ends in 2014.
Afghan officials, meanwhile, say Mr. Karzai remains frustrated by what he sees as American intransigence over issues like the detention of insurgents and the frequent criticism of his government as weak and corrupt.
One Afghan official, speaking about continued disagreements over detention, pointed out that General Allen, “no matter how much respect he has shown, he cannot unwind all the problems we face.”
For his part, General Allen readily acknowledged that the outcome of the war is far from certain. “Let me make sure I’m clear on this: Nothing is sure.”
At the least, he said, the Afghan Army and the police were much improved — a critical measure given a continued Taliban threat. For Mr. Karzai, the greater challenge now “is affecting the kinds of reforms, government reforms, anticorruption measures and the establishment of the rule of law,” General Allen said. “Now he’s moving forward in some areas, he’s having resistance in others.”
Afghanistan also needs to hold a successful presidential election, which is scheduled for April 2014, to ensure long-term international aid, he said.
But if the United States and its allies want to see Afghanistan succeed, they are going to have to be patient and understand that setbacks will happen, General Allen said.
“We just have to expect that this is going to take time.”
U.S., Afghanistan At Odds Over Weapons Wish List
NPR By Sean Carberry February 06, 2013
The U.S. and the international community have pledged $16 billion to support Afghan security forces after NATO troops complete their drawdown at the end of 2014. That money covers the cost of troops and equipment.
But just what equipment will be provided? Afghan military officials want big-ticket planes, tanks and other conventional weapons.
The U.S., however, says the Afghans need to get their strategic priorities in order, and focus less on prestige hardware and more on weaponry and equipment suitable for counterinsurgency warfare.
The opinion of Afghan Col. Abdul Qudos Ghani typifies the dilemma. He is the commander of the 3-year-old Armor Branch School, an Afghan army training compound on the outskirts of Kabul where NATO advisers provide much of the training.
"We can fight the insurgents inside of Afghanistan with the weapons we have, but to control our borders, we should have heavy weapons," Ghani says.
And by heavy weapons he means artillery, jets and tanks. Many other Afghan commanders and defense officials echo Ghani's sentiments.
When Afghan President Hamid Karzai went to Washington last month, he had a wish list of military hardware he wanted from the U.S.
But that list has "disappeared in the Pentagon, or it's gone to one of the shelves of the White House," says Shukria Barakzai, a member of the Afghan Parliament's defense committee.
She says she was disappointed by the results of the talks in Washington. She says it's essential for Afghanistan to build up a conventional military to deter hostile neighbors.
"If we don't have it at all, it will be a big threat, not only for Afghanistan but globally," Barakzai says.
Afghans Getting Ahead Of Themselves?
The U.S. and NATO don't share this view.
"We are building the [Afghan security forces] to fight a counterinsurgency war in our own image," says Brig. Gen. Adam Findlay, an Australian who's part of the NATO operations staff in Afghanistan.
Findlay says that the Afghans are getting ahead of themselves in looking for more advanced and conventional hardware.
Afghanistan expert Stephen Biddle of the Council on Foreign Relations says the interests of the U.S. and Afghan governments are "imperfectly aligned."
One reason, he says, is that Karzai wants heavy weaponry to win more loyalty from his military commanders.
"It's not uncommon for armies and air forces in the developing world to buy equipment for prestige purposes that, when you look at the objective nature of the threats they face, is a poor fit," Biddle says.
Need For Clear Military Strategy
He and others argue this is what's missing right now: an objective analysis.
Atiqullah Baryalai is a former Afghan deputy defense minister.
"We do not have in our military sector any clear strategy, and we do not have any clear strategy in the political level," Baryalai says.
"The real threat in front of Afghanistan is going to be insurgency and the radicalism in the region," he says.
And so for the next decade or so, he says, Afghanistan should develop a national security strategy based around that threat. And that means Afghanistan needs mobile and less expensive weaponry — helicopters, light artillery, armored personnel carriers. Biddle agrees.
"If we're going to be paying the bills, I think it's reasonable to ask that the military we're building pursue interests that the U.S. has in the region," he says.
Biddle and Baryalai say that involves one thing the Obama administration has struggled to do: make clear to Karzai America's interests in the region.
NPR's Sultan Faizy and Aimal Yaqubi contributed to this report.
Roadside bomb kills 4 including district police chief in N. Afghanistan
MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Roadside bomb claimed the lives of four people including a district police chief in the northern Balkh province on Thursday, an official said.
"A bomb planted by militants on a road in Kashanda district struck the vehicle of district police chief, Mamor Nasim, killing him along with three of his bodyguards on the spot today afternoon, " district governor, Abidullah told Xinhua.
He also blamed the enemies of peace, a reference to the Taliban militants for organizing the deadly attack. However, the outfit has yet to make comment.
Earlier Thursday morning, two more bomb blasts in Kunduz and Baghlan provinces injured at least two civilians.
Taliban dismisses London talks on Afghan war
Does not reject the possibility of progress in other peace talks
AFP February 6, 2013
Kabul - A Taliban spokesman on Wednesday dismissed the outcome of a conference in London between the leaders of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Britain which aimed to work towards a peace deal within six months.
But Zabihullah Mujahid, writing on the militia’s website, did not appear to reject the possibility of progress in other peace talks.
The Taliban has demanded that any negotiations should be between themselves and the United States.
The conference and other “horse trading” were “the real obstacles of effective and fruitful negotiations between the factual sides”, wrote Mujahid in English in an apparent reference to that long-standing demand.
The militants broke off tentative contacts with the US in Qatar in March last year after the failure of attempts to negotiate a prisoner exchange as a confidence-building measure.
The Taliban has consistently refused to negotiate directly with the Kabul government, which they have been battling since they were removed from power in a 2001 US-led invasion.
Mujahid accused Western forces of facing military defeat and using such conferences as propaganda to conceal the deadlock in the country and to “show that some activity and progress is going on”.
US-led Nato combat forces are due to leave Afghanistan next year, and efforts to negotiate peace have gained urgency as they seek to leave with some dignity.
Mujahid said by telephone that the views in the lengthy website “article” would be followed soon by an official Taliban response to the conference.
The leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan said in London on Monday they would work to reach a peace deal within six months, while throwing their weight behind moves for the Taliban to open an office in Doha.
Following talks hosted by British Prime Minister David Cameron, Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari and his Afghan President Hamid Karzai also urged the rebels to join the reconciliation process in Afghanistan.
But with neither the Taliban nor the United States at the talks, and the militants refusing to talk to Kabul, analysts said the commitment by the three leaders risked being one-sided.
Mujahid indicated that this was indeed the view of the Taliban, saying “they are taking propaganda gain from the peace slogan and are not trying to take any practical step to fulfil the prerequisites of negotiations”.
Analyst Waheed Muzhda, who served in the 1996-2001 Taliban government, said the Taliban spokesman did not appear to reject the possibility of progress in peace talks.
“It is believed that the Taliban are under some pressure by those who are believed to be their main backers, including Pakistan, to reach some kind of accord with the Kabul government soon,” Muzhda said.
Pakistan recently released some Taliban prisoners, a move Kabul believes could help bring militants to the negotiating table.
Welcome to Kabul: Here are some brass knuckles
With the West focused on Afghanistan’s countryside and military withdrawal, parts of the capital are slipping into lawlessness.
Global Post By Chris Sands February 6, 2013
KABUL, Afghanistan - Ahmad pulled a set of brass knuckles from his pocket to demonstrate how unsafe he feels in his Kabul neighborhood. Occasionally he can also be found carrying a knife or gun for self-defense.
"During the night when people go to wedding parties in the city and they want to come back here, no taxi driver is ready to bring them," he said.
Such is life for the people of Company, a sprawling area on the fringes of Kabul. As the West focuses fighting in the countryside, this part of the Afghan capital has slipped unnoticed into lawlessness.
The bloodshed and intimidation are often evident only in the rumors and whispers that are uttered behind closed doors. But then they burst into the open, and another man is beaten or killed in the street.
Fingers are pointed at warlords, insurgents, corrupt officials and common criminals, depending on who is asked. All the residents who spoke to GlobalPost in recent months were scared to give their full identities.
Company lies on the main route leading from the center of Kabul to southern Afghanistan and, eventually, Kandahar. The majority of its inhabitants are ethnic Pashtuns, a community that makes up the bulk of the Taliban. Here many of them hail from the nearby province of Maidan Wardak.
Ahmad is among them. The earliest signs of trouble he remembers are the assassinations of two policemen in separate attacks in broad daylight a few years ago. House raids by the Afghan security forces have become common ever since, he claimed.
This has caused resentment and accusations that former members of the old Northern Alliance movement that fought the Taliban regime are using their influence inside the government to discriminate against the local population.
The arrests and acts of violence now feed off each other, making it difficult to ascertain exactly which comes first.
Incidents described to GlobalPost include the killing of a man at night near a car market and a case where gunmen entered the house of an official, put a pistol to the head of his daughter and demanded a ransom to spare her life.
Ahmad runs a local business that is only about 300 feet from his home, but he still packs the brass knuckles for his journey to and from work. His main worry is common criminality, though he admitted known rebels “are walking freely.”
To show what he meant by this he indicated a man sitting close to us who had memorized the Quran and was active in the resistance.
"This will be a problem for me because he has seen you and you are a journalist," he said.
The Taliban's ability to strike at the heart of Kabul was made evident last month, when groups of heavily armed militants staged two high-profile assaults inside the city. The first targeted the headquarters of the Afghan intelligence service and the second involved an attack on the headquarters of the traffic police.
Here the guerrillas are quieter. Most do not view Company as a battlefield, choosing instead to stay with relatives during visits from the countryside or hold down ordinary jobs, just like the rest of the population. They fight only in the provinces.
Omari is a 25-year-old rebel from Maidan Wardak. He claimed insecurity in Company was being fueled by figures loyal to Abdul Rabb Rasul Sayyaf, a powerful lawmaker and key former Northern Alliance member who is one of Afghanistan's most notorious warlords.
He accused Sayyaf's followers of acting with impunity, stealing land and even ordering residents to pay to use a public street.
"All of the people are praying that the Taliban return and this oppression is pushed back," he said.
The claims made about Company are often impossible to independently verify. However, there are widespread concerns that instability is rising in different parts of the Afghan capital.
Late last year Shukria Barakzi, a Member of Parliament for Kabul, told GlobalPost that criminal networks that team up with former mujahedeen commanders are causing unrest in and around the city.
She complained that key positions within the security forces were politicized, rekindling old rivalries among factions from the civil war era.
"It's not only one area in Kabul, there are lots of areas in Kabul," she said. "Unfortunately Afghan soldiers cannot go to some of the areas at night with their uniforms on."
The police insist they are in control of the situation in the city and like to parade men they have arrested in front of local media in an effort to reassure the public. The government, meanwhile, has repeatedly dismissed the idea that the country will slip into chaos as the United States and its allies withdraw.
None of it is much comfort to the people of Company, who already live in a state of fear and paranoia.
Ismat, a civil engineer living in the area, said political and criminal violence were "very bad."
He said police were scared to park their vehicles outside their own houses and the relatives of wealthy businessmen are increasingly targeted by kidnappers. He also accused followers of Sayyaf of stealing land and terrorizing the population.
"After the evening prayer everyone [stays] at home until the call to prayer in the morning," he said.
Taliban Prisoner Release is Poor Policy, Party Says
TOLOnews.com By Azim Arash Wednesday, 06 February 2013
The Afghan government policy to release Taliban prisoners is "completely incorrect" and threatens the peace process, the Truth and Justice party said Wednesday.
Mohammad Hanif Atmar, head of the Truth and Justice party's commission on politics, criticised the release of Taliban prisoners in Pakistan as requested by the Afghan High Peace Council, saying their fate is unclear and the government has not seriously considered their future.
"The government's policies over the release of imprisoned Taliban from Pakistan is completely incorrect and this action will cause the peace process to confront failure," Atmar said at a press briefing.
Around 30 members of the Taliban imprisoned in Pakistan have been released recently but it is not clear where they now are.
He pointed out that it is the government's responsibility to bring these released prisoners into the peace process, but it has failed to do so.
Atmar also mentioned the party's dissatisfaction with the government preparation for the April 2014 presidential poll, warning that it has not made the necessary reforms needed for a robust, transparent election.
Karzai call on religious clerics to denounce suicide bombing
By Sadaf Shinwari - 07 Feb 2013, 10:39 am Khaama Press
Afghan president Hamid Karzai on Thursday arrived to capital Kabul along with the other high level Afghan government officials after attending OIC summit in Egypt following his trip to England and Norway.
President Karzai attended trilateral summit on Afghanistan hosted by British prime minister David Cameron and later signed a long term strategic pact with Norway.
In the meantime president Hamid Karzai following his remarks in OIC summit urged religious scholars of the Muslim countries to slam suicide attacks a prohibited act in Islam.
According to a statement released by presidential palace media office president Karzai said, “The Summit, ladies and gentlemen, is a timely step to focus our attention on some of the gravest and consequential challenges facing us today. From the violence of terrorism to the crisis and conflict in several of our countries, to the ever continuing sufferings of our Palestinian brothers and sisters, the Muslim world is strewn with difficulties.”
President Karzai further added, “In my view, of the challenges we face, the most urgent to address is terrorism which poses the most serious threat to peace, security and progress across the Islamic world. In many parts of the Ummah, terrorism inflicts immense suffering, and undermines our abilities for socio-economic development.”
“It is of particular concern for the OIC, as the body that collectively represents the Ummah, that terrorism is committed by misusing the name of our religion. I urge all OIC members not only to condemn acts of terrorism, but also to take decisive and concerted action to prevent extremists and terrorists from abusing our religion and tarnishing its image,” Karzai said adding that “We must prevent our mosques and madrassas from being misused to propagate extremism and hatred. Terrorist groups must not find safe haven, sanctuary, funding or sponsorship in our countries.”
Karzai also said, “Our religious scholars and Ulema must effectively engage in our common struggle against extremists, who undermine the Ummah’s progress and stability.”
In his remarks to religious clerics president Karzai said, “In this context, my delegation urges Ulemas across the Islamic world to take example from Sheikh Abdul Aziz, Mufti-e-Azam of Saudi Arabia, whose sermon on the day of Arafat recalled that suicide attacks are prohibited in Islam and anyone who attempts or carries out such attacks will not be forgiven by Allah.”
Karzai stressed, “To address these challenges, we not only need strong political unison but also sustained effort at raising our standard in human capital and economic development.”
Electronic Map Planned for GPS Coverage of Kabul
TOLOnews.com By Shahla Murtazaie Wednesday, 06 February 2013
Plans are underway to electronically map Kabul city in order for GPS systems to operate, the Ministry of Communications and Technology said Wednesday.
MCIT officials told TOLOnews that the ministry is working with the Kabul municipal council to develop the GPS [Global Positioning System] for use in the city in order for people to be able to find addresses more easily.
MCIT Deputy Minister of Technical Baryalai Hasam said that the initial plan is to implement a GPS in Kabul and then in all cities of Afghanistan.
Hasam said that once Kabul's streets are named, they will activate the GPS system.
"The GPS is a small device which people can install in their vehicles and the device searches for the selected address on the map and will give them a guide to the destination," he said.
Hasam said that implementation plan for an electronic map in Kabul city requires a detailed survey. The primary survey shows that this project will cost around US$25 million.
Taliban is Not Behind Recent Kabul Attacks: NDS
TOLOnews.com By Rafi Sediqi Wednesday, 06 February 2013
The Taliban are not behind the recent suicide offensives in Afghanistan, National Directorate of Security (NDS) said on Wednesday, claiming some other group is behind the attacks.
NDS spokesman Shafiqullah Tahiri said that the modern techniques and equipment use in the recent attacks in Afghanistan's capital reveal a sophistication that is not common among Taliban.
"The attacks, especially the attack on the traffic department, was not the work of the Taliban but some other proficient terrorists were involved," he told reporters at a press briefing Wednesday.
"Now, they are using modern techniques in the attack and also new explosives in suicide vests that have high power," he added.
The six alleged insurgents detained on Sunday in Kabul had aimed to attack some government and private organisations, and were fully equipped with these modern weapons and suicide vests, he said.
Tahiri also claimed that four men believed to have coordinated the attack on the Kabul traffic police headquarters last month have also been detained in NDS operations in different parts of Kabul, but he declined to give details.
Meanwhile, in other NDS operations, the Taliban shadow governor of Kunduz province Malawi Abdul Rahman has been detained.
Separately, 1200 kgs of explosive materials have been seized in Parwan province and two men detained in connection with the incident.
NDS forces have also seized about 700 kgs explosive and 150 weapons in operations in Paktya, Samangan, Ghazni, Balkh and Helmand provinces, Taheri added.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
By Shashank Bengali February 7, 2013, 7:11 a.m.
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghans paid bribes totaling about $3.9 billion last year -- twice the country’s domestic revenue -- and two-thirds of the population says it’s acceptable for civil servants to take kickbacks for providing basic services, according to a U.N. survey released Thursday.
The results indicate corruption is deeply rooted in Afghanistan despite President Hamid Karzai’s pledges to clean up the problem and years of internationally backed efforts to curb the country’s extensive networks of bribery and patronage.
The data also point to the toxic impact of the billions of dollars in foreign aid and contracts that have poured into Afghanistan over the last decade, inflating even the cost of bribes. While fewer Afghans than in 2009 reported making such payoffs, the total cost of the bribes jumped by 40%, suggesting that poorer Afghans were less likely to be able to afford public services.
“We see some improvements, but by the same token, the problem is extremely serious,” said Jean-Luc Lemahieu, regional representative for the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime, which released the survey along with the Afghan government’s anti-corruption body. “Corruption is rampant in Afghanistan and the perception of the population is we cannot escape this.”
The survey polled 6,700 Afghans from across the country and found that half of them paid a bribe to a public sector worker in 2012. That figure was down from 59% in 2009, the last year the survey was conducted.
But 68% of those polled said that it was acceptable for civil servants to augment their low salaries by taking small bribes from people in exchange for providing public services. A similar figure said it was sometimes acceptable for a civil servant to be hired based on family ties or friendships.
Among the most troubling findings, the survey’s authors said, was that education had become one of the government sectors most plagued by graft. Fifty-one percent of respondents said they paid a bribe to a teacher in 2012, up from 16% in 2009.
The data are a worrying sign for Karzai and his Western sponsors, who say that endemic corruption undermines public confidence in the government and pushes some Afghans to support the Taliban.
“It says the rich who can easily pay get better access to services, while the poor who cannot pay may not get access,” Lemahieu said. “That alienates a lot of the population, makes them frustrated, and in the worst scenario can fuel the insurgency.”
The U.N. and Afghanistan’s High Office for Oversight and Anticorruption also polled civil servants and found that more than half of the country’s teachers and police officers -- and nearly 30% of public prosecutors -- had gotten their jobs through personal, tribal or ethnic connections. More than 21% of teachers said they paid a bribe to get their job.
Despite Karzai’s repeated pledges, the Afghan government has done almost nothing to rein in corruption at any level. With the international military presence winding down, U.S. officials say that much of their future support to the Afghan government will be conditional on cleaning up corruption.
But Karzai himself has sometimes seemed ambivalent about the nature of the problem and has accused foreigners of fueling corruption by awarding contracts to top Afghan officials or their relatives to curry favor with his government.
In a speech in December, Karzai said “the large part” of corruption in his country was “hundreds of millions dollars that are not ours. We shouldn't blame ourselves for that. That part is from others and imposed on us.”
Anti-Corruption Office Probes MPs Property Holdings
TOLOnews.com By Shakeela Ahbrimkhil Wednesday, 06 February 2013
The High Office of Oversight and Anti-Corruption (HOO) has inspected land-holdings of about 70 top Afghan officials including ministers, provincial governors, and members of the Supreme Court, finding a strong disparity between income and assets.
The anti-corruption office began the task its chief describes as onerous following grave concerns that property ownership in many cases was unclear.
"We have ministers who have houses coming out of ground like mushrooms – not one, but tens of houses," HOO chief Azizullah Lodin told TOLOnews in an interview Wednesday.
"There should be questions asked: where has it all come from? It can't be purchased by the salary from the ministry. The $2,200 they receive is only for the daily expenses they have for other ministers, provincial governors, and other officials," he added.
According to HOO's findings so far, none of the MPs have registered their properties because the country's constitution does not require them too. However, Lodin said that given the problems surrounding corruption in Afghanistan, the MPs should also be required to register their assets.
"We wrote a letter to the parliament to require the MPs to register their properties. They rejected this and said that, 'Based on the constitution, we don't have this obligation, our name is not mentioned in the constitution and we won't register our properties.' So, we addressed this issue to the president so that they can inspect it," Lodin said.
The process of registration of assets of government officials and senior staff has been implemented in six provinces across the country. Currently around 70,000 government staff have registered their properties.
Lodin acknowledged that even if registrations were mandatory, it would be very difficult to check their accuracy given the country struggles to have basic statistics on its population.
Nevertheless, he said it might be possible with cooperation from different organisations – especially those of security – in order to check registrations and avoid "difficulties" throughout inspections.
Interview With Gen. John R. Allen on Leaving Afghanistan
New York Times (blog) By MATTHEW ROSENBERG February 6, 2013
The New York Times interviewed Gen. John. R. Allen on Sunday, a week before his scheduled departure from Afghanistan after 19 months as the commander of the American and allied forces.
Following are some of General Allen’s comments. Brief explanations have been provided in brackets.
On his relationship with President Hamid Karzai:
“I wanted him to understand that he was always going to have my loyalty and I was always going to work with him. In fact, I said a number of times, ‘I’m proud to have served you at the same time I served my own leadership, whether it’s a NATO leadership or U.S. leadership.’ Now, I wanted him to believe it because it happened to be true. I think our personalities matched in that regard.”
“Now, we’ve had some tough times. This has been a time of really dramatic change for the campaign. When I got here, I measured success in how well we and how often we were fighting. Today, it’s a very different environment. The Afghans are virtually entirely in the lead across Afghanistan.”
“This is what I’ve learned about the president. If you listen to him, he’s got some pretty good ideas, and often the controversy that has arisen in the relationships hasn’t been because necessarily you disagree with the ideas. It’s because you haven’t listened to them early enough.”
“And sometimes it’s been strained. I don’t think he ever believes that actions that I have taken were ever intended to disadvantage him as the president, or not do everything I possibly could for the Afghan people. I told him, I’m prepared to die in this country on behalf of his people. I take that very seriously.”
On civilian casualties:
“I’ve met with the families of the casualties that we’ve inflicted. I’ve flown to the villages to personally apologize for the casualties, and do what I can to do the right thing for those families. I’ve taken measures with respect to the employment of certain kinds of fires.” ["Fires” is common military shorthand for a variety of munitions, from bullets to missiles to mortar shells.]
“We had a couple of pretty rough incidents where Afghans were killed by the delivery of aviation fires. I eventually said to President Karzai that civilian structures, tents, potential areas where civilians might be either taking refuge or hiding or living, I’m not going to deliver any more fires on those structures unless my troops are pinned down, can’t move, and the only option they have is to deliver fires on these structures, or I decide, the senior leader out here, I decide to deliver fires on these structures.”
“The civilian causalities as a result of air fires plummeted immediately. It was probably the decision I could have made long before that and none of our forces were put at risk, or a greater risk because of this.”
On the aftermath of the burning of Korans at Bagram Air Base:
“I have to tell you, I thought this could be it for the relationship.
“I immediately got on the phone to a number of Afghan media outlets, immediately cut a video apologizing for this as sincerely as I could possibly appear and sound because this was going to be bad, it could be really bad. I called the president, I went to see him, apologized to him for this. It was completely inadvertent but this culture deserved that apology. We were in their home, so to speak. We are guests in their home and even though it was an accident, even though it was not intentional, we had made a bad mistake, a real error and the people deserved my apology, the president deserved my apology.
“He accepted it and I think in many respects, the personal nature of our relationship was what tempered the language coming out of the palace, the relief, his own engagement with the media and so on. Because of both of our actions, both of them supporting each other, we were able to keep this from being the result of a bad mistake from being something that could have really fractured the relationship.”
On the fallout in March after an American soldier killed 16 villagers in the southern Afghan district of Panjwai, which he first heard about when he was in the United States to testify before Congress:
“The first phone call was something of the effect of — we’ve got mixed reporting from Panjwai. We think an American soldier maybe shot some people and my response was, ‘All right. Let’s develop the situation quickly. Tell me what we got in front of us because we’ve got to make the Afghans were included on this.’ ”
“Then the phone calls started coming in and the numbers started going up and pretty quick and this is as bad a circumstance as you might have imagined.”
“I called President Karzai from home and we had a long conversation about it. I promised him once again that we would take all steps, measures, take all actions necessary to get to the bottom of this and we would do a full and complete investigation and those people necessary would be held accountable.”
“This was still unfolding. It was one shooter. It was multiple shooters. There were wild rumors associated with things that he had done in addition to shooting. So the information environment was wide open at this point. And both for the purposes of internal stability in Afghanistan for the purposes of preserving our relationship we were working very, very hard to confirm what we knew to be the facts and try very hard to get after the rumors that were just flying.”
“Once again, when he could have been angry, when it could have been a very negative conversation, I mean, he was tutorial. He explained to me why this is bad for the relationship, why this is bad for the campaign, and why this will shake the confidence of the Afghan people, his personal gesture of measured conversation with me. He wasn’t angry.”
On why the United States should stay engaged in Afghanistan:
“I put it in the context of this has been worth it. This is bigger than anyone of us. It’s bigger than the president. It’s bigger than the president of Afghanistan, because this isn’t about today. This is about tomorrow. This is about doing all we can to facilitate President Karzai with his desire to be successful. But it’ll be about doing all we can do to set up his successor for success.”
On overcoming the skepticism of officials in Washington, who often express frustration with Mr. Karzai:
“For this president, at this moment of its history, the Afghanistan history, to be able to hold together these tribes and these ethnic groups with these kinds of challenges has got to be one of the hardest jobs going. And so I try to paint the context of the challenges that he faces, the history from which he originates and help conceivably, he will interpret our actions. He may not understand what we are trying to do, or may misinterpret what we’re trying to do or say. And frankly, one of the great things about our democracy is also one of the hardest things about our democracy: That is, we don’t always speak with the same voice.
“So he’ll hear a voice from one part of the government, it will be different for another part of the government and he’ll see to square the differences. It’s not a criticism, it just is who we are. The farther you are away from Kabul, the farther you are away from the palace, the farther you are away from the history of this country in the complexities of society, the easier it is to generalize, frankly.”
On the need for the Afghan government to better serve its people and stamp out corruption within its ranks:
“We’ve worked very hard, obviously, to build a capacity in those. But when your ability to survive the night, or put food on the table was — well, for many years are functionally, what tribe you were part of, or what group you were part of. And those patronage networks undertook economic opportunities which made them some respect, criminal patronage networks.
“They can only survive because institutions of governance are weak. And so now, we find ourselves in this — at this very moment when the future of the country relies on the strength of institutions. The criminal patronage networks recognized that their future, their survival can only be sustained by keeping these institutions weak. That’s the moment we find ourselves in, and the presidential directive on any corruption and government reform and the Mutual Accountability Framework came out of Tokyo.
“These created very helpful, very useful, both domestic and international expectations for reform. So we need to see how smoothing past the written word and the spoken word and start moving towards action. I think the president, if he were sitting here would tell you that they have achieved some good action, good results in his presidential decree. The Mutual Accountability Framework is constantly being audited to see that there’s progress on reform. But again, we’re still pretty fresh in the process and we’ve got to let this play out some more.”
On the future of the war and Afghanistan:
“Let me make sure I’m clear on this. Nothing is sure in a post-conflict society. But I think the indicators, as far as I’m concerned, are that we’re on the right trajectory. What you have to understand, what people have to understand is some of these reforms take a very long time. In an environment where human rights were crashed under multiple different invasions or civil wars or the Taliban, creating once again the kind of bias for human rights that we would all expect in the Western society, just doesn’t come easily to this country.
“Nothing will happen in this country without security. And that security is being purchased every single day by the Afghan National Security Forces. And then, on the platform of that security, this president has announced a program or platform that he intends to follow. Now, he’s moving forward in some areas, he’s having resistance in others, but we just have to expect this is going to take time. That’s where huge patience has to come in. That’s where the decade of transformation comes in.”
On the surge of “insider attacks” against Westerners that took place in 2012:
“The losses became to this particular means of attack became very troubling, very significant, and tragic. And while on the tactical level and on the operational level, we were able to deal with the problem. This was becoming a strategic crisis — a strategic crisis in capitals, a strategic crisis for the alliance — and the Taliban saw this. They knew this. They saw that. They saw that the future of the A.N.S.F. relied on our being close, partner or adviser inside the Afghan formations.
“We were very careful in our reaction to insider attacks. Not to wall ourselves off from the Afghans and create distance. I used to tell them, you may not be able to do anything about the linear distance that you have to deal with but there’s a lot you can do about your proximity and the closer you all feel to each other, the more secure you will be. And that’s in an environment where we’re transitioning to being advisers almost entirely across Afghanistan. That has to be one of the operative principles for philosophically how we’re going to live with the Afghans. You treat them like brothers. You live with them like they’re family. That reduces the unknowns, it reduces the potential for cultural affront, and it makes you more secure.”
“That doesn’t mean we’re not going to keep a close eye on the environment. We still have these people called Guardian Angels because there are enemies in the ranks and they’re waiting to take that shot.”
“We took a lot of measures and the numbers are down. But I don’t in any way want anybody to become complacent about the number being down. I don’t want anyone to lift up on the security measures that they’re taking or reduce the attentiveness that they have to the environment around. So, I want everybody to be attentive and we’re going to periodically refresh our training both at the very lowest levels and for the units coming in. So, we’re not going to give up on this.”
Afghan peace talks a complicated process: Aimal Faizi
By Meena Haseeb - 07 Feb 2013, 12:14 pm Khaama Press
Afghan presidential palace spokesman Aimal Faizi has said that certain nations are struggling to control Afghan peace process in a bid to gain political benefits from the talks.
Mr. Faizi did not disclose further details regarding the exact nation looking to gain control over Afghan peace talks however his gesture was probably towards neighboring Pakistan. In an interview with the Radio Free Europe (RFE) Aimal Faizi described Afghan peace talks a very complicated process.
He said, “Apparently we are holding talks with the Taliban group but practically other nations are also having role behind the Afghan peace process. Unfortunately a number of the nations want to gain benefits from Afghan peace talks and have control over the process.”
However Mr. Faizi emphasized that the Afghan government will step up efforts to start an Afghan led peace negotiations with militants.
Aimal Faizi’s comments are followed after a trilateral summit hosted by British prime minister David Cameron in London where the three leaders agreed to include Taliban group in Afghan peace process within the next six months.
But the Taliban group in Afghanistan dismissed the outcome of the summit.
In the meantime former US ambassador to Afghanistan also insisted that the Afghan war will not be ended unless Taliban group does not join peace process.
Former US ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald E. Neumann following an interview with The Voice of America (VOA) said Pakistan does not have full control over the Taliban group.
He said, “I think Pakistan’s agreement is very important and it will be very difficult if Pakistan does not agree to reach a peace agreement. I don’t think Pakistan will have a complete control to implement peace without Taliban since the two parties are important.”
However political analysts argue with Neumann’s remarks and believe that Pakistan is supporting the Taliban group since they would not be able to continue to their fight for almost a decade without Islamabad’s support.
In the meantime Afghanistan, Pakistan and United Kingdom during the trilateral summit also agreed with the Taliban liaison office in Qatar.
The three leaders however emphasized that the office will only be used for peace talks between Taliban group and Afghan high peace council.
So, this is the office that will investigate Afghanistan's Kam Air?
Key questions about the credibility of the Afghan attorney general's office as it prepares to investigate accusations that Kam Air is involved in drug-smuggling.
Christian Science Monitor By Dan Murphy, Staff writer February 6, 2013
Yesterday, I wrote about Afghan airline Kam Air, which was removed from a US military contracting blacklist for alleged involvement in drug smuggling after complaints from the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai.
The US military in Afghanistan says that the blacklisting has simply been "suspended" pending an Afghan government investigation. That investigation will likely be carried out by the attorney general's office. Who will ultimately decide? Since Afghanistan's politics is only slightly less convoluted and conspiratorial than Florence under the Medici family, I can't really say.
But in doing some reading for the story, I scanned the latest quarterly report from the special inspector general for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), which contains an amusing – or horrifying, depending on your perspective – anecdote on political maneuvering and dysfunction at the Afghan attorney general's office.
The Jan. 30 document dryly notes that the "Afghan Attorney General Office (AGO) made no significant anti-corruption indictments or prosecutions this quarter. Afghan prosecutors continued to complain that they lack supervisors’ support for prosecutions," and then launches into the story of how the director general of the attorney general's anticorruption unit (ACU) lost his job last year, according to the US Embassy in Kabul.
"A group of prosecutors in the AGO’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) set up the Unit’s Director General by supplying him with alcohol and encouraging him to denigrate the Attorney General while videotaping the incident, according to State. This led to his arrest and subsequent removal from his post. State noted that although the replacement is a reputable prosecutor, it will be difficult for the ACU to function effectively if it continues to be full of internal rivalry and intrigue."
Afghanistan's Attorney General Mohammed Ishaq Aloko has been on the job since 2008, a period when political meddling in prosecutions has been rife. For years, US officials in Afghanistan have privately complained that he's intervened to quash investigations into friends or allies of Karzai. The US has also alleged that Aloko and Karzai have been involved in the pre-trial release of insurgents.
For instance, in a 2009 embassy cable released by WikiLeaks, then-Ambassador Karl Eibenberry writes that:
On numerous occasions we have emphasized with Attorney General Aloko the need to end interventions by him and President Karzai, who both authorize the release of detainees pre-trial and allow dangerous individuals to go free or re-enter the battlefield without ever facing an Afghan court. On July 29th, Legal Adviser Harold Hongju Koh and Deputy Ambassador Frances Ricciardone demarched Attorney General Muhammad Ishaq Aloko about our concern over pre-trial releases and presidential pardons of narco-traffickers (Reftel Kabul 02245)... Despite our complaints and expressions of concern to the (government of Afghanistan), pre-trial releases continue.
Also in 2009, Mr. Aloko bristled at a US complaint about the specific release of the nephew of a powerful Afghan warlord and insurgent.
When Ricciardone explained to ALOKO about the crucial link between rule of law and sovereignty, ALOKO challenged the Ambassador to define sovereignty, and declared that decisions about releases were Afghan problems, 8 implying that the U.S. should stay out of them. Ambassador Ricciardone pressed ALOKO on why, contrary to explicit agreement, the GIRoA allowed 150 pre-trial releases from the (Afghanistan National Detention Facility), including the recent release without trial of Abdullah Shahab, nephew of anti-American Mujahideen leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Shahab had admitted to video-taping attacks against U.S. forces for use as Taliban propaganda. ALOKO responded that a familial relationship to Hekmatyar had nothing to do with Shahab's case and that his camera activities were not illegal. ALOKO argued that when the U.S. transfers detainees to the GIRoA, the U.S.-provided evidence against some detainees is insufficient for prosecution, so he is sometimes left with no other choice than to release the detainee
rather than let their cases take up time in already overburdened court.
That cable makes it clear that the US has had little faith or trust in Aloko for some time. Aloko told the US diplomats in his meeting that he had no involvement in the pre-trial releases of a number of drug traffickers that US forces had handed over to the Afghan government. The US diplomat who wrote the cable adds in a short parenthetical aside after recording Aloko's position: "(Note: ALOKO's claimed lack of involvement in the narcotics cases is not credible.)"
So, this is the office that will investigate Kam Air. In a statement on the matter earlier this week, US Forces – Afghanistan wrote: "The Afghan Government and USFOR-A remain mutually committed to transparency and combating corruption."
We'll see.
NATO Helicopter Crashes In East Afghanistan
February 7, 2013 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan says one of its helicopters has crashed in eastern Afghanistan but there were no fatalities.
An ISAF statement says an investigation is under way to determine the cause of the February 7 crash.
It provided no further details on the incident.
An ISAF spokesman told the AFP news agency that initial reports indicates there was no enemy activity at the time of the crash.
A Taliban spokesman told AFP in a text message that the helicopter was shot down by rocket fire in the Tagab district of Kapisa Province and burst into flames.
He claimed all onboard were killed.
Kapisa Province Governor Mehrabuddin Safi said the incident happened in an area where a "clearance operation was ongoing" against militants.
With reporting by AFP
For U.S. Leader in Afghan War, Much Time Making Peace
New York Times By MATTHEW ROSENBERG February 6, 2013
KABUL, Afghanistan - After 19 months in Afghanistan, Gen. John R. Allen, the commander of American and coalition forces here, is leaving a war that has become as much about damage control and crisis diplomacy as fighting the Taliban.
Dispatched to begin winding down combat operations, General Allen spent much of his final year here contending with a series of disasters that he now refers to as meteor strikes: a video of Marines urinating on Taliban corpses, the accidental burning of Korans by American soldiers, civilian deaths in coalition airstrikes, and the massacre of 16 civilians by an American soldier.
Then there was a surge in violence against coalition service members by Afghan soldiers and police officers, known as insider attacks, that by late summer had jeopardized the effort to train Afghan forces to be able to fight on their own. At the least, it added urgency to a troop withdrawal that was already being accelerated ahead of the 2014 deadline.
But of all the challenges faced by General Allen, who on Sunday will hand his command to Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. and leave Afghanistan, one remains as central today as it was when he landed in Kabul: keeping President Hamid Karzai’s distrust of the United States in check, and keeping the Obama administration committed to an ally who has tested the limits of its patience.
“It can be really tough,” General Allen acknowledged in an interview this week.
Referring to his dual role as commander of American troops and the leader of the military coalition that fights alongside Afghan forces, he said: “I wanted President Karzai to understand that while I had certainly been selected by President Obama to come out here, I very much saw myself serving President Karzai as well. This was the great struggle.”
The uneasy — and, at times, overtly hostile — relationship between Mr. Karzai and Washington has defined the final years of the war in Afghanistan. Breakdowns in the relationship have been paralleled by both the deterioration of the war effort and declining political will in the United States to remain engaged in the longest American combat deployment in history.
Initiatives seen as critical by American officials and commanders have been among the most contested by their Afghan allies. Coalition plans to establish the Afghan Local Police as a network of defense militias, for instance, were initially opposed and only grudgingly approved by Mr. Karzai. And governance issues like American-backed efforts to sever criminal patronage networks among Afghan officials have repeatedly been shut down by the Afghan leader.
General Allen’s predecessor, Gen. David H. Petraeus, had a stormy relationship with Mr. Karzai. By the time General Allen assumed command, the Afghan leader’s talk of coalition forces as occupiers with little regard for the lives of ordinary Afghans had grown sharper.
Restoring a modicum of trust fell to General Allen and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, who was appointed around the same time for his second turn as ambassador.
Mr. Crocker’s prior relationship with Mr. Karzai provided a foundation, General Allen said. He recalled how when he and Mr. Crocker went to present their credentials to the Afghan president, the ambassador spoke of his first meeting at the presidential palace with Mr. Karzai, in January 2002, when they sat together wrapped in blankets and huddled over a lantern because there was no electricity.
But that was in comparatively happier times: the Taliban were on the run, Mr. Karzai was a darling of the West and many Afghans saw American soldiers as liberators.
“When you think about how far he had come and the depths and the nature of the relationship we have with President Karzai, I was taking the lead, frankly, in that,” General Allen said.
Even as he was working to repair a deteriorating relationship, though, the meteor strikes hit.
On more than one occasion, General Allen saw the most urgent need as the one to say sorry — and mean it, even when Republicans at home were condemning what they claimed was the Obama administration’s needless eagerness to apologize.
That was the case when American soldiers at Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, inadvertently threw a box of Korans into a incineration pit in February 2012, leading to days of riots and stepped up attacks against American troops.
“I thought this could be it for the relationship,” General Allen said, adding that he “immediately cut a video apologizing for this as sincerely as I could possibly appear and sound, because this was going to be bad, it could be really bad. I called the president. I went to see him.”
Despite the immediate violence, Mr. Karzai and General Allen were able to keep the episode “from being something that could have fractured the relationship,” the general said.
On that occasion and others, he added, “it was a personal relationship, I think, that saves the day.”
A few months later, General Allen found himself apologizing again, this time to the relatives of 18 people killed in a coalition airstrike. He had flown to the site of the bombing, in Logar Province, south of Kabul, to personally deliver his apology. Afghan officials responded warmly.
“There is a tremendous respect for General Allen here,” said Janan Mosazai, the spokesman for the Afghan Foreign Ministry, “because of the sympathy and respect that he brought to his job in dealing with the Afghan people and the Afghan government.”
The sympathy was also returned after General Allen’s mother died last year. He had not told anyone in the Afghan government before flying home to bury her. Then, while eating with his family in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, “I get a phone call from the palace saying, ‘President Karzai wants to talk to you,’ ” General Allen said.
“So I’m in the parking lot, it’s just surreal,” he said. “Talking to the president of Afghanistan, who is gripped with emotion saying words to the effect that our mothers are so precious to us.”
Whether the good will engendered by General Allen will outlast his tenure is unlikely to be clear even well after he is firmly ensconced in his new role as the top commander of NATO forces in Europe. The Obama administration has yet to hash out with Afghan officials what, if any, force will remain after the NATO mission ends in 2014.
Afghan officials, meanwhile, say Mr. Karzai remains frustrated by what he sees as American intransigence over issues like the detention of insurgents and the frequent criticism of his government as weak and corrupt.
One Afghan official, speaking about continued disagreements over detention, pointed out that General Allen, “no matter how much respect he has shown, he cannot unwind all the problems we face.”
For his part, General Allen readily acknowledged that the outcome of the war is far from certain. “Let me make sure I’m clear on this: Nothing is sure.”
At the least, he said, the Afghan Army and the police were much improved — a critical measure given a continued Taliban threat. For Mr. Karzai, the greater challenge now “is affecting the kinds of reforms, government reforms, anticorruption measures and the establishment of the rule of law,” General Allen said. “Now he’s moving forward in some areas, he’s having resistance in others.”
Afghanistan also needs to hold a successful presidential election, which is scheduled for April 2014, to ensure long-term international aid, he said.
But if the United States and its allies want to see Afghanistan succeed, they are going to have to be patient and understand that setbacks will happen, General Allen said.
“We just have to expect that this is going to take time.”
U.S., Afghanistan At Odds Over Weapons Wish List
NPR By Sean Carberry February 06, 2013
The U.S. and the international community have pledged $16 billion to support Afghan security forces after NATO troops complete their drawdown at the end of 2014. That money covers the cost of troops and equipment.
But just what equipment will be provided? Afghan military officials want big-ticket planes, tanks and other conventional weapons.
The U.S., however, says the Afghans need to get their strategic priorities in order, and focus less on prestige hardware and more on weaponry and equipment suitable for counterinsurgency warfare.
The opinion of Afghan Col. Abdul Qudos Ghani typifies the dilemma. He is the commander of the 3-year-old Armor Branch School, an Afghan army training compound on the outskirts of Kabul where NATO advisers provide much of the training.
"We can fight the insurgents inside of Afghanistan with the weapons we have, but to control our borders, we should have heavy weapons," Ghani says.
And by heavy weapons he means artillery, jets and tanks. Many other Afghan commanders and defense officials echo Ghani's sentiments.
When Afghan President Hamid Karzai went to Washington last month, he had a wish list of military hardware he wanted from the U.S.
But that list has "disappeared in the Pentagon, or it's gone to one of the shelves of the White House," says Shukria Barakzai, a member of the Afghan Parliament's defense committee.
She says she was disappointed by the results of the talks in Washington. She says it's essential for Afghanistan to build up a conventional military to deter hostile neighbors.
"If we don't have it at all, it will be a big threat, not only for Afghanistan but globally," Barakzai says.
Afghans Getting Ahead Of Themselves?
The U.S. and NATO don't share this view.
"We are building the [Afghan security forces] to fight a counterinsurgency war in our own image," says Brig. Gen. Adam Findlay, an Australian who's part of the NATO operations staff in Afghanistan.
Findlay says that the Afghans are getting ahead of themselves in looking for more advanced and conventional hardware.
Afghanistan expert Stephen Biddle of the Council on Foreign Relations says the interests of the U.S. and Afghan governments are "imperfectly aligned."
One reason, he says, is that Karzai wants heavy weaponry to win more loyalty from his military commanders.
"It's not uncommon for armies and air forces in the developing world to buy equipment for prestige purposes that, when you look at the objective nature of the threats they face, is a poor fit," Biddle says.
Need For Clear Military Strategy
He and others argue this is what's missing right now: an objective analysis.
Atiqullah Baryalai is a former Afghan deputy defense minister.
"We do not have in our military sector any clear strategy, and we do not have any clear strategy in the political level," Baryalai says.
"The real threat in front of Afghanistan is going to be insurgency and the radicalism in the region," he says.
And so for the next decade or so, he says, Afghanistan should develop a national security strategy based around that threat. And that means Afghanistan needs mobile and less expensive weaponry — helicopters, light artillery, armored personnel carriers. Biddle agrees.
"If we're going to be paying the bills, I think it's reasonable to ask that the military we're building pursue interests that the U.S. has in the region," he says.
Biddle and Baryalai say that involves one thing the Obama administration has struggled to do: make clear to Karzai America's interests in the region.
NPR's Sultan Faizy and Aimal Yaqubi contributed to this report.
Roadside bomb kills 4 including district police chief in N. Afghanistan
MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Roadside bomb claimed the lives of four people including a district police chief in the northern Balkh province on Thursday, an official said.
"A bomb planted by militants on a road in Kashanda district struck the vehicle of district police chief, Mamor Nasim, killing him along with three of his bodyguards on the spot today afternoon, " district governor, Abidullah told Xinhua.
He also blamed the enemies of peace, a reference to the Taliban militants for organizing the deadly attack. However, the outfit has yet to make comment.
Earlier Thursday morning, two more bomb blasts in Kunduz and Baghlan provinces injured at least two civilians.
Taliban dismisses London talks on Afghan war
Does not reject the possibility of progress in other peace talks
AFP February 6, 2013
Kabul - A Taliban spokesman on Wednesday dismissed the outcome of a conference in London between the leaders of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Britain which aimed to work towards a peace deal within six months.
But Zabihullah Mujahid, writing on the militia’s website, did not appear to reject the possibility of progress in other peace talks.
The Taliban has demanded that any negotiations should be between themselves and the United States.
The conference and other “horse trading” were “the real obstacles of effective and fruitful negotiations between the factual sides”, wrote Mujahid in English in an apparent reference to that long-standing demand.
The militants broke off tentative contacts with the US in Qatar in March last year after the failure of attempts to negotiate a prisoner exchange as a confidence-building measure.
The Taliban has consistently refused to negotiate directly with the Kabul government, which they have been battling since they were removed from power in a 2001 US-led invasion.
Mujahid accused Western forces of facing military defeat and using such conferences as propaganda to conceal the deadlock in the country and to “show that some activity and progress is going on”.
US-led Nato combat forces are due to leave Afghanistan next year, and efforts to negotiate peace have gained urgency as they seek to leave with some dignity.
Mujahid said by telephone that the views in the lengthy website “article” would be followed soon by an official Taliban response to the conference.
The leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan said in London on Monday they would work to reach a peace deal within six months, while throwing their weight behind moves for the Taliban to open an office in Doha.
Following talks hosted by British Prime Minister David Cameron, Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari and his Afghan President Hamid Karzai also urged the rebels to join the reconciliation process in Afghanistan.
But with neither the Taliban nor the United States at the talks, and the militants refusing to talk to Kabul, analysts said the commitment by the three leaders risked being one-sided.
Mujahid indicated that this was indeed the view of the Taliban, saying “they are taking propaganda gain from the peace slogan and are not trying to take any practical step to fulfil the prerequisites of negotiations”.
Analyst Waheed Muzhda, who served in the 1996-2001 Taliban government, said the Taliban spokesman did not appear to reject the possibility of progress in peace talks.
“It is believed that the Taliban are under some pressure by those who are believed to be their main backers, including Pakistan, to reach some kind of accord with the Kabul government soon,” Muzhda said.
Pakistan recently released some Taliban prisoners, a move Kabul believes could help bring militants to the negotiating table.
Welcome to Kabul: Here are some brass knuckles
With the West focused on Afghanistan’s countryside and military withdrawal, parts of the capital are slipping into lawlessness.
Global Post By Chris Sands February 6, 2013
KABUL, Afghanistan - Ahmad pulled a set of brass knuckles from his pocket to demonstrate how unsafe he feels in his Kabul neighborhood. Occasionally he can also be found carrying a knife or gun for self-defense.
"During the night when people go to wedding parties in the city and they want to come back here, no taxi driver is ready to bring them," he said.
Such is life for the people of Company, a sprawling area on the fringes of Kabul. As the West focuses fighting in the countryside, this part of the Afghan capital has slipped unnoticed into lawlessness.
The bloodshed and intimidation are often evident only in the rumors and whispers that are uttered behind closed doors. But then they burst into the open, and another man is beaten or killed in the street.
Fingers are pointed at warlords, insurgents, corrupt officials and common criminals, depending on who is asked. All the residents who spoke to GlobalPost in recent months were scared to give their full identities.
Company lies on the main route leading from the center of Kabul to southern Afghanistan and, eventually, Kandahar. The majority of its inhabitants are ethnic Pashtuns, a community that makes up the bulk of the Taliban. Here many of them hail from the nearby province of Maidan Wardak.
Ahmad is among them. The earliest signs of trouble he remembers are the assassinations of two policemen in separate attacks in broad daylight a few years ago. House raids by the Afghan security forces have become common ever since, he claimed.
This has caused resentment and accusations that former members of the old Northern Alliance movement that fought the Taliban regime are using their influence inside the government to discriminate against the local population.
The arrests and acts of violence now feed off each other, making it difficult to ascertain exactly which comes first.
Incidents described to GlobalPost include the killing of a man at night near a car market and a case where gunmen entered the house of an official, put a pistol to the head of his daughter and demanded a ransom to spare her life.
Ahmad runs a local business that is only about 300 feet from his home, but he still packs the brass knuckles for his journey to and from work. His main worry is common criminality, though he admitted known rebels “are walking freely.”
To show what he meant by this he indicated a man sitting close to us who had memorized the Quran and was active in the resistance.
"This will be a problem for me because he has seen you and you are a journalist," he said.
The Taliban's ability to strike at the heart of Kabul was made evident last month, when groups of heavily armed militants staged two high-profile assaults inside the city. The first targeted the headquarters of the Afghan intelligence service and the second involved an attack on the headquarters of the traffic police.
Here the guerrillas are quieter. Most do not view Company as a battlefield, choosing instead to stay with relatives during visits from the countryside or hold down ordinary jobs, just like the rest of the population. They fight only in the provinces.
Omari is a 25-year-old rebel from Maidan Wardak. He claimed insecurity in Company was being fueled by figures loyal to Abdul Rabb Rasul Sayyaf, a powerful lawmaker and key former Northern Alliance member who is one of Afghanistan's most notorious warlords.
He accused Sayyaf's followers of acting with impunity, stealing land and even ordering residents to pay to use a public street.
"All of the people are praying that the Taliban return and this oppression is pushed back," he said.
The claims made about Company are often impossible to independently verify. However, there are widespread concerns that instability is rising in different parts of the Afghan capital.
Late last year Shukria Barakzi, a Member of Parliament for Kabul, told GlobalPost that criminal networks that team up with former mujahedeen commanders are causing unrest in and around the city.
She complained that key positions within the security forces were politicized, rekindling old rivalries among factions from the civil war era.
"It's not only one area in Kabul, there are lots of areas in Kabul," she said. "Unfortunately Afghan soldiers cannot go to some of the areas at night with their uniforms on."
The police insist they are in control of the situation in the city and like to parade men they have arrested in front of local media in an effort to reassure the public. The government, meanwhile, has repeatedly dismissed the idea that the country will slip into chaos as the United States and its allies withdraw.
None of it is much comfort to the people of Company, who already live in a state of fear and paranoia.
Ismat, a civil engineer living in the area, said political and criminal violence were "very bad."
He said police were scared to park their vehicles outside their own houses and the relatives of wealthy businessmen are increasingly targeted by kidnappers. He also accused followers of Sayyaf of stealing land and terrorizing the population.
"After the evening prayer everyone [stays] at home until the call to prayer in the morning," he said.
Taliban Prisoner Release is Poor Policy, Party Says
TOLOnews.com By Azim Arash Wednesday, 06 February 2013
The Afghan government policy to release Taliban prisoners is "completely incorrect" and threatens the peace process, the Truth and Justice party said Wednesday.
Mohammad Hanif Atmar, head of the Truth and Justice party's commission on politics, criticised the release of Taliban prisoners in Pakistan as requested by the Afghan High Peace Council, saying their fate is unclear and the government has not seriously considered their future.
"The government's policies over the release of imprisoned Taliban from Pakistan is completely incorrect and this action will cause the peace process to confront failure," Atmar said at a press briefing.
Around 30 members of the Taliban imprisoned in Pakistan have been released recently but it is not clear where they now are.
He pointed out that it is the government's responsibility to bring these released prisoners into the peace process, but it has failed to do so.
Atmar also mentioned the party's dissatisfaction with the government preparation for the April 2014 presidential poll, warning that it has not made the necessary reforms needed for a robust, transparent election.
Karzai call on religious clerics to denounce suicide bombing
By Sadaf Shinwari - 07 Feb 2013, 10:39 am Khaama Press
Afghan president Hamid Karzai on Thursday arrived to capital Kabul along with the other high level Afghan government officials after attending OIC summit in Egypt following his trip to England and Norway.
President Karzai attended trilateral summit on Afghanistan hosted by British prime minister David Cameron and later signed a long term strategic pact with Norway.
In the meantime president Hamid Karzai following his remarks in OIC summit urged religious scholars of the Muslim countries to slam suicide attacks a prohibited act in Islam.
According to a statement released by presidential palace media office president Karzai said, “The Summit, ladies and gentlemen, is a timely step to focus our attention on some of the gravest and consequential challenges facing us today. From the violence of terrorism to the crisis and conflict in several of our countries, to the ever continuing sufferings of our Palestinian brothers and sisters, the Muslim world is strewn with difficulties.”
President Karzai further added, “In my view, of the challenges we face, the most urgent to address is terrorism which poses the most serious threat to peace, security and progress across the Islamic world. In many parts of the Ummah, terrorism inflicts immense suffering, and undermines our abilities for socio-economic development.”
“It is of particular concern for the OIC, as the body that collectively represents the Ummah, that terrorism is committed by misusing the name of our religion. I urge all OIC members not only to condemn acts of terrorism, but also to take decisive and concerted action to prevent extremists and terrorists from abusing our religion and tarnishing its image,” Karzai said adding that “We must prevent our mosques and madrassas from being misused to propagate extremism and hatred. Terrorist groups must not find safe haven, sanctuary, funding or sponsorship in our countries.”
Karzai also said, “Our religious scholars and Ulema must effectively engage in our common struggle against extremists, who undermine the Ummah’s progress and stability.”
In his remarks to religious clerics president Karzai said, “In this context, my delegation urges Ulemas across the Islamic world to take example from Sheikh Abdul Aziz, Mufti-e-Azam of Saudi Arabia, whose sermon on the day of Arafat recalled that suicide attacks are prohibited in Islam and anyone who attempts or carries out such attacks will not be forgiven by Allah.”
Karzai stressed, “To address these challenges, we not only need strong political unison but also sustained effort at raising our standard in human capital and economic development.”
Electronic Map Planned for GPS Coverage of Kabul
TOLOnews.com By Shahla Murtazaie Wednesday, 06 February 2013
Plans are underway to electronically map Kabul city in order for GPS systems to operate, the Ministry of Communications and Technology said Wednesday.
MCIT officials told TOLOnews that the ministry is working with the Kabul municipal council to develop the GPS [Global Positioning System] for use in the city in order for people to be able to find addresses more easily.
MCIT Deputy Minister of Technical Baryalai Hasam said that the initial plan is to implement a GPS in Kabul and then in all cities of Afghanistan.
Hasam said that once Kabul's streets are named, they will activate the GPS system.
"The GPS is a small device which people can install in their vehicles and the device searches for the selected address on the map and will give them a guide to the destination," he said.
Hasam said that implementation plan for an electronic map in Kabul city requires a detailed survey. The primary survey shows that this project will cost around US$25 million.
Taliban is Not Behind Recent Kabul Attacks: NDS
TOLOnews.com By Rafi Sediqi Wednesday, 06 February 2013
The Taliban are not behind the recent suicide offensives in Afghanistan, National Directorate of Security (NDS) said on Wednesday, claiming some other group is behind the attacks.
NDS spokesman Shafiqullah Tahiri said that the modern techniques and equipment use in the recent attacks in Afghanistan's capital reveal a sophistication that is not common among Taliban.
"The attacks, especially the attack on the traffic department, was not the work of the Taliban but some other proficient terrorists were involved," he told reporters at a press briefing Wednesday.
"Now, they are using modern techniques in the attack and also new explosives in suicide vests that have high power," he added.
The six alleged insurgents detained on Sunday in Kabul had aimed to attack some government and private organisations, and were fully equipped with these modern weapons and suicide vests, he said.
Tahiri also claimed that four men believed to have coordinated the attack on the Kabul traffic police headquarters last month have also been detained in NDS operations in different parts of Kabul, but he declined to give details.
Meanwhile, in other NDS operations, the Taliban shadow governor of Kunduz province Malawi Abdul Rahman has been detained.
Separately, 1200 kgs of explosive materials have been seized in Parwan province and two men detained in connection with the incident.
NDS forces have also seized about 700 kgs explosive and 150 weapons in operations in Paktya, Samangan, Ghazni, Balkh and Helmand provinces, Taheri added.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com