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India Approves Set Up of Company for Trans-Afghan Gas Pipeline
Wall Street Journal By SAURABH CHATURVEDI February 7, 2013
NEW DELHI - India's federal cabinet approved the formation of a company that will build a multibillion-dollar trans-Afghanistan pipeline project to bring in natural gas from Turkmenistan.
Thursday's decision takes the estimated $7.6 billion project one step closer to being built. Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India have been holding discussions for more than two decades on building the 1,800-kilometer pipeline, commonly referred to as the TAPI pipeline.
In a statement, the cabinet said it was also allowing GAIL (India) Ltd. 532155.BY+0.18% to join the company, which will be known as TAPI Ltd. The three other countries in the partnership have already approved the company's formation, the cabinet said.
TAPI Ltd. would undertake feasibility studies and prepare the project report with the target of making the pipeline operational by 2018.
GAIL would invest $5 million as its share of the "initial contribution" toward the project. Companies from the respective countries would be required to invest a similar amount, the statement said.
"An active interest in the project by all the partner countries at this stage would sustain the credibility of the project, and generate interest in the international market and could eventually pave the way for selection of an appropriate consortium leader in the future," it said.
The pipeline faces issues, including the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan and border tensions between India and Pakistan, that could delay the project. A separatist rebellion in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province, through which the pipeline must also pass, further complicates the initiative.
Experts also say that global pipeline companies aren't eager to invest in the project until Turkmenistan changes its rules to allow them to buy stakes in the country's onshore oil-and-gas fields.
Write to Saurabh Chaturvedi at Saurabh.Chaturvedi@wsj.com
UN Committee 'Alarmed' by US Killings of Afghan Children
VOA News February 8, 2013
A U.N. committee say it is "alarmed" about reports of the deaths of hundreds of children allegedly killed by U.S. military forces in Afghanistan in the past five years.
The Geneva-based Committee on the Rights of the Child said the children died from U.S. attacks and airstrikes.
The CRC said the deaths were "due notably to reported lack of precautionary measures and indiscriminate use of force."
The U.N. group called on the U.S. to take "concrete and firm precautionary measures and prevent indiscriminate use of force" to ensure that no more civilians and children are killed.
The committee last reviewed U.S. practices in Afghanistan in 2008.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Thursday she had not seen the report, but would look into it.
Children's rights advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, Jo Becker, said "the U.S. can and should do more to protect children affected by armed conflict."
Local Taliban leader killed in N. Afghan operation
KABUL, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- A local Taliban leader had been killed in an operation in Afghanistan's northern province of Kunduz, the NATO-led coalition forces confirmed on Friday.
"Afghan and coalition forces killed Taliban leader, Hamid Gul, during a security operation in Chahar Darah district, Kunduz province, Thursday," the International Security Assistance Force ( ISAF) said in a press release.
Hamid Gul was a Taliban leader within Chahar Darah district that conducted attacks against government officials, as well as, Afghan and coalition forces in the province 250 km north of capital Kabul, it said.
"He oversaw 25 insurgent fighters who were responsible for the acquisition of improvised explosive device-making materials, IED construction and emplacement in the district. The security force conducted a precision strike, killing him."
The Taliban insurgent group, which has been waging an insurgency since its regime was toppled by a U.S-led invasion in late 2001, has yet to confirm the death of their leader.
One insurgent killed in eastern Afghanistan: ISAF
KABUL, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Afghan forces and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops killed one insurgent and defused three home-made bombs in operations in eastern Afghan region, said the ISAF forces on Friday.
"Afghan and coalition forces killed one insurgent, cleared three Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and discovered one weapons cache during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours," the ISAF's Regional Command-East (RC-East) said in a press release.
Operations in RC-East are ongoing, the press release added.
The Taliban insurgent group, which has been waging an insurgency of more than one decade, has yet to make comments.
The IEDs used in making suicide vests and roadside bombs has proved a challenge for Afghan and some 100,000 NATO-led forces in the insurgency-hit country, as they are simple but difficult to be detected.
Taliban often attack the security forces with IEDs but the lethal weapons also inflict casualties on civilians as more than 10 civilians had been killed in IED explosions over the last one week across the country.
Teenager Afghan actors to walk red carpet at Oscars
By Sajad - 08 Feb 2013, 12:51 pm Khaama Press
The 14-year-old Afghan boy with bright green eyes, Fawad Mohammadi who has spent half his life peddling maps and dictionaries to foreigners on a street of trinket shops in Kabul is getting ready for a trip down the red carpet at the Oscars.
Fawad Mohammadi is travelling out of Afghanistan for the first and will be his time on a plane.
He appeared in “Buzkashi Boys” movie filmed entirely in a war zone and has been nominated in the Best Live Action Short Film category.
Buzkashi Boys film is based on the story of two young Afghan boys who are dreaming to become professional players of Buzkashi sport, a game that somewhat resembles polo: Horseback riders wrangle to get a headless goat carcass into a circular goal at one end of the field.
The director of the movie Sam French, Philadelphia native who has lived in Afghanistan for about five years has put his efforts in the film to revive a film industry devastated by decades of civil war and during the Taliban regime.
Sam French said, his 28-minute movie was initially conceived as a way of training local film industry workers – the first installment in his nonprofit Afghan Film Project.
French, 36, is in Los Angeles, where he is preparing for the Feb. 24 Academy Awards and raising money to fly the two young co-stars in for the ceremony.
Quoted by Associated press, French said, “We never dreamed of having the film … get an Oscar nomination.”
The boys playing the main characters – Mohammadi and Jawanmard Paiz – can barely contain their excitement.
Mohammadi whose real-life dream is to become a pilot told Associated Press, “”It will be a great honor for me and for Afghanistan to meet the world’s most famous actors.”
He started selling gum when he was only 7-year-old after his father died, leaving him with his mother, five brothers and a sister.
Mohammadi learned English hustling foreigners on Chicken Street, the main Kabul tourist area with shops selling multicolor rugs, lapis bowls and souvenirs, and gained a reputation for being polite, helpful and trustworthy.
“His life was so much harder than mine,” Mohammadi told Associated Press. “The blacksmith made him go out on the streets. I came myself here (to Chicken Street). My family didn’t make me come. I wanted to make money to feed myself and to feed my family.”
The other character of the movie is a 14-year-old boy and son of a well-known actor who plays the homeless Ahmad. Paiz has appeared in movies when he was only 5-year-old and has gone to the Cannes Film Festival.
Saffron gives farmers in war-torn Afghanistan a taste of the good life
NBC News By Mel Preen 07/002/2013
Afghan exports of pricey saffron jumped by 14 percent in 2012, with the crops squeezing out opium poppy production in parts of the war-torn country, according to government statistics.
In the Western province of Herat, 90 percent of the former poppy farmers have switched to growing the pungent and yellow spice, according to the Afghan Ministry of Counter Narcotics.
Saffron has helped turned Ghaffar Hamidzay, 28, into a successful businessman, with his exports ballooning since he set up Afghan Saffron in 2001 after the fall of the Taliban.
“In the beginning, we exported 50 to 60 kilos (110 to 132 pounds) a year. Now we export 1.5 to 2 tons,” said the owner of Afghan Saffron, which now employs 5,000 people. “When we first started the business, saffron sold for $200 to $250 per kilo. Today it is worth $1,500 to $1,600 per kilo.”
The jump in saffron cultivation comes amid a concerted effort on the part of the government to cajole and force farmers to replace their opium crops. Still, Afghanistan produces more than 90 percent of the world’s opium, and much of the revenue from that goes to fund the Taliban.
Saffron has also proved a boost for smaller farmers such as Abdul Hassib, 35, who until recently planted poppy in his farm in Gozara, Herat.
“I used to sell [my saffron crop] for 70,000 Afghanis ($1,400) per kilo,” said the father of nine. “Now I sell it for 100,000 Afghanis ($2,000).”
One reason for the switch was that poppy is a lot harder to grow, Hassib said. Besides, he makes more money from saffron, he added.
As a comparison, a policeman in Afghanistan earns around $150 a month.
While saffron production is booming, problems still dog the nascent industry.
“We are trying our best to make Herat poppy-free, but we have a lot of problems with neighboring countries,” said Zabullah Dayen, an adviser at the Ministry of Counter Narcotics, referring to neighboring Iran, which is the world’s leading saffron exporter.
Many of Afghanistan’s saffron producers believe neighboring Iran -- one of the world's leading producers of the spice -- is trying to destabilize their market to crush competition.
Farmers switching to saffron from poppy are also not very popular with the Taliban. According to local reports saffron farmers have been threatened and told to switch back.
However in Herat, Hamidzay said he’s had no complaints of harassment. The province is relatively stable compared with Helmand and Uruzgan in the south, where much of the country’s poppy is grown.
“I’d like to request the Ministry of Counter Narcotics to do more work to convince farmers in those provinces to cultivate saffron instead,” he said.
Afghanistan could be well on its way to fulfilling the wishes of Hamidzay and other saffron farmers. In 2011, the United States spent $1.4 million buying Afghan saffron, more than any other Afghan export, according to the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries.
Almost half of British military kit to be left in Afghanistan
Almost half of Britain's military equipment in Afghanistan will be left behind when troops quit the country raising fears that some could fall in to the hands of the Taliban.
Telegraph.co.uk By Tom Whitehead, Security Editor 07 Feb 2013
More than 40 per cent of kit will not be repatriated because of the costs and logistics involved in getting it returned.
The Ministry of Defence insists no decision has been made on what will be left but sources suggest it could include some weapons and vehicles.
The revelation came as Philip Hammond, Defence Secretary, said he believed "meaningful" talks would begin with the Taliban soon to help secure a peaceful exit from Afghanistan.
On a visit to Camp Bastion to oversee preparations for the UK withdrawal of combat forces by the end of next year he said the momentum for talks was likely to become "unstoppable" and that could lead to the reintegration of elements of the Taliban into Afghan society.
"I think we're all optimistic that we will see the start of some meaningful political dialogue over the coming months," he told ITV News.
He added that Afghan troops were becoming more capable of taking over from Nato forces but more work still had to be done.
When British troops do pull out, millions of pounds worth of resources are expected to be scrapped, sold or given away under proposals drawn up by the MoD.
Government estimates suggest about 11,000, 20ft containers worth of equipment are currently in theatre, including around 3,000 vehicles.
Of these, military chiefs plan to bring back some 6,500 loads, at a cost of tens of millions of pounds.
It would leave around 4,500 containers, or 40 per cent of the kit, to be disposed of in Afghanistan, according to plans revealed under the Freedom of Information Act.
The MoD said decisions would be made "on a case-by-case basis" as experts questioned the reliability of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and warned kit could be passed to the enemy.
Dr John Louth, of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) defence think tank, said leaving 40 per cent of equipment was not unusual following an overseas conflict but suggested there was a "risk to leaving things behind". "What is benevolent today could be quite nasty tomorrow," he said. "If people have equipment that they wish to sell, they will sell it."
Shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy said the Government should "not waste a moment" in negotiating cost-effective transit routes to bring equipment back to Britain.
An MOD spokesman said: "The redeployment of equipment and assets from Afghanistan is a huge and complex task and while no decisions have yet been made, it is nonsense to suggest that state-of-the-art, hi-tech assets will be allowed to fall into the hands of the Taliban."
"The Defence Secretary has already said that in the majority of cases recuperating and refurbishing equipment bought for Afghanistan will be the best value-for-money option.
"When bringing equipment back to the UK does not represent value for money for the taxpayer, it will be either sold or gifted to Afghan National Security Forces – although obviously we would not be helping the Afghan forces by giving them equipment they are unable to maintain."
Hamid Karzai swaps Kabul fortress for Claridge's finery
On day he issued decree back home to curtail government expenses, Afghan president checks into luxury London hotel
The Guardian By Lisa O'Carroll Thursday 7 February 2013
Living in the shadow of terror and the threat of assassination around the clock, Hamid Karzai could be forgiven for indulging in a bit of relaxing comfort whenever he gets the chance.
But to touch down in London and check into Claridge's, one of the most luxurious hotels in the world, the day he issued a decree back home to curtail government expenses is, at best, a sign that the Afghan president is prone to a touch of political frailty like the best of his western counterparts.
For this is where he and an entourage of 40 officials stayed on their whistlestop visit to London for talks with the Pakistan president, Asif Ali Zardari, on Monday night.
Rooms at Claridge's, a byword for refined luxury and a hotel favoured by royalty and celebrity alike, cost anything from £300 but the individually crafted suites favoured by hundreds of heads of state over the years cost thousands a night.
The top-of-the-range Brook penthouse, where the truly rich and famous stay, is bigger than a standard Victorian terraced house at just under 185 square metres (2,000 sq ft). "Designed by Veere Grenney, this elegant art deco-style apartment is decorated in gentle lilac with light oak floors" and "an idiosyncratic blend of old and new furnishings," gushes the hotel's website. The nightly tariff, available on request, is a cool £6,900 a night. Impecunious VIPs can opt for the cheaper suites at about £1,000 a night.
But even a budget-conscious, non-drinking guest is not going to come off lightly after a stay in Claridge's. A non-alcoholic raspberry crush in the Fumoir bar will set the purse back £8, while classic afternoon tea, albeit accompanied by a selection of finger sandwiches and a selection of pastries, costs £40 a head.
It is a world away from Arg-e-Shahi Palace, Karzai's fortress compound in central Kabul where four checkpoints and a battery of army personnel and sniffer dogs protect the president from the constant threat of attack. One US diplomat described his job as "the hardest in the world". Four of Afghanistan's past six presidents have been murdered, three of them in office.
But the irony of a luxury stay in Claridge's will not be lost on the Afghan electorate. According to the usually reliable Tolo News, Karzai has ordered government departments to cut back on purchases of deluxe, expensive equipment in favour of domestic products.
"All ministries and government offices are required to economise on the expenses of stationery, oil materials, repairs and other expenditures, to avoid any unnecessary expense and above-standard per diems for trips out of the country, and to reduce expenses," the decree states, reported Tolo News on Monday, just as Karzai was meeting the Prince of Wales, who the president has said "is a very good friend of Afghanistan". The Afghan embassy was not available for comment.
The use of high-cost items at government departments has been heavily criticised in the past, especially because most of these products are mainly funded with budgets from the international community. However, it is the first time that the president has so formally addressed it.
So who foots the bill? According to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), all heads of state invited on official visits to the UK are treated to stays in first-class hotels such as Claridge's. The cost of 10 of Karzai's entourage was paid for by the British taxpayer, with the remainder on the Afghan tab. An FCO spokeswoman said: "Heads of state on guest of government visits are able to stay in a range of hotels of a similar level, including Claridge's. Accommodation is determined by a variety of factors, including suitability for a head of state, location and security. As you would expect, we do not go into detail on accommodation or other arrangements for visiting heads of state."
The FCO is said to be proud to have run the trilateral event hosted by the prime minister in Chequers and will have seen the cost of putting up part of Karzai's entourage as money worth spending – especially if it leads to a deal.
Charming, clever, and fluent in Pashtu, Dari, English and Urdu, he made Esquire magazine's list of best-dressed men in 2004, and seems at home anywhere from the remotest corners of Afghanistan to western capitals.
Karzai took power as a temporary leader of his country after the fall of the Taliban in 2001, then won two successive presidential polls, in 2004 and 2009, and confesses he is looking forward to a rest. He told the Guardian in an interview on Monday that it is a decade since he took a holiday.
And Karzai is certainly not the first head of state from a country relying on foreign aid to stay at the hotel. Foreign aid accounts for 40% of Malawi's budget yet President Joyce Banda stayed there shortly after she rose from vice-president to the top job last year. During the Olympics a team of 16 from Malawi stayed for 11 nights, while a team of nine from Gabon had an eight-night stay during the Games.
Karzai's friendship with Prince Charles, who he describes as a "very fine gentlemen", has also yielded dividends for Afghanistan and the owners of Claridge's. The Turquoise Mountain Foundation charity was founded at the request of the prince in 2006 to protect and encourage ancient Afghan craftsmanship in calligraphy, woodwork, jewellery and ceramics.
It was subsequently commissioned by the Maybourne Hotel Group, which owns Claridge's, to craft The Prince's Lodge Suite at the Connaught, an exquisite room involving 37 square metres of carved dark walnut for a four-poster bed, alcoves, architraves and cabinets.
Afghan boys from nominated film to walk red carpet
Associated Press By KIM GAMEL February 7, 2013
KABUL, Afghanistan - Fawad Mohammadi has spent half his life peddling maps and dictionaries to foreigners on a street of trinket shops in Kabul. Now the 14-year-old Afghan boy with bright green eyes is getting ready for a trip down the red carpet at the Oscars.
It will also be his first time out of the country and his first time on a plane.
Mohammadi was plucked from the dingy streets of the Afghan capital to be one of the main stars of "Buzkashi Boys," a coming-of-age movie filmed entirely in a war zone and nominated in the Best Live Action Short Film category.
The movie is about two penniless young boys - a street urchin and a blacksmith's son - who are best friends and dream of becoming professional players of buzkashi, a particularly rough and dangerous game that somewhat resembles polo: Horseback riders wrangle to get a headless goat carcass into a circular goal at one end of the field.
It's also part of an American director's effort to help revive a film industry devastated by decades of civil war and by the Taliban, an Islamic fundamentalist movement that banned entertainment and burned films and theaters during its five years in power.
Sam French, a Philadelphia native who has lived in Afghanistan for about five years, said his 28-minute movie was initially conceived as a way of training local film industry workers - the first installment in his nonprofit Afghan Film Project.
"We never dreamed of having the film come this far and get an Oscar nomination," French, 36, said in a telephone interview from Los Angeles, where he is preparing for the Feb. 24 Academy Awards and raising money to fly the two young co-stars in for the ceremony.
The two boys playing the main characters - Mohammadi and Jawanmard Paiz - can barely contain their excitement about going to the Oscars.
"It will be a great honor for me and for Afghanistan to meet the world's most famous actors," said Mohammadi, whose real-life dream is to become a pilot. He's also hoping to go see the cockpit during the flight.
The farthest Mohammadi has ever traveled was to the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif when he was younger.
Mohammadi's father died a few years ago, leaving him with his mother, five brothers and a sister. He started selling chewing gum when he was about 7 years old and soon expanded his trade to maps and dictionaries.
He learned to speak English hustling foreigners on Chicken Street, the main tourist area in Kabul with shops selling multicolor rugs, lapis bowls and other crafts and souvenirs, and gained a reputation for being polite, helpful and trustworthy. He was even able to enroll in a private school, thanks to the generosity of some other foreigners unrelated to the film project.
In the movie Mohammadi plays the blacksmith's son, Rafi, whose father wants him to follow in his footsteps.
"His life was so much harder than mine," Mohammadi said. "The blacksmith made him go out on the streets. I came myself here (to Chicken Street). My family didn't make me come. I wanted to make money to feed myself and to feed my family. He didn't have a home. They lived in the blacksmith shop."
Ironically it's not Mohammadi but Paiz, the youngest son of a well-known Afghan actor, who plays the homeless boy Ahmad.
Paiz, also 14, already was an experienced actor: He's appeared in films since the age of 5 and has gone to the Cannes Film Festival.
Paiz and Mohammadi had a lot to learn from each other and became friends. He gave Mohammadi tips for acting and handling himself in live interviews, while Fawad taught him about life outside his sheltered surroundings.
"When I saw Fawad was such a good actor even though he was a street boy and he was so brave in acting, I was very surprised and I said to myself, 'Everybody can achieve what they desire to do,'" Paiz said during an interview this week, shivering in the snow-covered courtyard of the Afghan Film Institute while a local TV series was being filmed nearby.
French, who co-wrote the script and produced "Buzkashi Boys" with Martin Roe of the Los Angeles-based production company Dirty Robber, launched a fundraising drive that's raised almost $10,000 so far to help bring the boys to Los Angeles for the ceremony. Any extra money will be placed in a fund to provide for Mohammadi's education and help his family. The boys will travel with an escort and will stay with the extended Afghan family of one of the film's producers, French said.
French said he's aware of the pitfalls in working with child actors from developing countries.
The makers of "Slumdog Millionaire," the rags-to-riches blockbuster about three poor Indian children, have struggled to make a better life for the young stars, and four boys who acted in "The Kite Runner" had to leave Afghanistan out of concern they could be ostracized or subject to violence because of a rape scene in the movie.
French said he and others involved in the "Buzkashi Boys" took pains to involve the community and made sure to avoid any scenes that could be offensive.
"We're not filmmakers who just do a film and leave. We remain there and present," he said. "We had lots and lots of tea with lots and lots of people."
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences says there have been three documentary features nominees filmed at least in part in Afghanistan since 2007 - all about the U.S. military. The Kite Runner, which was nominated for original score in 2007, was set in Afghanistan but not filmed there.
Afghanistan had a burgeoning film industry starting in the early 20th century, but it suffered from fighting during the civil war and the Taliban campaign to stamp out entertainment. Actors and film industry workers like Paiz's father and the actor who plays the blacksmith, Wali Talash, fled the country. They returned only after the 2001 U.S.-led assault that ousted the Islamic movement and its al-Qaida allies.
Talash, 56, said he hopes the "Buzkashi Boys" will show the world the rich culture of Afghanistan, which too few in the world know beyond reports of roadside bombs and suicide attacks.
"I hope if this movie wins that it will be an earthquake that will shake the industry and help Afghan filmmakers get back on their feet," he said.
Mohammadi, meanwhile, says he knows the money and fame he earned from the movie can carry him only so far. He still sells maps, though not so often as before, because he has school.
"For my work I used to know a lot of foreigners and I still do, but before they used to know me as a map seller. Now they know me as an actor," he said, waving a plastic-covered map as weary Afghans walked by on the muddy street. "Most of them take pictures with me and sometimes they buy maps from me even if they don't need any just because they spotted me in the movie."
Associated Press writer Steve Loeper in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Australia must help fight for women's rights in Afghanistan
The Canberra Times By Nouria Salehi Opinion February 8, 2013
As a proud Australian, with strong connections to Afghanistan as the place of my birth, I read Hugh White's recent opinion piece on Afghanistan ("Afghanistan mission a total failure", February 5) with great interest.
Every year since 2002, I have seen firsthand the struggle of ordinary Afghan women and men to rebuild their lives with great resolve. I share Professor White's concerns about the future of Afghanistan after Australian troops and allied/NATO forces leave at the end of this year. I am deeply saddened too by the loss of Australian lives, with countless more Australians injured. These Australians are fighting alongside Afghans eager for a democratic and peaceful Afghanistan.
I take issue, however, with Professor White's assertion that there is no credible government in Afghanistan and his simplistic portrayal of a country falling into an abyss after the departure of allied forces in 2014. There is a vigorous civil society in Afghanistan, with many community members eager to realise their country's dreams of peace, democracy and, most importantly, women's rights.
As Professor White notes, external troops will come and go, while ordinary Afghans struggle to enjoy the most basic of human rights. Our focus must be on assisting local initiatives and bringing attention to the rights of women who form the backbone of Afghan society.
Representatives of Afghanistan's civil society will be in Australia next week to attend the Afghan Women's Roundtable to discuss the role of women in the peace, reconciliation and transition process. These five men and five women, including six MPs, are representatives not only of their homeland, but of the deep and ongoing partnership Afghanistan shares with Australia. Crucially, they understand that the absence of women's voices at all levels of Afghan society is a problem that, left unaddressed, will only exacerbate the nation's challenges in future.
This Roundtable will allow these prominent Afghans to discuss with key Australian politicians, officials and NGOs how we can make the voices of Afghan women be heard - both here and in Afghanistan.
As a country with a female prime minister and governor-general, equal opportunity laws and women's participation in many diverse spheres of society, Australia has accepted equality for women as a central, and beneficial, aspect of a developed society.
As such, we can help guide Afghans on how to ensure that women are properly represented at all levels as Afghanistan transitions to self-rule. Importantly, we have a government that is well positioned to encourage the Afghan government to do just that.
The Afghan Australian Development Organisation helps women realise their human rights in areas such as teacher training. With the primary school completion rate for girls at just 13 per cent (compared to 32 per cent for boys), and a literacy rate for young women aged 15-24 of 18 per cent (compared to 50 per cent for boys), many women require the most basic of literacy support.
This is a support that Australia is ideally placed to provide, but it cannot continue without women's input in Afghanistan, and Australian support in ensuring that women's voices continue to be heard.
Afghanistan remains a particularly difficult place to be a woman. More than 87 per cent of Afghan women having experienced some kind of physical, sexual, or psychological violence, or forced marriage. Every day, 50 women die from pregnancy-related causes – the world's highest rate. A woman's life expectancy is a mere 44 years.
Even so, encouraging gains have been made. A visit to Australia by Afghan MPs speaking primarily about gender issues would have been unthinkable some years ago. That some of those MPs are women is further evidence of an increased awareness by the current government of the need to take concrete steps to include women in the transition process.
Australia's temporary seat on the UN Security Council could also be used to further promote the principles of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, of which women's participation is a core tenet.
Now is not the time for women to lose the rights that they have won back since the fall of the Taliban a decade ago. It is not the time to turn our backs on Afghanistan. Australia has a responsibility to continue strengthening forces with local efforts and to work even harder for the rights of Afghan citizens, especially women.
As a woman who has benefited from the freedoms that Australia offers, I hope that in the future these freedoms will be equally enjoyed by the women of Afghanistan. So, as Australia discusses the withdrawal of troops, we must not overlook the importance of fighting for women's equality, and the role women play in that fight.
Dr Nouria Salehi, OAM, is the executive director of the Afghan Australian Development Organisation, which is hosting the upcoming Afghan MP and civil society leader's visit. She was the 2012 Senior Victorian of the Year.
US Will Not Endorse an Afghan Presidential Candidate: Envoy
TOLOnews.com Thursday, 07 February 2013
The United States will support Afghanistan's election process but it will never endorse a specific candidate, the US envoy to Afghanistan said Thursday.
US Ambassador James Cunningham made a visit to northern Balkh province where he met with governor Atta Mohammad Noor and discussed the upcoming presidential election.
He said that Afghanistan's presidential election is of special importance and the US will support it to ensure it runs successfully.
"We discussed the importance of the presidential election in 2014 and I assured him that the United States is ready to do everything we can to support the success of the election. We encourage all the election's stakeholders, the government, the opposition, and civil societies to work closely together in the interests of the Afghan nation," he said in a joint press conference with Noor in Mazar-e-Sharif.
"An outcome which is broadly accepted by Afghans no matter who they vote for is essential for Afghanistan's future," he added.
Cunningham took the opportunity to praise Afghanistan's achievements over the past decade, saying that education, telecommunications, media, economics and agriculture had made significant progress in the last ten years.
When asked his opinion on the release of Taliban prisoners, Cunningham said it was a matter for the Afghan and Pakistani governments to discuss.
"On the release of the Taliban, that is a subject that is under discussion between your government and the government of Pakistan. It is a concern as well that the prisoners not be released and go back into fighting and working in the insurgency and we hope that the discussion between governments produces better mechanisms [for that]," he said.
Noor also addressed reporters, saying he has doubts that the upcoming election will be fair and transparent, identifying security and the use of the old voting cards as key problems.
"The olds cards were used for fraud in the last election and there will probably be more fake cards made in the coming election so the government should distribute new voting cards and should create an better complaints commission for those who complain," he said.
Cunningham ended the press briefing emphasising that the US will continue to support Afghanistan after 2014.
Kabul Bank Tribunal Chief Claims Karzai, Fahim Still Owe Debt
TOLOnews.com By Saleha Soadat Thursday, 07 February 2013
The former Kabul Bank's powerful shareholders claim they have repaid all their loans, but the head of the special tribunal on the Kabul Bank collapse has insisted they still owe money.
Shamsul Rahman Shams said Wednesday that Mahmoud Karzai and Mohammad Hassin Fahim have not repaid their loans from the former Kabul Bank.
He said the issue is being followed by the Financial Disputes Resolution Commission (FDRC) but without any satisfactory results.
"Still, the issue about the debts of Karzai's brother who was one of the shareholder's of Kabul Bank and Hassin Fahim has not been resolved. The issue is being studied by the Financial Disputes Resolution Commission but it has not been fruitful," Shams said.
President Hamid Karzai's brother Mahmoud Karzai owes $9 million and the vice-president's brother Mohammad Hassin Fahim owes $3 million, he added.
Mahmoud Karzai rejected the statement, saying that he is only in debt of $6 million to Shahin Money Exchange whose owner was former Kabul Bank chariman Shir Khan Farnood.
In turn, Karzai accused the tribunal, the Financial Disputes Resolution Commission and the Kabul Bank Receivership Department for complicating matters.
"These three organisations have made the issue so complicated," he told TOLOnews. "I only borrowed $6 million from Shahin Money Exchange and did not borrow from Kabul Bank."
"I wish the bank crisis was being assessed abroad in the US or Dubai courts," he added.
Hassin Fahim did not respond to TOLOnews' requests for comment.
FDRC head Abdullah Dawran said the bank's crisis is very complicated, but that most of those who were part of its collapse are being accounted for.
"Karzai and Fahim are part of the commission's work but there are others who have a hand in the crisis who we're dealing with here," Dawran said Wednesday.
Shams' comments come ahead of the verdict of the Kabul Bank special tribunal on the involvement of 22 people in Kabul Bank's collapse in 2010.
Karzai Calls for Clerics to Condemn Suicide Bombing
TOLOnews.com By Faridullah Sahil Thursday, 07 February 2013
President Hamid Karzai addressed religious scholars at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit in Egypt with a call to condemn suicide attacks as an act prohibited under Islamic law.
According to a statement from Karzai's office, he urged in his address Wednesday to the summit for the religious scholars of the Muslim countries to condemn suicide attacks.
Karzai was quoted as pointing the clerics to the remarks of Sheikh Abdul Aziz, Mufti-e-Azam of Saudi Arabia, whose sermon on the day of Arafat condemned suicide attacks as prohibited in Islam and anyone who attempts or carries out such attacks will not be forgiven by Allah.
According to the released statement, Karzai said, "It 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.
"Our religious scholars and Ulema must effectively engage in our common struggle against extremists, who undermine the Ummah's progress and stability. 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."
Karzai returned to Kabul Thursday morning with the high level Afghan government officials travelling with him after attending the Islamic summit and official trips to both England and Norway.
Before the summit in Egypt, Karzai was in Oslo on Tuesday where he signed a long-term agreement with Norway. Afghanistan has similar agreements with the US, Italy, UK, France, Germany, Australia and India.
Karzai visited London on Sunday and Monday where he met with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and UK Prime Minister David Cameron.
The three held talks with high-level government delegations from all sides to agree on stronger regional cooperation and security measures.
Ahmadzai Claims Spy Agencies Oppose Afghan Local Police
TOLOnews.com By Karim Amini Thursday, 07 February 2013
The chief of Afghanistan's Local Police on Thursday said he believes that regional spy agencies are attempting to prevent the police from forming units in some of the remote parts of Afghanistan.
Alisha Ahmadzai said there is pressure from both inside and outside Afghanistan warning him to not set up ALP forces in some of the country's villages.
In an interview with TOLOnews, he said that he believes at least one of the threatening phonecalls he has received on the matter came from Iran.
"There are some unknown people and groups and sometimes they are threaten me to not create local police in villages -- I think they are regional intelligence agencies," Ahmadzai said.
He said the government will continue to establish ALP units in villages because they are useful for security at a local level, and those who oppose the formation are opposing peace. "There are some groups taking advantage of the insecurity and that is why they don't want local police to exist in villages," he said.
The ALP is now about 20,550 strong with most of the recruits working in their local districts.
It was first set up about 27 months ago in the Gizab district of Uruzgan province.
Afghanistan: 2014 Election Plans Seen as Flawed
President wants to recycle voter IDs used in previous, controversial elections.
IWPR By Hafizullah Gardesh 7 Feb 13
Afghanistan - As Afghans look ahead to a critical presidential election in just over a year’s time, some commentators are already warning that the process will be fatally flawed, and that certain groups will be effectively disenfranchised.
The current president, Hamed Karzai, cannot stand again, but his opponents believe he will line up an associate or even a relative to take his place in polls scheduled for April 2014. A proposal to recycle voter IDs from the last round of elections – itself roundly criticised as riddled with fraud – only confirms them in that belief.
Despite earlier suggestions that voters should be issued with all-new biometric documents to ensure a transparent election, President Karzai made it clear he opposed this at a January 14 press conference.
“Distributing voter IDs with electronic [data] will cost 80 million dollars, and it isn’t possible to carry this out in the short time that remains. Besides, we don’t have the money and no one else will provide it,” he said. “Therefore, if we invalidate the old IDs and are ultimately unable to deliver the new ones, then I will be held accountable for it.”
The Independent Election Commission has opposed the move. Speaking a day after Karzai’s remarks, its chairman . Fazel Ahmad Manawi said a failure to hold a new registration process and issued new documents would “undermine transparency “, in comments reported by Tolo News.
However, speaking to IWPR, Karzai’s spokesman Aimal Faizi indicated that a decision to use existing voter IDs had already been taken.
“The decision to use the old voting cards was taken several months ago, because the government had some meetings with [representatives of] the international community who declined to fund new cards,” he said. “Furthermore, meetings were held at the presidential office with all opposition leaders, concerning the election law and the IEC’s organisational plan.”
The IEC declined to respond to IWPR’s questions about what it was planning to do.
The last presidential polls, held in 2009, and a parliamentary election the following year, both resulted in allegations of widespread irregularities and outright fraud. The 2010 vote resulted in months of wrangling, during which President Karzai set up a special court that effectively called into question the IEC and the Electoral Complaints Commission. In August 2011, the IEC disbarred nine members of parliament and named others to take their places.
A coordinating council that represents a range of Afghan political parties has now urged Karzai to refrain from interfering in electoral matters, in particular with regard to voter IDs.
The council has also expressed concern at the lack of legislation to regulate how the 2014 elections – for provincial councils as well as the president – are to be run. A bill has been submitted to parliament, but it is yet to be passed.
Political analyst Wahid Mozhda said the Afghan parliament was to blame for not processing this “hugely important national document”.
“Most members of parliament are wheeler-dealers who place their personal interests above the national interest,” he added.
According to Fazel Rahman Oriya, a political analyst who is part of the coordinating council, “ Karzai is trying to prevent any adjustment or modification to [existing] election legislation.”
He warned that “if the government interferes in the election, political parties and blocs may use every legal avenue to ensure justice and a transparent vote”.
Karzai’s spokesmen said political parties were free to say whatever they wanted, but that did not make it true.
“Everyone has a right to criticise, but it’s important what people make of these claims,” Faizi added.
He said Afghans themselves and the international community were capable of keeping track of the electoral process and making sure no one interfered in it, either from inside or outside Afghanistan.
“Hamed Karzai is determined to support fair and transparent elections because he does not want to leave a poor legacy after 14 years’ service,” Faizi said. “He will not interfere in electoral matters unless the law allows him to.”
Given that 2014 will see the withdrawal of NATO-led forces from Afghanistan as well as this key election, some analysts are predicting major turmoil as the two events combine to reinforce deep divisions.
“Most of the Pashtun areas are under the direct or psychological influence of the government’s armed opponents [Taleban et al], so many of the Pashtuns will be unable to participate in the poll,” Mozhda said. “If a non-Pashtun candidate wins [the presidency], that will mean civil war, because the Pashtun majority will feel itself excluded. But if a Pashtun candidate wins as a result of some pre-arranged fix by local forces and foreign powers, the non-Pashtuns will oppose him. Either way, there’s a risk of civil war, which could balkanise this country.”
Mozhda is certain the 2014 election will go ahead regardless of the risks.
“The Americans are going to support holding an election at any cost, as it will be a marker of success. If it doesn’t take place, it will be seen as an American failure as well – it will be the end of democracy in this country.”
Faizi dismissed warnings of chaos, saying there was a plan in place to ensure voting took place in “relative security”.
“Our security agencies are working with their international partners on this plan. I won’t share more details for the time being. But there is absolutely no possibility of civil war,” he said.
Given the poor security situation and widespread disillusionment in national politics, it is will not be easy to make Afghan voters enthusiastic about coming to the polls.
Schoolteacher Ghulam Mujtaba, for example, sees the forthcoming election as a project by “America, Britain, France , Germany, Iran, Pakistan, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia and others”, each of which has its own political protégés in Afghanistan.
The 2001 Bonn Agreements created less of a government than a “corporation in which foreign states and powerful domestic robbers took out shares”, Mujtaba said. In the 2014 elections, he predicted, “one group of robbers will leave and another will come to power”.
Hafizullah Gardesh is IWPR editor for Afghanistan.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
Wall Street Journal By SAURABH CHATURVEDI February 7, 2013
NEW DELHI - India's federal cabinet approved the formation of a company that will build a multibillion-dollar trans-Afghanistan pipeline project to bring in natural gas from Turkmenistan.
Thursday's decision takes the estimated $7.6 billion project one step closer to being built. Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India have been holding discussions for more than two decades on building the 1,800-kilometer pipeline, commonly referred to as the TAPI pipeline.
In a statement, the cabinet said it was also allowing GAIL (India) Ltd. 532155.BY+0.18% to join the company, which will be known as TAPI Ltd. The three other countries in the partnership have already approved the company's formation, the cabinet said.
TAPI Ltd. would undertake feasibility studies and prepare the project report with the target of making the pipeline operational by 2018.
GAIL would invest $5 million as its share of the "initial contribution" toward the project. Companies from the respective countries would be required to invest a similar amount, the statement said.
"An active interest in the project by all the partner countries at this stage would sustain the credibility of the project, and generate interest in the international market and could eventually pave the way for selection of an appropriate consortium leader in the future," it said.
The pipeline faces issues, including the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan and border tensions between India and Pakistan, that could delay the project. A separatist rebellion in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province, through which the pipeline must also pass, further complicates the initiative.
Experts also say that global pipeline companies aren't eager to invest in the project until Turkmenistan changes its rules to allow them to buy stakes in the country's onshore oil-and-gas fields.
Write to Saurabh Chaturvedi at Saurabh.Chaturvedi@wsj.com
UN Committee 'Alarmed' by US Killings of Afghan Children
VOA News February 8, 2013
A U.N. committee say it is "alarmed" about reports of the deaths of hundreds of children allegedly killed by U.S. military forces in Afghanistan in the past five years.
The Geneva-based Committee on the Rights of the Child said the children died from U.S. attacks and airstrikes.
The CRC said the deaths were "due notably to reported lack of precautionary measures and indiscriminate use of force."
The U.N. group called on the U.S. to take "concrete and firm precautionary measures and prevent indiscriminate use of force" to ensure that no more civilians and children are killed.
The committee last reviewed U.S. practices in Afghanistan in 2008.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Thursday she had not seen the report, but would look into it.
Children's rights advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, Jo Becker, said "the U.S. can and should do more to protect children affected by armed conflict."
Local Taliban leader killed in N. Afghan operation
KABUL, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- A local Taliban leader had been killed in an operation in Afghanistan's northern province of Kunduz, the NATO-led coalition forces confirmed on Friday.
"Afghan and coalition forces killed Taliban leader, Hamid Gul, during a security operation in Chahar Darah district, Kunduz province, Thursday," the International Security Assistance Force ( ISAF) said in a press release.
Hamid Gul was a Taliban leader within Chahar Darah district that conducted attacks against government officials, as well as, Afghan and coalition forces in the province 250 km north of capital Kabul, it said.
"He oversaw 25 insurgent fighters who were responsible for the acquisition of improvised explosive device-making materials, IED construction and emplacement in the district. The security force conducted a precision strike, killing him."
The Taliban insurgent group, which has been waging an insurgency since its regime was toppled by a U.S-led invasion in late 2001, has yet to confirm the death of their leader.
One insurgent killed in eastern Afghanistan: ISAF
KABUL, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Afghan forces and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops killed one insurgent and defused three home-made bombs in operations in eastern Afghan region, said the ISAF forces on Friday.
"Afghan and coalition forces killed one insurgent, cleared three Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and discovered one weapons cache during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours," the ISAF's Regional Command-East (RC-East) said in a press release.
Operations in RC-East are ongoing, the press release added.
The Taliban insurgent group, which has been waging an insurgency of more than one decade, has yet to make comments.
The IEDs used in making suicide vests and roadside bombs has proved a challenge for Afghan and some 100,000 NATO-led forces in the insurgency-hit country, as they are simple but difficult to be detected.
Taliban often attack the security forces with IEDs but the lethal weapons also inflict casualties on civilians as more than 10 civilians had been killed in IED explosions over the last one week across the country.
Teenager Afghan actors to walk red carpet at Oscars
By Sajad - 08 Feb 2013, 12:51 pm Khaama Press
The 14-year-old Afghan boy with bright green eyes, Fawad Mohammadi who has spent half his life peddling maps and dictionaries to foreigners on a street of trinket shops in Kabul is getting ready for a trip down the red carpet at the Oscars.
Fawad Mohammadi is travelling out of Afghanistan for the first and will be his time on a plane.
He appeared in “Buzkashi Boys” movie filmed entirely in a war zone and has been nominated in the Best Live Action Short Film category.
Buzkashi Boys film is based on the story of two young Afghan boys who are dreaming to become professional players of Buzkashi sport, a game that somewhat resembles polo: Horseback riders wrangle to get a headless goat carcass into a circular goal at one end of the field.
The director of the movie Sam French, Philadelphia native who has lived in Afghanistan for about five years has put his efforts in the film to revive a film industry devastated by decades of civil war and during the Taliban regime.
Sam French said, his 28-minute movie was initially conceived as a way of training local film industry workers – the first installment in his nonprofit Afghan Film Project.
French, 36, is in Los Angeles, where he is preparing for the Feb. 24 Academy Awards and raising money to fly the two young co-stars in for the ceremony.
Quoted by Associated press, French said, “We never dreamed of having the film … get an Oscar nomination.”
The boys playing the main characters – Mohammadi and Jawanmard Paiz – can barely contain their excitement.
Mohammadi whose real-life dream is to become a pilot told Associated Press, “”It will be a great honor for me and for Afghanistan to meet the world’s most famous actors.”
He started selling gum when he was only 7-year-old after his father died, leaving him with his mother, five brothers and a sister.
Mohammadi learned English hustling foreigners on Chicken Street, the main Kabul tourist area with shops selling multicolor rugs, lapis bowls and souvenirs, and gained a reputation for being polite, helpful and trustworthy.
“His life was so much harder than mine,” Mohammadi told Associated Press. “The blacksmith made him go out on the streets. I came myself here (to Chicken Street). My family didn’t make me come. I wanted to make money to feed myself and to feed my family.”
The other character of the movie is a 14-year-old boy and son of a well-known actor who plays the homeless Ahmad. Paiz has appeared in movies when he was only 5-year-old and has gone to the Cannes Film Festival.
Saffron gives farmers in war-torn Afghanistan a taste of the good life
NBC News By Mel Preen 07/002/2013
Afghan exports of pricey saffron jumped by 14 percent in 2012, with the crops squeezing out opium poppy production in parts of the war-torn country, according to government statistics.
In the Western province of Herat, 90 percent of the former poppy farmers have switched to growing the pungent and yellow spice, according to the Afghan Ministry of Counter Narcotics.
Saffron has helped turned Ghaffar Hamidzay, 28, into a successful businessman, with his exports ballooning since he set up Afghan Saffron in 2001 after the fall of the Taliban.
“In the beginning, we exported 50 to 60 kilos (110 to 132 pounds) a year. Now we export 1.5 to 2 tons,” said the owner of Afghan Saffron, which now employs 5,000 people. “When we first started the business, saffron sold for $200 to $250 per kilo. Today it is worth $1,500 to $1,600 per kilo.”
The jump in saffron cultivation comes amid a concerted effort on the part of the government to cajole and force farmers to replace their opium crops. Still, Afghanistan produces more than 90 percent of the world’s opium, and much of the revenue from that goes to fund the Taliban.
Saffron has also proved a boost for smaller farmers such as Abdul Hassib, 35, who until recently planted poppy in his farm in Gozara, Herat.
“I used to sell [my saffron crop] for 70,000 Afghanis ($1,400) per kilo,” said the father of nine. “Now I sell it for 100,000 Afghanis ($2,000).”
One reason for the switch was that poppy is a lot harder to grow, Hassib said. Besides, he makes more money from saffron, he added.
As a comparison, a policeman in Afghanistan earns around $150 a month.
While saffron production is booming, problems still dog the nascent industry.
“We are trying our best to make Herat poppy-free, but we have a lot of problems with neighboring countries,” said Zabullah Dayen, an adviser at the Ministry of Counter Narcotics, referring to neighboring Iran, which is the world’s leading saffron exporter.
Many of Afghanistan’s saffron producers believe neighboring Iran -- one of the world's leading producers of the spice -- is trying to destabilize their market to crush competition.
Farmers switching to saffron from poppy are also not very popular with the Taliban. According to local reports saffron farmers have been threatened and told to switch back.
However in Herat, Hamidzay said he’s had no complaints of harassment. The province is relatively stable compared with Helmand and Uruzgan in the south, where much of the country’s poppy is grown.
“I’d like to request the Ministry of Counter Narcotics to do more work to convince farmers in those provinces to cultivate saffron instead,” he said.
Afghanistan could be well on its way to fulfilling the wishes of Hamidzay and other saffron farmers. In 2011, the United States spent $1.4 million buying Afghan saffron, more than any other Afghan export, according to the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries.
Almost half of British military kit to be left in Afghanistan
Almost half of Britain's military equipment in Afghanistan will be left behind when troops quit the country raising fears that some could fall in to the hands of the Taliban.
Telegraph.co.uk By Tom Whitehead, Security Editor 07 Feb 2013
More than 40 per cent of kit will not be repatriated because of the costs and logistics involved in getting it returned.
The Ministry of Defence insists no decision has been made on what will be left but sources suggest it could include some weapons and vehicles.
The revelation came as Philip Hammond, Defence Secretary, said he believed "meaningful" talks would begin with the Taliban soon to help secure a peaceful exit from Afghanistan.
On a visit to Camp Bastion to oversee preparations for the UK withdrawal of combat forces by the end of next year he said the momentum for talks was likely to become "unstoppable" and that could lead to the reintegration of elements of the Taliban into Afghan society.
"I think we're all optimistic that we will see the start of some meaningful political dialogue over the coming months," he told ITV News.
He added that Afghan troops were becoming more capable of taking over from Nato forces but more work still had to be done.
When British troops do pull out, millions of pounds worth of resources are expected to be scrapped, sold or given away under proposals drawn up by the MoD.
Government estimates suggest about 11,000, 20ft containers worth of equipment are currently in theatre, including around 3,000 vehicles.
Of these, military chiefs plan to bring back some 6,500 loads, at a cost of tens of millions of pounds.
It would leave around 4,500 containers, or 40 per cent of the kit, to be disposed of in Afghanistan, according to plans revealed under the Freedom of Information Act.
The MoD said decisions would be made "on a case-by-case basis" as experts questioned the reliability of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and warned kit could be passed to the enemy.
Dr John Louth, of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) defence think tank, said leaving 40 per cent of equipment was not unusual following an overseas conflict but suggested there was a "risk to leaving things behind". "What is benevolent today could be quite nasty tomorrow," he said. "If people have equipment that they wish to sell, they will sell it."
Shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy said the Government should "not waste a moment" in negotiating cost-effective transit routes to bring equipment back to Britain.
An MOD spokesman said: "The redeployment of equipment and assets from Afghanistan is a huge and complex task and while no decisions have yet been made, it is nonsense to suggest that state-of-the-art, hi-tech assets will be allowed to fall into the hands of the Taliban."
"The Defence Secretary has already said that in the majority of cases recuperating and refurbishing equipment bought for Afghanistan will be the best value-for-money option.
"When bringing equipment back to the UK does not represent value for money for the taxpayer, it will be either sold or gifted to Afghan National Security Forces – although obviously we would not be helping the Afghan forces by giving them equipment they are unable to maintain."
Hamid Karzai swaps Kabul fortress for Claridge's finery
On day he issued decree back home to curtail government expenses, Afghan president checks into luxury London hotel
The Guardian By Lisa O'Carroll Thursday 7 February 2013
Living in the shadow of terror and the threat of assassination around the clock, Hamid Karzai could be forgiven for indulging in a bit of relaxing comfort whenever he gets the chance.
But to touch down in London and check into Claridge's, one of the most luxurious hotels in the world, the day he issued a decree back home to curtail government expenses is, at best, a sign that the Afghan president is prone to a touch of political frailty like the best of his western counterparts.
For this is where he and an entourage of 40 officials stayed on their whistlestop visit to London for talks with the Pakistan president, Asif Ali Zardari, on Monday night.
Rooms at Claridge's, a byword for refined luxury and a hotel favoured by royalty and celebrity alike, cost anything from £300 but the individually crafted suites favoured by hundreds of heads of state over the years cost thousands a night.
The top-of-the-range Brook penthouse, where the truly rich and famous stay, is bigger than a standard Victorian terraced house at just under 185 square metres (2,000 sq ft). "Designed by Veere Grenney, this elegant art deco-style apartment is decorated in gentle lilac with light oak floors" and "an idiosyncratic blend of old and new furnishings," gushes the hotel's website. The nightly tariff, available on request, is a cool £6,900 a night. Impecunious VIPs can opt for the cheaper suites at about £1,000 a night.
But even a budget-conscious, non-drinking guest is not going to come off lightly after a stay in Claridge's. A non-alcoholic raspberry crush in the Fumoir bar will set the purse back £8, while classic afternoon tea, albeit accompanied by a selection of finger sandwiches and a selection of pastries, costs £40 a head.
It is a world away from Arg-e-Shahi Palace, Karzai's fortress compound in central Kabul where four checkpoints and a battery of army personnel and sniffer dogs protect the president from the constant threat of attack. One US diplomat described his job as "the hardest in the world". Four of Afghanistan's past six presidents have been murdered, three of them in office.
But the irony of a luxury stay in Claridge's will not be lost on the Afghan electorate. According to the usually reliable Tolo News, Karzai has ordered government departments to cut back on purchases of deluxe, expensive equipment in favour of domestic products.
"All ministries and government offices are required to economise on the expenses of stationery, oil materials, repairs and other expenditures, to avoid any unnecessary expense and above-standard per diems for trips out of the country, and to reduce expenses," the decree states, reported Tolo News on Monday, just as Karzai was meeting the Prince of Wales, who the president has said "is a very good friend of Afghanistan". The Afghan embassy was not available for comment.
The use of high-cost items at government departments has been heavily criticised in the past, especially because most of these products are mainly funded with budgets from the international community. However, it is the first time that the president has so formally addressed it.
So who foots the bill? According to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), all heads of state invited on official visits to the UK are treated to stays in first-class hotels such as Claridge's. The cost of 10 of Karzai's entourage was paid for by the British taxpayer, with the remainder on the Afghan tab. An FCO spokeswoman said: "Heads of state on guest of government visits are able to stay in a range of hotels of a similar level, including Claridge's. Accommodation is determined by a variety of factors, including suitability for a head of state, location and security. As you would expect, we do not go into detail on accommodation or other arrangements for visiting heads of state."
The FCO is said to be proud to have run the trilateral event hosted by the prime minister in Chequers and will have seen the cost of putting up part of Karzai's entourage as money worth spending – especially if it leads to a deal.
Charming, clever, and fluent in Pashtu, Dari, English and Urdu, he made Esquire magazine's list of best-dressed men in 2004, and seems at home anywhere from the remotest corners of Afghanistan to western capitals.
Karzai took power as a temporary leader of his country after the fall of the Taliban in 2001, then won two successive presidential polls, in 2004 and 2009, and confesses he is looking forward to a rest. He told the Guardian in an interview on Monday that it is a decade since he took a holiday.
And Karzai is certainly not the first head of state from a country relying on foreign aid to stay at the hotel. Foreign aid accounts for 40% of Malawi's budget yet President Joyce Banda stayed there shortly after she rose from vice-president to the top job last year. During the Olympics a team of 16 from Malawi stayed for 11 nights, while a team of nine from Gabon had an eight-night stay during the Games.
Karzai's friendship with Prince Charles, who he describes as a "very fine gentlemen", has also yielded dividends for Afghanistan and the owners of Claridge's. The Turquoise Mountain Foundation charity was founded at the request of the prince in 2006 to protect and encourage ancient Afghan craftsmanship in calligraphy, woodwork, jewellery and ceramics.
It was subsequently commissioned by the Maybourne Hotel Group, which owns Claridge's, to craft The Prince's Lodge Suite at the Connaught, an exquisite room involving 37 square metres of carved dark walnut for a four-poster bed, alcoves, architraves and cabinets.
Afghan boys from nominated film to walk red carpet
Associated Press By KIM GAMEL February 7, 2013
KABUL, Afghanistan - Fawad Mohammadi has spent half his life peddling maps and dictionaries to foreigners on a street of trinket shops in Kabul. Now the 14-year-old Afghan boy with bright green eyes is getting ready for a trip down the red carpet at the Oscars.
It will also be his first time out of the country and his first time on a plane.
Mohammadi was plucked from the dingy streets of the Afghan capital to be one of the main stars of "Buzkashi Boys," a coming-of-age movie filmed entirely in a war zone and nominated in the Best Live Action Short Film category.
The movie is about two penniless young boys - a street urchin and a blacksmith's son - who are best friends and dream of becoming professional players of buzkashi, a particularly rough and dangerous game that somewhat resembles polo: Horseback riders wrangle to get a headless goat carcass into a circular goal at one end of the field.
It's also part of an American director's effort to help revive a film industry devastated by decades of civil war and by the Taliban, an Islamic fundamentalist movement that banned entertainment and burned films and theaters during its five years in power.
Sam French, a Philadelphia native who has lived in Afghanistan for about five years, said his 28-minute movie was initially conceived as a way of training local film industry workers - the first installment in his nonprofit Afghan Film Project.
"We never dreamed of having the film come this far and get an Oscar nomination," French, 36, said in a telephone interview from Los Angeles, where he is preparing for the Feb. 24 Academy Awards and raising money to fly the two young co-stars in for the ceremony.
The two boys playing the main characters - Mohammadi and Jawanmard Paiz - can barely contain their excitement about going to the Oscars.
"It will be a great honor for me and for Afghanistan to meet the world's most famous actors," said Mohammadi, whose real-life dream is to become a pilot. He's also hoping to go see the cockpit during the flight.
The farthest Mohammadi has ever traveled was to the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif when he was younger.
Mohammadi's father died a few years ago, leaving him with his mother, five brothers and a sister. He started selling chewing gum when he was about 7 years old and soon expanded his trade to maps and dictionaries.
He learned to speak English hustling foreigners on Chicken Street, the main tourist area in Kabul with shops selling multicolor rugs, lapis bowls and other crafts and souvenirs, and gained a reputation for being polite, helpful and trustworthy. He was even able to enroll in a private school, thanks to the generosity of some other foreigners unrelated to the film project.
In the movie Mohammadi plays the blacksmith's son, Rafi, whose father wants him to follow in his footsteps.
"His life was so much harder than mine," Mohammadi said. "The blacksmith made him go out on the streets. I came myself here (to Chicken Street). My family didn't make me come. I wanted to make money to feed myself and to feed my family. He didn't have a home. They lived in the blacksmith shop."
Ironically it's not Mohammadi but Paiz, the youngest son of a well-known Afghan actor, who plays the homeless boy Ahmad.
Paiz, also 14, already was an experienced actor: He's appeared in films since the age of 5 and has gone to the Cannes Film Festival.
Paiz and Mohammadi had a lot to learn from each other and became friends. He gave Mohammadi tips for acting and handling himself in live interviews, while Fawad taught him about life outside his sheltered surroundings.
"When I saw Fawad was such a good actor even though he was a street boy and he was so brave in acting, I was very surprised and I said to myself, 'Everybody can achieve what they desire to do,'" Paiz said during an interview this week, shivering in the snow-covered courtyard of the Afghan Film Institute while a local TV series was being filmed nearby.
French, who co-wrote the script and produced "Buzkashi Boys" with Martin Roe of the Los Angeles-based production company Dirty Robber, launched a fundraising drive that's raised almost $10,000 so far to help bring the boys to Los Angeles for the ceremony. Any extra money will be placed in a fund to provide for Mohammadi's education and help his family. The boys will travel with an escort and will stay with the extended Afghan family of one of the film's producers, French said.
French said he's aware of the pitfalls in working with child actors from developing countries.
The makers of "Slumdog Millionaire," the rags-to-riches blockbuster about three poor Indian children, have struggled to make a better life for the young stars, and four boys who acted in "The Kite Runner" had to leave Afghanistan out of concern they could be ostracized or subject to violence because of a rape scene in the movie.
French said he and others involved in the "Buzkashi Boys" took pains to involve the community and made sure to avoid any scenes that could be offensive.
"We're not filmmakers who just do a film and leave. We remain there and present," he said. "We had lots and lots of tea with lots and lots of people."
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences says there have been three documentary features nominees filmed at least in part in Afghanistan since 2007 - all about the U.S. military. The Kite Runner, which was nominated for original score in 2007, was set in Afghanistan but not filmed there.
Afghanistan had a burgeoning film industry starting in the early 20th century, but it suffered from fighting during the civil war and the Taliban campaign to stamp out entertainment. Actors and film industry workers like Paiz's father and the actor who plays the blacksmith, Wali Talash, fled the country. They returned only after the 2001 U.S.-led assault that ousted the Islamic movement and its al-Qaida allies.
Talash, 56, said he hopes the "Buzkashi Boys" will show the world the rich culture of Afghanistan, which too few in the world know beyond reports of roadside bombs and suicide attacks.
"I hope if this movie wins that it will be an earthquake that will shake the industry and help Afghan filmmakers get back on their feet," he said.
Mohammadi, meanwhile, says he knows the money and fame he earned from the movie can carry him only so far. He still sells maps, though not so often as before, because he has school.
"For my work I used to know a lot of foreigners and I still do, but before they used to know me as a map seller. Now they know me as an actor," he said, waving a plastic-covered map as weary Afghans walked by on the muddy street. "Most of them take pictures with me and sometimes they buy maps from me even if they don't need any just because they spotted me in the movie."
Associated Press writer Steve Loeper in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Australia must help fight for women's rights in Afghanistan
The Canberra Times By Nouria Salehi Opinion February 8, 2013
As a proud Australian, with strong connections to Afghanistan as the place of my birth, I read Hugh White's recent opinion piece on Afghanistan ("Afghanistan mission a total failure", February 5) with great interest.
Every year since 2002, I have seen firsthand the struggle of ordinary Afghan women and men to rebuild their lives with great resolve. I share Professor White's concerns about the future of Afghanistan after Australian troops and allied/NATO forces leave at the end of this year. I am deeply saddened too by the loss of Australian lives, with countless more Australians injured. These Australians are fighting alongside Afghans eager for a democratic and peaceful Afghanistan.
I take issue, however, with Professor White's assertion that there is no credible government in Afghanistan and his simplistic portrayal of a country falling into an abyss after the departure of allied forces in 2014. There is a vigorous civil society in Afghanistan, with many community members eager to realise their country's dreams of peace, democracy and, most importantly, women's rights.
As Professor White notes, external troops will come and go, while ordinary Afghans struggle to enjoy the most basic of human rights. Our focus must be on assisting local initiatives and bringing attention to the rights of women who form the backbone of Afghan society.
Representatives of Afghanistan's civil society will be in Australia next week to attend the Afghan Women's Roundtable to discuss the role of women in the peace, reconciliation and transition process. These five men and five women, including six MPs, are representatives not only of their homeland, but of the deep and ongoing partnership Afghanistan shares with Australia. Crucially, they understand that the absence of women's voices at all levels of Afghan society is a problem that, left unaddressed, will only exacerbate the nation's challenges in future.
This Roundtable will allow these prominent Afghans to discuss with key Australian politicians, officials and NGOs how we can make the voices of Afghan women be heard - both here and in Afghanistan.
As a country with a female prime minister and governor-general, equal opportunity laws and women's participation in many diverse spheres of society, Australia has accepted equality for women as a central, and beneficial, aspect of a developed society.
As such, we can help guide Afghans on how to ensure that women are properly represented at all levels as Afghanistan transitions to self-rule. Importantly, we have a government that is well positioned to encourage the Afghan government to do just that.
The Afghan Australian Development Organisation helps women realise their human rights in areas such as teacher training. With the primary school completion rate for girls at just 13 per cent (compared to 32 per cent for boys), and a literacy rate for young women aged 15-24 of 18 per cent (compared to 50 per cent for boys), many women require the most basic of literacy support.
This is a support that Australia is ideally placed to provide, but it cannot continue without women's input in Afghanistan, and Australian support in ensuring that women's voices continue to be heard.
Afghanistan remains a particularly difficult place to be a woman. More than 87 per cent of Afghan women having experienced some kind of physical, sexual, or psychological violence, or forced marriage. Every day, 50 women die from pregnancy-related causes – the world's highest rate. A woman's life expectancy is a mere 44 years.
Even so, encouraging gains have been made. A visit to Australia by Afghan MPs speaking primarily about gender issues would have been unthinkable some years ago. That some of those MPs are women is further evidence of an increased awareness by the current government of the need to take concrete steps to include women in the transition process.
Australia's temporary seat on the UN Security Council could also be used to further promote the principles of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, of which women's participation is a core tenet.
Now is not the time for women to lose the rights that they have won back since the fall of the Taliban a decade ago. It is not the time to turn our backs on Afghanistan. Australia has a responsibility to continue strengthening forces with local efforts and to work even harder for the rights of Afghan citizens, especially women.
As a woman who has benefited from the freedoms that Australia offers, I hope that in the future these freedoms will be equally enjoyed by the women of Afghanistan. So, as Australia discusses the withdrawal of troops, we must not overlook the importance of fighting for women's equality, and the role women play in that fight.
Dr Nouria Salehi, OAM, is the executive director of the Afghan Australian Development Organisation, which is hosting the upcoming Afghan MP and civil society leader's visit. She was the 2012 Senior Victorian of the Year.
US Will Not Endorse an Afghan Presidential Candidate: Envoy
TOLOnews.com Thursday, 07 February 2013
The United States will support Afghanistan's election process but it will never endorse a specific candidate, the US envoy to Afghanistan said Thursday.
US Ambassador James Cunningham made a visit to northern Balkh province where he met with governor Atta Mohammad Noor and discussed the upcoming presidential election.
He said that Afghanistan's presidential election is of special importance and the US will support it to ensure it runs successfully.
"We discussed the importance of the presidential election in 2014 and I assured him that the United States is ready to do everything we can to support the success of the election. We encourage all the election's stakeholders, the government, the opposition, and civil societies to work closely together in the interests of the Afghan nation," he said in a joint press conference with Noor in Mazar-e-Sharif.
"An outcome which is broadly accepted by Afghans no matter who they vote for is essential for Afghanistan's future," he added.
Cunningham took the opportunity to praise Afghanistan's achievements over the past decade, saying that education, telecommunications, media, economics and agriculture had made significant progress in the last ten years.
When asked his opinion on the release of Taliban prisoners, Cunningham said it was a matter for the Afghan and Pakistani governments to discuss.
"On the release of the Taliban, that is a subject that is under discussion between your government and the government of Pakistan. It is a concern as well that the prisoners not be released and go back into fighting and working in the insurgency and we hope that the discussion between governments produces better mechanisms [for that]," he said.
Noor also addressed reporters, saying he has doubts that the upcoming election will be fair and transparent, identifying security and the use of the old voting cards as key problems.
"The olds cards were used for fraud in the last election and there will probably be more fake cards made in the coming election so the government should distribute new voting cards and should create an better complaints commission for those who complain," he said.
Cunningham ended the press briefing emphasising that the US will continue to support Afghanistan after 2014.
Kabul Bank Tribunal Chief Claims Karzai, Fahim Still Owe Debt
TOLOnews.com By Saleha Soadat Thursday, 07 February 2013
The former Kabul Bank's powerful shareholders claim they have repaid all their loans, but the head of the special tribunal on the Kabul Bank collapse has insisted they still owe money.
Shamsul Rahman Shams said Wednesday that Mahmoud Karzai and Mohammad Hassin Fahim have not repaid their loans from the former Kabul Bank.
He said the issue is being followed by the Financial Disputes Resolution Commission (FDRC) but without any satisfactory results.
"Still, the issue about the debts of Karzai's brother who was one of the shareholder's of Kabul Bank and Hassin Fahim has not been resolved. The issue is being studied by the Financial Disputes Resolution Commission but it has not been fruitful," Shams said.
President Hamid Karzai's brother Mahmoud Karzai owes $9 million and the vice-president's brother Mohammad Hassin Fahim owes $3 million, he added.
Mahmoud Karzai rejected the statement, saying that he is only in debt of $6 million to Shahin Money Exchange whose owner was former Kabul Bank chariman Shir Khan Farnood.
In turn, Karzai accused the tribunal, the Financial Disputes Resolution Commission and the Kabul Bank Receivership Department for complicating matters.
"These three organisations have made the issue so complicated," he told TOLOnews. "I only borrowed $6 million from Shahin Money Exchange and did not borrow from Kabul Bank."
"I wish the bank crisis was being assessed abroad in the US or Dubai courts," he added.
Hassin Fahim did not respond to TOLOnews' requests for comment.
FDRC head Abdullah Dawran said the bank's crisis is very complicated, but that most of those who were part of its collapse are being accounted for.
"Karzai and Fahim are part of the commission's work but there are others who have a hand in the crisis who we're dealing with here," Dawran said Wednesday.
Shams' comments come ahead of the verdict of the Kabul Bank special tribunal on the involvement of 22 people in Kabul Bank's collapse in 2010.
Karzai Calls for Clerics to Condemn Suicide Bombing
TOLOnews.com By Faridullah Sahil Thursday, 07 February 2013
President Hamid Karzai addressed religious scholars at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit in Egypt with a call to condemn suicide attacks as an act prohibited under Islamic law.
According to a statement from Karzai's office, he urged in his address Wednesday to the summit for the religious scholars of the Muslim countries to condemn suicide attacks.
Karzai was quoted as pointing the clerics to the remarks of Sheikh Abdul Aziz, Mufti-e-Azam of Saudi Arabia, whose sermon on the day of Arafat condemned suicide attacks as prohibited in Islam and anyone who attempts or carries out such attacks will not be forgiven by Allah.
According to the released statement, Karzai said, "It 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.
"Our religious scholars and Ulema must effectively engage in our common struggle against extremists, who undermine the Ummah's progress and stability. 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."
Karzai returned to Kabul Thursday morning with the high level Afghan government officials travelling with him after attending the Islamic summit and official trips to both England and Norway.
Before the summit in Egypt, Karzai was in Oslo on Tuesday where he signed a long-term agreement with Norway. Afghanistan has similar agreements with the US, Italy, UK, France, Germany, Australia and India.
Karzai visited London on Sunday and Monday where he met with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and UK Prime Minister David Cameron.
The three held talks with high-level government delegations from all sides to agree on stronger regional cooperation and security measures.
Ahmadzai Claims Spy Agencies Oppose Afghan Local Police
TOLOnews.com By Karim Amini Thursday, 07 February 2013
The chief of Afghanistan's Local Police on Thursday said he believes that regional spy agencies are attempting to prevent the police from forming units in some of the remote parts of Afghanistan.
Alisha Ahmadzai said there is pressure from both inside and outside Afghanistan warning him to not set up ALP forces in some of the country's villages.
In an interview with TOLOnews, he said that he believes at least one of the threatening phonecalls he has received on the matter came from Iran.
"There are some unknown people and groups and sometimes they are threaten me to not create local police in villages -- I think they are regional intelligence agencies," Ahmadzai said.
He said the government will continue to establish ALP units in villages because they are useful for security at a local level, and those who oppose the formation are opposing peace. "There are some groups taking advantage of the insecurity and that is why they don't want local police to exist in villages," he said.
The ALP is now about 20,550 strong with most of the recruits working in their local districts.
It was first set up about 27 months ago in the Gizab district of Uruzgan province.
Afghanistan: 2014 Election Plans Seen as Flawed
President wants to recycle voter IDs used in previous, controversial elections.
IWPR By Hafizullah Gardesh 7 Feb 13
Afghanistan - As Afghans look ahead to a critical presidential election in just over a year’s time, some commentators are already warning that the process will be fatally flawed, and that certain groups will be effectively disenfranchised.
The current president, Hamed Karzai, cannot stand again, but his opponents believe he will line up an associate or even a relative to take his place in polls scheduled for April 2014. A proposal to recycle voter IDs from the last round of elections – itself roundly criticised as riddled with fraud – only confirms them in that belief.
Despite earlier suggestions that voters should be issued with all-new biometric documents to ensure a transparent election, President Karzai made it clear he opposed this at a January 14 press conference.
“Distributing voter IDs with electronic [data] will cost 80 million dollars, and it isn’t possible to carry this out in the short time that remains. Besides, we don’t have the money and no one else will provide it,” he said. “Therefore, if we invalidate the old IDs and are ultimately unable to deliver the new ones, then I will be held accountable for it.”
The Independent Election Commission has opposed the move. Speaking a day after Karzai’s remarks, its chairman . Fazel Ahmad Manawi said a failure to hold a new registration process and issued new documents would “undermine transparency “, in comments reported by Tolo News.
However, speaking to IWPR, Karzai’s spokesman Aimal Faizi indicated that a decision to use existing voter IDs had already been taken.
“The decision to use the old voting cards was taken several months ago, because the government had some meetings with [representatives of] the international community who declined to fund new cards,” he said. “Furthermore, meetings were held at the presidential office with all opposition leaders, concerning the election law and the IEC’s organisational plan.”
The IEC declined to respond to IWPR’s questions about what it was planning to do.
The last presidential polls, held in 2009, and a parliamentary election the following year, both resulted in allegations of widespread irregularities and outright fraud. The 2010 vote resulted in months of wrangling, during which President Karzai set up a special court that effectively called into question the IEC and the Electoral Complaints Commission. In August 2011, the IEC disbarred nine members of parliament and named others to take their places.
A coordinating council that represents a range of Afghan political parties has now urged Karzai to refrain from interfering in electoral matters, in particular with regard to voter IDs.
The council has also expressed concern at the lack of legislation to regulate how the 2014 elections – for provincial councils as well as the president – are to be run. A bill has been submitted to parliament, but it is yet to be passed.
Political analyst Wahid Mozhda said the Afghan parliament was to blame for not processing this “hugely important national document”.
“Most members of parliament are wheeler-dealers who place their personal interests above the national interest,” he added.
According to Fazel Rahman Oriya, a political analyst who is part of the coordinating council, “ Karzai is trying to prevent any adjustment or modification to [existing] election legislation.”
He warned that “if the government interferes in the election, political parties and blocs may use every legal avenue to ensure justice and a transparent vote”.
Karzai’s spokesmen said political parties were free to say whatever they wanted, but that did not make it true.
“Everyone has a right to criticise, but it’s important what people make of these claims,” Faizi added.
He said Afghans themselves and the international community were capable of keeping track of the electoral process and making sure no one interfered in it, either from inside or outside Afghanistan.
“Hamed Karzai is determined to support fair and transparent elections because he does not want to leave a poor legacy after 14 years’ service,” Faizi said. “He will not interfere in electoral matters unless the law allows him to.”
Given that 2014 will see the withdrawal of NATO-led forces from Afghanistan as well as this key election, some analysts are predicting major turmoil as the two events combine to reinforce deep divisions.
“Most of the Pashtun areas are under the direct or psychological influence of the government’s armed opponents [Taleban et al], so many of the Pashtuns will be unable to participate in the poll,” Mozhda said. “If a non-Pashtun candidate wins [the presidency], that will mean civil war, because the Pashtun majority will feel itself excluded. But if a Pashtun candidate wins as a result of some pre-arranged fix by local forces and foreign powers, the non-Pashtuns will oppose him. Either way, there’s a risk of civil war, which could balkanise this country.”
Mozhda is certain the 2014 election will go ahead regardless of the risks.
“The Americans are going to support holding an election at any cost, as it will be a marker of success. If it doesn’t take place, it will be seen as an American failure as well – it will be the end of democracy in this country.”
Faizi dismissed warnings of chaos, saying there was a plan in place to ensure voting took place in “relative security”.
“Our security agencies are working with their international partners on this plan. I won’t share more details for the time being. But there is absolutely no possibility of civil war,” he said.
Given the poor security situation and widespread disillusionment in national politics, it is will not be easy to make Afghan voters enthusiastic about coming to the polls.
Schoolteacher Ghulam Mujtaba, for example, sees the forthcoming election as a project by “America, Britain, France , Germany, Iran, Pakistan, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia and others”, each of which has its own political protégés in Afghanistan.
The 2001 Bonn Agreements created less of a government than a “corporation in which foreign states and powerful domestic robbers took out shares”, Mujtaba said. In the 2014 elections, he predicted, “one group of robbers will leave and another will come to power”.
Hafizullah Gardesh is IWPR editor for Afghanistan.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com