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11 Taliban militants killed in Afghan raids: gov't
KABUL, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Security forces have killed 11 Taliban militants in different provinces within the last 24 hours, the Afghan Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.
"Afghan police, army and intelligence agency in partnership with the NATO-led coalition forces conducted six cleanup operations in Kapisa, Kandahar, Zabul, Uruzgan, Wardak and Paktiya provinces, killing 11 armed Taliban militants and detaining nine others," the ministry said in a statement, adding two militants were wounded in the raids.
They also found and seized weapons, the statement said, without saying if there were any casualties on the side of security forces.
The Taliban insurgent group, which has been waging an insurgency of more than one decade, has yet to make comments.
Panjwai residents rise against Taliban in Kandahar
By Meena Haseeb - 12 Feb 2013, 9:43 am Khaama Press
Local residents in southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan started fighting the Taliban militants in the latest wave of public uprising in this province.
The public uprising was started by residents of Panjwai district.
According to the local residents they have killed at least three Taliban militants in this district so far.
One of the organizer of public uprising Abdul Wadood said local residents of Panjwai district started fight against the Taliban militants after residents of Chahar Qaria area were mistreated and tortured.
Panjwai district chief Fazal Mohammad Ishaq said he supports the local residents to fight the Taliban militants and the local government is prepared to assist the local fighters.
Taliban militants group yet to comment regarding the report.
Public uprising against the Taliban militants started from Andar district of eastern Ghazni province and later expanded to the southern regions of the country.
According to reports wounded Afghan spy chief Asadullah Khalid has been active and supportive in backing anti-Taliban uprisings in insurgent-held areas of eastern Afghanistan.
Public uprising in various provinces of Afghanistan created concerns among the Afghan parliament members and other officials who are believing that arbitrary uprising will lead to serious security challenges in the future for the Afghan government.
U.S. Begins Withdrawing Military Equipment From Afghanistan
February 11, 2013 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
The U.S. military has started withdrawing military equipment from Afghanistan through Pakistan as it prepares to pull out most of its combat troops next year.
Marcus Spade, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said on February 11 that 50 shipping containers were moved to Pakistan over the weekend.
Officials said 25 containers entered Pakistan through Torkham in the north while 25 more entered through the Chaman border crossing in the south.
Most supplies for U.S. and NATO troops passed through Pakistan during the past eleven years.
Islamabad closed the route for nearly seven months following a U.S. airstrike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November 2011.
Pakistan will now be the key route for tens of thousands of containers for U.S. military equipment before most Western combat troops leave Afghanistan in 2014.
Based on reporting by AP and AFP
Kabul Spa-Goers Stress Need to Relax
New Pool Complex in Afghan Capital Brings Note of Optimism Amid Pre-Pullout Anxiety
Wall Street Journal By NATHAN HODGE And ZIAULHAQ SULTANI February 11, 2013
KABUL - Off a rutted street of Afghanistan's capital on a recent day, just beyond a shoeshine boy and a guard performing pat-downs, Afghans of a certain station were learning how to chill.
The new Lajaward Swimming Complex here has drawn a growing following since it opened last year offering what is a novelty for all but a few Afghans—a pool, a menthol-scented steam room, full-body massages and the opportunity to imagine they aren't living in a war zone.
"One of the most important aims that I have is to destress myself," said Riaz Sadiq, a Kabul pediatrician lounging poolside on a recent Saturday. Nearby, swimmers splashed and bobbed, some strapped inside bright orange life jackets. "When I come here, my stress disappears," he added.
At about $10 per admission, a day at Lajaward lies far beyond the budgets of the vast majority here in one of the world's poorest counties. A visit would be redundant for Afghanistan's most elite, who have private pools and, often, villas in Dubai.
But since it opened in the middle of last year, Lajaward has become the new "in" destination for the sliver of Afghans who could be called middle class—including professionals and workers at Western aid agencies who rub shoulders here with the occasional television host, warlord or politician.
"When we come here, we remove everything from our minds," said Sayed Farhad Shah Jenaab, a senator from Faryab province and one of Lajaward's regulars.
The club, built by local investors, offers a rare optimistic vision for Afghanistan's future. The planned exit of U.S. and coalition troops by the end of next year has raised widespread anxiety about a possible Taliban comeback, or a potential economic collapse, as foreign aid dollars dwindle. Many Afghans openly mull a future that might include fleeing the country.
Qasem Ali Rezaee, Lajaward's co-owner and manager, said his own family was initially skeptical about the venture. One of his sons, he said, tried to dissuade him, citing security fears.
But he eventually persuaded the son, Alireza—who has a degree in engineering—to lend his design skills. "When he came here and saw the location, he said, 'This is the right thing,' " Mr. Rezaee said.
Occupying a prime spot in Kabul's Kart-e Seh neighborhood, not far from the country's Parliament building, Lajaward—meaning Lapis—quickly became an oasis amid the intimidating security atmosphere of the Afghan capital, where men with Kalashnikovs guard fortified compounds and the police man checkpoints to search for potential suicide bombers.
The club's café is awash in the sounds of Persian pop. An enormous poster of swimmer Michael Phelps looms over the pool's deep end, next to a sign that reads: Advertise Here.
Like most pools, it has rules. No running. No horseplay. No diving in the shallow end. Please check your guns at the door.
Abdullah Aalemi, a lifeguard who has worked at Lajaward since it opened, said VIP visitors usually comply with the no-gun rules. Still, he added, "they bring their security" guards to the pool area.
Their worries aren't unfounded. Last year, the Taliban attacked the Spozhmai hotel at Qargha Lake, a resort just outside Kabul. And in 2008, insurgents stormed the capital's most luxurious hotel, the Serena, gunning down guests in its gym and spa area.
For Mr. Rezaee and his co-owners, security wasn't the only risk. He lined up two investors to back the Lajaward project, but as the pool neared completion, work ground to a halt. He and his partners needed $30,000 to finish work, he said. Afghan banks wouldn't advance any credit.
So Mr. Rezaee took a gamble: He bought half a dozen new cars on an installment plan. He said he raised $40,000 in cash by quickly selling the cars, then finished the club and paid off the car loans later.
All told, the three co-owners of the facility sank around $600,000 into the project. Mr. Rezaee reckoned the complex would have cost $800,000 if he hadn't done some of the work himself.
A native of the remote Daikundi province, Mr. Rezaee said he first saw "American-style" swimming pools with modern filtration in prerevolutionary Iran, where he traveled to find work in the 1970s. Planning to stay for a year, he ended up meeting his wife, settling down and raising a family. One of his first jobs in Iran was installing plumbing and filtration equipment.
Swimming pools like the one at Lajaward are rare in Kabul, capital of a landlocked country where few people know how to swim. On the hill above the city is a Soviet-built Olympic pool, which became a fighting position in the civil war. Under Taliban rule, its concrete high-dive platform was reputedly used for executions.
Even at Lajaward, in the capital of one of the world's most conservative countries, concessions to modernity are limited: Women are banned from the facility. "It's a male-dominated community," said spa-goer Basir Nadir, who works for an international organization in Kabul. "Everything is for men."
Mr. Nadir said he wished he could visit the pool with his family, as he might on a trip abroad.
"When I come here and I go back home and see the women and children in the house, I become a bit depressed," he said. "We enjoy our life here, relaxing and going out—but nothing for women, nothing for girls."
Write to Nathan Hodge at nathan.hodge@wsj.com
Australian role in Afghanistan after transition waits on US decision: Defense Minister
CANBERRA, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Australia needs to get precision from the United States about what the United States sees as the scale of its transition draw down in Afghanistan, and its post- 2014 transition proposals, Defense Minister Stephen Smith said on Tuesday.
According to his speech to the Australian Defense Magazine congress in Canberra today, Australian government is about to start the conversation with NATO, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the US on Australia's role next year and beyond 2014.
"What the United States and Afghanistan agree about the United States presence in Afghanistan post 2014 transition, and what role any United States forces left behind will play, is the starting point. ," Smith said.
"Once that is clearer, then Australia and other NATO/ISAF countries will be able to make a judgment about what role, if any, others, including Australia, might play."
Minister Smith said Australia had committed 100 million-a-year (almost 102.91 million USD) for three years from 2015 to support the Afghan National Security Forces beyond the withdrawal of western forces.
The taskforce in Afghanistan was now in the process of removing equipment from Afghanistan but there would not be any substantial reduction in troop numbers until late in the year.
In Afghanistan pullout, Pentagon favors phased reduction over 3 years
Washington Post By Rajiv Chandrasekaran Tuesday, February 12, 2013
The Pentagon is pushing a plan that would keep about 8,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan once the NATO military mission there ends in 2014 but significantly shrink the contingent over the following two years, according to senior U.S. government officials and military officers.
The phased-reduction approach, which would define the shape of the United States’ endgame in Afghanistan, represents an effort to strike a compromise between top military commanders, who had wanted to base about 10,000 U.S. troops in the country after 2014, and several of President Obama’s senior civilian advisers, who have been advocating a far smaller long-term U.S. presence.
Military commanders fear that a drastic reduction in forces will erode hard-won battlefield gains, while administration officials worry that a large, enduring troop presence will come at too great a cost in dollars and lives.
Although a consensus is emerging among White House and Pentagon officials about the merits of a phased reduction, Obama’s top aides and military commanders have not coalesced around the size of the trims, said the officials and officers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal policy deliberations.
The proposals under consideration call for reducing the U.S. presence by early 2016 to between 3,500 and 6,000 troops. One option under serious discussion envisages further reducing troop levels to under 1,000 by early 2017, with most of the personnel operating from the giant U.S. Embassy in Kabul.
Under that option, elite Special Operations commandos would not be based in Afghanistan after 2016, senior military officials said. They would swoop into the country from ships or bases in nearby nations to conduct counterterrorism missions, operating from facilities run jointly with Afghan forces.
Prior to discussions about the phased reduction, White House officials had been considering plans to reduce the U.S. presence to as few as 2,500 troops by January 2015.
Military commanders would prefer to retain as many as 3,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2017 and beyond, but they appear to be willing to accept White House demands to keep the number under 1,000.
“We can live with this,” said a senior U.S. official aligned with the military leadership. A smaller troop presence in 2017 “doesn’t really matter so long as you have the upfront guys for the first year.”
The commanders have argued that a large enduring force is necessary to support Afghanistan’s army, which lacks many critical tools, including combat aircraft and medical evacuation helicopters, to aid soldiers fighting the Taliban. But White House advisers, and even some senior civilian officials in the Pentagon, have been skeptical that a few thousand more U.S. troops would be able to help transform the much-troubled Afghan army into an effective fighting force.
Once the White House and Pentagon reach a formal agreement, it will be presented to the Afghan government, which must grant permission for U.S. forces to operate in the country after 2014. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has voiced support for a continued U.S. military presence, though the decision — and the provision of immunity to American forces — may require the consent of the country’s often-fractious parliament.
About 66,000 U.S. troops are deployed in Afghanistan. Obama is expected to announce soon the number of troops he intends to bring home this year. White House officials have said that they want to settle on a post-2014 plan before determining the size of this year’s reduction.
The phased approach acknowledges the concerns of senior U.S. commanders that the Afghan army will need extensive help after 2014, but it also seeks to limit costly ongoing assistance — a key demand of Obama’s civilian advisers — in an attempt to force the Afghans to develop their own support services by 2017.
“We need to ensure that our presence there doesn’t act as a crutch. The Afghans have to recognize that this is their moment to step up and take more responsibility,” said a senior Obama administration official who favors a small post-2014 presence. “If they can’t do everything we want them to do, that’s fine. They need to figure out their own way of fighting.”
The White House had wanted to shrink the Afghan army and police from their current total strength of 352,000 to 230,000 in 2017. Sustaining the 352,000-strong Afghan security forces costs the United States about $4.1 billion a year.
But military leaders — including Gen. John R. Allen, who stepped down over the weekend as the top coalition commander in Kabul, and his successor, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. — have sought to delay that reduction, saying Afghanistan needs the larger force until at least 2018.
“Our number is less important than their number,” said a U.S. general involved in the war. “In the middle of a drawdown for us, we can’t be drawing them down, too.”
A report released Monday by the Government Accountability Office highlighted the challenges officials face in sustaining Afghanistan’s security forces.
The government watchdog agency, which has access to previously undisclosed Pentagon data, estimated that it will cost at least $25 billion to operate the security forces between 2013 and 2017. For each year from 2015 to 2017, the GAO estimates that there is a $600 million gap between the projected cost of maintaining the Afghan force and the amounts that the Karzai government and donor nations have committed to spending.
The United States is expected to continue to foot the bulk of the bill for maintaining Afghanistan’s forces, having said that it anticipates spending $16.7 billion from 2013 to 2017. Other donors and the Afghan government have expressed a commitment to spend $6.5 billion during that period. The commitments are not binding.
The GAO said the Pentagon did not disclose its analysis of the projected cost of the Afghan security force in future years in semiannual reports on the war effort submitted to Congress.
Under the proposal to drop troop levels to below 1,000 by 2017, most of the remaining forces would focus on supporting the Afghan defense and interior ministries, training the Afghan air force and administering the distribution of billions of dollars in U.S. financial assistance for the Afghan security forces.
Some Special Operations forces would remain in the country to collect intelligence and train elite Afghan units, but if the U.S. military needed to conduct operations targeting remnants of al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations bent on attacking U.S. interests, American commandos probably would be summoned from outside the country, the officials and officers said. Those forces would be able to use helicopters and other equipment prepositioned on Afghan military bases.
Ernesto Londoño contributed to this report.
Russia will not create another Afghanistan for itself: Lavrov
Press TV February 11, 2013
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Moscow has no intention of sending troops to the crisis-hit countries in the Middle East and North Africa to avoid “another Afghanistan.”
"This is my answer to those who wonder why we are not fighting for our positions. We will not be fighting for our positions…and creating 'another Afghanistan' for ourselves. Never, under no circumstances!” Lavrov said during a televised program on Russia’s NTV television on Sunday.
The top Russian diplomat referred to the Soviet war in Afghanistan, which lasted for about a decade from 1979 to1989.
Lavrov said the Russian government would instead work diplomatically with “legitimate governments” of the countries facing social and political crises.
The diplomatic attempts would provide the stimulus for evolutionary change, the Russian minister also said.
Lavrov said Iraq today serves as a shining example of the success of this Russian policy because it was invaded by US-led forces in 2003 but has eventually turned to Moscow for assistance.
"Back in 2003, we were strongly opposed to what the Americans were doing as the coalition leader. Now we are receiving the Iraqi Prime Minister, and the Iraqi President is dealing with us,” he added.
Lavrov also highlighted the role of Russia in seeking a diplomatic solution to the months-long crisis in Syria.
“Not a single opposition figure said that the future of the country - or the region in general - can be imagined without Russia's active involvement,” he said, referring to his meeting with the head of the Syrian National Coalition Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib earlier this month.
Afghan Prison Probe Admits Torture, But Denies It's Systemic
TOLOnews.com By Shakeela Ahbrimkhil Monday, 11 February 2013
A delegation appointed by President Hamid Karzai to investigate a United Nations report that torture was systemic in Afghanistan's prisons confirmed Monday it has found evidence of detainee torture, but it denied the abuse was systemic.
The delegation investigated prisons and detention centers in Kabul, Kandahar and Herat provinces after Karzai ordered an inquiry into the UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan's (Unama) findings of nationwide abuse in the penal system.
"Members of the delegation did not find systemic torture in Afghan detention centers and prisons which was reported in the UN report and it also did not find any private detention centers nor cases of rape," delegation head Abdul Qadir Adalatkhwa told TOLOnews Monday.
"But members of the delegation confirm there are cases of torture and ill treatment -- beatings which occurred in the first stage of arrest," he added.
The delegation has recommended the Attorney General take serious action against those found guilty of abusing prisoners in this way.
Its findings were based on interviews with 284 prisoners. Just under half – or 148 prisoners – claimed that they were tortured in the first stage of arrest, although the delegation said it believed only 136 prisoners and considered the other 12 claims as "suspicious".
Apart from this initial torture and ill-treatment, the delegation found that almost 48 percent of prisoners experienced lack of access to health services, their cases not being addressed by relevant judicial organs and some even remaining in prison for a time after their official release or completion of prison term.
Furthermore, 66 percent of the prisoners had no access to adequate legal representation. And in Kandahar province alone, 10 districts had no court or attorney general.
The delegation said that Unama did not disclose any names of the prisoners interviewed for its own report, nor did it participate in the government investigation.
"We had a panel of impartial people. If they [the UN] had been with us we would have worked on their report, but we are neither denying their report nor are we accepting it," delegation member Abdul Aqrar Wasel told TOLOnews.
The government delegations comments are in stark contrast to previous claims from officials including the National Directorate of Security (NDS) that denied any kind of abuse in detention centers.
However, the delegation's probe included prisons belonging to NDS departments 40 and 124 where prisoners claimed they were subjected to abuse.
A legal adviser to the NDS still maintained Monday that the reports are not true.
"We saw the UN report about the rape or other issues which are not true at all and we are still denying that," Sayed Zahor Rasooli told TOLOnews.
The delegation submitted 11 proposals to the government to improve the prisons and address the torture, including calling for the release of the aged prisoners, release those whose prison term is complete, and to address the lack of attorney generals and courts in some districts.
Unama released a statement Monday evening welcoming the findings as announced by the delegation, although it noted that it has not yet read the report.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
KABUL, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Security forces have killed 11 Taliban militants in different provinces within the last 24 hours, the Afghan Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.
"Afghan police, army and intelligence agency in partnership with the NATO-led coalition forces conducted six cleanup operations in Kapisa, Kandahar, Zabul, Uruzgan, Wardak and Paktiya provinces, killing 11 armed Taliban militants and detaining nine others," the ministry said in a statement, adding two militants were wounded in the raids.
They also found and seized weapons, the statement said, without saying if there were any casualties on the side of security forces.
The Taliban insurgent group, which has been waging an insurgency of more than one decade, has yet to make comments.
Panjwai residents rise against Taliban in Kandahar
By Meena Haseeb - 12 Feb 2013, 9:43 am Khaama Press
Local residents in southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan started fighting the Taliban militants in the latest wave of public uprising in this province.
The public uprising was started by residents of Panjwai district.
According to the local residents they have killed at least three Taliban militants in this district so far.
One of the organizer of public uprising Abdul Wadood said local residents of Panjwai district started fight against the Taliban militants after residents of Chahar Qaria area were mistreated and tortured.
Panjwai district chief Fazal Mohammad Ishaq said he supports the local residents to fight the Taliban militants and the local government is prepared to assist the local fighters.
Taliban militants group yet to comment regarding the report.
Public uprising against the Taliban militants started from Andar district of eastern Ghazni province and later expanded to the southern regions of the country.
According to reports wounded Afghan spy chief Asadullah Khalid has been active and supportive in backing anti-Taliban uprisings in insurgent-held areas of eastern Afghanistan.
Public uprising in various provinces of Afghanistan created concerns among the Afghan parliament members and other officials who are believing that arbitrary uprising will lead to serious security challenges in the future for the Afghan government.
U.S. Begins Withdrawing Military Equipment From Afghanistan
February 11, 2013 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
The U.S. military has started withdrawing military equipment from Afghanistan through Pakistan as it prepares to pull out most of its combat troops next year.
Marcus Spade, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said on February 11 that 50 shipping containers were moved to Pakistan over the weekend.
Officials said 25 containers entered Pakistan through Torkham in the north while 25 more entered through the Chaman border crossing in the south.
Most supplies for U.S. and NATO troops passed through Pakistan during the past eleven years.
Islamabad closed the route for nearly seven months following a U.S. airstrike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November 2011.
Pakistan will now be the key route for tens of thousands of containers for U.S. military equipment before most Western combat troops leave Afghanistan in 2014.
Based on reporting by AP and AFP
Kabul Spa-Goers Stress Need to Relax
New Pool Complex in Afghan Capital Brings Note of Optimism Amid Pre-Pullout Anxiety
Wall Street Journal By NATHAN HODGE And ZIAULHAQ SULTANI February 11, 2013
KABUL - Off a rutted street of Afghanistan's capital on a recent day, just beyond a shoeshine boy and a guard performing pat-downs, Afghans of a certain station were learning how to chill.
The new Lajaward Swimming Complex here has drawn a growing following since it opened last year offering what is a novelty for all but a few Afghans—a pool, a menthol-scented steam room, full-body massages and the opportunity to imagine they aren't living in a war zone.
"One of the most important aims that I have is to destress myself," said Riaz Sadiq, a Kabul pediatrician lounging poolside on a recent Saturday. Nearby, swimmers splashed and bobbed, some strapped inside bright orange life jackets. "When I come here, my stress disappears," he added.
At about $10 per admission, a day at Lajaward lies far beyond the budgets of the vast majority here in one of the world's poorest counties. A visit would be redundant for Afghanistan's most elite, who have private pools and, often, villas in Dubai.
But since it opened in the middle of last year, Lajaward has become the new "in" destination for the sliver of Afghans who could be called middle class—including professionals and workers at Western aid agencies who rub shoulders here with the occasional television host, warlord or politician.
"When we come here, we remove everything from our minds," said Sayed Farhad Shah Jenaab, a senator from Faryab province and one of Lajaward's regulars.
The club, built by local investors, offers a rare optimistic vision for Afghanistan's future. The planned exit of U.S. and coalition troops by the end of next year has raised widespread anxiety about a possible Taliban comeback, or a potential economic collapse, as foreign aid dollars dwindle. Many Afghans openly mull a future that might include fleeing the country.
Qasem Ali Rezaee, Lajaward's co-owner and manager, said his own family was initially skeptical about the venture. One of his sons, he said, tried to dissuade him, citing security fears.
But he eventually persuaded the son, Alireza—who has a degree in engineering—to lend his design skills. "When he came here and saw the location, he said, 'This is the right thing,' " Mr. Rezaee said.
Occupying a prime spot in Kabul's Kart-e Seh neighborhood, not far from the country's Parliament building, Lajaward—meaning Lapis—quickly became an oasis amid the intimidating security atmosphere of the Afghan capital, where men with Kalashnikovs guard fortified compounds and the police man checkpoints to search for potential suicide bombers.
The club's café is awash in the sounds of Persian pop. An enormous poster of swimmer Michael Phelps looms over the pool's deep end, next to a sign that reads: Advertise Here.
Like most pools, it has rules. No running. No horseplay. No diving in the shallow end. Please check your guns at the door.
Abdullah Aalemi, a lifeguard who has worked at Lajaward since it opened, said VIP visitors usually comply with the no-gun rules. Still, he added, "they bring their security" guards to the pool area.
Their worries aren't unfounded. Last year, the Taliban attacked the Spozhmai hotel at Qargha Lake, a resort just outside Kabul. And in 2008, insurgents stormed the capital's most luxurious hotel, the Serena, gunning down guests in its gym and spa area.
For Mr. Rezaee and his co-owners, security wasn't the only risk. He lined up two investors to back the Lajaward project, but as the pool neared completion, work ground to a halt. He and his partners needed $30,000 to finish work, he said. Afghan banks wouldn't advance any credit.
So Mr. Rezaee took a gamble: He bought half a dozen new cars on an installment plan. He said he raised $40,000 in cash by quickly selling the cars, then finished the club and paid off the car loans later.
All told, the three co-owners of the facility sank around $600,000 into the project. Mr. Rezaee reckoned the complex would have cost $800,000 if he hadn't done some of the work himself.
A native of the remote Daikundi province, Mr. Rezaee said he first saw "American-style" swimming pools with modern filtration in prerevolutionary Iran, where he traveled to find work in the 1970s. Planning to stay for a year, he ended up meeting his wife, settling down and raising a family. One of his first jobs in Iran was installing plumbing and filtration equipment.
Swimming pools like the one at Lajaward are rare in Kabul, capital of a landlocked country where few people know how to swim. On the hill above the city is a Soviet-built Olympic pool, which became a fighting position in the civil war. Under Taliban rule, its concrete high-dive platform was reputedly used for executions.
Even at Lajaward, in the capital of one of the world's most conservative countries, concessions to modernity are limited: Women are banned from the facility. "It's a male-dominated community," said spa-goer Basir Nadir, who works for an international organization in Kabul. "Everything is for men."
Mr. Nadir said he wished he could visit the pool with his family, as he might on a trip abroad.
"When I come here and I go back home and see the women and children in the house, I become a bit depressed," he said. "We enjoy our life here, relaxing and going out—but nothing for women, nothing for girls."
Write to Nathan Hodge at nathan.hodge@wsj.com
Australian role in Afghanistan after transition waits on US decision: Defense Minister
CANBERRA, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Australia needs to get precision from the United States about what the United States sees as the scale of its transition draw down in Afghanistan, and its post- 2014 transition proposals, Defense Minister Stephen Smith said on Tuesday.
According to his speech to the Australian Defense Magazine congress in Canberra today, Australian government is about to start the conversation with NATO, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the US on Australia's role next year and beyond 2014.
"What the United States and Afghanistan agree about the United States presence in Afghanistan post 2014 transition, and what role any United States forces left behind will play, is the starting point. ," Smith said.
"Once that is clearer, then Australia and other NATO/ISAF countries will be able to make a judgment about what role, if any, others, including Australia, might play."
Minister Smith said Australia had committed 100 million-a-year (almost 102.91 million USD) for three years from 2015 to support the Afghan National Security Forces beyond the withdrawal of western forces.
The taskforce in Afghanistan was now in the process of removing equipment from Afghanistan but there would not be any substantial reduction in troop numbers until late in the year.
In Afghanistan pullout, Pentagon favors phased reduction over 3 years
Washington Post By Rajiv Chandrasekaran Tuesday, February 12, 2013
The Pentagon is pushing a plan that would keep about 8,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan once the NATO military mission there ends in 2014 but significantly shrink the contingent over the following two years, according to senior U.S. government officials and military officers.
The phased-reduction approach, which would define the shape of the United States’ endgame in Afghanistan, represents an effort to strike a compromise between top military commanders, who had wanted to base about 10,000 U.S. troops in the country after 2014, and several of President Obama’s senior civilian advisers, who have been advocating a far smaller long-term U.S. presence.
Military commanders fear that a drastic reduction in forces will erode hard-won battlefield gains, while administration officials worry that a large, enduring troop presence will come at too great a cost in dollars and lives.
Although a consensus is emerging among White House and Pentagon officials about the merits of a phased reduction, Obama’s top aides and military commanders have not coalesced around the size of the trims, said the officials and officers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal policy deliberations.
The proposals under consideration call for reducing the U.S. presence by early 2016 to between 3,500 and 6,000 troops. One option under serious discussion envisages further reducing troop levels to under 1,000 by early 2017, with most of the personnel operating from the giant U.S. Embassy in Kabul.
Under that option, elite Special Operations commandos would not be based in Afghanistan after 2016, senior military officials said. They would swoop into the country from ships or bases in nearby nations to conduct counterterrorism missions, operating from facilities run jointly with Afghan forces.
Prior to discussions about the phased reduction, White House officials had been considering plans to reduce the U.S. presence to as few as 2,500 troops by January 2015.
Military commanders would prefer to retain as many as 3,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2017 and beyond, but they appear to be willing to accept White House demands to keep the number under 1,000.
“We can live with this,” said a senior U.S. official aligned with the military leadership. A smaller troop presence in 2017 “doesn’t really matter so long as you have the upfront guys for the first year.”
The commanders have argued that a large enduring force is necessary to support Afghanistan’s army, which lacks many critical tools, including combat aircraft and medical evacuation helicopters, to aid soldiers fighting the Taliban. But White House advisers, and even some senior civilian officials in the Pentagon, have been skeptical that a few thousand more U.S. troops would be able to help transform the much-troubled Afghan army into an effective fighting force.
Once the White House and Pentagon reach a formal agreement, it will be presented to the Afghan government, which must grant permission for U.S. forces to operate in the country after 2014. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has voiced support for a continued U.S. military presence, though the decision — and the provision of immunity to American forces — may require the consent of the country’s often-fractious parliament.
About 66,000 U.S. troops are deployed in Afghanistan. Obama is expected to announce soon the number of troops he intends to bring home this year. White House officials have said that they want to settle on a post-2014 plan before determining the size of this year’s reduction.
The phased approach acknowledges the concerns of senior U.S. commanders that the Afghan army will need extensive help after 2014, but it also seeks to limit costly ongoing assistance — a key demand of Obama’s civilian advisers — in an attempt to force the Afghans to develop their own support services by 2017.
“We need to ensure that our presence there doesn’t act as a crutch. The Afghans have to recognize that this is their moment to step up and take more responsibility,” said a senior Obama administration official who favors a small post-2014 presence. “If they can’t do everything we want them to do, that’s fine. They need to figure out their own way of fighting.”
The White House had wanted to shrink the Afghan army and police from their current total strength of 352,000 to 230,000 in 2017. Sustaining the 352,000-strong Afghan security forces costs the United States about $4.1 billion a year.
But military leaders — including Gen. John R. Allen, who stepped down over the weekend as the top coalition commander in Kabul, and his successor, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. — have sought to delay that reduction, saying Afghanistan needs the larger force until at least 2018.
“Our number is less important than their number,” said a U.S. general involved in the war. “In the middle of a drawdown for us, we can’t be drawing them down, too.”
A report released Monday by the Government Accountability Office highlighted the challenges officials face in sustaining Afghanistan’s security forces.
The government watchdog agency, which has access to previously undisclosed Pentagon data, estimated that it will cost at least $25 billion to operate the security forces between 2013 and 2017. For each year from 2015 to 2017, the GAO estimates that there is a $600 million gap between the projected cost of maintaining the Afghan force and the amounts that the Karzai government and donor nations have committed to spending.
The United States is expected to continue to foot the bulk of the bill for maintaining Afghanistan’s forces, having said that it anticipates spending $16.7 billion from 2013 to 2017. Other donors and the Afghan government have expressed a commitment to spend $6.5 billion during that period. The commitments are not binding.
The GAO said the Pentagon did not disclose its analysis of the projected cost of the Afghan security force in future years in semiannual reports on the war effort submitted to Congress.
Under the proposal to drop troop levels to below 1,000 by 2017, most of the remaining forces would focus on supporting the Afghan defense and interior ministries, training the Afghan air force and administering the distribution of billions of dollars in U.S. financial assistance for the Afghan security forces.
Some Special Operations forces would remain in the country to collect intelligence and train elite Afghan units, but if the U.S. military needed to conduct operations targeting remnants of al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations bent on attacking U.S. interests, American commandos probably would be summoned from outside the country, the officials and officers said. Those forces would be able to use helicopters and other equipment prepositioned on Afghan military bases.
Ernesto Londoño contributed to this report.
Russia will not create another Afghanistan for itself: Lavrov
Press TV February 11, 2013
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Moscow has no intention of sending troops to the crisis-hit countries in the Middle East and North Africa to avoid “another Afghanistan.”
"This is my answer to those who wonder why we are not fighting for our positions. We will not be fighting for our positions…and creating 'another Afghanistan' for ourselves. Never, under no circumstances!” Lavrov said during a televised program on Russia’s NTV television on Sunday.
The top Russian diplomat referred to the Soviet war in Afghanistan, which lasted for about a decade from 1979 to1989.
Lavrov said the Russian government would instead work diplomatically with “legitimate governments” of the countries facing social and political crises.
The diplomatic attempts would provide the stimulus for evolutionary change, the Russian minister also said.
Lavrov said Iraq today serves as a shining example of the success of this Russian policy because it was invaded by US-led forces in 2003 but has eventually turned to Moscow for assistance.
"Back in 2003, we were strongly opposed to what the Americans were doing as the coalition leader. Now we are receiving the Iraqi Prime Minister, and the Iraqi President is dealing with us,” he added.
Lavrov also highlighted the role of Russia in seeking a diplomatic solution to the months-long crisis in Syria.
“Not a single opposition figure said that the future of the country - or the region in general - can be imagined without Russia's active involvement,” he said, referring to his meeting with the head of the Syrian National Coalition Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib earlier this month.
Afghan Prison Probe Admits Torture, But Denies It's Systemic
TOLOnews.com By Shakeela Ahbrimkhil Monday, 11 February 2013
A delegation appointed by President Hamid Karzai to investigate a United Nations report that torture was systemic in Afghanistan's prisons confirmed Monday it has found evidence of detainee torture, but it denied the abuse was systemic.
The delegation investigated prisons and detention centers in Kabul, Kandahar and Herat provinces after Karzai ordered an inquiry into the UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan's (Unama) findings of nationwide abuse in the penal system.
"Members of the delegation did not find systemic torture in Afghan detention centers and prisons which was reported in the UN report and it also did not find any private detention centers nor cases of rape," delegation head Abdul Qadir Adalatkhwa told TOLOnews Monday.
"But members of the delegation confirm there are cases of torture and ill treatment -- beatings which occurred in the first stage of arrest," he added.
The delegation has recommended the Attorney General take serious action against those found guilty of abusing prisoners in this way.
Its findings were based on interviews with 284 prisoners. Just under half – or 148 prisoners – claimed that they were tortured in the first stage of arrest, although the delegation said it believed only 136 prisoners and considered the other 12 claims as "suspicious".
Apart from this initial torture and ill-treatment, the delegation found that almost 48 percent of prisoners experienced lack of access to health services, their cases not being addressed by relevant judicial organs and some even remaining in prison for a time after their official release or completion of prison term.
Furthermore, 66 percent of the prisoners had no access to adequate legal representation. And in Kandahar province alone, 10 districts had no court or attorney general.
The delegation said that Unama did not disclose any names of the prisoners interviewed for its own report, nor did it participate in the government investigation.
"We had a panel of impartial people. If they [the UN] had been with us we would have worked on their report, but we are neither denying their report nor are we accepting it," delegation member Abdul Aqrar Wasel told TOLOnews.
The government delegations comments are in stark contrast to previous claims from officials including the National Directorate of Security (NDS) that denied any kind of abuse in detention centers.
However, the delegation's probe included prisons belonging to NDS departments 40 and 124 where prisoners claimed they were subjected to abuse.
A legal adviser to the NDS still maintained Monday that the reports are not true.
"We saw the UN report about the rape or other issues which are not true at all and we are still denying that," Sayed Zahor Rasooli told TOLOnews.
The delegation submitted 11 proposals to the government to improve the prisons and address the torture, including calling for the release of the aged prisoners, release those whose prison term is complete, and to address the lack of attorney generals and courts in some districts.
Unama released a statement Monday evening welcoming the findings as announced by the delegation, although it noted that it has not yet read the report.
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