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U.N. Report Shows Fewer Killings of Afghan Civilians, Suggesting Shift in War
New York Times By ALISSA J. RUBIN February 19, 2013
KABUL, Afghanistan - For the first time in six years the number of civilians killed in Afghanistan declined, according to the annual United Nations report on civilian casualties.
The decline was primarily the result of the slowing pace of the war; more fighting by Afghan forces, who use less lethal weapons; and an assiduous effort by the Western-led forces to reduce the impact on civilians, the report indicated.
Nevertheless, threats remained rife: roadside bombings increased slightly, as did targeted killings and episodes of intimidation, the report said.
The report found that the number killed in 2012 dropped to 2,754 from 3,021 the previous year. The number of injured rose, however, to 4,805 from 4,507.
Jan Kubis, United Nations special representative in Afghanistan, called the decrease in deaths “very much welcome,” but said “the human cost of the conflict” remained “unacceptable.” He cited a large jump in the assassination of people perceived to be supporting the government and the unabated number of deaths and injuries from improvised explosive devices.
The report suggests subtle but measurable ways that the war is beginning to change as Afghans take over from Western forces and as the Taliban and other insurgents avoid head-on confrontations and rely increasingly on improvised explosive devices and targeted killings.
A factor that United Nations researchers found accounted for the drop in casualties was a reduction in ground engagements, which in some areas may be because of a declining number of Western forces. In other areas, there was an increase in engagements between the Taliban or other insurgents and the Afghan National Security Forces, but because the Afghan forces were less likely to have heavy weapons, the number of civilians killed appears to have dropped.
The Taliban and other insurgents increasingly focused their attacks on police headquarters in district centers, on checkpoints run by the Afghan National Police or Afghan Local Police, and on government convoys. While those resulted in casualties, they often included relatively few civilians.
“All these factors mean fewer civilians are getting killed, but that doesn’t mean the situation is necessarily better,” said Georgette Gagnon, the United Nations director of human rights for Afghanistan, adding that the local police were “the most frequently attacked these days.”
The United Nations began tabulating civilian casualties nationwide in 2007, documenting the nearly 15,000 Afghans who have lost their lives and the many times more who have been wounded. It is widely viewed as one of the more impartial reflections of the effect of the war on Afghans’ everyday lives.
Each year, the Taliban and other insurgent groups have been responsible for a vast majority of civilian deaths and injuries. Last year was no exception.
About 81 percent of the year’s documented casualties were caused by insurgents, an increase from 2011 despite numerous statements by Taliban leaders instructing their field commanders to avoid harming civilians.
By contrast, only 8 percent of civilian deaths and injuries were caused by pro-government forces, including NATO, the Afghan security forces and government-backed militias, a drop of 46 percent from 2011.
A major factor was the drop in civilian casualties caused by airstrikes, which fell by 42 percent from 2011. That reflected a new set of directives issued last June by Gen. John R. Allen, then the commander of the International Security Assistance Force. He publicly said his goal was to reduce civilian casualties to zero, and required that any air attacks be approved by commanders at several levels.
Eleven percent of civilian casualties could not be attributed to either side.
The report found 689 deaths to be from targeted killings and 868 to be from improvised explosive devices, with many more people, 1,663, injured by the devices. A number of those were so-called legacy I.E.D.s, bombs placed on routes that sometimes have been heavily used by Western and Afghan security forces. In some cases, though, the Western troops had already left and the victims instead were civilian vehicles, the report noted. These I.E.D.s are often placed around opium poppy fields as well, to deter government eradication teams, but even after the poppies are harvested, the devices remain.
Women accounted for 864 of the total casualties in 2012, mostly injuries rather than deaths. “The number of Afghan women and girls killed and injured in the conflict increased by 20 percent in 2012,” Ms. Gagnon said. “It is the tragic reality that most Afghan women and girls were killed or injured while engaging in their everyday lives.”
Women who are injured miss school or work. “It impacts them for the rest of their lives,” Ms. Gagnon said.
Pakistani PM receives anti-Taliban Afghan leader
ISLAMABAD, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf Tuesday announced support for intra-Afghan dialogue in meeting with a senior anti-Taliban leader in Islamabad, an official statement said.
Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq, Member of Afghan Parliament and Head of the Shiite 'Hizb-e-Wahadat Mardam-e-Afghan Party' is visiting Islamabad at the invitation of the Pakistani government in a move to increase interaction with Afghan ethnic and opposition leaders.
Prime Minister Ashraf told the Afghan leader that Pakistan is desirous of friendly relations with all ethnic and political groups in the neighbouring country.
"Pakistan would extend its full support to an intra-Afghan dialogue among all segments of society for the peace and security of Afghanistan," an official statement quoted Mr. Ashraf as telling Mohaqqiq.
The prime minister reiterated Pakistan's firm resolve for a peaceful, stable and prosperous Afghanistan and assured the delegation of all possible support, adding stability in Afghanistan is essential for stability in Pakistan.
Talking about the recent tragic incident in Quetta involving the Hazara Community, the prime minister said that his government has ordered a targeted operation against elements responsible for killing innocent civilians. He expressed the resolve of the government to fight this menace till they are completely wiped out. He said that they are enemies of mankind.
Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq agreed with the prime minister to work jointly to defeat the forces of terrorism and militancy, the statement said.
He expressed condolences on the death of those who passed away in the tragic incident in the Pakistani southwestern city Quetta.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar also met the Afghan leader and told him that Pakistan wanted to have close relations with all ethnic and political groups of Afghanistan including Hizb-e-Wahdat.
It is widely believed that Pakistan supports ethnic Pashtoons in Afghanistan. However, Pakistan is now also pursuing the policy to improve relations with non-Pashtoon community in Afghanistan.
Islamabad's efforts to encourage the Taliban, mainly Pashtoon, to enter the intra-Afghan dialogue, has not yet been successful as the Taliban say they would not hold talks with the Karzai administration as "it is powerless."
Afghan delegation leaves for Brussels to attend NATO summit
By Meena Haseeb - 19 Feb 2013, 3:51 pm Khaama Press
Afghan defense minister Bismillah Moahmmadi on Tuesday left Afghanistan along with a delegation of the government officials to attend NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels.
According to a statement released by defense ministry of Afghanistan Bismillah Mohammadi will discuss security situation, NATO troops exit and equipment process of Afghan national security forces with the participants of the summit.
The summit is expected to be organized on coming Thursday and Friday in Brussel capital city of Belgium.
The defense ministers of the NATO and other troop contributing nations will later this week discuss the situation in Afghanistan, said a NATO spokesman here on Monday.
“On Thursday and Friday this week, 21 and 22 February, NATO and ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) Defense Ministers meet at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium,” spokesman Dominic Medley told a press briefing.
This is the normal and regularly scheduled meeting of the ministers, he said, adding “Afghanistan will be on the agenda on Friday,”
Afghan Defense Minister Bismullah Khan Mohammadi will address the 50 ISAF defense ministers, he said.
The new ISAF Commander General Joseph Dunford and NATO Senior Civilian Representative will also provide updates at the meeting, he added.
“It is expected that ministers will hear briefings on the latest situation in Afghanistan, on transition, on redeployment, on sustaining the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and on plans for the new NATO mission after 2014 to train, advise and assist,” he noted.
Currently 100,000-strong foreign troops with nearly 66,000 of them Americans are being deployed in Afghanistan.
Under the US President Barack Obama’s withdrawal plan 33,000 US troops already pulled out of Afghanistan in September last year and another 34,000 will return home within one year. Most of ISAF are due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
Attacks on Afghan Government Employees Increase
VOA News February 19, 2013
The United Nations says insurgent attacks on Afghan government employees increased by 700 percent last year, even as attacks on civilians decreased for the first time in six years.
In its annual report, issued Tuesday, the U.N. mission in Afghanistan says 2,754 civilians working for the government died in attacks last year. The mission counted as "particularly disturbing" the targeted killings of the head and deputy head of the department of women's affairs in July and December.
The report says insurgents were responsible for 81 percent of civilian casualties in 2012, while eight percent were caused by Afghan and NATO forces. It said the other 11 percent could not be attributed to either side.
The study says efforts to reduce civilian casualties caused by pro-government forces led to a drop of more than 40 percent over the previous year.
Afghan Civilian Casualties Down
February 19, 2013 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
The United Nations says civilian casualties in Afghanistan have decreased for the first time in six years.
The report says, however, that insurgent attacks on government employees, tribal elders, and local leaders increased by a massive 700 percent in 2012.
The annual report from the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan said there was a 12 percent drop in civilian deaths in 2012. It said at least 2,754 Afghan civilians were killed last year, compared to 3,131 in 2011.
Including injuries, the report says there was a 4 percent decrease in total civilian casualties, with 7,559 reported in 2012.
The report says Taliban militants were responsible for more than 80 percent of the casualties.
The report said at least 107 Afghan civilian government workers were killed in 2012.
NATO kills insurgent behind US soldier's death
Associated Press By PATRICK QUINN 18/02/2013
KABUL, Afghanistan - An Afghan soldier-turned-insurgent who was feted by the Taliban for killing an American soldier during an insider attack in eastern Afghanistan last year has been killed in a raid, the U.S.-led international coalition said on Monday.
NATO identified the insurgent as Mahmood and said that he and an accomplice, identified only as Rashid, died in last Wednesday's operation in eastern Kunar province's Ghaziabad district. No other details were provided.
Mahmood is thought responsible for the May 11 killing of U.S. Army 1st Lt. Alejo Thompson, who died during an insider attack on a base in Kunar. The attack also wounded two American soldiers. Mahmood, in his early 20's and who went only by one name later fled. Thompson, 30, a father of two, was from Yuma, Arizona. He was based at Fort Carson, Colorado.
"Afghan and coalition forces confirmed today the death of the two Taliban insider attack facilitators, Mahmood and Rashid, during a security operation in Ghaziabad district, Kunar province, Wednesday," the coalition said in a statement. "Mahmood was responsible for the death of one American service member during the May 11, 2012, insider attack in Kunar province."
It added that "Rashid was Mahmood's associate and a former Afghan National Army soldier who facilitated and assisted with insider attack planning and execution."
After he fled, a man named Mahmood was highlighted in a Taliban video that showed him being welcomed as a hero while entering an insurgent camp. In the video, he was shown in his Afghan army uniform, his U.S.-made M-16 assault rifle, and with garlands of flowers around his neck.
The Taliban claimed he had defected to their side.
Killings by uniformed Afghans of foreign soldiers and civilians rose dramatically last year. According to NATO, so-called insider attacks killed 61 coalition personnel in 45 incidents last year, compared to 35 killed in 21 attacks a year earlier. This tally does not include the Dec. 24 killing of an American civilian adviser by a female member of the Afghan police because an investigation of the reportedly mentally unstable woman is continuing.
In some cases, militants have donned Afghan army or police uniforms to attack foreign troops. And a number of attacks have also been carried out by members of Afghan security forces against their own comrades.
Insider attacks have dropped sharply after NATO forces took steps to mitigate them, including having armed "guardian angels" looking over troops as they sleep.
There has been only one insider attack so far this year, the Jan. 7 killing of a British soldier in southern Helmand province by a man in an Afghan army uniform.
Foreign military casualties have sharply decreased as Afghan forces take the lead for security and the coalition takes a back seat. So far this year, eight foreign soldiers have died, including three Americans.
U.S. troop deaths declined overall, from 404 in 2011 to 295 in 2012. More than 2,000 U.S. troops and nearly 1,100 coalition troops have died in Afghanistan since the U.S. invasion in late 2001.
By comparison, more than 1,200 Afghan soldiers died in 2012 compared to more than 550 in 2011, according to data compiled by the Washington-based Brookings Institution.
There are about 100,000 foreign troops currently in Afghanistan, including about 66,000 from the United States.
President Barack Obama last week announced that he could cut American troop number by 34,000 within a year. Allied countries are expected to also draw down.
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Associated Press Writer Rahim Faiez contributed from Kabul, Afghanistan.
Clash leaves 2 Taliban fighters dead, wounding 3 Afghan police
NILI, Afghanistan, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Two Taliban militants were killed and three police personnel sustained injuries as clash flared up in a far-flanged checkpoint in Daikundi province 290 km west of Afghan capital kabul on Monday, provincial governor Qurban Ali Uruzgani said.
"A group of Taliban rebels raided a police checkpoint in Kajran district late Monday night and police returned fire killing two attackers on the spot," Uruzgani confirmed to Xinhua.
Three police constables have also sustained injuries in the clash, he added.
He also admitted that sporadic fire exchange is still continuing in the area between police and the attackers, adding reinforcement has been sent to evict Taliban militants.
Taliban militants fighting the government are yet to make comment.
Critics worry airstrike ban will hobble Afghan forces ahead of withdrawal of foreign troops
Associated Press Tuesday, February 19, 2013
KABUL, Afghanistan - Critics expressed worries Monday that a presidential order barring Afghan security forces from requesting international airstrikes during operations in residential areas could hobble government troops even as they prepare to take over full responsibility for security in the country from international forces.
Underscoring the troops’ dependence on warplanes and helicopters, the U.S.-led coalition said Monday that an airstrike last week killed an Afghan soldier-turned-insurgent who was feted by the Taliban for killing an American soldier during an insider attack last year.
President Hamid Karzai officially issued the order on Monday, two days after promising to do so amid anger over a NATO airstrike requested by the national intelligence service that local officials said killed at least 10 civilians and four insurgents.
The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, said he believes the American-led NATO coalition can operate effectively despite the ban.
Afghans currently lead about 90 percent of military operations nationwide and will fully take charge in the spring, a key step in the plan to withdraw U.S. and other foreign combat forces by the end of 2014. However, they remain heavily dependent on the coalition for air support and medical evacuations in areas where the Taliban and other militants live among the population and often enjoy local support.
The ban also runs counter to Afghan requests for NATO to supply their security forces with aircraft capable of carrying out airstrikes. The Afghan military has repeatedly implored the United States for jet fighters, such as F-16s, tanks, artillery and other heavy weapons.
Some analysts said the ban on airstrikes against residential areas would limit the Afghan forces’ effectiveness and could prompt the savvy Taliban to use it by increasingly taking shelter among civilians in cities and villages.
“We don’t have the ability to support our forces on the ground,” said former Afghan Gen. Amrullah Aman.
“These insurgents are using Afghan houses as bunkers and innocent children are being killed,” he added. “The insurgents will hear that the decree has been issued and feel safe.”
The death of civilians during military operations, particularly in airstrikes, has been among a major source of acrimony between Karzai’s government and foreign forces.
The presidential order was directed at the Defense Ministry, the Interior Ministry and the National Directorate of Security.
“During your operations, don’t call for air support from international forces during operations on residential areas,” the decree said. It did not provide more details.
The U.S.-led military coalition said last June that it would only use airstrikes as a self-defense weapon of last resort for troops and would avoid hitting structures that could house civilians. That followed a bombardment that killed 18 civilians celebrating a wedding in eastern Logar province, which drew an apology from the American commander.
Tensions rose again earlier this month when an airstrike hit two neighboring houses, killing five children, four women and one man in one and four insurgents in another in northeastern Kunar province, according to local officials.
Dunford met with Karzai and expressed “his personal condolences for any civilians who may have died or been injured as a result of the operation.”
But the Afghan leader, who is serving his last term and is due to step down after elections in 2014, said he was outraged when the US commander told him that the NDS, Afghanistan’s intelligence agency, had requested last week’s strike in Kunar.
On Sunday, Dunford told reporters that Karzai’s decision was in line with a tactical directive issued last year by his predecessor, Marine Gen. John Allen. The coalition can still carry out airstrikes on its own accord.
“There are other ways we can support our Afghan partners other than air ordnance,” Dunford said without elaborating.
The U.N. mission in Afghanistan said 83 civilians were killed and 46 wounded in aerial attacks by international military forces in the first half of 2012. That figure was down 23 percent from the same period of 2011 — the deadliest year on record for civilians in the Afghan war. It said two-thirds of the casualties last year were women and children and insurgents were responsible for the overwhelming majority of the deaths.
Former Gen. Sayed Hussain Anwari said the airstrike successes aren’t worth the deaths of innocent Afghans.
“Unfortunately there’s no clear front line in the fight against the Taliban. It’s a guerrilla war,” said Anwari, also an ex-governor of Kabul and Herat provinces. “But also civilian casualties are unacceptable for everybody.”
Earlier Monday, the U.S.-led coalition said that a former Afghan soldier and an accomplice blamed in the death of an American soldier had been killed last Wednesday in an airstrike in Kunar province’s Ghaziabad district.
The man identified as Mahmood was thought responsible for the May 11 insider killing in Kunar of U.S. Army 1st Lt. Alejo Thompson, a 30-year-old father of two from Yuma, Arizona. He was based at Fort Carson, Colorado.
Mahmood, in his early 20’s and who went only by one name later fled. The coalition said he had an associate named Rashid who was “a former Afghan National Army soldier who facilitated and assisted with insider attack planning and execution.”
A man named Mahmood was highlighted in a Taliban video that showed him being welcomed as a hero with flowers around his neck while entering an insurgent camp. The Taliban claimed he had defected to their side.
Killings by uniformed Afghans of foreign soldiers and civilians rose dramatically last year. According to NATO, so-called insider attacks killed 61 coalition personnel in 45 incidents last year, compared to 35 killed in 21 attacks a year earlier.
So far this year, there has been only one insider attack. That was the Jan. 7 killing of a British soldier in southern Helmand province by a man in an Afghan army uniform.
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Associated Press writers Amir Shah and Patrick Quinn contributed to this report.
After The Afghan Pullout, The Dangers For Central Asia
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty By John Herbst and William Courtney February 17, 2013
In his State of the Union speech on February 12, U.S. President Barack Obama declared that by the end of 2014 "our war in Afghanistan will be over." This step, long expected, will decrease security in neighboring Central Asia. Flows northward from Afghanistan of terrorists and narcotics will put at greater risk a region already weakened by corruption, despotism, and ethnic and water tensions. The West should do more to enhance security in Central Asia, comprised of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
U.S. policy is predicated on the expectation that the 350,000-strong Afghan National Army, with assistance from U.S. advisers, will be able to keep the Taliban at bay. It is more likely that after 2014, barring a political agreement, the Taliban will remain in the field with control in most Pashtun areas and perhaps beyond. A bloodied but still standing Taliban would also pose a danger beyond its borders.
In the 1990s, Taliban control in Afghanistan spurred extremists in Central Asia. The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan and carried out bombings in Uzbekistan and kidnappings in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. In 2004 a splinter group, the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), claimed suicide bombings in Uzbekistan and targeted the U.S. and Israeli embassies in Tashkent. Both groups are now holed up in ungoverned areas of Pakistan, but as NATO leaves Afghanistan they will probably carry the fight back to Central Asian homelands.
More Afghans will turn for sustenance to the opium industry, perhaps one-third of their country's gross domestic product. Trafficking northward will exacerbate staggering addiction problems in Central Asia and Russia. Afghanistan and nearby areas provide over four-fifths of Europe's heroin.
Central Asia faces other sources of insecurity. Dams that may be built in impoverished Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan would boost their economies but choke off much downstream water for agriculture in Uzbekistan. Its ruler, Islam Karimov, recently warned of "water wars." The lush Ferghana Valley -- shared by Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan -- is a swirl of peoples and oppression, and a recruiting ground for Islamic jihadists. In 2005, a large number of protesters died at the hands of Uzbek security forces in Andijon, Uzbekistan, and in 2010 several hundred Uzbeks and a much smaller number of Kyrgyz died in ethnic clashes in the Kyrgyz city of Osh and nearby areas. A cesspool of corruption in Central Asia undermines governance. On Transparency International's index of corruption perceptions of 174 countries, Central Asian states rank poorly, averaging 157th place.
Caught Between Great Powers
Central Asia lies between ambitious regional and great powers. In December 2012, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton cautioned against Russia's manipulation of a customs union it dominates in order to "re-Sovietize" Eurasia. Despite popular objections at home, Kazakhstan has joined the union but resists its becoming a political body. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan may have no choice but to sign up since one-third to one-half of their economies depend on migrant-labor remittances from Russia. If after NATO draws down in Afghanistan fighting spreads northward, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan -- both of which host Russian military bases -- might seek added protection from Moscow even as they try to maintain wiggle room to protect their own interests.
China looms large in Central Asian economies, enriching opportunities for trade and inward investment. Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan now ship energy long distances to China, helping shield them from Russian control of export pipelines as a political and financial lever. China employs the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to boost its Central Asian interests, for now mainly economic and energy. It does not publicly challenge Russia's geopolitical role there, but economic dynamism increases China's sway and Central Asia's room for maneuver.
Troop reductions in Afghanistan will lessen NATO's need for logistical support via the northern distribution network through Central Asia. Frictions within the region could heighten transport impediments. Wary of a NATO pullback that would leave them more exposed, Central Asians want continued Western support to forestall IMU and IJU subversion, counter narcotics smuggling, and help them balance Russian and Chinese power.
For the West to augment security in Central Asia will not be easy. After September 11, 2001, Russian President Vladimir Putin sanctioned a U.S. and coalition presence there to support operations in Afghanistan, but no longer. Russia urges the United States' ouster from its transit base in Kyrgyzstan and opposes a Western presence even to address narcotics and terrorism threats.
Another constraint is authoritarian governance and human rights abuse in Central Asia. The West should offer pragmatic aid but be wary of providing security tools that might be turned against domestic protesters.
Third, the West will want to take account of Russian and Chinese sensitivities. The West does not seek to enhance its position in Central Asia at their expense, but rather to bolster common security. For example, stronger borders that stem the flow of terrorists and narcotics should serve Moscow and Beijing's interests.
Beyond NATO forces leaving behind in Central Asia some of the equipment they withdraw from Afghanistan, there are two broad areas for security cooperation: information exchanges and border security. The West ought to seek arrangements with willing Central Asian governments on more robust sharing of information about terrorism, narcotics, and criminal threats, while protecting sources and methods. Building on solid, low-key work by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the European Union, the West should examine how it could provide better practices and technology to tighten security along borders with Afghanistan, especially in the badlands areas. This would impede terrorist strikes into Central Asia and help its governments suppress infiltration. Western security dialogues with China and Russia could spur wider cooperative efforts and improve understanding.
After 2014, Central Asia ought not to become the focal point of a new "Great Game," a battleground in which outside contestants seek to impose their writ. Central Asia will need help in securing its people against external dangers, but autocratic rule and weak governance are just as serious a threat. Frankly, Western interest in helping Central Asia will increasingly depend on whether freedoms expand and human dignity is respected.
John Herbst was U.S. ambassador to Uzbekistan and Ukraine, and consul general in Jerusalem. He is currently the director of the Center for Complex Operations at National Defense University. William Courtney was U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan and Georgia, and special assistant to the president for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia. The views expressed here are the authors' own and do not represent those of RFE/RL.
Pakistani clerics refuse to attend Kabul peace talks
Pakistani religious leaders have dealt a blow to David Cameron’s Afghan peace initiative by insisting they will not travel to Kabul for talks unless Taliban leaders are invited as well.
Telegraph.co.uk By Rob Crilly 18 Feb 2013
Islamabad - The clerics were due to travel to Afghanistan next month for a meeting to denounce violence as part of peace efforts unveiled during a summit held at Chequers two weeks ago.
Allama Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi, the chairman of Pakistan’s Ulema Council, which represents more than 26,000 clerics, said he could not sign up to an expected fatwa condemning the Afghan Taliban.
“We are for peace. We want to be part of the peace process but we will not go to Kabul if we are just to be a puppet of President Karzai,” he said.
“If this is a serious attempt at peace why is the Taliban not there?”
The decision marks the latest setback in attempts to end the 11-year war in Afghanistan.
President Karzai met Mr Cameron and President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan, along with military leaders, at Chequers at the start of the month.
They announced a six-month push for peace, underlining the urgent effort needed before Nato-led forces leave the country by the end of next year.
British officials hope that frequent meetings and a series of incremental agreements will create a sense of momentum which will eventually prove unstoppable, dragging the Taliban into a peace deal.
Without it, analysts fear a renewed bout of violence and the prospect of civil war.
The engagement of Ulema councils, made up of influential Islamic scholars, from each side of the Afghan border is seen as crucial to repairing ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan, increasing the pressure for the Taliban to join talks.
Mr Ashrafi said he respected Mr Cameron’s effort but that Pakistan’s religious leaders had to be free to make their own decisions.
He also praised the head of the Afghan Taliban and added he was not prepared to speak out against him.
“We respect Mullah Omar. He is fighting the Americans. He is fighting for freedom. He is not the enemy of Kabul,” he said.
Senior Taliban leaders are believed to live in Pakistan, crossing back and forth across the border.
Islamabad has released about 28 prisoners in an effort to kick-start talks.
New U.S. combat policy affirms role women already play
U.S. female troops were serving alongside combat units in Afghanistan and Iraq long before the Pentagon lifted a ban on the practice.
Los Angeles Times By Alexandra Zavis February 18, 2013
FORWARD OPERATING BASE PASAB, Afghanistan - They fly troops into combat, drive convoys down mine-riddled roads and take part in foot patrols in the heartland of the Taliban-led insurgency.
For American women serving at military bases across Afghanistan, there was nothing extraordinary about the recent Pentagon decision to lift the official ban on women in direct combat roles.
"We're already here," said Army Capt. Kelly Hasselman, 28, of Broken Arrow, Okla., who commands a company of female soldiers that deployed with infantry in the southern province of Kandahar to build relations with rural Afghan women. "It's just not officially been in the books."
U.S. commanders say that military policy was out of step with the reality of two wars with virtually no front lines. Women, who make up about 15% of the active-duty military, have faced gunfire, bomb blasts and shelling while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan — in some cases without leaving their bases.
Two have been awarded the Silver Star, the nation's third-highest medal for gallantry in combat. More than 150 have lost their lives.
Long before Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta announced that he was lifting a 1994 rule that prevented women from being assigned to units below brigade level whose primary function is direct ground combat, female troops were serving alongside such units at outposts in some of the most heavily contested regions of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Stretched by more than a decade of war, the Army and Marine Corps for years sidestepped official policy by "attaching," rather than assigning, women to infantry and special operations units because their skills were needed.
When soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment, deployed in December to this dusty base in Zhari, the Kandahar district where the Taliban was born, they brought with them an eight-member "female engagement team" drawn from Hasselman's company. Women also serve in the battalion as medics, in the logistics and personnel sections and in the motor pool.
"Gender, height, weight, religion, sexual preference, race — I don't care," said the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Thomas Anderson. "It all comes down to your ability to do what the Army asks you to do."
So far, the area has remained relatively calm. But when temperatures warm up and another fighting season begins, Anderson expects that his female soldiers will be involved in firefights.
"They are no less capable than I am to react to and return fire," Anderson said. "Are my infantrymen better? Yes. That's not due to a lack of ability. It is a lack of repetition."
The battalion leadership says there have been few problems integrating women into the ranks. Rather, the change has been tougher for their Afghan security force partners to accept. The American women have grown accustomed to stares — and they aren't allowed on the Afghan side of the compound without a security escort, a precaution also imposed on male soldiers because of the threat of insider attacks.
Pfc. Rosie Darby said she was told by her recruiter that women could not serve as frontline combat medics. She made sure to email him when she got her current job: a platoon medic at one of the battalion's combat outposts. (Her official designation is healthcare specialist.)
"That first formation was a bit of a shell shock," she said, smiling. "Everyone was looking and asking: 'Is she in our formation? Is she a girl?' "
The petite 20-year-old from Pavilion, N.Y., soon earned their respect. Members of her platoon said she goes out with them almost every day, climbing over rows of grapevines with a pack of medical supplies on her back to avoid roads that may be seeded with bombs. "She outperforms half of us," said Sgt. Andrew Bohman, 27, of Cincinnati.
Coarse language doesn't faze her. "She's like one of the guys," said Pfc. Evan Sharp, 20, of Manteca, Calif.
But many in the unit are skeptical about opening other jobs to women, particularly in the infantry, where soldiers sometimes carry as much as 100 pounds of gear on foot patrols that can last all day. "There's a lot of men that struggle with that," said Sgt. 1st Class Ron Costa, 42, of Billerica, Mass.
Darby herself called it a "terrible idea." Besides the physical demands, she worries about how soldiers will react if a woman serving with them is injured. She said the men in her platoon treat her like a little sister and would want to take care of her, even if their job demands that they carry on the fight.
1st Lt. Glen Melin, the platoon commander, said his main concern is upholding Army fitness standards. "This isn't like a frat club, to make it difficult to get into," said Melin, 25, of Corpus Christi, Texas. "It's to prepare you for the worst possible scenario."
It is a concern shared by the women who serve here. "You need to say this is the standard, either you meet it or you don't," said Hasselman. But she dismissed the notion that women might not be capable of serving in combat positions. "I think that's the worst argument for not having women in positions, saying they can't do it," she said. "Because I have plenty of females who have proven time and time again they can."
Staff Sgt. Kimberly Williams, a member of Hasselman's company who is attached to Anderson's battalion, said some of her most dangerous jobs have been driving supply trucks and guarding prisoners in Iraq. Insurgents would frequently target convoys with roadside bombs and shell the bases where she was deployed.
"I'm not sure why only in the last two or three weeks it's official I'm allowed to be in battle," said Williams, 38, of New York. "Just because you don't have the designated code doesn't mean you aren't doing the same work."
Female engagement teams, first deployed in Afghanistan in 2009, are one of the clearest examples of the blurring of combat and support roles in the military.
Developed by the Marine Corps, the teams live, train and patrol with combat troops in sometimes rugged conditions. They sleep in tents and container housing, take their turn at guard duty and might go for days without access to showers or latrines. ("We use tons and tons of baby wipes," Hasselman said.) Like their male counterparts, the women have frequently come under fire while on patrol and some have struggled with the psychological toll. Before deploying, Hasselman's soldiers drew up wills and power of attorney instructions, many of them for the first time.
"Goodbye, this time, was harder," said 1st Lt. Erica Miranda Ortiz, 32, of San Juan, Puerto Rico. She served twice in Iraq with an aviation support unit. But like others in the unit, she did not want another desk job.
"This is the first time I get to go out every day and interact with the local population," she said. "I love what I do."
Local cultural sensitivities prevent male troops from engaging with Afghan women in the more conservative rural areas. But village men will sometimes allow female soldiers into their compounds to meet with their wives, sisters and children. The soldiers also run a small women's center, which offers adult literacy classes and art projects for children in a walled courtyard attached to the base.
Much of the time is spent getting to know each other. But the female soldiers, who have studied the Pashto language and cover their hair with colorful scarves, also ask women about conditions in their villages. With most international forces slated to leave next year, the soldiers hope the information will help Afghan authorities to better serve their communities and win their loyalty.
Although they are pleased that the military is acknowledging their role, the soldiers don't expect a surge of women into combat jobs. For some the change came too late.
"When I was in college, I thought it would be so cool to be a Ranger or special forces," said 1st Lt. Nicole Chappell, 25, of Fort Worth. "I was never going to get married. I was never going to have kids. I was going to be in the Army forever. Then I met my husband and everything changed."
Williams said she was nearing retirement but was pleased that new opportunities were opening up for the next generation of servicewomen. "We want to help out in the effort just as much as the males," she said.
alexandra.zavis@latimes.com
Security is Key to Transparent Poll: IEC
TOLOnews.comnBy Shakeela Ahbrimkhil Monday, 18 February 2013
Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC) warned Monday of a fraught 2014 election if security forces do not ensure the safety of voters.
The IEC said the biggest challenge ahead of next year's poll is for voters to feel secure – indirectly disagreeing with political parties and parliamentarians who repeatedly state that the election will unravel because of the use of old voting cards.
"I emphasise that if there is no security then don't expect an inclusive and acceptable election. Where there is no security like in the 2010 parliamentary election, we will not put up the ballot boxes," IEC chief Fazil Ahmad Manawi said in a Kabul press conference.
The IEC will release a locations of 7000 voting centres around the country to security institutions in order for them to make the proper security precautions, Manawi added.
A number of political parties have reportedly claimed that if a new registration system and new voting cards are not introduced, these parties will boycott next year's election.
But Manawi responded that the IEC does not have any other alternative but to allow the use of the old cards and only electronically register new voters.
He also mentioned there was a dispute over who controls the election budget.
"The international community is committed to pay the budget of the 2014 election without any conditions but according to the Decree 45 of President Karzai, the budget of the election must be used by the Ministry of Finance but the Independent Election Commission has challenged this discussion. Our view is that if we use the budget according to the criteria of the Ministry of Finance we will not be able to complete our work on time," he said.
The key dates over the next 13 months in the lead up to the election were released by the IEC as follows:
Voter registration for those previously unregistered: 1 Sawr–31Asad 1392 (21 Apr-22 Aug 2013)
Election complaints commission to open in provinces: 2 Sonbola (24 August)
Registration of presidential and provincial council candidates: 25 Sonbola-14 Mezan (16 Sept-06 Oct)
Presidential candidate campaigns 26 Aqrab-13 Hamal (17 Nov 2013-02 April 2014)
Finalisation of campaigns: 14 Hamal 1393 (03 Apr 2014)
Election: 16 Haml (05 Apr 2014)
Vote count: 17 Hamal- 31 Hamal (06 April 2014-20 April 2014)
India, Pakistan Rivalry Emerging Over Afghan Peace Deal
TOLOnews.com By Haseeb Maudoodi Monday, 18 February 2013
As the Western armies move towards the exit in Afghanistan, it seems the regional nations are vying to replace the influence exerted by the US and Nato over the past decade.
Fresh news reports from India reveal that New Delhi is planning to hold talks with Russia and China where the role of Pakistan in the Taliban negotiations is likely to be discussed.
India's National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon is expected to meet his Russian and Chinese counterparts later this month after a trilateral meeting with the Afghan government and the US tomorrow.
According to Indian newspapers, this meeting was flagged during last month's meeting of BRICS representatives in New Delhi where the three agreed that they will have a separate meeting to exchange views on the Taliban peace process and Afghanistan's situation.
It is likely that India will leverage the history of Pakistan as a "safe haven" for terrorists during Tuesday's meeting with Afghan and US representatives as a way to highlight itself as a more suitable peace partner, not only for Afghanistan but also for the US and UK's regional aims.
Afghan analysts, however, told TOLOnews that India cannot "replace" Pakistan because of Islamabad's unique situation with the insurgents mainly based in Pakistan's west on the Afghan border.
"India should really not be concerned about the cooperation of Pakistan in the peace process because Afghanistan's anti-government armed groups are located in Pakistan and they [Pakistan] should have a strong role in this regard," the Afghan High Peace Council's foreign relations advisor MuhammadIsmail Qasimyar told TOLOnews Monday.
Analyst and university lecturer Faizullah Jalal agreed, adding that few countries can really influence Pakistan to act.
"Pakistan and China have a close relationship and China is the only country that can really put pressure on Pakistan to fight against terrorism on the border with Afghanistan," he said.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron recently hosted Afghan and Pakistan presidents Hamid Karzai and Asif Ali Zardari in England to discuss a strategic partnership agreement between the two.
Afghanistan already has a similar agreement with India, but that has not stopped concerns from New Delhi that Pakistan's role in the peace process with the Afghan High Peace Council will give Pakistan a greater depth.
Reports suggest that Pakistan, for its part, is equally concerned about India seeking a greater role.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
New York Times By ALISSA J. RUBIN February 19, 2013
KABUL, Afghanistan - For the first time in six years the number of civilians killed in Afghanistan declined, according to the annual United Nations report on civilian casualties.
The decline was primarily the result of the slowing pace of the war; more fighting by Afghan forces, who use less lethal weapons; and an assiduous effort by the Western-led forces to reduce the impact on civilians, the report indicated.
Nevertheless, threats remained rife: roadside bombings increased slightly, as did targeted killings and episodes of intimidation, the report said.
The report found that the number killed in 2012 dropped to 2,754 from 3,021 the previous year. The number of injured rose, however, to 4,805 from 4,507.
Jan Kubis, United Nations special representative in Afghanistan, called the decrease in deaths “very much welcome,” but said “the human cost of the conflict” remained “unacceptable.” He cited a large jump in the assassination of people perceived to be supporting the government and the unabated number of deaths and injuries from improvised explosive devices.
The report suggests subtle but measurable ways that the war is beginning to change as Afghans take over from Western forces and as the Taliban and other insurgents avoid head-on confrontations and rely increasingly on improvised explosive devices and targeted killings.
A factor that United Nations researchers found accounted for the drop in casualties was a reduction in ground engagements, which in some areas may be because of a declining number of Western forces. In other areas, there was an increase in engagements between the Taliban or other insurgents and the Afghan National Security Forces, but because the Afghan forces were less likely to have heavy weapons, the number of civilians killed appears to have dropped.
The Taliban and other insurgents increasingly focused their attacks on police headquarters in district centers, on checkpoints run by the Afghan National Police or Afghan Local Police, and on government convoys. While those resulted in casualties, they often included relatively few civilians.
“All these factors mean fewer civilians are getting killed, but that doesn’t mean the situation is necessarily better,” said Georgette Gagnon, the United Nations director of human rights for Afghanistan, adding that the local police were “the most frequently attacked these days.”
The United Nations began tabulating civilian casualties nationwide in 2007, documenting the nearly 15,000 Afghans who have lost their lives and the many times more who have been wounded. It is widely viewed as one of the more impartial reflections of the effect of the war on Afghans’ everyday lives.
Each year, the Taliban and other insurgent groups have been responsible for a vast majority of civilian deaths and injuries. Last year was no exception.
About 81 percent of the year’s documented casualties were caused by insurgents, an increase from 2011 despite numerous statements by Taliban leaders instructing their field commanders to avoid harming civilians.
By contrast, only 8 percent of civilian deaths and injuries were caused by pro-government forces, including NATO, the Afghan security forces and government-backed militias, a drop of 46 percent from 2011.
A major factor was the drop in civilian casualties caused by airstrikes, which fell by 42 percent from 2011. That reflected a new set of directives issued last June by Gen. John R. Allen, then the commander of the International Security Assistance Force. He publicly said his goal was to reduce civilian casualties to zero, and required that any air attacks be approved by commanders at several levels.
Eleven percent of civilian casualties could not be attributed to either side.
The report found 689 deaths to be from targeted killings and 868 to be from improvised explosive devices, with many more people, 1,663, injured by the devices. A number of those were so-called legacy I.E.D.s, bombs placed on routes that sometimes have been heavily used by Western and Afghan security forces. In some cases, though, the Western troops had already left and the victims instead were civilian vehicles, the report noted. These I.E.D.s are often placed around opium poppy fields as well, to deter government eradication teams, but even after the poppies are harvested, the devices remain.
Women accounted for 864 of the total casualties in 2012, mostly injuries rather than deaths. “The number of Afghan women and girls killed and injured in the conflict increased by 20 percent in 2012,” Ms. Gagnon said. “It is the tragic reality that most Afghan women and girls were killed or injured while engaging in their everyday lives.”
Women who are injured miss school or work. “It impacts them for the rest of their lives,” Ms. Gagnon said.
Pakistani PM receives anti-Taliban Afghan leader
ISLAMABAD, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf Tuesday announced support for intra-Afghan dialogue in meeting with a senior anti-Taliban leader in Islamabad, an official statement said.
Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq, Member of Afghan Parliament and Head of the Shiite 'Hizb-e-Wahadat Mardam-e-Afghan Party' is visiting Islamabad at the invitation of the Pakistani government in a move to increase interaction with Afghan ethnic and opposition leaders.
Prime Minister Ashraf told the Afghan leader that Pakistan is desirous of friendly relations with all ethnic and political groups in the neighbouring country.
"Pakistan would extend its full support to an intra-Afghan dialogue among all segments of society for the peace and security of Afghanistan," an official statement quoted Mr. Ashraf as telling Mohaqqiq.
The prime minister reiterated Pakistan's firm resolve for a peaceful, stable and prosperous Afghanistan and assured the delegation of all possible support, adding stability in Afghanistan is essential for stability in Pakistan.
Talking about the recent tragic incident in Quetta involving the Hazara Community, the prime minister said that his government has ordered a targeted operation against elements responsible for killing innocent civilians. He expressed the resolve of the government to fight this menace till they are completely wiped out. He said that they are enemies of mankind.
Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq agreed with the prime minister to work jointly to defeat the forces of terrorism and militancy, the statement said.
He expressed condolences on the death of those who passed away in the tragic incident in the Pakistani southwestern city Quetta.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar also met the Afghan leader and told him that Pakistan wanted to have close relations with all ethnic and political groups of Afghanistan including Hizb-e-Wahdat.
It is widely believed that Pakistan supports ethnic Pashtoons in Afghanistan. However, Pakistan is now also pursuing the policy to improve relations with non-Pashtoon community in Afghanistan.
Islamabad's efforts to encourage the Taliban, mainly Pashtoon, to enter the intra-Afghan dialogue, has not yet been successful as the Taliban say they would not hold talks with the Karzai administration as "it is powerless."
Afghan delegation leaves for Brussels to attend NATO summit
By Meena Haseeb - 19 Feb 2013, 3:51 pm Khaama Press
Afghan defense minister Bismillah Moahmmadi on Tuesday left Afghanistan along with a delegation of the government officials to attend NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels.
According to a statement released by defense ministry of Afghanistan Bismillah Mohammadi will discuss security situation, NATO troops exit and equipment process of Afghan national security forces with the participants of the summit.
The summit is expected to be organized on coming Thursday and Friday in Brussel capital city of Belgium.
The defense ministers of the NATO and other troop contributing nations will later this week discuss the situation in Afghanistan, said a NATO spokesman here on Monday.
“On Thursday and Friday this week, 21 and 22 February, NATO and ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) Defense Ministers meet at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium,” spokesman Dominic Medley told a press briefing.
This is the normal and regularly scheduled meeting of the ministers, he said, adding “Afghanistan will be on the agenda on Friday,”
Afghan Defense Minister Bismullah Khan Mohammadi will address the 50 ISAF defense ministers, he said.
The new ISAF Commander General Joseph Dunford and NATO Senior Civilian Representative will also provide updates at the meeting, he added.
“It is expected that ministers will hear briefings on the latest situation in Afghanistan, on transition, on redeployment, on sustaining the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and on plans for the new NATO mission after 2014 to train, advise and assist,” he noted.
Currently 100,000-strong foreign troops with nearly 66,000 of them Americans are being deployed in Afghanistan.
Under the US President Barack Obama’s withdrawal plan 33,000 US troops already pulled out of Afghanistan in September last year and another 34,000 will return home within one year. Most of ISAF are due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
Attacks on Afghan Government Employees Increase
VOA News February 19, 2013
The United Nations says insurgent attacks on Afghan government employees increased by 700 percent last year, even as attacks on civilians decreased for the first time in six years.
In its annual report, issued Tuesday, the U.N. mission in Afghanistan says 2,754 civilians working for the government died in attacks last year. The mission counted as "particularly disturbing" the targeted killings of the head and deputy head of the department of women's affairs in July and December.
The report says insurgents were responsible for 81 percent of civilian casualties in 2012, while eight percent were caused by Afghan and NATO forces. It said the other 11 percent could not be attributed to either side.
The study says efforts to reduce civilian casualties caused by pro-government forces led to a drop of more than 40 percent over the previous year.
Afghan Civilian Casualties Down
February 19, 2013 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
The United Nations says civilian casualties in Afghanistan have decreased for the first time in six years.
The report says, however, that insurgent attacks on government employees, tribal elders, and local leaders increased by a massive 700 percent in 2012.
The annual report from the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan said there was a 12 percent drop in civilian deaths in 2012. It said at least 2,754 Afghan civilians were killed last year, compared to 3,131 in 2011.
Including injuries, the report says there was a 4 percent decrease in total civilian casualties, with 7,559 reported in 2012.
The report says Taliban militants were responsible for more than 80 percent of the casualties.
The report said at least 107 Afghan civilian government workers were killed in 2012.
NATO kills insurgent behind US soldier's death
Associated Press By PATRICK QUINN 18/02/2013
KABUL, Afghanistan - An Afghan soldier-turned-insurgent who was feted by the Taliban for killing an American soldier during an insider attack in eastern Afghanistan last year has been killed in a raid, the U.S.-led international coalition said on Monday.
NATO identified the insurgent as Mahmood and said that he and an accomplice, identified only as Rashid, died in last Wednesday's operation in eastern Kunar province's Ghaziabad district. No other details were provided.
Mahmood is thought responsible for the May 11 killing of U.S. Army 1st Lt. Alejo Thompson, who died during an insider attack on a base in Kunar. The attack also wounded two American soldiers. Mahmood, in his early 20's and who went only by one name later fled. Thompson, 30, a father of two, was from Yuma, Arizona. He was based at Fort Carson, Colorado.
"Afghan and coalition forces confirmed today the death of the two Taliban insider attack facilitators, Mahmood and Rashid, during a security operation in Ghaziabad district, Kunar province, Wednesday," the coalition said in a statement. "Mahmood was responsible for the death of one American service member during the May 11, 2012, insider attack in Kunar province."
It added that "Rashid was Mahmood's associate and a former Afghan National Army soldier who facilitated and assisted with insider attack planning and execution."
After he fled, a man named Mahmood was highlighted in a Taliban video that showed him being welcomed as a hero while entering an insurgent camp. In the video, he was shown in his Afghan army uniform, his U.S.-made M-16 assault rifle, and with garlands of flowers around his neck.
The Taliban claimed he had defected to their side.
Killings by uniformed Afghans of foreign soldiers and civilians rose dramatically last year. According to NATO, so-called insider attacks killed 61 coalition personnel in 45 incidents last year, compared to 35 killed in 21 attacks a year earlier. This tally does not include the Dec. 24 killing of an American civilian adviser by a female member of the Afghan police because an investigation of the reportedly mentally unstable woman is continuing.
In some cases, militants have donned Afghan army or police uniforms to attack foreign troops. And a number of attacks have also been carried out by members of Afghan security forces against their own comrades.
Insider attacks have dropped sharply after NATO forces took steps to mitigate them, including having armed "guardian angels" looking over troops as they sleep.
There has been only one insider attack so far this year, the Jan. 7 killing of a British soldier in southern Helmand province by a man in an Afghan army uniform.
Foreign military casualties have sharply decreased as Afghan forces take the lead for security and the coalition takes a back seat. So far this year, eight foreign soldiers have died, including three Americans.
U.S. troop deaths declined overall, from 404 in 2011 to 295 in 2012. More than 2,000 U.S. troops and nearly 1,100 coalition troops have died in Afghanistan since the U.S. invasion in late 2001.
By comparison, more than 1,200 Afghan soldiers died in 2012 compared to more than 550 in 2011, according to data compiled by the Washington-based Brookings Institution.
There are about 100,000 foreign troops currently in Afghanistan, including about 66,000 from the United States.
President Barack Obama last week announced that he could cut American troop number by 34,000 within a year. Allied countries are expected to also draw down.
___
Associated Press Writer Rahim Faiez contributed from Kabul, Afghanistan.
Clash leaves 2 Taliban fighters dead, wounding 3 Afghan police
NILI, Afghanistan, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Two Taliban militants were killed and three police personnel sustained injuries as clash flared up in a far-flanged checkpoint in Daikundi province 290 km west of Afghan capital kabul on Monday, provincial governor Qurban Ali Uruzgani said.
"A group of Taliban rebels raided a police checkpoint in Kajran district late Monday night and police returned fire killing two attackers on the spot," Uruzgani confirmed to Xinhua.
Three police constables have also sustained injuries in the clash, he added.
He also admitted that sporadic fire exchange is still continuing in the area between police and the attackers, adding reinforcement has been sent to evict Taliban militants.
Taliban militants fighting the government are yet to make comment.
Critics worry airstrike ban will hobble Afghan forces ahead of withdrawal of foreign troops
Associated Press Tuesday, February 19, 2013
KABUL, Afghanistan - Critics expressed worries Monday that a presidential order barring Afghan security forces from requesting international airstrikes during operations in residential areas could hobble government troops even as they prepare to take over full responsibility for security in the country from international forces.
Underscoring the troops’ dependence on warplanes and helicopters, the U.S.-led coalition said Monday that an airstrike last week killed an Afghan soldier-turned-insurgent who was feted by the Taliban for killing an American soldier during an insider attack last year.
President Hamid Karzai officially issued the order on Monday, two days after promising to do so amid anger over a NATO airstrike requested by the national intelligence service that local officials said killed at least 10 civilians and four insurgents.
The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, said he believes the American-led NATO coalition can operate effectively despite the ban.
Afghans currently lead about 90 percent of military operations nationwide and will fully take charge in the spring, a key step in the plan to withdraw U.S. and other foreign combat forces by the end of 2014. However, they remain heavily dependent on the coalition for air support and medical evacuations in areas where the Taliban and other militants live among the population and often enjoy local support.
The ban also runs counter to Afghan requests for NATO to supply their security forces with aircraft capable of carrying out airstrikes. The Afghan military has repeatedly implored the United States for jet fighters, such as F-16s, tanks, artillery and other heavy weapons.
Some analysts said the ban on airstrikes against residential areas would limit the Afghan forces’ effectiveness and could prompt the savvy Taliban to use it by increasingly taking shelter among civilians in cities and villages.
“We don’t have the ability to support our forces on the ground,” said former Afghan Gen. Amrullah Aman.
“These insurgents are using Afghan houses as bunkers and innocent children are being killed,” he added. “The insurgents will hear that the decree has been issued and feel safe.”
The death of civilians during military operations, particularly in airstrikes, has been among a major source of acrimony between Karzai’s government and foreign forces.
The presidential order was directed at the Defense Ministry, the Interior Ministry and the National Directorate of Security.
“During your operations, don’t call for air support from international forces during operations on residential areas,” the decree said. It did not provide more details.
The U.S.-led military coalition said last June that it would only use airstrikes as a self-defense weapon of last resort for troops and would avoid hitting structures that could house civilians. That followed a bombardment that killed 18 civilians celebrating a wedding in eastern Logar province, which drew an apology from the American commander.
Tensions rose again earlier this month when an airstrike hit two neighboring houses, killing five children, four women and one man in one and four insurgents in another in northeastern Kunar province, according to local officials.
Dunford met with Karzai and expressed “his personal condolences for any civilians who may have died or been injured as a result of the operation.”
But the Afghan leader, who is serving his last term and is due to step down after elections in 2014, said he was outraged when the US commander told him that the NDS, Afghanistan’s intelligence agency, had requested last week’s strike in Kunar.
On Sunday, Dunford told reporters that Karzai’s decision was in line with a tactical directive issued last year by his predecessor, Marine Gen. John Allen. The coalition can still carry out airstrikes on its own accord.
“There are other ways we can support our Afghan partners other than air ordnance,” Dunford said without elaborating.
The U.N. mission in Afghanistan said 83 civilians were killed and 46 wounded in aerial attacks by international military forces in the first half of 2012. That figure was down 23 percent from the same period of 2011 — the deadliest year on record for civilians in the Afghan war. It said two-thirds of the casualties last year were women and children and insurgents were responsible for the overwhelming majority of the deaths.
Former Gen. Sayed Hussain Anwari said the airstrike successes aren’t worth the deaths of innocent Afghans.
“Unfortunately there’s no clear front line in the fight against the Taliban. It’s a guerrilla war,” said Anwari, also an ex-governor of Kabul and Herat provinces. “But also civilian casualties are unacceptable for everybody.”
Earlier Monday, the U.S.-led coalition said that a former Afghan soldier and an accomplice blamed in the death of an American soldier had been killed last Wednesday in an airstrike in Kunar province’s Ghaziabad district.
The man identified as Mahmood was thought responsible for the May 11 insider killing in Kunar of U.S. Army 1st Lt. Alejo Thompson, a 30-year-old father of two from Yuma, Arizona. He was based at Fort Carson, Colorado.
Mahmood, in his early 20’s and who went only by one name later fled. The coalition said he had an associate named Rashid who was “a former Afghan National Army soldier who facilitated and assisted with insider attack planning and execution.”
A man named Mahmood was highlighted in a Taliban video that showed him being welcomed as a hero with flowers around his neck while entering an insurgent camp. The Taliban claimed he had defected to their side.
Killings by uniformed Afghans of foreign soldiers and civilians rose dramatically last year. According to NATO, so-called insider attacks killed 61 coalition personnel in 45 incidents last year, compared to 35 killed in 21 attacks a year earlier.
So far this year, there has been only one insider attack. That was the Jan. 7 killing of a British soldier in southern Helmand province by a man in an Afghan army uniform.
___
Associated Press writers Amir Shah and Patrick Quinn contributed to this report.
After The Afghan Pullout, The Dangers For Central Asia
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty By John Herbst and William Courtney February 17, 2013
In his State of the Union speech on February 12, U.S. President Barack Obama declared that by the end of 2014 "our war in Afghanistan will be over." This step, long expected, will decrease security in neighboring Central Asia. Flows northward from Afghanistan of terrorists and narcotics will put at greater risk a region already weakened by corruption, despotism, and ethnic and water tensions. The West should do more to enhance security in Central Asia, comprised of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
U.S. policy is predicated on the expectation that the 350,000-strong Afghan National Army, with assistance from U.S. advisers, will be able to keep the Taliban at bay. It is more likely that after 2014, barring a political agreement, the Taliban will remain in the field with control in most Pashtun areas and perhaps beyond. A bloodied but still standing Taliban would also pose a danger beyond its borders.
In the 1990s, Taliban control in Afghanistan spurred extremists in Central Asia. The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan and carried out bombings in Uzbekistan and kidnappings in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. In 2004 a splinter group, the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), claimed suicide bombings in Uzbekistan and targeted the U.S. and Israeli embassies in Tashkent. Both groups are now holed up in ungoverned areas of Pakistan, but as NATO leaves Afghanistan they will probably carry the fight back to Central Asian homelands.
More Afghans will turn for sustenance to the opium industry, perhaps one-third of their country's gross domestic product. Trafficking northward will exacerbate staggering addiction problems in Central Asia and Russia. Afghanistan and nearby areas provide over four-fifths of Europe's heroin.
Central Asia faces other sources of insecurity. Dams that may be built in impoverished Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan would boost their economies but choke off much downstream water for agriculture in Uzbekistan. Its ruler, Islam Karimov, recently warned of "water wars." The lush Ferghana Valley -- shared by Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan -- is a swirl of peoples and oppression, and a recruiting ground for Islamic jihadists. In 2005, a large number of protesters died at the hands of Uzbek security forces in Andijon, Uzbekistan, and in 2010 several hundred Uzbeks and a much smaller number of Kyrgyz died in ethnic clashes in the Kyrgyz city of Osh and nearby areas. A cesspool of corruption in Central Asia undermines governance. On Transparency International's index of corruption perceptions of 174 countries, Central Asian states rank poorly, averaging 157th place.
Caught Between Great Powers
Central Asia lies between ambitious regional and great powers. In December 2012, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton cautioned against Russia's manipulation of a customs union it dominates in order to "re-Sovietize" Eurasia. Despite popular objections at home, Kazakhstan has joined the union but resists its becoming a political body. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan may have no choice but to sign up since one-third to one-half of their economies depend on migrant-labor remittances from Russia. If after NATO draws down in Afghanistan fighting spreads northward, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan -- both of which host Russian military bases -- might seek added protection from Moscow even as they try to maintain wiggle room to protect their own interests.
China looms large in Central Asian economies, enriching opportunities for trade and inward investment. Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan now ship energy long distances to China, helping shield them from Russian control of export pipelines as a political and financial lever. China employs the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to boost its Central Asian interests, for now mainly economic and energy. It does not publicly challenge Russia's geopolitical role there, but economic dynamism increases China's sway and Central Asia's room for maneuver.
Troop reductions in Afghanistan will lessen NATO's need for logistical support via the northern distribution network through Central Asia. Frictions within the region could heighten transport impediments. Wary of a NATO pullback that would leave them more exposed, Central Asians want continued Western support to forestall IMU and IJU subversion, counter narcotics smuggling, and help them balance Russian and Chinese power.
For the West to augment security in Central Asia will not be easy. After September 11, 2001, Russian President Vladimir Putin sanctioned a U.S. and coalition presence there to support operations in Afghanistan, but no longer. Russia urges the United States' ouster from its transit base in Kyrgyzstan and opposes a Western presence even to address narcotics and terrorism threats.
Another constraint is authoritarian governance and human rights abuse in Central Asia. The West should offer pragmatic aid but be wary of providing security tools that might be turned against domestic protesters.
Third, the West will want to take account of Russian and Chinese sensitivities. The West does not seek to enhance its position in Central Asia at their expense, but rather to bolster common security. For example, stronger borders that stem the flow of terrorists and narcotics should serve Moscow and Beijing's interests.
Beyond NATO forces leaving behind in Central Asia some of the equipment they withdraw from Afghanistan, there are two broad areas for security cooperation: information exchanges and border security. The West ought to seek arrangements with willing Central Asian governments on more robust sharing of information about terrorism, narcotics, and criminal threats, while protecting sources and methods. Building on solid, low-key work by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the European Union, the West should examine how it could provide better practices and technology to tighten security along borders with Afghanistan, especially in the badlands areas. This would impede terrorist strikes into Central Asia and help its governments suppress infiltration. Western security dialogues with China and Russia could spur wider cooperative efforts and improve understanding.
After 2014, Central Asia ought not to become the focal point of a new "Great Game," a battleground in which outside contestants seek to impose their writ. Central Asia will need help in securing its people against external dangers, but autocratic rule and weak governance are just as serious a threat. Frankly, Western interest in helping Central Asia will increasingly depend on whether freedoms expand and human dignity is respected.
John Herbst was U.S. ambassador to Uzbekistan and Ukraine, and consul general in Jerusalem. He is currently the director of the Center for Complex Operations at National Defense University. William Courtney was U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan and Georgia, and special assistant to the president for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia. The views expressed here are the authors' own and do not represent those of RFE/RL.
Pakistani clerics refuse to attend Kabul peace talks
Pakistani religious leaders have dealt a blow to David Cameron’s Afghan peace initiative by insisting they will not travel to Kabul for talks unless Taliban leaders are invited as well.
Telegraph.co.uk By Rob Crilly 18 Feb 2013
Islamabad - The clerics were due to travel to Afghanistan next month for a meeting to denounce violence as part of peace efforts unveiled during a summit held at Chequers two weeks ago.
Allama Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi, the chairman of Pakistan’s Ulema Council, which represents more than 26,000 clerics, said he could not sign up to an expected fatwa condemning the Afghan Taliban.
“We are for peace. We want to be part of the peace process but we will not go to Kabul if we are just to be a puppet of President Karzai,” he said.
“If this is a serious attempt at peace why is the Taliban not there?”
The decision marks the latest setback in attempts to end the 11-year war in Afghanistan.
President Karzai met Mr Cameron and President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan, along with military leaders, at Chequers at the start of the month.
They announced a six-month push for peace, underlining the urgent effort needed before Nato-led forces leave the country by the end of next year.
British officials hope that frequent meetings and a series of incremental agreements will create a sense of momentum which will eventually prove unstoppable, dragging the Taliban into a peace deal.
Without it, analysts fear a renewed bout of violence and the prospect of civil war.
The engagement of Ulema councils, made up of influential Islamic scholars, from each side of the Afghan border is seen as crucial to repairing ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan, increasing the pressure for the Taliban to join talks.
Mr Ashrafi said he respected Mr Cameron’s effort but that Pakistan’s religious leaders had to be free to make their own decisions.
He also praised the head of the Afghan Taliban and added he was not prepared to speak out against him.
“We respect Mullah Omar. He is fighting the Americans. He is fighting for freedom. He is not the enemy of Kabul,” he said.
Senior Taliban leaders are believed to live in Pakistan, crossing back and forth across the border.
Islamabad has released about 28 prisoners in an effort to kick-start talks.
New U.S. combat policy affirms role women already play
U.S. female troops were serving alongside combat units in Afghanistan and Iraq long before the Pentagon lifted a ban on the practice.
Los Angeles Times By Alexandra Zavis February 18, 2013
FORWARD OPERATING BASE PASAB, Afghanistan - They fly troops into combat, drive convoys down mine-riddled roads and take part in foot patrols in the heartland of the Taliban-led insurgency.
For American women serving at military bases across Afghanistan, there was nothing extraordinary about the recent Pentagon decision to lift the official ban on women in direct combat roles.
"We're already here," said Army Capt. Kelly Hasselman, 28, of Broken Arrow, Okla., who commands a company of female soldiers that deployed with infantry in the southern province of Kandahar to build relations with rural Afghan women. "It's just not officially been in the books."
U.S. commanders say that military policy was out of step with the reality of two wars with virtually no front lines. Women, who make up about 15% of the active-duty military, have faced gunfire, bomb blasts and shelling while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan — in some cases without leaving their bases.
Two have been awarded the Silver Star, the nation's third-highest medal for gallantry in combat. More than 150 have lost their lives.
Long before Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta announced that he was lifting a 1994 rule that prevented women from being assigned to units below brigade level whose primary function is direct ground combat, female troops were serving alongside such units at outposts in some of the most heavily contested regions of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Stretched by more than a decade of war, the Army and Marine Corps for years sidestepped official policy by "attaching," rather than assigning, women to infantry and special operations units because their skills were needed.
When soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment, deployed in December to this dusty base in Zhari, the Kandahar district where the Taliban was born, they brought with them an eight-member "female engagement team" drawn from Hasselman's company. Women also serve in the battalion as medics, in the logistics and personnel sections and in the motor pool.
"Gender, height, weight, religion, sexual preference, race — I don't care," said the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Thomas Anderson. "It all comes down to your ability to do what the Army asks you to do."
So far, the area has remained relatively calm. But when temperatures warm up and another fighting season begins, Anderson expects that his female soldiers will be involved in firefights.
"They are no less capable than I am to react to and return fire," Anderson said. "Are my infantrymen better? Yes. That's not due to a lack of ability. It is a lack of repetition."
The battalion leadership says there have been few problems integrating women into the ranks. Rather, the change has been tougher for their Afghan security force partners to accept. The American women have grown accustomed to stares — and they aren't allowed on the Afghan side of the compound without a security escort, a precaution also imposed on male soldiers because of the threat of insider attacks.
Pfc. Rosie Darby said she was told by her recruiter that women could not serve as frontline combat medics. She made sure to email him when she got her current job: a platoon medic at one of the battalion's combat outposts. (Her official designation is healthcare specialist.)
"That first formation was a bit of a shell shock," she said, smiling. "Everyone was looking and asking: 'Is she in our formation? Is she a girl?' "
The petite 20-year-old from Pavilion, N.Y., soon earned their respect. Members of her platoon said she goes out with them almost every day, climbing over rows of grapevines with a pack of medical supplies on her back to avoid roads that may be seeded with bombs. "She outperforms half of us," said Sgt. Andrew Bohman, 27, of Cincinnati.
Coarse language doesn't faze her. "She's like one of the guys," said Pfc. Evan Sharp, 20, of Manteca, Calif.
But many in the unit are skeptical about opening other jobs to women, particularly in the infantry, where soldiers sometimes carry as much as 100 pounds of gear on foot patrols that can last all day. "There's a lot of men that struggle with that," said Sgt. 1st Class Ron Costa, 42, of Billerica, Mass.
Darby herself called it a "terrible idea." Besides the physical demands, she worries about how soldiers will react if a woman serving with them is injured. She said the men in her platoon treat her like a little sister and would want to take care of her, even if their job demands that they carry on the fight.
1st Lt. Glen Melin, the platoon commander, said his main concern is upholding Army fitness standards. "This isn't like a frat club, to make it difficult to get into," said Melin, 25, of Corpus Christi, Texas. "It's to prepare you for the worst possible scenario."
It is a concern shared by the women who serve here. "You need to say this is the standard, either you meet it or you don't," said Hasselman. But she dismissed the notion that women might not be capable of serving in combat positions. "I think that's the worst argument for not having women in positions, saying they can't do it," she said. "Because I have plenty of females who have proven time and time again they can."
Staff Sgt. Kimberly Williams, a member of Hasselman's company who is attached to Anderson's battalion, said some of her most dangerous jobs have been driving supply trucks and guarding prisoners in Iraq. Insurgents would frequently target convoys with roadside bombs and shell the bases where she was deployed.
"I'm not sure why only in the last two or three weeks it's official I'm allowed to be in battle," said Williams, 38, of New York. "Just because you don't have the designated code doesn't mean you aren't doing the same work."
Female engagement teams, first deployed in Afghanistan in 2009, are one of the clearest examples of the blurring of combat and support roles in the military.
Developed by the Marine Corps, the teams live, train and patrol with combat troops in sometimes rugged conditions. They sleep in tents and container housing, take their turn at guard duty and might go for days without access to showers or latrines. ("We use tons and tons of baby wipes," Hasselman said.) Like their male counterparts, the women have frequently come under fire while on patrol and some have struggled with the psychological toll. Before deploying, Hasselman's soldiers drew up wills and power of attorney instructions, many of them for the first time.
"Goodbye, this time, was harder," said 1st Lt. Erica Miranda Ortiz, 32, of San Juan, Puerto Rico. She served twice in Iraq with an aviation support unit. But like others in the unit, she did not want another desk job.
"This is the first time I get to go out every day and interact with the local population," she said. "I love what I do."
Local cultural sensitivities prevent male troops from engaging with Afghan women in the more conservative rural areas. But village men will sometimes allow female soldiers into their compounds to meet with their wives, sisters and children. The soldiers also run a small women's center, which offers adult literacy classes and art projects for children in a walled courtyard attached to the base.
Much of the time is spent getting to know each other. But the female soldiers, who have studied the Pashto language and cover their hair with colorful scarves, also ask women about conditions in their villages. With most international forces slated to leave next year, the soldiers hope the information will help Afghan authorities to better serve their communities and win their loyalty.
Although they are pleased that the military is acknowledging their role, the soldiers don't expect a surge of women into combat jobs. For some the change came too late.
"When I was in college, I thought it would be so cool to be a Ranger or special forces," said 1st Lt. Nicole Chappell, 25, of Fort Worth. "I was never going to get married. I was never going to have kids. I was going to be in the Army forever. Then I met my husband and everything changed."
Williams said she was nearing retirement but was pleased that new opportunities were opening up for the next generation of servicewomen. "We want to help out in the effort just as much as the males," she said.
alexandra.zavis@latimes.com
Security is Key to Transparent Poll: IEC
TOLOnews.comnBy Shakeela Ahbrimkhil Monday, 18 February 2013
Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC) warned Monday of a fraught 2014 election if security forces do not ensure the safety of voters.
The IEC said the biggest challenge ahead of next year's poll is for voters to feel secure – indirectly disagreeing with political parties and parliamentarians who repeatedly state that the election will unravel because of the use of old voting cards.
"I emphasise that if there is no security then don't expect an inclusive and acceptable election. Where there is no security like in the 2010 parliamentary election, we will not put up the ballot boxes," IEC chief Fazil Ahmad Manawi said in a Kabul press conference.
The IEC will release a locations of 7000 voting centres around the country to security institutions in order for them to make the proper security precautions, Manawi added.
A number of political parties have reportedly claimed that if a new registration system and new voting cards are not introduced, these parties will boycott next year's election.
But Manawi responded that the IEC does not have any other alternative but to allow the use of the old cards and only electronically register new voters.
He also mentioned there was a dispute over who controls the election budget.
"The international community is committed to pay the budget of the 2014 election without any conditions but according to the Decree 45 of President Karzai, the budget of the election must be used by the Ministry of Finance but the Independent Election Commission has challenged this discussion. Our view is that if we use the budget according to the criteria of the Ministry of Finance we will not be able to complete our work on time," he said.
The key dates over the next 13 months in the lead up to the election were released by the IEC as follows:
Voter registration for those previously unregistered: 1 Sawr–31Asad 1392 (21 Apr-22 Aug 2013)
Election complaints commission to open in provinces: 2 Sonbola (24 August)
Registration of presidential and provincial council candidates: 25 Sonbola-14 Mezan (16 Sept-06 Oct)
Presidential candidate campaigns 26 Aqrab-13 Hamal (17 Nov 2013-02 April 2014)
Finalisation of campaigns: 14 Hamal 1393 (03 Apr 2014)
Election: 16 Haml (05 Apr 2014)
Vote count: 17 Hamal- 31 Hamal (06 April 2014-20 April 2014)
India, Pakistan Rivalry Emerging Over Afghan Peace Deal
TOLOnews.com By Haseeb Maudoodi Monday, 18 February 2013
As the Western armies move towards the exit in Afghanistan, it seems the regional nations are vying to replace the influence exerted by the US and Nato over the past decade.
Fresh news reports from India reveal that New Delhi is planning to hold talks with Russia and China where the role of Pakistan in the Taliban negotiations is likely to be discussed.
India's National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon is expected to meet his Russian and Chinese counterparts later this month after a trilateral meeting with the Afghan government and the US tomorrow.
According to Indian newspapers, this meeting was flagged during last month's meeting of BRICS representatives in New Delhi where the three agreed that they will have a separate meeting to exchange views on the Taliban peace process and Afghanistan's situation.
It is likely that India will leverage the history of Pakistan as a "safe haven" for terrorists during Tuesday's meeting with Afghan and US representatives as a way to highlight itself as a more suitable peace partner, not only for Afghanistan but also for the US and UK's regional aims.
Afghan analysts, however, told TOLOnews that India cannot "replace" Pakistan because of Islamabad's unique situation with the insurgents mainly based in Pakistan's west on the Afghan border.
"India should really not be concerned about the cooperation of Pakistan in the peace process because Afghanistan's anti-government armed groups are located in Pakistan and they [Pakistan] should have a strong role in this regard," the Afghan High Peace Council's foreign relations advisor MuhammadIsmail Qasimyar told TOLOnews Monday.
Analyst and university lecturer Faizullah Jalal agreed, adding that few countries can really influence Pakistan to act.
"Pakistan and China have a close relationship and China is the only country that can really put pressure on Pakistan to fight against terrorism on the border with Afghanistan," he said.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron recently hosted Afghan and Pakistan presidents Hamid Karzai and Asif Ali Zardari in England to discuss a strategic partnership agreement between the two.
Afghanistan already has a similar agreement with India, but that has not stopped concerns from New Delhi that Pakistan's role in the peace process with the Afghan High Peace Council will give Pakistan a greater depth.
Reports suggest that Pakistan, for its part, is equally concerned about India seeking a greater role.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com