Tweet
Complaints on U.S.-led Afghan troops to be checked, Kerry says
By Arshad Mohammed
LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday complaints against Afghans working for U.S. special forces in Afghanistan would be investigated, a day after Afghan President Hamid Karzai ordered U.S. troops to leave a critical battleground province.
Karzai's spokesman on Sunday said Karzai had decided that all U.S. special forces must leave Wardak province within two weeks, after accusations that Afghans working for them had tortured and killed innocent people.
The move could further complicate talks between the United States and Afghanistan over the presence of American troops in the country once most NATO forces leave by the end of 2014.
"With respect to Afghanistan and Wardak province, I understand the concerns that they have expressed. And appropriately, any complaints that they may have ought to be appropriately evaluated, and they will be, I can assure you," Kerry told reporters during a visit to London.
Kerry said it was up to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to investigate. On Sunday ISAF said it was aware of the allegations of misconduct but would not comment further until it had spoken to Afghan officials.
In Washington, a U.S. defense official said no ISAF troops themselves were involved in any misconduct, as earlier Afghan statements had alleged.
"In recent months, a thorough review in cooperation with the Defense Ministry and National Directorate of Security has confirmed that no coalition forces have been involved in the alleged misconduct in Wardak province," the official said.
"Because we take these allegations seriously, ISAF and Afghanistan officials have agreed to a joint commission to look into the current concerns of citizens in Maidan Wardak."
Relations between Karzai and his international backers have at times been fraught, with the Afghan president warning that civilian deaths could sap support for foreign troops and fuel the insurgency.
Earlier this month, Karzai said Afghan security forces would be banned from calling for NATO air strikes in residential areas after 10 civilians died in one such strike.
Karzai's anger over the conduct of Afghan troops working with ISAF raises the pressure on Afghan forces as they increasingly assume control of security.
NATO and its partners are racing against the clock to train Afghanistan's 350,000-strong security forces, though questions remain over how well the Afghans will be able tackle the insurgency in the face of intensifying violence.
Kerry said Karzai had "many legitimate evaluations" of where things have gone wrong or could be improved but indicated that negotiations on transition and an agreement on the presence of some U.S. troops in Afghanistan after 2014 were going well.
"We're working on a bilateral security arrangement; we're working on this transition process. We've had a very good conversation with the President (Karzai) in the last days," Kerry said.
(Writing by Mohammed Abbas; Additional reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Michael Roddy and Cynthia Osterman)
NATO says no evidence for Afghan misconduct claim
By PATRICK QUINN and RAHIM FAIEZ | Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan said Monday it has found no evidence to support allegations that American special forces were involved in the abuse of Afghan civilians in a restive eastern province that serves as a gateway to Kabul.
The statement came as the Afghan government moved ahead with an order to expel the special forces from Wardak province within two weeks, undeterred by fears the decision could leave the area and the neighboring capital more vulnerable to al-Qaida and other insurgents.
Provincial officials and analysts expressed concern the already dangerous province could become more unstable without the American firepower, although they agreed with President Hamid Karzai's decision to investigate the allegations.
Karzai issued the order on Sunday after a meeting of the National Security Council at which Wardak provincial governor Abdul Majid Khogyani and other local officials blamed Afghans working with U.S. special forces for the disappearance of at least nine men and the murder of an Afghan university student. The U.S. forces are being expelled because of their association with the Afghan groups.
Khogyani and the other officials also alleged that the Afghans working for the American special forces were involved in abusive behavior including torture, killings and illegal detentions.
The armed Afghans are not part of the Afghan security forces, the government has said, implying that they are members of secret militias working with the Americans.
Coalition spokesman German Gen. Gunter Katz said the International Security Assistance Force found no evidence showing foreign forces were involved in abuses, but he did not comment on the Afghans allegedly linked to the Americans.
"We take all allegations of misconduct seriously and go to great lengths to determine the facts surrounding them," Katz told reporters. "Over the past few weeks there have been various allegations of special forces conducting themselves in an unprofessional manner" in Wardak.
He added that "so far, we could not find evidence that would support these allegations."
Katz said he would not comment on the allegations until the coalition talks to the Afghan government "in the near future."
An ISAF spokesman, Jamie Graybeal, said that "in recent months, a thorough review has confirmed that no Coalition forces have been involved in the alleged misconduct in Wardak province."
He said that the two sides had agreed to a joint commission to look "into the current concerns of citizens" in Wardak.
Presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi, however, said the government had asked NATO about the groups in the past and had not received a satisfactory answer.
Wardak is a lynchpin province that connects the capital to southern Afghanistan, and the country's main north-south highway and trade route runs through its hills and desert plains. It is considered a transit point for insurgents coming from the south — the Taliban heartland — and from the east along the Pakistani frontier where insurgents retain safe havens.
The area outside the provincial capital of Maidan Shahr — an hour's drive from the capital — is so dangerous that local officials reported they often can't go to their offices by road.
It has been the focus of counterinsurgency efforts in recent years and the site of many attacks against coalition and U.S. bases, including one in November that killed three Afghan civilians and wounded 90. In August 2011, insurgents shot down a Chinook helicopter, killing 30 American troops, mostly elite Navy SEALs, in Wardak. The crash was the single deadliest loss for U.S. forces in the war.
At least 100 insurgent groups operate in Wardak, including al-Qaida, the Taliban and fighters loyal to the Pakistan-based Haqqani militant network, according to Jawed Kohistani, a political and military analyst. He said recent suicide attacks in the capital were an indication that the situation could deteriorate if special forces withdrew from Wardak.
"They can attack convoys, destabilize the security situation in Kabul," he said. "It is giving them opportunity to get stronger in Wardak, and that will be a real threat to the security of Kabul city."
The Afghan government has said it is confident its own security forces, which took the lead for security in Wardak last December, can deal with the insurgents and stabilize the province.
It is unclear how many of the extremely secretive U.S. special forces are operating in Wardak.
"We never talk about special operating forces. We don't about their numbers either," said Katz.
Afghan forces have been in control of Kabul for years and Katz said then government had assured them that "they are capable enough to provide security" for the capital.
Sher Shah Bazon, a member of the Wardak provincial council, said there were many complaints about Afghan groups working with U.S. special forces, but "we must find a solution for this sort of issue here by talking with the U.S. special forces, which did not happen. Instead a decision was made which I believe most people are not happy with it."
He said that Wardak was so insecure that local officials had problems getting around.
"A district governor or a district police chief in many districts can't go to their offices by road, and if they go they must have a big convoy of security forces with them. So with a security situation like this, the withdrawal of the foreign forces is not a good idea," he said.
Most of the complaints are aimed at the Afghans working with the U.S. special forces, provincial officials said.
"I can say a lack of coordination between the Afghan and foreign forces caused all these problems in Wardak. The withdrawal of the U.S. special forces from Wardak would not be to the benefit of people, government and security of Wardak province. I am sure that would have a negative impact on the security of Kabul city as well," said Mohammad Hazrat Janan, deputy head of provincial council.
Hamid Karzai is mad as heck and he isn't going to take it anymore
Afghan President Hamid Karzai would like to make it very clear that he doesn't like the US, his principal protector and patron.
By Dan Murphy | Christian Science Monitor
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been on a roll recently in attacking the professionalism and ability of the US military – the people most responsible for his run as Afghanistan's leader.
With ongoing negotiations over a Status of Forces Agreement that would govern the possible retention of a sizable US military presence in the country after 2014, Mr. Karzai's belligerent stance toward the US – also the principal financial backer of his government – seems an odd way to go about the negotiation.
But there he was over the weekend, accusing US Special Forces of involvement in torture and murder in Wardak, and ordering them out of the province within two weeks. That came about a week after Karzai banned the Afghan National Army (ANA) from calling on US and other international air support for ground operations after an incident in which he said 10 civilians were killed when Afghan intelligence called up a NATO airstrike.
RECOMMENDED: How well do you know Afghanistan? Take our quiz.
While civilian casualties in urban areas have been a key driver of Afghan anger at both international forces and the Karzai government, asking Afghanistan's soldiers to fight without that kind of support will surely drive up their own casualty rates. It would also raise questions about what effect it will have on operations against the Taliban by the ANA. The chances that more territory will simply be ceded to the group as a consequence of this order, if he sticks to it, are high. (Writing for the Monitor from Kabul, Paige McClanahan fleshed out the risks of Karzai's action in Wardak.)
Perhaps that's Karzai's point. Most of the Taliban are drawn from the Pashtun ethnic group that Karzai himself belongs to, and with moves afoot to sharply reduce the international military presence (US President Obama said in his State of the Union Address that the current plan is to cut the US military presence from about 68,000 now to 34,000 by the end of the year) negotiation and accommodation are probably on his mind.
US objectives long ago were scaled back in Afghanistan with the recognition that the United State's longest war was not going to end in the total destruction of the Taliban. Warlords of all stripes – members of the Taliban, allies of Karzai – are going to have a seat at the table in determining Afghanistan's future after most international forces leave, and it's hard to fault Karzai for recognizing this reality.
And criticizing the Americans, hugely unpopular in the country after more than a decade of occupation, is smart politics. But it's also dangerous, because Karzai's grip on power rests on both NATO military power and the billions of dollars that flow into the country, which create patronage opportunities and employment for those around him, from the US and its NATO allies.
Wardak borders Kabul to the west, and has become a much more dangerous place in the past couple of years, with US commanders suspecting that attacks inside Kabul have been planned from the neighboring province. The Kabul-Kandahar highway, a key economic lifeline and source of resupply for foreign and local troops alike, crosses through the province, and for years local warlords have profited from convoy protection. Protesters in the provincial capital of Maidan Shahr blocked the highway for a day earlier this month after the body of a local university student, alleged to have been killed by US forces, was found dumped in a local river.
That incident appears to have been among those that caused Karzai to take action. A statement from the president's office over the weekend said: "A recent example in the province is an incident in which nine people were disappeared in an operation by this suspicious force and in a separate incident a student was taken away at night from his home, whose tortured body with throat cut was found two days later under a bridge," the statement added. "However, Americans reject having conducted any such operation and any involvement of their special force."
Is it possible that torture and murder is going on in Wardak? Almost certainly. Torture and murder are commonly deployed by Afghan powerbrokers and warlords on all sides of the Afghan conflict. Could US forces themselves be responsible? It's possible.
But more likely, if there's any truth to what Karzai contends, is that actions have been carried out by other informal militias who work with US Special Forces or formal Afghan commandos who do likewise.
The role of US Special Forces is, by and large, to work with and train foreign armies and militia groups. There have been persistent claims that local forces trained by US Special Forces have been involved in murder and torture down the years. A few thousand US Special Forces were involved in training roughly 16,000 Afghan Local Police (ALP), village-based paramilitary groups that have been accused of killing and torturing detainees, for much of last year and the year before, though that training was suspended to improve vetting after a rash of Afghans armed and trained by NATO killed their foreign colleagues.
Human Rights Watch alleges that ALP members have been involved in "killings, rape, and extortion of Afghan civilians" and explains the genesis of the groups this way:
The ALP was created in 2010 at the request of Gen David Petraeus, the former commander of international forces in Afghanistan... The ALP is a loose network of local defence forces designed to mobilise and arm local civilians to defend their communities from the Taliban in areas where the national police and army have a limited presence. ALP recruits are mentored by foreign troops, most frequently US special forces, but in some parts of the country by troops from other nations, including Britain. They are nominally under the supervision of the Afghanistan National Police, but in practice they are sometimes no more than deputised gunmen loyal to a local warlord or members of violent local militias who are given a new uniform
The cooptation of gunmen loyal to local warlords has been consistently attempted throughout the Afghan war, and it makes sense at the local level: Motivated Afghan soldiers who know the local people and terrain can be fairly useful. But given that NATO's stated goal has been to build a strong central government, local tactical efforts have often moved counter to the ultimate goals.
The stakes in Wardak are pretty high, write Bill Ardolino and Bill Roggio at the Long War Journal:
Wardak province, which borders Kabul to the southwest, has been contested by the Taliban and the Haqqani Network, the al Qaeda-linked Taliban subgroup, despite US efforts to secure the province over the past several years. The Taliban have been in control of the Tangi Valley, which runs through Wardak, since the withdrawal of US forces from Combat Outpost Tangi in the spring of 2011. US troops turned over the base to the Afghan Army, which immediately abandoned it. The Taliban later released a videotape that showed hundreds of fighters and senior Taliban leaders massing at the abandoned base and conducting a tour.
Wardak has been the scene of numerous high-profile attacks by the two groups, particularly in 2011. The Taliban shot down a US Army Chinook helicopter in Sayyidabad on Aug. 6, 2011. Thirty-eight US and Afghan troops, including 17 US Navy SEALS from the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, were killed in the crash. And on Sept. 10, 2011, the Taliban detonated a massive suicide bomb outside of Combat Outpost Sayyidabad, killing four Afghans and wounding more than 100 people, including 77 US soldiers. US commanders later blamed the attack on the Haqqani Network, a powerful al Qaeda subgroup.
President Karzai seems more concerned about the US role in the province, at least in public.The Obama administration is hoping to keep up to 15,000 troops in Afghanistan after the end of 2014 as a "residual force" that would focus on training Afghan troops and counterterrorism operations. But one matter yet to be decided is whether Karzai, who is scheduled to step down after presidential elections in 2014, will grant ongoing immunity from US forces from Afghan prosecution. A refusal to do so would probably be politically popular, but would be a deal breaker for Obama, with the specter of US troops hauled before Afghanistan's frequently corrupt courts.
The question of immunity was what eventually ended the US military presence in Iraq. Will Karzai go that far? Friends I talk to who understand Afghanistan far better than me insist that Karzai and the people around him will make a deal, since a lose of US military and financial support would be catastrophic for them.
But recent signs from Karzai are that he's leaning in the other direction.
4 civilians killed in blast in Afghan Helmand province
LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Four Afghan civilians were killed and two others were wounded in explosion in the country's southern province of Helmand on Monday morning, police said.
"A civilian car was running along a road in Sharsharak area of Marja district at about 9 a.m. local time but the ill-fated vehicle touched off an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and the explosion claimed the lives of four civilians and wounded two others," the provincial police department said in a statement issued here.
The injured people were shifted to a district hospital in the province 555 km south of Afghan capital of Kabul, it said, adding no woman or children was among the victims.
Taliban militants fighting Afghan forces and NATO-led troops often target security forces with IEDs or roadside bombs but the lethal weapons also inflict casualties on civilians.
A total of 2,754 civilians were killed and 4,805 injured in conflict-related violence in 2012, a 12 percent drop in overall civilian casualties compared to 2011, according to a UN report released in Kabul earlier this month.
The IEDs were the single largest killer of civilians in 2012, leaving 868 people dead and 1,663 injured, according to the report.
The UN report attributed 81 percent of the civilian deaths to the attacks by Taliban and other armed groups opposing the government, another eight percent of the deaths were attributed to Afghan and NATO-led forces and 11 percent were unattributed.
Taliban describe Pakistani interior minister as ‘comedian’
By Mirwais Adeel - 25 Feb 2013, 1:42 pm Khaama Press
Taliban militants group in Pakistan called upon the government to replace interior minister Rehman Malik with a ‘serious person’ for peace dialogue after mocking him as a ‘comedian’.
Ehsanullah Ehsan spokesman for the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on Sunday said, his ultraorthodox militia did not take Malik’s statements seriously.
While speaking in a telephone interview, Ehsanullah Ehsan told Pakistan’s The Express Tribune, “Our Central Shura (consultative council) believes that if Rehman Malik keeps on churning out statements about our offer, it’ll indicate the government is not serious in pursuing peace talks.”
This comes as Pakistan interior Rehman Malik on Saturday asked the Taliban group to name a team of ‘serious negotiator’ if they wanted to make peace.
He also said that the Taliban group start talks about peace dialogue when they become weak.
In the meantime Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said, “If the government replaces Rehman Malik with a serious person to deal with the dialogue issue, we will come up with an immediate, positive and civilised response in the best interests of Pakistan and its people.”
Ehsan said he has been stopped from commenting on Malik’s statements because the Taliban and “even many in Pakistan don’t trust him (Malik)”.
He also compared Malik with a Pashtu comdedian, Ismail Shahid.
TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan also denied to comment regarding the upcoming all-party conference convened by JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman later this month to discuss the peace prospects in the tribal regions.
He said, “The Taliban are fighting for the existence of the tribal people as many tribesmen have been killed and displaced [by fighting in the region] and now they should have a better life,” he added.
Young Afghan actor's family says Oscar nomination is source of pride even if movie didn't win
By Kim Gamel, The Associated Press
KABUL - Relatives of the young Afghan star of "Buzkashi Boys" expressed more pride than disappointment upon learning on Monday that the Oscar-nominated movie didn't win.
Fawad Mohammadi and Jawanmard Paiz, both 14, donned tuxedos for the ceremony after travelling from Kabul to Los Angeles for a trip down the red carpet.
The 28-minute movie is about two penniless young boys — a street urchin and a blacksmith's son — who are best friends and dream of becoming professional players of buzkashi, a particularly rough and dangerous game that somewhat resembles polo: Horseback riders wrangle to get a headless goat carcass into a circular goal at one end of the field.
Fawad's brothers got up early to watch the show, which began at 6 a.m. Monday in Kabul, on an Internet feed provided by The Associated Press. They didn't flinch as actor Jamie Foxx announced that "Curfew" was the winner in the live action short film category.
"Although the movie didn't win, I'm very happy that Fawad made it to such a place. I'm very happy for him. At the same time he is my brother and I miss him," said Fawad's 19-year-old brother, Ahmad Jawad Mohammadi.
"Buzkashi Boys" was directed by Sam French, a Philadelphia native who has lived in Afghanistan for about five years, and funded in large part with a grant of more than $200,000 from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul as part of an effort to encourage Afghans to see the parts of their country that aren't mired in conflict. It was produced by Montrealer Ariel Nasr.
Jawanmard, who has been acting since he was five, played the street peddler while Fawad was the blacksmith's son.
The movie — the first instalment in a project aimed at training local film industry workers — gained international attention when it received an Academy Awards nomination.
Fawad's story got special attention because he was discovered by French while peddling maps to foreigners in the Afghan capital, one of an untold number of Afghan youths hustling in the streets to help earn money for their families.
He started selling chewing gum when he was about seven years old and soon expanded his trade to maps and dictionaries, learning to speak English during his interactions with foreigners on Chicken Street, an area in Kabul with shops selling multicolour rugs, crafts and souvenirs. He was even able to enrol in a private school, thanks to the generosity of some other foreigners unrelated to the film project.
His brother-in-law said it was an important first step for Fawad to act in such a high-profile film and appear among the rich and famous at the Oscars.
"Fawad is not only my relative ... he is a source of pride for Afghanistan. This time he made it to the Oscars. Maybe next time he will win," Mohammad Fahim Nadri said.
French raised nearly $12,000 in an effort to get the boys to Hollywood, but Turkish Airlines and the U.S. Embassy in Kabul stepped in to cover travel costs so he is putting the money instead into a college fund for Fawad.
Afghanistan's first female mayor proves critics wrong
Azra Jafari has won respect in her community as she fights to improve lives and change attitudes towards women
The Guardian By Golnar Motevalli Sunday 24 February 2013
Kabul - When Azra Jafari became mayor of Nili, she knew that the impoverished and remote Afghan town desperately needed roads and investment. She was aware she would be living in very basic conditions, on a meagre salary of $76 (£50) a month, and that taking care of a four-year-old daughter at the same time would be challenging.
What she was less prepared for was the appearance of a powerful mullah in her unheated, makeshift office, wagging his finger at her, warning that Nili was not about to accept a female mayor who thought she could "exploit her femininity in order to complete a few projects and influence our women".
"After three months, the same man came up to me and thanked me," Jafari recalled, four years later. "He said, 'If a man could do just half of what you've done here, our province will surely flourish.' He now supports me and we work very well together – I have a great deal of respect for him."
She is now referred to as "Mr Mayor" by her community, a title that conveys respect in a country not known for women's rights.
Until 2009, Nili – a small town of about 40,000 people at the centre of Daykundi province – had never seen a female official, said Jafari. She had to prove to the community that she was serious about improving their lives.
Jafari was shocked by the complete lack of infrastructure in the town. "Anything that needed to be built in Nili, had to be built from scratch," she said. "And I had no budget" – something she had to address by making regular trips to Kabul to implore ministry officials to release funds. "When I arrived, my office had been damaged by snowfall. It was a small room, with a few pillows. There was no table, no chairs. Just a couple of people there to help me," Jafari said.
"Wherever it was necessary I picked up a shovel, kicked dirt, and gathered coal with my hands. Nili is not the sort of town where you can easily drive a car. I often had to walk from place to place through deep snow, getting my feet soaking wet."
The 34-year-old cannot be further from the image of the downtrodden victim that has become a misleading shorthand for Afghan womanhood. Nor is she connected to a powerful or wealthy family, and she fiercely rejects the suggestion that her promotion was an exercise in tokenism by a government under pressure from its western financiers to show it is bettering women's rights.
"If our friends in the international community really made me mayor because I am a woman then they would have paid for the roads I built. Unfortunately they have contributed very little to the changes in Daykundi," she said.
Jafari also does not hold back on the subject of how severely women in office in Afghanistan are judged, likening it to having one's decisions and behaviour placed under a magnifying glass.
"There are plenty of men here with no ambition to work, who are bad at their jobs and over whom a lot of money has been wasted. Because they are men, no one really questions them and asks 'as a man, how successful have you managed to be?' But as the only female mayor among 180 others, the first question I'm always asked, wherever I am, is 'show us what you've done for your people.'"
Jafari, who is married to an Afghan film-maker, is currently the subject of a documentary series called Kabul: A City at Work, a sequel to Kabul at Work, which seeks to show ordinary working Afghans doing extraordinary things at a time of war.
"Mr Mayor" grew up in Ghor province, which borders Daykundi to the west. Like Daykundi, Ghor's population is poor and mainly Shia Hazara. Jafari says that her familiarity with the people and their needs is what partly drew her to the job in Nili.
Daykundi has virtually no western troops. It was carved out of inhospitable mountainous terrain in the centre of Afghanistan in 2004, hugged by the much more restive provinces of Ghazni, Uruzgan and Helmand.
It takes Jafari and her daughter, Indira, two days to drive to Nili from Kabul. It is a perilous journey on poorly paved roads. It becomes a death trap during winter's heavy snowfall.
Two days after this interview, Jafari telephoned from Nili to explain that the small coach in which she had been travelling along with her daughter and 13 other passengers, had overturned and almost careered 1,600ft towards a riverbed below.
"The windows were shattered. Thank God we were OK," she said, adding that she had suffered a sprained neck and her daughter had cut her finger on some glass. "But she couldn't stop shaking for half an hour afterwards."
Bad weather and heart-stopping bus journeys are one risk. The other is the war being waged between Afghan and foreign forces and insurgents.
Jafari's commute often takes her through the insurgent-filled province of Maidan Wardak. "Last year we were caught in a gunfight between Afghan forces and insurgents for three hours. We couldn't move."
And violence is slowly encroaching on Nili itself. Daykundi has long been known as one of the least dangerous and most isolated provinces in Afghanistan. But the Taliban are making increasingly bold moves on Nili, advancing from a district called Gizab, on the border with Uruzgan and technically under that province's jurisdiction.
For many years, it was the very lack of an insurgency that starved Daykundi of adequate attention from foreign donors. Now, Jafari says, that argument is running on borrowed time.
Between 2001 and 2011 the US government's development agency, USAid, spent $37m (£24.4m) on projects in Daykundi province, which has a population of just over 400,000 but no Nato-backed provincial reconstruction team (PRT). By contrast, the more dangerous Uruzgan province, which borders Daykundi to its south and is home to 100,000 fewer civilians, received almost twice as much aid over the same period and hosts a PRT.
Like thousands of Afghans, Jafari fled the civil war in the early 1990s, taking refuge in Iran, where she ran a school for Afghan refugee children. She moved back to Afghanistan in September 2001 to take part in a peace jirga (a tribal assembly of elders) as the fall of the Taliban became imminent. She has also published two books, one entitled I am a Working Woman, which she wrote for women with low levels of literacy.
When we met, Jafari was dressed in a fitted beige knee-length tunic, buttoned down the front and worn over trousers. Her hair was neatly covered with a black shawl splashed with bright colours and loosely wrapped around her neck. It is a typical Kabul look, but perhaps seen as less acceptable in a much more conservative and rural place such as Nili.
"I like to dress formally," she explained. "This means clothes tend to be more fitted and a bit tighter, but this is the way formal, professional people dress. Not traditional loose, wide clothing, and people need to accept this."
She has never changed what she wears, even in the face of criticism and gossip, as she sees it as part of her job to encourage people to understand that the way someone dresses has no bearing on who they are or their ability to get a job done properly.
"What I've really learned is that it makes no difference whether you are a man or a woman, what matters is that you do your work properly and you work hard and how seriously you take your responsibilities," she said.
As Afghanistan's first and only female mayor, Jafari is determined to make her mark not just on infrastructure but on attitudes towards women. She feels strongly that since being in Nili, she has influenced the way younger women think, and for the better. She says one day she may angle for the top job in government, but she would like to become a member of parliament before aiming for the presidential palace. "I'm like a template for women," she said.
The morning after the interview, Jafari set off, with Indira in tow, on their long and dangerous journey to Nili.
Additional reporting by Ellie Kealey
Ethnicity issues resolved in new Afghan electronic ID cards
By Jawed Rostapoor - 25 Feb 2013, 10:48 am Khaama Press
According to Afghan telecommunication and information technology ministry officials around 14 million Afghan citizens will receive electronic identity cards during the upcoming Afghan fiscal year.
The issue of electronic identity cards was under discussion between the Afghan government and international community during the past two years, with the Afghan independent election commission being the main focus of the discussions as election officials believe that fraudulent acts will be prevented through electronic identity cards.
However Afghan interior ministry officials said only 50% of the Afghan population elgibible for the voting will receive electronic identity cards until the upcoming prsidential election due to the lack of time.
One of the major concern regarding the ethnicity of the identity card holders was also resolved after Afghan president Hamid Karzai ordered to mention the native language and ethnicity of the citizens in the electronic identity card.
This comes as the issue of the electronic ID card language to be written only in Pashtu language was raised several times during the political events
and Afghan lawmakers also raised concerns regarding the ID language which on other could create problem to clearly specify the statistics of the Afghan population.
Currently Afghan identity cards are issued with nationality titled as “Afghan” which is believed to be unsatisfactory for the Pashtun and has created tensions among the Afghan people despite no satisfactory reason has been given by the Afghan government in this regard.
Afghan population is comprised various ethnic groups and according to observers recommendation by the Afghan government to title all the nationalities as “Afghan” has a political scenario.
Observers also believe that political and social crisis of Afghanistan including the civil war has direct links with giving more credit to one ethnic group.
On the other hand there are concerns regarding the distribution of electronic ID cards in volatile regions of the country despite Afghan interior ministry officials announced to arrange proper security for the employees who are working in unsafe regions specifically in southern Afghanistan.
According to interior ministry officals around 2,400 people have already been hired and they are looking to increase the number of workers to 3,000 for the distribution of electronic ID cards across the country.
Allied troops in Afghanistan see fewer insider attacks
USA TODAY By Jim Michaels February 24, 2013
The number of insider attacks, which reached record levels in 2012, have dropped largely as a result of "substantial" changes in tactics by Afghan and U.S. forces.
Attacks on coalition troops by allied Afghanistan security forces, which reached record levels last year, have declined dramatically so far this year, as coalition and Afghan commanders bolster security and improve screening of troops who might be a threat.
Last year, 47 attacks by rogue Afghan security forces on coalition troops killed 62 people. This year, one coalition death has been reported as a result of one "insider attack."
"I don't think that threat ever goes away," said Marine Maj. Gen. Charles "Mark" Gurganus, who commands coalition forces in southwest Afghanistan. Still, Gurganus said, changes made by both coalition and Afghan forces in his region have helped reduce the threat.
The decline in insider attacks comes as overall fatalities U.S. forces has decreased sharply. This year, three U.S. troops were killed in Afghanistan, down from 39 during the same period last year. The number of U.S. forces has been declining as Afghan forces take a lead role in security operations.
The insider attacks have dropped largely as a result of "substantial" changes in tactics by Afghan and U.S. forces, Gurganus said in an interview from Afghanistan.
Among the changes he cited:
Coalition forces improved security tactics to enhance troop protection. Afghan commanders increased supervision and oversight of their troops. Afghans enhanced screening of recruits and took counterintelligence steps to screen for potential attackers.
The nationwide spike in these attacks last year raised worries that the trend would undermine trust between Afghan and coalition forces, just as the mission of coalition forces was changing from combat to training and assisting Afghan security forces.
"The Taliban realized the strategic significance of these attacks even though I'm not sure how many of them they were actually responsible for," Gurganus said. "The Taliban was very quick to claim credit for them."
The military has said it was hard to determine the precise cause for many of the attacks, though only a small number were direct infiltration by Taliban insurgents.
Many of the attacks appeared to have been the result of cultural misunderstandings or personal grievances. Some Afghan soldiers were also influenced when they went on leave or if their family was threatened by insurgents.
Key to the recent improvement was getting Afghan leaders to recognize the problem and take action. "We really saw the Afghans reach out and grip these problems," Gurganus said.
"I think it took a little coaxing on the part of Gen. Allen," he said, referring to Marine Gen. John Allen, who recently stepped down as commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan.
Afghan leaders talked directly to their troops about the issue and pushed small unit leaders, such as platoon leaders, to keep a closer eye on their troops.
American junior officers and noncommissioned officers are expected to know their troops well and exercise close supervision. That was not generally the case in the Afghan military.
The increased awareness of the junior Afghan leaders helped head off potential problems.
The Afghans also provided counter-intelligence assistance, helping to screen soldiers who might pose a threat, said Marc Chretien, Allen's chief political adviser.
"Gen. Allen immediately gripped the problem, but more importantly made it a problem for the Afghans and enlisted their support," Chretien said.
The military also noted that soldiers who came from some regions were more likely to be involved in an attack.
Contributing: Paul Overberg
United Nations removes Osama bin Laden from sanctions list
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Almost two years after his death at the hands of U.S. special forces in Pakistan, a U.N. Security Council committee has removed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden from its sanctions list, although an order freezing any assets of the Islamist extremist remains in place.
Bin Laden had been subjected to a travel ban and asset freeze since he was listed by the Security Council al-Qaeda sanctions committee on January 25, 2001. He was shot and killed on May 2, 2011 by U.S. forces who stormed his compound in Pakistan.
The U.N. committee said in a statement that bin Laden was officially removed from the sanctions list on February 21, but that countries must submit requests to unfreeze any of his assets.
Those countries must also "provide assurances to the Committee that the assets will not be transferred, directly or indirectly, to a listed individual, group, undertaking or entity, or otherwise used for terrorist purposes."
There are about 233 individuals and 63 entities or groups on the U.N. al Qaeda sanctions list. All individuals on the list are subject to asset freezes and an international travel ban.
Bin Laden's al Qaeda network was blamed for killing nearly 3,000 people when hijackers crashed commercial planes into New York City's World Trade Center, the Pentagon outside Washington and a field in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001.
The members of bin Laden's family in Pakistan were repatriated to Saudi Arabia in April, 2012 on humanitarian grounds. The Saudi government did not say how many there were, but previous reports suggested that three widows, seven children and four grandchildren were deported.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Eric Walsh)
Rights Watchdog Concerned Over Iran's Execution of Afghans
TOLOnews.com By Saleha Sadaat Sunday, 24 February 2013
Human Rights Watch expressed concern Sunday over Iran's reported execution of several Afghans for drug trafficking-related offenses.
The Afghans sentenced to death did not receive fair trials and were not given opportunities to seek assistance from the Afghan government, said Hearther Barr, Human Rights Watch's Afghanistan researcher.
"We know that when people are sentenced to death in Iran they often have not received a fair trial and in the situation of Afghans, they are not given the opportunity to get assistance from the Afghan government," Barr said.
The dead bodies of several Afghan refugees who were recently executed in Iran arrived in northern Takhar province and were buried on Saturday. The refugees were sentenced to death for drug trafficking, reports suggest.
"According to our reports, only seven Afghans were executed in Iran in the past four months," spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations Islamuddin Jurat said Sunday.
The Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged Iranian officials to inform the Afghan government about death sentences issued for Afghan refugees in Iran.
"We have urged the Iranian government several times to at least inform the Afghan government about the execution of Afghan refugees in their country," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Janan Mosazai told TOLOnews on Sunday.
The Iranian embassy's media relations officer in Afghanistan, Farzad Amin, did not confirm the reports but said that he would investigate them.
"We have heard about execution of Afghan refugees from Afghan media outlets, but it has not been confirmed by the Iranian government yet. We will comment about this once it's confirmed," Amin said.
Pakistani Firm to Design Farah River Dam
TOLOnews.com By Shahla Murtazaie Sunday, 24 February 2013
The Ministry of Water and Energy said on Sunday that a Pakistani company will do the survey and design of the Farah River Dam, a $4 million project.
The National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK) is expected to complete the project in 18 months. The ministry has hailed the project as the first of its kind by a Pakistani company in Afghanistan.
The dam will be paid for by Afghan government funds and, once completed, is expected to meet all the irrigation and energy needs of Farah province.
"The dam's storage capacity will be more than one billion cubic meters. At the same time, it can irrigate more than 68,000 acres of agricultural land and produce about 27 megawatts of electricity, which can meet the electricity needs of Farah Province," said Muhammad Ismail Khan, minister of energy and water.
About 545 large, medium and small dams will be built or refurbished across the country. About 111 of these dams are a priority for the ministry.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
By Arshad Mohammed
LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday complaints against Afghans working for U.S. special forces in Afghanistan would be investigated, a day after Afghan President Hamid Karzai ordered U.S. troops to leave a critical battleground province.
Karzai's spokesman on Sunday said Karzai had decided that all U.S. special forces must leave Wardak province within two weeks, after accusations that Afghans working for them had tortured and killed innocent people.
The move could further complicate talks between the United States and Afghanistan over the presence of American troops in the country once most NATO forces leave by the end of 2014.
"With respect to Afghanistan and Wardak province, I understand the concerns that they have expressed. And appropriately, any complaints that they may have ought to be appropriately evaluated, and they will be, I can assure you," Kerry told reporters during a visit to London.
Kerry said it was up to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to investigate. On Sunday ISAF said it was aware of the allegations of misconduct but would not comment further until it had spoken to Afghan officials.
In Washington, a U.S. defense official said no ISAF troops themselves were involved in any misconduct, as earlier Afghan statements had alleged.
"In recent months, a thorough review in cooperation with the Defense Ministry and National Directorate of Security has confirmed that no coalition forces have been involved in the alleged misconduct in Wardak province," the official said.
"Because we take these allegations seriously, ISAF and Afghanistan officials have agreed to a joint commission to look into the current concerns of citizens in Maidan Wardak."
Relations between Karzai and his international backers have at times been fraught, with the Afghan president warning that civilian deaths could sap support for foreign troops and fuel the insurgency.
Earlier this month, Karzai said Afghan security forces would be banned from calling for NATO air strikes in residential areas after 10 civilians died in one such strike.
Karzai's anger over the conduct of Afghan troops working with ISAF raises the pressure on Afghan forces as they increasingly assume control of security.
NATO and its partners are racing against the clock to train Afghanistan's 350,000-strong security forces, though questions remain over how well the Afghans will be able tackle the insurgency in the face of intensifying violence.
Kerry said Karzai had "many legitimate evaluations" of where things have gone wrong or could be improved but indicated that negotiations on transition and an agreement on the presence of some U.S. troops in Afghanistan after 2014 were going well.
"We're working on a bilateral security arrangement; we're working on this transition process. We've had a very good conversation with the President (Karzai) in the last days," Kerry said.
(Writing by Mohammed Abbas; Additional reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Michael Roddy and Cynthia Osterman)
NATO says no evidence for Afghan misconduct claim
By PATRICK QUINN and RAHIM FAIEZ | Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan said Monday it has found no evidence to support allegations that American special forces were involved in the abuse of Afghan civilians in a restive eastern province that serves as a gateway to Kabul.
The statement came as the Afghan government moved ahead with an order to expel the special forces from Wardak province within two weeks, undeterred by fears the decision could leave the area and the neighboring capital more vulnerable to al-Qaida and other insurgents.
Provincial officials and analysts expressed concern the already dangerous province could become more unstable without the American firepower, although they agreed with President Hamid Karzai's decision to investigate the allegations.
Karzai issued the order on Sunday after a meeting of the National Security Council at which Wardak provincial governor Abdul Majid Khogyani and other local officials blamed Afghans working with U.S. special forces for the disappearance of at least nine men and the murder of an Afghan university student. The U.S. forces are being expelled because of their association with the Afghan groups.
Khogyani and the other officials also alleged that the Afghans working for the American special forces were involved in abusive behavior including torture, killings and illegal detentions.
The armed Afghans are not part of the Afghan security forces, the government has said, implying that they are members of secret militias working with the Americans.
Coalition spokesman German Gen. Gunter Katz said the International Security Assistance Force found no evidence showing foreign forces were involved in abuses, but he did not comment on the Afghans allegedly linked to the Americans.
"We take all allegations of misconduct seriously and go to great lengths to determine the facts surrounding them," Katz told reporters. "Over the past few weeks there have been various allegations of special forces conducting themselves in an unprofessional manner" in Wardak.
He added that "so far, we could not find evidence that would support these allegations."
Katz said he would not comment on the allegations until the coalition talks to the Afghan government "in the near future."
An ISAF spokesman, Jamie Graybeal, said that "in recent months, a thorough review has confirmed that no Coalition forces have been involved in the alleged misconduct in Wardak province."
He said that the two sides had agreed to a joint commission to look "into the current concerns of citizens" in Wardak.
Presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi, however, said the government had asked NATO about the groups in the past and had not received a satisfactory answer.
Wardak is a lynchpin province that connects the capital to southern Afghanistan, and the country's main north-south highway and trade route runs through its hills and desert plains. It is considered a transit point for insurgents coming from the south — the Taliban heartland — and from the east along the Pakistani frontier where insurgents retain safe havens.
The area outside the provincial capital of Maidan Shahr — an hour's drive from the capital — is so dangerous that local officials reported they often can't go to their offices by road.
It has been the focus of counterinsurgency efforts in recent years and the site of many attacks against coalition and U.S. bases, including one in November that killed three Afghan civilians and wounded 90. In August 2011, insurgents shot down a Chinook helicopter, killing 30 American troops, mostly elite Navy SEALs, in Wardak. The crash was the single deadliest loss for U.S. forces in the war.
At least 100 insurgent groups operate in Wardak, including al-Qaida, the Taliban and fighters loyal to the Pakistan-based Haqqani militant network, according to Jawed Kohistani, a political and military analyst. He said recent suicide attacks in the capital were an indication that the situation could deteriorate if special forces withdrew from Wardak.
"They can attack convoys, destabilize the security situation in Kabul," he said. "It is giving them opportunity to get stronger in Wardak, and that will be a real threat to the security of Kabul city."
The Afghan government has said it is confident its own security forces, which took the lead for security in Wardak last December, can deal with the insurgents and stabilize the province.
It is unclear how many of the extremely secretive U.S. special forces are operating in Wardak.
"We never talk about special operating forces. We don't about their numbers either," said Katz.
Afghan forces have been in control of Kabul for years and Katz said then government had assured them that "they are capable enough to provide security" for the capital.
Sher Shah Bazon, a member of the Wardak provincial council, said there were many complaints about Afghan groups working with U.S. special forces, but "we must find a solution for this sort of issue here by talking with the U.S. special forces, which did not happen. Instead a decision was made which I believe most people are not happy with it."
He said that Wardak was so insecure that local officials had problems getting around.
"A district governor or a district police chief in many districts can't go to their offices by road, and if they go they must have a big convoy of security forces with them. So with a security situation like this, the withdrawal of the foreign forces is not a good idea," he said.
Most of the complaints are aimed at the Afghans working with the U.S. special forces, provincial officials said.
"I can say a lack of coordination between the Afghan and foreign forces caused all these problems in Wardak. The withdrawal of the U.S. special forces from Wardak would not be to the benefit of people, government and security of Wardak province. I am sure that would have a negative impact on the security of Kabul city as well," said Mohammad Hazrat Janan, deputy head of provincial council.
Hamid Karzai is mad as heck and he isn't going to take it anymore
Afghan President Hamid Karzai would like to make it very clear that he doesn't like the US, his principal protector and patron.
By Dan Murphy | Christian Science Monitor
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been on a roll recently in attacking the professionalism and ability of the US military – the people most responsible for his run as Afghanistan's leader.
With ongoing negotiations over a Status of Forces Agreement that would govern the possible retention of a sizable US military presence in the country after 2014, Mr. Karzai's belligerent stance toward the US – also the principal financial backer of his government – seems an odd way to go about the negotiation.
But there he was over the weekend, accusing US Special Forces of involvement in torture and murder in Wardak, and ordering them out of the province within two weeks. That came about a week after Karzai banned the Afghan National Army (ANA) from calling on US and other international air support for ground operations after an incident in which he said 10 civilians were killed when Afghan intelligence called up a NATO airstrike.
RECOMMENDED: How well do you know Afghanistan? Take our quiz.
While civilian casualties in urban areas have been a key driver of Afghan anger at both international forces and the Karzai government, asking Afghanistan's soldiers to fight without that kind of support will surely drive up their own casualty rates. It would also raise questions about what effect it will have on operations against the Taliban by the ANA. The chances that more territory will simply be ceded to the group as a consequence of this order, if he sticks to it, are high. (Writing for the Monitor from Kabul, Paige McClanahan fleshed out the risks of Karzai's action in Wardak.)
Perhaps that's Karzai's point. Most of the Taliban are drawn from the Pashtun ethnic group that Karzai himself belongs to, and with moves afoot to sharply reduce the international military presence (US President Obama said in his State of the Union Address that the current plan is to cut the US military presence from about 68,000 now to 34,000 by the end of the year) negotiation and accommodation are probably on his mind.
US objectives long ago were scaled back in Afghanistan with the recognition that the United State's longest war was not going to end in the total destruction of the Taliban. Warlords of all stripes – members of the Taliban, allies of Karzai – are going to have a seat at the table in determining Afghanistan's future after most international forces leave, and it's hard to fault Karzai for recognizing this reality.
And criticizing the Americans, hugely unpopular in the country after more than a decade of occupation, is smart politics. But it's also dangerous, because Karzai's grip on power rests on both NATO military power and the billions of dollars that flow into the country, which create patronage opportunities and employment for those around him, from the US and its NATO allies.
Wardak borders Kabul to the west, and has become a much more dangerous place in the past couple of years, with US commanders suspecting that attacks inside Kabul have been planned from the neighboring province. The Kabul-Kandahar highway, a key economic lifeline and source of resupply for foreign and local troops alike, crosses through the province, and for years local warlords have profited from convoy protection. Protesters in the provincial capital of Maidan Shahr blocked the highway for a day earlier this month after the body of a local university student, alleged to have been killed by US forces, was found dumped in a local river.
That incident appears to have been among those that caused Karzai to take action. A statement from the president's office over the weekend said: "A recent example in the province is an incident in which nine people were disappeared in an operation by this suspicious force and in a separate incident a student was taken away at night from his home, whose tortured body with throat cut was found two days later under a bridge," the statement added. "However, Americans reject having conducted any such operation and any involvement of their special force."
Is it possible that torture and murder is going on in Wardak? Almost certainly. Torture and murder are commonly deployed by Afghan powerbrokers and warlords on all sides of the Afghan conflict. Could US forces themselves be responsible? It's possible.
But more likely, if there's any truth to what Karzai contends, is that actions have been carried out by other informal militias who work with US Special Forces or formal Afghan commandos who do likewise.
The role of US Special Forces is, by and large, to work with and train foreign armies and militia groups. There have been persistent claims that local forces trained by US Special Forces have been involved in murder and torture down the years. A few thousand US Special Forces were involved in training roughly 16,000 Afghan Local Police (ALP), village-based paramilitary groups that have been accused of killing and torturing detainees, for much of last year and the year before, though that training was suspended to improve vetting after a rash of Afghans armed and trained by NATO killed their foreign colleagues.
Human Rights Watch alleges that ALP members have been involved in "killings, rape, and extortion of Afghan civilians" and explains the genesis of the groups this way:
The ALP was created in 2010 at the request of Gen David Petraeus, the former commander of international forces in Afghanistan... The ALP is a loose network of local defence forces designed to mobilise and arm local civilians to defend their communities from the Taliban in areas where the national police and army have a limited presence. ALP recruits are mentored by foreign troops, most frequently US special forces, but in some parts of the country by troops from other nations, including Britain. They are nominally under the supervision of the Afghanistan National Police, but in practice they are sometimes no more than deputised gunmen loyal to a local warlord or members of violent local militias who are given a new uniform
The cooptation of gunmen loyal to local warlords has been consistently attempted throughout the Afghan war, and it makes sense at the local level: Motivated Afghan soldiers who know the local people and terrain can be fairly useful. But given that NATO's stated goal has been to build a strong central government, local tactical efforts have often moved counter to the ultimate goals.
The stakes in Wardak are pretty high, write Bill Ardolino and Bill Roggio at the Long War Journal:
Wardak province, which borders Kabul to the southwest, has been contested by the Taliban and the Haqqani Network, the al Qaeda-linked Taliban subgroup, despite US efforts to secure the province over the past several years. The Taliban have been in control of the Tangi Valley, which runs through Wardak, since the withdrawal of US forces from Combat Outpost Tangi in the spring of 2011. US troops turned over the base to the Afghan Army, which immediately abandoned it. The Taliban later released a videotape that showed hundreds of fighters and senior Taliban leaders massing at the abandoned base and conducting a tour.
Wardak has been the scene of numerous high-profile attacks by the two groups, particularly in 2011. The Taliban shot down a US Army Chinook helicopter in Sayyidabad on Aug. 6, 2011. Thirty-eight US and Afghan troops, including 17 US Navy SEALS from the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, were killed in the crash. And on Sept. 10, 2011, the Taliban detonated a massive suicide bomb outside of Combat Outpost Sayyidabad, killing four Afghans and wounding more than 100 people, including 77 US soldiers. US commanders later blamed the attack on the Haqqani Network, a powerful al Qaeda subgroup.
President Karzai seems more concerned about the US role in the province, at least in public.The Obama administration is hoping to keep up to 15,000 troops in Afghanistan after the end of 2014 as a "residual force" that would focus on training Afghan troops and counterterrorism operations. But one matter yet to be decided is whether Karzai, who is scheduled to step down after presidential elections in 2014, will grant ongoing immunity from US forces from Afghan prosecution. A refusal to do so would probably be politically popular, but would be a deal breaker for Obama, with the specter of US troops hauled before Afghanistan's frequently corrupt courts.
The question of immunity was what eventually ended the US military presence in Iraq. Will Karzai go that far? Friends I talk to who understand Afghanistan far better than me insist that Karzai and the people around him will make a deal, since a lose of US military and financial support would be catastrophic for them.
But recent signs from Karzai are that he's leaning in the other direction.
4 civilians killed in blast in Afghan Helmand province
LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Four Afghan civilians were killed and two others were wounded in explosion in the country's southern province of Helmand on Monday morning, police said.
"A civilian car was running along a road in Sharsharak area of Marja district at about 9 a.m. local time but the ill-fated vehicle touched off an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and the explosion claimed the lives of four civilians and wounded two others," the provincial police department said in a statement issued here.
The injured people were shifted to a district hospital in the province 555 km south of Afghan capital of Kabul, it said, adding no woman or children was among the victims.
Taliban militants fighting Afghan forces and NATO-led troops often target security forces with IEDs or roadside bombs but the lethal weapons also inflict casualties on civilians.
A total of 2,754 civilians were killed and 4,805 injured in conflict-related violence in 2012, a 12 percent drop in overall civilian casualties compared to 2011, according to a UN report released in Kabul earlier this month.
The IEDs were the single largest killer of civilians in 2012, leaving 868 people dead and 1,663 injured, according to the report.
The UN report attributed 81 percent of the civilian deaths to the attacks by Taliban and other armed groups opposing the government, another eight percent of the deaths were attributed to Afghan and NATO-led forces and 11 percent were unattributed.
Taliban describe Pakistani interior minister as ‘comedian’
By Mirwais Adeel - 25 Feb 2013, 1:42 pm Khaama Press
Taliban militants group in Pakistan called upon the government to replace interior minister Rehman Malik with a ‘serious person’ for peace dialogue after mocking him as a ‘comedian’.
Ehsanullah Ehsan spokesman for the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on Sunday said, his ultraorthodox militia did not take Malik’s statements seriously.
While speaking in a telephone interview, Ehsanullah Ehsan told Pakistan’s The Express Tribune, “Our Central Shura (consultative council) believes that if Rehman Malik keeps on churning out statements about our offer, it’ll indicate the government is not serious in pursuing peace talks.”
This comes as Pakistan interior Rehman Malik on Saturday asked the Taliban group to name a team of ‘serious negotiator’ if they wanted to make peace.
He also said that the Taliban group start talks about peace dialogue when they become weak.
In the meantime Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said, “If the government replaces Rehman Malik with a serious person to deal with the dialogue issue, we will come up with an immediate, positive and civilised response in the best interests of Pakistan and its people.”
Ehsan said he has been stopped from commenting on Malik’s statements because the Taliban and “even many in Pakistan don’t trust him (Malik)”.
He also compared Malik with a Pashtu comdedian, Ismail Shahid.
TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan also denied to comment regarding the upcoming all-party conference convened by JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman later this month to discuss the peace prospects in the tribal regions.
He said, “The Taliban are fighting for the existence of the tribal people as many tribesmen have been killed and displaced [by fighting in the region] and now they should have a better life,” he added.
Young Afghan actor's family says Oscar nomination is source of pride even if movie didn't win
By Kim Gamel, The Associated Press
KABUL - Relatives of the young Afghan star of "Buzkashi Boys" expressed more pride than disappointment upon learning on Monday that the Oscar-nominated movie didn't win.
Fawad Mohammadi and Jawanmard Paiz, both 14, donned tuxedos for the ceremony after travelling from Kabul to Los Angeles for a trip down the red carpet.
The 28-minute movie is about two penniless young boys — a street urchin and a blacksmith's son — who are best friends and dream of becoming professional players of buzkashi, a particularly rough and dangerous game that somewhat resembles polo: Horseback riders wrangle to get a headless goat carcass into a circular goal at one end of the field.
Fawad's brothers got up early to watch the show, which began at 6 a.m. Monday in Kabul, on an Internet feed provided by The Associated Press. They didn't flinch as actor Jamie Foxx announced that "Curfew" was the winner in the live action short film category.
"Although the movie didn't win, I'm very happy that Fawad made it to such a place. I'm very happy for him. At the same time he is my brother and I miss him," said Fawad's 19-year-old brother, Ahmad Jawad Mohammadi.
"Buzkashi Boys" was directed by Sam French, a Philadelphia native who has lived in Afghanistan for about five years, and funded in large part with a grant of more than $200,000 from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul as part of an effort to encourage Afghans to see the parts of their country that aren't mired in conflict. It was produced by Montrealer Ariel Nasr.
Jawanmard, who has been acting since he was five, played the street peddler while Fawad was the blacksmith's son.
The movie — the first instalment in a project aimed at training local film industry workers — gained international attention when it received an Academy Awards nomination.
Fawad's story got special attention because he was discovered by French while peddling maps to foreigners in the Afghan capital, one of an untold number of Afghan youths hustling in the streets to help earn money for their families.
He started selling chewing gum when he was about seven years old and soon expanded his trade to maps and dictionaries, learning to speak English during his interactions with foreigners on Chicken Street, an area in Kabul with shops selling multicolour rugs, crafts and souvenirs. He was even able to enrol in a private school, thanks to the generosity of some other foreigners unrelated to the film project.
His brother-in-law said it was an important first step for Fawad to act in such a high-profile film and appear among the rich and famous at the Oscars.
"Fawad is not only my relative ... he is a source of pride for Afghanistan. This time he made it to the Oscars. Maybe next time he will win," Mohammad Fahim Nadri said.
French raised nearly $12,000 in an effort to get the boys to Hollywood, but Turkish Airlines and the U.S. Embassy in Kabul stepped in to cover travel costs so he is putting the money instead into a college fund for Fawad.
Afghanistan's first female mayor proves critics wrong
Azra Jafari has won respect in her community as she fights to improve lives and change attitudes towards women
The Guardian By Golnar Motevalli Sunday 24 February 2013
Kabul - When Azra Jafari became mayor of Nili, she knew that the impoverished and remote Afghan town desperately needed roads and investment. She was aware she would be living in very basic conditions, on a meagre salary of $76 (£50) a month, and that taking care of a four-year-old daughter at the same time would be challenging.
What she was less prepared for was the appearance of a powerful mullah in her unheated, makeshift office, wagging his finger at her, warning that Nili was not about to accept a female mayor who thought she could "exploit her femininity in order to complete a few projects and influence our women".
"After three months, the same man came up to me and thanked me," Jafari recalled, four years later. "He said, 'If a man could do just half of what you've done here, our province will surely flourish.' He now supports me and we work very well together – I have a great deal of respect for him."
She is now referred to as "Mr Mayor" by her community, a title that conveys respect in a country not known for women's rights.
Until 2009, Nili – a small town of about 40,000 people at the centre of Daykundi province – had never seen a female official, said Jafari. She had to prove to the community that she was serious about improving their lives.
Jafari was shocked by the complete lack of infrastructure in the town. "Anything that needed to be built in Nili, had to be built from scratch," she said. "And I had no budget" – something she had to address by making regular trips to Kabul to implore ministry officials to release funds. "When I arrived, my office had been damaged by snowfall. It was a small room, with a few pillows. There was no table, no chairs. Just a couple of people there to help me," Jafari said.
"Wherever it was necessary I picked up a shovel, kicked dirt, and gathered coal with my hands. Nili is not the sort of town where you can easily drive a car. I often had to walk from place to place through deep snow, getting my feet soaking wet."
The 34-year-old cannot be further from the image of the downtrodden victim that has become a misleading shorthand for Afghan womanhood. Nor is she connected to a powerful or wealthy family, and she fiercely rejects the suggestion that her promotion was an exercise in tokenism by a government under pressure from its western financiers to show it is bettering women's rights.
"If our friends in the international community really made me mayor because I am a woman then they would have paid for the roads I built. Unfortunately they have contributed very little to the changes in Daykundi," she said.
Jafari also does not hold back on the subject of how severely women in office in Afghanistan are judged, likening it to having one's decisions and behaviour placed under a magnifying glass.
"There are plenty of men here with no ambition to work, who are bad at their jobs and over whom a lot of money has been wasted. Because they are men, no one really questions them and asks 'as a man, how successful have you managed to be?' But as the only female mayor among 180 others, the first question I'm always asked, wherever I am, is 'show us what you've done for your people.'"
Jafari, who is married to an Afghan film-maker, is currently the subject of a documentary series called Kabul: A City at Work, a sequel to Kabul at Work, which seeks to show ordinary working Afghans doing extraordinary things at a time of war.
"Mr Mayor" grew up in Ghor province, which borders Daykundi to the west. Like Daykundi, Ghor's population is poor and mainly Shia Hazara. Jafari says that her familiarity with the people and their needs is what partly drew her to the job in Nili.
Daykundi has virtually no western troops. It was carved out of inhospitable mountainous terrain in the centre of Afghanistan in 2004, hugged by the much more restive provinces of Ghazni, Uruzgan and Helmand.
It takes Jafari and her daughter, Indira, two days to drive to Nili from Kabul. It is a perilous journey on poorly paved roads. It becomes a death trap during winter's heavy snowfall.
Two days after this interview, Jafari telephoned from Nili to explain that the small coach in which she had been travelling along with her daughter and 13 other passengers, had overturned and almost careered 1,600ft towards a riverbed below.
"The windows were shattered. Thank God we were OK," she said, adding that she had suffered a sprained neck and her daughter had cut her finger on some glass. "But she couldn't stop shaking for half an hour afterwards."
Bad weather and heart-stopping bus journeys are one risk. The other is the war being waged between Afghan and foreign forces and insurgents.
Jafari's commute often takes her through the insurgent-filled province of Maidan Wardak. "Last year we were caught in a gunfight between Afghan forces and insurgents for three hours. We couldn't move."
And violence is slowly encroaching on Nili itself. Daykundi has long been known as one of the least dangerous and most isolated provinces in Afghanistan. But the Taliban are making increasingly bold moves on Nili, advancing from a district called Gizab, on the border with Uruzgan and technically under that province's jurisdiction.
For many years, it was the very lack of an insurgency that starved Daykundi of adequate attention from foreign donors. Now, Jafari says, that argument is running on borrowed time.
Between 2001 and 2011 the US government's development agency, USAid, spent $37m (£24.4m) on projects in Daykundi province, which has a population of just over 400,000 but no Nato-backed provincial reconstruction team (PRT). By contrast, the more dangerous Uruzgan province, which borders Daykundi to its south and is home to 100,000 fewer civilians, received almost twice as much aid over the same period and hosts a PRT.
Like thousands of Afghans, Jafari fled the civil war in the early 1990s, taking refuge in Iran, where she ran a school for Afghan refugee children. She moved back to Afghanistan in September 2001 to take part in a peace jirga (a tribal assembly of elders) as the fall of the Taliban became imminent. She has also published two books, one entitled I am a Working Woman, which she wrote for women with low levels of literacy.
When we met, Jafari was dressed in a fitted beige knee-length tunic, buttoned down the front and worn over trousers. Her hair was neatly covered with a black shawl splashed with bright colours and loosely wrapped around her neck. It is a typical Kabul look, but perhaps seen as less acceptable in a much more conservative and rural place such as Nili.
"I like to dress formally," she explained. "This means clothes tend to be more fitted and a bit tighter, but this is the way formal, professional people dress. Not traditional loose, wide clothing, and people need to accept this."
She has never changed what she wears, even in the face of criticism and gossip, as she sees it as part of her job to encourage people to understand that the way someone dresses has no bearing on who they are or their ability to get a job done properly.
"What I've really learned is that it makes no difference whether you are a man or a woman, what matters is that you do your work properly and you work hard and how seriously you take your responsibilities," she said.
As Afghanistan's first and only female mayor, Jafari is determined to make her mark not just on infrastructure but on attitudes towards women. She feels strongly that since being in Nili, she has influenced the way younger women think, and for the better. She says one day she may angle for the top job in government, but she would like to become a member of parliament before aiming for the presidential palace. "I'm like a template for women," she said.
The morning after the interview, Jafari set off, with Indira in tow, on their long and dangerous journey to Nili.
Additional reporting by Ellie Kealey
Ethnicity issues resolved in new Afghan electronic ID cards
By Jawed Rostapoor - 25 Feb 2013, 10:48 am Khaama Press
According to Afghan telecommunication and information technology ministry officials around 14 million Afghan citizens will receive electronic identity cards during the upcoming Afghan fiscal year.
The issue of electronic identity cards was under discussion between the Afghan government and international community during the past two years, with the Afghan independent election commission being the main focus of the discussions as election officials believe that fraudulent acts will be prevented through electronic identity cards.
However Afghan interior ministry officials said only 50% of the Afghan population elgibible for the voting will receive electronic identity cards until the upcoming prsidential election due to the lack of time.
One of the major concern regarding the ethnicity of the identity card holders was also resolved after Afghan president Hamid Karzai ordered to mention the native language and ethnicity of the citizens in the electronic identity card.
This comes as the issue of the electronic ID card language to be written only in Pashtu language was raised several times during the political events
and Afghan lawmakers also raised concerns regarding the ID language which on other could create problem to clearly specify the statistics of the Afghan population.
Currently Afghan identity cards are issued with nationality titled as “Afghan” which is believed to be unsatisfactory for the Pashtun and has created tensions among the Afghan people despite no satisfactory reason has been given by the Afghan government in this regard.
Afghan population is comprised various ethnic groups and according to observers recommendation by the Afghan government to title all the nationalities as “Afghan” has a political scenario.
Observers also believe that political and social crisis of Afghanistan including the civil war has direct links with giving more credit to one ethnic group.
On the other hand there are concerns regarding the distribution of electronic ID cards in volatile regions of the country despite Afghan interior ministry officials announced to arrange proper security for the employees who are working in unsafe regions specifically in southern Afghanistan.
According to interior ministry officals around 2,400 people have already been hired and they are looking to increase the number of workers to 3,000 for the distribution of electronic ID cards across the country.
Allied troops in Afghanistan see fewer insider attacks
USA TODAY By Jim Michaels February 24, 2013
The number of insider attacks, which reached record levels in 2012, have dropped largely as a result of "substantial" changes in tactics by Afghan and U.S. forces.
Attacks on coalition troops by allied Afghanistan security forces, which reached record levels last year, have declined dramatically so far this year, as coalition and Afghan commanders bolster security and improve screening of troops who might be a threat.
Last year, 47 attacks by rogue Afghan security forces on coalition troops killed 62 people. This year, one coalition death has been reported as a result of one "insider attack."
"I don't think that threat ever goes away," said Marine Maj. Gen. Charles "Mark" Gurganus, who commands coalition forces in southwest Afghanistan. Still, Gurganus said, changes made by both coalition and Afghan forces in his region have helped reduce the threat.
The decline in insider attacks comes as overall fatalities U.S. forces has decreased sharply. This year, three U.S. troops were killed in Afghanistan, down from 39 during the same period last year. The number of U.S. forces has been declining as Afghan forces take a lead role in security operations.
The insider attacks have dropped largely as a result of "substantial" changes in tactics by Afghan and U.S. forces, Gurganus said in an interview from Afghanistan.
Among the changes he cited:
Coalition forces improved security tactics to enhance troop protection. Afghan commanders increased supervision and oversight of their troops. Afghans enhanced screening of recruits and took counterintelligence steps to screen for potential attackers.
The nationwide spike in these attacks last year raised worries that the trend would undermine trust between Afghan and coalition forces, just as the mission of coalition forces was changing from combat to training and assisting Afghan security forces.
"The Taliban realized the strategic significance of these attacks even though I'm not sure how many of them they were actually responsible for," Gurganus said. "The Taliban was very quick to claim credit for them."
The military has said it was hard to determine the precise cause for many of the attacks, though only a small number were direct infiltration by Taliban insurgents.
Many of the attacks appeared to have been the result of cultural misunderstandings or personal grievances. Some Afghan soldiers were also influenced when they went on leave or if their family was threatened by insurgents.
Key to the recent improvement was getting Afghan leaders to recognize the problem and take action. "We really saw the Afghans reach out and grip these problems," Gurganus said.
"I think it took a little coaxing on the part of Gen. Allen," he said, referring to Marine Gen. John Allen, who recently stepped down as commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan.
Afghan leaders talked directly to their troops about the issue and pushed small unit leaders, such as platoon leaders, to keep a closer eye on their troops.
American junior officers and noncommissioned officers are expected to know their troops well and exercise close supervision. That was not generally the case in the Afghan military.
The increased awareness of the junior Afghan leaders helped head off potential problems.
The Afghans also provided counter-intelligence assistance, helping to screen soldiers who might pose a threat, said Marc Chretien, Allen's chief political adviser.
"Gen. Allen immediately gripped the problem, but more importantly made it a problem for the Afghans and enlisted their support," Chretien said.
The military also noted that soldiers who came from some regions were more likely to be involved in an attack.
Contributing: Paul Overberg
United Nations removes Osama bin Laden from sanctions list
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Almost two years after his death at the hands of U.S. special forces in Pakistan, a U.N. Security Council committee has removed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden from its sanctions list, although an order freezing any assets of the Islamist extremist remains in place.
Bin Laden had been subjected to a travel ban and asset freeze since he was listed by the Security Council al-Qaeda sanctions committee on January 25, 2001. He was shot and killed on May 2, 2011 by U.S. forces who stormed his compound in Pakistan.
The U.N. committee said in a statement that bin Laden was officially removed from the sanctions list on February 21, but that countries must submit requests to unfreeze any of his assets.
Those countries must also "provide assurances to the Committee that the assets will not be transferred, directly or indirectly, to a listed individual, group, undertaking or entity, or otherwise used for terrorist purposes."
There are about 233 individuals and 63 entities or groups on the U.N. al Qaeda sanctions list. All individuals on the list are subject to asset freezes and an international travel ban.
Bin Laden's al Qaeda network was blamed for killing nearly 3,000 people when hijackers crashed commercial planes into New York City's World Trade Center, the Pentagon outside Washington and a field in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001.
The members of bin Laden's family in Pakistan were repatriated to Saudi Arabia in April, 2012 on humanitarian grounds. The Saudi government did not say how many there were, but previous reports suggested that three widows, seven children and four grandchildren were deported.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Eric Walsh)
Rights Watchdog Concerned Over Iran's Execution of Afghans
TOLOnews.com By Saleha Sadaat Sunday, 24 February 2013
Human Rights Watch expressed concern Sunday over Iran's reported execution of several Afghans for drug trafficking-related offenses.
The Afghans sentenced to death did not receive fair trials and were not given opportunities to seek assistance from the Afghan government, said Hearther Barr, Human Rights Watch's Afghanistan researcher.
"We know that when people are sentenced to death in Iran they often have not received a fair trial and in the situation of Afghans, they are not given the opportunity to get assistance from the Afghan government," Barr said.
The dead bodies of several Afghan refugees who were recently executed in Iran arrived in northern Takhar province and were buried on Saturday. The refugees were sentenced to death for drug trafficking, reports suggest.
"According to our reports, only seven Afghans were executed in Iran in the past four months," spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations Islamuddin Jurat said Sunday.
The Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged Iranian officials to inform the Afghan government about death sentences issued for Afghan refugees in Iran.
"We have urged the Iranian government several times to at least inform the Afghan government about the execution of Afghan refugees in their country," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Janan Mosazai told TOLOnews on Sunday.
The Iranian embassy's media relations officer in Afghanistan, Farzad Amin, did not confirm the reports but said that he would investigate them.
"We have heard about execution of Afghan refugees from Afghan media outlets, but it has not been confirmed by the Iranian government yet. We will comment about this once it's confirmed," Amin said.
Pakistani Firm to Design Farah River Dam
TOLOnews.com By Shahla Murtazaie Sunday, 24 February 2013
The Ministry of Water and Energy said on Sunday that a Pakistani company will do the survey and design of the Farah River Dam, a $4 million project.
The National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK) is expected to complete the project in 18 months. The ministry has hailed the project as the first of its kind by a Pakistani company in Afghanistan.
The dam will be paid for by Afghan government funds and, once completed, is expected to meet all the irrigation and energy needs of Farah province.
"The dam's storage capacity will be more than one billion cubic meters. At the same time, it can irrigate more than 68,000 acres of agricultural land and produce about 27 megawatts of electricity, which can meet the electricity needs of Farah Province," said Muhammad Ismail Khan, minister of energy and water.
About 545 large, medium and small dams will be built or refurbished across the country. About 111 of these dams are a priority for the ministry.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com