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Karzai chides U.S. during Hagel’s Afghanistan visit
By Ernesto Londoño and Kevin Sieff, The Washington Post
KABUL — Afghan President Hamid Karzai lashed out at the United States in strikingly acerbic terms Sunday, implying that the American military was stoking violence in collusion with the Taliban to justify a prolonged presence here and charging that foreign troops were harassing Afghan university students.
The remarks painted an embarrassing picture of discord that marred a visit by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, his first foreign trip as Pentagon chief, and plunged the tenuous allies into crisis mode at a time when the United States is struggling to wind down the unpopular war.
Afghan and American officials provided differing explanations for the cancellation of a joint news conference scheduled for Sunday night that had been expected to be the centerpiece of Hagel’s trip. U.S. officials said they scrapped the event in consultation with the Afghan government because of an unspecified security threat. Karzai’s spokesman, Aimal Faizi, rejected the notion that the palace would have been a dangerous place to hold a news conference.
“From our side, we saw no threat,” he said.
At best, the move left the impression that after more than a decade of war and billions of U.S. dollars spent, the United States deemed the risk of holding a news conference in the most barricaded quarter of the capital as unreasonably high. In stark contrast to Kabul visits by other U.S. defense secretaries, the trip did not include upbeat public pronouncements by Hagel about the state of the U.S. mission.
Hagel and Karzai did meet privately Sunday night. After the meeting, the secretary told reporters he was hopeful the two countries could overcome the latest crisis. “I know these are difficult issues for President Karzai and the Afghan people,” Hagel said.
In a televised speech about violence against women, Karzai said two fatal bombings carried out Saturday, including one outside the Defense Ministry, should not be interpreted as a Taliban show of force aimed at undermining the U.S. military, which is considering keeping a small force in Afghanistan after its wartime mandate expires at the end of 2014.
“In reality, the bombs that went off yesterday under the name of the Taliban were a service to the foreigners,” Karzai said, casting doubt on the assertion of responsibility made by the Taliban, which said that the attacks were carried out to mar Hagel’s visit. Karzai said the blasts helped Americans justify a prolonged troop presence in Afghanistan. “We have been down this road before too many times,” he added.
U.S. officials struggled to make sense of the tone and timing of Karzai’s remarks, but the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan dismissed the idea that the U.S. military could be complicit in attacks.
“We have fought too hard over the past 12 years,” Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. told reporters in Kabul on Sunday. “We have shed too much blood over the past 12 years, we have done too much to help the Afghan security forces grow over the past 12 years to think that violence or instability would be to our advantage.”
Dunford suggested Karzai’s anti-American rhetoric could be political gamesmanship.
“He’s a head of state that has both an internal and external audience,” Dunford said. “He knows far better than I do how to manage internal and external audiences.”
A senior Afghan official recently said that Karzai has opted to take the Americans to task in public because he feels Western officials don’t take him seriously and fail to listen to him during private meetings. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk candidly about Karzai’s thinking.
But Faizi, the president’s spokesman, said Karzai “raises his voice when there are concerns about issues that are not moving forward.”
Hours after the speech, Karzai’s office issued an executive order threatening to take “legal action” if international forces don’t stop harassing, annoying and detaining Afghan students.
The statement said Karzai “considers such acts a serious breach of Afghan sovereignty that stand in utter contradiction to the country’s enforced laws.”
Dunford, who was informed by journalists about the executive order, assured reporters that the international coalition was not harassing Afghan college students.
Karzai’s anger has been building in recent weeks. Two weeks ago, he imposed a two-week deadline for the expulsion of U.S. Special Operations forces from Wardak, a crucial eastern province, accusing the forces of murder and other abuses. The U.S. military said an investigation into the claims turned up no evidence to substantiate them and disregarded the ultimatum, saying U.S. forces would leave the area when it is prudent to do so.
Last week, Karzai balked at the terms of a plan for the Afghan government to assume responsibility for the American detention center here, hastily canceling a handover ceremony that had been scheduled to take place Saturday. U.S. commanders say they will not release prisoners who could put their troops in harm’s way.
Pentagon spokesman George Little denied that Sunday’s news conference had been canceled in response to Karzai’s remarks. He cited security concerns, which he declined to elaborate on, as the reason.
Dunford said Karzai’s heated rhetoric should not create the impression that trust between the two nations is irreparably broken. In fact, he argued, senior U.S. and Afghan security officials see eye to eye on most things.
“There is not a glimmer of daylight in our perspectives,” he said.
A U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss Washington’s perspective on Karzai’s latest outburst, said the U.S. government still believes it has a fundamentally constructive relationship with the Afghan government, including its president.
“We have told him in private that public criticism is unhelpful, especially when there is no basis in fact for some of the claims he makes,” the official said.
Hagel, who represented Nebraska in the U.S. Senate from 1997 to 2009, said he recognized the difficult position Karzai is in. “I was a politician once, so I can understand the kind of pressures” he faces, Hagel said. He added that he hoped the allies “can move forward, and I have confidence that we will.”
Hagel, Karzai Press Conference in Kabul Cancelled
VOA News March 10, 2013
U.S. officials say security concerns forced the cancellation of a scheduled news conference Sunday in Kabul with U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Authorities did not elaborate on the security issues, but a day earlier, two suicide bombings -- one in Kabul and the other in Khost -- killed 19 people. The bombing in Kabul targeted the Afghan Defense Ministry as Hagel was visiting the capital.
The press conference cancellation is the latest event to mark Hagel's first visit to Afghanistan as the new Pentagon chief.
Earlier Sunday, President Karzai accused the Taliban of being "at the service of America" by using attacks like the ones on Saturday to frighten Afghans into wanting foreign forces to remain in Afghanistan beyond the 2014 deadline.
The top U.S. general in Afghanistan General Joseph Dunford sharply rebuked the president's comments by saying, "we have fought too hard over the past 12 years... shed too much blood... to ever think that violence or instability would be to our advantage."
The Karzai government also alleged that U.S.-led forces working alongside Afghans were abusing and arresting university students.
Hagel comes to Afghanistan as it struggles with the United States over control of detention facilities and the pace for foreign troop withdrawal. A ceremony to transfer U.S. control of a main detention facility to Afghanistan Saturday also was cancelled as a deal struck between the two governments broke down.
Last month, Hagel's predecessor, Leon Panetta, said that NATO allies were considering leaving between 8,000 and 12,000 international troops in Afghanistan after 2014. Currently, there are about 100,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan.
Karzai: U.S., Taliban Holding 'Daily' Talks
March 10, 2013 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said that representatives of the Taliban have been holding talks "on a daily basis" with the U.S. government.
Karzai said the talks have taken place in "European and Gulf countries," despite the fact that the Taliban reportedly broke off contacts with the United States last year.
Karzai added that the Taliban continues to carry out attacks across Afghanistan "to show their power to the United States."
He said two suicide bombings that killed 19 people on March 9 -- one outside the Afghan Defense Ministry and the other near a police checkpoint in eastern Khost Province -- show the Taliban is conducting attacks to demonstrate that international forces will still be needed to keep the peace after their current combat mission ends in 2014.
"The bombing that took place yesterday and was carried out in the name of the Taliban -- these actions, in fact, show that the Taliban are serving the foreigners and are not against the foreigners," Karzai said. "These bombings show that the Taliban want the longer presence of foreigners, not their departure from Afghanistan."
The United States has not responded to Karzai's statements.
Washington has said it remains committed to political reconciliation involving talks with the Taliban but that progress would require agreement between the Afghan government and the militant group.
The Taliban's spokesman in Afghanistan, Zabihullah Mujahid, also denied that negotiations with the United States had resumed and said no progress had been made since they were suspended.
'Abusing' Students
Karzai on March 10 also alleged that U.S.-led forces and Afghans working with them were abusing and arresting university students and urged them to stop.
He issued a decree instructing the Interior Ministry and the intelligence agency to prevent troops from entering universities and other educational institutions.
Karzai said the ban also applied to the troops' "illegal Afghan colleagues," in a reference to militias supported by Washington, whom he said "arrested and annoyed a number of "students."
His comments came as a news conference with Karzai and visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel scheduled for March 10 was canceled amid security concerns.
U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the matter publicly, would not provide details on the security concerns.
They said Karzai and Hagel were expected to meet in private.
Pentagon press secretary George Little said the cancellation of the press conference was not due to Karzai's comments about the Taliban.
With reporting by dpa, Reuters, and AP
NATO commander and US embassy reject Karzai’s remarks
By Sajad - 10 Mar 2013, 9:16 pm Khaama Press
NATO-led International Security Assistance Force commander Gen. Joseph Dunford and the US embassy in Afghanistan rejected president Hamid Karzai’s remarks and called it incorrect.
President Hamid Karzai on Saturday said US officials and Taliban group representatives are hold talks on daily basis in Gulf and European states.
Gen. Joseph Dunford said president Karzai’s remarks are completely incorrect and insisted that president Karzai has never shared the ongoing talks between Taliban and United States.
NATO commander also said that he met president Karzai on Saturday and hopes that his claims are not true. He also added that he does not know the motive behind president Hamid Karzai’s remarks
In the meantime US embassy in Kabul denied president Karzai’s remarks and emphasized that the only US role in Afghan talks is to support an Afghan-led reconciliation process.
In response to president Karzai’s remarks, US embassy in Kabul issued a statement and said that the Taliban group halted peace talks with the US government last March.
The statement also added that the two leaders agreed to open a liaison office for the Taliban group in Qatar and emphasized that the Afghan talks should be limited to Afghan high peace council and official representatives of the Taliban group.
U.S. general: No dangerous detainees to be released to Afghan custody
CNN By Chris Lawrence March 9, 2013
The United States has acted to transfer to Afghanistan's custody the prisoners it is holding in that country, but a top commander says those who pose a threat will not be moved.
The issue of custody of prisoners in Afghanistan has long been a sticking point between the two countries ahead of a planned withdrawal of American troops in 2014.
There was White House support to see the transfers through, but unease crept in after Afghan President Hamid Karzai said many of the prisoners are innocent and promised to release them.
The commander of the International Security Assistance Force, Gen. Joseph Dunford, stated unequivocally Saturday that the United States will ensure than anyone deemed a threat remains detained. The ISAF is under the NATO umbrella.
"I think there's probably a difference of opinion," Dunford said, referring to Karzai's assertion that many prisoners are innocent. "We certainly don't have anyone in the detention facility that we think doesn't deserve to be there, in order to protect our forces."
As recently this week, Gen. James Mattis, commander of U.S. Central Command, told Congress that he supports the transfer of prisoners in part because there is a "dual-key" system where both countries have a say in who is released.
Dunford said the United States would do what it takes to keep certain detainees in prison.
"If there's a threat to the force, we will not conduct the transfer," he said. "One thing that we will do is ensure that the young men and women that are over here in harm's way are provided adequate protection. If there are people that need to be detained, we will make sure they are detained."
The ISAF commander also addressed a disparity in numbers being suggested for U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan past 2014. The White House has talked about 5,000 troops, while Mattis recently called for 13,600 troops.
No decision has been made on how many troops will remain and are under review, he said.
"Gen. Mattis and I have never talked specific numbers. I'm in the process now of answering some questions and making some recommendations," Dunford said.
Dunford said he met with Karzai on Saturday to discuss another issue between the two countries, the order by Karzai for U.S. Special Forces withdraw from Wardak Province, which is just west of the capital of Kabul, by this week.
There is still room for compromise, he said.
"His minister of defense was there, and we agreed to continue to work this issue with his minister, to ensure that we have adequate protection for the force, that we were gonna accomplish our security mission in Wardak, and also meet his concerns about moving Afghan forces in the lead," he said.
Hagel optimistic US will work things out with Afghan leaders to allow commandos to stay
Associated Press Sunday, March 10, 2013
JALALABAD, Afghanistan - U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said he believes U.S. officials will be able to work things out with Afghan leaders who have ordered special operations forces out of Wardak province, even as commandos face a Monday deadline to leave.
Hagel’s comments came on his first trip to Afghanistan as defense secretary. On his first morning in Kabul, two suicide bombings, one outside the Afghan Defense Ministry and the other near a police checkpoint in eastern Khost province, killed at least 19 people, including a U.S. contractor. A Taliban spokesman said the blast outside the defense ministry was a message to the visiting Pentagon chief.
The violence and the order to withdraw the special operations forces underscore the military and diplomatic complexities confronting the Obama administration and the U.S.-led NATO force as they work to end combat operations in 2014.
Hagel said he could hear the explosion during a meeting held at a safe location a distance away from the site.
“We’re in a war zone, I’ve been in war. You know, so — you shouldn’t be surprised when a bomb goes off or there’s an explosion,” Hagel said.
Hagel is expected to meet Sunday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who ordered the U.S. forces to leave the province just outside Kabul because of allegations that Afghans working with the commandos were involved in abusive behavior and torture.
“I feel confident that we’ll be able to work this out,” Hagel told reporters during a stop at Jalalabad Airfield, where he met with commanders and spoke to troops.
U.S. officials insist they have seen no evidence that American forces were involved in the abuse of Afghan civilians.
“Each of those accusations has been answered, and we’re not involved,” said Brigadier Adam Findlay, NATO’s deputy chief of staff of operations and a member of the Australian military. “There are obviously atrocities occurring there, but it’s not linked to us, and the kind of atrocities we are seeing, fingers cut off, other mutilations to bodies, is just not the way we work.”
A senior defense official said Saturday that while it’s not yet clear what will come out of Hagel’s meeting with Karzai, the U.S. believes the door is not closed to resolving the issues.
A coalition official who works with special operations forces said Saturday that while the commandos are ready to pull out, their operations are continuing at this point, and there is some hope that an 11th hour negotiation can be reached that will allow them to stay. The official said the Afghan forces in Wardak are not yet ready to operate without the continued assistance and training from the U.S. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
Findlay said NATO officials have done “prudent planning” to withdraw special operations forces and replace them with conventional forces, if Karzai sticks to his edict after meetings this weekend with Hagel and the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Joseph Dunford.
The order for the U.S. forces to leave comes despite worries that Wardak could be more vulnerable to the Taliban and insurgents. “What we’ve got to try to do is go to a middle ground that meets the president’s frustration,” but also keeps insurgents from using Wardak as a staging ground to launch attacks on the capital, Findlay told The Associated Press Saturday.
After a meeting with Karzai and the Afghan defense minister earlier Saturday, Dunford reiterated that a compromise allowing some commandos stay is possible.
“We agreed to continue to work this issue with his minister, to ensure that we have adequate protection for the force, that we were going to accomplish our security mission in Wardak, and also meet his concerns about moving Afghan forces in the lead,” Dunford said.
On Saturday Hagel flew to Bagram Air Field, about an hour outside the capital, where he met with Maj. Gen. William Mayville, the U.S. commander of forces in the east. He also met with the commander of special operations forces in Afghanistan, Maj. Gen. Raymond Thomas.
There are about 10,000 U.S. and coalition special operations forces in the country training Afghan local police and commando units as well as battling insurgents.
Hagel — who received two Purple Hearts after being wounded twice in Vietnam — later handed out his first combat awards as Pentagon chief. He pinned Purple Hearts onto Sgt. Jeremyah Williams and PFC Harry Hikes, two 101st Airborne Division soldiers who were involved in a car bomb attack about 100 feet from their post at a base entry point. After the brief ceremony at Jalalabad Air Base, Williams said it was “an honor and a privilege” to receive his Purple Heart from Hagel.
Speaking to about 200 troops at the Jalalabad base, Hagel made it clear that he knows what they and their families are going through. He fielded several questions from soldiers worried about how the ongoing budget battle in Washington will affect their retirement and other benefits. He told them he is committed to insuring that their pay and benefits are not hurt, even though the $53 billion in cuts over the remainder of this fiscal year will “make our jobs more difficult.”
Hagel’s trip comes at a turning point in the conflict, as U.S. and NATO allies set their timetable for the withdrawal of combat troops and pressure mounts on the U.S.-led effort to train the Afghan forces. And he must manage the transition as the U.S. ramps up what will be a difficult and expensive extraction of equipment from the country even as Congress slashes billions of dollars from the defense budget.
He has said he wants to use the trip to better understand what’s going on in Afghanistan and to get an assessment on the progress of the Afghan forces as they prepare to take over the security of their own country.
Dozier reported from Kabul.
President Karzai slams Taliban for killing civilians
KABUL, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai on Sunday slammed Taliban for killing innocent civilians, describing the Taliban-led insurgency as breach to Islamic values.
"Yesterday, the terror attacks in Kabul and Khost for which Taliban claimed responsibility would neither serve Afghanistan nor Islam," Karzai said told a ceremony attended by government functionaries, social and political figures to mark the International Women's Day.
Taliban militants fighting Afghan and NATO-led forces on Saturday carried out two suicide bombings in the capital city of Kabul and eastern Khost province, killing 21 people including a woman and eight children ageing from 7 to 17.
While condemning the bloody attacks, Afghan president stressed that such attacks demonstrate that the insurgent group was aiming to prolong the war and that to show the foreign forces will still be needed to provide security for the country.
He also blamed Taliban for holding secret peace talks with foreigners including Americans, saying that the Taliban must initiate the peace talks directly with government rather than the foreigners to bring about lasting peace in the war-hit country.
Under the U.S. President Barack Obama's withdrawal plan 33,000 U.S. troops already pulled out of Afghanistan in September last year and another 34,000 will return home within one year.
The Afghan leader in his speech called upon Afghan youths including women to study hard and get the country towards more progress, prosperity and self-reliance.
However, he said with confident that Afghan forces would fully take over the security charge of the country after withdrawal of NATO-led troops in 2014 from Afghanistan.
2 killed in Afghan police checkpoint attack
FAIZABAD, Afghanistan, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Two policemen were killed Sunday morning when Taliban militants launched an attack on a police checkpoint in the country's northern province of Badakhshan, an official said.
"Armed militants raided an Afghan Local Police (ANP) checkpoint in Jurm district, killing two ALP cops at around 9 a.m. local time, " Jabar Musadiq the administrative chief of Jurm told Xinhua, adding five ALP members were also wounded in the attack.
He said an unknown number of militants were also killed and wounded in the fighting lasting for a while.
The NATO and U.S.-funded ALP or community police was established in August 2010 to protect villages and districts around the insurgency-hit country where Afghan army and police have limited presence.
The Taliban, who ruled the country before they were ousted by a U.S.-led invasion in late 2001, renewed armed insurgency, staging ambush and suicide attacks, killing combatants as well as civilians. On Saturday, they carried out two suicide bombings in Afghan capital Kabul and eastern Khost province killing 21 people.
Earlier this month, Taliban ambushed an army convoy, killing 16 army soldiers in the Badakhshan, some 315 km northeast of Kabul.
Under cover of darkness, Afghan women head to battle
NBC News By Mandy Clark, Correspondent 09/03/2013
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - Severely outgunned, the battle was going badly. It seemed like certain defeat. Then, from out of the crowd stepped a young girl of around 14. She grabbed the pole from the fallen flag-bearer, held it up, and called out to her brothers-in-arms to fight to the death.
Though she was shot dead, her rallying cry was seen as the turning point of the 1880 Battle of Maiwand; a triumph for the Afghans, and a devastating loss for British forces during the Second Anglo-Afghan War. Her name was Malalai, Afghanistan’s Joan of Arc.
“If you go back into history, before we only had one female soldier named Malalai, but now I have a lot of Malalais in my Special Forces,” said Colonel Jalauddin Yaftaly, who heads the elite units. There are more than 1,000 women in the Afghan Army – and about two dozen have made it into Special Forces.
In a country where equality is still a huge unresolved issue, on the battlefield women are making huge strides.
Col. Yaftaly said he saw a need for women in the Special Forces to help conduct night raids. In 2011, he got permission to recruit women and has built up the female force to roughly 25, but says he needs more. Even their male colleagues say their work is essential.
‘We do face death threats’ Night raids are considered the most dangerous: Commandos enter the homes of suspected insurgents under the cover of darkness.
The military says these missions are key in capturing Taliban commanders, but they are deeply controversial because it is considered culturally offensive for male troops to search female Afghans in their homes. Now, when possible, it’s women searching women.
“Our duty is to go inside the houses, search the women and children, make them calm and get them out of danger,” said new 21-year-old recruit Zakia Halakim.
Halakim was part of the Afghan police force when she was approached to try out for the Special Forces by Col. Yaftaly, who seeks the top women in the Afghan forces.
“My family supports me, they never told me not to do it,” she said. “They know it is important for Afghanistan.”
On the firing range, Halakim is practicing with two female colleagues. Sporting dark sunglasses, a helmet and scarves wrapped round their faces, their identities are hidden. They have to be. Working alongside men has made them special targets.
The women are paid the same as the men when they are on an operation. Right now, their role is limited to night raids.
“We do face death threats because our work is outside of our culture but this is an important job,” said Halakim.
Hoping for change “As far as the culture in this country, no it’s not acceptable in this country at all,” said Mahbouba Seraj, an executive board member at the Afghan Women’s Network. “It goes against every single grain of belief of an Afghan man.”
But Seraj believes these women might be able to change the way society thinks.
“The most important thing is whether these women are going to do their jobs and really be effective ... are they really going to be saving lives of those women in the villages? If that is the outcome, then the whole view will change,” she said.
In a training operation, the female Special Forces sweep the rooms for Afghan women. There could be hidden dangers, such as female suicide bombers. Their male colleagues say they are glad to have them.
“We need our sisters as much as we need our brothers to join the army, police and Special Forces -- according to their interest -- and that will help us a lot,” said Agha Sharin Noori, an Afghan Special Forces soldier.
Brigadier General Mohammadzai Khatool is the only woman general in Afghanistan. During the Soviet occupation, she was a paratrooper with over 600 jumps -- but when the Taliban took over she was forced to leave the military and stay at home.
In 2002, after the fall of the Taliban, she was promoted to general. She believes women are an essential part of the military.
“Men and women are like two wings of the one bird. Working together, both are trying to defend their country and their people,” she said.
Seraj agrees. “These women are amongst the bravest in Afghanistan," she said. "I appreciate the first steps that they are taking so much. I wish I could be alive and be around to see them become generals in this country.”
Afghan police officer embraces suicide bomber to save others
CNN By Masoud Popalzai March 9, 2013
A policeman sacrificed his life for the sake of others, embracing a suicide bomber in southeast Afghanistan on Saturday morning to dull the blast as it detonated, eyewitnesses said.
The bomb killed the officer, Murad Khan, and eight minors between the ages of 7 and 17.
It wounded two more people, said police spokesman Haji Yaqoob of Khost province.
The bomber attempted to enter a village where coalition forces were conducting training exercises with Afghan police, but officers at a checkpoint recognized his explosive vest and stopped him, police said.
The training session had convened near the checkpoint, and Yaqoob believes it was the target.
In a separate incident Saturday, a suicide bomber on a bicycle detonated himself at a gate to the Afghan defense ministry in Kabul hours after newly appointed U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel landed in the Afghan capital. Hagel was not in the area at them time of the explosion.
The secretary is in Afghanistan to visit American troops and get the lay of the land in the restive country to better advise President Barack Obama.
Hagel emphasized that the United States is still at war in Afghanistan despite the current mission to transition into a role of "training, assistance and advice."
This is the latest suicide attack in the nation.
A car bomber drove up to a U.S. military base in Khost province in December, but did not make it past the gate. The vehicle's detonation killed three people -- a security guard and two truck drivers.
Coalition forces in Khost are moving from a combat role side by side with Afghan National Army troops to an advisory role.
CNN's Ben Brumfield wrote in Atlanta; Jennifer Z. Deaton contributed to this report
Deadline on US Wardak Withdrawal Looms
TOLOnews.com Saturday, 09 March 2013
President Hamid Karzai's deadline for the US special forces to withdraw from central Maidan Wardak province comes tomorrow during the visit of US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel to Afghanistan.
Karzai's decision two weeks ago came after reports that Afghan forces subordinate to the US army were abusing civilians in the province.
A number of lawmakers have said that Karzai made a hasty decision on the issue, a decision made with the support of the National Security Council.
The lawmakers on Saturday called on the foreign forces to fight the president's decree.
"I think that in two weeks, it is technically impossible for the US special forces to withdraw their equipments from the province. The president decided on this hastily making it defective," lawmaker Humayun Humayun said.
A number of provincial officials and representatives also called for more talks over the expulsion.
"The province administration, the provincial council, and security organisations in the province and provincial representatives should discuss this based on which strategy and plans they can ensure the security of Maidan Wardak province,' Wardak's MP Obaidullah Kalimzai told TOLOnews.
Mostly Civilian Casualties in Ministry of Defence Suicide Attack
TOLOnews.com Saturday, 09 March 2013
At least seven civilians and two Afghan security forces have been killed while 13 more civilians have been injured in a suicide attack outside the Ministry of Defence in Kabul city Saturday morning, officials said.
The attack took place about 09:00 am local time, shortly after the new US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel arrived in Afghanistan on an official visit, chief of Kabul's Criminal Investigation Department General Mohammad Zahir said.
According to Ministry of Defence spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi, the bomber was on a bicycle and detonated his explosives at the first gate of the ministry.
"The bomber was on a bicycle, he was wearing a suicide vest and targeted the reception gate of the ministry. Unfortunately most of the casualties are civilians," he said.
Reports said a loud explosion was followed by the sound of gunfire, but there was only one insurgent attacker - the bomber.
More security forces arrived in the area and brought the situation under control as ambulances took away casualties to nearby hospitals.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast in a text message to media.
"More than 15 soldiers were killed in the attack. The attack happened during the trip of the US defence secretary, and the attack had a message for him," the Taliban said in a statement.
Earlier, Chuck Hagel, who became defence secretary last week, told reporters travelling with him that he wanted to make the trip to see for himself "where we are in Afghanistan".
There are around 66,000 US troops in Afghanistan helping over 300,000 Afghan security forces fight insurgency.
8 Children Killed in Khost Suicide Attack
TOLOnews.com Saturday, 09 March 2013
At least eight children and a policeman have been killed in a suicide attack in eastern Khost province Saturday morning, local officials said.
Two other children have been injured in the attack which took place about 10:00am local time in Khost city, the capital of the province.
A suicide bomber detonated his explosives in an attempt to target a police patrol passing in the area, security official Sardar said.
"Eight children and a policeman were killed and two other children were injured in the attack. The children were playing in the area as the attack happened," he said.
The victims have been taken to a nearby hospital in the city.
No group including the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The attack happened shortly after at least seven civilians and two security troops were killed and 13 civilians were injured in a suicide attack outside the Ministry of Defence in Kabul city.
The attack was carried out by a lone bomber on a bicycle at about 09:00am, the miring after new US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel arrived in Afghanistan.
Corruption Poses Major Challenge for Investment: Traders
TOLOnews.com By Zabihullah Jhanmal Saturday, 09 March 2013
Afghan traders Saturday said that Afghanistan will continue to lose major investments in the country because of the rampant corruption and inaction of the government to correct the situation.
The traders said that Afghanistan's government had already lost a massive amount of investment in the last 11 years because of widespread corruption, bureaucracy in state organization, insecurity, and lack of government's support.
"Corruption is a key reason for investors to take their capital from Afghanistan because no one else is present to lose his/her capital," Afghan trader Mahmood Karzai said.
Meanwhile the High Office of Oversight and Anti-Corruption admitted the challenges ahead, saying corruption is the biggest challenge ahead of investments and economic growth in the country.
"Who will stay to invest in the face of the current challenges including the high level of corruption in Afghanistan? Nobody wants to lose capital. They will take their capital from Afghanistan," anti-corruption chief Azizullah Lodin said.
Although state officials repeatedly say the investments are growing in the country, traders believe that the obtrusive corruption and insecurity disheartens businesses from operating in Afghanistan.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
By Ernesto Londoño and Kevin Sieff, The Washington Post
KABUL — Afghan President Hamid Karzai lashed out at the United States in strikingly acerbic terms Sunday, implying that the American military was stoking violence in collusion with the Taliban to justify a prolonged presence here and charging that foreign troops were harassing Afghan university students.
The remarks painted an embarrassing picture of discord that marred a visit by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, his first foreign trip as Pentagon chief, and plunged the tenuous allies into crisis mode at a time when the United States is struggling to wind down the unpopular war.
Afghan and American officials provided differing explanations for the cancellation of a joint news conference scheduled for Sunday night that had been expected to be the centerpiece of Hagel’s trip. U.S. officials said they scrapped the event in consultation with the Afghan government because of an unspecified security threat. Karzai’s spokesman, Aimal Faizi, rejected the notion that the palace would have been a dangerous place to hold a news conference.
“From our side, we saw no threat,” he said.
At best, the move left the impression that after more than a decade of war and billions of U.S. dollars spent, the United States deemed the risk of holding a news conference in the most barricaded quarter of the capital as unreasonably high. In stark contrast to Kabul visits by other U.S. defense secretaries, the trip did not include upbeat public pronouncements by Hagel about the state of the U.S. mission.
Hagel and Karzai did meet privately Sunday night. After the meeting, the secretary told reporters he was hopeful the two countries could overcome the latest crisis. “I know these are difficult issues for President Karzai and the Afghan people,” Hagel said.
In a televised speech about violence against women, Karzai said two fatal bombings carried out Saturday, including one outside the Defense Ministry, should not be interpreted as a Taliban show of force aimed at undermining the U.S. military, which is considering keeping a small force in Afghanistan after its wartime mandate expires at the end of 2014.
“In reality, the bombs that went off yesterday under the name of the Taliban were a service to the foreigners,” Karzai said, casting doubt on the assertion of responsibility made by the Taliban, which said that the attacks were carried out to mar Hagel’s visit. Karzai said the blasts helped Americans justify a prolonged troop presence in Afghanistan. “We have been down this road before too many times,” he added.
U.S. officials struggled to make sense of the tone and timing of Karzai’s remarks, but the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan dismissed the idea that the U.S. military could be complicit in attacks.
“We have fought too hard over the past 12 years,” Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. told reporters in Kabul on Sunday. “We have shed too much blood over the past 12 years, we have done too much to help the Afghan security forces grow over the past 12 years to think that violence or instability would be to our advantage.”
Dunford suggested Karzai’s anti-American rhetoric could be political gamesmanship.
“He’s a head of state that has both an internal and external audience,” Dunford said. “He knows far better than I do how to manage internal and external audiences.”
A senior Afghan official recently said that Karzai has opted to take the Americans to task in public because he feels Western officials don’t take him seriously and fail to listen to him during private meetings. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk candidly about Karzai’s thinking.
But Faizi, the president’s spokesman, said Karzai “raises his voice when there are concerns about issues that are not moving forward.”
Hours after the speech, Karzai’s office issued an executive order threatening to take “legal action” if international forces don’t stop harassing, annoying and detaining Afghan students.
The statement said Karzai “considers such acts a serious breach of Afghan sovereignty that stand in utter contradiction to the country’s enforced laws.”
Dunford, who was informed by journalists about the executive order, assured reporters that the international coalition was not harassing Afghan college students.
Karzai’s anger has been building in recent weeks. Two weeks ago, he imposed a two-week deadline for the expulsion of U.S. Special Operations forces from Wardak, a crucial eastern province, accusing the forces of murder and other abuses. The U.S. military said an investigation into the claims turned up no evidence to substantiate them and disregarded the ultimatum, saying U.S. forces would leave the area when it is prudent to do so.
Last week, Karzai balked at the terms of a plan for the Afghan government to assume responsibility for the American detention center here, hastily canceling a handover ceremony that had been scheduled to take place Saturday. U.S. commanders say they will not release prisoners who could put their troops in harm’s way.
Pentagon spokesman George Little denied that Sunday’s news conference had been canceled in response to Karzai’s remarks. He cited security concerns, which he declined to elaborate on, as the reason.
Dunford said Karzai’s heated rhetoric should not create the impression that trust between the two nations is irreparably broken. In fact, he argued, senior U.S. and Afghan security officials see eye to eye on most things.
“There is not a glimmer of daylight in our perspectives,” he said.
A U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss Washington’s perspective on Karzai’s latest outburst, said the U.S. government still believes it has a fundamentally constructive relationship with the Afghan government, including its president.
“We have told him in private that public criticism is unhelpful, especially when there is no basis in fact for some of the claims he makes,” the official said.
Hagel, who represented Nebraska in the U.S. Senate from 1997 to 2009, said he recognized the difficult position Karzai is in. “I was a politician once, so I can understand the kind of pressures” he faces, Hagel said. He added that he hoped the allies “can move forward, and I have confidence that we will.”
Hagel, Karzai Press Conference in Kabul Cancelled
VOA News March 10, 2013
U.S. officials say security concerns forced the cancellation of a scheduled news conference Sunday in Kabul with U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Authorities did not elaborate on the security issues, but a day earlier, two suicide bombings -- one in Kabul and the other in Khost -- killed 19 people. The bombing in Kabul targeted the Afghan Defense Ministry as Hagel was visiting the capital.
The press conference cancellation is the latest event to mark Hagel's first visit to Afghanistan as the new Pentagon chief.
Earlier Sunday, President Karzai accused the Taliban of being "at the service of America" by using attacks like the ones on Saturday to frighten Afghans into wanting foreign forces to remain in Afghanistan beyond the 2014 deadline.
The top U.S. general in Afghanistan General Joseph Dunford sharply rebuked the president's comments by saying, "we have fought too hard over the past 12 years... shed too much blood... to ever think that violence or instability would be to our advantage."
The Karzai government also alleged that U.S.-led forces working alongside Afghans were abusing and arresting university students.
Hagel comes to Afghanistan as it struggles with the United States over control of detention facilities and the pace for foreign troop withdrawal. A ceremony to transfer U.S. control of a main detention facility to Afghanistan Saturday also was cancelled as a deal struck between the two governments broke down.
Last month, Hagel's predecessor, Leon Panetta, said that NATO allies were considering leaving between 8,000 and 12,000 international troops in Afghanistan after 2014. Currently, there are about 100,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan.
Karzai: U.S., Taliban Holding 'Daily' Talks
March 10, 2013 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said that representatives of the Taliban have been holding talks "on a daily basis" with the U.S. government.
Karzai said the talks have taken place in "European and Gulf countries," despite the fact that the Taliban reportedly broke off contacts with the United States last year.
Karzai added that the Taliban continues to carry out attacks across Afghanistan "to show their power to the United States."
He said two suicide bombings that killed 19 people on March 9 -- one outside the Afghan Defense Ministry and the other near a police checkpoint in eastern Khost Province -- show the Taliban is conducting attacks to demonstrate that international forces will still be needed to keep the peace after their current combat mission ends in 2014.
"The bombing that took place yesterday and was carried out in the name of the Taliban -- these actions, in fact, show that the Taliban are serving the foreigners and are not against the foreigners," Karzai said. "These bombings show that the Taliban want the longer presence of foreigners, not their departure from Afghanistan."
The United States has not responded to Karzai's statements.
Washington has said it remains committed to political reconciliation involving talks with the Taliban but that progress would require agreement between the Afghan government and the militant group.
The Taliban's spokesman in Afghanistan, Zabihullah Mujahid, also denied that negotiations with the United States had resumed and said no progress had been made since they were suspended.
'Abusing' Students
Karzai on March 10 also alleged that U.S.-led forces and Afghans working with them were abusing and arresting university students and urged them to stop.
He issued a decree instructing the Interior Ministry and the intelligence agency to prevent troops from entering universities and other educational institutions.
Karzai said the ban also applied to the troops' "illegal Afghan colleagues," in a reference to militias supported by Washington, whom he said "arrested and annoyed a number of "students."
His comments came as a news conference with Karzai and visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel scheduled for March 10 was canceled amid security concerns.
U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the matter publicly, would not provide details on the security concerns.
They said Karzai and Hagel were expected to meet in private.
Pentagon press secretary George Little said the cancellation of the press conference was not due to Karzai's comments about the Taliban.
With reporting by dpa, Reuters, and AP
NATO commander and US embassy reject Karzai’s remarks
By Sajad - 10 Mar 2013, 9:16 pm Khaama Press
NATO-led International Security Assistance Force commander Gen. Joseph Dunford and the US embassy in Afghanistan rejected president Hamid Karzai’s remarks and called it incorrect.
President Hamid Karzai on Saturday said US officials and Taliban group representatives are hold talks on daily basis in Gulf and European states.
Gen. Joseph Dunford said president Karzai’s remarks are completely incorrect and insisted that president Karzai has never shared the ongoing talks between Taliban and United States.
NATO commander also said that he met president Karzai on Saturday and hopes that his claims are not true. He also added that he does not know the motive behind president Hamid Karzai’s remarks
In the meantime US embassy in Kabul denied president Karzai’s remarks and emphasized that the only US role in Afghan talks is to support an Afghan-led reconciliation process.
In response to president Karzai’s remarks, US embassy in Kabul issued a statement and said that the Taliban group halted peace talks with the US government last March.
The statement also added that the two leaders agreed to open a liaison office for the Taliban group in Qatar and emphasized that the Afghan talks should be limited to Afghan high peace council and official representatives of the Taliban group.
U.S. general: No dangerous detainees to be released to Afghan custody
CNN By Chris Lawrence March 9, 2013
The United States has acted to transfer to Afghanistan's custody the prisoners it is holding in that country, but a top commander says those who pose a threat will not be moved.
The issue of custody of prisoners in Afghanistan has long been a sticking point between the two countries ahead of a planned withdrawal of American troops in 2014.
There was White House support to see the transfers through, but unease crept in after Afghan President Hamid Karzai said many of the prisoners are innocent and promised to release them.
The commander of the International Security Assistance Force, Gen. Joseph Dunford, stated unequivocally Saturday that the United States will ensure than anyone deemed a threat remains detained. The ISAF is under the NATO umbrella.
"I think there's probably a difference of opinion," Dunford said, referring to Karzai's assertion that many prisoners are innocent. "We certainly don't have anyone in the detention facility that we think doesn't deserve to be there, in order to protect our forces."
As recently this week, Gen. James Mattis, commander of U.S. Central Command, told Congress that he supports the transfer of prisoners in part because there is a "dual-key" system where both countries have a say in who is released.
Dunford said the United States would do what it takes to keep certain detainees in prison.
"If there's a threat to the force, we will not conduct the transfer," he said. "One thing that we will do is ensure that the young men and women that are over here in harm's way are provided adequate protection. If there are people that need to be detained, we will make sure they are detained."
The ISAF commander also addressed a disparity in numbers being suggested for U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan past 2014. The White House has talked about 5,000 troops, while Mattis recently called for 13,600 troops.
No decision has been made on how many troops will remain and are under review, he said.
"Gen. Mattis and I have never talked specific numbers. I'm in the process now of answering some questions and making some recommendations," Dunford said.
Dunford said he met with Karzai on Saturday to discuss another issue between the two countries, the order by Karzai for U.S. Special Forces withdraw from Wardak Province, which is just west of the capital of Kabul, by this week.
There is still room for compromise, he said.
"His minister of defense was there, and we agreed to continue to work this issue with his minister, to ensure that we have adequate protection for the force, that we were gonna accomplish our security mission in Wardak, and also meet his concerns about moving Afghan forces in the lead," he said.
Hagel optimistic US will work things out with Afghan leaders to allow commandos to stay
Associated Press Sunday, March 10, 2013
JALALABAD, Afghanistan - U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said he believes U.S. officials will be able to work things out with Afghan leaders who have ordered special operations forces out of Wardak province, even as commandos face a Monday deadline to leave.
Hagel’s comments came on his first trip to Afghanistan as defense secretary. On his first morning in Kabul, two suicide bombings, one outside the Afghan Defense Ministry and the other near a police checkpoint in eastern Khost province, killed at least 19 people, including a U.S. contractor. A Taliban spokesman said the blast outside the defense ministry was a message to the visiting Pentagon chief.
The violence and the order to withdraw the special operations forces underscore the military and diplomatic complexities confronting the Obama administration and the U.S.-led NATO force as they work to end combat operations in 2014.
Hagel said he could hear the explosion during a meeting held at a safe location a distance away from the site.
“We’re in a war zone, I’ve been in war. You know, so — you shouldn’t be surprised when a bomb goes off or there’s an explosion,” Hagel said.
Hagel is expected to meet Sunday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who ordered the U.S. forces to leave the province just outside Kabul because of allegations that Afghans working with the commandos were involved in abusive behavior and torture.
“I feel confident that we’ll be able to work this out,” Hagel told reporters during a stop at Jalalabad Airfield, where he met with commanders and spoke to troops.
U.S. officials insist they have seen no evidence that American forces were involved in the abuse of Afghan civilians.
“Each of those accusations has been answered, and we’re not involved,” said Brigadier Adam Findlay, NATO’s deputy chief of staff of operations and a member of the Australian military. “There are obviously atrocities occurring there, but it’s not linked to us, and the kind of atrocities we are seeing, fingers cut off, other mutilations to bodies, is just not the way we work.”
A senior defense official said Saturday that while it’s not yet clear what will come out of Hagel’s meeting with Karzai, the U.S. believes the door is not closed to resolving the issues.
A coalition official who works with special operations forces said Saturday that while the commandos are ready to pull out, their operations are continuing at this point, and there is some hope that an 11th hour negotiation can be reached that will allow them to stay. The official said the Afghan forces in Wardak are not yet ready to operate without the continued assistance and training from the U.S. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
Findlay said NATO officials have done “prudent planning” to withdraw special operations forces and replace them with conventional forces, if Karzai sticks to his edict after meetings this weekend with Hagel and the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Joseph Dunford.
The order for the U.S. forces to leave comes despite worries that Wardak could be more vulnerable to the Taliban and insurgents. “What we’ve got to try to do is go to a middle ground that meets the president’s frustration,” but also keeps insurgents from using Wardak as a staging ground to launch attacks on the capital, Findlay told The Associated Press Saturday.
After a meeting with Karzai and the Afghan defense minister earlier Saturday, Dunford reiterated that a compromise allowing some commandos stay is possible.
“We agreed to continue to work this issue with his minister, to ensure that we have adequate protection for the force, that we were going to accomplish our security mission in Wardak, and also meet his concerns about moving Afghan forces in the lead,” Dunford said.
On Saturday Hagel flew to Bagram Air Field, about an hour outside the capital, where he met with Maj. Gen. William Mayville, the U.S. commander of forces in the east. He also met with the commander of special operations forces in Afghanistan, Maj. Gen. Raymond Thomas.
There are about 10,000 U.S. and coalition special operations forces in the country training Afghan local police and commando units as well as battling insurgents.
Hagel — who received two Purple Hearts after being wounded twice in Vietnam — later handed out his first combat awards as Pentagon chief. He pinned Purple Hearts onto Sgt. Jeremyah Williams and PFC Harry Hikes, two 101st Airborne Division soldiers who were involved in a car bomb attack about 100 feet from their post at a base entry point. After the brief ceremony at Jalalabad Air Base, Williams said it was “an honor and a privilege” to receive his Purple Heart from Hagel.
Speaking to about 200 troops at the Jalalabad base, Hagel made it clear that he knows what they and their families are going through. He fielded several questions from soldiers worried about how the ongoing budget battle in Washington will affect their retirement and other benefits. He told them he is committed to insuring that their pay and benefits are not hurt, even though the $53 billion in cuts over the remainder of this fiscal year will “make our jobs more difficult.”
Hagel’s trip comes at a turning point in the conflict, as U.S. and NATO allies set their timetable for the withdrawal of combat troops and pressure mounts on the U.S.-led effort to train the Afghan forces. And he must manage the transition as the U.S. ramps up what will be a difficult and expensive extraction of equipment from the country even as Congress slashes billions of dollars from the defense budget.
He has said he wants to use the trip to better understand what’s going on in Afghanistan and to get an assessment on the progress of the Afghan forces as they prepare to take over the security of their own country.
Dozier reported from Kabul.
President Karzai slams Taliban for killing civilians
KABUL, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai on Sunday slammed Taliban for killing innocent civilians, describing the Taliban-led insurgency as breach to Islamic values.
"Yesterday, the terror attacks in Kabul and Khost for which Taliban claimed responsibility would neither serve Afghanistan nor Islam," Karzai said told a ceremony attended by government functionaries, social and political figures to mark the International Women's Day.
Taliban militants fighting Afghan and NATO-led forces on Saturday carried out two suicide bombings in the capital city of Kabul and eastern Khost province, killing 21 people including a woman and eight children ageing from 7 to 17.
While condemning the bloody attacks, Afghan president stressed that such attacks demonstrate that the insurgent group was aiming to prolong the war and that to show the foreign forces will still be needed to provide security for the country.
He also blamed Taliban for holding secret peace talks with foreigners including Americans, saying that the Taliban must initiate the peace talks directly with government rather than the foreigners to bring about lasting peace in the war-hit country.
Under the U.S. President Barack Obama's withdrawal plan 33,000 U.S. troops already pulled out of Afghanistan in September last year and another 34,000 will return home within one year.
The Afghan leader in his speech called upon Afghan youths including women to study hard and get the country towards more progress, prosperity and self-reliance.
However, he said with confident that Afghan forces would fully take over the security charge of the country after withdrawal of NATO-led troops in 2014 from Afghanistan.
2 killed in Afghan police checkpoint attack
FAIZABAD, Afghanistan, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Two policemen were killed Sunday morning when Taliban militants launched an attack on a police checkpoint in the country's northern province of Badakhshan, an official said.
"Armed militants raided an Afghan Local Police (ANP) checkpoint in Jurm district, killing two ALP cops at around 9 a.m. local time, " Jabar Musadiq the administrative chief of Jurm told Xinhua, adding five ALP members were also wounded in the attack.
He said an unknown number of militants were also killed and wounded in the fighting lasting for a while.
The NATO and U.S.-funded ALP or community police was established in August 2010 to protect villages and districts around the insurgency-hit country where Afghan army and police have limited presence.
The Taliban, who ruled the country before they were ousted by a U.S.-led invasion in late 2001, renewed armed insurgency, staging ambush and suicide attacks, killing combatants as well as civilians. On Saturday, they carried out two suicide bombings in Afghan capital Kabul and eastern Khost province killing 21 people.
Earlier this month, Taliban ambushed an army convoy, killing 16 army soldiers in the Badakhshan, some 315 km northeast of Kabul.
Under cover of darkness, Afghan women head to battle
NBC News By Mandy Clark, Correspondent 09/03/2013
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - Severely outgunned, the battle was going badly. It seemed like certain defeat. Then, from out of the crowd stepped a young girl of around 14. She grabbed the pole from the fallen flag-bearer, held it up, and called out to her brothers-in-arms to fight to the death.
Though she was shot dead, her rallying cry was seen as the turning point of the 1880 Battle of Maiwand; a triumph for the Afghans, and a devastating loss for British forces during the Second Anglo-Afghan War. Her name was Malalai, Afghanistan’s Joan of Arc.
“If you go back into history, before we only had one female soldier named Malalai, but now I have a lot of Malalais in my Special Forces,” said Colonel Jalauddin Yaftaly, who heads the elite units. There are more than 1,000 women in the Afghan Army – and about two dozen have made it into Special Forces.
In a country where equality is still a huge unresolved issue, on the battlefield women are making huge strides.
Col. Yaftaly said he saw a need for women in the Special Forces to help conduct night raids. In 2011, he got permission to recruit women and has built up the female force to roughly 25, but says he needs more. Even their male colleagues say their work is essential.
‘We do face death threats’ Night raids are considered the most dangerous: Commandos enter the homes of suspected insurgents under the cover of darkness.
The military says these missions are key in capturing Taliban commanders, but they are deeply controversial because it is considered culturally offensive for male troops to search female Afghans in their homes. Now, when possible, it’s women searching women.
“Our duty is to go inside the houses, search the women and children, make them calm and get them out of danger,” said new 21-year-old recruit Zakia Halakim.
Halakim was part of the Afghan police force when she was approached to try out for the Special Forces by Col. Yaftaly, who seeks the top women in the Afghan forces.
“My family supports me, they never told me not to do it,” she said. “They know it is important for Afghanistan.”
On the firing range, Halakim is practicing with two female colleagues. Sporting dark sunglasses, a helmet and scarves wrapped round their faces, their identities are hidden. They have to be. Working alongside men has made them special targets.
The women are paid the same as the men when they are on an operation. Right now, their role is limited to night raids.
“We do face death threats because our work is outside of our culture but this is an important job,” said Halakim.
Hoping for change “As far as the culture in this country, no it’s not acceptable in this country at all,” said Mahbouba Seraj, an executive board member at the Afghan Women’s Network. “It goes against every single grain of belief of an Afghan man.”
But Seraj believes these women might be able to change the way society thinks.
“The most important thing is whether these women are going to do their jobs and really be effective ... are they really going to be saving lives of those women in the villages? If that is the outcome, then the whole view will change,” she said.
In a training operation, the female Special Forces sweep the rooms for Afghan women. There could be hidden dangers, such as female suicide bombers. Their male colleagues say they are glad to have them.
“We need our sisters as much as we need our brothers to join the army, police and Special Forces -- according to their interest -- and that will help us a lot,” said Agha Sharin Noori, an Afghan Special Forces soldier.
Brigadier General Mohammadzai Khatool is the only woman general in Afghanistan. During the Soviet occupation, she was a paratrooper with over 600 jumps -- but when the Taliban took over she was forced to leave the military and stay at home.
In 2002, after the fall of the Taliban, she was promoted to general. She believes women are an essential part of the military.
“Men and women are like two wings of the one bird. Working together, both are trying to defend their country and their people,” she said.
Seraj agrees. “These women are amongst the bravest in Afghanistan," she said. "I appreciate the first steps that they are taking so much. I wish I could be alive and be around to see them become generals in this country.”
Afghan police officer embraces suicide bomber to save others
CNN By Masoud Popalzai March 9, 2013
A policeman sacrificed his life for the sake of others, embracing a suicide bomber in southeast Afghanistan on Saturday morning to dull the blast as it detonated, eyewitnesses said.
The bomb killed the officer, Murad Khan, and eight minors between the ages of 7 and 17.
It wounded two more people, said police spokesman Haji Yaqoob of Khost province.
The bomber attempted to enter a village where coalition forces were conducting training exercises with Afghan police, but officers at a checkpoint recognized his explosive vest and stopped him, police said.
The training session had convened near the checkpoint, and Yaqoob believes it was the target.
In a separate incident Saturday, a suicide bomber on a bicycle detonated himself at a gate to the Afghan defense ministry in Kabul hours after newly appointed U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel landed in the Afghan capital. Hagel was not in the area at them time of the explosion.
The secretary is in Afghanistan to visit American troops and get the lay of the land in the restive country to better advise President Barack Obama.
Hagel emphasized that the United States is still at war in Afghanistan despite the current mission to transition into a role of "training, assistance and advice."
This is the latest suicide attack in the nation.
A car bomber drove up to a U.S. military base in Khost province in December, but did not make it past the gate. The vehicle's detonation killed three people -- a security guard and two truck drivers.
Coalition forces in Khost are moving from a combat role side by side with Afghan National Army troops to an advisory role.
CNN's Ben Brumfield wrote in Atlanta; Jennifer Z. Deaton contributed to this report
Deadline on US Wardak Withdrawal Looms
TOLOnews.com Saturday, 09 March 2013
President Hamid Karzai's deadline for the US special forces to withdraw from central Maidan Wardak province comes tomorrow during the visit of US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel to Afghanistan.
Karzai's decision two weeks ago came after reports that Afghan forces subordinate to the US army were abusing civilians in the province.
A number of lawmakers have said that Karzai made a hasty decision on the issue, a decision made with the support of the National Security Council.
The lawmakers on Saturday called on the foreign forces to fight the president's decree.
"I think that in two weeks, it is technically impossible for the US special forces to withdraw their equipments from the province. The president decided on this hastily making it defective," lawmaker Humayun Humayun said.
A number of provincial officials and representatives also called for more talks over the expulsion.
"The province administration, the provincial council, and security organisations in the province and provincial representatives should discuss this based on which strategy and plans they can ensure the security of Maidan Wardak province,' Wardak's MP Obaidullah Kalimzai told TOLOnews.
Mostly Civilian Casualties in Ministry of Defence Suicide Attack
TOLOnews.com Saturday, 09 March 2013
At least seven civilians and two Afghan security forces have been killed while 13 more civilians have been injured in a suicide attack outside the Ministry of Defence in Kabul city Saturday morning, officials said.
The attack took place about 09:00 am local time, shortly after the new US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel arrived in Afghanistan on an official visit, chief of Kabul's Criminal Investigation Department General Mohammad Zahir said.
According to Ministry of Defence spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi, the bomber was on a bicycle and detonated his explosives at the first gate of the ministry.
"The bomber was on a bicycle, he was wearing a suicide vest and targeted the reception gate of the ministry. Unfortunately most of the casualties are civilians," he said.
Reports said a loud explosion was followed by the sound of gunfire, but there was only one insurgent attacker - the bomber.
More security forces arrived in the area and brought the situation under control as ambulances took away casualties to nearby hospitals.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast in a text message to media.
"More than 15 soldiers were killed in the attack. The attack happened during the trip of the US defence secretary, and the attack had a message for him," the Taliban said in a statement.
Earlier, Chuck Hagel, who became defence secretary last week, told reporters travelling with him that he wanted to make the trip to see for himself "where we are in Afghanistan".
There are around 66,000 US troops in Afghanistan helping over 300,000 Afghan security forces fight insurgency.
8 Children Killed in Khost Suicide Attack
TOLOnews.com Saturday, 09 March 2013
At least eight children and a policeman have been killed in a suicide attack in eastern Khost province Saturday morning, local officials said.
Two other children have been injured in the attack which took place about 10:00am local time in Khost city, the capital of the province.
A suicide bomber detonated his explosives in an attempt to target a police patrol passing in the area, security official Sardar said.
"Eight children and a policeman were killed and two other children were injured in the attack. The children were playing in the area as the attack happened," he said.
The victims have been taken to a nearby hospital in the city.
No group including the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The attack happened shortly after at least seven civilians and two security troops were killed and 13 civilians were injured in a suicide attack outside the Ministry of Defence in Kabul city.
The attack was carried out by a lone bomber on a bicycle at about 09:00am, the miring after new US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel arrived in Afghanistan.
Corruption Poses Major Challenge for Investment: Traders
TOLOnews.com By Zabihullah Jhanmal Saturday, 09 March 2013
Afghan traders Saturday said that Afghanistan will continue to lose major investments in the country because of the rampant corruption and inaction of the government to correct the situation.
The traders said that Afghanistan's government had already lost a massive amount of investment in the last 11 years because of widespread corruption, bureaucracy in state organization, insecurity, and lack of government's support.
"Corruption is a key reason for investors to take their capital from Afghanistan because no one else is present to lose his/her capital," Afghan trader Mahmood Karzai said.
Meanwhile the High Office of Oversight and Anti-Corruption admitted the challenges ahead, saying corruption is the biggest challenge ahead of investments and economic growth in the country.
"Who will stay to invest in the face of the current challenges including the high level of corruption in Afghanistan? Nobody wants to lose capital. They will take their capital from Afghanistan," anti-corruption chief Azizullah Lodin said.
Although state officials repeatedly say the investments are growing in the country, traders believe that the obtrusive corruption and insecurity disheartens businesses from operating in Afghanistan.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com