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NATO chief says Karzai accusation "absolutely ridiculous"
By Adrian Croft Mon Mar 18, 2013 5:02pm GMT
BRUSSELS | (Reuters) - The head of NATO said on Monday it was "absolutely ridiculous" for Afghan President Hamid Karzai to accuse the United States of colluding with the Taliban and said Kabul should recognise sacrifices made by other countries on Afghanistan's behalf.
Karzai marred a debut visit to Afghanistan by the new U.S. defense secretary, Chuck Hagel, on March 10 by accusing Washington and the Taliban of colluding to convince Afghans that foreign forces were needed beyond 2014, when NATO is set to wrap up its combat mission and most foreign troops are to withdraw.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he was concerned about the increasingly harsh rhetoric between Karzai and the United States, which contributes the largest contingent to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.
"I reject the idea that was publicly launched by President Karzai that ... there is so-called collusion between NATO, ISAF, the U.S. and the Taliban. It is an absolutely ridiculous idea," Rasmussen told a news conference, using unusually strong language for the normally cautious NATO chief.
"We fully respect the sovereignty of Afghanistan but we would also expect acknowledgement from the Afghan side that we have ... invested a lot in blood and treasure in helping President Karzai's country to move forward," he said.
More than 3,000 foreign troops have been killed in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led military intervention began in 2001. Some estimates put the cost to the United States alone of the Afghan war in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
"Troops from 50 ISAF nations have sacrificed in order to bring progress to Afghanistan," Rasmussen said.
Karzai has been increasingly assertive towards the United States. Last month, he ordered U.S. special forces to leave Wardak province after residents complained that they, and Afghans working with them, were torturing and killing civilians, an allegation strongly denied by the Americans.
Opposition politicians saw Karzai's order as a political move to bolster his party's support base ahead of a presidential election next year. Karzai is not allowed to stand again.
Rasmussen also said that a change in U.S. missile defence plans would not reduce the European coverage of a planned U.S. missile shield and had "nothing to do" with Russia, a vocal critic of the European missile shield plan.
Hagel announced plans on Friday to bolster U.S. missile defences in response to "irresponsible and reckless provocations" by North Korea, which has threatened a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the United States.
The Pentagon will add 14 new anti-missile interceptors in Alaska. To free up funds for that, U.S. officials said they were foregoing development of a new interceptor that would have been deployed in eastern Europe.
The interceptor has been a focus of Russian concern that the U.S. anti-missile shield in Europe would weaken its nuclear deterrent.
Some news reports suggested the Pentagon's move could help resolve a long-running dispute between Russia and the United States over the European anti-missile shield.
Rasmussen said the U.S. decision had "nothing to do with Russia." He insisted that "the Europeans will see no difference in their missile defence and there will be exactly the same coverage of NATO Europe as in the original plan".
NATO's invitation to Russia to cooperate on missile defence still stands, Rasmussen said, adding that dates were under consideration for him to make a possible visit to Moscow.
(Editing by Mark Heinrich)
The Untold Story of Afghan Progress
There are over eight million schoolchildren, 2.6 million of them girls. In 2001: 900,000 boys and practically no girls.
Wall Street Journal By SAAD MOHSENI OPINION March 17, 2013
The conventional wisdom about Afghanistan runs something like this: The country is a lost cause. Almost nothing has changed. The people remain backward and thankless, and there is little benefit for the international community to stay engaged in the country's future.
This is far from the truth. Despite many years of conflict, Afghanistan has exhibited dramatic signs of economic, social and cultural revival. The country has undergone such extraordinary change since 9/11 that a return to the dark period of the Taliban is unfathomable.
One source of the misconception about my country is the Afghan government's combative relationship with the international community. But the government doesn't reflect the views of the public. Most people in Afghanistan remain strongly supportive of international engagement and widely approve of the presence of troops from other countries.
With a population of 35.3 million, according to the World Bank, Afghanistan is a young nation. The median age is 17, and 60% of the people are under age 20. This generation is like no other in the country's history. Today, there are over eight million children enrolled in schools—and 2.6 million of those students are girls. In 2001, the nation's classrooms seated only 900,000 boys and practically no girls. The literacy rate is currently 33% and is set to grow to 60% by 2025 and to 90% by 2040.
Afghans are living longer, too, and will be around to see their children join the global community and change their country. Life expectancy, stuck at 40-odd years for decades, has jumped beyond 60, thanks to Afghan and international efforts to improve access to health care. According to the Afghan Ministry of Health, in 2003 there were just 450 health facilities in Afghanistan, including hospitals. Now there are more than 1,800. The infant mortality rate has been cut in half and is now down to 97 deaths per 1,000 live births.
Equally remarkable is the urbanization of what had been a largely rural population. Kabul, the capital, ranks as the fifth-fastest-growing city in the world. In 1990 Kabul was home to 1.2 million people; by 2025 it is projected by the U.N. to reach seven million. The new urban-rural ratio, about 50-50, has contributed greatly to women's participation in the workforce as well as to increasing number of girls receiving an education. City dwellers are letting go of tribal and sectarian links and embracing a more universal Afghan identity.
Afghans increasingly are on the grid, on the go, and connected. Access to regular electricity has nearly tripled to 18% over the past decade. In 2002, there were only about 32 miles of paved road in the entire country. Thanks to international donors, well over 7,450 miles now join our cities. New international airports in Kabul, Kandahar and Herat, and airlines such as Safi are taking our citizens across the world, with seven flights daily to Dubai alone.
People are also flying from Dubai to Afghanistan, which was named the third-ranking destination for travelers from the emirate, attracting almost 400,000 passengers a year, just behind Kuwait and Qatar.
Other unmistakable signs of modernization: The economy has grown to $20 billion today from $2 billion in 2001. Two-thirds of the population, about 20 million people, use mobile phones; 60% regularly watch television; and 95% listen to the radio. This is all the more extraordinary given that Afghanistan in 2001 had only 10,000 fixed telephone lines and no other electronic media.
Media and telecommunications have done much to spur political and social change. News programming helps keep Afghan government institutions and politicians accountable to public opinion, while sitcoms, soap operas and other entertainment programming address traditional social taboos and provide an outlet for pent-up frustrations.
The country's greatest achievement is its democratic process. Many forget that Afghanistan is preparing for its third complete cycle of presidential and parliamentary elections in 2014 and 2015—thanks in part to the continued engagement of the international community. The political process, flawed at times, is nevertheless allowing the country to develop as a modern nation.
Challenges remain. The corruption and ineptitude in many parts of the Afghan government, alongside the insurgency—which is widely known to be financed and orchestrated by meddling regional players—have both done much to contribute to a sense of doom and gloom, especially in the West. Ironically, the international community, by serving as the Afghan government's funder, has also slipped into the role of its defender and apologist.
Yet Afghans have an opportunity to press the reset button in 2014. That reset is crucial, for Afghanistan's future stability rests on a peaceful transition of power through credible presidential elections next year. Any underhandedness could trigger a series of events that would divide the nation.
As for talks with the Taliban, encouraged by some in the U.S. government, they have yet to deliver anything of substance. The insurgents themselves, despite the weakness of the Kabul government, remain very unpopular. Their approval rating, measured by the BBC and by other polls over the years, has consistently come in at under 10% nationally, with less than 30% even in the Taliban heartland of Kandahar.
The international community must not impose this failed and despised movement on the Afghan nation. Any peace deal with the insurgency needs to evolve organically, be led by Afghans and take into account the wishes of the majority of the people.
Today's Afghanistan is a modernizing nation, connected by thousands of miles of roads, airwaves and the Internet. With all the improvements in education, health and living standards, the young men and women of my country regard the progress of the past decade as the foundation for an even brighter future.
And with the selection of a new government in 2014, the people just might stay on the path they chose in 2001. The world must not give up on Afghanistan now.
Mr. Mohseni is the chairman of MOBY Group, Afghanistan's largest media group with additional holdings in the Middle East and South and Central Asia.
Karzai rebuke to US: What maddened the Afghan leader?
BBC Afghan Service By Dawood Azami 18 March 2013
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been critical of several aspects of Nato's mission in his country - but his recent stinging rebuke, followed by a series of decisive moves, is unprecedented, both in terms of frequency and harshness.
Within one month, he initiated several moves that not only show his attempts to assert his power but also affect the whole nature of Nato's mission in Afghanistan.
Mr Karzai stopped Afghan forces from calling in US air strikes after 10 civilians - most of them women and children - were killed in one of such strikes in Kunar province in the east of the country on 13 February.
Following a number of complaints about mistreatment of civilians, he ordered US Special Forces out of Wardak - a strategic province adjacent to Kabul - within two weeks.
And after the arrest of yet another university student by foreign forces, the president banned international troops from university campuses.
He also accused US officials of violating an agreement for a complete transfer of the Bagram detention facility and insisted that Afghans must get immediate and full control of the prison.
But when the American troops did not leave Wardak and the Afghan government was not given the control of Bagram, he openly and in very harsh terms criticised the US in several speeches.
He even accused the US and Taliban of colluding with each other to keep Afghanistan unstable and, therefore, to prolong US presence.
But commenting in a Pashto and Dari bilingual TV debate forum organised by the BBC and Afghanistan's National Radio Television network, President Karzai called the US a friend and strategic partner of Afghanistan.
He added that his recent remarks about the US had been, as he put it, "to correct rather than damage this relationship".
'Flawed strategy'
The timing of such harsh language is important.
His recent anti-US rhetoric comes at a time when negotiations on the terms for American military presence after the withdrawal of Nato combat forces by the end of 2014 are at a critical stage.
The US is keen that the agreement is signed before the Nato summit in mid-2013.
President Karzai has also been critical of the arrests of "innocent Afghans" and the violations of local tradition and culture by foreign forces.
But he is now expressing his suspicion about the overall US-led mission in Afghanistan and the way the war is fought against al-Qaeda and its affiliates.
He views the US strategy as flawed and has repeatedly suggested that the US and its allies must pay attention to sanctuaries of insurgents which, he says, are outside Afghanistan.
The timing is also important for President Karzai personally.
A year before he is due to leave office, he seems very serious about establishing his authority as well as Afghan sovereignty.
He is frustrated about his continued reliance on foreign forces and is aware about his dependency on international community's military and financial aid.
But he wants a relationship between two equal partners and does not like the role of a subordinate.
"We want a good relationship with America; we want friendship, but friendship between two sovereign nations," says Mr Karzai.
Some of his foreign backers might have underestimated him.
But an old saying warns that "you can hire an Afghan, but you cannot buy him"; the president is trying to gain greater control for himself and his country.
Good name
Over the past decade, President Karzai has portrayed himself as a unifying figure who kept the country together and brought different factions and ethnic groups into his government.
He also wishes to bring the Taliban in from the battlefield and go down in history as a peacemaker in a country that has been rocked by more than three decades of continued violence.
Appealing to nationalist sentiments and invoking Afghanistan's sovereignty are also part of the legacy he wants to leave.
President Karzai wants to be remembered as a leader who "liberated" the country from foreign influences.
He is also playing to his own Afghan constituencies and - above all - history. Leaving a good name behind is a virtue in Afghan culture.
As one of the most famous Pashto poets, Khoshahal Khan Khattak (1613 - 1689), says in one of his poems:
"Only the men of honour are praised in songs
Both in their life and after they are dead."
Afghan foreign minister visits New Zealand
WEELLINGTON, March 18 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully held talks with his Afghan counterpart, Zalmai Rassoul in Wellington on Monday.
McCully and Rassoul discussed New Zealand's ongoing commitments to Afghanistan, including providing trainers to the Afghan National Army Officer Academy and personnel to the ISAF Special Operations Forces headquarters.
They also discussed New Zealand's ongoing development programme in Bamyan.
"A new chapter in our countries' relationship is about to begin, with New Zealand withdrawing its Provincial Reconstruction Team ( PRT) from Bamyan province in April, in line with the transition process," McCully said in a statement.
New Zealand has led the PRT in Bamyan since 2003 and has contributed to international counter-terrorism efforts and improved security, development and governance in the province.
New Zealand remains committed to Afghanistan and will continue to play its part in international efforts to support the country, McCully said.
While in New Zealand, Rassoul will also meet New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman.
Afghan gov't registers over 6,000 security incidents within year: official
KABUL, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan Interior Ministry has registered more than 6,000 insurgent attacks and terrorist activities during the current Afghan calendar year (from March 20, 2012 to March 20, 2013), a spokesman for the ministry said on Monday.
"Up to 6,300 terrorist attacks and anti-government activities have been registered in year 1391 of Afghan calendar ending on Wednesday," Siddiq Seddiqi told a joint press briefing.
He said the attacks mostly took place in the shapes of suicide bombings, ambushes, roadside bombings and armed attacks.
A total of 4,600 armed insurgents, including members of Taliban militants and other insurgent groups had been killed in operations carried out by security forces and clashes over the same period, he said.
Over 980 militants were wounded and 6,700 were captured within the past one year, he said.
"In the last month we saw great success of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) in terms of numbers, but also in terms of achievements towards security and stability," said the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) spokesman Brigadier General Gunter Katz at the same briefing.
"Today, the ANSF is leading security in areas where almost 90 percent of the Afghan population is living. In spring this year they will take the lead throughout the entire country," Katz said, adding "At the same time, ISAF will continue to move to a role that focuses on training, advising and assisting our Afghan partners,"
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.
Meantime, Seddiqi also admitted that insurgent attacks and bombings also claimed the lives of 1,800 Afghan policemen over the same period of time.
"Up to 3,000 members of Afghan police were also wounded in the past one year. Which indicates a 15 percent rise in total casualties of the police forces in compare with the prior year," he said.
"Let me highlight something for you from the Chicago Summit declaration: Afghanistan will not stand alone; we reaffirm that our close partnership will continue beyond the end of the transition period," NATO civilian representative spokesman Dominic Medley said at the same briefing.
Iran, Afghanistan Keen to Expand Media Ties
Fars News Agency March 18, 2013
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian and Afghan officials in a meeting called for the bolstering and reinvigoration of bilateral ties in media fields.
During the meeting in Kabul on Sunday, Head of Islamic Republic News Agency's News College in Khorassan Razavi province Reza Amir Jahanshahi and Head of News College of Kabul University Vahid Gharval signed several Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) on the expansion of mutual media cooperation.
Jahanshahi pointed to the two countries' abundant commonalities, and said, "There is a bright landscape of mutual cooperation between the two countries in different areas, including the media field."
The Afghan university official, for his part, said that Afghanistan needs assistance of Iranian media professors for training of journalists.
In November, a senior Iranian legislator underscored Tehran and Kabul's abundant commonalities in different fields, and said there are good grounds for the further development of economic relations and cooperation between the two countries.
The remarks were made by Chairman of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi in a meeting with Leader of the Islamic Unity Party of the People of Afghanistan Mohammad Mohaqiq in Tehran.
Referring to the historical, cultural and religious affinities between the two nations, Boroujerdi said the Islamic Republic of Iran has always backed the Afghan nation in all ups and downs in the past three decades and hosted millions of Afghan refugees.
Given the invaluable experience of Iranian parliament over half a century, he said there are good grounds for expansion of broad-based parliamentary relations and economic cooperation between the two countries.
Mohaqiq, for his part, referred to the longstanding cultural and religious ties between the two countries, and called for benefiting from each other's capabilities to broaden economic cooperation.
Afghan anti-graft body raps Kabul Bank court ruling
AFP March 17, 2013
KABUL - An Afghan anti-corruption watchdog on Sunday criticised court verdicts handed down for a $900 million fraud that caused Kabul Bank, the country's largest bank, to collapse in 2010.
The foreign-funded Monitoring and Evaluation Committee (MEC) said the court's action was inadequate in light of the scale of the scandal.
Judges this month jailed two bank executives for five years and delivered 18 other guilty verdicts, but the MEC said in a statement they had failed to consider much of the complex financial evidence at the heart of the case.
It added that millions of dollars of missing cash would likely never be found as MEC recommendations calling for reform of government bodies and legal authorities had been ignored.
The collapse of Kabul Bank exposed massive high-level corruption in Afghanistan, with international donors demanding better standards if they were to continue to provide the aid money on which the country relies.
"Almost a billion dollars disappeared from Kabul Bank," Drago Kos, chairman of the MEC, told reporters. "This was an organised criminal group who intentionally stole money.
"Kabul Bank represents much of what is wrong in Afghanistan and its fight against corruption."
The fraud saw fake companies given loans, and lenders' cash spirited abroad -- sometimes in airline food trays -- to buy homes in Britain, Dubai, Switzerland and the United States.
The scandal touched a brother of President Hamid Karzai and a brother of Vice President Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim, both shareholders in the bank, but the MEC said police had never investigated allegations against them.
Kabul Bank was seized by the government in 2010 after exposure of the fraud, which led the International Monetary Fund temporarily to halt its loans to Afghanistan.
Renamed New Kabul Bank, it was later bailed out by the government.
The finance ministry has lauded the court case as a sign that corruption was being tackled, but the MEC said the legal outcome was "inappropriate". Billions of dollars in aid have been pledged to help Afghanistan after NATO combat troops withdraw in 2014, but only on condition that corruption is brought under control.
Britain could offer asylum to Afghan war translators
The Government may offer 650 Afghan translators working for the British military the chance of sanctuary in Britain, officials have revealed.
Telegraph.co.uk By Alex Spillius, Diplomatic Correspondent 17 Mar 2013
With British and Nato troops due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014, clamour is growing to make an across-the-board offer to interpreters, who have not only risked their lives but are regarded as traitors by the Taliban.
Gen Lord Dannatt, former Chief of the General Staff, said: "British forces would not have been able to do their work effectively without the invaluable help of translators.
"While each case should be looked into on its own merits, there should, nevertheless, be a presumption to grant such residence in the UK or a third party country, if one can be found."
Paddy Ashdown, the former Liberal Democrat leader and diplomat, said that an offer of refuge in Britain was "the least we can do for men who've given so much to help save British lives".
Most Nato countries have granted asylum to their Afghan translators.
The interpreters are supported by Alex Ford, who served in the RAF for 25 years, including time in Afghanistan.
He said: "Our job would have been impossible without them – they stood shoulder to shoulder with us in the line of fire. But while I've returned to a safe home here in Britain, they still face appalling risks for the help they gave us.
"It makes me ashamed that the Government hasn't the integrity to stand up for people who risked their all for us."
Asylum claims by interpreters are treated on a case-by-case basis, but supporters of the Afghans' cause want them to be offered a similar deal as Iraqis.
They were given the chance to apply for asylum in Britain or to take a financial settlement. The offer to move to the UK was taken up by 900 Iraqis.
A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: "We are looking very carefully at how to make the appropriate provision.
"No decision has been taken, but our commitment to local staff remains strong."
Campaigners from Avaaz, a global action network which started a petition on the translators' behalf, highlighted the case of Abdul, a 27-year-old father of three who was forced into hiding with his family after he received a phone call from the Taliban calling him an "infidel spy".
He said: "Many of us have already been killed or injured just for doing our jobs. Many more of us have received death threats from the Taliban – and we all desperately fear what will happen when British troops leave."
Abdul said that when he tried to report the threats to the British, they told him to report the matter to his local police.
"But this was the same police force that has a fearsome reputation for corruption, kidnapping and worse," he said.
Translators, who work mostly in Helmand province, are paid more than £1,000 a month, but the risks are high. About 20 were killed in action, and dozens have been injured. Another five were said to have been killed while off duty.
Three Afghans sued the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence, asking for the "targeted assisted scheme" in Iraq to be extended to Afghanistan.
In a statement to Parliament, the Ministry of Defence said that the Iraq scheme was "expensive, complex to administer and took little account of any individual need for protection".
US Marines extend K-MAX unmanned helicopter's use in Afghanistan
Reuters Sun Mar 17, 2013
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Marine Corps has extended indefinitely its use of two unmanned K-MAX heavy lift helicopters in Afghanistan, a Navy spokeswoman said, noting the aircraft kept re-supply trucks off the road and reduced the threat of roadside bombs.
The Marine Corps sent the new autonomous helicopters, which were developed by Lockheed Martin Corp and privately-held Kaman Aerospace, to Afghanistan in November 2011 for an initial, limited deployment, but has extended their use several times.
Now, Naval Air Systems Command has decided to continue using the aircraft indefinitely, said Jamie Cosgrove, a spokeswoman for the Navy command, which also oversees Marine Corps aircraft.
She said there were no current plans to buy more K-MAX helicopters, but the two aircraft in Afghanistan would remain there "until otherwise directed."
Dan Schultz, vice president of Lockheed's Aviation Systems business, said the two K-MAX helicopters had flown more than 1,000 missions in Afghanistan and hauled more than 3 million pounds of cargo that would have otherwise been transported by trucks, which are vulnerable to roadside bomb attacks.
K-MAX was "saving lives by reducing Marines' exposure to improvised explosive devices on cargo convoys," he said in a statement to Reuters.
First developed to meet a "joint urgent operational need statement" issued by the U.S. military in 2010, K-MAX can fly autonomously over large distances, and at higher altitudes with a larger payload than any other rotary wing unmanned aerial system, according to Lockheed. It can accurately deliver cargo as large as a compact car.
Unlike the popular Predator drones, which are remotely piloted, K-MAX helicopters follow a pre-programmed route using Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates, and require human intervention only to get started.
The helicopters can also fly during bad weather, at night, and in the rain. Last year Lockheed said the helicopters also required two hours fewer maintenance per flight hour, which makes them cheaper to operate.
Popular Science magazine in November named the unmanned K-MAX helicopter to its "Best of What's New" list.
Cosgrove said Marine Corps officials were now assessing how to use the helicopters after this deployment.
One senior Marine Corps official said the helicopter was proving useful, but its "niche" in future Marine Corps aviation plans was not yet clear.
U.S. forces are due to withdraw from Afghanistan in 2014.
Kabul drivers endure 900 miles of bad roads
Washington Post By Richard Leiby March 17, 2013
kabul - It’s a street like most others in the commercial core of this capital: not really a street at all but a bowl of mud soup thickened with mounds of dirt and gravel. Drivers, accustomed to years of navigating Kabul’s wretched roads, splash through puddles and slalom around potholes.
Although the United States and its international partners shoveled billions of dollars into Kabul’s coffers for 11 years, Shah Bobo Jan Street is unpaved — just one small stretch of more than 900 miles of city roads and alleys that remain largely dirt. That’s the equivalent of a straightaway running from Washington to Des Moines.
The condition of Shah Bobo Jan Street, like the vast majority of streets in this city of 5 million people, is mostly the result of decades of neglect by successive regimes and a civil war in the 1990s that left Kabul a shambles. But only recently have international donors, including the United States, made the Afghan capital’s streets a priority: In the past two years, about 120 miles have been paved in a city that covers 100 square miles.
For many Kabul residents, that provides reason for even more cynicism about a U.S.-led nation-building venture. In their eyes, it has created a corrupt and indifferent government that leaves the common people literally in the dirt — with roads that generate choking dust in the summer and rivers of muck during winter’s snow melt and heavy rain.
“Fifty percent of the money that came here went into the pockets of specific, powerful people,” said Abdul Wakil, a metal worker who bicycled precariously down Shah Bobo Jan last week. “They can make such high buildings, but they can’t make a road in front of their building?”
As is the case across Afghanistan, though, progress in making Kabul more livable rests mainly on a negotiated peace with the Taliban. Without a settlement, many analysts foresee the country collapsing again into civil war after U.S. and foreign troops turn responsibility for security over to Afghan forces by the end of 2014.
Economic aid is expected to drop, and development groups — including those that build roads — would be more likely to leave. International donors, betting on peace, have committed $16 billion to Afghanistan over the next four years, but the process for delivering the dollars has become stricter — and slower — given previous waste and checkered returns on investment.
Where did the billions go?
In a decade, the U.S. Agency for International Development spent nearly $1.6 billion in Kabul province on wide-ranging programs — health, education, business development and government reform — much of which benefited the capital.
But U.S. officials say they intentionally focused transportation improvement elsewhere, building national and regional highways to stitch together the country’s major cities. USAID says it spent $2 billion over 10 years since the 2001 fall of the Taliban to build 1,200 miles of road in Afghanistan, but not in the traffic-snarled capital.
“In Kabul, nothing was done,” said Mayor Muhammad Yunus Nawandish, an energetic engineer whom President Hamid Karzai appointed to office three years ago.
“Kabul is the gateway to Afghanistan, and when international visitors come here, they ask: Where went those billions in assistance?” Nawandish added.
At the entrance to Shah Bobo Jan Street, a leaning metal sign is emblazoned with the logos of USAID, Operation Enduring Freedom and Kabul’s municipal government. It states that road “rehabilitation” in that district and others started in May 2012.
The work is part of the U.S. aid agency’s $45 million Kabul City Initiative, which aims to improve city functions — basics such as tax collection and amenities such as parks, trees, sidewalks and streetlights. The initiative also gets support from Japan, the World Bank and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, among others.
In 2011 and 2012, the airport road was paved, as were arterial roadways around Kabul — a practical way to route heavy trucks out of downtown. But inside the city, only 20 miles of streets are “ready for asphalt,” as Nawandish put it, meaning that they will be paved once the weather improves.
So how many roads in Kabul, which is about the size of Reno, Nev., are left to be fixed?
“Oh, God, unbelievable amounts,” said Brad Baxter, project chief at Tetra Tech, the construction firm that holds the $45 million contract. “Unbelievable.”
Some streets haven’t been paved in more than 40 years, residents said. And training Afghans who have seen only dirt roads and have no experience with heavy equipment hasn’t always been easy, according to Baxter, a former city manager for U.S. municipalities large and small.
Tools are stolen, he said. Work is shoddy.
“Edge lines and center lines have been painted with white paint instead of yellow paint,” notes a project report about the paving of a road a little more than half a mile long.
On Shah Bobo Jan, things haven’t gone so well either.
“We were told to dig ditches in front of our shops to make the water flow, and we did it,” Aziz Khan said from behind the counter of his small sundries store. But because cement culverts weren’t installed, as they have been in other parts of the city, the street is streaked with rivulets, and mud accumulates half a foot high along its edges.
The road, which runs about the length of two football fields, appears well-graded and graveled in a photo from last year, but that didn’t last the winter.
The gravel, supplied by the U.S Army, probably washed away, Baxter said. “It was triage work,” he added. “I’m sure it’s a mess.”
Growth strains Kabul
Since 2001, the population of Kabul has grown nearly fivefold, putting stress on roads that were already deteriorating. Along with more cars, there are heavy pickups laden with weapon- toting security forces, as well as “jammers,” huge armored military vehicles that circulate to disrupt cellphone signals that might be used to detonate bombs.
Hapless police officers try to control chaos, while drivers shoot down rutted cut-throughs on which the ride feels like a small-craft journey on a choppy sea.
Shah Bobo Jan Street, named after the sister of King Amanullah Khan, who secured his country’s independence from Britain in 1919, connects two important nodes of commerce: the famed Chicken Street bazaar and the Kabul City Center shopping mall.
Merchants selling carpets, handicrafts and other tourist items along Shah Bobo Jan say potential customers avoid the area rather than risk slippery collisions with other drivers or a slog by foot through the mud.
“It’s been six years that we’ve looked for a solution to this, but the city officials won’t do what we want,” said a man who identified himself only as Ayub and said he once served as a neighborhood liaison to the city government.
He gingerly shuffled on and off the sidewalk to avoid mud puddles as he pointed out worsening conditions.
“Now water is going inside the homes,” Ayub said. “Thirty years ago, this was a beautiful street. There were trees. It was green.” And the street was paved.
Until two years ago, the city had no functioning streetlights, according to Nawandish and other residents. When the electricity went out — as it still does — shopkeepers relied on kerosene lanterns after dark.
“It was like something out of the 14th century,” Nawandish, 56, said last week as he sat in his comfortable office, which was decorated with awards.
Nawandish is known to personally supervise pothole repairs and once showed up at 2 a.m. to instruct a work crew how to install lights.
What does the future hold?
“I can see Kabul as a clean city, a green city, a developed city, a lighted city with good sanitation,” he said.
Peace with the Taliban will come soon, the mayor predicted: “I know the Afghan people are tired of the war and the instability.”
But for now, a big-screen TV monitor on his desk shows 16 feeds from security cameras that survey all corners of his municipal headquarters — just in case of an attack.
And when will the city have paved roads?
“It is not possible,” he said, “to build all these roads in two, three, four or five years.”
Mohammad Sharif in Kabul contributed to this report.
Peace Process Being Sabotaged by Outsiders: Faizi
TOLOnews.com By Abdul Wali Arian Sunday, 17 March 2013
Around 18 Taliban members who have shown a desire to negotiate with the Afghan government or join the peace process have recently been killed, President Hamid Karzai's spokesman has told TOLOnews to illustrate the reach of those opposed to a government-Taliban peace deal.
"Over the past month, a number of Taliban who were wanting to join the peace process and had maintained relations with the Afghan government and High Peace Council were recently caught and put in prison, and about 17 or 18 of them were killed after being tortured," said Aimal Faizi on Saturday, blaming outsiders.
"The peace process is being sabotaged and it will continue to be [sabotaged]. Some countries do not want the process to be carried out," he added.
The High Peace Council said the deaths and arrests are a sign of the disarray of the peace process both inside and outside Afghanistan, warning that the disorder will end up harming those causing it.
"They may sabotage it, but they should be concerned that the fire that is being ignited in Afghanistan and on which they are throwing fuel will set themselves alight one day," said leading HPC member Mohammad Ismail Qasimyar.
At least one political analyst believes that the Taliban are "pawns" in Pakistan's political aims and are backed by a number of groups inside the Pakistani government.
"The Taliban are the pawns of Pakistan and they want Pakistan's interests. Therefore the peace process is their pawn too," said Jawid Kohestani, political expert.
However, a former Taliban leader accused both Kabul and Islamabad of not being honest in its peace process efforts saying there are people in both governments seeking personal interest.
"There are people within the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan that are seek personal benefits in the peace process," said Sayed Akbar Agha, former head of Taliban's Jaish al-Muslimeen group, on Sunday.
"The governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan are not being honest towards the peace process," he added.
Nevertheless, criticism from the Afghan government throughout the peace process has been leveled at Islamabad, even as a number of Afghan Taliban members have been released from Pakistani prisons at the HPC request.
Over the past months, Pakistan has released as many as 26 Taliban prisoners including the former justice minister of the Taliban regime Mullah Nooruddin Torabi, and also Anwarul Haq Mojahid.
Kidnappers Kill 5-Year Old Boy in Parwan
TOLOnews.com Sunday, 17 March 2013
A five-year old boy has been killed by his captors in northern Parwan province after he was kidnapped a week ago from Kabul province, local officials said Sunday.
The boy, Arshad, was kidnapped from Pul-e-Khishti area of Kabul city by two kidnappers and was understood to have been taken to the Ofyan area of Parwan a week ago.
He was killed Saturday after his family did not pay the ransom money, provincial spokesperson Roshan Khalid told TOLOnews Sunday.
"The kidnappers have been arrested by the security forces, while they were mourning the boy in the area, and the police have started investigations," Khalid said.
"The kidnappers have confessed in the preliminary investigations about the kidnapping and the family of the boy has been informed," she added.
The murder happened the same day that a preliminary court in Herat sentenced to death two men for kidnapping and later killing the eight-year-old son of a Herat businessman more than two months ago.
The police had arrested 12 suspects, two of whom were found guilty of murder. The court also sentenced an accomplice to 20 years prison and five others received six to 16 years prison.
The defence attorney rejected the sentences and said that it is "unfair."
"Unfortunately, the preliminary court has completely ignored the justifications to my clients. We showed more documents that they were not involved in the murders and made the decision under pressure from popular demonstrations," said Ahmad Navid Ziaratjahi, the attorney.
The head of Herat's primary court Qazi Abdul Ghafar confirmed the sentences.
"We confirm the death sentences of those who were involved in the murder of the boy," he said.
Ali Sina, the eight-year-old boy who was kidnapped with assistance from his father's bodyguard late December last year, was killed by the kidnappers late January even though they received a ransom.
According to his father, the kidnappers had initially asked for $400,000 for his son's release, an amount which was negotiated down to $90,000. But the kidnappers killed and then buried Ali Sina to cover their tracks and conceal their identities.
5000 Afghan Birds Smuggled in a Year
TOLOnews.com By Faridullah.Sahil Sunday, 17 March 2013
Smugglers have stolen nearly 5000 birds out of Afghanistan in the past 12 months, taking them to various countries particularly the Gulf nations, Afghanistan Environment Protection Agency (AEPA) said Sunday.
AEPA head Mustafa Zahir said that geese and falcons are the most popular birds for smugglers, mostly taken from the northern provinces.
"Unfortunately bird smuggling is continuing in the country, especially in Balkh and Bamyan. Mostly they are smuggling geese and falcon. But more than 80 percent of them are dying in the highways [on the journey]," Zahir said in the Balkh capital Mazar-e-Sharif.
He called on government officials to take action over the smuggling of the birds and other wildlife beyond Afghanistan's borders.
His comments comes as non-government organisations from the United Arabic Emirates (UAE) invested $1 million for the protection of birds in Mazar-e-Sharif.
"We are investing to protect those birds and animals that are facing conditions of extinction. Our goal is to protect them to ensure they are not smuggled," said Sayed Abdul Samad Munib, the head of the UAE non-government institutions for the protection of wildlife and birds.
The group returned more than 30 falcons and hawks recovered from smugglers in the UAE and then freed them in Mazar-e-Sharif Sunday.
AEPA's Zahir welcomed the funding and the support of the UAE institutions.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
By Adrian Croft Mon Mar 18, 2013 5:02pm GMT
BRUSSELS | (Reuters) - The head of NATO said on Monday it was "absolutely ridiculous" for Afghan President Hamid Karzai to accuse the United States of colluding with the Taliban and said Kabul should recognise sacrifices made by other countries on Afghanistan's behalf.
Karzai marred a debut visit to Afghanistan by the new U.S. defense secretary, Chuck Hagel, on March 10 by accusing Washington and the Taliban of colluding to convince Afghans that foreign forces were needed beyond 2014, when NATO is set to wrap up its combat mission and most foreign troops are to withdraw.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he was concerned about the increasingly harsh rhetoric between Karzai and the United States, which contributes the largest contingent to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.
"I reject the idea that was publicly launched by President Karzai that ... there is so-called collusion between NATO, ISAF, the U.S. and the Taliban. It is an absolutely ridiculous idea," Rasmussen told a news conference, using unusually strong language for the normally cautious NATO chief.
"We fully respect the sovereignty of Afghanistan but we would also expect acknowledgement from the Afghan side that we have ... invested a lot in blood and treasure in helping President Karzai's country to move forward," he said.
More than 3,000 foreign troops have been killed in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led military intervention began in 2001. Some estimates put the cost to the United States alone of the Afghan war in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
"Troops from 50 ISAF nations have sacrificed in order to bring progress to Afghanistan," Rasmussen said.
Karzai has been increasingly assertive towards the United States. Last month, he ordered U.S. special forces to leave Wardak province after residents complained that they, and Afghans working with them, were torturing and killing civilians, an allegation strongly denied by the Americans.
Opposition politicians saw Karzai's order as a political move to bolster his party's support base ahead of a presidential election next year. Karzai is not allowed to stand again.
Rasmussen also said that a change in U.S. missile defence plans would not reduce the European coverage of a planned U.S. missile shield and had "nothing to do" with Russia, a vocal critic of the European missile shield plan.
Hagel announced plans on Friday to bolster U.S. missile defences in response to "irresponsible and reckless provocations" by North Korea, which has threatened a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the United States.
The Pentagon will add 14 new anti-missile interceptors in Alaska. To free up funds for that, U.S. officials said they were foregoing development of a new interceptor that would have been deployed in eastern Europe.
The interceptor has been a focus of Russian concern that the U.S. anti-missile shield in Europe would weaken its nuclear deterrent.
Some news reports suggested the Pentagon's move could help resolve a long-running dispute between Russia and the United States over the European anti-missile shield.
Rasmussen said the U.S. decision had "nothing to do with Russia." He insisted that "the Europeans will see no difference in their missile defence and there will be exactly the same coverage of NATO Europe as in the original plan".
NATO's invitation to Russia to cooperate on missile defence still stands, Rasmussen said, adding that dates were under consideration for him to make a possible visit to Moscow.
(Editing by Mark Heinrich)
The Untold Story of Afghan Progress
There are over eight million schoolchildren, 2.6 million of them girls. In 2001: 900,000 boys and practically no girls.
Wall Street Journal By SAAD MOHSENI OPINION March 17, 2013
The conventional wisdom about Afghanistan runs something like this: The country is a lost cause. Almost nothing has changed. The people remain backward and thankless, and there is little benefit for the international community to stay engaged in the country's future.
This is far from the truth. Despite many years of conflict, Afghanistan has exhibited dramatic signs of economic, social and cultural revival. The country has undergone such extraordinary change since 9/11 that a return to the dark period of the Taliban is unfathomable.
One source of the misconception about my country is the Afghan government's combative relationship with the international community. But the government doesn't reflect the views of the public. Most people in Afghanistan remain strongly supportive of international engagement and widely approve of the presence of troops from other countries.
With a population of 35.3 million, according to the World Bank, Afghanistan is a young nation. The median age is 17, and 60% of the people are under age 20. This generation is like no other in the country's history. Today, there are over eight million children enrolled in schools—and 2.6 million of those students are girls. In 2001, the nation's classrooms seated only 900,000 boys and practically no girls. The literacy rate is currently 33% and is set to grow to 60% by 2025 and to 90% by 2040.
Afghans are living longer, too, and will be around to see their children join the global community and change their country. Life expectancy, stuck at 40-odd years for decades, has jumped beyond 60, thanks to Afghan and international efforts to improve access to health care. According to the Afghan Ministry of Health, in 2003 there were just 450 health facilities in Afghanistan, including hospitals. Now there are more than 1,800. The infant mortality rate has been cut in half and is now down to 97 deaths per 1,000 live births.
Equally remarkable is the urbanization of what had been a largely rural population. Kabul, the capital, ranks as the fifth-fastest-growing city in the world. In 1990 Kabul was home to 1.2 million people; by 2025 it is projected by the U.N. to reach seven million. The new urban-rural ratio, about 50-50, has contributed greatly to women's participation in the workforce as well as to increasing number of girls receiving an education. City dwellers are letting go of tribal and sectarian links and embracing a more universal Afghan identity.
Afghans increasingly are on the grid, on the go, and connected. Access to regular electricity has nearly tripled to 18% over the past decade. In 2002, there were only about 32 miles of paved road in the entire country. Thanks to international donors, well over 7,450 miles now join our cities. New international airports in Kabul, Kandahar and Herat, and airlines such as Safi are taking our citizens across the world, with seven flights daily to Dubai alone.
People are also flying from Dubai to Afghanistan, which was named the third-ranking destination for travelers from the emirate, attracting almost 400,000 passengers a year, just behind Kuwait and Qatar.
Other unmistakable signs of modernization: The economy has grown to $20 billion today from $2 billion in 2001. Two-thirds of the population, about 20 million people, use mobile phones; 60% regularly watch television; and 95% listen to the radio. This is all the more extraordinary given that Afghanistan in 2001 had only 10,000 fixed telephone lines and no other electronic media.
Media and telecommunications have done much to spur political and social change. News programming helps keep Afghan government institutions and politicians accountable to public opinion, while sitcoms, soap operas and other entertainment programming address traditional social taboos and provide an outlet for pent-up frustrations.
The country's greatest achievement is its democratic process. Many forget that Afghanistan is preparing for its third complete cycle of presidential and parliamentary elections in 2014 and 2015—thanks in part to the continued engagement of the international community. The political process, flawed at times, is nevertheless allowing the country to develop as a modern nation.
Challenges remain. The corruption and ineptitude in many parts of the Afghan government, alongside the insurgency—which is widely known to be financed and orchestrated by meddling regional players—have both done much to contribute to a sense of doom and gloom, especially in the West. Ironically, the international community, by serving as the Afghan government's funder, has also slipped into the role of its defender and apologist.
Yet Afghans have an opportunity to press the reset button in 2014. That reset is crucial, for Afghanistan's future stability rests on a peaceful transition of power through credible presidential elections next year. Any underhandedness could trigger a series of events that would divide the nation.
As for talks with the Taliban, encouraged by some in the U.S. government, they have yet to deliver anything of substance. The insurgents themselves, despite the weakness of the Kabul government, remain very unpopular. Their approval rating, measured by the BBC and by other polls over the years, has consistently come in at under 10% nationally, with less than 30% even in the Taliban heartland of Kandahar.
The international community must not impose this failed and despised movement on the Afghan nation. Any peace deal with the insurgency needs to evolve organically, be led by Afghans and take into account the wishes of the majority of the people.
Today's Afghanistan is a modernizing nation, connected by thousands of miles of roads, airwaves and the Internet. With all the improvements in education, health and living standards, the young men and women of my country regard the progress of the past decade as the foundation for an even brighter future.
And with the selection of a new government in 2014, the people just might stay on the path they chose in 2001. The world must not give up on Afghanistan now.
Mr. Mohseni is the chairman of MOBY Group, Afghanistan's largest media group with additional holdings in the Middle East and South and Central Asia.
Karzai rebuke to US: What maddened the Afghan leader?
BBC Afghan Service By Dawood Azami 18 March 2013
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been critical of several aspects of Nato's mission in his country - but his recent stinging rebuke, followed by a series of decisive moves, is unprecedented, both in terms of frequency and harshness.
Within one month, he initiated several moves that not only show his attempts to assert his power but also affect the whole nature of Nato's mission in Afghanistan.
Mr Karzai stopped Afghan forces from calling in US air strikes after 10 civilians - most of them women and children - were killed in one of such strikes in Kunar province in the east of the country on 13 February.
Following a number of complaints about mistreatment of civilians, he ordered US Special Forces out of Wardak - a strategic province adjacent to Kabul - within two weeks.
And after the arrest of yet another university student by foreign forces, the president banned international troops from university campuses.
He also accused US officials of violating an agreement for a complete transfer of the Bagram detention facility and insisted that Afghans must get immediate and full control of the prison.
But when the American troops did not leave Wardak and the Afghan government was not given the control of Bagram, he openly and in very harsh terms criticised the US in several speeches.
He even accused the US and Taliban of colluding with each other to keep Afghanistan unstable and, therefore, to prolong US presence.
But commenting in a Pashto and Dari bilingual TV debate forum organised by the BBC and Afghanistan's National Radio Television network, President Karzai called the US a friend and strategic partner of Afghanistan.
He added that his recent remarks about the US had been, as he put it, "to correct rather than damage this relationship".
'Flawed strategy'
The timing of such harsh language is important.
His recent anti-US rhetoric comes at a time when negotiations on the terms for American military presence after the withdrawal of Nato combat forces by the end of 2014 are at a critical stage.
The US is keen that the agreement is signed before the Nato summit in mid-2013.
President Karzai has also been critical of the arrests of "innocent Afghans" and the violations of local tradition and culture by foreign forces.
But he is now expressing his suspicion about the overall US-led mission in Afghanistan and the way the war is fought against al-Qaeda and its affiliates.
He views the US strategy as flawed and has repeatedly suggested that the US and its allies must pay attention to sanctuaries of insurgents which, he says, are outside Afghanistan.
The timing is also important for President Karzai personally.
A year before he is due to leave office, he seems very serious about establishing his authority as well as Afghan sovereignty.
He is frustrated about his continued reliance on foreign forces and is aware about his dependency on international community's military and financial aid.
But he wants a relationship between two equal partners and does not like the role of a subordinate.
"We want a good relationship with America; we want friendship, but friendship between two sovereign nations," says Mr Karzai.
Some of his foreign backers might have underestimated him.
But an old saying warns that "you can hire an Afghan, but you cannot buy him"; the president is trying to gain greater control for himself and his country.
Good name
Over the past decade, President Karzai has portrayed himself as a unifying figure who kept the country together and brought different factions and ethnic groups into his government.
He also wishes to bring the Taliban in from the battlefield and go down in history as a peacemaker in a country that has been rocked by more than three decades of continued violence.
Appealing to nationalist sentiments and invoking Afghanistan's sovereignty are also part of the legacy he wants to leave.
President Karzai wants to be remembered as a leader who "liberated" the country from foreign influences.
He is also playing to his own Afghan constituencies and - above all - history. Leaving a good name behind is a virtue in Afghan culture.
As one of the most famous Pashto poets, Khoshahal Khan Khattak (1613 - 1689), says in one of his poems:
"Only the men of honour are praised in songs
Both in their life and after they are dead."
Afghan foreign minister visits New Zealand
WEELLINGTON, March 18 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully held talks with his Afghan counterpart, Zalmai Rassoul in Wellington on Monday.
McCully and Rassoul discussed New Zealand's ongoing commitments to Afghanistan, including providing trainers to the Afghan National Army Officer Academy and personnel to the ISAF Special Operations Forces headquarters.
They also discussed New Zealand's ongoing development programme in Bamyan.
"A new chapter in our countries' relationship is about to begin, with New Zealand withdrawing its Provincial Reconstruction Team ( PRT) from Bamyan province in April, in line with the transition process," McCully said in a statement.
New Zealand has led the PRT in Bamyan since 2003 and has contributed to international counter-terrorism efforts and improved security, development and governance in the province.
New Zealand remains committed to Afghanistan and will continue to play its part in international efforts to support the country, McCully said.
While in New Zealand, Rassoul will also meet New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman.
Afghan gov't registers over 6,000 security incidents within year: official
KABUL, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan Interior Ministry has registered more than 6,000 insurgent attacks and terrorist activities during the current Afghan calendar year (from March 20, 2012 to March 20, 2013), a spokesman for the ministry said on Monday.
"Up to 6,300 terrorist attacks and anti-government activities have been registered in year 1391 of Afghan calendar ending on Wednesday," Siddiq Seddiqi told a joint press briefing.
He said the attacks mostly took place in the shapes of suicide bombings, ambushes, roadside bombings and armed attacks.
A total of 4,600 armed insurgents, including members of Taliban militants and other insurgent groups had been killed in operations carried out by security forces and clashes over the same period, he said.
Over 980 militants were wounded and 6,700 were captured within the past one year, he said.
"In the last month we saw great success of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) in terms of numbers, but also in terms of achievements towards security and stability," said the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) spokesman Brigadier General Gunter Katz at the same briefing.
"Today, the ANSF is leading security in areas where almost 90 percent of the Afghan population is living. In spring this year they will take the lead throughout the entire country," Katz said, adding "At the same time, ISAF will continue to move to a role that focuses on training, advising and assisting our Afghan partners,"
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.
Meantime, Seddiqi also admitted that insurgent attacks and bombings also claimed the lives of 1,800 Afghan policemen over the same period of time.
"Up to 3,000 members of Afghan police were also wounded in the past one year. Which indicates a 15 percent rise in total casualties of the police forces in compare with the prior year," he said.
"Let me highlight something for you from the Chicago Summit declaration: Afghanistan will not stand alone; we reaffirm that our close partnership will continue beyond the end of the transition period," NATO civilian representative spokesman Dominic Medley said at the same briefing.
Iran, Afghanistan Keen to Expand Media Ties
Fars News Agency March 18, 2013
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian and Afghan officials in a meeting called for the bolstering and reinvigoration of bilateral ties in media fields.
During the meeting in Kabul on Sunday, Head of Islamic Republic News Agency's News College in Khorassan Razavi province Reza Amir Jahanshahi and Head of News College of Kabul University Vahid Gharval signed several Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) on the expansion of mutual media cooperation.
Jahanshahi pointed to the two countries' abundant commonalities, and said, "There is a bright landscape of mutual cooperation between the two countries in different areas, including the media field."
The Afghan university official, for his part, said that Afghanistan needs assistance of Iranian media professors for training of journalists.
In November, a senior Iranian legislator underscored Tehran and Kabul's abundant commonalities in different fields, and said there are good grounds for the further development of economic relations and cooperation between the two countries.
The remarks were made by Chairman of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi in a meeting with Leader of the Islamic Unity Party of the People of Afghanistan Mohammad Mohaqiq in Tehran.
Referring to the historical, cultural and religious affinities between the two nations, Boroujerdi said the Islamic Republic of Iran has always backed the Afghan nation in all ups and downs in the past three decades and hosted millions of Afghan refugees.
Given the invaluable experience of Iranian parliament over half a century, he said there are good grounds for expansion of broad-based parliamentary relations and economic cooperation between the two countries.
Mohaqiq, for his part, referred to the longstanding cultural and religious ties between the two countries, and called for benefiting from each other's capabilities to broaden economic cooperation.
Afghan anti-graft body raps Kabul Bank court ruling
AFP March 17, 2013
KABUL - An Afghan anti-corruption watchdog on Sunday criticised court verdicts handed down for a $900 million fraud that caused Kabul Bank, the country's largest bank, to collapse in 2010.
The foreign-funded Monitoring and Evaluation Committee (MEC) said the court's action was inadequate in light of the scale of the scandal.
Judges this month jailed two bank executives for five years and delivered 18 other guilty verdicts, but the MEC said in a statement they had failed to consider much of the complex financial evidence at the heart of the case.
It added that millions of dollars of missing cash would likely never be found as MEC recommendations calling for reform of government bodies and legal authorities had been ignored.
The collapse of Kabul Bank exposed massive high-level corruption in Afghanistan, with international donors demanding better standards if they were to continue to provide the aid money on which the country relies.
"Almost a billion dollars disappeared from Kabul Bank," Drago Kos, chairman of the MEC, told reporters. "This was an organised criminal group who intentionally stole money.
"Kabul Bank represents much of what is wrong in Afghanistan and its fight against corruption."
The fraud saw fake companies given loans, and lenders' cash spirited abroad -- sometimes in airline food trays -- to buy homes in Britain, Dubai, Switzerland and the United States.
The scandal touched a brother of President Hamid Karzai and a brother of Vice President Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim, both shareholders in the bank, but the MEC said police had never investigated allegations against them.
Kabul Bank was seized by the government in 2010 after exposure of the fraud, which led the International Monetary Fund temporarily to halt its loans to Afghanistan.
Renamed New Kabul Bank, it was later bailed out by the government.
The finance ministry has lauded the court case as a sign that corruption was being tackled, but the MEC said the legal outcome was "inappropriate". Billions of dollars in aid have been pledged to help Afghanistan after NATO combat troops withdraw in 2014, but only on condition that corruption is brought under control.
Britain could offer asylum to Afghan war translators
The Government may offer 650 Afghan translators working for the British military the chance of sanctuary in Britain, officials have revealed.
Telegraph.co.uk By Alex Spillius, Diplomatic Correspondent 17 Mar 2013
With British and Nato troops due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014, clamour is growing to make an across-the-board offer to interpreters, who have not only risked their lives but are regarded as traitors by the Taliban.
Gen Lord Dannatt, former Chief of the General Staff, said: "British forces would not have been able to do their work effectively without the invaluable help of translators.
"While each case should be looked into on its own merits, there should, nevertheless, be a presumption to grant such residence in the UK or a third party country, if one can be found."
Paddy Ashdown, the former Liberal Democrat leader and diplomat, said that an offer of refuge in Britain was "the least we can do for men who've given so much to help save British lives".
Most Nato countries have granted asylum to their Afghan translators.
The interpreters are supported by Alex Ford, who served in the RAF for 25 years, including time in Afghanistan.
He said: "Our job would have been impossible without them – they stood shoulder to shoulder with us in the line of fire. But while I've returned to a safe home here in Britain, they still face appalling risks for the help they gave us.
"It makes me ashamed that the Government hasn't the integrity to stand up for people who risked their all for us."
Asylum claims by interpreters are treated on a case-by-case basis, but supporters of the Afghans' cause want them to be offered a similar deal as Iraqis.
They were given the chance to apply for asylum in Britain or to take a financial settlement. The offer to move to the UK was taken up by 900 Iraqis.
A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: "We are looking very carefully at how to make the appropriate provision.
"No decision has been taken, but our commitment to local staff remains strong."
Campaigners from Avaaz, a global action network which started a petition on the translators' behalf, highlighted the case of Abdul, a 27-year-old father of three who was forced into hiding with his family after he received a phone call from the Taliban calling him an "infidel spy".
He said: "Many of us have already been killed or injured just for doing our jobs. Many more of us have received death threats from the Taliban – and we all desperately fear what will happen when British troops leave."
Abdul said that when he tried to report the threats to the British, they told him to report the matter to his local police.
"But this was the same police force that has a fearsome reputation for corruption, kidnapping and worse," he said.
Translators, who work mostly in Helmand province, are paid more than £1,000 a month, but the risks are high. About 20 were killed in action, and dozens have been injured. Another five were said to have been killed while off duty.
Three Afghans sued the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence, asking for the "targeted assisted scheme" in Iraq to be extended to Afghanistan.
In a statement to Parliament, the Ministry of Defence said that the Iraq scheme was "expensive, complex to administer and took little account of any individual need for protection".
US Marines extend K-MAX unmanned helicopter's use in Afghanistan
Reuters Sun Mar 17, 2013
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Marine Corps has extended indefinitely its use of two unmanned K-MAX heavy lift helicopters in Afghanistan, a Navy spokeswoman said, noting the aircraft kept re-supply trucks off the road and reduced the threat of roadside bombs.
The Marine Corps sent the new autonomous helicopters, which were developed by Lockheed Martin Corp and privately-held Kaman Aerospace, to Afghanistan in November 2011 for an initial, limited deployment, but has extended their use several times.
Now, Naval Air Systems Command has decided to continue using the aircraft indefinitely, said Jamie Cosgrove, a spokeswoman for the Navy command, which also oversees Marine Corps aircraft.
She said there were no current plans to buy more K-MAX helicopters, but the two aircraft in Afghanistan would remain there "until otherwise directed."
Dan Schultz, vice president of Lockheed's Aviation Systems business, said the two K-MAX helicopters had flown more than 1,000 missions in Afghanistan and hauled more than 3 million pounds of cargo that would have otherwise been transported by trucks, which are vulnerable to roadside bomb attacks.
K-MAX was "saving lives by reducing Marines' exposure to improvised explosive devices on cargo convoys," he said in a statement to Reuters.
First developed to meet a "joint urgent operational need statement" issued by the U.S. military in 2010, K-MAX can fly autonomously over large distances, and at higher altitudes with a larger payload than any other rotary wing unmanned aerial system, according to Lockheed. It can accurately deliver cargo as large as a compact car.
Unlike the popular Predator drones, which are remotely piloted, K-MAX helicopters follow a pre-programmed route using Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates, and require human intervention only to get started.
The helicopters can also fly during bad weather, at night, and in the rain. Last year Lockheed said the helicopters also required two hours fewer maintenance per flight hour, which makes them cheaper to operate.
Popular Science magazine in November named the unmanned K-MAX helicopter to its "Best of What's New" list.
Cosgrove said Marine Corps officials were now assessing how to use the helicopters after this deployment.
One senior Marine Corps official said the helicopter was proving useful, but its "niche" in future Marine Corps aviation plans was not yet clear.
U.S. forces are due to withdraw from Afghanistan in 2014.
Kabul drivers endure 900 miles of bad roads
Washington Post By Richard Leiby March 17, 2013
kabul - It’s a street like most others in the commercial core of this capital: not really a street at all but a bowl of mud soup thickened with mounds of dirt and gravel. Drivers, accustomed to years of navigating Kabul’s wretched roads, splash through puddles and slalom around potholes.
Although the United States and its international partners shoveled billions of dollars into Kabul’s coffers for 11 years, Shah Bobo Jan Street is unpaved — just one small stretch of more than 900 miles of city roads and alleys that remain largely dirt. That’s the equivalent of a straightaway running from Washington to Des Moines.
The condition of Shah Bobo Jan Street, like the vast majority of streets in this city of 5 million people, is mostly the result of decades of neglect by successive regimes and a civil war in the 1990s that left Kabul a shambles. But only recently have international donors, including the United States, made the Afghan capital’s streets a priority: In the past two years, about 120 miles have been paved in a city that covers 100 square miles.
For many Kabul residents, that provides reason for even more cynicism about a U.S.-led nation-building venture. In their eyes, it has created a corrupt and indifferent government that leaves the common people literally in the dirt — with roads that generate choking dust in the summer and rivers of muck during winter’s snow melt and heavy rain.
“Fifty percent of the money that came here went into the pockets of specific, powerful people,” said Abdul Wakil, a metal worker who bicycled precariously down Shah Bobo Jan last week. “They can make such high buildings, but they can’t make a road in front of their building?”
As is the case across Afghanistan, though, progress in making Kabul more livable rests mainly on a negotiated peace with the Taliban. Without a settlement, many analysts foresee the country collapsing again into civil war after U.S. and foreign troops turn responsibility for security over to Afghan forces by the end of 2014.
Economic aid is expected to drop, and development groups — including those that build roads — would be more likely to leave. International donors, betting on peace, have committed $16 billion to Afghanistan over the next four years, but the process for delivering the dollars has become stricter — and slower — given previous waste and checkered returns on investment.
Where did the billions go?
In a decade, the U.S. Agency for International Development spent nearly $1.6 billion in Kabul province on wide-ranging programs — health, education, business development and government reform — much of which benefited the capital.
But U.S. officials say they intentionally focused transportation improvement elsewhere, building national and regional highways to stitch together the country’s major cities. USAID says it spent $2 billion over 10 years since the 2001 fall of the Taliban to build 1,200 miles of road in Afghanistan, but not in the traffic-snarled capital.
“In Kabul, nothing was done,” said Mayor Muhammad Yunus Nawandish, an energetic engineer whom President Hamid Karzai appointed to office three years ago.
“Kabul is the gateway to Afghanistan, and when international visitors come here, they ask: Where went those billions in assistance?” Nawandish added.
At the entrance to Shah Bobo Jan Street, a leaning metal sign is emblazoned with the logos of USAID, Operation Enduring Freedom and Kabul’s municipal government. It states that road “rehabilitation” in that district and others started in May 2012.
The work is part of the U.S. aid agency’s $45 million Kabul City Initiative, which aims to improve city functions — basics such as tax collection and amenities such as parks, trees, sidewalks and streetlights. The initiative also gets support from Japan, the World Bank and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, among others.
In 2011 and 2012, the airport road was paved, as were arterial roadways around Kabul — a practical way to route heavy trucks out of downtown. But inside the city, only 20 miles of streets are “ready for asphalt,” as Nawandish put it, meaning that they will be paved once the weather improves.
So how many roads in Kabul, which is about the size of Reno, Nev., are left to be fixed?
“Oh, God, unbelievable amounts,” said Brad Baxter, project chief at Tetra Tech, the construction firm that holds the $45 million contract. “Unbelievable.”
Some streets haven’t been paved in more than 40 years, residents said. And training Afghans who have seen only dirt roads and have no experience with heavy equipment hasn’t always been easy, according to Baxter, a former city manager for U.S. municipalities large and small.
Tools are stolen, he said. Work is shoddy.
“Edge lines and center lines have been painted with white paint instead of yellow paint,” notes a project report about the paving of a road a little more than half a mile long.
On Shah Bobo Jan, things haven’t gone so well either.
“We were told to dig ditches in front of our shops to make the water flow, and we did it,” Aziz Khan said from behind the counter of his small sundries store. But because cement culverts weren’t installed, as they have been in other parts of the city, the street is streaked with rivulets, and mud accumulates half a foot high along its edges.
The road, which runs about the length of two football fields, appears well-graded and graveled in a photo from last year, but that didn’t last the winter.
The gravel, supplied by the U.S Army, probably washed away, Baxter said. “It was triage work,” he added. “I’m sure it’s a mess.”
Growth strains Kabul
Since 2001, the population of Kabul has grown nearly fivefold, putting stress on roads that were already deteriorating. Along with more cars, there are heavy pickups laden with weapon- toting security forces, as well as “jammers,” huge armored military vehicles that circulate to disrupt cellphone signals that might be used to detonate bombs.
Hapless police officers try to control chaos, while drivers shoot down rutted cut-throughs on which the ride feels like a small-craft journey on a choppy sea.
Shah Bobo Jan Street, named after the sister of King Amanullah Khan, who secured his country’s independence from Britain in 1919, connects two important nodes of commerce: the famed Chicken Street bazaar and the Kabul City Center shopping mall.
Merchants selling carpets, handicrafts and other tourist items along Shah Bobo Jan say potential customers avoid the area rather than risk slippery collisions with other drivers or a slog by foot through the mud.
“It’s been six years that we’ve looked for a solution to this, but the city officials won’t do what we want,” said a man who identified himself only as Ayub and said he once served as a neighborhood liaison to the city government.
He gingerly shuffled on and off the sidewalk to avoid mud puddles as he pointed out worsening conditions.
“Now water is going inside the homes,” Ayub said. “Thirty years ago, this was a beautiful street. There were trees. It was green.” And the street was paved.
Until two years ago, the city had no functioning streetlights, according to Nawandish and other residents. When the electricity went out — as it still does — shopkeepers relied on kerosene lanterns after dark.
“It was like something out of the 14th century,” Nawandish, 56, said last week as he sat in his comfortable office, which was decorated with awards.
Nawandish is known to personally supervise pothole repairs and once showed up at 2 a.m. to instruct a work crew how to install lights.
What does the future hold?
“I can see Kabul as a clean city, a green city, a developed city, a lighted city with good sanitation,” he said.
Peace with the Taliban will come soon, the mayor predicted: “I know the Afghan people are tired of the war and the instability.”
But for now, a big-screen TV monitor on his desk shows 16 feeds from security cameras that survey all corners of his municipal headquarters — just in case of an attack.
And when will the city have paved roads?
“It is not possible,” he said, “to build all these roads in two, three, four or five years.”
Mohammad Sharif in Kabul contributed to this report.
Peace Process Being Sabotaged by Outsiders: Faizi
TOLOnews.com By Abdul Wali Arian Sunday, 17 March 2013
Around 18 Taliban members who have shown a desire to negotiate with the Afghan government or join the peace process have recently been killed, President Hamid Karzai's spokesman has told TOLOnews to illustrate the reach of those opposed to a government-Taliban peace deal.
"Over the past month, a number of Taliban who were wanting to join the peace process and had maintained relations with the Afghan government and High Peace Council were recently caught and put in prison, and about 17 or 18 of them were killed after being tortured," said Aimal Faizi on Saturday, blaming outsiders.
"The peace process is being sabotaged and it will continue to be [sabotaged]. Some countries do not want the process to be carried out," he added.
The High Peace Council said the deaths and arrests are a sign of the disarray of the peace process both inside and outside Afghanistan, warning that the disorder will end up harming those causing it.
"They may sabotage it, but they should be concerned that the fire that is being ignited in Afghanistan and on which they are throwing fuel will set themselves alight one day," said leading HPC member Mohammad Ismail Qasimyar.
At least one political analyst believes that the Taliban are "pawns" in Pakistan's political aims and are backed by a number of groups inside the Pakistani government.
"The Taliban are the pawns of Pakistan and they want Pakistan's interests. Therefore the peace process is their pawn too," said Jawid Kohestani, political expert.
However, a former Taliban leader accused both Kabul and Islamabad of not being honest in its peace process efforts saying there are people in both governments seeking personal interest.
"There are people within the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan that are seek personal benefits in the peace process," said Sayed Akbar Agha, former head of Taliban's Jaish al-Muslimeen group, on Sunday.
"The governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan are not being honest towards the peace process," he added.
Nevertheless, criticism from the Afghan government throughout the peace process has been leveled at Islamabad, even as a number of Afghan Taliban members have been released from Pakistani prisons at the HPC request.
Over the past months, Pakistan has released as many as 26 Taliban prisoners including the former justice minister of the Taliban regime Mullah Nooruddin Torabi, and also Anwarul Haq Mojahid.
Kidnappers Kill 5-Year Old Boy in Parwan
TOLOnews.com Sunday, 17 March 2013
A five-year old boy has been killed by his captors in northern Parwan province after he was kidnapped a week ago from Kabul province, local officials said Sunday.
The boy, Arshad, was kidnapped from Pul-e-Khishti area of Kabul city by two kidnappers and was understood to have been taken to the Ofyan area of Parwan a week ago.
He was killed Saturday after his family did not pay the ransom money, provincial spokesperson Roshan Khalid told TOLOnews Sunday.
"The kidnappers have been arrested by the security forces, while they were mourning the boy in the area, and the police have started investigations," Khalid said.
"The kidnappers have confessed in the preliminary investigations about the kidnapping and the family of the boy has been informed," she added.
The murder happened the same day that a preliminary court in Herat sentenced to death two men for kidnapping and later killing the eight-year-old son of a Herat businessman more than two months ago.
The police had arrested 12 suspects, two of whom were found guilty of murder. The court also sentenced an accomplice to 20 years prison and five others received six to 16 years prison.
The defence attorney rejected the sentences and said that it is "unfair."
"Unfortunately, the preliminary court has completely ignored the justifications to my clients. We showed more documents that they were not involved in the murders and made the decision under pressure from popular demonstrations," said Ahmad Navid Ziaratjahi, the attorney.
The head of Herat's primary court Qazi Abdul Ghafar confirmed the sentences.
"We confirm the death sentences of those who were involved in the murder of the boy," he said.
Ali Sina, the eight-year-old boy who was kidnapped with assistance from his father's bodyguard late December last year, was killed by the kidnappers late January even though they received a ransom.
According to his father, the kidnappers had initially asked for $400,000 for his son's release, an amount which was negotiated down to $90,000. But the kidnappers killed and then buried Ali Sina to cover their tracks and conceal their identities.
5000 Afghan Birds Smuggled in a Year
TOLOnews.com By Faridullah.Sahil Sunday, 17 March 2013
Smugglers have stolen nearly 5000 birds out of Afghanistan in the past 12 months, taking them to various countries particularly the Gulf nations, Afghanistan Environment Protection Agency (AEPA) said Sunday.
AEPA head Mustafa Zahir said that geese and falcons are the most popular birds for smugglers, mostly taken from the northern provinces.
"Unfortunately bird smuggling is continuing in the country, especially in Balkh and Bamyan. Mostly they are smuggling geese and falcon. But more than 80 percent of them are dying in the highways [on the journey]," Zahir said in the Balkh capital Mazar-e-Sharif.
He called on government officials to take action over the smuggling of the birds and other wildlife beyond Afghanistan's borders.
His comments comes as non-government organisations from the United Arabic Emirates (UAE) invested $1 million for the protection of birds in Mazar-e-Sharif.
"We are investing to protect those birds and animals that are facing conditions of extinction. Our goal is to protect them to ensure they are not smuggled," said Sayed Abdul Samad Munib, the head of the UAE non-government institutions for the protection of wildlife and birds.
The group returned more than 30 falcons and hawks recovered from smugglers in the UAE and then freed them in Mazar-e-Sharif Sunday.
AEPA's Zahir welcomed the funding and the support of the UAE institutions.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com