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China to Produce First Afghan Oil, Kabul Contends
By SIMON HALL March 20, 2013, 7:11 a.m. ET The Wall Street Journal
HONG KONG—China's largest oil company is due to start commercial production of crude oil in Afghanistan shortly, heralding a resource boom that could transform the country's economy over the next decade, the country's mining minister said.
Extraction of metals and oil could account for 45% of Afghanistan's gross domestic product by 2024, Minister of Mines Wahidullah Shahrani told The Wall Street Journal Wednesday on the margins the Mines and Money conference where he met with potential investors.
Recent surveys have shown Afghanistan to be endowed with rich, unexploited assets, but the country's security situation could be a sticking point for some investors.
Mr. Shahrani's comments follow President Hamid Karzai's accusations this month of U.S. collusion with the Taliban in the country, at a time when the government is trying to negotiate how many, if any, U.S. and NATO forces will remain after their mandate ends next year.
Nearly all of Afghanistan's recoverable mineral resources, estimated by the U.S. Geological Survey to be worth $1 trillion, are still under the ground, Mr. Shahrani said. He has held the country's mining portfolio for the past three years.
Output from China National Petroleum Corp. wells in northern Afghanistan will rise to 25,000 barrels a day by the end of the year from zero now, Mr. Shahrani said, adding that the total will rise to 40,000 barrels a day in 2014. All the crude will be initially exported by truck through one of Afghanistan's northern neighbors, Mr. Shahrani said, adding that the project will require an investment of $600 million.
"The wells are ready for production," he said. "If we complete negotiations with our northern neighbor in the next two to three weeks, then production of the crude will begin with an initial 5,000 barrels" a day, he said.
He declined to identify which of the three northern border countries—Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan or Tajikistan—is involved, describing the talks as "very advanced". And he didn't say whether CNPC intended to move the crude to China.
In the future, Afghanistan's oil output will continue to rise, which will provide enough of the fuel to feed a 44,000-barrel-a-day oil refinery, the country's first, which is due to be completed in two to three years.
Production from the Amu-Darya Basin, where state-owned CNPC and its Afghan partner are working, could be followed by output from the nearby Afghan-Tajik basin, from a consortium that includes Dragon Oil PLC, Kuwait Energy and Turkiye Petrolleri AO. The group should have finished terms of an exploration and production agreement by May, Mr. Shahrani said.
The consortium was awarded two of the 12 blocks at Amu-Darya in December, he said.
"The geological structures there are very promising based on seismic surveys," he said, adding that exploration and test drilling will take several years.
For now, Afghanistan has to import all its fuel, which is the country's largest single import item. It mainly comes from Central Asia.
From May onward, Afghanistan will put additional oil, iron ore, gold and copper blocks up for international tender, the minister said.
A major obstacle to exports from landlocked Afghanistan is a lack of rail links—the only one at present is a 91-kilometer length to Uzbekistan, which connects to a central-Asian network.
In a second phase, a 227-kilometer "trans-Caspian" Asian Development Bank-funded rail link to Turkmenistan, joining it to Turkey and Europe, will be built, the minister said.
Another Afghan coal and copper project is being developed by a Chinese consortium, led by state-run MCC China Metallurgical Group. The project, in Aynak, Logar province, involves building a rail link from Pakistan to Uzbekistan, which will require $4.4 billion to execute. First copper output is slated for 2014, Mr. Shahrani said.
The U.S. Department of Defense has raised major questions about whether the cost of an extensive rail system could be justified on commercial grounds, The Wall Street Journal reported in October.
Meanwhile, the government is in the final stages of talks with an Indian consortium led by the Steel Authority of India Ltd. to develop what the minister said is Asia's largest iron-ore deposit, at Hajigak, in central Afghanistan.
This will require an investment of $12 billion to $14 billion over the next decade and is expected to include power plants as well as an export rail link that the consortium will build, he said.
Contracts are expected to be completed by May for four major gold and copper projects, he said.
In recent years, extensive regulatory and procedural reforms introduced by the government, including a new mining law adopted in February, have given investors "more confidence about the way they will be treated and the way their investments are going to be properly protected," Mr. Shahrani said.
Foreign investors can take 100% control of projects but are encouraged to bring in local companies, he said, noting Afghanistan doesn't have state mining companies because "global experience has shown that in most countries they are not that effective."
"We are heading towards a transition at the end of 2014…heavy investments have been made to enhance the capability of our security forces with the active involvement of NATO and the U.S. government," he added.
Write to Simon Hall at simon.hall@wsj.com
A version of this article appeared March 21, 2013, on page A8 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: China to Produce First Afghan Oil, Kabul Contends.
Villagers Take On Taliban in Their Heartland
New York Times By CARLOTTA GALL March 20, 2013
PISHIN GAN SAYEDAN, Afghanistan - An uprising against the Taliban that began last month in this southern Afghan village has now spread through dozens of others, according to residents and Afghan and American officials, in the most significant popular turning against the Islamist insurgents in recent years.
Since early February, when villagers joined with police forces to begin ousting Taliban fighters from this region of rich vineyards and orchards southwest of Kandahar City, hundreds of residents have rallied to support the government. Nearly 100 village elders vowed at a public meeting Monday to keep the Taliban out as the new fighting season sets in, and Afghan flags are flying from rooftops in the villages, residents said.
Isolated uprisings against the Taliban have been reported in several different parts of Afghanistan over the past 18 months. But the revolt in Panjwai is considered significant because it is the first in southern Afghanistan, in the spiritual heartland of the Taliban movement, where the group’s influence had endured despite repeated operations by American and NATO forces.
Though no one is claiming that the Taliban are forever out of the fight even in this district — the insurgents have vowed a vengeful return and in the past week killed two men in the area — the Panjwai uprising has given an example of what can be accomplished when local resentment over bullying by militants is accompanied by reliable government support.
It has been good news in an often-pessimistic season, as the Taliban have appeared to make inroads in some other places around the country where American troops are pulling out.
In interviews, villagers and local officials said that although the uprising grew out of villagers’ anger at Taliban brutality, it gelled because of the growing strength of the Afghan security forces and a particularly active police force in the region. The new Panjwai police chief, Sultan Mohammad, is from Zangabad, the name of the surrounding area, and his appointment in January galvanized local support for the government.
“It’s been a long time coming. But in short, the people have said enough is enough, and they became fed up with the Taliban,” Maj. Gen. Robert B. Abrams, the American commander in the south, said in a news briefing with Pentagon reporters last week. He said the Taliban had been ousted from all but four villages in the district at that point.
American and Afghan forces have fought a grueling campaign in the districts of Kandahar since the surge of 2010 when thousands of extra American troops were sent into southern Afghanistan.
Although the Taliban were routed in crucial areas that year, they maintained a grip in the southern part of Panjwai, in the village clusters of Zangabad and Sperwan, and threaded the area with improvised explosive devices and ambush sites.
Though the surge of Western troops, and the increase in Afghan security forces that followed, has brought greater security for much of Kandahar Province, in some areas it also brought increased tensions with locals, and even greater violence in some pockets.
Indeed, one of the worst atrocities of the war occurred just a few hundred yards from this village when 16 Afghan civilians were killed in their homes last year. An American soldier, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, has been accused of killing the civilians in a nighttime rampage, raising local anger against the government and American forces in the region.
Yet it was the Taliban’s callousness that caused the population to snap, Afghan officials and the villagers here said. Between 300 and 400 civilians have been killed or injured by bombs or ambushes by the Taliban in the past six months in Panjwai, according to the district governor, Hajji Fazel Mohammad.
“People are angry because the Taliban have been laying mines in their orchards and vineyards,” he said in an interview at his district office. A member of the Taliban would lay mines and then get killed and no one knew where the mines were, he said. “People are now fed up with the Taliban and are joining us.”
The spark came in early February when the Taliban commander of the area, Mullah Noor Mahmad, 35, came to arrest men in this village. He called on the house of Hajji Abdul Wudood and demanded the handover of two sons he accused of spying for the government.
“They wanted to slaughter my sons,” Mr. Wudood said in an interview last month in his home. “They wanted to take them to the desert where they had a court and a base.”
Mr. Wudood, a 60-year-old former mujahedeen fighter against the Soviets in the 1980s, had had enough. He and his eight grown sons decided to make a stand.
Several villagers who had lost relatives to the Taliban joined them. The village had already been starting to boil: Three days earlier the same Taliban commander had beaten up farmers who were clearing undergrowth from the village irrigation canal.
Mr. Wudood turned for help to the district police chief, Mr. Mohammad, an old mujahedeen associate and a relative by marriage. Together they hatched a plan to ambush the Taliban.
On Feb. 6, they moved against a Taliban base in a nearby village. Seventy unarmed villagers accompanied the police, guiding them through the minefields and acting as lookouts. After a short firefight, the police routed the Taliban, killing three men, and chasing the remainder south toward the desert.
Army and police units pursued the Taliban down to their base on the edge of the desert in the days after. As the word spread, dozens of villages showed their support for the government and offered men for the Afghan Local Police forces to guard their villages.
General Abrams says the local support and expansion of government forces — he still commands 17,000 troops in the region, and Afghan fighters now amount to 52,000 across various agencies — has coincided with a period of weakness for the Taliban here, financially in particular. “They lack the money, they lack the arms and ammunition, and they are having a challenge gathering their forces,” he said, speaking by telephone from his headquarters at Kandahar airfield on Tuesday.
The head of Afghanistan’s National Security Directorate, Asadullah Khalid, a bitter enemy of the Taliban who is still recovering in the United States from a suicide attack against him in Kabul last year, said he had been trying to nurture popular uprisings as a way to beat the Taliban.
“One thing for sure is that the people are tired of the Taliban and they don’t want the Taliban,” he said in an interview. “And when the people don’t want the Taliban, the Taliban cannot come in. I feel this is the beginning of the end of the Taliban, but the question is how can we use this.”
Provincial and local leaders in Kandahar express pride at the uprising’s success so far, but they warn that if the government does not follow through with increased police support, the Taliban could undermine it all. “It all depends on what the government does with these people,” said Hajji Agha Lalai, a member of Kandahar’s provincial council. “If they support them and equip them, it will be a revolution.”
Taliban leaders were furious at losing Panjwai and have been plotting their return to the district in meetings in the Pakistani town of Quetta this week, police and intelligence officials said. One Taliban commander, who spoke on the condition of anonymity during a telephone interview, acknowledged the loss of Panjwai, but said the movement was starting to infiltrate more fighters into southern Afghanistan along with workers coming in for the opium poppy harvest.
Last weekend, two workers from a construction firm were kidnapped and killed in Panjwai. Their bodies were found hanging in different villages near the desert where Taliban fighters still have a presence, police officials said.
Mr. Wudood said he had received warnings that the Taliban had ordered his assassination. Yet he remained defiant.
“This time it is not only me,” he said. “There are thousands of us in Zangabad and in Sperwan. They cannot eliminate us all. We are the true owners of this land and the men who are attacking us are coming from outside, and we are not scared. We will defend our land.”
Ruhullah Khapalwak contributed reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan, and Taimoor Shah from Kandahar.
Roadside bomb kills Afghan district official
By AMIR SHAH | Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Police say a roadside bomb has killed a district administrator and two of his bodyguards in northern Afghanistan.
Thursday's attack in Takhar province came as Afghans were celebrating the first day of the Persian new year, or Nowruz.
Police spokesman Abdul Khalil Asir says the bomb went off as the official drove over a bridge near his home in Ishkamish district.
He says Abdul Manan Hakimi was heading out in the morning to make preparations for the holiday celebration.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack in an email to reporters.
Afghan officials are common targets for Taliban insurgents, who say they are collaborating with Western occupiers and do not consider them civilians. Last year saw a surge of assassinations of Afghans connected to the government.
Karzai’s ex-chief of staff Omar Dawoodzai to run for president
By GHANIZADA - 21 Mar 2013, 6:41 pm Khaama Press
Omar Dawoodzai, the current Afghan ambassador to Pakistan and former chief of staff in president Hamid Karzai’s office is the first major political figure to declare his intention to replace the President as Afghanistan’s leader.
Mr. Dawoodzai has said he is preparing to launch his campaign for the presidential elections due next year.
In an interview with The Times in his residence in Islamabad, Omar Dawoodzai he would campaign on a manifesto of maintaining good relations with the West, anti-corruption reforms, eradication of poppy growing and a shift of power away from the group of ageing former warlords who have run the country since 2001.
Mr. Dawoodzai has also served as the Afghan ambassador to Iran and he is viewed as a moderating influence by the West. He is considered to have strong links with Tehran.
In a report published in 2010, Mr. Dawoodzai was named as a recipient of bags of “aid” cash sent the Iranian government to bankroll Afghan leader Hamid Karzai.
The report was also confirmed by Afghan president Hamid Karzai.
“We have done good things together in the past 11 or 12 years. There is huge change and we have laid down foundations in many areas and that should continue but with very serious reforms,” Dawoodzai told The Times.
He said, “There would be zero tolerance in two areas – corruption and poppy growing. These two are the source of all evils, including terrorism.”
The upcoming presidential election is due to be organized in April 5, 2014 and all the candidates must declare their interest by September for the poll.
In the meantime Omar Dawoodzai says he is happy to be considered “an option” until then but he has to quit his official post when he formally declares his participation in the election.
“I know what fate is waiting for people who become No 1 in Afghanistan. But I have a national obligation and I’m under pressure from my conscience and like-minded people, and that pressure convinced me that I should agree to become an option for a candidate.” Dawoodzai told The Times.
An Afghan political observer Haroun Mir said, “He is the sort of man who can attract support across ethnic groups. In his 10 years or so in the palace he managed to avoid making enemies or taking extreme positions.”
Omar Dawoodzai was also a former member of the Hezbi Islami party of Afghanistan led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. A Western diplomat expressing doubts about the strenght of Dawoodzai’s grassroots support said NATO countries “wouldn’t be aghast” at his presidency.
Afghanistan, 2 ex-Soviet nations to build railway
Afghanistan to build new railway linking it with Turkmenistan and Tajikistan
Associated Press
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AP) -- Afghanistan has signed a deal with ex-Soviet neighbors Turkmenistan and Tajikistan to build a new railway linking the three nations.
Presidents Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov of Turkmenistan and Emomali Rakhmon of Tajikistan inked the preliminary agreement Wednesday in the Turkmen capital.
The 400-kilometer (250-mile) railroad would link landlocked Afghanistan to a regional transport network, increasing the country's export potential. It would link the Afghan town of Akina-Andhoi, about 650 kilometers (400 miles) northwest of Kabul to Atamyrat in Turkmenistan and Pyandzh in Tajikistan.
The construction of the new railway is set to start in July in Turkmenistan. Turkmen workers will also build the Afghan segment of the railway.
A 75-kilometer (47-mile) line from Afghanistan into Uzbekistan began operating in December 2011.
Is there an endgame in Afghanistan?
New Delhi, Mar.21 (ANI): The visit of U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's visit to Kabul had been greeted by two suicide attacks on March 9 that left 18 dead. The Taliban were obviously leaving their calling card.
But the visit was a fiasco, as President Karzai insisted that U.S. Special Forces leave Wardak because of allegations of human rights violations and not only was the ceremony for the handing over of Bagram prison to Afghan authorities on March 10 cancelled, the press conference was also not held, ostensibly for security reasons.
President Karzai then threatened that his government would take unilateral action to take over control of Bagram Prison. This outburst had followed an earlier attack by Karzai when on March 10 he charged that the Taliban were killing Afghan civilians who were "in the service of America."
As was to be expected, these comments evoked a sharp American rebuke with the U.S. Commander in Afghanistan Gen Joseph Dunford commenting that U.S.-Afghanistan relations were at a rough point.
He even feared that such remarks by Karzai could trigger insider attacks by disgruntled or radical elements against U.S. troops. Even the Taliban had mocked on Wednesday, saying that the U.S. was ignoring Karzai's demands, and their spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, triumphantly said that "Poor Karzai is not guilty. His masters have put him in a very tough spot. Such talk from him is a sign of desperation."
Indeed, there may be an element of truth in both the U.S. and Taliban comments about the state of affairs in Afghanistan. Many Afghan leaders, and members of political parties also sought to distance themselves from President Karzai's comments attributing this outburst to an attempt to show that he was not a U.S. puppet at a time when anti-US feelings in the country were on the rise.
On the other hand, the Afghan Ulema Council urged that the US military hand over Bagram prison to Afghan control and withdraw from the gateway to Kabul, the Wardak province otherwise the US presence would be regarded as an "occupation force".
Meanwhile, the security situation in Afghanistan has not shown any great improvement. The father and two brothers of the former governor of Kunduz province, Abdul Latif Ibrahimi, and the present speaker of the Afghan Parliament, Abdul Rouf Ibrahimi, were killed in a suicide attack on March 13 in Kunduz. There have been several similar lethal attacks against senior officials in Kunduz and Takhar provinces in the last two years.
All the main actors in the drama in Afghanistan - President Karzai and his government, other Afghan political and regional leaders, the Taliban and their Pakistani backers, and the Americans themselves - await the finale of 2014.
On his third visit to Afghanistan in March, Republican Congressman Howard "Buck" McKeon, and Chairman of the House Armed Forces Services Committee, has recommended that the US retain 13,600 troops beyond December 31, 2014 along with a coalition force of 6000.
President Karzai is of course worried about his future beyond 2014 when the country goes in for fresh elections and his second term expires.
The U.S. dilemma is that it cannot completely leave Afghanistan for that country to once become a source of terrorist threat to the U.S., it cannot leave the region so long as Pakistan is unstable and home to Islamic radicals and the country holds nuclear weapons, Pakistan's relations with India remain sour and Iran is a problem.
At the same time, there is exhaustion among Americans about the war in Afghanistan especially after the elimination of Osama bin Laden. This is probably reflected in the skirmishes in Washington D.C. among the various stake holders in the campaign in Afghanistan.
Apart from that, the Afghan government is worried about it is concerned about its own security with an inadequate Armed Force and an inimical Pakistan. Karzai's recent outbursts against the US are part of the endgame which may buy him political space in Afghanistan post 2014.
There is suspicion in Kabul about what might be Karzai's intentions regarding the Taliban and that he may come to a deal with them to buy his security and even longevity.
It makes sense for Karzai to work out a direct deal with the Taliban instead of something that the Taliban might work out with the Americans without keeping Karzai in the picture. The Afghan President may well be playing high stakes here, assuming that the U.S. largesse is unlimited and would keep flowing endlessly. He may be underestimating American fatigue and its budgetary constraints.
The tangled web also says that dealing with the Quetta Shura means in effect dealing with Pakistan. Pakistan, with a virtual veto to US options in Afghanistan, has steadily strengthened its position in Afghanistan despite setbacks in the US Pakistan relations.
At a time in 2009 when the US was negotiating with a section of the Taliban, Pakistan picked up a number of senior Taliban commanders from the Quetta Shura which clearly sent the message that no negotiations could be possible without taking Pakistan on board.
Pakistan has had the Afghan Quetta Shura, the Haqqani Network and even the Hekmetyar Group on its side, but in a post-2014 situation, it would need to work with the Hazaras, Uzbeks and Tajiks of Afghanistan, especially if the Taliban are not able to establish complete control in Kabul and Kandahar, leaving the outlying areas beyond its control. It would thus be necessary to have these ethnic groups on board to prevent Indian, Russian or Iranian presence among these groups, or a Pukhtun versus the rest civil war. However, the Pakistani stock with the ethnic minorities is not a great source of comfort for the Pakistan Army seen as the mentor of the Taliban.
Later, Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff, General Asfaq Pervez Kayani, was apparently able to convince the Americans in his discussions in 2010 that an Afghan force of 400,000 was both unviable, as this would cost USD nine billion annually, and, that unable to sustain itself, it would break up into small groups that would resort to terror and crime for its survival.
In reality, Pakistan does not want a strong, predominantly Pukhtun force on its western borders with the Indian Army staring down at it on the eastern border.
Added to this, the Pakistan insistence has been the U.S. should ensure that Afghanistan formally accepts the Durand Line before leaving Afghanistan. There has been greater realisation and acceptance in DC that Pakistan has been duplicitous in its dealings, but it is now too late to correct that given that the date of withdrawal is irrevocable.
The Taliban game seems fairly simple. Lie low and wait it out with an occasional violent foray to remind others of their presence and keep their own morale high.
The problem for the US in assuring an orderly withdrawal and to decide on how much force to leave behind is the utter lack of trust between Afghanistan, Pakistan and itself. It is difficult to accurately anticipate how the situation will evolve in 2015 after the Americans go home, but whatever it is, it will not be a simple uncomplicated situation and may not be all that warm and friendly for Pakistan. However, this will not bring any cheer to India's security interests either. We may have to contend with larger numbers of jihadi foot soldiers redeployed on our border. (ANI)
Attn: News Editors/News Desks: The views expressed in the above article are that of Mr. Vikram Sood, former Secretary, R and AW, Government of India. (ANI)
Surprising hope for Pakistan and Afghanistan
CNN By Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst Wed, 20 Mar 2013
Washington - Editor's note: Peter Bergen is CNN's national security analyst, the author of "Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for bin Laden -- From 9/11 to Abbottabad" and a director at the New America Foundation.
The news from Pakistan is generally bad news.
In the past week, which was far from atypical, suicide bombers attacked a court building in the northwestern city of Peshawar taking hostages and killing four people.
In the southern city of Karachi the director of a renowned social program working in the megacity's poorest neighborhoods was shot and killed. And gunmen kidnapped two female Czech tourists in southwestern Pakistan.
But this past week also saw more than a glimmer of good news from Pakistan: Saturday, March 16 marked an extraordinary moment in Pakistani history, as this is the first time a civilian government has served its entire five-year term (from 2008 to 2013). And, for the first time in its history, the Pakistani military appears unwilling to mount a coup against the civilian government. The military has successfully executed three coups and attempted a number of others since Pakistan's independence in 1947.
Today the army understands that the most recent coup by General Pervez Musharraf who took power in 1999 has tarnished its brand.
Musharraf hung on to power for almost a decade and his imposition of emergency rule in 2007 triggered massive street protests and eventually his ouster.
On Saturday, Musharaf announced he is returning to Pakistan from self-imposed exile on March 24 to run in elections that are to be held two months from now.
In a telling sign that Pakistan is moving into something of a new era, Pakistani military officials are not supportive of Musharraf's return and nor is much of the Pakistani public.
On May 11, Pakistanis will go to the polls to elect a new civilian government for a five-year term, and there is now a good prospect for continued, uninterrupted civilian government until at least 2018.
In terms of Pakistan's long-term health and stability, the fact that the country is in an unprecedented era of lengthy civilian rule will help erode the Pakistani military's present position as having uncontested supremacy in all matters that relate to the country's national security, in particular its relations with India and with Afghanistan.
The military has backed insurgent and terrorist groups in India and Afghanistan to maintain its perceived interests in these countries. A more confident civilian Pakistani government will, hopefully, over time be less likely to support these militant groups.
Another great opportunity (and potential peril) will present itself in Afghanistan, when Afghans go to the polls in April 2014 for the third presidential election since the fall of the Taliban.
If that election is perceived as being relatively free and fair this would go a long way to ease tensions in the Afghan body politic, increase Afghanistan's overall security and reassure both Afghan and outside investors that the country has a promising future.
On the other hand, if the 2014 election is seen as unfair, corrupted and is deeply contested, this would likely precipitate a vicious circle of conflict, deteriorating security and capital flight.
The United States, therefore, should do everything it can to provide technical and security assistance to make these elections go as well as possible.
But unlike what happened in the run-up to the 2009 Afghan presidential election, U.S. officials should not get involved in privately backing certain candidates. This private support had the unintended effect of splitting the opposition to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, as key leaders of the anti-Karzai opposition all believed they were "America's candidate." It also deeply alienated Karzai, whose occasional diatribes against the United States are best understood as due to his lingering resentment over this issue.
A key aspect of U.S. and NATO planning for the Afghan presidential elections in April 2014 is that given the fact that there are no discernible front-runners to succeed Karzai, there may be no clear winner who attains more than 50% of the vote, which under Afghan electoral laws would necessitate a runoff election between the two leading candidates.
Security, technical and economic assistance for the Afghan elections should be prepared to extend into summer 2014, because it is not clear as yet when that runoff might be held.
Last year the United States and Afghanistan negotiated a Strategic Partnership Agreement, which ensures America will continue to play a supporting role there until 2024.
The exact details of what that agreement means in practice are still being hammered out (according to U.S. officials, these negotiations may take until November) but they are likely to include not only significant U.S. aid but also many thousands of American soldiers stationed in Afghanistan for years into the future as a guarantor of the country's stability.
The U.S. military has given President Obama a range of options under which as few as 6,000 or as many as 20,000 soldiers would remain in Afghanistan after 2014. Those forces would work as advisers to the Afghan army and mount special operations raids against the Taliban and al Qaeda.
Whatever the final decision is on troop levels, the key point is that the Obama administration and other U.S. officials should emphasize very clearly that the thousands of American soldiers who will remain in Afghanistan are there to support the United States' long-term partnership agreement with Afghanistan -- and that its life extends well beyond 2014.
This is important to emphasize, because Afghans have been understandably confused by some of the different signals the Obama administration has made about its commitment to Afghanistan in the past.
Major confusion arose after President Obama's December 2009 announcement of the "surge" of 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, which was coupled with the announcement that those troops would begin to withdraw beginning in July 2011. In many Afghans' minds, the withdrawal date became more important than the fact that during his first term Obama actually tripled the number of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan from around 30,000 to a total of 90,000.
When the Obama administration announces the number of soldiers who will remain in Afghanistan post-2014, it should emphasize that the U.S. commitment to Afghanistan is set to last until at least 2024.
This will help in multiple ways: First, this guarantee of a long-term U.S. commitment to Afghanistan will encourage other NATO countries to maintain some of their own troops in Afghanistan to work with the Afghans in areas like training the army and police past the end of the NATO combat mission in December 2014.
Such an announcement will also help reassure Afghans that the United States won't be simply turning off the lights in Afghanistan in December 2014. And it will signal to regional powers like Pakistan and Iran that the United States plans to remain engaged in Afghanistan for many years into the future.
A key issue facing the Afghan government as the United States draws down its forces is how will the Afghan economy fare? Should the economy collapse, the Afghan government's ability to deal with security issues would be substantially eroded. Already, rents in Kabul are tumbling and nongovernmental organizations are laying off staff.
Surprisingly, however, a rigorous and comprehensive World Bank study last year found that Afghanistan will continue to have a healthy growth rate, dropping from its present robust 9% a year rate "to closer to 5% on average until 2018." (The U.S. economy's yearly growth rates over the past four years have been around 2%.)
The economic contraction as the United States draws down is likely to be less severe than might be supposed, partly because the hundreds of billions that the U.S. military has spent in Afghanistan over the past decade is spending that almost entirely benefits the United States.
The World Bank study points out that "military spending by the United States (and other countries) finances the salaries of military personnel, investments in weapons equipment and systems. ... The impact of its withdrawal is therefore likely to be muted."
Another encouraging sign is the investigation of the troubled Kabul Bank, in which some $900 million was lost to fraud, indicating that the culture of impunity for corrupt Afghan officials might be beginning to erode. Earlier this month, 21 officials were found guilty of fraud and two of the former heads of the bank were sentenced to five years in prison. The Afghan Attorney General's office said last week that it would appeal the sentences as being too soft given the scale of the fraud.
A key question is the extent to which the Afghan army and police can operate effectively against the Taliban as the United States withdraws. As yet the Afghan army hasn't shown the ability to conduct large-scale operations without significant American support. In addition, a big issue for the army is the extraordinarily high attrition rate.
Today, a little more then a quarter of the recruits to the army drop out every year. Because of this high dropout rate, NATO is now considering maintaining the Afghan army and police at its present large size of 352,000 men through 2018. (Estimates of the size of the Taliban typically are in the 25,000 range.)
One indicator of the increasingly Afghan-led nature of the fight against the Taliban is the fact that some 300 Afghan soldiers and policemen are now dying every month in the war, while in January three U.S. soldiers were killed, which was the lowest number of any month during the previous four years.
On Afghanistan, Pakistan has some important common goals with the United States, NATO and Afghans themselves. Pakistan does not want to see Afghanistan collapse into a renewed civil war, which would destabilize Pakistan, nor does it want to see the Taliban in charge of the country again.
When the Taliban was in power in Afghanistan the group resisted Pakistani efforts at control, while the Pakistani Taliban have killed many thousands inside Pakistan. These basic shared goals, no civil war and no Taliban control of Afghanistan, can help to create the conditions for a successful post-2014 Afghanistan
Pakistan also wants a Pashtun-led government in Kabul and for the Taliban to have some representation in the south and the east. These are also goals the Afghans can live with.
Karzai is, after all, a Pashtun and given the fact that Pashtuns are the largest ethnic group, the next president of Afghanistan almost certainly will be a Pashtun. And other ethnic minorities can live with a situation in which the Taliban assume a number of provincial and district governorships providing they lay down their arms, join the political process and recognize the Afghan constitution.
According to a senior Afghan government official, numerous discussions between representatives of the Taliban and the Afghan government have taken place over the past years to discuss such a political accommodation, although, so far, not much of anything has come of these talks.
Note: This story is adapted from testimony by Peter Bergen delivered to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on March 19, 2013.
Disabled swimmers make a splash in Kabul
Afghanistan's largest indoor swimming pool is helping youths, including those with no arms, learn to enjoy the water.
Aljazeera By Jennifer Glasse 20 Mar 2013
Kabul, Afghanistan - Light bounces off the blue water and shimmers on the ceiling one early morning in Kabul, at the Lajaward Swimming Complex, the capital’s largest indoor swimming pool. It is the brainchild of Qasim Ali Rezaee, an Afghan with 25 years experience running recreation centers in Iran.
He returned to his native Afghanistan about two years ago to build this pool, despite his family’s scepticism. His wife and four sons remain in Iran for now to complete their studies.
“Our country needs something like this, we don’t have a facilities like this. When I was a refugee outside Afghanistan, this work was my business,” he explains. “I thought if I build this, it will be good for Afghans, a good place for young men to come; somewhere to come on holidays,” says Rezaee.
The complex has showers and a steam room in addition to the 25-meter long pool. Rezaee says he wishes the pool were twice as long, but he and his two business partners couldn’t find a plot of land large enough. Construction took 8 months and cost about $600,000.
The complex is popular for Afghans who can afford the $10 entrance fee - a hefty price in a country where the World Bank puts the average annual income at $585.
Women not allowed
One a weekday morning dozens of young men are in the pool. There’s a water polo game in the deep end, beneath a giant poster of American swimmer Michael Phelps doing the butterfly stroke. In the other end of the pool, some young men are wearing bright orange life jackets, others are doggie paddling. There is more than one belly flop. Many Afghans cannot swim at all, and Rezaee says some didn’t understand the need to shower before getting into the pool.
“Of course there are problems here in Afghanistan, of course the culture of the pool is new here, and people don’t really understand how to behave in a pool," he says, adding that he is not criticising people, as swimming edicit is something they aren't used to.
On an average weekday, Rezaee says, there are at least 100 swimmers, on Fridays and holidays, there are five or six times as many. No women are allowed.
The complex also has a cafe that serve hamburgers, sandwiches and pomegranite juice. If you didn’t know better this could be any swimming pool anywhere in the world.
Rezaee says there are considerable challenges running a business like this. There’s only electricity 3 days a week, and even when it is on, the power is not consistent enough to run the pool’s filters, or heat the facility. He calls himself a slave to the generator. Some days the cost of diesel outstrips any profits he has made for the day.
He also says there has been some local opposition. He says while he was building the pool some officials demanded bribes, and others have complained that it’s not proper to have such a facility in the neighborhood.
“Of course I have some enemies here, and they don’t like that I’ve built this. There are some people who are trying to make problems, that the pool should be closed, but what can you do?”
'More opportunity'
Rezaee says he’s surprised there are people here who don’t seem to want to promote prosperity in Afghanistan, but he also has some devoted fans, like Qassem Hamidi, the new director of Afghanistan’s water polo federation and a swimming coach.
Hamidi, 44, has trained as an athlete and worked as a coach in Iran, Turkey and Uzbekistan. He returned to Afghanistan three years ago to promote swimming, but says this pool makes it possible to train properly. Many Afghans want to exercise he says, but there aren’t many places to do so.
“This kind of facility which is here, not because of the government, but because of a private businessman, shows promise for the future so that Afghans can learn more and more. This kind of place makes it possible to have the opportunity to win a competition,” he says.
Hamidi’s most promising student is an unlikely swimmer. Ali Abbas, 16, was born without arms. When the pool first opened he came to see it, and was envious of the others splashing around. He says he was terrified the first time he got in the water with a life jacket on. Hamidi asked if he wanted to swim.
“I locked my hands behind my back and I showed him I could swim without my arms, and I told him he could too and that he should try,” the coach explains. Abbas says little by little he learned to swim. His coach says it took only a week, for Abbas to be totally comfortable in the water.
“In 20 years, I’ve trained a lot of students, but I’ve never seen anyone like Abbas, I remember when he came to this pool, he was very scared but curious too,” he says.
Abbas has learned to eat, drink, turn on the shower and write using only is feet. Being in the pool means a new type of freedom. “I feel comfortable and happy in the water,” he explains. “I don’t feel different from anyone else when I’m in the water.”
After only six months of training, Abbas and his coach have their sites set on the Brazil Paralympics in 2016. Hamidi has already spoken to Afghanistan’s Olympic Committee which says it’s holding a slot for him for the games. With nearly four years to train, both have high hopes Abbas can bring home a medal.
Disabled swimmers
Rights for the disabled were only passed into law last year, and disability advocates are still working on ways to implement them.
The disability charity Serve estimates there are 800,000 disabled in Afghanistan. Estimates are all they can use, the last nationwide survey of physically, mentally, visually and hearing impaired Afghans was in 2005.
Officials from Serve say only a small fraction of the disabled have access to support. Of the 50-60 thousand blind, they say only 2500 are in education programs across the country. Community outreach efforts in Kabul and Parwan train children to give them skills that will allow them to attend mainstream schools.
They train teachers alongside them to help ease the transition, and help hearing impaired students use sign language for and blind students to read and write Braille. Serve has provided Braille textbooks and audio lectures as teaching aids. Training to be ready for mainstream school can take up to two years. Serve says it has 75 visually impaired and 85 hearing impaired students in regular schools and its officials are particularly proud of the 19 students currently at Kabul University.
Said Najibullah, 15, uses a Braille writer to complete his assignments. He’s attending high school and is at the top of his class and plans to go on to university. “I want to be a teacher,” he says. “I want to teach the students who are blind. Being blind isn’t hard, it just means you have to try harder.”
The Lajaward swimming pool hosted Afghanistan’s first-ever disabled swimming competition. Ali Abbas continues to train there and hopes to inspire others to join him.
“My message is never give up and always try to learn,” says Abbas. “If you give up then you can not improve, not progress. It’s important to learn and grow every day, with trying and exercising you can do whatever you want.”
Security Top Priority for New Year: Govt
TOLOnews.com By Shakeela Ahbrimkhil Wednesday, 20 March 2013
The Afghan government has made security its top priority on the eve of Nawruz to ensure the Persian new year celebrations go ahead without an incident.
President Hamid Karzai ordered the Council of Ministers before he left for Turkmenistan Wednesday to make every effort to secure celebrations around the country.
"The president yesterday in the government cabinet session ordered all the cabinet to do their best for security in celebrating the festival of Nawroz," Rafi Ferdaws, spokesman of the Council of Ministers, told TOLOnews.
"During the new year, our capital cities celebrations should be full of happiness by launching contests, singing and flying kites," the Minister of Culture and Information Sayed Makhdom Rahin told TOLOnews.
The United Nations recognised the international day of Nawroz as the celebration of the Persian New Year and the beginning of spring with a statement from Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.
He described it as a symbolic importance of spring to "celebrate the larger forces that unite us".
"I offer my best wishes to those who celebrate Nawruz, and express hope that all people can use the occasion to reflect on the beauty of nature, the promise of spring, and the power of culture to build peace."
The US Ambassador to Afghanistan James Cunningham also released a message of congratulations and well-wishes for the new year.
"I want to take this opportunity to reiterate America's long-term commitment to help build a secure and prosperous Afghanistan. As President Obama has stated, we will stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Afghanistan for years to come. In the year ahead, we will redouble our efforts to help Afghans shape a bright future for this magnificent country," he said in a video message released by the US Embassy on youtube.
Afghanistan's bazaars today were busy with last minute shoppers preparing for tomorrow's holiday with its special customs and cooking.
Food sellers were particularly busy with the traditional dishes and sweets such as samanaks, sabzi and haft mewa, the most popular foods being sold.
How the Taliban wins over Afghans without firing a shot
By addressing social injustices — like the price of marriage — the Taliban has no trouble winning hearts and minds.
Global Post By Fazelminallah Qazizai and Chris Sands March 20, 2013
MAIDAN WARDAK, Afghanistan - A letter nailed to the doors and walls of mosques notified people in Maidan Wardak province of the Taliban's latest decree. When word spread, the insurgents had gained more supporters without firing a shot.
The order addressed an issue that residents increasingly viewed as a threat to Afghan and Islamic culture: the rising cost of marriage.
Throughout the country it is customary to wed at a relatively young age and for the groom's family to pay the bill. But ever since the US-led invasion, prices had been rising, forcing men to remain single, pile up debts or seek work in Iran and Pakistan.
Now, in areas under the militants' control, anyone in the province caught demanding too much money on behalf of the bride risked being physically beaten and heavily fined. This was justice Taliban-style and many villagers were delighted that something had been done.
The only complaint Mohammad Yousef Khoshal had is that his brother became engaged before the law was introduced and the insurgents refused to apply it retroactively. He has, however, attended the weddings of three relatives in the district of Chak that were held under the new rules.
“We are very happy because after this all the boys and girls will not have problems marrying each other,” he said. “Families will not have to send their children outside [Afghanistan] for work.”
Known nationally for producing more than its fair share of highly educated intellectuals and professionals, Maidan Wardak lies just to the southwest of Kabul. Most people who do not leave in search of a better life elsewhere depend on farming for an income.
Intense fighting has occurred here during recent years. In late February President Hamid Karzai ordered US Special Forces to leave the province within a fortnight after allegations that Afghans serving alongside them had committed kidnap and murder. His demand has still not been met and on March 11 two American troops were among those killed in an insider attack here.
Amidst all this, the rebels run a shadow government — winning over a population that might not necessarily be swayed by a simple call to arms.
Habibullah is a Taliban commander in the district of Sayed Abad. He told GlobalPost how the wedding decree came into existence. After noticing a large number of young men were unable to marry, he said the insurgents convened a meeting with local elders more than two years ago to discuss the problem.
Plans for a new law were rejected until a second meeting was held soon afterwards, this time with the Taliban's "Emir" for the province in attendance. It was eventually decided that a fee amounting to the equivalent of about $6,000 could be paid to a bride's family. A further $1,000 could be spent on the wedding.
Habibullah explained that the law then spread gradually before reaching the stage where it is now implemented across vast swathes of Maidan Wardak — a claim backed up in separate interviews with residents.
"I have been to a lot of weddings with other members of the Taliban and the people were all praying for us," he said. "People are very poor and they were not able to marry before but now they are getting married easily. This is great news for us and a great way to fight against moral corruption and related crimes."
Habibullah went on to explain what happened to those who disobeyed the law. One old man was fined $4,000 and told to admit his regret in the hope this would be enough of a deterrent to others.
But when a second man named Qalamuddin was caught he was beaten "very badly" and fined. The money earned by the insurgents in all cases goes toward funding “the jihad.”
While these measures might appear to support the image of the Taliban as an authoritarian, brutal movement, the view on the ground is mixed. The rebels’ actions are often seen as being in strict accordance with Islam and have won them admirers.
Mohammad Omar, an elder in Sayed Abad, told GlobalPost that the local reaction varied from place to place.
“Some people have broken this law in the Taliban areas and it shows they are not happy,” he said. “But some who do not have money are happy with the Taliban.”
Complaints over the rising cost of marriage exist across Afghanistan, not just the more impoverished villages. Wedding halls are a prominent feature of the landscape in Kabul and the lavish parties held in them have attracted criticism from mainstream religious scholars.
The government has in the past sought to address some of the concerns, but that has not stopped the issue from becoming part of the wider military and cultural war being fought in the country.
Mohammad Hazrat Janan, the deputy leader for Maidan Wardak’s provincial council, told GlobalPost that insurgents had first introduced the marriage law in the Tangi valley area of Sayed Abad. He said the elders and imams in the districts of Jalrez and Nirkh took it upon themselves to impose a similar set of rules.
"It is the duty of the government to solve such problems but now we are seeing that this is done half by the Taliban and half by the elders," he said.
"I still don't think the government is to blame because when it cannot bring peace and security to a place how can it provide services and solve social problems?"
Fazelminallah Qazizai reported from Maidan Wardak and Kabul. Chris Sands reported from Kabul.
Afghan-Turk Business Partnerships to Grow: ACCI
TOLOnews.com By Shahla Murtazaie Wednesday, 20 March 2013
The Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industry has agreed with an Afghan-Turkish business group to host in Afghanistan more trade fairs of both countries products over the next ten years.
The Afghan-Turk General Commercial and Industrial Association signed an agreement with the ACCI for "constant fairs" of Afghan and Turn products in Afghanistan, beginning with three fairs in first month of the new Persian year 1392 (late March – late April 2013).
"There will be 35 Turk companies and 40 Afghan companies as well as 50 Turk traders and investors who seek investment opportunities participating in this exhibition," ACCI chief Mohammad Qorban Haqjoo said Tuesday. The Turkish chief of the Afghan-Turk association said Afghanistan is a promising place for investment, especially for Turkish entities.
"We can say that Afghanistan is one of the best countries in the region, and a good environment for investment, especially for Turks that, compared to other nationalities, we can set up our companies here more easily," said Murad Aaqyuz, general secretary to the Afghan-Turk General Commercial and Industrial Association.
In return, ACCI officials said Turkey has a high industrial capability on the world scale, especially for that of mines, vehicles, agriculture, wood, and food products. They hope the country can be an example for Afghanistan.
Airport Planned for Nuristan: Aviation Ministry
TOLOnews.com By Azim Arash Wednesday, 20 March 2013
The Afghan Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation said Wednesday that it is planning to build an airport in the eastern province of Nuristan with hopes that it will help boost development in the area.
The surveys for the airport – expected to have a runway of 1.2 kilometers – will be completed in a month with construction to soon follow, ministry officials said.
"The responsible board has approved – following their observations – that this area is safe for landing small airplanes such as Pactec, and the airplanes of Ofoq-e-Sharq [airline]," said Jarallah Mansoori, deputy minister of Transport and Civil Aviation.
"The engineers will do their survey and design, and God willing, the work will soon start if the permission – based on technical, safety, and engineering issues – to construct the airport is provided," he said.
The airport site is in the provincial centre Parun and is expected to be able to receive small 8-passenger airplanes.
The cost for constructing Nuristan's airport is estimated at $3.5 million. Of this, $2 million will be provided with aid from India and the rest will be funded by the ministry.
Nuristan provincial leaders welcomed the news saying that the lack of an airport has left Nuristan behind in terms of progress.
"Engineers of [the Ministry of Rehabilitation and] Rural Development don't come here saying that there are no routes. Engineers of the Ministry of Public Works don't come here saying that there are no routes. The specialist doctors don't come here saying that there are no routes. Our biggest problem is that we are not able of implement our projects and programmes that need to be surveyed and designed for the reason that there are no routes," said provincial governor Tamim Nuristani.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
By SIMON HALL March 20, 2013, 7:11 a.m. ET The Wall Street Journal
HONG KONG—China's largest oil company is due to start commercial production of crude oil in Afghanistan shortly, heralding a resource boom that could transform the country's economy over the next decade, the country's mining minister said.
Extraction of metals and oil could account for 45% of Afghanistan's gross domestic product by 2024, Minister of Mines Wahidullah Shahrani told The Wall Street Journal Wednesday on the margins the Mines and Money conference where he met with potential investors.
Recent surveys have shown Afghanistan to be endowed with rich, unexploited assets, but the country's security situation could be a sticking point for some investors.
Mr. Shahrani's comments follow President Hamid Karzai's accusations this month of U.S. collusion with the Taliban in the country, at a time when the government is trying to negotiate how many, if any, U.S. and NATO forces will remain after their mandate ends next year.
Nearly all of Afghanistan's recoverable mineral resources, estimated by the U.S. Geological Survey to be worth $1 trillion, are still under the ground, Mr. Shahrani said. He has held the country's mining portfolio for the past three years.
Output from China National Petroleum Corp. wells in northern Afghanistan will rise to 25,000 barrels a day by the end of the year from zero now, Mr. Shahrani said, adding that the total will rise to 40,000 barrels a day in 2014. All the crude will be initially exported by truck through one of Afghanistan's northern neighbors, Mr. Shahrani said, adding that the project will require an investment of $600 million.
"The wells are ready for production," he said. "If we complete negotiations with our northern neighbor in the next two to three weeks, then production of the crude will begin with an initial 5,000 barrels" a day, he said.
He declined to identify which of the three northern border countries—Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan or Tajikistan—is involved, describing the talks as "very advanced". And he didn't say whether CNPC intended to move the crude to China.
In the future, Afghanistan's oil output will continue to rise, which will provide enough of the fuel to feed a 44,000-barrel-a-day oil refinery, the country's first, which is due to be completed in two to three years.
Production from the Amu-Darya Basin, where state-owned CNPC and its Afghan partner are working, could be followed by output from the nearby Afghan-Tajik basin, from a consortium that includes Dragon Oil PLC, Kuwait Energy and Turkiye Petrolleri AO. The group should have finished terms of an exploration and production agreement by May, Mr. Shahrani said.
The consortium was awarded two of the 12 blocks at Amu-Darya in December, he said.
"The geological structures there are very promising based on seismic surveys," he said, adding that exploration and test drilling will take several years.
For now, Afghanistan has to import all its fuel, which is the country's largest single import item. It mainly comes from Central Asia.
From May onward, Afghanistan will put additional oil, iron ore, gold and copper blocks up for international tender, the minister said.
A major obstacle to exports from landlocked Afghanistan is a lack of rail links—the only one at present is a 91-kilometer length to Uzbekistan, which connects to a central-Asian network.
In a second phase, a 227-kilometer "trans-Caspian" Asian Development Bank-funded rail link to Turkmenistan, joining it to Turkey and Europe, will be built, the minister said.
Another Afghan coal and copper project is being developed by a Chinese consortium, led by state-run MCC China Metallurgical Group. The project, in Aynak, Logar province, involves building a rail link from Pakistan to Uzbekistan, which will require $4.4 billion to execute. First copper output is slated for 2014, Mr. Shahrani said.
The U.S. Department of Defense has raised major questions about whether the cost of an extensive rail system could be justified on commercial grounds, The Wall Street Journal reported in October.
Meanwhile, the government is in the final stages of talks with an Indian consortium led by the Steel Authority of India Ltd. to develop what the minister said is Asia's largest iron-ore deposit, at Hajigak, in central Afghanistan.
This will require an investment of $12 billion to $14 billion over the next decade and is expected to include power plants as well as an export rail link that the consortium will build, he said.
Contracts are expected to be completed by May for four major gold and copper projects, he said.
In recent years, extensive regulatory and procedural reforms introduced by the government, including a new mining law adopted in February, have given investors "more confidence about the way they will be treated and the way their investments are going to be properly protected," Mr. Shahrani said.
Foreign investors can take 100% control of projects but are encouraged to bring in local companies, he said, noting Afghanistan doesn't have state mining companies because "global experience has shown that in most countries they are not that effective."
"We are heading towards a transition at the end of 2014…heavy investments have been made to enhance the capability of our security forces with the active involvement of NATO and the U.S. government," he added.
Write to Simon Hall at simon.hall@wsj.com
A version of this article appeared March 21, 2013, on page A8 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: China to Produce First Afghan Oil, Kabul Contends.
Villagers Take On Taliban in Their Heartland
New York Times By CARLOTTA GALL March 20, 2013
PISHIN GAN SAYEDAN, Afghanistan - An uprising against the Taliban that began last month in this southern Afghan village has now spread through dozens of others, according to residents and Afghan and American officials, in the most significant popular turning against the Islamist insurgents in recent years.
Since early February, when villagers joined with police forces to begin ousting Taliban fighters from this region of rich vineyards and orchards southwest of Kandahar City, hundreds of residents have rallied to support the government. Nearly 100 village elders vowed at a public meeting Monday to keep the Taliban out as the new fighting season sets in, and Afghan flags are flying from rooftops in the villages, residents said.
Isolated uprisings against the Taliban have been reported in several different parts of Afghanistan over the past 18 months. But the revolt in Panjwai is considered significant because it is the first in southern Afghanistan, in the spiritual heartland of the Taliban movement, where the group’s influence had endured despite repeated operations by American and NATO forces.
Though no one is claiming that the Taliban are forever out of the fight even in this district — the insurgents have vowed a vengeful return and in the past week killed two men in the area — the Panjwai uprising has given an example of what can be accomplished when local resentment over bullying by militants is accompanied by reliable government support.
It has been good news in an often-pessimistic season, as the Taliban have appeared to make inroads in some other places around the country where American troops are pulling out.
In interviews, villagers and local officials said that although the uprising grew out of villagers’ anger at Taliban brutality, it gelled because of the growing strength of the Afghan security forces and a particularly active police force in the region. The new Panjwai police chief, Sultan Mohammad, is from Zangabad, the name of the surrounding area, and his appointment in January galvanized local support for the government.
“It’s been a long time coming. But in short, the people have said enough is enough, and they became fed up with the Taliban,” Maj. Gen. Robert B. Abrams, the American commander in the south, said in a news briefing with Pentagon reporters last week. He said the Taliban had been ousted from all but four villages in the district at that point.
American and Afghan forces have fought a grueling campaign in the districts of Kandahar since the surge of 2010 when thousands of extra American troops were sent into southern Afghanistan.
Although the Taliban were routed in crucial areas that year, they maintained a grip in the southern part of Panjwai, in the village clusters of Zangabad and Sperwan, and threaded the area with improvised explosive devices and ambush sites.
Though the surge of Western troops, and the increase in Afghan security forces that followed, has brought greater security for much of Kandahar Province, in some areas it also brought increased tensions with locals, and even greater violence in some pockets.
Indeed, one of the worst atrocities of the war occurred just a few hundred yards from this village when 16 Afghan civilians were killed in their homes last year. An American soldier, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, has been accused of killing the civilians in a nighttime rampage, raising local anger against the government and American forces in the region.
Yet it was the Taliban’s callousness that caused the population to snap, Afghan officials and the villagers here said. Between 300 and 400 civilians have been killed or injured by bombs or ambushes by the Taliban in the past six months in Panjwai, according to the district governor, Hajji Fazel Mohammad.
“People are angry because the Taliban have been laying mines in their orchards and vineyards,” he said in an interview at his district office. A member of the Taliban would lay mines and then get killed and no one knew where the mines were, he said. “People are now fed up with the Taliban and are joining us.”
The spark came in early February when the Taliban commander of the area, Mullah Noor Mahmad, 35, came to arrest men in this village. He called on the house of Hajji Abdul Wudood and demanded the handover of two sons he accused of spying for the government.
“They wanted to slaughter my sons,” Mr. Wudood said in an interview last month in his home. “They wanted to take them to the desert where they had a court and a base.”
Mr. Wudood, a 60-year-old former mujahedeen fighter against the Soviets in the 1980s, had had enough. He and his eight grown sons decided to make a stand.
Several villagers who had lost relatives to the Taliban joined them. The village had already been starting to boil: Three days earlier the same Taliban commander had beaten up farmers who were clearing undergrowth from the village irrigation canal.
Mr. Wudood turned for help to the district police chief, Mr. Mohammad, an old mujahedeen associate and a relative by marriage. Together they hatched a plan to ambush the Taliban.
On Feb. 6, they moved against a Taliban base in a nearby village. Seventy unarmed villagers accompanied the police, guiding them through the minefields and acting as lookouts. After a short firefight, the police routed the Taliban, killing three men, and chasing the remainder south toward the desert.
Army and police units pursued the Taliban down to their base on the edge of the desert in the days after. As the word spread, dozens of villages showed their support for the government and offered men for the Afghan Local Police forces to guard their villages.
General Abrams says the local support and expansion of government forces — he still commands 17,000 troops in the region, and Afghan fighters now amount to 52,000 across various agencies — has coincided with a period of weakness for the Taliban here, financially in particular. “They lack the money, they lack the arms and ammunition, and they are having a challenge gathering their forces,” he said, speaking by telephone from his headquarters at Kandahar airfield on Tuesday.
The head of Afghanistan’s National Security Directorate, Asadullah Khalid, a bitter enemy of the Taliban who is still recovering in the United States from a suicide attack against him in Kabul last year, said he had been trying to nurture popular uprisings as a way to beat the Taliban.
“One thing for sure is that the people are tired of the Taliban and they don’t want the Taliban,” he said in an interview. “And when the people don’t want the Taliban, the Taliban cannot come in. I feel this is the beginning of the end of the Taliban, but the question is how can we use this.”
Provincial and local leaders in Kandahar express pride at the uprising’s success so far, but they warn that if the government does not follow through with increased police support, the Taliban could undermine it all. “It all depends on what the government does with these people,” said Hajji Agha Lalai, a member of Kandahar’s provincial council. “If they support them and equip them, it will be a revolution.”
Taliban leaders were furious at losing Panjwai and have been plotting their return to the district in meetings in the Pakistani town of Quetta this week, police and intelligence officials said. One Taliban commander, who spoke on the condition of anonymity during a telephone interview, acknowledged the loss of Panjwai, but said the movement was starting to infiltrate more fighters into southern Afghanistan along with workers coming in for the opium poppy harvest.
Last weekend, two workers from a construction firm were kidnapped and killed in Panjwai. Their bodies were found hanging in different villages near the desert where Taliban fighters still have a presence, police officials said.
Mr. Wudood said he had received warnings that the Taliban had ordered his assassination. Yet he remained defiant.
“This time it is not only me,” he said. “There are thousands of us in Zangabad and in Sperwan. They cannot eliminate us all. We are the true owners of this land and the men who are attacking us are coming from outside, and we are not scared. We will defend our land.”
Ruhullah Khapalwak contributed reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan, and Taimoor Shah from Kandahar.
Roadside bomb kills Afghan district official
By AMIR SHAH | Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Police say a roadside bomb has killed a district administrator and two of his bodyguards in northern Afghanistan.
Thursday's attack in Takhar province came as Afghans were celebrating the first day of the Persian new year, or Nowruz.
Police spokesman Abdul Khalil Asir says the bomb went off as the official drove over a bridge near his home in Ishkamish district.
He says Abdul Manan Hakimi was heading out in the morning to make preparations for the holiday celebration.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack in an email to reporters.
Afghan officials are common targets for Taliban insurgents, who say they are collaborating with Western occupiers and do not consider them civilians. Last year saw a surge of assassinations of Afghans connected to the government.
Karzai’s ex-chief of staff Omar Dawoodzai to run for president
By GHANIZADA - 21 Mar 2013, 6:41 pm Khaama Press
Omar Dawoodzai, the current Afghan ambassador to Pakistan and former chief of staff in president Hamid Karzai’s office is the first major political figure to declare his intention to replace the President as Afghanistan’s leader.
Mr. Dawoodzai has said he is preparing to launch his campaign for the presidential elections due next year.
In an interview with The Times in his residence in Islamabad, Omar Dawoodzai he would campaign on a manifesto of maintaining good relations with the West, anti-corruption reforms, eradication of poppy growing and a shift of power away from the group of ageing former warlords who have run the country since 2001.
Mr. Dawoodzai has also served as the Afghan ambassador to Iran and he is viewed as a moderating influence by the West. He is considered to have strong links with Tehran.
In a report published in 2010, Mr. Dawoodzai was named as a recipient of bags of “aid” cash sent the Iranian government to bankroll Afghan leader Hamid Karzai.
The report was also confirmed by Afghan president Hamid Karzai.
“We have done good things together in the past 11 or 12 years. There is huge change and we have laid down foundations in many areas and that should continue but with very serious reforms,” Dawoodzai told The Times.
He said, “There would be zero tolerance in two areas – corruption and poppy growing. These two are the source of all evils, including terrorism.”
The upcoming presidential election is due to be organized in April 5, 2014 and all the candidates must declare their interest by September for the poll.
In the meantime Omar Dawoodzai says he is happy to be considered “an option” until then but he has to quit his official post when he formally declares his participation in the election.
“I know what fate is waiting for people who become No 1 in Afghanistan. But I have a national obligation and I’m under pressure from my conscience and like-minded people, and that pressure convinced me that I should agree to become an option for a candidate.” Dawoodzai told The Times.
An Afghan political observer Haroun Mir said, “He is the sort of man who can attract support across ethnic groups. In his 10 years or so in the palace he managed to avoid making enemies or taking extreme positions.”
Omar Dawoodzai was also a former member of the Hezbi Islami party of Afghanistan led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. A Western diplomat expressing doubts about the strenght of Dawoodzai’s grassroots support said NATO countries “wouldn’t be aghast” at his presidency.
Afghanistan, 2 ex-Soviet nations to build railway
Afghanistan to build new railway linking it with Turkmenistan and Tajikistan
Associated Press
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AP) -- Afghanistan has signed a deal with ex-Soviet neighbors Turkmenistan and Tajikistan to build a new railway linking the three nations.
Presidents Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov of Turkmenistan and Emomali Rakhmon of Tajikistan inked the preliminary agreement Wednesday in the Turkmen capital.
The 400-kilometer (250-mile) railroad would link landlocked Afghanistan to a regional transport network, increasing the country's export potential. It would link the Afghan town of Akina-Andhoi, about 650 kilometers (400 miles) northwest of Kabul to Atamyrat in Turkmenistan and Pyandzh in Tajikistan.
The construction of the new railway is set to start in July in Turkmenistan. Turkmen workers will also build the Afghan segment of the railway.
A 75-kilometer (47-mile) line from Afghanistan into Uzbekistan began operating in December 2011.
Is there an endgame in Afghanistan?
New Delhi, Mar.21 (ANI): The visit of U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's visit to Kabul had been greeted by two suicide attacks on March 9 that left 18 dead. The Taliban were obviously leaving their calling card.
But the visit was a fiasco, as President Karzai insisted that U.S. Special Forces leave Wardak because of allegations of human rights violations and not only was the ceremony for the handing over of Bagram prison to Afghan authorities on March 10 cancelled, the press conference was also not held, ostensibly for security reasons.
President Karzai then threatened that his government would take unilateral action to take over control of Bagram Prison. This outburst had followed an earlier attack by Karzai when on March 10 he charged that the Taliban were killing Afghan civilians who were "in the service of America."
As was to be expected, these comments evoked a sharp American rebuke with the U.S. Commander in Afghanistan Gen Joseph Dunford commenting that U.S.-Afghanistan relations were at a rough point.
He even feared that such remarks by Karzai could trigger insider attacks by disgruntled or radical elements against U.S. troops. Even the Taliban had mocked on Wednesday, saying that the U.S. was ignoring Karzai's demands, and their spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, triumphantly said that "Poor Karzai is not guilty. His masters have put him in a very tough spot. Such talk from him is a sign of desperation."
Indeed, there may be an element of truth in both the U.S. and Taliban comments about the state of affairs in Afghanistan. Many Afghan leaders, and members of political parties also sought to distance themselves from President Karzai's comments attributing this outburst to an attempt to show that he was not a U.S. puppet at a time when anti-US feelings in the country were on the rise.
On the other hand, the Afghan Ulema Council urged that the US military hand over Bagram prison to Afghan control and withdraw from the gateway to Kabul, the Wardak province otherwise the US presence would be regarded as an "occupation force".
Meanwhile, the security situation in Afghanistan has not shown any great improvement. The father and two brothers of the former governor of Kunduz province, Abdul Latif Ibrahimi, and the present speaker of the Afghan Parliament, Abdul Rouf Ibrahimi, were killed in a suicide attack on March 13 in Kunduz. There have been several similar lethal attacks against senior officials in Kunduz and Takhar provinces in the last two years.
All the main actors in the drama in Afghanistan - President Karzai and his government, other Afghan political and regional leaders, the Taliban and their Pakistani backers, and the Americans themselves - await the finale of 2014.
On his third visit to Afghanistan in March, Republican Congressman Howard "Buck" McKeon, and Chairman of the House Armed Forces Services Committee, has recommended that the US retain 13,600 troops beyond December 31, 2014 along with a coalition force of 6000.
President Karzai is of course worried about his future beyond 2014 when the country goes in for fresh elections and his second term expires.
The U.S. dilemma is that it cannot completely leave Afghanistan for that country to once become a source of terrorist threat to the U.S., it cannot leave the region so long as Pakistan is unstable and home to Islamic radicals and the country holds nuclear weapons, Pakistan's relations with India remain sour and Iran is a problem.
At the same time, there is exhaustion among Americans about the war in Afghanistan especially after the elimination of Osama bin Laden. This is probably reflected in the skirmishes in Washington D.C. among the various stake holders in the campaign in Afghanistan.
Apart from that, the Afghan government is worried about it is concerned about its own security with an inadequate Armed Force and an inimical Pakistan. Karzai's recent outbursts against the US are part of the endgame which may buy him political space in Afghanistan post 2014.
There is suspicion in Kabul about what might be Karzai's intentions regarding the Taliban and that he may come to a deal with them to buy his security and even longevity.
It makes sense for Karzai to work out a direct deal with the Taliban instead of something that the Taliban might work out with the Americans without keeping Karzai in the picture. The Afghan President may well be playing high stakes here, assuming that the U.S. largesse is unlimited and would keep flowing endlessly. He may be underestimating American fatigue and its budgetary constraints.
The tangled web also says that dealing with the Quetta Shura means in effect dealing with Pakistan. Pakistan, with a virtual veto to US options in Afghanistan, has steadily strengthened its position in Afghanistan despite setbacks in the US Pakistan relations.
At a time in 2009 when the US was negotiating with a section of the Taliban, Pakistan picked up a number of senior Taliban commanders from the Quetta Shura which clearly sent the message that no negotiations could be possible without taking Pakistan on board.
Pakistan has had the Afghan Quetta Shura, the Haqqani Network and even the Hekmetyar Group on its side, but in a post-2014 situation, it would need to work with the Hazaras, Uzbeks and Tajiks of Afghanistan, especially if the Taliban are not able to establish complete control in Kabul and Kandahar, leaving the outlying areas beyond its control. It would thus be necessary to have these ethnic groups on board to prevent Indian, Russian or Iranian presence among these groups, or a Pukhtun versus the rest civil war. However, the Pakistani stock with the ethnic minorities is not a great source of comfort for the Pakistan Army seen as the mentor of the Taliban.
Later, Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff, General Asfaq Pervez Kayani, was apparently able to convince the Americans in his discussions in 2010 that an Afghan force of 400,000 was both unviable, as this would cost USD nine billion annually, and, that unable to sustain itself, it would break up into small groups that would resort to terror and crime for its survival.
In reality, Pakistan does not want a strong, predominantly Pukhtun force on its western borders with the Indian Army staring down at it on the eastern border.
Added to this, the Pakistan insistence has been the U.S. should ensure that Afghanistan formally accepts the Durand Line before leaving Afghanistan. There has been greater realisation and acceptance in DC that Pakistan has been duplicitous in its dealings, but it is now too late to correct that given that the date of withdrawal is irrevocable.
The Taliban game seems fairly simple. Lie low and wait it out with an occasional violent foray to remind others of their presence and keep their own morale high.
The problem for the US in assuring an orderly withdrawal and to decide on how much force to leave behind is the utter lack of trust between Afghanistan, Pakistan and itself. It is difficult to accurately anticipate how the situation will evolve in 2015 after the Americans go home, but whatever it is, it will not be a simple uncomplicated situation and may not be all that warm and friendly for Pakistan. However, this will not bring any cheer to India's security interests either. We may have to contend with larger numbers of jihadi foot soldiers redeployed on our border. (ANI)
Attn: News Editors/News Desks: The views expressed in the above article are that of Mr. Vikram Sood, former Secretary, R and AW, Government of India. (ANI)
Surprising hope for Pakistan and Afghanistan
CNN By Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst Wed, 20 Mar 2013
Washington - Editor's note: Peter Bergen is CNN's national security analyst, the author of "Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for bin Laden -- From 9/11 to Abbottabad" and a director at the New America Foundation.
The news from Pakistan is generally bad news.
In the past week, which was far from atypical, suicide bombers attacked a court building in the northwestern city of Peshawar taking hostages and killing four people.
In the southern city of Karachi the director of a renowned social program working in the megacity's poorest neighborhoods was shot and killed. And gunmen kidnapped two female Czech tourists in southwestern Pakistan.
But this past week also saw more than a glimmer of good news from Pakistan: Saturday, March 16 marked an extraordinary moment in Pakistani history, as this is the first time a civilian government has served its entire five-year term (from 2008 to 2013). And, for the first time in its history, the Pakistani military appears unwilling to mount a coup against the civilian government. The military has successfully executed three coups and attempted a number of others since Pakistan's independence in 1947.
Today the army understands that the most recent coup by General Pervez Musharraf who took power in 1999 has tarnished its brand.
Musharraf hung on to power for almost a decade and his imposition of emergency rule in 2007 triggered massive street protests and eventually his ouster.
On Saturday, Musharaf announced he is returning to Pakistan from self-imposed exile on March 24 to run in elections that are to be held two months from now.
In a telling sign that Pakistan is moving into something of a new era, Pakistani military officials are not supportive of Musharraf's return and nor is much of the Pakistani public.
On May 11, Pakistanis will go to the polls to elect a new civilian government for a five-year term, and there is now a good prospect for continued, uninterrupted civilian government until at least 2018.
In terms of Pakistan's long-term health and stability, the fact that the country is in an unprecedented era of lengthy civilian rule will help erode the Pakistani military's present position as having uncontested supremacy in all matters that relate to the country's national security, in particular its relations with India and with Afghanistan.
The military has backed insurgent and terrorist groups in India and Afghanistan to maintain its perceived interests in these countries. A more confident civilian Pakistani government will, hopefully, over time be less likely to support these militant groups.
Another great opportunity (and potential peril) will present itself in Afghanistan, when Afghans go to the polls in April 2014 for the third presidential election since the fall of the Taliban.
If that election is perceived as being relatively free and fair this would go a long way to ease tensions in the Afghan body politic, increase Afghanistan's overall security and reassure both Afghan and outside investors that the country has a promising future.
On the other hand, if the 2014 election is seen as unfair, corrupted and is deeply contested, this would likely precipitate a vicious circle of conflict, deteriorating security and capital flight.
The United States, therefore, should do everything it can to provide technical and security assistance to make these elections go as well as possible.
But unlike what happened in the run-up to the 2009 Afghan presidential election, U.S. officials should not get involved in privately backing certain candidates. This private support had the unintended effect of splitting the opposition to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, as key leaders of the anti-Karzai opposition all believed they were "America's candidate." It also deeply alienated Karzai, whose occasional diatribes against the United States are best understood as due to his lingering resentment over this issue.
A key aspect of U.S. and NATO planning for the Afghan presidential elections in April 2014 is that given the fact that there are no discernible front-runners to succeed Karzai, there may be no clear winner who attains more than 50% of the vote, which under Afghan electoral laws would necessitate a runoff election between the two leading candidates.
Security, technical and economic assistance for the Afghan elections should be prepared to extend into summer 2014, because it is not clear as yet when that runoff might be held.
Last year the United States and Afghanistan negotiated a Strategic Partnership Agreement, which ensures America will continue to play a supporting role there until 2024.
The exact details of what that agreement means in practice are still being hammered out (according to U.S. officials, these negotiations may take until November) but they are likely to include not only significant U.S. aid but also many thousands of American soldiers stationed in Afghanistan for years into the future as a guarantor of the country's stability.
The U.S. military has given President Obama a range of options under which as few as 6,000 or as many as 20,000 soldiers would remain in Afghanistan after 2014. Those forces would work as advisers to the Afghan army and mount special operations raids against the Taliban and al Qaeda.
Whatever the final decision is on troop levels, the key point is that the Obama administration and other U.S. officials should emphasize very clearly that the thousands of American soldiers who will remain in Afghanistan are there to support the United States' long-term partnership agreement with Afghanistan -- and that its life extends well beyond 2014.
This is important to emphasize, because Afghans have been understandably confused by some of the different signals the Obama administration has made about its commitment to Afghanistan in the past.
Major confusion arose after President Obama's December 2009 announcement of the "surge" of 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, which was coupled with the announcement that those troops would begin to withdraw beginning in July 2011. In many Afghans' minds, the withdrawal date became more important than the fact that during his first term Obama actually tripled the number of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan from around 30,000 to a total of 90,000.
When the Obama administration announces the number of soldiers who will remain in Afghanistan post-2014, it should emphasize that the U.S. commitment to Afghanistan is set to last until at least 2024.
This will help in multiple ways: First, this guarantee of a long-term U.S. commitment to Afghanistan will encourage other NATO countries to maintain some of their own troops in Afghanistan to work with the Afghans in areas like training the army and police past the end of the NATO combat mission in December 2014.
Such an announcement will also help reassure Afghans that the United States won't be simply turning off the lights in Afghanistan in December 2014. And it will signal to regional powers like Pakistan and Iran that the United States plans to remain engaged in Afghanistan for many years into the future.
A key issue facing the Afghan government as the United States draws down its forces is how will the Afghan economy fare? Should the economy collapse, the Afghan government's ability to deal with security issues would be substantially eroded. Already, rents in Kabul are tumbling and nongovernmental organizations are laying off staff.
Surprisingly, however, a rigorous and comprehensive World Bank study last year found that Afghanistan will continue to have a healthy growth rate, dropping from its present robust 9% a year rate "to closer to 5% on average until 2018." (The U.S. economy's yearly growth rates over the past four years have been around 2%.)
The economic contraction as the United States draws down is likely to be less severe than might be supposed, partly because the hundreds of billions that the U.S. military has spent in Afghanistan over the past decade is spending that almost entirely benefits the United States.
The World Bank study points out that "military spending by the United States (and other countries) finances the salaries of military personnel, investments in weapons equipment and systems. ... The impact of its withdrawal is therefore likely to be muted."
Another encouraging sign is the investigation of the troubled Kabul Bank, in which some $900 million was lost to fraud, indicating that the culture of impunity for corrupt Afghan officials might be beginning to erode. Earlier this month, 21 officials were found guilty of fraud and two of the former heads of the bank were sentenced to five years in prison. The Afghan Attorney General's office said last week that it would appeal the sentences as being too soft given the scale of the fraud.
A key question is the extent to which the Afghan army and police can operate effectively against the Taliban as the United States withdraws. As yet the Afghan army hasn't shown the ability to conduct large-scale operations without significant American support. In addition, a big issue for the army is the extraordinarily high attrition rate.
Today, a little more then a quarter of the recruits to the army drop out every year. Because of this high dropout rate, NATO is now considering maintaining the Afghan army and police at its present large size of 352,000 men through 2018. (Estimates of the size of the Taliban typically are in the 25,000 range.)
One indicator of the increasingly Afghan-led nature of the fight against the Taliban is the fact that some 300 Afghan soldiers and policemen are now dying every month in the war, while in January three U.S. soldiers were killed, which was the lowest number of any month during the previous four years.
On Afghanistan, Pakistan has some important common goals with the United States, NATO and Afghans themselves. Pakistan does not want to see Afghanistan collapse into a renewed civil war, which would destabilize Pakistan, nor does it want to see the Taliban in charge of the country again.
When the Taliban was in power in Afghanistan the group resisted Pakistani efforts at control, while the Pakistani Taliban have killed many thousands inside Pakistan. These basic shared goals, no civil war and no Taliban control of Afghanistan, can help to create the conditions for a successful post-2014 Afghanistan
Pakistan also wants a Pashtun-led government in Kabul and for the Taliban to have some representation in the south and the east. These are also goals the Afghans can live with.
Karzai is, after all, a Pashtun and given the fact that Pashtuns are the largest ethnic group, the next president of Afghanistan almost certainly will be a Pashtun. And other ethnic minorities can live with a situation in which the Taliban assume a number of provincial and district governorships providing they lay down their arms, join the political process and recognize the Afghan constitution.
According to a senior Afghan government official, numerous discussions between representatives of the Taliban and the Afghan government have taken place over the past years to discuss such a political accommodation, although, so far, not much of anything has come of these talks.
Note: This story is adapted from testimony by Peter Bergen delivered to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on March 19, 2013.
Disabled swimmers make a splash in Kabul
Afghanistan's largest indoor swimming pool is helping youths, including those with no arms, learn to enjoy the water.
Aljazeera By Jennifer Glasse 20 Mar 2013
Kabul, Afghanistan - Light bounces off the blue water and shimmers on the ceiling one early morning in Kabul, at the Lajaward Swimming Complex, the capital’s largest indoor swimming pool. It is the brainchild of Qasim Ali Rezaee, an Afghan with 25 years experience running recreation centers in Iran.
He returned to his native Afghanistan about two years ago to build this pool, despite his family’s scepticism. His wife and four sons remain in Iran for now to complete their studies.
“Our country needs something like this, we don’t have a facilities like this. When I was a refugee outside Afghanistan, this work was my business,” he explains. “I thought if I build this, it will be good for Afghans, a good place for young men to come; somewhere to come on holidays,” says Rezaee.
The complex has showers and a steam room in addition to the 25-meter long pool. Rezaee says he wishes the pool were twice as long, but he and his two business partners couldn’t find a plot of land large enough. Construction took 8 months and cost about $600,000.
The complex is popular for Afghans who can afford the $10 entrance fee - a hefty price in a country where the World Bank puts the average annual income at $585.
Women not allowed
One a weekday morning dozens of young men are in the pool. There’s a water polo game in the deep end, beneath a giant poster of American swimmer Michael Phelps doing the butterfly stroke. In the other end of the pool, some young men are wearing bright orange life jackets, others are doggie paddling. There is more than one belly flop. Many Afghans cannot swim at all, and Rezaee says some didn’t understand the need to shower before getting into the pool.
“Of course there are problems here in Afghanistan, of course the culture of the pool is new here, and people don’t really understand how to behave in a pool," he says, adding that he is not criticising people, as swimming edicit is something they aren't used to.
On an average weekday, Rezaee says, there are at least 100 swimmers, on Fridays and holidays, there are five or six times as many. No women are allowed.
The complex also has a cafe that serve hamburgers, sandwiches and pomegranite juice. If you didn’t know better this could be any swimming pool anywhere in the world.
Rezaee says there are considerable challenges running a business like this. There’s only electricity 3 days a week, and even when it is on, the power is not consistent enough to run the pool’s filters, or heat the facility. He calls himself a slave to the generator. Some days the cost of diesel outstrips any profits he has made for the day.
He also says there has been some local opposition. He says while he was building the pool some officials demanded bribes, and others have complained that it’s not proper to have such a facility in the neighborhood.
“Of course I have some enemies here, and they don’t like that I’ve built this. There are some people who are trying to make problems, that the pool should be closed, but what can you do?”
'More opportunity'
Rezaee says he’s surprised there are people here who don’t seem to want to promote prosperity in Afghanistan, but he also has some devoted fans, like Qassem Hamidi, the new director of Afghanistan’s water polo federation and a swimming coach.
Hamidi, 44, has trained as an athlete and worked as a coach in Iran, Turkey and Uzbekistan. He returned to Afghanistan three years ago to promote swimming, but says this pool makes it possible to train properly. Many Afghans want to exercise he says, but there aren’t many places to do so.
“This kind of facility which is here, not because of the government, but because of a private businessman, shows promise for the future so that Afghans can learn more and more. This kind of place makes it possible to have the opportunity to win a competition,” he says.
Hamidi’s most promising student is an unlikely swimmer. Ali Abbas, 16, was born without arms. When the pool first opened he came to see it, and was envious of the others splashing around. He says he was terrified the first time he got in the water with a life jacket on. Hamidi asked if he wanted to swim.
“I locked my hands behind my back and I showed him I could swim without my arms, and I told him he could too and that he should try,” the coach explains. Abbas says little by little he learned to swim. His coach says it took only a week, for Abbas to be totally comfortable in the water.
“In 20 years, I’ve trained a lot of students, but I’ve never seen anyone like Abbas, I remember when he came to this pool, he was very scared but curious too,” he says.
Abbas has learned to eat, drink, turn on the shower and write using only is feet. Being in the pool means a new type of freedom. “I feel comfortable and happy in the water,” he explains. “I don’t feel different from anyone else when I’m in the water.”
After only six months of training, Abbas and his coach have their sites set on the Brazil Paralympics in 2016. Hamidi has already spoken to Afghanistan’s Olympic Committee which says it’s holding a slot for him for the games. With nearly four years to train, both have high hopes Abbas can bring home a medal.
Disabled swimmers
Rights for the disabled were only passed into law last year, and disability advocates are still working on ways to implement them.
The disability charity Serve estimates there are 800,000 disabled in Afghanistan. Estimates are all they can use, the last nationwide survey of physically, mentally, visually and hearing impaired Afghans was in 2005.
Officials from Serve say only a small fraction of the disabled have access to support. Of the 50-60 thousand blind, they say only 2500 are in education programs across the country. Community outreach efforts in Kabul and Parwan train children to give them skills that will allow them to attend mainstream schools.
They train teachers alongside them to help ease the transition, and help hearing impaired students use sign language for and blind students to read and write Braille. Serve has provided Braille textbooks and audio lectures as teaching aids. Training to be ready for mainstream school can take up to two years. Serve says it has 75 visually impaired and 85 hearing impaired students in regular schools and its officials are particularly proud of the 19 students currently at Kabul University.
Said Najibullah, 15, uses a Braille writer to complete his assignments. He’s attending high school and is at the top of his class and plans to go on to university. “I want to be a teacher,” he says. “I want to teach the students who are blind. Being blind isn’t hard, it just means you have to try harder.”
The Lajaward swimming pool hosted Afghanistan’s first-ever disabled swimming competition. Ali Abbas continues to train there and hopes to inspire others to join him.
“My message is never give up and always try to learn,” says Abbas. “If you give up then you can not improve, not progress. It’s important to learn and grow every day, with trying and exercising you can do whatever you want.”
Security Top Priority for New Year: Govt
TOLOnews.com By Shakeela Ahbrimkhil Wednesday, 20 March 2013
The Afghan government has made security its top priority on the eve of Nawruz to ensure the Persian new year celebrations go ahead without an incident.
President Hamid Karzai ordered the Council of Ministers before he left for Turkmenistan Wednesday to make every effort to secure celebrations around the country.
"The president yesterday in the government cabinet session ordered all the cabinet to do their best for security in celebrating the festival of Nawroz," Rafi Ferdaws, spokesman of the Council of Ministers, told TOLOnews.
"During the new year, our capital cities celebrations should be full of happiness by launching contests, singing and flying kites," the Minister of Culture and Information Sayed Makhdom Rahin told TOLOnews.
The United Nations recognised the international day of Nawroz as the celebration of the Persian New Year and the beginning of spring with a statement from Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.
He described it as a symbolic importance of spring to "celebrate the larger forces that unite us".
"I offer my best wishes to those who celebrate Nawruz, and express hope that all people can use the occasion to reflect on the beauty of nature, the promise of spring, and the power of culture to build peace."
The US Ambassador to Afghanistan James Cunningham also released a message of congratulations and well-wishes for the new year.
"I want to take this opportunity to reiterate America's long-term commitment to help build a secure and prosperous Afghanistan. As President Obama has stated, we will stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Afghanistan for years to come. In the year ahead, we will redouble our efforts to help Afghans shape a bright future for this magnificent country," he said in a video message released by the US Embassy on youtube.
Afghanistan's bazaars today were busy with last minute shoppers preparing for tomorrow's holiday with its special customs and cooking.
Food sellers were particularly busy with the traditional dishes and sweets such as samanaks, sabzi and haft mewa, the most popular foods being sold.
How the Taliban wins over Afghans without firing a shot
By addressing social injustices — like the price of marriage — the Taliban has no trouble winning hearts and minds.
Global Post By Fazelminallah Qazizai and Chris Sands March 20, 2013
MAIDAN WARDAK, Afghanistan - A letter nailed to the doors and walls of mosques notified people in Maidan Wardak province of the Taliban's latest decree. When word spread, the insurgents had gained more supporters without firing a shot.
The order addressed an issue that residents increasingly viewed as a threat to Afghan and Islamic culture: the rising cost of marriage.
Throughout the country it is customary to wed at a relatively young age and for the groom's family to pay the bill. But ever since the US-led invasion, prices had been rising, forcing men to remain single, pile up debts or seek work in Iran and Pakistan.
Now, in areas under the militants' control, anyone in the province caught demanding too much money on behalf of the bride risked being physically beaten and heavily fined. This was justice Taliban-style and many villagers were delighted that something had been done.
The only complaint Mohammad Yousef Khoshal had is that his brother became engaged before the law was introduced and the insurgents refused to apply it retroactively. He has, however, attended the weddings of three relatives in the district of Chak that were held under the new rules.
“We are very happy because after this all the boys and girls will not have problems marrying each other,” he said. “Families will not have to send their children outside [Afghanistan] for work.”
Known nationally for producing more than its fair share of highly educated intellectuals and professionals, Maidan Wardak lies just to the southwest of Kabul. Most people who do not leave in search of a better life elsewhere depend on farming for an income.
Intense fighting has occurred here during recent years. In late February President Hamid Karzai ordered US Special Forces to leave the province within a fortnight after allegations that Afghans serving alongside them had committed kidnap and murder. His demand has still not been met and on March 11 two American troops were among those killed in an insider attack here.
Amidst all this, the rebels run a shadow government — winning over a population that might not necessarily be swayed by a simple call to arms.
Habibullah is a Taliban commander in the district of Sayed Abad. He told GlobalPost how the wedding decree came into existence. After noticing a large number of young men were unable to marry, he said the insurgents convened a meeting with local elders more than two years ago to discuss the problem.
Plans for a new law were rejected until a second meeting was held soon afterwards, this time with the Taliban's "Emir" for the province in attendance. It was eventually decided that a fee amounting to the equivalent of about $6,000 could be paid to a bride's family. A further $1,000 could be spent on the wedding.
Habibullah explained that the law then spread gradually before reaching the stage where it is now implemented across vast swathes of Maidan Wardak — a claim backed up in separate interviews with residents.
"I have been to a lot of weddings with other members of the Taliban and the people were all praying for us," he said. "People are very poor and they were not able to marry before but now they are getting married easily. This is great news for us and a great way to fight against moral corruption and related crimes."
Habibullah went on to explain what happened to those who disobeyed the law. One old man was fined $4,000 and told to admit his regret in the hope this would be enough of a deterrent to others.
But when a second man named Qalamuddin was caught he was beaten "very badly" and fined. The money earned by the insurgents in all cases goes toward funding “the jihad.”
While these measures might appear to support the image of the Taliban as an authoritarian, brutal movement, the view on the ground is mixed. The rebels’ actions are often seen as being in strict accordance with Islam and have won them admirers.
Mohammad Omar, an elder in Sayed Abad, told GlobalPost that the local reaction varied from place to place.
“Some people have broken this law in the Taliban areas and it shows they are not happy,” he said. “But some who do not have money are happy with the Taliban.”
Complaints over the rising cost of marriage exist across Afghanistan, not just the more impoverished villages. Wedding halls are a prominent feature of the landscape in Kabul and the lavish parties held in them have attracted criticism from mainstream religious scholars.
The government has in the past sought to address some of the concerns, but that has not stopped the issue from becoming part of the wider military and cultural war being fought in the country.
Mohammad Hazrat Janan, the deputy leader for Maidan Wardak’s provincial council, told GlobalPost that insurgents had first introduced the marriage law in the Tangi valley area of Sayed Abad. He said the elders and imams in the districts of Jalrez and Nirkh took it upon themselves to impose a similar set of rules.
"It is the duty of the government to solve such problems but now we are seeing that this is done half by the Taliban and half by the elders," he said.
"I still don't think the government is to blame because when it cannot bring peace and security to a place how can it provide services and solve social problems?"
Fazelminallah Qazizai reported from Maidan Wardak and Kabul. Chris Sands reported from Kabul.
Afghan-Turk Business Partnerships to Grow: ACCI
TOLOnews.com By Shahla Murtazaie Wednesday, 20 March 2013
The Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industry has agreed with an Afghan-Turkish business group to host in Afghanistan more trade fairs of both countries products over the next ten years.
The Afghan-Turk General Commercial and Industrial Association signed an agreement with the ACCI for "constant fairs" of Afghan and Turn products in Afghanistan, beginning with three fairs in first month of the new Persian year 1392 (late March – late April 2013).
"There will be 35 Turk companies and 40 Afghan companies as well as 50 Turk traders and investors who seek investment opportunities participating in this exhibition," ACCI chief Mohammad Qorban Haqjoo said Tuesday. The Turkish chief of the Afghan-Turk association said Afghanistan is a promising place for investment, especially for Turkish entities.
"We can say that Afghanistan is one of the best countries in the region, and a good environment for investment, especially for Turks that, compared to other nationalities, we can set up our companies here more easily," said Murad Aaqyuz, general secretary to the Afghan-Turk General Commercial and Industrial Association.
In return, ACCI officials said Turkey has a high industrial capability on the world scale, especially for that of mines, vehicles, agriculture, wood, and food products. They hope the country can be an example for Afghanistan.
Airport Planned for Nuristan: Aviation Ministry
TOLOnews.com By Azim Arash Wednesday, 20 March 2013
The Afghan Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation said Wednesday that it is planning to build an airport in the eastern province of Nuristan with hopes that it will help boost development in the area.
The surveys for the airport – expected to have a runway of 1.2 kilometers – will be completed in a month with construction to soon follow, ministry officials said.
"The responsible board has approved – following their observations – that this area is safe for landing small airplanes such as Pactec, and the airplanes of Ofoq-e-Sharq [airline]," said Jarallah Mansoori, deputy minister of Transport and Civil Aviation.
"The engineers will do their survey and design, and God willing, the work will soon start if the permission – based on technical, safety, and engineering issues – to construct the airport is provided," he said.
The airport site is in the provincial centre Parun and is expected to be able to receive small 8-passenger airplanes.
The cost for constructing Nuristan's airport is estimated at $3.5 million. Of this, $2 million will be provided with aid from India and the rest will be funded by the ministry.
Nuristan provincial leaders welcomed the news saying that the lack of an airport has left Nuristan behind in terms of progress.
"Engineers of [the Ministry of Rehabilitation and] Rural Development don't come here saying that there are no routes. Engineers of the Ministry of Public Works don't come here saying that there are no routes. The specialist doctors don't come here saying that there are no routes. Our biggest problem is that we are not able of implement our projects and programmes that need to be surveyed and designed for the reason that there are no routes," said provincial governor Tamim Nuristani.
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