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US, Afghanistan OK detention center transfer
March 23, 2013 - 6:27pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. has reached an agreement with the Afghanistan government to transfer the Parwan Detention Facility to Afghan control, the Pentagon said Saturday, two weeks after negotiations broke down over whether the U.S. would have the power to block the release of some detainees.
According to a senior U.S. official, a key element to the agreement is that the Afghans can invoke a procedure that insures prisoners considered dangerous would not be released from the detention center. The agreement also includes a provision that allows the two sides to work together to resolve any differences. The official lacked authorization to discuss the details of the agreement publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Transfer of the Parwan detention center on Monday is critical to the ongoing effort to gradually shift control of the country’s security to the Afghans as the U.S. and allies move toward the full withdrawal of combat troops by the end of 2014.
Afghans demanded control of the center, but U.S. officials have worried that the most threatening detainees would be freed once the U.S. transferred control. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke with Afghan President Hamid Karzai Saturday as officials finalized the agreement after days of intense negotiations.
The senior official said U.S. and Afghan officials who are familiar with the detainees would meet to assess the potential danger of their release to coalition forces. The official said that more senior level officials could be brought in if there are disagreements but that to date the two sides have been able to agree without bringing in those higher authorities.
Disagreements over the detention facility, which also included whether Afghans can be held without trial, had thrown a pall over the ongoing negotiations for a bilateral security agreement that would govern the presence of U.S. forces in Afghanistan after 2014.
Currently, there is an Afghan administrator of the Parwan prison, but the Americans have power to veto the release of detainees. The prisoners held under American authority do not have the right to a trial because the U.S. considers them part of an ongoing conflict.
Pentagon press secretary George Little said Hagel “welcomed President Karzai’s commitment that the transfer will be carried out in a way that ensures the safety of the Afghan people and coalition forces by keeping dangerous individuals detained in a secure and humane manner in accordance with Afghan law.”
Last weekend Hagel spoke with Karzai, and officials said the two men agreed to resolve the thorny issue within a week.
The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, has also been working to resolve the matter — one of several divisive issues that soured relations between the U.S., its allies and the Afghans in recent weeks.
The U.S. had been scheduled to hold a ceremony marking the transfer of control two weeks ago, during Hagel’s first visit to Afghanistan as defense secretary. That ceremony was called off after negotiations broke down.
In addition to disputes over the Parwan facility, the U.S.-led coalition and Afghans have wrangled over several other difficult issues. Last month, Karzai insisted that the coalition forces cease all airstrikes, after a NATO assault caused civilian casualties.
More recently, Karzai demanded that U.S. special operations forces leave Wardak province after allegations that U.S. commandos and their Afghan partners abused local citizens. Dunford has denied the charges.
Earlier this week, the two sides reached an agreement on the Wardak issue. Dunford agreed to remove a team of commandos from Wardak’s Nirkh district and transition security of that area to the Afghans as soon as possible.
U.S. special operations forces would remain in other parts of the restive province, while the coalition continues to work to transition those areas also to the Afghans.
U.S. officials have made no final decision on how many troops might remain in Afghanistan after 2014, although they have said as many as many as 12,000 U.S. and coalition forces could remain.
There currently are 66,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, down from a 2010 peak of 100,000.
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Lolita C. Baldor can be followed on Twitter: https://twitter.com/lbaldor
Heavy clashes in Wardoj district leaves 43 Taliban dead
By GHANIZADA - 22 Mar 2013, 2:55 pm Khaama Press
According to local authorities in north-eastern Badakhshan province of Afghanistan, Afghan security forces took control of various security check posts during clashes with the Taliban militants.
Security check posts including “Barabara and Ghano” were under the control of Taliban militants during the past one week, which was confirmed by security officials in Wardoj district.
Wardoj district governor Dawlat Mohammad Khawar said heavy clashes took place between Afghan security forces and Taliban militants which started at 8 pm on Thursday night and continued until 3 am on Friday morning.
Mr. Khawar further added, Afghan security forces made a tactical withdrawal from the security check posts in a bid to prevent civilian casualties.
In the meantime provincial governor spokesman said a vast military operation was conducted in Wardoj district which resulted in death of 43 Taliban militants and control of the security check posts were taken by Afghan security forces.
There are no reports if Afghan security forces and civilians have suffered any casualties during the clashes but provincial governor spokesman said Afghan security forces have seized weapons and explosives during the operation and control of the Wardoj district is with the Afghan security forces now.
Wardoj district has been one of the most volatile region in north-eastern Badakhshan province during the recent months, and around 278 families left the area due to unrest in this district.
Militants have increased their attacks on Afghan security forces in Wardoj district, and around 15 Afghan police officers were recently abducted by Taliban militants who were later released after local tribal elders brokered talks with the militants.
A spokesman for the Taliban militant group Zabiullah Mujahid also claimed that several Afghan police vehicles were destroyed during the clashes with Taliban militants.
Four Killed In Hostage-Taking Incident Along Tajik-Afghan Border
By RFE/RL's Tajik Service March 22, 2013
DEHI KOZI, Tajikistan -- Three Afghan citizens and a Tajik man have been killed in a hostage-taking incident in Tajikistan's south.
Local sources say three armed Afghans came on March 21 to the village of Dehi Kozi in Tajikistan's Shuroobod district near the Tajik-Afghan border and took four local citizens hostage, trying to take them to Afghanistan.
The sources say the hostages resisted their captors, killing all three of them.
One of the hostages was also killed in the incident.
An official with Tajikistan's State Committee for National Security confirmed to RFE/RL that the incident took place but declined to give any details.
Locals say armed Afghans regularly enter Tajik territory to abduct local citizens for ransom.
They reportedly force Tajiks to pay them money they owe for selling illegal drugs obtained from Afghans.
Afghan league points the way for football development
Reuters By Brian Homewood Fri Mar 22, 2013
ZURICH - Afghanistan's fledgling soccer league started out with a reality show, has turned into one soccer's unlikeliest success stories and is now considered a model for football development elsewhere.
Inaugurated last year, the Afghan Premier League featured eight teams from different regions, whose players were chosen from a reality show called Maidan-e-Sabz (Green Field).
Their ability was tested in a number of challenges, including one that involved running through mud and water, with the victors winning places in their local squad.
Although a far cry from a conventional European-style league, it was broadcast live on television and radio and matches were played in front of a full house.
"It is remarkable," Thierry Regenass, development director at soccer's governing body FIFA, told a round table of reporters from international news agencies.
"It is a huge success on TV, the investors are happy, the clubs and players get money from this league and you have football played in Afghanistan."
Regenass said there had been equally unlikely success stories in Mauritania, Ethiopia, Somalia and American Samoa.
"I'm sure nobody has heard of the league in Mauritania," he said. "But there's new management, a dynamic young guy with lots of ideas who wanted to revive the league.
"He needed to show images of television and so with our performance programme, we helped him set up a TV studio where they can produce a weekly one-hour programme on football which is shown on national television.
"We'll see at the end of the project if it works or not, but we certainly want it to work because that's the way to try and do it."
UNWANTED HEADLINES
Regenass said that development of football was the main reason for the existence of FIFA, which is usually associated with the World Cup and had attracted unwanted headlines for a series of corruption scandals over the last three years.
"FIFA is famous for making a lot of money with the World Cup, but FIFA doesn't make money just for the sake of it, FIFA makes money to invest in football either through competition or through development programmes," said Regenass.
"Over the last 15 years, while the revenue of FIFA has increased tenfold, the money invested in football development has increased by 50 times, so the more money FIFA makes in the future, the more will be invested in football development."
FIFA has faced criticism that some programmes have been used in return for political favours or, in some cases, the money has not gone to its intended destination.
In 2011, FIFA launched a formal investigation after Worawi Makudi, a FIFA executive committee member from Thailand, was accused of spending $860,000 in football development grants for projects on land he personally owns.
FIFA eventually cleared him of any wrongdoing.
"In the end, the problem was solved because the proper property title has been made and we had it verified by independent lawyers," said Regenass.
"We should have been more careful at some point but this has been corrected and I'm certain that we want to avoid any case where the money is not efficiently spent, for the objective it has been decided."
Regenass said that overall, he was satisfied that the money ended up where it was intended.
"I think we can be proud of what we do, although, yes, sometimes it didn't work," he said.
"There are a few other places where projects are not what they should have been but, over the 209 countries, in the overwhelming majority the result and the impact has been positive.
"We cannot control everything in 209 countries and territories and we need to rely on the local process, we make sure that MAs (member associations) themselves have the processes in place to verify accounts and be transparent.
"I have been at FIFA for four-and-a-half years and it's been my objective to keep the development work and people non political," he said.
"If you look at the current setup, I think it's pretty apolitical, although it can still be improved."
TALENT DRAIN
Development programmes were initially aimed at providing member associations with a headquarters and state-of-the-art training centres for the national teams.
But Regenass said that one of FIFA's new priorities was to strengthen domestic leagues, reducing the necessity for players to move abroad to make a living and stopped the talent drain to Europe's biggest clubs.
"It is still a long-term objective of FIFA, not only in Africa, that countries have a league that is a high enough standard to offer them a proper job and place to play football," he said.
"We also want them the leagues to attract the public so they are not only watching the English Premier League or La Liga on television, but they also have a product they can watch at home.
"We want to work more and more on strengthening local leagues in Africa, Central America and the Caribbean.
"For every one player who succeeds in Europe, there are 10 who don't make it. Sometimes they end up elsewhere. There are some really bad leagues in Asia, I don't want to name names here, but it happens, and the players are not taken care of.
"They would be better in their own country provided there was a league which can sustain them."
(Reporting by Brian Homewood. Editing by Patrick Johnston)
Feature: Afghan New Year marked with hope for peace
By Abdul Haleem, Jawed Omid
KABUL, March 22 (Xinhua) -- On the eve of the Afghan New Year, President Hamid Karzai called on Taliban militants to lay down arms and join the government in the rebuilding of Afghanistan.
"I once again call on Taliban as brothers... to lay down foreigners' arms from your shoulders," Karzai said in his message.
"Come back to your beloved motherland and home and join hands with your fellow countrymen for progress and development of your country and for strengthening Islam and Afghanhood so that our country could be relieved from foreign dependence," Karzai said.
He also congratulated the Afghan people on the occasion and expressed the hope that the New Year would bring peace, security and progress to Afghanistan.
As the country celebrated Nawroz (New Year) on Thursday, there was only one wish in the minds of most Afghans: they can finally live in peace.
"We are fed up with the endemic war and continued conflicts in Afghanistan. Today I am praying for the return of lasting peace to our country, something that we have always longed for,"Mohammad Jamil, 35, said.
Jamil said without peace, Afghans cannot hope to be happy and the country cannot move forward.
Nawroz, which falls on Thursday (March 21), the first day of the year 1392 in the Afghan calendar, is celebrated amid tight security across the country.
Nawroz has been declared a public holiday and Afghans from all walks of life celebrated the day by holding parties, visiting families and friends, touring shrines and holy places, and praying for a better future.
Afghanistan has suffered a lot from more than three decades of war and conflicts.
Even on Nawroz, two blasts claimed the lives of eight Afghans and injured eight others in the southern and northern parts of the country.
On Wednesday, a Taliban loyalist, who served as police constable, opened fire on his colleagues in Qadis district of northwestern Badghis province killing five policemen. He later joined the Taliban militants.
Meanwhile, Afghans are worrying over the withdrawal of NATO-led troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014 in the midst of the unabated suicide attacks and ambuscades staged by Taliban militants in different parts of the country.
"It is a critical issue and a matter of concern for all Afghans that the Taliban-led insurgency is widespread and yet the NATO-led coalition forces are withdrawing from Afghanistan with the mission, the war on terror, still unresolved," Faridon, 38, said.
Faridon appealed to the Taliban to give up fighting and join the government-initiated peace process for the sake of their country.
Pakistani Taliban Threatens Death to Musharraf
VOA News March 23, 2013
The Pakistani Taliban says it will try to kill former President Pervez Musharraf when he returns to the country to take part in parliamentary elections.
Western media quote Taliban representatives as saying the militant group has prepared a squad of suicide bombers to kill Musharraf, who is expected to return on Sunday.
While he was president, Musharraf angered the Taliban by maintaining close ties with the United States and supporting its efforts to fight terrorism.
Musharraf, a former military chief of staff who took power in Islamabad in a coup in 1999, is expected to return to Karachi from more than four years of self-imposed exile in London and Dubai.
He has said he will lead his party, the All Pakistan Muslim League , in parliamentary elections on May 11.
Musharraf resigned as president in 2008. He left the country to avoid the possibility of arrest on charges linked to the assassination in 2007 of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Bhutto was killed shortly after returning to Pakistan - also from a period of self-imposed exile - to oppose Musharraf in a future election. The ex-president has denied any involvement in the plot to kill her.
Musharraf has said several times before that he would be returning to Pakistan soon, but never carried out those plans. On March 1, however, he pledged he would return this month, as soon as a caretaker government is in place.
Pakistan's parliament and federal and provincial governments completed their five-year constitutional term earlier this month. A caretaker government will steer the country until the parliamentary elections.
Insecurity Springs From Afghan Dam Projects
By Frud Bezhan March 22, 2013 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
As international forces leave Afghanistan, a flood of disputes over water resources threatens to be the main source of regional conflict.
Afghanistan is looking for ways to harness the potential offered by its water resources, and has major infrastructure projects in the works. But neighboring downstream countries depend on that same supply, and fear that any reduction in the flow of water from Afghanistan could have detrimental economic and geopolitical effects.
As Kabul has made clear that it intends to go ahead with its plans for hydroelectric dams and irrigation systems, hostilities have flared up. Iran and Pakistan allege the infrastructure projects will cause humanitarian upheaval. Kabul, meanwhile, accuses the two countries of orchestrating violence in the country to hold up its water projects.
With the sides failing to come to an agreement over the distribution of cross-border water supplies, the escalating diplomatic fallout has already led to reports of violence along their borders. Recent developments have only added weight to fears that the unresolved disputes could provoke armed conflict.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, speaking during an open debate hosted by Afghanistan Radio and TV (RTA) and the BBC on March 18, accused Iran and Pakistan of sabotaging Kabul's efforts to build dams and control its hydro resources.
"Yes, there are interferences from our neighbors to interrupt work on water dams in Afghanistan," Karzai said angrily during the debate.
His comment came a day after a meeting of the country's Security Council in which Karzai ordered the Interior Ministry and the National Directorate for Security, the country's spy agency, to launch an offensive against "foreign-affiliated groups who are sabotaging" water projects across the country.
Mohammad Nader Baluch, the deputy of the provincial council in Nimroz Province, located along the border with Iran, says Iranian forces regularly make illegal incursions into the region. The motive, he says, is to hold up infrastructure projects.
"[Iran] is conducting military operations in Nimroz. For example, with the Kamal Khan dam and other infrastructure projects, they're trying to halt work there. They're trying to intimidate the companies who are working on the projects in order to stop them from working," Baluch said.
For decades neighboring countries never had to worry about water flowing from Afghanistan because the country's infrastructure was essentially nonexistent. As Iran and Pakistan built dams and irrigation systems, Afghanistan saw some two-thirds of the water flowing from its lands drawn off to benefit foreign lands.
That is not to say there were not any water-infrastructure projects before 2001. The United States and the Soviet Union funded numerous projects, some of which are currently being revived after years of war and neglect.
New Hydro Projects
Afghanistan, along with the international community, set out to address this following the fall of the Taliban in 2001 by funding dozens of hydro projects, putting it on a collision course with its neighbors.
Rainer Gonzalez Palau, a social and strategic infrastructure specialist at NATO's Civil-Military Fusion Center in Afghanistan, says the explosive atmosphere will only be defused if Afghanistan and its neighbors can reach an agreement over the distribution of shared water resources.
Iran, which shares two rivers with Afghanistan, is the only country Kabul has a water treaty with. But the agreement, which was reached in the 1970s, has barely been applied and there are still disputes over the terms of the agreement.
"Without any bilateral treaty that regulates uses of water it's difficult to control the utilization of trans-boundary water resources by each country," said Palau in an e-mail to RFE/RL. "It is essential that equitable bilateral water-sharing agreements are applied, not only as a prerequisite for geopolitical stability but also to ensure sustainable environmental and human development in the region."
Palau, who notes his views are personal and do not represent those of NATO, says Afghanistan's rich water resources have the potential to be one of the main drivers of economic development and poverty reduction in the country.
"It has been estimated that $1 invested in water and sanitation generates between $3 and $34 in the agricultural and industrial sectors, contributing to increased production and productivity, as well as in health and poverty eradication," Palau says. "This is extremely important for Afghanistan, as agriculture, which largely depends on water availability, generates an important piece of its GDP and means subsistence economy for many of its households."
One of the largest projects begun is the Salma dam, which is being built by India in Herat Province. The $180 million project will reduce the amount of water that runs from Afghanistan's Harirud River to Iran and Turkmenistan from around 300 million cubic meters per year to just 87 million.
The dam has the potential to produce around 40 megawatts of electricity and irrigate around 80,000 hectares, double the amount of land available to Afghan farmers.
The project, however, is years behind schedule and its costs are multiplying by the month. Afghan officials have even gone as far as saying Tehran's diplomatic meddling has caused the huge delays.
It's not the first time Afghan officials and media have lobbed accusations at the country's neighbors over water issues.
Afghan media reported in 2011 that a local police unit was attacked by Iranian forces after they tried to stop the Iranians from diverting water from the Sikhzar canal. The 30-kilometer canal, located in Nimroz, was built in 2010 at a cost of $700,000 provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Afghan media have also alleged that Iran has tried to disrupt the construction of Salma dam.
Tehran has rejected all allegations that it is meddling in Kabul's water projects. Iranian state media have even accused Afghanistan of being ungrateful and not appreciating Tehran's contributions to rebuilding the country.
On the Afghan-Pakistani border, tensions are also high. Local villagers accuse Pakistan's security forces of firing rockets on villages in eastern Afghanistan to disrupt the construction of dams.
Afghanistan is constructing several major dams on the Kabul and Kunar Rivers, which flow downstream to Pakistan. If completed, the projects will reduce Pakistan's water supply from Afghanistan by 15 percent, according to local officials. That has not sat well with Pakistan, which is already facing a major energy crisis.
Brutal horseback game of buzkashi reclaims fans in Afghanistan
Stars and Stripes By Heath Druzin March 22, 2013
BAZARAK, Afghanistan - If you plan to attend a buzkashi match, make sure you’re feeling limber.
As dangerous as the ancient game is for participants, it can be equally perilous for fans when several tons of man and beast hurtle, hooves flailing, into the stands. This happens with regularity.
Buzkashi, literally, “goat grabbing,” is equal parts polo and Ultimate Fighting Championship and it has reclaimed its place as one of Afghanistan’s national sports after being banned, along with most sports, by the Taliban. The history of buzkashi is murky, but many believe it was brought, along with much destruction, by Gengis Khan’s Mongol hordes roughly 800 years ago.
Participants on horseback, called chapandaz or, more appropriately, pahlawan (wrestlers), fight to grab the carcass of a goat, buz in Dari, or calf carcass and then must gallop around the field and negotiate a scrum of opponents to drop it in a chalk circle on the ground. There are few rules and riders punch, push and tackle to gain control of the buz. The stubby whips competitors carry are just as often used on other riders as on their horses.
But the game can be as graceful as it is brutal, with expert horsemen leaning precariously off their steeds at full gallop to snatch the buz from the dirt.
There are teams, of a sort, but riders are also vying for personal glory and allegiances can be fickle. Prizes await high scorers, who can sometimes earn thousands of dollars for expert play in a match overseen by a wealthy patron.
At a recent match on a dusty pitch set hard against the snow-capped mountains of Panjshir province, competitors wore a colorful array of outfits, many sporting Soviet tanker helmets and heavily padded coats to absorb the blows of their rivals.
Brash riders preened for the audience ahead of the match, stopping to pose and looking off stoically toward the mountains. They brushed off the danger of the sport.
“This can protect you from an IED, so it will protect me from a fall,” one rider said nonchalantly, tapping his leather tanker helmet.
The Panjshir valley, populated mostly by ethnic Tajiks, was the military base for the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance and is a hot-bed of buzkashi. The match, which took place on a brisk winter day, was held just down the road from the hilltop tomb of Ahmad Shah Massoud, a national hero of Afghanistan who fought the Taliban until he was killed by a bomb hidden in a video camera shortly before the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
On this day, the riders would be vying over the carcass of a young cow, instead of the usual goat, cut in half and (mostly) gutted to get it to the proper weight. The rough-hewn concrete stands were packed with men (there were no women) and some enterprising young boys had climbed a tree to get a better view.
Vendors hawked candy and popcorn and aspiring young riders sat on horseback on the edge of the pitch, watching with rapt attention.
As the horsemen took off in a cloud of dust, yells, and snorts, an announcer, or jarchi, in the stands yelled out live commentary, helping the crowd follow the dizzying action and giving short bios of the individual riders.
Breakneck chases were interspersed with tight formations around a dropped buz, from which thuds and yells could be heard as riders fought furiously to gain control of the carcass.
Several times, the horses careened into the stands, sending the crowd scattering and eliciting even bigger cheers from the faithful. Somehow none of the fans were hurt during the match, though a rider was carted off with a broken arm when he was pitched from his horse.
And then without warning, about an hour and half after the match began, the riders relaxed in their saddles, turned their steeds away from the pitch, and sauntered off. The game was over.
Zubair Babakarkhail contributed to this report. druzin.heath@stripes.com
President Karzai visits Qatar to discuss Afghan peace process
By SAYED JAWAD - 23 Mar 2013, 7:39 pm Khaama Press
According to Afghan presidential palace (ARG) officials, president Hamid Karzai is due to visit Qatar in the near future to discuss Afghan peace talks.
The officials also added that the president Hamid Karzai will discuss Taliban liaison office in Qatar behind holding bilateral talks with the Qatar officials.
Spokesman for president Hamid Karzai Aimal Faizi said, “President Hamid Karzai will hold talks on two main issues including Taliban liaison office establishment in Qatar and improvement of bilateral ties between the two nations.”
This comes as president Hamid Karzai agreed with the establishment of Taliban liaison office in Qatar during trilateral talks with Pakistan and United Kingdom in London around two months back.
President Karzai also later instructed to start talks for the establishment of Taliban office in Qatar and also said that an agreement should be signed between Afghanistan and Qatar for the opening of Taliban office.
Establishment of liaison office in Qatar has been one of the main conditions of the Taliban group for peace talks and both United States and United Kingdom have welcomed the opening of the Taliban office in Qatar in a bid to accelarate Afghan peace talks.
In the meantime Afghan foreign ministry officials earlier said that the Afghan government will not agree with the opening of Taliban liaison office in Qatar unless the group is not prepared to hold direct talks with the Afghan government.
However former Taliban leaders in Kabul are saying that only the establishment of the liaison office will not be sufficient for the group.
Former Taliban leader Syed Akbar Agha said unless the government does not free all the Taliban detainees from the Afghan jails and other prisons under the control of United States, the Taliban group will not sit-in for peace talks.
Peace talks with the Taliban group has became one of the top agenda of the Afghan government recently where Afghan officials are looking into all possible options to bring Taliban group in peace talks.
Afghan high peace council officials during their visit to Pakistan also urged Islamabad to free a number of the Taliban detainees from the Pakistani jails in a bid to help accelarate Afghan peace talks, which resulted in a positive feedback from the Pakistan government and several Taliban leaders were freed.
Afghan minister Ismail Khan criticize US role in Afghanistan
By MEENA HASEEB - 23 Mar 2013, 3:58 pm Khaama Press
Afghan water and energy minister and former warlord in western Herat province of Afghanistan Mohammad Ismail Khan on Saturday called on the Afghan government to prevent signing any deal that makes the Afghan nation dependent to foreign countries.
Mr. Ismail further added that the presence of coalition security forces-led by United States of America proved to be helpless in bring security and stability in Afghanistan during the past 12 years.
He said NATO troops presence in Afghanistan only made the Afghan nation dependent to foreign countries.
“For the development of Afghanistan, the Afghan government should only cooperate with nations that do not have any intention to dominate the country.” Afghan water and energy minister Mohammad Ismail said.
Ismail Khan was speaking during a gathering in western Herat province of Afghanistan to mark the 9th death anniversary of his son, Mirwais Sadiq.
The anniversary was attended by hundreds of local residents and government officials in Herat city.
He said, “The foreigners do not have any intention to equip Afghan security forces with the modern military equipments.”
Mohammad Ismail Khan also urged that Afghanistan should never sign any deal that turns Afghanistan into a servant nation and that will only leave permanent curse and shame for the Afghan nation.
This comes as Afghanistan signed a long term strategic cooperation agreement with United States of America earlier last year.
Ismail Khan’s comments comes amid on-going talks between Kabul and Washington on security agreement between the two nations which will allow the presence of US troops in the country beyond 2014.
Afghans Hail Effort To Protect Rare Raptors From Smugglers
March 22, 2013 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Afghan authorities are welcoming a foreign-based NGO's actions to help curb a runaway trade in smuggled exotic birds from Afghanistan.
The group, Nada Al-Sheba Lel-Hayat Al-Bariya from United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), invited journalists to an event to mark the freeing on March 17 of 30 such birds near the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif.
The animals had been seized from smugglers in the Middle East, where reports on such trafficking from South Asia suggest there is high demand for birds of prey and other exotic animals among the very wealthy.
Last year alone, some 5,000 wild birds were smuggled out of Afghanistan, according to the head of the country's Environmental Protection Agency, Mustafa Zahir. Falcons, hawks, and geese are said to be among the smugglers' favorites.
The most highly prized falcons can reportedly sell for as much as $100,000.
Afghan authorities are constrained by budget limitations and other obstacles to enforcement after decades of war and hardship, with infrastructure, security, and rebuilding projects generally regarded as more urgent priorities.
So Zahir was in Mazar-e Sharif on March 17 to lend government support to a newly launched wildlife protection center.
"Unfortunately, the smuggling of birds that is continuing from Afghanistan must stop," Zahir says. "In Mazar-e Sharif, in Herat, and Bamian the hunters are hunting the falcons and hawks. Most of these birds are smuggled to Gulf nations."
Zahir adds that such rare birds will vanish unless "stark steps" are taken.
So the U.A.E.'s opening of a wildlife research farm in northern Afghanistan is seen as a good omen.
Nada Al-Sheba Lel-Hayat Al-Bariya has pledged to invest some $1 million in the Afghan effort.
“God willing, our main goal is to protect wildlife in Afghanistan, and we are trying to attract the attention of other organizations, mainly in the Gulf nations," says Sayeed Abdul Samad Munib, the U.A.E. group's local head.
Munib says the NGO plans to launch a bird-breeding program in the near future for release into the wild.
The choice of locations for his group's operations -- about 50 kilometers from Mazar-e Sharif -- was important because the sandy deserts outside the Balkh Province capital provide an ideal habitat for such wild birds to nest and brood.
The EPA's Zahir says mature female hawks lay about four eggs a year and the NGO is determined to protect those eggs in order to boost Afghan bird populations.
Decades of near-constant conflict in Afghanistan has held dire consequences for its wildlife. The plight of millions of internally displaced persons, drought, and deforestation have contributed to the endangerment of Afghanistan's wildlife.
Zahir suggests the U.A.E. NGO will expand its operations southward, to Nimroz and Helmand provinces, by setting up similar wildlife protection centers there.
-- Mustafa Sarwar in Prague and Latif Sahak in Mazar-e Sharif
Afghans lead 37% rise in asylum seeker claims
Sydney Morning Herald By Ben Doherty March 23, 2013
The number of people arriving in Australia to claim asylum jumped by more than a third last year, driven by an increase in arrivals from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Last year 15,800 people claimed asylum in Australia, up 37 per cent from 2011. Afghan nationals (3079) and Sri Lankans (2345) accounted for more than a third of asylum seekers to reach Australian shores.
The increase in the number of Sri Lankans travelling to Australia by boat attracted intense public and political interest last year.
The number of Sri Lankans - mainly young Tamil men, but also Sinhalese, Muslims and small numbers of women and children - to make an asylum claim in Australia jumped from 371 in 2011 to 2345 last year (a rise of 630 per cent, but from a low base), figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees show.
The agency's numbers do not include those who arrived by boat after August 13 last year, when Australia restarted offshore processing and, according to the UNHCR, ''have not yet entered a refugee determination process, or been able to lodge a formal claim for protection''.
The number of Sri Lankans who arrived ''irregularly'' by boat on Australian shores increased by a far greater amount last year, from 211 to 6428.
Continued insecurity across Afghanistan and uncertainty over that country's future post-2014 saw the number of Afghan nationals applying for asylum jump 79 per cent to 3079.
And the number of Pakistani asylum seekers reached 1512 last year, up 84 per cent from 2011.
Australia's asylum seeker numbers, while politically sensitive, remain numerically small. Australia receives about 3 per cent of the total asylum claims made in industrialised countries around the world.
The UNHCR noted in its report: ''By comparison, asylum levels in Australia continue to remain below those recorded by many other industrialised and non-industrialised countries.''
Nearly half a million - 493,000 - asylum claims were lodged in industrialised countries last year, the second highest number on record after 2003.
Europe received 355,000 asylum seeker claims, while North America had 103,000. War, civil strife, political repression and sectarian violence continue to force movements of populations across borders.
In particular, conflict in Syria has prompted a new mass wave of refugees fleeing that country.
Afghanistan continues to provide the most asylum seekers of any country in the world, with 36,600 last year, followed by the Syrian Arab Republic, Serbia, China and Pakistan.
''Wars are driving more and more people to seek asylum,'' the UN's High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, said. ''At a time of conflict, I urge countries to keep their borders open for people fleeing for their lives.''
And while the latest UNHCR figures deal with asylum claims to industrialised countries, more than 80 per cent of refugees live in developing countries.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has previously called for greater equity in assisting displaced people.
''The burden of helping the world's forcibly displaced people is starkly uneven,'' he said. ''Poor countries host vastly more displaced people than wealthier ones. While anti-refugee sentiment is heard loudest in industrialised countries, developing nations host 80 per cent of the world's refugees.''
Afghanistan alone has a diaspora of more than 2.7 million refugees across 71 countries, but more than 95 per cent are in neighbouring Pakistan and Iran.
www.afghanistannewcenter.com
March 23, 2013 - 6:27pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. has reached an agreement with the Afghanistan government to transfer the Parwan Detention Facility to Afghan control, the Pentagon said Saturday, two weeks after negotiations broke down over whether the U.S. would have the power to block the release of some detainees.
According to a senior U.S. official, a key element to the agreement is that the Afghans can invoke a procedure that insures prisoners considered dangerous would not be released from the detention center. The agreement also includes a provision that allows the two sides to work together to resolve any differences. The official lacked authorization to discuss the details of the agreement publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Transfer of the Parwan detention center on Monday is critical to the ongoing effort to gradually shift control of the country’s security to the Afghans as the U.S. and allies move toward the full withdrawal of combat troops by the end of 2014.
Afghans demanded control of the center, but U.S. officials have worried that the most threatening detainees would be freed once the U.S. transferred control. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke with Afghan President Hamid Karzai Saturday as officials finalized the agreement after days of intense negotiations.
The senior official said U.S. and Afghan officials who are familiar with the detainees would meet to assess the potential danger of their release to coalition forces. The official said that more senior level officials could be brought in if there are disagreements but that to date the two sides have been able to agree without bringing in those higher authorities.
Disagreements over the detention facility, which also included whether Afghans can be held without trial, had thrown a pall over the ongoing negotiations for a bilateral security agreement that would govern the presence of U.S. forces in Afghanistan after 2014.
Currently, there is an Afghan administrator of the Parwan prison, but the Americans have power to veto the release of detainees. The prisoners held under American authority do not have the right to a trial because the U.S. considers them part of an ongoing conflict.
Pentagon press secretary George Little said Hagel “welcomed President Karzai’s commitment that the transfer will be carried out in a way that ensures the safety of the Afghan people and coalition forces by keeping dangerous individuals detained in a secure and humane manner in accordance with Afghan law.”
Last weekend Hagel spoke with Karzai, and officials said the two men agreed to resolve the thorny issue within a week.
The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, has also been working to resolve the matter — one of several divisive issues that soured relations between the U.S., its allies and the Afghans in recent weeks.
The U.S. had been scheduled to hold a ceremony marking the transfer of control two weeks ago, during Hagel’s first visit to Afghanistan as defense secretary. That ceremony was called off after negotiations broke down.
In addition to disputes over the Parwan facility, the U.S.-led coalition and Afghans have wrangled over several other difficult issues. Last month, Karzai insisted that the coalition forces cease all airstrikes, after a NATO assault caused civilian casualties.
More recently, Karzai demanded that U.S. special operations forces leave Wardak province after allegations that U.S. commandos and their Afghan partners abused local citizens. Dunford has denied the charges.
Earlier this week, the two sides reached an agreement on the Wardak issue. Dunford agreed to remove a team of commandos from Wardak’s Nirkh district and transition security of that area to the Afghans as soon as possible.
U.S. special operations forces would remain in other parts of the restive province, while the coalition continues to work to transition those areas also to the Afghans.
U.S. officials have made no final decision on how many troops might remain in Afghanistan after 2014, although they have said as many as many as 12,000 U.S. and coalition forces could remain.
There currently are 66,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, down from a 2010 peak of 100,000.
___
Lolita C. Baldor can be followed on Twitter: https://twitter.com/lbaldor
Heavy clashes in Wardoj district leaves 43 Taliban dead
By GHANIZADA - 22 Mar 2013, 2:55 pm Khaama Press
According to local authorities in north-eastern Badakhshan province of Afghanistan, Afghan security forces took control of various security check posts during clashes with the Taliban militants.
Security check posts including “Barabara and Ghano” were under the control of Taliban militants during the past one week, which was confirmed by security officials in Wardoj district.
Wardoj district governor Dawlat Mohammad Khawar said heavy clashes took place between Afghan security forces and Taliban militants which started at 8 pm on Thursday night and continued until 3 am on Friday morning.
Mr. Khawar further added, Afghan security forces made a tactical withdrawal from the security check posts in a bid to prevent civilian casualties.
In the meantime provincial governor spokesman said a vast military operation was conducted in Wardoj district which resulted in death of 43 Taliban militants and control of the security check posts were taken by Afghan security forces.
There are no reports if Afghan security forces and civilians have suffered any casualties during the clashes but provincial governor spokesman said Afghan security forces have seized weapons and explosives during the operation and control of the Wardoj district is with the Afghan security forces now.
Wardoj district has been one of the most volatile region in north-eastern Badakhshan province during the recent months, and around 278 families left the area due to unrest in this district.
Militants have increased their attacks on Afghan security forces in Wardoj district, and around 15 Afghan police officers were recently abducted by Taliban militants who were later released after local tribal elders brokered talks with the militants.
A spokesman for the Taliban militant group Zabiullah Mujahid also claimed that several Afghan police vehicles were destroyed during the clashes with Taliban militants.
Four Killed In Hostage-Taking Incident Along Tajik-Afghan Border
By RFE/RL's Tajik Service March 22, 2013
DEHI KOZI, Tajikistan -- Three Afghan citizens and a Tajik man have been killed in a hostage-taking incident in Tajikistan's south.
Local sources say three armed Afghans came on March 21 to the village of Dehi Kozi in Tajikistan's Shuroobod district near the Tajik-Afghan border and took four local citizens hostage, trying to take them to Afghanistan.
The sources say the hostages resisted their captors, killing all three of them.
One of the hostages was also killed in the incident.
An official with Tajikistan's State Committee for National Security confirmed to RFE/RL that the incident took place but declined to give any details.
Locals say armed Afghans regularly enter Tajik territory to abduct local citizens for ransom.
They reportedly force Tajiks to pay them money they owe for selling illegal drugs obtained from Afghans.
Afghan league points the way for football development
Reuters By Brian Homewood Fri Mar 22, 2013
ZURICH - Afghanistan's fledgling soccer league started out with a reality show, has turned into one soccer's unlikeliest success stories and is now considered a model for football development elsewhere.
Inaugurated last year, the Afghan Premier League featured eight teams from different regions, whose players were chosen from a reality show called Maidan-e-Sabz (Green Field).
Their ability was tested in a number of challenges, including one that involved running through mud and water, with the victors winning places in their local squad.
Although a far cry from a conventional European-style league, it was broadcast live on television and radio and matches were played in front of a full house.
"It is remarkable," Thierry Regenass, development director at soccer's governing body FIFA, told a round table of reporters from international news agencies.
"It is a huge success on TV, the investors are happy, the clubs and players get money from this league and you have football played in Afghanistan."
Regenass said there had been equally unlikely success stories in Mauritania, Ethiopia, Somalia and American Samoa.
"I'm sure nobody has heard of the league in Mauritania," he said. "But there's new management, a dynamic young guy with lots of ideas who wanted to revive the league.
"He needed to show images of television and so with our performance programme, we helped him set up a TV studio where they can produce a weekly one-hour programme on football which is shown on national television.
"We'll see at the end of the project if it works or not, but we certainly want it to work because that's the way to try and do it."
UNWANTED HEADLINES
Regenass said that development of football was the main reason for the existence of FIFA, which is usually associated with the World Cup and had attracted unwanted headlines for a series of corruption scandals over the last three years.
"FIFA is famous for making a lot of money with the World Cup, but FIFA doesn't make money just for the sake of it, FIFA makes money to invest in football either through competition or through development programmes," said Regenass.
"Over the last 15 years, while the revenue of FIFA has increased tenfold, the money invested in football development has increased by 50 times, so the more money FIFA makes in the future, the more will be invested in football development."
FIFA has faced criticism that some programmes have been used in return for political favours or, in some cases, the money has not gone to its intended destination.
In 2011, FIFA launched a formal investigation after Worawi Makudi, a FIFA executive committee member from Thailand, was accused of spending $860,000 in football development grants for projects on land he personally owns.
FIFA eventually cleared him of any wrongdoing.
"In the end, the problem was solved because the proper property title has been made and we had it verified by independent lawyers," said Regenass.
"We should have been more careful at some point but this has been corrected and I'm certain that we want to avoid any case where the money is not efficiently spent, for the objective it has been decided."
Regenass said that overall, he was satisfied that the money ended up where it was intended.
"I think we can be proud of what we do, although, yes, sometimes it didn't work," he said.
"There are a few other places where projects are not what they should have been but, over the 209 countries, in the overwhelming majority the result and the impact has been positive.
"We cannot control everything in 209 countries and territories and we need to rely on the local process, we make sure that MAs (member associations) themselves have the processes in place to verify accounts and be transparent.
"I have been at FIFA for four-and-a-half years and it's been my objective to keep the development work and people non political," he said.
"If you look at the current setup, I think it's pretty apolitical, although it can still be improved."
TALENT DRAIN
Development programmes were initially aimed at providing member associations with a headquarters and state-of-the-art training centres for the national teams.
But Regenass said that one of FIFA's new priorities was to strengthen domestic leagues, reducing the necessity for players to move abroad to make a living and stopped the talent drain to Europe's biggest clubs.
"It is still a long-term objective of FIFA, not only in Africa, that countries have a league that is a high enough standard to offer them a proper job and place to play football," he said.
"We also want them the leagues to attract the public so they are not only watching the English Premier League or La Liga on television, but they also have a product they can watch at home.
"We want to work more and more on strengthening local leagues in Africa, Central America and the Caribbean.
"For every one player who succeeds in Europe, there are 10 who don't make it. Sometimes they end up elsewhere. There are some really bad leagues in Asia, I don't want to name names here, but it happens, and the players are not taken care of.
"They would be better in their own country provided there was a league which can sustain them."
(Reporting by Brian Homewood. Editing by Patrick Johnston)
Feature: Afghan New Year marked with hope for peace
By Abdul Haleem, Jawed Omid
KABUL, March 22 (Xinhua) -- On the eve of the Afghan New Year, President Hamid Karzai called on Taliban militants to lay down arms and join the government in the rebuilding of Afghanistan.
"I once again call on Taliban as brothers... to lay down foreigners' arms from your shoulders," Karzai said in his message.
"Come back to your beloved motherland and home and join hands with your fellow countrymen for progress and development of your country and for strengthening Islam and Afghanhood so that our country could be relieved from foreign dependence," Karzai said.
He also congratulated the Afghan people on the occasion and expressed the hope that the New Year would bring peace, security and progress to Afghanistan.
As the country celebrated Nawroz (New Year) on Thursday, there was only one wish in the minds of most Afghans: they can finally live in peace.
"We are fed up with the endemic war and continued conflicts in Afghanistan. Today I am praying for the return of lasting peace to our country, something that we have always longed for,"Mohammad Jamil, 35, said.
Jamil said without peace, Afghans cannot hope to be happy and the country cannot move forward.
Nawroz, which falls on Thursday (March 21), the first day of the year 1392 in the Afghan calendar, is celebrated amid tight security across the country.
Nawroz has been declared a public holiday and Afghans from all walks of life celebrated the day by holding parties, visiting families and friends, touring shrines and holy places, and praying for a better future.
Afghanistan has suffered a lot from more than three decades of war and conflicts.
Even on Nawroz, two blasts claimed the lives of eight Afghans and injured eight others in the southern and northern parts of the country.
On Wednesday, a Taliban loyalist, who served as police constable, opened fire on his colleagues in Qadis district of northwestern Badghis province killing five policemen. He later joined the Taliban militants.
Meanwhile, Afghans are worrying over the withdrawal of NATO-led troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014 in the midst of the unabated suicide attacks and ambuscades staged by Taliban militants in different parts of the country.
"It is a critical issue and a matter of concern for all Afghans that the Taliban-led insurgency is widespread and yet the NATO-led coalition forces are withdrawing from Afghanistan with the mission, the war on terror, still unresolved," Faridon, 38, said.
Faridon appealed to the Taliban to give up fighting and join the government-initiated peace process for the sake of their country.
Pakistani Taliban Threatens Death to Musharraf
VOA News March 23, 2013
The Pakistani Taliban says it will try to kill former President Pervez Musharraf when he returns to the country to take part in parliamentary elections.
Western media quote Taliban representatives as saying the militant group has prepared a squad of suicide bombers to kill Musharraf, who is expected to return on Sunday.
While he was president, Musharraf angered the Taliban by maintaining close ties with the United States and supporting its efforts to fight terrorism.
Musharraf, a former military chief of staff who took power in Islamabad in a coup in 1999, is expected to return to Karachi from more than four years of self-imposed exile in London and Dubai.
He has said he will lead his party, the All Pakistan Muslim League , in parliamentary elections on May 11.
Musharraf resigned as president in 2008. He left the country to avoid the possibility of arrest on charges linked to the assassination in 2007 of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Bhutto was killed shortly after returning to Pakistan - also from a period of self-imposed exile - to oppose Musharraf in a future election. The ex-president has denied any involvement in the plot to kill her.
Musharraf has said several times before that he would be returning to Pakistan soon, but never carried out those plans. On March 1, however, he pledged he would return this month, as soon as a caretaker government is in place.
Pakistan's parliament and federal and provincial governments completed their five-year constitutional term earlier this month. A caretaker government will steer the country until the parliamentary elections.
Insecurity Springs From Afghan Dam Projects
By Frud Bezhan March 22, 2013 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
As international forces leave Afghanistan, a flood of disputes over water resources threatens to be the main source of regional conflict.
Afghanistan is looking for ways to harness the potential offered by its water resources, and has major infrastructure projects in the works. But neighboring downstream countries depend on that same supply, and fear that any reduction in the flow of water from Afghanistan could have detrimental economic and geopolitical effects.
As Kabul has made clear that it intends to go ahead with its plans for hydroelectric dams and irrigation systems, hostilities have flared up. Iran and Pakistan allege the infrastructure projects will cause humanitarian upheaval. Kabul, meanwhile, accuses the two countries of orchestrating violence in the country to hold up its water projects.
With the sides failing to come to an agreement over the distribution of cross-border water supplies, the escalating diplomatic fallout has already led to reports of violence along their borders. Recent developments have only added weight to fears that the unresolved disputes could provoke armed conflict.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, speaking during an open debate hosted by Afghanistan Radio and TV (RTA) and the BBC on March 18, accused Iran and Pakistan of sabotaging Kabul's efforts to build dams and control its hydro resources.
"Yes, there are interferences from our neighbors to interrupt work on water dams in Afghanistan," Karzai said angrily during the debate.
His comment came a day after a meeting of the country's Security Council in which Karzai ordered the Interior Ministry and the National Directorate for Security, the country's spy agency, to launch an offensive against "foreign-affiliated groups who are sabotaging" water projects across the country.
Mohammad Nader Baluch, the deputy of the provincial council in Nimroz Province, located along the border with Iran, says Iranian forces regularly make illegal incursions into the region. The motive, he says, is to hold up infrastructure projects.
"[Iran] is conducting military operations in Nimroz. For example, with the Kamal Khan dam and other infrastructure projects, they're trying to halt work there. They're trying to intimidate the companies who are working on the projects in order to stop them from working," Baluch said.
For decades neighboring countries never had to worry about water flowing from Afghanistan because the country's infrastructure was essentially nonexistent. As Iran and Pakistan built dams and irrigation systems, Afghanistan saw some two-thirds of the water flowing from its lands drawn off to benefit foreign lands.
That is not to say there were not any water-infrastructure projects before 2001. The United States and the Soviet Union funded numerous projects, some of which are currently being revived after years of war and neglect.
New Hydro Projects
Afghanistan, along with the international community, set out to address this following the fall of the Taliban in 2001 by funding dozens of hydro projects, putting it on a collision course with its neighbors.
Rainer Gonzalez Palau, a social and strategic infrastructure specialist at NATO's Civil-Military Fusion Center in Afghanistan, says the explosive atmosphere will only be defused if Afghanistan and its neighbors can reach an agreement over the distribution of shared water resources.
Iran, which shares two rivers with Afghanistan, is the only country Kabul has a water treaty with. But the agreement, which was reached in the 1970s, has barely been applied and there are still disputes over the terms of the agreement.
"Without any bilateral treaty that regulates uses of water it's difficult to control the utilization of trans-boundary water resources by each country," said Palau in an e-mail to RFE/RL. "It is essential that equitable bilateral water-sharing agreements are applied, not only as a prerequisite for geopolitical stability but also to ensure sustainable environmental and human development in the region."
Palau, who notes his views are personal and do not represent those of NATO, says Afghanistan's rich water resources have the potential to be one of the main drivers of economic development and poverty reduction in the country.
"It has been estimated that $1 invested in water and sanitation generates between $3 and $34 in the agricultural and industrial sectors, contributing to increased production and productivity, as well as in health and poverty eradication," Palau says. "This is extremely important for Afghanistan, as agriculture, which largely depends on water availability, generates an important piece of its GDP and means subsistence economy for many of its households."
One of the largest projects begun is the Salma dam, which is being built by India in Herat Province. The $180 million project will reduce the amount of water that runs from Afghanistan's Harirud River to Iran and Turkmenistan from around 300 million cubic meters per year to just 87 million.
The dam has the potential to produce around 40 megawatts of electricity and irrigate around 80,000 hectares, double the amount of land available to Afghan farmers.
The project, however, is years behind schedule and its costs are multiplying by the month. Afghan officials have even gone as far as saying Tehran's diplomatic meddling has caused the huge delays.
It's not the first time Afghan officials and media have lobbed accusations at the country's neighbors over water issues.
Afghan media reported in 2011 that a local police unit was attacked by Iranian forces after they tried to stop the Iranians from diverting water from the Sikhzar canal. The 30-kilometer canal, located in Nimroz, was built in 2010 at a cost of $700,000 provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Afghan media have also alleged that Iran has tried to disrupt the construction of Salma dam.
Tehran has rejected all allegations that it is meddling in Kabul's water projects. Iranian state media have even accused Afghanistan of being ungrateful and not appreciating Tehran's contributions to rebuilding the country.
On the Afghan-Pakistani border, tensions are also high. Local villagers accuse Pakistan's security forces of firing rockets on villages in eastern Afghanistan to disrupt the construction of dams.
Afghanistan is constructing several major dams on the Kabul and Kunar Rivers, which flow downstream to Pakistan. If completed, the projects will reduce Pakistan's water supply from Afghanistan by 15 percent, according to local officials. That has not sat well with Pakistan, which is already facing a major energy crisis.
Brutal horseback game of buzkashi reclaims fans in Afghanistan
Stars and Stripes By Heath Druzin March 22, 2013
BAZARAK, Afghanistan - If you plan to attend a buzkashi match, make sure you’re feeling limber.
As dangerous as the ancient game is for participants, it can be equally perilous for fans when several tons of man and beast hurtle, hooves flailing, into the stands. This happens with regularity.
Buzkashi, literally, “goat grabbing,” is equal parts polo and Ultimate Fighting Championship and it has reclaimed its place as one of Afghanistan’s national sports after being banned, along with most sports, by the Taliban. The history of buzkashi is murky, but many believe it was brought, along with much destruction, by Gengis Khan’s Mongol hordes roughly 800 years ago.
Participants on horseback, called chapandaz or, more appropriately, pahlawan (wrestlers), fight to grab the carcass of a goat, buz in Dari, or calf carcass and then must gallop around the field and negotiate a scrum of opponents to drop it in a chalk circle on the ground. There are few rules and riders punch, push and tackle to gain control of the buz. The stubby whips competitors carry are just as often used on other riders as on their horses.
But the game can be as graceful as it is brutal, with expert horsemen leaning precariously off their steeds at full gallop to snatch the buz from the dirt.
There are teams, of a sort, but riders are also vying for personal glory and allegiances can be fickle. Prizes await high scorers, who can sometimes earn thousands of dollars for expert play in a match overseen by a wealthy patron.
At a recent match on a dusty pitch set hard against the snow-capped mountains of Panjshir province, competitors wore a colorful array of outfits, many sporting Soviet tanker helmets and heavily padded coats to absorb the blows of their rivals.
Brash riders preened for the audience ahead of the match, stopping to pose and looking off stoically toward the mountains. They brushed off the danger of the sport.
“This can protect you from an IED, so it will protect me from a fall,” one rider said nonchalantly, tapping his leather tanker helmet.
The Panjshir valley, populated mostly by ethnic Tajiks, was the military base for the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance and is a hot-bed of buzkashi. The match, which took place on a brisk winter day, was held just down the road from the hilltop tomb of Ahmad Shah Massoud, a national hero of Afghanistan who fought the Taliban until he was killed by a bomb hidden in a video camera shortly before the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
On this day, the riders would be vying over the carcass of a young cow, instead of the usual goat, cut in half and (mostly) gutted to get it to the proper weight. The rough-hewn concrete stands were packed with men (there were no women) and some enterprising young boys had climbed a tree to get a better view.
Vendors hawked candy and popcorn and aspiring young riders sat on horseback on the edge of the pitch, watching with rapt attention.
As the horsemen took off in a cloud of dust, yells, and snorts, an announcer, or jarchi, in the stands yelled out live commentary, helping the crowd follow the dizzying action and giving short bios of the individual riders.
Breakneck chases were interspersed with tight formations around a dropped buz, from which thuds and yells could be heard as riders fought furiously to gain control of the carcass.
Several times, the horses careened into the stands, sending the crowd scattering and eliciting even bigger cheers from the faithful. Somehow none of the fans were hurt during the match, though a rider was carted off with a broken arm when he was pitched from his horse.
And then without warning, about an hour and half after the match began, the riders relaxed in their saddles, turned their steeds away from the pitch, and sauntered off. The game was over.
Zubair Babakarkhail contributed to this report. druzin.heath@stripes.com
President Karzai visits Qatar to discuss Afghan peace process
By SAYED JAWAD - 23 Mar 2013, 7:39 pm Khaama Press
According to Afghan presidential palace (ARG) officials, president Hamid Karzai is due to visit Qatar in the near future to discuss Afghan peace talks.
The officials also added that the president Hamid Karzai will discuss Taliban liaison office in Qatar behind holding bilateral talks with the Qatar officials.
Spokesman for president Hamid Karzai Aimal Faizi said, “President Hamid Karzai will hold talks on two main issues including Taliban liaison office establishment in Qatar and improvement of bilateral ties between the two nations.”
This comes as president Hamid Karzai agreed with the establishment of Taliban liaison office in Qatar during trilateral talks with Pakistan and United Kingdom in London around two months back.
President Karzai also later instructed to start talks for the establishment of Taliban office in Qatar and also said that an agreement should be signed between Afghanistan and Qatar for the opening of Taliban office.
Establishment of liaison office in Qatar has been one of the main conditions of the Taliban group for peace talks and both United States and United Kingdom have welcomed the opening of the Taliban office in Qatar in a bid to accelarate Afghan peace talks.
In the meantime Afghan foreign ministry officials earlier said that the Afghan government will not agree with the opening of Taliban liaison office in Qatar unless the group is not prepared to hold direct talks with the Afghan government.
However former Taliban leaders in Kabul are saying that only the establishment of the liaison office will not be sufficient for the group.
Former Taliban leader Syed Akbar Agha said unless the government does not free all the Taliban detainees from the Afghan jails and other prisons under the control of United States, the Taliban group will not sit-in for peace talks.
Peace talks with the Taliban group has became one of the top agenda of the Afghan government recently where Afghan officials are looking into all possible options to bring Taliban group in peace talks.
Afghan high peace council officials during their visit to Pakistan also urged Islamabad to free a number of the Taliban detainees from the Pakistani jails in a bid to help accelarate Afghan peace talks, which resulted in a positive feedback from the Pakistan government and several Taliban leaders were freed.
Afghan minister Ismail Khan criticize US role in Afghanistan
By MEENA HASEEB - 23 Mar 2013, 3:58 pm Khaama Press
Afghan water and energy minister and former warlord in western Herat province of Afghanistan Mohammad Ismail Khan on Saturday called on the Afghan government to prevent signing any deal that makes the Afghan nation dependent to foreign countries.
Mr. Ismail further added that the presence of coalition security forces-led by United States of America proved to be helpless in bring security and stability in Afghanistan during the past 12 years.
He said NATO troops presence in Afghanistan only made the Afghan nation dependent to foreign countries.
“For the development of Afghanistan, the Afghan government should only cooperate with nations that do not have any intention to dominate the country.” Afghan water and energy minister Mohammad Ismail said.
Ismail Khan was speaking during a gathering in western Herat province of Afghanistan to mark the 9th death anniversary of his son, Mirwais Sadiq.
The anniversary was attended by hundreds of local residents and government officials in Herat city.
He said, “The foreigners do not have any intention to equip Afghan security forces with the modern military equipments.”
Mohammad Ismail Khan also urged that Afghanistan should never sign any deal that turns Afghanistan into a servant nation and that will only leave permanent curse and shame for the Afghan nation.
This comes as Afghanistan signed a long term strategic cooperation agreement with United States of America earlier last year.
Ismail Khan’s comments comes amid on-going talks between Kabul and Washington on security agreement between the two nations which will allow the presence of US troops in the country beyond 2014.
Afghans Hail Effort To Protect Rare Raptors From Smugglers
March 22, 2013 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Afghan authorities are welcoming a foreign-based NGO's actions to help curb a runaway trade in smuggled exotic birds from Afghanistan.
The group, Nada Al-Sheba Lel-Hayat Al-Bariya from United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), invited journalists to an event to mark the freeing on March 17 of 30 such birds near the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif.
The animals had been seized from smugglers in the Middle East, where reports on such trafficking from South Asia suggest there is high demand for birds of prey and other exotic animals among the very wealthy.
Last year alone, some 5,000 wild birds were smuggled out of Afghanistan, according to the head of the country's Environmental Protection Agency, Mustafa Zahir. Falcons, hawks, and geese are said to be among the smugglers' favorites.
The most highly prized falcons can reportedly sell for as much as $100,000.
Afghan authorities are constrained by budget limitations and other obstacles to enforcement after decades of war and hardship, with infrastructure, security, and rebuilding projects generally regarded as more urgent priorities.
So Zahir was in Mazar-e Sharif on March 17 to lend government support to a newly launched wildlife protection center.
"Unfortunately, the smuggling of birds that is continuing from Afghanistan must stop," Zahir says. "In Mazar-e Sharif, in Herat, and Bamian the hunters are hunting the falcons and hawks. Most of these birds are smuggled to Gulf nations."
Zahir adds that such rare birds will vanish unless "stark steps" are taken.
So the U.A.E.'s opening of a wildlife research farm in northern Afghanistan is seen as a good omen.
Nada Al-Sheba Lel-Hayat Al-Bariya has pledged to invest some $1 million in the Afghan effort.
“God willing, our main goal is to protect wildlife in Afghanistan, and we are trying to attract the attention of other organizations, mainly in the Gulf nations," says Sayeed Abdul Samad Munib, the U.A.E. group's local head.
Munib says the NGO plans to launch a bird-breeding program in the near future for release into the wild.
The choice of locations for his group's operations -- about 50 kilometers from Mazar-e Sharif -- was important because the sandy deserts outside the Balkh Province capital provide an ideal habitat for such wild birds to nest and brood.
The EPA's Zahir says mature female hawks lay about four eggs a year and the NGO is determined to protect those eggs in order to boost Afghan bird populations.
Decades of near-constant conflict in Afghanistan has held dire consequences for its wildlife. The plight of millions of internally displaced persons, drought, and deforestation have contributed to the endangerment of Afghanistan's wildlife.
Zahir suggests the U.A.E. NGO will expand its operations southward, to Nimroz and Helmand provinces, by setting up similar wildlife protection centers there.
-- Mustafa Sarwar in Prague and Latif Sahak in Mazar-e Sharif
Afghans lead 37% rise in asylum seeker claims
Sydney Morning Herald By Ben Doherty March 23, 2013
The number of people arriving in Australia to claim asylum jumped by more than a third last year, driven by an increase in arrivals from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Last year 15,800 people claimed asylum in Australia, up 37 per cent from 2011. Afghan nationals (3079) and Sri Lankans (2345) accounted for more than a third of asylum seekers to reach Australian shores.
The increase in the number of Sri Lankans travelling to Australia by boat attracted intense public and political interest last year.
The number of Sri Lankans - mainly young Tamil men, but also Sinhalese, Muslims and small numbers of women and children - to make an asylum claim in Australia jumped from 371 in 2011 to 2345 last year (a rise of 630 per cent, but from a low base), figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees show.
The agency's numbers do not include those who arrived by boat after August 13 last year, when Australia restarted offshore processing and, according to the UNHCR, ''have not yet entered a refugee determination process, or been able to lodge a formal claim for protection''.
The number of Sri Lankans who arrived ''irregularly'' by boat on Australian shores increased by a far greater amount last year, from 211 to 6428.
Continued insecurity across Afghanistan and uncertainty over that country's future post-2014 saw the number of Afghan nationals applying for asylum jump 79 per cent to 3079.
And the number of Pakistani asylum seekers reached 1512 last year, up 84 per cent from 2011.
Australia's asylum seeker numbers, while politically sensitive, remain numerically small. Australia receives about 3 per cent of the total asylum claims made in industrialised countries around the world.
The UNHCR noted in its report: ''By comparison, asylum levels in Australia continue to remain below those recorded by many other industrialised and non-industrialised countries.''
Nearly half a million - 493,000 - asylum claims were lodged in industrialised countries last year, the second highest number on record after 2003.
Europe received 355,000 asylum seeker claims, while North America had 103,000. War, civil strife, political repression and sectarian violence continue to force movements of populations across borders.
In particular, conflict in Syria has prompted a new mass wave of refugees fleeing that country.
Afghanistan continues to provide the most asylum seekers of any country in the world, with 36,600 last year, followed by the Syrian Arab Republic, Serbia, China and Pakistan.
''Wars are driving more and more people to seek asylum,'' the UN's High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, said. ''At a time of conflict, I urge countries to keep their borders open for people fleeing for their lives.''
And while the latest UNHCR figures deal with asylum claims to industrialised countries, more than 80 per cent of refugees live in developing countries.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has previously called for greater equity in assisting displaced people.
''The burden of helping the world's forcibly displaced people is starkly uneven,'' he said. ''Poor countries host vastly more displaced people than wealthier ones. While anti-refugee sentiment is heard loudest in industrialised countries, developing nations host 80 per cent of the world's refugees.''
Afghanistan alone has a diaspora of more than 2.7 million refugees across 71 countries, but more than 95 per cent are in neighbouring Pakistan and Iran.
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