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Afghanistan accuses Pakistan of wrecking peace hopes
AFP News By Ben Sheppard | AFP News
The Afghan government on Thursday accused Pakistan of wrecking efforts to end the Taliban's bloody 11-year insurgency, in the latest sign of worsening cross-border relations.
Pakistan, which backed Afghanistan's 1996-2001 Taliban regime, is seen as having a crucial role in negotiating a political settlement with the Islamist extremist leaders who shelter in Pakistan's border districts.
Relations had improved between the countries over recent months, building up to a three-way summit hosted by Britain in February to find an end to the war that US-led troops have waged since 2001.
But President Hamid Karzai's spokesman said that Pakistan had now abandoned the peace process and imposed "impossible" pre-conditions on any further discussions that would encourage the Taliban to lay down their weapons.
"Things were going well up to the trilateral (summit) in Britain, so we were hopeful, but soon it became clear that Pakistan had changed its position and the peace process was no longer its priority," Aimal Faizi told AFP.
"They demanded we cut all ties to (Pakistan's arch-enemy) India, send army officers to Pakistan for training, and sign a strategic partnership."
Faizi described Pakistan's demands as impossible because India was one of Afghanistan's closest allies, and any Afghan officer who was trained in Pakistan would be viewed as a suspected spy when he returned home.
"And if we signed a strategic agreement with Pakistan, the Afghan public would stone us to death because they know that the suicide bombers that kill civilians and our armed forces come across from Pakistan," Faizi added.
One sign of the breakdown in ties was the cancellation on Wednesday of a confidence-building visit by 11 Afghan officers to take part in a military exercise in the Pakistani city of Quetta.
The government in Kabul said the visit had been scrapped over reported firing of 50 shells from Pakistan into the Afghan province of Kunar.
The Pakistani foreign ministry said its troops had responded to "some intrusions from the Afghan side".
"We believe that Afghanistan overreacted to a small incident," said ministry spokesman Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry.
Last month a conference of Afghan and Pakistani religious scholars aimed at pushing forward the peace process was also called off due to disagreements.
The head of Pakistan's government-backed Ulema Council, Allama Tahir Ashrafi, said there was no point to the meeting unless the Afghan Taliban were invited.
He was then accused in Afghanistan of condoning suicide attacks in a television interview.
Faizi, who recently described the international coalition's war effort against the Taliban as "useless and unwise", launched a stinging attack on the Pakistan government.
"Today there is more instability on the Pakistan side of the Durand Line (border) than on the Afghan side," he said. "Afghanistan is moving in the right direction, but in Pakistan they are losing control of more provinces to the terrorists.
"President Karzai has often visited Pakistan to tell them that terrorism is destroying us all and we should fight it together before it is too late, but instead they accuse him of being an obstacle to peace."
Kabul's new determination to work without Pakistan has triggered huge concern among international backers who are scrambling to foster some stability in Afghanistan before US-led combat forces leave the country next year.
Exclusive: Afghanistan says ready to work for peace without Pakistan help
Reuters By Michael Georgy and Hamid Shalizi Wed Mar 27, 2013
KABUL - Afghanistan is shocked by Pakistan's "complacency" in the nascent Afghan peace process and is ready to work without Islamabad's help on reconciliation, Deputy Foreign Minister Jawed Ludin told Reuters on Wednesday.
It was the first time Afghanistan has suggested the possibility of going it alone without its neighbor. Regional power Pakistan is seen as critical to stabilizing Afghanistan because of its long ties to insurgent groups.
Ludin also said the government would look to senior Taliban figures recently handed over by the United States in Bagram prison to urge militants to pursue peace. He did not elaborate.
Afghan officials had been pushing Pakistan hard to encourage the Taliban and other groups to join reconciliation efforts and Kabul had spoken of progress after Islamabad released some Taliban prisoners who could promote peace.
But Ludin, widely believed to shape foreign policy, told Reuters in an interview that Afghanistan had noted a shift in Pakistan's position towards peace efforts that are gaining more urgency as foreign forces prepare to leave by the end of 2014.
"We here in Kabul are in a bit of a state of shock at once again being confronted by the depth of Pakistan's complacency, we are just very disappointed," he said.
"But what has happened in the last few months for us, (we)see that Pakistan is changing the goal post every time we reach understanding."
Afghanistan also said it had canceled a military trip to Pakistan due to "unacceptable Pakistani shelling" of the country's mountainous eastern borderlands.
More than two dozen Pakistani artillery shells were fired into Afghanistan's eastern province of Kunar on Monday and Tuesday. The cancellation of the trip and days of angry diplomatic exchanges have placed further strain on a fraught relationship.
Afghanistan expressed its concern about what it called Pakistan's attempt to sideline President Hamid Karzai's government to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during his visit to Kabul this week, said Ludin.
The deputy foreign minister, who is closely involved in peace efforts, said Afghanistan insisted that its High Peace Council, formed by Karzai, should spearhead any peace efforts.
Ludin said Pakistan had been trying to get the Taliban to talk to other parties, like the opposition, something he said would reverse gains.
"Suddenly, there is a new notion of the peace process now being introduced by Pakistan and that's 'well why should the Taliban talk to President Karzai or the High Peace Council?'" said Ludin. "They (Taliban) should in fact talk to other political parties. That's what they have told us," Ludin said.
"Pakistan's concept of the peace process is one that will reverse the achievement of the last 10 years that will negate the centrality of the Afghan state."
Although there have been several meetings in Western capitals over the last few months in which representatives of the Taliban met Afghan peace negotiators, there are no signs of any breakthrough.
RENEWED TENSIONS
Karzai is due to visit the Gulf Arab state of Qatar soon to discuss the opening of a Taliban office that could be used for peace contacts in the future.
Kabul has long been suspicious of Pakistan's intentions, accusing it of harboring the Taliban leadership in the city of Quetta, and using militants as proxies to counter the influence of rival India in Afghanistan.
But a few months ago, Kabul was encouraged after Pakistan released some Afghan Taliban prisoners from its jails.
Now relations seem to have taken a sharp turn for the worse as the United States winds down the war, now in its 12th year.
This week, Pakistani officials accused Karzai of being an impediment to the peace process.
Ludin suggested Pakistan wanted Afghanistan to remain unstable so that militant groups allegedly backed by Islamabad would be in a position to capitalize on instability after 2014.
"What they would like is again a fragmentation of the Afghan state and going back to the drawing board so that they can have another 10 years, at least another decade, of weak, compromised Afghan state," he said.
Ludin stressed that Pakistan was a pivotal player and Afghanistan would still welcome its support.
"The sad reality is though Pakistan still remains the most important missing link in this whole vision that we have," he said.
Karzai had worked too hard and taken too many political risks to let Pakistan dictate how peace efforts should proceed, Ludin said.
"He (Karzai) has spent his political capital on this, he has basically staked his own political capital, his own reputation, on this and he has really mobilized the whole country, the whole region in support of the process," said Ludin.
"It is laughable, laughable if Pakistanis think that the whole notion of the President Karzai is impediment to peace."
Karzai's government, he said, would now turn to some of the most senior, hardcore Taliban leaders behind bars in Bagram in its quest for peace.
"We will try to appeal to them and say: 'Look, continued reluctance of Taliban to stay away from peace process and any buy in to this whole Pakistani design that they should not to speak to the Afghan government, is dangerous,'" said Ludin.
"Now that we have them we will see who is ready to help in this process."
(Reporting by Michael Georgy and Hamid Shalizi; Editing by Ron Popeski)
Pakistan disappointed at Afghan army officers' visit cancellation
ISLAMABAD,March 28 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan Thursday angrily reacted to the Afghan government's decision to cancel the visit of its army officers to the country for joint exercises.
Afghan Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that a visit of Afghan army officers to Pakistan has been cancelled over the recent 'Pakistani shelling' in parts of eastern Kunar province.
An 11-member team of Afghan National Army officers were scheduled to travel to Quetta at the invitation of the Pakistan Army to take part in a simulation military exercise and headquarters drills at the Quetta Staff College, an Afghan Foreign Ministry statement said.
"This visit will no longer take place due to the resumption of unacceptable Pakistani artillery shelling against different parts of Kunar province from across the Durand Line on Monday and Tuesday (March 25 and 26)," the statement said.
Pakistan Foreign Ministry rejected claims of shelling and termed the decision not to send the Afghan National Army (ANA) officers for military exercises as an "overreaction to a local incident".
"This response from Afghanistan appears to be an overreaction to a local issue. We have not received any message from the Afghan Defence Ministry but heard about it through the media", the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Aizaz Chaudhry told the local media.
He said there was some interaction at the border and there was reaction from Pakistani troops who remained very responsible and disciplined.
"The incident was contained at the local level. No heavy artillery was used. This was not an issue for which the reaction should have come at the state level," the spokesman said.
"Such incidents should not affect the ongoing peace process. This course at the Quetta Staff College added to confidence building between the two states. There should be no effort to derail the peace process," spokesman said.
Cross-border shelling and attacks have been a source of tension between the two uneasy neighbours for years. Pakistan denies any shelling on civilian areas in Afghanistan and said that they target those specific locations from where the militants in Afghanistan fire on Pakistani positions.
Pakistan says that militants, who had fled from military operation in the tribal regions, are now operating from Afghanistan border regions and routinely launch attacks on Pakistani posts and villages. Nearly 100 Pakistani security personnel and civilians have been killed in militant attacks from Afghan side of the border, officials say.
Pakistan Says Afghanistan 'Overreacts' to Cross-Border Shelling
Voice of America By Ayaz Gul March 27, 2013
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan on Wednesday criticized as an “overreaction” Afghanistan’s decision to cancel a military trip over alleged cross-border shelling by Pakistani troops. Officials have also dismissed Kabul’s allegations that Islamabad is not helping in efforts aimed at advancing the Afghan peace process. The renewed bilateral tensions come as foreign forces prepare to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
A team of 11 officers of the Afghan National Army was due to travel to the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta to participate in a simulated joint military exercise there. But Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry announced Wednesday it is canceling the visit because of what it called “unacceptable artillery shelling” from across the Pakistani border early this week against the Afghan province of Kunar.
Speaking to VOA, Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry says Islamabad did not approve of the Afghan decision to cancel the trip. He says such interactions help “build bilateral confidence and contribute” toward regional peace efforts.
“It appears that this is an overreaction to a local incident," said Chaudhry. "The report that I have is that there was some intrusion from the Afghan side to which our [military] authorities responded. I might add that our troops are highly disciplined and responsible.”
Authorities in Islamabad have repeatedly alleged in recent months that fugitive Pakistani militants have taken refuge in border regions of Afghanistan, and are using those regions to launch deadly cross-border raids on military as well as civilian targets inside Pakistan.
Kabul’s move to cancel the military trip comes as both countries are already engaged in angry diplomatic exchanges, accusing each other of obstructing the nascent peace process in Afghanistan, which is supposed to facilitate an orderly withdrawal of NATO forces by the end of next year.
Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Jawed Ludin reportedly stated on Wednesday that “the depth of Pakistan’s complacency” [lack of interest] in the Afghan peace process has “shocked” and “disappointed” his country.
The criticism apparently came in response to recently reported comments by unnamed Pakistani Foreign Ministry officials, who reportedly described Afghan President Hamid Karzai as the biggest obstacle to political reconciliation process in Afghanistan.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Chaudhry rejected those reports as incorrect and baseless, saying President Karzai is held in high esteem in Pakistan.
“Pakistan government is sincere and is serious in advancing the peace process in Afghanistan and in facilitating peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan," he said. "We think, we are in fact convinced, that a peaceful, stable, prosperous Afghanistan is in Pakistan’s interest, is in the interest of the region. We have taken every possible step to facilitate that. We do hope that this cooperation will continue in the largest interest of peace in Afghanistan.”
The Afghan peace process is primarily meant to persuade Taliban and other insurgent groups fighting NATO forces to engage in talks with negotiators of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council to bring an end to the conflict before the withdrawal of international forces from the country. Pakistan’s assistance in the peace process is seen as essential because it shares a long porous border with Afghanistan and traditionally has close ties to Afghan insurgents.
Last year, Afghan peace negotiators were able to secure the release of some senior Taliban leaders being held in Pakistani prisons, hoping the men would be able to persuade insurgents in their home areas to suspend fighting. But since then, bilateral relations have taken a sharp turn for the worse.
U.N. Investigates Report of Fraud at Kabul Office
Wall Street Journal By NATHAN HODGE March 27, 2013
KABUL - The United Nations will review new allegations by international monitors of fraud at the Afghanistan office of the world body's refugee agency, the top U.S. official in Kabul said on Wednesday.
The Monitoring and Evaluation Committee, an anticorruption group of Afghan and international officials, said this week it had evidence of "potentially fraudulent activity" at the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, which works with Afghan agencies to support returning Afghan refugees and aid displaced people.
The MEC said it had evidence UNHCR rented houses on behalf of the Afghan government from top Afghan officials and paid salaries to nonexistent employees, among other allegations.
"Different sources indicate that acts of misappropriation have been committed by UNHCR through the double payment of salaries, ghost workers and other fraudulent human-resources practices," the watchdog said. The MEC also recommended a forensic audit to spot potential misuse of funds by UNHCR.
Jan Kubis, the U.N. special representative in Afghanistan, told reporters in Kabul he hadn't had the chance to fully review the allegations. He said the raising of such concerns was part of "healthy dialogue" between international donors and U.N. agencies.
U.N. agencies would take appropriate steps to tighten oversight, Mr. Kubis said. "In case of need, I will provide my own support," he said.
The UNHCR representative in Afghanistan, Bo Schack, said the MEC reached out to him on Wednesday and he wanted to review the report before discussing its recommendations.
The UNHCR, he added, had recently created a working group to ensure that the Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation was making the best use of funds available to it, based on Afghan rules and regulations.
President Hamid Karzai has often deflected accusations of poor Afghan governance by blaming the international community, citing mismanagement by international agencies.
Similar allegations of mismanagement by another U.N. agency in Kabul, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, led the European Union last year to put on hold tens of millions of dollars in anticipated donations to the U.N.-administered trust fund that bankrolls Afghanistan's police, and prompted the dismissals of senior officials.
Meanwhile, tensions between Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan continued to simmer, as Kabul said Wednesday that it would call off a planned military exchange to protest alleged cross-border shelling by Pakistani artillery.
An 11-member team of Afghan National Army officers had planned to take part in a simulation and military exercise at Quetta Staff College at the invitation of the Pakistani military, the Afghan Foreign Ministry said.
"This visit will no longer take place due to the resumption of unacceptable Pakistani artillery shelling against different parts of Kunar province from across the Durand Line on Monday and Tuesday," the ministry said in a statement, referring to the British-drawn boundary between the two countries.
The move appeared to be a calculated rebuff to Pakistan: Afghan officials said Pakistani representatives demanded at a recent summit in Britain that Kabul send Afghan officers to train in Pakistani military academies as a condition of supporting an effort to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table.
The Pakistani military didn't respond to a request for comment.
Violence continued in several areas of Afghanistan. An operation by coalition-backed Afghan military forces to rescue Afghan soldiers who had been abducted by Taliban insurgents in Logar province this week left 23 Taliban dead, 26 wounded and over 40 detained in a lengthy battle.
Several civilians were also casualties of the rescue operation, which occurred in the village of Sajawand in Baraki Barak district of Logar. According to Baraki Barak district chief Mohammad Rahim Amin, at least three civilians, including a woman, were killed in the operation.
While the rescue was supported by coalition forces, who are currently scaling back their operations in preparation for withdrawal from Afghanistan, the civilian deaths didn't immediately provoke public outcry.
U.S. Army Maj. Adam Wojack, a coalition spokesman, said the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force was investigating reports of civilian deaths. "ISAF takes all allegations of civilian casualties seriously," he said. "We are looking into the incident to determine what happened."
Separately, the coalition announced Wednesday that a service member was killed after an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan. The military typically doesn't release additional details on troop deaths until families are notified. —Habib Khan Totakhil and Ziaulhaq Sultani contributed to this article.
Write to Nathan Hodge at nathan.hodge@wsj.com
Taliban shadow governor killed in northern Afghan province
MAIMANA, Afghanistan, March 28 (Xinhua) -- A Taliban shadow governor was killed in northern Afghan province of Faryab overnight, the provincial government spokesman said on Thursday.
"Upon intelligence report, an Afghan border police force carried out a search operation to capture a Taliban shadow governor named Khirullah Khan but during the firefight Khan and two other Taliban insurgents were killed in Qaramqol district Wednesday night," spokesman Jawid Beidar told Xinhua.
He said Khan was involved in several anti-government activities in Qaramqol and neighboring districts in the province.
The relatively peaceful northern provinces have been seeing Taliban-led violence recently.
Earlier Thursday, five policemen were wounded and one militant was killed in a clash in neighboring Jawzjan province.
13 bombs defused in eastern Afghanistan: ISAF
KABUL, March 28 (Xinhua) -- Afghan security forces and the NATO- led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have defused 13 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in eastern Afghan provinces, the ISAF said on Thursday.
"Afghan and Coalition Forces found and safely cleared 13 improvised explosive devices and detained one suspected insurgent during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours," the ISAF's Regional Command-East said in a press release.
The home-made bombs were neutralized in Khost, Ghazni, Paktika, Kunar and Wardak provinces, it said.
Taliban militants, who have been waging an insurgency for more than one decade, used IEDs to launch roadside bomb attack on security forces but the lethal weapon also inflicted casualties on civilians.
The security forces have recently intensified operations across the country as spring and summer known as the fighting season is drawing near.
Karzai & Cameron discuss peace talks amid Pak-Afghan tensions
By GHANIZADA - 28 Mar 2013, 9:05 am Khaama Press
Afghan president Hamid Karzai and British prime minister David Cameron discussed Afghan peace process and other bilateral issues through a phone conversation on Wednesday evening.
According to a statement released by Afghan presdiential palace (ARG) media office, “President Hamid Karzai and British Prime Minister David Cameron held a telephone conversation this evening.”
The statemetn further added, “The call covered talks on Afghanistan peace process, relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan and a follow up on the agreements made in the third trilateral summit between UK, Afghanistan and Pakistan hosted by Prime Minister Cameron at Chequers in London on 3-4 February, 2013.”
“In the Chequers’ meeting, agreements were made on issues including Pakistan’s support to the Afghan-led peace and reconciliation process, convening of a joint conference of Afghanistan and Pakistan Ulemma in Kabul, regional cooperation, as well as support to the opening of an office in Doha for the purpose of negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan High Peace Council.” the statement added.
This comes as Afghan president Hamid Karzai is due to visit Qatar in the near future to discuss Afghan peace process and establishment of Taliban liaison office which was agreed by president Karzai, prime minister David Cameron and president Asif Ali Zardari during a trilateral summit earlier in February.
The three leaders also agreed to “take all necessary measures” to achieve such a goal and urged the Taliban to do the same for talks to take place.
In the meantime relations between Kabul and Islamabad hit a new low after Afghanistan’s deputy foreign minister, railed against Pakistan’s attitude to peace talks and for the first time suggesting excluding Islamabad from the process.
His comments came as Afghanistan said it had cancelled a military trip to Pakistan due to “unacceptable Pakistani shelling” of the country’s mountainous eastern borderlands.
The outburst will also embarrass David Cameron, who invited leaders from both countries to Chequers last month before he announced that the two presidents had agreed “an unprecedented level of cooperation”.
Once-Touted Afghan Force Falls on Hard Times
Wall Street Journal By YAROSLAV TROFIMOV March 27, 2013
KABUL - When villagers rose up against Taliban rule in Afghanistan's Andar district last year, U.S. military commanders billed the surprise rebellion as a potential game-changer akin to the Sunni tribal awakening that helped the U.S. leave Iraq.
Now, as the spring fighting season begins, it is increasingly clear that the Andar uprising didn't live up to these hopes. Reeling under Taliban attacks, the rebels of Andar have abandoned the pretense of being an independent, spontaneous movement. They have accepted supervision by the Afghan government and—even worse in this region of conservative Muslims—aid from American forces.
Many of the rebellion's original leaders—former insurgents themselves—have been killed. Others, disillusioned by how things have turned out, distanced themselves from the project, moving to the relative safety of Kabul or elsewhere. Similar uprisings in other provinces have struggled to gain momentum, too.
"When the Americans and the government began to interfere, this hurt the holiness of the uprising," said one of the Andar rebellion's initial leaders, Mawlawi Rahmatullah, a former Taliban commander. "When you fight with your beliefs, you are much stronger than when you fight just with your weapons. That's how we were able to defeat the Taliban in the beginning."
Last summer, many Taliban put down their weapons when elders and rebel leaders in Andar convinced them that the uprising was independent of Kabul and aimed solely to protect the area from outside interference, he said. Now, Mr. Rahmatullah said, "they see it is government-backed, and they have picked up their weapons again."
Among those killed by the Taliban in recent months: Mr. Rahmatullah's father, brother, cousin and uncle. Mr. Rahmatullah, 33 years old, has been injured, too, and his family's house in the district has been torched.
The troubles in Andar, a district of 500,000 people in the strategic southeastern province of Ghazni, show how hard it is to rally popular support against the Taliban when President Hamid Karzai's government in Kabul is perceived as predatory and corrupt.
These troubles are likely to intensify in coming months, as the Taliban begin their spring offensive and the U.S. pulls back its troops from the country.
"I don't think the uprising in Andar has had any impact on the situation in the province, or in the country," said a senior Western official familiar with Ghazni.
Today's sober assessments stand in contrast with the expectations when the Andar uprising first started. In August, American commanders repeatedly drew parallels with the so-called Anbar Awakening, the rising of Sunni Iraqi tribes against foreign al Qaeda militants in the western Iraqi province of Anbar in 2007—a development that significantly weakened the Iraqi insurgency.
"This is a really important moment for this campaign because the brutality of the Taliban and the desire for local communities to have security has become so, so prominent—as it was in Anbar—that they're willing to take the situation into their own hands," the then-coalition commander, U.S. Marine Gen. John Allen, told Foreign Policy magazine in late August.
The coalition and the Special Operations Command in Kabul declined to discuss the situation in Andar for this article. The military these days is touting the successes of another uprising that began in February in Panjway district of southern Kandahar province. "The people have said enough is enough, and they become fed up with the Taliban" in Panjway, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Robert B. Abrams, the coalition commander in south Afghanistan, told Pentagon reporters this month.
The Andar uprising erupted in summer 2012, after local Taliban militants such as Mr. Rahmatullah—who spent 2007 to 2010 at the U.S. detention facilityin Bagram—and fighters of the Hezb-i-Islami insurgent group grew increasingly frustrated with more senior Taliban commanders, many of them outsiders who had moved into the district.
These commanders had shut down local schools and the district's main bazaar, and frequently executed villagers they said were spies. "We had to defend our honor and our homes," said Hayebatullah Haqyar, a member of the uprising's leadership council who served as a district governor under the pre-2001 Taliban regime.
Lacking cohesive command, the Andar uprising also attracted people affiliated with Mr. Karzai's government, such as former Ghazni Gov. Faizanullah Faizan. Another former Ghazni governor, Afghan intelligence chief Asadullah Khaled, provided covert aid to some of the rebels, Mr. Khaled and rebel leaders said. All of the uprising's commanders initially trumpeted their independence from Kabul.
"It was a need of the time to tell the people that we're not with the government," Mr. Faizan says now. "People would not have risen in the name of supporting the government at that time."
The Taliban, meanwhile, continued their attacks. All in all, the Taliban killed more than 60 uprising members and injured many others, including Mr. Faizan. By late last year, uprising leaders said they had no choice but to accept government supervision and enroll the area's men into the Afghan Local Police, a self-defense force that is under the command of the Ministry of Interior in Kabul and mentored by U.S. special-operations forces.
"We were compelled to do it because we were between a rock and a hard place," explained Lutfullah Kamran, a 24-year-old computer-science graduate who is commander of the new Andar ALP. "Yes, it is true that the American Special Forces are supporting us now. But this doesn't matter—the Taliban, too, are supported by foreign countries." The Andar ALP now numbers some 200 men, paid 6,000 afghanis ($120) a month, with 100 more being recruited, he said.
"It is better for everyone if such uprisings come under control, and operate within the framework of the law," explained Brig. Gen. Ali Shah Ahmadzai, who oversees the ALP program at the Ministry of Interior in Kabul.
The Andar ALP's experience has been rocky: In February, two Taliban infiltrators sprayed the force with gas and then let the Taliban into the camp, Mr. Kamran said. The insurgents gunned down 17 ALP troops in that incident, and killed five in other attacks, he said.
"At the beginning, they were calling themselves an uprising, but today they are in the foreigners' embrace," said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. "They are in a weak position." —Habib Khan Totakhil contributed to this article.
Write to Yaroslav Trofimov at yaroslav.trofimov@wsj.com
Afghan MPs Criticise Bagram Handover as Hasty
TOLOnews.com By Rafi Sediqi Wednesday, 27 March 2013
Some Afghan lawmakers have criticised the handover of Bagram prison as a hurried decision that President Hamid Karzai declared a matter of national sovereignty without sufficiently consulting the broader government.
In Wednesday's parliamentary session, some MPs accused Karzai of deciding personally to demand the US military transfer the prison to Afghan authority without a consensus from the parliament and security organisations.
"The decision-making for a Bagram prison handover was too hurried. The president did not consult with security organisations and the parliament over the matter," said Shakiba Hashimi, a member of the parliamentary homeland security commission.
"There are many dangerous prisoners in Bagram prison. There are fears they might be released as a result of the broad corruption," she added.
Another MP, Fatima Aziz said that "The people shouldn't fall victim to the behind-the-curtain policies of the government. A number of main organisers of suicide attacks are currently in Bagram prison - their return to the government armed opposition groups is very distressing."
MPs said that any trial of Bagram prisoners needs to be transparent and seriously monitored as any return of the prisoners to battlefields will further threaten Afghanistan's security.
Bagram prison, north of Kabul, was transferred by the US to the Afghans on Monday in an official ceremony after a long-running standoff between the two countries over who controls the detainees.
The handover took more than a year to finalise. Karzai deemed it a matter of national sovereignty and refused to sign any long-term strategic agreement with America until an agreement on Bagram was secured.
Kabul and Washington signed the handover agreement in March 2012, with a six-month deadline for the US to complete the handover. The Americans did hand over most of the prison in September, but retained control of at least 600 out of almost 4000 prisoners.
The matter has plagued diplomatic relations until Monday when the handover was finally completed. This month both the US Secretary of Defence and Secretary of State have visited Karzai in Kabul.
After loss, Afghan shadow warrior still wishes to fight Taliban
The CIA-trained tracker gave militants' GPS coordinates to Americans. Even though his sister was killed in a drone strike, he'd like to work for the U.S. again.
Los Angeles Times By Shashank Bengali March 27, 2013
KAMA, Afghanistan - For more than two years, he was part of a secret, CIA-trained advance team for America's shadow war in Afghanistan, helping to collect intelligence that led to the killing or capture of Taliban suspects.
Then, last September, having quit the team because of Taliban threats, the young stonemason and his family tragically found themselves on the wrong end of that intelligence. Shrapnel from a U.S. drone strike on two insurgent leaders struck and killed his younger sister on their small farm in eastern Afghanistan.
The stonemason, Saidaa, who, like many Afghans, uses one name, fled with his family last fall to the Taliban-free village of Kama, a collection of mud-walled houses arrayed around a lush, quiet plain two hours east of Kabul. Yet despite his family's loss, Saidaa retains a surprising aspiration: "I would like to go back and work for the Americans," he says.
Saidaa's years-long story of fight and flight offers a reminder that even as the United States winds down its war in Afghanistan, ordinary Afghans remain caught helplessly between U.S. forces and the Taliban. The heartbreak of his sister's death does not trump his need to earn a living in a country where economic opportunities outside the war remain scarce.
"Whatever happened, that was from God," Saidaa says softly. "We know she wasn't the target."
The transfer of fighting responsibilities to Afghan government forces by the end of next year will mark the conclusion of the U.S. combat mission here after more than 11 years, 2,100 American fatalities and many more thousands of Afghan civilian deaths. But for Afghans whose towns and villages remain battle zones, the looming withdrawal of U.S. combat forces brings only more questions:
Can Afghan forces subdue the Taliban? Will the United States continue to back the Kabul government with financial and military aid? Will a new era provide more economic opportunity for people like Saidaa, who has failed to find steady employment since his 2 1/2 years working for the CIA?
"My brother and I, and some friends, we're looking for a job — any job," says Saidaa, a 27-year-old father of three, seated on the cold concrete floor of his rented home in Kama. "We're willing to work on a base. We'll work anywhere in the country."
He looks more like a schoolteacher than a militiaman, with a neatly trimmed beard and a gentle handshake. But he quickly produces a certificate of completion of a four-week U.S. training program — a crudely designed color printout that reads: "Counterterrorism Pursuit Team, Asadabad Base, Kunar."
Six years ago, when the U.S. was expanding the war effort, CIA officers recruited Saidaa into the clandestine paramilitary unit that tracked Taliban insurgents along the Pakistani border. Equipped with night-vision goggles and GPS devices, the Afghan teams set out under moonlit skies into towns and villages on both sides of the frontier, Saidaa says, recording the locations of reputed militants.
"We brought the GPS coordinates to the Americans, they targeted and killed them. That was the deal," recalls Saidaa.
He speaks of working for the OGA — "other government agency," code for the CIA — with a fondness that seems almost wistful, as if the intervening years had dulled his memory of the risks he took. Although he says he never fired a weapon — the one time they encountered insurgents on a mission, their CIA bosses radioed not to attack — he became a target from the moment he joined the team in late 2007.
Insurgents seeded the road to the U.S. base with bombs, killing several of Saidaa's colleagues. He started walking once a month from his village of Chinar to Asadabad, three hours each way, until the Americans decided to ferry him and others to the base via helicopter.
Although he earned $450 a month — twice the salary of a police officer, a sign of how much the CIA prized his team — he shared few details of the job with his family.
"I would have tried to stop him," says his father, Aslam.
In fact, few outside the CIA even knew of the team's existence until 2010, when journalist Bob Woodward revealed in the book "Obama's Wars" that the agency had created the 3,000-man force as part of its covert war in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
But it was no secret to the Taliban. One morning an insurgent leader appeared at Saidaa's door with a warning: Stop supporting the Americans, or else.
For the next two years he worked odd jobs in Kabul — laying bricks, hawking snuff. He assumed his war experience would help him land full-time work, but there was little market for a lightly educated man whose main skill was reading GPS coordinates.
He was in Kabul that September morning when the call came: His sister, Bacha Zarena, barely 15, had been gravely wounded in a drone attack. Relatives rushed her to the hospital in Asadabad, but she bled to death in the car.
Killed in the strike were two Taliban commanders known as Engineer and Hizbullah, who had banned cigarettes and music, imprisoned men who shaved their beards and threatened one of Saidaa's cousins for daring to install Internet cables. But new leaders swiftly took their place. When U.S. forces offered to pay about $4,000 in compensation for Bacha Zarena's death, Aslam was afraid to travel to the base to collect the money.
"The Taliban wouldn't have let me live," the father says. Finally, the family packed some belongings into rented SUVs and fled 50 miles south to Kama.
"Even after the drone strike, I kept waiting for the day the Taliban would leave our village," says Saidaa. "But they're still there."
The CIA-run team still works out of Asadabad, Saidaa says, but with the U.S. presence in Afghanistan shrinking, its future is unclear. Saidaa's own fate is no more certain. The only job for which he feels equipped is one that probably won't exist when his country enters the post-American era.
"It's very difficult even now to find a job like that," he said. "Maybe a year from now, it will be impossible."
shashank.bengali@latimes.com
Electoral Complaints Body Should Be Priority Ahead of 2014 Poll: UN
TOLOnews.com By Abdul Wali Arian & Anisa Shahid Wednesday, 27 March 2013
A United Nations envoy Wednesday said that the top priority ahead of Afghanistan's presidential election is to found an impartial, trustworthy, and independent structure for the electoral complaints.
Special Representative of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan Jan Kubis made the statement at a press conference in Kabul while stressing the UN's cooperation and support to ensure a transparent and broad election.
Kubis relayed the messages of the recent UN Secretary Council, saying the Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon had stressed the importance of Afghanistan's transparent election.
"The Secretary General ... stressed the need to reach an agreement on an impartial, credible, and independent electoral dispute resolution mechanism, and he marked this as a very critical, essential element of future electoral architecture. As another core element he mentioned the appointment of a respected, widely-accepted chairperson to the Independent Electoral Commission," Kubis said.
Working period of the head of the Independent Elections Commission (IEC) will end prior to the April 2014 election.
Kubis also highlighted Ban Ki-Moon's concern for women's rights in Afghanistan.
"The Secretary General, while recognising certain progress, he stated very clearly that he remains deeply disturbed that despite some improvements in prosecuting cases of violence against women, there is still a pervasive climate of impunity in Afghanistan for abuse of women and girls," he said.
Afghanistan has witnessed an apparent rise in cases of such violence, distressing actions which many parts of the country seem ambivalent about.
Meanwhile, the IEC is seeking for the final approval of the election law.
The commission's deputy Abdulkhaliq Hussaini Pashaee on Wednesday said that the Afghan parliament needs to approve as soon as possible the election law in order to clarify the IEC's competencies and structure.
He also added that the plan for transporting all election-related material and equipment is to be decided on in 10 days.
"We call upon the parliament – from this tribune – to make the election law their agenda of general meetings before anything else," he said, adding that the media should avoid reports that may trigger violence or tribalism.
"We hope that they (the media) won't provide negative comments from the TVs and Round Tables because this is a national process, and we should not harm this national process, but rather cooperate with and assist it," he added.
The IEC has sent the list of 6,918 polling booths to security organisations so that they can inspect and test out the security challenges in these areas and secure the locations.
The registration of voters – that was meant to begin by April 21 – has been postponed until May 26, while the prefixed election date remains April 5, 2014.
Diplomats Claim 'Moderate' Taliban Will Attend Qatar Talks
TOLOnews.com By Shakeela Ahbrimkhil Wednesday, 27 March 2013
A number of Afghan diplomats in Qatar have said that the Taliban will send negotiators to the Gulf nation who are expected to be moderate and open to a deal.
According to Qatar's daily newspaper The Gulf Times, the diplomats said that they understand the Taliban is aiming to send some moderate negotiators instead of Tayeb Agha, the close aide to Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
The news comes ahead of President Hamid Karzai's visit to Qatar this week.
According to the Gulf Times, the diplomats said that the move is seen as a breakthrough to hold direct negotiations with Afghanistan's government.
But a number of former Taliban members said that the Taliban does not have any plans to send a new negotiator to meet with Karzai in Qatar.
"Based on my own information, the Taliban does not have any plan to replace Tayeb Agha or send a new figure to Qatar. This news is all buzz and propaganda," the former leader of Taliban's Jaish-ul-Muslimin Movement Sayed Akbar Agha told TOLOnews.
Meanwhile Afghanistan's High Peace Council welcomed the news but said it didn't matter if it was a moderate negotiator or not, but the Taliban had to clarify its position.
"Whether a moderate or hardline Taliban, it is not important to us. We ask the Taliban to show a clear position and start negotiations with Afghanistan ," HPC member Shahzada Shahid said.
The head of the HPC and head of the HPC secretariat are expected to travel with Karzai to Qatar at the end of this week, Shahid told TOLOnews.
UN Afghan Envoy Urges Taliban to Join Peace Process
VOA News March 27, 2013
The United Nations envoy to Afghanistan is calling on the Taliban to take part in peace talks, as most NATO combat troops mobilize to leave the country by the end of 2014.
Speaking at a news conference in Kabul Wednesday, Jan Kubis told the insurgents to take into account that there will not be an international fighting force at the end of next year in Afghanistan.
He urged them to take the necessary measures to contribute to their country's long-term peace.
Although Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been championing a move to have the Taliban open an office for peace negotiations in Qatar, overtures for peace by the international community and Afghan government have largely failed.
The Taliban refuse to hold direct talks with the Karzai administration, calling it a "puppet regime" of the international coalition.
Meanwhile, Afghan authorities in eastern Logar province say joint military operations with NATO killed at least 23 Taliban militants and wounded 26 others.
The two-day military operation in the village of Sajwan ended late Tuesday. Several residents said their homes were destroyed in the fighting.
Police officials say authorities captured more than 40 militants. Other local officials say five civilians died in the operation.
The Taliban confirmed the deaths of only 12 Taliban fighters.
Bamyan Potato Farmers Supply 60% of Country's Demand
TOLOnews.com By Anwar Hashimi Wednesday, 27 March 2013
Central Bamyan province supplied about 60 percent of Afghanistan's potato demand in the past year, local official said Wednesday.
The local officials from Bamyan's Agriculture Department said that the creation of reserves for potato farming, promotion of potato cultivation and aid to farmers are the reasons for the increase of successful potato farming.
Farmers cultivated 12,000 hectares of land last year which yielded 270,000 tonnes of potato, head of the provincial Agriculture and Irrigation Department, Mohammad Tahir Ataaee.
The crop netted farmers a collective of 230 million Afs in the last year.
Bamyan potatoes were also exported to Pakistan and Tajikistan, he added.
Potato produce is expected to increase this year to around 300,000 tonnes, for an income of around 260 million Afs.
According to the statistics of the Agriculture Department, over 2000 potato reserves were created in the province which is able to store and protect up to 50,000 tonnes of potato in the winter.
Provincial officials also said that five centers will be built to wash and packet the potatoes.
Shot Pakistani teen Malala Yousafzai writing book
By JILL LAWLESS | Associated Press
LONDON (AP) — Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager shot in the head by the Taliban as she returned home from school, is writing a book about the traumatic event and her long-running campaign to promote children's education.
Publisher Weidenfeld and Nicolson announced it would release "I am Malala" in Britain and Commonwealth countries this fall. Little, Brown and Co. will publish the 15-year-old's memoir in the United States and much of the rest of the world.
"Malala is already an inspiration to millions around the world. Reading her story of courage and survival will open minds, enlarge hearts, and eventually allow more girls and boys to receive the education they hunger for," said Michael Pietsch, executive vice president and publisher of Little, Brown.
A Taliban gunman shot Malala on Oct. 9 in northwestern Pakistan. The militant group said it targeted her because she promoted "Western thinking" and, through a blog, had been an outspoken critic of the Taliban's opposition to educating girls.
The shooting sparked outrage in Pakistan and many other countries, and her story drew global attention to the struggle for women's rights in Malala's homeland. The teen even made the shortlist for Time magazine's "Person of the Year" in 2012.
Malala was brought to the U.K. for treatment and spent several months in a hospital undergoing skull reconstruction and cochlear implant surgeries. She was released last month and has started attending school in Britain.
Malala said in a statement Wednesday that she hoped telling her story would be "part of the campaign to give every boy and girl the right to go to school.
"I hope the book will reach people around the world, so they realize how difficult it is for some children to get access to education," she said. "I want to tell my story, but it will also be the story of 61 million children who can't get education."
Ghazni Concert Cancelled as 'Haram'
TOLOnews.com By Haseeb Maudoodi Wednesday, 27 March 2013
Religious and government leaders in eastern Ghazni province cancelled a music concert yesterday saying it was "haram" under Islam, a sign of the growing influence of Taliban extremists, Ghazni lawmakers said Wednesday.
Two Afghan singers, Mohammad Anwar Azad and Abass Neshat, were to perform at the concert in Ghazni's Jaghori district to celebrate the Persian new year, but the district government and Ulema council forbade it, forcing it to be cancelled.
The district council and the religious Ulema said in a statement said that music is prohibited in Islam, calling it "haram" - forbidden.
A number of Ghazni lawmakers in parliament on Wednesday criticised the statement, warning that it was a sign of the Taliban's influence.
Under the Taliban regime all music and musical instruments were banned, unless it was a form of chanting the Koran.
The local Ghazni Ulema Council said in its statement: "We condemn any gathering, under any name which is against Islam regulations or values. Such a gathering creates disagreements and insecurity as well. We prevent any such gathering."
Lawmaker Mohammad Ali Akhlaqi rejected the statement.
"The religious groups should not stand against holding some parties which are for the occasion of Nowroz and shows our culture," he said.
"Holding concerts are part of the freedom of speech," MP Assadullah Saadati said. "These people want to take away our freedom. In fact, they violate [Afghanistan's] sovereignty -- each village or each district should not give separate orders on these issues."
Islamic scholar Nazir Ahmad Hanafi said music was not haram but there are some conditions.
"Music is not forbidden in Islam but it there are some conditions. Today's music is not [always] acceptable," he told TOLOnews.
It is said that extremism is on the rise in the Jaghori district where the Ulema has previously cancelled similar events and were also behind the recent whipping of a girl as punishment.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
AFP News By Ben Sheppard | AFP News
The Afghan government on Thursday accused Pakistan of wrecking efforts to end the Taliban's bloody 11-year insurgency, in the latest sign of worsening cross-border relations.
Pakistan, which backed Afghanistan's 1996-2001 Taliban regime, is seen as having a crucial role in negotiating a political settlement with the Islamist extremist leaders who shelter in Pakistan's border districts.
Relations had improved between the countries over recent months, building up to a three-way summit hosted by Britain in February to find an end to the war that US-led troops have waged since 2001.
But President Hamid Karzai's spokesman said that Pakistan had now abandoned the peace process and imposed "impossible" pre-conditions on any further discussions that would encourage the Taliban to lay down their weapons.
"Things were going well up to the trilateral (summit) in Britain, so we were hopeful, but soon it became clear that Pakistan had changed its position and the peace process was no longer its priority," Aimal Faizi told AFP.
"They demanded we cut all ties to (Pakistan's arch-enemy) India, send army officers to Pakistan for training, and sign a strategic partnership."
Faizi described Pakistan's demands as impossible because India was one of Afghanistan's closest allies, and any Afghan officer who was trained in Pakistan would be viewed as a suspected spy when he returned home.
"And if we signed a strategic agreement with Pakistan, the Afghan public would stone us to death because they know that the suicide bombers that kill civilians and our armed forces come across from Pakistan," Faizi added.
One sign of the breakdown in ties was the cancellation on Wednesday of a confidence-building visit by 11 Afghan officers to take part in a military exercise in the Pakistani city of Quetta.
The government in Kabul said the visit had been scrapped over reported firing of 50 shells from Pakistan into the Afghan province of Kunar.
The Pakistani foreign ministry said its troops had responded to "some intrusions from the Afghan side".
"We believe that Afghanistan overreacted to a small incident," said ministry spokesman Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry.
Last month a conference of Afghan and Pakistani religious scholars aimed at pushing forward the peace process was also called off due to disagreements.
The head of Pakistan's government-backed Ulema Council, Allama Tahir Ashrafi, said there was no point to the meeting unless the Afghan Taliban were invited.
He was then accused in Afghanistan of condoning suicide attacks in a television interview.
Faizi, who recently described the international coalition's war effort against the Taliban as "useless and unwise", launched a stinging attack on the Pakistan government.
"Today there is more instability on the Pakistan side of the Durand Line (border) than on the Afghan side," he said. "Afghanistan is moving in the right direction, but in Pakistan they are losing control of more provinces to the terrorists.
"President Karzai has often visited Pakistan to tell them that terrorism is destroying us all and we should fight it together before it is too late, but instead they accuse him of being an obstacle to peace."
Kabul's new determination to work without Pakistan has triggered huge concern among international backers who are scrambling to foster some stability in Afghanistan before US-led combat forces leave the country next year.
Exclusive: Afghanistan says ready to work for peace without Pakistan help
Reuters By Michael Georgy and Hamid Shalizi Wed Mar 27, 2013
KABUL - Afghanistan is shocked by Pakistan's "complacency" in the nascent Afghan peace process and is ready to work without Islamabad's help on reconciliation, Deputy Foreign Minister Jawed Ludin told Reuters on Wednesday.
It was the first time Afghanistan has suggested the possibility of going it alone without its neighbor. Regional power Pakistan is seen as critical to stabilizing Afghanistan because of its long ties to insurgent groups.
Ludin also said the government would look to senior Taliban figures recently handed over by the United States in Bagram prison to urge militants to pursue peace. He did not elaborate.
Afghan officials had been pushing Pakistan hard to encourage the Taliban and other groups to join reconciliation efforts and Kabul had spoken of progress after Islamabad released some Taliban prisoners who could promote peace.
But Ludin, widely believed to shape foreign policy, told Reuters in an interview that Afghanistan had noted a shift in Pakistan's position towards peace efforts that are gaining more urgency as foreign forces prepare to leave by the end of 2014.
"We here in Kabul are in a bit of a state of shock at once again being confronted by the depth of Pakistan's complacency, we are just very disappointed," he said.
"But what has happened in the last few months for us, (we)see that Pakistan is changing the goal post every time we reach understanding."
Afghanistan also said it had canceled a military trip to Pakistan due to "unacceptable Pakistani shelling" of the country's mountainous eastern borderlands.
More than two dozen Pakistani artillery shells were fired into Afghanistan's eastern province of Kunar on Monday and Tuesday. The cancellation of the trip and days of angry diplomatic exchanges have placed further strain on a fraught relationship.
Afghanistan expressed its concern about what it called Pakistan's attempt to sideline President Hamid Karzai's government to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during his visit to Kabul this week, said Ludin.
The deputy foreign minister, who is closely involved in peace efforts, said Afghanistan insisted that its High Peace Council, formed by Karzai, should spearhead any peace efforts.
Ludin said Pakistan had been trying to get the Taliban to talk to other parties, like the opposition, something he said would reverse gains.
"Suddenly, there is a new notion of the peace process now being introduced by Pakistan and that's 'well why should the Taliban talk to President Karzai or the High Peace Council?'" said Ludin. "They (Taliban) should in fact talk to other political parties. That's what they have told us," Ludin said.
"Pakistan's concept of the peace process is one that will reverse the achievement of the last 10 years that will negate the centrality of the Afghan state."
Although there have been several meetings in Western capitals over the last few months in which representatives of the Taliban met Afghan peace negotiators, there are no signs of any breakthrough.
RENEWED TENSIONS
Karzai is due to visit the Gulf Arab state of Qatar soon to discuss the opening of a Taliban office that could be used for peace contacts in the future.
Kabul has long been suspicious of Pakistan's intentions, accusing it of harboring the Taliban leadership in the city of Quetta, and using militants as proxies to counter the influence of rival India in Afghanistan.
But a few months ago, Kabul was encouraged after Pakistan released some Afghan Taliban prisoners from its jails.
Now relations seem to have taken a sharp turn for the worse as the United States winds down the war, now in its 12th year.
This week, Pakistani officials accused Karzai of being an impediment to the peace process.
Ludin suggested Pakistan wanted Afghanistan to remain unstable so that militant groups allegedly backed by Islamabad would be in a position to capitalize on instability after 2014.
"What they would like is again a fragmentation of the Afghan state and going back to the drawing board so that they can have another 10 years, at least another decade, of weak, compromised Afghan state," he said.
Ludin stressed that Pakistan was a pivotal player and Afghanistan would still welcome its support.
"The sad reality is though Pakistan still remains the most important missing link in this whole vision that we have," he said.
Karzai had worked too hard and taken too many political risks to let Pakistan dictate how peace efforts should proceed, Ludin said.
"He (Karzai) has spent his political capital on this, he has basically staked his own political capital, his own reputation, on this and he has really mobilized the whole country, the whole region in support of the process," said Ludin.
"It is laughable, laughable if Pakistanis think that the whole notion of the President Karzai is impediment to peace."
Karzai's government, he said, would now turn to some of the most senior, hardcore Taliban leaders behind bars in Bagram in its quest for peace.
"We will try to appeal to them and say: 'Look, continued reluctance of Taliban to stay away from peace process and any buy in to this whole Pakistani design that they should not to speak to the Afghan government, is dangerous,'" said Ludin.
"Now that we have them we will see who is ready to help in this process."
(Reporting by Michael Georgy and Hamid Shalizi; Editing by Ron Popeski)
Pakistan disappointed at Afghan army officers' visit cancellation
ISLAMABAD,March 28 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan Thursday angrily reacted to the Afghan government's decision to cancel the visit of its army officers to the country for joint exercises.
Afghan Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that a visit of Afghan army officers to Pakistan has been cancelled over the recent 'Pakistani shelling' in parts of eastern Kunar province.
An 11-member team of Afghan National Army officers were scheduled to travel to Quetta at the invitation of the Pakistan Army to take part in a simulation military exercise and headquarters drills at the Quetta Staff College, an Afghan Foreign Ministry statement said.
"This visit will no longer take place due to the resumption of unacceptable Pakistani artillery shelling against different parts of Kunar province from across the Durand Line on Monday and Tuesday (March 25 and 26)," the statement said.
Pakistan Foreign Ministry rejected claims of shelling and termed the decision not to send the Afghan National Army (ANA) officers for military exercises as an "overreaction to a local incident".
"This response from Afghanistan appears to be an overreaction to a local issue. We have not received any message from the Afghan Defence Ministry but heard about it through the media", the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Aizaz Chaudhry told the local media.
He said there was some interaction at the border and there was reaction from Pakistani troops who remained very responsible and disciplined.
"The incident was contained at the local level. No heavy artillery was used. This was not an issue for which the reaction should have come at the state level," the spokesman said.
"Such incidents should not affect the ongoing peace process. This course at the Quetta Staff College added to confidence building between the two states. There should be no effort to derail the peace process," spokesman said.
Cross-border shelling and attacks have been a source of tension between the two uneasy neighbours for years. Pakistan denies any shelling on civilian areas in Afghanistan and said that they target those specific locations from where the militants in Afghanistan fire on Pakistani positions.
Pakistan says that militants, who had fled from military operation in the tribal regions, are now operating from Afghanistan border regions and routinely launch attacks on Pakistani posts and villages. Nearly 100 Pakistani security personnel and civilians have been killed in militant attacks from Afghan side of the border, officials say.
Pakistan Says Afghanistan 'Overreacts' to Cross-Border Shelling
Voice of America By Ayaz Gul March 27, 2013
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan on Wednesday criticized as an “overreaction” Afghanistan’s decision to cancel a military trip over alleged cross-border shelling by Pakistani troops. Officials have also dismissed Kabul’s allegations that Islamabad is not helping in efforts aimed at advancing the Afghan peace process. The renewed bilateral tensions come as foreign forces prepare to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
A team of 11 officers of the Afghan National Army was due to travel to the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta to participate in a simulated joint military exercise there. But Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry announced Wednesday it is canceling the visit because of what it called “unacceptable artillery shelling” from across the Pakistani border early this week against the Afghan province of Kunar.
Speaking to VOA, Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry says Islamabad did not approve of the Afghan decision to cancel the trip. He says such interactions help “build bilateral confidence and contribute” toward regional peace efforts.
“It appears that this is an overreaction to a local incident," said Chaudhry. "The report that I have is that there was some intrusion from the Afghan side to which our [military] authorities responded. I might add that our troops are highly disciplined and responsible.”
Authorities in Islamabad have repeatedly alleged in recent months that fugitive Pakistani militants have taken refuge in border regions of Afghanistan, and are using those regions to launch deadly cross-border raids on military as well as civilian targets inside Pakistan.
Kabul’s move to cancel the military trip comes as both countries are already engaged in angry diplomatic exchanges, accusing each other of obstructing the nascent peace process in Afghanistan, which is supposed to facilitate an orderly withdrawal of NATO forces by the end of next year.
Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Jawed Ludin reportedly stated on Wednesday that “the depth of Pakistan’s complacency” [lack of interest] in the Afghan peace process has “shocked” and “disappointed” his country.
The criticism apparently came in response to recently reported comments by unnamed Pakistani Foreign Ministry officials, who reportedly described Afghan President Hamid Karzai as the biggest obstacle to political reconciliation process in Afghanistan.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Chaudhry rejected those reports as incorrect and baseless, saying President Karzai is held in high esteem in Pakistan.
“Pakistan government is sincere and is serious in advancing the peace process in Afghanistan and in facilitating peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan," he said. "We think, we are in fact convinced, that a peaceful, stable, prosperous Afghanistan is in Pakistan’s interest, is in the interest of the region. We have taken every possible step to facilitate that. We do hope that this cooperation will continue in the largest interest of peace in Afghanistan.”
The Afghan peace process is primarily meant to persuade Taliban and other insurgent groups fighting NATO forces to engage in talks with negotiators of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council to bring an end to the conflict before the withdrawal of international forces from the country. Pakistan’s assistance in the peace process is seen as essential because it shares a long porous border with Afghanistan and traditionally has close ties to Afghan insurgents.
Last year, Afghan peace negotiators were able to secure the release of some senior Taliban leaders being held in Pakistani prisons, hoping the men would be able to persuade insurgents in their home areas to suspend fighting. But since then, bilateral relations have taken a sharp turn for the worse.
U.N. Investigates Report of Fraud at Kabul Office
Wall Street Journal By NATHAN HODGE March 27, 2013
KABUL - The United Nations will review new allegations by international monitors of fraud at the Afghanistan office of the world body's refugee agency, the top U.S. official in Kabul said on Wednesday.
The Monitoring and Evaluation Committee, an anticorruption group of Afghan and international officials, said this week it had evidence of "potentially fraudulent activity" at the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, which works with Afghan agencies to support returning Afghan refugees and aid displaced people.
The MEC said it had evidence UNHCR rented houses on behalf of the Afghan government from top Afghan officials and paid salaries to nonexistent employees, among other allegations.
"Different sources indicate that acts of misappropriation have been committed by UNHCR through the double payment of salaries, ghost workers and other fraudulent human-resources practices," the watchdog said. The MEC also recommended a forensic audit to spot potential misuse of funds by UNHCR.
Jan Kubis, the U.N. special representative in Afghanistan, told reporters in Kabul he hadn't had the chance to fully review the allegations. He said the raising of such concerns was part of "healthy dialogue" between international donors and U.N. agencies.
U.N. agencies would take appropriate steps to tighten oversight, Mr. Kubis said. "In case of need, I will provide my own support," he said.
The UNHCR representative in Afghanistan, Bo Schack, said the MEC reached out to him on Wednesday and he wanted to review the report before discussing its recommendations.
The UNHCR, he added, had recently created a working group to ensure that the Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation was making the best use of funds available to it, based on Afghan rules and regulations.
President Hamid Karzai has often deflected accusations of poor Afghan governance by blaming the international community, citing mismanagement by international agencies.
Similar allegations of mismanagement by another U.N. agency in Kabul, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, led the European Union last year to put on hold tens of millions of dollars in anticipated donations to the U.N.-administered trust fund that bankrolls Afghanistan's police, and prompted the dismissals of senior officials.
Meanwhile, tensions between Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan continued to simmer, as Kabul said Wednesday that it would call off a planned military exchange to protest alleged cross-border shelling by Pakistani artillery.
An 11-member team of Afghan National Army officers had planned to take part in a simulation and military exercise at Quetta Staff College at the invitation of the Pakistani military, the Afghan Foreign Ministry said.
"This visit will no longer take place due to the resumption of unacceptable Pakistani artillery shelling against different parts of Kunar province from across the Durand Line on Monday and Tuesday," the ministry said in a statement, referring to the British-drawn boundary between the two countries.
The move appeared to be a calculated rebuff to Pakistan: Afghan officials said Pakistani representatives demanded at a recent summit in Britain that Kabul send Afghan officers to train in Pakistani military academies as a condition of supporting an effort to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table.
The Pakistani military didn't respond to a request for comment.
Violence continued in several areas of Afghanistan. An operation by coalition-backed Afghan military forces to rescue Afghan soldiers who had been abducted by Taliban insurgents in Logar province this week left 23 Taliban dead, 26 wounded and over 40 detained in a lengthy battle.
Several civilians were also casualties of the rescue operation, which occurred in the village of Sajawand in Baraki Barak district of Logar. According to Baraki Barak district chief Mohammad Rahim Amin, at least three civilians, including a woman, were killed in the operation.
While the rescue was supported by coalition forces, who are currently scaling back their operations in preparation for withdrawal from Afghanistan, the civilian deaths didn't immediately provoke public outcry.
U.S. Army Maj. Adam Wojack, a coalition spokesman, said the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force was investigating reports of civilian deaths. "ISAF takes all allegations of civilian casualties seriously," he said. "We are looking into the incident to determine what happened."
Separately, the coalition announced Wednesday that a service member was killed after an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan. The military typically doesn't release additional details on troop deaths until families are notified. —Habib Khan Totakhil and Ziaulhaq Sultani contributed to this article.
Write to Nathan Hodge at nathan.hodge@wsj.com
Taliban shadow governor killed in northern Afghan province
MAIMANA, Afghanistan, March 28 (Xinhua) -- A Taliban shadow governor was killed in northern Afghan province of Faryab overnight, the provincial government spokesman said on Thursday.
"Upon intelligence report, an Afghan border police force carried out a search operation to capture a Taliban shadow governor named Khirullah Khan but during the firefight Khan and two other Taliban insurgents were killed in Qaramqol district Wednesday night," spokesman Jawid Beidar told Xinhua.
He said Khan was involved in several anti-government activities in Qaramqol and neighboring districts in the province.
The relatively peaceful northern provinces have been seeing Taliban-led violence recently.
Earlier Thursday, five policemen were wounded and one militant was killed in a clash in neighboring Jawzjan province.
13 bombs defused in eastern Afghanistan: ISAF
KABUL, March 28 (Xinhua) -- Afghan security forces and the NATO- led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have defused 13 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in eastern Afghan provinces, the ISAF said on Thursday.
"Afghan and Coalition Forces found and safely cleared 13 improvised explosive devices and detained one suspected insurgent during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours," the ISAF's Regional Command-East said in a press release.
The home-made bombs were neutralized in Khost, Ghazni, Paktika, Kunar and Wardak provinces, it said.
Taliban militants, who have been waging an insurgency for more than one decade, used IEDs to launch roadside bomb attack on security forces but the lethal weapon also inflicted casualties on civilians.
The security forces have recently intensified operations across the country as spring and summer known as the fighting season is drawing near.
Karzai & Cameron discuss peace talks amid Pak-Afghan tensions
By GHANIZADA - 28 Mar 2013, 9:05 am Khaama Press
Afghan president Hamid Karzai and British prime minister David Cameron discussed Afghan peace process and other bilateral issues through a phone conversation on Wednesday evening.
According to a statement released by Afghan presdiential palace (ARG) media office, “President Hamid Karzai and British Prime Minister David Cameron held a telephone conversation this evening.”
The statemetn further added, “The call covered talks on Afghanistan peace process, relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan and a follow up on the agreements made in the third trilateral summit between UK, Afghanistan and Pakistan hosted by Prime Minister Cameron at Chequers in London on 3-4 February, 2013.”
“In the Chequers’ meeting, agreements were made on issues including Pakistan’s support to the Afghan-led peace and reconciliation process, convening of a joint conference of Afghanistan and Pakistan Ulemma in Kabul, regional cooperation, as well as support to the opening of an office in Doha for the purpose of negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan High Peace Council.” the statement added.
This comes as Afghan president Hamid Karzai is due to visit Qatar in the near future to discuss Afghan peace process and establishment of Taliban liaison office which was agreed by president Karzai, prime minister David Cameron and president Asif Ali Zardari during a trilateral summit earlier in February.
The three leaders also agreed to “take all necessary measures” to achieve such a goal and urged the Taliban to do the same for talks to take place.
In the meantime relations between Kabul and Islamabad hit a new low after Afghanistan’s deputy foreign minister, railed against Pakistan’s attitude to peace talks and for the first time suggesting excluding Islamabad from the process.
His comments came as Afghanistan said it had cancelled a military trip to Pakistan due to “unacceptable Pakistani shelling” of the country’s mountainous eastern borderlands.
The outburst will also embarrass David Cameron, who invited leaders from both countries to Chequers last month before he announced that the two presidents had agreed “an unprecedented level of cooperation”.
Once-Touted Afghan Force Falls on Hard Times
Wall Street Journal By YAROSLAV TROFIMOV March 27, 2013
KABUL - When villagers rose up against Taliban rule in Afghanistan's Andar district last year, U.S. military commanders billed the surprise rebellion as a potential game-changer akin to the Sunni tribal awakening that helped the U.S. leave Iraq.
Now, as the spring fighting season begins, it is increasingly clear that the Andar uprising didn't live up to these hopes. Reeling under Taliban attacks, the rebels of Andar have abandoned the pretense of being an independent, spontaneous movement. They have accepted supervision by the Afghan government and—even worse in this region of conservative Muslims—aid from American forces.
Many of the rebellion's original leaders—former insurgents themselves—have been killed. Others, disillusioned by how things have turned out, distanced themselves from the project, moving to the relative safety of Kabul or elsewhere. Similar uprisings in other provinces have struggled to gain momentum, too.
"When the Americans and the government began to interfere, this hurt the holiness of the uprising," said one of the Andar rebellion's initial leaders, Mawlawi Rahmatullah, a former Taliban commander. "When you fight with your beliefs, you are much stronger than when you fight just with your weapons. That's how we were able to defeat the Taliban in the beginning."
Last summer, many Taliban put down their weapons when elders and rebel leaders in Andar convinced them that the uprising was independent of Kabul and aimed solely to protect the area from outside interference, he said. Now, Mr. Rahmatullah said, "they see it is government-backed, and they have picked up their weapons again."
Among those killed by the Taliban in recent months: Mr. Rahmatullah's father, brother, cousin and uncle. Mr. Rahmatullah, 33 years old, has been injured, too, and his family's house in the district has been torched.
The troubles in Andar, a district of 500,000 people in the strategic southeastern province of Ghazni, show how hard it is to rally popular support against the Taliban when President Hamid Karzai's government in Kabul is perceived as predatory and corrupt.
These troubles are likely to intensify in coming months, as the Taliban begin their spring offensive and the U.S. pulls back its troops from the country.
"I don't think the uprising in Andar has had any impact on the situation in the province, or in the country," said a senior Western official familiar with Ghazni.
Today's sober assessments stand in contrast with the expectations when the Andar uprising first started. In August, American commanders repeatedly drew parallels with the so-called Anbar Awakening, the rising of Sunni Iraqi tribes against foreign al Qaeda militants in the western Iraqi province of Anbar in 2007—a development that significantly weakened the Iraqi insurgency.
"This is a really important moment for this campaign because the brutality of the Taliban and the desire for local communities to have security has become so, so prominent—as it was in Anbar—that they're willing to take the situation into their own hands," the then-coalition commander, U.S. Marine Gen. John Allen, told Foreign Policy magazine in late August.
The coalition and the Special Operations Command in Kabul declined to discuss the situation in Andar for this article. The military these days is touting the successes of another uprising that began in February in Panjway district of southern Kandahar province. "The people have said enough is enough, and they become fed up with the Taliban" in Panjway, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Robert B. Abrams, the coalition commander in south Afghanistan, told Pentagon reporters this month.
The Andar uprising erupted in summer 2012, after local Taliban militants such as Mr. Rahmatullah—who spent 2007 to 2010 at the U.S. detention facilityin Bagram—and fighters of the Hezb-i-Islami insurgent group grew increasingly frustrated with more senior Taliban commanders, many of them outsiders who had moved into the district.
These commanders had shut down local schools and the district's main bazaar, and frequently executed villagers they said were spies. "We had to defend our honor and our homes," said Hayebatullah Haqyar, a member of the uprising's leadership council who served as a district governor under the pre-2001 Taliban regime.
Lacking cohesive command, the Andar uprising also attracted people affiliated with Mr. Karzai's government, such as former Ghazni Gov. Faizanullah Faizan. Another former Ghazni governor, Afghan intelligence chief Asadullah Khaled, provided covert aid to some of the rebels, Mr. Khaled and rebel leaders said. All of the uprising's commanders initially trumpeted their independence from Kabul.
"It was a need of the time to tell the people that we're not with the government," Mr. Faizan says now. "People would not have risen in the name of supporting the government at that time."
The Taliban, meanwhile, continued their attacks. All in all, the Taliban killed more than 60 uprising members and injured many others, including Mr. Faizan. By late last year, uprising leaders said they had no choice but to accept government supervision and enroll the area's men into the Afghan Local Police, a self-defense force that is under the command of the Ministry of Interior in Kabul and mentored by U.S. special-operations forces.
"We were compelled to do it because we were between a rock and a hard place," explained Lutfullah Kamran, a 24-year-old computer-science graduate who is commander of the new Andar ALP. "Yes, it is true that the American Special Forces are supporting us now. But this doesn't matter—the Taliban, too, are supported by foreign countries." The Andar ALP now numbers some 200 men, paid 6,000 afghanis ($120) a month, with 100 more being recruited, he said.
"It is better for everyone if such uprisings come under control, and operate within the framework of the law," explained Brig. Gen. Ali Shah Ahmadzai, who oversees the ALP program at the Ministry of Interior in Kabul.
The Andar ALP's experience has been rocky: In February, two Taliban infiltrators sprayed the force with gas and then let the Taliban into the camp, Mr. Kamran said. The insurgents gunned down 17 ALP troops in that incident, and killed five in other attacks, he said.
"At the beginning, they were calling themselves an uprising, but today they are in the foreigners' embrace," said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. "They are in a weak position." —Habib Khan Totakhil contributed to this article.
Write to Yaroslav Trofimov at yaroslav.trofimov@wsj.com
Afghan MPs Criticise Bagram Handover as Hasty
TOLOnews.com By Rafi Sediqi Wednesday, 27 March 2013
Some Afghan lawmakers have criticised the handover of Bagram prison as a hurried decision that President Hamid Karzai declared a matter of national sovereignty without sufficiently consulting the broader government.
In Wednesday's parliamentary session, some MPs accused Karzai of deciding personally to demand the US military transfer the prison to Afghan authority without a consensus from the parliament and security organisations.
"The decision-making for a Bagram prison handover was too hurried. The president did not consult with security organisations and the parliament over the matter," said Shakiba Hashimi, a member of the parliamentary homeland security commission.
"There are many dangerous prisoners in Bagram prison. There are fears they might be released as a result of the broad corruption," she added.
Another MP, Fatima Aziz said that "The people shouldn't fall victim to the behind-the-curtain policies of the government. A number of main organisers of suicide attacks are currently in Bagram prison - their return to the government armed opposition groups is very distressing."
MPs said that any trial of Bagram prisoners needs to be transparent and seriously monitored as any return of the prisoners to battlefields will further threaten Afghanistan's security.
Bagram prison, north of Kabul, was transferred by the US to the Afghans on Monday in an official ceremony after a long-running standoff between the two countries over who controls the detainees.
The handover took more than a year to finalise. Karzai deemed it a matter of national sovereignty and refused to sign any long-term strategic agreement with America until an agreement on Bagram was secured.
Kabul and Washington signed the handover agreement in March 2012, with a six-month deadline for the US to complete the handover. The Americans did hand over most of the prison in September, but retained control of at least 600 out of almost 4000 prisoners.
The matter has plagued diplomatic relations until Monday when the handover was finally completed. This month both the US Secretary of Defence and Secretary of State have visited Karzai in Kabul.
After loss, Afghan shadow warrior still wishes to fight Taliban
The CIA-trained tracker gave militants' GPS coordinates to Americans. Even though his sister was killed in a drone strike, he'd like to work for the U.S. again.
Los Angeles Times By Shashank Bengali March 27, 2013
KAMA, Afghanistan - For more than two years, he was part of a secret, CIA-trained advance team for America's shadow war in Afghanistan, helping to collect intelligence that led to the killing or capture of Taliban suspects.
Then, last September, having quit the team because of Taliban threats, the young stonemason and his family tragically found themselves on the wrong end of that intelligence. Shrapnel from a U.S. drone strike on two insurgent leaders struck and killed his younger sister on their small farm in eastern Afghanistan.
The stonemason, Saidaa, who, like many Afghans, uses one name, fled with his family last fall to the Taliban-free village of Kama, a collection of mud-walled houses arrayed around a lush, quiet plain two hours east of Kabul. Yet despite his family's loss, Saidaa retains a surprising aspiration: "I would like to go back and work for the Americans," he says.
Saidaa's years-long story of fight and flight offers a reminder that even as the United States winds down its war in Afghanistan, ordinary Afghans remain caught helplessly between U.S. forces and the Taliban. The heartbreak of his sister's death does not trump his need to earn a living in a country where economic opportunities outside the war remain scarce.
"Whatever happened, that was from God," Saidaa says softly. "We know she wasn't the target."
The transfer of fighting responsibilities to Afghan government forces by the end of next year will mark the conclusion of the U.S. combat mission here after more than 11 years, 2,100 American fatalities and many more thousands of Afghan civilian deaths. But for Afghans whose towns and villages remain battle zones, the looming withdrawal of U.S. combat forces brings only more questions:
Can Afghan forces subdue the Taliban? Will the United States continue to back the Kabul government with financial and military aid? Will a new era provide more economic opportunity for people like Saidaa, who has failed to find steady employment since his 2 1/2 years working for the CIA?
"My brother and I, and some friends, we're looking for a job — any job," says Saidaa, a 27-year-old father of three, seated on the cold concrete floor of his rented home in Kama. "We're willing to work on a base. We'll work anywhere in the country."
He looks more like a schoolteacher than a militiaman, with a neatly trimmed beard and a gentle handshake. But he quickly produces a certificate of completion of a four-week U.S. training program — a crudely designed color printout that reads: "Counterterrorism Pursuit Team, Asadabad Base, Kunar."
Six years ago, when the U.S. was expanding the war effort, CIA officers recruited Saidaa into the clandestine paramilitary unit that tracked Taliban insurgents along the Pakistani border. Equipped with night-vision goggles and GPS devices, the Afghan teams set out under moonlit skies into towns and villages on both sides of the frontier, Saidaa says, recording the locations of reputed militants.
"We brought the GPS coordinates to the Americans, they targeted and killed them. That was the deal," recalls Saidaa.
He speaks of working for the OGA — "other government agency," code for the CIA — with a fondness that seems almost wistful, as if the intervening years had dulled his memory of the risks he took. Although he says he never fired a weapon — the one time they encountered insurgents on a mission, their CIA bosses radioed not to attack — he became a target from the moment he joined the team in late 2007.
Insurgents seeded the road to the U.S. base with bombs, killing several of Saidaa's colleagues. He started walking once a month from his village of Chinar to Asadabad, three hours each way, until the Americans decided to ferry him and others to the base via helicopter.
Although he earned $450 a month — twice the salary of a police officer, a sign of how much the CIA prized his team — he shared few details of the job with his family.
"I would have tried to stop him," says his father, Aslam.
In fact, few outside the CIA even knew of the team's existence until 2010, when journalist Bob Woodward revealed in the book "Obama's Wars" that the agency had created the 3,000-man force as part of its covert war in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
But it was no secret to the Taliban. One morning an insurgent leader appeared at Saidaa's door with a warning: Stop supporting the Americans, or else.
For the next two years he worked odd jobs in Kabul — laying bricks, hawking snuff. He assumed his war experience would help him land full-time work, but there was little market for a lightly educated man whose main skill was reading GPS coordinates.
He was in Kabul that September morning when the call came: His sister, Bacha Zarena, barely 15, had been gravely wounded in a drone attack. Relatives rushed her to the hospital in Asadabad, but she bled to death in the car.
Killed in the strike were two Taliban commanders known as Engineer and Hizbullah, who had banned cigarettes and music, imprisoned men who shaved their beards and threatened one of Saidaa's cousins for daring to install Internet cables. But new leaders swiftly took their place. When U.S. forces offered to pay about $4,000 in compensation for Bacha Zarena's death, Aslam was afraid to travel to the base to collect the money.
"The Taliban wouldn't have let me live," the father says. Finally, the family packed some belongings into rented SUVs and fled 50 miles south to Kama.
"Even after the drone strike, I kept waiting for the day the Taliban would leave our village," says Saidaa. "But they're still there."
The CIA-run team still works out of Asadabad, Saidaa says, but with the U.S. presence in Afghanistan shrinking, its future is unclear. Saidaa's own fate is no more certain. The only job for which he feels equipped is one that probably won't exist when his country enters the post-American era.
"It's very difficult even now to find a job like that," he said. "Maybe a year from now, it will be impossible."
shashank.bengali@latimes.com
Electoral Complaints Body Should Be Priority Ahead of 2014 Poll: UN
TOLOnews.com By Abdul Wali Arian & Anisa Shahid Wednesday, 27 March 2013
A United Nations envoy Wednesday said that the top priority ahead of Afghanistan's presidential election is to found an impartial, trustworthy, and independent structure for the electoral complaints.
Special Representative of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan Jan Kubis made the statement at a press conference in Kabul while stressing the UN's cooperation and support to ensure a transparent and broad election.
Kubis relayed the messages of the recent UN Secretary Council, saying the Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon had stressed the importance of Afghanistan's transparent election.
"The Secretary General ... stressed the need to reach an agreement on an impartial, credible, and independent electoral dispute resolution mechanism, and he marked this as a very critical, essential element of future electoral architecture. As another core element he mentioned the appointment of a respected, widely-accepted chairperson to the Independent Electoral Commission," Kubis said.
Working period of the head of the Independent Elections Commission (IEC) will end prior to the April 2014 election.
Kubis also highlighted Ban Ki-Moon's concern for women's rights in Afghanistan.
"The Secretary General, while recognising certain progress, he stated very clearly that he remains deeply disturbed that despite some improvements in prosecuting cases of violence against women, there is still a pervasive climate of impunity in Afghanistan for abuse of women and girls," he said.
Afghanistan has witnessed an apparent rise in cases of such violence, distressing actions which many parts of the country seem ambivalent about.
Meanwhile, the IEC is seeking for the final approval of the election law.
The commission's deputy Abdulkhaliq Hussaini Pashaee on Wednesday said that the Afghan parliament needs to approve as soon as possible the election law in order to clarify the IEC's competencies and structure.
He also added that the plan for transporting all election-related material and equipment is to be decided on in 10 days.
"We call upon the parliament – from this tribune – to make the election law their agenda of general meetings before anything else," he said, adding that the media should avoid reports that may trigger violence or tribalism.
"We hope that they (the media) won't provide negative comments from the TVs and Round Tables because this is a national process, and we should not harm this national process, but rather cooperate with and assist it," he added.
The IEC has sent the list of 6,918 polling booths to security organisations so that they can inspect and test out the security challenges in these areas and secure the locations.
The registration of voters – that was meant to begin by April 21 – has been postponed until May 26, while the prefixed election date remains April 5, 2014.
Diplomats Claim 'Moderate' Taliban Will Attend Qatar Talks
TOLOnews.com By Shakeela Ahbrimkhil Wednesday, 27 March 2013
A number of Afghan diplomats in Qatar have said that the Taliban will send negotiators to the Gulf nation who are expected to be moderate and open to a deal.
According to Qatar's daily newspaper The Gulf Times, the diplomats said that they understand the Taliban is aiming to send some moderate negotiators instead of Tayeb Agha, the close aide to Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
The news comes ahead of President Hamid Karzai's visit to Qatar this week.
According to the Gulf Times, the diplomats said that the move is seen as a breakthrough to hold direct negotiations with Afghanistan's government.
But a number of former Taliban members said that the Taliban does not have any plans to send a new negotiator to meet with Karzai in Qatar.
"Based on my own information, the Taliban does not have any plan to replace Tayeb Agha or send a new figure to Qatar. This news is all buzz and propaganda," the former leader of Taliban's Jaish-ul-Muslimin Movement Sayed Akbar Agha told TOLOnews.
Meanwhile Afghanistan's High Peace Council welcomed the news but said it didn't matter if it was a moderate negotiator or not, but the Taliban had to clarify its position.
"Whether a moderate or hardline Taliban, it is not important to us. We ask the Taliban to show a clear position and start negotiations with Afghanistan ," HPC member Shahzada Shahid said.
The head of the HPC and head of the HPC secretariat are expected to travel with Karzai to Qatar at the end of this week, Shahid told TOLOnews.
UN Afghan Envoy Urges Taliban to Join Peace Process
VOA News March 27, 2013
The United Nations envoy to Afghanistan is calling on the Taliban to take part in peace talks, as most NATO combat troops mobilize to leave the country by the end of 2014.
Speaking at a news conference in Kabul Wednesday, Jan Kubis told the insurgents to take into account that there will not be an international fighting force at the end of next year in Afghanistan.
He urged them to take the necessary measures to contribute to their country's long-term peace.
Although Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been championing a move to have the Taliban open an office for peace negotiations in Qatar, overtures for peace by the international community and Afghan government have largely failed.
The Taliban refuse to hold direct talks with the Karzai administration, calling it a "puppet regime" of the international coalition.
Meanwhile, Afghan authorities in eastern Logar province say joint military operations with NATO killed at least 23 Taliban militants and wounded 26 others.
The two-day military operation in the village of Sajwan ended late Tuesday. Several residents said their homes were destroyed in the fighting.
Police officials say authorities captured more than 40 militants. Other local officials say five civilians died in the operation.
The Taliban confirmed the deaths of only 12 Taliban fighters.
Bamyan Potato Farmers Supply 60% of Country's Demand
TOLOnews.com By Anwar Hashimi Wednesday, 27 March 2013
Central Bamyan province supplied about 60 percent of Afghanistan's potato demand in the past year, local official said Wednesday.
The local officials from Bamyan's Agriculture Department said that the creation of reserves for potato farming, promotion of potato cultivation and aid to farmers are the reasons for the increase of successful potato farming.
Farmers cultivated 12,000 hectares of land last year which yielded 270,000 tonnes of potato, head of the provincial Agriculture and Irrigation Department, Mohammad Tahir Ataaee.
The crop netted farmers a collective of 230 million Afs in the last year.
Bamyan potatoes were also exported to Pakistan and Tajikistan, he added.
Potato produce is expected to increase this year to around 300,000 tonnes, for an income of around 260 million Afs.
According to the statistics of the Agriculture Department, over 2000 potato reserves were created in the province which is able to store and protect up to 50,000 tonnes of potato in the winter.
Provincial officials also said that five centers will be built to wash and packet the potatoes.
Shot Pakistani teen Malala Yousafzai writing book
By JILL LAWLESS | Associated Press
LONDON (AP) — Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager shot in the head by the Taliban as she returned home from school, is writing a book about the traumatic event and her long-running campaign to promote children's education.
Publisher Weidenfeld and Nicolson announced it would release "I am Malala" in Britain and Commonwealth countries this fall. Little, Brown and Co. will publish the 15-year-old's memoir in the United States and much of the rest of the world.
"Malala is already an inspiration to millions around the world. Reading her story of courage and survival will open minds, enlarge hearts, and eventually allow more girls and boys to receive the education they hunger for," said Michael Pietsch, executive vice president and publisher of Little, Brown.
A Taliban gunman shot Malala on Oct. 9 in northwestern Pakistan. The militant group said it targeted her because she promoted "Western thinking" and, through a blog, had been an outspoken critic of the Taliban's opposition to educating girls.
The shooting sparked outrage in Pakistan and many other countries, and her story drew global attention to the struggle for women's rights in Malala's homeland. The teen even made the shortlist for Time magazine's "Person of the Year" in 2012.
Malala was brought to the U.K. for treatment and spent several months in a hospital undergoing skull reconstruction and cochlear implant surgeries. She was released last month and has started attending school in Britain.
Malala said in a statement Wednesday that she hoped telling her story would be "part of the campaign to give every boy and girl the right to go to school.
"I hope the book will reach people around the world, so they realize how difficult it is for some children to get access to education," she said. "I want to tell my story, but it will also be the story of 61 million children who can't get education."
Ghazni Concert Cancelled as 'Haram'
TOLOnews.com By Haseeb Maudoodi Wednesday, 27 March 2013
Religious and government leaders in eastern Ghazni province cancelled a music concert yesterday saying it was "haram" under Islam, a sign of the growing influence of Taliban extremists, Ghazni lawmakers said Wednesday.
Two Afghan singers, Mohammad Anwar Azad and Abass Neshat, were to perform at the concert in Ghazni's Jaghori district to celebrate the Persian new year, but the district government and Ulema council forbade it, forcing it to be cancelled.
The district council and the religious Ulema said in a statement said that music is prohibited in Islam, calling it "haram" - forbidden.
A number of Ghazni lawmakers in parliament on Wednesday criticised the statement, warning that it was a sign of the Taliban's influence.
Under the Taliban regime all music and musical instruments were banned, unless it was a form of chanting the Koran.
The local Ghazni Ulema Council said in its statement: "We condemn any gathering, under any name which is against Islam regulations or values. Such a gathering creates disagreements and insecurity as well. We prevent any such gathering."
Lawmaker Mohammad Ali Akhlaqi rejected the statement.
"The religious groups should not stand against holding some parties which are for the occasion of Nowroz and shows our culture," he said.
"Holding concerts are part of the freedom of speech," MP Assadullah Saadati said. "These people want to take away our freedom. In fact, they violate [Afghanistan's] sovereignty -- each village or each district should not give separate orders on these issues."
Islamic scholar Nazir Ahmad Hanafi said music was not haram but there are some conditions.
"Music is not forbidden in Islam but it there are some conditions. Today's music is not [always] acceptable," he told TOLOnews.
It is said that extremism is on the rise in the Jaghori district where the Ulema has previously cancelled similar events and were also behind the recent whipping of a girl as punishment.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com