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Afghanistan's Karzai backs clerics' demand for media crackdown
Reuters By Mirwais Harooni 24/04/2013
KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has agreed with a call from the country's conservative religious council for a crackdown on television stations, calling some of their programs "immoral and un-Islamic", officials said on Tuesday.
The decision by Karzai may alarm some of Afghanistan's international backers, who have invested heavily through 12 years of war in promoting liberal values and freedom of expression in Afghanistan's deeply conservative society.
The decision could also imperil advances in the country's media industry, which has enjoyed significant progress since the ouster of the austere Taliban regime 12 years ago.
Karzai issued a decree setting out the crackdown.
"The Ministry of Information and Culture must prevent (television channels) from broadcasting programs which are vulgar, obscene and un-Islamic and are counter to social morality," Karzai said in a statement issued by the Council of Ministers.
Neither Karzai nor the Council of Ministers specified in the statement what was meant by vulgar, obscene or immoral programs.
However, Jalal Noorani, an adviser to the minister of culture and Information, told Reuters immoral programs included Indian television soap operas and Afghan music videos featuring "half-naked" dancing girls.
Afghanistan's Ulema council met Karzai on Friday and demanded the government take action against some television broadcasters, accusing them of promoting prostitution, the Council of Ministers said in the statement.
The Ulema council is an influential group of scholars and religious leaders who debate religious matters and exert significant political influence.
MOLLIFYING THE TALIBAN?
Karzai provoked international outrage last year when he backed recommendations from clerics to segregate the sexes in the workplace.
Another recommendation allowed husbands to beat wives under certain circumstances, a decree which some saw as reminiscent of Taliban regime.
More than 50 private television stations, 150 radio broadcasters and about 1,000 newspapers have emerged in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001, according to Noorani.
Some of the stations broadcast Indian soap operas, dancing and songs which have drawn harsh criticism from conservative clerics and some politicians.
"There are many TV stations that turn to vulgarisms and broadcast immoral programs, which are counter to national interests and Islamic values," the Council of Ministers cited the clerics as telling Karzai.
Karzai's critics say such directives are aimed at mollifying the Taliban, who banned television during their five-year rule, and luring them to the bargaining table.
Afghan and U.S. officials have been seeking negotiations with the insurgents in the hope of ensuring stability after most foreign combat troops leave at the end of next year, though the talks are widely believed to have stalled.
Noorani said broadcasters who failed to abide by the rules could have their licenses canceled.
(Writing by Hamid Shalizi; Editing by Dylan Welch and Robert Birsel)
Moderate Earthquake Hits Afghanistan
VOA News April 24, 2013
A moderate earthquake hit Afghanistan Wednesday and its tremors were felt in Kabul, Islamabad and as far away as New Delhi.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the 5.7-magnitude earthquake was 65 kilometers deep and struck 25 kilometers northwest of Jalalabad, the main town in eastern Afghanistan which is close to the Pakistani border. Pakistan's meteorological office put the magnitude at 6.2.
Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a provincial government spokesman, tells VOA that six people have died and 64 others were injured in the quake and that a large number of structures in Nangahar province have been damaged.
Some buildings reportedly swayed in New Delhi, causing a mild panic.
Last week a powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake killed 41 people in the Baluchistan region of Pakistan, and just a few days later a 6.6-magnitude earthquake killed about 600 people in southeastern China.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
Pakistan must crack down on Afghan militants - NATO
Reuters By Adrian Croft and David Brunnstrom 23/04/2013
BRUSSELS - Pakistan must crack down on militants who use the country as a sanctuary to launch attacks in Afghanistan, the head of NATO said on Tuesday, before a U.S.-chaired meeting that will try to ease friction between the neighbours.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will host talks between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and senior Pakistan officials in Brussels on Wednesday, with the aim of calming tension over border disputes and a stalled peace process.
"It is a problem that terrorists can cross the border, conduct terrorist acts in Afghanistan and then seek sanctuaries, safe havens in Pakistan," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters after alliance foreign ministers met to discuss Afghanistan.
"It is countering all our efforts to improve the security situation. So we have a common interest in an intensified fight against these cross-border activities," he said.
NATO had urged Pakistan's government and military to step up efforts to fight militants in the border region, Rasmussen said.
"We need a positive engagement of Pakistan if we are to ensure long-term peace and stability not only in Afghanistan, but in the region."
Afghan officials say Pakistan has a long history of supporting Afghanistan's Taliban and other insurgent factions. Pakistan has in turn accused Afghanistan of giving safe haven to militants on the Afghan side of the border.
Afghanistan has grown increasingly frustrated with Pakistan over efforts to pursue a peace process involving the Taliban, suggesting that Islamabad is intent on keep Afghanistan unstable until foreign combat forces leave at the end of 2014.
The talks follow weeks of tension with Pakistan over their 2,600 km (1,600 mile) border and stalled peace efforts.
U.S. officials hope that Kerry, who has a good relationship with Karzai, can bring the parties back to the negotiating table and make constructive progress on an issue that has long-term security implications for Washington.
Rasmussen held talks with Karzai at NATO headquarters on Tuesday, which he said focused on the legal framework for NATO's presence in Afghanistan after 2014.
NATO-led forces are expected to cede the lead role for security in Afghanistan this spring to Afghan soldiers, 12 years after the United States invaded Afghanistan to oust the Taliban government harbouring Osama bin Laden, the al Qaeda leader.
The White House has yet to decide how many U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan after 2014. Much depends on progress in negotiations with Karzai on a Bilateral Security Agreement to define the future legal status of U.S. forces.
(Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
Flood kills 13 in northern Afghanistan
MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Heavy rains and floods have killed 13 people in northern Balkh province with Mazar-e-Sharif as its capital, police said Wednesday.
"The natural disaster of flooding hit parts of Sholgara and Kashandi districts last night during which 13 people including two children lost their lives," provincial police chief Shir Jan Durani told Xinhua.
Besides destroying scores of houses and leaving hundreds homeless, the floods have washed away two schools and a clinic in the mentioned districts, he added.
Afghan civilian casualties up by 30 % in 2013: UN envoy
VOA News April 24, 2013
A United Nations envoy says there has been a “troubling” rise in civilian casualties in Afghanistan in the first three months of 2013, Press TV reports.
During a NATO ministerial briefing in Brussels on Tuesday, UN special representative for Afghanistan, Jan Kubis said that civilian deaths had increased by 30 percent compared to the same time last year.
Kubis said that about 475 civilians were killed and 872 others wounded from January to March this year.
Earlier this month, Taliban militants attacked a courthouse in the western Farah Province, killing about 50 people and leaving many more wounded. Kubis said the attack has been amounted to a “war crime.”
On Tuesday, four children were killed in a roadside bomb attack in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar Province.
The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. The offensive removed the Taliban from power, but insecurity continues to rise across the country, despite the presence of thousands of US-led troops.
A great number of Afghan civilians are also killed in US-led drone strikes. Washington claims that its airstrikes target militants, but local sources say civilians have been the main victims of the attacks.
In the first six months of 2012, over 1,140 Afghan civilians were killed and around 2,000 were wounded, mostly by roadside bombs, according to the statistics released by the United Nations. Thirty percent of the casualties were women and children.
‘A Chinese Threat to Afghan Buddhas’
New York Times By BRENT E. HUFFMAN Op-Docs April 23, 2013
When I first traveled to Afghanistan in 2004, I immediately fell in love with the country and its people, and I was optimistic that the young people in Kabul would soon have better lives. Yet my hopes dimmed as I learned about a revolving door of exploitation at the hands of the Russians, Americans and now the Chinese — who have begun mining Afghanistan’s plentiful natural resources and threatening priceless national heritage sites.
In 2007, the Chinese state-owned China Metallurgical Group Corporation (M.C.C.) won the rights to mine copper at a site called Mes Aynak. Situated in volatile Logar Province, Mes Aynak is home to one of the world’s largest untapped copper deposits — worth more than $100 billion. Yet, as this Op-Doc video shows, the site also houses the astonishing remains of an ancient Buddhist city, which archaeologists are now racing to save. An international team has only until June to finish the excavations, which began in 2009. So far they have uncovered golden Buddhist statues, dozens of buildings and fragile Buddhist manuscripts buried within temples. Yet perhaps 90 percent of the site remains underground and unseen. To finish the job could take decades. In all likelihood, the destruction of the Buddhist sites will begin later this year. The Afghan government is letting this happen — it’s a tragedy that echoes the notorious destruction of the Buddhas at Bamiyan in 2001.
Yet, even after four trips to Afghanistan to report this story, it’s difficult for me to know for sure what will become of Mes Aynak. Recent repeated attempts to contact the M.C.C. to confirm the mining timeline for this story have gone unanswered. There is widespread corruption and virtually no government transparency in Afghanistan, and the M.C.C. contract has never been made public.
I have heard arguments in favor of the mining. The copper deal is the largest foreign investment and private business venture in Afghanistan’s history. There is hope among some Afghans that this Chinese deal will bring real and positive change to Afghanistan — jobs, infrastructure and money to help fuel economic growth. Some of the Buddhist artifacts are being rescued, and it’s possible that not all of the ancient sites will be destroyed by the mining.
But I worry that nothing positive will come from this mining project. I fear the mineral resource is being undervalued, that money will be lost to corruption in the Afghan ministries and that jobs at the mine will go to Chinese immigrants. Geologists tell me that, as a result of the open-pit style of mining, the site will most likely become so toxic that nothing can ever live there again. Money can come and go, but these precious historical artifacts will be gone forever.
Brent E. Huffman is a documentary filmmaker and assistant professor at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. He is expanding the material in this Op-Doc into a feature-length documentary.
Afghan Diplomats Do Not Return, Seek Asylum: Experts
TOLOnews.com By Shakeela Ahbrimkhil Tuesday, 23 April 2013
A number of experts said Tuesday that some of the Afghan diplomats, especially ambassadors to other countries, have not returned to the country after their working term ended and have sought asylum, an act which according to the pundits is caused for inattention from foreign ministry while employing the diplomats.
Admitting such act for only a very few diplomats, foreign ministry, however, said that it has set a fresh regulation for employing diplomats and in the future such issues will be resolved with the country the diplomat is sent to.
Experts said that over the past years, many diplomats used their passports to seek asylum.
"Over the recent years, diplomats were not employed at the foreign ministry based on their competencies and capacities but through in-betweens, are Jihadi leaders, MPs, and figures in power," said Ahmad Saeedi, political expert.
"Based on the figures I have, Afghanistan has 63 offices of diplomatic mission and more than 70 percent of the diplomats who were changed in Afghanistan over the course of one to one and a half year have not returned to Afghanistan," Saeedi added.
Some jurists have suggested that foreign ministry of Afghanistan is required to consider commitment from its staff besides skills and experience.
"There will be problems if we set a standard by which, for example, they spend three years in mission and three years in a foreign country formulaically. I repeat again that a diplomat's commitment to their country and to their country's interests – whether inside Ministry of Foreign Affairs or at offices of diplomatic mission – is a very important principle which Ministry of Foreign Affairs needs to work on seriously and be concerned about," said Nasrullah Stanikzai, Kabul University teacher.
Nevertheless, Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the asylum act has only been done by a very few diplomats and dialogues regarding the issue are carried out with those countries.
"Unfortunately, there are few cases in Canada and Germany. In very few cases, there were those who sought asylum. We informed Canada and Germany about the issue," said Jawid Lodin, deputy foreign minister for political affairs.
"The only measure we can put to practice is to agree with the countries of the other side, and no matter what their laws are, our laws require that the government staff cannot – with the privileges they receive – do such acts, which are not good for the country's reputation," the deputy minister added.
In addition, employing diplomats as ambassadors in countries where they have citizenship is of other distresses. Experts said the diplomats prefer interests of the country of their second citizenship as superior.
Experts said that foreign ministry of Afghanistan should act more accurately for employing ambassadors, and suggested the ministry should select diplomats – with dual citizenship – as ambassadors to a third country.
Turkey plans to keep troopsin Afghanistan after NATO pullout
By MEENA HASEEB - 24 Apr 2013, 3:34 pm Khaama Press
The government of Turkey announced its intention to keep its peacemakers in Afghanistan, even if NATO withdraws its troops from the country by the end of 2014.
Turkish defense minister Ismet Yilmaz on Wednesday said the decision was taken following his visit to Afghanistan where Afghan officials expressed their hope that Turkey will keep its troops in Afghanistan.
Ismet Yilmaz said, “If we keep our peacemakers in Afghanistan beyond NATO troops withdrawal, it will create a confidence among the Afghans.”
This comes as NATO-led coalition security forces are preparing to ends their combat mission in Afghanistan by 2014 after Afghan security forces take full lead of the security responsibilities across the country.
In response to Turkish hostages who were captured by Taliban militants in eastern Logar province of Afghanistan, Turkish defense minister Ismet Yilmaz said the captives are in good condition however there have no development regarding their freedom so far.
He also added that the government of Turkey expects that the captives are released by Taliban soon.
Digital Piracy Kills The Pashtun Music Star
RFE/RL By Haroon Bacha and Abubakar Siddique April 23, 2013
When future generations ask who silenced Pashtun music, the Taliban won’t get the blame – it will be piracy.
The “pirates” are easily identifiable – they are the young men armed with laptops who can be found on street corners throughout northwestern Pakistan. Word on the street is that they are the ones to talk to when you need the latest hit.
Within minutes, they can upload whatever you need onto memory sticks, smart phones, or blank CDs at a fraction of the cost of buying the original recordings.
Combined with the scores of dedicated Pashto-music websites offering unlimited free downloads, these modern-day pirates are heralding the demise of a cultural icon.
The Pashtun music industry provides a livelihood for thousands all the way up the chain – from musicians to producers to retailers. The once-ubiquitous music shops that anchored bazaars orchestrated the entire process, recording new musicians, printing the cassettes that remained popular far after the advent of the CD, and selling the product on the spot.
The loss of revenue caused by piracy has closed many shops and left others teetering on bankruptcy, which means less investment in new artists, which means less music.
Sardar Yousafzai's is one of the most famous Pashtun singers. He remembers the days when music-shop owners used to get into bidding wars for the right to record him.
Now, he says, many musicians are forced out of necessity to pay the music shops if they want their music recorded. And even then the shops are reluctant to print the music onto cassettes or CDs, knowing that once the digital pirates get hold of them they will almost certainly lose money.
Desperate And Vulnerable
Yousafzai, 44, has invested his life in Pashtun music, which is known for both its stirring and calming melodies as well as its emotive folk songs.
In 2008, he survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban in his hometown of Malakand. But now he maintains that the militant group which considers music and entertainment un-Islamic is the least of his worries.
"Artists in our society are now the most desperate and vulnerable people because they can't do anything else," he says. "They have dedicated their lives to their professions. What else can they learn and adopt now [as a profession]?"
Yousafzai claims that Pashtun superstars of yesterday now struggle for mere survival. In his conversations with fellow singers and musicians, the discussion often drifts to individual tales of misery and desperation.
"I often tell them that all of us are sick because we suffer from constant tension," he says. "It's not only that we worry about becoming victims of terrorism. We all have become destitute because the profession that helped us in earning a livelihood is of no value any longer."
Such perceptions are widely shared in the music industry.
Sohail Khan, the owner of a music shop in Peshawar, considers himself one of a dying breed of Pashtun music-industry elite.
His Sangam Music House located at a crowded Pehawar bazaar was once the go-to place for musicians and singers. His shop doubled as a recording studio and became a pillar of the Pashtun music industry through its financing, production, and distribution of new tunes.
The middle-aged Khan had the money to invest in the industry – his shop has some 700 albums to its credit -- and the payoff was lucrative. Customers bought new recordings -- usually released on cassette ahead of important Muslim festivals -- in the tens of thousands.
Today the Sangam Music House is among the few such shops that remain in Peshawar's ancient bazaar. Scores more have been closed in Peshawar and other major cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.
A Complicated Picture
According to Khan, he used to rake in thousands of dollars a month in profits, but now finds it difficult to pay his bills and look after his family.
"The good old days are over," he says. "We are in a grave crisis and our business is ruined. We don't have any savings now. It is even difficult to meet our expenses."
Khan says Pashto stars such as Khyal Muhammad, Gulzar Alam, and Nazia Iqbal offer him money to release new albums, but he finds it hard to sell even their music because of piracy. He says the authorities fail to enforce copyrights despite protests from the music industry.
In Islamabad, officials paint a complicated picture of the effort to fight piracy.
Saifullah, an official of the Pakistan Intellectual Property Organization, says that this body is helping the Pashtun music industry form a Collective Management Organization and a Performing Rights Society so that the Pashtun investors and artists can protect themselves.
He claims he has advised the Pashtun music industry elite to take legal action against pirates, using existing laws.
"We don't have any specific analysis [about the scale of piracy] in the Pashtun music industry," he says. "But we can say that the problem is very big and this industry is in dire straits because of it. One of the problems is that even the legal copyright owners do not know that our country has copyright laws, and even the current laws are sufficient to deter violations of their copyright."
Expressing his personal, not professional, opinion, Saifullah points out that, since its formation in 2005 the Pakistan Intellectual Property Organization has worked hard to spread awareness of intellectual property rights.
The body was set up in response to international pressure after Pakistan emerged as a leading piracy hub, churning out millions of bootlegged DVD and CD copies of Hollywood movies and Western music.
But back in violence-wracked Peshawar, the enforcement of copyright laws seems like wishful thinking.
Karan Khan, a rising star of Pashto music, is proud of his burgeoning fan base among the Pashtun youth in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Nonetheless, he believes that unfettered piracy is clouding the future of the Pashtun music industry.
"I do not see this [piracy] ending soon because everybody here has a USB [memory stick], or a smart phone, or a digital radio, or access to the Internet," he says. "And they can download and listen to as much music as they want."
New Zealand, Afghan authorities praise work of provincial reconstruction troops
WELLINGTON, April 24 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand and Afghanistan officials Wednesday praised the decade-long work of New Zealand troops in the province of Bamyan, saying it had made a significant difference to the lives of ordinary Afghans.
More than 3,500 New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel had deployed to Afghanistan since late 2001, with the majority serving in Bamyan Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), Chief of Defence Force, Lieutenant General Rhys Jones, said in a statement from the NZDF.
The achievements in Bamyan had been possible as a result of the security provided by the PRT.
"New Zealand is leaving a lasting legacy. Bamyan remains one of the more secure provinces in Afghanistan," said Jones.
"The Defence Force's active engagement with the local population and our strong relationship with key leaders, coupled with development projects and community involvement, has helped to minimize influence from insurgents."
U.S. General Joseph Dunford, Commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, said New Zealand had fulfilled its promise to its coalition partners and the Afghan people.
"Through the work of the New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team, Bamyan now has stronger security and stability, and firm governance in place," Dunford said in the statement.
Provincial Governor Dr Habiba Sarabi said the New Zealand forces had respected the people, especially the elders and people in villages in Bamyan.
"The Bamyan authorities and community believe the PRT support in the fields of security, good governance, tourism development, education and health sectors and infrastructure have changed the face of Bamyan," Sarabi said in the statement.
Bamyan Provincial Chief of Police General Abdul Razak said in the statement that the local security forces were grateful for the training and mentoring provided by the NZDF and New Zealand Police.
A contingent of 27 NZDF personnel remain in Afghanistan to work with the United Nations, ISAF and Afghan authorities in Kabul after all the troops departed from Bamyan earlier this month.
New Zealand forces were first deployed in Afghanistan in 2001 and the PRT was established in January 2003.
Bamyan was the first Afghan province to transition in July 2011, marking the transfer of responsibility for provincial level security back to Afghan control.
Eight NZDF personnel were killed in Bamyan and two have died in Kabul.
Afghanistan says negotiating release of helicopter hostages
Reuters Tue, Apr 23, 2013
KABUL - The Taliban may free a group of mainly Turkish hostages captured when their helicopter made an emergency landing in a Taliban-controlled area of eastern Afghanistan as early as Tuesday night, a provincial official said.
Negotiations between village leaders and the Taliban were underway, and that was leading to hopes they could be freed within hours, a spokesman for the governor of Logar province told Reuters.
"Tribal elders are playing an important role in this incident - they have already talked with the Taliban and we hope the hostages could be freed this evening," Din Mohammad Darwish said.
The eight Turkish engineers, an Afghan and two pilots from Russia and Kyrgyzstan were onboard a Russian Mi-8 helicopter when it made a "hard landing" in a remote part of Logar province due to bad weather on Sunday afternoon.
They were taken captive by the insurgency, which controls the area, according to officials and a Taliban spokesman.
A group of police were sent to Azra district to investigate on Monday but were fired upon by unknown men and had to leave, Rais Khan Sadiq, the deputy head of Logar police, said, adding that there is no NATO or Afghan army presence in the district.
Since being captured the eleven had been moved from Logar's conflict-riven Azra district to Hesarak district in neighbouring Nangarhar province, Sadiq said.
No operation to rescue the hostages was being planned while the village elders negotiated with the Taliban, Sadiq said.
"We want to solve this problem with mediation of local elders. If we don't reach any conclusion then we will plan a military operation," he said.
He also denied a Taliban statement that the helicopter had been set fire by the insurgents, saying it had been seen by police and it was still intact.
The engineers from a Turkish construction company were returning to Kabul from the eastern border province of Khost, when the helicopter, owned by air charter company Khorasan Cargo Airlines, was forced to land.
Both the Russian and Turkish foreign ministries have confirmed they had citizens aboard the helicopter.
Helicopter crashes and "hard landings" happen relatively frequently in mountainous Afghanistan.
In August 2011, 30 U.S. special forces soldiers, seven Afghans and an interpreter were killed when a Chinook transport helicopter was shot down, the deadliest single incident for foreign troops in more than a decade of war.
Khorasan flies Russian Mi-8 and Mi-17 helicopters as well as fixed-wing aircraft in Afghanistan. They offer troops and cargo transportation as well as medivac and civilian transportation services.
(Reporting by Mirwais Harooni; Writing by Dylan Welch; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
Official: Suspect says Iraq, Afghanistan drove Boston bombings
CNN By Michael Pearson April 24, 2013
The surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings has cited the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as motivating factors behind last week's attack, a U.S. government official said Tuesday.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been able to communicate with investigators in a limited fashion from his hospital bed and told them that neither he nor his brother Tamerlan, now dead, had any contact with terrorist groups overseas. The official cautioned that the interviews were preliminary, however, and that Tsarnaev's account needs to be checked out.
The 19-year-old has told investigators the brothers were self-radicalized via the Internet. Investigators also are looking into whether the online English-language magazine Inspire, put out by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was used for instruction on how to make the bombs, but another source cautioned that other outlets could have provided that information.
The twin blasts just before the finish line of the April 15 race killed three people and wounded more than 260 and turned a chunk of downtown Boston into a crime scene, disrupting the normal routines of countless others. Authorities slowly began allowing residents and business owners back into the area Tuesday. There was no word on when the street where the bombings occurred will be fully open to the public. That, the city says, will depend on how quickly building owners can make repairs and other issues.Business owner Ed Borash was among those who returned Tuesday. He said he and his son narrowly missed injury in the bombing."I've had a tough time," he said. "It's just one of those things. It's very emotional."
Helena Collins, a businesswoman in the area, said it was important to get up and running again, but not just for economic reasons.
"For us and our business, it's really about how do we get back to Boston, how do we band together, how do we help those that were seriously injured that are going to have lifelong struggles," she said.
As of Tuesday evening, 43 people injured in last week's attack remained hospitalized, one of whom is in critical condition, according to a CNN tally. Meanwhile, two victims of the bombing were laid to rest.Family members of 8-year-old Martin Richard held a private funeral Mass Tuesday, his parents said in a statement. A public memorial service is planned, they said.
"The outpouring of love and support over the last week has been tremendous," Denise and Bill Richard said in the statement. "We laid our son Martin to rest, and he is now at peace."
Family, friends and colleagues mourned slain Massachusetts Institute of Technology police Officer Sean Collier at a private memorial service in Stoneham, Massachusetts, CNN affiliate WHDH reported.
A memorial service open to law enforcement officers and the MIT community is scheduled for Wednesday on MIT's campus, the university said.
New details on officer's slaying
Collier was killed Thursday night, near the beginning of a wild 24 hours that culminated in Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's capture in the backyard of a home in Watertown, a Boston suburb. Authorities suspect Tsarnaev and his 26-year-old brother of killing the officer, though Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has not been charged in Collier's death.
According to a source with direct knowledge of the investigation, Collier didn't even have time to activate his emergency alert before being shot four or five times in the chest and head as he sat in his patrol car on the MIT campus.
It's not clear why the brothers allegedly ambushed the officer, the source said.
The source said investigators believe the Tsarnaevs then carjacked a black SUV, took the driver hostage and drove past the scene of the shooting before going to a gas station.
Carjacking victim tells his story
Investigators believe Tamerlan Tsarnaev carried out the car jacking while his younger brother was nearby at the time, a U.S. official told CNN Tuesday.
In an exclusive interview with CNN affiliate WMUR, a man identifying himself as the carjacking victim said he was worried for his life.
"They asked me where I'm from. I told them I'm Chinese," WMUR quoted the man as saying. "I was very scared. I asked them if they were going to hurt me. They said they won't hurt me. I was thinking, 'I think they will kill me later.' "
The man escaped when the brothers stopped to fill up the gas tank, running for his life as one of the brothers swore at him, WMUR reported.
Soon after, the brothers encountered police, setting off a furious gun battle in which authorities say they fired handguns and hurled explosives at pursuing officers before Tamerlan Tsarnaev was shot. As the younger brother fled in the vehicle, he apparently ran over Tamerlan, authorities said.
See first photos of the takedown
Suspect shopped at fireworks store
More than two months before the marathon bombings, Tamerlan Tsarnaev bought two reloadable mortar style fireworks a New Hampshire store.
On February 6, Tsarnaev had one question for a store assistant at Phantom Fireworks in Seabrook, New Hampshire: "What's the biggest and loudest thing you have?"
After that, store Vice President William Weimer said, Tsarnaev shelled out $200 cash for two "lock and load kits."
Weimer said such behavior is very common in the store. He said the store notified the FBI after discovering that the marathon bombing suspect had bought explosives there.
Law enforcement officials told CNN earlier Tuesday that the number of fireworks bought at the store was not enough to set off explosions the size of those at the Boston Marathon.
"My assumption is they bought this, experimented with it and decided against it and moved on and found another source," Weimer said.
Details emerge about boat, standoff
Tamerlan Tsarnaev was pronounced dead early Friday. On Friday night, police captured Dzhokhar Tsarnaev hiding inside a boat in a backyard.
Boat owner David Henneberry told CNN affiliate WCVB Tuesday that his obsession with how his boat was stored just right led him to discover the suspect as he stood on a ladder replacing two pads that had fallen out of the shrink wrap protecting his boat for the winter.
"I got three steps up the ladder and rolled the shrink wrap. I didn't expect to see anything, but I saw blood on the floor of the boat. A good amount of blood. ... And I looked back and forth a couple of times and my eyes went to the engine block and there was a body," he told the affiliate.
Henneberry said Tuesday that he doesn't even remember climbing down the ladder and running to the phone to dial 911, delivering the tip that would lead to Tsarnaev's capture.
"I didn't waste any time. I didn't ask him if he wanted a cup of coffee. I was off that ladder. That is all I remember," he told the affiliate.
Investigators swarmed the scene, forming a perimeter. Multiple shots rang out from behind the house, Boston Police Superintendent William Evans said Tuesday.
Authorities are still investigating whether Tsarnaev was armed and whether a shootout occurred at the boat, Evans told reporters.
"Clearly from everybody's vantage point, we could see whoever was in that boat was poking at that top," he said.
It wasn't clear at the time, he said, whether the suspect had a handgun or was trying to poke a hole in the boat's cover. After a standoff, hostage negotiators persuaded him to surrender, Evans said.
Investigation continues
The Tsarnaev family is from the Russian republic of Chechnya and fled the brutal wars there in the 1990s. The two brothers were born in Kyrgyzstan; Dzhokhar became a U.S. citizen in 2012. His brother was a legal U.S. resident.
Although Tamerlan Tsarnaev had become increasingly radical in the past three or four years, there was no evidence Tuesday of any accomplices or connections to extremists, a U.S. official said.
But Dzhokhar Tsarnaev conveyed to authorities that his brother believed Islam is under attack and its adherents must fight back, a U.S. government source said Monday.
Communicating with investigators by writing and nodding, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has indicated that his older brother masterminded the bombings, the source said.
The younger Tsarnaev has been charged with using and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death, as well as one count of malicious destruction of property by means of an explosive device resulting in death.
The U.S. official said Tuesday that investigators have determined that the pressure cookers used in the attacks were purchased at a Macy's department store.
Suspects' family members react
In a statement issued through their lawyers Tuesday, the suspects' sisters -- Ailina and Bella Tsarnaev -- said they were saddened "to see so many innocent people hurt after such a callous act."
"As a family, we are absolutely devastated by the sense of loss and sorrow this has caused," they said. "We don't have any answers but we look forward to a thorough investigation and hope to learn more."
And Tamerlan Tsarnaev's wife, Katherine Russell, issued a statement through her attorney's office saying she is "doing everything she can to assist with the investigation" and said she and her family are shocked and distraught.
"The reports of involvement by her husband and brother-in-law came as an absolute shock to them all," the statement said.
The suspects' mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaev, said Tuesday that she believed her sons had been framed.
Speaking from her home in Dagestan -- a Russian republic on the Caspian Sea -- Tsarnaev said she thinks her older son died because he was a Muslim and charged that authorities silenced her younger son to prevent him from defending himself.
She said family members have arranged for Tamerlan Tsarnaev to be buried at a mosque in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Tuesday or Wednesday.
An official with the Islamic Society of Boston said it has not received any funeral requests from the family. A spokesman for the chief medical examiner's office also said officials there have heard nothing about plans by the slain suspect's family to claim his body.
Lack of Security a Challenge Ahead of Sultan Dam Construction
TOLOnews.com By Shahla Murtazaie Tuesday, 23 April 2013
Afghan Ministry of Water and Energy on Tuesday said that construction of Sultan Dam will not be possible until there is no security in the area.
Water and Energy ministry officials say that it is necessary to install a steel curtain to prevent water waste in
Sultan Dam, but warned that until there is no security in the area, construction will not be possible.
Meanwhile, Afghan Interior Ministry speaks of the ability of Public Protection Forces to provide security of Energy Dams construction.
"We hope that this will be discussed as an important issue with the interior ministry and our security enterprises so that construction work on the project can be started," Sediq Sediqi Interior Ministry's spokesman told TOLOnews.
However, Ghazni provincial officials consider Sultan Dam a serious need to solve agricultural problems in thisprovince.
But deputy of Water and Energy Ministry says that if the security of Sultan Dam is not secured, the construction process will not be started.
"The part of the dam which was destroyed is rebuilt and there must be a steel curtain made in the lower part of the dam to store water and prevent water waste. But if there is no security, the construction process will not begin,"
Shujauddin Ziaie, Deputy Minister of the Water and Energy ministry told TOLOnews.
Deputy Minister of Water and Energy says that in the last few years, there has been no commitment to provide
security of Sultan Dam construction process, and that the budget for the construction of Sultan Dam has been cancelled by foreign donors.
But any time the security of this dam is provided, the budget will be reallocated for the construction.
Foreign Members Could Be Effective on Transparency of Election: TEFA
TOLOnews.com By Rafi Sediqi Tuesday, 23 April 2013
The Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan TEFA on Tuesday said that presence of two foreigners in the Electoral Complaints Commission could increase people's trust in the election process, calling their presence as effective.
The transparent election foundation commission says the law of governing election commission and electoral complaints commission does not clearly rule on selection of two civil society's members as members of election.
Although the foundation " TEFA " calls approval of the law of governing election commission and electoral complaints commission effective in the transparency of the coming presidential election, but says that it has not enough clearance about appointment of civil society members as members of the election Commission.
According to the law, members of the Independent Election commission have to be appointed by a selected committee.
"The approval of the law of governing independent election commission is a positive move on election and the committee which is going to select election commission members, but cannot guarantee transparency of the election," Head of TEFA Naeem Ayoubi said.
Meanwhile, the Free and Fair Election Foundation FEFA believes that signing of the law by President Karzai will further help on transparency of the election.
"This law increases the transparency process and will be effective on the independence of the electoral commissions," Head of Free and Fair Election Foundation Nader Naderi said.
The law of governing election commission was approved four months ago by the Afghan parliament and sent to the Senate. The senators objected to the presence of two foreigners in the electoral complaints commission and creation of a committee for selecting election commissions' members.
According to the law, the head and members of the independent election commission will be selected from university lecturers, civil society members and persons proposed by both houses.
The United Nations can also introduce an observer to monitor transparency of the presidential election.
Nangarhar Protests Continue Against Governor Sherzai
TOLOnews.com Tuesday, 23 April 2013
Protests against the governor of eastern Nangarhar province, Gul Agha Sherzai, has continued for the fourth day on Tuesday in Jalalabad, the capital of the province, with protestors calling for the governor's dismissal.
Hundreds of residents of the province have demonstrated in different parts of the city, shouting "death to governor" slogans against Gul Agha Sherzai, Some said "he is dealing with Pakistan," and called for his immediate dismissal.
The residents – who claim the governor has been unresponsive to impeding corruption, illegal land grabbing, and Pakistani military missile attacks on Afghan soil – said they would continue their protests until Mr Sherzai is removed from his post.
"We don't want him anymore. He has betrayed the residents of Nangarhar," said a protestor.
"We are asking from the President for his dismissal. If anyone stops us, it will be not good and President Karzai should not disregard residents of Nangarhar only for the sake of one person," said another protestor.
Meanwhile, provincial governor's spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai said that the protestors will be responded soon.
"We have talked to the government about the demands of the protestors and the government has sent a delegation to the province to stop the protests and investigate about the problem," he said.
Since 2003, Pakistan – with assistance from the coalition forces – has shifted 11 border posts from previous locations on Afghan soil to Ghushta district of Nangarhar province alongside Durand Line, an act accompanied by reactions from the government and the people of Afghanistan.
There are reports that the Pakistan military have started to build up the second gate in Goshta district of eastern Nangarhar province.
Reports say that Pakistan's military are building up the gate along the Durand line and it's not yet completed.
But Nangarhar security officials on Tuesday rejected recent reports of Pakistan's second gate building in Goshta district of the province.
Eastern Nangarhar Border Police say that there is no sign of second gate of Pakistani military in Goshta district of the province.
Pakistan Will Never Change Policies Against Afghanistan: Karimi
TOLOnews.com By Rafi Sediqi Tuesday, 23 April 2013
Accusing Pakistan of founding a puppet state in his country, Afghan Chief of Army Staff said Tuesday that the neighbouring country would never change its policy towards Afghanistan.
"Pakistan will never forbear its political aims towards Afghanistan, and is trying to recognise its borders and use water resources of Afghanistan more than before. It looks for having a government in Afghanistan that is under its dominance," said Sher Mohammad Karimi, Chief of Army Staff of Afghanistan, who was called to the Senate.
While distressed by fears of India's influence in the country, Pakistan would play any game in Afghanistan to reach its goals, Karimi said.
The United States and Isaf should resolve the border issues between Pakistan and Afghanistan, he added.
As believed by Afghan deputy foreign minister, Pakistan has constantly played double game against Afghanistan.
The deputy minister stated that that Pakistan is a security threat to Afghanistan.
"Pakistan is the greatest source of security threat to Afghanistan, and has acted twofold at every talk with the government of Afghanistan," said Jawid Lodin, deputy foreign minister for political affairs, "Although insurgents are funded and equipped on the other side of the border and they target security forces and civilians, Pakistan's goals from a few years ago will never be realised in Afghanistan."
Alongside deputy foreign minister's remarks, came comments from senator Abdul Wahab Irfan who said "Foreign ministry's positioning against Pakistan is not constant."
"Sometimes they call the country as a friend, but sometimes accusing it for violations and expanding insecurity – a matter which is distressing," he added.
Another senator called for for an stop to Pakistan's missile launching on Afghan territory.
"Missile attacks by Pakistani military are yet carried out over border areas of the country. Pakistan has continued its violations against Afghanistan. This must be stopped," said senator Shahnaz Ghawsi.
Senator Hedayatullah Rahayi, however, said that "the United States has remained silent towards border issues of the country. Security forces of the country are not capable of facing Pakistani military."
As stated by the Afghan Chief of Army Staff, Afghan National Army (ANA) is ready to defend the country, yet they cannot react to the military of Pakistan without a decree from the Afghan government, especially that from the Afghan National Security Council.
Afghanistan: Praise for New Civic Group in Helmand
Organisation says it avoid politics and just wants to get things done.
IWPR By Hijratullah Ekhtyar 23 Apr 13
Afghanistan - A new advocacy group in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province has won praise from locals for its efforts to help them pursue legal claims, resolve disputes and access government services.
The Helmand Civil Society was set up about five months ago and already has more than 200 members, as well as serving as an umbrella organisation for 37 other groups representing students, teachers, doctors, tribal elders, the disabled and trade unions.
Since the fall of the Taleban in 2001, numerous non-government groups have been established across Afghanistan, but critics say they are not always focused on getting results.
Helmand residents say the new group, run entirely on a voluntary basis with no outside funding, has already made a difference.
Nizamoddin, a resident of Garmsir district, applied for help after his land was seized by “powerful men”, and his appeals to government agencies proved fruitless.
“When I heard an office had been established in Helmand to help resolve such problems, I went there and asked for their assistance,” he said. “The head of the office really helped me. He introduced me to the land dispute resolution office in Garmsir, and members of the society backed my efforts until I regained my land.”
Nizamoddin said the individuals concerned were taken aback when they heard about the Helmand Civil Society’s intervention, and just gave him his land back.
“This [group] really is an arbitration office; there’s nothing like it anywhere in Helmand,” he said.
The society has also managed to win over community leaders. Atiqullah Khan, a tribal elder in Helmand, said this was the first non-government group to make a real difference.
“More people go to them than to the governor's office or the provincial council, because they receive help without having to pay for it,” he said. “Their success is due to the fact that their members come from all sections of society, and they heed the advice of tribal elders.”
The group’s spokesman, Hezbollah Khamosh, said that in the space of a few months, it had achieved a great deal, including lobbying Afghan president Hamed Karzai for permission to build a new building for Lashkar Gah university, currently in temporary premises.
The Helmand Civil Society’s director, Sardar Mohammad Hamdard, said it was formed by young people frustrated with corruption officials, brutal strongmen, and an inactive provincial assembly.
“We try to bridge the gap between the people and the government, not just as a conduit for submitting complaints to officials but also as a way of getting government to deliver results to the people,” he explained. “For the first time, young people are thinking about how they can work for the benefit of their own people in Helmand.”
The society, which has received a permit to function from the justice ministry, has won praise from the office of Helmand’s governor Mohammad Naim.
The governor’s spokesman Omar Zwak said his office was working closely with the society,
“They’ve achieved good results so far,” he said. “We’re in touch with them on a daily basis to discuss various matters. They are a great source of information about the problems people face. They share these problems with officials and seek solutions to them.”
In a province where the Taleban are very much in evidence, Zwak said the Helmand Civil Society enjoyed one distinct advantage – independence.
“They aren’t government people whose activities the armed opposition would obstruct,” he explained.
The Helmand Civil Society’s work on education has caused some controversy.
Spokesman Khamosh noted that the group’s efforts ensured that their preferred candidate was appointed as education chief for the Nawa district, and the official swiftly reopened four schools that had been closed. After hearing concerns raised by the group, Afghan education minister Faruq Wardak promised to address the issues.
This activism has upset some officials, who have accused the Helmand Civil Society of interfering in the affairs of government and trying to manoeuvre its own people into political posts.
Mohammad Nasim Safi, the province’s director of education, said the society was acting beyond its authority and had made baseless allegations of shortcomings in his department.
“I’m not claiming there are no problems in the education department or with the system itself, but that’s something that everyone needs to work towards solving. What good do their criticisms do?” he asked.
Khamosh insisted the society’s members had no political affiliations or ambitions.
“We don’t have any enemies, but we aren’t scared of anyone, either,” he said. “Officials are making problems for us because they don’t understand the aims of the [Helmand] Civil Society. We’re trying to convince them.”
Popular support for the group seems to be growing.
Niaz Mohammad represents 70 families who were previously displaced by the violence in Helmand. On returning from Kabul to Lashkar Gah, the familes were given two days’ worth of food to keep them going.
“No one helped us apart from God and this society. One of our children had died of hunger, and our other children were close to starving," he said."Members of the society paid for bread and other foodstuffs and promised to collect more aid for us from other charity organisations and the people. They’re still helping us, going from one office to the next on our behalf. May God bless them.”
Gol Ahmad Ehsan is an IWPR-trained journalist in Helmand.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
Reuters By Mirwais Harooni 24/04/2013
KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has agreed with a call from the country's conservative religious council for a crackdown on television stations, calling some of their programs "immoral and un-Islamic", officials said on Tuesday.
The decision by Karzai may alarm some of Afghanistan's international backers, who have invested heavily through 12 years of war in promoting liberal values and freedom of expression in Afghanistan's deeply conservative society.
The decision could also imperil advances in the country's media industry, which has enjoyed significant progress since the ouster of the austere Taliban regime 12 years ago.
Karzai issued a decree setting out the crackdown.
"The Ministry of Information and Culture must prevent (television channels) from broadcasting programs which are vulgar, obscene and un-Islamic and are counter to social morality," Karzai said in a statement issued by the Council of Ministers.
Neither Karzai nor the Council of Ministers specified in the statement what was meant by vulgar, obscene or immoral programs.
However, Jalal Noorani, an adviser to the minister of culture and Information, told Reuters immoral programs included Indian television soap operas and Afghan music videos featuring "half-naked" dancing girls.
Afghanistan's Ulema council met Karzai on Friday and demanded the government take action against some television broadcasters, accusing them of promoting prostitution, the Council of Ministers said in the statement.
The Ulema council is an influential group of scholars and religious leaders who debate religious matters and exert significant political influence.
MOLLIFYING THE TALIBAN?
Karzai provoked international outrage last year when he backed recommendations from clerics to segregate the sexes in the workplace.
Another recommendation allowed husbands to beat wives under certain circumstances, a decree which some saw as reminiscent of Taliban regime.
More than 50 private television stations, 150 radio broadcasters and about 1,000 newspapers have emerged in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001, according to Noorani.
Some of the stations broadcast Indian soap operas, dancing and songs which have drawn harsh criticism from conservative clerics and some politicians.
"There are many TV stations that turn to vulgarisms and broadcast immoral programs, which are counter to national interests and Islamic values," the Council of Ministers cited the clerics as telling Karzai.
Karzai's critics say such directives are aimed at mollifying the Taliban, who banned television during their five-year rule, and luring them to the bargaining table.
Afghan and U.S. officials have been seeking negotiations with the insurgents in the hope of ensuring stability after most foreign combat troops leave at the end of next year, though the talks are widely believed to have stalled.
Noorani said broadcasters who failed to abide by the rules could have their licenses canceled.
(Writing by Hamid Shalizi; Editing by Dylan Welch and Robert Birsel)
Moderate Earthquake Hits Afghanistan
VOA News April 24, 2013
A moderate earthquake hit Afghanistan Wednesday and its tremors were felt in Kabul, Islamabad and as far away as New Delhi.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the 5.7-magnitude earthquake was 65 kilometers deep and struck 25 kilometers northwest of Jalalabad, the main town in eastern Afghanistan which is close to the Pakistani border. Pakistan's meteorological office put the magnitude at 6.2.
Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a provincial government spokesman, tells VOA that six people have died and 64 others were injured in the quake and that a large number of structures in Nangahar province have been damaged.
Some buildings reportedly swayed in New Delhi, causing a mild panic.
Last week a powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake killed 41 people in the Baluchistan region of Pakistan, and just a few days later a 6.6-magnitude earthquake killed about 600 people in southeastern China.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
Pakistan must crack down on Afghan militants - NATO
Reuters By Adrian Croft and David Brunnstrom 23/04/2013
BRUSSELS - Pakistan must crack down on militants who use the country as a sanctuary to launch attacks in Afghanistan, the head of NATO said on Tuesday, before a U.S.-chaired meeting that will try to ease friction between the neighbours.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will host talks between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and senior Pakistan officials in Brussels on Wednesday, with the aim of calming tension over border disputes and a stalled peace process.
"It is a problem that terrorists can cross the border, conduct terrorist acts in Afghanistan and then seek sanctuaries, safe havens in Pakistan," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters after alliance foreign ministers met to discuss Afghanistan.
"It is countering all our efforts to improve the security situation. So we have a common interest in an intensified fight against these cross-border activities," he said.
NATO had urged Pakistan's government and military to step up efforts to fight militants in the border region, Rasmussen said.
"We need a positive engagement of Pakistan if we are to ensure long-term peace and stability not only in Afghanistan, but in the region."
Afghan officials say Pakistan has a long history of supporting Afghanistan's Taliban and other insurgent factions. Pakistan has in turn accused Afghanistan of giving safe haven to militants on the Afghan side of the border.
Afghanistan has grown increasingly frustrated with Pakistan over efforts to pursue a peace process involving the Taliban, suggesting that Islamabad is intent on keep Afghanistan unstable until foreign combat forces leave at the end of 2014.
The talks follow weeks of tension with Pakistan over their 2,600 km (1,600 mile) border and stalled peace efforts.
U.S. officials hope that Kerry, who has a good relationship with Karzai, can bring the parties back to the negotiating table and make constructive progress on an issue that has long-term security implications for Washington.
Rasmussen held talks with Karzai at NATO headquarters on Tuesday, which he said focused on the legal framework for NATO's presence in Afghanistan after 2014.
NATO-led forces are expected to cede the lead role for security in Afghanistan this spring to Afghan soldiers, 12 years after the United States invaded Afghanistan to oust the Taliban government harbouring Osama bin Laden, the al Qaeda leader.
The White House has yet to decide how many U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan after 2014. Much depends on progress in negotiations with Karzai on a Bilateral Security Agreement to define the future legal status of U.S. forces.
(Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
Flood kills 13 in northern Afghanistan
MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Heavy rains and floods have killed 13 people in northern Balkh province with Mazar-e-Sharif as its capital, police said Wednesday.
"The natural disaster of flooding hit parts of Sholgara and Kashandi districts last night during which 13 people including two children lost their lives," provincial police chief Shir Jan Durani told Xinhua.
Besides destroying scores of houses and leaving hundreds homeless, the floods have washed away two schools and a clinic in the mentioned districts, he added.
Afghan civilian casualties up by 30 % in 2013: UN envoy
VOA News April 24, 2013
A United Nations envoy says there has been a “troubling” rise in civilian casualties in Afghanistan in the first three months of 2013, Press TV reports.
During a NATO ministerial briefing in Brussels on Tuesday, UN special representative for Afghanistan, Jan Kubis said that civilian deaths had increased by 30 percent compared to the same time last year.
Kubis said that about 475 civilians were killed and 872 others wounded from January to March this year.
Earlier this month, Taliban militants attacked a courthouse in the western Farah Province, killing about 50 people and leaving many more wounded. Kubis said the attack has been amounted to a “war crime.”
On Tuesday, four children were killed in a roadside bomb attack in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar Province.
The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. The offensive removed the Taliban from power, but insecurity continues to rise across the country, despite the presence of thousands of US-led troops.
A great number of Afghan civilians are also killed in US-led drone strikes. Washington claims that its airstrikes target militants, but local sources say civilians have been the main victims of the attacks.
In the first six months of 2012, over 1,140 Afghan civilians were killed and around 2,000 were wounded, mostly by roadside bombs, according to the statistics released by the United Nations. Thirty percent of the casualties were women and children.
‘A Chinese Threat to Afghan Buddhas’
New York Times By BRENT E. HUFFMAN Op-Docs April 23, 2013
When I first traveled to Afghanistan in 2004, I immediately fell in love with the country and its people, and I was optimistic that the young people in Kabul would soon have better lives. Yet my hopes dimmed as I learned about a revolving door of exploitation at the hands of the Russians, Americans and now the Chinese — who have begun mining Afghanistan’s plentiful natural resources and threatening priceless national heritage sites.
In 2007, the Chinese state-owned China Metallurgical Group Corporation (M.C.C.) won the rights to mine copper at a site called Mes Aynak. Situated in volatile Logar Province, Mes Aynak is home to one of the world’s largest untapped copper deposits — worth more than $100 billion. Yet, as this Op-Doc video shows, the site also houses the astonishing remains of an ancient Buddhist city, which archaeologists are now racing to save. An international team has only until June to finish the excavations, which began in 2009. So far they have uncovered golden Buddhist statues, dozens of buildings and fragile Buddhist manuscripts buried within temples. Yet perhaps 90 percent of the site remains underground and unseen. To finish the job could take decades. In all likelihood, the destruction of the Buddhist sites will begin later this year. The Afghan government is letting this happen — it’s a tragedy that echoes the notorious destruction of the Buddhas at Bamiyan in 2001.
Yet, even after four trips to Afghanistan to report this story, it’s difficult for me to know for sure what will become of Mes Aynak. Recent repeated attempts to contact the M.C.C. to confirm the mining timeline for this story have gone unanswered. There is widespread corruption and virtually no government transparency in Afghanistan, and the M.C.C. contract has never been made public.
I have heard arguments in favor of the mining. The copper deal is the largest foreign investment and private business venture in Afghanistan’s history. There is hope among some Afghans that this Chinese deal will bring real and positive change to Afghanistan — jobs, infrastructure and money to help fuel economic growth. Some of the Buddhist artifacts are being rescued, and it’s possible that not all of the ancient sites will be destroyed by the mining.
But I worry that nothing positive will come from this mining project. I fear the mineral resource is being undervalued, that money will be lost to corruption in the Afghan ministries and that jobs at the mine will go to Chinese immigrants. Geologists tell me that, as a result of the open-pit style of mining, the site will most likely become so toxic that nothing can ever live there again. Money can come and go, but these precious historical artifacts will be gone forever.
Brent E. Huffman is a documentary filmmaker and assistant professor at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. He is expanding the material in this Op-Doc into a feature-length documentary.
Afghan Diplomats Do Not Return, Seek Asylum: Experts
TOLOnews.com By Shakeela Ahbrimkhil Tuesday, 23 April 2013
A number of experts said Tuesday that some of the Afghan diplomats, especially ambassadors to other countries, have not returned to the country after their working term ended and have sought asylum, an act which according to the pundits is caused for inattention from foreign ministry while employing the diplomats.
Admitting such act for only a very few diplomats, foreign ministry, however, said that it has set a fresh regulation for employing diplomats and in the future such issues will be resolved with the country the diplomat is sent to.
Experts said that over the past years, many diplomats used their passports to seek asylum.
"Over the recent years, diplomats were not employed at the foreign ministry based on their competencies and capacities but through in-betweens, are Jihadi leaders, MPs, and figures in power," said Ahmad Saeedi, political expert.
"Based on the figures I have, Afghanistan has 63 offices of diplomatic mission and more than 70 percent of the diplomats who were changed in Afghanistan over the course of one to one and a half year have not returned to Afghanistan," Saeedi added.
Some jurists have suggested that foreign ministry of Afghanistan is required to consider commitment from its staff besides skills and experience.
"There will be problems if we set a standard by which, for example, they spend three years in mission and three years in a foreign country formulaically. I repeat again that a diplomat's commitment to their country and to their country's interests – whether inside Ministry of Foreign Affairs or at offices of diplomatic mission – is a very important principle which Ministry of Foreign Affairs needs to work on seriously and be concerned about," said Nasrullah Stanikzai, Kabul University teacher.
Nevertheless, Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the asylum act has only been done by a very few diplomats and dialogues regarding the issue are carried out with those countries.
"Unfortunately, there are few cases in Canada and Germany. In very few cases, there were those who sought asylum. We informed Canada and Germany about the issue," said Jawid Lodin, deputy foreign minister for political affairs.
"The only measure we can put to practice is to agree with the countries of the other side, and no matter what their laws are, our laws require that the government staff cannot – with the privileges they receive – do such acts, which are not good for the country's reputation," the deputy minister added.
In addition, employing diplomats as ambassadors in countries where they have citizenship is of other distresses. Experts said the diplomats prefer interests of the country of their second citizenship as superior.
Experts said that foreign ministry of Afghanistan should act more accurately for employing ambassadors, and suggested the ministry should select diplomats – with dual citizenship – as ambassadors to a third country.
Turkey plans to keep troopsin Afghanistan after NATO pullout
By MEENA HASEEB - 24 Apr 2013, 3:34 pm Khaama Press
The government of Turkey announced its intention to keep its peacemakers in Afghanistan, even if NATO withdraws its troops from the country by the end of 2014.
Turkish defense minister Ismet Yilmaz on Wednesday said the decision was taken following his visit to Afghanistan where Afghan officials expressed their hope that Turkey will keep its troops in Afghanistan.
Ismet Yilmaz said, “If we keep our peacemakers in Afghanistan beyond NATO troops withdrawal, it will create a confidence among the Afghans.”
This comes as NATO-led coalition security forces are preparing to ends their combat mission in Afghanistan by 2014 after Afghan security forces take full lead of the security responsibilities across the country.
In response to Turkish hostages who were captured by Taliban militants in eastern Logar province of Afghanistan, Turkish defense minister Ismet Yilmaz said the captives are in good condition however there have no development regarding their freedom so far.
He also added that the government of Turkey expects that the captives are released by Taliban soon.
Digital Piracy Kills The Pashtun Music Star
RFE/RL By Haroon Bacha and Abubakar Siddique April 23, 2013
When future generations ask who silenced Pashtun music, the Taliban won’t get the blame – it will be piracy.
The “pirates” are easily identifiable – they are the young men armed with laptops who can be found on street corners throughout northwestern Pakistan. Word on the street is that they are the ones to talk to when you need the latest hit.
Within minutes, they can upload whatever you need onto memory sticks, smart phones, or blank CDs at a fraction of the cost of buying the original recordings.
Combined with the scores of dedicated Pashto-music websites offering unlimited free downloads, these modern-day pirates are heralding the demise of a cultural icon.
The Pashtun music industry provides a livelihood for thousands all the way up the chain – from musicians to producers to retailers. The once-ubiquitous music shops that anchored bazaars orchestrated the entire process, recording new musicians, printing the cassettes that remained popular far after the advent of the CD, and selling the product on the spot.
The loss of revenue caused by piracy has closed many shops and left others teetering on bankruptcy, which means less investment in new artists, which means less music.
Sardar Yousafzai's is one of the most famous Pashtun singers. He remembers the days when music-shop owners used to get into bidding wars for the right to record him.
Now, he says, many musicians are forced out of necessity to pay the music shops if they want their music recorded. And even then the shops are reluctant to print the music onto cassettes or CDs, knowing that once the digital pirates get hold of them they will almost certainly lose money.
Desperate And Vulnerable
Yousafzai, 44, has invested his life in Pashtun music, which is known for both its stirring and calming melodies as well as its emotive folk songs.
In 2008, he survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban in his hometown of Malakand. But now he maintains that the militant group which considers music and entertainment un-Islamic is the least of his worries.
"Artists in our society are now the most desperate and vulnerable people because they can't do anything else," he says. "They have dedicated their lives to their professions. What else can they learn and adopt now [as a profession]?"
Yousafzai claims that Pashtun superstars of yesterday now struggle for mere survival. In his conversations with fellow singers and musicians, the discussion often drifts to individual tales of misery and desperation.
"I often tell them that all of us are sick because we suffer from constant tension," he says. "It's not only that we worry about becoming victims of terrorism. We all have become destitute because the profession that helped us in earning a livelihood is of no value any longer."
Such perceptions are widely shared in the music industry.
Sohail Khan, the owner of a music shop in Peshawar, considers himself one of a dying breed of Pashtun music-industry elite.
His Sangam Music House located at a crowded Pehawar bazaar was once the go-to place for musicians and singers. His shop doubled as a recording studio and became a pillar of the Pashtun music industry through its financing, production, and distribution of new tunes.
The middle-aged Khan had the money to invest in the industry – his shop has some 700 albums to its credit -- and the payoff was lucrative. Customers bought new recordings -- usually released on cassette ahead of important Muslim festivals -- in the tens of thousands.
Today the Sangam Music House is among the few such shops that remain in Peshawar's ancient bazaar. Scores more have been closed in Peshawar and other major cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.
A Complicated Picture
According to Khan, he used to rake in thousands of dollars a month in profits, but now finds it difficult to pay his bills and look after his family.
"The good old days are over," he says. "We are in a grave crisis and our business is ruined. We don't have any savings now. It is even difficult to meet our expenses."
Khan says Pashto stars such as Khyal Muhammad, Gulzar Alam, and Nazia Iqbal offer him money to release new albums, but he finds it hard to sell even their music because of piracy. He says the authorities fail to enforce copyrights despite protests from the music industry.
In Islamabad, officials paint a complicated picture of the effort to fight piracy.
Saifullah, an official of the Pakistan Intellectual Property Organization, says that this body is helping the Pashtun music industry form a Collective Management Organization and a Performing Rights Society so that the Pashtun investors and artists can protect themselves.
He claims he has advised the Pashtun music industry elite to take legal action against pirates, using existing laws.
"We don't have any specific analysis [about the scale of piracy] in the Pashtun music industry," he says. "But we can say that the problem is very big and this industry is in dire straits because of it. One of the problems is that even the legal copyright owners do not know that our country has copyright laws, and even the current laws are sufficient to deter violations of their copyright."
Expressing his personal, not professional, opinion, Saifullah points out that, since its formation in 2005 the Pakistan Intellectual Property Organization has worked hard to spread awareness of intellectual property rights.
The body was set up in response to international pressure after Pakistan emerged as a leading piracy hub, churning out millions of bootlegged DVD and CD copies of Hollywood movies and Western music.
But back in violence-wracked Peshawar, the enforcement of copyright laws seems like wishful thinking.
Karan Khan, a rising star of Pashto music, is proud of his burgeoning fan base among the Pashtun youth in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Nonetheless, he believes that unfettered piracy is clouding the future of the Pashtun music industry.
"I do not see this [piracy] ending soon because everybody here has a USB [memory stick], or a smart phone, or a digital radio, or access to the Internet," he says. "And they can download and listen to as much music as they want."
New Zealand, Afghan authorities praise work of provincial reconstruction troops
WELLINGTON, April 24 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand and Afghanistan officials Wednesday praised the decade-long work of New Zealand troops in the province of Bamyan, saying it had made a significant difference to the lives of ordinary Afghans.
More than 3,500 New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel had deployed to Afghanistan since late 2001, with the majority serving in Bamyan Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), Chief of Defence Force, Lieutenant General Rhys Jones, said in a statement from the NZDF.
The achievements in Bamyan had been possible as a result of the security provided by the PRT.
"New Zealand is leaving a lasting legacy. Bamyan remains one of the more secure provinces in Afghanistan," said Jones.
"The Defence Force's active engagement with the local population and our strong relationship with key leaders, coupled with development projects and community involvement, has helped to minimize influence from insurgents."
U.S. General Joseph Dunford, Commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, said New Zealand had fulfilled its promise to its coalition partners and the Afghan people.
"Through the work of the New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team, Bamyan now has stronger security and stability, and firm governance in place," Dunford said in the statement.
Provincial Governor Dr Habiba Sarabi said the New Zealand forces had respected the people, especially the elders and people in villages in Bamyan.
"The Bamyan authorities and community believe the PRT support in the fields of security, good governance, tourism development, education and health sectors and infrastructure have changed the face of Bamyan," Sarabi said in the statement.
Bamyan Provincial Chief of Police General Abdul Razak said in the statement that the local security forces were grateful for the training and mentoring provided by the NZDF and New Zealand Police.
A contingent of 27 NZDF personnel remain in Afghanistan to work with the United Nations, ISAF and Afghan authorities in Kabul after all the troops departed from Bamyan earlier this month.
New Zealand forces were first deployed in Afghanistan in 2001 and the PRT was established in January 2003.
Bamyan was the first Afghan province to transition in July 2011, marking the transfer of responsibility for provincial level security back to Afghan control.
Eight NZDF personnel were killed in Bamyan and two have died in Kabul.
Afghanistan says negotiating release of helicopter hostages
Reuters Tue, Apr 23, 2013
KABUL - The Taliban may free a group of mainly Turkish hostages captured when their helicopter made an emergency landing in a Taliban-controlled area of eastern Afghanistan as early as Tuesday night, a provincial official said.
Negotiations between village leaders and the Taliban were underway, and that was leading to hopes they could be freed within hours, a spokesman for the governor of Logar province told Reuters.
"Tribal elders are playing an important role in this incident - they have already talked with the Taliban and we hope the hostages could be freed this evening," Din Mohammad Darwish said.
The eight Turkish engineers, an Afghan and two pilots from Russia and Kyrgyzstan were onboard a Russian Mi-8 helicopter when it made a "hard landing" in a remote part of Logar province due to bad weather on Sunday afternoon.
They were taken captive by the insurgency, which controls the area, according to officials and a Taliban spokesman.
A group of police were sent to Azra district to investigate on Monday but were fired upon by unknown men and had to leave, Rais Khan Sadiq, the deputy head of Logar police, said, adding that there is no NATO or Afghan army presence in the district.
Since being captured the eleven had been moved from Logar's conflict-riven Azra district to Hesarak district in neighbouring Nangarhar province, Sadiq said.
No operation to rescue the hostages was being planned while the village elders negotiated with the Taliban, Sadiq said.
"We want to solve this problem with mediation of local elders. If we don't reach any conclusion then we will plan a military operation," he said.
He also denied a Taliban statement that the helicopter had been set fire by the insurgents, saying it had been seen by police and it was still intact.
The engineers from a Turkish construction company were returning to Kabul from the eastern border province of Khost, when the helicopter, owned by air charter company Khorasan Cargo Airlines, was forced to land.
Both the Russian and Turkish foreign ministries have confirmed they had citizens aboard the helicopter.
Helicopter crashes and "hard landings" happen relatively frequently in mountainous Afghanistan.
In August 2011, 30 U.S. special forces soldiers, seven Afghans and an interpreter were killed when a Chinook transport helicopter was shot down, the deadliest single incident for foreign troops in more than a decade of war.
Khorasan flies Russian Mi-8 and Mi-17 helicopters as well as fixed-wing aircraft in Afghanistan. They offer troops and cargo transportation as well as medivac and civilian transportation services.
(Reporting by Mirwais Harooni; Writing by Dylan Welch; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
Official: Suspect says Iraq, Afghanistan drove Boston bombings
CNN By Michael Pearson April 24, 2013
The surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings has cited the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as motivating factors behind last week's attack, a U.S. government official said Tuesday.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been able to communicate with investigators in a limited fashion from his hospital bed and told them that neither he nor his brother Tamerlan, now dead, had any contact with terrorist groups overseas. The official cautioned that the interviews were preliminary, however, and that Tsarnaev's account needs to be checked out.
The 19-year-old has told investigators the brothers were self-radicalized via the Internet. Investigators also are looking into whether the online English-language magazine Inspire, put out by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was used for instruction on how to make the bombs, but another source cautioned that other outlets could have provided that information.
The twin blasts just before the finish line of the April 15 race killed three people and wounded more than 260 and turned a chunk of downtown Boston into a crime scene, disrupting the normal routines of countless others. Authorities slowly began allowing residents and business owners back into the area Tuesday. There was no word on when the street where the bombings occurred will be fully open to the public. That, the city says, will depend on how quickly building owners can make repairs and other issues.Business owner Ed Borash was among those who returned Tuesday. He said he and his son narrowly missed injury in the bombing."I've had a tough time," he said. "It's just one of those things. It's very emotional."
Helena Collins, a businesswoman in the area, said it was important to get up and running again, but not just for economic reasons.
"For us and our business, it's really about how do we get back to Boston, how do we band together, how do we help those that were seriously injured that are going to have lifelong struggles," she said.
As of Tuesday evening, 43 people injured in last week's attack remained hospitalized, one of whom is in critical condition, according to a CNN tally. Meanwhile, two victims of the bombing were laid to rest.Family members of 8-year-old Martin Richard held a private funeral Mass Tuesday, his parents said in a statement. A public memorial service is planned, they said.
"The outpouring of love and support over the last week has been tremendous," Denise and Bill Richard said in the statement. "We laid our son Martin to rest, and he is now at peace."
Family, friends and colleagues mourned slain Massachusetts Institute of Technology police Officer Sean Collier at a private memorial service in Stoneham, Massachusetts, CNN affiliate WHDH reported.
A memorial service open to law enforcement officers and the MIT community is scheduled for Wednesday on MIT's campus, the university said.
New details on officer's slaying
Collier was killed Thursday night, near the beginning of a wild 24 hours that culminated in Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's capture in the backyard of a home in Watertown, a Boston suburb. Authorities suspect Tsarnaev and his 26-year-old brother of killing the officer, though Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has not been charged in Collier's death.
According to a source with direct knowledge of the investigation, Collier didn't even have time to activate his emergency alert before being shot four or five times in the chest and head as he sat in his patrol car on the MIT campus.
It's not clear why the brothers allegedly ambushed the officer, the source said.
The source said investigators believe the Tsarnaevs then carjacked a black SUV, took the driver hostage and drove past the scene of the shooting before going to a gas station.
Carjacking victim tells his story
Investigators believe Tamerlan Tsarnaev carried out the car jacking while his younger brother was nearby at the time, a U.S. official told CNN Tuesday.
In an exclusive interview with CNN affiliate WMUR, a man identifying himself as the carjacking victim said he was worried for his life.
"They asked me where I'm from. I told them I'm Chinese," WMUR quoted the man as saying. "I was very scared. I asked them if they were going to hurt me. They said they won't hurt me. I was thinking, 'I think they will kill me later.' "
The man escaped when the brothers stopped to fill up the gas tank, running for his life as one of the brothers swore at him, WMUR reported.
Soon after, the brothers encountered police, setting off a furious gun battle in which authorities say they fired handguns and hurled explosives at pursuing officers before Tamerlan Tsarnaev was shot. As the younger brother fled in the vehicle, he apparently ran over Tamerlan, authorities said.
See first photos of the takedown
Suspect shopped at fireworks store
More than two months before the marathon bombings, Tamerlan Tsarnaev bought two reloadable mortar style fireworks a New Hampshire store.
On February 6, Tsarnaev had one question for a store assistant at Phantom Fireworks in Seabrook, New Hampshire: "What's the biggest and loudest thing you have?"
After that, store Vice President William Weimer said, Tsarnaev shelled out $200 cash for two "lock and load kits."
Weimer said such behavior is very common in the store. He said the store notified the FBI after discovering that the marathon bombing suspect had bought explosives there.
Law enforcement officials told CNN earlier Tuesday that the number of fireworks bought at the store was not enough to set off explosions the size of those at the Boston Marathon.
"My assumption is they bought this, experimented with it and decided against it and moved on and found another source," Weimer said.
Details emerge about boat, standoff
Tamerlan Tsarnaev was pronounced dead early Friday. On Friday night, police captured Dzhokhar Tsarnaev hiding inside a boat in a backyard.
Boat owner David Henneberry told CNN affiliate WCVB Tuesday that his obsession with how his boat was stored just right led him to discover the suspect as he stood on a ladder replacing two pads that had fallen out of the shrink wrap protecting his boat for the winter.
"I got three steps up the ladder and rolled the shrink wrap. I didn't expect to see anything, but I saw blood on the floor of the boat. A good amount of blood. ... And I looked back and forth a couple of times and my eyes went to the engine block and there was a body," he told the affiliate.
Henneberry said Tuesday that he doesn't even remember climbing down the ladder and running to the phone to dial 911, delivering the tip that would lead to Tsarnaev's capture.
"I didn't waste any time. I didn't ask him if he wanted a cup of coffee. I was off that ladder. That is all I remember," he told the affiliate.
Investigators swarmed the scene, forming a perimeter. Multiple shots rang out from behind the house, Boston Police Superintendent William Evans said Tuesday.
Authorities are still investigating whether Tsarnaev was armed and whether a shootout occurred at the boat, Evans told reporters.
"Clearly from everybody's vantage point, we could see whoever was in that boat was poking at that top," he said.
It wasn't clear at the time, he said, whether the suspect had a handgun or was trying to poke a hole in the boat's cover. After a standoff, hostage negotiators persuaded him to surrender, Evans said.
Investigation continues
The Tsarnaev family is from the Russian republic of Chechnya and fled the brutal wars there in the 1990s. The two brothers were born in Kyrgyzstan; Dzhokhar became a U.S. citizen in 2012. His brother was a legal U.S. resident.
Although Tamerlan Tsarnaev had become increasingly radical in the past three or four years, there was no evidence Tuesday of any accomplices or connections to extremists, a U.S. official said.
But Dzhokhar Tsarnaev conveyed to authorities that his brother believed Islam is under attack and its adherents must fight back, a U.S. government source said Monday.
Communicating with investigators by writing and nodding, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has indicated that his older brother masterminded the bombings, the source said.
The younger Tsarnaev has been charged with using and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death, as well as one count of malicious destruction of property by means of an explosive device resulting in death.
The U.S. official said Tuesday that investigators have determined that the pressure cookers used in the attacks were purchased at a Macy's department store.
Suspects' family members react
In a statement issued through their lawyers Tuesday, the suspects' sisters -- Ailina and Bella Tsarnaev -- said they were saddened "to see so many innocent people hurt after such a callous act."
"As a family, we are absolutely devastated by the sense of loss and sorrow this has caused," they said. "We don't have any answers but we look forward to a thorough investigation and hope to learn more."
And Tamerlan Tsarnaev's wife, Katherine Russell, issued a statement through her attorney's office saying she is "doing everything she can to assist with the investigation" and said she and her family are shocked and distraught.
"The reports of involvement by her husband and brother-in-law came as an absolute shock to them all," the statement said.
The suspects' mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaev, said Tuesday that she believed her sons had been framed.
Speaking from her home in Dagestan -- a Russian republic on the Caspian Sea -- Tsarnaev said she thinks her older son died because he was a Muslim and charged that authorities silenced her younger son to prevent him from defending himself.
She said family members have arranged for Tamerlan Tsarnaev to be buried at a mosque in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Tuesday or Wednesday.
An official with the Islamic Society of Boston said it has not received any funeral requests from the family. A spokesman for the chief medical examiner's office also said officials there have heard nothing about plans by the slain suspect's family to claim his body.
Lack of Security a Challenge Ahead of Sultan Dam Construction
TOLOnews.com By Shahla Murtazaie Tuesday, 23 April 2013
Afghan Ministry of Water and Energy on Tuesday said that construction of Sultan Dam will not be possible until there is no security in the area.
Water and Energy ministry officials say that it is necessary to install a steel curtain to prevent water waste in
Sultan Dam, but warned that until there is no security in the area, construction will not be possible.
Meanwhile, Afghan Interior Ministry speaks of the ability of Public Protection Forces to provide security of Energy Dams construction.
"We hope that this will be discussed as an important issue with the interior ministry and our security enterprises so that construction work on the project can be started," Sediq Sediqi Interior Ministry's spokesman told TOLOnews.
However, Ghazni provincial officials consider Sultan Dam a serious need to solve agricultural problems in thisprovince.
But deputy of Water and Energy Ministry says that if the security of Sultan Dam is not secured, the construction process will not be started.
"The part of the dam which was destroyed is rebuilt and there must be a steel curtain made in the lower part of the dam to store water and prevent water waste. But if there is no security, the construction process will not begin,"
Shujauddin Ziaie, Deputy Minister of the Water and Energy ministry told TOLOnews.
Deputy Minister of Water and Energy says that in the last few years, there has been no commitment to provide
security of Sultan Dam construction process, and that the budget for the construction of Sultan Dam has been cancelled by foreign donors.
But any time the security of this dam is provided, the budget will be reallocated for the construction.
Foreign Members Could Be Effective on Transparency of Election: TEFA
TOLOnews.com By Rafi Sediqi Tuesday, 23 April 2013
The Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan TEFA on Tuesday said that presence of two foreigners in the Electoral Complaints Commission could increase people's trust in the election process, calling their presence as effective.
The transparent election foundation commission says the law of governing election commission and electoral complaints commission does not clearly rule on selection of two civil society's members as members of election.
Although the foundation " TEFA " calls approval of the law of governing election commission and electoral complaints commission effective in the transparency of the coming presidential election, but says that it has not enough clearance about appointment of civil society members as members of the election Commission.
According to the law, members of the Independent Election commission have to be appointed by a selected committee.
"The approval of the law of governing independent election commission is a positive move on election and the committee which is going to select election commission members, but cannot guarantee transparency of the election," Head of TEFA Naeem Ayoubi said.
Meanwhile, the Free and Fair Election Foundation FEFA believes that signing of the law by President Karzai will further help on transparency of the election.
"This law increases the transparency process and will be effective on the independence of the electoral commissions," Head of Free and Fair Election Foundation Nader Naderi said.
The law of governing election commission was approved four months ago by the Afghan parliament and sent to the Senate. The senators objected to the presence of two foreigners in the electoral complaints commission and creation of a committee for selecting election commissions' members.
According to the law, the head and members of the independent election commission will be selected from university lecturers, civil society members and persons proposed by both houses.
The United Nations can also introduce an observer to monitor transparency of the presidential election.
Nangarhar Protests Continue Against Governor Sherzai
TOLOnews.com Tuesday, 23 April 2013
Protests against the governor of eastern Nangarhar province, Gul Agha Sherzai, has continued for the fourth day on Tuesday in Jalalabad, the capital of the province, with protestors calling for the governor's dismissal.
Hundreds of residents of the province have demonstrated in different parts of the city, shouting "death to governor" slogans against Gul Agha Sherzai, Some said "he is dealing with Pakistan," and called for his immediate dismissal.
The residents – who claim the governor has been unresponsive to impeding corruption, illegal land grabbing, and Pakistani military missile attacks on Afghan soil – said they would continue their protests until Mr Sherzai is removed from his post.
"We don't want him anymore. He has betrayed the residents of Nangarhar," said a protestor.
"We are asking from the President for his dismissal. If anyone stops us, it will be not good and President Karzai should not disregard residents of Nangarhar only for the sake of one person," said another protestor.
Meanwhile, provincial governor's spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai said that the protestors will be responded soon.
"We have talked to the government about the demands of the protestors and the government has sent a delegation to the province to stop the protests and investigate about the problem," he said.
Since 2003, Pakistan – with assistance from the coalition forces – has shifted 11 border posts from previous locations on Afghan soil to Ghushta district of Nangarhar province alongside Durand Line, an act accompanied by reactions from the government and the people of Afghanistan.
There are reports that the Pakistan military have started to build up the second gate in Goshta district of eastern Nangarhar province.
Reports say that Pakistan's military are building up the gate along the Durand line and it's not yet completed.
But Nangarhar security officials on Tuesday rejected recent reports of Pakistan's second gate building in Goshta district of the province.
Eastern Nangarhar Border Police say that there is no sign of second gate of Pakistani military in Goshta district of the province.
Pakistan Will Never Change Policies Against Afghanistan: Karimi
TOLOnews.com By Rafi Sediqi Tuesday, 23 April 2013
Accusing Pakistan of founding a puppet state in his country, Afghan Chief of Army Staff said Tuesday that the neighbouring country would never change its policy towards Afghanistan.
"Pakistan will never forbear its political aims towards Afghanistan, and is trying to recognise its borders and use water resources of Afghanistan more than before. It looks for having a government in Afghanistan that is under its dominance," said Sher Mohammad Karimi, Chief of Army Staff of Afghanistan, who was called to the Senate.
While distressed by fears of India's influence in the country, Pakistan would play any game in Afghanistan to reach its goals, Karimi said.
The United States and Isaf should resolve the border issues between Pakistan and Afghanistan, he added.
As believed by Afghan deputy foreign minister, Pakistan has constantly played double game against Afghanistan.
The deputy minister stated that that Pakistan is a security threat to Afghanistan.
"Pakistan is the greatest source of security threat to Afghanistan, and has acted twofold at every talk with the government of Afghanistan," said Jawid Lodin, deputy foreign minister for political affairs, "Although insurgents are funded and equipped on the other side of the border and they target security forces and civilians, Pakistan's goals from a few years ago will never be realised in Afghanistan."
Alongside deputy foreign minister's remarks, came comments from senator Abdul Wahab Irfan who said "Foreign ministry's positioning against Pakistan is not constant."
"Sometimes they call the country as a friend, but sometimes accusing it for violations and expanding insecurity – a matter which is distressing," he added.
Another senator called for for an stop to Pakistan's missile launching on Afghan territory.
"Missile attacks by Pakistani military are yet carried out over border areas of the country. Pakistan has continued its violations against Afghanistan. This must be stopped," said senator Shahnaz Ghawsi.
Senator Hedayatullah Rahayi, however, said that "the United States has remained silent towards border issues of the country. Security forces of the country are not capable of facing Pakistani military."
As stated by the Afghan Chief of Army Staff, Afghan National Army (ANA) is ready to defend the country, yet they cannot react to the military of Pakistan without a decree from the Afghan government, especially that from the Afghan National Security Council.
Afghanistan: Praise for New Civic Group in Helmand
Organisation says it avoid politics and just wants to get things done.
IWPR By Hijratullah Ekhtyar 23 Apr 13
Afghanistan - A new advocacy group in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province has won praise from locals for its efforts to help them pursue legal claims, resolve disputes and access government services.
The Helmand Civil Society was set up about five months ago and already has more than 200 members, as well as serving as an umbrella organisation for 37 other groups representing students, teachers, doctors, tribal elders, the disabled and trade unions.
Since the fall of the Taleban in 2001, numerous non-government groups have been established across Afghanistan, but critics say they are not always focused on getting results.
Helmand residents say the new group, run entirely on a voluntary basis with no outside funding, has already made a difference.
Nizamoddin, a resident of Garmsir district, applied for help after his land was seized by “powerful men”, and his appeals to government agencies proved fruitless.
“When I heard an office had been established in Helmand to help resolve such problems, I went there and asked for their assistance,” he said. “The head of the office really helped me. He introduced me to the land dispute resolution office in Garmsir, and members of the society backed my efforts until I regained my land.”
Nizamoddin said the individuals concerned were taken aback when they heard about the Helmand Civil Society’s intervention, and just gave him his land back.
“This [group] really is an arbitration office; there’s nothing like it anywhere in Helmand,” he said.
The society has also managed to win over community leaders. Atiqullah Khan, a tribal elder in Helmand, said this was the first non-government group to make a real difference.
“More people go to them than to the governor's office or the provincial council, because they receive help without having to pay for it,” he said. “Their success is due to the fact that their members come from all sections of society, and they heed the advice of tribal elders.”
The group’s spokesman, Hezbollah Khamosh, said that in the space of a few months, it had achieved a great deal, including lobbying Afghan president Hamed Karzai for permission to build a new building for Lashkar Gah university, currently in temporary premises.
The Helmand Civil Society’s director, Sardar Mohammad Hamdard, said it was formed by young people frustrated with corruption officials, brutal strongmen, and an inactive provincial assembly.
“We try to bridge the gap between the people and the government, not just as a conduit for submitting complaints to officials but also as a way of getting government to deliver results to the people,” he explained. “For the first time, young people are thinking about how they can work for the benefit of their own people in Helmand.”
The society, which has received a permit to function from the justice ministry, has won praise from the office of Helmand’s governor Mohammad Naim.
The governor’s spokesman Omar Zwak said his office was working closely with the society,
“They’ve achieved good results so far,” he said. “We’re in touch with them on a daily basis to discuss various matters. They are a great source of information about the problems people face. They share these problems with officials and seek solutions to them.”
In a province where the Taleban are very much in evidence, Zwak said the Helmand Civil Society enjoyed one distinct advantage – independence.
“They aren’t government people whose activities the armed opposition would obstruct,” he explained.
The Helmand Civil Society’s work on education has caused some controversy.
Spokesman Khamosh noted that the group’s efforts ensured that their preferred candidate was appointed as education chief for the Nawa district, and the official swiftly reopened four schools that had been closed. After hearing concerns raised by the group, Afghan education minister Faruq Wardak promised to address the issues.
This activism has upset some officials, who have accused the Helmand Civil Society of interfering in the affairs of government and trying to manoeuvre its own people into political posts.
Mohammad Nasim Safi, the province’s director of education, said the society was acting beyond its authority and had made baseless allegations of shortcomings in his department.
“I’m not claiming there are no problems in the education department or with the system itself, but that’s something that everyone needs to work towards solving. What good do their criticisms do?” he asked.
Khamosh insisted the society’s members had no political affiliations or ambitions.
“We don’t have any enemies, but we aren’t scared of anyone, either,” he said. “Officials are making problems for us because they don’t understand the aims of the [Helmand] Civil Society. We’re trying to convince them.”
Popular support for the group seems to be growing.
Niaz Mohammad represents 70 families who were previously displaced by the violence in Helmand. On returning from Kabul to Lashkar Gah, the familes were given two days’ worth of food to keep them going.
“No one helped us apart from God and this society. One of our children had died of hunger, and our other children were close to starving," he said."Members of the society paid for bread and other foodstuffs and promised to collect more aid for us from other charity organisations and the people. They’re still helping us, going from one office to the next on our behalf. May God bless them.”
Gol Ahmad Ehsan is an IWPR-trained journalist in Helmand.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com