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Karzai: US gives funds to national security team
Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Monday that his national security team has been receiving payments from the U.S. government for the past 10 years.
Karzai confirmed the payments when he was asked about a story published in The New York Times saying the CIA had given the Afghan National Security Council tens of millions of dollars in monthly payments delivered in suitcases, backpacks and plastic shopping bags.
During a news conference in Helsinki, Finland, where he was on an official visit, Karzai said the welcome monthly payments were not a "big amount" but were a "small amount," although he did not disclose the sums. He said they were used to give assistance to the wounded and sick, to pay rent for housing and for other "operational" purposes.
He said the aid has been "very useful, and we are grateful for it."
The newspaper quotes Khalil Roman, who served as Mr. Karzai's deputy chief of staff from 2002 until 2005, as calling the vast CIA payments "ghost money" that "came in secret, and it left in secret." It also quotes unidentified American officials as saying that "the cash has fueled corruption and empowered warlords, undermining Washington's exit strategy from Afghanistan."
In Washington, White House spokesman Jay Carney declined to comment on the report, referring questions to the CIA, which also declined comment.
In 2010, Iran acknowledged that it had been sending funds to neighboring Afghanistan for years, but said the money was intended to aid reconstruction, not to buy influence in Karzai's office. The Afghan president confirmed he was receiving millions of dollars in cash from Iran and that Washington was giving him "bags of money," too, because his office lacked funds.
At the time, President Barack Obama's press secretary, Robert Gibbs, denied that the U.S. government was in "the big bags of cash business," but former U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley had said earlier that some of the American aid to Afghanistan was in cash.
U.S. officials also asserted then that the money flowing from Tehran was proof that Iran was playing a double game in Afghanistan — wooing the government while helping Taliban insurgents fighting U.S. and NATO forces. Iran denied that.
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AP writer Matti Huuhtanen in Helsinki and AP National Intelligence Writer Kimberly Dozier in Washington contributed.
Ghost money from MI6 and CIA may fuel Afghan corruption, say diplomats
Failure of peace initiatives raises questions over whether British eagerness for political settlement may have been exploited
The Guardian By Julian Borger 30 April 2013
The CIA and MI6 have regularly given large cash payments to Hamid Karzai's office with the aim of maintaining access to the Afghan leader and his top allies and officials, but the attempt to buy influence has largely failed and may have backfired, former diplomats and policy analysts say.
The Guardian understands that the payments by British intelligence were on a smaller scale than the CIA's handouts, reported in the New York Times to have been in the tens of millions, and much of the British money has gone towards attempts to finance peace initiatives, which have so far proved abortive.
That failure has raised questions among some British officials over whether eagerness to promote a political settlement may have been exploited by Afghan officials and self-styled intermediaries for the Taliban.
Responding to the allegations while on a visit to Helsinki on Monday, Karzai said his national security council (NSC) had received support from the US government for the past 10 years, and the amounts involved were "not big" and were used for a variety of purposes including helping those wounded in the conflict. "It's multi-purpose assistance," he said, without commenting on the allegations that the money was fuelling corruption.
Yama Torabi, the director of Integrity Watch Afghanistan said that the presidency's low-key response to the reports had "outraged people".
"As a result, we don't know what was the amount of money that was given, what it was used for and if there was any corruption involved. Money when it is unchecked can be abused and this looks like one. In addition, it can be potentially used to corrupt politicians and political circles, but there is no way to know this unless there is a serious investigation into it," Torabi told The Guardian.
Kabul sources told the Guardian that the key official involved in distributing the payments within the NSC was Ibrahim Spinzada, a close confidant of the president known as Engineer Ibrahim. There is, however, no evidence that Spinzada personally gained from the cash payments or that in distributing them among the president's allies and sometimes his foes he was breaking Afghan law.
Officials say the payments, referred to in a New York Times report as "ghost money", helped prop up warlords and corrupt officials, deepening Afghan popular mistrust of the Kabul government and its foreign backers, and thereby helped drive the insurgency.
The CIA money has sometimes caused divisions between the various branches of US government represented in Kabul, according to diplomats stationed in Kabul, particularly when it helped give the CIA chief of station in Kabul direct access to Karzai without the US ambassador's knowledge or approval.
One former Afghan budgetary official told the Guardian: "On paper there was very little money that went to the National Directorate of Security [NDS, the Afghan intelligence service], but we knew they were taken care of separately by the CIA.
"The thing about US money is a lot of it goes outside the budget, directly through individuals and companies, and that opens the way for corruption."
Khalil Roman, who served as Karzai's deputy chief of staff from 2002 until 2005, told the New York Times: "We called it 'ghost money'. It came in secret, and it left in secret."
One American official told the newspaper: "The biggest source of corruption in Afghanistan was the United States."
Sources said the MI6 aid was on a smaller scale, and much of it was focused on trying to promote meetings between Karzai's government and Taliban intermediaries, as was embarrassingly the case in 2010 when MI6 discovered a would-be Taliban leader in talks with Karzai was an impostor from the Pakistani city of Quetta.
The British payments have also been designed to bolster UK influence in Kabul, in what a source described as "an auction with each country trying to outbid the other" in the course of an often fraught relationship with the Karzai government.
Vali Nasr, a former US government adviser on Afghanistan, said: "Karzai has been lashing out against American officials and generals, so if indeed there has been funding by the CIA, you have to ask to what effect has that money been paid. It hasn't clearly brought the sort of influence it was meant to."
Nasr, now dean of the Johns Hopkins school of advanced international studies and author of a new book criticising US policy in Afghanistan, The Dispensable Nation, said: "If the terms of such payments are not clear, the question is how well do they tag with US policy The CIA has a narrow, counter-terrorism purview that involved working with warlords, but that is quite a different agenda, on how we conduct the war or how we build a government."
The CIA has also been heavily criticised for conducting drone attacks against suspected militants over the border in Pakistan and for calling in air strikes inside Afghanistan while on joint operations with NDS units, leading to civilian casualties. A report on Monday by the Afghanistan Analysts Network, a thinktank in Kabul, said the latest such NDS-CIA operation, in Kunar province on 13 April, killed 17 civilians.
Kate Clark, one of the network's analysts, said: "It is one thing to conduct covert operations in a hostile country. I'm flabbergasted that the CIA is running these kind of covert operations in a friendly country. It runs counter to accountability, democracy and the rule of law, and is damaging what the US is trying to do.
"The CIA puts certain things as a priority – whether someone is against al-Qaida, for example – and damn the rest."
Bombs kill 3 NATO troops, 5 Afghans
By AMIR SHAH | Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Roadside bomb attacks in Afghanistan killed three NATO service members and five Afghans on Tuesday, officials said, clear evidence that the insurgents' annual spring offensive is underway.
The service members died in southern Afghanistan, the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan said in a brief statement that provided no other information.
In another attack in the south of the country, a roadside bomb in the Shah Wali Kot district of Kandahar province killed three civilians and wounded five, said Jawed Faisal, a spokesman for the provincial governor.
The Taliban and other insurgent groups make heavy use of roadside bombs. They are among the deadliest weapons in the Afghan war for civilians.
In the north, in Archi district in the province of Kunduz, a roadside bomb killed two people, including a local police commander who had been credited with reducing the number of insurgent attacks in his area, said Abdul Nazar, a local council member.
Commander Miran and his driver were killed and two other police officers were wounded when the car they were driving toward Kunduz City was destroyed by a bomb hidden on the road, said Nazar. Like many Afghans, Miran only used one name.
The attacks came on the third day of what Taliban has called its spring offensive. The insurgents warned they would infiltrate enemy ranks to conduct "insider attacks" and target military and diplomatic sites with suicide bombers.
In past years, spring has marked a significant upsurge in fighting between the Taliban and NATO forces along with their local allies. This fighting season is a key test, as the international coalition is scheduled to hand over security responsibilities to Afghan forces next year.
On Tuesday, Afghan and coalition security forces arrested two Taliban insurgents in Logar province, and on Monday Afghan security forces rushed to the assistance of local police under attack in Ghazni province and killed three insurgents and wounded four, NATO said in a statement.
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Associated Press writer Rahim Faiez contributed to this report.
US cargo plane crash in Afghanistan kills 7
By RAHIM FAIEZ | Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A civilian cargo plane owned by an American company crashed at Bagram Air Field, north of the Afghan capital, soon after takeoff on Monday, killing all seven people aboard, the U.S.-led military coalition said.
The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for downing the Boeing 747-400, but NATO said in a statement to The Associated Press that the Taliban "claims are false." The coalition says the cause of the crash was being investigated by emergency crews that rushed to the site, but there was no sign of insurgent activity in the area at the time.
Capt. Luca Carniel, a coalition spokesman, said the aircraft crashed from a low altitude right after takeoff.
The plane — owned by National Airlines, an Orlando, Florida-based subsidiary of National Air Cargo — was carrying vehicles and other cargo, according to National Air Cargo Vice President Shirley Kaufman. She said those killed were four pilots, two mechanics and a load master, who was responsible for making sure that the weight and balance of the cargo is appropriate.
Five of the seven fatalities were from Michigan, said Kaufman.
"We are not yet releasing the identities of the colleagues we lost out of respect for their families who need a little more time to reach other loved ones," she said in an email to the AP.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and the Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority are investigating the crash, she said.
National Airlines was based until recently at Michigan's Willow Run Airport, west of Detroit in Wayne County's Van Buren Township. It carries cargo both commercially and for the military, Kaufman said. She said it employs about 225 people.
In another development, Afghan President Hamid Karzai accused U.S. forces of killing four civilians and wounding one in the eastern province of Nangarhar on Sunday after an American convoy was attacked by insurgents.
In a statement issued by his office, Karzai "strongly condemned the killing of innocent civilians."
The U.S.-led military coalition said it was still investigating the weekend clash, which left four soldiers with minor injuries and damaged a patrol vehicle. In a statement issued on Monday, the coalition said the Taliban attacked the coalition patrol with small arms fire and roadside bombs as it moved through a local bazaar in the province where there were civilians.
"Coalition forces engaged the enemy, pushed through the hostile area, and traveled to a nearby Afghan National Army checkpoint," the coalition said in a statement. "An investigation is currently underway to assess whether there are any civilian casualties as a result of insurgent fire."
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Associated Press writers Amir Shah and Thomas Wagner in Kabul contributed to this report.
Taliban release 10 abducted Afghan army soldiers in Badakhshan
By MEENA HASEEB - 30 Apr 2013, 3:53 pm Khaama Press
According to local authorities in north-eastern Badakhshan province, Taliban militants have released 10 Afghan national army soldiers who were abducted in Wardoj district.
District governor for Wardoj confirming the report said the Afghan army service members were released following negotiations of local tribal elders with the Taliban militants.
Badakhshan is among the peaceful provinces in north-eastern Afghanistan however Taliban militants have recently increased their insurgency activities in a number of its districts specifically in Wardoj district.
A major military offensive was launched by Afghan security forces early this month where 80 militants were killed and over 110 others were injured.
The Afghan national army soldiers were abducted by Taliban in late March during a military operation. A doctor was also among the those taken hostage by Taliban militants.
Earlier Taliban also abducted 20 Afghan national army soldiers and killed 16 of them while the remaining were released following negotiations by local tribal elders.
37 more missiles fired from Pakistan in Kunar province
By SAYED JAWAD - 30 Apr 2013, 4:17 pm Khaama Press
According to local authorities in eastern Kunar province of Afghanistan, at least 37 missiles were fired in Dangdam district from the Pakistani soil during the latest wave of cross-border shelling.
Provincial governor Wasifullah Wasifi confirming the reports said there were no casualties as a result of the missile attacks.
Local authorities in Kunar province are saying that over 100 missiles have been fired in this province during the past one month which have incurred casualties and property damages to the local residents.
Cross-border shelling is considered to be one of the most controversial issues between Kabul and Islamabad.
US Secretary of State John Kerry recently hosted talks near Brussels between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani military chief Ashfaq Kayani after ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan strained over links between the Afghan Taliban rebels and Pakistan.
Relations between Kabul and Islamabad further deteriorated after Afghan foreign ministry accused Pakistan for being helpless in Afghan peace process and unilateral construction and physical reinforcement activities along the Durand Line by Pakistani army.
However Pakistani government officials denied the allegations by Afghan officials accusing Pakistan for constructing new check posts along the Durand line.
Afghanistan sign general cooperation agreement with KSA
By MIRWAIS ADEEL - 30 Apr 2013, 12:04 pm Khaama Press
Officials in Afghan foreign affairs ministry on Monday announced Afghanistan signed a general cooperation agreement with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
According to a statement released by Afghan foreign ministry, “The General Cooperation Agreement between the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in various areas was signed on April 26 in Almaty.”
The statement further added, “The agreement was signed by Foreign Minister Dr. Zalmai Rassoul and the Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Mr. Abdul Aziz Bin Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, and covers various areas of bilateral cooperation.”
“This agreement will play an important role in expanding the historical ties between the two nations, and will enhance and promote cooperation between the countries in the fields of economy, commerce, investment, education, science, technology, culture, information tourism, youth and sports”, the statement added.
According to foreign ministry officials, the two sides will facilitate opportunities for investment in all fields and provide all the necessary facilities for investors based on the agreement signed between the two nations.
Afghan Currency Value Decrease Raises Concerns
TOLOnews.com By Shahla Murtazaie 30 April 2013
Afghan economic analysts said on Monday that the decrease of Afghan currency value against foreign currencies has had negative impacts on trade process.
A number of analysts said that in order to prevent more decrease of Afghan currency value, the Central Bank and other responsible institutions which are in charge of implementing monetary policies should adopt serious measures.
While after years once again an US dollar exchanges to 55Afs, a number of economic analysts speak of rising of US dollar value against Afghan currency alongside other reasons like concerns of people regarding 2014 and the increasing demand for US dollar.
The fluctuation has brought many defects for consumers and economy of Afghanistan, the former Afghan Minister of Commerce and economic analyst, Mohammad Amin Farhang said.
"The Central Bank and the institutions which are responsible for correct implementation of economic policy, monetary policies should become active to improve the situation as soon as possible," he said.
Meanwhile, a number of traders said that the rising of US dollar against Afghani has a direct negative impact on imported goods prices.
"According to the decision of council of ministers all of our projects should be in Afghan currency," one of the traders Abdul Jalil Hareef said.
"Whenever the value of Afghan currency is stable and the value of foreign currency is rising against it, traders sustain risks."
With decreasing of Afghan currency value against US dollar, traders have to buy dollars at high price and as a result of that imported goods entered into the country at high prices and traders are directly affected.
However, low value of currency of a country is useful for its exports but due to low level of imports and exports of Afghanistan this country doesn't enjoy benefiting from it.
TOLOnews contacted the central bank authorities for comment, but despite repeated calls officials refused to comment.
Estonia pledges continued cooperation to visiting Afghan president
TALLINN, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Estonian heads of state on Tuesday reassured visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai of their continued help and assistance in the field of security and IT education in particular.
Over his first ever two-day state visit to the country, Karzai was met by Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Prime Minister Andrus Ansip and Speaker of Parliament Ene Ergma.
The focus of talks was on bilateral cooperation and Afghanistan post-2014, when Afghan military and police forces take over responsibility for security from coalition forces.
As part of its NATO tasks, Estonia's second-to-last infantry unit will serve in Afghanistan next month before its forces pullout from the country in April 2014.
US panel: Afghans need more religious freedom
Associated Press By Thomas Wagner April 30, 2013
Kabul, Afghanistan - Despite significant improvements since the hard-line Taliban ruled Afghanistan, religious freedom remains poor, especially for minorities, and Afghans still can't debate religion or question prevailing Islamic orthodoxies without fear of being punished, a U.S. commission said in a new report on Tuesday.
As the country braces for next year's presidential election and the planned withdrawal of most foreign combat troops by the end of 2014, the panel urges the U.S. government and its allies to work harder to promote religious rights in the war-torn nation.
The environment for exercising religious freedom remains "exceedingly poor" for dissenting members of Afghanistan's Sunni Muslim majority and for minorities, such as Shiite Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Christians, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said in its report.
"Individuals who dissent from the prevailing orthodoxy regarding Islamic beliefs and practices are subject to legal actions that violate international standards," according to the commission, which was created in 1998 to review violations of religious freedom internationally and make policy recommendations to the U.S. government.
"The Taliban and other non-state actors continue to target individuals for activity deemed `un-Islamic,' and the Afghanistan constitution fails explicitly to protect the individual right to freedom of religion or belief."
An Afghan government official disputed the findings.
"The Afghan government is fully committed to ensuring religious freedom for followers of all religions in Afghanistan, something our constitution is very clear about," Janan Mosazai, spokesman for the Afghan foreign ministry, said in an email to The Associated Press. Mosazai said that even though Islam is Afghanistan's official religion, the constitution clearly states that "followers of other faiths shall be free within the bounds of law in the exercise and performance of their religious rituals."
In its 2013 annual report, USCIRF praises that clause of Afghanistan's 2004 constitution, but notes that another part of the charter says these fundamental rights can be superseded by ordinary legislation. This shortcoming is compounded by "a vague, repugnancy clause" that says no law can be contrary to Islam and allows courts to enforce it, the commission says.
In addition, the penal code discriminates against minorities by allowing courts to defer to Shariah, or Islamic law, in cases involving matters such as apostasy and conversion that are not explicitly addressed by the penal code or the constitution, resulting in those charges being punishable by death, the report says.
Because of legal restrictions, "Afghans cannot debate the role and content of religion in law and society, advocate for the rights of women and religious minorities, or question interpretations of Islamic precepts without fear of retribution or being charged with religious "crimes' such as apostasy, blasphemy or insulting Islam," USCIRF says.
Religious freedom is especially repressed in areas heavily controlled by the Taliban, which governs by their own interpretation of Islamic law, the report said.
It cited two cases in 2010-2011 during which Afghans accused of converting to Christianity were prosecuted in the courts for apostasy, but later released. USCIRF also noted that marriage is formally restricted to Muslims and that non-Muslims are allowed to marry as long as they do not publicly express their faith.
"The few Afghan Christians, converts from Islam or their children, long have been forced to conceal their faith and cannot worship openly," the report said. "The situation for Christians worsened in 2010, when authorities arrested 26 Christians. After their release, many fled to India, where they have applied for refugee status due to a fear of religious persecution."
Despite restrictions on religious freedom, Afghanistan has been largely spared the sectarian violence that has roiled Iraq and neighboring Pakistan.
Afghanistan recorded its first major sectarian assault since the fall of the Taliban regime in December 2011 when a suicide bomber slaughtered 56 Shiite worshippers and wounded more than 160 outside a Shiite shrine in the capital. The Taliban condemned the attack, and suspicion about who was to blame centered on militant groups based in Pakistan, where Sunni attacks on minority Shiites are common.
Some violence in Afghanistan, however, does have religious overtones.
In November 2012, Sunni and Shiite students clashed at Kabul University on a Shiite holy day, and at least one person was killed. That same month, Afghan security personnel and local residents reportedly prevented Sikhs from performing cremation ceremonies for their deceased relatives, the report said.
In an earlier court case not cited by USCIRF, Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh, a journalism student, was condemned for blasphemy in 2008, for distributing material found on the Internet questioning women's rights under Islam, and sentenced to death. However, a court later commuted the sentence to 20 years and President Hamid Karzai then pardoned the student.
Mosazai said the state of religious freedom in Afghanistan today must be compared with the suffering and brutality that people of all faiths suffering during the 1990s, first during the civil war, then under the Taliban regime.
He praised USCIRF for a passage in the report saying that since then, "conditions for religious freedom have markedly improved, especially for religious minorities."
USCIRF concludes its report by recommending that the U.S. and its allies "increase and strengthen diplomatic, development and military engagement to promote human rights, especially religious freedom." It also urges the U.S. to raise directly with Karzai "the importance of religious freedom, especially for dissenting Muslims, Muslim minorities and non-Muslim minorities."
Afghanistan's web of intrigue is a poor basis on which to rebuild a nation
The corruption and brutality associated with Hamid Karzai's government has become a major driver of the insurgency
The Guardian By Julian Borger 29 April 2013
Spies are meant to do things in secret. Their job is to deal with characters too unsavoury for governments to do business with openly, in the search for life-saving information. By the nature of their business, spies pay for such services in untraceable cash rather than numbered bank accounts.
What is alleged to exist in Afghanistan is something else, however – a shadow nation built up over more than a decade based on under-the-counter payments to unacknowledged partners, warlords and narco-traffickers.
Those connections were first formed in 2001 with the aim of destroying al-Qaida, by ousting its hosts, the Taliban, and then by tracking down its leadership.
The same aim drives a host of militias the CIA partners and manages across the country, such as the Kandahar Strike Force, formerly led by the Afghan president's late brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, and the Counterterrorism Pursuit Team within the National Directorate of Security in Kabul. It is also behind the CIA drone campaign against al-Qaida suspects and their alleged protectors in Pakistan.
According to the New York Times, the CIA's cash payments to its allies were rerouted through Hamid Karzai's office after he insisted they be used to strengthen his power of patronage over Afghanistan's barons, and when it became clear Iran had no qualms about driving carloads of loot straight into the palace to buy its own officials.
British intelligence has struggled to keep up on a smaller scale, using cash to help maintain the UK's seat at the table in making policy in Afghanistan and keeping channels open even during President Karzai's frequent fits of pique with London.
The trouble in Afghanistan is that this web of largely improvised measures has solidified over the years into a system which is arguably self-defeating.
The corruption, drug-running and brutality associated by many of the Afghan people with the Kabul government has become a major driver of the insurgency, helping the Taliban to recruit young Afghan men to fight against US, British and Afghan army troops.
Furthermore, it is a system of governance based on informal networks of personal relationships focused on Karzai, which is likely to implode once he steps down next year.
More pernicious still, the long-term control the spy agencies acquired over the levers of power has meant this shadow state has been created beyond the reach of the rule of law and accountability in both Afghanistan and the US.
Much of the British covert aid has apparently gone towards creating connections between Kabul and the Taliban in the search for a political settlement, but the secrecy in this case has served to heighten suspicions between the leaderships of both camps and their supporters, contributing to their brittle nature and their failure so far to make progress.
The dark arts of espionage may well be indispensable in the case of deadly threats to security, but they make a poor foundation on which to build a nation.
Parliament Accuses Nangarhar Governor Over Pakistani Military Posts
TOLOnews.com By Karim Amini 29 April 2013
The Afghan Parliament Defence Commission on Monday accused the eastern Nangarhar governor Gul Agha Shirzai of "neglecting build up of the Pakistani military check-posts on Afghan territory" in Goshta district of the province.
The head of Parliament Defence Commission Homayoun Homayoun who is visiting Goshta district of the province said that the provincial governor should be summoned to the parliament and then referred to the Attorney General office.
"The governor committed a big negligence aabout Pakistani military [check-posts] and against Afghanistan's territorial integrity. We will summon him to the parliament and then we will refer him to the attorney [General's Office]," he told reporters.
Meanwhile, Gul Agha Shirzai has said that the government is already informed about all these cases.
"The check-posts were built while Zahir Qadir was the [eastern] border commander and it doesn't belong to me. The [parliament defence] commission should be referred to attorney because they visited the area illegally and this is a conspiracy against me and I reject it," he told reporters.
Zahir Qadir is now a member of parliament and he had worked as the commander of border police previously.
The Pakistani military check-post in Goshta district of the province has raised concerns of the residents.
"Pakistan is capturing [territory] and shelling on [Afghan] check-posts, but our government is silent, if the government cannot do anything, they should call on the people, so we will defend our land," said a resident of Goshta district.
It comes as, about two weeks ago the Afghan President Hamid Karzai's ordered at a meeting of the Afghan National Security Council last week for the gate and other "Pakistani military installations near the Durand Line" to be removed immediately.
The council also called on the coalition forces to give details of the circumstances in which it helped Pakistan develop 11 military checkpoints along the border 10 years ago.
Afghan forces suffer heavy casualties during opium eradication
By SADAF SHINWARI - 30 Apr 2013, 4:52 pm Khaama Press
Officials in the ministry of counter-narcotics of Afghanistan on Tuesday informed of heavy casualties incurred to Afghan security forces during opium eradication across the country.
The report regarding increasing Afghan security forces casualties during opium eradication comes amid growing concerns by United Nations over increasing opium cultivation in Afghanistan.
According to reports opium eradication campaign started around 40 days back in Afghanistan, and around 131 Afghan police and army service members have been killed which shows an increase as compared to the similar period last year.
The campaign have been launched in Kandahar, Helmand, Herat, Laghman, Kunar and Farah provinces of Afghanistan.
Deputy Afghan counter-narcotics minister Engineer Ibrahim Azhar told reporters, around 86 Afghan security forces and other individuals involved in eradication campaign have also been injured.
Mr. Azhar further added that Taliban militants had issued warnings to Afghan security forces and vowed to defend any eradication campaign in opium fields.
The eradication campaign continues in Nangarhar, Laghman and Badghis provinces of Afghanistan while the process is pipe line for the other provinces including Baghlan, Faryab and Badakhshan.
Around five to six thousand hectares of land have been cleared of opium despite Afghan counter-narcotics ministry initially planned to clear fifteen thousand hectares of land from opium.
Deputy Afghan counter-narcotics minister also said Taliban militants created considerable problems for the campaign in a number of provinces incluidng Kapisa.
Eng. Ibrahim Azhar calling the growth of opium cultivation a national tragedy said smugglers are earning around 70 billion dollars annually where only five percent of the interest goes to Afghanistan.
He also said that there over one million addicted individuals in Afghanistan.
Family Members of High Peace Council Official Killed in Pakistan
TOLOnews.com 29 April 2013
A suicide bomber killed 7 people including three family members of a member of Afghan high peace council and wounded 29 early on Monday, Afghan officials in Pakistan said.
The attack took place in Arbab Road in Peshawar today, when an attacker riding a motorcycle detonated his explosives near a police patrol car on the busy University Road during the morning rush hour, killing 7 including three family members of Qazi Amin Waqad, a member of High Peace Council, officials said.
"Qari Helal, son of Qazi Amin Waqad, Idris his nephew and another of his family members were killed in the attack. The target were Pakistan police vehicle, but his [Waqad's] family members were in a bus in the area," an Afghan official in Pakistan told TOLOnews.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
The attack happens as Pakistan moves nervously toward elections scheduled for May 11.
Officials in Peshawar said that Monday's attack was different as it did not appear to target a specific party, but aimed instead to foster a broader climate of fear during the sensitive campaign season.
Taliban attacks have largely focused on the Awami National Party, a secular-minded party that has governed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, in the northwest, since 2008.
The party says that 700 of its activists have been killed by the Taliban in the past five years.
Karzai Signals New Demands in Signing BSA
TOLOnews.com By Anisa Shahid 29 April 2013
President Hamid Karzai has recently said that his administration would be only ready to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) with the United States when Washington guarantees Afghanistan's security and equip the Afghan forces.
Speaking with elders from Laghman province on Sunday, President Karzai said the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) should be equipped with modern weaponries, Afghan officials said.
The lead US negotiator of the agreement, James Warlick, said the partnership "will provide for security and stability in the future".
"The end result will be an enduring security partnership. A real partnership that will provide for security and stability in the future," the US embassy said in a statement, attributing it to Ambassador Warlick, who is also the Deputy for Washington's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"We have to respect for the sovereignty of Afghanistan. That is one of the foundations for this agreement. Afghanistan is a country where the government and the people should determine its course ahead," the statement said.
"As a result of that we have a respect for the sovereignty of this country. We want to join with you in ensuring that any threats to the sovereignty of this country can be addressed in a productive way. That's part of this agreement."
President Karzai had said that the security agreement would only be signed once a Loya Jirga endorsed it. He has not disclosed when the Loya Jirga would be convened.
Parliament Votes for IEC to Announce Election Results
TOLOnews.com By Rafi Sediqi 29 April 2013
Afghan parliament approved elections law's paragraph 20 of article 4 Monday by which it has concluded that Independent Election Commission (IEC) will be in charge of announcing the result of the country's upcoming elections.
The approval came following a vote was put to place as a number of MPs had called for Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) to be responsible for the act. Eventually the majority of the parliamentarians voted for the IEC.
"With 75 votes of confidence and 47 votes of no confidence the authority of announcing the final results of the election is given to Independent Election Commission," said Abdul Rauf Ebrahimi, parliament's speaker.
MP Abdul Sattar Khawasi said "The authority for announcing the final result of the elections should be given to Independent Election Commission, and it should be this commission announcing it. However, approving and defining the election process should be carried out by Electoral Complaints Commission."
There were as well MPs who were yet in opposition to the approved decision.
"The authority for announcing the final result of the election should be given to Electoral Complaints Commission, and not to Independent Election Commission as this act caused many challenges in the past," said Nahid Farid, MP.
Afghan parliament discussed the electoral zones as well, for which the majority voted for provinces to be divided into zones for the elections.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Monday that his national security team has been receiving payments from the U.S. government for the past 10 years.
Karzai confirmed the payments when he was asked about a story published in The New York Times saying the CIA had given the Afghan National Security Council tens of millions of dollars in monthly payments delivered in suitcases, backpacks and plastic shopping bags.
During a news conference in Helsinki, Finland, where he was on an official visit, Karzai said the welcome monthly payments were not a "big amount" but were a "small amount," although he did not disclose the sums. He said they were used to give assistance to the wounded and sick, to pay rent for housing and for other "operational" purposes.
He said the aid has been "very useful, and we are grateful for it."
The newspaper quotes Khalil Roman, who served as Mr. Karzai's deputy chief of staff from 2002 until 2005, as calling the vast CIA payments "ghost money" that "came in secret, and it left in secret." It also quotes unidentified American officials as saying that "the cash has fueled corruption and empowered warlords, undermining Washington's exit strategy from Afghanistan."
In Washington, White House spokesman Jay Carney declined to comment on the report, referring questions to the CIA, which also declined comment.
In 2010, Iran acknowledged that it had been sending funds to neighboring Afghanistan for years, but said the money was intended to aid reconstruction, not to buy influence in Karzai's office. The Afghan president confirmed he was receiving millions of dollars in cash from Iran and that Washington was giving him "bags of money," too, because his office lacked funds.
At the time, President Barack Obama's press secretary, Robert Gibbs, denied that the U.S. government was in "the big bags of cash business," but former U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley had said earlier that some of the American aid to Afghanistan was in cash.
U.S. officials also asserted then that the money flowing from Tehran was proof that Iran was playing a double game in Afghanistan — wooing the government while helping Taliban insurgents fighting U.S. and NATO forces. Iran denied that.
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AP writer Matti Huuhtanen in Helsinki and AP National Intelligence Writer Kimberly Dozier in Washington contributed.
Ghost money from MI6 and CIA may fuel Afghan corruption, say diplomats
Failure of peace initiatives raises questions over whether British eagerness for political settlement may have been exploited
The Guardian By Julian Borger 30 April 2013
The CIA and MI6 have regularly given large cash payments to Hamid Karzai's office with the aim of maintaining access to the Afghan leader and his top allies and officials, but the attempt to buy influence has largely failed and may have backfired, former diplomats and policy analysts say.
The Guardian understands that the payments by British intelligence were on a smaller scale than the CIA's handouts, reported in the New York Times to have been in the tens of millions, and much of the British money has gone towards attempts to finance peace initiatives, which have so far proved abortive.
That failure has raised questions among some British officials over whether eagerness to promote a political settlement may have been exploited by Afghan officials and self-styled intermediaries for the Taliban.
Responding to the allegations while on a visit to Helsinki on Monday, Karzai said his national security council (NSC) had received support from the US government for the past 10 years, and the amounts involved were "not big" and were used for a variety of purposes including helping those wounded in the conflict. "It's multi-purpose assistance," he said, without commenting on the allegations that the money was fuelling corruption.
Yama Torabi, the director of Integrity Watch Afghanistan said that the presidency's low-key response to the reports had "outraged people".
"As a result, we don't know what was the amount of money that was given, what it was used for and if there was any corruption involved. Money when it is unchecked can be abused and this looks like one. In addition, it can be potentially used to corrupt politicians and political circles, but there is no way to know this unless there is a serious investigation into it," Torabi told The Guardian.
Kabul sources told the Guardian that the key official involved in distributing the payments within the NSC was Ibrahim Spinzada, a close confidant of the president known as Engineer Ibrahim. There is, however, no evidence that Spinzada personally gained from the cash payments or that in distributing them among the president's allies and sometimes his foes he was breaking Afghan law.
Officials say the payments, referred to in a New York Times report as "ghost money", helped prop up warlords and corrupt officials, deepening Afghan popular mistrust of the Kabul government and its foreign backers, and thereby helped drive the insurgency.
The CIA money has sometimes caused divisions between the various branches of US government represented in Kabul, according to diplomats stationed in Kabul, particularly when it helped give the CIA chief of station in Kabul direct access to Karzai without the US ambassador's knowledge or approval.
One former Afghan budgetary official told the Guardian: "On paper there was very little money that went to the National Directorate of Security [NDS, the Afghan intelligence service], but we knew they were taken care of separately by the CIA.
"The thing about US money is a lot of it goes outside the budget, directly through individuals and companies, and that opens the way for corruption."
Khalil Roman, who served as Karzai's deputy chief of staff from 2002 until 2005, told the New York Times: "We called it 'ghost money'. It came in secret, and it left in secret."
One American official told the newspaper: "The biggest source of corruption in Afghanistan was the United States."
Sources said the MI6 aid was on a smaller scale, and much of it was focused on trying to promote meetings between Karzai's government and Taliban intermediaries, as was embarrassingly the case in 2010 when MI6 discovered a would-be Taliban leader in talks with Karzai was an impostor from the Pakistani city of Quetta.
The British payments have also been designed to bolster UK influence in Kabul, in what a source described as "an auction with each country trying to outbid the other" in the course of an often fraught relationship with the Karzai government.
Vali Nasr, a former US government adviser on Afghanistan, said: "Karzai has been lashing out against American officials and generals, so if indeed there has been funding by the CIA, you have to ask to what effect has that money been paid. It hasn't clearly brought the sort of influence it was meant to."
Nasr, now dean of the Johns Hopkins school of advanced international studies and author of a new book criticising US policy in Afghanistan, The Dispensable Nation, said: "If the terms of such payments are not clear, the question is how well do they tag with US policy The CIA has a narrow, counter-terrorism purview that involved working with warlords, but that is quite a different agenda, on how we conduct the war or how we build a government."
The CIA has also been heavily criticised for conducting drone attacks against suspected militants over the border in Pakistan and for calling in air strikes inside Afghanistan while on joint operations with NDS units, leading to civilian casualties. A report on Monday by the Afghanistan Analysts Network, a thinktank in Kabul, said the latest such NDS-CIA operation, in Kunar province on 13 April, killed 17 civilians.
Kate Clark, one of the network's analysts, said: "It is one thing to conduct covert operations in a hostile country. I'm flabbergasted that the CIA is running these kind of covert operations in a friendly country. It runs counter to accountability, democracy and the rule of law, and is damaging what the US is trying to do.
"The CIA puts certain things as a priority – whether someone is against al-Qaida, for example – and damn the rest."
Bombs kill 3 NATO troops, 5 Afghans
By AMIR SHAH | Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Roadside bomb attacks in Afghanistan killed three NATO service members and five Afghans on Tuesday, officials said, clear evidence that the insurgents' annual spring offensive is underway.
The service members died in southern Afghanistan, the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan said in a brief statement that provided no other information.
In another attack in the south of the country, a roadside bomb in the Shah Wali Kot district of Kandahar province killed three civilians and wounded five, said Jawed Faisal, a spokesman for the provincial governor.
The Taliban and other insurgent groups make heavy use of roadside bombs. They are among the deadliest weapons in the Afghan war for civilians.
In the north, in Archi district in the province of Kunduz, a roadside bomb killed two people, including a local police commander who had been credited with reducing the number of insurgent attacks in his area, said Abdul Nazar, a local council member.
Commander Miran and his driver were killed and two other police officers were wounded when the car they were driving toward Kunduz City was destroyed by a bomb hidden on the road, said Nazar. Like many Afghans, Miran only used one name.
The attacks came on the third day of what Taliban has called its spring offensive. The insurgents warned they would infiltrate enemy ranks to conduct "insider attacks" and target military and diplomatic sites with suicide bombers.
In past years, spring has marked a significant upsurge in fighting between the Taliban and NATO forces along with their local allies. This fighting season is a key test, as the international coalition is scheduled to hand over security responsibilities to Afghan forces next year.
On Tuesday, Afghan and coalition security forces arrested two Taliban insurgents in Logar province, and on Monday Afghan security forces rushed to the assistance of local police under attack in Ghazni province and killed three insurgents and wounded four, NATO said in a statement.
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Associated Press writer Rahim Faiez contributed to this report.
US cargo plane crash in Afghanistan kills 7
By RAHIM FAIEZ | Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A civilian cargo plane owned by an American company crashed at Bagram Air Field, north of the Afghan capital, soon after takeoff on Monday, killing all seven people aboard, the U.S.-led military coalition said.
The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for downing the Boeing 747-400, but NATO said in a statement to The Associated Press that the Taliban "claims are false." The coalition says the cause of the crash was being investigated by emergency crews that rushed to the site, but there was no sign of insurgent activity in the area at the time.
Capt. Luca Carniel, a coalition spokesman, said the aircraft crashed from a low altitude right after takeoff.
The plane — owned by National Airlines, an Orlando, Florida-based subsidiary of National Air Cargo — was carrying vehicles and other cargo, according to National Air Cargo Vice President Shirley Kaufman. She said those killed were four pilots, two mechanics and a load master, who was responsible for making sure that the weight and balance of the cargo is appropriate.
Five of the seven fatalities were from Michigan, said Kaufman.
"We are not yet releasing the identities of the colleagues we lost out of respect for their families who need a little more time to reach other loved ones," she said in an email to the AP.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and the Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority are investigating the crash, she said.
National Airlines was based until recently at Michigan's Willow Run Airport, west of Detroit in Wayne County's Van Buren Township. It carries cargo both commercially and for the military, Kaufman said. She said it employs about 225 people.
In another development, Afghan President Hamid Karzai accused U.S. forces of killing four civilians and wounding one in the eastern province of Nangarhar on Sunday after an American convoy was attacked by insurgents.
In a statement issued by his office, Karzai "strongly condemned the killing of innocent civilians."
The U.S.-led military coalition said it was still investigating the weekend clash, which left four soldiers with minor injuries and damaged a patrol vehicle. In a statement issued on Monday, the coalition said the Taliban attacked the coalition patrol with small arms fire and roadside bombs as it moved through a local bazaar in the province where there were civilians.
"Coalition forces engaged the enemy, pushed through the hostile area, and traveled to a nearby Afghan National Army checkpoint," the coalition said in a statement. "An investigation is currently underway to assess whether there are any civilian casualties as a result of insurgent fire."
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Associated Press writers Amir Shah and Thomas Wagner in Kabul contributed to this report.
Taliban release 10 abducted Afghan army soldiers in Badakhshan
By MEENA HASEEB - 30 Apr 2013, 3:53 pm Khaama Press
According to local authorities in north-eastern Badakhshan province, Taliban militants have released 10 Afghan national army soldiers who were abducted in Wardoj district.
District governor for Wardoj confirming the report said the Afghan army service members were released following negotiations of local tribal elders with the Taliban militants.
Badakhshan is among the peaceful provinces in north-eastern Afghanistan however Taliban militants have recently increased their insurgency activities in a number of its districts specifically in Wardoj district.
A major military offensive was launched by Afghan security forces early this month where 80 militants were killed and over 110 others were injured.
The Afghan national army soldiers were abducted by Taliban in late March during a military operation. A doctor was also among the those taken hostage by Taliban militants.
Earlier Taliban also abducted 20 Afghan national army soldiers and killed 16 of them while the remaining were released following negotiations by local tribal elders.
37 more missiles fired from Pakistan in Kunar province
By SAYED JAWAD - 30 Apr 2013, 4:17 pm Khaama Press
According to local authorities in eastern Kunar province of Afghanistan, at least 37 missiles were fired in Dangdam district from the Pakistani soil during the latest wave of cross-border shelling.
Provincial governor Wasifullah Wasifi confirming the reports said there were no casualties as a result of the missile attacks.
Local authorities in Kunar province are saying that over 100 missiles have been fired in this province during the past one month which have incurred casualties and property damages to the local residents.
Cross-border shelling is considered to be one of the most controversial issues between Kabul and Islamabad.
US Secretary of State John Kerry recently hosted talks near Brussels between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani military chief Ashfaq Kayani after ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan strained over links between the Afghan Taliban rebels and Pakistan.
Relations between Kabul and Islamabad further deteriorated after Afghan foreign ministry accused Pakistan for being helpless in Afghan peace process and unilateral construction and physical reinforcement activities along the Durand Line by Pakistani army.
However Pakistani government officials denied the allegations by Afghan officials accusing Pakistan for constructing new check posts along the Durand line.
Afghanistan sign general cooperation agreement with KSA
By MIRWAIS ADEEL - 30 Apr 2013, 12:04 pm Khaama Press
Officials in Afghan foreign affairs ministry on Monday announced Afghanistan signed a general cooperation agreement with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
According to a statement released by Afghan foreign ministry, “The General Cooperation Agreement between the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in various areas was signed on April 26 in Almaty.”
The statement further added, “The agreement was signed by Foreign Minister Dr. Zalmai Rassoul and the Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Mr. Abdul Aziz Bin Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, and covers various areas of bilateral cooperation.”
“This agreement will play an important role in expanding the historical ties between the two nations, and will enhance and promote cooperation between the countries in the fields of economy, commerce, investment, education, science, technology, culture, information tourism, youth and sports”, the statement added.
According to foreign ministry officials, the two sides will facilitate opportunities for investment in all fields and provide all the necessary facilities for investors based on the agreement signed between the two nations.
Afghan Currency Value Decrease Raises Concerns
TOLOnews.com By Shahla Murtazaie 30 April 2013
Afghan economic analysts said on Monday that the decrease of Afghan currency value against foreign currencies has had negative impacts on trade process.
A number of analysts said that in order to prevent more decrease of Afghan currency value, the Central Bank and other responsible institutions which are in charge of implementing monetary policies should adopt serious measures.
While after years once again an US dollar exchanges to 55Afs, a number of economic analysts speak of rising of US dollar value against Afghan currency alongside other reasons like concerns of people regarding 2014 and the increasing demand for US dollar.
The fluctuation has brought many defects for consumers and economy of Afghanistan, the former Afghan Minister of Commerce and economic analyst, Mohammad Amin Farhang said.
"The Central Bank and the institutions which are responsible for correct implementation of economic policy, monetary policies should become active to improve the situation as soon as possible," he said.
Meanwhile, a number of traders said that the rising of US dollar against Afghani has a direct negative impact on imported goods prices.
"According to the decision of council of ministers all of our projects should be in Afghan currency," one of the traders Abdul Jalil Hareef said.
"Whenever the value of Afghan currency is stable and the value of foreign currency is rising against it, traders sustain risks."
With decreasing of Afghan currency value against US dollar, traders have to buy dollars at high price and as a result of that imported goods entered into the country at high prices and traders are directly affected.
However, low value of currency of a country is useful for its exports but due to low level of imports and exports of Afghanistan this country doesn't enjoy benefiting from it.
TOLOnews contacted the central bank authorities for comment, but despite repeated calls officials refused to comment.
Estonia pledges continued cooperation to visiting Afghan president
TALLINN, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Estonian heads of state on Tuesday reassured visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai of their continued help and assistance in the field of security and IT education in particular.
Over his first ever two-day state visit to the country, Karzai was met by Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Prime Minister Andrus Ansip and Speaker of Parliament Ene Ergma.
The focus of talks was on bilateral cooperation and Afghanistan post-2014, when Afghan military and police forces take over responsibility for security from coalition forces.
As part of its NATO tasks, Estonia's second-to-last infantry unit will serve in Afghanistan next month before its forces pullout from the country in April 2014.
US panel: Afghans need more religious freedom
Associated Press By Thomas Wagner April 30, 2013
Kabul, Afghanistan - Despite significant improvements since the hard-line Taliban ruled Afghanistan, religious freedom remains poor, especially for minorities, and Afghans still can't debate religion or question prevailing Islamic orthodoxies without fear of being punished, a U.S. commission said in a new report on Tuesday.
As the country braces for next year's presidential election and the planned withdrawal of most foreign combat troops by the end of 2014, the panel urges the U.S. government and its allies to work harder to promote religious rights in the war-torn nation.
The environment for exercising religious freedom remains "exceedingly poor" for dissenting members of Afghanistan's Sunni Muslim majority and for minorities, such as Shiite Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Christians, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said in its report.
"Individuals who dissent from the prevailing orthodoxy regarding Islamic beliefs and practices are subject to legal actions that violate international standards," according to the commission, which was created in 1998 to review violations of religious freedom internationally and make policy recommendations to the U.S. government.
"The Taliban and other non-state actors continue to target individuals for activity deemed `un-Islamic,' and the Afghanistan constitution fails explicitly to protect the individual right to freedom of religion or belief."
An Afghan government official disputed the findings.
"The Afghan government is fully committed to ensuring religious freedom for followers of all religions in Afghanistan, something our constitution is very clear about," Janan Mosazai, spokesman for the Afghan foreign ministry, said in an email to The Associated Press. Mosazai said that even though Islam is Afghanistan's official religion, the constitution clearly states that "followers of other faiths shall be free within the bounds of law in the exercise and performance of their religious rituals."
In its 2013 annual report, USCIRF praises that clause of Afghanistan's 2004 constitution, but notes that another part of the charter says these fundamental rights can be superseded by ordinary legislation. This shortcoming is compounded by "a vague, repugnancy clause" that says no law can be contrary to Islam and allows courts to enforce it, the commission says.
In addition, the penal code discriminates against minorities by allowing courts to defer to Shariah, or Islamic law, in cases involving matters such as apostasy and conversion that are not explicitly addressed by the penal code or the constitution, resulting in those charges being punishable by death, the report says.
Because of legal restrictions, "Afghans cannot debate the role and content of religion in law and society, advocate for the rights of women and religious minorities, or question interpretations of Islamic precepts without fear of retribution or being charged with religious "crimes' such as apostasy, blasphemy or insulting Islam," USCIRF says.
Religious freedom is especially repressed in areas heavily controlled by the Taliban, which governs by their own interpretation of Islamic law, the report said.
It cited two cases in 2010-2011 during which Afghans accused of converting to Christianity were prosecuted in the courts for apostasy, but later released. USCIRF also noted that marriage is formally restricted to Muslims and that non-Muslims are allowed to marry as long as they do not publicly express their faith.
"The few Afghan Christians, converts from Islam or their children, long have been forced to conceal their faith and cannot worship openly," the report said. "The situation for Christians worsened in 2010, when authorities arrested 26 Christians. After their release, many fled to India, where they have applied for refugee status due to a fear of religious persecution."
Despite restrictions on religious freedom, Afghanistan has been largely spared the sectarian violence that has roiled Iraq and neighboring Pakistan.
Afghanistan recorded its first major sectarian assault since the fall of the Taliban regime in December 2011 when a suicide bomber slaughtered 56 Shiite worshippers and wounded more than 160 outside a Shiite shrine in the capital. The Taliban condemned the attack, and suspicion about who was to blame centered on militant groups based in Pakistan, where Sunni attacks on minority Shiites are common.
Some violence in Afghanistan, however, does have religious overtones.
In November 2012, Sunni and Shiite students clashed at Kabul University on a Shiite holy day, and at least one person was killed. That same month, Afghan security personnel and local residents reportedly prevented Sikhs from performing cremation ceremonies for their deceased relatives, the report said.
In an earlier court case not cited by USCIRF, Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh, a journalism student, was condemned for blasphemy in 2008, for distributing material found on the Internet questioning women's rights under Islam, and sentenced to death. However, a court later commuted the sentence to 20 years and President Hamid Karzai then pardoned the student.
Mosazai said the state of religious freedom in Afghanistan today must be compared with the suffering and brutality that people of all faiths suffering during the 1990s, first during the civil war, then under the Taliban regime.
He praised USCIRF for a passage in the report saying that since then, "conditions for religious freedom have markedly improved, especially for religious minorities."
USCIRF concludes its report by recommending that the U.S. and its allies "increase and strengthen diplomatic, development and military engagement to promote human rights, especially religious freedom." It also urges the U.S. to raise directly with Karzai "the importance of religious freedom, especially for dissenting Muslims, Muslim minorities and non-Muslim minorities."
Afghanistan's web of intrigue is a poor basis on which to rebuild a nation
The corruption and brutality associated with Hamid Karzai's government has become a major driver of the insurgency
The Guardian By Julian Borger 29 April 2013
Spies are meant to do things in secret. Their job is to deal with characters too unsavoury for governments to do business with openly, in the search for life-saving information. By the nature of their business, spies pay for such services in untraceable cash rather than numbered bank accounts.
What is alleged to exist in Afghanistan is something else, however – a shadow nation built up over more than a decade based on under-the-counter payments to unacknowledged partners, warlords and narco-traffickers.
Those connections were first formed in 2001 with the aim of destroying al-Qaida, by ousting its hosts, the Taliban, and then by tracking down its leadership.
The same aim drives a host of militias the CIA partners and manages across the country, such as the Kandahar Strike Force, formerly led by the Afghan president's late brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, and the Counterterrorism Pursuit Team within the National Directorate of Security in Kabul. It is also behind the CIA drone campaign against al-Qaida suspects and their alleged protectors in Pakistan.
According to the New York Times, the CIA's cash payments to its allies were rerouted through Hamid Karzai's office after he insisted they be used to strengthen his power of patronage over Afghanistan's barons, and when it became clear Iran had no qualms about driving carloads of loot straight into the palace to buy its own officials.
British intelligence has struggled to keep up on a smaller scale, using cash to help maintain the UK's seat at the table in making policy in Afghanistan and keeping channels open even during President Karzai's frequent fits of pique with London.
The trouble in Afghanistan is that this web of largely improvised measures has solidified over the years into a system which is arguably self-defeating.
The corruption, drug-running and brutality associated by many of the Afghan people with the Kabul government has become a major driver of the insurgency, helping the Taliban to recruit young Afghan men to fight against US, British and Afghan army troops.
Furthermore, it is a system of governance based on informal networks of personal relationships focused on Karzai, which is likely to implode once he steps down next year.
More pernicious still, the long-term control the spy agencies acquired over the levers of power has meant this shadow state has been created beyond the reach of the rule of law and accountability in both Afghanistan and the US.
Much of the British covert aid has apparently gone towards creating connections between Kabul and the Taliban in the search for a political settlement, but the secrecy in this case has served to heighten suspicions between the leaderships of both camps and their supporters, contributing to their brittle nature and their failure so far to make progress.
The dark arts of espionage may well be indispensable in the case of deadly threats to security, but they make a poor foundation on which to build a nation.
Parliament Accuses Nangarhar Governor Over Pakistani Military Posts
TOLOnews.com By Karim Amini 29 April 2013
The Afghan Parliament Defence Commission on Monday accused the eastern Nangarhar governor Gul Agha Shirzai of "neglecting build up of the Pakistani military check-posts on Afghan territory" in Goshta district of the province.
The head of Parliament Defence Commission Homayoun Homayoun who is visiting Goshta district of the province said that the provincial governor should be summoned to the parliament and then referred to the Attorney General office.
"The governor committed a big negligence aabout Pakistani military [check-posts] and against Afghanistan's territorial integrity. We will summon him to the parliament and then we will refer him to the attorney [General's Office]," he told reporters.
Meanwhile, Gul Agha Shirzai has said that the government is already informed about all these cases.
"The check-posts were built while Zahir Qadir was the [eastern] border commander and it doesn't belong to me. The [parliament defence] commission should be referred to attorney because they visited the area illegally and this is a conspiracy against me and I reject it," he told reporters.
Zahir Qadir is now a member of parliament and he had worked as the commander of border police previously.
The Pakistani military check-post in Goshta district of the province has raised concerns of the residents.
"Pakistan is capturing [territory] and shelling on [Afghan] check-posts, but our government is silent, if the government cannot do anything, they should call on the people, so we will defend our land," said a resident of Goshta district.
It comes as, about two weeks ago the Afghan President Hamid Karzai's ordered at a meeting of the Afghan National Security Council last week for the gate and other "Pakistani military installations near the Durand Line" to be removed immediately.
The council also called on the coalition forces to give details of the circumstances in which it helped Pakistan develop 11 military checkpoints along the border 10 years ago.
Afghan forces suffer heavy casualties during opium eradication
By SADAF SHINWARI - 30 Apr 2013, 4:52 pm Khaama Press
Officials in the ministry of counter-narcotics of Afghanistan on Tuesday informed of heavy casualties incurred to Afghan security forces during opium eradication across the country.
The report regarding increasing Afghan security forces casualties during opium eradication comes amid growing concerns by United Nations over increasing opium cultivation in Afghanistan.
According to reports opium eradication campaign started around 40 days back in Afghanistan, and around 131 Afghan police and army service members have been killed which shows an increase as compared to the similar period last year.
The campaign have been launched in Kandahar, Helmand, Herat, Laghman, Kunar and Farah provinces of Afghanistan.
Deputy Afghan counter-narcotics minister Engineer Ibrahim Azhar told reporters, around 86 Afghan security forces and other individuals involved in eradication campaign have also been injured.
Mr. Azhar further added that Taliban militants had issued warnings to Afghan security forces and vowed to defend any eradication campaign in opium fields.
The eradication campaign continues in Nangarhar, Laghman and Badghis provinces of Afghanistan while the process is pipe line for the other provinces including Baghlan, Faryab and Badakhshan.
Around five to six thousand hectares of land have been cleared of opium despite Afghan counter-narcotics ministry initially planned to clear fifteen thousand hectares of land from opium.
Deputy Afghan counter-narcotics minister also said Taliban militants created considerable problems for the campaign in a number of provinces incluidng Kapisa.
Eng. Ibrahim Azhar calling the growth of opium cultivation a national tragedy said smugglers are earning around 70 billion dollars annually where only five percent of the interest goes to Afghanistan.
He also said that there over one million addicted individuals in Afghanistan.
Family Members of High Peace Council Official Killed in Pakistan
TOLOnews.com 29 April 2013
A suicide bomber killed 7 people including three family members of a member of Afghan high peace council and wounded 29 early on Monday, Afghan officials in Pakistan said.
The attack took place in Arbab Road in Peshawar today, when an attacker riding a motorcycle detonated his explosives near a police patrol car on the busy University Road during the morning rush hour, killing 7 including three family members of Qazi Amin Waqad, a member of High Peace Council, officials said.
"Qari Helal, son of Qazi Amin Waqad, Idris his nephew and another of his family members were killed in the attack. The target were Pakistan police vehicle, but his [Waqad's] family members were in a bus in the area," an Afghan official in Pakistan told TOLOnews.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
The attack happens as Pakistan moves nervously toward elections scheduled for May 11.
Officials in Peshawar said that Monday's attack was different as it did not appear to target a specific party, but aimed instead to foster a broader climate of fear during the sensitive campaign season.
Taliban attacks have largely focused on the Awami National Party, a secular-minded party that has governed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, in the northwest, since 2008.
The party says that 700 of its activists have been killed by the Taliban in the past five years.
Karzai Signals New Demands in Signing BSA
TOLOnews.com By Anisa Shahid 29 April 2013
President Hamid Karzai has recently said that his administration would be only ready to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) with the United States when Washington guarantees Afghanistan's security and equip the Afghan forces.
Speaking with elders from Laghman province on Sunday, President Karzai said the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) should be equipped with modern weaponries, Afghan officials said.
The lead US negotiator of the agreement, James Warlick, said the partnership "will provide for security and stability in the future".
"The end result will be an enduring security partnership. A real partnership that will provide for security and stability in the future," the US embassy said in a statement, attributing it to Ambassador Warlick, who is also the Deputy for Washington's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"We have to respect for the sovereignty of Afghanistan. That is one of the foundations for this agreement. Afghanistan is a country where the government and the people should determine its course ahead," the statement said.
"As a result of that we have a respect for the sovereignty of this country. We want to join with you in ensuring that any threats to the sovereignty of this country can be addressed in a productive way. That's part of this agreement."
President Karzai had said that the security agreement would only be signed once a Loya Jirga endorsed it. He has not disclosed when the Loya Jirga would be convened.
Parliament Votes for IEC to Announce Election Results
TOLOnews.com By Rafi Sediqi 29 April 2013
Afghan parliament approved elections law's paragraph 20 of article 4 Monday by which it has concluded that Independent Election Commission (IEC) will be in charge of announcing the result of the country's upcoming elections.
The approval came following a vote was put to place as a number of MPs had called for Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) to be responsible for the act. Eventually the majority of the parliamentarians voted for the IEC.
"With 75 votes of confidence and 47 votes of no confidence the authority of announcing the final results of the election is given to Independent Election Commission," said Abdul Rauf Ebrahimi, parliament's speaker.
MP Abdul Sattar Khawasi said "The authority for announcing the final result of the elections should be given to Independent Election Commission, and it should be this commission announcing it. However, approving and defining the election process should be carried out by Electoral Complaints Commission."
There were as well MPs who were yet in opposition to the approved decision.
"The authority for announcing the final result of the election should be given to Electoral Complaints Commission, and not to Independent Election Commission as this act caused many challenges in the past," said Nahid Farid, MP.
Afghan parliament discussed the electoral zones as well, for which the majority voted for provinces to be divided into zones for the elections.
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