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Karzai gives India military equipment "wish list"
By Ross Colvin
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Wednesday he had given a "wish list" of military equipment to India during a visit this week, presenting a conundrum for New Delhi as it weighs whether arming the Afghan army is in its interests.
India wants to stabilise Afghanistan and is concerned about the resurgence of militant groups after foreign combat troops leave in 2014.
But arming Afghanistan would alarm Pakistan. It takes issue with the influence of its old rival in Afghanistan. India does not want to get drawn into a proxy war with Pakistan, which has ties to the Taliban.
India and Afghanistan signed a strategic partnership agreement in 2011 under which New Delhi agreed to assist in the training and equipping of Afghan security forces.
India has trained Afghan security force personnel in its military academies, but it has provided little military equipment, according to Indian officials. India's Afghan strategy has centred on boosting its influence through economic reconstruction projects.
"We have a wish list that we have put before the government of India," Karzai told reporters, adding that it was up to India to decide how much help it was prepared to give Afghanistan.
Karzai would not say what was on the list, but India's firstpost.com website said it included 105 mm artillery, medium-lift aircraft, bridge-laying equipment and trucks.
The Indian government had no immediate comment on Karzai's statement. Karzai's spokesman said both countries had agreed not to discuss the contents of the shopping list.
An Indian government official said earlier that India had already provided some military equipment to Afghanistan but he declined to give details. He said he was surprised that Afghanistan was speaking openly about a weapons request.
India is not a major weapons exporter, and suffers chronic shortages of defence equipment itself, including artillery.
CONTESTED BORDER
Afghanistan's request for military equipment comes as its relations with Pakistan, which have been difficult for decades, are again at a low.
This month, Pakistan border guards and Afghan police clashed over a contested border area. The Afghan police complained they had been out-gunned and said they wanted heavy artillery and tanks.
Afghan security forces have also made no secret of their desire for an air force.
The clash over their border, which Afghanistan has never officially recognised, raised new tension between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Afghanistan and its Western allies have or years complained that Pakistan has failed to act against militants taking refuge in Pakistan and launching attacks into Afghanistan from Pakistani refuges.
Pakistan denies helping the Taliban and complains of militants fighting the Pakistani state taking refuge in Afghanistan.
But Karzai did not directly criticise Pakistan on Wednesday.
He said no peace deal was possible in Afghanistan without Pakistan's involvement because of its influence over the Taliban, who are fighting to expel Western forces, topple Karzai's government and establish Islamist rule.
"Pakistan cooperation is key to a politically successful peace process and key to the end of violence in Afghanistan," he said.
He said that at a meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister-elect Nawaz Sharif last year the latter had acknowledged the danger that "terrorism and radicalism" posed to Pakistan.
"I hope the new prime minister will be able to deliver what he so much wishes to achieve," Karzai said.
Sharif has said he aims to boost ties with India.
(Additional reporting by Amie Ferris-Rotman in KABUL; Editing by Robert Birsel)
UK eyes giving visas to 600 Afghan interpreters
By SYLVIA HUI | Associated Press
LONDON (AP) — Britain is proposing to give around 600 Afghan interpreters who worked alongside its troops the right to settle in the U.K. in recognition of the risks to their personal safety.
The plans, released Wednesday, will allow interpreters who have worked on the front lines in Afghanistan for more than a year to relocate to Britain on a five-year visa. Those who do not meet the requirement will get a training and education package with the Afghan security forces and wages equivalent to their current salary, or be given 18 months' salary.
Britain, which contributes the second-largest number of troops to NATO's operation in Afghanistan after the U.S., is preparing to end its combat role there by the end of 2014.
"The prime minister has been very clear that we should not turn our backs on those who have trod the same path as our soldiers in Helmand, consistently putting their lives at risk to help our troops achieve their mission," a statement from Prime Minister David Cameron's office at Downing Street said, referring to the southern Helmand province, where many battles were fought.
"These proposals give them a choice: The opportunity to go on working in Afghanistan, learning new skills and to go on rebuilding their country, or to come and make a new start in Britain," it said.
The statement appeared to signal a change of heart by Cameron, who earlier this month told reporters he believed most Afghan interpreters should stay in their country to help rebuild it after years of conflict.
Some welcomed Britain's move, though others raised concerns that many interpreters who do not qualify for the plans may be left in danger.
Rosa Curling, a lawyer representing three Afghan interpreters who launched a court case on the issue, said limiting the offer to front-line staff would offer no protection to Afghan workers who are threatened because of the nature of their work.
Downing Street said Wednesday that officials are expected to finalize the proposals within days, but British media, quoting government sources, reported that the plans have already been approved.
Women rights at stake in Afghanistan
By Abdul Haleem
KABUL, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Some 200 students of Kabul University came to streets on Wednesday to voice their opposition over the possible endorsement of the controversial law on Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) enacted by President Hamid Karzai three years ago to ensure the rights of women and girls in the conservative country.
"This law is against the Islamic teaching and we will not allow the parliament to pass the bill," a Kabul University student demonstrator Ahsan Arman said to Xinhua.
However, the law on Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) was presented to Wolesi Jirga or Lower House of Afghan parliament on Saturday to get ratification where some lawmakers described some articles and characters of the law as un-Islamic and opposed it. "It is against Islamic teaching and we do our best to block it," a lawmaker Mawlawi Abdul Rahman Rahmani categorically stated at the legislature body.
His voice was supported by few more legislators and eventually divided the house over the subject prompting the house chairman to adjourn the debate for the next session.
Although steps have been taken in the post-Taliban Afghanistan to ensure women rights and empower the deprived segment, Afghan women still have a long way to embrace gender equity.
Women status in Afghanistan has been considerably improved over the past decade. In today's Afghanistan women serve as cabinet minister, parliamentarians, businessmen, artist and singers.
Nevertheless, the loose achievement obviously seems at risk as the hardliners in legislature body have shown strong opposition to the law on EVAW. "If the safe shelter is approved for women the country will witness 7 Saur-like blood shedding," another lawmaker Qazi Nazir Ahmad Hanafi warned, referring to 7 Saur or 27 April 1978 coup d' tat by leftist junta which led to the invasion of the former Soviet Union and eventually a civil war.
Safe shelter is a house run by government and accommodates those poor women or girls who escape her family due to domestic violence and take shelter there. Hanafi and his like-minded people believe that Khanai Aman or safe shelter promotes adultery, a claim rejected by officials as baseless.
Defending the law, a female lawmaker and women right activist Fauzia Kufi said the perpetrators of crime against women and girls must be punished. "If a girl is sexually assaulted or forced to prostitution, Such women and girls must be supported and the perpetrators and criminals must be punished," Kufi said at a television panel discussion.
The law on EVAW which enacted in August 2009 criminalizes more than 20 acts of violence against women including child marriage, forced marriage, rape and baad or giving the hand of a girl to an enemy to settle dispute between two families or tribes.
Forced marriage, child marriage, baad, under-age marriage, physical beating and depriving of inherit right is rampant particularly in rural areas of Afghanistan.
Amid uproar in the parliament over EVAW, the United Nations Secretary General's special envoy to Afghanistan Jan Kubis on Monday urged the Afghan government to step up efforts to ensure the full implementation of the law on Elimination of Violence against Women with its international commitments.
The student demonstrators, however, termed the law on EVAW as against Islamic teaching and warned to close the doors of Kabul University "if their demand is not met".
Taliban Raid Tests Coalition's Afghan Gains
Wall Street Journal By MARGHERITA STANCATI and HABIB KHAN TOTAKHIL May 21, 2013
KABUL - A large number of Taliban insurgents, aided by foreign fighters, have tried to overrun the district of Sangin in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, triggering a two-day battle that seemed to be abating by Tuesday night, Afghan officials said.
At least four Afghan policemen and several insurgents were killed in the clashes, some of the most serious combat since the Taliban launched their annual spring offensive last month.
Sangin, known for its opium production, has long been a Taliban redoubt. Helmand, including Sangin, was the focus of President Barack Obama's troop surge, with tens of thousands of U.S. Marines flooding the province in 2010-11.
In a separate attack on Tuesday, a roadside bombing killed seven Afghan policemen in the western province of Herat, a local government spokesman said.
This week's clashes in Sangin represent a test of whether Afghan forces can defend the hard-fought gains of coalition troops as they begin to take over responsibility for security in their country. The Marines still maintain a small advisory team in Sangin, but U.S. troops didn't participate in the fighting this week, the coalition said.
Units from the Afghan army and the national police were dispatched to help local officers, successfully pushing back the insurgents from outposts surrounding some villages in the district, said Omar Zwak, a spokesman for the provincial government.
Helmand Gov. Muhammad Naeem Baloch visited the site of the fighting on Tuesday, Mr. Zwak added.
The Taliban said they took control of police outposts in the Sarwan Kala area of Sangin district, destroying several tanks and seizing some weapons. The Taliban often exaggerate their claims; neither U.S. troops nor the Afghans operate tanks in Helmand.
Ali Shah Khan, a tribal elder based in Sarwan Kala, said he heard an intense exchange of fire between Afghan troops and what he described as hundreds of Taliban fighters.
U.S. Army Col. Thomas Collins, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, played down the extent of clashes in Sangin. "Our reporting says there were about 10 groups of 8-10 fighters each doing drive-by shootings against five police checkpoints," he said. "Afghan security forces were able to call for reinforcements and none of the checkpoints were overrun."
Sangin has been one of the bloodiest districts in Afghanistan. British forces that deployed there in 2006 struggled to secure the area from Taliban control, and were barely able to leave their outpost. Almost one-quarter of the 444 British fatalities in the Afghan war occurred in Sangin.
The U.S. Marines who took over in 2010 also suffered high casualties there. Despite setbacks, the Marines succeeded in pushing back the insurgents, regaining control of a highway that runs north to south through Sangin. These days, that road is no longer considered secure.
The overall number of coalition forces in Helmand has significantly dropped from the 30,000 who were there at the peak of the troop surge, as the coalition prepares to exit the country by the end of next year.
Write to Margherita Stancati at margherita.stancati@wsj.com
Coalition Plays Down Afghan Reports of Major Battle in Helmand
The New York Times By Matthew Rosenberg and Taimoor Shah May 21, 2013
Kabul, Afghanistan - The Taliban attacked Afghan police posts in a violent and long-contested corner of southern Afghanistan, setting off two days of clashes that left at least six police officers dead, Afghan officials said Tuesday, though the American-led coalition played down the violence as little more than “drive-by shootings.” The Afghan government portrayed the fighting in the Sangin district of Helmand Province, which began Monday, as a major victory for its forces, with officials describing a massive Taliban effort to overrun the area. Omar Zwak, a spokesman for the provincial governor, put the number of attackers at 1,000 and said Arab and Chechen insurgents — that is, Al Qaeda members — were fighting alongside the Taliban.
The Taliban also claimed to be engaged in a broad assault on Sangin, saying in a text message to reporters that insurgents had overrun three police posts and were close to taking more.
The coalition, though, was far more circumspect about the scale of the fighting. It said the Taliban force totaled 80 to 100 fighters and managed to launch only sporadic attacks on outlying police posts in the district.
Ten groups of between 8 and 10 Taliban fighters were “doing drive-by shootings against five police checkpoints,” said Col. Thomas Collins, a coalition spokesman. “None of the checkpoints were overrun."
Another coalition official added that American Marines, who still maintain a sizable presence in the district, would have joined the fight had the Taliban presented any significant threat, and coalition air power would probably have been called in had the Taliban massed in numbers as large as those described by Afghan officials. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid publicly disagreeing with his Afghan counterparts.
The Taliban have stepped up their attacks on the Afghan Army and police since the start of the annual fighting season. They say that a broad summer offensive that will expose the weakness of the Afghan security forces is now under way, and that they have managed to inflict significant casualties. At least six Afghan police officers were killed in the past two days in Sangin, for instance, according to Haji-Ghulam Ali Khan, the district police chief.
But the most dramatic battles between the Taliban and the Afghan security forces seem to be those portrayed by their spokesmen for media consumption, with both sides claiming to have scored hard-fought victories over one another.
This week’s fighting in Sangin could well prove to be part of the intensifying propaganda war. The district was the scene of fierce fighting by British troops and United States Marines to root out the insurgents, and both the Taliban and the Afghan government would benefit from claiming a victory there.
But if the Taliban’s attack this week did consist mainly of sending small bands to harass police posts, as the coalition asserted, it would hardly count as a significant victory for either side. It would instead seem to indicate that the insurgents do not have the strength or the will to threaten the entire district with a head-on assault, and that the security forces there have yet to be tested by a big attack.
Afghan officials, however, were adamant that their forces had repulsed a huge Taliban attack. “The Taliban were trying to show us their power but they have been repelled by Afghan forces,” said Mr. Khan, the police chief.
The fighting had begun early Monday, and Afghan soldiers were called in to help repulse the attacks, he added. Some police were still engaged in isolated firefights, but order had been restored in most of the district, he said, adding that the Marines were not needed at any point in the fighting.
“Taliban, with their great forces, attacked the boundary in which the security check posts surround the district center and some of the check posts are still under their constant firefighting,” he said. “We don’t know exactly how many Taliban have been killed. I can say they are losing their men.”
Matthew Rosenberg reported from Kabul, and Taimoor Shah from Kandahar, Afghanistan. An employee of The New York Times contributed reporting from Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan.
Pakistan To Intensify Violence in Afghanistan This Summer
TOLOnews.com By Abdul Wali Arian 21 May 2013
Pakistan is trying to increase violence in Afghanistan this summer by making use of Taliban.
A number of analysts warned that the increase in Taliban insurgency attacks clearly indicates that Afghanistan will face strong resistance from the insurgents this summer.
The analysts emphasized that in order to prevent such violence in the country intelligence entities of Afghanistan security forces must be strengthened.
Afghanistan this year may experience extreme levels of violence and this has created more concerns for Afghanistan.
Presently, these concerns have become more alarming as it is said that Taliban will adopt a different method to disturb the status-quo and this will turn out to be more dangerous.
Jawed Kohistani, former military official said, "Pakistan and Taliban are trying to wage war and this is very dangerous."
Sayed Akbar Agha, former leader of Jaish al-Muslimeen group said, "Taliban and the Government both are fighting and it is getting intense. If the Government shows any kind of flexibility or relaxes at this juncture then the Taliban will take advantage of it."
Recently, Ministry of Defence has said that all the Madrasas which carried out insurgency activities have been shut and in order to keep the insurgency active, all the students of these madrasas are being sent to Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the capabilities of the intelligence agencies are under serious criticism.
Sayed Ali Kazemi, member of Lower House said, "The government and specifically the Ministry of Defence should adopt some measures seriously and defend the borders of the country."
Pakistan since a long time has been known as a harmful neighbour for Afghanistan as majority of the terrorists are located inside Pakistan.
It seems that relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have become so weak that Kabul is extending its hand towards New Delhi.
Pakistan, An Enemy of Afghanistan: Senate
TOLOnews.com By Rafi Sediqi 21 May 2013
Afghan Senators on Tuesday's session said that the President must take a clear stand against Pakistan, which is an open enemy of the Afghan people.
A number of Senators said that Afghan President must not let Pakistan worsen the security situation of Afghanistan and create more hurdles.
The Senators said that the United Nations (UN) must act on their commitments towards Afghanistan and not let Afghanistan be affected by its neighboring countries, especially Pakistan.
Senators said that Pakistan never wants a stable Afghanistan. Pakistan's military intelligence organisation is deploying terrorist groups and Madrasa students to worsen the security situation of Afghanistan.
The Senators believe that with Karzai's recent visit to India, Pakistan will be upset.
"UN must convince Pakistan, to stop interfering into Afghanistan's affairs. After the shutting down of the Madrasas in Pakistan, they are now sending the instructors of those schools to carry out terror activities and worsen the security situation of Afghanistan," Head of Complaints Committee of Senate, Zalmai Zabuli said.
"Pakistan's goal is to put more pressure on the Afghan Government and with the President's visit to India, Pakistan will be disappointed and won't want that Afghanistan should have close relations with India," Senator Daoud Asas said.
Meanwhile, the Speaker of the Upper House, Fazil Hadi Muslimyar said that Pakistan's military intelligence organization in the last eleven years openly interfered into Afghanistan's affairs.
"Pakistan's military intelligence agency during the eleven years has been trying to worsen the security situation of Afghanistan. In order to fulfill its desires they put pressure on Afghanistan in the form of terrorism," Muslimyar said.
Afghan experts believe that Pakistan was never honest in bringing peace and stability.
Torture Victim’s Body Is Found Near U.S. Base, Afghans Say
The New York Times By Rod Nordland May 21, 2013
Kabul, Afghanistan - The footless corpse of an Afghan man missing since November was found on Tuesday near the former American Special Forces base to which he was last seen being taken, according to Afghan officials and victims’ representatives.
Afghan investigators said that after his disappearance, the man, Sayid Mohammad, was seen in a video being tortured by an Afghan-American named Zakaria Kandahari, whom the officials identified as the chief interpreter for an American Army Special Forces A Team stationed at the base. The American military denies that Mr. Kandahari is an American citizen and said he was no longer working for the A Team when the video was made.
Mr. Mohammad’s body was found about 200 yards outside the perimeter of the base, in Nerkh District in Wardak Province. Mohammad Hanif Hanafi, the district governor, said it was found by laborers digging a water ditch when they unearthed what appeared to be a military-style black body bag.
Relatives of Mr. Mohammad said his corpse was largely complete, except both feet had been cut off. Afghan officials say the partial remains and clothing of another missing person had been found earlier near the base, which is now occupied by Afghan Special Forces after the American unit left in March.
Afghan officials are seeking Mr. Kandahari’s arrest on murder, torture and abuse of prisoner charges, and accuse the American military of shielding him from capture.
American military officials have insisted they do not have Mr. Kandahari and do not know where he is; they also say that repeated military investigations into the disappearances and murders of at least 15 people from Wardak Province have shown no wrongdoing by American soldiers. The results of those investigations, however, have not been made public.
The senior Afghan investigator for Defense Ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that investigators had now raised the toll of missing and dead to 17 people, all of whom were said to have been seized by the A Team in Nerkh. He provided names for all 17, and none has since been seen alive: adding in the latest body to be discovered, eight are still missing and nine have been found dead.
Although there has been no testimony directly tying American soldiers to the abuse or killing of those detainees, the investigator questioned whom Mr. Kandahari answered to. “There is no question that Zakaria directly tortured and murdered,” he said. “But who is Zakaria? Who recruited him, gave him his salary, his weapons? Who kept him under their protection? He worked for Special Forces. That a member of their team was committing such crimes and they didn’t know it is just not credible.”
The Afghan investigator, however, disputed earlier Afghan official accounts that suggested an American voice could be heard in the videotaped session of Mr. Mohammad’s torture, and he said the torture session took place in Afghan government offices in Nerkh district, not on the base itself. The videotape has not been released publicly.
On that video, officials who have seen it said, a furious Mr. Kandahari in military uniform can be seen repeatedly kicking a seated and handcuffed Mr. Mohammad, sometimes knocking him over.
The American military has described Mr. Kandahari as a freelance interpreter who had volunteered to help the American Special Forces, who allowed him to live at their base in exchange.
Afghan officials, however, described Mr. Kandahari as having a leadership role and conducting operations on his own initiative, including detaining suspects and taking them into the Special Forces base last November and December, when the disappearances occurred.
After a series of Afghan government investigations, officials demanded that American authorities turn over Mr. Kandahari. But American officials told the Afghans that he had escaped, which infuriated Mr. Karzai, and he then demanded that all American Special Operations forces leave Wardak, a troubled province as little as an hour’s drive from the capital. A compromise was struck in which only the team in Nerkh was removed.
The senior Afghan investigator rejected the American suggestions that Mr. Kandahari could have escaped without official help. “He is not someone who can leave the camp at midnight,” the official said. “He was such a criminal that he could not stay one hour outside the base by himself.”
Mr. Mohammad, a farmer from Karim Dad village, was 23 when he was arrested on Nov. 21 by A Team members on quad bikes, the investigator said. He is survived by a wife, a daughter and two sons, according to his father, Sher Mohammad.
Col. Thomas W. Collins, a spokesman for the American military who was asked about the case, said: “All I can say is that we had absolutely nothing to do with that man’s death.”
Which Is More Corrupt: Afghanistan or America?
Karzai cash payments highlight a growing friction as Afghans blame NATO for their poor reputation.
National Journal By Michael Hirsh May 21, 2013
Kabul, Afghanistan - None of President Hamid Karzai's top advisers knew that he had been receiving tens of millions of dollars in secret cash from the CIA, Afghanistan's senior anticorruption official said, and he added that he did not believe the Afghan leader's claim that he had been giving the agency regular receipts for the money.
Mohammad Yasin Osmani, the head of the Independent Joint Anti-Corruption Monitoring and Evaluation Committee, said in an interview last week that he and 39 other advisers who audit expenditures throughout the government "were not aware" of the decade-old payouts, which Karzai acknowledged at a news conference in Kabul on May 4.
But Osmani, like other Afghan government officials, was reluctant to criticize Karzai or accuse him of personal corruption, highlighting a growing friction between Afghanistan and the International Security Assistance Force led by the United States over an issue that threatens to upend the rebuilding effort here, and possibly U.S. plans for a post-2014 "strategic partnership" with Afghanistan. Many Afghan officials and politicians contend that their nation's reputation for rampant corruption is exaggerated—according to Transparency International, a monitoring group, Afghanistan is the most corrupt nation on earth, along with Myanmar, North Korea, and Somalia. They say that more to blame are poor procedures by ISAF and Washington that hand aid money directly over to graft-plagued contractors and subcontractors.
Ashraf Ghani, a former finance minister who is currently the chairman of the Afghan Transition Coordination Commission, said the Karzai cash controversy is viewed in Washington as simply more evidence of Afghanistan's corrupt ways. But he asked: "What does it say about the way the American government conducts itself?"
It is, perhaps, a fair point, especially coming after a decade in which the $60 billion American rebuilding effort in Iraq was deemed hopelessly corrupt—in part because, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen concluded in his final report in March, in many cases U.S. officials did not consult with Iraqis closely or deeply enough to determine what reconstruction projects were really needed. Now the Afghans are saying the same thing. Even as the security transition to the Afghan National Security Forces is said to be going more smoothly, civilian transition from U.S. to Afghan oversight is a disaster, Finance Minister Omar Zakhilwal said in an interview. "The transition has not happened," he said, although as the ISAF-formed "provincial reconstruction teams" are being dismantled.
U.S. aid rules have themselves become a source of corruption, Osmani says. Too many private contractors skim off the top as they subcontract a job out, a practice that the Afghan government itself would not permit, he says. Beyond that, "nobody has the right [in the Afghan government] to monitor international community projects," and yet international auditors are often too leery of going to insecure areas. So little monitoring occurs. And in some cases U.S.-built projects appear to be following the pattern in Iraq. Osmani cited a case in which the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, John Sopko, criticized a $73 million contract given by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to DynCorp International for a shoddily built Afghan National Army base in Kunduz Province. "They didn't allow the [Afghan] government to go out and supervise the project!" Osmani said.
The finger-pointing on both sides suggests a long-married couple—10 years of geopolitical marriage in this case—who are fed up with each other but can't bear the idea of divorce. And the mood is getting testier. In a recent report, Sopko accused the Afghan government of "targeting American contractors with unjust taxes and intimidation." Zakhilwal says the allegations are false. Even in the case of Afghanistan's biggest economic weakness, the heroin trade, Afghan officials say the corruption is far greater outside Afghanistan than inside. "From 2002 to 2009, $420 billion to $460 billion was made by international dealers [out of Afghanistan], while $18 billion made by the Afghan mafia," says Ghani, citing a report by the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. "The illegal economy is totally integrated into globalization: with credit and transport."
The question of whether Afghanistan is just too corrupt to save has shaped the entire U.S. approach to post-9/11 Afghanistan, tilting the Obama administration gradually away from "nation-building" and toward a more pared-down counterterrorism strategy. In February 2008, three U.S. senators who are today the Obama administration's key foreign-policy heavyweights—Joe Biden, Chuck Hagel, and John Kerry—had a crucial dinner with Karzai at the Afghan president's palace. After Hagel raised the subject of corruption in Karzai's government, including runaway graft and narcotics connections, Karzai replied, "My dear senator, there is no corruption in my government." Things then got testier. The American visitors insisted they had a list of corrupt officials and that Karzai's brother was at the top of it, but the Afghan leader disingenuously denied it all—until Biden, by the dessert course, threw down his napkin. "This dinner is over," he said, walking out. Hagel and Kerry followed.
Biden never really regained his trust in Karzai, and by 2009, after he became Barack Obama's vice president, he turned into the new administration's No. 1 skeptic about nation-building. The doubts about Karzai, culminating in charges of election fraud, also poisoned the Afghan president's relations with the late Richard Holbrooke, Obama's special representative for Afghanistan. Karzai continues to deny charges of personal corruption, including about the CIA money. "This money was not given to warlords," he said at the May 4 news conference in Kabul. "The major part of this money was spent on government employees such as our guards.... It has been paid to individuals, not movements.... We give receipts for all these expenditures to the U.S. government."
Even Osmani is skeptical about that last point. Asked whether he believed there were "receipts," he responded, "No." But there are clearly two sides to every corruption story, and the U.S. and Afghan governments need to get their stories straight if the "partnership" is to survive after 2014.
HRW: More Afghan Women Jailed For 'Moral Crimes'
May 21, 2013 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Human Rights Watch says the number of Afghan women and girls jailed for "moral crimes" has risen by 50 percent in the past 18 months.
The international rights group says the increase suggests that Afghan authorities may feel they no longer need to support women's rights as international troops prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan next year.
The group presented its findings at a press conference in Kabul on May 21. It said 600 women are now imprisoned in Afghanistan for "moral crimes."
It said most of them were victims of sexual assault and family violence who had run away from their attackers.
It appealed to President Hamid Karzai to ban jailing girls for running away from home.
It also called on international donors to focus on preserving gains in women's rights after 2014.
Based on reporting by AP, AFP, and RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan
Media Watchdog Calls For Probe Into Afghan Journalist's Murder
By RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan May 21, 2013
KABUL -- A leading press freedom organization in Afghanistan, Nai, has demanded an investigation into the killing of a journalist who was found dead after being missing for weeks.
In a statement, Nai called on Afghan authorities to probe the murder of Mohammad Mohsin Hashimi in northern Kapisa Province.
Abdul Woudod Haideri, district governor of Nijrab in Kapisa, told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan that Hashimi's body was recovered from a well close to his home. He had stab wounds.
Haideri said that Hashimi, 30, worked for a local radio station called the Voice of Nijrab.
Haidari said that police have arrested three suspects in connection with the murder.
Activists say three journalists have been killed in Afghanistan since the beginning of this year.
During the same period, Nai has recorded 17 incidents of violence against journalists.
With reporting by BBC Pashto
Security Concern Halts Foreign Investments in Afghanistan
TOLOnews.com By Anwar Hashimi 22 May 2013
Some of foreign projects and investments have come to a standstill due to the increasing security threats in the country.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that the Government is not working seriously to provide security due to which foreign investments and trading have been badly affected.
Security challenges and problems in the country has affected foreign investments greatly as recently the Chief of Marriott Hotels in the Middle East has said that due to security concerns the construction work of their five star hotel with a capital investment of $80 million has been stopped in Afghanistan.
Khan Jan Alokozai, Deputy Director of Chambers of Commerce and Industry said, "There is no doubt, this has caused a negative impact on the production and investments and that our country is getting closer to experiencing an economic recession. Security concerns, abductions have badly affected the investments in the country."
Meanwhile, he said that the number of kidnappings in the country is on the rise and is affecting investments in a negative way. Throwing light on the kidnappings he added, last week the Head of Turkish Traders Union who is also the owner of Istanbul Restaurant have been kidnapped from Shahr-e-Now Kabul.
Deputy Director of Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that the Head of Turkish Traders Union was encouraging 60 Turkish investors for investments in Afghanistan.
Qayum Karzai, A Possible Presidential Candidate: Mahmoud Karzai
TOLOnews.com By TOLOnews.com 21 May 2013
Mahmoud Karzai brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday talked about the possible candidacy of his brother Qayum Karzai in the upcoming Presidential elections.
Mahmoud Karzai younger brother of Hamid Karzai while talking at a gathering in Kandahar told that if his brother Qayum Karzi wins the next Presidential elections, there will be a serious fight against corruption, security will be ensured in the country, good governance will come into existence and Afghanistan's relation with its neighbours will be strengthened.
"If Qayum wins the election, besides fighting other challenges, there will be more efforts for bringing peace to the country," Mahmoud Karzai Said.
Mahmoud Karzai criticised Hamid Karzai's Government and said that if Qayum wins the election the country's situation will be changed and serious action will be taken against the country's foreign spies and they will be put on trial.
These comments come in at a time when only three months are left for the formal nomination of the Presidential candidates.
The upcoming Presidential election of Afghanistan – planned to be held on April 5, 2014 – is considered as the most important event for the country's future.
Nuristan A Safe Passage For Taliban To Enter North and North-Eastern Parts of Afghanistan
TOLOnews.com By Rateb Noori 21 May 2013
The Governor of eastern Nuristan province Tamim Nuristani on Tuesday said that Nuristan will change into second Waziristan. Arabs, Pakistanis, Lashkar-e-Taiba and several other insurgents groups are using Nuristan as a passage to reach the North and North-Eastern provinces.
The Governor of Eastern Nuristan province adds that Taliban and Pakistanis are transporting all their fighters from the border areas of the province to the North and North-Eastern provinces of Afghanistan.
Tamim Nuristani stressed that the province will fall prey to insurgency if the districts don't clean up the insurgents. The insurgent groups are present within eight kilometer radius of the province's capital, Paroon, where all the government officials are traveling by helicopter to other province including Kabul.
"Dahan-e-Patigol of Kamdish district is the main pathway of the Taliban and Pakistanis. Through this area they move all the supplies to Kamdish, Bargmatal districts and even in the Kunar and Laghman provinces. Now they want to find a way into the Badkhshan province so we intend to keep that route closed," Governor Tamim Nuristani told TOLOnews.
It is said that Pakistan wants to use Nuristan as a bridge to spread insurgency in the North and North-Eastern parts of Afghanistan.
"There are ISI groups in Kamdish, Bargmatal and Waigal. Around 70 people have come into the region and they are working, leading, giving money and encouraging people to carry out activities that stall the progress in Afghanistan," Tamim Nuristani said.
Security is not the only problem in the Nuristan province. Lack of buildings for governmental agencies and asphalted roads are some of the major problems in the province. Even one meter of asphalted road does not exist in the Nuristan province.
Meanwhile, Abdul Khaliq Farahi, Head of Independent Directorate of Local Governance pledges to solve the problems of the Province.
"Nothing has been done in the last two years here, even the President's decrees were not implemented," Abdul Khaliq Farahi said.
Afghan officials who have visited Nuristan province said that security problem is the priority and it needs to be solved first.
"The Ministry of Defence is busy doing small things; I hope soon it will start solving the bigger issues. The Defence and Interior Ministries are strengthening Kabul's gates. The gates are Nuristan, Khost, Kunar and Badakhshan provinces," Head of Transition Commission Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai said.
"Our forces are ready to take over the Waigal district and the Police Chief should participate in the planning process," Commander of 201 Silab Military Corps Mohammad Zaman Waziri said.
The Governor of Nuristan province believes that strengthening the local police forces and stationing army soldiers will be effective in reducing the security threats.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
By Ross Colvin
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Wednesday he had given a "wish list" of military equipment to India during a visit this week, presenting a conundrum for New Delhi as it weighs whether arming the Afghan army is in its interests.
India wants to stabilise Afghanistan and is concerned about the resurgence of militant groups after foreign combat troops leave in 2014.
But arming Afghanistan would alarm Pakistan. It takes issue with the influence of its old rival in Afghanistan. India does not want to get drawn into a proxy war with Pakistan, which has ties to the Taliban.
India and Afghanistan signed a strategic partnership agreement in 2011 under which New Delhi agreed to assist in the training and equipping of Afghan security forces.
India has trained Afghan security force personnel in its military academies, but it has provided little military equipment, according to Indian officials. India's Afghan strategy has centred on boosting its influence through economic reconstruction projects.
"We have a wish list that we have put before the government of India," Karzai told reporters, adding that it was up to India to decide how much help it was prepared to give Afghanistan.
Karzai would not say what was on the list, but India's firstpost.com website said it included 105 mm artillery, medium-lift aircraft, bridge-laying equipment and trucks.
The Indian government had no immediate comment on Karzai's statement. Karzai's spokesman said both countries had agreed not to discuss the contents of the shopping list.
An Indian government official said earlier that India had already provided some military equipment to Afghanistan but he declined to give details. He said he was surprised that Afghanistan was speaking openly about a weapons request.
India is not a major weapons exporter, and suffers chronic shortages of defence equipment itself, including artillery.
CONTESTED BORDER
Afghanistan's request for military equipment comes as its relations with Pakistan, which have been difficult for decades, are again at a low.
This month, Pakistan border guards and Afghan police clashed over a contested border area. The Afghan police complained they had been out-gunned and said they wanted heavy artillery and tanks.
Afghan security forces have also made no secret of their desire for an air force.
The clash over their border, which Afghanistan has never officially recognised, raised new tension between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Afghanistan and its Western allies have or years complained that Pakistan has failed to act against militants taking refuge in Pakistan and launching attacks into Afghanistan from Pakistani refuges.
Pakistan denies helping the Taliban and complains of militants fighting the Pakistani state taking refuge in Afghanistan.
But Karzai did not directly criticise Pakistan on Wednesday.
He said no peace deal was possible in Afghanistan without Pakistan's involvement because of its influence over the Taliban, who are fighting to expel Western forces, topple Karzai's government and establish Islamist rule.
"Pakistan cooperation is key to a politically successful peace process and key to the end of violence in Afghanistan," he said.
He said that at a meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister-elect Nawaz Sharif last year the latter had acknowledged the danger that "terrorism and radicalism" posed to Pakistan.
"I hope the new prime minister will be able to deliver what he so much wishes to achieve," Karzai said.
Sharif has said he aims to boost ties with India.
(Additional reporting by Amie Ferris-Rotman in KABUL; Editing by Robert Birsel)
UK eyes giving visas to 600 Afghan interpreters
By SYLVIA HUI | Associated Press
LONDON (AP) — Britain is proposing to give around 600 Afghan interpreters who worked alongside its troops the right to settle in the U.K. in recognition of the risks to their personal safety.
The plans, released Wednesday, will allow interpreters who have worked on the front lines in Afghanistan for more than a year to relocate to Britain on a five-year visa. Those who do not meet the requirement will get a training and education package with the Afghan security forces and wages equivalent to their current salary, or be given 18 months' salary.
Britain, which contributes the second-largest number of troops to NATO's operation in Afghanistan after the U.S., is preparing to end its combat role there by the end of 2014.
"The prime minister has been very clear that we should not turn our backs on those who have trod the same path as our soldiers in Helmand, consistently putting their lives at risk to help our troops achieve their mission," a statement from Prime Minister David Cameron's office at Downing Street said, referring to the southern Helmand province, where many battles were fought.
"These proposals give them a choice: The opportunity to go on working in Afghanistan, learning new skills and to go on rebuilding their country, or to come and make a new start in Britain," it said.
The statement appeared to signal a change of heart by Cameron, who earlier this month told reporters he believed most Afghan interpreters should stay in their country to help rebuild it after years of conflict.
Some welcomed Britain's move, though others raised concerns that many interpreters who do not qualify for the plans may be left in danger.
Rosa Curling, a lawyer representing three Afghan interpreters who launched a court case on the issue, said limiting the offer to front-line staff would offer no protection to Afghan workers who are threatened because of the nature of their work.
Downing Street said Wednesday that officials are expected to finalize the proposals within days, but British media, quoting government sources, reported that the plans have already been approved.
Women rights at stake in Afghanistan
By Abdul Haleem
KABUL, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Some 200 students of Kabul University came to streets on Wednesday to voice their opposition over the possible endorsement of the controversial law on Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) enacted by President Hamid Karzai three years ago to ensure the rights of women and girls in the conservative country.
"This law is against the Islamic teaching and we will not allow the parliament to pass the bill," a Kabul University student demonstrator Ahsan Arman said to Xinhua.
However, the law on Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) was presented to Wolesi Jirga or Lower House of Afghan parliament on Saturday to get ratification where some lawmakers described some articles and characters of the law as un-Islamic and opposed it. "It is against Islamic teaching and we do our best to block it," a lawmaker Mawlawi Abdul Rahman Rahmani categorically stated at the legislature body.
His voice was supported by few more legislators and eventually divided the house over the subject prompting the house chairman to adjourn the debate for the next session.
Although steps have been taken in the post-Taliban Afghanistan to ensure women rights and empower the deprived segment, Afghan women still have a long way to embrace gender equity.
Women status in Afghanistan has been considerably improved over the past decade. In today's Afghanistan women serve as cabinet minister, parliamentarians, businessmen, artist and singers.
Nevertheless, the loose achievement obviously seems at risk as the hardliners in legislature body have shown strong opposition to the law on EVAW. "If the safe shelter is approved for women the country will witness 7 Saur-like blood shedding," another lawmaker Qazi Nazir Ahmad Hanafi warned, referring to 7 Saur or 27 April 1978 coup d' tat by leftist junta which led to the invasion of the former Soviet Union and eventually a civil war.
Safe shelter is a house run by government and accommodates those poor women or girls who escape her family due to domestic violence and take shelter there. Hanafi and his like-minded people believe that Khanai Aman or safe shelter promotes adultery, a claim rejected by officials as baseless.
Defending the law, a female lawmaker and women right activist Fauzia Kufi said the perpetrators of crime against women and girls must be punished. "If a girl is sexually assaulted or forced to prostitution, Such women and girls must be supported and the perpetrators and criminals must be punished," Kufi said at a television panel discussion.
The law on EVAW which enacted in August 2009 criminalizes more than 20 acts of violence against women including child marriage, forced marriage, rape and baad or giving the hand of a girl to an enemy to settle dispute between two families or tribes.
Forced marriage, child marriage, baad, under-age marriage, physical beating and depriving of inherit right is rampant particularly in rural areas of Afghanistan.
Amid uproar in the parliament over EVAW, the United Nations Secretary General's special envoy to Afghanistan Jan Kubis on Monday urged the Afghan government to step up efforts to ensure the full implementation of the law on Elimination of Violence against Women with its international commitments.
The student demonstrators, however, termed the law on EVAW as against Islamic teaching and warned to close the doors of Kabul University "if their demand is not met".
Taliban Raid Tests Coalition's Afghan Gains
Wall Street Journal By MARGHERITA STANCATI and HABIB KHAN TOTAKHIL May 21, 2013
KABUL - A large number of Taliban insurgents, aided by foreign fighters, have tried to overrun the district of Sangin in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, triggering a two-day battle that seemed to be abating by Tuesday night, Afghan officials said.
At least four Afghan policemen and several insurgents were killed in the clashes, some of the most serious combat since the Taliban launched their annual spring offensive last month.
Sangin, known for its opium production, has long been a Taliban redoubt. Helmand, including Sangin, was the focus of President Barack Obama's troop surge, with tens of thousands of U.S. Marines flooding the province in 2010-11.
In a separate attack on Tuesday, a roadside bombing killed seven Afghan policemen in the western province of Herat, a local government spokesman said.
This week's clashes in Sangin represent a test of whether Afghan forces can defend the hard-fought gains of coalition troops as they begin to take over responsibility for security in their country. The Marines still maintain a small advisory team in Sangin, but U.S. troops didn't participate in the fighting this week, the coalition said.
Units from the Afghan army and the national police were dispatched to help local officers, successfully pushing back the insurgents from outposts surrounding some villages in the district, said Omar Zwak, a spokesman for the provincial government.
Helmand Gov. Muhammad Naeem Baloch visited the site of the fighting on Tuesday, Mr. Zwak added.
The Taliban said they took control of police outposts in the Sarwan Kala area of Sangin district, destroying several tanks and seizing some weapons. The Taliban often exaggerate their claims; neither U.S. troops nor the Afghans operate tanks in Helmand.
Ali Shah Khan, a tribal elder based in Sarwan Kala, said he heard an intense exchange of fire between Afghan troops and what he described as hundreds of Taliban fighters.
U.S. Army Col. Thomas Collins, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, played down the extent of clashes in Sangin. "Our reporting says there were about 10 groups of 8-10 fighters each doing drive-by shootings against five police checkpoints," he said. "Afghan security forces were able to call for reinforcements and none of the checkpoints were overrun."
Sangin has been one of the bloodiest districts in Afghanistan. British forces that deployed there in 2006 struggled to secure the area from Taliban control, and were barely able to leave their outpost. Almost one-quarter of the 444 British fatalities in the Afghan war occurred in Sangin.
The U.S. Marines who took over in 2010 also suffered high casualties there. Despite setbacks, the Marines succeeded in pushing back the insurgents, regaining control of a highway that runs north to south through Sangin. These days, that road is no longer considered secure.
The overall number of coalition forces in Helmand has significantly dropped from the 30,000 who were there at the peak of the troop surge, as the coalition prepares to exit the country by the end of next year.
Write to Margherita Stancati at margherita.stancati@wsj.com
Coalition Plays Down Afghan Reports of Major Battle in Helmand
The New York Times By Matthew Rosenberg and Taimoor Shah May 21, 2013
Kabul, Afghanistan - The Taliban attacked Afghan police posts in a violent and long-contested corner of southern Afghanistan, setting off two days of clashes that left at least six police officers dead, Afghan officials said Tuesday, though the American-led coalition played down the violence as little more than “drive-by shootings.” The Afghan government portrayed the fighting in the Sangin district of Helmand Province, which began Monday, as a major victory for its forces, with officials describing a massive Taliban effort to overrun the area. Omar Zwak, a spokesman for the provincial governor, put the number of attackers at 1,000 and said Arab and Chechen insurgents — that is, Al Qaeda members — were fighting alongside the Taliban.
The Taliban also claimed to be engaged in a broad assault on Sangin, saying in a text message to reporters that insurgents had overrun three police posts and were close to taking more.
The coalition, though, was far more circumspect about the scale of the fighting. It said the Taliban force totaled 80 to 100 fighters and managed to launch only sporadic attacks on outlying police posts in the district.
Ten groups of between 8 and 10 Taliban fighters were “doing drive-by shootings against five police checkpoints,” said Col. Thomas Collins, a coalition spokesman. “None of the checkpoints were overrun."
Another coalition official added that American Marines, who still maintain a sizable presence in the district, would have joined the fight had the Taliban presented any significant threat, and coalition air power would probably have been called in had the Taliban massed in numbers as large as those described by Afghan officials. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid publicly disagreeing with his Afghan counterparts.
The Taliban have stepped up their attacks on the Afghan Army and police since the start of the annual fighting season. They say that a broad summer offensive that will expose the weakness of the Afghan security forces is now under way, and that they have managed to inflict significant casualties. At least six Afghan police officers were killed in the past two days in Sangin, for instance, according to Haji-Ghulam Ali Khan, the district police chief.
But the most dramatic battles between the Taliban and the Afghan security forces seem to be those portrayed by their spokesmen for media consumption, with both sides claiming to have scored hard-fought victories over one another.
This week’s fighting in Sangin could well prove to be part of the intensifying propaganda war. The district was the scene of fierce fighting by British troops and United States Marines to root out the insurgents, and both the Taliban and the Afghan government would benefit from claiming a victory there.
But if the Taliban’s attack this week did consist mainly of sending small bands to harass police posts, as the coalition asserted, it would hardly count as a significant victory for either side. It would instead seem to indicate that the insurgents do not have the strength or the will to threaten the entire district with a head-on assault, and that the security forces there have yet to be tested by a big attack.
Afghan officials, however, were adamant that their forces had repulsed a huge Taliban attack. “The Taliban were trying to show us their power but they have been repelled by Afghan forces,” said Mr. Khan, the police chief.
The fighting had begun early Monday, and Afghan soldiers were called in to help repulse the attacks, he added. Some police were still engaged in isolated firefights, but order had been restored in most of the district, he said, adding that the Marines were not needed at any point in the fighting.
“Taliban, with their great forces, attacked the boundary in which the security check posts surround the district center and some of the check posts are still under their constant firefighting,” he said. “We don’t know exactly how many Taliban have been killed. I can say they are losing their men.”
Matthew Rosenberg reported from Kabul, and Taimoor Shah from Kandahar, Afghanistan. An employee of The New York Times contributed reporting from Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan.
Pakistan To Intensify Violence in Afghanistan This Summer
TOLOnews.com By Abdul Wali Arian 21 May 2013
Pakistan is trying to increase violence in Afghanistan this summer by making use of Taliban.
A number of analysts warned that the increase in Taliban insurgency attacks clearly indicates that Afghanistan will face strong resistance from the insurgents this summer.
The analysts emphasized that in order to prevent such violence in the country intelligence entities of Afghanistan security forces must be strengthened.
Afghanistan this year may experience extreme levels of violence and this has created more concerns for Afghanistan.
Presently, these concerns have become more alarming as it is said that Taliban will adopt a different method to disturb the status-quo and this will turn out to be more dangerous.
Jawed Kohistani, former military official said, "Pakistan and Taliban are trying to wage war and this is very dangerous."
Sayed Akbar Agha, former leader of Jaish al-Muslimeen group said, "Taliban and the Government both are fighting and it is getting intense. If the Government shows any kind of flexibility or relaxes at this juncture then the Taliban will take advantage of it."
Recently, Ministry of Defence has said that all the Madrasas which carried out insurgency activities have been shut and in order to keep the insurgency active, all the students of these madrasas are being sent to Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the capabilities of the intelligence agencies are under serious criticism.
Sayed Ali Kazemi, member of Lower House said, "The government and specifically the Ministry of Defence should adopt some measures seriously and defend the borders of the country."
Pakistan since a long time has been known as a harmful neighbour for Afghanistan as majority of the terrorists are located inside Pakistan.
It seems that relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have become so weak that Kabul is extending its hand towards New Delhi.
Pakistan, An Enemy of Afghanistan: Senate
TOLOnews.com By Rafi Sediqi 21 May 2013
Afghan Senators on Tuesday's session said that the President must take a clear stand against Pakistan, which is an open enemy of the Afghan people.
A number of Senators said that Afghan President must not let Pakistan worsen the security situation of Afghanistan and create more hurdles.
The Senators said that the United Nations (UN) must act on their commitments towards Afghanistan and not let Afghanistan be affected by its neighboring countries, especially Pakistan.
Senators said that Pakistan never wants a stable Afghanistan. Pakistan's military intelligence organisation is deploying terrorist groups and Madrasa students to worsen the security situation of Afghanistan.
The Senators believe that with Karzai's recent visit to India, Pakistan will be upset.
"UN must convince Pakistan, to stop interfering into Afghanistan's affairs. After the shutting down of the Madrasas in Pakistan, they are now sending the instructors of those schools to carry out terror activities and worsen the security situation of Afghanistan," Head of Complaints Committee of Senate, Zalmai Zabuli said.
"Pakistan's goal is to put more pressure on the Afghan Government and with the President's visit to India, Pakistan will be disappointed and won't want that Afghanistan should have close relations with India," Senator Daoud Asas said.
Meanwhile, the Speaker of the Upper House, Fazil Hadi Muslimyar said that Pakistan's military intelligence organization in the last eleven years openly interfered into Afghanistan's affairs.
"Pakistan's military intelligence agency during the eleven years has been trying to worsen the security situation of Afghanistan. In order to fulfill its desires they put pressure on Afghanistan in the form of terrorism," Muslimyar said.
Afghan experts believe that Pakistan was never honest in bringing peace and stability.
Torture Victim’s Body Is Found Near U.S. Base, Afghans Say
The New York Times By Rod Nordland May 21, 2013
Kabul, Afghanistan - The footless corpse of an Afghan man missing since November was found on Tuesday near the former American Special Forces base to which he was last seen being taken, according to Afghan officials and victims’ representatives.
Afghan investigators said that after his disappearance, the man, Sayid Mohammad, was seen in a video being tortured by an Afghan-American named Zakaria Kandahari, whom the officials identified as the chief interpreter for an American Army Special Forces A Team stationed at the base. The American military denies that Mr. Kandahari is an American citizen and said he was no longer working for the A Team when the video was made.
Mr. Mohammad’s body was found about 200 yards outside the perimeter of the base, in Nerkh District in Wardak Province. Mohammad Hanif Hanafi, the district governor, said it was found by laborers digging a water ditch when they unearthed what appeared to be a military-style black body bag.
Relatives of Mr. Mohammad said his corpse was largely complete, except both feet had been cut off. Afghan officials say the partial remains and clothing of another missing person had been found earlier near the base, which is now occupied by Afghan Special Forces after the American unit left in March.
Afghan officials are seeking Mr. Kandahari’s arrest on murder, torture and abuse of prisoner charges, and accuse the American military of shielding him from capture.
American military officials have insisted they do not have Mr. Kandahari and do not know where he is; they also say that repeated military investigations into the disappearances and murders of at least 15 people from Wardak Province have shown no wrongdoing by American soldiers. The results of those investigations, however, have not been made public.
The senior Afghan investigator for Defense Ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that investigators had now raised the toll of missing and dead to 17 people, all of whom were said to have been seized by the A Team in Nerkh. He provided names for all 17, and none has since been seen alive: adding in the latest body to be discovered, eight are still missing and nine have been found dead.
Although there has been no testimony directly tying American soldiers to the abuse or killing of those detainees, the investigator questioned whom Mr. Kandahari answered to. “There is no question that Zakaria directly tortured and murdered,” he said. “But who is Zakaria? Who recruited him, gave him his salary, his weapons? Who kept him under their protection? He worked for Special Forces. That a member of their team was committing such crimes and they didn’t know it is just not credible.”
The Afghan investigator, however, disputed earlier Afghan official accounts that suggested an American voice could be heard in the videotaped session of Mr. Mohammad’s torture, and he said the torture session took place in Afghan government offices in Nerkh district, not on the base itself. The videotape has not been released publicly.
On that video, officials who have seen it said, a furious Mr. Kandahari in military uniform can be seen repeatedly kicking a seated and handcuffed Mr. Mohammad, sometimes knocking him over.
The American military has described Mr. Kandahari as a freelance interpreter who had volunteered to help the American Special Forces, who allowed him to live at their base in exchange.
Afghan officials, however, described Mr. Kandahari as having a leadership role and conducting operations on his own initiative, including detaining suspects and taking them into the Special Forces base last November and December, when the disappearances occurred.
After a series of Afghan government investigations, officials demanded that American authorities turn over Mr. Kandahari. But American officials told the Afghans that he had escaped, which infuriated Mr. Karzai, and he then demanded that all American Special Operations forces leave Wardak, a troubled province as little as an hour’s drive from the capital. A compromise was struck in which only the team in Nerkh was removed.
The senior Afghan investigator rejected the American suggestions that Mr. Kandahari could have escaped without official help. “He is not someone who can leave the camp at midnight,” the official said. “He was such a criminal that he could not stay one hour outside the base by himself.”
Mr. Mohammad, a farmer from Karim Dad village, was 23 when he was arrested on Nov. 21 by A Team members on quad bikes, the investigator said. He is survived by a wife, a daughter and two sons, according to his father, Sher Mohammad.
Col. Thomas W. Collins, a spokesman for the American military who was asked about the case, said: “All I can say is that we had absolutely nothing to do with that man’s death.”
Which Is More Corrupt: Afghanistan or America?
Karzai cash payments highlight a growing friction as Afghans blame NATO for their poor reputation.
National Journal By Michael Hirsh May 21, 2013
Kabul, Afghanistan - None of President Hamid Karzai's top advisers knew that he had been receiving tens of millions of dollars in secret cash from the CIA, Afghanistan's senior anticorruption official said, and he added that he did not believe the Afghan leader's claim that he had been giving the agency regular receipts for the money.
Mohammad Yasin Osmani, the head of the Independent Joint Anti-Corruption Monitoring and Evaluation Committee, said in an interview last week that he and 39 other advisers who audit expenditures throughout the government "were not aware" of the decade-old payouts, which Karzai acknowledged at a news conference in Kabul on May 4.
But Osmani, like other Afghan government officials, was reluctant to criticize Karzai or accuse him of personal corruption, highlighting a growing friction between Afghanistan and the International Security Assistance Force led by the United States over an issue that threatens to upend the rebuilding effort here, and possibly U.S. plans for a post-2014 "strategic partnership" with Afghanistan. Many Afghan officials and politicians contend that their nation's reputation for rampant corruption is exaggerated—according to Transparency International, a monitoring group, Afghanistan is the most corrupt nation on earth, along with Myanmar, North Korea, and Somalia. They say that more to blame are poor procedures by ISAF and Washington that hand aid money directly over to graft-plagued contractors and subcontractors.
Ashraf Ghani, a former finance minister who is currently the chairman of the Afghan Transition Coordination Commission, said the Karzai cash controversy is viewed in Washington as simply more evidence of Afghanistan's corrupt ways. But he asked: "What does it say about the way the American government conducts itself?"
It is, perhaps, a fair point, especially coming after a decade in which the $60 billion American rebuilding effort in Iraq was deemed hopelessly corrupt—in part because, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen concluded in his final report in March, in many cases U.S. officials did not consult with Iraqis closely or deeply enough to determine what reconstruction projects were really needed. Now the Afghans are saying the same thing. Even as the security transition to the Afghan National Security Forces is said to be going more smoothly, civilian transition from U.S. to Afghan oversight is a disaster, Finance Minister Omar Zakhilwal said in an interview. "The transition has not happened," he said, although as the ISAF-formed "provincial reconstruction teams" are being dismantled.
U.S. aid rules have themselves become a source of corruption, Osmani says. Too many private contractors skim off the top as they subcontract a job out, a practice that the Afghan government itself would not permit, he says. Beyond that, "nobody has the right [in the Afghan government] to monitor international community projects," and yet international auditors are often too leery of going to insecure areas. So little monitoring occurs. And in some cases U.S.-built projects appear to be following the pattern in Iraq. Osmani cited a case in which the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, John Sopko, criticized a $73 million contract given by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to DynCorp International for a shoddily built Afghan National Army base in Kunduz Province. "They didn't allow the [Afghan] government to go out and supervise the project!" Osmani said.
The finger-pointing on both sides suggests a long-married couple—10 years of geopolitical marriage in this case—who are fed up with each other but can't bear the idea of divorce. And the mood is getting testier. In a recent report, Sopko accused the Afghan government of "targeting American contractors with unjust taxes and intimidation." Zakhilwal says the allegations are false. Even in the case of Afghanistan's biggest economic weakness, the heroin trade, Afghan officials say the corruption is far greater outside Afghanistan than inside. "From 2002 to 2009, $420 billion to $460 billion was made by international dealers [out of Afghanistan], while $18 billion made by the Afghan mafia," says Ghani, citing a report by the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. "The illegal economy is totally integrated into globalization: with credit and transport."
The question of whether Afghanistan is just too corrupt to save has shaped the entire U.S. approach to post-9/11 Afghanistan, tilting the Obama administration gradually away from "nation-building" and toward a more pared-down counterterrorism strategy. In February 2008, three U.S. senators who are today the Obama administration's key foreign-policy heavyweights—Joe Biden, Chuck Hagel, and John Kerry—had a crucial dinner with Karzai at the Afghan president's palace. After Hagel raised the subject of corruption in Karzai's government, including runaway graft and narcotics connections, Karzai replied, "My dear senator, there is no corruption in my government." Things then got testier. The American visitors insisted they had a list of corrupt officials and that Karzai's brother was at the top of it, but the Afghan leader disingenuously denied it all—until Biden, by the dessert course, threw down his napkin. "This dinner is over," he said, walking out. Hagel and Kerry followed.
Biden never really regained his trust in Karzai, and by 2009, after he became Barack Obama's vice president, he turned into the new administration's No. 1 skeptic about nation-building. The doubts about Karzai, culminating in charges of election fraud, also poisoned the Afghan president's relations with the late Richard Holbrooke, Obama's special representative for Afghanistan. Karzai continues to deny charges of personal corruption, including about the CIA money. "This money was not given to warlords," he said at the May 4 news conference in Kabul. "The major part of this money was spent on government employees such as our guards.... It has been paid to individuals, not movements.... We give receipts for all these expenditures to the U.S. government."
Even Osmani is skeptical about that last point. Asked whether he believed there were "receipts," he responded, "No." But there are clearly two sides to every corruption story, and the U.S. and Afghan governments need to get their stories straight if the "partnership" is to survive after 2014.
HRW: More Afghan Women Jailed For 'Moral Crimes'
May 21, 2013 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Human Rights Watch says the number of Afghan women and girls jailed for "moral crimes" has risen by 50 percent in the past 18 months.
The international rights group says the increase suggests that Afghan authorities may feel they no longer need to support women's rights as international troops prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan next year.
The group presented its findings at a press conference in Kabul on May 21. It said 600 women are now imprisoned in Afghanistan for "moral crimes."
It said most of them were victims of sexual assault and family violence who had run away from their attackers.
It appealed to President Hamid Karzai to ban jailing girls for running away from home.
It also called on international donors to focus on preserving gains in women's rights after 2014.
Based on reporting by AP, AFP, and RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan
Media Watchdog Calls For Probe Into Afghan Journalist's Murder
By RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan May 21, 2013
KABUL -- A leading press freedom organization in Afghanistan, Nai, has demanded an investigation into the killing of a journalist who was found dead after being missing for weeks.
In a statement, Nai called on Afghan authorities to probe the murder of Mohammad Mohsin Hashimi in northern Kapisa Province.
Abdul Woudod Haideri, district governor of Nijrab in Kapisa, told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan that Hashimi's body was recovered from a well close to his home. He had stab wounds.
Haideri said that Hashimi, 30, worked for a local radio station called the Voice of Nijrab.
Haidari said that police have arrested three suspects in connection with the murder.
Activists say three journalists have been killed in Afghanistan since the beginning of this year.
During the same period, Nai has recorded 17 incidents of violence against journalists.
With reporting by BBC Pashto
Security Concern Halts Foreign Investments in Afghanistan
TOLOnews.com By Anwar Hashimi 22 May 2013
Some of foreign projects and investments have come to a standstill due to the increasing security threats in the country.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that the Government is not working seriously to provide security due to which foreign investments and trading have been badly affected.
Security challenges and problems in the country has affected foreign investments greatly as recently the Chief of Marriott Hotels in the Middle East has said that due to security concerns the construction work of their five star hotel with a capital investment of $80 million has been stopped in Afghanistan.
Khan Jan Alokozai, Deputy Director of Chambers of Commerce and Industry said, "There is no doubt, this has caused a negative impact on the production and investments and that our country is getting closer to experiencing an economic recession. Security concerns, abductions have badly affected the investments in the country."
Meanwhile, he said that the number of kidnappings in the country is on the rise and is affecting investments in a negative way. Throwing light on the kidnappings he added, last week the Head of Turkish Traders Union who is also the owner of Istanbul Restaurant have been kidnapped from Shahr-e-Now Kabul.
Deputy Director of Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that the Head of Turkish Traders Union was encouraging 60 Turkish investors for investments in Afghanistan.
Qayum Karzai, A Possible Presidential Candidate: Mahmoud Karzai
TOLOnews.com By TOLOnews.com 21 May 2013
Mahmoud Karzai brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday talked about the possible candidacy of his brother Qayum Karzai in the upcoming Presidential elections.
Mahmoud Karzai younger brother of Hamid Karzai while talking at a gathering in Kandahar told that if his brother Qayum Karzi wins the next Presidential elections, there will be a serious fight against corruption, security will be ensured in the country, good governance will come into existence and Afghanistan's relation with its neighbours will be strengthened.
"If Qayum wins the election, besides fighting other challenges, there will be more efforts for bringing peace to the country," Mahmoud Karzai Said.
Mahmoud Karzai criticised Hamid Karzai's Government and said that if Qayum wins the election the country's situation will be changed and serious action will be taken against the country's foreign spies and they will be put on trial.
These comments come in at a time when only three months are left for the formal nomination of the Presidential candidates.
The upcoming Presidential election of Afghanistan – planned to be held on April 5, 2014 – is considered as the most important event for the country's future.
Nuristan A Safe Passage For Taliban To Enter North and North-Eastern Parts of Afghanistan
TOLOnews.com By Rateb Noori 21 May 2013
The Governor of eastern Nuristan province Tamim Nuristani on Tuesday said that Nuristan will change into second Waziristan. Arabs, Pakistanis, Lashkar-e-Taiba and several other insurgents groups are using Nuristan as a passage to reach the North and North-Eastern provinces.
The Governor of Eastern Nuristan province adds that Taliban and Pakistanis are transporting all their fighters from the border areas of the province to the North and North-Eastern provinces of Afghanistan.
Tamim Nuristani stressed that the province will fall prey to insurgency if the districts don't clean up the insurgents. The insurgent groups are present within eight kilometer radius of the province's capital, Paroon, where all the government officials are traveling by helicopter to other province including Kabul.
"Dahan-e-Patigol of Kamdish district is the main pathway of the Taliban and Pakistanis. Through this area they move all the supplies to Kamdish, Bargmatal districts and even in the Kunar and Laghman provinces. Now they want to find a way into the Badkhshan province so we intend to keep that route closed," Governor Tamim Nuristani told TOLOnews.
It is said that Pakistan wants to use Nuristan as a bridge to spread insurgency in the North and North-Eastern parts of Afghanistan.
"There are ISI groups in Kamdish, Bargmatal and Waigal. Around 70 people have come into the region and they are working, leading, giving money and encouraging people to carry out activities that stall the progress in Afghanistan," Tamim Nuristani said.
Security is not the only problem in the Nuristan province. Lack of buildings for governmental agencies and asphalted roads are some of the major problems in the province. Even one meter of asphalted road does not exist in the Nuristan province.
Meanwhile, Abdul Khaliq Farahi, Head of Independent Directorate of Local Governance pledges to solve the problems of the Province.
"Nothing has been done in the last two years here, even the President's decrees were not implemented," Abdul Khaliq Farahi said.
Afghan officials who have visited Nuristan province said that security problem is the priority and it needs to be solved first.
"The Ministry of Defence is busy doing small things; I hope soon it will start solving the bigger issues. The Defence and Interior Ministries are strengthening Kabul's gates. The gates are Nuristan, Khost, Kunar and Badakhshan provinces," Head of Transition Commission Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai said.
"Our forces are ready to take over the Waigal district and the Police Chief should participate in the planning process," Commander of 201 Silab Military Corps Mohammad Zaman Waziri said.
The Governor of Nuristan province believes that strengthening the local police forces and stationing army soldiers will be effective in reducing the security threats.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com