Moby Media Updates Archives 2008 MMU: Interview: Hamid Karzai, 20 August 2008
| MMU: Interview: Hamid Karzai, 20 August 2008 |
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TIME With Afghanistan reeling from fresh attacks on Western forces, TIME correspondent Aryn Baker spoke to the country's president Hamid Karzai about a range of subjects, including relations with Pakistan now that his testy neighbor Pervez Musharraf is resigning; and charges of corruption against members of his government and against his younger brother Wali Karzai. TIME: Last time we met, in September 2006, Kabul's first major suicide attack went off during the middle of our interview. Since then we have had several devastating attacks and an attempted assassination... Karzai: And the casualties will only get worse, I fear. And then did you see what was happening in Pakistan, why would someone go and blow himself up in a hospital [in Peshawar]? Who are they, what are they? It cannot be justified. The justification is far away. You can fight people anywhere, any place, but you don't kill people in a hospital. So why? It's going crazy. Why? If they die in suicide attacks, how will their movement survive? What is behind this? It is criminality on the part of those who use them. Criminality is perhaps a light word. Diabolical, worse than that. Someone needs to coin a new term, a new phrase. What would your phrase be? Inhuman. It's to no end. It's not a war you can win. They blow people up, and disappear. Without a political cause, without a political objective. With nothing that can bring success, or any symbols of success? So how do you combat a movement that has only annihilation as its goal? The way to fix Afghanistan is to fix things with Pakistan. In order to fix terrorism at large, we need to remedy the wrongs of the past 30 years. Remedy means to undo. Did you see what happened in Algeria today? I will call the president of Algeria. The world pushed us to fight the Soviets. And those who did it walked away. And left all the mess spread around. September 11 is a consequence of this. The bombing in Peshawar today is a consequence. Algeria is a consequence of that. Afghanistan was a once great place. In perfect harmony with the rest of the world. Families sent their girls to university, wearing whatever style they wanted. And that family lived in perfect harmony with another family who was conservative and traditional. Both lived together and socialized. But in the years of fighting against the Soviets, radicalism was the main thing. Someone like me would be called half a Muslim. And we were actually called half Muslims. Because we were not radical. The more radical you became, the more money you were given. So radicalism became not only an ideological tool against the Soviets, but a way forward economically. The more radical you presented yourself, the more money the West gave you. It wasn't just the West, it was Saudi Arabia, Pakistan... Everybody together I call them the West, because they were led by the West. The moderates were undermined, not allowed. Patriotism, Afghan history and nationalism was called atheism. It was undermined. The more you betrayed Afghanistan, the more you spoke of radicalism, the more you went away from Afghan history, the better you were treated. And that's what we are paying for now. So how do you repair the damage? By paying proper attention to the hundreds of thousands of disparate lives... these people who have nowhere to go to, who are not being raised in a parent's home, who don't have sisters and brothers to live with. Who don't have dinner with their families every night. Who are taken [in] by these... enemies of Islam, who work in the name of Islam. These places are called madrassahs, but they are not [real] madrassahs. They train and raise these young souls to be ammunition in a political game. That is what happened today in [the hospital in] Dera Ismail Khan [in Pakistan], that is what happens in Afghanistan on a daily basis. And also, let's focus on Pakistan. The ISI [The Inter-Service Intelligence spy agency of Pakistan]. The organization must stop using radicalism and extremism as an instrument of policy. Once that stops, unless the use of these young men as tools of radicalization, and as weapons to promote whatever agenda they have stops, we will have continued attacks like this. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, your long time foe, stepped down yesterday. What does this mean for Afghanistan? Arrivals and departures don't matter much. What matters is institutional corrections. Unless we correct the institution, unless we change the mindsets that follow an old policy. For example, if Pakistan is using radicalism as a tool of policy for strategic depth in Afghanistan, well, I wish to tell them that it won't work. The best strategic depth in Afghanistan is friendship, cooperation. Like France and Germany. Now France has the best strategic depth in Germany. And Germany has the best strategic depth in France. [It is a] cooperative environment. Afghanistan is willing to build that kind of relationship. In my opinion that is the best strategic depth to have: cooperation, not weaponry, not sanctuary, not undermining, not seeking a puppet state. That will not happen period. You have accused the ISI of supporting terrorism in Afghanistan, particularly in the case of the Indian Embassy bombing. Do you think the new civilian government in Pakistan will be able to rein in the ISI when a military leader could not? [Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza] Gilani is a good man. He has the right intentions. I hope he gets the tools of control. That is for the Pakistani government to decide, and that is for us and the international community to help him with. Afghanistan will go out of its way. Today the army chief of Pakistan was in Afghanistan today at Bagram Airforce base. I called [General Ashfaq Pervez] Kayani on the telephone to welcome him to my country. And to tell him that Afghanistan cannot achieve peace or prosperity without friendly relations with Pakistan. I hope he recognizes that what they are doing [in terms of supporting militancy in Afghanistan] is causing immense damage to Pakistan itself. Someone has to recognize this need for change, and for a modern relationship with Afghanistan, a civilized relationship. I hope it will occur. Do you think this will happen? I am always optimistic. There is no other way. we cannot live a life in opposition. And I will continue working , continue and continue forever. Do you think Pakistan's new civilian government can reign in the militancy? Not by not changing the concept. In other words, unless the establishment of Pakistan changes its foundation of policy towards the neighbor, there will be trouble. If they think that strategic depth in Afghanistan can only be gained by promoting radicalism, destabilizing Afghanistan, having a weak puppet government, and having Afghanistan in disarray, then they will have to have a staging point, and that staging point cannot be in Afghanistan, it will have to be in Pakistan. And that staging point creates exactly the replication of what is happening in Afghanistan. Therefore the tribal territories will not be peaceful as long as that policy continues. When that changes, yes, the tribal territories will become peaceful. But is it too late, is the genie out of the bottle? The genie was out of the bottle a long time back, not this year or last year but many years ago. The genie is not a self-winding one. The genie can be put back into the bottle and the bottle can be destroyed. What will it take to do that? A proper analysis of the Pakistani national interest. A proper analysis of the course to be followed into the future. A different thinking about life itself. How do I want to live with my neighbor? Do I want to live a life undermining it or pushing it around, or do I want a neighbor who is prosperous and good and with whom I can work well? Afghanistan wants that life. And Pakistan will benefit from that life too. One day it will come about. Definitely. Secondly. There is also a job we have to do in Afghanistan. Afghanistan will never be beholden to Pakistan. Afghanistan's progress and stability will only add to Pakistan's progress and stability. Afghanistan will bring prosperity to add to Pakistan. Afghanistan will bring no quarrels to Pakistan. Pakistan has to recognize that Afghanistan has been in this part of the world for a long, long time. It's a good, old, sage man. It will not go away. Empires have tried and failed to conquer this place. And Afghanistan will guard its independence and soverignity and it's right to a relationship with others very jealously. Extreme jealously. I am extremely jealous. I will guard it jealously. We will have relations with India. We will have relations with Iran. With china. We will have relations with America. Strategic ones, strong ones. Deep ones, and with Russia too. But these are relationships that will not be used against our neighbors. Not against Pakistan, not against Iran. We have been very firm with the Americans about Iran, and we have been very frank with Iran about our relations with America. I went and explained to the Iranian government our relation with the United States. Therefore our relationship with India in the same manner is not counterproductive to Pakistan. It is between Afghanistan and India. India is one of the great economic powers. [India provided] a good educational environment for Afghans - I was one of them and there are a thousand more like me in India now. Afghanistan wants this relationship, and we hope that Pakistan evolves into a good relationship with India as well. So we are clear. We are not shadowy. We have clarity about our objectives, our way forward, and about what we want to lead into the future. This cannot be undermined by bombs, or suicides or by violence. In other words, we are morally correct. We are not cheating on our neighbors, and we will not cheat. We will be straightforward, as we were in the past. Very straightforward. At some cost for us. Recently there has been a spate of civilian casualties. The Afghan Senate is trying to bring foreign forces under afghan law so they can be tried for civilian casualties. Is that what you want? You cannot justify any civilian casualties. Look. Afghanistan is grateful to our allies for having brought us liberation from terrorists, al-Qaeda and the Taliban. And for having given Afghanistan its place back in the international community. Our flag is flying around the world because of what happened. We would be nowhere, we would be a miserable lot under occupation without the U.S. presence and the presence of the international community. Taxpayer money is spent here in Afghanistan. It is not easy money. It is money that the American and European people have worked hard to earn. The sacrifice in life by the men and women of America and our other allies - that is all recognized, highly registered, with immense appreciation by the Afghans. But the Afghan people have given a lot too in this war against terrorism. Seven years on we still have people dying in our villages. Seven years on, on a daily basis we are losing our lives, whether the police, army, engineers, teachers and even our children. This the Afghan people understand. But they do not understand why for six years the Afghans have been saying to their allies, that the war against terrorism will not be won unless and until we go to the sanctuaries, to the training grounds, to the financiers, to the motivators of hatred that come across the border to kill us all. And the allies have not heard us. We took the brunt of this war. Even now the Afghan people, even when badly hurt, when entire families have been victims, killed in bombings, they are still with us in this fight against terrorism. But they don't understand why they should be the victims. We asked for this a long time back. The war against terrorism is not in Afghan villages, it is not in the middle of Afghan civilians. It is not on the roads of Kandahar and Kabul where people die from soldiers shooting out of fear. It is correcting the problem at its origins. I am speaking of doing the right thing. If Afghanistan is using a method, and that method is causing a problem in the rest of the world, then the rest of the world must come to me to stop that method. If Afghanistan is growing poppies, the rest of the world calls me every day on the reduction and eradication and removal of poppies. Every day in all my meetings, I face pressure on this. I know, and the world knows that it is not going to go away. I know and the world knows that if I could do it as the Afghan president, I would do it tomorrow. I know if President Bush could do it he would get rid of it tomorrow. But then a problem has been identified in Afghanistan, and that problem is being discussed with me every day. Have we done this with regard to sanctuaries, with regard to the training grounds, with those who have it? And those who cause it? Have we done enough to reduce the problem? What methods have we used to cut it short, to weaken it? This is my question. We have war here as a consequence of something else. Even if you go after the problem in Pakistan tomorrow, you are still going to have war here for a long time to come. For several more months, years, maybe longer, I agree. Or more. We understand. In that case [if the origins of terrorism are addressed], civilian casualties will be acceptable. But you can't have casualties, and no end in sight. As if the whole war in Afghanistan is because we are the ones producing terrorism. While we are not. We are the victims both ways. That is my point. And the call in the senate to bring foreign forces under Afghan law? It is a loud cry by the Afghan people, reflected by the Afghan senate, and they are right about that. And I have discussed the issues with our partners early on, many years behind us now. And we have to find a way forward, oh yes, I support the move in the senate. At the risk of Americans pulling out? Well, we have to win this war. The United States is here to win this war against terrorism. Are we doing it correctly? Are we winning this war? We defeated terrorism in less than a month-and-a-half in Afghanistan, but we are still suffering from it. The remnants are still there, killing American troops, killing Afghan, killing French, killing everyone else. What is it that we have done, what is it that we must do to bring an end in sight. Do we have a problem with the Afghan people? In that case the definition of what we are doing is very different. Do we have a problem with international terrorism, then what is it we are doing to address it? So far in my view, and in the view of the Afghan people, not much. Now if we see this as an effort aimed at the right target, spoken about with us, with a proper identification of the problem areas, then we can go along, and in that situation if we suffer civilian casualties, alright, we will accept it. The senate says we must control the foreign forces, we must control and bring harmony and coordination against the forces of terrorism. We have worked on this for the past five years, we have brought about a reduction in casualties, and we have brought about a lot of improvements. Together in cooperation with the international community. They don't want to have casualties. [Head of NATO forces, U.S. General David] McKiernan doesn't want Afghan civilians to die. [Former NATO forces commander General Dan] McNeil didn't' want that, nobody wants casualties because it doesn't help, it isn't right. Therefore, McKiernan, everybody, should adopt the right mechanism where casualties will be down, where we will be targeting the right place with the right weaponry, and with an effect on the spread of terrorism. Some of your closest aides are suspected of stealing land, drug smuggling and having illegal militias, Your military advisor, General Dostom, has been accused of kidnapping and resisting arrest. Yet you balked at arresting him. Why do you still protect these people? Ah, Dostom. [Laughs] He still has a militia, even if he denies it. So do several other former commanders. They just call them security companies. If you call militias a security company, then we don't have them. it's all the internationals. For the past few years, one of our biggest sources of contention with the international community has been their use of security companies. Private security companies. That still is one of our very serious differences with the international community. We consider them as one of the reasons for insecurity on our highways. So this is something, that not do we not support, but we publicly and officially are very much against. It is something with which I have called on all members of the international community, I have called on all of the ambassadors. But these security companies are militias run by former commanders. And funded by the international community. The commanders are still in your government. They are not funded by us. They are funded by the international community because there is nothing we can do. We are against it , we are against it, we have been public, we have been officially clear about this, this is something that we must put an end to in Afghanistan. The Ministry of Interior closed down many of them. But there are still many operating. This is not our problem. This is unfortunately a consequence of this partnership [between the international community and commanders with militias]. But you do have Dostom as an advisor. He has broken the law. There are witnesses. And yet you have been unable to bring him to justice. Warlords and their relationship with the international community is nothing I can do anything about. And their contracts, and the security firms. Why will the international community not listen to you? What is the gain? I just came back from the north where the level of crime has skyrocketed due to the actions of some of these commanders. Rape, kidnapping. And nothing is happening. I have taken action on some of these cases. I have removed a governor, some police chiefs and I will do more. And yesterday I investigated a matter of very serious importance in another province. Maybe Khunduz. I am very serious about that. there is something that I hope very much that our international backers will see the Afghan point of view, which they have not seen so far. Which is? The Afghan point of view is cut relations, stop backing them [the warlords]. Stop giving them contracts, stop arming them, and stop using them as political tools. Absolutely they are using them as political tools. Why can you not say stop then? What does stop mean? Stop. Will you stop writing? Stop is not the solution. I have to run this country. I have to take it forward with all the problems that it has. If someone in the international community is backing the warlords, and I say stop, and they don't stop, what is the next option? I tell them to leave this country? Pack up and leave Afghanistan? Take their money away, take their troops away? Then what? Will we be better off? Or will Afghanistan be worse off? Here it comes a point where as the leader of the country I must judge my distance in action. Will I go the full way? Or will I stop short of doing that? In other words, in order to have a warlord arrested, an offender, not just a warlord, arrested and put for trial, should I go to the extent of causing so much annoyance in an ally, for them to leave, or should I stop short and continue to make the best of the situation? Are you speaking here about Dostom? Are you saying that he has international support? Do you extend that to mean that he also has local support, in terms of the Uzbek population of Afghanistan of which he is the leader? And can you afford to lose that following? I am always very considerate. No Afghan people will go with offenders. Law has to be applied, and I have to think of the circumstances to which I can apply the law to the best interests of the Afghan people. that is something that I have to consider, and I have considered, and I have been criticized for, by my fellow Afghans, for being too considerate in these circumstances. And I have been too considerate. I think I was right. I have to judge. See I came to power in this country when there was no government. No institutions, no laws were applied. There was a time when someone had taken two daughters of a man away - this was in 2002 - and the then chief justice [Fazl Hadi] Shinwari came to me, and said we have no police, we cannot take him [the kidnapper] by the force of the law. So I decided to persuade him. By persuasion we were able to take one of the girls back, and then the other daughter and deliver them back to their house. There was a time in those years where we didn't even have law to deal with situations like that. Now six years down the line, we come to know of all that happens in Afghanistan. And in a lot of cases, we have the ability to act, for which we are grateful to the international community because of their presence, their backing and their resources, and the help we have been given. Otherwise we could not, unfortunately still, have been able to function the way we should. It will take some more time, and we will have to wait, and work towards that day. in 2002, U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said "we will not sacrifice security in the name of justice," talking about this very issue of warlords, who had been allied with western forces in defeating the Taliban. But six years on, we still have neither security nor justice. At that point, that was the right thing. And now? Six years on, it is not like that. We have examples of justice sacrificed in the name of security, but the overall situation is not like that. The overall situation is where we act and we defend and we bring offenders to law, and we put them in jail. Even government offenders. And then they pay a bribe and are freed. Well, that is a different problem. That is a big problem. That is not the problem of the application of law, that is the problem of the system not being ready to handle the situation. That happens in many countries that have been here for a long time. Ok, let me give you an example. Last week I went to Jowzjan province. I met a 11-year-old girl who had been raped about six months ago. Her family had to pay bribes to pursue the case in courts. And her sister told me, "Under the Taliban time, that man would have been executed. We want the Taliban back because they gave us justice." The Taliban did provide that sort of justice. They were much better in that way. Yes, that is true. So you are falling behind in a competition for hearts and minds with a regime that was one of the most horrific in recent history? Unfortunately, yes. So how do you rectify this? By improving, and by having the full backing by some of our allies, which in some cases has not been there. And if you give me the name of the girl who was raped, and her information, I will deal with the situation tomorrow. General McKiernan has said that the Taliban are resurgent, and this is causing problems for Afghanistan. But one of the reasons they are gaining ground is because people are rapidly losing faith in your government. They see it as ineffective, corrupt and lacking justice. How do you defend your record in power? I don't think the Afghan people would prefer the Taliban to the current government. They have reduced faith in the government, yes. Definitely. But if you ask them if they have an alternative to this government, they will say "No." The Taliban will never be in the eyes of the Afghan people an alternative to this government. There are areas in which we have done well. Like security. Corruption is a different case. And this government is doing its best on corruption. With the money that is coming in; with the presence of so many international players, with the NGOs, with the security firms, the contractors, the this, the that, it could have been, it should have been much worse. It could have been much better. I don't think so. Under the circumstances, no. Take the number of players into account. The Afghan government takes the responsibility for the money that comes through us. Not for the money that has come through the donors, the agencies. But what about the corruption in the police? Corruption in the police is not hurting Afghanistan as much as corruption in the contract process from the donors. I don't see that. The police are the government's first contact with its citizens. That is the reason why the people are losing faith in your government. I am sure of it. Look, these are the same police that are dying in heavy numbers every day, defending this country. And this police [force] was not paid more than $20 a month [each] until last year. It was an extremely poverty stricken country. On this the Afghan people warned me in 2004, they came to me and said president, we have no police, and I realized it with our partners in the international community right there, on a daily basis. And we didn't get the right answer. We only began to work with our allies on the question of police and its reform, and improvement, and proper payment in 2007. So from 2004 to 2006, our cries went unheard, but we kept talking. We didn't make it public, but we were talking. Therefore the police should not be blamed, they should be praised. And the Ministry of Interior (MOI)? Another notoriously corrupt institution? The MOI has done a lot to improve itself. It is a lot better than two years ago. That's not saying much, look what it was starting from. It's not their fault. Can we blame Afghanistan for having been so badly destroyed? And then say look where we started from? When we started in 2002 we had no roads, so should we blame Afghanistan for having had no roads? But the MOI is different, they are your representatives. If the MOI is corrupt, you are perceived to be corrupt. This is what we have. This is the environment we have. It is not acceptable, but we are systematically trying to improve it. Together with the international community. All of those heavy guys that are sitting now with the MOI have been checked by the United Nations before they were appointed, for the past two years. We have gone through all the steps of reform. I'm not saying all the steps were right. Some things done in the name of reform were not reform. They caused us a lot of troubles. Like throwing too many police away, police that were trained, that were kicked out by the reform process. That is because they were illiterate. So what if they were illiterate? Why not? We had in Helmand three years ago a police chief who was illiterate, and another district chief who was illiterate, and a governor that was not educated in a school, but Helmand was much better then. Two years ago you had a corrupt governor in Helmand accused by the British of smuggling drugs: Sher Muhammad Akhunzada. Yes, but do we have more drugs now in Helmand? Or then? Oh, come on, that is the problem. This is all western propaganda against him. That is where things have gone wrong in Afghanistan. He was found with nearly a ton of heroin in his basement. So what? Now there are hundreds of tons of heroin in basements across Helmand. Not the governor, but the whole system. So, when Akhunzada was there, all the girls were going to school. Schools were open. Shops were open. Reconstructon was going on, and poppies were three times less than what is being produced today. So you blame pulling Akhunzada out for the increase in violence and poppy cultivation today? Helmand was entirely in our hand. The whole province was firmly in our hand. What do we have now? So you are willing to accept a drug smuggler as long as he keeps a firm grip on the province? So, let's suppose he was that. First of all, we don't know. These days we are wiser, we don't believe everything that our allies tell us now. Akhunzada was the governor. Drugs were three times less than they are today. The province was in our hands. Schools were running; women's associations were running. Clinics were running. Hospitals were running. Girls and boys were going to school; there was peace. And we removed Akhunzada on the allegation of drug running, and we delivered the province to drug runners, the Taliban, to terrorists, to a threefold increase of drugs and poppy cultivation in the country. To the closing of schools, to women being killed in the street. To complete lawlessness, and complete lack of sovereignty in Helmand for Afghanistan. Which condition is better? What would you do in your country in a situation like that? In other words, a British or an American province would be happier with the first situation or with the second? Ismail Khan in Herat was accused of the same things. So you are going to let these people, these smugglers... You have to let Afghanistan determine its own ways. The methods and ways that are developed in offices in the West don't work here. That is the problem. Somebody sits there behind a desk, gets a few reports from English-speaking Afghans and they say, well that is what we want to do in Afghanistan. And then things go down the drain. That is what I am changing now. So you are willing to allow a criminal to run a province as long as he keeps it under control? No, who says he is a criminal? That is a wrong allegation from the press, motivated by our foreign allies. That is where things have gone wrong. Motivated. We don't even know what the allegations are. We don't' know if those allegations against Sher Muhammad Akhunzada were truth, or if they were made up to turn Helmand into what it is now. But if we go back to Ismail Khan, the former warlord and governor of Herat, it is very clear that he was siphoning off customs funds from the border with Iran destined for the central government. He used that money to rebuild Herat, he did a good job then and he is doing a good job now [as minister of power]. It is not that everything we do is wrong. It is not that everything that our allies are doing is right. They have made mistakes. We did not know then, because we didn't know how decisions were made, but we know now. So we are much more assertive today. Much more demanding, that is why we ask more questions. That is why there is more action. It's because of that experience. Especially Helmand. You recently replaced Asadullah Khalid of Kandahar because of allegations of corruption... No, not at all. He was there for three-and-a-half years. It was time for a change. He did a very good job. The Canadian government accused him of corruption. Well, they were wrong. When he was leaving Kandahar, the Kandaharis gave him a reception that none other has seen. Sometimes our officials are accused of corruption when they stand for their Afghan interests. When they stand up to our allies, they are accused of corruption. That we know now. In other words, unfortunately, our allies don't like a strong-headed Afghan. That is part of the problem in this country as well. Ok, let's take another character that is facing allegations of corruption and drug smuggling from the International community, but more so, widespread accusation of drug manufacture and smuggling from Afghans in the country. My brother [Wali Karzai] was accused. In 2004. He came to me and said this is the situation. I called the Americans, I called the British. I said this is a very serious matter. We are a family with 300 years of history. With a very respectable life. We are not rich people. I perhaps will be the poorest Afghan when I am no longer president. The state doesn't pay me. I will either be in the streets begging or trying to find a job as a teacher. And we don't have much property, we have nothing. My brother was accused precisely after I refused to allow aerial spraying of poppies. After I had a very nice meeting with both the U.S. and British Ambassadors, subsequently the New York Times wrote an article about him. Also, my brother can easily be accused [so as] to put pressure on me. Regardless of that, I took this seriously. I called the Americans, the British and the Europeans, and I repeatedly said, anything you have, let me know. And once, twice, three times, four, five, six times... Nothing. Equally he came to me and said I want to go to the court, and I said go ahead. He went twice to the DEA at the U.S. embassy, to see the Minister of Counter Narcotics, and he has gone to the judges who have officially written to the U.S. administration to give us in writing any accusation. But for the past five years, allegations have been there, but never have they come to me with proof. Privately they say, "President, we have nothing." Perhaps it was spread by your political opponents, perhaps it was spread by this or that. Yes, there is a lot of corruption in Afghanistan. But in many cases, the most corrupt are never mentioned, because they are all buddy-buddy with the Western countries. They are given the contracts. They are given the procedures. They are given the money. They are given whatever there is. In our view now, the ones who have an Afghan point of view are accused of corruption. But it is the perception among the Afghan population that is the problem. It is created by the press. But you are harmed by it. I know I am harmed by it. I have been accused by American writers who I have never met who say I am totally corrupt. This trouble will be here as long as the International community is here. But it is Afghans who are accusing your brother. As I said, this problem will be here as long as the international community is here. Any other president of Afghanistan, if he is upright and straight, will be accused of the same, rightly or wrongly. Any Afghan president. The Bactrian gold exhibit has been a huge success in the world, and has demonstrated the richness of Afghanistan's cultural heritage. Yet in the country rich archaeological sites are being looted on a constant basis. Shouldn't this be stopped? Yes, there is so much in this country, but we don't have any money to support it. This country has been looted for a long time now, from our neighbors, from rich people around the world, from Afghans, and of course even from International forces going in and looting. We have no proof, but we know it is happening. The Afghans are doing it. Smugglers. We are trying to protect what we can protect. But it is beyond us. It is up to the Afghan population to protect it. There is so much in this country. Yes, we are losing some, but a lot we are keeping. You are expected to run for a second term in office in 2009. I have a job to complete. Why do you think you are the best person to complete this job? I hope there is someone who can do a better job than me. I very much hope so. One of my duties for Afghanistan is to find the next leadership of this country. So I am not going to be happy to be known as the only man. No, that is no good. That is a shortcoming, not a plus. I hope I can as soon as possible, work on the new leadership. Afghanistan will be a good, strong country if it has leaders. And that is my goal. Some of the leaders stepping forward now are ethnic leaders, former commanders and warlords who have parties and their own TV stations. But they are not leaders. They are rich people. Is that not a problem? Well, Afghanistan has to go through this. We can't stop people from aspiring to be leaders. Rich men can be leaders. Any one can aspire to be a leader. The country will be wise to decide on them, just like any western democracy. The freedom to vote for people and unvote. And if they do so along ethnic lines? That will be a reality in Afghanistan for a long time. That's the practice all over the world. The Afghan people are an extremely united people. There is a very strong sense of history. Of Afghan-ness. There is a lot of depth in this country that does not fade easily. I am not worried about this at all. But ethnicity tore this country apart during the civil war. Not at all. It was political parties backed by foreigners. They tried to use... ethnic [differences], but failed. But won't those same powers try to regain power again? They are doing it even now. But it won't work. To an extent it will impact us, but not deeply. So given the situation of security we are seeing today, do you think things are going to get better any time soon? Look, we must work very hard with the international community, with international forces to bring safe elections to Afghanistan, so Afghan people can come and vote. A month from now we will start the registration process. The elections will take place. The Afghans want to have the right to vote. Things will get better here. We have to make it work, period.
BUSINESS French president jets to Kabul after troop deaths
Written by http://www.quqnoos.com/ Worst French loss for four years forces French leader to fly to Kabul FRENCH president Nicolas Sarkozy has said he will fly to Afghanistan after 10 French soldiers were killed and 21 wounded in fierce fighting 30 miles east of Kabul. Sarkozy said he will fly on Tuesday night to assure French troops that "France is at their sides". He said soldiers of the 8th infantry parachute regiment were killed in heavy clashes on Monday during a reconnaissance mission with the Afghan army outside Kabul. It was the highest French military death toll in an attack since clashes in Bouake, Ivory Coast in 2004. The clashes were triggered when Taliban militants ambushed a French NATO convoy in the Sarobi district on Monday, the Afghan Ministry of Defence said. The fighting left 13 rebels dead and 15 wounded, the MOD said, with fighting continuing into Tuesday. Afghan security deteriorating: Report
canada.com The widespread violence across Afghanistan this week surrounding Independence Day should serve as a stern warning about the faltering security situation in the country and its capital Kabul in particular, according to a French think-tank. "The latest developments - particularly the deaths of 10 French soldiers and the suicide attack on the U.S.'s Salerno base in Khost province - make it clear that a new troop deployment is required simply to secure the capital," the Senlis Council, an independent security and development policy group with research offices throughout Afghanistan, said in a report on the violence. "Without urgent troop redeployment, attacks in and around Kabul - which has until now been largely isolated from the fighting - are likely to be stepped up." In the past three days, more than 100 people have been killed across the country. Most notably, 10 French soldiers died in a vicious two-day gun battle after they were ambushed by insurgents while on patrol in the Sarobi district, about 50 kilometres east of Kabul. Their deaths mark the heaviest single loss for foreign soldiers since 2001, excluding helicopter and airplane crashes, and the largest loss of life for French soldiers since 1983 in Lebanon. The French have nearly 1,700 troops deployed in the country, following its commitment to bolster its numbers by 700 earlier this year. Another 21 French soldiers were also wounded in the attack. They were part of a parachute regiment, which was recently deployed to the country. Despite the losses, French President Nicolas Sarkozy reaffirmed his country's support for the war. Until this week, 14 French soldiers had been killed in the conflict. Meanwhile, U.S. troops repelled an attack by a group of suicide bombers backed up by conventional fighters in two separate attacks late Monday and again Tuesday morning at Camp Salerno in the city of Khost. Several suicide bombers were repelled from the gate after they tried to storm the base. Those attacks came in addition to several others across the country, including a suicide attack Tuesday in a busy market in the Panjwaii district of Kandahar, which killed an interpreter and wounded a Canadian soldier and a 12-year-old boy, who was an innocent bystander. "The widespread fighting throughout Afghanistan over the last 24 hours, with substantial loss of NATO-ISAF and Afghan lives, sends a clear message that current Western strategy in Afghanistan is failing," the Senlis report states. "Until now, Western leaders have been in denial about the true extent of Taliban presence in Afghanistan, and their ability to move swiftly on the Afghan capital." The Senlis Council recommends the 3,500 German troops currently situated in the North be made available for combat zones. "The current wave of attacks has demonstrated the Taliban's ability to almost encircle Kabul, with numerous groups of Taliban launching attacks from south, west and east of (the city)," the report states. Last week, four aid workers - including two Canadians - were killed in an ambush outside of Kabul. The Taliban said the workers were targeted, and promised in an open letter to Canadians on Sunday to step up attacks on all Canadians in the country unless Ottawa withdraws its troops. Afghanistan celebrated its independence from the British Empire in 1919 on Monday. Air strikes kill nine rebels in Afghanistan
Hindustan Times, India Nine Taliban insurgents were killed on Wednesday in air strikes by international forces in eastern Afghanistan's Khost province, a provincial police spokesman said. "A group of insurgents attempted to target the employees of a road construction company in Alishir district this morning. The police identified the militants and contacted international troops that carried out air raids killing nine rebels on the spot," he said. On Monday, Taliban suicide bombers targeted a US military base in Khost killing nine Afghans and injuring 13 ,while nine suicide bombers were identified and killed on Tuesday while attempting to launch another attack. Taliban insurgents have intensified their activities across Afghanistan over the past week. Around 70,000 foreign troops are stationed in the war-torn country for peacekeeping and reconstruction efforts. Afghan leader calls for more attention to extremism
Yahoo! US - World Top Stories Afghan President Hamid Karzai expressed sadness Wednesday over the killing of 10 French soldiers, saying after talks with his French counterpart that the fight against extremists needed more attention. Karzai met President Nicolas Sarkozy in his palace just before the French leader left Afghanistan after a quick visit to support French soldiers following the deadly Taliban ambush and clashes on Monday and Tuesday. "I want to express the condolences and the pain of the Afghan people to the French people for the loss that they suffered," he told reporters after meeting Sarkozy. "France has been a great friend of Afghanistan and a great supporter of Afghanistan, and we are tremendously saddened and shaken." The incident 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Kabul was the deadliest in ground fighting for international forces sent to Afghanistan after the extremist Taliban regime was routed in late 2001. It comes amid a surge in insurgency-linked violence across the country, with more foreign fighters reported on the battlefield in support of Taliban militants. Karzai reiterated calls for his international military partners to focus on extremist sanctuaries and support networks he says are based primarily across the border in Pakistan, instead of only fighting rebels in Afghanistan. "The rise in violence is attributed directly to our lack of attention -- the allies and all of us -- to the sanctuaries, to the training grounds, to the financial resources, of terrorists and the Taliban," Karzai said. "And unless we do that, we will continue to suffer," he said. Pakistan says the root of the militant problem is in Afghanistan and points to its ongoing operations in its tribal border regions. Sarkozy vows to keep French troops in Afghanistan President visits Kabul and talks to soldiers who lost colleagues in gun battle
guardian.co.uk, UK Nicolas Sarkozy made a brief visit to Afghanistan today following the French army's worst loss of life by enemy attack in a quarter of a century. The French president spoke to troops from units who lost 10 colleagues in the mountain battle about 30 miles east of Kabul on Monday. Sarkozy said he had no regrets about sending more troops to the region earlier this year, despite the political firestorm that has broken out in France since Monday's ambush. "I have no doubt that we must be here. I am also in shock but I tell you in good conscience that if we had to do it again, I would do it again," he said, according to AFP. "Not the patrol and the sequence of events, but the choice which led me to confirm the decision of my predecessors to send the French army here. "Why are we here? It is because here we play a part in the freedom of the world. Here we are fighting against terrorism." The London-based security thinktank, the Senlis Council, said Western governments were "in denial" about the extent of the Taliban danger around Kabul. It said more troops needed to be deployed to secure the capital. "Today, Western leaders must ask themselves why their policies have failed," the group said in a statement. "Without urgent troop redeployment, attacks in and around Kabul are likely to be stepped up. With the Taliban on the very doorstep of the Afghan capital, the situation can only get worse for Nato-ISAF forces, and for the Afghan people." During his five-hour trip to the country, Sarkozy also met with the Afghan president Hamid Karzai. Karzai attributed the recent rise in violence in his country to the lack of attention that Nato and Afghanistan has paid to militant sanctuaries and training grounds, a clear reference to Pakistan's tribal area. The French soldiers were on a patrol when they were ambushed by a force of about 100 militants in the mountains of Surobi. France's top military official, Gen Jean-Louis Georgelin, said most of the French casualties came in the minutes after the soldiers ascended a mountain pass. French defence minister, Herve Morin, said about 30 militants were killed and 30 wounded. Taliban fighters and militants allied to renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar operate in Surobi. It was the deadliest attack on French troops since a bombing in Lebanon in 1983. The bodies of those who died are expected to be repatriated today. The French president boarded a plane for Afghanistan shortly after the news was announced, breaking away again from his holiday in the south of France. He had already interrupted his summer break to deal with the crisis between Russia and Georgia. Militants, traditionally more active in summer months, are showing greater determination to confront US and Nato troops in their attempt to wrest back the control they lost nearly seven years ago. The French government faced its first vote of no-confidence earlier this year when Sarkozy's move to send 700 extra troops to Afghanistan was greeted with dismay by the opposition and members of his own rightwing party. The deaths have been used as an example by the opposition Socialist party to highlight the need for a national debate. "What are the aims of this war? How many troops must there be to reach its stated objectives?" said a statement from the party leader, François Hollande. There are currently around 2,600 French troops in Afghanistan. Sarkozy reaffirms Afghan commitments despite military losses - Summary
The Earth Times French President Nicolas Sarkozy Wednesday reaffirmed his country's military commitment to Afghanistan, a day after 10 French soldiers were killed and 21 were wounded in a Taliban attack. Sarkozy, who landed in Kabul Wednesday morning, visited French troops in Camp Warehouse on the eastern outskirts of Kabul and paid his respects to the dead soldiers, a diplomatic source who declined to be named said. The French president also met with wounded soldiers in a military hospital inside the camp, which houses multinational troops serving in a 40-nation, NATO-led mission in the country. Sarkozy also reaffirmed his military commitment to President Hamid Karzai, the Afghan presidential office said in a statement. "This cowardly attack will not only have any affect on our cooperation with Afghanistan, but it will even strengthen our will in the fight against terrorism," Sarkozy was quoted as saying. The statement said Sarkozy told French soldiers, "Your struggle in Afghanistan is important for the freedom of the world and it should be continued." The 10 soldiers, from elite paratroops and marine regiments, were killed by a group of 100 Taliban insurgents who attacked their convoy in Uzbeen area of Sarobi district, 50 kilometres from Kabul city on Monday and Tuesday. It was the worst attack against the French troops since their deployment to Afghanistan following the ouster of the Taliban regime by a US-led invasion in late 2001. It was also the deadliest incident for the NATO forces in the country, which total about 53,000 troops. Nine US soldiers were killed in eastern Kunar province in July, when Taliban fighters attacked their base. More than 170 international troops have been killed so far this year. Sarkozy was accompanied by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and Defence Minister Herve Morin, official sources said. Sarkozy left Afghanistan after meeting with Karzai. Recent attacks on NATO, US forces in Afghanistan
The Associated Press Some of the deadliest attacks on NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan this year: _ Aug. 18: Some 100 insurgents kill 10 French troops outside Kabul, while six suicide bombers try to storm a U.S. base. _ Aug. 1: Roadside bombs kill five NATO soldiers and a civilian in eastern Afghanistan. _ July 13: A militant assault by some 200 fighters on a remote U.S. base on the Nuristan-Kunar border close to Pakistan kills nine American soldiers and wounds 15. _ June 26: Militants attack troops from the U.S.-led coalition patrolling south of the Afghan capital, killing three of them and an Afghan interpreter. _ June 24: Two NATO troops are killed when men riding motorcycles and armed with guns and rockets attack a convoy carrying military supplies near a town in Wardak province, about 40 miles from Kabul. _ June 21: A roadside bomb hits a coalition convoy west of the southern city of Kandahar, killing four troops. Attackers fire on the damaged vehicles, injuring three Afghans. _ June 18: Four British soldiers are killed when an explosive is detonated against their vehicle during a patrol in Helmand province. _ June 14: A roadside bomb kills four U.S. Marines sent to southwestern Afghanistan to help train Afghan police. _ March 17: A suicide car bomber attacks international troops at a bazaar in southern Afghanistan, killing three NATO soldiers and four Afghans. Taliban execute two 'prostitutes' in Pakistan
The Times of India Taliban militants shot dead two women in the troubled northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar after accusing them of being prostitutes, police said on Wednesday. The hardliners crushed the face of one of the women, apparently using rifle butts and stones, and left a note warning that others engaged in "immoral" activities would meet the same fate, they said. "We warned these whores but they did not stop their business," said the note left with the bodies of the women, one of whom was in her 20s and the other in her 40s, police said. Police official Pir Dil Khan said the bodies were discovered on Wednesday in the Naguman suburb of Peshawar, a conservative city near the Afghan border that has seen a rising threat from Islamists. "We have sent the bodies for autopsy. They were shot dead and the face of one woman was brutally mutilated," Khan said. "The women appeared to be from middle class families and the relatives of one women have identified her." The note was signed by the Jaish-i-Islami militant group, which is active in the lawless tribal district of Bajaur bordering Afghanistan and is part of Pakistan's umbrella organisation of Taliban outfits. Pakistani security forces launched a major operation against militants in another tribal region adjoining Peshawar in June after saying that the rebels could take over the city. Pakistani militants trying to emulate Afghanistan's 1996-2001 Taliban regime are trying to impose a harsh version of Islamic law in the region and have bombed music shops and hair salons in the past. Afghanistan: More troops needed to stop Taliban attacks, says think-tank
AKI - Security This week's violent attacks in Afghanistan underscore the resurgence of the Taliban and the failure of international efforts to prevent their attacks. That is the view of the Senlis Council, the London-based development think-tank, a day after 10 French soldiers were killed and another 21 were injured in one of the worst attacks on foreign troops in the country. In an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI), Almas Bawar Zakhilwal, a native Afghan and director of the Senlis Council in Canada, said Western leaders had failed to recognise the strength of the Taliban which was now on the "doorstep" of the capital, Kabul. "Whatever we are doing in Afghanistan is not working," Zakhilwal told AKI. "We need more troops on the ground to deal with the increased insurgency and to come back at the Taliban." This week Taliban insurgents mounted their most complicated attacks in six years of fighting - while 100 insurgents targeted the French troops, multiple suicide bombers attempted to attack a US military base in the eastern province of Khost. "This year - 2008 - has been the deadliest year, there have been more attacks and more sophisticated attacks. This has had a psychological effect on the people of Afghanistan. "They don't believe international troops can defeat the Taliban and if they think that we will lose their support." Zakhilwal said Western leaders must urgently increase troop numbers and transfer peacekeepers, including German troops currently based in the north, into combat roles. "What the Taliban has done is to spread their lines, they are overstretching the military," he said. "Small pockets of insurgents are operating in different areas which makes it harder for NATO troops to fight. "Tuesday's attacks show that the Taliban is on the steps of Kabul. It looks like the Taliban are attacking Kabul from three sides - south, west and east." Zakhilwal said apart from increasing troop numbers, more needed to be done to prevent the cross border movement of militants from Pakistan. "Afghanistan is key in the war on terror," he said. "If we fail it is about global security, global terrorism. Afghanistan is the key to winning the war on terror, not Iraq." The Senlis Council, an independent security and development policy group, has research offices throughout Afghanistan, has been documenting the Taliban's activities since 2006. It has documented a number of violent attacks that have taken place across the country in the past week from Khost in the east to Kandahar in the south. The council said there had also been heavy fighting in the southern province of Zabul where the government claimed to have killed 32 insurgents early this week. It has predicted the situation will worsen in Afghanistan without a change of strategy and increasing troop numbers to a total of 80,000. The French losses were the worst suffered by the French army in a single incident since 58 paratroopers were killed by a suicide bomber in Lebanon in 1983 and the worst in combat with enemy forces since the Algerian war that ended in 1962. Since the attack on Monday, 183 foreign soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan this year, including 99 Americans. In 2007, a total of 232 foreign troops were killed, the highest number since the war began in 2001. Khawaja hoped to fight in Afghanistan, court told Terrorism suspect was unaware of London bombing plot, wanted to wage war against Western forces, lawyer says
Globe and Mail, Canada Momin Khawaja was interested only in waging jihad against Western soldiers on the front lines in Afghanistan, not attacking civilian targets in London, his defence lawyer argued yesterday in a long-shot effort to have terrorism charges against the Ottawa software engineer dismissed. Lawrence Greenspon said he concedes that a remote detonation device - dubbed the Hi-Fi Digimonster - was found in Mr. Khawaja's home, and did not dispute what the device can do. However, he added that Mr. Khawaja's intention was to use it as a remote detonator in Afghanistan. Mr. Greenspon attempted to explain his client's actions as those of a would-be soldier, not a terrorist. "It's not okay," Mr. Greenspon said of his client's desire to fight in Afghanistan, "but it's not terrorism." The final phase of Mr. Khawaja's trial kicked off yesterday. He faces seven charges under Canada's Anti-Terrorism Act - he is also the first Canadian ever charged under the act. The 29-year-old is accused of trying to build a remote-controlled detonation device for a British terrorist cell. However, his lawyer is trying to persuade the judge in the case, Mr. Justice Douglas Rutherford, to dismiss the charges on the basis that there isn't enough evidence to uphold them. It was in that context that Mr. Greenspon claimed yesterday that his client was focusing his energies on Afghanistan, and had no knowledge that his alleged co-conspirators were planning an attack in London. Last year, five people were convicted in England of plotting to bomb targets including a shopping complex and a nightclub. Mr. Khawaja has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. Judge Rutherford is hearing the case without a jury. If the judge accepts Mr. Greenspon's argument, he could conceivably drop all the charges and set Mr. Khawaja free. In arguing that Mr. Khawaja was only interested in fighting Western troops in Afghanistan, Mr. Greenspon said his client should be dealt with in the same way as any soldier in a war. Mr. Greenspon has repeatedly said that the conversations among Mr. Khawaja's alleged co-conspirators were significantly different when Mr. Khawaja was around. He said that while a London bomb plot - of which he claims his client was unaware - is sufficient to base terrorism charges on, "wanting to be a soldier in Afghanistan is not." Coincidentally, Mr. Greenspon's claim that his client's only interest was fighting Western soldiers in Afghanistan came immediately after one of the bloodiest days in that country's ongoing conflict. Insurgents ambushed and killed 10 French troops outside the capital of Kabul in an attack that caused the largest combat loss for international forces in Afghanistan in three years. Goodbye Musharraf, hello Taliban
Asia Times As if on cue, the Taliban launched two of their most daring attacks in Afghanistan on the day that Pervez Musharraf resigned as president of Pakistan, opening up a political vacuum in that country and throwing into doubt its continued cooperation in the United States' "war on terror". Over 100 Taliban ambushed French soldiers on patrol with Afghan National Army troops at Sarobi, just 50 kilometers south of the capital, Kabul, killing 10 Frenchmen and injuring 21 in a battle that raged for more than 12 hours. France has 2,600 soldiers in Afghanistan, mostly as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), and has lost 24 in action or accidents since sending them there in 2002. In another incident, several car bombs on the perimeter of Camp Salerno, the US's second-largest base in Afghanistan, in Khost province 20 kilometers from the Pakistan border, killed 10 Afghans and wounded 13. Seven insurgents including six suicide bombers were killed, the ISAF said, denying a report by the Taliban that they had killed 40 American troops. In Pakistan, the Taliban on Tuesday attacked a fort in Bajaur Agency, killing several security people. There was also a suicide attack in Dera Ismail Khan in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), targeting a Shi'ite gathering. There were several casualties, including some policemen. These incidents highlight the Taliban-led insurgency's growing clout in Afghanistan and the militants' strength inside Pakistan. The whole of NWFP, except for the Peshawar Valley, is in the hands of militants and Asia Times Online contacts confirm that al-Qaeda headquarters in the Waziristan tribal areas have developed a plan to step up attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan to stir up the masses and exploit the current difficulties in Islamabad following Musharraf's departure. Asia Times Online's contacts in Pakistan's strategic quarters maintain the militants' action is a response to a recent meeting of a tripartite commission in Kabul comprising representatives from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Afghan army and the Pakistani army, at which a coordinated plan was drawn up to take on militants across the region. The militants want to step up attacks on Pakistan to force it to reduce its cooperation in this fight against the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Significantly, the latest surge in violence in Afghanistan, especially in Wardak, 30 kilometers east of Kabul, and in Sarobi, is not the result of Taliban guerrillas alone. Local tribal chiefs, clerics and warlords who previously submitted to the writ of the Kabul government have rallied under the generic name of the Taliban to drive out foreign occupation forces. The authoritative Senlis Council, an international policy think-tank, said in a statement on Wednesday that international efforts to contain the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan are failing and reinforcements are needed. The latest fighting "sends a clear message that current Western strategy in Afghanistan is failing", it said. "Until now, Western leaders have been in denial about the true extent of Taliban presence in Afghanistan, and their ability to move swiftly on the Afghan capital." The council said NATO, which has about 53,000 soldiers in the country, should increase its force to 80,000. A vacuum in Pakistan This is the security situation after nearly nine years of Musharraf acting (some would say not acting) as the US's point man in the "war in terror" - he was president as well as chief of army staff. The direction Pakistan takes in the immediate post-Musharraf era will have a crucial bearing on the Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan and militancy in Pakistan. The new president will not necessarily be integral to this - the position is now largely a ceremonial one. Rather, the military and the civilian government will determine the country's direction. But within 24 hours of Musharraf's exit from the presidential palace tensions had already resurfaced between the lead parties of the ruling coalition government, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), led by another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif. The parties had temporarily buried their differences in a drive to impeach Musharraf, but the problems have re-emerged, notably that of the reinstatement of the judiciary, which Musharraf dismissed last year to ensure his re-election as president. Sharif is obsessed that the judiciary be restored, including deposed chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, as this was one of his main election promises. Asif Zardari, the widower of Benazir Bhutto and head of the PPP, has told Sharif that he does not trust Chaudhry. Zardari is concerned that Chaudhry will revoke the National Reconciliation Ordinance which protects him from corruption cases registered against him in local and international courts. At the same time, Zardari aims to get indemnity through parliament for Musharraf against any possible charges, but this is the last thing to which Sharif would agree. The lawyers' movement that emerged when the judiciary was dismissed is threatening more protests, and it has grown into a potent force. This is clearly a government of disunity, destined to endless feuding and paralysis - a situation militants will exploit to the full, as they have since Musharraf shed his uniform last November. One of the key tactics of Islamic militants is to exploit political power vacuums, economic crises or any other problems to push a country towards disintegration. In Pakistan and Afghanistan, this process is underway. In Zardari's case, his presidential pardon through an ordinance could be withdrawn by the courts, and his political career would be over. In Kabul, President Hamid Karzai only survives because of the foreign troops in the country, and his writ barely extends beyond Kabul. If the militants manage to present themselves in an articulate manner to the masses, it would be a catalyst for change, and not the way the West would want. "All sorts of social, political and economic vacuums are growing in Muslim societies and it is an historical fact that in the Muslim world the reaction to such situations has always emanated from movements led by the religious forces," Pakistani Muslim intellectual Shahnawaz Farooqui, author of three books on the relation of Islam and the West, told Asia Times Online. The Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan and the militant strongholds in swathes of Pakistan appear to prove the point. Post-Musharraf, Pak govt will be able to rein in ISI: Karzai
Press Trust of India, India With Pervez Musharraf stepping down as Pakistani President, Afghan leader Hamid Karzai has expressed hopes that the democratically elected government in that country would be able to rein in the ISI which allegedly played a key role in the Indian Embassy bombing in Kabul. More than 50 people, including a Brigadier-rank Indian defence attache and a senior IFS officer, were killed in the suicide car bomb attack on the Indian mission in Kabul last month, which saw Afghanistan and the United States hinting at the involvement of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence. "(Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza) Gilani is a good man. He has the right intentions. I hope he gets the tools of control. That is for the Pakistani government to decide, and that is for us and the international community to help him with. Afghanistan will go out of its way," President Karzai said in an interview to the 'Time' magazine. Stressing that Afghanistan's relations with India cannot be wrecked by bombs or suicides or by violence, Karzai said: "Our relationship with India in the same manner is not counterproductive to Pakistan. It is between Afghanistan and India. India is one of the great economic powers. "(India provided) a good educational environment for Afghans -- I was one of them and there are a thousand more like me in India now. Afghanistan wants this relationship, and we hope that Pakistan evolves into a good relationship with India as well. We have clarity about our objectives, our way forward, and about what we want to lead into the future. This cannot be undermined by bombs," he said. PTI Afghans speak out against sexual violence Courageous families are speaking out about child rape, helped by a media campaign. It's a sign of a nation moving forward
The Guardian Please note, this article contains links to video footage which some readers may find distressing. "The moment I saw the blood-stained sandal, I knew that my child was dead," said Abdul Khalid. Khalid, from Takhar province in northern Afghanistan, was talking about the day he discovered his eight-year-old daughter's body. The girl had been kidnapped, raped and then killed. It turned out later that she was only one of the many child rape victims in the northern provinces of Afghanistan. There were others, children like the 12-year-old daughter of a man called Nurollah. Nurollah is from Sar-e Pul, also in the north. He says he knows the rapist, the son of an MP, and he wants justice for his child. He went all the way to Kabul in search of justice but they told him at the police station: "No one is going to listen to your story. Go home." In the past, this would have been the end of the story. Nurollah would have gone home and his story would have remained a private tale of injustice, a family secret disconnected from the wider Afghan society. Bad luck, basically. But we're talking about Afghanistan in 2008. A country with plenty of problems but a media that is both brave and vigilant. The media listens where the government is deaf. The media speaks out where officials say shush. So when Nurollah approached a private TV station, they listened to him. His story was aired, as were the stories of other victims and their families. Like the 12-year-old gang rape victim whose family faced ridicule when they sought justice. The families, mothers, fathers and uncles, spoke out, showing their faces and allowing their names to appear on TV: "My name is Nurollah and I'm the father of a girl who has been raped." I watched the clips again and again and was stunned. Here were Afghans who spoke about rape in their families. They spoke clearly, publicly and openly. I felt a deep admiration for them. It takes guts to go public about rape in any society, but to do so in Afghanistan requires courage of a special sort, of the sort that entitles people to bravery medals and cheering crowds. The bravery of Afghans is limitless, but when it comes to honour or "naamoos", the lions of the Hindukush turn into the trembling rabbits of South Asia. Few have the heart to stand up for the victims and their rights. In the words of one editorial: "In our society, it is not the perpetrator of the act of violation who carries the shame of dishonour. It is the victim, who's condemned to an eternally cursed life." The victims know this much. A young boy was raped by a commander but couldn't face going home with his honour "stained". Instead he stayed with the commander, becoming his "mistress". A girl's family killed her as soon as they discovered that she had lost her "naamos". Fearing a similar fate, another rape victim fled to the local police station for protection from her own family. As the week went by, more and more reports of this nature came to the surface. A group of people had been arrested in Kabul for filming children while they were being abused. It's unclear whether the film was for the market or private use. A family accused an Afghan human rights official of spreading "lies" that the family's toddler had been raped. The toddler's mother said: "The human rights woman keeps coming to our house and taking pictures of my daughter. My daughter has not been raped. She just injured herself when she was out playing." The mother said the official was using her daughter to get funding for her office. The official rejected the accusation, saying the woman had first reported rape and later changed her mind. The human rights group said they believed the mother had been pressured into changing her original complaint. The media campaign to ensure justice for child rape victims has finally paid off. President Karzai was forced to take action. There were dismissals, arrests and religious scholars told the public that sexual abuse of children is a "grave sin". The president later met the family of a 12-year-old girl who had been gang raped. He embraced her and told her that she was like his very own daughter. To me this is social progress and a sign that Afghans are beginning to use the peaceful pressure tools of civil society. They are learning to create change through civil courage and media pressure, a method that is much more desirable than coups, wars and revolutions. While I was researching this article, I kept thinking of the nation's self-appointed moral guardians in the government and parliament. Usually they're quick to spot "un-Islamic" behavior and protest against it: Indian soap operas, blue jeans and lipstick. How is it that they miss this gravest of all sins? Taliban threats backfire, ambassador says
Ottawa Citizen, Canada Afghan Ambassador Omar Samad may have been disappointed to learn that the Taliban has begun threatening Canadians directly, but he wasn't surprised. "I am not surprised that the Taliban would use this opportunity -- after the tragic killing of aid workers and daily attacks on civilians and non-civilians, both Afghans and non-Afghans -- to try to create fear," Mr. Samad said yesterday as Afghanistan marked its 89th independence day. The Taliban issued a warning on Sunday threatening that if Canada doesn't withdraw troops from Afghanistan, insurgents will target all Canadians in that country. The warning comes on the heels of a brazen, daytime attack on female aid workers outside Kabul, four of whom were killed, two of them Canadian. "But what they do not understand is that Canadians don't fall for such (threats)," Mr. Samad said. "Such threats don't weaken their resolve, instead, they strengthen it. At least that's my observation about Canadians. Peoples' reaction to Taliban brutality is stronger than ever even as their attacks are becoming more violent and more random." Mr. Samad said the Taliban also doesn't realize that targeting aid workers, economic infrastructure and humanitarian efforts in the beleaguered country "is going to backfire on them. "They're not making friends and they're losing the small numbers of even their own supporters," he said, and added that Sunday's threat was "basically an attempt to make headlines." In light of the threats, as well as the death toll among Canadian soldiers, diplomats and aid workers, Mr. Samad said, "I'm sure that all sacrifices that have been made are not in vain." The threats were reported Monday, the day before Afghanistan's independence day. To mark the occasion, Mr. Samad hosted a small flag-raising ceremony at his residence. The ambassador said the government asked that its embassies host understated celebrations this year because of the continuing problems in the country. On behalf of Canada, Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson issued a statement of "best wishes" on Monday that spoke to the country's future commitment. "Canada congratulates the Afghan people and their government as they celebrate their national day," it read. "So much has been achieved as Afghans have worked to rebuild their country, fully supported by the international community and the UN-mandated mission to which Canadian men and women have so proudly contributed." The minister assured the Afghan people that they can continue to count on Canada as it changes "the focus of our engagement in Afghanistan from security to development and diplomacy, with an emphasis on Kandahar province." His message did acknowledge that challenges remain but noted that the independence day was meant as "a day for celebrating hope, progress, and a better future for Afghans and their children." Mexican honours The embassy of Mexico had an enjoyable task last week: It was asked to coordinate things on Canada's end so the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation could give Veracruz a $1-million donation. The donation was in recognition of the Mexican's state's efforts to provide free computer and Internet access to indigenous communities in Mexico. It was officially given in Quebec City last week during the annual conference of the International Federation of Library Associations. Veracruz Governor Fidel Herrera Beltrán attended. Known as the Vasconcelos Program, it's coordinated by the Veracruz state ministry of education and it received the foundation's 2008 Access to Learning Award, which came with a $1-million cash donation. The embassy, which worked alongside its Montreal consulate, said the program was selected for "its innovative efforts to connect people to information and knowledge through free access to computers, the Internet and training, and also for bringing tools and services to rural, indigenous communities." The program has turned vehicles -- picture the Canadian Bookmobile -- into moving classrooms and Alberto Lozano, spokesman for the embassy, said the look on the indigenous people's faces when they see what the Internet can do is amazing. The money that goes with the award will allow the Veracruz government to expand the Vasconcelos program to reach more people in more outlying communities. Microsoft, which is, needless to say, a partner organization to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will make further contributions by providing software and technology training curricula through its programs. Jennifer Campbell is a freelance writer and editor in Ottawa. Reach her at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . News roundup: Deadly attack in Afghanistan; statistical tie in presidential campaign
USA Today Good morning. It's Wednesday. The New York Times reports on a deadly attack that left 10 French soldiers dead and 21 wounded in Afghanistan. "The Taliban have seemingly made it part of their strategy to attack newly arriving forces, as well as those of NATO countries whose commitment to the war has appeared to waver, in an effort to influence public opinion in Europe," the paper says. "NATO countries have been under increasing pressure from the United States to increase their troop commitments to Afghanistan, which many have been hesitant to do." The Washington Post reports that French President Nicolas Sarkozy flew to Afghanistan after the attack. Le Monde has more on the story. Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama are in a "statistical tie," according to the latest Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg News survey. The Wall Street Journal looks into rumors that Sen. Joe Biden, D-Dela., is a "top contender for the No. 2 place on the ticket." The Post also reports that Homeland Security is compiling information about Americans who re-enter the USA through land crossings. French Opposition Demands Rethink of Afghanistan Mission
SPIEGEL Online - English Site The death of 10 French soldiers has shocked France. The Socialists are demanding a debate about the Afghanistan mission, but President Sarkozy has defended the Hindu Kush deployment as his party lashed out at the opposition for attempting to politicize a national tragedy. With news sinking in on Wednesday that France suffered its biggest military loss of life in 25 years, the political opposition in Paris is demanding a rethink of the country's mission in Afghanistan. French President Nicolas Sarkozy rushed to Afghanistan and visited his country's troops on Wednesday morning in a show of support after 10 of their comrades were killed and 21 injured during an ambush on Monday and in fierce fighting that continued well into the day Tuesday. France has about 2,600 soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, and Sarkozy said they must remain there. "France is resolved to pursue the fight against terrorism, for democracy and liberty," Sarkozy said. "I don't have any doubt about that. We have to be here." Monday's attack marked the worst single loss of life in combat for international forces in Afghanistan since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001. The ambush came only months after Sarkozy agreed to send 700 additional troops to the war-torn country at a NATO summit in April. The decision proved deeply unpopular at home, prompting the left-wing opposition to file a motion of no confidence in the government's decision to beef up its presence in Afghanistan. While the opposition Socialist Party (PS) has been careful to express its condolences to the families of those killed, it has also questioned the objectives of France's mission in Afghanistan. The national debate in France appears to mirror recent discussions in Berlin about the German Bundeswehr's mandate in Afghanistan, where polls show most opposing the military's mission. "What Are the Aims of this War?" On Tuesday, Socialist Party leader Francois Hollande called for an urgent meeting of the parliamentary foreign affairs and defense committees to be held in order to obtain clarification on the nature of the French presence in Afghanistan. "What are the aims of this war?" he asked in a statement. "And how many troops do we need to achieve those objectives?" In an interview with radio station France Info, Hollande said it was time to "redefine the mission and decide on precise objectives." He added, "It is the Afghans themselves who need to provide security for Afghans and not an operation of occupation." Other opposition parties also voiced deep-seated criticism of the French mission. Nöel Mamere of the Green Party said "France should renounce this adventure," while the French Communist Party reiterated its calls to pull the troops out of Afghanistan. "Our soldiers should not get themselves killed for Uncle Sam," Jean-Marie Le Pen, head of the right-wing populist National Front, said in a statement released on Tuesday. "They died in an endless war that the United States is waging in this country in its own interests." But representatives of Sarkozy's conservative ruling party, the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), defended the deployment of French troops. UMP General Secretary Patrick Devedjian lashed out at the political sniping, warning against "using the deaths of the soldiers to launch polemics." He said this would just be "falling into the trap of Taliban who want to shake our resolve with their recent spectacular action." Meanwhile, UMP spokesperson Dominique Paillé expressed his "consternation" at the reaction of the opposition Socialists. "At this time of suffering, it seems to us that national unity in the face of the terrorism that threatens us should prevail." During his visit to Afghanistan, Sarkozy tried to stiffen his troops' resolve. "The best way of remaining faithful to your comrades is to continue the work, to lift your heads, to be professional," he told soldiers at a base on the outskirts of Kabul. "A part of the world's freedom is at stake here," he said, adding: "This is where the fight against terrorism is being waged." Commenting on his decision to increase troop numbers following US pleas for its NATO allies to do more in Afghanistan, the president said "if it had to be done again, I would do it." Sarkozy also met with Michel Stollsteiner, the French general who heads ISAF troops in Kabul and surrounding areas, and Afghan President Hamid Karzai during his trip to Kabul on Wednesday. Karzai said he wanted to express the "condolences and the pain of the Afghan people to the French people for the loss they have suffered." He added that the "rise in violence is attributed directly to our lack of attention, the allies and us, to the sanctuaries, to the training grounds, to the financial resources, of terrorists and the Taliban. Unless we do that we will continue to suffer." Afghan Women Blaze Path in Contemporary Art Run
Women's enews A group of Afghan women are defying convention by studying and producing expressive contemporary art. Their work offers an abstract commentary on the restrictions that often govern women's lives. KABUL, Afghanistan (WOMENSENEWS)--Ommolbanin Shamsia, 20, says she has been painting for as long as she can remember, as a child and refugee in Iran and later, after her family returned home to Afghanistan. She considers herself mainly a student of accounting, but she's also recently taken her first art class at the Female Arts Center in Kabul's Center for Contemporary Arts Afghanistan. One of her paintings depicts a woman with a layer of gold jewelry covering her eyes. "I tried to show a woman who cannot see the way because of the gold," Shamsia says. "She is in a golden cage." Another of Shamsia's paintings shows a woman standing at the edge of a pool of water. Instead of her own reflection she looks at a young, green tree. "This represents woman as life, as regeneration," she says. Shamsia's work was part of a February show of contemporary art by female artists. The exhibit was in a makeshift gallery of a local high school. Now the canvases--many offer stark testimony about the life of women--are stacked in different rooms in the center, their fate uncertain. Unlike women's fashion or sports, which have attracted abundant media interest, contemporary art by Afghan women is something of a sleeper, even though it may represent a stronger challenge to conservative concepts of women's social place. "The sense of inner life, imagination, as a way to express one's feelings or thoughts--actually expressing oneself at all--is not part of woman's life here," says Suzana Paklar, mission head for Medica Mondiale, a German nongovernmental group focused on women in conflict areas. 'Hardest Role Imaginable' Paklar, who works with female victims of war and violence on a daily basis, says being a woman in Afghanistan is one of the hardest roles one can imagine. "Women are expected to be an invisible part of this society; to fulfill their role of daughters and wives as 'it' rather than 'I.' That is the courage of this initiative and I do hope that its increased visibility, which is needed, will not jeopardize its security." In the last three decades of conflict in Afghanistan, all art has been a casualty as the country struggled for survival and cultural conservatives held sway. During the Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001 paintings were dragged out of homes, offices and museums, and burned. Museum collections and cultural treasures were systematically destroyed and film archives purged. Following the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, that began to change. But the artwork commonly on display here on the walls of restaurants, is largely produced by men and caters to tourist notions of Afghanistan. Common subjects are bactrian camels; women wrapped in voluminous, head-to-toe burkhas; horsemen playing buzkashi, a version of polo where the object of the game is to seize the headless carcass of a goat or small calf. "The concept of contemporary art, of an art that is about ideas, is relatively new in Afghanistan," says Constance Wyndham, the manager of cultural projects with Turquoise Mountain Foundation, a British organization set up in 2006 to revive and preserve Afghanistan's ancient arts. Female Artists Test Taboos "Art can provide a forum for discussing subjects that are still primarily taboo in Afghan society," says Wyndham. While women have traditionally created handicrafts--jewelry, carpets, embroidery--few have ventured into more individualistic forms such as painting, music or dancing. When female singers or dancers appear on TV, criticism often follows from cultural conservatives including a small but influential body of religious scholars, the Council of Ulema. In April, under pressure from the council, the government banned several Indian TV soap operas that featured women singing and dancing and extramarital relationships, though it has not enforced the edict. That same month, two clerics presented a parliamentary bill calling for a code of conduct to prevent women from being in the company of men who aren't relatives. In addition to social restrictions, women here suffer some of the world's highest rates of maternal mortality, forced marriage, rape and fatal domestic violence. Themes of Violence, Regeneration All of these issues find some kind of expression in the work of students at the Female Arts Center, whose exhibit explored violence and regeneration as inextricable themes. One of the most striking works is called "Condemned," painted by Shekeba Saifi, 28. In it, oblong blocks of color depict grave sites. In front of them another oblong shape is unmistakable as a woman's rounded shoulders and covered head. The group's teacher, Rahraw Omarzad, a man in his mid-40s, was a graduate of the arts faculty in Kabul University and worked in a government art center until the Taliban era. He lived in the Pakistani city of Peshawar until returning in 2002. He says he wanted to open contemporary art classes to break the gridlock in conventional art education. "By the time the students go through four years of traditional art courses and come to the subject of contemporary art, they have already lost the ability to think out of the box," he says. Omarzad worries that the Female Arts Center may attract public criticism if it becomes better known. "Some people will not like the idea of women artists," he says. But painting, he adds, is in some ways highly suitable to women's social constraints. It can be done in private and, if necessary, at home. And abstract art, for all its expressive potential, does not break the prohibition in conservative Islam against depictions of the human form. Aunohita Mojumdar is an Indian journalist who is currently based in Kabul. She has reported on the South Asian region for 18 years and she has covered the Kashmir conflict and post-conflict development in Punjab extensively. Afghanistan's Karzai says he will run for president again next year
AP Afghan President Hamid Karzai says he would like to run for re-election next year. Karzai tells The Associated Press in an exclusive interview that he has a job to complete and that "in that sense, yes, I would like to run." Karzai has hinted in the past that he plans to run for the presidency in 2009, but his Tuesday announcement to AP is the first time he has stated so outright. The Afghan president is a strong ally of the United States, but he has stepped up his criticism of international military forces in recent months for bombing runs that cause Afghan civilian deaths. Karzai has been criticized for not stamping out corruption in the country and because he has little influence in the far reaches of the country.
BBC Kabul's early morning silence was broken last night first by the crunch of rockets exploding in the city, then by the emergency sirens at Nato headquarters warning the officers and generals to head for the shelters. It was a vivid and eerie soundtrack of how close the insurgency is to the capital. The second rocket attack in Kabul in less than a week will further feed the paranoia of Afghans and also the international community. But that paranoia may not be misplaced - while the sirens were warning of incoming fire, French forces were fighting for their lives just 50km (31 miles) away. They had been ambushed on Monday afternoon as they patrolled through Sarobi district in Kabul province, and despite sending in reinforcements, medical teams and attack aircraft they lost 10 soldiers - another 21 were injured. Significant impact It is one of the largest losses of life in Nato's Afghan campaign and a huge blow to a French deployment which is already unpopular at home. There are reports of 100 insurgents attacking the convoy, of troops being captured and then killed. What happened in that valley could have a significant impact on the French mission, so much so that President Nicolas Sarkozy is flying straight to Kabul to settle nerves and offer support. And it wasn't the only major operation launched by the Taleban in one night. In Khost, south eastern Afghanistan, up to 30 militants tried to storm the main American base in the town, just hours after a suicide car bomber had struck at the front gate killing 10 civilians working at Camp Salerno. Among those insurgents were at least half a dozen suicide bombers, trying to break into the camp and kill as many Nato soldiers as possible. The attack was repelled and, as in Serobi, many of the Taleban were killed or injured, but there appear to be plenty of others ready to pick up their guns, or strap on explosives vests, and take on a much better equipped and more highly trained army. The tactics are becoming more advanced and more brazen - it is as if the insurgents are gathering momentum of the growing insecurity and instability. On Monday, which was Afghanistan's Independence Day, much of Kabul was sealed off by thousands of extra police drafted in when the Taleban announced they were planning a major attack. Afrasiab compares FATA with pre-9/11 Afghanistan
* Says Tribal Areas are in grip of Taliban, Al Qaeda
Daily Times, Pakistan Provincial president of the Awami National Party (ANP) and NWFP's peace envoy Afrasiab Khattak has said that the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) are in the grip of Taliban and al-Qaeda and the situation there is like the pre-9/11 Afghanistan. "FATA is in a state of explosion," Afrasiab told elders, religious scholars, youth and community leaders from the tribal areas, who were here to attend a two-day seminar organised by Benazir Democracy Institute, Shaheed Bhutto Foundation on Tuesday. The first and foremost problem of the post-Musharraf Pakistan was FATA, which was in a state of explosion, he said. "Pervez Musharraf's criminal acts converted FATA into a black hole." He said the secret agencies, operating under Pervez Musharraf, had provided bases in FATA to al-Qaeda and Taliban, who are not only challenging writ of the government there, but also crossing the border into Afghanistan to fight Afghan and the foreign troops. Afrasiab said the people of tribal areas had become hostages at the hands of Taliban and the government troops. He said the people of tribal areas were in triple jeopardy because of the Taliban, the government troops and the attacks from across the border. He asked the tribesmen to shoulder the responsibility to secure their respective areas if they wanted an end to the military operations there. There was no army operation in Buner, Dir, Kohistan and Lakki Marwat where people stood up and expelled the militants. He said military operation was not the best option, but how could those be dealt with who were sitting in FATA and fighting against the government of Pakistan as well as inside Afghanistan. "There would have been no operation had the FATA people controlled their areas," he said. Regarding changes in the system, he said the Malik system was not going to return to FATA. The only solution, he suggested, was the elected councils. "We will accept whosoever was elected by the people of FATA to the said councils," he added. Afrasiab said his party was striving to bring FATA under the control of the elected parliament instead of the president. "We are trying to include that in the proposed constitutional package," he informed. He supported recommendation of the seminar that women should be given the right to sit in jirgas. He said women had already been given such right in Afghanistan, which is a more rigid society than theirs. NATO general says Pakistan chaos emboldens Taliban
The Associated Press - Top News Drawing strength from the chaos in neighboring Pakistan, Afghan insurgents are using their growing control of the border area to plot increasingly brazen attacks against international forces, the NATO commander in Afghanistan said. U.S. Gen. David D. McKiernan, who took over the NATO command in Afghanistan in June, said attacks have spiked this year. McKiernan said the insurgency is drawing its strength from a "deterioration of conditions across the border in Pakistan." "Militant sanctuaries are expanding in the tribal areas," McKiernan told The Associated Press on Monday. He said insurgents are mustering larger forces against international troops and carrying out more roadside bombings, suicide attacks and ambushes. The U.S. and NATO are concerned the weak hold Pakistan's new government has on the tribal region, where they fear cease-fire deals have allowed militants based in the frontier areas to step up attacks across the border in Afghanistan and plot attacks on the West. McKiernan, who described the insurgency as "resilient," said the most violent attacks come near the Pakistani border and are often connected to Afghanistan's ring road that links the country's major cities. Earlier this week, militants ambushed a group of French soldiers, killing 10 in a gorge just 20 miles outside the capital, Kabul. And in a July attack that left nine American troops dead, upwards of 200 insurgents ambushed U.S. soldiers in a mountainous region that borders two Pakistani districts so troublesome that Pakistan was forced to send in troops this month despite the government's attempts at a truce. Over the past several months McKiernan said NATO has seen an influx of Chechens, Turks and Middle Eastern fighters as well as "sometimes Europeans." Some are coming through Iran and others are getting off international flights at Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi before heading northwest to training camps in the border regions. Worrying to McKiernan is the increased ease with which insurgents operate in the border areas and their unhindered forays into Afghanistan. The four-star U.S. general, who commands the 53,000-strong International Security Assistance Force, said soldiers are operating in a complex environment battling a resilient insurgency. McKiernan said the insurgency has benefited from Pakistani sanctuaries and a deepening sense of insecurity in Afghanistan caused by criminal gangs, drug traffickers, and smugglers often accused of links with government officials. Neighbors Worry about Pakistan's Stability
India, Afghanistan
Wall Street Journal Officials in India and Afghanistan have realized for months that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf wasn't in charge of their fractious neighbor. But his resignation raises new fears that a rudderless Pakistan will exacerbate tensions with its neighbors and increase terrorism. Those concerns were heightened by reports Tuesday of a Taliban ambush of French paratroopers in Afghanistan that left 10 soldiers dead, as well as an attack on a U.S. base not far from the Pakistan border early Tuesday. Pakistan's army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani -- who is now viewed as a key player in relations with Pakistan's neighbors and allies -- flew to Kabul for a meeting with counterparts from Afghanistan and North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces, according to a Pakistani army spokesman. They met under the auspices of a commission established a few years ago to improve coordination on counterinsurgency. The commission hasn't met for some time because of tensions triggered by clashes on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. "The meeting reviewed the security situation in areas along the Pak-Afghan border," a statement from the Pakistani military said, adding that the participants reiterated their "commitment" to security in the region. One of the chief concerns among Pakistan's neighbors is the extent to which Gen. Kayani and the army will dictate the country's foreign policy in the future. The military oversees the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency, which India, Afghanistan and the U.S. have accused of having a hand in the suicide bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul in July, which killed dozens. Pakistan denies any involvement. Pakistan's civilian government tried last month to bring the ISI under the auspices of the home ministry, but the effort failed because of opposition from the military. Mr. Musharraf's influence over the military weakened when he stepped down as army chief late last year. But "with his departure, you do not have any interlocutor in Pakistan who has total control over policy making," said K. Subrahmanyam, a defense analyst and former member of India's National Security Council Advisory Board. The civilian government, he added, "is not in a position to make policy all by itself." As for Gen. Kayani, he said, "We don't know Kayani and we don't know his philosophy." A spokesman for the Afghan foreign ministry said his government hopes Mr. Musharraf's departure will strengthen democracy in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. But it may do little to improve relations between the two countries. The Afghan government always distrusted Mr. Musharraf in part because of his military background, which in the minds of Afghan officials meant ties to the ISI. And Mr. Musharraf appeared to regard Afghan President Hamid Karzai as little more than decoration put in place and propped up by the Americans, said Wadir Safi, a political analyst and lecturer at Kabul University. "They had no personal relationship of any kind." Mr. Karzai on Tuesday said of his dealings with Mr. Musharraf, "All in all, we had a good relationship," the Associated Press reported. Mr. Karzai, who said Tuesday he would seek re-election next year, has seen his own popularity ratings plummet along with Afghanistan's deteriorating security. He has laid blame on Pakistan for the insurgency that is creeping to the outskirts of Kabul, and suggested Afghan troops may need to pursue attackers across the border to solve the problem. With tensions high, it may be hard for a civilian government in Pakistan to persuade Mr. Karzai that it is in control of the Pakistani military. "Nothing will improve because of the resignation of Musharraf -- in fact it may already be getting worse: Look at the suicide attacks, the French soldiers dying." A statement from India's Ministry of External Affairs said Mr. Musharraf's exit was an internal matter for Pakistan. Pranab Mukherjee, minister of external affairs, told reporters Monday he already has developed a relationship with Pakistan's civilian leadership and that "it seems to me that a positive approach could be made in improving our relations." Those relations have been tested of late. Not only has the Indian government pointed blame for the Kabul embassy attack at Pakistani intelligence agents, the two countries have heightened their rhetoric recently over the disputed region of Kashmir. Indian-controlled Kashmir has been disrupted by riots by Hindus and Muslims in recent weeks that have left at least 34 dead, many after clashes with police and security forces. There also have been demonstrations in the Muslim-majority state in favor of Pakistani control of the region. Pakistani officials, including Mr. Musharraf, have called on India to end what they term human-rights abuses there and made emotive statements linking Kashmir to Pakistan. India responded that it found such remarks "deeply objectionable." It was the strongest exchange of words between the two countries after a few years when their periodic peace talks and strong economic growth in both India and Pakistan had brought relative calm and prosperity to the troubled area. The tension is expected to continue. On Tuesday, Muslim leaders in Kashmir called for three days of calm to allow schools and businesses to open again. But a strike and a large protest are planned for Friday. Write to Paul Beckett at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and Alan Cullison at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it AFGHANISTAN: UN renews call for food aid funding
IRIN Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan Kai Eide has called on donors to respond quickly to a US$404 million appeal made a month ago to ease the impact of drought and high food prices. About five million vulnerable Afghans have been pushed into high-risk food insecurity over the past few months, according to aid agencies. "I call on donors to commit resources as soon as possible... the [requested] amount of money needs to come in soon," Eide, who also heads the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), told reporters in Kabul on 19 July. The Afghan government and UN agencies on 19 July launched a joint appeal for over $404 million to provide emergency food aid to millions of vulnerable Afghans affected by drought and high food prices, support agriculture and animal husbandry, and deliver live-saving medical assistance. The appeal includes $185 million for the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to procure and distribute 100,000 tonnes of food aid to five million most needy people. Eide did not specify how much funding has been pledged to the appeal so far. However, a UN official who did not want to be identified told IRIN that up to 6 percent of the total requested amount had been pledged by donors, including the UK. "The sooner donors react [to the appeal] the more suffering we will be able to prevent," Eide said, adding that aid must reach some vulnerable communities before winter, when access becomes a challenge. UNAMA's capacity to be boosted According to UNAMA, 35 percent of Afghanistan's estimated 26.6 million population cannot meet their minimum daily food requirements and most households spend about 85 percent of their income on food, compared to 65 percent in 2005. UN officials and aid workers say a "deteriorating humanitarian situation" has been in evidence over the past few years as a result of the insurgency, drought, and aid ineffectiveness. In a bid to respond to the growing needs, Eide said UNAMA's humanitarian capacity would be strengthened (both in terms of personnel and resources) to effectively "forecast, analyse and coordinate" relief activities. "Crime" of aid convoy attacks Meanwhile, insurgents and other armed groups have continued attacking and looting commercial trucks carrying WFP food aid. Eide called such attacks a "crime against the poorest" and accused the attackers of "stealing from the poorest" and "attacking the poorest" people. Susana Rico, WFP's country representative, said efforts were under way to provide more "structured escorts" by using the Afghan National Police to protect food aid convoys. Afghanistan's food problems have been compounded by a severe drought, which has damaged crops and animal husbandry. As a result Afghans were going "through difficult moments of their life," Rico said.
Strategy Page The Taliban have embarked on what amounts to a large scale suicide strategy. In addition to dozens of individual suicide bombers, they have dozens of field units, each of about a hundred gunmen, looking to score spectacular (from a media, not a military, standpoint) victories. Such attacks are being deliberately made against foreign troops from specific countries. France and Canada are particular targets. Month by month, the Taliban lose far more troops than they kill, in going after specific national contingents, but they are heartened by news reports of political unrest back in these countries, and calls for withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. The Taliban don't really understand how democracy works (since they consider democracy un-Islamic and sinful), and make more of the media and political ruckus these attacks generate, than is justified by the actual results. But the Taliban have found that their followers get a boost out of the foreign angst over the casualties. The Taliban are depending more and more on terrorizing the population into compliance and cooperation. Battles between Taliban and villagers are more common, as are Taliban executions of those considered un-Islamic. This can include foreign aid workers, Afghans who work for the foreigners, teachers in girls schools plus religious and tribal leaders who don't agree with the Taliban. But the new suicide tactics also incorporates the increasing use of human shields. Taliban are now stopping civilians from leaving combat zones, and forcing civilians to remain in villages and compounds the Taliban are using. The Taliban know that this discourages the use of smart bombs or artillery against them. And if these weapons are used, the Taliban denounce the deliberate slaughter of civilians by the foreign troops. No death goes unexploited. But the widespread use of suicide bombers is very alien to Afghan culture (which very much believes in "he who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day.") It's telling that the Taliban have become the bogeyman that mothers now use to frighten small children. Scary monsters, indeed. What the Taliban are overlooking is that they grabbed power fifteen years ago because five years of civil war had made the people eager for anyone who could stop the fighting and general lawlessness. But this time, the Taliban are the main source of unrest and destruction. The Taliban demand "taxes" to fight their holy war and freely kill civilians. The main pro-Taliban tribal chief in Pakistan boasts of collecting over $6 million a month in such taxes. The cell phone has become the most powerful weapon used against the Taliban. The government has a nationwide media program promoting the quick use of the phone to report suicide bomber attacks. Tips are provided on how to spot a suicide bomber, and the number to call. So far this year, the Taliban and al Qaeda have set off nearly a thousand bombs, killing mostly civilians. This, despite the fact that the target for most of the bombs are foreign troops. The Taliban make a big deal about infidel (non-Moslem) soldiers defiling a Moslem country, ignoring the fact that the Taliban are more feared and hated than the foreign troops. But the Taliban cannot cope with the foreign troops in head-to-head combat. Some 80 percent of foreign troops casualties are caused by suicide and roadside bombs. The main problems in Afghanistan; corruption and the drug trade, are taking a back seat to counter-terrorism work. But the drug gangs are running their own terror ops. In particular, the drug lords are getting their leased politicians to go after crusading journalists. Media stories about corrupt politicians are popular, but they bring unwelcome heat on the drug kingpins, who like to fancy themselves latter day Robin Hoods, not warlords with a good cash flow. So more and more investigative reporters are being harassed by the police. August 19, 2008: An ambush near the capital killed ten French peacekeepers, an event that prompted the president of France to announce a trip to Afghanistan to boost troop morale. What the troops want now are more special operations units, so they can extract some payback. The Taliban unit that pulled off the attack will probably be shot to piece in another operation before the end of the year. That's the usual fate of Taliban units that are that active. Meanwhile, another Taliban attempt to attack a U.S. base failed. The attack used suicide bombers and over a hundred gunmen, but failed, with great loss of life to the attackers. These attacks are high risk, even if they succeed. But the foreign troops know the Taliban attack tactics now, and have adjusted their base defenses to deal with it. August 17, 2008: A series of Taliban attacks over the last three days have left nearly a hundred dead, mostly among the attackers. The Taliban are freely using suicide bombers and untrained gunmen in attempts to kill foreign troops. The Taliban police have also been a target, and police deaths are up fifty percent this year, compared to last year (when about a thousand died). The local cops are largely seen as corrupt and inept, but they usually can defeat the Taliban. The Afghan Army is much more respected, even though a disproportionate number of its officers are recruited from the north (among the Tajik tribes) and few of the troops come pro-Taliban areas of southern Afghanistan. August 16, 2008: The government, responding to months of complaints, removed Asadullah Khalid as the governor of Kandahar province. Khalid had been accused of corruption and poor rule in general. Kandahar is the traditional center of Taliban support in Afghanistan, and the source of 90 percent of the heroin production. The new governor is an army general, and expected to resist Taliban threats and drug gang bribes. It's a tough job.
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