MMU is brought to you by:  

Moby Group,

Leading Afghanistan’s media and communication industry, Moby Media Group is the country’s largest independent integrated media company

●  TOLO TV  ● Afghan Scene Magazine  ●  ARMAN FM  ●  Lapis  ●   LEMAR TV   ●   Kaboora Production ●   TOLOnews TV   ●   Alef Technology  ●  ARAKOZIA FM  ●  Barbud

For more information, or to advertise with Moby Media Updates, contact: +93 (0) 799 321 010

 

Advertisement

 

AKHBAR TOLO    (TOLO News)

More Afghans turn to TOLO than any other news service as a source of reliable, impartial and accurate information.  TOLO offers the most reliable coverage and analysis of local and international events, presented by a dedicated team of experienced reporters based around the country.  TOLO NEWS, weeknights at 6:00pm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14 August 2012

 

 

 

FEATURE STORY

Have Obama and Romney Forgotten Afghanistan?

 

 

BUSINESS

No articles featured today

NATION

New US Envoy says Afghan Govt Needs Reform
End Sought to Attacks on Allies by Afghans
Afghanistan's Princelings: Are the Children of the Mujahedin Ready to Rule?
U.S. Says Pakistan to Launch Offensive
Afghanistan unites behind Olympic success – and beating Pakistan
Lawmakers Urge Karzai to Respond to Cross-Border Shelling
Shootings by Afghan forces take growing toll on NATO troops
Indian low-cost airline starts Kabul flights
NATO: Afghan policeman fires on coalition forces in 5th similar attack in a week; no deaths
No decision on Taliban transfer, but small peace moves
Have Afghan forces been infiltrated?
Afghans condemn German colonel's promotion
Lodin: Senators Should Be Impartial
Pakistan denies Afghan delegation met with imprisoned deputy Taliban leader
Afghan Taliban kill suspected child kidnapper in Ghazni
Peshawar’s little American fortress and sufferings of people

PRESS RELEASES

No articles featured today

Back to Top

FEATURE STORY 

Have Obama and Romney Forgotten Afghanistan?

New Yorker
By Dexter Filkins
August 13, 2012

How’s this for a conspiracy of silence? With less than three months to go until Election Day, President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have successfully avoided saying almost anything about America’s war in Afghanistan. Remember that war? You will at some point, however little the two candidates talk about it.

You can make your own guesses about why the candidates have said so little about Afghanistan—their positions are virtually identical, the economy is more important, etc. My own guess: neither of them knows what to do about the place. In a mere twenty-eight months, the United States is scheduled to stop fighting, and every day brings new evidence that the Afghan state that is supposed to take over is a failing, decrepit enterprise.

The latest bit of evidence: in the past several days, three of the most powerful people around President Hamid Karzai have come under fire, and now either are gone from their jobs, have promised to leave, or are hunkered down while clinging to what’s left of their legitimacy. Earlier this month, the Afghan parliament voted to impeach the two Afghan officials responsible for overseeing the war: Abdul Rahim Wardak, the minister of defense, and Bismullah Khan Mohammadi, the minister of the interior, on allegations of corruption, favoritism, and incompetence. (The charges are as yet unproven, and both men have denied them.) In the case of B.K., as Mohammadi is known, there were also concerns that he was stacking the Afghan police forces with men more loyal to the largely ethnic Tajik militia that he used to help lead, Jamiat-e Islami, than to the Afghan state—heightening fears that an American withdrawal could precipitate a civil war. (I wrote about those dangers in a piece for The New Yorker last month.)

But the most interesting case concerns Omar Zakhilwal, the Afghan finance minister. Reporters for Tolo, the country’s largest private media network, obtained bank statements for at least two of Zakhilwal’s accounts, dating back several years. Those accounts show deposits totaling nearly a million dollars, most of which were made while Zakhilwal was a public servant. Many of the deposits—like the hundred thousand dollars he deposited on July 16, 2009—were made in cash. At the time of that deposit, Zakhilwal was Karzai’s minister of finance as well as the finance chairman for his reëlection campaign.

In some cases, Zakhilwal’s bank statements show the source of the money. In August of 2009, for instance, a two-hundred-thousand-dollar deposit was made by the Safi Landmark Hotel, which is owned by an Afghan family that also owns an airline and other businesses that deal with the government. One of the bank statements obtained by Tolo shows that between 2007 and 2009, Zakhilwal transferred nearly four hundred thousand dollars from his accounts in Afghanistan to another one of his accounts in Canada.

Where did all the money for Zakhilwal come from? And what was it for?

Najeeb Manali, an aide to Zakhilwal, told me that his boss would not talk about the case until the Afghan attorney general completed an investigation, which he—Zakhilwal—had asked for. In a recent letter to the Times, Zakhilwal acknowledged that the bank statements published by Tolo were his. He claimed that the Tolo reports were “inaccurate and misleading” and part of a “larger smear campaign against me,” but didn’t elaborate. “I have been a minister only for the last three and a half years, but I have held various professional positions for more than 15 years, including well-compensated senior advisory and consulting positions,” he wrote to the paper. “My assets are mostly from those jobs.”

But Zakhilwal’s letter raises more questions than it answers. According to his official biography, Zakhilwal has been employed by the government since at least 2005. He served as economics advisor to Karzai, acting minister for transport and aviation, and president of the Afghan Investment Support Agency, which licenses foreign firms that want to do business in the country. In March, 2009, he became minister of finance. Even before 2005, Zakhilwal worked for the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development and was a board member of the Afghan Central Bank.

In other words, over at least the past seven years, Zakhilwal held a number of government jobs that would have given him broad influence over Afghan business and economic activity. And over that same period, hundreds of thousands of dollars were deposited into his account.

Zakhilwal does appear to have done consulting gigs during that same period—which in itself is curious. Did he really earn a million dollars working for the United Nations or other such agencies while also working for the Afghan government? And did they pay him in cash?

The pressure appears to be getting to him. According to the Guardian, Zakhilwal wept during a recent meeting with Western ambassadors and said he had been “naïve” in his handling of some two million dollars in contributions to Karzai’s 2009 reëlection campaign while finance chairman. At the meeting, Zakhilwal maintained that he had done nothing wrong, the Guardian said.

This isn’t the first time that Zakhilwal’s financial dealings have raised questions. In January, 2011, Zakhilwal told me that he received a briefcase containing two hundred thousand dollars from representatives of Kabul Bank, to be used for Karzai’s reëlection. (Kabul Bank is the ill-starred financial institution that flourished on the strength of its political connections until it collapsed after running up hundreds of millions dollars in losses.) He told me then that he kept no record of the briefcase-with-cash and didn’t know what happened to it. This sort of shoddiness was endemic to Karzai’s reëlection campaign: election monitors invalidated nearly a million ballots cast on his behalf.

Why does all this matter to American voters? Look at this way: after eleven years, more than four-hundred billion dollars spent and two thousand Americans dead, this is what we’ve built: a deeply dysfunctional, predatory Afghan state that seems incapable of standing on its own—even when we’re there. What happens when we’re not? You can bet that, whoever the President is, he’ll be talking about it then.

Back to Top

BUSINESS

No articles featured today

Back to Top

NATION

New US Envoy says Afghan Govt Needs Reform

TOLOnews.com
Monday, 13 August 2012

The new United States Ambassador to Afghanistan, James Cunningham, said on Monday that the Afghan government needs to make reforms and fulfill its responsibilities in order to gain US political and economic support. Speaking at a press conference, Ambassador Cunningham added that talks between Islamabad and Washington are underway to delve into the issue of cross-border attacks.

He also stressed that the US will take necessary actions to protect Afghan civilians.

"There are reports about cross-border rocket attacks on Afghanistan's bordering regions. Our negotiations with Afghan and Pakistani officials are underway that these attacks do not harm Afghan civilians, and we will do everything to continue these talks," Cunningham said in a press conference in Kabul today, adding that US will take necessary actions to protect Afghan civilians.

He also confirmed that a meeting will take place between Afghan officials and the Taliban's top military commander, Mullah Ghani Bradar, who is in jail in Pakistan.

James Cunningham replaces Ryan Crocker who resigned earlier this year due to personal issues.

Back to Top

End Sought to Attacks on Allies by Afghans

New York Times
By ALISSA J. RUBIN
August 13, 2012
KABUL, Afghanistan

The phenomenon of “green on blue” violence by Afghan security force members on their international counterparts continued on Monday with two more attacks, officials said.

In one case, in southern Afghanistan, the attacker did no harm; in the second attack, in the Achin district of Nangarhar Province, two international soldiers were injured. An Afghan soldier who works for the National Directorate of Security, Afghanistan’s intelligence service, was also injured when NATO soldiers fired on the attacker, said Gen. Abdullah Stanakzai, the police chief of Nangarhar.

The persistence of this type of attack has prompted both NATO and Afghan military leaders to try to drill down into the circumstances surrounding each one and determine the cause in order to come up with ways to decrease them.

“We are sitting with our Afghan partners and recommending to them how to improve their recruiting process,” said Brig. Gen. Gönter Katz, a spokesman for the international military coalition here. He said the coalition was also focusing on its own soldiers and trying to ensure that they did not offend Afghans by behaving in ways that might be culturally insensitive.

The green-on-blue attacks on Monday brought to 29 the number of insider attacks this year, said Maj. Adam Wojack, a spokesman for the NATO-led international coalition. Of those, nine did not result in deaths.

The pace of the attacks has increased substantially in 2012, with 37 international service members killed so far this year, exceeding the 35 for all of last year.

The international coalition announced on Monday that it would now count attacks sustained on bases or in joint operations even if the attacker is not a member of the security forces. The coalition is moving away from the term “green-on-blue” and is referring to them as “insider attacks,” which encompasses those done by people who are working inside the security force system but who may not be members of the security forces themselves, Major Wojack said.

Of the casualties this year, nearly 13 percent are the result of insider attacks. Contrary to general perceptions, only a small number can be decisively linked to insurgents, Major Wojack said. Most are thought to occur out of anger or insult in the moment, or sometimes out of an ideological turn away from the Western involvement in Afghanistan.

“We think the infiltrators are a smaller portion of it,” he said.

In an echo of the rough public justice in the days of Taliban rule, militants publicly executed a suspected kidnapper and returned a 12-year-old boy to his parents, after the family turned to the Taliban for help, according to local officials in Ghazni Province.

They found the boy hidden in an unused tandoor bread oven, said Habib Rahman, a provincial council member in Ghazni. The tandoor is a feature of many rural Afghan homes and often is a pit dug into the ground.

Mr. Rahman said the man asked Hajji Amanullah, a prominent businessman, for $700,000 to secure his son’s release, and because he could not pay Mr. Amanullah, went to the police and the National Directorate of Security for help. However, they were unable to find his son.

Mr. Rahman said it took the Taliban only a few hours to find the kidnapper after Mr. Amanullah begged them for help.

Habib Zahori and an employee of The New York Times contributed reporting.

Back to Top

Afghanistan's Princelings: Are the Children of the Mujahedin Ready to Rule?

Educated in some of the best schools in the world, the offspring of the commanders involved in four decades of war return to a country at the crossroads. Can they affect the future?

TIME
By Mujib Mashal
August 13, 2012
Kabul

War made Abdul Mutalib Bek one of the most powerful men in the northern Afghan province of Takhar. In the 1970s, the conscript with little more than mosque education abandoned his duties to join guerrilla fighters who — eventually with tremendous CIA backing — would force the mighty Soviet Red Army out of Afghanistan and topple the Kabul government propped-up by Moscow. Bek survived subsequent power struggles with other commanders as the victorious Mujahedin fought each other in a bloody civilwar; then in his northern redoubt, he outlasted the Taliban, becoming an influential part of the new regime that took shape after the U.S. invasion of October 2001 overthrew the radical Islamists.

Bek’s son Matin has a different story. Sent to study in India, he engaged in debates over ideas he found in Plato, Hobbes,Locke and other major western thinkers as well as Indian giants such as B.RAmbeidkar, who championed the cause of the untouchables. The education, says Matin, 26, “gave me the strength to analyze and understand politics… In the campus where I lived, there were always rallies, speeches, discussions. I learned the power of youth – that was always a model in my mind.” Three years ago, after completing his masters in political science, he returned to the politics of patronage in his father’s fiefdom of Takhar to run the commander’s campaign for a seat in parliament. School, Matin says, taught him how to run a campaign but he admits to the “struggle of reintegrating” upon his return. To escape the stress of managing his father’s election, Matin would often sneak away from the old guerrilla’s gaze to light a cigarette on the rooftop of the family home. More importantly, for two hours a day, he would sit in a garden rocking chair to read.

The Beks are only one example of a generational transformation among the Afghan elite. As the Mujahedin commanders assumed feudal powers in the post-Taliban era, their children went abroad to get degrees. Salahuddin Rabbani, son of Burhanuddin Rabbani, earned two master’s degrees, one from Kingston University in London and the other from Columbia University in NewYork. His sister, Fatima Rabbani, recently completed a masters degree at the University of London. Adib Fahim, son of the current Afghan vice president and former commander Marshal Fahim, got a masters from New York University. Batur Dostum, son of General Abdul Rashid Dostum, earned a masters from Gazi University in Turkey. The list goes on and on.

Having completed their education in the most prestigious universities around the world, the younger generation is being groomed to inherit the legacies of their fathers. This passing of the torch is taking place at a critical if not tumultuous juncture. Will their western, liberal education change the trajectory of the country’s future as NATO prepares to withdraw its troops by 2014 and as the resurgent shadow of Taliban and their allies loom?

The pre-ordained nature of the succession has already led to sarcastic responses in local social media. “Get to know your future leaders,” went one remark after a video of a meeting involving a Mujahedin scion circulated.

That has not made the children of the commanders any less shy about their political ambitions. Batur Dostum, 25, established a foundation in his powerful father’s name, which provides charity, emergency aid, as well as cultural and educational programs. The Dostum Foundation is not only as an effort to soften the public perception of General Abdul Rashid Dostum, who has been accused of many atrocities, but also to launch Batur into the public arena. Aina TV, also affiliated with General Dostum, often runs reports on Batur’s meetings. One such report shows a statesmen-like meeting between Batur – and his younger brother Babur – and the sons of Hazara commander Mohamed Mohaqiq. Cameras flash and notes are taken as the neatly dressed young men exchange thoughts.

Twenty-seven-year old Adib Fahim, son of vice president Marshal Fahim, is one of the few who, despite being actively involved behind closed doors, has yet to take a public role in legacy politics. But he has no illusions that it awaits him in the future. Having completed his masters in public policy at NYU, Adib returned to Afghanistan to take up a job at the national security council — on the advice of President Hamid Karzai, an ally of his father — and then moved on to the foreign ministry. “There is no need for a discussion,” says Adib when asked whether his father had told him of his political legacy — and inevitable responsibility. “There is a very strong understanding there.”

Even as a child, Adib’s father brought him along to important meetings with commanders. Now the son is regularly at the father’s side during meetings with diplomats and officials, or on official trips abroad. “Occasionally, he has told me that, being his oldest son, I have to work on the legacy in the future. But there has been no need for him to even saythat. It’s a natural process for me.”

Sometimes the succession comes through sudden tragedy. Burhanhuddin Rabbani, who served as Karzai’s chief peace negotiator with the Taliban in his final days, was killed by a Taliban turban-bomber last September. His son Salahuddin left Turkey, where he was the Afghan ambassador, to lead his father’s political party, Jamiat. “Salahuddin’s decision to take over Jamiat was a very given; I don’t see why it should have been a surprise for anybody,” his sister Fatima says. “My father had worked for Jamiat most of his life. It is only natural for his son to take it up – whoelse should have been taken over Jamiat, if not his own blood.” Months later, after a public jostling for the late Rabbani’s official position, Salahuddin was declared his father’s replacement to lead the peace efforts. Many among the old Mujahiddeen guard publicly criticized the move, calling him inexperienced and young. Others, however, pointed to his multiple degrees from abroad.

In the south of the country, where fighting still continues with the Taliban, the children of the same generation of commanders are also inheriting their fathers’ political legacies, but they have lagged behind in education. For example, Kalimullah Naqib, 30, has only “six or seven years” of formal education and several years of religious schooling from Kandahar seminaries. After years as a highway contractor, he now fills the shoes of his late father, Haji Mullah Naqib, who was one of the most powerful men in southern Afghanistan before and after the fall of the Taliban. Mullah Naqib’s succumbed to a heart attack in 2009. President Karzai attended the funeral, where he crowned Kalimullah to replace his father as the chief of the Alkozai tribe. Protected by 22 security guards, Kalimullah meets with elders all day in his house in the suburbs of Kandahar city, mostly to resolve disputes. “In Kandahar, people’s education is much less than the rest,” he admits, citing the constant violence as the reason. “In the north, most of their children got their education abroad. But for our people, if the opportunity came to educate their children right there next to them, they would do it. But they would not send their children abroad.”

Outside of the southern provinces, however, thepedigree of education continues to count for a lot. In the late 1990s, when the Taliban ruled most of the country, Bek ensured the schools remained open in the area he controlled and hired private tutors for his other children, including Matin, one of 29 Bek offspring from four wives. Matin Bek’s campaigning for his father’s parliamentary seat paid off in 2010. With 9,411 votes, Abdul Matlib Bek was the third highest vote taker in the province, securing himself a seat in the parliament.

Today, the fathers’ networks, cash, and legacy prop up the sons; and the sons’ liberal education and perceived open-mindedness softens the fathers’ controversial image. “The force I worked with, [the young voters] were the real target of the voting, and they delivered,” says Matin. “I spent $30,000 maybe but I brought a huge vote for him,”

Matin Bek too would inherit his father’s mantleearlier than he expected. Less than a year into his term at the parliament,Abdul Mutalib Bek was killed during a bomb attack at a funeral in Takhar. At his burial, young Matin was crowned as his successor as the tribal chief. Then, the Mujahedin commander’s old comrades called on the government to appoint the younger Bek to an important government post, Karzai — who was himself educated in India — obliged. Matin is now the youngest deputy minister in the government today. His organization is responsible for appointing all the governors anddistrict governors – though a large number are still handed on quotas to powerbrokers. Gone are the dark curls and scruffy look he wore while acting as his father’s campaign manager. Sporting well-fitted suits, he is driven around in armored vehicles. His Blackberry phone rings constantly, with governors on the line. The question remains: will the heirs of the Mujahedin be able to transform the legacy of their fathers — and Afghanistan?

Back to Top

U.S. Says Pakistan to Launch Offensive

Associated Press
August 13, 2012
WASHINGTON

Pakistan has indicated that it plans to launch combat operations against Taliban militants soon in a tribal area near the Afghan border that also serves as a haven for leaders of the al Qaeda-affiliated Haqqani network, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Monday.

Mr. Panetta said Pakistan's military chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, discussed the planned operation in recent conversations with the top American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen.

Mr. Panetta said he did not know when the Pakistani operation would start, but he said he understands it will be in the "near future," and that the main target will be the Pakistani Taliban, rather than the Haqqani network.

Saying he had previously "lost hope" that Pakistan's military would take action in the North Waziristan tribal area, Mr. Panetta welcomed Gen. Kayani's initiative, even though the main target may not be the Haqqani leadership.

Mr. Panetta's comments come nearly two weeks after The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. and Pakistani officials were considering joint counterterrorism campaigns in Afghanistan and Pakistan, targeting Haqqani militants and Taliban fighters. (See related article.)

The U.S. long has been frustrated by Islamabad's refusal to target Afghan Taliban militants and their allies using Pakistani territory to stage attacks against U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan. Many analysts believe Pakistan is reluctant to target groups with which it has strong historical ties and could be useful allies in Afghanistan after foreign forces withdraw.

The Pentagon chief said relations with the Pakistani military have improved "a great deal" lately, after a falling out over American airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November and Pakistan's subsequent closing of border crossings that facilitated the flow of military supplies to U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan.

He said Gen.s Allen and Kayani have "discussed concerns" about the Haqqanis, whose fighters have moved back and forth across the border to launch attacks in Afghanistan.

"Gen. Kayani did indicate that they had developed plans to go into Waziristan," Mr. Panetta said. "Our understanding is that hopefully they're going to take that step in the near future. I can't tell you when. But the indication that we have is that they are prepared to conduct that operation soon."

He added: "They've talked about it for a long time. Frankly, I'd lost hope that they were going do anything about it. But it does appear that they in fact are going to take that step."

Pakistan has denied this, saying its forces are stretched too thin fighting Pakistani Taliban militants at war with the state. It also has criticized NATO and Afghan forces for not doing enough to stop Pakistani militants holed up in Afghanistan from launching attacks across the border into Pakistan.

Haqqani leaders fled to Pakistan's North Waziristan region from their homeland in eastern Afghanistan following the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

Back to Top

Afghanistan unites behind Olympic success – and beating Pakistan

Rohullah Nikpai's taekwondo bronze, Afghanistan's second ever medal, helped country to feel normal after years of war

Guardian.co.uk
By Emma Graham-Harrison
Monday 13 August 2012
Kabul

For once, Afghanistan was just another country. Used to being treated as victim or headache on the international stage, its athletes lined up at the Olympics to compete as equals and revelled in showing the world another face, unconnected to decades of conflict.

For Afghans back home, it was an emotional rollercoaster. Two weeks of competition brought the glory of the country's second ever medal, dashed hopes of a third, triumph in getting one over on its powerful neighbour Pakistan, and anger over the role of an old enemy – corruption.

The divided nation was seized by a brief, unifying fit of taekwondo fever as the diminutive fighter who is probably the country's biggest sporting hero took to the mats. Rohullah Nikpai, whose Olympic profile lists his profession as hairdresser, is an unlikely champion: a poor former refugee, he is from the Hazara ethnic minority, which has long faced discrimination from more dominant groups.

But his background meant nothing to millions of Afghans when he unexpectedly claimed a bronze medal in Beijing, becoming the first person from their country to stand on an Olympic podium.

Half of Kabul stayed up late to watch him clinch another bronze in London, and one of the city's regular power cuts sent men streaming out to ice-cream stalls and other shops with generators to catch the end of one fight.

There was joy across the country, and an explosion of excitement on social media, which has been embraced by the tiny but growing elite with internet access.

An international community pleased to have something to celebrate in the middle of a decade-long war jumped on the bandwagon, with congratulations from the US embassy and the Nato-led coalition that has been fighting in Afghanistan for more than a decade.

There was also elation that Afghanistan had bettered their richer and more powerful neighbour Pakistan, which has long been resented for interference in Afghan affairs.

"Afghanistan's Rohullah Nikpai wins Taekwondo bronze!! That's one more medal than its failed enemy, Pakistan," @Afghanpolicy crowed on twitter.

The only people not caught up in the excitement seemed to be the Taliban. "We are considering a reaction to this. Cannot say whether happy for the medal or not," a spokesman for the insurgent group told the BBC's Harun Najafizada.

The country's second medal hope, Nesar Bahawi – another taekwondo fighter – lost his bronze medal bout. But having fought with injuries so severe he was taken to hospital after the match, his bravery won the hearts of Afghans.

The aftermath of Nikpai's victory and Bahawi's near-miss also reflected some of Afghanistan's perennial problems. Government critics noted that Americans were faster than their own president to congratulate their double hero.

And there was anger when it emerged that the country's 22-strong Olympic delegation did not include a physiotherapist. Arif Paiman, spokesman for the Olympic committee headed by Lieutenant General Muhammad Zahir Aghbar, said London organisers provided doctors for all competitors. But both taekwondo fighters were battling with injuries that might have been better managed by someone who knew them personally.

Activists blamed corruption, a common scourge in a country that has been judged the fourth most graft-ridden in the world. "Because every post is a political position and acquired based on affiliations to warlords and power-holders, the position of head of the Olympic committee is given to an army general who should instead be fighting the insurgency up in the mountains," said activist Wazhma Frogh.

"[Yusufzai] isn't a trained sports expert, that's why he takes his bodyguards and friends on sports-related trips … while there was no physiotherapist for injured Bahawi."

Mokhtar Amiri contributed reporting

Back to Top

Lawmakers Urge Karzai to Respond to Cross-Border Shelling

TOLOnews.com
Monday, 13 August 2012

On Monday, Legislators said that the National Security Council and President Karzai should be summoned to Parliament to respond to the recent cross-border shelling into Afghanistan.

"The silence from the National Security Council and the President proves Pakistan's intelligence has major influences on Afghan government," Badakhshan Member of Parliament, Fauzia Kofi said. MPs form the eastern provinces allege that more than 300 rockets landed in Kunar and Nooristan's bordering regions.

Meanwhile, the Speaker of the Parliament, Abdul Raouf Ibrahimi, said that he met with ISAF commander, General John Allen to discuss the issue on Sunday.

Ibrahimi suggested to General Allen that the United States, as one of Afghanistan's major allies, discuss the issue with Pakistan or bring up the issue to the United Nations Security Council.

General Allen said, however, that the a cooperation center will opened in Torkham on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan comprised of Afghan, Pakistani military generals and ISAF to assist in mitigating the issue.

Back to Top

Shootings by Afghan forces take growing toll on NATO troops

CNN
By Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst, and Jennifer Rowland, Special to CNN
August 13, 2012
Kabul, Afghanistan

Editor's note: Peter Bergen, CNN's national security analyst, is a director at the New America Foundation, a Washington-based think tank that seeks innovative solutions across the ideological spectrum, and the author of the new book "Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden -- From 9/11 to Abbottabad." Jennifer Rowland is a program associate at the New America Foundation.

Before dawn on Friday, a man wearing an Afghan uniform shot and killed three U.S. soldiers during a meeting to discuss local security issues in the southern province of Helmand.

It was one of an unprecedented series of five attacks by people in Afghan security forces uniforms in the past week against NATO forces.

If the trend over the past few months continues, NATO troops in Afghanistan face a rapidly growing threat. It is compounded by the strategy of withdrawing all combat troops by the end of 2014, which will increasingly leave relatively isolated international military advisors embedded with Afghan soldiers.

Attacks believed to be connected to Afghan security forces have already killed 34 NATO service members this year, drawing close to the record 36 international soldiers killed in similar attacks in 2011, according to data compiled by the New America Foundation.

Nineteen of the 34 NATO troops killed this year were U.S. soldiers, while 15 American service members were killed in such attacks in 2011.

These attacks now constitute 8% of the total number of U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year. In 2011, this number was closer to 4%.

The targeting of U.S. and other NATO soldiers by members of the Afghan security forces first spiked in 2009, and the number of incidents has gone up each year since.

In Friday's attack in Helmand, three U.S. Special Forces soldiers were killed. An Afghan official told reporters that a commander at a police checkpoint had invited them to a predawn meal and security discussion, where he opened fire on the Americans before fleeing to take refuge with Taliban militants.

"Now, he is with us," a Taliban spokesman claimed, identifying the attacker as a police commander named Asadullah who had been helping U.S. forces train Afghan policemen.

If this version of events is correct, the attack was premeditated and carefully planned -- likely with the help of the Taliban, who have claimed a role in about half of such attacks -- known as "green-on-blue" incidents -- since the beginning of the war.

A NATO military official tells CNN that, in fact, only 11% of such incidents can be definitively attributed to the Taliban.

The motivations of about half the attackers are difficult to classify because the perpetrator is either dead or has fled.

According to media accounts of such incidents, many of the "green-on-blue" attacks appear to have taken place after an argument between Afghan and international troops, or because of an Afghan soldier's personal grievances.

A Department of Defense report in April explains "investigations have determined that a large majority of green-on-blue attacks are not attributable to insurgent infiltration of the ANSF [Afghan National Security Forces] but are due to isolated personal grievances against coalition personnel."

In 2011, U.S. military behavioral scientist Dr. Jeffrey Bordin interviewed more than 600 Afghan soldiers and policemen and found they held overwhelmingly negative perceptions of Western soldiers.

The Afghan security forces aired grievances ranging from NATO soldiers' supposedly indiscriminate fire that killed civilians to the public searching of Afghan soldiers outside NATO bases, as well as U.S. soldiers urinating in public or cursing at their Afghan counterparts.

Another likely cause of the increase in the number of green-on-blue incidents is straightforward: In the past two years the size of the Afghan army and police force has almost doubled from around 200,000 to around 350,000.

This may also have contributed to a recent spike in the number of Afghan security forces turning their guns on their own Afghan colleagues. According to the NATO military official who spoke with CNN, there were 39 such "green-on-green" incidents last year and already 31 this year.

To combat the green-on-blue problem, U.S. and Afghan officials have implemented tighter vetting for Afghan army and police recruits, and now designate one U.S. soldier -- known as a "guardian angel" -- in those U.S Army units working with Afghan security forces whose job is solely to guard against attacks while American forces eat, sleep or exercise, the Associated Press reported.

A senior NATO military official tells CNN that the coalition has also increased the number of counterintelligence officers in the field to ferret out Taliban double agents.

But once all NATO combat troops have left Afghanistan at the end of 2014 any advisors who will remain will rely entirely on Afghan forces for their security, leaving them acutely vulnerable to green-on-blue attacks.

Follow @CNNOpinion on Twitter

Join us at Facebook/CNNOpinion

Back to Top

Indian low-cost airline starts Kabul flights

AFP
13/08/2012

Indian low-cost airline SpiceJet will start direct flights from New Delhi to the Afghan capital Kabul from Tuesday as trade and medical tourism grows between the countries.

SpiceJet will be India's first private airline to operate a direct service to Kabul with its one-hour flight, three times a week. The state-run flagship Air India also flies to Afghanistan, six times a week.

"India and Afghanistan always had strong trade links. The idea is to revive that growth potential," SpiceJet spokeswoman Priti Dey told AFP.

"The route would benefit Afghan traders and enable medical tourists from Afghanistan to visit India. Instead of flying to the Gulf, they can fly to Delhi, which is closer."

India, strongly encouraged by the United States, is keen to expand its economic influence in Afghanistan, but New Delhi is also acutely aware of nuclear-armed rival Pakistan's sensitivities about Indian "encroachment".

In October last year, India and Afghanistan signed a "strategic partnership" aimed at deepening security and economic links, with Afghan President Hamid Karzai keen to elevate India's involvement.

New Delhi, fearful of the return of an Islamist regime in Kabul, has ploughed at least $2 billion in aid into the country.

Back to Top

NATO: Afghan policeman fires on coalition forces in 5th similar attack in a week; no deaths

Associated Press
August 13 , 2012
KABUL, Afghanistan

The new U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan called a sudden rash of attacks on international forces by their Afghan partners “troubling” Monday, after an Afghan policeman opened fire on NATO forces in the fifth such assault in a week.

No international service members were killed in the latest attack. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the shooting in the eastern province of Nangarhar, claiming the attacker was a police officer who had been in contact with insurgents before the assault.

A spike in so-called “green-on-blue” attacks, in which Afghan security forces or attackers wearing their uniforms turn their guns on coalition troops, has raised concerns as NATO aims to turn over control for security to Afghan forces in a little more than two years.

“It’s obviously very troubling, not just to us, but it’s also very troubling to our Afghan partners,” U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham told reporters in the capital in his first public comments after taking over the post earlier in the day.

“There’s a lot of work being done to understand why this is happening,” Cunningham said. He said it was not clear if all of the attackers were Taliban infiltrators, but noted that the strikes still threaten the “confidence and trust” needed for the two military forces to work together.

“Obviously this undermines or attacks that confidence and trust,” Cunningham said.

Taliban insurgents are eager to exploit any such rift.

The trend also raises renewed concern that insurgents may be infiltrating the Afghan army and police, despite intensified screening.

At least seven American service members have been killed in the past week by either their Afghan counterparts or attackers wearing their uniforms.

NATO spokesman Charlie Stadtlander said an initial investigation indicated that Monday’s attacker was an Afghan police officer, though the man was wearing civilian clothes.

He said there were no NATO deaths but would not say if any international service members were wounded in the attack, citing coalition policy.

At least one Afghan intelligence agent was wounded in Monday’s shooting, according to according to Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, spokesman for the Nangarhar provincial governor.

“The shooter has escaped, and Afghan security forces are looking for him,” Abdulzai said.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid issued a statement Monday afternoon praising the shooting. He said the police attacker had been “waiting for such an opportunity to attack” international forces.

Mujahid said three Americans were killed, though the insurgents often exaggerate the results of their attacks and are quick to adopt any incident that allows them to claim support among Afghans.

The coalition on Monday sought to dispel any idea that the rising number of turncoat attacks signals any shift in public sympathy toward insurgents, increased Taliban infiltration or growing resentment toward the mostly American coalition forces.

Insurgents were behind only about 10 percent of this year’s reported green-on-blue shootings, a NATO spokesman said, citing investigations into attacks before those of the past week.

“Obviously, the Taliban want to take credit for these things, but the fact of the matter is the majority of these attacks result from individual grievances, cultural misunderstandings or personal or battle stress,” said James Graybeal, deputy political affairs officer for the coalition.

He insisted the deadly violence is relatively small scale.

“We’re talking about 31 individual bad actors out of a total of almost 340,000 (Afghan security forces),” he said.

Coalition officials say the attacks have not impeded plans to hand over security to Afghan forces — which are supposed to reach a strength of 352,000 in a few months — by the end of 2014.

Green-on-blue attacks are on the rise. So far this year, 34 coalition troops have been killed in 27 attacks, compared to 11 attacks and 20 deaths in 2011, according to an Associated Press count, and five attacks in each of the previous two years.

Six died in two separate attacks on Friday in different areas of the volatile southern province of Helmand.

NATO has said both attackers have been detained, though it has released little information about the shootings, and accounts from other officials differ.

Also Monday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai appointed his former defense minister, Abdul Rahim Wardak, as one of his senior advisers. The move came after parliament voted earlier in the month to dismiss Wardak over allegations of corruption in his ministry, as well as failure to prevent cross-border shelling from Pakistan.

___

Associated Press writer Rahim Faiez contributed to this report.

Back to Top

No decision on Taliban transfer, but small peace moves

Reuters
13/08/2012
KABUL

The United States has made no decision on whether to transfer Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to help revive Afghan peace talks, but saw signs that insurgent hostility to peace talks may be splintering, Washington’s new Kabul envoy said on Monday.

US Ambassador James Cunningham also urged Pakistan to play a “positive, cooperative” role in nurturing a reconciliation that the Taliban suspended in March after accusing US officials of failing to honour confidence-building promises.

Afghan officials revealed this week they had held secret talks with the Taliban’s former second in command who is in detention in Pakistan in a move which could help rekindle negotiations aimed at ending the 11-year Afghan war.

“We see reflections. There are a number of moving pieces that are possible,” Cunningham told reporters. “We haven’t made any decisions in any way, shape or form as far as I know about any transfers,” he said.

Supporters of the prisoner exchange, a trust-building measure suggested in initial discussions between US negotiators and Taliban officials, say a deal could open a door

to peace talks between the Taliban and Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government, derided by militants as US “stooges”.

Sources in US administration told Reuters this month the United States could alter the sequence of the move of five senior Taliban figures held for years at the US military prison to the Gulf state of Qatar to give talks new momentum.

At the same time Rangin Spanta, Karzai’s national security adviser and peace-building envoy, said an Afghan delegation had met the Taliban’s former military wing commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, in Pakistan two months ago.

“There are a number of different elements at play, none of them are yet definitive or creating any concrete way forward,” said Cunningham, a former US ambassador to Israel.

“There are contacts taking place, mostly at this point with Afghans, among Afghans, Taliban and Afghans … and as a result of these contacts, that there is some rethinking going on among the Taliban about the future choices that they face,” he said.

PAKISTAN ROLE

Afghan officials have publicly been demanding access to Baradar, who has been in detention since he was captured in a joint operation by the CIA and Pakistani intelligence agents in the Pakistani city of Karachi in 2010.

But Spanta’s admission revealed that preliminary contact had already been made, a move which could improve Islamabad’s fragile cross-border ties with Kabul, but anger insurgent factions within both countries.

Rehman Malik, Pakistan’s interior minister, also said that Pakistan had granted Afghan officials access to Baradar.

Pakistan is seen as crucial to stability in Afghanistan as most foreign combat troops look to leave the country in 2014, given close political and economic ties and because militant sanctuaries straddle the mountainous border.

Cunningham, a career diplomat who replaced veteran US envoy Ryan Crocker, said Pakistan “obviously has a role to play” in any peace process.

“We and the Afghans who are in the lead in this have had a thorough discussion with them, which is continuing, about things that they can do to promote the process,” he said.

With the US and other Western donors having agreed a patchwork of strategic deals with Karzai’s government to guarantee a reduced international presence in Afghanistan and continuing aid, Cunningham said the framework was in place for improvements in Afghanistan ahead of the 2014 drawdown.

But he said there were still myriad security challenges, particularly in the volatile east of the country, and described a rash of recent killings of foreign soldiers by uniformed Afghan allies as “lamentable”.

“I don’t know if anybody can assess what the effect on morale is, or the impact is, but it’s obviously very troubling,” said Cunningham, whose biggest challenge will be talks on a pact for a continuing but smaller US troop presence in the country.

So far in 2012 there have been 27 rogue attacks, called “green on blue incidents” by NATO-led forces, with 37 foreign troops killed by Afghan police or soldiers, as well as other incidents involving contractors employed by the coalition.

An Afghan policeman opened fire on NATO troops on Monday in the Achin district of eastern Nangarhar province, wounding two US soldiers and an Afghan intelligence service soldier.

Back to Top

Have Afghan forces been infiltrated?

With Afghan 'insider' attacks on NATO soldiers on the rise, we discuss whether the killings are part of a strategy.

Aljazeera
Inside Story
13 Aug 2012

Three US marines were shot dead by an Afghan worker at an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) base in Southern Afghanistan. And another three US marines from a Special Forces unit had been killed earlier in the day in the same area by a uniformed Afghan police officer.

NATO refers to these incidents as "green on blue" attacks - indicating they are carried out by Afghan police and soldiers or individuals wearing the uniforms. The same police personnel and soldiers trained by and supposedly working hand in hand with ISAF.

During 2008, such attacks took place only once or so a year but this year, they have been averaging one per week. In just the past week, six NATO military died in three separate attacks.

The death toll so far this year has been at least 34, compared to 35 for all of 2011.

These attacks have come at a time when the NATO-led forces are preparing to leave and hand over security responsibility to the Afghan army and police, with the withdrawal process due to be completed within the next two years.

NATO troops have been in the country since the US-led invasion in October 2001. By 2003 the US secretary of defence claimed that "major combat" had ended.

But a decade later the number of the NATO-led force had risen to 150,000 with no significant let up in the level of violence.

NATO's ISAF command has tried to downplay the attacks, focusing instead on what it calls the Afghans' steady progress towards taking over the war against the Taliban by the end of 2014.

But both the Taliban and many government commanders say the attacks are carried out by Taliban infiltrators.

So, has the Afghan army and police been infiltrated by forces opposed to international military intervention? Who is behind the attacks? How safe are soldiers working alongside Afghan forces? And what impact do they have on long-term security in Afghanistan?

Inside Story, with presenter Mike Hanna, discusses with guests: Phyllis Bennis, a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and author of Ending the US War in Afghanistan: A Primer; Fahim Dashty, an Afghan journalist and a spokesman for the Afghan National Journalists Union; and Brigadier General Gunter Katz of ISAF.

"The main cause for those incidents were personal grievances. Knowing this, we still have confidence in our Afghan partners, the troops out there are still willing to work with them, they have the trust that we all are working together to achieve the same objective."

Brigadier General Gunter Katz, NATO forces spokesperson

Back to Top

Afghans condemn German colonel's promotion

DW
13/08/2012

Afghans are outraged at the promotion of German Colonel Georg Klein, who ordered an airstrike on two hijacked fuel takers, killing over 100 people, mostly civilians, in 2009. Many see it as a provocation.

People in Afghanistan aren't particularly fond of the name Klein. On the night of September 3, 2009, Colonel Klein ordered an air strike on two oil tankers which had been hijacked by Taliban operatives in Aliabad, near the German army base in Kunduz.

Over 100 people were killed and many were injured in the strike, most of whom were civilians. Among the dead were also children.

After the attack, Klein became subject of a military and a public prosecutors' investigation in Germany. No charges were pressed, however, and the case was dropped nearly a year later in August 2010.

Amid accusations they withheld information about the strike from lawmakers, the then former Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung resigned from his new post as labor minister and the Bundeswehr's inspector general - Germany's highest ranking officer - also stepped down from his post.

'Standard' procedure

Because the investigation was closed in 2010, Klein's promotion to general is in line with the German army's "standard" procedure. He is to be named head of a new office for the Bundeswehr's personnel management early next year and is expected to be promoted to brigadier general by the end of next year.

There are predominantly critical voices coming out of the German press on the issue. What the German defense force views as "standard" procedure is a different story on the humanitarian and foreign policy levels. "This is not how the West will win the hearts of Afghans," wrote one journalist.

Lawyer for the survivors of the victims of Kunduz, Karim Popal, voiced his disappointment over Klein's promotion and Germany's Afghanistan politics.

"The promotion of Colonel Klein and his deputy in the Federal Republic of Germany is equivalent to a slap in the face for Afghan civil society."

He added the step ran contrary to the West’s attempts to create trust and "we Afghans deeply regret that."

Karim Popal is in close contact with the surviving victims and families of those killed. He said they wrote a detailed letter to the German government demanding that those responsible for the killings of their children, fathers and families be brought to justice.

'Halfhearted' compensation

Klein's promotion was an insult to the families of the victims, the lawyer added; the memories of what happened on that September night in 2009 were still too fresh.

Sayed Rasoul, brother of one of those killed in the attack, is very upset. He has been taking care of his brother's children since his death and can barely make ends meet.

"The money they give us amounts to pennies,” said Rasoul. “Had we known that we would not have any long-term help, and that the orphaned children would be forgotten as early as three years after the attack, we would have never agreed. Those responsible must be brought to justice."

Noor Jaan, who was badly injured in the strike, was very upset at the news from Germany.

"I lost a hand and half of the bones are missing in my shoulder. They promised they would operate on me. But up to now, nothing has come of that."

Noor Jaan said they would have never agreed to any compensation had they known it would only be paid out "halfheartedly." The families of 91 casualties and 11 badly injured victims were promised 5,000 US dollars in humanitarian aid.

"We have not forgiven Colonel Klein. It would be a big disappointment to us should the German government forgive him. He should be tried according to German law. Over 100 people were killed or badly injured. And he is simply forgiven? Who will take care of the widows and the orphans?" Noor Jaan said.

The letter written by the families of the victims is to be made public soon. Karim Popal will represent them and hopes justice will be served in the so-called Kunduz Affair.

Author: Waslat Hasrat-Nazimi / sb Editor: Richard Connor

Back to Top

Lodin: Senators Should Be Impartial

TOLOnews.com
By Shairf Amiry
Monday, 13 August 2012

The Head of Afghanistan High Office of Oversight and Anti-Corruption, Azizullah Lodin, said on Monday that senators should keep their impartiality and help his organization in the eradication of corruption.

His comments came a day after the head of the Afghan Senate Fazel Hadi Muslimyar accused President Karzai and some of his family members and cabinet memebrs of corruption. However, Lodin rejected these claims stating that if Muslimyar had any documents towards Karzai's involvement in corruption, he should bring it to his office.

"The Head of the Senate should keep his impartiality and help Anti-graft office in eradication of corruption," Lodin said.

The involvement of Karzai's family in corruption charges came after the Minister of Finance's bank accounts scandal raised concerns of him fleeing the country to escape prosecution.

Back to Top

Pakistan denies Afghan delegation met with imprisoned deputy Taliban leader

Associated Press
August 13 , 2012
ISLAMABAD

Pakistan on Monday denied reports that a delegation of Afghan officials met with a former deputy leader of the Taliban who is imprisoned in Pakistan.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar was captured in Pakistan in 2010. His arrest reportedly angered Afghan President Hamid Karzai because Baradar had been in secret talks with the Afghan government.

The former Taliban deputy is seen as a potentially important player in the process of striking a peace deal in Afghanistan, with most NATO forces scheduled to depart at the end of 2014.

Pakistan’s Interior Ministry said reports of a meeting between Afghan officials and Baradar were “absolutely baseless and ill motivated.”

An official with the Afghan High Peace Council, Ismail Qasemyar, said Sunday that members of the Afghan Embassy in Pakistan met with the former Taliban deputy, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, but declined to give further details.

A Pakistani intelligence official confirmed the meeting but also declined to provide details. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Despite the Pakistani denial, it’s still unclear whether there has been any contact between the Afghan government and Baradar.

The Afghan government has pushed for the release of Baradar and other Taliban prisoners to speed the effort for peace talks.

Back to Top

Afghan Taliban kill suspected child kidnapper in Ghazni

BBC News
13 August 2012

The Taliban in Afghanistan have shot dead a man accused of kidnapping a child from a village, tribal elders have told the BBC.

They said that the boy's father approached the militants for help after local authorities failed to act.

Witnesses said the Taliban were quick to surround the village in Ghazni province and get the boy released. The alleged kidnapper was shot dead later.

Correspondents say the Taliban's action is aimed at expanding their support.

An Afghan security official in Ghazni told the BBC that the Taliban initially wanted to carry out a public execution of the kidnapper but decided against it.

The man's body was found on the side of the road on Monday morning in Qarabagh district.

Rapid response

Tribal elders and villagers in the area said that the Taliban's speedy response to the kidnapping was in contrast to that of the government.

Although the authorities arrested one of the suspected kidnappers, they did nothing against the other, despite numerous complaints from the kidnapped boy's father.

"As soon as the Taliban's local council was informed, they ordered an operation and in a matter of an hour they had surrounded the village and announced through loudspeakers why they were there. They took the kidnapper out and shot him with an AK-47," a village elder told told the BBC.

Qarabagh district is about 40km (25 miles) south-east of Ghazni City on the strategically important Kandahar-Kabul highway.

Insurgents have a strong presence in rural areas of Ghazni province.

Back to Top

Peshawar’s little American fortress and sufferings of people

DAWN.com
By Intikhab Amir
13/08/2012

THE 11 Hospital Road, Peshawar, is perhaps the most enigmatic place in the city after centuries-old Balahisar Fort.

The enigma is, largely, owing to the overt and covert role they have had, impacting the history of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. They have shaped Peshawar to be what it is to foreigners today — a volatile and dangerous city. Balahisar is an old military bastion that has withstood and served invaders from Punjab and Afghanistan centuries ago.

The Hospital Road bungalow, housing a US diplomatic outpost, has helped Washington won many a battle in this region. It has a fair share in the USA’s victory against USSR.

The two icons share similarities in today’s insecurity-riddled Peshawar.

In a lighter vein, both are out of bound for Peshawarites, who can’t even access their external security barriers. Their security cordons and boundary walls (as one could only see them) are the best lit in the city and their lights never go off throughout the whole night. They surely have got good generators to beat power outages.

On a serious note, they have elaborate security arrangements in and around their premises to keep the terrorists and common citizens at a bay.

Both have had their share in making life difficult for ordinary citizens as their security appear to be the foremost priority for the rulers than people’s right of mobility. Peshawarites have seen many roads barricaded and several closed to protect VIPs. So, if the Hospital Road has been closed down for over 12 years, it is no more a matter of public concern as people are, apparently, unwary of their rights.

However, those in love with Peshawar and wanting to show that part of the city to their young children, they can give them an aerial view of the Hospital Road and its adjacent alleys by using Google Earth, though the pictures would be a couple of years old.

Washington and Islamabad have had an uncomfortable working relationship. A reflection of their uneasy diplomatic ties reins high in and around the US Consulate. It does not boast only the security arrangements taken to protect it from the terrorists’ attack. An air of suspicion surrounds it. Visitors, including those invited for official business, are treated with distrust, ensuring security of the premises.

Visit to the place, possible only if one is invited for some official business, leaves some with haunting impression that it is a place where West’s insecurities meet East’s vulnerabilities.

Multiple layers of security barriers — in varying shapes, sizes and materials — outside the consulate and modern screening machines that one has to pass through (no matter even if one is an invited guest) inside the premises make one believe that it is an impregnable little Western fortress in a chaotic Peshawar.

Agents of Pakistani spy agencies make their presence more than visible outside the consulate. They approach you as you walk by their place close to the walled premises. Introducing himself as inspector so and so of such-and-such intelligence agency, he would demand your ID card to verify your nationality, noting particular from it. You would be asked questions about your profession and purpose of your visit.

On your return, the guy talks in a friendlier tone. He asks about names of those who spoke to you and the foreigners (if any) present on the occasion.

Obviously, you are expected to share details of the meeting. And if finds you evasive or avoiding sharing information, he tells you your boss’s name and reminds you the location of your office and how close his office is to your workplace.

Same goes for the security detail inside the consulate. After clearance from walkthrough gates and modern screening machines, your handbags and wallet would be subjected to hand checking. Visitors’ cellular phones and other electronic gadgets are not allowed inside the main building. They are asked to leave their cigarette packs and lighters, if any, with the security guards at the bungalow’s main entrance.

The Pakistan-US relations are a paradox, hard to understand. The two countries are friends or foes, no one could tell with certainty. Though governments of the two countries claim to be friends, one can understand the necessities behind such claims. Pakistan needs financial help from the US to keep its economy rolling and military satisfied. It is also important to fight out extremism. The USA needs Pakistan military’s cooperation for an honourable, cost effective and safe exit from Afghanistan. It is simple in words, but difficult to materialise.

Their diplomatic bickering is prolonging the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s tribal areas.

Tumultuous 33 years of war in Afghanistan have caused a lot of sufferings to people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They have been brutalised by bomb blasts and militancy. They have lost civil liberties to a clique of ruling elite that never lets such an opportunity goes wasted. End of the armed conflict is in people’s interest because peace is better than war.

Back to Top

PRESS RELEASE

No articles featured today

Back to Top