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| Positive News from Afghanistan 9 |
| 9.5.08 |
PILLAR I: POLITICAL AFFAIRS
NATO- CJTF-82 - US/Coalition Forces
Gates: Expanding US command in Afghanistan is possibility
Source: AP 2 May 2008, TEXARKANA, Texas -- The idea of giving the U.S. military more authority in areas of Afghanistan now under NATO command is "worth taking a look at," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on 2 May. The internal Pentagon discussions reflect concern at a lack of continuity among NATO forces and a view that, in the long run, NATO may be better off focusing mainly on areas of Afghanistan, like the north and west, where there is less fighting but a great need for non combat aid. Changing the command structure to give a U.S.general more control in the south would, in effect, mark a partial "re-Americanization"of the combat mission. NATO now has overall responsibility for the mission inAfghanistan, and that would not change if a U.S. general were put in charge in the southern sector. But it would give the Americans a greater degree of control. Gates indicated he did not expect the idea of changing some of the command arrangements to lead to final decisions any time soon.
U.S.army targets $400 mln for Afghan emergency funds
Source: Reuters 1 May 2008, BAGRAM, Afghanistan -- The U.S. military hopes to double its emergency funds for aid and reconstruction in Afghanistan this year, turning a once small-scale program into a core part of its strategy to defeat Taliban insurgents. If the U.S. Congress approves, commanders on the ground say they could soon have as much as $410 million to finance new schools, roads, bridges and small hydro-electric power projects in rural areas, up from $206 million in 2007. The program, known as the Commanders' Emergency Response Programme, or CERP, gives mid-level officers the authority and financial freedom to launch local reconstruction projects without the usual lengthy approval process from above. It has become a central to the military's counter-insurgency strategy as it seeks to quell the still-potent threat from the Taliban.
Afghans Build an Army, and a Nation
Source: Wall Street Journal April 22, 2008 -- Lt. Col. Fanning, of the New York National Guard, has recently deployed to Camp Alamo to help train the Afghan National Army. On the field, about 100 recruits sit on the clay earth waiting their turn to "take the hill." The faces are Uzbek, Hazara, Tajik, Pashtun. Dari and Pashto are spoken interchangeably, but the army being forged is a genuinely national one.It is also one that's willing to fight. "The Afghan soldiers are a lot tougher than the Iraqis," says Lt. James Harryman, one of the British trainers on site."This is a warrior culture." This isn't to say the Afghan Army is problem-free.Lt. Harryman complains about an ingrained culture of soldiers not wanting to "get into trouble" by taking responsibility for their decisions. Afghan officers and NCOs are in the habit of seeking the consent of their soldiers before undertaking operations. The army still lacks some of the most basic logistical and command-and-control skills.
Marines to help train Afghanistan police force
Source: Pak Tribune 27 April 2008, KANDAHAR PROVINCE: A battalion of Marines has arrived atKandahar to take up a critical mission: training Afghan police to hold the line against Taliban insurgents. Marine Lt. Col. Rick Hall, commander of the 2ndBattalion, 6th Marine Regiment, is upbeat about the prospect of readying a professional police force, despite significant challenges that have so far defeated a six-year,$5.5 billion U.S. police recruiting and training program. "Afghans have a natural warrior mentality and will have a common bond" with Marines, Hall said in an interview. He says he believes the Afghan police recruits will quickly absorb the Marines’ standards.
Coalition Forces Provide Medical Care in Afghan Village
Source: American Forces Press Service BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, May 1, 2008 -- A coalition medical team conducted medical screenings and provided routine treatment to 65 local citizens, including 25 children, in the Kama district of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar provinceApril 27. Working with local leaders, the team set up a temporary treatment facility at a school in Mer Zert Kheyl village, while Afghan National Police and coalition forces provided security.
U.S.military criticizes Iran but says no strike plan
Source: Reuters 30 April 2008, WASHINGTON -- The U.S. military on 30 April dismissed speculation that it was drafting new plans to attack Iran but again chargedTehran with supporting Iraqi militias and the Taliban in Afghanistan. Lt. Gen.John Sattler, the military's director of strategic plans, said that while thePentagon had plans on the shelf for numerous potential conflicts around the world, there had been no order for officers to advance new plans for an Iran strike. U.S. Policies
President Foresees Tough Fight Ahead in Afghanistan
Source: American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, April 29, 2008 -- The United States and its allies are making progress in Afghanistan, but there is a long, tough road ahead, PresidentBush said during a White House Rose Garden news conference on 29 April. TheTaliban and its al-Qaida allies continue to fight in Afghanistan and want tore-impose an "incredibly dark" regime in the country, the president said. The recent Taliban assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai is their latest attempt to retrieve their failing campaign, he added.
NATO & PRTs
US Marines, British forces in major new Afghan operation
Source: AFP 29 April 2008, KABUL -- US Marines pushed into a stronghold of extremistTaliban resistance in southernmost Afghanistan on 29 April in their first majoroperation since deploying to Afghanistan last month. The Marines, supportedby British soldiers based in the southern province of Helmand, launched the operation named Azada Wosa, which means Be Free in the Pashtu language to "enhance security" in the district of Garmser, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. Garmser in southern Helmand is an area of difficult desert terrain that extends down to the Pakistan border across which Taliban reinforcements and weapons are said to arrive to enter a growing insurgency.
ISAF, Afghanistan and Pakistan address border security in Kandahar
Source: NATO 20 April 2008, KABUL, Afghanistan -- Major General Marc Lessard, RegionalCommand South (RC-South), joined Afghanistan and Pakistan officials at the 3rdBorder Security Sub-Committee Meeting (BSSM) at the Afghan National Army Headquarters in Kandahar on 17 April 2008. The meeting, hosted by Brigadier General GhulamAli Wahdat, Regional Chief of Police, and Brigadier General Gul Aqa Naibi, Commander Army 205 Corps, was held to discuss key topics such as improving communication and liaison between Afghanistan, Pakistan and ISAF, and how to improve cooperation along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan National Security Forces.
RC-West transfers authority in ceremony Tuesday
Source: ISAF/NATO 25 April 2008, KABUL, Afghanistan -- After more than nine months serving as commander of Regional Command West (RC-West), Major General Fausto Macor handed authority of RC-West to Brigadier General Francesco Arena. General DanMcNeill, ISAF commander, and Major General Alberto Primicerij, ISAF Stability deputy commander and the Italian Senior National Representative, attended the ceremony.
New Zealand PRT celebrates transfer of authority
Source: Blackanthem Military News 25 April 2008, KABUL, Afghanistan -- The New Zealand Provincial ReconstructionTeam (PRT) held a transfer of authority ceremony Apr. 20 at Forward Operating Base Baiman. The commanding general of the Regional Command East and Coalition forces in Afghanistan, Major General Jeffrey Schloesser, participated in the event. He thanked leaving members and welcomed those that just arrived.
Bagram PRT host women's affairs meeting
Source: Blackanthem Military News 28 April, 2008, BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan - Education, employment and security were the common themes addressed by eight influential Afghan women during a women's affair seminar hosted by the Bagram Provincial ReconstructionTeam. Business owners, government leaders, educators, multi-media and non-governmental organization representatives from Kabul, Kapisa and Parwan provinces met withSuzie Schwartz, wife of Gen. Norton Schwartz, U.S. Transportation Command commander, and openly discussed women affairs in Afghanistan. "Kate," a Kabul multi-media representative, who lived in the Unites States and recently returned to Afghanistan, stated that health is the primary concern with education being secondary.
ANA Brigade Headquarters construction begins in Farah
Source: Blackanthem Military News 16 April 2008, KABUL, Afghanistan -- A construction project to build an ANA Brigade Headquarters near Farah City started recently. The project, which will employ 4,000 workers for the year-long construction period, will house2,000 soldiers. General Jalandershaw, 207th ANA Kandak commander in Herat, praised the construction project as an important step in the development of the ANA.
Afghan Forces
Afghan Army
Afghans to take over Kabul security despite attack: UN envoy
Source: AFP 28 April 2008, WASHINGTON -- Afghanistan's national army will take over the security of Kabul as scheduled this autumn despite a brazen attack by suspectedTaliban militants at the heart of the Afghan capital, the special UN envoy to the nation said on 28 April. The training of the national army, numbering more than 64,000 soldiers and scheduled to grow to 80,000 by the end of this year, was "not going badly at all" ahead of shouldering its new responsibility, he said.
Afghan Army Making Progress; Police Force Needs Work, U.S. General Says
Source: American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, April 18, 2008 -- Afghanistan’s growing army is starting to take the lead in battles against Taliban insurgents, but the country’s constabulary still requires work, Army Maj. Gen. Robert W. Cone, chief of Combined SecurityTransition Command -- Afghanistan, in charge of training and equipping those forces said on 18 April. Afghan soldiers have been taking the lead in most of the major operations against the enemy over the past three months, Cone toldPentagon reporters. Today, the Afghan Army has fielded 12 of 14 authorized brigades and 33 infantry battalions, Cone said. Last month, the Afghans certified one of their infantry battalions as trained and ready to conduct independent operations. However, training Afghanistan’s police remains a work in progress, Cone acknowledged, citing past resource priorities including the availability of trainers. "The shortfall in trainers has specifically affected the police (training) program... we can only cover down on about 30 percent of the police districts in Afghanistan," Cone explained. The shortage of trainers, he said, has prolonged the development and reform of the police.
An Afghan officer, NATO behind him, leads an assault
Source: Christian Science Monitor 30 April 2008 ZHARI DISTRICT, Afghanistan -- In the tug of war between the increasingly robust Afghan Army and a potent -- if much smaller -- enemy,Colonel Shah is the kind of commander that his Canadian advisers like. Shah has earned a reputation for moving quickly, sometimes spearheading a mission just after receiving last-minute intelligence. In response, the Canadians have given him considerable latitude, deferring to him as commander even as they provide essential support. . But while wars in Afghanistan have imbued at least two generations of Afghans with a warrior spirit and strong sense of nationalism, the soldiers still lack key discipline and organizational skills. And, as the summer season approaches, opening the door to more aggressive fighting, theAfghans are fighting as a modern army trying to fight an opponent schooled in very different ways. Ahmad Idrees Rahmani, a cofounder of Afghanistan's Center for Research and Policy Studies in Kabul states: "The problem of the war against the Taliban is that [conventional warfare] is not their fighting strategy. Each time they take over a district, the ANA and other forces can easily take them out in a few days." Trouble begins, he adds, "when they retreat and attack in the form of guerrilla fighters. Then it becomes hard to find a fish in the sea of people."
Afghan Police
ISAF train Afghan police in Logar province
Source: NATO 28 April 2008-- A new group of Afghan National Police (ANP) soldiers start basic training at Forward Operations Base (FOB) Shank in Logar province.The training is given jointly by ISAF and Afghan instructors. The two-week training provides ANP newcomers with general work knowledge, preparing them for the daily duty in their service to the Afghan nation. The training includes first-aid treatment, tactics, patrolling, weapons training and vehicle check point procedures as well as practical exercises during which ANP ambush by opposition forces are simulated.
Security Threats
Narcotics
Big advance in war on Afghanistan poppy
Source: Telegraph 25 April 2008 -- Opium production in Afghanistan is expected to fall significantly this year, with British and Afghan anti-drug efforts finally taking hold following record harvests. Afghan officials said they expected that an increased number of the country's 34 provinces would be declared "opium poppy free". Production in Helmand - its biggest heroin province and the front-line for British soldiers - is also expected to fall alongside successes against a major drug lord and smugglers.
Demobilization
Weapons handed over to DIAG in Kabul
Source: UNDP Kabul 26 April 2008 -- On 26th April 2008 the officials of Kabul Police Headquarter handed over 119 different types of light weapons to Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) programme. The weapons were collected from criminal groups and individuals as a result of police operations around Kabul city and districts in the past several months. As of 26 April 2008, 38,947 weapons as well as 29,365 pieces of boxed and 344,481 pieces of unboxed ammunition have been handed over to and verified by ANBP collection teams in Afghanistan.
DEMOCRACY & JUSTICE
UN
New UN envoy discusses Afghanistan with United States officials
Source: UN 30 April 2008-- The new United Nations envoy to Afghanistan wrapped two days of meetings with United States officials in Washington, D.C., during which they expressed their full support for the world body’s efforts in the strife-torn nation. Kai Eide, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), met with President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Mr. Eide and President Bush discussed the upcoming Paris conference in support of the Afghan Government, the importance of the upcoming elections and Mr. Eide’s key coordination role.
Governance
AUNF for recognition of Taliban as a party
Source: PAN 30 April 2008, KABUL -- The Afghanistan United National Front (AUNF)asked for change in the policy and recognition of Taliban as a party. To a question if Taliban would participate in such conference Dr. Muhiuddin Mehdi, spokesman of the party, said with the passage of time parties changed and Taliban may have changed their concept and would be happy to attend such negotiations.
Rule of Law
Afghan parliament committee drafts Taliban-style moral law
Source: AFP 16 April 2008, KABUL -- An Afghan legislative committee has drafted a bill seeking to introduce Taliban-style Islamic morality codes banning women from wearing make-up in public and forbidding young boys from wearing female fashions. The draft, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, needs approval by both chambers of the Islamist-dominated parliament and President Hamid Karzai signature to become a law.
Extend transitional justice scheme till 2009 - rights watchdog
Source: IRIN KABUL, 23 April 2008 -- Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission(AIHRC) has called on the government and the international community to extend until December 2009 the period in which human rights violations and war crimes committed in the 21 years prior to 2001 can be addressed. The
Peace, Reconciliation and Justice Action Plan in Afghanistan known as the "transitional justice action plan" - was launched in December 2005 to address within three years cases of human rights violations and war crimes committed by various warring parties from the Soviet occupation of 1979 to the fall of the Taliban in late2001.
77 Afghan released, handed over to Kabul
Source:PAN 29 April 2008, QUETTA -- Pakistan authorities released 77 Afghan prisoners from the district jail of Khuzdar and handed them over to Afghan border authorities at the Pak-Afghan Chaman border, police sources said. The law-enforcement agencies had arrested these people from various parts of Balochistan for having entered into Pakistan without legal documents. They were tried and sentenced under theForeign Act by the court and were handed over to the Afghan authorities after completion of their sentence and payment of fines.
Regional Relations
Afghanistan wary of Pakistan-Taliban 'peace deal'
Source: AFP 25 April 2008, KABUL -- Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Phantasmal that any peace deal between Pakistan and Taliban fighters would only fail and terrorism should instead be tackled globally. The United States has also expressed concern about a possible deal after representatives of both sides said on 25 April the new government in Islamabad had drafted an agreement with rebels along the Afghan border.
Pakistan protests Afghan border skirmish
Source: AFP 24 April 2008, ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- The foreign ministry says Pakistan has protested to NATO and Afghan authorities over a skirmish that killed at least nine people. In a pre-dawn battle on 24 April, militants attacked an Afghan border post across from Pakistan's Bajur tribal area. A Pakistani soldier and at least eight suspected militants died.
Turkmenistan, Afghanistan sign energy, transport deals
Source: AFP 28 April 2008, KABUL -- Turkmenistan and Afghanistan signed agreements on energy, transport and culture on 28 April, days after agreeing with Pakistan and India to push forward a multi-billion-dollar gas pipeline. Turkmen PresidentGurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai watched their ministers sign the deals and then inked their own on cementing bilateral ties.The agreements signed in Kabul pave the way for Turkmen help in providing power-poor Afghanistan with fuel and energy and cooperation in the areas of transport and culture.
PILLAR II: RELIEF, RECOVERY AND RECONSTRUCTION
Reconstruction & Aid
US adds 40 mln in emergency food aid
Source: AFP WASHINGTON, April 29, 2008 -- The United States on 28 April released40 million dollars in emergency aid for the World Food Program (WFP) to help deal with the growing global food crisis affecting the poorest nations. The funds from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), will be added to 200 million dollars US President George W. Bush authorized on April14, the State Department said in a statement. 'With this additional estimated240 million dollars, USAID will provide emergency food aid for programs in Zimbabwe,Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Kenya, Haiti, Bangladesh, Somalia, Mauritania, Uganda, and Sudan' through the WFP and private voluntary organizations, it added.
WFP to distribute 65000 tons wheat in Kandahar
Source: PAN 30 April 2008, KANDAHAR CITY -- World Food Program (WFP) has announced to distribute around 65000 tons of wheat to poor families in the southern Kandahar province on 30 April. Anthony Banbury, WFP Regional Director for Asia during his visit to Kandahar said that 33000 tons of the wheat will be distributed to the families in the provincial capital and other 2000 tons of the wheat will be distributed to the families of other districts.
Completion of 271 development projects in province of Paktia
Source: Gov of Afghanistan Kabul, April 24, 2008: With the completion of 271 projects of the NationalSolidarity Programme (NSP) of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development(MRRD) in Paktia Province, 201,382 individuals are provided with wide range of facilities in different areas. The projects include construction of roads, culverts, irrigation canals, construction and cleaning of Kariz, water intake, irrigation infrastructure, drinking water wells, construction of water reservoir, solar, and hydro power plants, hydro and diesel mills, Construction of Mosques and other social centers, retaining walls, literacy courses.
Key road toward Pakistan to improve trade, security
Source: RF/RL 29 April 2008: A contract has been signed for a $100 million highway project in Afghanistan intended to dramatically reduce travel time from Kabul to border areas near Pakistan's volatile tribal region of North Waziristan.The 100-kilometer stretch of road will link the provinces of Khost and Paktia to Afghanistan's "ring road," which will circle the country. The contract was signed on April 26 by the Afghan and U.S. governments. The project is being funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and is scheduled to be completed in 2009.
Farmers in Herat province benefit from range of seed activities
Source: FAO Herat, 28 April 2008 -- With a financial contribution of Euro 10 million by the European Union for the project’s activities in five years, FAO is able to deliver technical assistance for effective seed industry development in close collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation & Livestock (MAIL).Key activities in Herat include research in the development of new crop varieties, production of early generation quality seed, production and marketing of certified seed to farmers, and laboratory testing and quality certification of seeds.
Afghan women and ex-combatants turn to gardening for peace and prosperity
Source: UNAMA Herat, 28 April 2008 -- An innovative gardening and literacy programme delivered by the United Nations is offering Afghan women and ex-combatants the chance for a fresh start by providing literacy classes and the opportunity to make an income from setting up their own gardening nurseries. The Green AfghanistanInitiative (GAIN) is run by six United Nations agencies led by the World FoodProgramme and aims to reverse the environmental damage caused by decades of conflict, uncontrolled grazing and illegal logging through the creation of home nurseries.
Health
Over half the population at risk of malaria - Health Ministry
Source: IRIN 21 April 2008 -- Over half of Afghanistan's estimated 26.6 million population -- and especially pregnant women and children - are vulnerable to malaria, according to Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health (MoPH). MoPH says that 14 of the country's 34 provinces are identified as "high risk" areas where, plasmodium vivax, a malaria parasite, is prevalent. "About 14 million people across the country are at risk of malaria..
Culture
First-ever oil paintings found in Afghanistan
Source: Pak Tribune 26 April 2008, KABUL: Scientists have found what they described this week as the earliest oil paintings ever discovered. Murals found on cave walls in Afghanistan prove that painting with oil had been going on in Asia for centuries before artists used the technique in Europe, scientists said this week. Until now, art historians believed that oil painting started in Europe in the 15th century.
Media
More than 100,000 sign petition to save journalist held in Afghanistan
Source: Pak Tribune 30 April 2008: The Independent’s petition to save the Afghan student Sayed Pervez Kambaksh from the gallows has collected a staggering 100,000 signatures as the 23-year-old languishes in a cell in Kabul awaiting appeal. Mr Kambakshwas arrested for distributing a pamphlet about women’s rights, and tried and convicted without a defence lawyer, in a closed court in Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan. His case led to international protests, led by the UN human rights chief, Louise Arbour, and Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State.
Refugees
UNHCR resumes Afghan voluntary returns as road reopens
Source: UNHCR KABUL, 21 April 2008 -- The UN refugee agency resumed its Afghan voluntary return operation via Peshawar in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP)on 20 April. This comes after a five-day suspension (15-19 April) in assisted returns through NWFP to Afghanistan due to a blockade on the Peshawar-Torkham border road.
Economy
Gas pipeline to provide money, jobs, energy: Afghan minister
Source: AFP 29 April 2008, KABUL -- A planned gas pipeline from Turkmenistan toIndia will provide hundreds of millions of dollars in fees, as well as jobs, for Afghanistan and give the country much-needed power, Kabul's mining minister said. The multi-million-dollar scheme, which was planned years ago and also includes Pakistan, was given fresh impetus at a meeting in Islamabad last week where the nations agreed basic terms, Mohammad Ibrahim Adel told reporters.The agreement is expected to be finalised at a meeting in India later this year, he said. The pipeline would bring cash-strapped Afghanistan "hundreds of millions of dollars" in transit fees and provide jobs for more than 1,000 people, Adel said.Labels: Positive News: Afghanistan |
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