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“Obama-Sleep” Promotes Failure in Afghanistan

Matthew J. Nasuti — 2013-05-18T06:34:41Z

Alex Thier, the official in charge of the scandal-racked USAID mission in Afghanistan, is being promoted. That is the stunning news from Washington, D.C. Mr. Thier is currently the Assistant to the Administrator for the Office of Afghanistan and Pakistan Affairs at the U.S. Agency for International Development. His new job will be as a Deputy Assistant Administrator in charge of USAID's Bureau for Policy, Planning and Learning.

The seemingly endless list of audit reports that revealed that USAID programs in Afghanistan are ineffective and waste billions in taxpayer funds, has had no impact on USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah. Not only has Mr. Shah refused to impose accountability on any culpable official, but he continues to promote them. Alex Thier is but the latest example.

Journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran extensively investigated USAID failures in Afghanistan. He gave an example to PBS' Newswatch. In 2010, USAID attempted to spend $4 billion in Afghanistan. Mr. Chandrasekaran likened the spending spree to USAID, “carpet-bombing the country with money.” This enormous infusion of money distorted the local economy, fostered dependency on foreign aid and began a rash of capital construction projects that the Afghans lacked the resources to maintain. U.S. taxpayer funds were not simply wasted, but they helped to undermine the economy, made matters worse and aided the enemy.

This was confirmed by the Kabul Press, which for years has been reporting on USAID road construction projects, which created hundreds of kilometers of cheap asphalt roads that are already crumbling because the Afghan government has neither the infrastructure nor the budget necessary to maintain such a roadway system. These roads are cheap to construct but costly to periodically resurface, a task necessary every four to five years.

Mr. Thier has displayed no appreciation for the hardships that most Americans have to endure in order to pay their income taxes. He has failed to oversee the spending of taxpayer funds in an efficient and cost-effective manner. The idea seemed to be that the more money spent, the more successful the war effort, regardless of whether most of the projects eventually failed. This bizarre strategy has no basis in reality. It also reveals a gross ignorance of Afghan society.

America, helped by the contribution of Mr. Thier, is destined to lose its war against the Taliban. The long-term cost to the American people for this adventure may eventually total $1 trillion. Total U.S. casualties, including wounded and disabled with long-term medical conditions, has already exceeded 200,000.00. The Iraq and Afghan wars have all but broken the U.S. military. Historians will likely conclude that these losses were unnecessary.

Wars have to be fought with honor, integrity and creativity, and with rapid adjustments to changing conditions. This requires brutal honesty, prompt accountability in order to remove mediocre or non-performing officials and generals, and a 100% commitment to winning (rather than a 100% commitment to making Administration officials look good). None of this has ever been evident in the U.S. war effort. This article singles out Alex Thier, but the list of other Alex Thiers is long. This was a collective leadership failure.

History may well dub Barack Obama as the “sleeping President.” Bedazzled by Hollywood and MoTown, surrounded by courtesans singing his praises, and obsessed with a poorly drafted medical plan stripped of its crucial “public option” component, he slept. During the Obama-sleep, lackluster political appointees squandered his legacy. Second-rate Generals, diplomats and intelligence officials flailed away at real and imagined enemies, billions were wasted and two wars lost. Iran and al-Qaida emerged stronger, while the U.S. economy faltered. At home, a third-rate Attorney General sat on the sidelines while unscrupulous elements within the Government, freed from Government scrutiny, repeatedly ignored the rule of law and basic civil liberties.

An emerging scandal in Massachusetts involving U.S. Department of Agriculture officials (False Claims Act prosecution, 12CV30121-MAP (D.Mass.)), threatens to be just the latest Obama Administration scandal. Its web of public corruption may reach all the way into the office of Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack.

Some day Barack Obama may emerge from his Obama-sleep, but it will be too late for Afghanistan, which hitched its horse to the wrong wagon. As for Mr. Thier, life is good for those with political connections. Failures, even those that help to lose a war, are excusable by a Government which lacks honor.

A Systematic Conspiracy against Hazaras in Pakistan

admin — 2013-05-14T22:35:18Z

by Muhammad younas

Hazara Democratic Party (HDP) seems to have lost from PB2 Quetta-2 seat for Balochistan assembly while Majlis-e-Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM) seems to have unofficially won. Despite being victorious in bagging Hazara Shia popular vote, HDP has technically lost the PB2 Qta-2 seat in Quetta City, Pakistan. Now let's analyze the post election scenario as what kind of socio-political scene may Hazara Shia likely face in near future in Pakistan?

Many believe that it is not only the HDP, which has allegedly lost the election from PB2 Quetta-2 but all those who believed in democracy, enlighten education, political integration, social harmony, religious tolerance, pluralism and above all the trust of state on Hazaras being a loyal citizens of Pakistan.

MWM seems to have technically “secured” PB2 Quetta-2 seat; however it remained unable to bag the majority votes of Hazaras Shias in Quetta City. It was non-Hazara Shia actors who played well in bringing MWM to impose on Hazara Shia under the covert role of “farishta” —establishment. MWM being an extreme Shia religious party will likely help promote more religious hatred, religious extremism, religious intolerance, religious violence, social disharmony, political mistrust, political immaturity, irrationality and madness in the society in near future.

Let's analyze deeper as what MWM can give further damage to the political image of Hazara Shias in Pakistan while representing the constituency where Hazara Shias inhabit along with other ethnic groups mostly Sunni religion. MWM will surely play active role to not only counter the political activities of HDP in the province but also promote maligning the political image of Hazara Shias nationally and internationally for being known as a pro-Iran party in this region.

The history will never forgive all those who either intentionally confused Hazaras or played direct role in promoting MWM in the election without realizing the long lasting socio-political negative consequences of MWM, which will ultimately turn the soft image of Hazaras to extreme religious pro-Iran image in coming months.

Religious hatred will get promoted to the new extreme level in the society under the leadership of MWM. Non-Hazara religious Shia extremist Mullahs will get roots in the Hazara society. Establishment on the sideline will help promote Shia religious group such as Imamia Students Organization, Sipah-e-Muhammad and Lashkar-e-Mehdi to get root among young Hazaras which will ultimately push them to get involved in sectarian violence. Then establishment will turn Hazara genocide, which is going for the last 12 years into sectarian violence and will show to the world that Hazaras are involved in the alleged killings of other innocent citizens in Quetta City, Pakistan, which they had never been before.

Khana-e-Farhang Iran's political ideas will get materialized through MWM in the society. Photos of Imam Khumaini will go public on the national media and Hasan Nasrullah type politics will get penetrated to further malign Hazaras in Pakistan. Religious extremism and hatred will finally bring violence in the society and violence means more deaths. Moreover, MWM's political activities will further widen the rift between Syed and Hazara in the society.

Soon after taking oath being a legislator, MWM candidate will start representing Shias especially Hazaras to all official and unofficial gatherings which will further disgrace the political image of Hazaras in Pakistan. Political activities of MWM will legitimise the claims of Lashkar-e-Janghvi and other Sunni militant groups—Hazaras being Iran proxies in Pakistan—will provide ample reasons to attacks on Hazaras in Pakistan.

Hazaras with the pro-Iran image on the media will find hard to find jobs in government departments especially in Pakistan Army and Police departments. The question of trust and loyalty will be raised on Hazaras in Pakistan.

An alleged emergence of the MWM being a pro-Iran party will no doubt make the survival of Hazaras very difficult in Pakistan, whose high command seem to be allegedly controlled from outside. It is now therefore responsibility of all political personalities, democrats, liberals, professionals and educated class of Hazaras to urgently get united to challenge the great conspiracy being hatched to further push Hazaras to the dead end in Pakistan.

Pakistan: Elections with Fragmented mandate

Dr. Hussain Yasa — 2013-05-11T01:20:38Z

Today, the people of Pakistan are going to take an important political decision for its leadership for the next five years. Today's elections seem to be the most interesting one in the recent history of Pakistan in particular after two long tenures of the army rule (Gen. Zia-ul-Haq- 1977 to 1988 and Gen. Pervez Musharaf- 1999 to 2008). The elections are for the 14th national and provincial assemblies of Pakistan. The people of Pakistan vote for 372 seats of the lower house of the national assembly and 728 seat of the 4 provincial assemblies. In these elections the unpredictability is the most important factor which further makes the political scenario more interesting. In the previous elections, it was easy to assess the results in advance since traditionally there were always clear contests between the liberals (PPP, MQM, ANP) and pro-establishment and orthodox politico-religious parties (PML, JUI, JI etc.).
But these elections has become more attractive by the entrance of a third party “Pakistan Tehrek-e Insaf or PTI” (movement for justice) led by cricketer turned politician, Imran Khan. Seventeen years back in 1996 when he established his party no one believed that one day he will be one of the serious contestant for the premiership of Pakistan.

Although, this elections is still full of ambiguities but the probable post election scenario might not be optimistic for an ordinary Pakistani citizen for a change that could play a determined role in the restoration of political and economic stability.

Important Players

Pakistan People's Party- Since its inception in 1967, PPP in Pakistan's recent history remained the only political party, having grass root level representation having liberal democratic norms. The charisma of its founding leader Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto based its manifesto on secularism and social equality, and ruled over the hearts and minds of the millions of Pakistanis for decades. It gained power for four times and still it is supposed to have its core support intact particularly in the second largest province of Sindh. The last rule of the party, it indeed has been tainted by the allegations of corruption and the involvement of its ministers in sectarian activities and vandalism in Balochistan and Sindh. The quality of its representatives is said to have declined since the assassination of its world fame chairperson Benazir Bhutto. Vague reports also indicated that Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of slain Benazir have had differed with the views of his father, co-chairman Asif Zardari, over the allocation of tickets to infamous party representatives but later reconciled with the situation to resolve it in times ahead.

While, precisely the ruling PPP could not deliver the way people expected but ruling over Pakistan in such a critical period was not an easy task. Growing terrorism, energy crisis, economic decline, corruption and ill-governance were the main causes of the seriously drawdown of the Party graph.

After the assassination of Benazir Buttho in a suicide attack on December 27, 2008, the party faced an un-compensable loss but her husband Asif Ali Zardari, the PPP's co-chairman and the incumbent president of the country to some extend managed to keep party united and gained the power under a huge public sentiments voted for PPP as a sign of dedication to Benazir Bhutto. In spite of shortage of number for a simple majority, PPP successfully completed its constitutional tenure with the help of its coalition partners. In the last countrywide general elections in 2008 PPP scored 125 seats including the reserved seats of women, minorities and 7 independent winners. The party still enjoys mass support all over Pakistan with its stronghold Sindh province where still no other party could replace it. However, growing support for MQM's middle class leadership may create dents in the in PPP influence areas in interior urban Sindh. The Sindh province has 75 seats in the lower house of national assembly.

Pakistan Muslim League (N) - Although, the party claims to be the extension of the All India Muslim League under the leadership of Mohammad Ali Jinnah that led the Muslims of sub-continent India to establish Pakistan, a separate country for the Indian Muslim but due to almost a dozen parties under the same name it is a bit difficult to confirm the claim.

In fact the party was founded by Fida Mohammad Khan, a veteran activist for the freedom of Pakistan and served as the Governor of the then North West Frontier (Now Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa) Province for three years under the military regime of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq ( 1985- 1988). After his retirement from politics Nawaz Sharif who was serving as the Secretary General of the party became the president of the party.
Nawaz Sharif was always considered as the pro-establishment politician till 1997. In the general elections held on February 1997 his party scored a landslide victory by two third majorities, a record in the history of Pakistan. After that historic win, Nawaz Sharif detached himself from military establishment and tried to emerge as a real national politician. To gain that status he paid a big prize of the dismissal of his government and imprisonment by Gen. Pervez Musharaf as well as accepted exile after a deal with Gen. Musharaf and left for Saudi Arabia where he spent almost a decade.

There are reports of Nawaz Sharif to have developed intimacy with Osama bin Laden in mid-80's and for short period served as a courier between Osama and CIA. Late JI head, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, in one of his interviews also confirmed that Nawaz Sharif had received monetary support from Bin Laden in his effort to gain overwhelming majority support in 1997 election. During his last rule in Punjab, his brother Shahbaz Sharif managed to release at least more than 190 Al Qaeda affiliated Lashkar e-Jhangvi terrorists, including Malik Ishaq. Malik Ishaq then reported have arranged and supported the biggest sectarian attacks in Balochistan and Sindh. In the recent ongoing election campaign, the Taliban and other sectarian terrorist out fits opposed to the sys democratic franchise did not differentiate between liberal and orthodox religious political parties leaving only PML (N) which they exempted from their attacks. In Balochistan attacks on PML (N) were from secessionist groups and not from Taliban.
PML-N gained 92 seats in the 2008 elections as well a clear majority in Punjab assembly where it ruled over the last constitutional tenure. The stronghold of this party is Punjab with the total seats of 183, in which PML-N feels threatened to be denied by PTI. Vague reports have suggested that the fire which broke out in the Municipal Plaza in Punjab capital of Lahore on Thursday May 10, 2013, two day prior to general elections, claiming 23 lives so far, contained the files of Major PML (N) projects including Metro Bus Service. If true, it confirms the fears of Sharif brothers against the growing support of PTI in Punjab ahead of investigation of cases expected in future in case PTI gains majority in Punjab the most populated province of Pakistan.

Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaf (PTI) - This party has gained considerable momentum over the last two years. Imran khan, once the hero of the Pakistan cricket who brought the 1992 champion trophy of the Cricket World Cup—established PTI in February 1996.
This party was never considered as a power broker in the Pakistani politics since last couple of years but now turned as one of the strongest party challenging the aforementioned two main parties. The huge mass rallies of PTI over the last two years hiked the graph of Imran Khan as one of the emerging national leaders. Pre-pole postal voting in Pakistan Army and other civilian government officials serving in areas other than their constituencies have also indicated a trend of mass drift of opinion in the favor of PTI i.e. 85 percent of total votes received so far.

Many believe that Imran Khan led PTI is the new venture of the Pakistan military establishment. This analysis is based on two reasons first the defection the pro establishment politician from the other main stream national parties, who ultimately joined PTI later on and secondly military establishment now doesn't feel comfortable with both the other main parties mentioned earlier. But two Questions remain unheard; if PTI doesn't gain a clear majority, how will it perform in opposition under its arch rival PML (N)? Secondly, if it succeeds in elections with a clear majority; how will it cope with Zardari as president already powerful in the Senate?

This party has absorbed significant number of Pakistani youth with its anti corruption slogan and new power structured based on a philosophy of a moderate Islamic welfare society.

Others- Mutahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) which is based mainly in the urban areas of Sind province has been playing an important role in the national politics. It represents mostly the middle class of the main cities of Karachi, the main economic hub of Pakistan and Haiderabad. MQM with its charismatic leader Altaf Hussain, now a British citizen based in London has been considered as the most organized party of Pakistan. It has been enjoying the clear mandate of Karachi and Haiderabad partially.
This is a secular party famous with its anti-Taliban stance and trying to invite the attention of Pakistani people toward the Talibanization of urban areas in particular Karachi. MQM was one of the coalition partners during the governments run under the supervision of Gen. Musharaf as well as enjoyed power in a close collaboration with PPP in Sindh and Islamabad. It is also trying to expand itself in other parts of Pakistan but most of the analysts still think that MQM may remain to its traditional power base.

Awami National Party (ANP) is the continuation of historical movement of Khudai Khidmatgar (Servants of God) led by Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan also famous as Bacha Khan or Sarhadi Gandhi. The party enjoys the support of secular nationalist class of Pashtuns in Khyber Pakhtunkhuwa and to some extend in Balochistan provinces. Although, it has some roots in metropolitan city of Karachi too but it has never been considered as an effective party in the power politics there.
ANP has seen many ups and downs in its history and after a long period again emerged as the biggest party of the Khyber Pakhtunkhuwa province and ruled over there in coalition with PPP since last five years.

Jamiate Ulemaye Islam (F) has been the strongest among the religious parties of Pakistan with its roots in Khyber Pakhtunkhuwa and Balochistan provinces. Moulana Fazlu Rehman is an experienced politician, succeeded party from his father Moulana Mufti Mehmoud. JUI (F) is has been a pro Taliban party and Moulana himself was considered as the spiritual father of Taliban, ruled over Afghanistan.
Jamate Islami (JI) is another ultra religious party with extra ordinary organized student wing all over Pakistan but it is the misfortune of this party that could not covert its huge student base support into a reliable vote bank.
In addition to above mentioned parties there many more small parties which are playing roles in their localities in particular Balochistan province but on the level of national politics their part is more symbolic in nature.

The terrorism factor- there is no shadow of any doubt that Pakistani security agencies seem to be helpless in facing the menace of terrorism. The resonance of North Wazistan, the main hub for the Pak-Afghan Taliban and banned fanatic religious organizations as well many other international terrorist outfits has seriously under shadowed every walks of life in Pakistan. How the Pakistani concerned authorities will deal with this challenge is another question but it has now involved in the move to divert the mandate of the people by targeting the moderate parties. Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has announced openly that they will not allow the moderate parties to campaign for the General Elections.
Three main moderate secular parties PPP, ANP and MQM have been the prime targets of TTP. None of the parties could run their election campaign properly. These parties blame TTP for bargaining with right wing parties to facilitate their campaign by preventing the moderate parties from going among the voters.

Conclusion
The present scenario and the pre-poll assessments don't show a positive picture of the next parliament of Pakistan. The current picture shows a badly fragmented parliament after the results of today's elections.

It seems that the ruling Pakistan People's Party may lose its previous mandate but will remain as one of the main parties with around 50-55 seats in the lower house as well as still a majority party in the senate. It will retain its mandate in Sindh with minor injuries but may continue with the provincial government.

Although, in the failure of PPP government many visible and invisible factors may have role but still many believe in the political guts of President Zardari who successfully make the other parties dance as per his music in the past. It is said that Zardari may also get the advantage of the scattered mandate and think of a broader coalition with only prime minister from his party and the rest of the cabinet from other parties provided invisible forces not stop him from doing so.

Pre-poll assessment in Pakistan and the abroad consider PML-N as the strongest of all and judge it as the biggest party in the next parliament of Pakistan since it enjoys the big support in Punjab province, the main chessboard of the Pakistan politics. But no one believes that it will score even simple majority and it will be difficult to gain more than 80 seats with all its strength. As well no one doubts that it will not lose the next provincial government of Punjab.

There is no doubt that PTI will be another major force in the next Pakistani parliament but still it may remain a distant dream for Imran Khan to sweep the elections. If it gained up to 40-45 seats it could be new change in the Pakistani politics as an emerging third force. Analysts also think that if the turnout grew from traditionally 45% to 55-60% PTI may be the sole benefiter of the situation and may perform remarkably. Many anticipate that PTI will not only break the main vote bank of PML-N but also knock equally to PPP votes in upper Punjab. However, in southern Punjab PPP and PML-N will remain as the main contenders.

MQM still seems to maintain its mandate in Sindh particularly Karachi City and its status in the parliament may not be changed. In the previous parliament it was the 4th major block. PTI will likely emerge as third political force in Pakistan replacing PML-Q after the elections.

ANP-PPP coalition may lose considerably in Khyber Pakhtukhuwa since PTI, JUI and PML-N may seriously cut their vote bank. But both JUI and ANP may not be able score more than 15 seats.

The effect of Pakistan Elections over Afghanistan

If the right wing parties manage to form the next government of Pakistan it might not be a good message for Afghanistan. If Nawaz Sharif is elected as the next premier of Pakistan the wave of terrorism may calm down in Pakistan but it will likely divert to Afghanistan since some portions of Taliban seem to be now out of control and determine their own policies. PML-N has been one of the parties which enjoyed a full election campaign without any minor incident and an undeclared sympathy of Taliban was observed throughout its campaign. The main targets of Taliban were all those political parties in opposition with PML-N.

If by chance the power remains in the hands of the present coalition, again Afghanistan may not be able to enjoy the dream of decline in violence. In that case other factors may play deteriorating role.

The way the current leadership of Afghanistan leading the country there could be many reasons domestically and internationally for the mishap, the Afghans will continue to face.

Dr. Hussain Yasa is the Editor in Chief of the Daily outlook Afghanistan

New attack by Pashtun Kuchis on Hazara people

2013-05-10T16:07:59Z

Kabul Press, Friday, May 10, 2013: New attack by Pashtun Kuchis on Hazara people started from Nahur district of Ghazni. Reports say Kuchis are well-armed and have Taliban support. Many Hazara families forced to flee and Kuchis looted and burned their home.

Back to the primitive past: Pashtuns stoning, trampling with horses and burning their victims with impunity

A new documentary made by Hazara director Ali Mohammadi, seen by Kabul Press shows a hitherto previously unseen dimension to the spectre of Pashtun Kuchis crimes against Hazaras in Behsood and Daimirdad district of Maidan province in Afghanistan in 2007. In this 48 minute documentary, Hazara captives are shown to be stoned by Pashtun Kuchis who then rode horses on the victims' bodies and finally incinerated by petrol.

Shockingly, the documentary also shows Hazara properties and homes looted and burned by Kuchis, when thousands of Hazara families attempt to flee to neighboring provinces like Bamian and Kabul. This is 2007, not the 1970s when Pol Pot was internationally condemned for enacting similar atrocities in Cambodia.

Also featured in the film are members of a government investigative delegation appointed by Hamid Karzai to visit the scene of these crimes, but instead of hearing testimonies from the victims themselves are seen defending the Kuchi perpetrators. Fully armed Kuchis stand behind them alongside Taliban symbols such as their white flag.

Click here and read full story.

U.S. Rules of Engagement Doom Afghan Mission

Matthew J. Nasuti — 2013-05-10T15:05:03Z

“Kill-em All, Let God Sort Them Out.” This is a popular slogan with America's right-wing and it has unofficially become the centerpiece of America's strategy of desperation in Afghanistan. As will be explained, this flawed strategy is made possible by the Pentagon's secret “rules of engagement.” Counterinsurgency or COIN has now been jettisoned as a U.S. strategy in Afghanistan. The only goal now is to kill as many real or imagined Taliban as possible, as quickly as possible, so that the U.S. can retreat “with honor” claiming success. The problem with that goal is that is it creating new and long-term enemies for the West among the growing civilian casualties, and it is fueling the conflict. The United States is likely to find itself in the same endpoint as in Iraq. Exhausted, it will retreat under cover of darkness, leaving no friends behind, and leaving Iran and al-Qaeda stronger.

In the United States today, Pentagon surrogates are speaking out, publishing books and writing editorials in an attempt to explain away America's pending defeat in Afghanistan. It is alternatively being dismissed as due to “lack of resources” or due to the Karzai government or due to the failure to pursue peace talks with the Taliban. The dirty secret that no one wants to discuss is that the U.S. military lost the war because it lacked the commitment to win. Put simply, senior military officials never believed that the war was worth American lives and therefore they were not psychologically prepared to wage a protracted low-intensity, military campaign. The best evidence of this is the rules of engagement that the Pentagon set forth for the Afghan battlefield.

The rules of engagement were a recipe for disaster and are at the core of a deep-seated problem for the U.S. Government in its “war on terror.” At the apex of the rules there is always one key, overriding priority. In the case of Iraq and Afghanistan, that number one priority was to protect American forces. It is crucial to note that the apex was not victory over the Taliban and al-Qaeda, or the protection of Afghan women and children, but the safety of U.S. troops and diplomats. The real reason that the rules are labeled “secret” is that they are embarrassing and disreputable.

General Ray Odierno, whose heavy-handed, French/Algerian-type tactics in Tikrit helped to fuel the Sunni insurgency in Iraq, reportedly gave a speech at Basin Harbor, Vermont on June 9, 2004 in which he admitted that protecting his troops (not achieving victory or protecting Iraqi women and children) was his number one priority. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the same, as has recently her successor, John Kerry. These defects doomed both military campaigns. Pentagon and State Department officials failed to realize that achieving victory in the shortest period of time should have been the number one priority, as it would have brought American personnel home (where they would have been truly safe).

The problem with placing American safety at the apex of the rules of engagement is that such then permitted the U.S. military to commit thousands of abuses, all in the name of protecting Americans at all costs. There were unnecessary killings, checkpoint shootings, highway shootings, arbitrary arrests, abusive night home raids and errant air attacks, all of which inflamed the populace and fueled a decade-long war in Afghanistan. It did not matter that such abuses aided Taliban and al-Qaeda recruitment and therefore were counterproductive. Winning was not the focus.

The U.S. military continues to conceal many of the key statistics of its wartime abuses. One of them is to examine checkpoint killings. According to some available information, it appears that 95% or more of checkpoint shootings resulted in innocent civilians being killed, which fostered cycles of revenge against U.S. occupation forces. Logically, the result would be to change the rules of engagement in order to bar the firing on civilian vehicles, as the soldiers were wrong 95% of the cases. That change might slightly increase the number of Americans killed in the short-term, but likely would have led to a long-term drop in casualties as the cycles of revenge thereafter would never have occurred.

The U.S. military and all of its fancy “experts” and supporters such as David Petraeus, H.R. McMasters, John Nagl, David Kilcullen and Fred Kaplan all failed to comprehend that the rules of engagement were a key to victory (and a primary cause of the defeat). The rules also pointed out a fundamental flaw in the war planning, which is that the goals of liberating Iraq and Afghanistan, while important to White House officials, were (within the Pentagon and State Department) ultimately not worth dying for.

At the U.S. military academy at West Point, a cornerstone of leadership training for officer candidates is to ingrain into them the maxim that they must protect the personnel under their command. That maxim runs counter to COIN where the core principle is to protect the civilian population at all cost. Zero civilian casualties has to be the centerpiece of any successful COIN operation. Without a commitment to that goal (which will help lead to victory), no country should even attempt COIN. Sadly, this precept remains beyond the grasp of American policy-makers.

In conclusion, the United States remains psychologically incapable of successfully waging a large-scale counterinsurgency campaign. In Afghanistan the U.S., out of desperation, has reverted to a counter-terrorism strategy. It is premised on the assumption that increased killings of insurgents and their civilian supporters can win the war. This is an assumption that all reputable experts have rejected because the Taliban have shown that they can replace their losses indefinitely. The targeting of civilian supporters of the Taliban has increased the level of violence and caused unnecessary innocent casualties, which has led to calls for revenge and still more violence. America is doing nothing more than manufacturing a new generation of enemies who may follow U.S. troops home after 2014. Not only is America losing in Afghanistan, but the real war against America may only be beginning.

As with most large, ponderous organizations, the U.S. Government never learns any lessons from its mistakes. What that translates into is that more Americans and Afghans will have to die, all for a failed effort, and all due to the small minds and narrow vision of American policy-makers.

Final Note: The rules of engagement are but one key reason for the U.S. military's failure. Other reasons which this author has written about include the Pentagon's flawed notion that COIN can be waged by any fungible soldier or Marine. In fact, troops need to be screened before being assigned as perhaps 75% are not fit for COIN work. Their deployments only made matters worse. Troops should also be deployed as individuals (i.e., the Vietnam rotation scheme) instead of rotating whole units, which is far too disruptive of the local reconstruction and training functions. All personnel need extensive local language skills. Relying on interpreters has been a disastrous policy. The U.S. military needed a viable and professional civilian reconstruction partner, which it never had. The State Department simply assigned bodies for short-term deployments to both Iraq and Afghanistan. These personnel usually lacked the engineering and infrastructure skills needed, and had no knowledge of local dialects. They could not function independently in the countryside and therefore rarely contributed anything positive to the war effort. The whole, disorganized Country-Team concept that the U.S. Government utilizes overseas is flawed and needs to be redesigned from the ground up.

Afghanistan: Peaceful Protest Suppressed

Human Rights Watch — 2013-05-07T08:41:55Z

Afghan authorities should investigate the arrests and possible torture of peaceful protesters by security forces in Kabul.

(Kabul) – Afghan authorities should investigate the arrests and possible torture of peaceful protesters by security forces in Kabul, Human Rights Watch said today. The abuses appear intended to silence public dissent against the government.

Schools under fire

Mirwais Jalalzai — 2013-05-04T22:40:19Z

With more than 65% of its inhabitants under 25 years old, Afghanistan has one of the world's youngest populations. According to the Afghan government, women outnumber men. However, despite being the majority, they have been marginalized, excluded from getting proper educations, and have been denied freedom of expression.
Afghanistan also has the highest illiteracy rate in the world, especially among women. While religion and ancient traditions still play major roles in sustaining social restrictions against women in Afghanistan, lack of security, legal statutes, and poverty have also profoundly contributed to the lack of attention to girls' education. A United Nation's report in 2012 said “nearly 4.2 million Afghan children have never attended a school, of which 60% are girls.”

According to the U.N report most of the children that are deprived of an education live in the country's volatile eastern and southern regions, which are mostly controlled by the Taliban. In its annual report, the U.N voiced concern over the dramatic increase in the number of attacks against school buildings, teachers, and students in Afghanistan.
Last year, UNICEF reported a dramatic increase in the number of suicide attacks against schools. According to the report, at least 70 attacks against school buildings and staff were recorded in 2012, while a year earlier, the number was around 28.
The Afghan government confirms the report, and as the country's Education Minister, Farook Wardak, said, "Most attacks were targeted at girls' schools that we had built with the help of our international partners in the last one decade or so."

During the a ceremony at a secondary school adjacent to the Presidential Palace, Wardak stated that of the 412 districts across the country, in 200 there were no girls' schools functioning at all, mainly for fear of Taliban attack or because in many rural areas girls have traditionally not been educated.
The Afghan government states that ongoing militancy in the country is the prime reason that hundreds of thousands of young boys and girls are deprived of a decent education. Many, such as Kareema, have never been to school.
She lives in a little village in the Goshta district of Nangarhar province bordering Pakistan, along with her mother and three siblings. Her father was killed in road-side bomb explosion two years ago.
Since then, the 12-year-old has a lot of work to do at home to support her mother. She helps with cleaning, looking after her younger siblings and the family's two maroon roosters and flock of hens.
Kareema is joyful and constantly talks about her tasks around the house, but as for school, “There isn't any in our village," she smiles.
Her mother told me, “Two years ago, Taliban gunmen attacked the only school in the village in day light and warned teachers against any attempt to run the school," leaving them with no choice but to walk cross the country's unauthorized border with Pakistan, to attend an unofficial school that mostly taught religion and the Quran.
The commute takes at least two hours, and girls are not welcome there, because the Taliban constantly warn locals against running schools or sending their daughters to schools. In 2011, the bullet- ridden body of a teacher at Kareema's village was found near his home after he ignored several warnings to stop attempts at re-opening the school.

“The incident shocked everyone,” says Kareema's mother, who never went to school herself. “It is better to stay home, than be killed at school or kidnapped either by the Taliban or other fanatics. They don't like girls that go to schools,” she said.
Abandoned and mountainous, the village does not have a hospital or a road to the provincial capital, and its inhabitants mostly use animals as their means of transportation. The Taliban have been using the area's harsh environment, high mountains, and thick jungles as a safe haven since the U.S-led coalition forces launched its war against terror in 2001.
According to Kareema's mother “The Taliban could easily attack any one at any time. Walking for hours on hot summer days in eastern Afghanistan, where the average temperature reaches up to 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), the intense heat and summer diseases like malaria and cholera can also be fatal. Therefore, she chose her daughter's safety above education.
Afghanistan's newly adopted constitution guarantees equal rights for men and women. Opening new schools, especially for girls, has been considered a major sign of change in Afghanistan, since education for women was completely banned during the Taliban regime as un-Islamic.
The country has already seen a significant increase in the number of children attending school, from less than 1 million in 2001 to around 8.3 million today, where according to the Ministry of Education, 39% of girls attend the more than 8,000 school buildings that have been constructed since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001.
But, many Afghans agree with Palwasha, a teacher at an elementary school in Kabul, saying, "It is the Taliban's strategy to spread fear among the people and degrade the Afghan government's reputation by attacking soft targets such as school buildings and students.”

“Almost half of the school-age children in Afghanistan do not have access to education, President Hamid Karzai said on March 21, 2013 as he inaugurated the new school year. “Five million school-age children in our country do not go to school, some because of war, or because their schools have been closed by the Taliban or others, some because they do not have the ability to reach a school,” he said.
Speaking at the same ceremony, Wardak said that 590 school buildings have been bombed or torched by Taliban gunmen and militants in the past year, and they remained closed throughout 2012.
But he insisted on the importance of girls' education and the Afghan government's commitment to creating opportunities to get as many children to school as possible. "Things will take time, and we are working on it, day and night." He added that the Afghan government has set a 2020 deadline to provide all children with equal access to quality education.
The Afghan government has constantly been trying to reach out to religious scholars, Imams, and elders to promote girls' education in villages through mosques, and spread awareness about the importance of girls' education. President Hamid Karzai, in his speech marking the beginning of the new school year, called upon the Taliban to avoid targeting schools on both sides of the restive Durand line between Afghanistan and Pakistan.“Targeting schools and students is un-Islamic and an inhuman act,” he said.
But despite the Afghan government's efforts, supported by the International community, the reality for many Afghan families has not changed over the years. Kareema finds solace in the company of her friends, and no one knows if she will ever go to school. Gushta district, which lays on the Durand line, the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, has experienced brief cross-border armed conflicts, followed by a series of anti-Pakistani rallies after Pakistan shut the crossing point with Afghanistan.
There has been no report of the Pakistani government's willingness to re-open the border with Gushta.

Two Hazaras killed and one injured in targeted attack in Karachi

Administrator — 2013-05-03T15:37:55Z

May 1, 2013| According to Hazara sources and Jang Karachi News, two Hazaras are killed and one critically wounded in a targeted attack in the SultanAbad area of Monghopir in Karachi, Pakistan.

According to Jang News Karachi, two unidentified terrorists on motorcycles approached the Katarko school and knocked at the closed door. Upon opening the small window in the gate for inquiry, the assailants opened fire with AK-47 killing two Hazara security guards/watchman – Chaman Ali s/o Ali Hassan (45) and Hafeezullah s/o of Ghulam Hussain (40) – while critically injuring Mohsin s/o Safdar (20). The deceased and the injured were shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

All three are residents of Yaqoob Shah Basti in Monghopir, which has recently become the hub of Taleban terrorists and a virtual no-go area for the ordinary citizens of Pakistan.

Innovative ICT helps aid workers in Afghanistan

2013-05-02T00:00:00Z

KABUL 02 May 2013 (IRIN) - As Asia's poorest country and the deadliest for aid workers, rugged Afghanistan offers a considerable challenge to humanitarian work.

Book Review: The Honey Thief by Najaf Mazari and Robert Hillman

admin — 2013-04-29T22:12:57Z

By Richard Marcus

Whenever I've wanted to learn something about a culture I'd read the stories the people told each other. Not the stories others tell about them, or what's been written about them in history books, but the ones which have been passed down from generation to generation. They could be anything from myths to family histories, but they all contain elements of what a people believe in and their view of the world's history. The more stories you read the clearer a picture you begin to develop of how a people live and what matters to them.

In this era of globalization and cultural homogenization I think its even more important than ever to understand the things which distinguish various peoples from each other. It's become far too easy to make pejorative statements about an entire race or creed because we've not taken the time to understand the various nuances and distinctions among the wide variety of people who make up the population of a country let alone a religion. In the West we are especially guilty of making these types of generalizations when talking about countries outside North America and Europe. One of the most glaring examples of this is Afghanistan.

If ever a country has been the plaything of Western powers it's been this remote country bordering Pakistan and Iran. From the British and Russians manipulating its rulers back in the 19th century to the Russians and Americans using it to fight the Cold War in the 1980s and today's supposed ongoing war on terror being conducted by occupying NATO troops, peace is something that breaks out between what has been an almost constant state of war in the country for almost two centuries. Yet in spite of our countries' direct involvement with the affairs of this nation, we know little or nothing about it.

In the hopes of learning more about the country and its people I requested a copy of The Honey Thief written by Najaf Mazari and Robert Hillman published by Penguin Canada. Mazari immigrated from Afghanistan to Australia in 2000 escaping the Taliban. Technically speaking this book isn't about the people of Afghanistan, mainly because there is no one group of people who can be said to be Afghanistan. The country is divided along ethnic lines both geographically and socially, and Mazari is Hazara. The Hazara now live, predominately, in the central mountainous region of the country known as the Hazarajat.

While the Hazara are the third largest ethnic group in Afghanistan, one of the first things we learn from Mazari is they have been one of the most persecuted. From the 19th century well into the 20th century they were the victims of what amounts to systematic genocide by the ruling Barakzai family of Afghanistan. When whole villages weren't being exterminated by government soldiers their land was been taken from them. When the members of the royal family weren't busy plotting against each other, they were buying the loyalty of their soldiers and friends by giving them Hazara land.

While the history of persecution obviously colours and shapes the lives of the Hazara people it's only one thread running through the narrative of the people. The stories in The Honey Thief are filled with details which will never find their way into history books. We learn about their ingenuity and their will to survive in spite of what the world throws at them. In “The Snow Leopard,” a British photographer is taken into the mountains by a Hazara guide in search of Snow Leopards to photograph; we are given a guided tour of the environment they live in. We learn how the valleys in mountain ranges are used to grow food and how if a valley doesn't have good soil, they will carry soil from other areas into the valley in order to grow crops.

We also learn a little of their philosophy regarding the world around them. In the book's title story, “The Honey Thief,” a young man is apprenticed to a bee keeper to learn the delicate mysteries of collecting honey. His new master tells him how he became a bee keeper after he was caught stealing honey by the young man's grandfather. It was thought, he explains to his new apprentice, since he was able to steal honey from the bees without being stung he would make a good bee keeper because bees hate it when people steal the honey they've worked so hard to collect. The bee keeper goes on to explain to his young charge that bees, like all domestic animals, are slaves to men, and we steal from all of them.

This tale isn't meant as a morality lesson, rather a lesson in the realities of existence. Be aware of exactly what it is you're doing in order to survive, and you will understand why others act they way do in response. Is it any wonder chickens will attempt to hide their eggs or bees attempt to sting us when we keep them enslaved and steal from them as well? This is quite a bit more sophisticated and honest understanding of the relationship between man and the beasts we use for food and domestic work than we hear expressed by most people.

While the stories are both profoundly beautiful and moving they also serve to fill in the details of everyday life among the Hazara people outsiders would only learn after years of observation. While they might have a natural mistrust of strangers, especially those from other ethnic groups, once a person has shown his or herself to be harmless they will be accepted. Or, unlike other subsistence people whose lives depend on what they can produce from their fields or by the labour of their own hands, they understand the value of education. If the chance arises they will send their children, both boys and girls, to school.

While every Hazara child learns from their parent basic precepts of respect and obedience for their parents and their God, they also recognize there are exceptions to every rule. In the story “The Music School,” a mute teenager learns how to give voice to his thoughts with a musical instrument. He is desperate to tell the young woman he loves how he feels about her, but his teacher has forbidden him to play in public until four years have passed from when he began his lessons.

Fearing she will have found someone else in that time he disobeys his teacher, plays for the young women and wins her heart. When he goes to return his instrument to his teacher's house he fully expects to be punished and probably be forbidden from studying anymore. Instead his teacher gives him six gold coins to help him start his new family and tells him to take the instrument home and bring it back the next day for another lesson. As the young man is leaving, stunned by his good fortune, his teacher says to him “God is patient with the obedient, but he treasures the disobedient.”

Trying to write out stories which have only previously been told aloud is one of the hardest tasks facing a writer. However Mazari and Hillman have done a remarkable job with this collection of capturing the immediacy which exists between the storyteller and his or her audience. In fact, there are times when reading these stories you can hear them being told to you in your mind's ear. There's something about the writing style they've employed which makes them read like they're being spoken aloud to you. The more you read, the more this world comes alive until you can almost picture yourself amongst a community as they gather to hear their stories.

Mazari finishes the book off with a collection of recipes for various Hazara dishes. The instructions for preparing the dishes are stories in of themselves as the various asides offer us even further insights into the people's attitudes towards life. The Honey Thief goes a long way towards belying the impression we've been given of the people of Afghanistan as either savages or ignorant peasants desperately needing to be saved by the West. Stories like this collection should be required reading for every journalist or politician prior to them making public statements about Afghanistan.