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Sacrifices Must No Go Futile
May 16, 2012
Over the last decade, about 3,000 foreign soldiers have lost their lives in Afghanistan. Same has been the fate of thousands of Afghan security forces and innocent civilians. With huge sacrifice in blood and treasure, the future is still gravely uncertain for the people of Afghanistan as suicide bombing, targeted killing and ...
The Consequences of Rahmani’s Assassination
May 16, 2012
On Sunday, May 13, Arsala Rahmani was shot dead in district 3, Dahburi square, near Kabul University. He was a high profile figure in President Karzai's government as well as worked in key political positions during Mujaheedin's government and Taliban regime. He was the minister of higher education during Taliban regime. Unlike many ...
The Perilous Over-Diplomacy
May 15, 2012
More than anyone else, Afghans are afraid of their undecided future with the strategic mistakes being committed by President Karzai’s government and its international allies. Clearly, the international community is too exhausted to carry on military mission here. Elections and the political campaigns in addition to the financial ...
Afghanistan No More the Worst Place for Moms
May 15, 2012
By hearing the name of ‘Afghanistan,’ images of war, killings and violence start circulating in one’s mind. Although conflicts still continue, with the intervention of international community many things in the lives of Afghan people have changed or changing. Afghanistan was the worst place for a mother to be but now ...
Emerging Voices against Corruption
May 15, 2012
Over the last few years, it has become evident that President Hamid Karzai does not have any strong political will to stamp out corruption from the administration he is running. This happens while corruption is a major scourge and leads to wastage of international aid money. International community has been ...
The Future of Peace Talks in Limbo
May 14, 2012
With the disputed process of peace talks being pushed forward by President Karzai's government and Taliban's resistant attacks, public trust in dependability of the initiative continues slowing down. The major party that is invited to embrace the reconciliation process has regularly blown off the efforts. Afghanistan's ...
Insurgents’ Infiltration Extremely Damaging
May 14, 2012
Killing of NATO forces in the hands of their Afghan counterpart – a trend termed as 'green on blue attacks' – is a big present and expected future problem. Although certain measures by ISAF and Afghan military authorities have been taken to prevent such killings, the attacks have been reoccurring at short intervals ...
Third Phase of Security Transition
May 14, 2012
The third phase of security transition was announced by President Hamid Karzai on May 13, 2012. As per the planned procedure, the security responsibility of the country has to be transferred from international troops to Afghan forces within five phases. Two of the phases have already been completed and according to ...
20% Must not be the Target
May 13, 2012
Every year of the last three decade has been a year of bloodshed in Afghanistan. USSR invasion, civil war and Taliban all caused death of millions of innocent Afghans. In past ten years – deemed as a comparatively peaceful era for Afghanistan – civilian killings have continued; caused both by Taliban insurgents and the US led international ...
The Syrian Uprising has Turned Deadly
May 13, 2012
Horrifying reports are received from Syria where the so-called Arab Spring has come with deadly rain and storm. On Thursday, May 10, two suicide bombers killed 55 people and wounded 372 in Damascus, the deadliest attacks in the capital since the start of uprising against President ...
Development without Sustainability
May 13, 2012
As society moves forwards in the 21st Century, sustainable development will in creasingly be seen to a resilience issue for protecting and enhancing our quality of life within ever decreasing environmental limits. In spite of international community presence with inflow of billions of dollars more than a decade ...
Insurgents should be defeated
May 12, 2012
Development in the Afghanistan's various sectors that has take place over the last decade is laudable, although rampant corruption, bad security, poppy cultivation and other critical issues still exist. With international community's financial and non-financial support, noteworthy improvements are observable in democracy ...
Masses Must Condemn Taliban Atrocities
May 12, 2012
A Taliban roadside bomb in Helmand killed seven members of a family, including five children on Thursday in Musalmani village of Musa Qala district. Taliban claimed responsibility for an incident in Musalmani area saying an explosion blew up an ISAF military vehicle. Local residents reported the tribal elder and ...
Iran on Afghan-US Strategic Pact
May 10, 2012
Iran has come up with some irrational diplomacy on the Afghan-US strategic pact inked recently. Reportedly, the Iranian ambassador in Kabul in meeting with the speaker of the Meshrano Jirga (WJ) warned that if the partnership pact got endorsed from WJ, Iran would expel all Afghan refugees from its territory. That sounds ...
Need to Dismantle the Capability to Attack
May 10, 2012
The Taliban have launched their spring offensive called Operation Al-Farooq. Every spring the Taliban, after a relative winter lull, plan and carry out offensive under different names and titles. In response to the surge, the Ministry of Interior Affairs has issued a statement to ensure Afghan people that the ...
Low Investment is Damaging the Economy
May 10, 2012
Afghanistan is the victim of three decades of what is called the foreign-imposed war. After the Taliban was toppled in late 2001 as result of US-led invasion, a new window of hope and affluence opened for Afghanistan. One of the areas under international focus was to boost up Afghan economy by encouraging ...
Increasingly Intrusive Role by Some Neighbors
May 09, 2012
Afghanistan appears to have been plunged into robust and intense competition with the neighboring countries. The neighbors have always defined their interests in conflict with a stabilized, peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan. In order to meet their own national interests, they often do at the expense of the ...
Battle field or Negotiation Table: Do not Underestimate Taliban
May 09, 2012
As the US-led forces have already started returning home, the Taliban are filling the gap. This is indicated by reports based on which insurgents have enhanced their presences in provinces of Ghazni, Kandahar, Helmand and others. Last month, the insurgents launched multiple attacks in capital Kabul and other provinces of ...
Failure Needs to be Fixed
May 09, 2012
The US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said that international forces in Afghanistan are on the right track as he stated in an interview, "We are on the right course. We have made significant progress. We are making transition. Our troops are doing a great job. The Afghan troops are doing a great job. The country ...
A recommendation for the Chicago Summit
May 08, 2012
The heads of NATO country members will meet in Chicago on May 20, 2012 for a two- day summit to discuss various issues and Afghanistan, the withdrawal of NATO troops and future of the country will be the main agenda that the NATO leaders will debate on. The summit is held after the US and Afghanistan signed an important ...
The Strategic Blunder
May 08, 2012
The equation is getting more complicated and ambiguous for Afghanistan. The mission becomes more skeptical and undecided when contradictory policies and practices get disclosed. Fighting to capture or kill Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders and secretly releasing them to pacify militancy indicates the gravity of frustration ...
Hardships of the Strategic Partnership
May 07, 2012
It is finally done. Afghanistan has signed its most important strategic partnership document. The US-Afghanistan strategic pact is time-scheduled for ten years and is dependent on parliamentary approval. Putting aside its importance for Afghanistan, the region will be affected or, at least, will respond with ...
Corruption in Afghanistan: Pressures Not Working
May 07, 2012
Afghanistan's bad security problem won't heal until and unless certain contributive factors are addressed. Merely insecurity is not Afghans problem. Along with that, issues of corruption, poppy cultivation, weak governance, lack of justice – to name only a few - remain untreated. Singling out corruption, it can be said ...
The Greek Parliamentary Election and Euro Crisis
May 07, 2012
Greek parliamentary election held on Sunday, April 6, fuelled pessimism once again over the financial stability of Eurozone, in general, and Greece, in particular. Conser vative New Democracy and Socialist PASOK parties terribly fell off the expectations and estimates made previously. According to reports, New Democracy ...
School Closures and Need for Some Drive-out Operations in Ghazni
May 06, 2012
Ghazni has been one of the most insecure provinces. The Taliban have maintained their increasing influence in some of the districts of this province, from where they launch attacks into the provincial capital as well as into other districts. The Taliban militants have kept the routes to some ...
Freedom of Press has still a long way to go in Afghanistan
May 06, 2012
World freedom of press day was marked in Afghanistan on May 3rd. In various events held in this regard, challenges ahead of those involved in conveying right information to the public especially the journalists were highlighted. President Hamid Karzai who appeared in front of the media ...
People Should Have the Basic Requirment
May 06, 2012
Different sectors have been influenced by decades longwar. The basic infra-structure has not been able to get proper attention and people are suffering because of basic needs, among which food is the most rudimentary one. It is one of the preliminary physiological requirements of human beings and it is really sorry ...
President Karzai’s Confusion and Nervousness
May 05, 2012
Last week, the Enduring Strategic Partnership Agreement between Afghanistan and the United States was signed by the presidents of the two countries in the darkness of the night. The agreement commits the two countries "to strengthen long-term strategic cooperation in areas of mutual interest, including: advancing ...
Press Freedom Day
May 05, 2012
Afghanistan continues to remain at top of the list among countries most dangerous for journalists. There were 77 cases of violence against journalists in Afghanistan during the past year. Four journalists killed were Sadim Khan Bahadarzai, Jafar Mehdavi, Farhad Taqadusi and Ahmad Omid Khpalwak.
Marking the ...
Strategic Accord: A Crucial Pivotal Step Forward
May 03, 2012
US President Barack Obama, with a wind speed, entered Afghanistan on Tuesday evening, signed the long awaited US-Afghanistan strategic accord with his counterpart Hamid Karzai, addressed the American people right from amongst the US forces at Bagram Air Base and departed before it was dawn. About two hours after his departure ...
The Taliban Darkened the Light of a New Afghan Day
May 03, 2012
On the predawn of Wednesday, May 02, 2012, the US president Barack Obama said,"My fellow Americans, we've traveled through more than a decade under the dark cloud of war. Yet here, in the pre-dawn darkness of Afghanistan, we can see the light of new day on the horizon." After he left Afghanistan, the thick smoke from ...
Repatriation of Refugees and Stability
May 03, 2012
United Nations High Commission for Refugees has announced a 3-year plan for repatriation and reintegration of Afghan refugees at a two-day international conference in Geneva. UNHCR says about three million Afghan refugees living in Pakistan and Iran should be encouraged to return back to their homes and take part in stabilization ...
Taliban’s Atrocity and President Karzai’s Puzzling Bond of Brotherhood
May 02, 2012
Another four Afghan children have fallen victims to the ruthless Taliban insurgency. Afghan children, women and men are immensely out of incompetence of their leadership. On Tuesday, May 01, 2012, in a fighting between Taliban militants and NATO ...
Taliban Continue their Anti-Education Campaign
May 02, 2012
Taliban continue to create hindrances for Afghan boys and girls who want to get education. They have threatened to kill students of about 119 schools in Ghazni province, if they tried to attend their classes. That should not be surprising. During the Taliban government, all kinds of formal education...
The Increasing Violence Against Women
May 02, 2012
Violence, discrimination and alienation against women appear to get stronger in Afghanistan. The cases of torture and rape in the country are widespread and many even go under-reported, often not concerned even by the relevant organizations. This leads us to the story of only 6 years old innocent girl who has been raped in ...