Ban Calls on Reintegrated Afghan Insurgents to Respect Will of Majority

UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday said low- and mid-level insurgents who want to be reintegrated in the political process in Afghanistan must lay down their arms and respect the will of the majority of Afghans. “Those who choose to reconcile must respect the achievements made since 2002 (fall of Taliban) and accept the aspirations of the majority of Afghans to a peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan,” Ban wrote in a report to the Security Council on Afghanistan. Another challenge facing Afghanistan, he noted, is to make Afghan sovereignty real. The only way to do so is to make the Government and all Afghans responsible. This process, he warned, could be undermined if the international community were to bypass the Government. “It is therefore essential that we promote a new mindset that shows greater respect for Afghans’ own understanding of their country,” he said. In a veiled criticism of the Obama Administration, Ban said achieving the transition to sovereignty in Afghanistan will also require a balance between military and civilian efforts. “While I have welcomed the additional international military forces, I must at the same time caution against a militarization of the overall effort in Afghanistan. As many civilian tasks as possible must be handed over to Afghan civilian institutions,” he urged. “The temptation to achieve short-term results from unsustainable projects aimed at meeting political deadlines in troop-contributing countries must be resisted. And the tendency to allocate the distribution of aid according to where donors’ troops are most heavily focused - must begin to give way to a more coherent, nationally based assistance strategy,” he said. He criticized the fact that “too little information about donor activities still reaches the Government,” whether those activities are performed by military or civilian actors. “There is a prevailing tendency to implement projects without sufficiently consulting Afghans or working through their institutions. In doing so, we miss opportunities to obtain their full support for projects carried out in their name and to gain the benefits of their own knowledge of their country,” he added. (KUNA)

KABUL – Afghanistan confirmed for the first time publicly on Tuesday that it had enacted into law a blanket pardon for war crimes and human rights abuse carried out before 2001. Human rights groups have expressed dismay that the law appeared to have been enacted quietly, granting blanket immunity to members of all armed factions for acts committed during decades of war before the fall of the Taliban. President Hamid Karzai had promised not to sign the National Stability and Reconciliation Law, when it was passed by parliament in 2007. Human rights groups say they learned only this year that the bill had been published in the official gazette, making it law. Karzai’s spokesman, Waheed Omer, said on Tuesday that the bill had become law because it was passed by two-thirds of the parliament and therefore did not require Karzai’s signature. Parliament is made up largely of lawmakers from former armed groups, some accused by rights groups and ordinary Afghans of war crimes. “This law was passed with a two-thirds majority in our parliament, and according to our constitution, when a law is passed with a two-thirds majority, it does not require the president to sign it,” Omer told a briefing. It was the first time the palace had confirmed that the measure had become law. Brad Adams, Asia director for watchdog Human Rights Watch, said there was still mystery surrounding the process, and why it apparently took more than two years for news of the law’s enactment to be made public. “This law is absolute disgrace. It’s a slap in the face to all the Afghans who suffered for years and years of war crimes and warlordism,” Adams told Reuters. He called on the international community and the United States to apply pressure on Afghanistan to repeal the law. “The U.S. needs to decide whether they’re with the victims or the perpetrators, and make their views known publicly,” he said. During Karzai’s eight years in power, he has consistently included former commanders of armed factions in his government and inner circle, including many accused by the West of war crimes and other abuses. Both of Karzai’s two vice presidents are former leaders of armed groups whose factions squabbled for control of Kabul in the 1990s, when thousands of civilians were killed and hundreds of thousands fled their homes. Supporters of the amnesty say prosecuting old allegations would risk restarting years of civil war. But critics say providing a blanket pardon for former warlords allows them to retain their grip over the economy and public life. (Reuters)

UNITED NATIONS - UN agencies and the Afghan government are conducting a three-day campaign aimed at vaccinating an estimated 7.7 million children under the age of five against polio, UN officials said here Monday. Afghanistan is one of four countries, along with India, Pakistan and Nigeria, where the highly infectious disease can leave patients totally paralyzed, said the officials. The campaign which began on Sunday is the second one launched this year by the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Afghan Ministry of Public Health, building on a series of national immunization days and house-to-house vaccination schemes which ran last year. A similar polio vaccination campaign last month targeted an estimated 2.8 million children. Meanwhile, WHO is boosting its stock of medical supplies in the southern province of Kandahar in anticipation of a deteriorating security situation and possible population displacement, Nilab Mobarez of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) told reporters in Kabul, the Afghan capital, on Monday. The agency has pre-positioned enough supplies to cover the essential health needs of 80,000 people for three months. The United Nations is continuing to monitor the situation in the neighboring southern province of Helmand in the wake of recently military operations there and have increased emergency supplies in the area, UNAMA added. The UN Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), some 275 families — about 27,700 people — were displaced from Marjah town and Nad Ali district in Helmand from Feb. 8 to March 4. UN partner agencies reported that 88 percent of the displaced families have received assistance, including from UNHCR, WHO and the World Food Program (WFP). (Xinhua)

HERAT CITY - A newly-constructed building for a school was inaugurated in the western province of Herat, where another school building was renovated, an official said on Tuesday. The new building for the Mirman Hayati High School cost 150,000 provided by the Italian government, said provincial education director. Kamran Taqwa told Pajhwok Afghan News the two-storey building constructed over 650 square metres of land had 16 classrooms and other facilities. The construction work was completed in six months, he added. A girl student of the school, Shagofa, 13, expressed her pleasure over the construction of the new building for her school. “In the past, we had to face with numerous problems while studding under tents, but now our problems are solved forever.” According to Taqwa the Italian provincial reconstruction team (PRT) constructed around 46 school buildings over the last five years. The PRT commander Col. Claudio Dei said the building was built for improvement of education. Meanwhile, renovation work of a boys’ middle school was completed in the province, bordering Iran, the education director said. He added the renovation cost 40,000 provided by the Agha Khan Foundation. Around 1,200 children would now find a cordial environment after the renovation of their school building, said Taqwa. Herat is the most populated province in the west, where more than 670,000 students including 47,000 girls have been studding in 700 schools, with 272 schools lacking proper buildings, education officials say. (Pajhwok)

MARJAH - Two weeks after the U.S.-led forces swiftly seized control of this long-standing insurgent stronghold, Taliban forces are posing a new threat by menacing, beating and even beheading local residents who cooperate with the emerging Afghan government, according to Afghan and American officials. Unable to confront the U.S. military directly with any serious challenge, Taliban fighters are shifting tactics as they try to undermine the American-backed Afghan government before it can win the trust of these southern Afghanistan residents, who have lived under insurgent rule for years. While the incidents so far appear to be isolated, American military leaders warned Sunday they must contain the threat before it gains any momentum. “We are in a very critical situation right now,” said Matt, a U.S. military adviser to the Afghan security forces in Marjah who asked his last name not be used to protect his identity. “The Taliban are reorganizing. The capability they lost two weeks ago is coming back. The population knows that. And everyone is watching to see if we have the capability to address that new threat.” The evolving intimidation campaign is emerging as an early test for the U.S.-backed Afghan government that is struggling to establish credibility and convince skeptical residents that it will not allow the Taliban to return to power. While U.S. military forces have steadily solidified their hold on much of this vast agricultural region filled with poppy fields used to finance the Taliban leadership, the new Afghan government is still trying to find its footing. Haji Abdul Zahir, the newly appointed district governor of Marjah, has been working with a skeleton crew of Western advisers and one Afghan assistant. The U.S. military has been ferrying Zahir around in helicopters so he can assure locals he’s in charge. Zahir’s government compound has only rudimentary infrastructure. On Sunday, Afghan and American military leaders prodded Zahir with requests to exert more control and persuade reluctant Marjah leaders pushed out by the Taliban that they needed to return. “How many of us are from Marjah?” U.S. Marine Col. Randy Newman asked the two dozen men taking part in the meeting. “None. The Taliban are from Marjah. They have earned some amount of trust of the people. The people trusted the Taliban justice. If we continue in this manner, we will not earn their trust.” Although they have been pushed out of power in Marjah, Taliban insurgents have slowly been trying to reassert some measure of control. Marjah residents have told U.S. Marines that Taliban insurgents are coming around at night to threaten and beat Afghans who cooperate with the Americans. In at least one confirmed case, said U.S. military officials, the Taliban beheaded a local resident suspected of working with U.S. forces. The U.S. Marines are checking out reports of at least two other beheadings in Marjah. While the reports are difficult to verify, U.S. military officials said even one beheading creates enough fear to dissuade some Afghans from coming forward to help. “They know what it means to have your head cut off, it’s a very visceral thing and very easy to understand,” Newman said. “Our trust, our security, their government are all unknowns to them and so we have to eventually make sure they understand that as well as the visceral reaction to a beheading.” How Zahir and the U.S. military respond to the latest Taliban challenge will have a big impact on how much confidence local leaders have in the new Afghan government. American forces have to constantly reassure Marjah residents they aren’t going to hand over control to a weak or corrupt Afghan government that can’t prevent the Taliban from returning to power, not just this year, but in the years to come. “They don’t want to piss off the wrong Afghans,” said Lt. Col. Cal Worth of St. Louis, the head of the 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, which played a central role in the military offensive that wrested Marjah from Taliban control. “They don’t see the world in our 10-to-15-microwave minutes, rather they see it in 10 to 15 years.” (Agencies)

KABUL - Afghan and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) personnel have captured several men, including a senior Taliban commander in the restive southern province of Helmand, NATO claimed on Wednesday. The rebel commander is suspected of providing insurgents with weapons and illegal explosive material. The joint force detained several men and discovered pistols, a shotgun and other material during the raid in the Nad Ali district. Five women and seven children were protected throughout the operation. No shots were fired and no civilians were injured, the NATO-led force said in a press statement. Weapons caches were seized and destroyed in Nad Ali and Qalat, capital of the Zabul province. The caches contained a 105mm artillery round, an improvised claymore mine, eight spent mortar rounds, eight pressure plate-triggering devices, 11 rockets, 12 60mm mortars, 13 rocket-propelled grenades and a 105mm artillery round. In the Sabari district of Khost province, bordering Pakistan, the multinational force said four insurgents were arrested with rifles and hand grenades.(Pajhwok)

KABUL - An early morning rocket attack on the largest U.S. military hub in Afghanistan killed one person Monday, NATO said. In the east, meanwhile, Afghan authorities thwarted three would-be suicide bombers from attacking a security post. NATO confirmed that the sprawling Bagram Air Field, north of the Afghan capital of Kabul, came under attack on Monday, but a spokesman disclosed no details other than the death. Abdullah Adil, the police chief in the Bagram district of Parwan province, says one rocket was fired onto the base’s grounds at about 4 a.m. A Taliban spokesman told The Associated Press that two rockets were fired on the base. Bagram is home to some 24,000 military personnel and civilian contractors supporting the war against the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. While well-protected and located in a relatively quiet area, the more than 5,000-acre base is still susceptible to rocket and mortar attacks. Last year, insurgents launched more than a dozen attacks on Bagram, killing at least four. Also Monday, the U.S. military confirmed that an unmanned Predator drone aircraft crashed on takeoff in southern Afghanistan. The crash late Sunday night was not caused by enemy fire and the site was quickly secured, an Air Force release said. Predator and Reaper unmanned drones have become crucial tools for the U.S. military in Afghanistan and Iraq, both for their reconnaissance value and their ability to fire missiles at enemy positions. The CIA runs a separate covert program that targets al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders across the border in Pakistan. In eastern Afghanistan, police say Afghan security forces killed three suicide bombers Monday morning in Paktika province before they could launch an attack on security posts in Barmal district. Separately in Ghazni province, Afghan police say three civilians were killed and three others were wounded when their vehicle hit a roadside mine while they were moving household goods. (AP)

MAZAR-I-SHARIF - A Taliban district chief was among five fighters detained in separate areas of northern Balkh province, the National Directorate of Security (NDS) said on Monday. A NDS statement mailed to Pajhwok Afghan News said the Taliban district chief for the Daulatabad district, Qari Taj Mohammad, along with his two comrades were arrested from a seminary in the district. The two others detainees were identified as Mullah Obaidullah, resident of Gulshan village of Chaharbagh area of Balkh district, and Mohammad a dweller of Mashk village of the same district. The statement alleged Qari Taj Mohammad was involved in the killing of Maulvi Aslam, head of the Ulema Council, abducting officials of Zaraa district, torching vehicles of the Samwan Construction Company in Shoulgar district and planting mines against government vehicles in Chamtal area of the province. Eleven rocket shells, 600 other shells, a battery, five magazines of Kalashnikovs, 25-kilograms of chemical fertilisers containing ammonium nitrate, 11 rifle guns, nine grenades, 11 safety fuses, two Walki Talkies, an anti-tank mine, and two bundles of electric wire were recovered from the houses of Mohammad and Mullah Obaidullah, the statement claimed. Meanwhile, eight BM1 shells in a ready-to-fire mode were recovered from the Albarz Mountains of Mazar-i-Sharif, the NDS said. The shells were to be fired on the occasion of Nawroz festivities, it added. (Pajhwok)

GLASGOW - Scottish Centre for War Studies at Glasgow University hosts conference on future of the country. Leading experts on Afghanistan are gathering in Scotland for a conference to discuss the country’s future. Taking place at the Scottish Centre for War Studies at Glasgow University, the conference will discuss the likely impact of current policies in the region. Delegates will examine how the war has developed into the current situation, and how it is likely to develop in the future. It comes as the war reaches a crucial point, with Prime Minister Gordon Brown and US president Barack Obama pledging the deployment of almost 40,000 troops to the country. This decision to escalate or the conflict will have a profound effect on the development of the Middle East and South Asia, as well as on the people of Afghanistan. Speakers at the conference include retired Major General Andrew Mackay, who commanded British forces in Helmand province in 2007. The event is being held to mark the 15th anniversary of the foundation of the centre, which brings together scholars with an interest in the study of war in all its various aspects. Over the years it has run more than ten major conferences, sponsored almost 100 seminars and been involved in the publication of several important works. (Agencies)

ASADABAD - International troops came under attack from insurgents in eastern Kunar province, sparking fierce clashes, with both sides claiming inflicting casualties on each others. The NATO-led ISAF media office in the eastern zone said in a press release issued on Saturday that a joint patrol of Afghan and ISAF forces was attacked by insurgents in Wagiz Bagh area of Asmar district. In the ensuing clash, six attackers were killed, the release said, adding a woman was killed in firing from the insurgents. The joint force remained unharmed. Zubair Sidiqi, who claims to speak for Hizb-i-Islami Afghanistan led by Eng. Gulbudin Hekmatyar, told Pajhwok Afghan News over the telephone from an unknown location that they attacked the forces. During the clashes, he claimed, four US soldiers were killed while their three members sustained injuries. Six civilians were killed by ISAF forces, he alleged. This reporter could not contact local residents due to no mobile coverage in the district. Security forces say they had no information about the overnight clashes. But public health department director Dr. Asadullah Afzali said that a vaccinator was killed in an attack in Asmar district. Two others, a man and a woman, were brought to the Kunar hospital and later they were transferred to Nangarhar for further treatment, he added. The director said the man was in a critical condition. (Pajhwok)

M Arif Shafi Our correspondentin Peshawar
PESHAWAR: At least four persons including a woman were killed and 16 other injured in a car bomb in Tehkal area, near KFC Restaurant at University Road here on Saturday.   Sources said that a powerful blast took place in a parked car at United plaza in Tehkal area. Soon after blast the shops caught fire and several persons were trapped in nearby shops and offices.The fire brigade and other relief agencies reached soon after the incident and started operation. The injured were rushed to the Lady Reading and Khyber Teaching Hospitals. Police cordon off the area and closed University road for all kind of traffic, which was opened after some time. . After two hours of relief operation the fire was extinguished and all the trapped persons were vacated safely. A shopkeeper and eye witnessed told this correspondent that the car used in the blast was parked there for a long time, which blew up, while he had also heard some minor blast afterwards. The area where the incident took place is a commercial place where most of the residents and traders are Afghan refugees.

Afghanistan's civilian death toll has risen alongside that of U.S. and international forces this summer. A U.N. report issued Saturday said August was the deadliest month of the year for civilians as the Taliban stepped up a campaign of violence to discourage voting in the Aug. 20 election. A total of 1,500 civilians died in Afghanistan from January through August, up from 1,145 for the same period of 2008, the U.N. report said. On Sunday, Taliban militants ambushed a group of truck drivers in eastern Kunar province, killing six of the drivers and burning their vehicles, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. A seventh truck driver was kidnapped. Also Sunday, a private van hit a roadside bomb in northern Faryab province, the ministry said in a separate statement. Six of those inside were killed and another seven injured, the statement said. The planted bombs have become a major cause of deaths and injuries for both international troops and Afghan civilians. Some are remotely detonated, but many are simply placed on roads and triggered by a vehicle riding over the explosive. The U.N. report said about three-quarters of the civilian deaths recorded this year were the work of militants. Coalition forces were responsible for the remaining deaths, most the result of airstrikes. (AP)

KUNDUZ CITY - The government on Monday extended cash assistance to family members of victims of a September 4 air strike that killed scores of civilians in northern Kunduz province last month. The much-condemned NATO raid took place in Chardara district, where people were emptying fuel into jerry canes from two oil tankers hijacked by Taliban insurgents. Residents and civil society organizations said all the victims were ordinary civilians. Around 30 families were given cash assistance at a ceremony held in Kunduz City, the provincial capital. Relatives of each victim received 100,000 Afghanis while every injured person was provided 80,000 Afghanis, a spokesman for the governor, Muhammadullah Saeedi, told Pajhwok Afghan News. Asadullah, whose brother perished in the bombing, thanked the government for the recompense. "I lost my brother who carried two jerry canes to fetch fuel from the tankers," the resident of Isakhel village recalled. A team of investigators from the Interior Ministry, led by crime branch chief Mirza Muhammad Yarmand, said around 120 people including civilians were killed and nine others wounded in the deadly strike. However, residents of the district claimed the bombing killed more than 150 people and wounded around 200 others. The Taliban, who released a list of 79 civilian fatalities, insisted no fighter was killed or injured. The raid triggered a hot political debate over German military presence in Afghanistan, with Chancellor Angela Merkel's government trying to keep the unpopular mission out of the campaign for the polls held on Sunday. Reaction to the airstrike was mixed; French, Italian, and Swedish foreign ministers criticized the incident. But German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung emphasized the danger posed by the stolen tankers. ISAF Commander General Stanley McChrystal made a statement on Afghan television and visited the site of the bombing the following day. A NATO team charged with investigating the strike also visited the scene. (Pajhwok)

KABUL - The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Monday claimed detaining several suspected militants during a search operation in the central Maidan Wardak province. The suspects were arrested from a compound used by a Taliban element responsible for supplying a large quantity of weapons to subordinate rebel commanders in the area, the force said. Afghan and ISAF personnel conducted the search in the Chaki Wardak district without incident. “No shots were fired and no civilians were harmed during the operation.” (Pajhwok)