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Preparations for 2014 Elections?
December 19, 2011 | Abbas Daiyar
The rumor of President Karzai's "preparations" for the Presidential elections in 2014 is now becoming a firm belief among political circles of Kabul. Such concerns appeared in press releases or speeches of opposition politicians with the start of President Karzai's stalemate with parliament and the election crisis prior to that. It was more of ...
Afghanistan’s Unaffordable Military Expenses
December 19, 2011 | Mehdi Rezaie
Afghanistan's transition to wards peace, stability, growth and development is still an ongoing journey. More than the years since the fall of the Taliban and the dawn of the new era, challenges remain firm and numerous as plentiful have been the achievements. Looking ahead towards 2014 and beyond, many challenges are ...
A Journey to Death
December 19, 2011 | Dilawar Sharzai
An overcrowded boat, carrying Afghan, Iranian and Iraqi migrants from Indonesia to Australia could only reach to the depth of the sea after being capsized off the coast of east Java on Sunday, December 18, 2011. The reports say that there were more than 300 passengers in the boat, which was basically meant to carry only 100 ...
Reconciliation must be Transparent
December 18, 2011 | Dilawar Sharzai
The reports of an unofficial Taliban embassy in Qatar stirred the calm ocean of confidence in the Afghan presidential office. The reports were very much stirring for the President Karzai and other Afghan authorities because they were not involved in the matter; the news came to them as a shock and they reacted ...
Democracy in Post-American Iraq
December 18, 2011 | Nasruddin Hemati
In pursuit of Obama's 2008 campaign promise, the US forces formally marked end of their nine years mission in Iraq on Thursday. Iraqis are, however, having worried eyes on the occasion. In the course of military presence in Iraq – declared to defuse Saddam Hussain's nuclear weapons – the US government encountered security challenges and ...
Urban Population is not Used to Meeting Human Resource Deficit
December 18, 2011 | Jawad Rahmani
Recently I participated in a workshop held in Ministry of Interior by an NGO aiming to help ministry leaders to develop strategic thinking and increase their capacity to deal with upcoming challenges in the lack of international community's military involvement. The workshop was for the capacity building to senior leaders of the Ministry ...
Is the War against Terrorism being Won?
December 17, 2011 | Dilawar Sharzai
During his surprise visit to Afghanistan, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, while talking to a forward operating base of coalition troops in Sharan said, "We are winning this tough conflict." Moreover, before his arrival in Kabul for the same visit, he had told the journalists who were accompanying him, "They ...
US Surveillance Flights: What’s Afghanistan’s Position?
December 17, 2011 | Sher Ali Yecha
After, Iran was able to capture a US drone - which it accused of spying on its nuclear-program sites – it warned the Afghan government, on Thursday, not to permit US to operate such surveillance flights. Any further flights would be regarded as a hostile act, the Iranian foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, said in an interview with ...
Bonn Conference & NATO Ministerial on Afghanistan
December 17, 2011 | S. M. Hali
The Bonn Conference on Afghanistan hosted on December 5th raised the aspirations of the 1100 participants towards reaching peaceful settlement of the problems facing Afghanistan and the region, described as a conference for peace rather than a peace conference by Ambassador Michael Steiner, Germany's special Representative for ...
Traditional Madressahs to Replace Modern Education
December 15, 2011 | Dilawar Sharzai
As the transition period is going on toward a decisive end and the withdrawal of international forces have become certain, the concerns regarding the future of Afghanistan are also increasing. There are many in the country who fear the return of Taliban-like system in the country; if not return of ...
Cultural Dynamism
December 15, 2011 | Jawad Rahmani
One of the topics that have attracted attention of thinkers, statesmen, theorists and etc is the cultural invasion. It brought about serious discussions in Islamic countries. Particularly, traditionalists and religious leaders have stood against the process strongly. After 2001, the topic has been widely discussed in Afghanistan. Several times ...
Zardari’s Future: US to Make Difficult Decision
December 15, 2011 | Muhammad Younas
Last November 23rd, Nawaz Sharif submitted a petition in a Supreme Court of Pakistan. In his petition, he asked the court to launch a judicial investigation into "Memogate" and to summon all respondents in his petition — President Asif Ali Zardari, former ambassador Husain Haqqani, American citizen Mansoor Ijaz, Chief of the ...
A Derelict Priority
December 14, 2011 | Nasruddin Hemmati
No need to argue that "the Christmas comes but once a year". So, it needs to be used optimally. Coming closer to the end, the very generous aids poured in Afghanistan for the last one decade have affected things considerably. Certain promising changes are seen in Afghan economy, military, politics and social activities. However, things are needed to change ...
More About Deadly Kabul Attack
December 14, 2011 | Dilawar Sharzai
The deadly Ashura (10th Muharram) attack in Kabul that killed about 80 people and injured more than 100 was one of the most tragic attacks in Afghanistan. Kabul city is still echoing with the shrieking sound of the attack and the saddening screams of the victims. The attack was totally unexpected and authorities were totally unprepared ...
Ashura Incidents Have Affected Public Opinion towards Islamabad
December 14, 2011 | Jawad Rahmani
Right after the series of attacks on the day of Ashura in Kabul, Mazar-e-Sharif and Kandahar which left more than seventy dead and more than two hundred injured, a Pakistan-based insurgency group known as Lashkar-e-Jangvi proudly claimed the responsibility. A person by the name of Abubakr Mansor ...
Blunders to be Undone
December, 13 2011 | Abbas Daiyar
It was on this page 5 months ago when the first preparatory meeting for Bonn II was held in Kabul under the auspicious of International Contact Group, that I had written there were no expectations of a breakthrough in the peace and reconciliation process. That was what organizers of the conference initially aimed all about. On the 10th ...
Credibility Gap between Pakistan and US
December, 13 2011 | Dilawar Sharzai
The Pakistani Prime Minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani has mentioned that there is a credibility gap between Pakistan and US and both the countries need to trust each other more if they are really interested in decreasing this gap. He mentioned in a recent interview, "Yes there is a credibility gap, we are working together and still we don't ...
Opium Production and Trade Aggravate a Simmering Social Crisis
December, 13 2011 | Mehdi Rezaie
The unbridled production and trafficking of narcotics in many parts of the country impose great social and political costs on the country. The social dimension of this illicit, albeit lucrative trade has been an unprecedented rise in drug addiction among our population; needless to say that Afghan drug ...
Continuation of Odds
December, 12 2011 | Sher Alam Saqib
After the assassination of Professor Rabbani in September, Pakistan was declared to be the chief party to the reconciliation process, which started with intensity more than a year ago. The argument for this change in the talk was that Taliban themselves do not have any autonomy and they are controlled and used by ...
Mining Sector Requires a Generation of Stability
December, 11 2011 | Dilawar Sharzai
According to findings by various sources there are trillion dollars of mineral resources in Afghanistan that still lay unearthed by the authorities and that have the capacity to boost the Afghan economy to a large extend and shoulder it without support from other countries and international organizations. Unfortunately, the security...
Ending Terrorism needs International Support
December, 10 2011 | Abdul Samad Haidari
The extreme growth of terror and terrorist activities has begun to worry the whole world. The growing rates of terrorist activity in Afghanistan, Pakistan and around the world have become a bold challenge. To end the terrorist activity from the face of the earth, the world's leaders must give it a top priority in order to live in ...
Bonn II and the Failure to Address Regional Dimension of Afghanistan Problem
December, 10 2011 | Mehdi Rezaie
The Bonn II Conference on Afghanistan unfortunately turned out to be no grand event in which the desperately needed breakthrough on the problem of Afghanistan could prove within grasp. Anyhow and after all, it was never intended to be a venue for a major breakthrough and this partly explains the reason. It was diminished to the level of other ...
Religious Scholars Can be Part of Solution to Menace of Opium Cultivation
December, 10 2011 | Jawad Rahmani
Recently, Kazakhstan Foreign Minister, Mr. Yerzhan Kazykhanov, wrote an article titled the regional commitment is vital for Afghanistan. In the article, he noticed about the role of his government in combating drug trafficking, meanwhile, emphasized that the menace could not be resolved without dealing with opium cultivation ...
Memogate; the Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
December, 10 2011 | Farman Nawaz
Memogate episode has once again revealed the unprofessionalism of Pakistani media. It is shocking that the person, who is publically accepting that he conveyed the memo to American army chief, is represented as a hero. No one yet objected that if it was a sin why he had committed it and now why his conscience is jolting him.
Kabul Attack: Beginning of Sectarian Strife?
December, 08 2011 | Abbas Daiyar
Ashura's attack in Kabul was one of the deadliest in the city, and first of its kind—sectarian—in Afghanistan. Sectarian attacks on such scale are unprecedented. Death toll has reached 60 and more than 150 are injured. President Karzai cancelled his UK rushing back to Kabul after the Bonn conference. He met families of the ...
Economy of Afghanistan and the Challenges Ahead
December, 08 2011 | Mehdi Rezaie
The economic growth in our country Afghanistan has been one of the priorities to address for both the international community and the government. Economy forms the backbone of a country and society and therefore, rebuilding the ravaged economy of Afghanistan and placing it on a trajectory of growth and development has ...
Let’s Build Harmonious Societies in Af-Pak
December, 08 2011 | Farman Nawaz
The outcome of war on terror under the auspices of US and NATO is not encouraging as well as acceptable. Billions of dollars have been spent during these ten years but still peace is not only fragile but war on terror has destabilized the neighboring Pakistan too. Pakistani security agencies are exposed to multidimensional...
Muharram Attacks in Kabul - A Nefarious Agenda
December, 07 2011 | Mehdi Rezaie
Less than 24 hours after the much-touted and eagerly-anticipated Bonn II Conference in Germany, the unthinkable disaster happened in Afghanistan; a disaster that has never before been witnessed in the history of Afghanistan: Shiite mourners taking processions to commemorate the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussain - which ...
Attacks on Imam Hussein’s Mourners
December, 07 2011 | Jawad Rahmani
I do not know what to write and how to write about what I saw with my own eyes in the center of Kabul city, Murrad Khani Area: an incident that ended into slitting of tens of human bodies that blooded the street and caused hundreds of people to scream and shed tears. It has been years that I am writing articles about suicide bombers, explosions, violence ...
Post-Bonn II Afghanistan
December, 07 2011 | Dilawar Sharzai
The Bonn II Conference is over now and Afghanistan has received a pile of commitments that the international community is going to keep on assisting it till 2024. There are expectations that Afghanistan would be able to stand on its own after 2024, as after that it would be able to take advantage of the mineral resources it has and ...
Last Chance to Rescue Afghanistan in Bonn
December, 05 2011 | Muhammad Younas
Once again all eyes are fixed on the Bonn Conference to be held on December 5, 2011 in which around 1000 representatives from 90 countries and international organizations are expected to focus on three following issues such as transition of security to the Afghan Government by 2014, international commitment to Afghanistan after the ...
Will Today’s Bonn Conference II Shift Afghanistan from War to a Permanent Peace?
December, 05 2011 | Abdul Samad Haidari
Today the meeting in Bonn is being held to discuss the future of Afghanistan with the presence of 90 delegations with the predicted 1000 participants with the supervision of Afghanistan. The conference will be hosted by the Germany with the presence of the United Nations that will play the best role in this ...
The Out-of-shape Triangle
December, 05 2011 | Dilawar Sharzai
Pak-US relations have been going through a declining trend since the hunt of Osama Bin Laden on the Pakistani land by US troops. With certain inconsiderable efforts for improvement during the process, the incidents have kept on leading the relations towards the lowest possible point and that is where it stands now. Pakistan has always had ...
Bonn II; A Doubtful Success
December, 04 2011 | Nasruddin Hemmati
On the verge of Bonn II Conference on Afghanistan, there are serious concerns about how the period will end by 2014 when international troops are supposed to completely withdraw from the country. President Karzai left for Bonn II Conference on Friday while a pile of undone commitments ...
Gulnaz: Punished for Demanding Freedom
December, 04 2011 | Noorjahan Akbar
In the documentary, In-Justice, the twenty-one year old Gulnaz speaks about how she was savagely raped by her cousin's husband after he tied her hands and feet and held her mouth shut. She was impregnated and she reported the rape. Instead of being rewarded with justice for being brave enough to speaking about an issue so taboo, she was ...