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The Persecution of Abdul Qadir Fetrat
July 02, 2011 | Jawad Rahmani
On Monday, June 27, Abdul Qadir Fetrat, the chairman of central bank of Afghanistan, in an unexpected measure announced his resignation and sought refuge in the United States of America. He explained the reason of his resignation and leaving the country as increasing danger to his life, particularly, after announcement of names of culprits ...
The Hazy Future
July 02, 2011 | Nasruddin Hemati
Words fall really short explaining what is going on in Afghanistan and what is expected to come next. The world-backed process is moving rearward; no single step is being taken ahead. Appeasement policies and pacifying moves have encouraged the fugitives to carry on their terrorist operations across the country in more sophisticated ways...
Afghanistan will Set into a Corruption Coliseum after the Troops Drawdown
July 02, 2011 | Abdul Samad Haidari
The information in news reports reportedly and openly suggests the acceleration and in timidation of Taliban in various parts of Afghanistan in the last few months. Currently, according to researchers and analysts, Afghanistan seems to be collapsing into chaos and the security condition will be even worse...
Shocking Assault, Sign of Collapse
June 30, 2011 | Sher Alam Saqib
As the violence continues to intensify, Kabul residents were shocked by the firefights that continued for hours between Afghan National Security Forces and reportedly 8 suicide attackers that had made their way into the fortified Inter-continental Hotel, which is mainly frequented by high level dignitaries and foreigners. As reports say, ...
Let’s All Take, Yet Another, Collective Breath And Agree To Move Forward
June 30, 2011 | Grant Kippen
There were two momentous announce ments concerning Afghanistan this past week that will in their own and interconnected way have a profound impact on the short and long term future of the country.The first and most widely reported announcement occurred on Wednesday evening when President ...
No Rest! Even in Kabul
June 30, 2011 | Mohammad Ahsan
Kabul got attacked again on Tuesday night. This is the second attack in just ten days. This time, the Inter-continental hotel – Afghanistan's first luxury hotel, built in 1969 - was targeted. The hotel is mostly used by foreigners and high government officials. At the time of the attack, reportedly, two events were taking place inside ...
Parliamentary Crisis, Disastrous Exercise in Political Brinksmanship
June 29, 2011 | Mehdi Rezaie
The parliamentary crisis involving the special tribunal, the parliament and the government headed by Presi dent Karzai has entered a new phase following the verdict of the tribunal which handed down disqualification of close to one fourth of the parliament MPs. The special tribunal, after being proposed by the Supreme Court and ...
Tehran Anti-Terror Conference
June 29, 2011 | Jawad Rahmani
The international anti-terrorism conference held in Tehran last weekend was dampened with fundamental differences but with friendly smiles on the faces. The conference was held amid emerging new concerns about US steep military drawdown from Afghanistan which can prove consequential for Kabul powerful neighbors. Afghanistan have large ...
ICG and Afghanistan
June 29, 2011 | Dilawar Sherzai
The International Contact Group (ICG) meeting regarding Afghanistan was held in Kabul on Monday, June 27, 2011. This meeting included representative and organizations from more than 50 countries that are somehow related to Afghanistan. Basically, the idea of formation of ICG for Afghanistan ...
The Consequences of US Withdrawal
June 28, 2011 | Musa Khan Jalalzai
The announcement of President Obama about the with drawal of US troops from Afghanistan created a lot of guesswork in Kabul. As no specific military, economic and political progress has taken roots during the last ten years presence of international community, the country will remain vulnerable to insurgent groups before and after ...
Without Communist Party: Without New China
June 28, 2011 | XuFeihong
Since founding on July 01, 1921, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has taken an extra ordinary brilliant course of 90 years and become the biggest party in the world with its members increasing from about 50 in 1921 to over 80 million by 2011. The CPC has the experience of 60 years as the ruling party and its history of 90 years is also the history ...
Employing Mullahs are a Gaffe
June 28, 2011 | Jawad Rahmani
As counterinsurgency struggle stretches beyond previously assumed scheduled timings and foreign military drawdown is about to start, the Afghan govern ment now, more then ever, desperately seeks assistance and holds measures that have made analysts mindful of consequences. One of the principle factors both the government and its foreign allies maintain ...
The Dream of Democracy
June 27, 2011 | Nasruddin Hemati
Sociologists and political scientists, who have favored the idea of accidental emergence of renaissance and the modern age, ascertain that it has been a longtime, hard journey to go. Talking on modern concepts such as democratization, they believe it is not a linear process and needs exceptional feasibility studies, varying from one nation to...
President Obama Keeps His Promise
June 27, 2011 | Dilawar Sherzai
Though President Obama has kept his promise of with drawal of the surge troops he had added to the total number of American troops in Afghanistan after his gaining power as president, still most of the members of congress and the people in America are not much satisfied with the number of troops being withdrawn as they expected much more ...
Security Assessment and the Transition in Balkh
June 27, 2011 | Abbas Daiyar
People are still in shockwave after the assassination of General Daud Daud, Police Chief for Northern Zone. It has not only deep psychological impact on the security perspective of people in the North, but also insecurity has deteriorated since. Cases of murders and crimes have increased in Mazar-e-Sharif city. The other day when I was...
The Collapse of Global Financial System Has Become Inevitable
June 26, 2011 | Mehdi Rezaie
Dear friends and readers, I write this op-ed today primarily for those who are closely following the global economic, financial and political developments in the midst of an ongoing crisis of the world economy. We are standing at the crossroads of the deepest and the most far-reaching crisis that...
Terror Continues in Afghanistan
June 26, 2011 | By Dilawar Sherzai
At last, the much awaited number of American troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan has been announced. It, according to the statement of President Obama, has to be 10,000 till the end of this year and 33,000 till September2012. There has been much controversy regarding the drawdown of the American troops from Afghanistan. The most important...
Military Drawdown
June 26, 2011 | Jawad Rahmani
Seemingly, bipartisanism has been functioning quite well in the US and non-parties—Republican and Democratic— are able to settle issues alone. As we know that former President Bush waged war both in Afghanistan in 2001, and Iraq 2003. That time Republicans were supporting wars overwhelmingly and, due to vengeful and hatred-filled...
America’s Withdrawal fromAfghanistan and the Uncertain Future
June 25, 2011 | Mehdi Rezaie
President Obama has finally announced his much-awaited plan of withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in a tele vised address on Wednesday, June 22, 2011. According to the plan, 10,000 American troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan by the end of 2011 with another 23,000 set to be evacuated by September 2012. The...
Narcotics in Afghanistan
June 25, 2011 | Dilawar Sherzai
The announcement by Deputy Interior Minister of Counter Narcotics on Monday, June 20, 2011, mentioning that over three million Afghans are involved in manufacturing or trafficking drugs, has further added concerns to the drug issue that has already been bothering the honest national and international counter narcotics efforts. Afghanistan is...
Need for a Vision
June 25, 2011 | Farman Nawaz
Leader of Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), Nawaz Sharif, and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari have started the long awaited blame game. Though this game was carried out successfully by their political descendants however now as the elections are coming closer, Nawaz took the initiative and Zardari paid in the same...
Focusing on Development for 2014 and Beyond
June 23, 2011 | Mehdi Rezaie
The international community led by the Western countries has been assisting Afghanistan over the past one decade. The U.S. and the European countries such as the U.K., France, Germany, and other European Union member states have doled out more than $30 billion in aid for Afghanistan since 2001. For the U.S. the direct cost for the...
Disappointing Statement of President
June 23, 2011 | Jawad Rahmani
The recent statements of Presi dent Karzai regarding foreign presence in the country were largely covered by domestic media and Newspapers. He said that foreigners (international community) were in Afghanistan due to their own political, economic and security interests. He went further and ignored vital assistance of foreigners ...
Concerns about Sustainability of Development in Afghanistan
June 23, 2011 | Sher Alam Saqib
Afghanistan remains one of the poorest countries in the world. It relies on foreign aid. The brutal regime of Taliban had led Afghanistan into isolation, which led to back breaking poverty in the country. Over the last ten years since the fall of Taliban regime in late 2001, Afghanistan has received a great deal of aid and assistance...
Government Denies the Existence of Taliban as Enemy
June 22, 2011 | Mehdi Rezaie
The government of Afghanistan has for long been avoid ing using the term "Taliban" to refer to the perpetra tors and attackers on Afghan civilians and military personnel. The routine has always been to call the perpetrators "the enemies of the people of Afghanistan" or "the armed opponents". What...
Democracy in Afghanistan, Swimming Not Sinking
June 22, 2011 | Mohammad Ahsan
How long did the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan last? Only for six years, 1996-2001. And Afghanistan turned into a hell for the people to live in. This country turned into a safe haven for Islamic terrorists who formed their recruitment and training camps here. Thankfully, Taliban-hosted Al-Qaida hammered on its own feet by ...
Challenges and Loggerheads
June 22, 2011 | Sher Alam Saqib
While the country continues to be hit by violence, Afghan government seems to be at loggerheads with its international allies over corruption, civilian casualties and reconciliation with Taliban militants. It was understandable from the president Karzai's sarcastic remarks against international operation and work and the U.S. ...
Afghan Economy Dependent on Foreign Charity Dollars
June 21, 2011 | Mehdi Rezaie
Afghanistan economy has long been bifurcated into two separate spheres. One is the troubled formal economy, ravaged after decades of conflict, war and civil strife and held up together by infusion of billions of dollars in foreign aid and foreign military-related spending. The other is the black, illegal, informal, illicit and...
Afghan Handicrafts in Domotex Middle East International Exhibition
June 21, 2011 | Dilawar Sherzai
Every culture in the world consists of two major parts; material culture and non-material culture. The material culture includes all the tangible objects that are socially used in a society. The material culture may include cloth, jewelry, pottery and other objects that are a part of a society, while the...
Afghanistan’s Kidnapping and Arms Smuggling Industry
June 21, 2011 | Musa Khan Jalalzai
Don't go to Afghanistan if you want to save the money." These are the words quoted from a recently filed news story of one of my journalist friends who returned from Afghanistan. Over the last three decades of civil war, Afghanistan largely depended on black market economy, criminal trade, export of opium, heroin and arms...
Unrestrained, Talibanized Nomadism
June 20, 2011 | Nasruddin Hemati
On the verge of the US forces withdrawal following a decade of strong presence here, Afghanistan remains unstable, with the government failing to address even some tiny security issues. Instability has grown by the increasing insurgency through new mechanisms put in practice by the resisting militants. No need to say,
Afghan Industries Struggling in Face of Cheap Imports
June 20, 2011 | Mehdi Rezaie
Industrial parks once used to be a model of what the future for Afghanistan and its economy would hold. The government of Mohammad Daud Khan in 1970s had drawn up ambitious plans for the development of manufacturing industries throughout Afghanistan and the role of industrial parks was central to these plans. Gradually, industrial...
Ostentatious Marriages in Poor Country
June 20, 2011 | DilawarSherzai
With the changing nature of Afghan society, stratification of society into very rich and very poor classes and growing gap between them is becoming evident in the form of various social practices. Among those practices the one that is under consideration of the Justice Ministry at the moment is our marriage system. Marriage system...
Unconstitutional Moves of the President
June 19, 2011 | Abbas Daiyar
A commission headed by Sibgatullah Mujadadi has started preparations for the so-called Loya Jirga which is said to be convened after Eid, about two months later, to discuss and decide on the matter of the US long-term military bases in Afghanistan. Members of the Preparatory Commission have been 'appointed' by President Karzai...
Taliban Send a Clear Message by Targeting Kabul Again
June 19, 2011 | Mehdi Rezaie
It was obvious that Kabul was eerily too quiet in recent months and the unusual calm was a sign of the storms to come. The lull before the storm was shattered on Saturday, June 18, 2011 when a group of suicide bombers attacked in the heart of Kabul and killed 9 people and injured another 12. The target that was picked by Taliban this time was...