Afghanistan Conflict Monitor

Service Notice: Afghanistan and Pakistan Conflict Monitors Cease Publication

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 22:59:25 Z

Dear Subscriber,

As a result of staffing constraints, changes in media reporting on Afghanistan and Pakistan, and a shift in our strategic priorities, we have decided to discontinue the Afghanistan and Pakistan Conflict Monitors. As a consequence, we will no longer be producing the Daily Briefing, or updating the websites.

Instead of continuing to feature news stories, which are increasingly well covered by other online news media like Foreign Policy's “AfPak Channel,” we will be focussing on more in-depth research and policy material from governments, researchers, and major NGOs. These resources can be found on our research portal, the Human Security Gateway. Automatic feeds from the Gateway provide abstracts (with links to the full resource) of new Afghanistan/Pakistan research material as it is added to the database.

You can subscribe by RSS or e-mail for the latest Afghanistan and Pakistan research from the HS Gateway at:

http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/portal.php?regionId=114
and
http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/portal.php?regionId=154

Best,

The HSRP team

Service Notice

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 19:55:52 Z

Please be advised that our offices will be closed on Friday, July 1st, 2011 in observance of Canada Day.

Combined Forces Raid Ends Deadly Taliban Attack on Top Kabul Hotel

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 22:49:23 Z

Nine suicide bombers penetrated several rings of security to lay siege to one of the capital’s premier hotels for six hours overnight Tuesday in a complex attack that jolted Afghans’ sense of security and highlighted the weakness of their police forces. At least 21 people were killed: all the attackers, two policemen, nine Afghan civilians, and one foreigner, a Spaniard. One witness said that the police failed to stop a man who obviously presented a threat: a man carrying weapons, dressed in a police uniform but with a white hat of the kind often favored by religious Afghans and instead urged the witness to move away from the man, calling him a “bomber.” Other witness accounts said that some security officers fled. The siege ended in the morning; at least five of the attackers blew themselves up, and others were shot by Afghan and NATO forces.

Raid by Afghan forces and NATO ends attack on hotel in Kabul, The New York Times, June 29, 2011

Related News

Taliban claim responsibilty for hotel assault , Al Jazeera, June 29, 2011
Kabul hotel attack: Nato helicopters kill Taliban, BBC News, June 29, 2011
9 militants, 9 others dead after attack on Kabul hotel, CNN, June 29, 2011
NZ soldiers play 'major role' in Kabul hotel firefight , Stuff, June 29, 2011
Kabul attack throws spotlight on troop pullout, BBC News, June 29, 2011
Deadly Kabul hotel attack sends strong message: expert, The Province, June 29, 2011
Taliban brag about Kabul attack, Yahoo! News, June 29, 2011
TIMELINE-Major attacks in the Afghan capital, AlertNet, June 28, 2011

Related Research

Background Report: Suicide Attack on Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, June 29, 2011

Kidnappers Free Two French Journalists, Interpreter after 18 Months

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 22:48:07 Z

Two French journalists abducted in Afghanistan 18 months ago have been released, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced. Herve Ghesquiere and Stephane Taponier were freed along with their interpreter, Reza Din, Mr Sarkozy said in a statement in Paris. They are reportedly now at a French base in north-eastern Afghanistan. Expressing delight, Mr Sarkozy thanked Afghan President Hamid Karzai for his handling of the hostage situation. Prime Minister Francois Fillon told the French parliament the freed Frenchmen were at the Tagab base in Kapisa province. They were "in good health" and would be back on French soil "in a few hours", he said. There was no immediate word about two other Afghans who were abducted along with the three men released.

French journalists freed in Afghanistan after 18 months, BBC News, June 29, 2011

Related News

Two French journalists freed in Afghanistan, Reuters, June 29, 2011

Related Research

The Pearl Project: The Truth Left Behind - Inside the Kidnapping and Murder of Daniel Pearl, International Consortium for Investigative Journalists // Center for Public Integrity, January 20, 2011
Reporting in Times of War: Press Freedom in Afghanistan 2008 - 2011 , International Federation of Journalists // Afghan Independent Journalists Association , June 09, 2011
Getting Away with Murder: The Committee to Protect Journalists' 2011 Impunity Index , The Committee to Protect Journalists , June 01, 2011

Trends in Terrorism in Central, South Asia from 2007-2010: Report

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 22:46:42 Z

This report draws on an extensive modeling effort by Andrew C. Gagel. It provides a statistical trend of the US count of terrorist actions by terrorist organization in each region and country, along with maps of the number and density of terrorist acts. These trends and developments are summarized in a short overview for each sub region. Terrorist activity was also high in Central Asia and South Asia. Unsurprisingly, terrorist activity was the highest in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, with India and Nepal also experiencing high rates of attacks. The data show that Taliban conducted the majority of known attacks in Afghanistan, killing, wounding, and kidnapping more Afghanis than any other group in the last four years. Attacks were centered in Helmand province in the south and along the border with Pakistan in the east. The number of attacks in attacks in Afghanistan increased during each consecutive fighting season since 2007, spiking in the summer months and receding in the winter. The Pakistani Taliban (TTP) accounted for the most of known attacks and deaths in Pakistan; however the majority of attacks were perpetrated entities not identified by the NCTC. Other active groups in the country included the Balochistani-based Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and Balochistan Republican Army (BRA), but their attacks were not on the scale or scope of the Pakistani Taliban. The data warn that instability in Pakistan is far broader than the threats relating to either the conflict in Afghanistan or tensions with India. Much of the threat is caused by internal, rather than external, instability. The data also show that that India experienced a wide range of attacks from a wide range of both foreign and indigenous groups, mainly at the hands of Islamist extremists and Maoists. The most dangerous pattern of terrorism is clearly caused by terrorist groups with links to Pakistan—terrorism that could trigger a broader confrontation between India and Pakistan.

Patterns in Terrorism in North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and South Asia: 2007-2010, Center for Strategic and International Studies , June 28, 2011

Related News

"Terrorism" is on the rise, says Karzai, AFP, June 25, 2011

Related Research

US State Department and Counter-Terrorism Center Reporting Terrorism in the Middle East and Central Asia, August 2010, Center for Strategic and International Studies , June 28, 2011
Counter-Terrorism in South Asia, Observer Research Foundation, March 16, 2011
Central Asian Terrorism: An Emerging Threat to U.S. Security, The Heritage Foundation, June 13, 2011

The Insurgency in Afghanistan’s Heartland: Report

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 22:46:17 Z

The insurgency in Afghanistan has expanded far beyond its stronghold in the south east. Transcending its traditional Pashtun base, the Taliban is bolstering its influence in the central-eastern provinces by installing shadow governments and tapping into the vulnerabilities of a central government crippled by corruption and deeply dependent on a corrosive war economy. Collusion between insurgents and corrupt government officials in Kabul and the nearby provinces has increased, leading to a profusion of criminal networks in the Afghan heartland. Despite efforts to combat the insurgency in the south, stability in the centre has steadily eroded. Yet, with nearly one fifth of the population residing in Kabul and its surrounding provinces, the Afghan heartland is pivotal to the planned transition from international troops to Afghan forces at the end of 2014. Given the insurgency’s entrenchment so close to the capital, however, it appears doubtful that President Hamid Karzai’s government will be able to contain the threat and stabilise the country by then. Countering the insurgency in these crucial areas requires the implementation of long-overdue reforms, including more robust anti-corruption efforts, stricter oversight over international aid and greater support for capacity building in the judicial and financial sectors.

The Insurgency in Afghanistan’s Heartland, International Crisis Group via the Human Security Gateway, June 27, 2011

Related News

Militants' influx fuels north Afghanistan violence, Miami Herald, June 28, 2011

Ethnic Leaders Forge Alliance Against Karzai

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 22:44:08 Z

A group of former warlords who helped the U.S. topple the Taliban regime in 2001 have launched a political alliance against Afghan President Hamid Karzai's rule, in a re-emergence of old civil-war divisions as the country looks ahead to the departure of U.S. forces. The leaders, each representing a minority ethnic group, say they are concerned that Mr. Karzai will seek to claim more power following President Barack Obama's announcement last week of plans to begin withdrawing U.S. troops. The announcement of the renewed alliance last week followed a decision by a special court backed by Mr. Karzai that disqualified a quarter of all parliamentarians elected in September polls. The decision weakened the contingent of lawmakers that is trying to turn the legislature into a check on Mr. Karzai's authority. Mr. Karzai had argued that the election wasn't representative of the public's wishes because it diluted the power of the Pashtuns, the country's largest ethnic group—to which Mr. Karzai and the Taliban belong.

Ethnic Leaders Forge Alliance Against Karzai , The Wall Street Journal, June 29, 2011

Related News

Karzai: 'The Afghan people need peace', CNN, June 27, 2011
Afghan tribes in Kandahar work to bury hatchet - but not in each other, The Canadian Press, June 14, 2011
Fraud ruling throws Afghan parliament into disarray, NPR, June 28, 2011

Report Finds over 250,000 Displaced in Last Two Years, Criticizes Local Police Programs

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 19:46:44 Z

Afghan civilians are caught in the middle of an intensifying military campaign against a fractured armed insurgency. Despite the U.S. military’s claims of progress, insurgent attacks are up by 50% over last year, and more than 250,000 people have fled their villages in the past two years. U.S. funded and trained militias are only exacerbating this explosive situation. As the U.S. begins to draw down its forces and transition responsibilities to the Afghan government, the Obama administration must mitigate further displacement and ensure that the Afghan government takes greater responsibility for the protection of displaced people. In addition, the UN must strengthen its capacity to respond to the growing humanitarian needs.Since January 1, more than 91,000 Afghans have fled their villages – compared with 42,000 over the same time period last year. This is mostly due to international and Afghan forces’ military operations against the Taliban. The increasing use of airstrikes by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), as well as night raids by U.S. Special Forces is destroying homes, crops and basic infrastructure, traumatizing civilians and displacing tens of thousands of people.

Afghanistan: Responsible U.S. Transition Must Address Displacement Crisis, Refugees International, June 28, 2011

Related News

REPORT: Afghan Local Police "are a major threat to civilians and stability", Think Progress, June 27, 2011
250,000 Afghans "flee homes in two years", Al Jazeera, June 28, 2011

Related Research

Khas Uruzgan violence and ISAF press releases, Afghanistan Analysts Network, June 26, 2011

Recent Security Developments: Combined Forces Capture Disguised Senior IMU Leader

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 19:44:16 Z

A senior leader of an al-Qaida-linked terror group has been captured in northern Afghanistan dressed up like a woman — the latest in a recent series of cases involving male militants disguised as females, the U.S.-led military coalition said Tuesday. A joint Afghan and coalition force apprehended a senior figure from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and two of his associates during a nighttime operation Monday in Kunduz city, NATO said. It said the militant, who also supported the Taliban network, had planned attacks against the Afghan National Police, as well as various suicide bombings and assaults against other Afghan security forces. NATO did not release the names of the three suspects caught in Kunduz. "The leader attempted to disguise himself as a female by wearing a burqa, which is an all-enveloping cloak worn by some Muslim women," the coalition said in a statement. "In the last two months there have been several instances of targeted males wearing burqas in attempts to disguise themselves in order not to be caught by Afghan-led forces."

Afghan, NATO forces nab militant dressed as woman, The Associated Press, June 28, 2011

Related News

Security developments in Afghanistan, June 28, AlertNet, June 28, 2011
Border shelling overshadows U.S.-Pakistan-Afghan talks, AlertNet, June 27, 2011
After Bin Laden, militants flood net with threats, The New York Times, June 27, 2011
Blackwater guard jailed over Afghan shooting, AFP, June 28, 2011

US Begins "Thinning Out" Forces, Handing Security over to Afghan Forces

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 19:43:53 Z

During his confirmation hearing last week for his new post at the helm of the Central Intelligence Agency, Petraeus said coalition forces had already shifted out of some parts of the country—including the areas in and around Kabul—and handed security responsibility off to the Afghans. He said coalition forces planned to move to parts of the former Taliban stronghold of Helmand province this fall, with further redeployments set for next spring and next fall. "We're not just going to come out and hand off," he said. "We'll thin out and indeed hand off to Afghan forces." [...] Many of those troops will come from southern Afghanistan, long the focus of the overall war effort. There are currently just over 31,000 troops in eastern Afghanistan, compared with 38,000 in the south. Under some redeployment plans, the officials said, the number of troops in the two regions would gradually equalize. [...] In a little-noticed briefing last week, the top American commander in Helmand offered a detailed roadmap of what those redeployments would look like. Maj. Gen. John Toolan, the senior U.S. commander in the province, said he was preparing to take troops out of areas that appear to be firmly under Afghan or coalition control—like the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah—and redeploy them to northern Helmand and other regions that continue to see regular insurgent violence.

US to begin 'thinning out' its Afghan forces, National Journal, June 27, 2011

Related News

Lashkar Gah: Inside the new Afghanistan, CNN, June 27, 2011
General named to head US Afghan force OKs drawdown , Stars and Stripes, June 28, 2011
With Afghan timetable in place, two senior officials are moving on, National Journal, June 28, 2011
Lessons from the Gates war room, The Washington Post, June 27, 2011
Afghans build security, and hope to avoid infiltrators, The New York Times, June 27, 2011
US steps up efforts for talks with Taliban, Los Angeles Times, June 28, 2011
Peace process, security transition core of contact group summit, Tolo News, June 28, 2011

Afghan Central Bank Governor Quits, Fears for Life; Govt Issues Arrest Warrant

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 19:43:33 Z

Afghan officials have issued an arrest warrant for the former governor of the central bank, Abdul Qadeer Fitrat. He is being investigated in connection with massive fraud at the privately owned Kabul Bank and the printing of unauthorised amounts of currency. Earlier, it emerged Mr Fitrat had fled Afghanistan for the US - he said his life was in danger for exposing fraud. He said the Afghan government had hindered his attempts to investigate corruption. Afghanistan's Deputy Attorney General Rahmatullah Nazari said he would ask the US embassy and Interpol for help in securing Mr Fitrat's arrest. "He will be brought here to face the judiciary. We will follow him," he told the BBC. "There are some serious charges against him. He needs to answer all of them.'' Charges made against Mr Fitrat include that he financially mismanaged the bank, sabotaged the country's economy, ignored advice from other government institutions and did not adequately observe private banks. The US - where Mr Fitrat has residency - does not have an extradition treaty with Afghanistan. He has said he has no plans to return to Afghanistan.

Arrest warrant for ex-Afghan bank chief over 'fraud', BBC News, June 28, 2011

Related News

Afghan gov't says cenbank governor on prosecution list, Reuters, June 27, 2011
Afghan central banker, fearing reprisals, quits post amid inquiry into scandal, The New York Times, June 27, 2011
Afghan central bank chief flees to US, AFP, June 28, 2011

Intelligence Operations Re-focus from Social, Tribal Data to Targeting Insurgents

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 00:16:49 Z

Military intelligence officers were scrambling a year ago to collect and analyze the social, economic and tribal ins and outs of each valley and hamlet in Afghanistan. This information wasn't the kind of secret or covert material many military intelligence specialists were used to. But it was seen as crucial to helping commanders tell the good guys from the bad, learn what Afghans really needed from their government and undermine the Taliban-led insurgency by winning hearts and minds over time. Since last fall, top intelligence leaders in Afghanistan shifted their focus back to targeting the enemy in the more traditional way, by mapping their networks and analyzing what made the Taliban tick. They didn't stop collecting the other information. But their goal now was helping tell commanders what they needed to know to kill insurgents and drive the enemy to the negotiating table. [...] Two senior intelligence officials involved in the reorganization say it was simply a response to Gen. David Petraeus' priorities, when he took over from now-retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal. The top U.S. commander did try to send the message that social intelligence was important in tracking enemy networks, and he asked officers to count things such as the number of cellphone towers in an area, as a measure of success equal to the number of insurgents killed, the official said.

Intelligence shift shows change in Afghan war aims, The Associated Press, June 26, 2011

Related News

US general raps intel gathering in Afghanistan, AFP, January 05, 2010
Story of a raid: Afghan anger grows as US troops storm homes at night in hunt for militants, The Washington Post, June 25, 2011
Attackers in uniform add to anxiety in Afghanistan, Los Angeles Times, June 26, 2011

Related Research

Fixing Intel: A Blueprint for Making Intelligence Relevant in Afghanistan, Center for a New American Security, January 04, 2010

Taliban Use Girl, 8, as Bomb Mule in Attack on Afghan Police Post

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 00:14:05 Z

Taliban insurgents used an eight-year-old girl carrying a bag of explosives to attack a police checkpost in central Afghanistan, the Afghan government said on Sunday, making her one of the youngest child bombers of the decade-old conflict. The incident took place in Char Chino district of central Uruzgan province, the interior ministry said. "The insurgents handed over a bag with a homemade bomb to an eight-year-old girl and asked her to take it to police forces," it added. "As the girl was getting close to the police, it exploded and killed the girl." [...] Around the same time in north-western Pakistan, the Pakistani Taliban deployed a married couple who attacked a police station by blowing themselves up. Two burqa-clad figures made their way into a police station in Kolachi, near the Taliban hub of South Waziristan, pretending to want to lodge a complaint, police said.

Taliban use girl, 8, as bomb mule in attack on Afghanistan police post, The Guardian, June 26, 2011

Related News

Afghan girl tricked into carrying bomb, officials say, The New York Times, June 26, 2011
Taliban use females in recent suicide attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan, The Long War Journal [blog], June 26, 2011
7 civilians killed from roadside mines in Afghanistan, CNN, June 27, 2011

Afghan MPs Vote No Confidence in Top Judge, Five Others

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 00:13:40 Z

Afghanistan's political crisis worsened Saturday with lawmakers voting to sack the five most senior judicial officials and international consternation growing after a presidential tribunal threw out a quarter of parliament. The special court, set up by a decree of Afghan President Hamid Karzai after parliamentary elections last year were marred by fraud, ruled Thursday that 62 lawmakers would have to be replaced because of alleged poll fraud. [...] With anger growing over the decision, lawmakers voted on Saturday to sack the five most senior members of Afghanistan's Supreme Court, including Chief Justice Abdul Salam Azimi and his deputy Bahahuddin Baha, for failing to stop the special court's decision. [...] Ahmad Humayoun, a lawmaker from eastern Khost province, said the vote was taken because the five had all advised Karzai to set up the special court to resolve the weeks of protests and infighting that followed the elections. It was not immediately apparent if the five would indeed be sacked, with no comment from the presidential palace. Karzai is in neighboring Iran attending a security conference.

Afghan MPs hit back on court ruling, crisis deepens, Reuters, June 25, 2011

Related News

Afghan MPs vote no confidence in top judge, AFP, June 25, 2011
Afghan MPs appeal to UN over poll row, AFP, June 26, 2011
Unseated Afghan MPs threaten protests , Al Jazeera, June 24, 2011
Afghanistan warns against "external interference" over poll, Reuters, June 27, 2011

Death Toll in Hospital Bomb Attack Reaches 38; Taliban Deny Responsibility

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 00:13:22 Z

Funerals of victims of a car bombing at a hospital in Afghanistan's eastern Logar province have been taking place. Thirty-eight people, including pregnant women, children, doctors and nurses, died in the attack, officials say - the deadliest on a medical facility since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. The hospital, in Azra district, was destroyed, leaving people buried under rubble. Officials blamed the attack on the Taliban, but the group denied it. A Taliban spokesman said the militants did not target civilians and that "someone with an agenda" was behind the blast. The actual death toll could be higher than the official figure, since relatives of some of those killed took the bodies away, officials said. Azra's director of health told the BBC the clinic's chief doctor, who was injured in the attack, had resumed work on Sunday morning and was operating from a mobile clinic. The Taliban has denied carrying out the attack, but Afghan officials in Logar told the BBC the insurgents had warned locals not to house, feed or join the Afghan security forces. They said they believed the Haqqani group staged the attack to take revenge, when its warnings went unheeded, says the BBC's Bilal Sarwary in Kabul.

Afghanistan: Logar hospital blast victims buried, BBC News, June 26, 2011

Related News

Car bomb blast at Afghan hospital kills at least 20, The New York Times, June 25, 2011
Suicide truck bomber targets Afghan hospital, kills 35, CNN, June 25, 2011
Hospital bomb in Afghanistan may have been intended for governor’s office , The Globe and Mail, June 26, 2011
Death toll rises to 38 in Logar suicide attack, Pajhwok Afghan News, June 26, 2011

Afghan Court Ruling Seeks to Alter Election Results

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 23:04:11 Z

A special court set up at the behest of President Hamid Karzai ordered on Thursday the reinstatement of 62 candidates who had lost their seats or had been disqualified from last year's parliamentary elections, reviving the prospect of a constitutional crisis for the nation. The decision was the latest chapter in a heated dispute over allegations of fraud in last September's elections. Coming a day after President Obama's announcement of troop withdrawals from Afghanistan, it provided a stinging reminder of the potential for turbulence in the country's fledgling democracy. Mr. Karzai swore in the current Parliament in January under pressure from his international backers and angry threats from the winning candidates. But he did so only after setting up the special court to review complaints by scores of candidates many of them Pashtuns from his political base in the south who were disqualified by the country's election commissions.

Afghan court ruling seeks to alter election results, The New York Times, June 23, 2011

Related News

Special court suggests to pull 62 MPs out of parliament, Afghan Analysts Network, June 23, 2011
Elections special tribunal throws out quarter of MPs, Tolo News, June 23, 2011

Related Research

Practicing Democracy in Afghanistan: Key Findings on Perceptions, Parliament and Elections, Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit , May 31, 2011
Afghanistan: Politics, Elections, and Government Performance [updated 2 March 2011], Congressional Research Service , March 02, 2011
The Wolesi Jirga in Flux, 2010: Elections and Instability I, Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit , September 08, 2010
Lessons Learned in Preparing and Conducting Elections in Afghanistan , Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction , September 09, 2010

Reactions to US Troop Withdrawal Plans

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 22:58:59 Z

European allies on Thursday applauded President Barack Obama's plan to start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, with France jumping at the chance to announce its own drawdown in a mission that has drained budgets and strained public opinion across the continent. After nearly a decade of fighting in Afghanistan, Obama's withdrawal blueprint was welcomed by NATO allies facing dwindling support, if not outright opposition, because of the conflict. Obama said Wednesday he will bring home 33,000 troops by next summer - nearly as many as the number sent to Afghanistan for the 2009 "surge" aimed at saving a flailing war effort. [...] French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet, doing the math on the U.S. pullout, said on BFM TV that roughly a quarter of American troops would leave Afghanistan by summer 2012 and that France "will do the same." That means about 1,000 French troops will be out by next summer. [...] In Germany, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said his country aims to begin pulling out troops for the first time by year's end. Germany has some 4,900 troops in a part of northern Afghanistan that was long relatively calm but has seen increasing fighting in recent years. In Brussels, a member of NATO's governing body, the North Atlantic Council, said a number of smaller member states are now "actively looking" at reducing their Afghanistan contingents over the next 12 months.

Europeans hail US drawdown from Afghanistan , Stars and Stripes, June 23, 2011

Related News

Pakistan, India assess U.S. withdrawal plans, Los Angeles Times, June 24, 2011
Reaction mixed in London to US plans for Afghanista, VOA News, June 23, 2011
France plans reduction of its Afghan troops, The New York Times, June 23, 2011
Afghans have mixed feelings about U.S. troop withdrawal, The Washingtons Post, June 23, 2011
Primer: Reactions to Obama's Afghanistan plan, Salon, June 23, 2011
Top brass shed misgivings on Afghan plan , The Wall Street Journal, June 24, 2011
Clinton: Taliban talks unpleasant but necessary, CBS News, June 23, 2011
Drone strikes "may increase" as troops leave Afghanistan, Channel 4, June 24, 2011

Related Research

Obama's Remarks on Afghanistan, June 2011, Council on Foreign Relations via the Human Security Gateway, June 22, 2011

Governance and Militancy in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 22:57:06 Z

The CSIS Program on Crisis, Conflict, and Cooperation (C3), formerly the PCR Project, has studied the link between the rise of nonstate armed groups (or militants, for the sake of simplicity) and the quality of local governance in Afghanistan and Pakistan: whether a link exists and, if so, what the United States can do about it, if anything. This research, based on more than 250 field interviews and an extensive review of published literature, found that most militant groups do not rely on governance and service provision to gain access to areas or populations that are operationally or strategically useful to them; instead, they use intimidation or personal connections such as tribal or kinship networks. Some groups do exploit grievances related to weak or corrupt governance (e.g., recruiting victims of police extortion), and a subset of those groups offer security, justice, education, disaster assistance, or (very rarely) health care in an effort to win the support and protection of a community.

Governance and Militancy in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Center for Strategic and International Studies, June 16, 2011

Related News

On human rights in Afghanistan, a grim sort of progress , The Globe and Mail, June 23, 2011
Karzai surrounding himself with narrow circle of advisers urging a shift from US to Iran, The Washington Post, June 23, 2011
Pakistan must be part of Afghan peace process: US, DAWN, June 23, 2011

Afghanistan Urges End to Pakistani Border Attacks

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 22:56:20 Z

The Afghan government on Friday called for an end to cross-border attacks from Pakistan, warning that such incidents could affect "improving trust and cooperation" between the two wary allies. The high-level warning comes after days of claim and counter-claim over cross-border attacks by the neighbours, whose relations are strained over the Islamist militancy faced by both which Kabul says is rooted in Pakistan. Four children were killed late Thursday by Pakistani shelling in the latest attack in the volatile northeastern province of Kunar, Kabul said. There was no immediate comment from Pakistan, where foreign ministry officials were wrapping up a fresh round of peace talks with India. "The ministry of foreign affairs of Afghanistan expresses its serious concern about the continuing Pakistani artillery shelling of Afghan villages in Kunar and Nangarhar provinces," it added in a statement. "The Afghan government calls for the immediate cessation of the artillery fire against Afghan villages.

Kabul urges end to Pakistani border attacks, AFP, June 24, 2011

Related News

Six die in Afghan blast, govt hits out on border strikes, ReliefWeb, June 24, 2011
Pakistan to mine, fence Afghan border, The Nation, June 24, 2011
Afghanistan says 4 children killed in Pakistani border shelling, Reuters, June 24, 2011

Related Research

Afghanistan and the Uncertain Metrics of Progress: Part Seven: The Problem of Pakistan, Center for Strategic and International Studies , June 07, 2011
Report on Afghanistan and Pakistan, March 2011, The White House // United States Government , April 05, 2011
Pakistan-Afghanistan Relations: A Pakistani Narrative, Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency , March 01, 2011

Wary Afghans Worry U.S. is Repeating History

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 19:54:59 Z

President Barack Obama's decision to withdraw one-third of U.S. forces in Afghanistan over the next 14 months conjured up uneasy memories for Afghans concerned that their American allies could leave the country before the job is done.Across the political spectrum, Afghan leaders expressed reservations about American intentions, saying they don't want to see U.S. policy makers repeat the patterns of the past by cutting off support for Afghanistan without making sure it had a stable government. They recalled the U.S. decision to dramatically scale back support for Afghanistan after Soviet forces were forced to withdraw in 1989. [...] "Twenty years ago, they left Afghanistan after the Russians pulled out of Afghanistan and Afghanistan was controlled by the ISI," said Ghulam Haider Hamidi, mayor of Kandahar city. "We don't want to go back 20 years when they were making the decisions about Afghanistan." Mr. Obama's support for a quicker-than-expected drawdown is the clearest indication yet that the U.S. is shifting its agenda toward what one U.S. official in Kabul called a "new paradigm."

Wary Afghans worry U.S. is repeating history , Wall Street Journal, June 23, 2011

Related News

Karzai: Obama's Afghan plan "a good measure", CBS News, June 23, 2011
Obama team: There hasn’t been a terrorist threat from Afghanistan “for the past seven or eight years”, Foreign Policy, June 22, 2011
Afghans say they'll fill the gap as U.S. forces withdraw , McClatchy, June 22, 2011
Taliban says U.S. troop plan symbolic, warns of more bloodshed, Reuters, June 23, 2011

Related Research

Global poll shows public support for Taliban negotiations, BBC News, June 22, 2011

Nuristan Province now al-Qaeda and Taliban Central: Senior Police Official

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 19:52:50 Z

Afghan intelligence officials in the province of Nuristan have accused the central government and Nato forces in particular of ignoring insurgents there and in other strategically important areas close to the Pakistani border. They say that increasing violence in Nuristan - and in the provinces of Laghman, Kunar and Nangarhar - poses a significant security threat. "Nuristan is now al-Qaeda and Taliban central," said one senior police official in the province. "They attack in hundreds, they have blocked key roads. We need to retake these areas from them." The problem has become so acute that Gen Aminullah Amarkhel of the Afghan border police says the border with Pakistan is like a "house without a door". [...] The government has never been in total control of this region. Nangarhar in particular is notorious for the illegal drug trade. Poppy and hashish are grown here and it is known to have several heroin processing laboratories.

Afghan-Pakistan border like 'house without door', BBC News, June 22, 2011

Related News

Obama’s drawdown in Afghanistan will shift tactics in war, Washington Post, June 22, 2011
Afghans ready to retaliate against Pakistan missile attacks, TOLO News, June 22, 2011
First, take Nuristan: The Taliban's new Afghan plan , TIME Magazine, June 01, 2011

Fears that Economy will fall into "Economic Abyss" as NATO Troops Depart

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 19:52:29 Z

[...] Very little will happen immediately. “What’s going to be different 24 hours after the president’s speech? Nothing,” said a senior American official in Kabul. Over the next three years, however, as the American military and civilian presence — and spending — decrease, thousands of jobs will end for Afghans who work at or around bases and under grants and contracts financed by the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development. Afghans and American civilian and military planners fear that the country will fall into an economic abyss, sending some Afghans back into the insurgency and deepening the poverty of people throughout the country. “We’ve had remarkable achievements, but can they make up the gap with the hit from the withdrawal of the war economy? That would be a stretch,” said a senior United States official.

As U.S. pulls back, fears abound over toll on Afghan economy, New York Times, June 22, 2011

Related News

U.S. troop cut may also bring risky cuts in Afghan aid, Reuters , June 23, 2011
Rethinking Civilian Assistance in Afghanistan [Op-ed], New York Times, June 23, 2011
The Way Forward in Afghanistan [Testimony], US Department of State, June 23, 2011

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Evaluating US Foreign Assistance to Afghanistan, United States Senate // Committee on Foreign Relations, June 08, 2011
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Poppy Cultivation in Afghanistan Remains Stable: World Drug Report 2011

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 19:52:03 Z

Global opium poppy cultivation reached some 195,700 hectares (ha) in 2010, a small increase over 2009, shows the flagship report launched today at United Nations Headquarters by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; Yury Fedotov [...]. [...] Opium production declined, however, by 38 per cent to 4,860 tons due to a blight that wiped out much of the opium harvest in Afghanistan in 2010. Nonetheless, the bulk of opium production still took place in Afghanistan (3,600 tons or 74 per cent of the global total). While cultivation in Afghanistan remained stable, the global trend was mainly driven by increases in Myanmar, where cultivation rose by some 20 per cent from 2009. [...] Global opium production declined by 45 per cent between 2007 and 2010, particularly as a result of opium blight in 2010 in Afghanistan, but this trend is unlikely to continue.“Though the area under poppy cultivation may have remained stable this year, our preliminary findings indicate that Afghan opium production will probably rebound to high levels in 2011” warned Mr. Fedotov.

World Drug Report 2011: Poppy cultivation in Afghanistan remained stable, the global trend driven by increases in Myanmar, Releif Web, June 23, 2011

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Taliban Kill Eight in Attack on Police Checkpoint in Ghazni

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 19:55:37 Z

Eight Afghan police were killed Wednesday when Taliban attacked their checkpoint in a brazen assault likely to raise fresh security questions as the United States prepares a troop drawdown. The attack in Ghazni province's Qarabagh district, about 120 kilometres (75 miles) southwest of Kabul, is thought to have been an inside job in which insurgents worked with a policeman at the checkpoint to strike. "The attack started at around 7:00 am (2:30 GMT)," Sayed Amir Shah, the head of Afghanistan's intelligence agency in Ghazni province, told AFP, putting the death toll at eight after the fighting had stopped. Mohammad Ali Ahmadi, the deputy provincial governor of Ghazni, confirmed the number of dead. "Probably one of the police officers at the checkpoint had a previous deal with the insurgents and cooperated with and facilitated the assault," he said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a text message sent to AFP. Earlier this month, three police were killed in a similar insurgent strike on their checkpoint in the same district.

Eight Afghan police killed in checkpoint attack, AFP, June 22, 2011

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Afghan Perspectives on Achieving Durable Peace

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 19:55:21 Z

Afghans across different groups see the United States as a key party to the conflict whose direct participation in a peace process is crucial to its success, and therefore question the effectiveness of U.S. emphasis on an “Afghan-led” reconciliation strategy. The U.S. must engage directly in negotiating a settlement because of its control over the issue of withdrawal of NATO forces. The Taliban demand for full withdrawal prior to talks appears to be an opening position. A challenge will be linking a structure for drawdown to necessary steps by insurgents to allow a cessation of violence and prevent Afghanistan’s use for terrorism. A settlement process will entail discussion of the composition and future of the Afghan National Security Forces, and the current “transition” strategy of a large army and expanding local defence initiatives will almost certainly need re-examining during such a process. The conflict is not only a struggle for power and resources; it is also a legitimacy crisis stemming from a system of power and patronage that feeds conflict. From this perspective, a settlement should address the concentration of powers in the presidency through incremental reform to appointments, elections, or farther-reaching changes to the structure of government over time. There is a tension between reform and using political appointments to accommodate powersharing demands. A durable settlement will need to involve political and social agreements among Afghans taking into account the views of a range of stakeholders. To manage this tension, the intra-Afghan peace process should be oriented toward broad inclusion of noncombatants while balancing the secrecy required to make progress.

Afghan Perspectives on Achieving Durable Peace, United States Institute for Peace, June 03, 2011

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The Afghan Peace Jirga: Ensuring that Women are at the Peace Table, United States Institute of Peace , May 12, 2010

Obama, Pentagon Reportedly Split on Afghanistan Pullout

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 19:53:02 Z

Barack Obama is set to reject the advice of the Pentagon by announcing on Wednesday night the withdrawal of up to 30,000 troops from Afghanistan by November next year, in time for the US presidential election. The move comes despite warnings from his military commanders that recent security gains are fragile. They have been urging him to keep troop numbers high until 2013. The accelerated drawdown will dismay American and British commanders in Kabul, who have privately expressed concern that the White House is now being driven by political rather than military imperatives. "This is not something we feel entirely comfortable with," a Whitehall official told the Guardian. Obama's nationally televised address, the sixth he has given since becoming president, is intended to mark the beginning of the end of American military deployment in Afghanistan, from a present high of almost 100,000 troops. The White House confirmed that the withdrawal will be "significant".

Barack Obama and Pentagon split on Afghanistan pullout, The Guardian, June 21, 2011

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Allen could be headed to Afghanistan ahead of schedule, The Washington Post, June 21, 2011
In Afghanistan, bickering hints at deepening rift , Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, June 21, 2011

Price of Opium Triples amid Struggling Economy, Planned Troop Drawdown

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 20:42:49 Z

Far away from the war, in the remote hills of Badakhshan, there is another battle raging. Trundling into the valleys on dusty roads ripped up by large SUVs, an Afghan task force is heading towards their target: an industry so profitable that many fear it's Afghanistan's only viable option once the West pulls its troops and money out. We've joined up with the Ministry of Counter Narcotics looking for opium. Here in Badakhshan, the Taliban aren't much of a problem. The real issue is the business that has kept Afghans afloat for many years. For a while, NATO eased off pushing against the opium trade, feeling that the enemies it created made it even harder to fight the insurgency that was its number one priority. But this year things are different for a reason. The price of the drug has tripled, making it highly possible the harvest will flood record profits into the country, according to the United Nations Office of Drug Control here.

Next Afghanistan battle: Opium, CNN, June 21, 2011

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Afghanistan NGO Safety Office Bi-Weekly Security Report

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 20:36:46 Z

While May concluded with the reporting of extraordinary levels of conflict related activity (surpassing the previous peak recorded in August 2010), the opening period for June indicates a continuation of this momentum, reporting similarly high levels of incidents (see p. 7). This periods figures also reveal that despite security force efforts at interdiction and disruption of AOG networks (both manpower and supply related) through the winter and into early 2011, armed opposition elements are far from being a spent force, and in fact appear more than capable of continuing their efforts unabated. Early June generally serves as a reliable indicator for pending levels of violence and marks a stage in the steady upwards trend leading into the later summer months, though this may be affected by the early onset of Ramadan this year (August). component of the opposition campaign plan (as indicated by the graphs on p. 10) and serve as one of the key tactics driving present growth. Suicide attack levels remain relatively steady, and the use of indirect fire methods continue to be a regular feature of the conflict landscape. From a str a t e g i c perspective, there is little significant month to month change in the geographic distribution of incidents, though periodic ‘hills and valleys’ do occur in various areas, the result of both intentional planning and forced circumstance on both sides. This period Logar, Paktya and Herat marked significant monthly volume increases for AOG attributed events, and f o l l owi n g per i o d i c fluctuations in an otherwise meteoric rise, AOG activity levels in Helmand are once again on the upswing.

The Afghanistan NGO Safety Office: The ANSO Report 1-15 June 2011 , Afghanistan NGO Safety Office, June 20, 2011

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2010 Annual Report on EU's Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Efforts: Afghanistan

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 20:17:14 Z

In Afghanistan and Pakistan, the humanitarian crises are twofold: on the one hand, the ‘Afghan’ crisis affects not only Afghanistan but also Iran and Pakistan, where almost four million Afghan refugees are still living; on the other hand, Pakistan is affected by a twinfaceted crisis with still more than 1.2 million people displaced by the conflict and almost 20 million affected by major flooding as from July 2010. In Afghanistan the deterioration in security and the consequences of extensive military operations, aggravated by years of drought, increasing flooding and recurrent smallscale disasters such as earthquakes, caused a sharp increase in humanitarian needs in 2010 which is likely to continue this year with more than 335 000 IDPs. In Pakistan, during the summer of 2010, an area of the country stretching from the Chinese border in the north to the Arabian Sea in the south was hit by the worst floods in living memory, leaving millions of people in dire need of humanitarian assistance. Both countries are very prone to natural disasters. [...] The main groups with substantial humanitarian needs in 2010 were the over 335 000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) within Afghanistan affected by the conflict, as well as refugees returning from Pakistan and Iran. Host communities receiving these returnees are also beneficiaries of the programmes. The highly food-insecure population affected by recurrent natural disasters, including many years of drought and the recent severe flooding in the north and east, have been benefiting from assistance too. The needs of the returnees and IDPs included protection, transport and resettlement support, plus food, shelter, and water/sanitation for the most vulnerable such as female-headed households. [...] Under its 2010 Global Plan, the EU provided funding totalling € 36 million, including € 25.4 million in support for refugees and returnees, covering registration and transportation of refugees from Pakistan and Iran to Afghanistan, support for reintegration plus aid for the most vulnerable of the remaining refugees in both countries. Protection assistance was provided, among others through the UNHCR and the ICRC in line with their respective protection mandates. Shelter, together with water/sanitation, was the other most important area of activity within Afghanistan.

Annual Report 2010 on the European Union’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Policies and Their Implementation, European Commission // Directorate General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection via the Human Security Gateway, June 21, 2011

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Taliban Suicide Bomber Targets Afghan Governor, Kills Two

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 20:16:22 Z

A Taliban suicide bomber targeted a provincial governor in northern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing two civilians and wounding another two, the interior ministry said. The attack struck the usually peaceful province of Parwan, when the bomber tried to enter the compound of governor Basir Salangi. "At around 10:45am (0615 GMT) Tuesday, a suicide bomber detonated himself in front of the gate of the Parwan governor's compound. As a result, two civilians including a women were martyred and two others injured," the ministry said. [...] Elsewhere in Afghanistan, three policemen were killed by a landmine blast while out on patrol Monday in the southern province of Uruzgan, said Amanullah Hotaki, the chief of the local provincial council. Also Monday, two men -- one a shopkeeper and another a foreign forces contractor -- were shot dead in the southern city of Kandahar, police said. Taliban spokesman Qari Yosuf Ahmadi took responsibility for all the attacks.

Taliban bomber targets Afghan governor, kills two, AFP, June 21, 2011

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US-funded Afghan Local Police under Scrutiny after Claims of Abuses, Infighting

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 21:59:48 Z

A cornerstone US policy to turn Afghan farmers into armed watchmen to keep out the Taliban has hit controversy and been scaled back over allegations of infighting and illegal taxation. In Marjah, the 1,150 trained local police or "arbaki" patrol an area transformed from insurgent hotbed into a mostly peaceful farming district in southern Afghanistan since a military operation 15 months ago. [...] But President Hamid Karzai has expressed concern that the new groups could feed a fresh generation of warlords, doubts shared by many Kabul-based policy experts and some US commanders. And initial plans for a 30,000-strong force nationwide have been scaled back, with the scheme already canned in the dangerous nearby district of Sangin. [...] In the centre of Marjah, the arbaki or ISCI (interim security for critical infrastructure) receive a polite welcome as they conduct searches of rural compounds suspected of hiding bomb-making material. But residents in outlying areas still troubled by Taliban attacks claim the local police use their official status to solve petty disputes. "Some of those who joined the arbaki are using it to settle scores with their family members. They tell the US and ANA (Afghan army) that they are Taliban and should be arrested," said Haji Abdul Rasoul, a Shinghazak resident.

Fears surface over US-trained local Afghan police, AFP, June 19, 2011

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Pentagon defends Afghan Local Police plan, VOA News, July 14, 2010

Haqqani Leader Threatens Reprisals as Govt Executes Two over Bank Attack

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 21:59:05 Z

Insurgents in Afghanistan's violent east will target courts and judges after the execution of two fighters convicted over a brutal bank raid, one of the leaders of the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network said on Monday. At least 40 people were killed when seven gunmen and suicide bombers, dressed in border police uniforms, attacked an office of private lender Kabulbank on February 19, triggering gunbattles that lasted several hours. Security camera footage showed insurgents shooting those inside the bank, some as they cowered on the floor in fear and others with their hands raised in the air, in one of the most savage attacks in Afghanistan for months. The National Directorate of Security (NDS), Afghanistan's intelligence agency, said the two men were hanged in Kabul's Pule Charkhi prison on Monday for their part in the attack. It named the two men only as Zarjam, a Pakistani national, and Matiullah, from eastern Kunar province near the border with Pakistan. The NDS said Zarjam's body would be handed over to Pakistani embassy officials in Afghanistan and that Matiullah's body would be returned to his family in Kunar. [...] "If our man in Afghan custody is executed, we will launch a new operation to only target judges and courts," Sirajuddin Haqqani said before the executions were confirmed by the NDS.

Afghan fighters threaten reprisals over bank raid executions, Reuters, June 20, 2011

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US Confirms Talks with Taliban as UN Splits Taliban, Al-Qaeda on Sanctions List

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 21:56:33 Z

Outgoing US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has confirmed that the US is holding "outreach" talks with members of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Mr Gates said talks were "preliminary" but that a political solution was the way "most of these wars end". It is the first time the US has acknowledged such contact and comes a day after Afghan President Hamid Karzai said peace talks had started. The US is due to start withdrawing its 97,000 troops from Afghanistan in July. It aims to gradually hand over all security operations to Afghan security forces by 2014. [...] On Friday, the UN split a sanctions blacklist for the Taliban and al-Qaeda, to encourage Taliban members to turn their back on the Islamist organisation and join reconciliation efforts. Before now, both organisations have been handled by the same UN sanctions committee. The UN Security Council said it was sending a signal to the Taliban that now is the time to join the political process.

Robert Gates confirms US-Taliban talks in Afghanistan, BBC News, June 19, 2011

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Afghanistan Leading Country of Origin of Refugees in 2010: UNHCR Report

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 21:56:09 Z

With more than three million refugees in 75 countries, Afghanistan remained the leading country of origin of refugees in 2010. On average, three out of ten refugees in the world were from Afghanistan, with 96 per cent of them located in Pakistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Iraqis were the second largest group, with an estimated 1.7million having sought refuge mainly in neighbouring countries. Afghan and Iraqi refugees accounted for almost half (45%) of all refugees under UNHCR’s responsibility worldwide. [...] Afghanistan continued to be the main country of return, with 118,000 registered returns during the year and twice as many as last year (57,600). Levels in 2009 were the lowest since start of the large-scale refugee return in 2002. Overall, close to 5.5 million Afghan refugees – or roughly one-fifth of Afghanistan’s population – have returned home since 2002. As part of its monitoring responsibilities, UNHCR conducts interviews with returning Afghans to assess the reasons for return. In 2010, the most often-cited factors have been economic concerns, difficulties in Pakistan, and local improvements in security in some parts of Afghanistan. [...] In UNHCR and state asylum procedures combined, the highest number of new asylum claims was filed by individuals originating from Zimbabwe (149,400), Somalia (37,500), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (35,600), Afghanistan (33,500), Colombia (32,300), Serbia (and Kosovo: UNSCR 1244) (30,500), and Myanmar (27,900). [...] Afghan and Iraqi refugees accounted for almost half of all refugees under UNHCR’s responsibility worldwide; three out of ten refugees in the world were from Afghanistan (3 million). Afghans were located in 75 different asylum countries.

UNHCR - Global Trends 2010 [pdf], United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees, June 20, 2011

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Suicide Bomber Strikes German Military Convoy in Kunduz, Kills Three Civilians

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 21:51:48 Z

A suicide attacker blew up his explosives-laden car next to a German military convoy in northern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing three Afghan civilians, officials and witnesses said. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack. The bomber detonated his vehicle on a busy road on the edge of Kunduz city, near the airport, the Afghan Interior Ministry said. [...] Three civilians were killed and 11 were wounded in the attack, the ministry said. Germany's military said two German soldiers were lightly wounded and treated at a nearby base. Two vehicles were damaged, according to a German military spokesman, who declined to be named in line with department policy. The commander of a German base outside Kunduz, Col. Norbert Sabrautzki, was traveling in the convoy to a security meeting with the provincial governor and other Afghan officials in Kunduz when the bomber struck, the spokesman said. The blast comes about three weeks after an attack inside the compound of the governor of nearby Takhar province at a similar security meeting. That attack killed several people and injured the NATO force's commander for northern Afghanistan, Germany's Gen. Markus Kneip.

Three killed, 11 wounded in attack on German military convoy in Afghanistan , The Globe and Mail, June 19, 2011

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Uniformed Suicide Bombers Attack Kabul Police Station, Kill Nine

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 21:51:30 Z

Suicide bombers in army uniform attacked a Kabul police compound on Saturday, killing nine people in the second major assault inside the Afghan capital in less than a month, the Interior Ministry said. The Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the assault, vowed last month to carry out attacks on foreign and Afghan troops and government officials, and have assassinated several senior police commanders since the start of the year. Three policemen, an intelligence agent, and five civilians -- including two finance ministry employees who worked in an office beside the police station -- were killed in the attack, said officials. Two other policemen and 10 civilians were wounded. Despite the presence of up to 150,000 foreign troops, violence across Afghanistan is at its worst since the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban government. May was the deadliest month on record for Afghan civilians, the United Nations said.

Suicide attack on Kabul police station kills nine, Reuters, January 01, 1900

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Pakistan's Taliban Backs Zawahri as al Qaeda Chief

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 19:22:11 Z

Pakistan's Taliban movement, regarded as one of the world's most dangerous militant groups, said on Thursday it backed Ayman al-Zawahri as al Qaeda's new leader and vowed to carry out attacks against Western targets.Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan described Zawahri as an "capable person" and said the former Egyptian doctor would inspire the group to take on the West. [...] Omar Khalid Khorasani, a senior Pakistani Taliban commander, recently said in response to questions posed by Reuters that Zawahri was the group's "chief and supreme leader". [...] Zawahri has expressed contempt for the U.S.-backed Pakistani government. In recordings posted on the Internet he has urged Pakistanis to revolt against their government and army. Like other militants, he sees Pakistan as a U.S. puppet. In an audio recording, released in September last year, he accused the Pakistani government of responding too slowly to floods that devastated the country. [...] Zawahri met bin Laden in the mid 1980s when both were in Pakistan to support guerrillas fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan.

Pakistan's Taliban backs Zawahri as al Qaeda chief, Reuters, June 16, 2011

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Reporting in Times of War: Press Freedom in Afghanistan 2008-2011

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 19:17:09 Z

This document has been produced by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) for the Afghan Independent Journalists’ Association and other partners and affiliates in Afghanistan. Journalism in Afghanistan continues to be scarred by seemingly endless conflict but is able, when occasion arises, to celebrate significant achievements At the official commemoration of World Press Freedom Day in 2011, the country’s Minister for Information, Sayed Makhdoon Raheen, remarked upon the growth of Afghanistan’s media as one of the signal achievement of the years since the dismantling of the Taliban regime in November 2001. Within a month of the Taliban collapse, according to Raheen, Afghanistan had sprouted no less than 200 independent media outlets. Ten years later, the figure, as quoted by the Minister in his public address on 3 May 2011, stood at 1000. This is not to discount the difficulties that journalism in Afghanistan faces almost on a continuous basis. It should be counted among the most significant achievements of journalists in Afghanistan that they have put in place a nascent media rights monitoring network, with the most serious instances of media rights violations reported to a world audience. With support from the Commission for the European Union (EU), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has assisted the Afghan Independent Journalists’ Association (AIJA) and other local organisations to develop this network, with particular reference to promoting free and safe reporting in the context of Afghanistan’s elections in recent years. If World Press Freedom Day were to be used as reference point, the years since 2008 would seem to suggest a decline in the hazards that journalists face. But the decline in physical hazards, though of some consequence, does not yet mean that journalism is able to function in a congenial environment. [...] If World Press Freedom Day were to be used as reference point, the years since 2008 would seem to suggest a decline in the hazards that journalists face. But the decline in physical hazards, though of some consequence, does not yet mean that journalism is able to function in a congenial environment.

Reporting in Times of War: Press Freedom in Afghanistan 2008 - 2011, International Federation of Journalists // Afghan Independent Journalists Association, June 09, 2011

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Afghanistan Could Face Insolvency within a Month: Officials

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 19:15:25 Z

The Afghan government will struggle to pay its bills "within a month" after the International Monetary Fund rejected proposals for resolving the Kabul Bank scandal, western officials have warned. Although the war-torn country's biggest bank nearly collapsed last September, the government of Hamid Karzai and the international community are still at loggerheads over plans to fund an $820m (£507m) bailout as well as how the disgraced former managers and shareholders who helped themselves to hundreds of millions of dollars should be prosecuted. As long as the IMF declares the plans to be inadequate, many countries, including Britain, are legally barred from pumping money into a government that is almost completely reliant on foreign cash to pay civil servants' salaries. It was reported by Reuters that the IMF has now formally rejected the Afghan government's proposals, meaning aid disbursements will remain on hold.

Afghanistan facing insolvency within a month, say officials, The Guardian, June 17, 2011

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Cross-border Rocket Attack Kills 4 Afghan Children

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 19:14:30 Z

A rocket fired during fighting Friday in Pakistan's tribal region landed in eastern Afghanistan, killing four children in an area where militants launch attacks on U.S.-led forces, officials said. The rocket landed in Sirkanay district of Kunar province, an area where more than 100 rockets have landed in the last few days from across the border, provincial police chief Gen. Ewaz Mohammad said. It was unclear who fired the rocket, though Mohammad said there had been Pakistani military airstrikes in the region. An Afghan border police official, Gen. Aminullah Amarkhil, said a neighboring region of Pakistan had seen the military fighting there.

Rocket attack over border kills 4 Afghan children , Seattle Times, June 17, 2011

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Al-Zawahiri Named New al-Qaeda Chief

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 22:50:19 Z

Al-Qaeda has named Ayman al-Zawahiri as its new chief following the killing of Osama bin Laden, the group has said in a statement issued in the name of the group's general command. "The general command of al-Qaeda announces, after consultations, the appointment of Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahiri as head of the group," the statement, posted online on Thursday, said. US special forces killed bin Laden in a raid on the Pakistani city of Abbottabad on May 2. Al-Qaeda under the new leadership of al-Zawahiri will pursue its fight against the US and Israel, the group said in the statement. "We seek with the aid of God to call for the religion of truth and incite our nation to fight ... by carrying out jihad against the apostate invaders ... with their head being crusader America and its servant Israel, and whoever supports them," it said. Al-Zawahiri has been al-Qaeda's number two for years. His whereabouts are unknown but he is widely believed to be hiding along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The United States is offering a $25m reward for any information leading to his capture or conviction.

Al-Zawahiri named new al-Qaeda chief , Al Jazeera, June 16, 2011

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Canada's Engagement in Afghanistan: Quarterly Report January-March 2011

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 22:47:05 Z

Progress in Afghanistan has been achieved on a number of fronts at the national, provincial, district and local levels. The pace of change in Afghanistan however has been slow and not without setbacks. Sustaining progress—whether political, economic or social—will depend on continuing Afghan leadership, within government and in particular throughout Afghan society. While much remains to be done, Canada continues to be inspired by those Afghans who are fighting for change, for peace, for greater rights and freedoms for women and girls, and for improved quality of life for all Afghans. This quarterly report, covering the period of January 1 to March 31, 2011, describes the progress made on Canada’s six priorities and three signature projects in Afghanistan, through a lens of how our priorities, projects and partnerships have worked to support Afghan leadership and ownership of their future. This report also provides insight into some of the progress that has been made in Afghanistan through the experiences and thoughts of the Afghan people themselves.

Canada's Engagement in Afghanistan: Quarterly Report to Parliament For the Period of January 1 to March 31, 2011, Government of Canada, June 14, 2011

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Pakistan Village Raided "by Militants from Afghanistan"

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 22:45:51 Z

More than 200 militants have stormed a Pakistani village near the Afghan border, wounding at least two women, officials say. Pakistani officials say the insurgents crossed the border to attack Mamoond village in Bajaur tribal region. [...] A similar attack earlier this month in Pakistan's Upper Dir area led to a prolonged clash and left at least 25 Pakistani troops dead. "Some 250-300 militants targeted civilians in Mamoond," AFP news agency quoted local government official Fazle Akbar as saying. The village is about 65km (40 miles) north-west of Khar, the main town in Bajaur. "We have sent army and paramilitary troops to the area as we got reports that militants are still present there," AFP quoted a security official as saying. [...] The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan in Karachi says that the Taliban are generally believed to be behind such raids. But a Taliban spokesman denied any connection to the most recent attack. He said the men involved had been thrown out of Taliban ranks for being involved in armed robberies and what he said were immoral activities.

Pakistan village raided 'by militants from Afghanistan', BBC News, June 16, 2011

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Austria Arrests 4 Suspects on Terrorism Related Charges Tied to Afghanistan

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 22:45:15 Z

Austrian police have arrested four people suspected of terrorism, including three who were on their way to training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the interior ministry announced Thursday. The three recruits were arrested Wednesday at Vienna airport, ministry spokesman Rudolf Gollia said. A fourth suspect, an Austrian national, was detained around the same time in Vienna on suspicion of recruiting for terror training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan and of financing a terrorist organisation, the German Taliban Mujahideen (DTM), Gollia added.

Austrian police arrest four suspected of terrorism, The Express Tribune, June 16, 2011

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Insurgents Target Top Officials in Multiple Attacks, Kill at Least 9 Civilians

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 20:20:34 Z

The Taliban targeted top government officials in Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing 11 people in two suicide blasts and firing rockets at the vice president and interior minister, who escaped unhurt. Nine civilians were among those who died in the attacks [...] In the first, an attacker drove a car laden with explosives towards the education and agriculture departments in Mahmud Raqi, capital of Kapisa province northeast of Kabul. [...] Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the militia had carried out the attack which he claimed had targeted the French ambassador to Afghanistan and French soldiers who were visiting the governor's office at the time. The ambassador told AFP he was 15 minutes away when the attack happened and that no one among his party was hurt. [...] In the second incident, Afghan Vice President Karim Khalili and Interior Minister Besmullah Mohammadi escaped after a rocket attack targeted a police centre they were visiting but landed close by instead. Provincial spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said the attack happened in the Chaki Wardak district of Wardak province, a restive area west of Kabul. [...] The Taliban also claimed responsibility for that attack. [...] In the third attack, four civilians were killed when a suicide attacker apparently targeting Afghan officials in the restive eastern province of Paktia, which borders Pakistan, blew himself up.

Eleven dead in twin Afghan suicide blasts, AFP, June 15, 2011

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Secret US and Afghanistan Talks Could See Troops Stay for Decades

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 20:18:10 Z

American and Afghan officials are locked in increasingly acrimonious secret talks about a long-term security agreement which is likely to see US troops, spies and air power based in the troubled country for decades. Though not publicised, negotiations have been under way for more than a month to secure a strategic partnership agreement which would include an American presence beyond the end of 2014 – the agreed date for all 130,000 combat troops to leave — despite continuing public debate in Washington and among other members of the 49-nation coalition fighting in Afghanistan about the speed of the withdrawal. American officials admit that although Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, recently said Washington did not want any "permanent" bases in Afghanistan, her phrasing allows a variety of possible arrangements. "There are US troops in various countries for some considerable lengths of time which are not there permanently," a US official told the Guardian.

Secret US and Afghanistan talks could see troops stay for decades, The Guardian, June 13, 2011

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Afghanistan Looms Large at SCO Security Group Meeting

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 20:16:32 Z

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization's (SCO) meeting in Kazakhstan focused on how Central Asia could be affected by the possible spread of the Arab Spring – as well as failure to stabilize Afghanistan. [...] In the longer run, the SCO is deeply worried about the possible failure of the NATO mission in Afghanistan, and that country's reversion to the anarchy that prevailed after the USSR ended its disastrous nine-year occupation in 1989. "Russia is calling for more intensive and deeper cooperation between the SCO and Afghanistan," Medvedev told the summit. "Eventually, the process of political stabilization in Afghanistan depends on this (extended cooperation with the SCO), and the security of our states to a great degree depends on the situation in this country," he added. Though it's politically impossible for Russia to commit troops to Afghanistan, due to the still-painful Soviet defeat, Moscow has been searching for ways to rebuild its influence with infrastructure projects, sales of helicopters, and increasing cooperation with Western forces in combating the mass narcotics smuggling that has flooded former Soviet Central Asia and Russia with illegal drugs since the NATO war began. "Afghanistan was the main reason the SCO was created 10 years ago, even before 9/11 forced the Americans to recognize the threat," says Markov. "The threat of radical Islamism being exported into our region is something we're very familiar with. And now it seems that the US will be unable to solve the problems of Afghanistan, a resurgence of that threat has got to be a major concern."

Afghanistan looms large at SCO security group meeting, The Christian Science Monitor, June 15, 2009

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Report Notes Complex Motives behind Rising Attacks by Afghan Troops on NATO Soldiers; Cites Stress as Factor

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 20:16:14 Z

In late November, U.S. soldiers were supervising artillery training for Afghan troops in Nangarhar province, close to the Pakistan border. After they climbed a ridge to assess the impact area, an Afghan border policeman suddenly turned on them and opened fire. Seconds later, six Americans and their assailant were dead. It was one of the deadliest incidents of what the military call "green on blue" -- a euphemism for attacks by members of the Afghan security forces on their allies in the international force known as ISAF. They have risen sharply over the past year, raising fears that the Taliban are infiltrating the Afghan National Army and police force. But military analysts and intelligence officials say the reality is more complicated. According to a NATO analysis seen by CNN, "green on blue" attacks have killed 52 U.S. and allied soldiers since 2005, many of them in the past year. The analysis concludes that combat stress provoked 36% of the attacks, even if the Taliban subsequently claimed responsibility. In 23% cases, an Afghan soldier had been persuaded by the Taliban to carry out an attack -- but the motive in an additional 32% of cases was unknown. A senior intelligence official involved in NATO's training program told CNN that "battlefield conditions and frequent deployments are the leading causes" of such incidents.

Attacks by Afghan troops on NATO soldiers rising, but motives complex, CNN, June 15, 2011

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Afghanistan Worst Place in the World for Women: Report

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 20:15:16 Z

Targeted violence against female public officials, dismal healthcare and desperate poverty make Afghanistan the world's most dangerous country in which to be born a woman, according to a global survey released on Wednesday. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Pakistan, India and Somalia feature in descending order after Afghanistan in the list of the five worst states, the poll among gender experts shows. The appearance of India, a country rapidly developing into an economic super-power, was unexpected. It is ranked as extremely hazardous because of the subcontinent's high level of female infanticide and sex trafficking. [...] High maternal mortality rates, limited access to doctors and a "near total lack of economic rights" render Afghanistan such a threat to its female inhabitants. "Continuing conflict, Nato airstrikes and cultural practices combine to make Afghanistan a very dangerous place for women," said Antonella Notari, head of Women Change Makers, a group that supports women social entrepreneurs around the world.

Afghanistan worst place in the world for women, but India in top five, The Guardian, June 15, 2011

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Afghan Women Fear the Price of Peace

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 20:08:53 Z

[...] As the West and President Hamid Karzai's government redouble efforts to coax insurgents into peace negotiations, a loose coalition of women's groups, human rights activists, professionals, Karzai critics and ethnic groups is beginning to coalesce in opposition to such talks. Most Afghans believe a negotiated settlement is the only way to bring the decade-old conflict to an end. But many also fear the price of any peace, worried that desperation for a deal will result in too many concessions to the militants, potentially paving the way for a return of notoriously repressive elements of Taliban rule. "The problem is the tools and the method that the Afghan government has chosen for approaching negotiations," political analyst Sanjar Sohail said. "There are other ways to get a better result." Karzai has made hopes of reconciliation with the Taliban the focus of his second term in office. Along with the Obama administration, he says reconciliation can only come if the insurgents meet three conditions: renouncing violence, severing ties with Al Qaeda and promising to respect the Afghan Constitution.

Afghans fearful of push to negotiate with Taliban, Los Angeles Times, June 13, 2011

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