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Afghanistan
Week 36 04 September 2012

Review

Comprehensive Information on Complex Crises

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Economic Development Governance & Rule of Law Security & Force Protection Social & Strategic Infrastructure

This document provides a weekly overview of developments in Afghanistan from 28 August 03 September 2012, with hyper-links to source material highlighted in blue and underlined in the text. For more information on the topics below or other issues pertaining to events in Afghanistan, contact the members of the Afghanistan Team, or visit our website at www.cimicweb.org.

Economic Development

Steven A. Zyck steve.zyck@cimicweb.org

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he US government appeared to express its support for a trade cooperation agreement discussed last week between the Afghan, Indian and Iranian governments, reported Pajhwok Afghan News. The agreement would involve all three countries in the Iranian port at Chabahar, which will be used for importing and exporting goods, including mining equipment, minerals and processed metals, to and from Afghanistan. US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters: These three countries are neighbours. They have to get along. We are obviously interested in increased trade and commerce back and forth there. So anything that ameliorates that situation is something that we would support. However, a few days later a US Treasury Department delegation met with officials from the Afghan Central Bank and Afghan companies to urge them to adhere to international sanctions against Iran, according to Reuters. Khaama Press noted that the US officials urged the Afghan government and private sector to avoid doing business with sanctions-affected Iranian banks and 24 specific Iranian firms. The request reportedly encountered resistance. Afghan Deputy Commerce Minister Wahidullah Ghazni stated that trade with Iran is in Afghanistans national interest, and senior officials from the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) expressed concern about the potential loss of fuel from Iran. Top ACCI officials told Reuters they hope the administration of President Hamid Karzai would rebuff any American efforts to penalise Afghan firms for doing business with Iran. Ariana News reported that the Wolesi Jirga, the lower house of the Afghan parliament, is seeking the dismissal of the countrys central bank chief, Noorullah Delawari, whom they accuse of incompetence. Delawari took over responsibility at the central bank, known as Da Afghanistan Bank, after its former governor fled the country in mid-2011 amid allegations that he had not done enough to prevent the 2010 Kabul Bank crisis, according to The Telegraph. A steel plant was inaugurated in the western Afghanistan province of Herat, wrote Wadsam. According to Tolo News, the factory is Afghanistans second steel plant and cost its owner, Esmatullah Wardak, USD 25 million to build. Wasdam said the factory employs 200 people, including 80 technical specialists from Pakistan. While currently producing 80 tonnes of iron on a daily basis, the factorys output will increase to 400 tonnes per day within four years. The Ministry of Commerce and Industries will be imposing a levy on imported iron and steel to help ensure that Afghans purchase domestic rather than foreign steel in the future. An agricultural research and training centre in Parwan province financed by the South Korean Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) was inaugurated on 28 August, reported Wadsam. The centre, which will train 1,200 farmers per year, includes facilities for artificial insemination, packaging and storage as well as green houses and a mosque. In closely related news, the United States Agency for International Development

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(USAID) recently announced a contribution of USD 65 million to promote Afghan agriculture and agricultural research, according to Khaama Press. The Afghan Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock will directly receive USD 40 million of the total while the remaining USD 25 million will be spent directly by USAID. Analysts reportedly believe that agriculture presents one of the best hopes for sustaining and growing the Afghan economy in the coming years. In other agriculture-related news, USAID said that a Traveling Agricultural Theatre which it supports has been conveying key skills and lessons to farmers across southern Afghanistan. The group performs one-hour dramas which combine comedy and action while teaching farmers about agricultural techniques. The performances have thus far helped train 1,500 Afghan farmers on topics such as garden design and the proper use of pesticides. The Business Recorder reported that the Pakistani governments Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is planning to begin blocking many Afghan importers and clearing agents from operating under the aegis of the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement. The FBR said many Afghan traders have failed to provide appropriate documentation, including goods declarations from Afghan customs authorities. The Business Recorder said there is a long history of Afghan customs officials either withholding goods declarations from the Pakistani government or providing false declarations which vastly understate the value of goods being imported or exported. Lastly, fuel prices rose in Afghanistan last week, with diesel increasing from AFN 56 (USD 1.16) to AFN 58 (USD 1.20) per litre, according to Pajhwok. However, food prices remained stable, and the value of the afghani went unchanged at AFN 51.40 to USD 1.

Governance & Rule of Law

Stefanie Nijssen stefanie.nijssen@cimicweb.org

resident Hamid Karzai is seeking parliamentary approval for nominees to several top security posts which were recently vacated, reported Radio Free Europe (see table below). The New York Times reported that last month the Afghan parliament had issued votes of no confidence in Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and Interior Minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi. Wardak resigned but was later appointed senior military adviser to President Karzai. Meanwhile, a presidential adviser confirmed that former Interior Minister Mohammadi has been nominated to take over as defence minister. Deputy Interior Minister Ghulam Mujtaba Patang has been nominated to assume Mohammadis post at the Interior Ministry. The cabinet re-shuffling, particularly the appointment of Mohammadi to another senior post so soon after he was admonished by Afghan legislators, could exacerbate tensions between the Karzai administration and the parliament, stated Reuters.
Official Abdul Rahim Wardak Background Pashtun from Wardak; formerly a Mujahideen fighter Tajik from Panjshir; ANA Chief of Staff from 2002-2010; formerly a senior commander in the Northern Alliance Pashtun from Logar; formerly a senior ANP commander and provincial police chief in Takhar Pashtun from Wardak province; served as head of security in the presidential palace Former Position Minister of Defence New or Proposed Position Senior Military Advisor to President Karzai

Bismillah Khan Mohammadi

Minister of Interior Deputy Minister of Interior for the Afghan Public Protection Force Chief, National Directorate of Security

Minister of Defence (nominated)

Ghulam Mujtaba Patang

Minister of Interior (nominated)

Rahmatullah Nabeel

Ambassador (country unknown)

Asadullah Khalid

Pashtun; former governor of Kandahar and Ghazni Pashtun from Nangarhar province; former governor of Nangarhjar; Mujahideen fighter during Soviet era

Minister of Tribal and Border Affairs

Chief, National Directorate of Security (nominated)

Haji Azizullah Din Mohammad

Provincial governor of Kabul

Minister of Tribal and Border Affairs (acting)

President Karzai has also nominated former Kandahar governor and current Minister of Tribal and Border Affairs Asadullah Khalid to become the new head of Afghanistans intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security (NDS). President Karzai dismissed former NDS chief Rahtamullah Nabeel from his post this past week, reported the Associated Press (AP). A statement from the Afghan 04 September 2012 Page 2

presidents office said Nabeel was being removed because he had completed his two-year term; Nabeel will reportedly soon take up an ambassadorship. Lawmakers reportedly criticised President Karzais decision to dismiss Nabeel, saying that he was a hard-working official who foiled many insurgent plots. Nabeel recently received a strong vote of confidence from parliament, stated Khaama Press. CNN reported that replacing Nabeel will be particularly difficult given that Khalid, the proposed successor to the helm of the NDS, faces allegations of drug trafficking and torture. Lawmakers said they wanted fresh faces in these key security posts rather than members of President Karzais increasingly unpopular inner circle, stated the aforementioned Reuters article. Sarah Chayes of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told CNN that President Karzai may be grooming Khalid for a run in the upcoming presidential election. Former Kabul provincial governor Haji Azizullah Din Mohammad has been nominated to replace Khalid at the Tribal and Border Affairs Ministry, reported the Boston Globe. Former Ulema Council official Mufti Shams-ur-Rahman Frotan told Tolo News that religious leaders should condemn on Islamic grounds the 27 August beheading of 17 Afghan civilians by Taliban fighters in Helmand province. He noted that Sharia law forbids beheadings and stated that such atrocities undermine Islam. The deputy director of the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU) also expressed surprise that the Ulema Council had failed to condemn the beheadings as well as other attacks committed against civilians by the Taliban. USA Today reported that beheadings are particularly abhorrent to many Afghans and had served to worsen many Afghans perceptions of the Taliban. Haji Fazel Mohammad, the district governor of Panjwayi, said: The bad behavior of the Taliban with the local people when they use their fields, houses, mosques and streets as their battlefield, when they put landmines in roads and in their fields has shifted the sympathy of the people toward the government. Meanwhile, Afghan government officials told Khaama Press that a 12-year-old Afghan boy was beheaded by Taliban militants in Kandahar. Jawid Faisal, a spokesman for Kandahars governor, said Taliban insurgents beheaded the boy to send a message to his brother, who is serving in the Afghan National Police. In a separate incident, Taliban fighters beheaded a 14-year-old boy whom they accused of spying. In addition, the beheaded body of a seven-year-old girl was found in Tagab district in Kapisa province, though local officials said it was not yet clear who had killed the girl. An anti-Taliban public uprising has started in the Pul-e-Alam district of Logar province, according to Khaama Press. Approximately 2,000 local residents, most of whom are boys under the age of 18, have reportedly taken part. Meanwhile, dozens of residents of Kapisa took up arms against the Taliban this past week in hopes of re-opening schools and clinics and resuming social events which had been cancelled due to insurgent threats, stated Tolo News. Public uprisings against the Taliban militants started in May in Ghazni province and have since grown more frequent and geographically dispersed. A number of other governance-related stories emerged this past week, including those summarised below. The Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA) told Tolo News that most Afghan legislators want amendments to the election law. A recent FEFA poll found that elected officials specifically hoped to see changed in the structure, duties and authority of the countrys Independent Election Commission. According to Tolo News, Afghan lawmakers instructed the Attorney Generals Office to investigate the head of the High Office of Oversight and Anti-Corruption (HOOAC), Azizullah Lodin, and the acting Defence Minister, Enayatullah Nazari, for corruption. Local security officials in Kunduz province told Khaama Press that Taliban leader Qari Niaz Mohammad has been arrested for ordering the stoning (to death) of an Afghan couple in August 2010. The AP reported that US military authorities disciplined six service members involved in the accidental burning of Qurans at a US military base earlier this year. Three US Marines who posted a video showing them urinating on dead insurgents also received punishments this past week. The exact nature of the punishments was not disclosed, but they were described as administrative.

Security & Force Protection

Mark Checchia mark.checchia@cimicweb.org

eneral John Allen, commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), published a piece in Tolo News this past week which said: I cannot be more clear: the international community, NATO, and the United States will not abandon the Afghan people. The international security forces that remain after 2014 will assist the [Afghan National Security Force] in its continued development and help them quell the violence. Referring to green-on-blue incidents in which members of the ANSF have attacked ISAF forces, he also wrote that the solution to insecurity in Afghanistan will be found in the growing strength of the Green AND the Blue operating together, and will not be defined by incidents of Green on Blue. In related news, five Australian troops were killed in two separate incidents in Afghanistan, Reuters reported. Officials from the Australian Defence Force and ISAF said three Australian soldiers were killed and two were wounded in Uruzgan province on 29 August by a man wearing an Afghan National Army (ANA) uniform. Australian officials later announced another two troops had died in a helicopter crash in Helmand province. Approximately 1,500 Australian troops are based in Uruzgan.

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Taliban gunmen shot and killed Sahib Shah Qazi, the provincial council chief in Ghazni, on 29 August, according to Tolo News. Police said that they have started investigations into the incident. This comes shortly after the United Nations concluded that Taliban killing of government officials and community elders are up more than 50% compared with last year, according to the US National Public Radio (NPR). For instance, on 27 August, General Abdul Raziq, a police chief in Kandahar province, was targeted by a suicide bomber. Raziq survived the attack on his convoy and is recuperating from his injuries. Officials are taking additional measures to prevent further deaths. The mayor of Kandahar city, Mohammad Omar, has an office protected by concrete blast walls and razor wire. Visitors are repeatedly patted down and searched. Kandahars provincial council chief, Ehsan Noorzai, told NPR of receiving threats over the phone but said he has an armoured vehicle and loyal bodyguards. Tribal elders and lower-ranking government officials reportedly have far less protection, according to Noorzai. Reuters reported that allegations of abuse mount against the Afghan Local Police (ALP). The ALP was set up in 2010 under the initiative of General David Petraeus, the former ISAF Commander, in areas where the ANSF was relatively weak. ISAF officials view the ALP as an effective home-grown force which has restricted the Talibans movement. In Char Darah district in Kunduz province, many residents credit the ALP for making it safer to travel and to send children, especially girls, to school. The Taliban here were demanding money from local people, beating them if they refused. Now we dont let them do it, said Gul Ahmad, an ALP commander in Char Darah. Yet, Reuters noted that the 20,000-person ALP force has repeatedly been accused of perpetrating abuses, including rape and murder. Representatives of human rights organisations said ALP members have periodically demanded bribes, skimmed money from contracts and committed atrocities. Many of the ALP complain of being underpaid and hence said they resort to extortion and thievery to help supplement their salaries. More than 100 ALP members have been jailed for crimes which include murder, bombings, rapes, beatings and robbery, according to Afghanistans chief military prosecutor, Mohammad Rahim Hanifi.

Social & Strategic Infrastructure

Rainer Gonzalez rainer.gonzalez@cimicweb.org

fter a five-year delay, construction of the Ring Road in Badghis province will resume, reported Tolo News. The majority of the 3,316-km Ring Road has been completed, but a 213-km stretch of road linking Qaisar district in Faryab province and the northern part of Badghis was put on hold due to insecurity in the area. Completing that remaining stretch of road is anticipated to cost USD 400 million and will employ as many as 2,000 Afghans. Security for the construction workers will be provided by local security forces at a cost of approximately USD 50 million. In related news, Wadsam reported that a road connecting Herat city and the Guzarah and Pashtoon Zarghoon districts in Herat province is currently being asphalted. The project is being financed by the central government at a cost of USD 45 million. Guzarah and Pashtoon Zarghoon districts are among the most insecure areas in Herat province; hence, local residents are being asked to help provide security. The Afghan Ministry of Public Works (MoPW) said that that Iran has renewed its commitment to complete the 61-km railway linking Iran with Ghoryan district in Herat, reported Pajhwok Afghan News. The Iranian-funded project was launched in 2007, but construction stopped in 2009 before re-starting in 2011. MoPW officials say that insecurity and land disputes have led to the delays in the project. The Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation announced that new equipment in 26 provinces has enabled the government to significantly increase the revenue it receives from flights traversing Afghan airspace, according to Wadsam. New antennas, which have been installed with assistance from Germany and Australia, have given Afghan air-traffic controllers the ability to monitor and track flights over Afghanistan in line with International Air Transport Association parameters. As a result, more flights can use Afghan airspace, and the Afghan government can receive more income from these flights. In 2011, the Afghan government received USD 60 million from over-flights. A contract worth USD 28 million was signed by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and three companies, reported Pajhwok. Under the contract the three companies will install 220 new telecommunication towers in 185 districts across Afghanistan. The new towers will provide 95% of Afghans with access to telecommunications (e.g., mobile phone) networks; currently 85% of Afghans can access such networks. The new towers, which will be installed during the next 18 months, are being financed by a fund managed by the Afghan Telecommunications Regulatory Authority. Telecommunications companies annually contribute 2.5% of their earnings to the fund. Afghan Minister of Education Gulam Farook Wardak pledged that no part of Afghanistan would lack a school by 2014, according to Wadsam. He said: We promise that in two years no Afghan child would be deprived of education, no village would be a without a school, no school door would be shut to Afghan children, no school would be without a teacher, and no teacher would have qualifications below Grade 14. Wardak noted that the Ministry of Education (MoE) has not been able to provide schools in some parts of the country given that the MoE does not have the legal authority to purchase or seize lands on which to build schools. Other experts said that insecurity and insurgent violence have also prevented schools from opening in parts of Afghanistan.

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Humanitarian Update A total of 54 people, a majority of whom are believed to be from Afghanistan, were rescued in Indonesia after their wooden boat broke up and sank, reported Agence France-Presse. Although more than 100 additional passengers are still missing, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority called off the rescue operation after two days following medical advice that there is no realistic prospect of survivability. The migrants tried to reach the Australian coast to apply for asylum. Some of the asylum seekers say they paid USD 5,500 to Pakistani smugglers to arrange transport to Australia. According to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and others have raised concerns over the lack of attention being paid to humanitarian crises in Afghanistan. The UN Resident Coordinator in Afghanistan, Michael Keating, expressed disappointment over donors poor response to a UN humanitarian appeal for USD 437 million. Only one third of that amount has been allocated. The United Nations Office for Projects and Services (UNOPS) will take over selected UNAMA activities in Uruzgan province, reported UNAMA. Due to budgetary shortfalls, UNAMA is in the process of shutting many of its provincial offices and instead focusing its efforts around regional offices. Other UN bodies are being asked to take on some of the roles UNAMA was filling at the provincial level.

Recent Readings & Resources Afghanistan Food Security Outlook Update, Famine Early Warning System Network / United States Agency for International Development, 31 August 2012. Justice and State-Building in Afghanistan: State vs. Society vs. Taliban, The Asia Foundation, August 2012. Reforming Jombesh: An Afghan Party on its Winding Road to Internal Democracy, Afghan Analysts Network, August 2012.

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ENGAGE WITH US 04 September 2012

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