Warlords of Afghanistan Coasters?

Matt Weems, a self-described “illustrator & armchair statesman,” has created a set of provocative and beautifully inked coasters based on his research, which depict the “Warlords of Afghanistan.”  These make a great gift for anyone with a sense of humor and an interest in Afghanistan (Weems notes that they “inform the public and protect furniture from discoloration.”)

Check out his site here:

As for the warlords themselves, they are a glimpse into another age. We live in a society crammed shoulder to shoulder with others, careful not to offend, concealing our ambitions, publicly mouthing pious opinions about how drugs are bad, church is good, and pretending we have freedom. The warlords are a fascinating contrast; contemporary versions of Robert Guiscard, Jesse James, Al Capone, and many other freebooting scallywags from our own past. They are amazingly resilient, lurking in the hills when defeated, waiting for a chance to come back. They are also cruel and brave and crazy with conviction. They live large and die violent, self-pitying deaths.

Oxfam report: Serve the Essentials

This Oxfam report, subtitled “What governments and donors must do to improve,” approaches South Asia's development from a comparative perspective which, according to Jean Drèze of the Delhi School of Economics, “has been overlooked.” According to Drèze, the report “makes excellent use of this perspective by scrutinizing regional contrasts in South Asia -– between as well as within countries.”

There are some good insights and data here, but the recommendations tend to be overbroad to usefully apply to individual countries.  Below are a few of the useful prescriptions: 

Quoteboard

"But, you know, the Taliban are active in southern and eastern Afghanistan. The situation in northern and western Afghanistan is not so different in terms of governance, poverty, insecurity. You know, if somebody—Russia or Tajikistan wanted to start an insurgency in Badakhshan, in northeastern Afghanistan, they could do it very easily for almost no money because people are so disaffected there. But there’s no insurgency there."

                                      - Barnett Rubin, speaking at CFR, Oct 25

"It is nationalism fuelled by Islam. They draw considerable strength from painting themselves as the heirs of Afghanistan's warrior traditions. Even the most uneducated foot soldier will quote the dates of the battles in the nineteenth century when they beat the British. They do not see themselves as part of a wider world 'jihad', but an Afghan solution to an Afghan problem."

                                 -David Loyn, of the BBC, on Taliban ideology

                      

VIDEO: The BBC's David Loyn travels with the Taliban

Senator: Dems would launch oversight hearings on Iraq, Afghanistan

A special investigator found that KBR, a Halliburton subsidiary, has been routinely overclassifying  information as "proprietary," thereby "hindering competition and oversight." In response to the report, Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota said that if Democrats take control of the Senate they will "will launch oversight hearings on war matters ranging from faulty intelligence leading up to the war to wrongdoing by contractors" in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Report: Halliburton unit exploited rules
WASHINGTON, Oct 27, By ANNE PLUMMER FLAHERTY (AP) By Anne Plummer Flaherty:  The Halliburton subsidiary that provides food, shelter and other logistics to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan exploited federal regulations to hide details on its contract performance, according to a report released Friday...

"I'm convinced that this is the most significant waste, fraud and abuse in the history of this country," [Sen. Byron] Dorgan said.

Human Rights Watch: ISAF should create victim compensation fund

After NATO's bombing Tuesday night--which appears to be the largest civilian death toll from an airstrike--Human Rights Watch calls for NATO to take more precautions with airstrikes and to emulate the U.S. in establishing a victims compensation fund (see also the AP story):

HRW Press release, October 30:   NATO forces operating under the mandate of the International Security Assistance Force to Afghanistan (ISAF) need to take greater precautions to protect civilians and establish a program to compensate Afghans who have lost family members, are injured or suffer property damage due to their actions, Human Rights Watch said today. . .

According to media reports, more than 60 civilians were killed this week in heavy fighting between NATO forces and insurgent forces in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province. NATO has admitted that at least 12 civilians were killed in NATO air and ground operations in Panjwai. Another two dozen were reportedly killed last week during clashes in Kandahar and neighboring Helmand province, during which NATO used heavy aerial bombardment. . .

“Compensating injured civilians is the right thing to do, and the smart thing to do,” air strikes in Afghanistan, more than twice the 160 carried out in Iraq. . . Zarifi said. “This has been US policy, and there’s no reason it shouldn’t be NATO policy as well.”

Photo: Sam Zia-Zarifi, Research Director, HRW Asia

CFR rush transcript available

Read the rush transcript of Amb. Said Tayeb Jawad and Barnett Rubin's address to the Council on Foreign Relations, which covers everything from the role of Pakistan to the role of NGOs.  This is a must read...more on Monday.

Sandbagging Paktika?

Is it me, or is paying men in Paktika to fill sand bags perhaps not an ideal model for alternative livelihoods?  The CNN report is less skeptical, especially when it comes to the Paktika PRT: "115 soldiers and sailors covering an area slightly bigger than Maryland -- a little goes a long way here," reports correspondant Jennifer Eccleston.

• See the video: Video: Afghanistan reconstruction  

Bribe money up in smoke

"It doesn't matter where you go in the world, people respond to cash." In case thought the heady days of 2001 were over... 

How £1m bribe cash for Afghan warlords went up smoke October 23, 2006 (ThisIsLondon) By Joanne Moore: A secret slush fund of more than £1million sent to Afghanistan to bribe local warlords was destroyed when the Special Forces aircraft carrying it burst into flames as it came in to land.

Afghan women still have little voice in family planning

Family planning increased in some provinces, according to USAID figures, but women still have little say in these decisions, according to a Tufts study:

Contraception use at 10% (St. LouisPost-Dispatch) by Phillip O'Connor, DASHT-E QAL'EH — …Only 10 percent of married Afghan women aged 15 to 49 use any method of contraception, according to the Population Reference Bureau in Washington.

Rubin on resolving the insurgency

Barnett Rubin writes today in the Wall Street Journal that "Pakistan has never fully acted on U.S. demands to fight the Taliban, not because Gen. Musharraf is "against us" rather than "with us," but because the Pakistan army sees its interests in a regional context, not as part of the U.S. war on terror." The Pakistan military sees Islamist militants as useful, both in supressing Pashtun and Baluch nationalism and in cementing its own rule within Pakistan by marginalizing mainstream political parties.

It is therefore not enough to shut down Taliban commanders; the coalition must also push Pakistan to adopt civilian rule and permit political parties in the tribal areas (where they are currently outlawed, allowing radicals a monopoly.) At the same time, donors must press the Afghan government to start discussions on the contentious border issue (which Afghanistan does not recognize) and limit India's rising influence.

Rubin argues, in essence, that because the Taliban serve as useful agents in a broader regional struggle, they cannot be defeated until there is progress on Afghan-Pakistani-Indian relations, greater political freedom in Pakistan, and economic opportunity in the tribal areas. A narrow focus on killing terrorists and suppressing the Taliban--or even on empowering the Afghan government--cannot succeed.

A Border Affair (subscr. req)
October 25 (WSJ), By BARNETT R. RUBIN: It will take more than a dinner at the White House -- such as the one held for Pervez Musharraf and Hamid Karzai last month -- to overcome the longstanding antagonism between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Of course, the political clumsiness on the part of the U.S. does not begin or end there. Had we paid more attention to pre-9/11 history, we might not face a rising Taliban insurgency with sanctuary in Pakistan.