January 6, 2006

• Parliament’s first act: eliminate security barriers
• Violence against journalists doubled in 2005
• Suicide bomb kills 10, wounds 50 as US Ambassador visits
• First Afghan war crimes trial: ex-intel chief charged
• Zarqawi’s stamp in Afghanistan beheading
• Half a million refugees repatriated in 2005
• Featured Article: Rethinking Nation-Building by Ashraf Ghani and Clare Lockhart 

"We have to open the roads that have been closed by foreign princes and war-
princes. . .The issue of security is the same for Afghans as for members of embassies. I am not convinced that security is solved by closing roads."

—Ramazan Bashardost, member of Parliament, speaking on the need
to eliminate security barriers from the streets of Kabul

—Maj. Andrew Elmes, a NATO spokesman, on how ISAF’s approach
will differ from that of the US-led coalition

"More than 200 Taliban have registered themselves for suicide attacks with us which shows that a Muslim can even sacrifice his life for the well-being of his faith."

—Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah

"It is a deliberate strategic move to try to frighten off European countries from becoming part of future Nato forces in Afghanistan."

—Ahmed Rashid, on the emerging Taliban practice of targeting
NATO peacekeepers with suicide attacks

Traffic has become a significant problem in Kabul. © Carl Robichaud

The prominence that the new Parliament gave this issue offers a glimpse of its tenor—and at some of the fault lines on the road ahead.

The security barrier issue is a highly symbolic one that stems from populist opposition to two things: the privileges enjoyed by foreigners in Afghanistan and the pace of modernization in Kabul, which has seen skyrocketing rents and gridlocked traffic. There has been persistent frustration—stoked over the airwaves—at the way American security contractors treat Afghan citizens, and Vice President Dick Cheney’s visit, which closed off entire city districts, didn’t help. This is probably the first of many measures the parliament will advance to voice dissatisfaction with foreigner presence (or at least its by-products.)

Since these measures will compromise the security of the military, embassies, and aid agencies—especially after the recent wave of vehicle-borne explosives—we’re probably headed for a showdown that could result in the relocation, or even departure, of these entities. That’s not something that any but the most militant of the parliamentarians want, but it could be the very real and detrimental impact of their efforts.

© UNESCO

Journalists Under Threat
KABUL, 26 December (IRIN)—Regional warlords, coupled with low government presence, continue to threaten freedom of expression in Afghanistan, the country's leading media association warned on Monday in the capital, Kabul.

"Journalists are still not considered entirely free. They face pressure and intimidation and violence from warlords in regions still not under the full control of the central government," said Rahimullah Samander, president of the Afghanistan Independent Journalists Association (AIJA), adding that incidents of violence against journalists had actually increased over 2004.

"Violence against journalists has doubled compared to last year. During 2004, there were only around 15 cases of violence against journalists, but in 2005 those cases reached 30 across the country," Samander said, adding journalists faced killings, kidnappings, threats and imprisonment.

The expansion of the media has been one of Afghanistan’s success stories. Despite poverty and illiteracy, Afghanistan is media-saturated: 80 percent of Afghans regularly listen to the radio, 40 percent watch TV, and media efforts were very effective in voter education. Afghanistan ’s new media encompasses 300 publications, 42 radio stations, and 5 private television stations. Yet without press freedoms, the proliferation of information won’t provide the accountability necessary for democratic and civil growth.

Censorship and self-censorship is imposed not only from regional commanders and conservative judges but also from the central government. Recently journalist Ali Mohaqeq Nasab was freed after 3 months of detention—but only after apologizing for writing stories that argued for equal rights for women and against execution for those who converted from Islam. And a year ago, Minister of Information and Culture Abdul Hamid Mobarez resigned, citing the ministry’s "censorship of the media."

Suicide car bomb kills at least ten and wounds 50 as US Ambassador visits
KANDAHAR, Jan 5 (Reuters), by Mirwais Afghan: Ten people died and 50 were wounded in a suicide car bomb attack in central Afghanistan during a visit by the US ambassador, US and Afghan officials said. US envoy Ronald Neumann was unhurt by the massive blast near the governor's headquarters in Tirin Kot, capital of the central province of Uruzgan, provincial officials and the US embassy told AFP on Thursday. . .In the last three months Afghanistan has suffered more than a dozen suicide attacks, which have claimed more than 30 lives including that of a German soldier. Most have been blamed on remnants of the Taliban, who are now thought to be copying the tactics of insurgents in Iraq. . .A suspected suicide car bomber injured a US soldier and two Afghan civilians on Monday in the southern city of Kandahar.

Of the 50 injured, 15 are in critical condition. The attack comes a day after a Taliban commander threatened that more than 200 rebel fighters were willing to become suicide bombers against international forces. His claim has been dismissed by propaganda by the Afghan Defense Ministry.

Beheading Video Reveals Al-Zarqawi's Touch
Rome, 28 Dec. (AKI)—A video of the decapitation of an Afghan hostage, posted to al-Qaeda-linked websites on Wednesday, bears the stamp of Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. It's the first published video showing the beheading of a hostage in the hands of an Afghan terrorist cell. Five minutes long, it shows many of the trade marks of videos published by al-Zarqawi's Organisation of al-Qaeda in Iraq from the ritual forced confession to the beheading and a gruesome finale. . .The video was shot on 12 September though only recently posted on the Internet. It is not possible to ascertain whether the execution was carried out by Taliban or by al-Qaeda militants. There have recently been reports of joint operations in southern Afghanistan. The video bears the symbol "Labbaik" of the video production company used by jihadi groups in Afghanistan and that several weeks ago posted a brief film of the four suspected terrorists who had escaped from the Afghan base of Bagram. This latest video reveals how the practice of decapitation initiated by al-Zarqawi and, in the early days, resisted by the leadership of al-Qaeda, has reached Afghanistan.

First Afghan Trial for War Crimes Convenes: Ex-intelligence Chief Charged
KABUL, Dec 26 (Reuters) by Sayed Salahuddin—An Afghan former intelligence chief went on trial on Monday accused of war crimes and torture during communist rule in the 1980s, the first such trial to be held in Afghanistan after decades of warfare. Assadullah Sarwari has been detained since 1992, when Mujahideen (holy warrior) factions overthrew a Soviet-backed communist regime. . .The trial is taking place a week after President Hamid Karzai's government adopted a plan to address war crimes and other human rights abuses committed during the conflict. It commits the government and the international community to the setting up a five-member task force by the end of the year to draw up a plan to deal with the abuses. . .Rights groups have welcomed the fact that the action plan ruled out amnesties for serious abuses—a response to concerns that perpetrators in Karzai's government and a new parliament inaugurated this month might try to block prosecutions.

In October, a Dutch court jailed two former police officers of Afghanistan's former communist regime for 12 and nine years after convicting them of war crimes and torture while serving with intelligence services. . .Dutch prosecutors estimated 200,000 political opponents were tortured by various branches of the Afghan security apparatus under communist rule and about 50,000 died. 

Half a Million Refugees Repatriated in 2005
KABUL, 3 January (IRIN)—During 2005, a total of 520,100 Afghans returned home with UNHCR assistance, the majority, 453,000, came from Pakistan, according to the refugee agency. "This figure represents a significant increase over 2004, when 380,000 Afghans returned”. . .

UNHCR-assisted returns from Iran in 2005 now stand at around 67,000, a lower figure than had been predicted. . .Despite large numbers returning, many Afghans remain in neighboring countries. An official census of Afghans living in Pakistan, conducted in 2005, showed that some 3 million remain in the country—or triple the number remaining in Iran, which is estimated to be around 900,000, according to the UN refugee agency.

Featured Article:

Rethinking Nation-Building
Ashraf Ghani and Clare Lockhart argue that strengthening state capacity is the central challenge of development, in Afghanistan and elsewhere, and that international institutions need redefine their priorities.

Jan 3 (The Washington Post), by Ashraf Ghani and Clare Lockhart—The path to security is not just investment in the institutions of security. The price tag for security in a fragile state can quickly run into billions of dollars a year. A sustained analysis by NATO of the best means of achieving security in Afghanistan showed that credible institutions and public finance would contribute more to security than would the deployment of troops. Nor is the answer money alone; in these countries, money cannot be translated to capital, because such things as the rule of law, transparency and predictability are lacking. The state is the most effective, economical way of organizing the security and well-being of a population, just as the company is the most effective approach in a competitive economy.

Thus the need for functioning states has become one of the critical issues of our times. Global political, economic and security institutions must have a new goal: to promote the emergence of states that can fulfill their necessary functions. This goal provides a unified answer to numerous initiatives, including debt crisis, implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, and security. . .And instead of thousands of reports, there should be a single global report on state effectiveness, compiled with the involvement of global and local civil societies and issued by a credible international organization.

For this to work, the global institutions must receive renewed attention. . .Revitalization of these organizations will require sustained attention from the leaders of the Group of Eight industrial nations, which need to agree on a program of reform. It is critical to redefine their tasks and coordinate their activities. In turn, their leaderships need to become models of transparency in recruitment, evaluation and promotion of staff members. U.N. agencies need the resources to tackle state-building in fragile and conflict-ridden states. The decision at the U.N. summit in September to create a peace-building commission provides the United Nations with the opportunity to demonstrate its commitment and capacity for serious reform. . .

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Afghanistan Watch is prepared by Carl Robichaud, a program officer at The Century Foundation.

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