The London conference on Afghanistan

Jury still out: Will the London conference deliver for Afghanistan?

29 January 2010

At the London conference on Afghanistan yesterday Gordon Brown and Hamid Karzai presented the way forward for Afghanistan. Apart from the intent to talk to the Taliban, much of the strategy remains as before, albeit with an added urgency to deliver. Some of the measures outlined have been tried before in one shape or the other and for the most part failed. It is difficult to assess the chances for success of the new phase without knowing the finer details. Nonetheless, taken at face value experience does suggest that many of the measures will struggle to achieve their aims unless lessons of the past have been learned.

Overall the priority is to improve governance, strengthen security, fight corruption, advance economic development, enhance regional partnerships and attempt to bring the Taliban back into Afghan society. As part of the new phase outlined, several measures were announced:

• Expansion of the Afghan security forces with the gradual transfer of responsibility for security to Afghans to begin this year
• A Trust Fund to reconcile and reintegrate Taliban fighters into Afghan society
• Appointment of an independent high (anti-corruption) office with investigative powers and an international monitoring group of experts 
• Provision of support to national and subnational civil servants as part of the civilian surge 
• Increase the share of foreign aid that is delivered through the Afghan national budget to 50 per cent and expand aid for agricultural programmes

Nation-building is in principle about political development or transformation that requires as a prerequisite a functional government administration. Gaining the trust and confidence of the people in new governance structures is also crucial. Ultimately, to succeed, the realisation of equitable social and economic development is of paramount importance.

In Afghanistan the progress on the governance and social and economic agenda has been both inadequate and inequitable, enabling the insurgency to grow and spread instability. Together with the endemic corruption in the country, and recent diluting of democracy at the presidential elections, many of the achievements since 2001 have been overshadowed.


Expansion of Afghan army and police

The aim to expand and empower the Afghan army and police will play a key role in ensuring a stable and secure future for the Afghan people and is an integral part of the strategy. As well as increasing the number of soldiers and fast tracking training, the international community must ensure the Afghan troops are paid a livable wage and are sufficiently equipped. For the last several years, the troops were paid little more than $100 a month, woefully inadequate to provide for their families. At the same time, the Taliban were enticing recruits by paying $200-$300 a month. This inequity gap must be closed and Afghan troops as well our troops should be paid far more.


The Re-integration Trust Fund

The new Trust Fund aims to reintegrate Taliban fighters into Afghan society but will be extremely difficult to effectively implement in Afghanistan. Many projects and interventions in Afghanistan end up with skewed outcomes (with the wrong people benefiting) as a result of inadequate governing structures and blatant nepotism.

In addition to being operationally difficult, the new Trust Fund also sends out the wrong signals to the ordinary Afghan people, as it basically rewards ‘bad behaviour'. In the past farmers were paid not to grow poppy, which backfired as it encouraged others not growing poppy to begin its cultivation just so they could also benefit from the handouts. The message being sent out once again to ordinary Afghans is that if you grow poppy or are a Taliban fighter you are entitled to receive money, a job, and possibly a house. Yet if you are a poor law-abiding Afghan you will not benefit from the new phase.

The focus should be on delivering more development and reconstruction aid and funding economic development projects for the ordinary and poorer Afghan people.


Delivering aid

In terms of development aid for Afghanistan, the international community should have done more and done it much better. Afghanistan has fared far worse than other post-conflict areas. In the two years following international intervention, Afghanistan received $57 per capita in aid, whilst Bosnia and East Timor received $679 and $233 per capita respectively.

To put things in perspective, the US military is spending nearly $100 million a day in Afghanistan, yet the average volume of international aid provided by all donors since 2001 is little more than $7 million per day. To win hearts and minds, a shift in this equation is necessary.

The new phase of the strategy to increase aid to Afghanistan is welcome. The expansion of agricultural programme and projects designed to counter the narco-economy is a step in the right direction, though there still does not seem to be a coherent ‘drugs' strategy in place.

However a key problem that persists in Afghanistan is the extremely low level of disbursement of funds by donors and poor capacity of the ministry of finance and government to deliver programmes and projects. Even today, to make a financial disbursement for a programme or project via the Afghan national budget requires over 20 signatures which can take an eternity to obtain - all the while the funds sit in the bank account and Afghans sit deprived of projects. The capacity to handle more funds through the Afghan government does not exist.

Unless there are some serious structural reforms which increase capacity and transparency, the international community should not be looking to pour 50 per cent of its aid funds through the Afghan system. The pressing aim is to ensure timely delivery of programmes and projects to the Afghan people. The anticipated civilian surge should facilitate further institutional reforms across the governing structures to ensure there is sufficient capacity to manage aid in a timely, accountable and transparent fashion and ability to deliver public services.


International coordination & communication

In order for the measures and strategy to have any chance of being successful, better coordination is needed between international actors on state building and development agenda. The largest donor to Afghanistan, the US, maintains its ‘inability' to share information on its development aid and project interventions in Afghanistan, greatly undermining coordination and cooperation efforts. The situation has slightly improved since the election of the Obama but it is still an intransigent problem.

The London conference provided the opportunity to obtain understanding among the 70 or so foreign ministers who attended, and some of the public, of the coherence and clarity of the plan and hopefully better coordination mechanisms, though the jury is still out on this.

Linked to the need for effective coordination is the need for better communication. The international community must ensure it has a strong relationship and dialogue with the people of Afghanistan. It must do a better job of explaining the new phase not only to the Afghan people but people back home. In addition, regular feedback on progress or otherwise must be provided and there must be more honesty about failures.


Fighting corruption

An independent monitoring panel with international members is a step in right direction. Fighting endemic corruption must be tackled head on. To be effective the international community must better support the international advisers working in Afghanistan. Too often in the past advisers (who uncover corrupt behaviour) were simply removed by the donors who did not want to upset Afghan ministers. This only fuels further corruption and has allowed people get away with it.

Nation-building in Afghanistan will only be successful when the apparatus of government, working in partnership with the international community can amply demonstrate the delivery of an inclusive political, economic, social, and secure ‘order', which effectively meets the aspirations of the people. To achieve this, both the Afghan government and international community need to raise their game and make good on the promises of the past.

The new phase outlined in London yesterday is not without major risks and obstacles. Given there is no Plan B, the strategy must be made to work.

Dharmender Singh has worked in Afghanistan, Sudan, Kosovo, Libya and Palestine as an international adviser, supporting national government institutions and mentoring civil servants

Latest Headlines Read: US Wants to Reintegrate Taliban in Afghanistan

Perhaps it is time to admit defeat and send all troops back home. So now General McChrystal is saying the Taliban aren't all bad; it brings to mind the idiom "keep your friends close and your enemies closer" or possibly more like "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."

According to a CBS news headline the Taliban calls London Conference on Afghanistan useless. I wonder if the Taliban received an invite?

'Secret camp': Britain allegedly wanted to retrain Taliban soldiers to fight with Nato

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-512189/Britain-planned-secret-camp-Afghanistan-retrain-Taliban-soldiers-fight-Nato.html#ixzz0ds6cnEv6

Afghans plan to double security forces to 400,000

Last Updated: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 | 8:07 AM ET Comments59Recommend15

CBC News

A British soldier and Afghan policeman secure the area of a suicide attack in Kabul in August 2009. The Afghanistan govenrment is proposing to bolster its security forces to 400,000 within five years. (Ahmad Masood/Reuters)

Afghanistan and its allies have agreed to a proposal to more than double the number of Afghan security forces to 400,000, from the current 191,000, within five years.

The announcement came Wednesday after the meeting of the Joint Co-ordination and Monitoring Board, a panel that includes representatives of Afghanistan's government, officials from the UN and major troop contributing countries — including Canada.

The board's approval means the plan will be presented at a Jan. 28 international conference in London, which aims to bolster support for the Afghan leadership as the U.S. and NATO allies prepare to send an additional 37,000 reinforcements to fight the Taliban.

Afghanistan Finance Minister Omar Zakhilwal said the plan calls for 240,000 Afghan soldiers and 160,000 national police to be ready in three to five years.

Afghanistan has about 97,000 soldiers and 94,000 Afghan police officers.

The Afghan government presented the call for the buildup of security forces to the joint board as part of a plan for confronting the insurgency of Taliban-led militants in the war-torn country.

New plan to lure Taliban fighters

The Taliban governed Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001, when they were toppled by the U.S. and its allies. They have begun to regain power and influence in many regions of the country and have launched repeated attacks on coalition troops and government workers.

The government also proposed a new tactic to persuade Taliban militants to switch sides and support the government of Hamid Karzai. It includes both money to lure Taliban members off the battlefield and the formation of a Grand Peace Council, to allow for representatives from religious leaders and others to be heard.

"The rank-and-file Taliban are not al-Qaeda, they are our neighbours and cousins. And to achieve peace, we need only remove their reason to fight," the report said.

Another key issue for Afghanistan was how best to monitor and tackle corruption, which has plagued Karzai's government and made it easier for militants to attract new members.

Former finance minister Ashraf Ghani, a sharp critic of Karzai, was named as part of the team that will make recommendations at the London conference on dealing with corruption.

A report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime released Tuesday found Afghans had paid more than $2.5 billion US in bribes between the fall of 2008 and the fall of 2009, or one-quarter the value of the country's gross domestic product.

The report, titled Corruption in Afghanistan: Bribery as Reported by the Victims, was based on surveys with 7,600 people across the country. It found 50 per cent of Afghans had to pay at least one kickback to a public official, including police.

The average bribe was $160 US.

DAWN.COM | Front Page | Gates due this week with 125-member delegation

DAWN.COM | Front Page | Gates due this week with 125-member delegation

From Afghanistan to Haiti

Why do I make time for this blog that probably no one else reads? It's like sending a signal into outer space. Maybe there's someone out there listening to my transmission or perhaps it is going into nothing. Either way I'll continue.

As daft or naive or whatever you want to name it as it sounds, I do care about humanity but sometimes the people are a real pain in the ass. We try to distract ourselves from the better lives people are leading by tearing those that are "better off" down. We also distract ourselves from those leading treacherous lives by pretending not to care. We go to the movies, watch TV, read, play video games as a few examples but what about the real world? What is real to us anymore anyway?

I am one person, one little person, one tiny speck in the great ocean of humanity but right now I'm alive, I'm frightened, I'm brave, I'm everything to a few and nothing to most.

If you're out there, please help the people of Haiti to rebuild their lives. Even a US$5 donation texted in can make a difference.

Red Cross: Text HAITI to 90999 ($10 donation)
Yéle Haiti: Text YELE to 501501 ($5 donation)
United Way: Text HAITI to 864833 ($5 donation)
Intl Medical Corps: Text HAITI to 85944 ($10 donation)


One text. Simple as that. Go on and do it.

Tears in Haiti

(Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times / January 14, 2010)

A woman weeps after seeing the body of a neighbor who died in the devastating earthquake that rocked Haiti two days ago.

Wrong Place at Wrong Time

Taliban causing more civilian casualties in Afghanistan: UN

BY MATTHEW FISHER, CANWEST NEWS SERVICEJANUARY 13, 2010 3:21 PM

An Afghan child is shown next to a U.S. soldier. According to a recent report by an Afghanistan human rights watchdog, children are the greatest victims of the war-torn country.

Photograph by: Zohra Bensemra, Reuters

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — The United Nations has accused the Taliban of causing far more civilian casualties than NATO and Afghan forces.

A report released Wednesday by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) concluded the Taliban had killed 1,630 civilians in 2009 — a staggering 40 per cent increase from one year earlier.

According to the same UNAMA calculations, which were based on a wide variety of Afghan sources, NATO and Afghan troops killed 596 civilians last year — a drop of nearly 30 per cent from 2008.

The UN credited the drop in coalition-caused civilian casualties to new orders given last June to NATO forces by U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal after President Barack Obama placed him in overall command of the war in Afghanistan.

"This decrease reflects measures taken by international military forces to conduct operations in a manner that reduces the risk posed to civilian casualties," the UNAMA report said.

McChrystal's "tactical directive" ordered troops under his command, including more than 2,500 Canadian soldiers based in Kandahar, to follow much stricter rules of engagement to avoid civilian casualties including not ordering air strikes if any civilians were known to be in the vicinity.

"We have said all along that it is about protecting the population," said Canadian Brig.-Gen. Eric Tremblay, NATO's chief military spokesman in Kabul. "The numbers clearly indicate that we have had fewer civilian casualties. We welcome these numbers but we must eliminate civilian casualties. They must be reduced further."

A new directive to be called "Reduce Civilian Casualties Through Tactical Patience" was to be released by NATO soon, said Tremblay.

Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader, followed McChrystal's directive last summer with an announcement of his own about civilian casualties.

In a "Book of Rules," which set out how his followers should behave in their private lives as well as in war, the one-eyed "Commander of the Faithful" said "the utmost steps must be taken to avoid civilian human loss in martyrdom operations."

"It is vital that determined efforts are now made by the insurgency to put into effect the Taliban "Code of Conduct" that calls on them to protect the lives of civilians," Norah Niland, the UN's chief human rights officer said in a written statement.

Tremblay, however, scoffed at Taliban promises to reduce civilian casualties.

"These numbers tell the Afghan population that what the Taliban has said about protecting the population, they have not done," the general said. "Their way of conducting warfare and the insurgency has created way too many civilian casualties."

In all, 2,412 civilians died in 2009, an increase of 14 per cent from the previous year.

These were the highest figures for civilian casualties since U.S. forces ousted the Taliban from power in the fall of 2001 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S.

Of those civilians who died as the result of violence in 2009, 186 were killed in incidents that involved neither the Taliban nor NATO and Afghan forces.

Most of those killed by the Taliban died in executions, suicide bombings and as the result of attacks using the insurgents weapon of choice, homemade landmines.

Despite McChrystal's mid-year directive, two-third of the deaths caused by NATO and Afghan forces came as the result of attacks by warplanes and unmanned drones.

While NATO and Afghan forces killed fewer civilians, the number of NATO soldiers who died leapt from 295 to 530 as the pace of the war accelerated dramatically in 2009 because of a wave of attacks by the Taliban using much bigger and more powerful improvised explosive devices.

Thirty-two Canadian soldiers died in Afghanistan in 2009 — the same number as in 2008.

The worst year for Canadian fatalities was 2006 when 36 soldiers and a diplomat were killed.

© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service

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General Stanley McChrystal says, "Tide is Turning Against the Taliban"

In a recent TV interview with "Good Morning America," the top US commander in Afghanistan says the troop surge is shifting the tides against the Taliban.

The General claims a meeting in a river valley of Helmand province is evidence of the shift. The area was once a stronghold of Taliban insurgents.

Helmand and Kandahar province locator map

(USN&WR)

"When I sit in an area the Taliban controlled only seven months ago and now you meet with a shura" -- a traditional village council -- " of elders and they describe with considerable optimism the future, you sense the tide is turning," he said.

But McChrystal added: "It's not a completed mission yet."

An additional 30,000 US troops will soon be deployed to Afghanistan.

source: www.latimes.com
www.operations.mod.uk/ mapping/HelmandProvince.jpg

Voices That Won't Be Silenced

This is excerpted from RAWA website

RAWA is the oldest political/social organization of Afghan women struggling for peace, freedom, democracy and women's rights in fundamentalism-blighted Afghanistan since 1977.Some of the restrictions imposed by Taliban on women in Afghanistan

The following list offers only an abbreviated glimpse of the hellish lives Afghan women are forced to lead under the Taliban, and can not begin to reflect the depth of female deprivations and sufferings. Taliban treat women worse than they treat animals. In fact, even as Taliban declare the keeping of caged birds and animals illegal, they imprison Afghan women within the four walls of their own houses. Women have no importance in Taliban eyes unless they are occupied producing children, satisfying male sexual needs or attending to the drudgery of daily housework. Jehadi fundamentalists such as Gulbaddin, Rabbani, Masood, Sayyaf, Khalili, Akbari, Mazari and their co-criminal Dostum have committed the most treacherous and filthy crimes against Afghan women. And as more areas come under Taliban control, even if the number of rapes and murders perpetrated against women falls, Taliban restrictions --comparable to those from the middle ages-- will continue to kill the spirit of our people while depriving them of a humane existence. We consider Taliban more treacherous and ignorant than Jehadis. According to our people, "Jehadis were killing us with guns and swords but Taliban are killing us with cotton."

Taliban restrictions and mistreatment of women include the: 1- Complete ban on women's work outside the home, which also applies to female teachers, engineers and most professionals. Only a few female doctors and nurses are allowed to work in some hospitals in Kabul. 2- Complete ban on women's activity outside the home unless accompanied by a mahram (close male relative such as a father, brother or husband). 3- Ban on women dealing with male shopkeepers. 4- Ban on women being treated by male doctors. 5- Ban on women studying at schools, universities or any other educational institution. (Taliban have converted girls' schools into religious seminaries.) 6- Requirement that women wear a long veil (Burqa), which covers them from head to toe. 7- Whipping, beating and verbal abuse of women not clothed in accordance with Taliban rules, or of women unaccompanied by a mahram. 8- Whipping of women in public for having non-covered ankles. 9- Public stoning of women accused of having sex outside marriage. (A number of lovers are stoned to death under this rule). 10- Ban on the use of cosmetics. (Many women with painted nails have had fingers cut off). 11- Ban on women talking or shaking hands with non-mahram males. 12- Ban on women laughing loudly. (No stranger should hear a woman's voice). 13- Ban on women wearing high heel shoes, which would produce sound while walking. (A man must not hear a woman's footsteps.) 14- Ban on women riding in a taxi without a mahram. 15- Ban on women's presence in radio, television or public gatherings of any kind. 16- Ban on women playing sports or entering a sport center or club. 17- Ban on women riding bicycles or motorcycles, even with their mahrams. 18- Ban on women's wearing brightly colored clothes. In Taliban terms, these are "sexually attracting colors." 19- Ban on women gathering for festive occasions such as the Eids, or for any recreational purpose. 20- Ban on women washing clothes next to rivers or in a public place. 21- Modification of all place names including the word "women." For example, "women's garden" has been renamed "spring garden". 22- Ban on women appearing on the balconies of their apartments or houses. 23- Compulsory painting of all windows, so women can not be seen from outside their homes. 24- Ban on male tailors taking women's measurements or sewing women's clothes. 25- Ban on female public baths. 26- Ban on males and females traveling on the same bus. Public buses have now been designated "males only" (or "females only"). 27- Ban on flared (wide) pant-legs, even under a burqa. 28- Ban on the photographing or filming of women. 29- Ban on women's pictures printed in newspapers and books, or hung on the walls of houses and shops. Apart from the above restrictions on women, the Taliban has: - Banned listening to music, not only for women but men as well. - Banned the watching of movies, television and videos, for everyone. - Banned celebrating the traditional new year (Nowroz) on March 21. The Taliban has proclaimed the holiday un-Islamic. - Disavowed Labor Day (May 1st), because it is deemed a "communist" holiday. - Ordered that all people with non-Islamic names change them to Islamic ones. - Forced haircuts upon Afghan youth. - Ordered that men wear Islamic clothes and a cap. - Ordered that men not shave or trim their beards, which should grow long enough to protrude from a fist clasped at the point of the chin. - Ordered that all people attend prayers in mosques five times daily. - Banned the keeping of pigeons and playing with the birds, describing it as un-Islamic. The violators will be imprisoned and the birds shall be killed. The kite flying has also been stopped. - Ordered all onlookers, while encouraging the sportsmen, to chant Allah-o-Akbar (God is great) and refrain from clapping. - Ban on certain games including kite flying which is "un-Islamic" according to Taliban. - Anyone who carries objectionable literature will be executed. - Anyone who converts from Islam to any other religion will be executed. - All boy students must wear turbans. They say "No turban, no education". - Non-Muslim minorities must distinct badge or stitch a yellow cloth onto their dress to be differentiated from the majority Muslim population. Just like what did Nazis with Jews. - Banned the use of the internet by both ordinary Afghans and foreigners. And so on...

Many of the anti-women rules that Taliban practiced were first of all the rules formulated and practiced by Rabbani-Massoud government after they came to power in 1992, but no one talk about them and it is painful that today even they are called the champaions of women's rights!! ON November 8, 1994 the UN Secretary-General presented the interim report on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan prepared by Mr. Felix Ermacora, Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights, in accordance with Commission on Human Rights resolution 1994/84 of 9 March 1994, and Economic and Social Council decision 1994/268 of 25 July 1994. Parts of the report about women's rights sitaution says:

The Special Rapporteur's attention has been drawn to the Ordinance on the Women's Veil, which is reported to have been issued by a nine-member professional committee of the High Court of the Islamic State of Afghanistan and which reads as follows: "A denier of veil is an infidel and an unveiled woman is lewd". "Conditions of wearing veil: 1. The veil must cover the whole body. 2. Women's clothes must not be thin. 3. Women's clothes must not be decorated and colourful. 4. Women's clothes must not be narrow and tight to prevent the seditious limbs from being noticed. The veil must not be thin. 5. Women must not perfume themselves. If a perfumed woman passes by a crowd of men, she is considered to be an adulteress. 6. Women's clothes must not resemble men's clothes. "In addition, 1. They must not perfume themselves. 2. They must not wear adorning clothes. 3. They must not wear thin clothes. 4. They must not wear narrow and tight clothes. 5. They must cover their entire bodies. 6. Their clothes must not resemble men's clothes. 7. Muslim women's clothes must not resemble non-Muslim women's clothes. 8. Their foot ornaments must not produce sound. 9. They must not wear sound-producing garments. 10. They must not walk in the middle of streets. 11. They must not go out of their houses without their husband's permission. 12. They must not talk to strange men. 13. If it is necessary to talk, they must talk in a low voice and without laughter. 14. They must not look at strangers. 15. They must not mix with strangers." www.rawa.org

Stones into Schools ~ Promoting Peace with Books, not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan

This is the title of the latest book by author and humanitarian, Greg Mortenson. I have just finished reading his story of struggle in continuing to bring education to the farthest regions of Afghanistan. His courage and conviction demonstrates an inspiration to millions. It is extremely humbling to know that people sacrifice so much to become dedicated to a higher cause.

Have I been living in a cave not to have read his first book Three Cups of Tea? Maybe, but I must read it now.

For more information please go to www.stonesintoschools.com

Dark Days of War

As I skim through and read over several of the on-line articles, I realize there's death on all sides of this war. We can keep a tally of how many are Taliban, how many are NATO forces and how many are civilians, lest we forget, all of these people were born into this world with at least one person to love them or luckily two, even a family and perhaps a congratulatory village.

I may not know much about this war or any other war for that matter but what I do know is that the destruction to lives and land is beyond my imaginings. There are those who favour war, those who see it as a necessary evil and those who would like to see it banished from this planet forever.

Soldiers and suicide bombers have something in common, they fight to the death for what they believe is right. Who is in the right anyway? What does it matter when the result is so much lost that can never be regained?

Some day there may be a new dawn but for now the people of Afghanistan, the soldiers fighting and the families praying must all live in the dark.