Ghani thanks US troops for sacrifices in Afghanistan

Eye on the News
TUESDAY
.
MARCH 24
.
2015 -Hamal 04, 1394 HS
Ghani thanks
US troops
for sacrifices
in Afghanistan
AT Monitoring Desk
P
resident Ashraf Ghani in his
first visit to Washington DC
thanked the US troops for
their service in the country and said
they have helped to train a country that can defend itself against
terrorism. So what s the legacy?
The legacy is now a proud Afghan
security forces that has dealt with
the best of you and emulates the
best of your example, Ghani told
a gathering of members at the Pentagon. The special forces who
worked shoulder to shoulder with
you are now carrying the mission,
he added. According to the Washington Times, the president also
emphasized changes the country
has made that allow young Afghan
girls more freedom to get an education. He directed the remarks
specifically to someone in the audience Reese Larson, a 9-yearold girl whose father is currently
deployed in Afghanistan. Reese,
I have greetings to you from 3 million Afghan girls who are attending school today. Fourteen years
ago, there were exactly none. Each
one of them wants to entertain the
hopes you do, and your dad is
making this possible, he said.
Remember, he is there to make a
difference. Some Republicans
have warned that not leaving behind a residual US presence in Afghanistan could lead to the country s hard-won security falling
back into chaos similar to what
happened in Iraq. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said that
while the US and other international partners will continue to
help in the fight, Mr. Ghani has
made it clear that Afghanistan s
future is ultimately for Afghans to
grab hold of and for Afghans to
decide. During his first visit to
Washington since being elected
president, Mr. Ghani is expected
to make the case for more flexibility in the planned drawdown of
U.S. troops in Afghanistan at the
end of this year.
There are currently about
10,000 American service members
in Afghanistan, though the White
House has said it will reduce that
to about 5,500 by December. President Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah the CEO of the National Unity
Government arrived in Washington on Sunday.
More than 850,000 Americans
have served in Afghanistan since
2001. Many have returned home
injured and more than 2,000 were
killed in action.
Pakistanis among 13 fighters
DEAD IN HELMAND OFFENSIVE
LASHKARGAH: More than a
dozen insurgents have been killed
in an ongoing clearing operation in
southern Helmand province, an
official said on Monday. The fighters suffered the fatalities in Joshali locality, where security forces
defused 16 landmines and seized a
walkie-talkie and hundreds Kalashnikov bullets. Lt. Col. Mohammad
Rasoul Zazai, spokesman for the
215th Maiwand Military Corps,
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Afghanistan
will be
GRAVEYARD
FOR DAESH:
GHANI AIDE
WASHINGTON: With the increasing capabilities and strength
of the security forces, Afghanistan
will prove a graveyard of Daesh,
a confident presidential spokesman
said ahead of Afghan-US talks at
Camp David. Ajmal Obaid Abidy
made the assertion during an interview Pajhwok Afghan News hours
after President Ashraf Ghani and
his CEO Dr Abdullah Abdullah arrived in Washington for talks with
American leaders. He said the talks
would focus not only on security
aspects of the relationship, but also
on economic self-reliance, a goal
articulated by Ghani after coming
to power last year. Stability of
Afghanistan is key to stability of
the region and Islamic countries.
Of course, the United States can
play a very significant role in creation of such consensus (among
regional players and Islamic countries), he added. On Sunday
evening, Secretary of State, John
Kerry hosted a dinner for Ghani
and Abdullah. At Monday s talks,
Kerry will be joined by Defense
Secretary Ashton Carter, Treasury
Secretary, Jack Lew and others.
The visit of new Afghan leaders,
Abidy said, was to thank the American people, its security forces and
leadership for the role they had
played and the sacrifices made to
bring peace and defeat insurgents.
A lot of change has happened in
Afghanistan between 14 years ago
and now. This change inside the
country was not possible without
the support of the United States,
he acknowledged. In fact, Ghani
and Abdullah would kick off their
official engagement Monday when
they drive down to the Pentagon
and deliver a speech to the US
armed forces for the sacrifices
made by them in Afghanistan. On
Tuesday, the two leaders will visit
the Arlington Cemetery. The Afghan delegation will reiterate its
commitment to the fight against
corruption and administrative effectiveness. This is a responsible
government.
We are taking measures to fight corruption and we have a very effective agenda of reform. We are committed to fighting corruption and
implementing reform, he said. Security would be one of the major
issues, Abidy said, adding the nature of war had changed.
There are new threats facing
Afghanistan and the region, Islamic countries and the whole world.
There should be effective and
proper ways to overcome the
threats, he stressed.
Actually terror has morphed
into a system. It is not only a phenomenon. (Pajhwok)
KABUL: The ex-President Hamid Karzai talking to religious scholars from Nangarhar, Laghman, Kunar and
Nuristan provinces here on Monday. The scholars lauded Hamid Karzai s nation-building efforts.
Efforts ongoing
to reopen
closed schools
in Zabul
ANSF all set to forestall
DAESH THREAT, SAYS NDS
QALAT: Education officials say
efforts would be made throughout
the new academic year to reopen
schools which had been closed due
to insecurity in southern Zabul
province. They hope many such
schools will be reopened. These
views were expressed at a gathering marking the start of the new
academic year at Sheikh Mati High
School in Qalat, the provincial
capital. Provincial education officials promised they would reopen
closed schools and resolve problems in functional schools in-time.
Education Director Rahimullah
Lodin told Pajhwok Afghan News
only 90 of 238 schools had been
operational last academic year. He
said 40000 to 50000 boys and girls
remained deprived of education in
Zabul and the reason was insecurity. He said they had been holding meetings with tribal elders over
the past three months to seek their
support in reopening schools. The
elders had promised complete cooperation, he added. The education director said they planned to
reopen 10 closed schools during
the first week of the new academic
year. On the other hand, students
said the education department had
been unable to resolve problems
in functional schools. Samiullah, a
student at the Sheikh Mati High
School No.2, said they had been
without a complete set of textbooks last year, when lack of professional teachers negatively impacted their studies. He added students should be delivered textbooks in time and the problem of
teachers shortage resolved. Another student, Abdul Hamid, said
their school lacked sufficient
benches and desks for students.
(Pajhwok)
ational Directorate of Secu
rity (NDS) said that the Is
lamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters are old Taliban
militants with a new flag. Deputy
Director of the NDS, Hesamuddin
Hesam, while briefing Wolesi Jirga
on security situation in the country said that some Taliban militants have switched white flags for
black. He termed ISIS, also known
as Daesh, as a serious threat to Afghanistan, as they are trying to attract and recruit Afghan youth.
Daesh fighters are trying to
mount insecurity in Afghanistan s
north and find access to Central
Asian region, he said. He added
that some foreign elements who
have fled North Waziristan into Afghanistan are trying to recruit Afghan youth. Pakistani forces have
recently launched a large-scale military offensive against militants in
Abdul Zuhoor Qayomi
N
North Waziristan. We have devised
a special mechanism for fight against
ISIS and we have sent the mechanism to President Ashraf Ghani and
are waiting for his order to implement it, Hesam said. He said that
efforts are on to secure safe release
of the 31 passengers in southern
Zabul province. Unidentified gunmen stopped two buses in Shahjoi
district of southern Zabul province
on gunpoint and kidnapped 31 passengers of the Hazara ethnicity
around a month ago. Hessam said
that based on their information the
passengers were alive and safe. The
kidnappers are constantly shifting
the passengers in their captivity
from one place to another, he added. The Minister of Interior, Nurul-Haq Ulumi, said that both political and military efforts were required
to secure safe release of the kidnapped passengers. To raise the capacity of Afghan security forces, he
said that they will urge internation-
Baghlan man
Islamabad plans to build
spouse
Peshaw ar-Kabul motorw ay slaughters
with sickle
KABUL: Islamabad planned to
construct a motorway from Peshawar to Kabul and a feasibility
study for the project would be
commissioned soon, the Pakistan
ambassador said on Monday
The project would improve
connectivity between the two
neighbours and Central Asian
states besides bringing economic
prosperity to Afghanistan, Syed
Abrar Hussain hoped.
Addressing a Pakistan Day
function in Kabul, the diplomat
recalled the passage of the historical Lahore Resolution on March
23, 1940 had played a vital role in
determining the destiny of the
Muslims of Sub-Continent.
The ceremony began with national anthem and hoisting of Pakistan flag by Ambassador. The
event was attended by members
of the Pakistani community. Hussain highlighted the historical significance of the day and paid tribute to the founding fathers for rendering immense sacrifices for
achieving a separate homeland for
Muslims. On Afghan-Pakistan
ties, he called for intensifying bilateral cooperation in areas of trade,
economy, culture and defence. Pakistan would like to see a strong,
stable, peaceful and prosperous
Afghanistan, he added. (Pajhwok)
told Pajhwok Afghan News the dead
included 10 men from Pakistan s
tribal region of Waziristan. Zazai
said the operation had been extended to Sangin district, with security
forces launching an all-out push to
protect the areas cleared of militants.
Meanwhile, the Taliban claimed killing several security personnel in the
Sangin fighting, but local officials
spurned the assertion as groundless.
(Pajhwok)
presidential decree, Madadzai
said, adding: The commission is
assigned to assess all dimensions
of the electoral system including
problems in management of the
electoral bodies and shortcomings
in the electoral law and presenting proposals to the president in
this regard. Due to various issues
in the electoral system, he said, it
was not possible to predict a timetable when the commission would
complete its tasks. However, he
said the commission would complete its activities ahead of the
parliamentary elections due in
June. Meanwhile, the Election
Watch Afghanistan (EWA) welcomed formation of the commission and hoped it would meet people s expectations in term of electoral reforms. But the watchdog
casted doubts over professionalism of the selected members, saying relevant observer groups had
been ignored in its formation.
In a press release, the organisation said it was concerned the
reform process could meet political interferences and subsequently overlooking people s and civil
society s demands. (Pajhwok)
PUL-I-KHUMRI: A drug addict
has killed his wife with a sickle in
the Shahabuddin area of Pul-iKhumri, the capital of northern
Baghlan province, an official said
on Monday. Women s Affairs Director Khadija Yaqin told Pajhwok
Afghan News that the uxoricide incident took place Sunday night and
the killer managed to escape. The
couple had been living with her
husband for 10 years, having five
children, the director said. She
linked the killing to a domestic dispute, but stopped short of giving
details. A resident of the area, Mohibullah, said: Habibullah the
was adhusband of the victim
dicted to drugs. He had sold all
belongings and his wife prevented
him selling a carpet.
Habibullah got angry and attacked
her with a sickle, the man added.
Some 225 cases of violence against
women, including six of murder
incidents, were registered last year.
(Pajhwok)
400 PROJECTS TO
BE EXECUTED IN
KHOST THIS YEAR
Newly-formed electoral
reform panel to meet soon
KABUL: A member of the newly-constituted Electoral Reform
Commission on Monday called
their task gigantic, saying the body
was duty-bound to identify flaws
and gaps in the system and come
up with solutions. Reforms in the
electoral system are part of the
unity government deal between
the president and the chief executive officer. After concerns were
raised regarding the absence of a
body to overhaul the electoral
system, the president issued a
decree forming the electoral reform
commission two days ago.
The 15-member panel is
tasked with introducing reforms
to the electoral system, strengthening democratic norms, restoring
public s trust in government institutions and ensuring that the
rule of law is respected as their
main objectives. Gul Ahmad
Madadzai, a member of the commission, told Pajhwok Afghan
News the commission had yet not
officially started its activities, but
they would hold their maiden session soon. Under the terms of reference, the commission will arrange its activities in line with the
al allies of Afghanistan to give modern weapons to Afghan security forces. He said that currently some
3,000 policemen with 98 police vehicles are currently assigned to ensure security of lawmakers. The
Ministry of Interior (MoI) is intended to collect the vehicle from the lawmakers, Ulumi added. In the meantime the acting Minister of Defense,
Murad Ali Murad said that their rescue operations for release of the kidnapped Hazara passengers haven t
yielded positive result yet, as the
kidnappers are constantly shifting
the kidnapped people from one
place to another. He said that Afghan forces were pressurizing militants through military operations to
come to the negotiation table as
peace negotiations couldn t be
spurred only by plea. He stressed
that peace can only come through
military operations. The security
officials were summoned by the
Wolesi Jirga to brief lawmakers on
security situation in the country.
Sculptor Pavel Greshnikov finalizes a statue of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the style of a Roman emperor in
the workshop of the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. The bust, which w ill be cast in bronze, is due to be unveiled
outside a metro station on the northern outskirts of St. Petersburg on May 9, the holiday commemorating the Soviet
victory in World War II. (TASS/Sergei Konkov)
KHOST CITY: The governor s
house on Monday said 400 reconstruction projects would be executed in 203 villages of various districts of southeastern Khost province this solar year. A statement
from the governor s house said the
projects had been approved under
the National Solidarity Programme
(NSP) as a result of untiring efforts by the provincial administration. Baryalai Rawan, the provincial government s spokesman, said
the projects would be implemented as per local people s wishes in
Sabari, Yaqub, Bak, Tarzai, Alisher, Musakhel, Nadir Shahkot, Gurbaz and Tani districts.Rawan said
the projects had been estimated to
cost about 391 million afghanis and
the schemes would be implemented in areas of transport, agriculture and local reconstruction. Without providing further details about
the projects, the statement said
thousands of people would find
jobs on the projects, which would
help further increase people s cooperation with the government.
Rawan said the provincial government had sent proposals for some
more new projects to Kabul in
compliance with people s demands. He said they were expecting a positive response from the
central government.(Pajhwok)
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TUESDAY MARCH 24, 2015
AFGHANISTAN TIMES
Afghan stude n ts CELEBRATE NAW ROZ IN DELH I
By Neelapu Shanti
NEW DELHI: The Afghan students in South Asian University
celebrated the New Year with gaiety and wished for peace and prosperity in their country. As per the
Persian calendar, Nawroz marks
the onset of spring season and
New Year that is celebrated on
March 21 every year. This festival is celebrated in Afghanistan,
Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and
Kurdish region of Turkey.
The Afghan students feel that
Nawroz is not restricted to one
culture and brings people from
different groups closer to each
other. Nawroz is a day we should
rethink our life, we should think
about our past what we have done
and how we can be more constructive not only in our personal life
but also in terms of our society,
said Omar Sadr, a PhD student
pursuing International Relations.
Most of the South Asian com-
munities suffer a lot from poverty, war, terrorism, conflict.
Nawroz has a message for us. The
message of Nawroz will be peace,
prosperity and happiness..... So,
we should take this message from
Nawroz, he added. This New
Year is significant for Afghanistan
as the country has been longing for
peace and stability. Mir Waez, a
student pursuing Post Graduation
in Economics, echoing similar sentiments said the New Year brings
joy with hopes of a prosperous and
better future. Abdullaha Ataee, another student enrolled with the
South Asian University, said it is
an opportunity to introduce the Afghan culture not only in India but
across the South Asian region .
(newKerala.com)
Afghanistan in ICCCricket World Cup 2015:
Displaced women and girls
trapped in Afghanistan s cities Marks out of 10
O
Photo: NRC/ Christian Jepsen
Displaced Afghan females face
significant constraints to accessing education, health and employment opportunities, according to
a new report by NRC. 7 out of 10
say they have never attended
school. Far more attention must
be expended towards better identifying and responding to the displacement related protection
needs of women and girls displaced in urban Afghanistan,
says Secretary General, Jan Egeland. A new report launched today by NRC and The Liaison
Office (TLO), an Afghan nongovernmental organization, presents evidence and testimony
from women and girls in urban
IDP informal settlements across
Afghanistan and highlights worrying conditions experienced by
displaced females. The testimo-
ny of women and girls presented
in the report paint a grim picture
of the dire conditions facing women and girls displaced to Afghanistan s cities and sheds new light
on the disproportionate risks
they face being increasingly marginalised and isolated. Many of
them find themselves kept in
prison-like seclusion, and are not
permitted to venture outside their
homes and unable to seek much
needed assistance. We are imprisoned in our tents and we don t
have permission to go out. What
is this sort of life worth? says a
24 year-old woman from the Helmand province, internally displaced in Kabul and one of the
respondents in the report. Displaced women and girls across
Afghanistan s cities are also at increased risk of forced and early
marriage. Representing a form of
income, they are increasingly married off to older men who are able
to pay bride wealth/dowry. We are
being sold in exchange for money
like animals. Our rights are ignored;
we are often sold to widowers, blind
men, disabled or old men and we
have no choice to refuse marrying
them , says a 23 year-old woman
from the Muhammad Aghai district
in the Logar province, now living in
a camp for internally displaced in
Kabul. This report provides a
voice for some of the most marginalised and vulnerable groups of
IDPs and should act as a sober reminder of the need to go further in
order to meet the needs of women
and girls living in appalling conditions in Afghanistan s cities , says
Prasant Naik, NRC Afghanistan
Country Director. (NRC)
f all nations participating in
ICC Cricket World Cup 2015,
Afghanistan s story was different. For a nation that did not have
a well-defined cricket team about a
decade ago, Afghanistan rose from
the ashes, battling war and economic crisis and obstacles of all sorts to
storm their way into the grandest
stage of cricket. Abhishek Mukherjee evaluates Afghanistan s performance in ICC Cricket World Cup
2015 and analyses their player performances. All team members of the
Afghanistan squad for ICC Cricket
World Cup 2015 deserve 10 out of
10 for the sheer adversities they
were up against when they made it
to the tournament. Cricketers of
other countries may have had obstacles of their own, but nothing
compares to what Afghanistan had
to go through to make their way to
the tournament. However, since this
exercise involves grading cricketers, let us be objective though, at
heart, I have granted everyone a perfect 10. Samiullah Shenwari (7/
10): If Shenwari had done nothing
else in the World Cup, he would have
etched his name in the history of
Afghan cricket following his epic 96
against Scotland at Dunedin. Chasing 211 Afghanistan were left reeling at 97 for seven, but Shenwari
played out of his skin, adding 35 for
the eighth wicket and 60 more for
the ninth before he was dismissed
for 96. The last pair saw them
through, and Afghanistan registered
their first ever win.Top 10 batsmen
in ICC Cricket World Cup 2015
Shenwari had walked out when Afghanistan were three down for three
against Bangladesh at Manuka Oval,
and managed to score 42. He also
scored 38 against Sri Lanka at Dunedin and 54 against New Zealand at
Napier, and finished the tournament
with 254 runs at 42.33. Shapoor
Zadran (6.5/10): Shapoor, with his
imposing frame and sagging mane,
had troubled batsmen throughout
the World Cup, bowling at brisk
pace and making the ball jag at awkward angles. The Scotland match
was easily his best performance:
not only did he claim four for 38,
but his 12 not out (his ODI batting
average reads a mere 7.25) was crucial in guiding Afghanistan to a victory. Shapoor was hammered
by David Warner, but eventually
finished the tournament with 10
wickets at 26.50 and an economy
rate of 5.19. He also remained unbeaten throughout the World Cup,
batting five times. Hamid Hassan
(6.5/10): Had Hamid been fully fit,
Afghanistan may have put up a
better fight against the stronger nations. With his face glowing in the
characteristic war-paint and the cart
wheeling celebration that has attained iconic status (he gets half a
point for the celebration itself),
Hamid was definitely the fastest
of the pack, often leaving batsmen
hurried for strokes. Hamid bowled
an excellent first spell against Bangladesh, claimed three for 45 against
Sri Lanka, played a crucial cameo
against Scotland, and finished the
tournament with a difficult spell
against England in a losing cause.
Eight wickets at 32.62 and an economy rate of 5.11 make impressive
reading. Dawlat Zadran (5/
10): Dawlat Zadran returned figures of 10-1-29-3 (and provided
support to Shenwari during the
chase) against Scotland; he also took
a wicket off the first ball against
Sri Lanka; but though he claimed
Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell,
they came at the cost of 101 runs.
His economy rate read 6.04, but if
one takes the Australia performance away, it reads an outstanding 4.74. Mohammad Nabi (4/
10): A lot was expected from Nabi,
but the Afghan captain generally
disappointed, managing only 90 in
the entire series. Almost half these
runs came against Bangladesh,
where he clobbered a 43-ball 44 in
a losing cause. He bowled tidily,
especially in the historic match
against Scotland, and certainly
gets an extra point for inspired
leadership. Javed Ahmadi (4/
10): Ahmadi s tournament was
similar to Nabi s: he could accumulate a mere 97
but that included a 51-ball 51 in the Scotland match (he was third out when
Afghanistan were on 85; they
soon became 97 for seven). Mirwais Ashraf (4/10): The nagging,
probing Ashraf removed both
Bangladeshi openers at Manuka
Oval but his batting did not come
off. The second match saw him
smash two massive sixes and
bowl another economic spell, but
he did not play another match.
Asghar Stanikzai (2/10): Stanikzai s tournament can be summarised into one quality innings
the 57-ball 54 against Sri Lanka. He did little else of note as his
first-gear-to-fifth-gear-and-viceversa approach to batting did not
come off. Shafiqullah Shafiq (2/
10): Shafiqullah got a consolation match of sorts in Afghanistan s last appearance of the
World Cup, against England at
Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).
Afghanistan scored a mere 111 for
seven, in which Shafiqullah topscored with 30. Najibullah Zadran
(2/10): Najibullah played a few
cameos, but his only performance
of note came against New Zealand.
He walked out with Afghanistan
on 59 for six, and hit out for a 56ball 56 to lift his side to 186. Barring that he did little of note in
the tournament
if one discounts that outrageous six
off Rangana Herath, that is.
Nawroz Mangal (2/10): Mangal
disappointed with the bat to the
extent that one almost forgot that
he was in the side. He batted at various positions, made a spirited 35ball 33 against Australia at WACA
and couple of 20s, but that was it.
Aftab Alam (2/10): Aftab picked up
two for 55 in Afghanistan s first
match against Bangladesh and hit
out (almost blindly) later in the day.
He was never picked again. Afsar
Zazai (2/10): Zazai was sound, if
not spectacular, behind the stumps.
He claimed seven catches, and generally impressed everyone. His batting did not come off: a tally of 36
runs from six innings does not speak
too highly of him. Gulbadin Naib
(1/10): Naib fell for a golden duck
in the only match he played, but
deserves a solitary point for dismissing the Scottish captain Preston Mommsen just when he was
looking dangerous. After all, not everyone plays a part in a World Cup
win! Usman Ghani (0.5/10): Ghani
opened batting twice, scoring 12
and a duck. He could easily have
been given a nought, but it can be
said in his defence that he played
against the two best sides of his
group (he was dismissed by Mitchell Johnson and Daniel Vettori). Nasir Jamal (0.5/10): Like Shafiqullah,
Jamal was also given a solitary
match
against England. While
Shafiqullah top-scored with 30, Jamal, with a patient 52-ball 17, came
next. ICC Cricket World Cup 2015:
Complete Coverage (Abhishek
Mukherjee is the Chief Editor and
Cricket Historian at Cricket Country. He blogs here and can be followed on Twitter here.)
Invitation for Bids (IFB)
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TUESDAY MARCH 24, 2015
AFGHANISTAN TIMES
The importance
OF AFGHAN-US
ALLIANCE
By Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah
H
aving chosen unity over di
vision in the first peaceful
and democratic transition
of power in our nation s history,
we are visiting the United States
to deepen the cooperation between
our countries. With US support,
the hardworking people of Afghanistan can rebuild our country, develop our economy and resist terrorism.
Both cursed and blessed by its
location in the heart of Asia, our
country has seen too much violence. More than 1 million Afghans
died, and more than 30 percent of
our population was forced into
exile during the struggle to defeat
the Soviet invasion in the 1980s.
Then came meddling regional actors, who took advantage of feuding factions and a power vacuum,
only to be followed by the Taliban, who brought deadly repression and became host to terrorists.
For the past decade, Afghanistan has joined the United States
and other nations in battling alQaeda and regional terror networks, and now Afghanistan has
become the eastern wall standing
against the butchery of ISIL, also
known as the Islamic State.
Because Afghanistan must
never again become a launching
ground for terrorist attacks, we
want to continue to work with the
United States.
Afghanistan is not asking the
United States to do our job for us.
We thank the American people and
remember your brave fallen soldiers who defended freedom and
dignity here after the tragedies of
Sept. 11, 2001.
Our ultimate goal is self-reliance. On Dec. 31, we fulfilled our
promise to our people and our
commitment to your president and
to NATO by taking full responsibility for combat operations in our
country. Gen. John F. Campbell,
the US commander of the International Security Assistance Force,
has testified to the high professionalism and morale of the Afghan
armed forces. A continued security partnership
with training,
advice and assistance from the
United States
will ensure that
we will be an important ally in the
decades to come. Our partnership
goes beyond assurances of mutual
security. Now there is hope in a
nation that once had none. Afghans
protect and cherish the many
schools built with US assistance
that are teaching more than 3 million of our daughters to read, along
with the clinics that have saved the
lives of tens of thousands of our
wives and mothers. With peace
will come development that lets
Afghanistan benefit from America s business experience. Our first
priority is to tackle corruption,
waste and mismanagement. Candidates for governorships and ministries now undergo integrity reviews, and a new national procurement agency will ensure that contracting for all large public projects
is clean. Afghans believe deeply in
the rights of the individual, but injustice, both legal and social,
abounds. Our legal system must
be comprehensively restructured,
and a national review of all prosecutors and judges to weed out corrupt or unqualified officials is already underway. More reforms
will follow. Political stability is
built on the bedrock of economic
growth. Sadly, nearly 40 years of
conflict, poor governance and eco-
nomic mismanagement have stifled
growth in Afghanistan, leaving us
dependent on outside aid. We will
develop our country s resources.
But we can t do this entirely on
our own. Just as we needed America s help to fight terrorism, we still
need your help to rebuild our economy. We need know-how, not charity. We ask your corporations,
your nonprofits and your start-ups
to help us embed clean, efficient
ways of doing business.
Too much wealth has failed to
reach ordinary Afghans. Our three
numerical majorities
women,
youth and the poor are our economic minorities. Over the next
five years, a new Citizens Charter will ensure that most Afghan
villages can count on having clean
water, primary schooling and
health care, access to a market and
technology for better farming.
While the opportunities to
build peace and stability have never
been greater, a new ecology of terror threatens to block not just our
prosperity but yours as well. Localized insurgencies and external
enablers have evolved into existential threats to states. In parts of
the Middle East, extremism has
taken a violent form. To the east,
Pakistan s military operations are
pushing a number of terrorist networks into our territory. Narcotics provide deadly criminal networks with the weapons and money to attract new recruits from
around the world. We are determined to fight this scourge.
Weakened governments offer
fertile ground for violent groups
opposed to the democratic way of
life. We are responding to extremism s threats by building partnerships at the global, regional, Islamic
and national levels of governance.
Globally, Afghanistan abides
by international conventions and
the rule of law. Our government
will join free-trade arrangements
that build prosperity and promote
peace. Regionally, we are engaging
our neighbors across Asia to build
trust and trade. Afghanistan will
become a platform for cooperation
in a vast region that extends from
India to Azerbaijan and beyond.
Properly supported, Afghanistan
is uniquely positioned to block the
spread of extremism. With the bitter exception of the Taliban regime,
Islam in Afghanistan has traditionally been inclusive and reflective,
not violent and angry. And after
36 years of conflict, our people
have become immunized against
ideologically based conflict. Afghanistan s transformation will not
be easy. There will be setbacks.
Because we will negotiate peace
from a position of strength, violent encounters may rise as our
armed forces tighten their hold on
security. But we will not surrender the gains that we have made in
education, health, democratic development, the media, civil society and women s rights. The Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr. said that
the arc of history is long but that it
bends toward justice. Afghanistan s history has been marked by
violence, sacrifice and tears. But
the partnership between Afghanistan and the United States can make
Afghanistan an enduring success,
replacing conflict and violence
with a legacy of justice and peace
for our children.
This column appeared in the
Washington Post ahead of the authors 5-day visit to the US.
By Akhtar M.Nikzad
KABUL: Indian media reported
recently that swine flu outbreak has
been sweeping India including its
capital city New Delhi.
This virus has taken hundreds
of lives and affected hundreds others. If media reports are any guide
then the total number of deaths due
to swine flu has reached 1,198 and
over 22,000 people have been affected with the H1N1 virus across
India. Swine flu is commonly
known as an infectious disease
caused by the pig deadly virus.
Symptoms can be mild or severe.
The most common symptoms include: a high fever, runny nose, sore
throat, muscle pains, headache,
coughing, and feeling tired. Since
Afghanistan and India enjoy cordial ties therefore Afghan nationals
have not only been living in India
but also do travelling. It s feared
they may bring home the virus from
India as there are no health and vaccination facilities at the Hamid
Karzai International Airport in
Kabul. It is believed that from 400500 Afghans travel to India by flight
on daily basis for medical care and
visit purposes. Talking to Afghanistan Times spokesman for Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority
(ACAA), Qasim Rahimi said that
around 500 citizens fly to India on
daily basis from different airports
such as Kabul, Balkh, Kandahar and
Herat. According ACAA, around
15,000 Afghans travel to India on
monthly basis, and nearly 547,500
Afghans travel to India for different purposes including treatment.
In reply to a query that whether
the Ministry of Public Health
(MoPH) have the facilities to diagnose the swine flu virus among those
that return from India and as well
as about any measures taken by the
ministry in controlling the outbreak
of the H1N1, the Public Health
Minister, Ferozuddin Feroz, told
Afghanistan Times that after being
informed about the outbreak of the
swine flu virus, directed the MoPH
to take concrete and urgent measures for controlling the likely
spread of the virus and diagnosing
of affected citizens. He said that a
special team was assigned at Kabul, Kandahar and Herat airports to
implement diagnostic measure
among those who return from India. Every Afghan who returns
from India undergoes a blood test
at the airports. The type A of the
H1N1 virus has been diagnosed
EMERGENCY
CALLS
Police
100 - 119
Hospitals
Sw ine flu alert in Afghanistan: A young man in Kabul sells surgical masks on the street.
among Afghans that had returned
from India, he added. The ACAA
spokesman did not confirm existence of any health clinic at the airports but he welcomed establishment of a diagnostic center at Kabul, Herat and Kandahar airports
and said that they would help in
controlling the outbreak of the virus. Criticizing the Public Health
Ministry for reluctance in controlling the spate of swine flu in
the country, a number of Afghans
who traveled to India claimed that
the MoPH had not taken any
measure for testing those Afghans
and foreigners who return from
India. Nasim Nasrat, an Afghan
who recently visited India, said
that there was no heath facility at
Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul to diagnose the infectious disease. I have not seen
any diagnostic center or healthcare personnel at the airport to
ask travelers about any health
problem and if they are affected
with swine flu in India, he said.
He added that the virus could easily spread as the MoPH was reluctant to take any measure in this
regard. Wali Entezar, another Afghan recently returned from India
after treatment, said that the outbreak of swine flu was a big threat
to Afghanistan as most of Afghans
travel to that country on daily
basis for treatment and other purposes therefore they can serve as
cording to information from his
department, currently 155,000
students, including 26,000 girls,
are enrolled in 353 schools across
the province. Speaking on the oc-
type but other types like H1N2,
H3N1 and H3N2 can also create the
infectious disease in human. There
are three types of influenza that
that affect people. The H1N1 virus
can be transferred through air particles after sneezing and cough. The
symptoms caused by the swine influenza virus (SIV) occur in short
distances. The transmission of the
virus can occur by contact with contaminated surfaces to eyes and
mouth, he added. Hinting at symptoms of hog flu, he said that symptoms of this infectious disease
caused by the H1N1 virus are similar to those of other types and include sudden fever a temperature
of 38C, tiredness, aching muscles
or joint pain, headache and runny
or blocked nose. About preventive
measures to control outbreak of pig
flu, Nooruddin said that the easiest
way to prevent the disease is to take
hygienic measures including washing hands wish detergents, not
touching contaminated eyes, nose
and mouth with contaminated
hands as the virus can be transmitted through the surface of cell
phones and other devises that are
used daily by people, staying at
home when someone feels sick,
avoiding large gatherings when
swine flu is in its season. He also
said that best remedy to prevent
the disease is to rest at home, keep
warm and drink plenty of water to
avoid dehydration.
Pakistan s embassy
BRIEF LIFE
celebrates Republic Day SKETCHES OF NEW
ministers-designate
G
AT News Report
KABUL: The Embassy of Pakistan in Kabul on Monday celebrated Pakistan s Republic Day.
According to a press release issued by Embassy of Pakistan in
Kabul, the ceremony was attended by sizeable members of Pakistani community including educationists, engineers, doctors, senior
executives and businessmen. Addressing participants of the ceremony, the Ambassador of Pakistan in Kabul, Syed Abrar Hussain highlighted the historical significance of the Day and paid tributes to the founding fathers that
had rendered immense sacrifices
for achieving a separate homeland.
The ambassador also spoke on
AfPak ties and underscored the
need for intensifying bilateral cooperation between the two countries in the areas of trade, econo-
my, culture and defense. He said
that Pakistan attached utmost significance to its ties with the brotherly country and would like to see
a strong, stable, peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan. Talking of efforts to enhance trade with Afghanistan, the ambassador said that Pakistan had removed several trade impediments so as to facilitate and encourage bilateral trade. He stated
that Pakistan had executed various
projects in health, education and infrastructure sectors in Afghanistan
which would tremendously benefit
the Afghan people. Syed Abrar
Hussain said that Pakistan had
planned to construct a motorway
from Peshawar to Kabul and a feasibility study about the project
would soon be commissioned. The
motorway project will not only
improve connectivity between the
two neighbors and Central Asian
States but would also bring economic prosperity to Afghanistan.
Taliban, illegal gunmen
terrorizing Kunduz residents
KUNDUZ CITY: Some residents
of northern Kunduz province on
Monday complained of a heavy
presence of militants and an armed
group, saying official had failed
to disarm them.
The groups often resorted to
infighting, they said, adding common people had become victims
of clashes.
Around 9,000 armed men, included militants, are said to be
active in the province.
Syed Attaullah, a resident of
Khanabad district, said armed
men in special uniforms established checkpoints after evening.
They snatch watches, mobile
phones, cash and other valuables
from residents. (Pajhwok)
Paktika schools, seminaries to get new buildings
SHARAN: The education department of southeastern Paktika
province on Monday announced
11 madaris and 12 schools would
get new buildings, while 43 other
schools would be rehabilitated in
the ongoing year. Education Director Kochai Zazai said funds for
the rehabilitation and construction
of schools would be provided by
the ministry concerned and
UNICEF. In addition, the department plans to build 54 local education centres, 10 kindergartens
and playgrounds at different
schools with the financial assistance of World Bank (WB). Zazai
noted lack of professional teachers, long distance between schools
and residential areas and security
concerns as major issues faced
during the last academic year. Ac-
main transformers of the virus from
India to Afghanistan. The government should be aware about the
outbreak of pig influenza in India
and should take preventive measures as soon as possible, he suggested. Reports suggest that the
H1N1 virus has taken 981 lives in
2009, 1,763 in 2010, 75 in 2011,
405 in 2012 and 692 lives in 2013.
According to the recent reports,
the number of deaths due to outbreak of swine flu in 2015 has
reached to 1,198 and over 22,000
people have been affected with the
H1N1 virus across India. However, Dr. Feroz rejected outbreak of
swine flu in India and stressed that
Ministry of Health and Family
Welfare of India and World Health
Organization (WHO) in a contact
with the MoPH rejected the allegations about existence of swine flu
in that country. We talked about
the issue with WHO and they rejected the allegations. In the meantime, we shared our concerns about
outbreak of pig flu with India s
Ministry of Health and Family
Welfare, and they also rejected the
reports but confirmed a few cases
in remote states of Rajasthan and
Gujarat, he said. He added that
Indian officials rejected any positive case of swine flu in India s capital city, New Delhi. Nooruddin
Andish, a specialist of infectious
diseases, said that the main cause
of swine flu is H1N1 influenza sub-
casion, a UNICEF representative
pledged to extend all-out support
for promoting education in Paktika.
Tribal Elder Badshah acknowl-
edged education standards had
improved, as people had started
understanding its value. But he
complained of the late delivery of
books to schools. (Pajhwok)
iven below are biographies
of the new cabinet picks
that President Ashraf
Ghani nominated before embarking his five-day visit to Washington: Abdul Bari Jahani, information and culture minister-designate, is a son of Haji Abdul Ahmad Khan, Jahani. He was born
in 1948 in Kandahar City. He completed early education in Kandahar in history and geography. In
1981, Jahani went to Pakistan and
two years later to the United
States where he worked for the
Voice of America (VOA).
He has authored more than 10
books in Pashto language and
many of them have been translated to Dari and English. Jahani was
member of the constitution Loya
Jirga. He has the honour of authoring Afghanistan s current national anthem. Basir Ahmad Osmani, energy and water ministerdesignate, has a master s degree in
architecture. He was a lecturer at
Herat University and had worked
as coordinator with the European
Union and WFP programmes in
western Afghanistan.
Mohammad Gulab Mangal,
borders and tribal affairs minister-designate, is a son of Yaruddin. He was born in 1957 in southeastern Paktia province. Holding
a degree in Pashto literature, Mangal had served as the governor of
Paktia, Laghman and Helmand
provinces in the previous administration. Sayed Sadaat Naderi,
urban development minister-designate; Naderi, son of Sayed Mansour Naderi, was born in 1976 in
Kabul City. He has a degree in
economics and international trade
from North London University.
He was a member of the central
bank s board of directors and president of a private insurance company in Kabul. Mahmood Baligh,
public works minister-designate;
Mahmood Baligh was born in
1971 in central Daikundi province.
He has a master s degree in architecture.
He has taught at the Polytechnic University and was editor-inchief of Iqtedar-e-Milli newspaper. Abdul Razaq Wahidi, information and technology ministerdesignate; Wahidi has a master s
in mathematics.
He has worked as a university lecturer and deputy finance
minister. Assadullah Zameer, agriculture minister-designate; Asadullah Zameer, son of Haji Mohammad Dil, was born in Kabul
city. Zameer has expertise in
fields of economics, agricultural
development, rural development,
natural resources development
and strategic planning. He has 14
years of experience with various
sectors of natural resources, rural
development and education. He
has a master s degree in economics from the US. Humayun Rasa,
commerce and industry ministerdesignate, has a master s degree in
computer science. Earlier, he was
deputy education minister and
deputy director of the National
Directorate of Security (NDS).
Dilbar Nazari, women s affairs
minister-designate, is an ex-lawmaker who has a degree in international affairs from Kabul University. Mohammad Batash, transport minister-designate, is son of
Haji Bori. He was born in 1961 in
the Imam Sahib district of Kunduz province. He has a doctorate
in international affairs from a
Moscow university. Previously
he held several governmental positions, including transport s deputy minister. Over the past three
years, he has been working as governor of Faryab province. Salamat
Azimi, counternarcotics ministerdesignate, holds a degree in law
and political science and has
worked as deputy head of Balkh
University. Abdul Sattar Murad,
economy minister-designate, is a
former governor of Kapisa province. He has a degree in international relations from the US. Dr.
Nasrin Oryakhel, labour and social affairs minister-designate, has
graduated from Kabul University. She has served a lecturer at
Kabul Medical University besides
serving as head of Rabia Balkhi
and Malali hospitals in Kabul. Dr.
Abdul Basir Anwar, justice minister-designate, was born in 1952
in the Jabalus Saraj district of central Parwan province. A graduate
from Kabul Medical University,
he possesses master s degrees in
political science and Islamic Studies. A former advisor to ex-president Hamid Karzai, he has served
in various governmental positions.
Asadullah Hanif Balkhi, education minister-designate, was
born in 1957 in Balkh province.
He has a doctorate in Law and
Sharia from Saudi Arabia. He was
ambassador to Kuwait and held
several other governmental positions. Balkhi has translated more
than 16 books from Arabic to Dari.
Farida Mohmand is higher
education minister-designate. But
his background is yet to be shared
with the media.
Nominees for the minister of
defence and attorney-general and
Central Bank head are yet to be
introduced. (Pajhwok)
FMIC Hospital
Behind Kabul Medical
University:
0202500200-+93793275595
Rabia-i-Balkhi Hospital
Pule Bagh-e- Umomi
070263672
Khairkhana Hospital
0799-321007
2401352
Indira Gandhi Children
Hospital, Wazir Akbar
Khan, Kabul 2301372
Ibn-e- Seena
Pul-e-Artan, Kabul
2100359
Wazir Akbar Khan
Hospital
2301741, 2301743
Ali Abad
Shahrara, Kabul
2100439
Malalai Maternity
Hospital
2201377/ 2301743
Banks
Da Afghanistan Bank
2100302, 2100303
Kabul Bank
222666, 070285285
Azizi Bank
0799 700900
Pashtany Bank
2102908, 2103868
Air Services
Safi Airways
020 22 22 222
Ariana
020-2100270
Kam Air
0799974422
Hotels
Safi Landmark
020-2203131
SERENA
0799654000
New Rumi Restaurant
0776351347
Internet Services
UA Telecom
0796701701 / 0796702702
Exchange Rate
Purchase:
One US$ =
57.70Afs
One Pound Sterling=
84.40Afs
One Euro =
60.37Afs
1000 Pak Rs =
560Afs
Sale:
One US$ =
57.90Afs
One Pound Sterling=
85.20Afs
One Euro=
62.90 Afs
1000 Pak Rs= 568Afs
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.
TUESDAY MARCH 24 , 2015
AFGHANISTAN TIMES
Somali pirates
shifting location
towards India,
Manohar
Parrikar says
India clarified on Monday there is
no place for a third party in talks
with Pakistan and the resolution
of the issues between the neighbouring countries will be carried
out by their respective governments. “The government of India
prefers to speak for itself. There
should be no scope for misunderstanding or misinterpretation on
India’s position on role of ‘socalled’ Hurriyat,” the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)
said, according to IBN Live.
“There are only two parties and
there is no place for third party in
resolution for the India-Pakistan
issue. Only way forward to proceed on all outstanding issues is
peaceful bilateral dialogue within
framework of Shimla Agreement &
Lahore Declaration,” MEA
spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin
added. Akbaruddin’s statement
comes on Pakistan’s national day
and hours after Pakistan High
Commissioner to India Abdul Basit claimed the Indian government
does not object to his meetings
with Hurriyat leaders. “I don’t
think the government of India is
objecting to our meeting with Hurriyat leaders,” Abdul Basit said.
Read: Don’t think Indian govt objects to us meeting Hurriyat leaders: Abdul Basit Down playing his
meetings with Hurriyat leaders
which have earlier been the cause
for India cancelling foreign secretary-level talks, Basit said, “Don’t
try to make an issue out of nonissue.” Earlier this month Indian
foreign secretary S Jaishanker visited Pakistan and held talks with
his counterparts in Islamabad.
Read: Ensuring peace and tranquility along border is vital: Indian foreign secretary Further, earlier today, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif on Pakistan Day. Read: After 7-year hiatus, nation witnesses Pakistan Day
parade Modi took to social networking site Twitter and said, “It
is my firm conviction that all out-
standing issues can be resolved through bilateral dialogue in an atmosphere free from terror & violence.”
Pakistan Day
messages: Nation
stands united
against all odds,
says Nawaz
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif said the anti-state
elements threatening Pakistan
were out to challenge not only the
lives but also the very fabric of
Pakistani nation, vowing that the
nation stands united to defeat all
kinds of militancy and extremism.
“Pakistan is resolved to redeem its
pledge given to its founding fathers
that it will protect the homeland,”
he made the remark in his message
to the nation on Pakistan Day. We
are also committed to preserve and
ensure freedom, equality and social justice as core values of our
polity as desired by our enlightened forbears, he added. Three
quarters of a century, the premier
stated, had elapsed since the Muslims of the subcontinent irreversibly resolved to seek their own independent Muslim state. “I am
confident that with the valued assistance of our valiant armed forces, unconditionally supported by
the entire array of political opinion, we will surely overpower
threatening forces,” he observed.
Presidential remarks Meanwhile,
President Mamnoon Hussain has
said that on the historic occasion
of the Pakistan Day, all citizens
should renew their resolve to bring
the country to the forefront of the
comity of nations The president,
in his message on the Pakistan Day,
said the day marked the momentous occasion when Muslims of
India resolved to struggle for an
independent state based on principles of equality and justice.
BHUBANESWAR: Beaten back in
their usual area of operations, Somali pirates are "shifting their location" towards India, but the country is watchful to deal with such
threats, defence minister Manohar
Parrikar said . "Today's threats are
not traditional. Somali pirates, after being neutralized by various
countries' navies, are shifting their
locations towards India. Because
their (shipping) lanes are heavily
guarded, they have moved 30-40
nautical miles, although they still
are 450 nautical miles away from
India," he said. "They may not be
next to India but ... We are watchful and careful," Parrikar said at an
international conference on "India
& the Indian Ocean: Renewing the
Maritime Trade & Civilisational
Linkages", organized by the Institute of Social and Cultural Studies
(ISCS) jointly with Research and
Information System for Developing Countries (RIS). Calling for
greater cooperation between the
neighbouring countries, he said,
"The Indian Ocean can be an enricher and also a destroyer, hence
we should also be prepared for disaster and develop strong relationships and communication with
neighbouring countries to avoid
any kind of disaster." Pitching for
a creation of a common platform
for the Indian Ocean rim region, he
further said, "We are in a common
grid and are tied to each other. If
India strengthens, being the focal
point and located strategically, it
can facilitate others." He also said
that India's strength lies in nonviolence, but it can be practised
only by those that are strong. Somali pirates produced at the Sewri
fast-track court. The pirates were
nabbed in four different operations
that were carried out by the Coast
Guard and the Navy off Lakshadweep. (TOI Photo by Prashant
Nakwe) Stressing that the Indian
Ocean region is "very important
for us", Parrikar pointed out that
it "accounts for more than 50 per
cent of the world's oil reserves and
more than 45 per cent of the
world's gas reserves".
India’s Border Security Force
(BSF) has shot dead a Bangladeshi
on the border at Chapainawabganj’s Shibganj Upazila. The incident happened around 1am on
Monday near the Ohedpur borders, according to Chapainawabganj-based Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) battalion Commander Lt Col AZSM Bazlul Haque.
His BSF counterpart, 20 Battalion Commandant Raj Kumart
Batasha has been informed of the
shooting, said the BGB officer, and
added that a flag-meeting had been
convened. The dead has been identified as Tarikul Islam, 35, of Jamaiparha Village of the Upazila.
Locals said that he was involved
in the cattle trade. Islam along with
Senior Indian and Chinese officials
are meeting in Delhi for talks aimed
at resolving a contentious border
dispute, the first discussions since
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
came to power. China's special representative Yang Jiechi is in Delhi
for talks with National Security
Adviser Ajit Doval. The talks are
seeking to improve ties before Mr
Modi visits Beijing in May. The
neighbours were involved in a bitter two-week stand-off near their
de facto border in September 2014.
The two countries share an ill-defined 4,057km (2,520 miles) bor-
der and fought a brief war in 1962.
Tensions flare up from time to time
and numerous rounds of border
talks have been unsuccessful so far.
The latest meeting in Delhi is the
18th round of boundary talks. Since
taking over as prime minister last
summer, Mr Modi has spoken of
his desire for better relations with
China and called for an early settlement of the border dispute. In
September during his visit to India, Chinese President Xi Jinping
said he was committed to working
with India to maintain "peace and
tranquillity".
a few others had entered Indian territory to bring in cattle at the wee hours of Monday, when the BSF opened
fire. His companions brought him home with gunshot wounds, where he died later, according to the locals.
Sri Lanka sets up national unity
government to speed up reforms
Miscreants set ablaze 5 tankers in
Balochistan, abduct four drivers
QUETTA: Armed men set on fire
five oil tankers in Balochistan's
Mastung district on Monday and
also kidnapped four drivers before
fleeing from the scene. Levies
sources told DawnNews that
armed men opened indiscriminate
fire on five oil tankers in Kirdi Gap
area of Mastung. The sources added that the tankers were carrying
fuel from Karachi for the Saindak
Project situated in Balochistan's
Chaghi district when they were
targeted in Kirdi Gap. The tankers
caught fire as the gunfire ignited
the fuel payload, following which
the militants picked up four drivers and fled to an undisclosed location in the mountainous region.
Fire fighters were dispatched from
Mastung city to put off the fire.
Levies and Frontier Corps (FC)
personnel reached the spot as a
probe into the incident went underway. A search operation was
launched in the area to ensure the
safe recovery of kidnapped drivers, Levies said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for
the attack, however, Levies suspect Baloch separatist militants could be
behind the attack. Oil tankers have regularly been targeted with arson
attacks blamed on insurgents attempting to disrupt two key supply
lines that cross western Pakistan
President Maithripala Sirisena
used his executive powers to appoint 11 new cabinet members and
15 deputy ministers from the main
opposition Sri Lanka Freedom
Party (SLFP), government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne told Reuters news agency. With the new
appointments, the number of ministers in Sirisena's cabinet has risen to 39. "The move will enable
better cooperation between the
ruling party and the main opposition in parliament until parliamentary elections," Senaratne said.
"This is a national government, and
this is a (SLFP) party decision. We
want to do all the reforms and then
go to the elections," Senaratne add-
ed. Proposed reforms Sirisena, a
former SLFP member, stood for
the presidency in January 8 elections, promising to bring political
stability to the country and embark on a much-needed reconciliation process among political and
ethnic groups. He appointed the
then-opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister to
consolidate the process.
The proposed reforms, to be enacted in Sirisena's first 100 days in
office, focus on the abolition of the
executive presidency and the reestablishment of independent
commissions to oversee the police,
civil service and judiciary and to
monitor human rights. However,
the new leader may have trouble
finding the two-thirds majority
in parliament needed for constitutional reforms, or winning such
a majority through the election
of a new parliament. The new
appointments could also widen
the rift within the already-divided opposition ranks before parliamentary elections later this
year. Observers say the move is
likely to upset the opposition
United National Party (UNP),
which backed Sirisena in the January 8 vote.
"It will satisfy no one because
UNP will feel it is being crowded out by the integration of the
SLFP members into the cabinet,"
Dayan Jayatilake, a former Sri Lankan diplomat, told Reuters, adding that the new appointments
would slow down the decisionmaking process. A SLFP faction is
trying to get former president
Mahinda Rajapakse back to power. Rajapakse ruled the country for
a decade and was accused of corruption, nepotism and cronyism.
The 69-year-old also faced criticism from Western countries over
his refusal to allow an international investigation into alleged war
crimes and his apparent unwillingness to promote reconciliation with
the country's Tamil minority following the decades-long civil war,
which ended in May 2009.
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TUESDAY MARCH 24 , 2015
AFGHANISTAN TIMES
Syrian insurgents
‘mimicking’
army violence
Kurdish authorities in Iraq have accused Iran of sending 30,000 soldiers and military experts to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group. Shakhawan Abdullah, the head
of the Iraq's parliamentary security and defence committee, told Al Jazeera on Sunday that Iranian soldiers were operating in a number of Iraqi cities and fighting on Iraqi soil. Inside
Story: Revenge and reprisals in Iraq? Abdullah said Iran's presence went beyond military advisers and experts, and that Iranians were fighting under the banner of the Popular
Mobilisation Forces. The Popular Mobilisation Forces is an umbrella organisation of Shia armed groups composed of around 100,000 fighters. Iran has repeatedly denied sending soldiers
to Iraq despite claims by the US. In August, Iran was accused of sending hundreds of soldiers to retake the town of Jalawla from ISIL, while in December it was alleged that an Iranian
F-4 fighter struck ISIL targets in the province of Diyala. Shia fighters have been accused of killing dozens of civilians in retribution against the actions of ISIL since the group seized large
swathes of land and announced the establishment of a "caliphate" straddling the two countries.
Insurgent groups in Syria have carried out scores of indiscriminate
attacks that have killed and maimed
civilians in violation of the laws of
war, a Human Rights Watch report
said on Monday. The report said
armed groups could not point to
abuses by government forces and
allied militias to justify their own
violence, which it said had often
targeted areas with a high concentration of religious minorities.
"We've seen a race to the bottom
in Syria, with rebel groups mimicking the ruthlessness of government forces with devastating consequences for civilians," said
Nadim Houry, HRW's deputy
Middle East director. The Syrian
crisis started in March 2011 with
Arab Spring-inspired protests
against President Bashar al-Assad.
The uprising turned into armed
conflict as the security forces
cracked down on protesters. Four
years on, more than 200,000 people have been killed in a civil war
pitting the army and allied militias
against a range of insurgent groups,
including hardline jihadists such as
Islamic State and mainstream
rebels. The report covered attacks
between January 2012 to April
2014 in and around Damascus and
Homs. Some attacks were claimed
by groups such as al-Qaeda's Syria wing Nusra Front and the ultrahardline ISIS, HRW said. Howev-
er, members of the "Free Syrian
Army" and other rebel groups also
appear to have carried out deliberate, deadly attacks on civilian areas, the HRW report found. Free
Syrian Army is a name adopted
by a plethora of mainstream rebel
groups that often operate independently of each other. Some of these
groups have received support from
Assad's Western and Arab foes.
The research was based on victim
and witness accounts, on-site investigations, videos and information on social media. It described
attacks using car bombs, mortars
and rockets. The report documented 17 car bombings and other explosions in the Damascus countryside, central Damascus and various locations in Homs. Many of
the areas targeted have a large population of religious minorities including Christians, Alawites, Shiites and Druze which are seen by
Sunni Muslim insurgents as supportive of the government, the report said. Assad is an Alawite and
his allies include the Shiite Islamist government in Iran. The report
urged the United Nations Security
Council to refer the situation in
Syria to the International Criminal
Court and impose an arms embargo on forces implicated in widespread or systematic abuses,
whichever side they were fighting
on.
Six Tunisia police chiefs
dismissed over museum attack
The Iraqi army, supported by Shia
fighters, is laying "full siege" to the
city of Tikrit where Islamic State
of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group
fighters are now surrounded, according to Iraq's defence minister.
The Iraqi military - backed by at
least 20,000 Shia fighters - has been
fighting to regain control of Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit,
one of several predominantly Sunni towns to fall to ISIL last year.
Operations to recapture Tikrit
have been on hold for nearly a
week, with Khaled al-Obeidi, the
Iraqi defence minister, saying the
army was trying to minimise casualties by not rushing the final
assault. "When we see that the time
is right for the Tikrit alliance, we
will storm in as quickly as possible," he said. "Tikrit is under full
siege. We are taking caution to not
take any losses and to protect civilians in the city. "The terrorists
are surrounded inside the city and
their morale is low. When the right
moment comes, we will storm the
city without any resistance or losses." The Tikrit siege is one of the
first major operations in which the
US-led coalition is not taking part,
with US officials saying they were
not asked to participate. Possible
divide Against the backdrop of the
Tikrit siege, the head of a Shia
armed group has criticised the Iraqi army, saying it has asked for
coalition air strikes to help retake
the city. Hadi al-Ameri's remarks
on Sunday pointed to a possible
divide between the Iraqi army and
Shia units, most of which are made
up of fighters. While the US has
been working to train Iraqi military brigades, it has not worked
with the Shia groups, since doing
so would bring them uncomfortably close to Iran, which offers significant assistance to the groups.
John Brennan, CIA director, said
having the leader of Iran's elite Quds
Force direct Iraqi forces against
ISIL is complicating the US mis-
sion. In an interview with Fox
News Sunday, Brennan described
General Qassem Soleimani as being "very aggressive and active" in
advising the Shia militias, adding
that he "wouldn't consider Iran an
ally right now inside Iraq". Iranian
advisers have played a prominent
role on the front lines of Iraq's
Salahuddin province. If Iraqi forces are unable to push ISIL back
and recover lost territory, US President Barack Obama would be
faced with a choice of accepting
failure in Iraq or committing US
combat troops - something both
US and Iraqi officials have spoken
firmly against.
Tunisia's prime minister has dismissed six police commanders, including those in charge of tourist
security and an intelligence brigade, according to a spokesperson. Monday's decision by Habib
Essid follows the March 18 attack on the National Bardo Museum in Tunis, which killed 21
people, 20 of whom were foreign
tourists. "He visited [the area
around the museum] last night and
saw several deficiencies. So he has
decided to fire a number of officials including the Tunis police
chief and the police chief for the
Bardo area that includes the museum," Mofdi Mssedi, Essid's communications director, told AFP
news agency.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant (ISIL) group claimed re-
sponsibility for the attack, which
has badly shaken the crucial tourism industry in the North African
nation considered the birthplace of
the Arab Spring revolts.
Authorities say the two men
blamed for that attack had no clear
links to armed groups. Several
well-armed groups in neighbouring and chaotic Libya have pledged
allegiance to ISIL.
UN envoy w arns Yemen is
‘on the edge of civil w ar’
Libya unity
govt could get
first names this
week: UN envoy
British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon told the United States on
Monday his country would always
be at Washington's side on the battlefield “when the chips are down,”
part of a concerted campaign to
assuage U.S. fears over British defense spending. The U.S. army's
chief of staff said earlier this month
he was very concerned about the
impact of spending cuts on British defense and future cooperation
with London, traditionally a
staunch U.S. ally. Ahead of an unusually close national election on
May 7, Prime Minister David
Cameron’s Conservatives and the
opposition Labour Party are under pressure from lawmakers
across the spectrum to commit to
protect defense spending after the
ballot. Both have dodged firm
pledges.
Fallon, who held talks with U.S.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter earlier this month, said Washington
and concerned British lawmakers
had nothing to worry about. “The
U.S. understands what really matters in today’s unstable world.
When the chips are down, the UK
will always be at their side,” Fal-
lon wrote in the Daily Telegraph.
“Our American friends know that
the UK is not about to let down
its guard.” Fallon said Britain's finances were on a firm foundation,
that it was investing in its military
and had the biggest defense budget
in the EU, and that it was putting
its capabilities to work in places
like Iraq.
The United States knew it could
rely on Britain, he said, saying that
when Carter greeted him in Washington earlier this month he told
him: “Thank God we're in this together.”
The first names for a new Libyan
unity government could emerge
this week after progress in U.N.mediated talks between its warring
parties, U.N. special envoy Bernardino Leon said Monday. Leon
was in Brussels for a conference
of Libyan mayors after visiting
Morocco, where he has been working with representatives of Libya's
rival parliaments to reach a deal to
end months of fighting. “There is
a chance that we can make progress
and have the first names for a unity government this week,” Leon
told reporters. “It is going to be a
difficult discussion and I wouldn't
like expectations to be too high,
bearing in mind how difficult the
situation is on the ground. But
there is a possibility and we will
do our best to reach there by the
end of this week.” Leon had said
on Sunday that the first documents
to pave the way for a unity government could be ready within two
days. Libya has been in turmoil
since the overthrow of Muammar
Qaddafi in 2011 by rebels backed
by U.S., French and British air
strikes. Libya has had two governments and parliaments since the
capital Tripoli was seized in August 2014 by Fajr Libya, a militia
alliance which includes Islamists
that has installed its own government and legislature. On Friday the
internationally recognised cabinet
based in the eastern city of Tobruk said loyalist forces had
launched an offensive to “liberate”
Tripoli. The Tripoli parliament's
delegation threatened to walk out
of the current peace talks in the
Moroccan resort of Skhirat when
the fighting erupted at the end of
last week.
Indonesia leader rejects China’s
South China Sea claims
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has said China's claims to the
majority of the South China Sea
have "no legal foundation in international law", according to a report in Japan's Yomiuri newspaper. The comments were the first
time Widodo, who took office in
October, has taken a position on
the South China Sea dispute. The
English version of the interview
was published by Yomiuri on
Monday in advance of Widodo's
visits to Japan and China this
week, Indonesia, the largest country in Southeast Asia, has been a
self-appointed broker in the many
territorial disputes between its
neighbours and China over the
South China Sea. "We need peace
and stability in the Asia-Pacific
region. It is important to have political and security stability to build
up our economic growth," Wido-
do was quoted as saying. "So we
support the Code of Conduct [of
the South China Sea] and also dialogue between China and Japan,
China and ASEAN." Widodo is
scheduled to hold talks with Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister, on Monday. Widodo confirmed that he and Abe would sign
a defence cooperation agreement
that would cover "how to work
with" Japan's military, and "search
and rescue operations, humanitarian assistance, and cyber
defence",Yomiuri reported. Japan
has already bolstered partnerships
with the Philippines and Vietnam,
the two countries most at odds
with China over territorial rows in
the South China Sea. Japan itself
is embroiled in a bitter dispute with
China over uninhabited islands in
the East China Sea, further to the
north. Widodo also said he hoped
to discuss maritime cooperation
with Japan's coast guard "because
Japan has good experience to manage its waters", the newspaper reported.
A boy wounded in one of Friday's suicide bomb attacks lies in a hospital bed in Sanaa
The U.N. special envoy for Yemen warned an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council
on Sunday that events appear to
be leading the country “to the edge
of civil war” and urged all parties
to step back from the brink and
resolve the conflict peacefully. Jamal Benomar stressed repeatedly
in a video briefing from Qatar that
“peaceful dialogue is the only option we have.” That view was echoed by the Security Council in a
presidential statement which reaffirmed the readiness of the U.N.’s
most powerful body to take “further measures” against any party
impeding the road to peace in Yemen. That could mean new sanctions, or possibly other actions.
Lithuania’s U.N. Ambassador Raimonda Murmokaite said after the
closed consultations that all the
council members supported a return to negotiations, but she
doesn't foresee new sanctions –
“not at this stage.” Benomar said
“it would be an illusion” to think
that Houthi Shiite rebels - who
control the capital Sanaa, much of
the north, and are moving further
south backed by some members
of Yemen's armed forces - could
succeed in taking control of the
entire country. On Sunday, the
Houthis seized Taiz, Yemen’s
third-largest city. “It would be
equally false,” Benomar said, to
think that embattled President
Abed-Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who
fled earlier this month to the southern city of Aden - the country’s
economic hub - could assemble
sufficient forces “to liberate the
country from the Houthis.” He
warned that any party that pushes the country in either direction
“would be inviting a protracted
conflict in the vein of an Iraq, Syria, Libya combined scenario.”
Meanwhile the U.N. Security
Council also voiced unanimous
support for Yemen’s President
Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and the
unity of the country. “The Security Council reaffirms its strong commitment to the unity, sovereignty,
independence and territorial integrity of Yemen, and its commitment
to stand by the people of Yemen,”
the 15 members said in a statement
during an emergency meeting in
New York. The council “supports
the legitimacy” of Hadi, it added
in its statement, and also made a
vague threat of more sanctions
against the Shiite militia, known
as Huthis, who seized a key central Yemeni city’s airport. Yemen’s
turmoil and political crisis has
deepened since the Houthis seized
Sanaa in September and put Hadi
under house arrest and eventually
dissolved the country’s parliament. The country’s al-Qaeda
branch, considered by the United
States the terror network's most
dangerous offshoot, has stepped
up attacks against the Shiite rebels.
The Houthis newly announced
move to take over the entire country follows the suicide bombings
of a pair of mosques in Sanaa that
killed 137 people which were
claimed by the Islamic State group.
It also followed clashes around
Aden's airport and planes from
Sanaa dropping bombs on the
city's presidential palace which
Benomar said fortunately did not
injure Hadi, who is strongly supported by the Security Council.
“Following the suicide bombings
and fighting,” Benomar warned,
“emotions are running extremely
high, and unless a solution can be
found in the coming days the country will slide into further violent
conflict and fragmentation.” He
said Yemenis believe the situation
is “on a rapid downward spiral,”
and are concerned that the conflict
“has taken on worrying sectarian
tones and deepening north-south
divisions.” “Fears exist that AlQaeda in the Arabian Peninsula will
exploit the current instability to
cause further chaos,” he said. The
deteriorating situation led U.S.
troops to evacuate a southern air
base crucial to the drone program
targeting al-Qaeda militants.
Benomar said “extremists on many
sides” are actively trying to undermine U.N.-brokered negotiations that he is leading aimed at
putting Yemen back on track to
complete its transition to democracy so it can finish work on a constitution, hold a referendum on it,
and conduct elections. He stressed
that the political impasse can only
be unblocked by negotiations that
include both the Houthis and Hadi.
“I urge all sides at this time of rising tensions and rhetoric to de-escalate and exercise maximum restraint, and refrain from provocation,” Benomar said. In the presidential statement approved by all
15 members, the Security Council
echoed Benomar’s call for all parties to stop fighting, engage in the
U.N.-brokered negotiations and
complete the peaceful transition.
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TUESDAY MARCH 25 , 2015
AFGHANISTANTIMES
We a r e a n a t io n a l in st it u t io n a n d n o t t h e v o ice o f a go v t o r a p r iv a t e o r ga n iza t io n
AFGHANISTAN TIMES
Editor: Abdul Saboor Sarir
Phone No: +93-772364666
E-mail: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
By Aimal Faizi
www.afghanistantimes.af
Photojournalist: M. Sadiq Yusufi
Advisory editorial board
Saduddin Shpoon, Dr. Sharif Fayez, Dr. Sultana Parvanta, Dr. Sharifa Sharif,
Dr. Omar Zakhilwal, Setara Delawari, Ahmad Takal
Graphic-Designers:
Mansoor Faizy and Edriss Akbari
Marketing & Advertising:
Mohammad Parwiz Arian, 0708954626, 0778894038
Mailing address: P.O. Box: 371, Kabul, Afghanistan
Our Bank Accounts: Azizi Bank: 000101100258091 / 000101200895656
Printed at Afghanistan Times Printing Press
The constitution says
Article 100:
If one House rejects decisions of the other, a joint commission comprised of an equal number of members
from each House shall be formed to solve the difference. The decision of the commission, after endorsement
by the President, shall be enforced. If the joint commission does not solve the difference, the decision shall
be considered rejected. In such situation, the House of People shall pass it with two-thirds majority in its
next session. This decision, without submission to the House of Elders, shall be promulgated once endorsement by the President.
Editorial
Electoral reforms need
of the hour
The presidential elections that led to the formation of the National Unity Government (NUG) were a revealing snapshot of what has been achieved in Afghanistan.
Though, our democracy is not matured yet, but despite that the democratic transfer
of power by ex-President Hamid Karzai to the incumbent Ashraf Ghani speaks
volumes about the success of this new set up in the country. Even now, political
differences are there in the NUG, nevertheless despite flaws, this is something better
than despotism or an exotic-theocracy being exported by a neighboring country—
a country that doesn’t tolerate theocracy at home but yearns to see it imposed in
Afghanistan. As has happened elsewhere in the developing world, elections here
were also tense and fraught with rigging that unleashed a highly detrimental political
crisis. The crisis risked too many gains. Luckily it was prevented by international
intervention. Now the promise of the NUG to reform electoral bodies is a welcoming gesture. A member of the Parliament and the Chairperson of the new Electoral
Reform Commission, Shukria Barakzai, pledged reforms in structure of the national
electoral bodies. She hinted of keeping some of the electoral commissions members
on the chopping block. To overcome the deepening rift over electoral reforms mechanism, the reform commission was established shortly before the visit of President
Ashraf Ghani and CEO Abdullah Abdullah to the United States. A presidential decree led to the formation of a 15-member committee. MP Barakzai is the chairperson of this commission while Sediqullah Tauhidi is the Deputy Chairman. Since the
2014 presidential elections were fraught with massive scale rigging. The fraud allegations unleashed a tense situation where none of the candidates, Ashraf Ghani and
Abdullah was ready to budge even an inch. There is no more any political stalemate
but yes despite that state affairs are not going smoothly as there are still some differences between the two leaders of the current government. Voters looked alienated.
Their confidence sagged. Their huge sacrifices betrayed and their hopes dashed to
ground. Many believed democracy is incompatible in this country. However, all that
is the past. What the government currently needs is to overcome corruption, reconstruct people’s confidence, and introduce reforms in the electoral commissions. To
reconstruct people’s confidence and win their trust, the government will have to
make institutions countable and responsible. The government will have to introduce
meritocracy. Political and electoral reforms are need of the hour. To ensure the
government is sincere in its efforts to bring about substantial changes in governance,
political set up, and elections, it will have to discourage filibuster and gerrymandering. But the problem is the government looks all-mouth and no-performer. If being
all-mouth is the solution then actions wouldn’t have any place in politics. Therefore,
the government should be mindful that no political action and movement is possible
when discussion and political rhetoric permanently is established. The two leaders
still look busy in a tacit internal war, but the rising violence should motivate the ruling
elite to settle their feuds and turn their attention to the deepening economic, political,
and security challenges. The sooner they realize the importance of reforms and commitments the sooner the country will see the dawn of freedom—freedom from terror, militancy, corruption, political instability, economic bondage, and foreign interferences. If the government wants to prevent the recurrence of what the nation
witnessed in the 2014 presidential race, it will have to reform the electoral commissions at all costs.
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As Washington prepares for the
first official trip of the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, a U.S. National
Security Council official, Jeff Eggers called the U.S. administration’s
relationship with the Afghan President “better and qualitatively different” than what it used to be with
the former President, Hamid
Karzai. Dan Feldman, the U.S.
special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan called the Afghan President and the Chief Executive “competent partners with
a very different approach towards
the bilateral relationship with the
U.S., and a very different vision”
which is “very much in alignment”
with what the U.S. has laid out
from “security to reconciliation.”
Reading the above statements from
the senior U.S. officials which are
intended to shape the general opinion of the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, one can understand how
selfish and reckless the American
prospective of a “better and qualitatively different” bilateral relationship of a poor country like
By Asma-Khan Lone
The focus on the effectiveness of
the security forces is understandable given the challenges that confront Afghanistan.However, in the
long run, economic stability will
have to be the key to sustainable
peace in Afghanistan. While the
previous government was largely
security-driven, new president
Ashraf Ghani is expected to underscore economic reconstruction
as a key component of state-building. Currently on a much anticipated visit to the US, Mr. Ghani
will need to work hard to convince
the Obama administration to review its decision to withdraw most
of its troops from Afghanistan by
the end of 2016. Targeted economic intervention could help bridge
the governance gap and financial
deficits, which contribute to a widening political and security vacuum. This vacuum in turn provides
the leeway for extremists to move
in. For a decade after 2002, Afghanistan witnessed an encouraging 9.5 per cent growth rate and
single-digit inflation, but this economic cycle was widely sustained
by the inflow of donor funds and
aid. With the ISAF drawdown edging nearer, the growth rate began
Afghanistan is with the Unite
States of America. As a close aide
to the former President, I witnessed how much President Karzai
endeavoured to improve and
strengthen relations between Kabul and Washington over the years
behind the closed-doors bilateral
talks with the senior U.S. officials.
All President Karzai wanted
was for the U.S. administration to
better understand him as the leader of the country and to respect
the Afghan sovereignty and dignity in its policies and in its actions
towards Afghanistan. President
Karzai’s main concern -the key
reason for the deterioration of Kabul’s relations with Washingtonwas the issue of civilian causalities caused by unilateral military
operations including blind U.S. airstrikes on residential areas in the
Afghan villages and towns killing
innocent Afghans including children and women. Based on a recent study conducted by a London-based research and advocacy
organization called “Action on
Armed Violence” (AOAV), with
the withdrawal of foreign troops
from Afghanistan and reduction in
U.S. military operations, “civilian
deaths from aerial bombing in Afghanistan have fallen.” Iain Overton, Director of Policy at AOAV,
said, that with the termination of
foreign military operations in Afghanistan, “NATO recognized that
even with well-trained and wellquipped militaries, mistakes were
still made in Afghanistan that meant
far too many civilians were being
killed by their bombs.” The issue
of civilian casualties was
always at the top of the former
President’s concerns and of the Afghan people but did the U.S. administration take any measure to
ensure the protection of the Afghan
civilians? It will not be incorrect to
say none! The U.S. forces detained
and kept thousands of Afghans in
illegal detention for years without
trial, in the maximum security
prison Bagram. They financed and
armed irresponsible militias and
warlords which according to the
New York Times now “have become more predatory...to feed themselves and because there is no one
to stop them.”
Such policies fed into Taliban propaganda, with many becoming
sympathisers, eventually resulting
in many civilians joining the ranks
of the Taliban as well as other antigovernment armed forces adding to
the overall insecurity and instability in the country. Lack of clarity in
the U.S. policies towards Pakistan
and the so called war on terror gave
every reason to President Karzai
to be persuaded that the U.S. seeks
to perpetuate the war in Afghanistan and is conniving with Pakistan
to interfere in Afghan affairs. From
the Afghan prospective, the U.S.
could and should have pressured
Pakistan to halt aiding, abetting and
sponsoring terrorism. Yet the expectation
in
the
U.S.
administration had
was
for Karzai to remain silent and to
not contradict its policies. Had Mr.
Karzai turned a blind eye on the
U.S. wrongdoings in Afghanistan,
he would have been an “adequate
strategic partner” or as he had once
been described by U.S. officials as
well as scholars like Barnett Rubin: “the most pro-American leader you can ask for in the Muslim
world”. Karzai was not anti-American. Like every other patriot Afghan, he was grateful for every
penny of U.S. assistance to the
people of Afghanistan. He repeatedly
expressed
his
appreciation forthe sacrifices that
the international community made
in Afghanistan. In an interview
with author, William Dalrymple,
Karzai once said: “I feel it is my
responsibility to make sure that
the future is better for the Afghan
people than ever before. I just hope
the Americans will realize I have a
responsibility toward Afghanistan,
and that my being adamant about
issues is not in opposition to them.
I am not an opponent of the West.
I am just the slave of the interests
of the Afghan people. And that I
shall fulfill.” Now, although the
U.S. administration expects President Ashraf Ghani currently visiting Washington to deliver the message that “He is not Hamid
Karzai”, he had better make it clear
to Washington that he is first and
foremost an Afghan and his priority is to fulfill the interests of his
people. Afghans want bilateral relations with the U.S. on the basis
of mutual respect as two sovereign countries in its practical terms.
But it would be of no benefit to
them, if the U.S. partnership with
Afghanistan does not translate into
peace and stability in their country.
to dip in 2013 and fell to 3.8 per
cent by the beginning of this year.
With little infrastructure, Afghanistan is set to face a downwards spiral especially as donor funding dries
up. While the 2012 Strategic Partnership Agreement with the US provides a temporary reprieve, including financial support for another
decade, Kabul will ultimately have
to devise plans to reboot its economy. In fact, at the core of its structural weakness lies Afghanistan’s
overt reliance on foreign aid. At
present, Afghanistan is banking on
two factors to resuscitate its economy: its strategic location and its
natural resources. Situated at the
intersection of the East-West trade
corridor it hopes to leverage its strategic position and revive the ancient
Silk Route. The US has already
drawn up plans for this in the form
of its New Silk Road Initiative
(NSRI). So has China, with its proposed Silk Route Economic Belt.
Also on the horizon is the transportation of gas from the Caspian
region to South Asia through the
Tapi (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan,
Pakistan, India) pipeline and the
Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-China
pipeline. Another energy project
envisages the transmission of hydroelectric power to South Asia.
Afghanistan and Pakistan have also
signed a trade and transit agreement
in 2010 allowing for the free movement of goods. The other element
of Afghanistan’s economic architecture is its natural resources. Afghanistan has traditionally been rich in
resources such as coal, chromite and
marble and has exported gas to Russia since 1967. Though some studies were undertaken decades ago
indicating the presence of vast mineral and hydrocarbon resources, it
was not until 2010 that the US announced the discovery of nearly $1
trillion (Dh3.67 tn) in untapped
mineral deposits. These reserves included huge veins of iron, copper,
cobalt, gold and critical industrial
metals such as lithium. Afghanistan
has already attracted considerable
investment, with China pledging
$2.8 billion for the development of
copper mines, and a consortium of
Indian companies in partnership
with Canadian companies announcing an investment of $14.6 billion
for the development of iron ore
mines in Hajigak. However these
projects are at a standstill due to
the precarious security scenario.
The wealth of resources is, however, a double-edged sword that could
usher in a vicious cycle of violence.
So, while grand in design and exhib-
iting huge promise, the enterprises are wrought with uncertainties.
In the meantime, Afghanistan
could focus on its other strengths
such as agriculture and livestock.
With just 6 per cent of its land
cultivated, it could increase yield
and switch over from a predominantly opium-driven sector to alternative crops. This would address its food security issues too.
It could also enter into water-sharing agreements with neighbours,
especially Pakistan. It could further build on its expanding service
sector while undertaking measures
to plug corruption – the third highest in the world – and try to bring
order to its vast informal economy. Episodes such as the Kabul
Bank fraud, which was one of the
worst in international banking history, should never be allowed to
happen and earnest efforts should
be made to reform the sector. Only
by developing a robust economy
will Afghanistan become a bulwark
against extremist ideology. if it does
that it will not just be a win for
this war-ravaged nation, but for the
wider world. Asma-Khan Lone is
an assistant professor at Jindal
Global University, India. This article was first seen at The National.
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TUESDAY MARCH 25, 2015
AFGHANISTANTIMES
What do opponents of an Iran
nuclear deal really want?
Dr. John Duke Anthony
By Mohammed
Umer Daudzai
Just weeks after becoming president of Afghanistan last September, Ashraf Ghani signaled a dramatic shift in the country’s regional
diplomacy. He promptly visited
Pakistan and its main allies Saudi
Arabia and China, and then Pakistan’s army chief and head of intelligence visited Kabul. The Afghan government is hoping Pakistan will help facilitate dialogue
with the leaders of the Afghan Taliban, whom Pakistan has long harbored and enabled. Pakistan, for
its part, has asked Kabul’s assistance against the leaders of the
militant group Tehrik-e-Taliban
Pakistan (T.T.P.), the so-called
Pakistani Taliban, whose leaders
are said to be hiding in eastern Afghanistan. This rapprochement has
generated much excitement, but all
the hype does not measure well
against reality. Despite signs of
renewed cooperation, Afghanistan
and Pakistan still have fundamentally different goals and approaches. While Mr. Ghani’s moves are
bold and risky for Afghanistan,
Pakistan’s response so far has been
largely tactical and self-serving.
Mr. Ghani justifies this new policy by arguing that circumstances
have changed and the conditions
for peace are better than ever before. And on the surface, he seems
to have a point. Pakistan appears
to have more reason to fight back
against terrorism, having been hit
hard by T.T.P. in recent months.
After an attack on a school in Peshawar in December and a slew of
bombings since, the Pakistani government seems to have abandoned
its appeasement-style approach of
the past and finally set out to eliminate T.T.P. China, meanwhile, has
expressed more interest in the region, including a willingness to help
broker talks with the Afghan Taliban. In exchange it hopes to enlist
the assistance of Afghanistan and
Pakistan to counter the threat of
the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a Uighur separatist group
thought to have links to the Taliban.
But these new conditions do not
change the basic dynamic between
Afghanistan and Pakistan. And by
banking on them, Mr. Ghani is taking great risks at a huge cost to Afghanistan with little chance of reward. After a debilitating electoral
crisis last year, he is spending enormous political capital trying to justify a controversial agenda. His widely publicized visit to the Pakistani
military headquarters in Rawalpindi in November and a new program
to send Afghan cadets for training in
Pakistan have brought him sharp criticism at home. In return, Pakistan
has taken only tactical steps — or
steps primarily aimed at improving
its international reputation and its
own security. After many years of
supporting militancy in the region,
the Pakistani government now wants
to wash its hands of the problem by
claiming that its origins lie in Afghanistan. Under the National Action
Plan initiated after the Peshawar
school attack, Pakistan projects to
expel many Afghan refugees, with
little regard for the costs of reintegrating them that the Afghan government will have to bear or the risk
that some extremists will enter Afghanistan among the refugees. Given recent signs that the West will
continue to invest in Afghanistan and
that China is poised to do so in earnest, Pakistan also has new incentives to be seen as helping any peace
process with the Taliban. But the
promise of dialogue is a far cry from
actual negotiations, let alone a political settlement. This is not the first
time there has been talk of talks with
the Taliban. Throughout the 1990s,
the Taliban met repeatedly with their
opponents — asking them for major concessions without much compromising themselves. In 2011, after President Hamid Karzai called
Pakistan “our twin brother,” there
was renewed hope for progress.
Over the next couple of years, Pakistan released some Taliban leaders
from its prisons and helped arrange
meetings between Afghan officials
and the group’s then number two.
But those moves yielded no concrete results. And now, despite Mr.
Ghani’s recent gestures, the Taliban
have not yet come to the negotiation table. Based on my experience
as Afghanistan’s ambassador to Pakistan in 2011-13, and other dealings with the highest levels of the
Pakistani establishment over the
years, it seems clear to me that the
fundamentals of Pakistan’s ap-
proach to Afghanistan have not
changed. Militancy remains an instrument of its foreign policy. The
Pakistani military will only stop
backing the Taliban after it finds
other proxies to advance its conception of its national interests.
One of those perceived interests
is maintaining so-called strategic
depth in Afghanistan: Islamabad
has long sought to use my country
as a rear base in case of an Indian
military advance. In 1988, the Pakistani leader Gen. Muhammad Zia
ul-Haq said that Pakistan had
“earned the right” to have a friendly regime in Kabul; certainly, he
would “not permit” any “Indian
and Soviet influence” in Afghanistan. To this day, the Pakistani
military treats the Afghan Taliban
as a strategic asset. Another major
concern of Islamabad is ensuring
that Afghanistan does not encourage Pashtun or Baluch separatists
in Pakistan. Those groups were
divided between the two countries
by the 1893 Durand Line Agreement, and at various times over the
years Islamabad has accused Kabul of supporting their struggle for
independence. Pakistan has an interest in keeping Afghanistan so
preoccupied by its own instability that it cannot spare any resources on the Pashtuns’ and Baluchs’
cause. Pakistan’s end game, in other
words, is not markedly different
today than it has been for years.
And this is why Mr. Ghani’s overtures to Islamabad are dangerous:
They are diverting attention away
from more essential, perhaps existential, tasks — like strengthening
the Afghan National Security Forces, which is critical to increasing
the Afghan government’s leverage
in any talks with the Taliban. In
its wishful attempt to make
progress with the Taliban, Kabul
is gambling precious political capital on superficial tweaks in Pakistan’s policy. Rather than expect a
miraculous U-turn from Islamabad,
Mr. Ghani’s government would do
better to use its resources, and the
international community’s continued support, to concentrate on its
main purpose: consolidating the
Afghan state. Mohammed Umer
Daudzai was interior minister of
Afghanistan from August 2013 to
December 2014, and previously
Afghanistan’s ambassador to Iran
and Pakistan. A version of this oped appeared in print on March 23,
2015, in The International New
York Times.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is once again in Switzerland with
his British, Chinese, French, German, and Russian counterparts to
continue negotiations regarding
Iran's nuclear program. Whether
the respective diplomatic and national security negotiators will succeed remains to be seen. To be sure,
a mutually acceptable agreement
with Iran by six among the world's
most powerful and influential nations, on one hand, and the Islamic
Republic of Iran, on the other, is
no small matter. In substance as
well as in procedure and desired
outcome, the goals – ensuring that
Iran does not produce a nuclear
bomb and, to that end, agreeing on
as intrusive a nature and range of
inspections as any in history – are
as laudable as they are in many
ways timely, urgent, and necessary.
Rising Arab-Iranian Tensions The
negotiators are keenly aware that
the talks have been occurring
alongside a rise in regional tensions. Simultaneous to the discussions, the negotiators have been
especially mindful of Arab governments' ongoing objections to the
destabilizing influence of Iran's
ongoing interference in the domestic affairs of their countries, e.g.,
members of the Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC), a six-state grouping comprised of Bahrain, Kuwait,
Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the
United Arab Emirates, plus Iraq,
Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen. In this
regard, they are cognizant of the
GCC leaders' resentment that the
issue of Iran's continuing intrusions
in Arabia and the Gulf – destabilizing interventions as yet unreciprocated – was not allowed to be
part of the talks. In the run-up to
America and Iran's day of reckoning there is much to consider Dr.
John Duke Anthony The negotiators acknowledge these leaders' irritation at the reasons for the omission: namely, that Tehran was opposed to its inclusion. Indeed, in
retrospect, in their eagerness to
pursue an agreement of some kind
– however partial and limited in
its scope and potential impact –
the negotiators were inadequately
empathetic to the legitimate concerns of neighboring countries and
too quick to accommodate Iran's
objections. Even so, the negotiators argue in their defense that their
efforts should not be defeated in
advance by anyone with a sincere
interest in advancing the legitimate
goals of regional and global peace,
security, stability, and the possible accompanying prospects for
prosperity. Opponents Outside of
the Arab World Possessing separate motivations and desires from
those noted above, it is useful to
assess the true intentions of others opposed to a potentially acceptable agreement: a group largely comprised of American neoconservatives, their Israeli allies, and
other likeminded individuals and
institutions. These groups have
loudly proclaimed that they would
have the P5+1 negotiators – representing the Five Permanent
Is Gagauzia next on Russia’s list?
By Luke Coffey
Gagauzia, a tiny autonomous region in Moldova, checks most of
the boxes for Russian meddling. It
is ethnically Turkic, religiously
Christian Orthodox, and the main
language spoken is Russian. The
region is a byproduct of imperial
rivalry between the Ottoman and
Russian empires typically found
in the Black Sea basin in the 19th
century. Like Crimea, it was taken
by Russia from the Ottoman Empire. In this case, Russia acquired
Gagauzia after the Russo-Turkish
War (1806–1812) as part of the
1812 Treaty of Bucharest. Today,
it is the poorest region of Moldova and Gagauzians blame the westward orientation of the central government for many of their problems. Local politicians regularly
use separatists and pro-Russian
slogans to drum up local support.
Events in eastern Ukraine have
only encouraged this. Russian
sympathies Moldova: Under the
influenceRussian meddling in
Moldova is nothing new. One only
has to look at the breakaway republic of Transnistria and the
2,000 Russian troops that are
based there to keep the conflict
"frozen". Pro-Russian sympathies
run deep in Gagauzia. During last
year's national elections in Moldova, the pro-Russian Socialist Party got their best result in Gagauzia. While the rest of Moldova is
targeted by Russian economic
sanctions, both Transnistria and
Gagauzia enjoy exemptions. In
February 2014, as the crisis in
Crimea was reaching a peak, and
eastern Ukraine was starting to
simmer, the regional government
in Gagauzia held two referenda.
One asked voters to decide their
preference between closer relations
with the European Union or the
Russian backed Eurasian Customs
Union. The vote was not even
close: 98.5 percent of the voters
supported Moldova's integration
with the Eurasian Customs Union.
The second referendum asked
about support for a so-called "deferred independence" bill being
proposed in Gagauzia's legislative
body. This proposed bill would
allow the autonomous region to
become automatically independent
if Moldova ever lost its national
sovereignty. Again, the outcome
was a landslide: 98 percent voted
in favour of the motion. Moldovan authorities said that the referenda in Gagauzia were unconstitutional, calling it an attempt to
undermine the country's foreign
policy. Unsurprisingly, Moscow
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
We are living in a society that people celebrate festivals of Zoroaster’s era. We live in a society that girls
appear on TV screens wearing clothes that are against Afghan traditions. We are living in a society that
millions of its youths are job seekers, most them holding master degree. We are living in a society that our
Sufis are killed inside mosque. We are living in a society that its government cannot pay the state salary and
its economy is dwindling despite flow of billions of American dollars in past 13 years. And finally, we are
living in a society that an angry mob lynches a girl for allegedly burning a copy of the Holy Qur’an. We are
facing more and more hurdles in our society. The mentioned problems are a few from a bunch of them.
What will be the fate of this ill-fated society? The answer for this query is that the fate of this society will
be unknown. Because, considering the problems in our society, the fate of the Afghan society appears
unknown. And Afghans will not see the bright days in the near future. However, there are a number of few
points that will help us to step towards a bright future. The most and the very important point is to work
on our culture and education. Illiteracy has pushed us to see the day when a woman ‘Farkhunda’ was
lynched by an angry mob in Kabul. Another solution to this problem is to increase awareness programs on
TV and radio channels, instead of vulgar programs in a number of TV and radio channels in Kabul. No one
will feel our pains and no one will heel them until we roll up our sleeves and start finding solutions for
decade-long problems in our society. Or else the Afghan society’s fate will remain
‘unknown’ for very distant future. Saeeda Dunya Amin, 3rd Macroryan, Kabul
Letter to editor will be edited for policy, content and clarity. All letters must
have the writer’s name and address. You may send your letters to:
[email protected]
backed these referenda. Russian
media widely reported the results.
The voting was monitored by a
Transnistrian-born member of
Russia's State Duma, Roman
Khudyakov. Less than 24 hours
after the voting ended, Russian
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry
Rogozin welcomed the turnout and
the outcome. Putin's behaviour is
like that of the Russian Tsars who
built the Imperial Russian Empire
nation by nation, khanate by khanate, and kingdom by kingdom.
Imperial Russia To understand
Russia's motives in Gagauzia it is
important to understand Vladimir
Putin's view of Russia's role in the
world. What the world is witnessing today is not a resurgent Cold
War or Soviet-style Russia as commentators frequently claim, but an
Imperial Russia. Putin's behaviour
is like that of the Russian Tsars
who built the Imperial Russian
Empire nation by nation, khanate
by khanate, and kingdom by kingdom. In the eyes of Russians at
the time, the 17th and 18th century territorial gains that, in part, defined Imperial Russia were regarded not as "annexations" but as taking what was already theirs. Luke
Coffey is a research fellow specialising in transatlantic and Eurasian security at a Washington DC
based think-tank. He previously
served as a special adviser to the
British defence secretary and was
a commissioned officer in the United States army. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily
reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.
Members of the United Nations
Security Council, i.e., China, France,
Great Britain, Russia, and the United States, plus Germany – avoid
reaching an agreement that may contain provisions not to their liking,
which they believe may be imminently near to being concluded with
the Islamic Republic. Make no
mistake, these groups seeks a profoundly different set of accomplishments vis-à-vis Iran than the ones
under consideration in the nuclear
talks. The intentions of these opponents of a potentially acceptable
agreement are, rather, to see America directly confront Iran. The Old
Iraq Syndrome Those driving the
issue in this antagonistic and provocative direction are hardly new
to the American and Israeli political scenes. One need only reference,
as this author did in an address to
The Voltaire Institute in Brussels
in 2005, their influence and collective political and media clout in successfully moving Washington's decision making regarding confronting Iraq militarily from a concept
to policy recommendation to an
actual American-led invasion and
occupation. The outcomes that
these groups seek this time around,
like those they sought before, have
been heavily obscured. They remain
deliberately veiled in fear, myth,
rumor, innuendo, and warmongering. What those opposed to a mutually acceptable accord with Tehran have in mind bears a strong
resemblance to the bill of goods sold
to the American people with the
U.S. effort to topple the regime of
Saddam Hussein. The results of
the damage they wrought in Iraq –
a country that had not attacked the
United States or posed any credible threat to American interests –
have yet to run their course. Already, with no end in sight, the consequences are certain to cost more
than a trillion dollars. Already, the
human price is inestimable. In addition to the thousands of American killed and tens of thousands
wounded are the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed, rendered
homeless, made refugees, and
maimed for life. Even with the cessation of U.S. military operations
in Iraq at the end of 2011, the suicide rate of U.S. soldiers returning
from the cauldron forged by the
collective weight of the American
neoconservatives, elements among
their Israeli allies, and others in a
post-September 11, 2001 revenge
mode against Arabs and Muslims
continues at a disturbing rate. Beginning in 2004, the year after America's war against Iraq commenced,
the rate of U.S. veterans committing suicide climbed to record highs.
The result, moreover, toppled the
regime, decimated the country's security and defense forces, sowed
many of the seeds that made it possible for the Islamic State group to
emerge, spread, and wreak the havoc it has wrought, and paved the
way for Iran to become the single
largest and most influential foreign
factor in Iraq – without its having
to fire a single shot or shed a drop
of blood. It also allowed Israelis and
Israeli agents to enter northern Iraq
to assist in the training of Kurdish
security forces, thereby further advancing decades-old Israeli-Kurdish collaboration and their joint goal
of ensuring a weaker government in
Baghdad than existed before in addition to practically guaranteeing
that Iraq would be deprived of the
means and ability to pose a threat
to Israel at anytime in the foreseeable future. Unspoken Goals The
dominant U.S. role in launching the
war and in administering the occupation also succeeded in the placement of American advisers in most
Iraqi government ministries. Such
positioning enhanced American
proximity to Iraqis authorized to
plan and administer the successor
government's multi-billion dollar
contracts. This alone ensured that
Americans would have privileged
access to invaluable intelligence
ahead of others. And it practically
guaranteed U.S. companies a preferential position not only vis-à-vis
future exploration and development
of the country's energy and other
economic resources. It also enabled
American firms to be in a better
position than might otherwise have
been the case to bid successfully
on Iraq's major lucrative aviation,
engineering, infrastructure, reconstruction, and construction projects.
As with Iraq, what those against
practically any mutually acceptable
governmental accord with Iran regarding its nuclear program seek to
achieve is as devious as it is damaging. By no stretch of the imagination is it in accord with America's
legitimate interests. Instead, what
they diligently seek might be seen
as a single issue and interest: serving the perceived needs of Israel
under the guise of doing what is best
for America when in fact nothing
could be further from the truth. As
sure as actions have consequences,
these U.S. and Israeli groups would
abide a forceful American confrontation with the undeniable poten-
tial for yet another costly war. Indeed, an article titled "Time to Attack Iran," appearing in the January/February 2012 issue of Foreign Affairs – the most widely read
journal among American policymakers, U.S. policy analysts, and
foreign affairs practitioners – implied that, as the prospects are considerable that the United States will
have to use armed force against
Iran's nuclear program eventually,
it might as well proceed to do so
now, when the likely costs would
arguably be less than later. The
U.S. Secretary of State's and his
negotiator counterparts' efforts to
do what is in American and global
interests notwithstanding, many
among the American and Israeli
neoconservatives and other selfcentric interest groups wish him
to fail. While the true interests of
the lead pressure groups seeking
to trip him up are hardly unknown
to many specialists, the danger lies
elsewhere – in the fact that they
have largely and purposely been
obscured from important segments
of a more generalized public. Rather than the achievement of an accord that could usher in a more
mutually beneficial U.S.-Iran relationship than any that has existed
since 1979, the neoconservatives,
their Israeli bedfellows – and not
just, many believe, Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reelected to a fourth term as premier,
together with others, including an
indeterminate number of American
Republican Members of Congress
– prefer a continued standoff between Washington and Tehran, and
would not rule out a forceful American confrontation with the undeniable potential for yet another
costly war. Returning to the Iraq
War Playbook The language is similar to the run-up to the invasion
and occupation of Iraq that commenced in March 2003. To wit:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell appeared on one of the
most widely viewed Sunday talk
shows on March 15 calling Iran's
government, "one of the worst regimes in the world." Much the
same was said by Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a March 3 address to a joint
session of the U.S. Congress, echoing his 2002 testimony to the U.S.
Congress advocating for attacking
Iraq. As was the case prior to their
urging that the United States go to
war with Iraq, opponents of an
agreement with Iran have tended
to couch their argumentation in the
deliberately seductive terms of
providing serious and favorable
consideration to using force to protect America's alleged national security and related interests. Over a
decade ago, such rationales were
transparently bogus to area studies specialists and scholars long
exposed to Iraqi culture, and its
system of governance and political dynamics. The result, to be
sure, has hardly been cost-free. As
reason is that the strength and
weakness of any system of democratic governance turns on the consent of the governed. Of course,
the most informed consent is that
which typically follows adequate
and responsible consultation. In
the best of circumstances, consent
and consultation are linked to the
likelihood of citizens being able to
make societally relevant judgments
that are just, fair, and prudent. In
this case, however, the dynamics
of both processes fell far short of
what was required. Twelve years
after the invasion and occupation
of Iraq commenced, notwithstanding the fact that commercially
speaking some American interest
groups made out "like bandits," the
American misadventure in Iraq
overall, and practically from its onset, severely damaged American interests that have yet to recover.
Viewed in this light, the clamor of
some to attack Iran reads like a sad
sequel for those who all along preferred that the United States invade Iran first and not Iraq. Indeed,
long before September 11, 2001, it
was well known among specialists
that, dating back to the mid-1990s,
America's neoconservatives, their
kindred citizen allies, and innumerable Israelis alike wished for the
United States to wage war against
Iran – not eventually but before
any other country.
As for any and all others to be
attacked and their regimes toppled
or brought to their knees – the neocon list included not only Iran and
Iraq, but also Syria, Egypt, and
Saudi Arabia – these could wait to
have America change their governments later.
The Ultimate Neoconservative
Wish List Many perceive that this
is a rather embarrassingly sordid
and sorry juncture of American history where the diplomats negotiating with one another in Switzerland find themselves.
Bearing this history in mind, it is
therefore worth pondering what
those who would have the United
States, with Israel's strong support, confront Iran and not enter
into any mutually binding agreement with it would arguably like
to achieve. It includes: (1) Deflecting Attention Away from Israel One of the most important
neoconservative and Israeli objectives in having the United States
attack Iran is to do whatever is necessary to shift the U.S. focus and
notions of Israel's culpability of
wrongdoing away from the eastern Mediterranean towards lands
east, e.g., Arabia and the Gulf. This
would arguably absorb precious
U.S. foreign policy energies, attention, and other resources on matters other than Israel for far into
the future. It would likely squelch
efforts to move as expeditiously
as before to establish an independent State of Palestine. In the proponents' view, it would almost as
surely deflect Washington from
pressuring Israel into an early withdrawal from its illegal settlements
in the Palestinian and Syrian territories. By maintaining Iran's pariah status, neoconservatives and
other groups are also thereby able
to preserve what they have conjured and built up in the mainstream American and other Western media as a recognizable "existential threat" to Israel. The imagery of such a threat in many circles helps sustain the narrative of
Israel as a besieged beacon of victimhood rather than a militarily
powerful scofflaw inflicting brutal punishment on Palestinian
Christian and Muslim Arab civilians in Gaza, and not only expropriating their land but also exploiting their orchards, olive and citrus
groves, water, and other valuable
natural resources in the Occupied
Territories. (2) Territorial Expansionism This similarly happened
when Israel invaded Lebanon in
June 1982. That act shifted Washington's attention away from rigorously continuing to pursue the
goal of a just, enduring, and comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians
and towards Lebanon instead. By
the time that Lebanon regained the
lands that Israel had invaded and
occupied directly and by proxy 19
years later, the extent of Palestinian territory brought under Israeli
control had expanded massively
and the Israeli settler movement
had quintupled its number of settlers. Israel thereby achieved, on
one hand, its illegitimate interests
while blocking the legitimate interests of the Palestinians, Syria, Lebanon, the United States, and the
rest of the world in resolving the
Arab-Israeli conflict. (3) Regime
Change Many believe American
and Israeli goals are not to change
the behavior of the regime in Tehran but, again as with Iraq, to
change the regime itself. Those of
this view seek an Iran that would
be more moderate in its approach
to the Arab-Israeli conflict, one less
supportive of Hezbollah in Lebanon and of the Assad regime in
Syria, one ending its intrusions into
the domestic affairs of the GCC
countries and Yemen, one curbing
if not reversing the degree to which
it has eroded de facto the national
sovereignty and political independence of neighboring Iraq, and one
terminating the nature and extent
of its forceful aid to Hamas and
Islamic Jihad in Palestine. These
were among the exact same kinds
of goals of the largely unstated
American neoconservative and Israeli geostrategic, geopolitical, and
related Israeli objectives vis-à-vis
Iraq prior to its invasion in 2003.
(4) Protecting Privileged Status
Israel cannot take its relationship
with America for granted and expect to compete effectively in the
long run for America's favor. This
is why many Israelis believe they
have no choice but to be strategically opposed to the strongest and
most expanded American-Arab and
U.S.-Saudi Arabian relationship,
and the day when, possibly, the
United States may find itself in a
reciprocally rewarding relationship
with the six GCC countries as a
single bloc to an even great extent
than in the series of bilateral ties
with these entities it has enjoyed
for quite some time with the six
countries all totaled already – there
are 22 Arab countries and only one
Israel. Tehran finds itself with a
similar strategic predicament. Indeed, for nearly half as long as Israel has existed, Iran geopolitically has viewed its situation similarly and has reasoned likewise.
That Washington might be on the
verge of turning a new page with
Tehran that in time could lead to
Iran being added to Israel among
America's most valued strategic
partners – and bringing nearer the
day when there might also be a rapprochement between Iran and Israel, as in days of old prior to the
onset of the Iranian Revolution in
1979 – is a pan-GCC nightmare.
Dr. Anthony is the only American
to have been invited to attend each
of the GCC's Ministerial and
Heads of State Summits since the
GCC's inception in 1981.
Disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed in the articles are those of the author(s)
and do not reflect the views or opinions of the Afghanistan Times.
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TUESDAY MARCH 24, 2015
AFGHANISTANTIMES
Forcing children to fight in Ind ia’s restive east
Mahavir Birja, 10, managed to escape the ranks of communist guerrillas after serving a year in India's jungles [Sanjay Pandey/ Al Jazeera]
Lohardaga, India - At the sight of a
stranger, a visibly frightened 10year-old boy ran crying, "Grandma save me. They have come, they
have come for me again." Mahavir
Birja was not always petrified of
uninvited guests. But his dramatic
abduction by Maoist fighters and
equally dramatic escape from their
clutches has robbed him of his
childhood innocence and filled his
heart and mind with fear. Hiding
behind his grandmother's tattered
sari, the boy with piercing dark
eyes recounted his horror story.
"A group of armed men suddenly
barged into our home and told my
parents that they were taking me
along. When my father opposed,
they hit him on the head with the
rear of a rifle," he said. The impact
was so hard that he fell to the
ground with blood pouring from
his head. Unmoved, the intruders
dragged Mahavir off to their camp
- where he remained for nearly a
year. Police-run children's lodges
rehabilitate those traumatised by
Maoist rebels [Sanjay Pandey/Al
Jazeera] Mahavir's father subsequently died from the attack, his
mother abandoned the children and
eloped with another man. The responsibility to raise Mahavir and
his 14-year-old sister fell on the
frail shoulders of their 60-year-old
grandmother, Parvat. Indoctrination and rehabilitation Fearing for
Mahavir, Parvat decided to send
him to a centre in Lohardaga, in
the Indian state of Jharkhand,
where about 28 children from remote tribal villages are being rehabilitated by police under a programme that began in 2013. Mahavir lived in the Maoist camps
for almost a year and finally managed to flee during a gun battle with
security forces. "There were
around 50 boys our age in the
camp. Our day started early with
a rigorous physical exercise session, followed by indoctrination
sessions and training in guerrilla
warfare. In the evening, we would
be asked to go and fetch wood from
the forest. If someone dared to
defy them, he would be beaten
Putin’s biker gang
lends muscle to rebel
cause in east Ukraine
LUGANSK: Dressed in leathers
and camouflage, motorbike gang
leader Vitali waves at two charred
Ukrainian tank turrets decorating
the entrance to his club as he recounts how his group has fought
alongside pro-Russian rebels.
"My love for my homeland, for
my territory, is my life," he explains as he stands outside his
headquarters in separatist bastion
Lugansk. The biker -- also known
by his nickname "Prosecutor" -- is
boss of the east Ukraine branch of
the Night Wolves motorcycle
gang, a collection of Kremlin-loving toughs originally created in
Russia that boasts close ties to
President Vladimir Putin. "I'm a
Night Wolf, not a rebel," claims the
35-year-old former soldier. "I'm
just defending my homeland", he
adds, explaining that his men often work "behind enemy lines".
The leader and a dozen other members of the eastern Ukrainian offshoot of the club have been fighting with the separatists since the
conflict with Kiev forces erupted
nearly one year ago. Vitali says the
shattered tanks were destroyed by
his men during a battle with government troops in Khryashchuvate, a village close to Lugansk that
now lies largely in ruins. "Our trophies!" he jokes. Most of the club
members -- united by their passion for motorcycles, their love of
the "Fatherland" and the Orthodox faith -- hail from the Donbass
region in Ukraine's east. But others have been drawn to the area
from Russia and other former Soviet states to defend what they call
"the Russian world". "Wherever
there are difficulties, we are the
first to appear. This was the case
in the Crimea," explains Oleg
"Golova", who travelled from his
native Belarus to the peninsula
shortly before it was annexed by
Russia last March. "Everything
could have exploded just as quickly and just as tragically as in the
Donbass," he adds. "We were the
first defenders of the Crimea, even
President Putin recognised that."
The Kremlin strongman has not
been shy of showing his support
for the biker gang, having previously lauded their patriotism and
riden with them on a HarleyDavidson. He is often photographed alongside its founder and
leader in Russia, Alexander Zaldostanov, who goes by the nickname of "Khirurg" (the surgeon).
Last week, they both spoke on
stage at a rally in Moscow celebrating Crimea's annexation. "We
were fighting here when there were
no rebel forces. From Khryashchuvate to Novosvitlivka, to Lugansk
airport. We were fighting practically with sticks!" says Roman
"Volk", or the wolf, the man in
charge of the club's military operations. Three Night Wolves have
died since the beginning of the conflict with the Ukrainian army, they
say. Their portraits now adorn the
club's common room, surrounded
by a wolf skin and icons. With February's Minsk truce generally holding, the bikers have been tasked
with providing safety for public
events organised by the rebels and
with distributing humanitarian aid.
But in the club's sleeping quarters,
Kalashnikovs still sit at the end of
members' beds. "We are ready for
anything. We do not believe in the
cease-fire," says Vitali, a dagger at
his hip. Close to the common
room, a gym has been transformed
into a hangar, where around 20 motorcycles and classic cars are surrounded by Russian flags. The collection includes vehicles from the
bomb-destroyed Lugansk car museum, taken by the Wolves to protect them from looters. Following
the example of its Russian branches, the club aims to promote the
"patriotic education of society and
youth" by organising and financing various projects "to unite the
Russian world". "The Soviet Union
collapsed and the Soviet identity
disappeared, but the people remained united by the Russian identity," says Oleg "Golova". "Being
Russian is not a nationality, it is a
state of mind," he adds, pointing
to a large metal emblem created by
the gang's leader Khirurg, which he
says represents the "best of Russian history". It combines the double-headed eagle, a Tsarist symbol
readopted by modern Russia, and
the wheatsheaf beneath a red star
from the Soviet crest. (AFP)
black and blue. "We used to get
one meal [lentils and rice] a day.
Once a month, they would serve
us chicken or mutton," said Mahavir, savouring the five-course
home-cooked meal prepared by his
grandma. His friend Sakaldip Kherwar, who was also abducted,
pitched in. "They would ask us to
do their laundry, help with cooking, carry rations and arms while
the caravan was on the move. On a
normal day, the caravan walked 810km during the day or at night.
We were also trained to operate
[assault weapons]," he said playfully pointing his pen-turned-gun
at Al Jazeera. The children were
usually allowed to visit their family if their unit happened to be
passing by their village. But when
Sakaldip was allowed to see his
ailing mother, she did not want to
send him back. "After a lot of negotiation and pleading, they agreed
but only after our family agreed to
exchange my eight-year-old nephew with the squad instead," said
Sakaldip's father, who asked not
to be named. Demanding children
According to the Asian Centre for
Human Rights report India's Child
Soldiers, about 2,500 - girls and
boys - are involved in armed conflict in the states of Jharkhand,
Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Orissa
where the communist fighters operate. A United Nations report on
child soldiers in India expressed
concern over the killing and maiming of children kidnapped and used
as fighters or human shields by
rebels. These groups have recruited child soldiers with impunity
during India's silent civil war since
1971. They come unannounced
and uninvitated like messengers of
death and take away our children.
Dhanjan Oram, 35, farmer Emboldened by the much-hyped zerotolerance policy against armed
groups of the Narendra Modi government, security forces have
stepped up the offensive against
the rebels, further pushing them
up against the wall. Feeling pressure to find new recruits, some
Maoist leaders issued a diktat to
tribal villages to deliver five children each. Though the demand
greatly upset the impoverished and
exploited people of these areas,
most did not have the courage to
defy the guerrillas. Those who dare
to do so are either beaten mercilessly in public - or killed. As demands for new recruits increased,
people of the region started to
question whether the rebels really
were the "saviours of the oppressed" as they claim. Farmer
Dhanjan Oram, 35, said he worried for the safety of his child and
sent him to Lohardaga's police-run
children's centre in 2013. "Everybody is scared in our village. They
come unannounced and uninvited
like messengers of death and take
away our children. If anyone dares
to defy them, they beat him. We
live in perpetual fear. We have to
save our lives and our kids' lives
too. So we keep quiet." Government offensives Manvinder Singh
Bhatia, an inspector general with
the Jharkhand police, said communist rebels have been on the hunt
recently for child recruits. "Since
the launching of serious offensives
against the Maoists, recruitment
to their ranks is thinning out. A
major offensive was launched following the news that some children were forcefully taken away,
as a result of which, many of the
children were returned." In January, the Jharkhand police, acting
on a tip, intercepted a few children being taken to join fighters
near Jamshedpur. Although most
Maoist leaders deny demanding
five children from each village, a
commander from the Communist
Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)
admitted they do practice forced
recruitment of children. Many villagers in rebel-controlled areas fear
for their children [Sanjay Pandey/
Al Jazeera] "This is our compulsion because the government apparatus adopts every humane and
inhumane tactic against us to suppress the voice of the common
people," he told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals. Children recruited are used
as spies and fighters, the commander said. Sexual violence National Foundation for India fellow
Gautam Sarkar, who is working on
a project called "Childhood Under
the Shadow of a Gun", underlined
instances of sexual exploitation of
children - male and female - in rebel
camps. Former female fighters
have testified they were subjected
to sexual violence, including rape
and other forms of abuse, a common practice in camps of the Naxalite communist group. "I was
trained there to operate automatic
weapons, I was involved in some
armed attacks in the region. Still I
would be treated like a sex slave,"
said a former female fighter who
requested anonymity for privacy
reasons. "I got so disheartened and
disenchanted that I decided to put
down my weapons." According to
the Indian government, boys and
girls between age six and 12 were
recruited into children's squads in
Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and
Odisha states. No separate statistics are available on children killed
or maimed in clashes between
armed groups and government security forces. But at least 257 civilians, 101 soldiers, and 97 Naxalite rebels were killed in 2013 in
998 incidents, the government
said. Like Boko Haram, infamous
for attacking schools and stealing
children in Nigeria, communist
rebels in India also attack places
of learning and rob kids of their
right to an education. "Even after
67 years of independence, development is a distant dream in these
impoverished pockets," Sarkar
said. "People living in these areas
are left at the mercy of the Naxalites. So it is obvious that they
have to obey the Maoists, who run
a parallel government in the impregnable jungles of India."
(AL JAZEERA)
Israel reaches out to France before
resumption of Iran nuclear talks
Top Israeli envoys were sent to
confer with French officials on
Sunday about preventing what Israel considers an unfavorable nuclear deal with Iran after tensions
surfaced between France and the
United States over negotiation
strategy. Though France has demanded more stringent restrictions
than other Western delegations
during talks with Iran, one French
diplomat played down Israel’s
sway in Paris, saying that Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had overplayed his hand in a
March 3 speech to the U.S. Congress. France, the United States
and four other world powers suspended negotiations with Iran in
Switzerland on Friday and are to
reconvene next week to try to
break the deadlock over sensitive
atomic research and lifting of sanctions before a March 31 deadline
for a framework deal. Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz, however, told Israel Radio that
he is flying to Paris at short notice
and may also hold meetings with
other European nations to re-state
his country’s concerns. “This is
an effort to prevent a [nuclear] deal
that is bad and full of loopholes,
or at least ... to succeed in closing
or amending some of these loopholes,” said Steinitz, who is being
accompanied by Israeli National
Security Adviser Joseph Cohen.
Officials in Israel, which is not a
party to the negotiations but feels
especially threatened by the possibility of a nuclear-armed Iran,
have long described France as the
negotiating power with views closest to Israel’s. Steinitz credited
France with including curbs on
Iran’s mid-level enrichment of uranium to 20 percent fissile purity
in the preliminary nuclear deal
agreed in November 2013. “The
French helped us a great deal,” he
said. Frayed ties At one point during the latest negotiations French
Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius
phoned his team to ensure that it
made no more concessions, officials
at the talks said last week. And on
Saturday Fabius said France wants
an agreement that would guarantee
that Iran could not produce a nuclear weapon. Iran, meanwhile, says
that its nuclear program is for peaceful needs only. Israel’s ties to its
main ally, the United States, have
frayed over Netanyahu’s lobbying
against the prospective Iran deal.
Many of U.S. President Barack
Obama’s fellow Democrats boycotted Netanyahu’s March 3 speech
in Congress, which had been arranged by Republicans. One senior
French diplomat said that Netanyahu’s speech, in which he reiterated his demand for a total rollback of
Iranian nuclear technologies, had diminished Israel’s clout. Paris is also
unhappy with long-stalled IsraeliPalestinian peacemaking. “Israel has
marginalized itself. In November
2013 we were working with them
and they played the game. They
didn’t take unrealistic positions,”
the diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity. “But here
they have gone too far. We told
them to play their part so they
could influence a final accord, but
they have taken unrealistic positions.” U.S. officials have privately bristled at France’s outspoken
criticism of the negotiating process
and its demands for more stringent
restrictions on Iran. Officials have
expressed concerns that France
might block a deal at the United
Nations. France’s envoy to Washington, Gerard Araud, has been particularly vocal, tweeting that the
setting of a March 31 deadline for
a framework deal was “a bad tactic” and “counterproductive.” The
target date for a full agreement is
June 30 and European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has played down the importance of the end-of-March deadline, saying that the priority is to
seal a comprehensive deal by July.
Fears growing in
Yemen over
Houthis'
advance to Aden
Al Mukalla, Yemen - As the conflict in Yemen between beleaguered
President Abd-Rabbu Mansour
Hadi and the Houthi rebel group
escalates, there are growing speculations that the Houthis may try
to take the southern city of Aden
where Hadi is based. On Sunday,
Houthis seized the airport in Taiz,
Yemen's third largest city and a
strategic entry point to Aden. Military sources in Yemen said troops
loyal to Hadi and southern paramilitary forces had deployed in
Lahj province, north of Aden, in
anticipation of a possible advance
by the Houthis. In his first speech
since fleeing Sanaa for Aden in February, Hadi boasted that the Yemeni government's flag would eventually be hoisted in the Houthis'
stronghold of Saada province.
Houthi leaders responded by calling for a general mobilisation [with
the aim of rallying forces loyal to
former President Ali Abdullah
Saleh who did not take part in recent fighting] and called on Yemenis to fight against the "al-Qaedaallied" president, in reference to
Hadi. "We are heading to a bloody
confrontation," said Abdul Bari
Taher, an independent political
analyst. The Houthis stormed the
capital Sanaa last September and
now controls a sizable chunk of
the country. RELATED: Yemen
strife threatens neighbours too Although Saleh stepped down in
2012 following Arab Spring-inspired protests, he has been accused of fanning the flames of conflict by using his leverage over certain military units that helped extend Houthis' reach to many areas. "What is happening in Yemen
is a big disaster created by some
forces [Saleh] that want to rule the
country again," Taher told Al
Jazeera. What is happening in Yemen is a big disaster created by
some forces [former President
Saleh] that want to rule the country again. They are determined to
destroy the country by using the
extreme limits of terrorism and
death to finish the remaining structure of the state Abdul-Bari Taher,
independent analyst "They are determined to destroy the country
by using the extreme limits of terrorism and death to finish the remaining structure of the state."
Hadi, Saleh's deputy for 18 years,
came to power in 2012 as part of
an agreement on political transition put forward by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). But,
despite international support, Hadi
has been unable to restore security and stability to the country. In
the wake of suicide attacks on Friday that killed more than 130 people in two mosques frequented by
Houthis in Sanaa, Houthi leaders
doubled down on their accusations
that Hadi is turning a blind eye to
al-Qaeda's activities in the country, vowing to attack the group's
fighters in their strongholds in the
south. Hadi deployed army troops
and allied tribesmen in Aden and
Lahj governorates to fight the
Houthis. Meanwhile, the Houthis
amassed their forces in Taiz province neighbouring Aden. "The militias are replacing the state in Yemen," explained Taher. According
to military analysts, the mobilisation of forces in Taiz during the
last three days is a clear indication
of Houthis' plan to advance toward
Aden. "The Houthis have massive
military reinforcements in Taiz
province and they have increased
the dose of propaganda against
Hadi," said Thabet Hussein, a retired army Brigadier. "They
[Houthis] are seriously considering advancing to Aden, Hadi's
power base," Hussein told Al
Jazeera. When the Yemeni president arrived in Aden, Hussein said,
Houthis thought that [Saleh]
would be able to overthrow him
through Abdulhafiz al-Saqqaf, the
chief security of Aden's Special
Security Forces, one of the army's
elite forces, who rejected Hadi's
orders to step down "As they
[Houthis and Saleh] are assembling
forces in Taiz, there is evidence that
they are thinking of pushing into
the south and they are gauging the
cost," said the retired army officer. Nearly a day after Hadi's forces defeated [al-Saqqaf] defected security unit in Aden on March 19,
al-Qaeda fighters briefly captured
the city of Huta in Lahj province.
After executing more than 25 Yemeni government soldiers, the
fighters left. In 2011, al-Qaeda capitalised on the Yemeni government's struggle with its opponents
during the nation-wide protests
and controlled many cities in the
southern provinces of Abyan and
Shabwa. "What happened to Lahj
is reminiscent of the Abyan scenario in 2011, when the local authorities and army troops handed
over cities to al-Qaeda," said one
military analyst. UN envoy: Yemen on brink of civil war To avoid
the Abyan scenario, pro-Hadi
army officials, including Minister
of Defense Mahmoud Al Subihi,
quickly sent troops to Lahj. "Some
army units and popular committees moved quickly to foil that plot
that intended to create rationales
for invading the south," Hussein
said. For the third consecutive day,
the rebels have encircled Taiz airport with armed vehicles to protect hundreds of airborne soldiers
and military equipment.
(AL JAZEERA)
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TUESDAY MARCH 24, 2015
AFGHANISTANTIMES
Germany gears
up to open first
Islamic bank
Turkish lender Kuveyt Turk said it would launch Germany’s first fullfledged Islamic bank in July, a first step intended at offering shariacompliant retail banking services across the continent. The whollyowned subsidiary will be called KT Bank AG and use Frankfurt as its
base, aiming to tap Europe's second-largest Muslim community, many
of whose members are of Turkish descent. The subsidiary would seek
to serve Germany’s roughly 4 million Muslims but also target a wider
client base, expanding its branch network across the country and later
into the rest of Europe, the statement said. Kuveyt Turk, the largest
Islamic bank in Turkey and 62 percent owned by Kuwait Finance House,
set up a financial services branch in Mannheim in 2010 and applied for
a full banking license in 2012. At the time, the lender said it would invest
initial capital of 45 million euros ($48.7 million) in the planned German
unit. Islamic finance has been slow to gain a foothold in Europe due to
a fragmented market and lack of industry-specific regulations. Britain
remains Europe's main Islamic finance hub, with five full-fledged Islamic banks, with a Luxembourg venture also planning to launch an Islamic
lender of its own. In 2004, the German state of Saxony-Anhalt raised
100 million euros via Islamic bonds, with Munich-based FWU Group
tapping the market in 2012 and 2013.
LONDON: Oil prices edged up on Monday, holding above $55 a barrel as a weakening dollar offset losses after Saudi Arabia indicated it was now pumping near a record high of 10 million
barrels per day. Saudi Arabia has stood firm on output, saying it would only consider cutting it if other producers outside OPEC also joined. Brent crude oil futures were trading up 8
cents at $55.40 a barrel at 0933 GMT, after hitting a low of $54.12. U.S. WTI crude was down 40 cents at $46.17. Saudi oil minister Ali al Naimi also said the kingdom was now pumping
around 10 million barrels per day (bpd), which could indicate an increase of 350,000 bpd over its February production. Analysts at Barclays forecast on Monday that if OPEC
production held near current levels of near 30 million bpd, the market surplus would expand from 900,000 bpd to 1.3 million bpd. Oil prices have see-sawed, weighed down by concerns
of oversupply but boosted by swings in the strength of U.S. dollar ahead of the expected end of years of zero interest rate policy in the United States later this year. On Monday, oil
prices pared losses after the dollar renewed its slide. "In the past 15 years, the global economy was defined by rising commodity prices, zero interest rate policy, and a weak USD. This
cycle has now gone into reverse with a decelerating industrial economy in China and the rise of U.S. shale," Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a report. "A combination of a strong
dollar, higher interest rates and subdued growth may keep commodity prices in check in 2015," it added. China's February crude oil imports from Iran fell 3.7 percent from a year ago
to 2.04 million tonnes. China boosted overall imports late last year, taking advantage of cheap oil to build its reserves, but storage tanks could be reaching their limits, forcing a slowdown
in orders.
US faces meager
options for further
Russia energy sanctions
WASHINGTON: The United
States will struggle to follow
through on threats to impose
deeper sanctions on the Russian
energy sector, as European fears
over collateral economic damage
leave President Barack Obama's
administration with diminished
options. Energy is the economic
lifeblood of Russia, which vies
with the United States and Saudi
Arabia to be the world's top oil
producer, and the sector is the
main target of Western sanctions
over Moscow's role in the conflict in Ukraine. But current sanctions have already hit the easiest
targets in Russia's high-tech exploration projects in the Arctic,
Siberian shale, and deep-sea. That
leaves the United States with less
palatable options, such as trying
to target the country's oil exports, as it has done with Iran.
Even though global oil prices have
dropped by roughly half since
last year, the United States' European allies remain skittish over
any damaging repercussions on
energy supplies. Russia could
respond by squeezing the gas exports on which Europe relies
heavily. "If you start playing
around with oil prices, Russia is
going to play around with gas,
and there's no way Europe is going to go along with it," said Carlos Pascual, who until last August was the top energy diplomat at the U.S. State Department.
The current top U.S. diplomat on
energy issues, Amos Hochstein,
says Washington has not exhausted its sanctions toolkit should
Russian President Vladimir Putin expand the war in Ukraine.
And Treasury Secretary Jack
Lew said last week that the administration is ready to "increase
the costs" on Russia if it breaks
the terms of a ceasefire. Hochstein, the State Department's
special envoy and coordinator for
international affairs, told Reuters
it was unlikely Washington would
put sanctions on Russia's current
oil production, though he
stopped short of ruling it out.
"We'd want to look at what affects Russia, the assessment today versus a year ago is different, because the oil markets today are different than they were
then," Hochstein said. "Russia
can and should be a market participant, but it has to play by the
rules of the game." Cracks are
showing in European support for
more sanctions. Going alone on
sanctions is not a realistic option
for Washington since it would
block U.S. energy companies from
collaborating with Russia and let
European ones in. Western sanctions imposed late last year
forced U.S. oil company Exxon
Mobil out of Russia's Arctic and
ended its collaboration with Russian state oil company Rosneft,
with which it signed a $3.2 billion
deal in 2011 to develop the region.
European Council President
Donald Tusk said on Friday it was
increasingly hard to maintain a
united position on sanctions in the
28-country bloc. EU officials
speaking on condition of anonymity said that half or more of the
bloc's countries would like to see
easing of the measures. So far,
Western sanctions have blocked
investments and technology transfers in the frontier oil drilling
projects, targeted capital flows
into Russia and slapped Putin's
inner circle with asset freezes and
travel bans. Combined with the
drop in oil prices, the sanctions
have hammered the Russian economy, with the rouble down 40 percent against the dollar since mid2014, driving it toward recession.
But none of this has loosened Putin's grip on Crimea since Russia
annexed it a year ago, even though
Russia agreed last month in Minsk to a cease-fire with Ukraine.
Putin's domestic popularity has
risen since the imposition of sanctions.
The West could take
further steps to halt investment in
Russian shale oil drilling, which
Moscow is counting on to offset
eventual declines in output from
traditional oil fields. But more
sanctions on shale drilling would
be slow to do further damage to
the Russian economy because that
resource is three to 10 years from
significant production. That underlines how the West lacks obvious
options to hit Russia's energy business in the short-term and influence its Ukraine strategy, experts
said. "These tools may hurt and
bite over time, but the inherent fragility of the Ukraine is so high it is
working against the ability of the
West to achieve its goals," said
Andrew Weiss, a Russia expert in
two previous administrations. The
bluntest sanctions tool available
would be to block Russia access
to the SWIFT global electronic
banking system, as the West did
with Iran. Russian bankers and
officials have described this as a
nuclear option that would lead to
full economic warfare. And beyond
energy technology, the United
States and Europe simply do not
have much that Russia needs, experts say. "Apart from capital,
technology, and certain market access, some of which has been targeted by previous sanctions, there
are not that many things Russia
wants from the West," said Marik
String, a sanctions lawyer at WilmerHale and former counsel on the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Dubai’s Arabtec plans to sell four
of its five Saudi Arabian units, the
builder's annual results show despite also stating that one of its
main aims this year is to expand its
activities in the kingdom. The board
of Arabtec, which is 36 percent
owned by Abu Dhabi state fund
Aabar Investments and reported a
surprise fourth-quarter loss on
Sunday, has approved disposing of
Arabtec Saudi Arabia, Arabtec
Construction Machinery, Saudi
Austrian Arabian Ready Mix Co
and EFECO Saudi. Arabtec owns
stakes of between 45 and 62 percent of these firms and has control
over all of them. Selling the quartet
would leave the builder with a solitary Saudi subsidiary - Saudi Target Engineering Construction Co,
although it also owns 24 percent
of a Riyadh residential project. The
proposed sale comes despite a
company press release accompanying its results stating: "The company's plan (is) to continue expansion in attractive markets, mainly
the Gulf region; in particular the
US refiners turn to tanker trucks
to avoid ‘dumbbell’ crudes
HOUSTON : In a pressing quest
to secure the best possible crude,
U.S. refiners are increasingly going straight to the source. Firms
such as Marathon Petroleum Corp
and Delek U.S. Holdings are buying up tanker trucks and extending
local pipeline networks in order to
get more oil directly from the wellhead, seeking to cut back on blended crude cocktails they say can
leave a foul aftertaste. While the
business of hauling crude from individual oil wells to bulk storage
depots or pipeline hubs has become a lucrative niche in recent
years thanks to the shale oil revolution, refiners are getting into the
"first mile" game for a different
reason: taking control of their supply chains to secure a more predictable, consistent stream of
crude. Phillips 66, the nation's
fourth-largest refiner, has added
trucks and offloading equipment
at several of its refineries to help
reduce its reliance on oil coming
from Cushing, Oklahoma, the nation's biggest crude oil crossroads
and storage hub. Here, a growing
volume of Canadian oil sands is
often mixed with lighter domestic
shale crude, resulting in blends that
can be less profitable than similar
oil fresh from the field. Phillips 66
executives say operations at its
200,000-barrel-per-day refinery in
Ponca City, Oklahoma, only 62
miles (100 km) from Cushing, have
improved since it began getting
more of its crude directly from
wells in the Mississippian Lime
shale patch nearby.
"That's really the key," Phillips 66
President Tim Taylor told Reuters.
"With Cushing, you can get a
blended barrel that hits the spec,
but it's not as consistent as you'd
like." Others are also seeking to
cut out the middleman where possible, delving into an industry once
dominated by independent local
players and stepping up pressure
on bigger midstream transport and
logistics firms to meet their needs.
In December, Delek Logistics Partners LP paid $11.5 million to buy
120 trucks and 200 trailers used to
haul crude and asphalt, mostly for
its parent firm's East Texas and
Arkansas refineries. CVR Refining LP, with two refineries within
120 miles (190 km) of Cushing, in
Oklahoma and Kansas, has increased the amount of crude it gathers directly, by pipeline or truck,
by more than a fifth in the past
two years. In January it gathered
63,500 bpd, or more than a third
of its total crude slate. Shipping
crude by truck, though costly, has
become a fast-growing necessity
in places like the Eagle Ford in
Texas and Permian Basin, newly
productive shale oil patches illserved by small local pipeline networks known as gathering systems. As a result, truck deliveries
direct to U.S refiners have surged
to nearly 400,000 bpd nationwide
in 2013, doubling since 2010, government data show. Midstream
companies including Blueknight
Energy Partners and some private
equity firms, including Riverstone
Holdings, have also invested. For
refiners, the investment is less
about profitable logistics than quality control.
Many executives say that the crude
oil blends being created in Cushing
are often substandard approxima-
tions of West Texas Intermediate
(WTI), the longstanding U.S.
benchmark familiar to, and favored
by, many refiners in the region.
Typical light-sweet WTI crude has
an API gravity of about 38 to 40.
Condensate, or super-light crude
that is abundant in most U.S. shale
patches, ranges from 45 to 60 or
higher. Western Canadian Select,
itself a blend, is about 20. While
the blends of these crudes may
technically meet the API gravity
ceiling of 42 at Cushing, industry
players say the mixes can be inconsistent in makeup and generate
less income because the most desirable stuff is often missing. The
blends tend to produce a higher
proportion of fuel at two ends of
the spectrum: light ends like gasoline, demand for which has dimmed
in recent years, and lower-value
heavy products like fuel oil and
asphalt. What's missing are middle distillates like diesel, where
growing demand and profitability
lies. "You end up with a dumbbelllike material rich in front and back
ends, neither of which refineries
find most profitable," said Dennis
Sutton, a former chemist and retired crude quality expert with
Marathon Petroleum Corp who
now heads the Crude Oil Quality
Association. The trend extends
beyond Cushing.
With three refineries relatively
close to the Utica shale in Ohio,
Marathon Petroleum has added
truck and barge offloading to handle crude and super-light condensate as well as fuels, increasing its
tanker truck fleet 16 percent from
a year ago to 170, according to company presentations. The trucks can
be used for crude or fuel. "Every
place we can, we're procuring our
own crude," Chief Executive Gary
Heminger said in an interview.
Western Refining Inc will use
trucks run by its logistics unit to
haul more than 50,000 bpd to its
plants in New Mexico and West
Texas this year, up 39 percent from
2014, according to its annual regulatory filing. Oil pipeline operators, who risk losing customers as
more refiners source their own supply, are also responding. At least
five new pipelines - including
Tallgrass Energy Partners' Colorado-to-Cushing Pony Express
line, which started up in November - will ship crudes in separate
batches, rather than throwing them
together in a single stream, as has
been common for major crude pipelines to Cushing or Houston.
Traditional "common stream"
lines, where super-light crudes
mingle with WTI-like oil, also are
adapting. Magellan Midstream
Partners' Longhorn pipeline,
which moves West Texas Permian
Basin crude to Houston, raised its
gravity cap last year to 44 from
42. And it recently started up its
joint-venture BridgeTex pipeline
with a cap of 44.
Common-stream lines could theoretically keep raising those caps
as more lights enter the flow, but
refiners would demand price
breaks, said Brian Melton of
Blueknight, which is part-owned
by global oil trading group Vitol.
"If I can run a 44-45 grade and
source it at enough of a discount
that it makes sense to run it versus
a 41 or 42 even if I give up yields,
that's the tradeoff," he said.
Saudi market, and to study the expansion opportunities in other
markets, taking into account the
importance of the Egyptian market." Streamlining Arabtec's Saudi
operations into a single business
may make sense, especially after
its board "expressed dissatisfaction" with surging general and administration expenses, which
jumped 75 percent in 2014 to
749.9 million dirhams ($204.2 million). The four Arabtec units' gross
profit margin was 11.7 percent,
higher than Arabtec's other operations, Naeem Brokerage wrote in a
note. "We are yet to hear from management on the reasoning behind
the (proposed sale) and whether
this would imply an anticipated
spin-off situation," Naeem added.
The four units' combined profits
fell by more than half last year to
120.3 million dirhams. Arabtec,
which was not immediately available for comment, values their net
assets after liabilities at 860.5 million dirhams, according to its financial statements.
“Despite duty
and taxes,
used cars keep
arriving
in Pak”
KARACHI: The used-car import
industry has been through a roller
coaster ride in the last few years
but has not completely collapsed.
There are several reasons for it not
buckling under market pressures,
one of them being its appeal among
customers, which has strengthened
over the years. Local car assemblers are right when they point out
that import of used cars have dented their sales figures but, it is a
bitter pill to swallow as the local
industry has failed miserably in
meeting customer demand. The situation is not so bleak for the assemblers though, as they have
competed valiantly with imported vehicles in the 1,300 cubic centimetres (cc) or above engine category with Toyota Corolla, Honda
Civic and Honda City. However,
the bigger issue plaguing assemblers is the smaller engine vehicles
– 1,000cc or below Currently, only
Pak Suzuki is producing two
1,000cc models while Indus Motor – the makers of the Toyota
Corolla – and Atlas Honda Cars
do not have a single model in this
engine category. Indus Motor had
earlier discontinued its only variant in the segment, the Daihatsu
Cuore, and says that “the model
had outlived its life cycle” Meanwhile, Pakistan has imported
11,881 used cars during the first
six months (Jul-Dec) of fiscal year
2014-15, out of which 76% of the
cars fall under the 1,000cc or below category. The trend to favour
small cars is neither new nor unusual. Apart from design, customers have grown increasingly conscious over fuel efficiency – one
of the main reasons for their popularity. The share of smaller cars
in the imported used cars category
has been continuously increasing
over the last few years, but local
carmakers have continued to ignore
this trend. Out of the five engine
categories, the share of small cars
(1,000cc or below) in used car imports was 45% in fiscal year 2012
(FY12). It jumped to 59% in FY13,
72% in FY14 and it now hovers
around a massive 76% in the first
six months (July-Dec) of FY15.
This crisis could have been averted had local car makers done their
homework and introduced new
models of small cars. Instead of
introducing new models, Suzuki
Alto and Cuore (both 1,000cc or
below category cars) were discontinued from June 30, 2012 as these
companies were not able to introduce the Euro II engines in these
cars to meet the emission requirements of the government. The local industry understands that it is
losing out on a big market by not
introducing small cars.
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TUESDAY MARCH 24 , 2015
AFGHANISTANTIMES
Fashion Pakistan
Week: What we
are and aren’t
looking forward to
It’s Fashion Week time! The Fashion Pakistan Council has just announced the lineup for Telenor
Fashion Pakistan Week Spring
Summer 2015. The four-day event
features some of Pakistan’s top
designers but there is also a significant high street presence at the
event. While the credentials of the
likes of Sania Maskatiya, Shamaael Ansari and HSY are unquestionable, brands like Levis have
flopped badly on the ramp before
and their place at Telenor Fashion
Pakistan Week (TFPW) is questionable, this time I hope they hire
a stylist who understands how to
put together a runway show.
Caanchi & Lugari, Lala Textiles,
Gul Ahmed and Daaman will have
to up their game and think out of
the box if they want to make an
impact on the ramp. Unless they
do, Fashion Pakistan Council
needs to rethink whether high
street deserves a spot at what is
one of Pakistan’s top fashion
weeks. Fifth Element has teamed
up with Rizwanullah for their
Swarovski segment and these sort
of designer collaborations are what
high street brands should be looking at if they are serious about having a presence on the fashion scene.
Al Karam for example have chosen to launch their Sania
Maskatiya lawn at fashion week,
which is smart as Sania has grown
to appreciate what works on the
runway. Jafferjees meanwhile is a
label that needs a makeover. Their
quality is simply phenomenal and
yet they have a dowdy image.
They don’t keep up to date with
international trends at all. I’m not
suggesting that they make designer knock-offs but they do need to
pay attention to the iconic bags of
our time. Everyone from Ferragamo to Forever 21 has done a version of the bucket bag made popular by Mansur Gavriel. Why
haven’t they done a play on Celine’s luggage tote like Michael
Kors and Kate Spade have done?
You’ll find both bags at Pedro. The
brand is a Pakistani icon and needs
a major fashion turnaround – similar to the one at Burberry where
JLo makes
Rihanna feel ‘safe’
Singer Rihanna finds a unique
warmth and "safeness" in Jennifer
Lopez's voice -- the kind her mother has. The two singers have voiced
the mother and daughter Lucy and
Tip in animated movie "Home",
which follows the 12-year-old's
search for her parent after they are
separated following an alien invasion. Rihanna says Lopez shares a
lot of characteristics with her own
mother. "I love her. She is great.
Doesn't everybody want JLo to
be their mum? When you hear Jennifer, her voice has that warmth
and safeness that my mother's has.
It has that tone. It's almost like it
can hug you," Rihanna said. "My
own mother is so loving and caring. She just makes you feel safe,"
she added. Rihanna, 27, relates a
lot to her young character in the
movie because she is both shy and
sensitive. "Tip is vibrant, she's
very strong, very independent and
very sassy, but she's also very sensitive and those are all things I identify with - characteristics that drew
her to me. I was always sassy, I
was like that at six years old, four
years old. "But I was also shy. It's
strange. I'm a very shy person,
even to this day," she told Grazia
magazine.
they went from staid old British
stalwart to one of the coolest labels. Here’s hoping Jafferjees
TFPW collection is a step in that
direction. TFPW’s lineup includes
a handful of newer designers.
Madiha Raza won her place after
wowing the audience at FPC’s
emerging talent showcase, Maybelline Millenial Fashion, last year.
It will be interesting to see if she
can live up to that phenomenal
debut. Inaaya is another of last
year’s discoveries that needs to
build on an impressive beginning.
Other relative newcomers like Abdul Samad and Somal Halepoto
will have to justify being given the
chance to showcase It will also be
interesting to see Body Focus
Museum and YBQ back on the
ramp – both are excellent brands
we don’t see enough of. It’s great
to see Lahore designers like Fahad
Hussayn and HSY showing in
Karachi again, particularly as Karachi designers show regularly in
Lahore. I do wish they would make
their designs more readily available
in Karachi like Zara Shahjahan,
who opened a store here recently
and is showing in Karachi for the
first time. It would be great if top
Lahore labels like Elan, Muse and
Sublime would also come to Kara-
chi – both to show and with a retail presence. Some Karachi stalwarts are conspicuous by their
absence. FPW will miss the likes
Maheen Karim, Sana Safinaz, Shehla Chatoor, Ayesha Farook Hashwani and Adnan Pardesy - all of
whom made the winter edition of
FPW particularly memorable. On
paper this is not one of the strongest editions of Fashion Pakistan
Week – despite being a marathon
4-day affair. Despite strong names
like Deepak Perwani and Nida
Azwer, the lineup lacks depth.
Let’s hope that the participating
designers make TFPW better than
it looks on paper.
Revealed: Shahid’s
ladylove, Mira Rajput!
LAHORE: The city’s newest designer on the block, Maheen Ghani Taseer, always
had a penchant for designing but it was only recently that she decided to bring it to
fruition with the launch of her label MGT. For Maheen, her passion for fashion and
styling go back to when she was just a child. The Express Tribune talks to the industry
novice to explore her styling mantra and sartorial vision. “Fashion is like art and it’s not
just designing that I enjoy. I consider an outfit to be a statement, so I’m a stylist as well. I think the two go
hand in hand,” says Maheen. As a relatively new designer, she is still exploring different styles. “Fashion, for
me, is ever-changing and keeps evolving. Inspiration comes to you organically, if design is your true love, you
will have to take reference from everything you see around you,” she adds. Model wearing a Maheen Taseer’s
design She draws inspiration from Sabyasachi Mukherjee, which is evident in her work. When it comes to
western-wear, Maheen looks up to Jenny Peckham and Elie Saab. This winter, Maheen tried her hand at
velvet and embellishments, which gave her clothes a grand, regal and ethnic look. When asked about her
signature style, she says she is still experimenting and working with different materials, such as lace and silk,
juxtaposing modern and traditional looks.
Hollyw ood Box
Office:‘Insurgent’
tops w ith $54
million,
Gunman’ flops
L
OS ANGELES: Insurgent
topped the weekend box of
fice with $54 million, but its
opening will likely fall just short of
the numbers put up a year ago by
the first film in the Divergent series. That’s a disappointment for
Lionsgate, the studio behind the adaptations of Veronica Roth’s bestselling books about a dystopian future. It hoped that the franchise
would be able to build on its initial
start, aided by star Shailene Woodley’s higher profile following the
success of The Fault in Our Stars.
Going into the weekend, Lionsgate
had been projecting an opening of
between $57 million to $60 million.
Insurgent’s audience was 60 percent female and 55 percent under
25. Hispanics made up 17 percent
of the opening weekend crowd and
African-Americans comprised 11
percent of ticket buyers. The studio says it's happy with the results,
noting that with an A-minus CinemaScore and a lack of upcoming film
releases pegged at teenage girls, Insurgent has a clear runway. “Our
playability is incredibly strong,”
said Richie Fay, Lionsgate’s distribution chief. “We’re seeing a few
more males than we did on the first
one and we’re seeing an overall
broadening of the audience.” Insurgent cost $110 million to produce,
roughly $25 million more than Divergent racked up in production
fees. Divergent opened to $54.6
million before going on to make
$288.7 million globally. Internationally, Insurgent grossed an estimated $47 million in 76 markets. Even
if the film’s domestic results are
weaker than Lionsgate might have
hoped, foreign markets where
Roth’s books have grown more
popular over the last year could
make up the difference, leading to a
greater worldwide bounty. The
weekend’s other major wide release,
The Gunman, fired blanks, picking
up a meager $5 million and seemingly deep-sixing Sean Penn’s plans
to be an aging action star. Open
Road distributed the film in 2,816
theaters and had expected a debut
in the $8 million range. The Gunman’s modest results were good
enough for a fourth place finish in
an otherwise slow weekend. “Obviously we had hoped for a little
bit more,” said Jason Cassidy, chief
marketing officer at Open Road
Films.
Well, Well, Well, what an amazing
way to start your week with a
good news! Haider actor has broken millions of hearts, as he finally plan to settle down with his
Delhi girlfriend! There had been a
grapevine earlier this year, that
Shahid has finally found the love
of his life and would soon be tying
the nuptial knot. Apparently, the
couple got engaged on 14th January this year. Now you all must be
wondering who is the lucky girl.
Mira Rajput, the bride-to-be basically has no Bollywood connection, she is presently pursuing her
3rd year in English (Hons.) from
LSR. Ostensibly, the couple met
at a religious gathering of Radha
Soami Satsang Beas. Pankaj Kapur
and Shahid are a very strong believer of the religious group and so
is the bride-to-be. Both the families have been trying to keep a very
low profile as to avoid any media
attention. But according to the latest update by our Kabroo, Pankaj
Kapur has recently visited Mira's
house Well we are guessing the
wedding arrangements are in a
swing... And we hope to hear the
good news very soon. We wish the
couple all the very best! Stay tuned
to know the latest updates!
When Yami
got a pleasant
surprise
Yami Gautam who is currently shooting in Patiala opposite Pulkit
Samrat was missing home as the actress comes from Chandigarh
and home was merely two hours away from the sets. Yami was
missing family and the delicious home cooked Punjabi food. Coincidentally, call it telepathy, the actress' wish was heard right
away. Yami's mother surprised her by dropping on sets and also
spent time with her. Not only this, she had also made some yummy Punjabi home cooked food which made Yami's day. This was
completely unexpected and purely amazed Yami who also got a
chance to spend some quality time with her mother. The two got to
catch up on various things after pack up. Yami Gautam shares, "I
had not met my family for some time. So, when I went to Patiala
for my shoot schedule, my mom surprised me on sets with my
favourite food which I miss so much living alone in Bombay." She
further adds, "Having her around was the best feeling. We caught
up on so many things after pack up." Yami has been juggling with
her schedule with shooting for movies back to back. Her latest film
Badlapur was loved by the audience and performed a brilliantly at
Box office. The actress will soon be seen in T- series's Sanam Re
which is set to release on 12th February 2016.
Kim Kardashian
no more a blonde?
Deepika wells up during
first TV interview about her
battle with depression
Reality TV star Kim Kardashian, who flaunted platinum blonde locks at
the Paris Fashion Week earlier this month, may have gone back to a dark
hair colour. The star shared an image on Twitter with photographer
Ellen Von Unwerth, and it clearly shows Kim with her signature dark
locks, reports mirror.co.uk The 34-year-old wrote: "On set a few days
ago with the amazing @ellenvonunwerth. Can't wait for you to see the
projects we've been working on!" However, considering the surprises
that the reality TV star keeps throwing up, it could easily just be a wig
for the shoot. But photographs showing her seated behind the wheel of
her car on Friday indicated that the star's hair colour has changed -- she
is seen checking her reflection on the rear view mirror. On March 17,
Kim's makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic shared a picture of Kim on
Instagram showing the curvaceous backside of the star with the caption,
`Brunette vibes on set. Guess who?`
The beautiful Deepika Padukone
opened up about her battle with
depression in an exclusive interview with Burkha Dutt on Saturday, during which the Bollywood
actress fearlessly described breaking down ‘at the drop of a hat’ and
the importance of having a strong
support system. While speaking
about the early days of her ailment, the actress welled up as she
described how despite winning
awards and giving talks on her
achievements, she would often
lock herself up in a bathroom to
cry and how hard it was just to get
out of bed. “It’s scary, but I’m doing what I’m doing because it was
so hard for me that I don’t want
anyone else to go through it,” she
said. Read: ’I broke down often’:
Deepika talks about her depression The actress said that she felt
the need to share her story if it
meant saving even one person from
taking their own life. “If I can impact one life in this entire process
of speaking up and letting people
know that it’s something I have
been through and something that I
could deal with because I had a fantastic support system,” said the
actress who was accompanied by
her mother Ujjala Padukone, and
her doctors, Dr Shyam Bhatt and
Dr Anna Chandy. Read: Deepika
to set up mental health care foundation Deepika also called out
media outlets that reported her depression in an insensitive and often incorrect manner, saying the
actress was depressed “because her
friend Ranvir was depressed.” Reports also suggested she was using her depression to promote a
movie and make money. Deepika,
however, dismissed them, saying,
“I’ve been through hell and back.
We are a nation with the most depressed people in the world. There
is a larger issue at hand.”
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TUESDAY MARCH 24, 2015
AFGHANISTANTIMES
NBA: Blake Griffin
and Chris Paul
play key roles as
LA Clippers see
off New Orleans
Pelicans
Barcelona beat Real Madrid 2-1 at
the Nou Camp on Sunday night to
move four points clear of their rivals at the top of La Liga. The Catalans took a 20th-minute lead
thanks to Jeremy Mathieu’s header, only for Cristiano Ronaldo to
equalise just past the half-hour
mark with his 42nd goal of the season in all competitions. However,
Luis Enrique’s side claimed what
could turn out to be a vital victory
thanks to Luis Suarez’s 57thminute strike, the Uruguayan’s
first-ever El Clasico goal. Watch
Luis Suarez's winner for Barcelona as they beat Real Mdrid 2-1 It
was Barcelona, as befits the home
side, who made the faster start as
they went in search of the win that
would give them clear daylight in
the title race. However, despite
bossing the early exchanges - as
one would expect from a team
with 17 victories to their name in
the previous 18 matches since surprisingly losing at Real Sociedad
back in January - it was Real who
created the first real opening of the
evening. And it came when Ronaldo escaped the attentions of the
Barcelona defence at the back post
after being picked out by a delicious ball from Karim Benzema,
only for the Portuguese forward’s
effort to beat Claudio Bravo, but
not the crossbar. Barcelona then
responded to that near miss by
taking the lead, and through the
most unlikely of scorers in the
shape of centre-back Mathieu,
who got the better of Sergio Ramos to power Lionel Messi’s inchperfect free kick from the left past
Iker Casillas. Gael Clichy and
Guillem Balague look back on the
passage of playing leading to Real's equaliser But the visitors took
just 11 minutes to draw level, although only after Barca forward
Neymar had somehow missed an
open goal from only six yards out,
a glaring miss that was even more
important when Madrid equalised
seconds later. It was a beautifully
worked goal too from Real involving Gareth Bale and Luka Modric,
with the Croatian playing Karim
Benzema through on goal, before
his cute back-heel found Ronaldo,
the Real back four, although the
forward still had much work to do
to bring the ball out of the sky,
before coolly finishing low past
Casillas for his 14th goal of the
campaign. And thereafter it was all
Barca as the Catalans missed a
whole host of chances with Messi, twice, Neymar and Jordi Alba
all wasting presentable openings
to double their side’s advantage.
But Barcelona were not made to
pay for their profligacy in front of
goal though, with the closest
Madrid coming to grabbing an undeserved equaliser coming when
Benzema’s deflected shot from the
edge of the area forced Bravo into
a smart reaction save 12 minutes
from time.
Novak Djokovic says he is at his
prime after beating Roger Federer
Sheffield Steelers
win Elite League
title after beating
Cardiff Devils
Novak Djokovic says he is at the
prime of his career after successfully defending his Indian Wells
crown against Roger Federer to
claim his 50th career ATP title .
The world No 1 is now tied with
17-time Grand Slam champion Federer for the most men's titles in
the California desert with four
wins following his 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 62 success on Sunday. It was another epic struggle in a long list of
hardcourt battles between the two
top players in the world, who have
met 38 times with Swiss great Federer still holding a slight 20-18
edge. Djokovic defended his BNP
Paribas Open title with a thrilling
win against Federer Djokovic had
lost his last two matches to Federer in straight sets after beating him
in last year's Wimbledon final. The
five-time Australian Open winner
also needed three sets to beat Federer in the 2014 Indian Wells title
match. But after the clash, the topseeded Serb felt that he fully deserved his win against one of the
greatest of all-time on the big stage.
"If you look at the big picture, I
thought I deserved it in a way, because I really fought for it," said
Djokovic. "I am at the prime of
my career. I am going to use every
part of this fact to stay where I am
and to fight for as many major titles as possible. "I don't think these
challenges that I go through and
the pressure that I feel are harming
me or that I find it difficult. It is a
privilege because I earned it." I am
at the prime of my career. I am
Sheffield Steelers clinched their
first Elite League title in four years
after winning their titanic showdown with Cardiff Devils 2-1.
Cardiff would have kept their own
chances alive with a victory and
were on course to do that after taking the lead through Carl Hudson.
However, Robert Dowd drew
Sheffield level in the second period before Jeff Legue slotted home
the winner in the third period as
Sheffield, in their final game of the
season, sealed their first Elite
League crown since 2011. Cardiff's
loss allowed Braehead to move up
to second place with their 9-4 mauling of Hull Stingrays. The Clan,
for whom Stefan Meyer, Leigh
Salters and Matt Keith all netted
braces against Hull, now hold the
advantage for the second Champions Hockey League place heading
into the final day of the regular
season on Sunday. Braehead finish off with a trip to Fife Flyers,
who were beaten by last season's
champions Belfast Giants on Saturday, while Cardiff host Nottingham Panthers. In Saturday's other
match Edinburgh Capitals beat
Dundee Stars 5-3. Sunday Braehead picked up the victory they
needed against Fife Flyers to seal
second spot in the Elite League and
secure qualification for the Champions Hockey League on Sunday.
The Clan's 3-2 victory, with Stefan Meyer hitting the decider, lead
them to second place and a quarter-final meeting with Hull Stringrays in the play-offs.
Floyd Mayweather
‘destroying’ sparring
partners as he prepares
for Manny Pacquiao
Somerset have signed West Indies
batsman Chris Gayle for a portion
of the NatWest T20 Blast tournament. Gayle will move to Taunton
as an overseas player on either
May 22 or May 29, depending on
how his franchise performs in the
IPL, and will stay with the club
until June 13, allowing him to play
six T20 fixtures. He follows in the
footsteps of West Indies greats Joel
Garner and Viv Richards in signing
for the county. Cricket Betting
Bet £5 Get £20 Free Gayle, who
nearly joined Somerset in 2012, has
played in 45 T20 Internationals,
scoring 1406 runs at 35.15 with a
high score of 117. In 195 domestic T20 matches, he has amassed
6975 runs at 42.01 with a top
score of 175no, hitting 13 centuries and 45 half-centuries. Somerset Director of Cricket Matt Maynard said: "Signing a world class
player of the quality of Chris Gayle
is tremendously exciting for the
club. He will be a tremendous addition to our already extremely
strong squad. "He is an inspira-
with the World Player of the Year
making no mistake with his ninth
goal in only 11 matches at the Nou
Camp. And Madrid would have
gone in at the break 2-1 ahead had
Bale not been flagged offside after
putting the ball in the net after a
Ronaldo flick on. There was some
confusion around who the linesman deemed to be ahead of play as
Bale was clearly two yards onside
while Ronaldo was borderline level with the defender when he
knocked the ball on. Minutes later Bale somehow missed from
close range before Claudio Bravo
reacted smartly to tip over a rasping drive from Ronaldo. After the
interval it was Barcelona who
moved up a gear, although not be-
fore Bravo was first called upon
to keep out Benzema’s close-range
effort after a fantastic move between Ronaldo and Modric four
minutes into the second period.
Javier Mascherano gets booked
while Sergio Ramos takes a tumble Then came the decisive moment of the match as Dani Alves
found Suarez with a high ball over
Blake Griffin and Chris Paul were
the star performers as the LA Clippers damaged the play-off ambitions of the New Orleans Pelicans
who were beaten 107-100 on Sunday. Both Griffin and Paul scored
23 points with the latter adding 11
assists, while Anthony Davis led
New Orleans with 26 points and
12 rebounds. Betting Bet £5 Get
£20 Free Davis played 39 minutes
after missing two games with a
sprained left ankle, which was the
same injury that prevented teammate Tyreke Evans from taking to
the court. Evans' replacement Norris Cole collected 12 points before
fouling out in the final minutes. The
Clippers were trailing by three
points at the half-way stage before taking the third quarter 3124. Meanwhile, in Oklahoma, Russell Westbrook registered 12
points, 10 rebounds and 17 assists
for his 10th triple-double of the
season as the Oklahoma City
Thunder beat the Miami Heat 9375. Enes Kanter notched up 27
points and 12 rebounds for Thunder who have now won three in a
row. Kanter had been expected to
miss his second straight game with
an ankle injury but was cleared to
play on the morning of the match
and then got off to a fast start with
15 points during the first quarter.
The Heat had five players in double figures, led by Hassan Whiteside with 13 – all in the first half.
Elsewhere, in Milwaukee, LeBron
James scored 28 points and
sparked a key second-half run
with an emphatic dunk to lead the
Cleveland Cavaliers to a 108-90
triumph over the Bucks. JR Smith
added 23 points for Cleveland who
sealed a third straight win, while
Milwaukee have now lost six in a
row. The Cavaliers were thankful
that Smith made three straight 3s
to close out a run that turned a sixpoint deficit into a 93-78 lead with
6:19 left in the game. And Archie
Goodwin sank a three-pointer during the final 30 seconds to seal a
98-82 victory for the Phoenix Suns
over the Dallas Mavericks.
going to use every part of this fact to stay where I am and to fight for as many major titles as possible. Novak
Djokovic Djokovic, who blasted eight aces, 26 winners and broke Federer five times in front of a crowd of
about 15,000 inside the Tennis Garden stadium and surpassed his coach Boris Becker (49) to become the 12th
player in Open Era history with 50 ATP Tour titles.
Floyd Mayweather is “destroying” sparring partners in training ahead
of his pound-for-pound showdown with Manny Pacquiao. Boxing
Betting Bet £5 Get £20 Free Mayweather will put his unblemished 470 record on the line against his long-time welterweight rival in Las Vegas
on May 2. The American is reportedly beating up anyone foolish
enough to try and take him during the sparring sessions, claims his uncle
Jeff Mayweather. "The kids, early in camp, they don't care that he's
Floyd Mayweather. They want to prove something. They've proved
something, all right. They're getting destroyed," Jeff Mayweather told
MLive. "He's annihilating everybody. He's a beast. This isn't the same
old Floyd. Former undisputed welterweight champion Zab Judah was
enlisted to help prepare Mayweather for facing left-handers. However,
the experienced southpaw, who gave Mayweather a scare before losing
on points in their 2006 clash, suffered a similar fate to the younger
fighters. "Everybody was just hyped because they thought Judah was
going to be something different, but Judah was worse than the other
guys," he added. "It seemed like Floyd had something personal against
him. He beat the **** out of him. So then he quit, he let Judah off the
hook, because Judah's got a fight coming up and he messed his eye up.”
“It may just be his mind, and all the **** he's been dealing with Manny
over the years. Obviously, he's taken that in some kind of way. I mean,
he's punishing these guys."
Anna Fenninger defends her
overall World Cup title in Meribel
tional character and we are delighted to be bringing him to Somerset. We
have a number of overseas players on the roster for the 2015 campaign
and Chris’ arrival and registration will give us a number of options which
we will look at as we approach each competition." Gayle added: "I’m
excited about joining Somerset for the NatWest T20 Blast this year.
"Many of the club’s members and supporters will know that I came
close to playing for the county in 2012 and I have always felt that, if I
was able to, I wanted to honour that commitment to Somerset. "I’m
looking forward to coming to Taunton and scoring some runs."
Anna Fenninger ensured double
Austrian joy after pipping Tina
Maze to defend her overall World
Cup title to mirror team-mate
Marcel Hirscher's feat for the men's
crystal globe. orld giant slalom
champion Fenninger finished 22
points ahead of Olympic champion Maze of Slovenia in the overall
standings and sealed the trophy in
style with a commanding performance on the Roc de Fer course.
Maze had gone into the last event
of the World Cup finals with a narrow 18-point lead over Fenninger.
But the Austrian pulled out all the
stops in bad visibility down the
piste to win the giant slalom in an
aggregate time of 2min 26.91sec,
0.38sec ahead of teammate EvaMaria Brem, with Maze in third
at 0.46sec. The result saw Fenninger not only leapfrog Maze to
the top of the overall standings,
but also claim the smaller globe for
the discipline's best performer
over a thrilling season. "It's fantastic!" beamed the 25-year-old
Fenninger. "The battle is until the
end, the last race. "It was hard to
stay focused on the skiing because
there was so much pressure. I'm
happy to stand here as winner. It
was a good season and I'm happy
about all my races." Fenninger
added of Maze: "She was great.
She was fighting so hard and I've
never had such a big fight with any
athlete. "In the end she lost the
overall by such a small margin. I
have to congratulate her, it was a
great season and she had a lot of
pressure too." It was hard to stay
focused on the skiing because there
was so much pressure. I'm happy
to stand here as winner. It was a
good season and I'm happy about
all my races. Anna Fenninger Nearfaultless Fenninger's success came
hot on the heels of Hirscher, who
had gone into the men's slalom 55 points adrift of Germany's Felix
Neureuther. After finishing third in the first leg, Hirscher produced a
near-faultless second run to power to victory in a combined time of
1min 33.53sec to finish atop the slalom standings on 614 points, Neureuther netting only 22pts for his 12th-placed finish to stand second,
23pts adrift. "It was definitely a tough situation, I am really sorry for
Felix as he was so close to his first globe. But you know, it's part of our
sport," Hirscher said. "I am super happy, because before the race I was
in a very unusual position, normally I didn't stand a chance but the
victory made it possible and I'm thrilled.
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TUESDAY
.
MARCH 24
.
2015 -Hamal 04, 1394 H.S
Vol:IX Issue No:228 Price: Afs.15
Protestors seek
justice for Farkhunda,
chide police for failure
55,000 Afghan refugees have returned
home since beginning of 2015
Govt should form a commission (anti-terror court) affiliated to the
Supreme Court that should only deal with terror cases including courts
of the militants where award punishments and also lynching. The govt
should allow space to civilians to become legislature, judiciary and
executive. Lynching needs to be included in definition of terrorism
ORKHAM: Since the begin
ning of the year, over 55,000
Afghan refugees have returned to Afghanistan, more than
twice as much as in the whole of
2014, The Telegraph reported.
The rate of spontaneous returns
of undocumented Afghans has increased from an average of 59 a
day in 2014 to 651 in 2015. Afghans won t be forced out, says
Khattak The Pakistani police
came to our house and told us to
leave, Hoji Karim, an Afghan refugee tells of his ordeal. They
threw all our things onto the
street. Karim and his family
abandoned their home in Azad
Kashmir and went to Afghanistan
where they live in tents with 15
other families a makeshift settlement by the road that runs from
Torkham to Jalalabad.
The family s home province of
Patkia is too dangerous for them
to return. Back home Only about
4,000 of those are from among the
1.6 million documented Afghan
refugees in Pakistan.
These lucky few are redirected to the UNHCR centre near Jala-
AT News Report
KABUL: Hundreds of protestors
took to streets on Monday to seek
justice for Farkhunda, a 27-year old
woman who was lynched by an
angry mob in Kabul last week for
what is believed to be a concocted
story of burning a copy of the holy
Qura an. After accusing Farkhunda of burning a copy of Holy
Qura an, the angry mob beat her to
death, run a car over her, then set
her dead body on fire, and thrown
her corpse into the Kabul River by
Shah-e-Doshamshera Mosque in
Kabul on Thursday. However, later, Farkhunda was found innocent.
Hundreds of protestors, mostly
women, gathered in the locale where
Farkhunda was lynched, where
they demanded of the government
to arrest those responsible for her
brutal killing. To give vent to their
anger, the protestors marched till
Pul-e-Bagh Omumi carrying banners reading Farkhunda was
burned in the fire of ignorance and
we condemn killing of Farkhunda . The protestors were chanting
the slogans against those involved
in killing of 27-year old Farkhunda
and said that the government should
bring perpetrators of the heinous
act to justice. Many of the protestors had covered their faces with
mask of Farkhunda.Belqis Roshan,
a female senator who has also attended the protest, said that the government should exert its utmost efforts to arrest and punish those involved in the brutal act. She called
on people to seek justice for
Farkhonda. She urged the government to prevent from repetition of
such incidents in the future.Roya,
another protestor, slammed police
on negligence in action to rescue
the innocent girl. She urged president to listen to protestors voice
and punish murders of Farkhunda. In the meantime, the Wolesi
Jirga strongly condemned the brutal action and asked the concerned
organs to prosecute those involved
in the brutal killing of
Farkhunda.The Minister of Interior, Nur-ul-Haq Ulumi, admitted
police s failure to rescue Farkhunda, but assured that they will spare
no efforts to prevent from repetition of such incidents in the future. We failed to rescue Farkhunda. She was really innocent. She
hasn t burned any copy of Holly
Qura an, he said. Ulumi added
that they have arrested 13 people
in connection with lynching of
Farkhunda.
Javed Barakzai, a
protestor, who looked to be at 40s,
told Afghanistan Times that lynching should be termed an act of terrorism. Recently I returned from
UK with a hope that situation will
have improved much at home country but I was shocked and couldn t
sleep normally when I watched the
terrific news of Farkhunda, he
said. Barakzai added the government should form a commission
or anti-terrorism court inside the
Supreme Court that is meant to
deal only with terror charges and
lynching incidents. The government shouldn t provide space to
people (civilians) to become judiciary, legislature, and executive
because it is the job of the government and not civilians to award
punishments to people, he suggested.
If lynching becomes a common
practice, security situation will
worsen and more precious lives will
be taken away by mobs, he said.
T
13 militants
killed in raids
AT News Report
KABUL: As many as 13 Taliban
militants were killed in crackdowns
carried out by security forces in
different parts of the country. The
Interior Ministry said in a press
release on Monday that the Afghan National Police (ANP) in collaboration with the Afghan National Army (ANA) and the National
Directorate of Security (NDS)
operatives conducted joint military
operations against Taliban militants in different parts of Nangarhar, Sar-i-Pul, Kandahar, Uruzgan,
Logar, Ghazni, Paktia, Farah and
Helmand provinces. At least 13
rebels were killed in the military
operations, the source added. According to the Interior Ministry,
four Taliban militants were arrested and handed over to judiciaries
for further inquiries. A number of
weapons and ammunition were
recovered by the ANP cops during the crackdowns.
The rate of spontaneous returns of undocumented Afghans has increased from an average
of 59 a day in 2014 to 651 in 2015. PHOTO: AFP
Haqani Network weapon depots seized
The National Directorate of Security (NDS) Afghanistan s intelligence agency has seized two
depots belonging to the terrorist
Haqani Network. A statement issued by the NDS on Monday
states that one depot was seized
in Pakhtoon Abad area of the pro-
vincial capital while the other one
was seized in Chahardiwal area of
Andar District. The statement
adds that both depots belong to
Mawlawee Ismail, a commander of
Haqani terrorist network. The
statement further adds that there
were eight different types of heavy
and light weapons, 13 anti-vehicle
landmines, 75 kilograms of other
explosive materials, hundreds of
rounds of ammunition and wireless systems in the depots.
According to the statement
two binoculars were also recovered
from the depots. NDS statements
usually do not contain information
about the exact date of the incidents but their statements come
after recent achievements.
Haqani terrorist network,
which according to Afghan officials
is based in Pakistan, is blamed for
several deadly attacks in Afghanistan. (KP)
labad, where they receive a repatriation grant of $200 each, mine
awareness education, and medical
attention. Those without documents are registered and referred
to the transit centre of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) near the border when
they enter Afghanistan.
Due to limited resources,
however, the IOM can only provide approximately 10% of the
most vulnerable population with
basic humanitarian assistance.
Read: Afghan refugees return to
malnourished country An IOM
official said that many unregistered Afghan returnees reported
that they had left Pakistan to escape harassment following the
Peshawar attack. Every day, more
than 30,000 people cross the
Torkham border. Read: 2,000 unregistered Afghans deported
since APS attack
Pakistani officials should not
be scapegoating Afghans because
of the Taliban s atrocities in Peshawar, Human Rights Watch
deputy Asia director Phelim Kine
says.
It is inhumane, not to mention unlawful, to return Afghans
to places they may face harm and
not protect them from harassment
and abuse.
3 Jawzjan
police killed in
predawn firefight
with Taliban
SHIBRGHAN: Three Afghan National Police (ANP) personnel and
a militant were killed in a predawn
a clash in the Aqcha district of
northern Jawzjan province, an official said Monday. The firefight
was triggered by a militant attack
on a security post at midnight,
provincial police chief Brig. Gen.
Faqir Mohammad Jawzjani told
Pajhwok Afghan News. He said
three policemen and a rebel were
killed during the clash. The attackers managed to flee after reinforcements arrived at the site. A resident of the area, Asadullah, said
the fire exchange lasted until 4am.
He added civilians had suffered no
casualties in the incident. But Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed killing five policemen and seizing their weapons.
(Pajhwok)
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