why i don't see future for afghanistan?

Private contractors are running Afghanistan show, NGOs, once the main player, have either left the country or subcountracted by Luis Berger or Bearing point. Private contractors manage security risks while they are trying to do most of the job. Luis berger and bearing point are great business ideas, bearing point currently has a contract of 237 million dollars with USAID, their Afghanistan operation is run by former managers and directors of development NGOs. NGOs which once had a dominant role in afghan reconstruction had to vacate the stage for large contractors under sever criticism from government (and public), allegation of corruption and security boundaries.  

 

I see this as a big phenomena, I am surprised that non-profit community didn’t predict this. I haven’t seen a single study on this, I remember meeting all these NGO managers in conferences and they were talking about what ways to increase efficiency and, But nobody saw contractors coming in and an organizational strategy to deal with it.

 

Well, I think this is typical to organizations, they are so trapped with competition and routines that they can’t see the horizon, or they have one lens on when they are scanning the environment. my favorite is the competition between Kodak and Fuji, the official logo of Fuji was ‘Kill Kodak’ and they failed to see digital photography coming and now photography is almost a dead industry with the emergence of digital.

Or another one of my favorite is, Britain assigned a watchman at the south coast to look at the see and alarm London if he sees Napoleon, the guy was looking at the sea with his telescope hoping every minute that he would see napoleon and run to the big bell and alarm London. But it never happened. This job was officially terminated in 1948 and the funny thing is the guy even didn’t notice Hitler bombers J he was just looking at the sea.

 

NGOs perception of the three issues affected their strategy 1) the problems of NGO security, 2) concerns about the militarization of aid, and 3) the public scapegoating of NGOs for the failures of the overall aid effort.

Security of staff is the number one issue for all NGOs working in Afghanistan today. Afghanistan has become the most dangerous country in the world for aid agencies. The Global Civil Society yearbook shows that “terrorist incidents” targeting NGOs have gone up 1300% from the early 1990s to 2005. Today, international staff of most NGOs remain bunkered down in Kabul, flying in and out for R&R, they have no contact with the people they aim to help. PRTs were the good NGOs created four years ago, NGO views on PRTs run the spectrum from blanket refusal to engage with the military to what some see as “principled pragmatism” on the other – that is that NGOs should engage with the PRTs in order to minimize negative impacts on their work. It would be a mistake to see PRTs as threatening competitors, they are not for development purposes.  

 

Popular anger, at the overall slow pace of the reconstruction effort so far and the lifestyle and behavior of some foreigners, has unfairly blamed the NGO sector. Afghans believe little has been done to date, despite the billions of dollars of international funds pledged. Because they work directly with communities, NGOs have become the most highly visible symbols of the international aid effort. Many in the aid community understand the resentment. While the distinction between international NGO staff, foreign contractors working for government donors and foreign private security companies seems straightforward to those in the aid business, for much of the Afghan public, there seems little difference between these groups.

NGOs have lost the fight for humanitarian space for businesses, private contractor are also facing the same problem NGOs did. Contractors might be able to deal with the situation NGOs are facing but in no way they are improving the situation, as a matter of fact the situation is getting worst since contractor take over. The ghetto lifestyle of hundred foreign workers has created further public anger. Contractors are implementing projects ranging from health to handcraft, areas they have to competences. Day by day people see less and less result for the amount of money spent and cynicism is growing. What is actually destroying my morning is people who work for contractors. They are only there for money, stealing from the 7^th poorest country in the world.

 

جنگجويان طالب بالاي يك پوسته امنيتي بندرتورغندي هرات شب پنجشنبه حمله نموده كه تلفاتي را درپي نداشته است .

بندرتورغندي هرات كه در120 كيلومتري شمال شهرهرات ومرز مواصلاتي هرات وتركمنستان ميباشد واقع شده است .

اين حمله درمسيرشاهراه هرات تورغندي بالاي يك پوسته امنيتي صورت گرفته كه تلفات جاني براي پوليس وارد نگرديده است اما با مشاهده شدن اثارخون گمان ميرود طالبان تلفات جاني داشته باشند.

اما قاري يوسف كه خودش را سخنگوي طالبان ميداند درتماس تلفوني به رسانه هاادعانموده است، درنتيجه حمله شان بالاي پوسته امنيتي درمسيرشاهراه هرات تورغندي سه تن ازپوليس را بقتل رسانده ويك تن ديگررا نيز باخود به اسارت برده اند .

اين درحالي است كه امنيت داخلي شهرهرات شديدا ازسوي مقامات امنيتي وپي ارتي تامين بوده وهيچ گونه نا امني درحومه اين شهربچشم نميخورد وهم اكنون اجلاس سازمان اقتصادي اكو وارد روز دومش شده كه قراراست روزجمعه وزراي خارجه ده كشورعضوسازمان متذكره روزجمعه 27 ميزان وارد اين شهرشده وحامد كرزي رئيس جمهوري كشوردرجلسه روزشنبه نيزحضورداشته باشد.

latest

Fourteen troops from the NATO-led force in Afghanistan were wounded in a Taliban ambush southwest of the capital Kabul, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said on Monday.
The troops came under fire during a patrol in the province of Wardak, immediately southwest of Kabul, on Sunday. The troops called in air support, but there was no word on Taliban casualties and no reports that any civilians had been hurt in the fighting, the spokesman said.

in a separate incident, Three Afghan civilians were killed when international war planes bombed an area outside Kabul during a fierce battle with Taliban rebels, provincial police said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel plans to visit Afghanistan to get a first-hand picture on the situation in the country; however no date has been set for the trip.
The chancellor faced harsh criticism by the opposition Greens for her failure to visit German NATO-led troops in Afghanistan Green party leader Renate Kuenast said a Merkel trip to the war-ravaged country was "overdue".
As expected, German lawmakers voted last week in favor of extending the controversial Afghan military mandate for another year.
Some 453 legislators approved renewing the mission, while 79 opposed it and 48 abstained.
The new mandate allows the deployment of up to 3,500 soldiers in Afghanistan and will primarily focus on northern Afghanistan and the Kabul region.

British officials are concerned an influx of U.S. military contractors in Afghanistan's Helmand Province could disrupt their plans there.
With British officials focusing on gaining the support of regional citizens, they have suggested the planned arrival of additional U.S. military contractors could serve as a bitter reminder of the Blackwater scandal in Iraq, The Independent reported Sunday.

"The worry is that there will be a blast, and some contractors will panic and open fire, as happened with Blackwater in Baghdad. That is the very last thing that Helmand needs at the moment," one unidentified diplomat said of the plan.

The U.S. personnel are coming to Helmand Province as part of a reconstruction project in the war-torn region, but at least one of the military companies has already earned a bad reputation there.
The British newspaper said resentment against DynCorp is already in place throughout the province due to the contractor's involvement in an earlier eradication campaign against the region's opium poppy crop.

RSF report

RSF new report is concerning about Afghanistan than ever before. The report outlines some major threats to free expression. The government’s adoption of a third press law gives a relatively liberal framework for media development, in a country governed by Sharia. But parliament, in particular the Wolesi Jirga (lower house) which is dominated by the conservatives, has drawn up a list of reactionary amendments. The Religious and Cultural Affairs Commission has increased references to Islamic principles and banned publication of news contrary to stability, national security and territorial integrity. The draft law which could go before parliament at the beginning of 2007 includes a ban on promotion via the press on any religion other than Islam.

 

The top of the list was dominated by European countries, which made up 18 of the top 20, the others being New Zealand (15th) and Trinidad and Tobago (19th). Iceland and Norway were voted joint top, with Estonia and Slovakia sharing third place. But last year's joint leader, the Netherlands, fell to 12th place after two journalists were held in custody for two days for refusing to reveal their sources to the judicial authorities. In another black mark for Europe, Bulgaria (51st) and Poland (56th) were identified as the continent's "bad boys", the only EU countries outside the top 50. RSF compiled the index by sending a questionnaire to 15 freedom of expression organisations, its network of 130 correspondents, and to journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists. The survey contained 50 questions about press freedom.

 

 

kite runner

The movie has been delayed until after the xmas for security concerns for the boy who took part in the movie. See the thriller at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1Ivdc76nAY

mullah omar eid message

Statement issued on Al-Emarah, the Taliban's propaganda website:

Ameer Al-Mu'meneen Mullah Mohammad Omar Mujahid about the pleasure of Eid
al-Fitr

Eid Mubarak to the whole Muslims Ummah

In The Name of Allah The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful

All Praise and thanks are due to Allah, the Lord of all that exists and may
peace and prayers be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family, companions in
entirety

Assalmualeikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu

To the Mujahideen and holy warriors (ghazeyan) who spend their days and
nights in protecting Islam and Muslims, I pray to Allah that He may accept your
worships and hardships which you had endure in the Holy month of Ramazan
(Ameen).

It is in people's knowledge that Eid has arrived in such a time when
Afghanistan and Afghans people are engulfing in a war perpetuated by America and
its allies. Everyday and night our youths are martyred, our women are widowed,
our elders are insulted and our women and children are being pushed into the
valleys of death, because thousand kilograms weighted bombs are being dropped
on our houses, mosques and fields under the cloak of democracy which is
nothing but America and its allies hypocrisy.

America has tried it best to lead stray and deceive our people, especially
women and children under the name of democracy, women rights and westerns
immoral ideologies. But on the other side the revitalization of Jihad by which
the punishment that is being inflicted by Afghan Mujahideen and Muhajareen
Mujahideen on the invaders and its puppet government has forced America and its
allies to admit that the invasion of Afghans homeland was a historical error
and their destiny is defeat in Afghanistan (Inshallaah).

It is the efforts of Afghans jihad (resistance) which has displayed such
gallantry and proficiency in the battlefield forcing the America and its allies
to negotiate with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan because they have
recognize that without negotiation it is impossible for them to find a way to
leave Afghanistan with some dignity in front of the world.

Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan during its rule had tried to protect national
interest and provided a peaceful life for its countrymen and at the same
time respected others who had respected Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which was
governed under the Islamic constitution. But America and its allies who
invaded our homeland for the purpose of bring democracy to Afghanistan with MK82
500-lb bombs, B-52 bombers and BLU-82 Daisy Cutter bombs, each weighing
15,000 lbs thinking that this way they will be able to make Afghans their slaves.

Through their actions the whole world has witness their barbarism, cruelty
and massacres. The civilize citizens of the world have watched them martyr
innocent people of Afghanistan, Iraq and in other parts of the world and their
supporting of totalitarian governments.

Peace loving population of the world is disenchanted and distressed by the
destruction which America has brought to the world and its inhabitants,
history has shown wherever America has entered with the slogans of democracy, peace
and stability those places have been decimate.

Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan still remain steadfast in its strategies and
wants from American and its allies to stop promulgating their satanic
politics and the incursion in the lives of Afghans by withdraw their forces from
Afghanistan as a respect to the people of Afghanistan and respect to liberty,
so the people of Afghanistan can again live in peace.

Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan desires that its neighboring countries should
help Afghans to drive western forces from Afghanistan as they did during the
time of Soviet Union invasion. They should not provide any kind of support
by recognizing that American foreign policies are a danger to the whole
region.

Finally I pay tribute and congratulate those who have lost their loved ones,
such as sons, brothers, husbands, fathers and relatives for the protection
of Islam and Muslims and may Allah provide us an Islamic constitution in
exchange for martyr holy blood (Ameen). Finally we request Mujahideen to be humble
in their victories, should spread brotherhood and love, must accept commands
of elders and have compassionate attitude towards the civilians especially
during combat action.


Eid Mubarak for all,

Walaikum Assalam Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu

Serviceman of Islam, Mullah Mohammad Omar

negotiation is moving with taliban

It seems like karzai is this time proceeding with his Taliban negotiation strategy, western sources have learned that members of the Taliban's leadership council have used go-betweens to negotiate their defection.
the plan seems to be international support or drafted. The British government has thrown its backing behind the strategy to split the Taliban.

At the same time, however, British officials have concluded that the Taliban is too deep-rooted to be eradicated by military means. Following a wide-ranging policy review accompanying Gordon Brown's arrival in Downing Street, a decision was taken to put a much greater focus on courting "moderate" Taliban leaders as well as "tier two" footsoldiers, who fight more for money and out of a sense of tribal obligation than for the Taliban's ideology.

The Taliban leadership, which is under the influence of foreign al-Qaida fighters, is thought to be vehemently opposed to talks. In a message released on Friday the group's leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, rebuffed an offer of talks from Mr Karzai.
Some worry the talks are a Taliban stalling tactic at a time of intense military pressure. "Everyone on the ground thinks they've had a real effect this year and they want to keep the pressure up through the winter," said a Nato official. "It's in the Taliban's interests to appear more conciliatory when they're under pressure."

competitive duplication of TV series in afghanistan

Kabul TV stations rely heavily on foreign and imported programs, prime time Kabul TV (6:00 to 9:00pm) is pretty much dominated by bollywood dramas. Whenever I flip through afghan TV stations in prime time its drama in all ten stations. That is not really offering much choice for the viewer. I was wondering why they do it. partly because second hand programs are all they can afford, since there is no copy right law in Afghanistan I doubt if they pay anything to producer, but also because second hand programs provide a higher rate of return than original production. Audiences watch drama and they have many choices of drama.  

the import culture in TV stations is changing, the programs now goes behind prime time brainwashing bollywood dance and hyper tragedy, imported content is spreading out of movies and drama series, there are  more and more programs which are imported. Hollywood reality shows and nature programs are famous. The only program which is left for local production is religious programs. I don’t think we should blame afghan producers for lack of inspirations; the market is not in their favor.

 

The question I would like to ask is where will bollywood drama culture take us? In an unregulated media market, or I’d rather say badly regulated in case of afghanistan, the greater the degree of conformity in audience tastes, the greater the tendency towards competitive duplication, this seems like a vicious circle where the TV stations decided to jump, diversity in programming would only occur in Afghan TV market if the number of channels is large enough to exhaust the profits in competitive drama duplication, afghan advertisement market already finds it difficult to sustain the existing number of TV stations, as a matter of fact the majority of them are not dependent on market but rather on political parties and foreign funding.

Foreign programs are generally subject to a ‘cultural discount’ i.e. they sell for less than domestically made programs of the same type, at the end of the day if afghan TV stations prove unable to produce afghan programs they would also be subject to ‘cultural discount’.

afghan civilian death compensation scheme

Over 155 Afghan civilians died in ground military operations, aerial strikes and suicide attacks by Taliban insurgents, US, NATO and Afghan government forces in September alone according to the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission

In May 2007 the AIHRC found that US soldiers used "indiscriminate shooting and excessive force" during an incident on 4 March in Nangarhar Province in which at least 11 civilians were reportedly killed. [http://aihrc.org.af/Investigatoin.pdf ]

Only a few of the over 30 nations that have contributed troops to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan provide modest ad hoc "condolence" payments to the families of civilians who die in their military operations, a spokesman for ISAF said.
The rights watchdog said the US army formally apologised to the affected local people and paid a "condolence" sum of US$2,000 to each directly affected family. That is quite some amount, lets compare that to what is paid to Nato troops. Ben Parkinson a UK soldier who received multiple injuries in Afghanistan will receive 285K GBP ($580k) in compensation plus a comprehensive package of health and other sort of assistance. Another case was an RAF typist reported to have received a £484,000 (around 1million dollars) civil payout after injuring a thumb. UK wounded service personnel will continue to benefit from tax-free, index-linked guaranteed payments to compensate for loss of earnings.

The difference is Nato troops kill people when they are at their homes while Nato soldiers are in Afghanistan to fight and obviously dieing comes with it. the other difference is a Nato troop costs several hundred times more than an afghan civilian.
The AIHRC has, however, repeatedly demanded the establishment of a regular and fair "compensatory" mechanism which would provide financial assistance to families affected in armed conflicts.

"There must be a transparent system of payments to the families of every civilian victim of armed conflict, in conformity with Afghanistan's domestic laws," Hamidi maintained.
According to Afghanistan's current penal code, a person who mistakenly kills an individual should pay Islamic compensation ('Diyat') equivalent to the price of 40 camels to the affected family - roughly $25,000.

UN publishes report on suicide bombing by Nato

The UN mission to Afghanistan published a ‘comprehensive’ report on suicide attacks, i am presenting you part of it here and then comparing it with an instructive article by Mike Davis. You can access UN full report here.

No doubt that suicide attacks inflict civilian causalities but NATO bombardment according to davis inflicts even greater casualties. Nato bombing is more frequent than suicide therefore it has caused a greater number of civilian causality, yet the UN has published no report on details of Nato bombardment. The report says alleged 173 people were killed by suicide attacks during 2006 while U.S. and NATO attacks killed at least 350 innocent civilians. I mention this because the report emphasizes on human rights aspect of the attacks, the report says “The impact of suicide attacks ranges far beyond the death of the immediate victim. They strike fear into the heart of the population, killing and maiming innocent civilians and limiting their enjoyment of basic human rights. Children are particularly affected, especially Afghan girls, who already struggle to realise their rights. Afghan victims express complete incomprehension at the decision of suicide attackers: “It was like they tried to kill the children.” In the aftermath of attacks, unexpected medical fees and psychological trauma compound families’ losses”

The UN report talks about the targets of the suicide attacks and it goes on “Employed by the Taliban as a military technique, suicide bombing – paradoxically – has had little military success in Afghanistan. While 76 percent of all suicide missions target international and Afghan military, the greatest impact of suicide bombings has been on civilian bystanders and the Afghan people as a whole. A total of 183 Afghans – 121 of whom were civilians – were killed in suicide bombings in the first half of 2007.” This is while the admittedly incomplete data set indicates that Afghan civilian casualties account for some 65 per cent of suicide car bomb attack victims (contrary to the numbers - 84 per cent - bandied about by the occupation forces). U.S./North Atlantic Treaty Organisation military personnel accounted for about 17 per cent of the car bomb deaths. The relative accuracy of the car bomb is further enhanced insofar as many of the reported car bomb attacks succeeded in injuring members of the U.S./NATO forces. Sometimes, the target of the suicide attackers is a high-profile Afghan foe as in the March 12, 2006, suicide attack in Kabul, which killed two civilians but succeeded in wounding the target, former Afghan President Sibghatullah Mujaddedi.

Suicide car bomb attacks are typically carried out in civilian-rich areas (as Table 1 indicates), and as such inflict death and injury upon innocent bystanders. In order to make a comparison with civilian casualties caused by the U.S.' "precision bombing", one must choose U.S./NATO bombing attacks carried out in a comparable universe, namely civilian-rich areas.

The UN report asks itself who are the suicide bombers and then it goes on for two pages to answer the question. The only thing I understood out of it was “in Afghanistan many of the suicide attackers are poor, undereducated or uneducated, and often recruited from religious schools (madaris). The distinctive background of these suicide attackers may be due to historical and idiosyncratic reasons”

The report talks about targets and it says “While the international military remains the greatest target, it suffers by far the least casualties. Conversely, softer governance and civilian targets suffer the highest casualties but are only targets in 24 percent of the incidents. While Afghans as a whole may not have been the primary target in 2007, they still constituted 183 deaths in the first six months of the year. Taliban propaganda continues to communicate that the “US” and the “foreign invaders” are their primary target, but these claims are not supported by the data.”

The UN along with US and international media highlight the random death and violence resulting from suicide car bombs. But if you match these claims with the data available from the Afghan war theatre and demonstrate that under plausible assumptions exactly the reverse is true: a U.S. precision bomb is far more deadly to Afghan civilians than a Taliban suicide car bomb when adjustment is made for the differing delivery cost of each. After all, one of the major justifications for precision weaponry is that the increased costs to develop and produce such weapons are worthwhile as they allegedly save lives of innocents in proximity to the strike target - greater precision is allegedly being purchased. Such large development and delivery expenses are simply out of reach of most. Mike Davis has argued that the car bomb is the "poor man's air force".

SUICIDE BOMBING IN Lashkar Gah's market area on August 28 killed 15 civilians as well as the target, a former provincial police chief who also owned the market, and his son.

iranian reporter arrested

A reporter of Iranian English TV network 'Press TV' was arrested by the US security forces Sunday night in Kabul when he was returning home from office.
Faez Khurshid was freed after 18 hours while having bruises on the face.

This is the first time that an Iranian citizen is actually detained and the matter has come to media, US officials and intelligence has accused iran of middling in Afghanistan. The US has accused Iranian revolutionary guard of supporting anti-american elements in Afghanistan.

 

Iranian citizens are not very welcomed by US officials to Afghanistan, some are put under surveillance, US funded projected are strictly forbidden to hire Iranian nationals.

Among 18000 foreign labour in Afghanistan, which are registered with the afghan government, some are Iranian, some are running private businesses while others work for international companies or UN.

Iranians working for UN has reported harassment and surveillance, one Iranian national working for UN was questioned by American embassy a couple of months ago which was released immediately after UN intervention.

Top NATO commander’s personal interpreter who is of Iranian origin was charged with espionage for Iran a month ago.

 

new solar plant benefits 1000 households

 

برای اولین بار ده قریه شامل یکهزار خانوار درمرکز ولایت کاپیسا، به ارزش 2،2 ملیون دالر از نور برق آفتابی مستفید گردیدند .

قبل ازین اهالی این قریه جات هیچگونه منبع انرژی برق نداشته و از تیل و گاز برای تنویر خانه های شان استفاده می نمودند .

 

 

18000 foreign labour in Afghanistan

 

نور محمد قرقین وزیر کار، امور اجتماعی، شهدا و معلولین می گوید که هژده هزار کارگر خارجی در کشور وجود دارند که از سوی این وزارت راجستر شده است.

به گفته وی حکومت برای کارگران خارجی که به کشور برای کار می آیند یک مقرره را ترتیب کرده که بر اساس آن هر کارگر خارجی مکلف به پرداخت مالیه بوده و  هر ارگان که میخواهد کارگر خارجی جذب نماید،  تا زمانیکه در  زمینه کارگر داخلی موجود باشد نمی تواند کار گر خارجی را جذب کند.

وزیر کار و امور اجتماعی می گوید که  در سیاست اقتصاد بازار دولت وظیفه ندارد تا برای مردم کار پیدا نماید بناً آنها وظیفه دارند تنها سهولت ها را برای کارگران مهیا سازد.

بگفته آقای قرقین وی در صحبت هایش با سفیر آمریکا و آلمان از آن خواسته است که یا به تاجران کشور قرضه داده  ویا به کار گران افغان ویزه کار بدهند.

وزیر کار و امور اجتماعی می افزاید ،  تا زمانیکه تاجران کشور به ساختن فابریکه ها و شرکت های بزرگ اقدام نکنند مشکل بیکاری  رفع نخواهد شد.

have your say

Afghanistan's first elected president, Hamid Karzai, is BBC’s special guest on a Have Your Say programme to be recorded on Thursday 11 October in Kabul. Send them your questions.

Click here

My question:

Mr. President,

You expressed readiness to negotiate with Taliban; this comes after your trip to US. Is your decision supported by US and UN? If not, how can you negotiate with world-class terrorists who are on the US and UN blacklist and subjects to prosecution.

If yes, this is a drastic turn in policy. In the mind of public it means accepting Taliban and, the achievement of their methods. The offer of negotiation with the Taliban is announced at a time when Kabul city is under constant suicide attacks.

negotiating with terror: making peace or surrendering

Karzai wants to negotiate with Taliban, this comes after his trip to New York, he said, he is willing to negotiate with the Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of Afghanistan’s Hizb-e Islami party.

these two people are on the US black list and subjects of a bounty specified by the USA for the arrest of these two people, but the assertion of Mr. Karzai shows that a 180 degree turn has happened in the positions of  America. The general feeling is Karzai that decision to negotiations with world class terrorists is supported by America.

Experts also believe that the government might be negotiating behind the scenes with the Taliban group at a regional and international level.

the question is with the change in American policy and international attitude would it be possible to come to an agreement with Taliban.

 

The offer of negotiation with the Taliban is announced at a time when Kabul city is under constant suicide attacks. And three has happened over the last week and security anxieties flooded back into Kabul city. The terror has walked back in to the capital and Taliban achieved best what they wanted. The question is whether the offer of negotiation mean surrender to Taliban by international community and afghan government.

The Taliban spokesman has accepted negotiations

Source: al emerah (Taliban voice)

The Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, in a interview with Associate Press responded to a question asking whether the Taliban are ready to find a solution for the crisis in Afghanistan through negotiations with the Kabul administration like in the negotiations with South Korea. He stated that if independent nationals of our country are protected in these negotiations according to Islamic rules and if the ground is paved for the withdrawal of foreign troops, then the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is ready to take part in such negotiations, but we don’t believe that the Kabul administration is competent to negotiate with us according to these conditions, and that the Kabul administration is well aware of this firm stance of ours […].

Therefore, the government asks for negotiations and invites the Taliban for negotiation in order to deceive people and keep the reality secret. But on the other hand a number of media outlets in the service of invaders have been trying to create concern in the minds of the people. The goal of the Taliban is to oust the foreigners from the country and to maintain an Islamic system [of governance] in the country since the Christian invaders attacked Afghan territory. And the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has defended its position for the past six years and in this way thousands of Mujahideen have been victims and have been dispatched to Guantanamo, Bagram, Kandahar and other cruel prisons. [They have] borne many punishments. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has not only fought against this goal, but they believe that it is [now] the time to defeat the current invader from our country with the assistance of God just like with the previous one.

In the end, we again demand that the media publish correct news. They should publish the exact news whatever happens.

afghan journalist arrested

Mujahid Kakar, news manager of Tolo and Lemar TV was arrest by NDS ( National Department of Security) this morning. He was at the scene of explosion today on Kabul airport road. The apparent reason for his arrest is filming without permission.

بیش از سه صد تن ورثه شهدا ومعلولین ...

بیش از سه صد تن ورثه شهدا ومعلولین امروز درمقابل مقام ولایت کندز طی احتجاج اعتراض آمیز، خواهان محاکمه کسانی شده اند که باحقوق آنان معامله نموده است .

 

احتجاج کننده گان ادعا مینمایند که از دوسال بدینسو به بهانه های مختلف ازسوی مسوول اتحادیه معلولین آن ولایت، مبالغ هنگفت پول جمع آوری گردیده، اما تاکنون ثمرهء آن معلوم نیست .

 

غلام محی الدین 40ساله باشنده حضرت سلطان مرکزکندز که 20سال قبل پای راستش را در دوران جهاد ازدست داده، میگویدکه هریک بیش از سه هزارافغانی بنامهای مختلف فورمه وتعرفه وغیره بخاطر دریافت نمره رهایشی به مسوولین اتحادیه معلولین آن ولایت پرداخته اند .

وی درحالیکه خودرا بدون سرپناه ونان آور شش تن اعضای فامیل معرفی نموده، می افزاید که این مبلغ را بخاطر دریافت سرپناه پرداخته بود .

 

حاجی امامقل رییس کاراموراجتماعی وشهداومعلولین کندز باتایید ادعای احتجاج کننده گان به آژانس خبری روز گفت :

(( محمد برات رییس اتحادیه شهداومعلولین ازپول همین معلولین موتر وزمین بخود خریده است. ))

وی افزودکه هنوزمعلوم نیست که چقدر پول از چه تعداد معلولین جمع آوری نموده، اما موضوع رسماً بمقام رهبری ولایت خبر داده شده است .

به گفته وی، برات از هر فرد معلول ومعیوب از یک تا پنج هزارافغانی به بهانهء تکمیل

possible cultural repruction

Paramount Studios that made the $18m film, called ‘the kite runner’, has postponed the picture's release until it can ensure the safety of the two young Afghans who portray the protagonists.

Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada, the boy who plays Hassan, and his family have alleged that the film-makers did not tell them about the scene until the day of shooting. Concerned at the possible repercussions the children may face, the studio is bringing them to the US at the time of the film's worldwide release.

Twelve-year-old Ahmad Khan, who is from Kabul, spoke about the rape scene to the Associated Press last month, saying: "They didn't give me the script. They didn't give me the story. If I knew about the story, I wouldn't have participated as an actor in this film."

The scene is a highly impressionistic rendering of a Pashtun man raping Hassan, a Hazara boy from a servant's family. The actor's parents say it could inflame painful ethnic divisions in Afghanistan.

Another actor, Nabi Tanha, who plays Hassan's father, has also expressed concerns about the language used against members of Afghanistan's Hazara ethnic group, portrayed in the film.

The studio has altered the film's release date to leave time for the two boys to complete their school year in Afghanistan, which ends on December 6. The boys will then go to the US, accompanied by guardians.

growth and decline of afghan media and telecommunication

 The development of telecommunication and media is one of the single largest achievements that could be point at in the last five years. Media and telecommunication are large technical system dealing with the ways in which innovation is behind the rate and direction of system growth. The support of international community got the sector moving. Growth in media and telecommunication systems has to account for the economic drive to realize economies of scale and scope. Which is lacking in other sectors of Afghanistan – e.g. education, health, security, governance… - I am also arguing that the growth in media and telecommunication is coming to a stop because the economy of system is lacking to reduce service and operation costs. By economy of system I mean a framework which accounts far the ways in which growth and economics mix with politics in the development of telecommunications and media. In other words lack of political vision is going to negative affect the economics of telecommunication and media.

 

Media and telecommunication are economies of scale which stem from improvements in the capacity to handle large quantity and volumes to a greater number of subscribers at a lower cost. Economies of scope are derived from using the same plant and equipment to provide a range of telecommunications services at a lower cost than that of providing each service separately, or using same material of an interview for a weekly feature and news clip.

Economy of scale and scope drove development of media and telecommunication, but now that the industries are large and expensive, its essential characteristic of large technical systems to have a mechanism for controlling a system of interrelated components. And that is the political regime with social causes.