SANJAR

election politics behind the early withdrawal

2012-02-03T11:38:00.002Z

The early withdrawal of US and French troops from Afghanistan is contributing to the claim Taliban are making. there argument has been the west lacks a coherent and comprehensive value system. the values such as human rights are just hoax and has no real impact on Afghan lives. which has proven true, the establishment of democracy and human rights costing Westerners hundereds of bilions of dollars have not made Afghanistan a more just place than any other least developed country. yet another blow is the withdrawal of US troops before the schedule to the credibility of any moderation in Afghan society. this is marked as another betrayal of Afghans especially those attempting harder. This hurried withdrawal will not give the Western world the isolationist peace of mind it craves, not just because abandoning these people to the Islamist butchers will weigh heavily on its conscience. I would imagine the situation in 2012 and especially in 2013 could go from bad to worst.

The decision is above all based on election tactics, President Barack Obama's solution to leave troops there, just not in combat roles, until 2014 is also something of an insurance policy if Afghanistan descends into chaos. But the timing of the US and French withdrawals from combat is less than ideal. It is no coincidence that the retreat comes as presidential elections loom in both countries.

In France, the death of four French soldiers last week has made the war a hot campaign issue, while in the US Mr Obama has been under heavy pressure for more troop cuts. Political considerations are finally taking centre stage in the conflict. Politics can be this simple, even if some of the politicians at the State Department and the Western liberals refuse to accept this.

The tragedy is that they have little to do with stability in Afghanistan. I am also disappointed that even the final policies before the withdrawal does not indicate an understanding of Afghanistan. Democracy and human rights will fail in a society that has survived without these attributes for 3000 years. Re-educating the population requires parallel values, not a view of the world that sees in every non-Muslim an 'enemy of the true God'. the US current policy is to make peace with the most extremest of these people and continue to impose democracy by funding Karzai government. Taliban and Karzai are key problems of instability in Afghanistan yet we don't understand how to deal with each. tolerance of the corruption spearheaded by President Hamid Karzai have allowed the Taliban to return to power. replacing Karzai with a stronger leadership that is not born out of consensus and can tackle corruption should be one of the options. the west should not be negotiating with Taliban not only because the group is against equal rights and education for girls and women but for pragmatical reasons. we should have learned from the history that we can not make friends with fanatics, they are unreliable and prone to erratic outburst of violence. The US plans to release five Guantánamo prisoners to make friends with taliban and aid the negotiations Washington has been engaged in for weeks with the Taliban. The goal is an agreement that will placate Karzai's government and the guerrillas. I don't think the west doesn't realise they can't be making friend with fanatics they couldn't find any human way to deal with but had to lock them up in secret prison and subject them to torture for a decade. this only means one thing and that is that the west is not interested any longer in stability in Afghanistan but a way out. the contents of a confidential Nato report were made public according to which the Taliban are sure they will be able to reconquer the country. Nato is playing down the significance of the document, but it could be that Washington's negotiations are simply aimed at preventing the Taliban from capturing major cities after 2013 and when western troops are in the country and also to reduce the number of casualties.

The property Market will plummet once the new of international community departure sink in, how bad is it going to be?

2011-11-11T01:22:00.001Z

It is going to be very bad. House prices were driven up by the rentprices the international organisations were prepared to pay. A regular house indowntown Kabul would return around US$ 25000 per year for the owner. Thisencouraged many to invest in property and the price of a flat in Kabulresidential areas climbed to a range of 700000 to 1 million dollars. Even thesuburbs such as charai Qambar saw a huge rise, a house would be around halfmillion dollar at the very least in this part of town. Another reason for theincrease is cultural, I went to see a family friend some time ago and headvised that I should be buying a house. Many people who made good bucks in thegold rush of foreign assistance have invested the money in a house. It is seenas an investment but also an icon of status.

Now we are facing a scenario where house prices in the suburb ofKabul cost as much as to buy a similar one outside London in the UK and higherthan most European countries.

The international money has also funded the extravagant mansions inKabul's most expensive neighbourhood of Shirpur, Wazir Akbar Khan and ShariNaw. Ornately gilded pillars hold up pastel-hued balconies; brightly coloureddomes crown mosaic walls made of mirrored tiles. In this part of town most homeswere built by Afghanistan's corrupt political elite on land stolen from thepoor and the state since 2003. A good majority of these houses are rented by mercenaries,embassies, the UN, warlords, MPs, ministers, high ranking government officials andtelevision journalists, scrambled to pay tens of thousands of dollars in rent,and moved in. these houses are known as "poppy palaces" because ofthe suspicion that they were built with the proceeds of opium smuggling. Theseare the luxury houses and the first thing which will happen as the tide ofWestern money starts to recede is a drop in the prices of these houses. Thishas already started to happen. The prices of these houses are crashing as wetalk. The prices had plunged by half and plummeting at a faster rate. The rentfor one 14-bedroom house had dropped from dollars $18,000 a month to $9000. Propertiesare empty for the last six months since Obama announced the withdrawal oftroops.

Once the foreign money starts to recede considerably in the nextcouple of years the time of bust will set in. not only the prices of housescome to the real world level but there will be a serious panic, initiated andstimulated by panic selling.

Why Liberal Muslims don’t matter?

2011-11-06T10:14:00.002Z

It was a few weeks ago that Iwent to a talk in southbank centre on the summer “uprisings” that swept acrossthe Middle East. Among others a Muslim academic from Egypt talked about the“revolution”. She talked of falling inlove with revolution. That she is a proud Muslim but not an Islamist. She alsoemphasized on the need for freedom for all human beings and how westernpolitics deptrived them by supporting autocratic regimes across the region;here she unleashed on the west for double standards and moral corruption.

Once you summarise the speech andlook at her line of thinking you will realize that it is one of those commonthread of thinking that is prominent among “moderate Muslims” and the one thatwestern liberals could easily associate themselves with, because of itsuniversality such as all people are rational including Muslims and a believe inthings are going to eventually take a turn for the better.

This theme of thinking has beenincurring around me for the last few days and it was the other day that I comeacross Marwan Muasherarticle that was published in New York Times;the response is not for Mawan Muasher but to all Muslim Liberals that arguealong the same train of thought. To summarise Marwan is saying:

Islamists are unlikelyto take over new governments in the Arab world for reasons:

first, Islamists arenot stupid. Arab countries face daunting challenges and whoever governs themwill need to tackle tremendous political and economic problems.

Second, Islamists arenot as popular as Western pundits and policy makers think. Political Islambenefited from closed authoritarian systems.

You've heard this"thought" expressed in one way or another, the message of theIslamists resonates with the Islamic believes and common thinking, the commonman is not politically active but will listen to the words of Islam in whateverformat and shape delivered. The second point Marwan is making is exactly why weshould worry. The Taliban were not that popular, they started with a group of800, the Ayatollahs of Iran were a minority but took over the revolution. Thepopularity of Islamists has never been the problem but the question has beenwhether it could be contained by the government or not and that is exactly theworry about brining Taliban to the government.

Now to clear thefirst point raised, (1) If Marwan knows what is in the minds of Islamists, itis his solemn responsibility to inform us of the source of his information, andalso to share it with the authorities. (2) If he does not know what is inIslamists minds--as seems enormously more probable--then why does he rush toappoint himself the ventriloquist's dummy for such a faction? Who volunteersfor such a task at such a time?

Not only is itindecent to act as self-appointed interpreter for the killers, but it is rashin the highest degree. The fanatic Islamists have not favoured us with aposthumous manifesto of their grievances, or a statement of claim aboutPalestine, Iraq or Afghanistan, but we are nonetheless able to surmise ordeduce or induct a fair amount about the ideological or theological "root"of their act and if we are correct in this, then we have considerable knowledgeof two things: their ideas and their actions.

I don’t thinkthere is the need to talk about the killings that happen by the Islamists ondaily basis or the several thousand Hazara that were massacred in Bamyan by theTaliban or the fact that women can’t vote in Kuwait or drive in Saudi Arabia. Ithink the action of the Islamists speak for itself but lets contemplate abouttheir thinking, to theWahhabi-indoctrinated sectarians of Islamists (that are not only driving thepolitics of Islam in the Arab world but also in Afghanistan) only the purestand most fanatical are worthy of consideration. The teachings and publishedproclamations of this cult have initiated us to the idea that the tolerant, theopen-minded, the apostate or the followers of different branches of Islam arefit only for slaughter and contempt. And that's before Christians and Jews, letalone atheists and secularists, have even been factored in. As before, the deedannounces and exposes its "root cause." The grievance and animositypredate even the Balfour Declaration, let alone the occupation of the WestBank. They predate the creation of Iraq as a state. The gates of Vienna wouldhave had to fall to the Ottoman jihad before any balm couldbegin to be applied to these psychic wounds. And this is precisely, now, ourproblem. The Taliban and its surrogates are not content to immiserate their ownsocieties in beggary and serfdom. They are condemned, and they deludedlybelieve that they are commanded, to spread the contagion and to visit hell uponthe unrighteous. The very first step that we must take, therefore, is theacquisition of enough self-respect and self-confidence to say that we have metan enemy and that he is not us, but someone else. Someone with whom coexistenceis, fortunately I think, not possible.

Now to thequestion I raised at the beginning of why Islamic Liberals are irrelevant tothe political discourse of the region. The Liberals have no real ties withtheir own societies, they are merely the face of Islam to the rest of the worldand that is precisely what is bothering me. The group claim for universality ofrights while advocating the Barbaric Islamic Fascists, further the liberalswould take any opportunity to unload the blame on the west. The secularists would only be successfullyonce the Islamic countries address the issue of injustice and corruption thathas riddled these countries therefore removing the common cause for publicdisillusionment. In such an environment the determined minority of secularistsand modernist could be able to seize the opportunity, as was the case in Turkeyby the elite officers of the army, and pull the country out of the pollutedwater of Islamic Fascism that they all seem to drown currently.

Gilad Shalit, beloved brother and son, what is the story of over a thousand Palestinian prisoners

2011-10-19T20:46:00.002+01:00

TheIslamist Palestinian organisation Hamas on Tuesday liberated the Israelisoldier Gilad Shalit, who was abducted five years ago. In return Israel isreleasing 1,027 Palestinian prisoners. Despite whatever Islamic sentiment Ihave it is hard to ignore Israel emergence as the moral victor from theexchange. Yesterday in the media all you could see is the story of a man who ismuch like everyone of us, with dreams, family and loved ones who was locked upby a group. The other side of the story is the release of prisoners grants theterrorist organization Hamas too prominent a role. The media story waspreoccupied with what the release means for the people of Palestine. I did notsee a single story that was similar to Gilad Shalit, the story of an individualsuffering in the hands of brutes and kept away from the loved ones. Palestinians were being carried awy onshoulders, chanting Allahuakbar. I could not connect with them, they wereimpersonal and full of anger. i thought why is no one telling the story of Palestinianprisoners. Are they really a bunch of whackos who needed to be locked up, whichagain gives Israil another moral triumph. The validity of the claim that theIslamists are not people that seek reasonable methods to resolve theirgrievances but a fanatic group that belongs to a cult of death and terror.

first gunbattle in the neighbourhood

2011-07-17T18:21:00.002+01:00

gun fires disturbed our dinner an hour or so ago and still continuing. it is the first time it happens in my part of town. i got a call from a few of the neighbors trying to get to their homes but the roads are blocked and he seems to be stranded. the attack was on an MP house killing M. hashim and a karzai advisor Jan Mohamad. this city had never felt safe for me but events like this remind me the question of why bother staying in this country.

جنگ درقندهار، سرآغاز وضع جدید نظامی و سیاسی درافغانستان

2011-05-08T12:36:00.002+01:00

شماری از آگاهان و وکلا در مجلس نمایندگان می گویند، زندانیانی که حدود یک و نیم هفته قبل موفق به فرار از زندان سرپوزه شدند، با حمایت بیرونی شان در حملات دو روزه ی شهر قندهار دست دارند.

شکیبا هاشمی نماینده مردم قندهار درمجلس نمایندگان روز یکشنبه گفت وحشت و دهشت که از روزگذشته بدین سو درشهرقندهار به راه افتاده است محصول بی کفایتی مقامات امنیتی درقبال فرار زندانیان سیاسی از این ولایت می باشد.

هاشمی می گوید فراری دادن زندانیان سیاسی از زندان قندهار که به کمک آی اس آی پاکستان و دست داشتن شماری از مقامات امنیتی و دولتی انجام شد برای پاکستان و طالبان از اهمیت خاصی برخورداربود.

خانم هاشمی ، ضعف دولت مرکزی دربخش تامین امنیت، دست داشتن مستقیم استخبارات پاکستان، بی کفایتی مقامات دولتی و امنیتی قندهار وقتل اسامه بن لادن را از دلایل عمده دیگری درایجاد نا امنی های جاری درقندهار عنوان میکند.

هاشمی می گوید مردم قندهار از حکومت مرکزی می خواهند تا هرچه زود تر با گماشتن افراد با کفایت و کاردان در پست های دولتی قندهار امنیت را دراین ولایت کلیدی ، تامین کنند.

علی اکبرقاسمی کارشناس امورنظامی و عضو مجلس نمایندگان، روز یک شنبه درخصوص حملات تروریستی در قندهار به خبرگزاری بست باستان گفت تمام جنگ هایی که درافغانستان جریان دارد بدون شک نتیجه پلان های استخبارات پاکستان است .

این کارشناس امورنظامی می گوید غفلت نیروهای امنیتی و همکاری شماری از حلقات دولتی درقندهار باعث آن شده است که مخالفان و تروریستان به راحتی امکانات لازم جنگی و ترورریستی را در نزدیکی مقام این ولایت و مراکز نظامی جابجا کنند.

وی می گوید طالبان به کمک القاعده و استخبارات پاکستان با نا امن ساختن ولایت قندهار نقطه قوت خود و ضعف دولت مرکزی و نیروهای امنیتی را ثابت کردند.

آقای قاسمی، نقش زندانیان سیاسی و افراد بلند رتبه طالبان والقاعده را که به کمک آی اس آی و همکاری مقامات زندان قندهار فرارکردند در برخورد های مسلحانه تازه در ولایت قندهار برجسته و مهم عنوان میکند.

توریالی ویسا والی قندهارنیز درگفتگو با خبرگزاری بست باستان، مهاجمان در قندهار را نیرومند عنوان کرده ، گفت : " درعقب این حملات دست های بیرونی وجود دارد. "

درعین حال جنرال سالم احساس، قومندان امنیه قندهارطی تماس تلیفونی با خبرگزاری بست باستان ، دلیل طولانی شدن درگیریها درقندهار را کمبود و ضعف شدید نیروهای امنیتی عنوان کرده است.

موازی با این رزاق مامون ژورنالیست و کارشناس امورسیاسی کشور، معتقد است که رهایی برنامه ریزی شده بیش از500 تن ازطالبان به شمول حدود 100تن از فرماندهان شان، درنتیجه مفاهمه با شورای صلح، پاکستان و اجازه امریکایی ها عملی شده است.

به باورآقای مامون ،تحول به وجود آمده درقندهارمی تواند سرآغاز وضع جدید نظامی و سیاسی درافغانستان تلقی شود چون که تهاجم فارغ بال دسته جات مسلح طالبان که از زندان" به "پایگاه های جنگی خویش بازگشته اند" روحیه و قدرت رزمی شان را تقویت کرده است.

آقای مامون می گوید جالب این است که حضور ارتش در آوردگاه قندهارضعیف است و پولیس به حیث یک نیروی علیل و ایله جاری، دربرابر طالبان، اراده مقاومت ندارد.

نامبرده می افزاید احتمال آن وجود دارد که میان بخشی ازحکومت داران درکابل و رهبری طالبان درمورد تحویل دهی مرکزاصلی جنگ( قندهاردرقدم اول) توافقات نوشته ناشده ای حاصل آمده باشد.

به عقیده رزاق مامون ، با توجه به رابطه ناجورمیان کابل وواشنگتن، ممکن است نیروهای خارجی چندان علاقه ای به سد بندی در برابر طالبان از خود نشان ندهند و این می تواند سرآغاز سقوط حکومت و مبارزه دوباره قدرت میان طالبان و جریان های ضد طالبان شود.

خبرگزاری بست باستان ضمن تماس های مکرر با مقامات حکومتی تلاش کرد تا نظرریاست جمهوری را نیز درخصوص رویداد های جدید امنیتی درقندهارداشته باشد اما موفق به اخذ نظریات ایشان نگردید.

امریکا اسامه بن لادن را کشت

2011-05-02T05:22:00.000+01:00

باراک اوباما رییس جمهور امریکا لحظاتی پیش در یک سخنرانی اعلام نمود که امریکا اسامه بن لادن رهبر القاعده را کشته است .

وی گفت که اسامه بن لادن روز یک شنبه در پناهگاهی در پاکستان کشته شده و جسد وی اکنون در نزد امریکا است

Afghan armed forces trustable?

2011-04-28T03:54:00.005+01:00

the security in some cities were handed over to afghan security forces and it is to be completed until 2014. i was just wondering how capable they are of fulfilling their duty and whether we could trust them.

April 27 - an Afghan pilot had an argument with his american mentors, left the meeting and then returned and forced 9 Americans to remove their weapons before shooting them with a U.S. provided M9 semi-automatic weapon. he then shot himself.
25 April - Taliban jailbreak from the Sarposa prison of kandahar, something out of a bad gangster movie. some 500 Taliban got away including prominent commanders and they police and afghan official said to be involved in facilitating it
April 18 - An insurgent kills two Afghan soldiers and an officer at the Afghan Defense Ministry.
April 16 - Six American troops, four Afghan soldiers and an interpreter are killed when an Afghan soldier detonates an explosive vest at Forward Operating Base Gamberi in Laghman.
April 15 - A suicide bomber impersonating a policeman blows himself up inside the Kandahar police headquarters complex, killing the top law enforcement official in the southern province.
April 4 - Two American military personnel are shot and killed by a man wearing an Afghan border police uniform.
February - An Afghan solider shoots nine German soldiers, killing three and injuring six.
January - One Italian soldier is killed and another is wounded after an Afghan soldier opens fire on them.

the afghan national security forces (ANSF) has been growing in numbers but continues to be greatly lacking in quality. Still plagued by widespread corruption, it continues to be deeply resented by the population for its abusiveness. It is still trained mainly as a light paramilitary force to hold off insurgents until the ISAF can arrive on the scene and has little ability to deal with ordinary crime, the daily scourge for Afghans. The lack of order on the street creates important inroads for the Taliban.

The stampede to create militia forces in Afghanistan further complicates the reliability of Afghan security forces. The local police set up by ISAF may have robust vetting and safeguard mechanisms, but the myriad of other militias created by ethnic politicians and local strongmen often don’t have any vetting at all. Their growth reveals the level of ethnic tensions and uncertainty in Afghanistan. Nor does the Ministry of Interior have any clear ability to control any such forces that go rogue.

Karzai, distrustful of and confused by Washington, operates an increasingly narrow patronage network and easily overrides the local officials whom he perceives as threatening, regardless of their performance. Many Afghans, not the least of whom are the Northerners and minorities, are deeply worried about negotiations with the Taliban. Even with quarter of a million Afghan security forces and 160 billion dollars spent in the last ten years, the current political situation in Afghanistan is unstable.

احتمال تبادله میلیون ها دالر در فراری دادن زندانیان قندهار

2011-04-25T16:11:00.001+01:00

فرار بیش از 500 تن از زندانیان در قندهار، آن هم در یک زمان، پرسش های زیادی را مطرح کرده است.

تحلیلگران به این باورند که تا حکومت، مقامات امنیتی و پرسونل زندان دست نداشته باشند، امکان فرار برای آن ها وجود ندارد.

حاجی احمدخان یک تن از بزرگان محلی قندهار می گوید: "در فرار زندانیان، حکومت صد درصد دست دارد و این مسئله به بی کفایتی آقای کرزی بر می گردد. در قندهار همه می دانند که این مشکلات همه از سوی کرزی صاحب است، اگر بندی می شود هم رضای او (کرزی) است، اگر کشته می شود هم."

به گفته وی برخی از خبرها حاکی از آن است که شماری از زندانیان به کمک مسوولین امنیتی زندان از دروازه فرار کرده اند نه از تونل، اما مقامات امنیتی قندهار گفته اند که این زندانیان از تونل فرار نموده اند.

احمدخان می گوید: "از آنجایی که در میان زندانیان رهبران، سردسته های طالبان و نیز کسانی که با استخبارات پاکستان دست داشته شامل بودند، مقامات امنیتی پول گرفته و آن ها را فراری داده اند."

شکیبا هاشمی وکیل ولایت قندهار در مجلس نمایندگان می گوید: "تا از حکومت کسانی در این قضیه دست نداشته باشند، چگونه زندانی که دیوارهای آن از سنگ ساخته شده، سوراخ شود و چگونه سامان آلاتی که برای کندن تونل به کار برده می شود، به داخل زندان منتقل گردد؟ "

به گفته وی ممکن است این مسئله یک پروسه بوده و با کشته شدن فرمانده پیشین پولیس قندهار (خان محمد مجاهد) در ارتباط باشد، زیرا از یک سو افزون بر دو ماه برای فرار زندانیان آمادگی گرفته شده و از سوی دیگر خان محمد مجاهد در یک حمله مشکوک کشته می شود.

هاشمی افزود: "این بار دوم است که زندانیان فراری داده می شوند. دفعه قبلی هنگامی که زندانیان از زندان فرار کردند فرمانده پولیس آن وقت، در هنگام فرار حتی یک فیر هم به سوی شان نکردند و آقای اسدالله خالد که والی بود او (فرمانده پولیس وقت ) ودیگر مسوولین امنیتی را نیز مورد بازپرس قرار نداد که تحقیقات بعدی نشان داد، در فراری دادن زندانیان چندین میلیون دالر تبادله شده و مسوولین، آن مبلغ را دریافت کرده بودند."

به گفته هاشمی، آقای کرزی والی و مقامات امنیتی آن زمان را نه تنها مجازات نکردند که به پست های بالاتر از آن هم گماشت و این مسئله نشان می دهد که آزادی زندانیان از ارگ و به دستور مقامات بلند پایه حکومتی هدایت می شده است.

هاشمی می گوید پس از تحقیقات به درستی روشن خواهد شد که چه کسانی در این قضیه دست داشته اند اما این احتمال وجود دارد که این بار هم میلیون ها دالر برای فراری دادن این زندانیان تبادله شده باشد.

سیامک هروی یک تن از سخنگویان رییس جمهور ضمن خود داری از پاسخ روشن در مورد این اتهامات، به خبرگزاری بست باستان گفت که وی در ارتباط به این موضوع چیزی نداشته و باید از مقامات امنیتی محلی پرسیده شود.

توریالی ویسا والی ولایت قندهار به رسانه ها گفته است هنوز مشخص نیست که این زندانیان چگونه فرار کرده اند و آیا کسی در فرار آن ها دست داشته اند یانه؟

ویسا ضمن تایید این که آن ها از راه تونل فرار کرده اند، افزوده است که تحقیقات در ارتباط به این مسئله آغاز شده است.

کارشناسان امور به این باورند که گفته های حکومت هیچگاه جامه عمل نخواهد پوشید. زیرا حلقاتی که در درون حکومت وجود دارند نه تنها مانع از افشای عاملان این گونه قضایا می شوند که با وارد کردن فشار بر دستگاه دولت تلاش می کنند سرنوشت این پرونده ها به فراموشی سپرده شود.

politicians, liars or idiots?

2011-04-04T11:34:00.001+01:00

further to my previous post and exactly my concern about telling Afghans that murder in the name of God is unjustifiable because you felt offended. today i noticed in the news that everybody rushes to blame Pastor Jones, he might be insane and extreme but he is not responsible for the murders. the murderers are responsible for the murders, I wonder if US senators, UN Afghan chief, US chief commander in Afghanistan truly believes in what they are saying in which case they are idiots or they clearly see that Taliban are benefiting from this in which case they are lying hypocrites.

The UN Chief's envoy to Afghanistan, Staffan De Mistura, strongly criticised the Florida pastor for burning a copy of the Koran. Staffan De Mistura blamed the violence on the Florida pastor, describing the burning of the holy Koran as "insane and totally desprecable gesture by one person".

I don't think we should be blaming any Afghans, we should blame the one who burnt the Koran, he said addressing a news conference in Kabul on Saturday. Freedom of speech does not mean to offend culture, religion and traditions, he added.

then I tuned to US politicians and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) and other lawmakers on Sunday joined Gen. David Petraeus in condemning the Quran burning staged by a Florida pastor and the resulting violence in Afghanistan.

one clear beneficiary has emerged from the wave of deadly riots that swept Afghanistan after members of a Florida evangelical church burned a copy of the Quran: the Taliban.

it is not rocket science to realise that the concern of western politicians and Aid workers in kabul is not the truth but the politics of the riots. i followed the news again and noticed that according to Afghan and Western officials, taliban have exploited the ongoing tumult, using the riots as cover for attacks against Western and government targets and reaping propaganda benefits by allying themselves with popular fury over the desecration of the Muslim holy book.
Lindsey Graham, (R., S.C.), US senator said on “Face the Nation” that “free speech is a great idea, but we’re in a war. During World War II, you had limits on what you could say if it would inspire the enemy"

Lindsey's comment sums it up for me. western diplomats perceive each Afghan as Fascist fanatic who they can not reason with but rather to trick. I have to admit that this would bother me less than the naivety some aid workers show in kabul by truly believing that the murders were not members of the riot. it just show how misguided they are which is fine but it bothers me because they introduce themselves as experts.

from: anonymous

it's "racist" to expect Muslims to abide by the concept of personal responsibility.

2011-04-02T08:43:00.004+01:00

Why do Afghans believe that it is their moral obligation to commit murder, even to annihilate innocent people in God's name? What aspects of their scriptures and traditions tend to support such violence? What ethical principles--religious and non-religious--can we affirm in response to those ideas and the atrocities that they engender?

in Afghanistan violence happens on daily basis and at least a dozen people die in political unrest, tribal conflict, petty crimes and domestic violence everyday. however religious violence can take on a particularly intense and ruthless character, if the objects of that violence are seen as blaspheming or insulting God, as the enemies of God or God's way narrowly conceived. The problem of indiscriminate religious violence is particularly difficult to eliminate from within because it's deeply rooted in the scriptures and traditions. The same religious traditions that affirm God to be compassionate, merciful, and just, also include more disturbing claims that promote religious hatred and intolerance, and sadly have provided a rationale for aggression. We need to face these things head-on. Questioning the moral justification of mazar sharif killings leads, moreover, to troubling questions about traditions, culture, morality and ethics of Afghans.

i am very saddened by the murders that took place in mazar yet not surprised at the action of my fellow Afghans. however, the question above is not for my fellow Afghans as expecting them to question deep rooted traditions and culture would be similar to ask moon to find another orbiting space instead of earth. i am absolutely appalled by the actions of Mazar murders but i am also disgusted at the reaction of the world. people who value freedom and understand that no religious principle or any other rational can justify murder need to speak against this despicable action. instead westeners and their institutions tend to blame Paster Jones. all day today i am hearing from westeners that Afghans went nuts because afghans are deeply traditionally and conservative. i take an insult to that, it means that we, as afghans, are not treated like human beings by not being held accountable to our actions. free people of the world, stop appeasing the fanatics and stand for what you beleive in.

from: anonymous

murder in mazar sharif

2011-04-02T08:01:00.003+01:00

as a human being I'm deeply ashamed, as an Afghan I am not surprised. Generations of people being fed utter non sense and fused within their "moral" fiber to lash out with extreme violence and disregard the consequences against any who dare to speak ill would naturally lead to to this unfortunate conclusion. The psychopathic inversion of truth for falsehood where these actions are not only the expected norm but are also praise worthy from the people around them resembles a parasitic cancer. In a lot of ways these people wish the world to accept them and at the same time to gain said acceptance they will pursue these actions, because when what you preach is vile in nature acceptance will not and cannot come through hearts and minds, but might come through fear, brutality, and violence. This is the hand they must play because the only other option is to opt out and choose the enlightenment. This sort of behavior is a fractal example of the larger mentality. Deeply held beliefs even by the 'moderates' would not condemn this. It is my opinion based on sitting and conversing with many from a wide spectrum of Islamic believers that the moderates feel although these actions are not great they are also not the worse thing that could happen. The worse that could happen is that no one cares deeply enough anymore to react in any way. Sort of like a person who sadistically loves another who is wired poorly enough to fly into deadly rage because of jealousy. It is ironic and amazing that these groups would sit on a high horse, criticize without mercy let alone insightful well reasoned reflection on all the flaws that other systems represent but would immediately resort to violence when the shoe is on the other foot. They have three positions (a double pull double throw switch), criticize others and preach to join a clearly flawed cause, fly into rage, or sit silently and accept both the previous options. On behalf of the rational, the reasonable, the descent, the nobel, the kind, and the respectful community of Afghan and global free thinkers, I offer my condolences to the families of the slain as well as to humanity for what has happened.

from anonymous

Legal Plundering

2011-03-23T04:14:00.004Z

The late economist, historian and libertarian philosopher, Murray Rothbard, was right on the mark when he wrote:

"The great German sociologist Franz Oppenheimer pointed out that there are two mutually exclusive ways of acquiring wealth; one...production and exchange, he called the 'economic means.' The other way is simpler in that it does not require productivity; it is the way of seizure of another's goods or services by the use of force and violence. This is the method of one-sided confiscation, of theft of the property of others.

"This is the method which Oppenheimer termed 'the political means' to wealth. It should be clear that the peaceful use of reason and energy in production is the 'natural' path for man: the means for his survival and prosperity on this earth. It should be equally clear that the coercive, exploitative means is contrary to natural law; it is parasitic, for instead of adding to production, it subtracts from it.

"The 'political means' siphons production off to a parasitic and destructive individual or group; and this siphoning not only subtracts from the number producing, but also lowers the producer's incentive to produce beyond his own subsistence. In the long run, the robber destroys his own subsistence by dwindling or eliminating the source of his own supply."

The sooner the people "overthrow" the political means and reestablish the economic means of acquiring wealth, the sooner we will be rid of political corruption, high taxes, runaway government spending and onerous regulations. Until that day arrives, expect more bribes, shakedowns, and "waste, fraud and abuse."

the international community is struggling to find a way to stifle corruption in Afghanistan but too high stakes to take an objective look into the issue and the answer is very clear. less money for government and humanitarian organisations who are not answerable to redistribute through corrupt entities they have established. solution number one for the situation is; limiting government to a few well defined functions would liberate Afghans from self-serving, incompetent, and dishonest public officials. solution number two is making developmental organisations answerable. none of the Aid organisations such as IRD, UN agencies, ARD, Chomonics, and dozens others which receives more than 200 million dollar each every year to spend on developing afghanistan could be held accountable. the most transparent of all is UNDP which has over half a century experience in development and governance in over 160 countries. in theory they have a transparency and audit office http://www.undp.org/about/transparencydocs/OAI_Investigation_Guidelines_ENG. i know of a series of corruption cases in the UNDP and it was brought to their attention yet they have done little to look into it. all these developmental organisations are dealing with sums of money that they never want to give up and any serious look into their conduct might compromise the flow of money.

We need to end "legal plunder," as Frederic Bastiat called for more than 150 years ago. He wrote: See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.

the institutions of the state and the structures of large international development organisations are plundering tool for a few Afghans to benefit at the expense of others in the society.

Afghan Radio Wars

2010-12-12T20:40:00.000Z

At dusk last Friday, four Taliban mortars crashed to the ground near the district center in Miri, a small town in eastern Ghazni province where a U.S. Army company is based. Shrapnel from one of the blasts injured two children in a residential area, a 12-year-old girl and one-year-old boy, who later died of his injuries. It was the second time in as many months that militants had killed local civilians, and U.S. forces were not going to let it be forgotten.

Within two hours of the attack, a message was drafted by the battalion's "information operations" team to be broadcast by its new on-base radio station. In the cramped confines of a steel shipping container-turned-studio, Karimullah, the Afghan announcer, broke the news that both children were taken to an area hospital by American soldiers "for the best possible care, but the little boy was too badly hurt. The insurgents," he lamented, "continue to harm their fellow Afghans and kill your children needlessly."

Words are now weapons in the fight for Afghan hearts and minds — but they must be deployed faster than ever to be effective. In recent years, the Taliban-led insurgency has evolved a vast propaganda machine with a full range of tools to spread their message. The once anti-media movement now operates websites featuring updated battlefield reports; it also mass-produces DVDs with raw video of attacks against coalition forces. Meanwhile, the Taliban's regional spokesmen communicate with domestic and foreign press in real time via cell phone.

But no medium is as powerful as radio in this poor, largely illiterate country with limited access to TV and the internet. On both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border, Taliban-sponsored FM stations drive home the insurgents' messaging campaign, with the threat of physical punishment or worse reserved for those who don't tune in. Mobile clandestine radio stations and portable transmitters enable militants to tap and commandeer local airwaves almost at will.

Recognizing the Taliban's head-start on this critical front, NATO military officials have ramped up the spin cycle in the Afghan backcountry. Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan, recently issued operational guidelines stressing that the "information war" must be fought aggressively to ensure insurgent propaganda is not just promptly challenged but also beaten to the punch. "Turn our enemies' extremist ideologies, oppressive practices and indiscriminate violence against them. Hang their barbaric actions like millstones around their necks," the guidelines say. "Be first with the truth."

U.S. forces in Ghazni have tapped into alternative funding streams to support the wider radio effort. Ever-popular hand-cranked radios are being distributed in larger numbers at the village-level to expand the audience.

The push has struck a chord. In some districts the Taliban has responded by collecting hundreds of radios and destroying them. Elsewhere, they've targeted radio towers. The Americans, in turn, have started jamming Taliban radio frequencies and going door-to-door with "reverse night information papers," their own version of the Taliban's notorious "night letters", turning an intimidation tactic on its head. The battalion commander, Lieut. Col. David Fivecoat, calls it a necessary measure to stay a step ahead of the militants, and the Afghan news cycle. "We are working hard to make sure the insurgents don't have the opportunity to blame us," he says. Indeed, as the fighting season winds down, the information war is still in overdrive.

Yet given the insurgency's long-standing chokehold over areas like Ghazni, old fears are proving difficult to shake. A day after the errant Taliban mortars claimed two innocent casualties, soldiers stationed in Miri went to assess the damage in a nearby neighborhood. According to Lieut. Philip Divinski, most people had already heard the Taliban was responsible from word-of-mouth or the radio. They could also assume as much, based on the previous militant mortar attack in October that killed two people and injured at least 10 more in the bazaar. Despite the deadly reprise, he was struck at how indifference exceeded anger among the victims' families and friends. "Sadly, it seems people have gotten used to this kind of thing," says the officer. "They understand who's at fault, but they're just too afraid to turn against them."

Telecom Fraud

2010-12-06T19:47:00.004Z

Telecommunication is the biggest industry in Afghanistan; creating billions of dollars for the economy and millions in taxation benefit the government. However the conduct of the industry and the relationship between ATRA, the regulatory body and GSM companies haven’t been scrutinized. One of the things I have noticed lately is the revenue from international calls. Telephone companies in different countries use a variety of international telecoms routes to send traffic to each other. These can be legal routes or other arrangements the industry calls grey routes, a euphemisms.

Grey routes are arrangements that fall outside the regular course of business between the licensed telecoms companies in each country. The grey part of the route is usually at the far end where the call is terminated. Up to that point, there are normal arrangements to deliver the call from the subscriber to the sending carrier and between the sending carrier and the satellite or cable operator for the trunk part of the call. The grey-ness arises because at the far end the call is made to appear as if it originates locally, as a domestic call, rather than a more expensive international call.

By terminated the calls through grey channels telecoms and other organizations make millions of dollars. I just did an assessment of how much money is made by GSM operators and other agencies and calculated how much is therefore lost in taxes. According to CIA, world factbook, there are 15 million cell operators in Afghanistan. Data on the volume of international calls terminated in Afghanistan is unavailable. Instead I used data available from similar least developed countries (LDC) taking into consideration the volume of diaspora and the heavy presence of international community. I then multiplied that figure with the 15 million users estimated by various sources, but deducting 13 percent which is the normal rate for dual simcard ownership in other LDCs. My calculation estimates that the government is losing 17.5 million every month in revenue due to fraudulent termination of international calls coming into Afghanistan.

The situation where international calls are being terminated on mobile phones as local cell phone numbers is a fraud.

ATRA, the communications regulator, should ensure a uniform tariff of $0.19 per minute on all in-bound international calls. This would safeguard government's revenue earnings of about $210 million a year from in-bound international calls.

International calls to Afghanistan usually terminate on the receiver's phone as either 'Private Number', 'Unknown' or '000000', but lately some international calls terminate with local cell phone numbers, as if they are local calls.

the technology for terminating international calls is real simple and I know a few of the “operators”. All needed is a small satellite dish on the roof and a little capacity on a transponder, a company can become a small-scale international carrier. A device GSM gateway is needed to hack into mobile networks and route international calls to local mobile or landline numbers within the same network the call was to terminate, then re-route the call from that local number to the number the international call was originally intended for.

the telcos and whoever is in the business make it look like the call originated and terminated within the same network so the payment of international interconnectivity fee is avoided and government loses in terms of taxes on such calls.

I suspect that some of the telecom operators have their own grey routes for terminating international calls or are conniving with external contractors. it would be repetitive to talk about the old song of corruption in Afghan government but the the telecom regulator, ATRA, i suspect is deep in it to the neck. i happen to know that member of ATRA board are regularly greased up by the cash rich GSM operators.

I also suspect some of the telcos are not here to operate a GSM network but terminate international calls. MTN for instance has 7 Afs (14cent) rate for internetwork connection. This is extremely high to any standard; moreover they do little advertising to expand and diversify their products. One can’t help not to wonder why they are here.

i am not saying this to point to obvious corruption in telco but the potential of the industry and how little any player knows about it. the government has little idea and the proof of that is lack of time and money invest ment in regulation; as a result most of the profit is swept away by a few players.

What do you think about wikileaks?

2010-12-01T21:36:00.001Z

Wikileaks is publishing new content from the leaked US classified cables each day on the Internet. The documents published through Wikileaks so far have no doubt answered people's need for information. As the rhythm of life and the dissemination of information accelerates with explosive speed, documents that were not meant for publication must now be published quicker than bureaucrats are accustomed to it being the case so as not to warp or distort people's view of the world. As long as truthful information on society is considered dangerous because it contradicts false information spread by governments, information leaks will always be more than welcome.

This method of publication restores some freedom to readers and creates a global public sphere. Democracy can only function on the basis of transparency - yet at the same time it requires the option of secrecy. We are now moving within this tense relationship. It is fascinating to see how these opposing needs are now being balanced as readers watch. Journalists and all online readers are naturally watching closely what the competition reveals. Wikileaks is showing once more that what we read in the press is what was thought and known at a particular point in time. To what extent this corresponds to reality must be subject to continual re-examination.

Here is a point for you to ponder:

The notion of the informed reader is dangerous populism, one could say. True. But without it there can be no democracy.

Pakistan in US diplomat secret cables

2010-11-30T20:46:00.003Z

Confidential cables to Washington from the American embassy in Islamabad, obtained by WikiLeaks and made available to a number of news organizations, illustrate deep clashes over strategic goals on issues like Pakistan's support for the Afghan Taliban and tolerance of Al Qaeda, and Washington's warmer relations with India, Pakistan's archenemy.

One cable, sent less than a month after President Obama assured reporters that Pakistan's nuclear materials "will remain out of militant hands," expressed concern that a stockpile of highly enriched uranium, stored for years near an aging research reactor in Pakistan , could be used by militants to build several "dirty bombs" or perhaps an actual nuclear bomb.

That cable is among the most unnerving evidence of the complex relationship -- sometimes cooperative, often confrontational, always wary -- between America and Pakistan nearly 10 years into the American-led war in Afghanistan.

Over all, though, the cables portray deep skepticism that Pakistan will ever cooperate fully in fighting the full panoply of extremist groups. This is partly because Pakistan sees some of the strongest militant groups as insurance for the inevitable day that the United States military withdraws from Afghanistan — and Pakistan wants to exert maximum influence inside Afghanistan and against Indian intervention.

In one cable, Ms. Patterson, a veteran diplomat who left Islamabad in October after a three-year stint as ambassador, said more money and military assistance would not be persuasive. “There is no chance that Pakistan will view enhanced assistance levels in any field as sufficient compensation for abandoning support for these groups, which it sees as an important part of its national security apparatus against India.”

In a rare tone of dissent with Washington, she said Pakistan would only dig in deeper if America continued to improve ties with India, which she said “feeds Pakistani establishment paranoia and pushes them closer to both Afghan and Kashmir focused terrorist groups.”

Celebrating the “enabling environment”

2010-11-05T10:21:00.000Z

Unreasonable TV: Episode 4 - Sierra Leone and the Heart of Community from Unreasonable Institute on Vimeo.

using sms to organise kite festival

2010-10-27T14:38:00.002+01:00

using sms to organise kite festival

2010-10-27T07:21:00.001+01:00

Revelation of the War

2010-07-27T13:21:00.001+01:00

After the publishing of more than 90,000 obviously compromising documents on the wikileak one would wonder what else can be done in Afghanistan. No matter what strategies the US, Brussels and Kabul come up with their credibility has been severely damaged. There was already much distrist between the three parties especially between Kabul and Brussel and Washington; this takes it to a new level. It will help undermine the trust between the coalition partners fighting in Afghanistan - as well as increasing public anxiety.

I have been monitoring some media today to see the response and I think they got it wrong again. Instead of dealing with what has been leaked they are only blaming the whistleblowers. Children or Generals? Here are my questions: How are they supposed to explain that a special task force has been hunting down the Taliban for years now without success? How can they justify publicly praising cooperation with the Pakistani authorities when it turns out that the Pakistani secret service is 'probably the Taliban's most important non-Afghan helper'? … Governments should start reading them. This also shows how risky this operation is no matter what NATO is trying to do about it. For Nato, which since the end of the Cold War has seen it's role as that of the global policeman, this raises the question of its legitimacy.

The parallels with Vietnam are becoming obvious: In 1971 a US court forced the publishing of secret documents on the situation in Vietnam, nowadays the Internet ensures transparency. Is the same fate waiting for the US? many has argued 'Yes' but I disagree. The war in Afghanistan is winnable; only if Washington, Brussels and Kabul stop making mistakes; only if Washington and Brussels could stifle corruption in Kabul administration. These documents show how widespread corruption in Afghanistan is and how far it goes behind the crippled Kabul administration.

SMS government: District Government registers client via cellphone

2010-07-25T14:50:00.002+01:00

We are trying to promote the idea that district level government in Afghanistan need to engage population more proactively in the face of general disillusionment.

We work with a few district governments in southern Afghanistan to facilitate constituencies who are visiting the district offices to use government services. We have recruited and trained a few constituency caseworkers in the provinces of Wardak, Paktika, Nangarhar and Kunar; we are placing them inside the district governor offices. The candidate was briefed that the role is not to initiate a broad array of actions resulting in a speedy, favourable outcome. When performing casework, the scribe cannot force an agency to expedite a case or act in favour of a client. Scribe role is to intervene to facilitate the appropriate administrative processes. The scribes have a form which they fill out with details of each client/constituent visiting district government office. The form has three copies and one goes to the client.

Local governments (both district and provincial) should try to stay engaged with the public. Keeping continuous and systematic communication with them is a tool to gauge their mood and needs. The challenge in Afghanistan is lack of security, geographically dispersed villages, corruption and public reluctance to engage with the government; under such circumstances it is impossible for local governments to remained informed about public need and raise awareness of government efforts.

Using cellphone local governments can easily gather citizen input via voice platforms and SMS, grouping constituent interests by keywords. Then, based on those keywords, informing them of government actions in their interests.

we are working to use frontline sms to automate the system. this idea came to me when working with telephone operators; there is alot of neglect on the part of staff in a place like Afghanistan. they are not serious about details and cannot be bothered to be accurate.

Project Description and Technical Workflow

The idea is to make the inprocess form available via cellphone, so scribe can use client – or his cellphone when they don’t have – to directly input their detail into the database. we can automate the process this way. Client will be promoted to give regular feedback. District governor and related staff will be reminded about client status and scribe will be tasked to follow up on issues when hitting a barrier. The digitization of bureaucracy on an easy to use medium not only streamlines process but also makes up for lack of physical interaction as a result of worsening security situation.

We can make the form for data entry available via phones without using java enabled features. That we it can be available on all phones. The telephone which receives the form can send a simple hand-written SMS and our dB sms software can receive it. the data is not interpreted, validated or written in a database by FrontlineSMS. For this purpose we can develop a MySQL or MS Access database system to host the SMS data and to provide validation on the data received and to send an automatic reply to follow up with the sender, relate the problem to other stakeholders. For instance a client sends in form with a petition for Tazkira (birth certificate), the sender will receive an sms back, giving him the contact information for the Tazkira manager and working hours of the dept. the dB will also send a message to Tazkira manager informing him about the petition and any unusual notes.

For the functioning of the system we need two dBs, one at the front end and another at the back. The front-end database is the system that performs the validation and the queries would require adaptation for porting to another system.

We have received some money and currently working on a short-codes to toll-free SMS lines, to lower the barrier to entry for ordinary citizens who may not be able to afford a multiple SMS ‘conversation’ based on a menu tree.

There are a few other features that we could add to the casket: I am interested to look into geo-tagging, to give additional geographic context and trends analysis of citizen feedback and information requests.

So far we are only building this text based but we would like to bring in the voice; by using text to speech technology we can trigger recorded audio call-backs for those instances where audio is more appropriate than text.

good luck dying

2010-06-18T07:19:00.001+01:00

I grew up at a time when most people had to confine themselves to closed spaces or there was serious risk of getting shot. This give people a good chance to make an income from by doing labour extensive handcrafts. People would spend ten hours a day working on a piece of embroidery or weaving carpet. The amount of money they were making was closer to nothing. Most women would severely lose eye sight in their mid thirties and the job general deteriorate worker health condition. this is the story of my uncle http://sanjar.blogspot.com/2006/05/i-am-terrorist.html. I had turned out to be against handcraft labour as a mean of income.

I was particularly pissed off by the international community and all other fancy people who would stand around and say how pretty certain carpet or embroidery was. If you google for Afghan handcraft, carpet, embroidery or etc you will see millions of dollars had been spent to revive or build such a niche where vulnerable people such as children and women labour so some fancy guy could show off. I always thought the way out is not through creating menial labour extensive camps but economic prosperity. My argument had a logic that is common sense - unless sweatshop workers are literally slaves, they are presumably working long hours in horrible conditions for low pay only because the alternative ways of making a living are worse or none existent.

When you take away iconic handcraft labour from a woman or child the obvious risk is that they lose whatever financial power they have, they will be out on the street begging or resorting to worst activities often with criminal inclination. This is surely not the aim. The only alternative is economic growth: while it may be frustratingly slow, it finishes off Afghan handcraft by producing far more attractive jobs. There is also a psychological element to the persistence of “afghan handcraft”. Many labours, traders and international buyers and sponsors see this work as the only way some afghan can make a living. In the head of the labourer it has resonated that he or she is not good for anything else but this repetitive task. This kills imagination and a will to life. The traders and international sponsors reinforces the belief by supporting the interprise.

While the economic logic is straightforward enough, it is not watertight. But I am starting to believe that economic development is not alleviating this particular problem. Economic growth itself can increase the demand for child labour as well as reducing the supply. While luxury customers are willing to pay a dime more for well established carpet brand, increasing the chances of handcraft labouror income. So I was intrigued to discover two new pieces of research addressing these questions. One is an article in March’s American Economic Review, written by Ann Harrison of the University of California, Berkeley, and Jason Scorse of the Monterey Institute. Harrison and Scorse study data from Indonesia. Harrison and Scorse look at the footwear, textile and clothing sectors with brand names for handmade products. After US boycott of such products profits did fall, and so does investment. Some small plants closed. But few, if any, jobs seem to have been lost. The minimum wage in Indonesia more than doubled between 1989 and 1996, after inflation, and this did depress employment. But there seemed to be no additional effect in the districts with lots of high street handcraft suppliers, despite the fact that wages in those regions outpaced wage increases elsewhere by almost a third.

The second paper was presented in draft form at the Royal Economic Society meeting in Guildford in 2010. This research, by Nigar Hashimzade and Uma Kambhampati of the University of Reading, shows that economic growth – at least in the short-term – is not enough to reduce child labour. Complementary policies to strengthen schools and the incentive to attend them seem to be necessary.

Neither piece of research is the last word, and neither discounts the long-term effectiveness of economic growth in improving working conditions. But I am thinking about women and children who work 15 hours to waving carpet and inhale the dust from the wool. There is no quick solution for them and it seems like they have to keep doing it for another few decades.

Information via mobile phone

2010-06-09T14:01:00.001+01:00

Tamas is a project intended to provide crops and market prices to farmers. I was earlier talking with a few of people about it. It is a brilliant idea but they are not doing it right; I am not impressed by the people who had designed the project there is not much enthusiasm on their side – not a good attitude to start with. I was surprised by a predominant attitude that expects it to fail…

Tamas have a few sever shortcomes – apart from crappy attitude. They don't have a good user/client base. The number of people who use tamas falls in 0.000X figure of the people who need the information. The number of people with technical capacity to extract such information is between 15-20 % of those in need; given cellphone ownership. this line of thinking is valid for planning the user base but the project should be based on specifics; the inflow of user numbers within the first quarter and subsequent timeframes. I don't know what they originally planned but they can't readjust that to the reality and revise the figures. Reality for Tamas managers is more like we are not sure. The key to success of this enterprise is creating a user base and the inflow of users. I am a big fun of anthropological theory of innovation diffusion in this regard. It explains who and how the user base will expand. Many e-commerce enterprises used the concept, for instance paypal was giving free credit to attract experimenters when it first started.

Second problem with Tamas is the marketing approach they have. Mass advertising is not efficient for promoting technological innovation in communication chain. We need to provide knowledge to bridge the understanding gap. Projects such as cellphone innovations need education for end users. The efficient way to do this is through direct marketing,1. it gives a virtual product a living face 2. Interactive information for user and step by step guide. 3. Targeted . Moreover technological innovation need to focus marketing effort on previous customers; to keep them engaged – so they are not there for a one time shop. This is all I have learned with a similar project I am working on. The radio advertising and print campaign didn't work out for us. Our marketers on the ground are drawing clients by dozens; with this inflow we are creating the customer base we need in a quarter.

The third problem with Tamas is the availability of price index. I texted for banana and apple price in Kabul and they didn't have it while now is the season for both. This is like having a radio station but it is not on air.

The failure of tamas doesn't mean text or voice based cell application doesn't work. For the starter it means that USAID and its partner did a lousy job in doing it. they need to have people who believe in texting and have entrepreneurial spirit , not the type experimenting on Afghanistan. "Tamas doesn't work" or "mPaisa doesn't work" are the common type of arguments I hear on daily basis when people want to oppose mobile phone applications. All of the above arguments also apply to mPaisa but I have to say they are getting better at it and will have a larger user base especially if the could successful enroll the entire police force for salary transfers.

Explosion on darullaman road at 8:10

2010-05-18T04:50:00.002+01:00

I just heard a big explosion near our house; it is around 8:10am. The explosion happened on darullaman road toward the ministry of rural development. The smoke is mushrooming in the sky and i can hear sirens. Trucks are rushing toward the scene. This part of town was quiet recently and not many explosion had happened in the last few years.

Rationality and Taliban and how can we rationally handle them

2010-04-29T23:39:00.001+01:00

Here is a daunting question; are Taliban rational? i say terrorism is the only rational thing Taliban are capable to do. Taliban as individuals are not rational. they lack control over basic human instincts such as anger, joy, jealousy… etc. that is why they decided to be Taliban as a result of foreign occupation, corruption or anything that is happening in Afghanistan which made them angry. Taliban movement is the only framework that helps the lunatics behave rationally and have a sense of fulfillment.

Mullah Rockety, Waheed Mozhda and Abdul Salam for instance were all Taliban but they are not any more. They are in the government or have something going that is engaging and provides that rationality which they once enjoyed from being a Talib. No longer these men have nothing to lose.

There has been many theories to reconstruct a rational theory of terrorism an one of the best is Eli Berman's. Reverse the story of mullah rockety or abdul salam and you get a sense of Berman's argument: effective terrorist groups are effective only because their members are cut off from the outside world and have little to gain from quitting the group. This could be caused by many things such as poor education and etc but the core reason for the majority of a nation is bad governance and in Afghanistan failed state for decades.

Of course, the world is not short of terrorists, but there are many grievances, many disaffected young men and hundreds of thousands of murders or deaths on the battlefield. Given what an impact terrorist violence can have, and how low-tech it can be, Berman is probably right to suggest that the rarity of effective terrorists, however welcome, is a puzzle.

Lets pursue rational terrorism and the answer is in former Taliban. A single defector can jeopardise a terrorist network, and defections do happen. Sudanese militant Jamal al-Fadl quit al-Qaeda in the mid 1990s and jumped ship to the US, reportedly for huge sums of money. Abu Musab alZarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, died when his safe house was bombed in June 2006 – it has been reported that an associate betrayed him for the $25m bounty on his head.

The higher the stakes, the more tempting it will be for a half-hearted terrorist to defect. Berman argues that radical religious groups are well-equipped to ensure that there is no such thing as a half-hearted terrorist. It is not the theology of such groups – martyrdom, for instance – that makes the difference, but their ability to cut off outside options and create very strong ties between group members. there was not a single thing that we didn't fear not to do without fearing Taliban reprisal, from flying kite to the colour of cloths and even genital hair. Everything was Taliban business. The aim is to reinforce a group identity and make everyone part of the circle.

At the core of Taliban is a set of rules that makes it unattractive for adherents to leave, and attractive for them to stay. If they stay, they enjoy the membership of a group that provides substantial social services to members. If they leave – having been cut off from education, work and isolated from real life – their options will be limited, even if they do run off with a truck full of smuggled goods or a pay-off from the Americans.

Berman's theory is puzzling in some ways. He devotes very little attention to the fact that the violent religious groups he studies – the Taliban, Hamas, Hizbollah and the Mahdi Army – are all Islamic. But the focus on the way some radical religious groups are able to control defection does seem very fruitful. It points to clear solutions, too: give potential terrorists attractive outside options, offer effective social services and try to cut off their sources of funding. Not at all easy, and not altogether new. but, what is?

SMS in Afghan media

2010-04-18T06:36:00.001+01:00

SMS text messages are a natural part of local radio stations; SMS messages are inexpensive and easy-to-use and in recent years the mobile phones that are needed for sending and receiving them have become ubiquitous. In most stations SMS use is informal. Only tolo tv and a few other high profile stations make complex use of SMS. These are good examples of experiences of complex uses of SMS by afghan media but this cannot be duplicated in local media without external funding and technical support, even though the financial and technical resources required are minimal.

A local radio station, catering to a district of 50000 people receives on average 150 letters a day. these letters are general in origin and most of them are not being used by the radio station. The point here is, a culture of participation in local radio station already exist. Now the next step is to use technology in order to transfer letters into SMS. Once this takes place there are many other creative ways to build programmes with participatory themes. Technologies such as frontline SMS can be used to segregate incoming text and create programmes with real time polling and etc. As mobile phones become increasingly common, SMS messages are being used by community media in a variety of ways. At its simplest, announcers and journalists announce their phone numbers over the air and invite listeners to send messages with comments on the news, questions, greetings, song requests… Some of these are then used on-air.

Desktop software and web-based services allow stations to do more. However, local radio stations in Afghanistan don't know much about them, even though they offer a low-cost and relatively simple way of stimulating participation and interaction. There are various software and service packages available. Among them is FrontlineSMS, a programme that runs on a computer connected by a cable to an ordinary mobile phone. Unlike most other programs and services, FrontlineSMS does not require a connection to the internet – messages are composed, stored and processed on the computer and sent and received on the mobile. There are a variety of tools available with different capabilities and pricing. Basic services useful for community media include:

Broadcast messages to dozens or even thousands of mobiles advising them of a special programme or an important community activity
Keyword response – when a listener sends the letter "A" the station replies with a text message listing activities while "B" is answered with current headlines and "C" is answered with the weather forcast.
Encourage the public to take part in content production for instance send news, views and reports.

We have just entered into an agreement with three of the largest telcos where they provide us a premium number with toll free feature; this means that stations can generate feedback via mobiles without the listeners having to pay even the cost of SMS message. The cost of the SMS can be a barrier to some; by removing it we can have a larger poll of participation in the radio station.

I am trying to incorporate SMS polling into local radio programming. This feature is particularly useful for getting the public talk about large political issues. The upcoming parliamentary elections represent us with a good opportunity to use SMS feature in local media. We are planning to use SMS to poll listeners on a number of questions. We can do a program around question; the same question will be put to a panel of guests in the studio and to audience to respond via SMS. The questions are designed to provoke debate about democracy rather than to measure public opinion. Examples included: "Have politicians done enough to fight corruption and mismanagement of public resources?", "Do you think special seats should be created for women in parliament?", "Does party politics foster national unity?" and "Do you feel your vote has the power to make a difference?". I think they did the same thing in Kenya; and they had a website where they posted the results. We can do a similar website too; http://mfoa.africanews.com/site/page/sms_campaign

FSMS can also be used to create a network of citizen journalists for a website or radio station. This is particularly useful to do in a place like Kabul where you have a sway of folks interested for instance journalists students; they can get some training which is useful and some hands on journalistic experiences. They can send their news and views via SMS messages. A selection of the messages will be published /aired while others will be redistributed via SMS to community members. It is quite difficult to fit the news into the 160 characters that an SMS message can have, but there are ways to overcome the problem.

Similarly a radio station can use SMS to encourage audiences and the general public to send breaking news. it can also be used for specific campaigns for instance people report police corruption.

Karzai: a psycho or an April fool joker

2010-04-02T07:21:00.002+01:00

I thought karzai is pulling a Prank yesterday, it was funnier than his usual notes - after all it can be an April fool joke. Then I realized that he was dead serious. This government is a joke if he was not kidding yesterday. I had a bad day yesterday, I had to look for a place for half an hour to park my car and then the guards outside some house called after I parked and left; saying we will crush your windows and tear down your doors. Literally all streets are impounded by someone and blocked. This whole city feels like a psycho house and Karzai just complete the organogram as the head of nutters.

Karzai accused all foreigner of blackmail, fraud, bribery, threat and vast misconduct during presidentially election he singled out Peter Galbraith and the EU mission head Gen Phillippe Morillon of being involved in a plot to put a puppet government in power. He mentioned foreign embassy, MPs and congressmen trying to bribe Mr. Najafi and Lodin to swing votes.

Karzai talked about an organised plot by foreigners to rule Afghanistan. in this conspiracy he added, their military, industry, finance and media play central roles. he added "foreigners tried to bribe IEC staff with money, used threats and their New York times printed hostile article at their order, so they can change the fate of Afghans".

He said 'a foreign embassy called Mr. Najafi with directions… they also said if he fail to follow he will make his way toward his grave.' Then Najafi presented his resignation which karzai refused. The question is: Why are you the president of a country whose highest electoral officials are being threaten, harassed and forced by some embassy. Why did you keep it quiet for four and a half months? As a leader I think you have to do something about it and what are you going to do about it. Leadership comes with the responsibility to be constructive and refrain from cultural urge for whinging. Karzai needs to evaluate presidential election and ensure integrity of parliamentary elections. This is not even close to how this clown thinks. He made absurd claims to sensationalize public opinions and this is a power game. Mr Karzai is currently locked in a power struggle with parliament over his attempt to appoint all the monitors in Afghanistan's election process. Karzai's comments come a day after the Afghan parliament rejected his attempt to have an all-Afghan body monitoring elections.

Karzai's suggestion that foreigners would organise electoral fraud was "absurd"; especially after what he did; mass fraud which is well proven by many sources. It is even more absurd to see karzai stamp on next election being funded by the same foreigners. It was a few weeks ago he asked the UN to provide technical assistance in general area of organization. His regime is incapable of funding, planning and undertaking the election. Why is the international community playing along with this baby? He once again shows how reliable he could be as a ally.

Offsetting Bribery

2009-12-22T20:25:00.001Z

It has been three weeks since I decided to pay electricity, yet unsuccessful. it took me a week to find out how exactly to pay electricity bill; this is my first time, my bad is telling me that the payment mechanism has improved tremendously. Bribery has changed the culture of state sector but also people in general; people have become less helpful even in comparison with five years ago. On an upside note it is interesting to see how such changes can be deeply rooted over a short period of time. I had to go to the right meter box and then the right power junction and after that to the right electrician for my street, etc. Finding all this in a new neighborhood is hard and traditionally you rely on peoples' good manner and attitude to help you out. But these days people just wouldn't bother much to help out a stranger. They want to see what is their personal benefit in it. Life has become as dull as everyone is so concerned about how they could monetarily benefit from something. Monetary income has also become a determinant of statue. There is the public obsession at different tiers to worry about financial status of others; starting from a brother at family tier to politician at the government tier. People have lost interest in doing things because it is fun, nice or interesting.

Corruption breaks down social fabrics and functioning of the society. I was getting help because there was no recognized reason for them to take money from me; just giving information is not good enough to get bribed. But also I didn't know any of the guy at the power station. Another negative effect of corruption on state sector has been strengthen tribalism. You have to know somebody even to be allowed in the office. It is already a compounded problem – *corrupted tribalism* and it is only getting worst. People bundle up in blood relationships, interest groups, mates, gangs, mafia and etc to suck money out of the society. The believe is, you can only make money if you do it the wrong way and this belief is reinforced by living proofs. People who make money don't usually have good reputation and doing things the right way seem to be reserved predominantly for suckers. The belief is that there is a lot of money around at the hand of people who don't know what to do with it. Which is absolutely true. Now everybody is getting creative to get some of this money. The idea of doing something useful with the money is as strange as questioning God. An old mate who has a big business was telling me people of minister and MP level visits him for a bonus from a large project when he gets one. Bribery is now history and the fashion of the day is extortion. People in power are more creative in corruption than the rest, as usual.

I am now thinking what could be possibly done countermeasure the negative social consequences of bribery. I believe there is nothing wrong with the mania to get rich. However, the glorification of status material such as car, house and money to the extent that nothing is now considered bogus to gain them, is the problem. Changing the way people think about bribery is important in changing perception of corruption. I thought the concept of carbon offsetting can also be altered to bribe offsetting, carbon offsetting is well rehearsed in the west and at its root is also changing populous perception about a social demon.

Bribe offsetting is when individuals take bribe because they are in a position to facilitate, block, delay or hinder a public; they add to national corruption and social evils. bribeoffset offsets bribe takers (and bribe givers) by funding someone else to be clean and NOT take bribe. This neutralises the harm and unfairness that could happen when lower level staff try to extort from the most unfortunate, and leaves the bribe taker (and bribe giver) with a clear conscience.

Can officials offset all their bribery?

First officials should look at ways of reducing their bribery. Once they've done this they can use bribeoffset to offset the remaining, unavoidable bribery.

A bribe offset is a financial instrument aimed at a reduction in administrative corruption and subsequently all the social evil it causes. There are two markets for bribe offsets. In the larger, compliance market, companies, governments, international organisations or other entities buy bribe offsets in order to comply with caps on the total amount of bribe they can allow to happen due to organizational failure to detect. There is also much smaller, voluntary market, individuals purchase bribe offsets to mitigate their own contribution from bribe taking or bribe giving. For example, an individual might purchase bribe offsets to compensate for the bribery action caused by be in a position to take bribe or induced to give bribe. We will also offer companies, government, international organization and other entities with the option to offset bribery as an up-sell during the work process so that employees, clients and other stakeholders can mitigate the bribery related with their work or service (such as offsetting bribery related to a car taxation, electricity bill, police checkpoint, employment etc.) for example an international organization contracted by USAID to build 40 hospitals up-sell 40 bribe offsetting certificate related to 40 hospitals. The organization then reduces a small sum from all staff salary to finance upsell bribe certificate. Alternatively the organization can charge a premium to Afghan subcontractors who receive the contract to do the field work.

Offset is achieved through financial support of projects that reduce bribe taking. Officials and staff who are in a position to take bribe but think they can resist will be sponsor by a bribe offset.

The idea is based on carbon offsetting that is a well rehearsed approached and that has gained some appeal and momentum among the public who have become aware and concerned about the potentially negative environmental effects of energy-intensive lifestyles and economies. The Kyoto Protocol has sanctioned offsets as a way for governments and private companies to earn carbon credits which can be traded on a marketplace. The protocol established the clean development mechanism (CDM), which validates and measures projects to ensure they produce authentic benefits and are genuinely "additional" activities that would not otherwise have been undertaken. Organizations that are unable to meet their emissions quota can offset their emissions by buying CDM-approved Certified Emissions Reductions. However, some critics object to carbon offsets, and question the benefits of certain types of offsets. Offsets are viewed as an important policy tool to maintain stable economies. One of the hidden dangers of climate change policy is unequal prices of carbon in the economy, which can cause economic collateral damage if production flows to regions or industries that have a lower price of carbon - unless carbon can be purchased from that area, which offsets effectively permit, equalizing the price.

Bribe offsetting may be more feasible and convenient alternatives to reducing one's own bribery affect.

The key problem for the approach is openness. Bribe giver offsetting certificate is more important than the takers. How can we get them to sign up. Any thoughts?

Here are some:

The rational is openness should start with high ranking officials to set open precedence.

Getting as much as possible evidence on dealings, asset and property prior to sign up high ranking official can be useful.

There has got to be some way to deal with the officials who hide corruption for instance they can remain anonymous.

In addition to bribe takers bribe giver can also offset.

We find match for bribe offset projects. The certificate holder can choose person in which sector should receive the money, police, judge. etc.

more random thoughts on cellphone project

2009-12-21T08:41:00.001Z

Last couple of months I have been working on using cellphone in media and business communication. Most of the people I put the idea to is going, "but is this going to work in Afghanistan?" which basically means I don't like what you are saying but I find no way to hand you a bunch of better refutations. I have met with senior staff in charge of private sector support initiatives and they are so clueless about their job that they can't offer anything substantiating and constructive.

However, market uncertainty is a valid concern; so far in building Afghanistan and its private sector the players had dodged it. Aid agencies and NGOs just like to give goats or dig wells or drainage for Afghans. You think more than cattle as an afghan and your sanity is questioned. They look at you as though you suffer concussion; I spent half an hour the other day to practice turning my saliva into foam. Not doing good yet but I don't think I need it if I could get people to take the project seriously. I think one way I could do that is to do a market assessment. Nonetheless, I have a big concern, I am all for doing market assessment for a new brand of tea but when you are combining two sectors, i.e. market connection and cellphone then using classic market assessment methodology will not prove a thing and wrongly disprove ideas such as iBazar (I mentioned it in my previous post). Moreover, the perceived level of complexity required by iBazar sellers and buyers might also foster unfavorable response. iBazar do present new market channels but the response to such a new phenomena in business especially when it is brought by technology is negative. Six years ago when I was telling people to do radio they were mocking me. Not even a handful of Afghans believed it will work. They could never believe that radio could be done without gigantic infrastructure or content could be produced without president decree or advertisement could bring revenue or … etc.

In the process of pitching cellphone related project ideas some aspects of Afghanhood seem sharper than ever before; and how it is niggling into the newly created business cramp. We are brought up to be conformative to the social and individual regime imposed on us but at the same time we are dreadfully egoistic. The roots for the problem can be traced to our early childhood. Most fathers ignore, disrespect and beat their children from the age of only a few months old and then their mothers console them. Children grow to be suppressed on the one hand but overcomforted on the other by their own mothers. Mothers tightly grip to children because they have no man to show affection, husbands pay no heed to their feelings.

Most Afghans do not have an in-depth understanding of their surrounding but comprehend from a single dimension. They are not fun because they cannot get to change perspective and look from different perspectives because they fanatically cling to certain values of their existing paradigm. The egoist and conformative individual understand and perceive the world from his perspective. The past is about what he did and how he did it. The present is what he thinks. He gives monologues; shows little willingness to hear and evaluate new ideas; communication is confrontational. Things are changing in the last few years people get to learn the social skills to communicate with others easier and they develop curiosity or copy cut curiosity to make their character more attractive. They shine better and function more successfully but at the end their understanding of the issues change little to the initial doctrines inserted by the society. Below the surface of communication and social interaction they remain the same people. In the business world they are easier to deal with but you cannot put a lot of trust in them because they are no better than the ME, ME, ME guy. They are slicker and can pretend better which are phony qualities added to the initial ignorance. But there is something very important to know about socially easy conformists who don't act and function like the rest of their compatriots. There are actually people who have understanding of the realities or are sincere and truthful in their views and self recognition.

Trading and market information with cellphone

2009-11-29T05:40:00.002Z

Market linkages are critical for creating a trading area for small entrepreneurs, shopkeepers, sellers and businesses in Afghanistan. In order to create market linkages sellers need to identify their potential customers. Identifying their customers and reaching them is the daunting challenge for micro entrepreneurs in Afghanistan. Reaching the customer requires marketing and infrastructure. Many micro entrepreneurs even cannot afford to set up a place to sell. Many roadside sellers would be better off if they could set up a delivery system but if they are off the street they lose the limited number of customers. Hundreds of foreign agencies hand out things like a sewing machines and a couple of weeks of training. That woman with the sewing machine will never be able to find customers. My latest preoccupation has been to create a structure for economic activities in the face insecurity, limited mobility and crushing poverty.

I am designing cellphone business, simple enough to be used by low literate Afghans. In this project, we will focus on using cell phones, especially via SMS/MMS, but also voice, to create a market place where sellers can send product information and buyers can search for the lowest price with a reasonable quality. After finding the proper product information with the seller's contact information, buyers and sellers can finish the transaction. iBazar will have a web interface too; having an online credit card to iBazar gateway. The project will pilot in Kabul for three months and expand to six regional cities within a year. the scheme below shows how it works.

I am seeking investors and funders for this project and quite rightly many asks if this thing is actually going to work. The key effect on the will to invest is conditioned by factors namely; market demand conditions and market maturity. It will make it easier to invest in my proposal if demand and market uncertainties are low. There is a benefit for investing in- what I call- iBazar at this stage when market demand condition is almost impossible to determine or will cost as much as setting up the project. Investing in a market of uncertainty and demand indication will enable iBazar to enjoy economies of scale and scope in long run to maintain the profitability. iBazar as an early entrant will be well established in the market.

Demand uncertainty is predominantly exogenous because it is widely assumed that consumers' lack precedence for such a service therefore low confidence in attempting to use it, this is a valid point and has been tackled well in our marketing plan under outcome number three.

When we are talking about whether Afghan market is ready for iBazar we are inevitably asking the question of what is the level of certainty in the mobile market. mobile phones have been around for six years now, some 9 million Afghans are using them. To turn iBazar into a success we target a substantial number who are well informed and aware about features of cellphones and relative benefits; plus our marketing is designed to engage cellphone users which we find the best way to inform.

Demand uncertainty is not going to result in failure for iBazar because that is only certain in monopolistic cellphone market competition; Afghanistan has at least five large telecommunication operators with a very healthy and vibrant competition.

Another factor which reduces iBazar demand uncertainty is price. There is no initial cost for iBazar customer to start participation. They will not buy new devices or medium to connect but use handsets which are multi-functional device and already owned. The cost of use is low too. At the initial stage the eMobilizer (both voice and text) will be toll free to facilitate network diffusion.

Mobile phones are often used not only for work –essential communication tool - but also for entertainment and pleasure… missed call is a good example. It is probably one of the single acts which could have various different meanings. It means how are you? It means let's take a walk or... missed call which is the most basic feature of cellphone have been turned into something very useful and recreational.

perceived playfulness plays a significant role in the developing the intention to use as well as the attitude toward iBazar. iBazar is a simple platform which could be used to mean many different things. Additionally, system quality is inherently relevant to the model, many people will become reluctant to use iBazar if they experience frequent delay in response, frequent disconnection, lack of access, errors and poor security. The recognition of this point means system quality will be given enough attention.

A core question when assessing user attitude formation is why would an Afghan use iBazar? not from commerce or communication viewpoint but merely attitude.

Utilization of mobile products and services holds a far greater meaning than simply the purchasing of mobile handsets, sending message to Afghan Star, calling friends, buying ringing tones, flashy light and etc. Indeed, the consumption of mobile services is to a greater degree seen as a means of self expression, individual identity-formation, creativity, or even art. Using mobile technology, consumers express their identity by personalising the appliance itself through design, size, ringtones, logos and screensavers; as well as the actual use of the various available mobile voice and text products and services.

SMS messaging is by far the most popular mobile data service both domestically and worldwide. In 2008 more than 140 billion SMS messages were sent world-wide, demonstrating the service as an ideal subject in the examination of mobile data consumption meanings. As with asynchronous text-based such as traditional email services, SMS messaging is valued because it allows users time to select, craft and edit the personality they present. Studies have shown that consumers develop new and deeper relationships through the use of SMS messaging.

Overall, the identity-building aspect of mobile use is the most revealing aspect of the technology's effect on consumer behavior. Studies reveal that many view their mobile devices as essential elements of the intimate, personal space, having integrated them as part of their own identity. Through the use of SMS messaging, consumers can construct their own virtual identity, free from the physical restraints of everyday life. Afghans, in general, are industrious people. Working hard to make a better living for their family which is a source of pride and pride is a central value of Afghanness. Afghans are diligent when no monerary reward is expected to help out friends or a common fellow. Diligence is encouraged and laziness is frowned on strictly. Hard work is a quality of good person. Creating an arena for business combines a key element of daily life with working class and entrepreneurial self expression.

Another important issue is when the venture is going to be actually start making money. Enterprises that are resolving strategic market chain bottlenecks are very lucrative. There are great profits to reap at various segments of supplying market chain connection. Certain aspect of market chain connections, such as market information and communication, are hard to monotise. This is perhaps the second biggest contributor, after lack of physical infrastructure, for fragmented markets and loss of millions in Afghanistan.

Should iBazar be charging buyers or/and sellers? The premise is simple: iBazar charge for the right to post product on the eMobiliser and for make asynchronous searches with an off-line cellphone possible. Product posting creates disproportionate amount of value for buyer and sellers in comparison to iBazar. For instance, let's evaluate agribusiness sellers. Farmers are only growing a small quantity of seasonal crops, such as onion or watermelon; enough for the family consumption and to sell at local Bazaar or a whole buyer but it is never large enough to cause major losses if it is not sold. Agriculture in Afghanistan is flactuating; at certain season there is plenty of onion but for almost 10 months the price goes up to 400% higher. At the season the farmer can not sell to enough people who can conserve or consume at large quanitity either at household level or business; due to lack of market connection. The onion farmer can benefit tremendously from iBazar. the basic law of capitalism compel to ask how will iBazar benefit.

It is pivotal quesiton: should iBazar open-platform orchestrators get compensated for adding value to user entreupreners? And would monetary incentive systems spur more value creation or possibly taint the dynamics that have made participatory communities, say ebay, google, paypal and hundreds of others, successful.

This seems like a simple question but to answer I look at successful participatory platforms; specifically at those which like our proposed idea match buyers to the sellers and vice versa such as gumtree, craiglist and many smaller ones. These companies have long been in the business to establish successful ecosystems.

I also want to say there are systems of value other than, or in addition to, money, that are very important to people but espicially Afghans: connecting with other people and markets (espicially for women and other marginalised groups), creating a business identity, not least, garnering other people's attention. iBazar –indeed Afghanistan- would be a much poorer place without the collective generosity of its contributors. The culture of generosity is the very backbone of the iBazar.

i expect to profit from iBazar, and profit handsomely if we can. We emphasize the need to build the largest network possible first, and it has been proven that the profits will soon follow. It sounds a little like dot-com logic, but the difference is that iBazar provide an envrionment for experimentation, and then seize on the things that users find valuable. The key to this is openness. Put profits first, and we will cripple the network we are building.

iBazar as a market chain connection and cellphone enterprise will be built openly and as big and as fast as possible; this will ultimatly put us in the best position to figure out where the real economic value is. Google built the world's most popular and useful search engine, and eventually became an ad company. Skype built a free phone service, and eventually sold it to eBay. Craiglist built a free classified –ads community, and is turning a healthy profit – while killing tradational publishers – with its comparatively low-cost job ads. The main reason for thoroughly piloting the project is to assess cash-flow and revenue generation forecasts, tested wherever possible upon the market and take into account each of the revenue streams.

Three key points stand out from my business model. First, all applications of a new technology go through an evolutionary process in which a period of early experimentation gives way to shakeouts, and then the truly viable business models emerge. Second, radical decentralization and openness create tricky environments in which to build genuinely viable business models – success lies in "closing up" the right parameters and monetary rewarding without destroying the characteristics of the system that make it innovative. Third, iBazar will only remain viable for as long as all the stakeholders are adequately and appropriately compensated for their contributions – we are not offering free ride forever.

Fired for suggesting lunch improvments

2009-07-01T08:00:00.004+01:00

I used to work as a media and communication consultant for IRD, SPR project, a major USAID contractor building 400 million dollars worth of roads in southern and eastern Afghanistan. My contract was terminated on the 23rd June by the Chief of Party, Frederick Chace, for allegedly ‘accusing IRD of separation of classes’. here you can see the termination letter http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=F.e11fd414-7ef6-4b8c-807d-12e47233de91. The termination letter is a false accusation and I was wrongly terminated. I did not protest against the treatment of Afghans or the privileges of expatriate staff. The day before my termination (June22) I complained about the poor quality of office lunch but what I then thought important was some suggestions about improving lunch environment and space. My suggestion was in response to an email which offered special food only for expatriates. This is the email.
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From: Leonard Fexton Chitekwe

Sent: 22 June 2009 07:45

To: International; National Staff

Subject: July 4th

All,
July 4th is America’s Independence Day holiday. This is a public holiday for ALL staff. SPR offices in Kabul and Kandahar will be closed for business on this day.
A special meal for expats is being arranged and if you have ideas contact Johan Venter. Details will follow later.
Leonard

Leonard Chitekwe-Mwale
Senior Director of Finance and Administration
SPR_SEA Program
International Relief and Development, Inc (IRD)
Kabul, Afghanistan
Ph: +93 (0) 796 110 003
E-mail: lchitekwe@ird-spr.org
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I found this email quite disturbing. We are celebrating American national holiday in Afghanistan, but Afghans are not welcomed to fully celebrate the occasion. Special meal is only offered for expatriates. This resembles very much the colonial ages; rules and regulations are placed to compel locals to observe the dominant nation’s culture but they are not fully welcomed.
I am a fan of American culture and I think many IRD Afghan employees would enjoy American cultural occasions. Both Afghan and expatriates celebrating Afghan and American cultural occasions together could bridge the current distrust. Afghans generally are hospitable and welcoming to share happy occasion; although, I can not ask Leonard or IRD in general to invite me and Afghans to 4th of July special meal; but I think the email was ungenerous at best and rude, especially when it was addressed to both Afghans and expatriates.

I thought an invitation to a single occasion, particularly when it could be more special to expatriates than Afghans, could not make a difference in perceptions. I wanted to make a suggestion with longer term effect on attitudes. I suggested that Afghans and expatriates eating lunch together would be effective in improving relationships.
in response to leonard I sent this:
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From: Sanjar Qiam

Sent: 22 June 2009 09:07

To: Leonard Fexton Chitekwe; Johan Venter

Subject: lunch
Dear both,
It is great that you are celebrating 4th of July; it is a great cultural exchange for Afghans and third country nationals.
I had a suggestion on a separate issue – lunch. I have been in IRD but I have rarely been to lunch; the quality of food, service and environment is poor and in some ways degrading. The food is served in basement packed with hundreds of IRD staff, white plastic chairs and tables and flies. The food is poorly cooked; most often super greasy. It is only one course and one item.
Segregation of Afghans is unpleasant. Working for Afghans and segregation – a system based on phobia - doesn’t go hand in hand; this raises questions about motives of IRD management.
My suggestion is to mix Afghans and foreigners lunch. Obviously, that would mean foreigners would lose some privileges but that is for a good cause – improvement of afghans lunch. It won’t be possible to have lunch in one location so staff has to be divided between several buildings and food should be cooked in each building with different menu so people can have a choice.
Looking forward to changes,
Best,
Sanjar
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Frederick Chace IRD-SPR chief of party asked me to see him in his office at once. Nadir Abdullah, HR manager, and an IT officer were present too. Frederick Chace was very aggressive and rude; every other sentence contained the ‘F***’ word.
- ‘There is no difference between Afghans and expatriates in IRD. It is only in the narrow minds of people like you who make bigotry statements.’ Said Frederick.
- ‘what do you mean there is no difference? When I came to the gate of your building they wanted me to show my ID and they searched me thoroughly; when an expatiate is coming s/he is being escorted by a bodyguard and the door opens prior to his or her arrival. There is even special expatriate desk and there is afghan desk and it goes to many other little things. The system is through to segregate. This whole system of privileges places expatriate psychologically above equally qualified Afghan counterpart’ I said.
- ‘I was shot in my head by Taliban … but I came back… Expatriates leave everything they have and come to work in Afghanistan. They have a better life at home and they come to a very poor situation, this is not a privilege’ said chace. Frederick’s wife is the reporting manager while my departments’ manager appointed his wife as my direct supervisor. So they are not exactly leaving everything at home. Expatriates like Frederick are running IRD like their home.
- ‘Expatriates are paid several times more than equally qualified Afghans. In the last four months since I work in IRD I had no time off; my expatriate colleagues were paid at least two to three times for their holidays’ I said. here is IRD benefit package for expatriates http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=F.ab2b4c9a-5d29-4928-93ef-04886da60d2b . There are some 26 benefit packages; expatriates only receive 70% of their base salary in post differential and danger pay. The only thing I received as an Afghan was a salary and no paid leave let alone paying for holidays.
- ‘Expatriates have high expenses and they used to be paid better at home. Afghans are making 1000 – 1500 dollars a month. Nobody used to make this kind of money in this country… They don’t need that kind of money…’ said chace.
- ‘This is sick – Afghans don’t need money – this is the same thing told about the slaves – why do they need wages when they can have food and shelter. Everybody needs money but a sound social system allocates this scarce resource not based on our nationality and creed but by our excellence and hard work. Everybody should be paid based on their contribution and merits, not their nationality.’ I said.
- ‘expatriates are putting their lives at risk … and they are going to what is now home for some quite time and food… something narrow mind people don’t understand’
- ‘IRD only value the lives of expatriates, not Afghans. Foreigners are given half a dozen body guards and two armoured vehicles when travelling inside Kabul city and even more security when going to provinces. Afghans are constantly at risk. An Afghan colleague was made to resign because he had a family emergency and couldn’t travel to a province where he was provided no security. He was very concern about his safety and informed so his expatriate manager who asked him to resign if he is not prepared to go. When Afghans travel they take public transport. Yet, statistics shows Afghans are the victims than expatriates.’ I said. There have been at least three cases since I had worked in IRD where IRD staff or contractors were killed and they were all Afghans. In a couple of instances IRD-SPR concealed it from its funder USAID.
- ‘what statistics! I was shot in the head by Taliban… The person who you are talking about is an isolated case which I do not now about… IRD-SPR puts its staff, especially Afghans, safety at most importance.’ Said Frederick.

This conversation went on for an hour and then he told me he categorically can not accept such remarks and he has fired four employees before me for making such comments and he has to do the same with me. ‘I have to treat everybody the same’ he said. When I left his office with the IT and HR persons, both Afghans, were strangely quiet. Nadir walked around with his head hanging and said ‘I am sorry’. I said ‘don’t be. I don’t need this job; it is excruciating’. He said ‘not for that but for what he said and his attitude.’ But what can he do except being sorry along with thousands of other Afghans. They need their jobs and have to put up with people like Frederick.

I wonder if zero tolerance policy to suggestions about office lunch that challenges well trenched segregation policies could be considered discrimination.

hospitality

2009-05-28T05:37:00.002+01:00

during a routine footpatrol a company of american troops reached an unknown Afghan village perceived hostile where they are taking position in preparation for possible attack. an Afghan man unaware of their frantic condition is bringing tea for a crouching troop while the other one in the background seems surprised.

Stop Human Rights Violators from becoming President

2009-05-18T07:07:00.000+01:00

Hereby, we a number of victims of Daikundi province would like to draw your attention to the background and atrocities of a number of provincial council candidates in the province. The nomination of the people, who have committed and continue to commit heinous violations of human rights, to run for the provincial council elections is a matter of serious concern for the people of Daikundi, especially the victims of their crimes and atrocities.
Nomination of infamous and known human rights abusers, such as Arif Hussain Dawari and Anwar Moballigh is indeed a mockery of elections and democracy. This is equivalent to rewarding of criminals for their crimes. Just as examples, we would like to draw the attention of your respected Commission to the following:
1. Rape and forced marriage: Dawari has committed numerous rapes. The victims of his rape are known in every village. Some of them were killed or forced to leave the area. Victims have registered complaints with various authorities. Some of his rape cases have been documented by human rights organizations . He has forcibly married many wives, including Wolesi Jirga Member Sherin Moheseni who was wife of some body else.
2. Murder: Dawari has committed horrendous and brutal murders and assassinations. Currently there are around 30 murder cases against him filed with judicial and human rights agencies both in Daikundi province and in Kabul. The respectable IECC can request a copy of the cases from the department, should it deem necessary.
3. Drug business: Arif Dawari is the main person behind cultivation and trafficking of narcotics in Daikundi province. From 2001 to 2004 alone, he extorted three to four thousands ser (approximately 20,000 to 30,000 Kgs) of opium taxation from the people of Sharistan and Meramore. He used to force people to cultivate poppy and then levied tax more than the volume of their product.
4. Private jail: Scores of innocent people and his political rivals were kept and inhumanely tortured in Dawari’s private jails. Many died as a result of his cruel torture techniques. He is still running a private jail in a remote area between Sharistan and Gezan district.
5. Illegal armed group: Dawari does not only possess the largest arms depots in Daikundi but also runs the most organized and frightful illegal armed group . A number of his sub-commanders who are currently involved in intimidation of people are Gul Muhammad Azizi, Sayed Nazir, Reza Hekmatyar (Dawari’s nephew and a provincial council candidate), Ghulam Ali Mojahid, Habib Ghaf, Ahmadi (known as Ahmadi kar), Padshah Ghochan and Hussaini (known as balaaye kotut).
6. Kidnapping and torture: tens of people have so far been kidnapped and brutally tortured by Dawari and his men. Several cases and complaints have been filed and registered with relevant authorities since 2002.
7. Relationship with Taliban: before the collapse of Taliban, Dawari was a commander and agent of the group in the area. He continued to maintain his links with the group after their fall. Their interactions have included narco-traficking and transiting and arms smuggling. Dawari has personally met with Taliban commanders several times in 2007 and 2008. He also had met two famous and senior Taliban commanders, namely Mullah Dadullah and Mullah Fayzullah in November 2006. The meeting was facilitated and arranged by a person named Sayed Sufi Gardezi. Dawari has also repeatedly met Taliban commander Mullah Salaam over the last two years.
8. Money Laundering: the fortune that he has made through illegal means have largely been transferred through hawala system and invested in the U.A.E and Iran.
Anwar Muballigh is also implicated in the same crimes and violations and continues to do so. He has committed a number of horrific crimes such as murders, illegal taxation on lands, illegal taxation per head, kidnappings, forced recruitment of soldiers, running of illegal armed group, extortion and intimidation of people through his armed men, robbery, forced marriage and illegal detentions.
We are confident that United Nations, including Human Rights Unit of UNAMA, Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) and other human rights organizations have enough data and information regarding violations committed by Dawari and Muballigh. Their participation in the political process will further disappoint people. It will give similar criminals and abusers further courage and assurance of impunity.
Arif Dawari and Anwar Muballigh are ringleaders of two human rights violator’s gangs in Daikundi. They want to misuse civil institutions and public offices as a safe ground for their criminal activities. Disqualifying these two criminals and their gang members are the minimum demand of their victims for the interest of peace and justice.
Dawari has also nominated his sister (Rashida Shahidi) and his nephew (Reza Hekmatyar) who has also served as one of his sub-commanders. Dawari intends to use them and their post as a shield for expansion and furtherance of his illegal activities. Reza Hekmatyar is an accomplice in all Dawari’s crimes. Rashida Shahidi is intended to be put in the provincial council position to serve as a cover for his inhumane and criminal actions, as he has skillfully done with his wife Sherin Mohseni as a member of Wolesi Jirga.
Regrettably, UNAMA allowed Dawari in the last Parliamentary Elections to get his wife (whom Dawari had forcefully married) to the Parliament through intimidation and vote-buying. The woman was later widely misused by Dawari as a political cover for his criminal and inhumane activities. Using his wife, Dawari even managed to secure himself an official government position as head of National Security Directorate in Sharistan district in January 2009. However, he was removed from the position in less than one month due to the objection and protest of people. Using his wife, he has however continued to interfere in the affair of the province and is even flying on MoD helicopters to and from Daikundi! By this action, he is further intimidating his victims by demonstrating the government as a protector of his criminal activities.
We demand the disqualification of Dawari, Muballigh, Reza Hekmatyar and Rashida Shahidi and removal of their names from the list of provincial council candidates. Re-empowerment of these criminal gangs will dash all hopes of victims for peace and democracy. We have lost many beloved ones and we have experienced various atrocities. We do not want to dwell on the bitter past; rather we look for the future. Re-empowerment of these individual will destroy our future also and will turn it into a sad and dark destiny. Our past has been destroyed, please do not let them destroy our future too. Please listen to our voice! We all cry:

difference between an ‘Afghan’ and a ‘Pessimist Afghan’

2009-04-16T10:55:00.000+01:00

Meant to write lately but whatever I tell lately is about how things are not fun. sooo done telling pessimist stories; so I thought maybe I should tell you this. Here is a joke.
Can you tell the difference between an ‘Afghan’ and a ‘Pessimist Afghan’?
The later would respond to a joke by ‘damn it, so unfair. Can you believe that?’ The later would say; ‘that is funny. Tell me another one’.
I met a man earlier who is about to marry a relative of mine. The so called bride is usually nervous and wants to make a good impression on relatives of his future wife. Nervous I hate; mmm, Hate is rather strong but more like don’t keep on speed-dial. It put me at unease; I just can’t stand the view of somebody who is ruining his moment and not enjoying the company. i went to an easy mood and attempted to be not only funny but acrobatic funny. Something I had learned from a good friend; ‘people would like and feel at ease if you act as a clown’ she said. i suppose she is particularly right about nervous wankers and pessimists. Whatever I said he was damning it.
I said ‘man, sure is many dogs in this neighbourhood’.
Looking at the floor or out the window he responded ‘damn right. They are certainly a nuisance’.
That didn’t go well. I recognised if we talk about something he felt positive about then he would be less nervous. Searching among the limited topics you could talk about with a stranger.
‘the weather is certainly rainy these days’ I said.
‘can you believe that. Things are just not right’. He said.
I was getting desperate. I thought of jokes. So I told him one.
‘A man had two goldfish, he named one of them "One" and the other "Two". he did this because… if one died, he'd still have two’.
His mouth started to spread toward his ears but he held his grin ‘damn it, so unfair. Can you believe that’.
Later the relative asked me what I thought of him. I said:
‘he is a perpetual pessimist who will only tire you out.’
She asked ‘what do you mean?’
I said ‘well, he is a pessimist. He doesn’t see the bright side of things. Life is gloomy and doomy for him.’
She looked rather confused and shoke her head ‘but who doesn’t’. she is right because she is surrounded by pessimists.
‘Most of the people on the planet’. I said.
She didn’t seem sure. ‘Like who?’.
In an attempt to show my confidence ‘all the good writers’.
She exclaimed ‘really’.
I took her to my books and I showed her my favourites. She picked, the brothers Karamazov, dostoyevsky’s master piece. ‘But it’s brutal murder and violent love. Its gloomy; it portrays a potential of criminality in all of us.’ She said.
‘ok, maybe not this one’. I said. then I give her ‘The sound and the Fury’ by William Faulkner.
‘a story of self destruction seeded in love . how crap is that? …’ she said.
I soon give up. ‘This is not what I thought it should be. But there is a lot of good stuff within’ I said.
A bit disappointed ‘really’ she said.
‘How about a joke?’ I said.
‘go on’ she said. …….. ‘that is funny. Tell me another one’ she said.

Afghan reconstruction or Darwinian experiment

2009-03-14T04:31:00.001Z

The spirit of Charles Darwin has been an inspiration for me; I hold maximum respect for his scientific achievements and social courage. How many people are going to come out today in any society and who could say something so radical as Darwin did; many, that is right. Many people would do that; because we as the human species, in Darwin words, have become so negative and pessimistic that we would challenge anything and everything. But here is the thing, who would stick to their word and fight for what they stand for. Very few people and they will back down when pressured.
Darwin was about experimenting and evolving and I think we need to learn from him at this critical point in Afghan history. I was just reading an audit on the over US$ 8 billion USAID has spent in Afghanistan and there is so much; this came to my attention after I tried to figure out what the fuss was about. Some were so angry as though the whole amount had come from their pocket. Even if they are taxpayers they put the trust in to a system and shouldn’t lose faith so quickly. For the sake of keeping ourselves and the society sane and in maintaining the Darwinian spirit of experimentalism. Afghanistan is an experiment. Six audits of the U.S. Agency for International Development's multibillion-dollar Afghanistan reconstruction effort found only one program working largely as it was supposed to. Nobody knew if it was going to work, it is mere chance. Afghanistan is uncertain and mysterious as human nature was during Darwin period; the only way to find out is through experiment. A US$ 219 contract to improve government institutions produced a lack of evidence of results after the agency and the contractor spend an inordinate amount of time attempting to define the program’s activities and priorities.
Another $102 million contract to promote agriculture led to defective buildings, the spraying of pesticides without studying their impact and the failure to implement a major commercial farm program. Isn’t that experiment?
i asked three different people what they thought about the outcomes of USAID audits; an Afghan, an American and a USAID employee. It might sound like a job but it is not. The Afghan said ‘USAID is just a front for the CIA and has been for 30 years in Afghanistan. So all that money went nowhere except in to the hands of people that don't have to account for it like Dick Cheney. The warlords, Taliban and other criminal allies of Americans.’
The American who lives in America said ‘Contractors get millions trying to convert a bunch of 12th century, poppy growing, mysoginists who don't want to have anything to do with Western culture except the money derived from its taste for Heroin addiction.’
And the aid worker was not certain and hesitantly said ‘money spent in Afghanistan since 2002 has produced "remarkably powerful impacts," in health, education, agriculture and other sectors.’
I am not worried at all about the money but rather the attitude it produces among peoples, ghettoising minds and communities.
I think people need to calm down and get on with their lives. So we can take all the suspicion, stubbornness and anger away from Afghan issues; which is the key for the evolution of Afghanistan in to a stable place.

bringing taliban onboard

2009-03-12T07:47:00.002Z

Obama declared in an interview that the United States was not winning the war in Afghanistan and opened the door to a reconciliation process in which the American military would reach out to moderate elements of the Taliban, much as it did with Sunni militias in Iraq. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/us/politics/08obama.html?scp=5&sq=taliban&st=cse

The Afghan government has not gained the confidence of the Afghan people. corruption, lack of administrative capacity and bad leadership has resulted in fading away whatever trust existed in the first place. the government and US is losing because they don't have the public on their side, not because there is a strong pro taliban Pakistan infiltrating into Afghanistan, or local taliban are gaining momentum in the south. for policy makers it is very important to know that afghans don't like taliban and don't want to see them return, the majority. Afghans don't want Taliban. what about under current circumstances; do Afghans want the Taliban to return because the government is failing and it is the only way to stop bloodshed. i don't know the answer to that but if Obama says 'YES' then there are two points to ponder about. first, it is admitting that Taliban can do a better job than americans and Afghan government. second, a shameful set back to democracy. Iraq is what it is but Afghanistan is winnable and it shouldn't be lost. this war is no longer fought to make the western world safe from terrorism, it is a war for realising democratic values. democracy set back in afghanistan would hinder any future intervention in any sort of tyranny because the west will lose moral grounds.

Plight of an Afghan Christian

2009-03-07T12:06:00.001Z

Many people in Afghanistan have turned to the faith of Jesus Christ in recent years. A few of them have done so openly, though most have kept their conversion secret. The new converts have either been influenced by travelling and settling in Christian countries of the west or by the audacity of Christian missionaries who have travelled to Afghanistan.
The converts number in thousands and congregate in secret churches in Afghanistan or in the blossoming Afghan church which has been set up in England. They all decided to turn away from the faith of their ancestors – some in search of food; others in search of a better world and yet others in pursuit of a better faith. Accepting never-ending fear of rejection and animosity as a consequence of conversion, they have been born again in the Christian faith.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/mar/05/afghanistan-christianity?commentpage=2&commentposted=1

shamsi made a choice which has put him in danger if he return to afghanistan. thousands other had fled from fighting in southern and eastern afghanistan, something they didn't choose to have nor they had any control over. hundreds if not thousands of afghans are inside afghanistan trying to fight and improve corrupt state and impaired cultural values. they are being persecuted for their political beleives on daily basis. the choice they make are for greater good than the choice shamsi had made yet many have been refused asylum in the UK. it is hard to distinguish between genuin refugees and economic immigrant at this age. UK can't accomodate everyone fleeing their country under different names. UNDP human development index shows that some over 85% of young afghans want to immigrate to the west because they see a better life for themselves there. but they need to stay and fix thier own country.as for shamsi he opted out of his ancestor religion because he found a better one. if he really likes the new one then he better move on and enjoy christianity.there is enough problem in afghanistan, and UK too, created by religion we don't need another one added by Shamsi. religion has no answer to the problem of humanity. there is a similarity between shamsi and a suicide bomber and a difference too. they both get themselves killed, that is if shamsi was in afghanistan. there is one difference too. a suicide bomber deceives himself into 72 virgins and heaven; Shamsi deceives others with his asylum claims.
as for Mr. Reza who is allegedly a journalist. please improve your journalistic skills.'Many people in Afghanistan have turned to the faith of Jesus Christ in recent years. A few of them have done so openly, though most have kept their conversion secret.'
how do you know that. there is a lot of information packed in the first sentence without any proof. what is your source. perhaps you should consider adding i think....to the begining of each sentence but that again is bad journalism.
'The new converts .... or by the audacity of Christian missionaries who have travelled to Afghanistan.'a less loaded sentence would be ' or by what they see as audacity of chritian missionaries who have travelled to Afghanistan'. but there is a problem wtih that sentence too. it is not true. what audacity are you talking about. i was investigating the missionaries and i was recommended to several misssionary organisation but all refused that they have any christian motives.

Despotism over Liberty, even the choice of successful Afghans

2009-01-24T07:03:00.000Z

I am bugged by the thought of why is it that ‘modern Afghans’ are not backing the government and international community whose values of government system has made it possible for them to tremendously improve their life in comparison to Their situation under the Taliban.

I have come to realise that bright Afghans who do not have a social mind set orbiting solely around religion, with an interest of individual nature and hobbies are against democratic values. They do not possess any prerequisites for radicalisation such as social isolation, political grievances affecting their daily life, marginalisation, oppression and the rest of it. They are quite happy and not religious. They have an open mind about alcohol and sex as part of routine lifestyle, they know places in Kabul where they can purchase and drink. This group of Afghans I call the modern Afghan. This group theoretically should make up the core of Karzai government supporters. This is exactly the key allies that the international community and Nato should have on their side. If they are not on their side, then who is? I am wondering, why they are not, while stuck in this traffic jam. This group has much in common with the ordinary man of the west: a shared lifestyle, putting family first, secular views of daily life, sought education and career dedicated. But they differ in what is known as morality and political views. Ordinary man of the west, I consider those who are not partisan political such as members of religious, ultra right or left wing groups. The man who is family dedicated and seeks happiness for the loved ones. The ordinary man of the west, by and large, condemns violence against the innocents while the modern Afghan man condones terror and civilian targeting as a way of addressing the grievances of the group which, he considers, had been marginalised and betrayed. The ordinary man of the west sees terror as a serious threat to their safety, while the modern Afghan sees it as a part of life in what he can’t have a say.

Modern Afghan’s silence against ‘the evils’ has got to do with his inability to bond with the values of democracy, the current socio-political trend promoted by international community and Afghan government. The modern Afghan man is the closest Afghan replica, similar to the moralisation of democratic values by the ordinary western man. On the other hand and generally speaking, the modern Afghan man has political views and morality codes which do not go with his lifestyle. The modern Afghan condemned the Danish Cartoons and rallied to take action against Denmark. They launched a campaign which boycotted Danish products. The modern Afghan is anti-Semitic in what they see jews as human elements of Israeli state. Unaware of the fact that not all Israelis are Jews and there are Jews outside Israel too. An international colleague with last names as Sigal, Izaaks, Hickman or Sichel; are seen as another foreigner. The modern Afghan has not been disgusted by the action of Taliban rather they have become more sympathetic. Almost half of the modern Afghans I know have been involved in numerous incidents where they were close to be hurt. The target was some foreigners or government installation but the pedestrians took the toll; people going about their lives on the street. Witnessing this didn’t change their mind about Taliban tactics. The modern Afghan do not necessarily support Taliban but it is that they have a fluctuating ground in relation to what is happening around them on daily basis. They see that the dead pedestrians could be them and that Taliban puts their life in grieve danger but it is something behind their action.

Among the modern Afghan is Elias. A successful entrepreneur owning some several radio stations and other businesses. The radio station he owns is nothing less than a historical phenomena. The international intervention and the creation of a democratic space has made it possible for citizens to own media outlets; radio has always been a state monopoly. The radio stations are sustained by the market forces and development fundings available from international sources. Yet, Elias lacks any commitment to the current regime or the values of the system which has made it possible to own and profit from the radio stations. Elias has lived under the Taliban and he knows they wouldn’t even let him express his views about the dress he wears or his beard and hair let alone critic the social order.

Do you think Taliban would let you conduct your life, business and employment the way you do?

‘Current social is created under the influence of westerners. It is not the only and it is not the ideal. Things in Afghanistan changes fast, you won’t have a chance to reflect on what is happening and where I fit. To survive you need to punch forward. If there was no international aid, consequently my business, then I would be free to grow drug. Why do they whinge when I make money the way I do.’ said Elias.

Elias like many modern Afghans I know argue that democratic principles are riddled with double standards and contradiction. Modern Afghan grievances are based on what they see as democracies ineligibility to the moral authority. They say: what about Guantinimo, what about treatment of minorities in the ‘free world’, what about corruption in western politics. Muslims lack a sense of self criticism to enable them compare Islamic morality with democracy. Islamic morality is blazingly clear but its impairment is not questionable even by the modern Afghan. There is an urge for clarity. We should respond to the criticism of free world morality. I think there are three things here: the treatment of own citizens and the free world is doing very good. Secondly, respect to international law. Again the free world is doing good except the US under Bush administration and finally what the free world does to realise its own morality in places like Afghanistan and it is horrific. The free world is not only helping but has financed genocide. if we are talking politics that was then and now is now. The slightest believe in Islam does not distinct between personal and politics, making western support for previous wars a personal matter. We have been through enough crises to understand that decisions are not based on principles but political realities and human’s realistic ability as oppose to our wishful thinking. Elias seems to have been for most of his life at the betrayed end of hypocrisy culmination and he has experienced a larger share than ordinary man. Contradiction in the principles of democracy has made Elias highly suspicious of the values and principles of democracy. For instance, freedom of expression as a value and objectivity as a core principle of it, is viewed as a mirage. Elias is correct in saying that no outlet is objective and they have their own angle into the issues; but he doesn’t recognise how distorted their interpretation of the truth is. BBC has an angle but the angle Aljazeera or Taliban media or Iran state media has, lies some 180 degrees away from the truth. In the mid90s when Taliban were battling the northern alliance in the north of Kabul after capturing Kabul. Iranian Sada Wa Sima radio was reporting that Taliban has launched a massive attack on Kabul. This is why BBC has a reputation in Afghanistan for providing objective news and information. Truth doesn’t always matter; we as humans are fallible and for a believer in human fallibility truth doesn’t exist. The larger and the further the object of truth is from us, we’ll have more autonomy in selecting what truth is which basically means the angle we view it. if battle is raging at the gates of Kabul; a Kabuli wants to know the progress; it is a truth. I could be heard and felt. But some Taliban pocket of resistance in Kandahar some 500KM away can’t be felt but realised through anecdotes. That is why Aljazeera make perfect sense for millions of Afghans and other Muslims as well as non muslims as long as ones world view is compatible with it. once a modern Afghan starts to take Aljazeera as an outlook to the truth it means changes to certain aspect of his world has happened.

The notional objectiveness does not exist but do you see some are more objective than others?

‘There are international treaties and conventions. The western world has always violated these documents when it comes across their interest. The west has created an unfair world where everybody fights for survival, the weak has no choice of winning but to create a different perspective. If you are on the weak side it is as more objective than the western aspect.’ Said Elias.

Elias believes that Hamas and Taliban actions or other militant groups are justified because they are denied justice and have been shoved to margins of opportunity. They have no choice but to resort to cruelty. This is while Elias’s business partner Zameer has arrived at the conclusion that reconstruction projects are a waste of money instead the international community should have supported businesses. This view is generally shared by other business pioneers too. The basic of economics is: fixed exchange rates which will keep the goods circulate in the free market by keeping the price down is good for the national growth. Such a business oriented approach to development is assuming that Afghans would shoulder a bigger portion of responsibility instead of foreigners building stuff for them. Elias believes that those under tremendous stress can’t be judged by the same token as those living the good life often at their expense. I asked him if people are not to bear responsibility for their action disregarding their situation then why does he run a radio station, the basic notion of which is empowering people and providing a voice for the marginalised so grievances could be addressed and alternatives to the vicious circle of poverty could be found?

‘America has an obligation to Afghanistan. they can’t go around and destroy countries and leave them on their own. They can but they will taste the consequences as they did on 9/11. The west bombs, kills and destroys but when we demand justice we are told that is against human rights and when we take matters in our hands, we are called terrorists.’ Answered Elias.

Culture haunts Afghans, not poverty or lack of education

2009-01-24T07:01:00.000Z

There is a lack of personal coherence among most Afghans. They can not establish principles as much as they like to. Ideas and loyalties are filtered by tribe and religion. The principle of demonstrating against the Israeli attack on Ghaza and supporting Palestinians is not because Afghans, which also goes for all Muslims, are anti war or condemn military invasion. They admire Hamas’s militancy and has glorified Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait. Afghans are deeply tribal and religious; only those sharing a tribal and religious association deserve absolute support while outsiders are enemies by default. Bzia an Afghan of Tajik origin condemns Stalin’s arbitrary borders sketching in central Asia, resulting in dispersal of Persian speakers between several countries, losing their ancient cities and cultural heritage. At the same time Bzia endorses Bush cowboy style smugness because he saved Tajiks from Pashtoon Taliban. Bzia does not even understand, let alone believe in national self determination or antimilitary occupation principles. His concerns appear to be based on western principles but it is not. It is tribal, he is upset about Tajik minority treatment in various central Asian countries and he finds it easy to blame something in the history; another Afghan peculiarity when addressing present day realities. The Afghan elite and intellectuals can not overtly establish a rational position in favour of their ethnically driven morality; though they very much like Hitler Nazism. Ethnically and religious driven fictions have committed atrocities that could never again be justified. However, Afghanistan continues to remain at the hands of ethicism and tribalism but obscured with western principles. Borrowed western principles are perverted to the possible limits to fit their purposes. The western principles such in politics and economics have been claimed as a value system but the practice is hypocritical.

Adult Afghans can not act as they resolve. I have come to know many enthusiastic Afghans who wish achievements through education and work but they can not do it. They lack the willpower to grab the moment for their intentions. General lack of determination at all levels of society has realised the need of an alternative force, dogma. Dogma is the underpinning every action. The power of dogma has compelled the population do things which don’t make sense. Behave and converse in certain ways all the time. Human nature does not approve dogma giving room for hypocrisy. Dogmatism obstructs religious morality to be internalised. Not everything could be determined by dogma unless we are talking about Taliban; any other Afghan is a hypocrite.

The reason children are not as good as their counterparts in the rest of the world in their studies is not because they don’t want to study but they lack the will and discipline to study. When children are made to study by adults and parents, they try to do. I have observed in the last month working with a group. Three weeks ago I asked each separately why they don’t study while they want and they are told to; the answer is ‘I will study tomorrow. Today is my last day off’. This is the answer everyday for the last month. It is the next day, it is the next step but it never happens. When I provide feedback to the children I work ‘look you haven’t been studying, I could help you study’. The child would agree with me and we decide today is studying day. I depend on his initiative to do the actual studying. I provide a quite room for him to go and sit quietly. But he can’t be bothered to study. Children are neglectful. When people are brought up under oppression they tend to be neglectful. They lack the will for action; they are usually driven by violence and use of force. They have lost their free will to take action. I have tried to renegotiate a situation and accommodate every demand; I had or the job was still neglected. It is hard to bother people to care. It is hard and stressful. People would swear to you to do a job or commitment and you’ll agree on the details but it will not happen. Values like trust is not part of daily life but in the romanticised surrealism of pop culture living parallel to realities. As much as an Afghan wants to be trusted, he will fail when an action requires the willpower. Sometimes an Afghan can be trusted, but that is when trust requires something within his routine realm of ability. Trust is not a principle. Principles like fairness and belief are sought to be seen as preserved because the society is dogmatic which requires this to base everything on principles. But at the end of the day, things are not determined by principle but at person’s ability to do or not to do. Words such as fairness and morality don’t exist in the full sense of the meaning. Fairness would require making changes to the current lifestyle and frankly the lifestyle in the choking dogmatism of Afghan culture can’t be bothered with change. For instance going back to working with children. I decided with the children that best time of the day to study is morning. Their mind is clear and ready to observe; once they go out and about and start playing it is not easy to return them to their studies. It didn’t quite work out for children, morning turn out to be slow, busy and sleepy. I made a schedule of chores for them instead. Chores are not usual for children to do. The women of the house do all the work, no need for children to bother. Women are also quite intimate with children, as men are not spending much time with them, women to be nice to children does work on their behalf. I told children I’ll pay them in exchange for the work they do. I thought it is a fair barter. They do work as I assign them in exchange they get paid. I thought this could be a way to teach children to be responsible for a job and in charge of their spending. Children were quite excited, and could hardly wait to get their first week payment. Children are not given allowances in Afghan families. They are bullied by their father or older brother to do work for them – not by women as often. Children need money and they usually earn it by stealing. When I talked with children who had stolen home supplies either from their or others houses were in dire need of money. Children then lie to their mothers if they find out about their extra cash. Fathers do not have much communication with their children and will never find out about their extra cash or new gadget they have purchased. Mother’s lack the will to talk with fathers; she is usually blamed and punished for shortcomings. Conversations between spouses are concerned with the gloomy and doomy side of things; the husband comes harsh on the wife by blaming her. Wives are scared to bring up anything about family life with their husbands. Communication has strengthened mother son relationship much more than mother – father relation. Because mothers can not give love to husbands they are usually close to their sons to the extent that they admire their sons. Probably a reason why boys grow into self-centred men in Afghanistan. The boys have to steal because they don’t have other choice. Then the option is between lying and being beaten up by the father. Lying really starts to work for children which later turn into a habit ravaging our society on daily basis.

Children who I assigned chores refused to do after less than a week. At their homes they were not able to do chores; it conflicted with so many other things. Children perceived chores as an unfair practice. ‘Why should I do work when my elder brothers and parents are not doing anything’ said a child. ‘I don’t want to put on my clothing and bring water from the well. I want to relax like everyone else.’ Said another child. I went to talk with the parents and elders and told them children felt they were not treated fairly. Parents accepted they will make changes, we agreed, so children could do their chores. After a week children reported no change in their parents. Adults had no where else to go so they could be comfortable in their privacy but they could also not adjust themselves so the younger family members could feel they are treated fairly. The cultural and economic life doesn’t allow principles such as privacy and fairness to flourish. Fairness requires the consistency of action and talk. In Afghan culture fairness has been redefined into something compatible with the authoritarian nature of the culture. Some people such as parent and clergy are fair if they talk fair, even if they act unfair. A common proverb is ‘don’t mind the action of the Mullah, follow his talks’. In talks everybody sounds fair but their action is unfair; fairness doesn’t work this way. Fairness is a behavioural code; not a conversational tool to be pedantic. Afghans are not as nice as they think they are; if Afghan bring a bit of realism and throw away a bit of ‘all is perfect’ cultural attitude then things would change for good.

The kingdom of dogs

2009-01-16T12:46:00.000Z

There is a new dog wanting to join the pack in Rahamatabad area. She lost her pack in Kotal area after they were dispersed in a terrible incident. She doesn’t have a name but usually goes by the name ‘Brown’. Brown found herself in a human cemetery surrounded by a pack of horny dogs on a September day.

Brown was never fond of her birth given place, something rather unusual for dogs. It is said among the pack ‘when eventuality meets the destiny, an equation which brings death; according the pivotal mythology of dogs; the dog heads the trail, abandoning the pack’. Kotal neighbourhood is not friendly for what is known as street dogs. The neighbourhood has too many children encouraged, even more than Brown species, in aggression as a way of survival. Food is scarce in Kotal, no market or Bazaar is in the area. And the worst; it is located on the highway connecting Kabul to the north. Many dogs and sometimes their pursuing children have collided with the racing traffic.

Chamtalla an old pasture between Kotal and Rahmatabad has now turned into a waste disposal location for Kabul municipality. Brown realising September is the time when dogs breed and food in Kotal would even become scarcer set out one day in search of food. After snuffling and searching for a couple of miles in Chamtalla and when her nose was weary and her feet powerless to search any further her eyes found Kabul waste disposal grounds. Vast mountains of litter reaching behind dog’s sight, filled with loads of potential edible. Brown spent a few days digging and eating; she found places to sleep but she didn’t feel quite right. She missed the pack, the barking, the running and the togetherness. She sets off in search of her pack; after a day of walking she reached the opposite side of Chamtalla, Rahmatabad.

Brown meets a pack of dogs on the top of a hill turned into a cemetery; there are three small hills in the middle of Rahmatabad, one abandoned after the military use and the other two are now cemetery. The pack is digging a grave or two and taking out dead peoples’ bones from the grave. This is not quite the time for it to happen, it takes place after a few snows and during the snow more than 60cm. it is not early in calendar calculation; by this time other years there are many snows already. Dogs seem to be confused about the season. Dogs only digs graves for food when heavy snow fall and people tend to hole up at homes and there is not much left over available on the streets from the people and there is not much to be found in the litter. Dead human bones are the last resort of dogs at the face of starvation. Some people who are relatively well off tend to build a cage around their family grave. The cage protects the grave from the bone-eaters. Digging grave is an instinct developed as a survival strife in some dogs, man’s best friend. It is unusual for dogs to dig like rats, as deep as up to 2 – 3 meters.

When the pack sees Brown, they start barking and running toward Brown; leaving other female dogs alone. She doesn’t seem to be scared but she starts running around the cemetery chased by the pack. She has to play the mating game which requires her not to give up until there is one last dog left. The dogs start to sniff her back. Brown starts to be scared, some of the dogs are more aggressive than usual. Then the fight over Brown starts; to choose the one dog which should be left at the end to make the puppies. The dogs now want to take the fight to the mountains nearby. As the fight gets very loud and crowded; neighbourhood children wants to join, not because they are interested in mating with the dog but loves any fight to be part of. Among the pack there are dogs of varied strength. Some dogs tend not to participate in this great but also brutal fun festival. A number of the male dogs had been a pet or rather animal toy for the neighbourhood boys. There are still ropes around their nicks which always comes handy when a new child wants to catch them. Some of the dogs have been injured; they can’t participate in the mating. They usually are limping behind the pack. Another type of dogs is called the needle-dog. The needle dogs had swallowed a needle when feeding on the litter. It is either a sewing needle but more often an injection needle from a pharmacy or hospital waste disposal. In Rahmatabad there is a pharmaceutical factory producing among other things synergies too. The factory has a huge waste dumping ground right behind their compound on the surface level in the open space. Dogs when hungry do go and eat industrial waste and sometimes swallow a needle. The needle dogs can’t keep it quite; they run around in circles but when the needle in their stomach doesn’t hurt they chill for a minute or two as though they are sculptures. The needle dogs punch the way to be part of the social dog life but the needle stabs rein them other way. The mating contest and Brown was taken to the mountains. Mamor which is not his real name but simply mean the officer. He got the name because he was working for the government for several years and everyone who works for the government is an officer for villagers. Mamor is watching the mating contest and realises that Brown is new in Rahmatabad. A couple of days later Brown returns to Rahmatabad to get some food when Mamor saw her at a glance while heading to the local school where he teaches. In the afternoon when Mamor returned home Brown was on the street sniffing about doors; dragged into this street by the strong smell of frying meat. Mamor give Brown some food in return to which Brown pointed her nose to the sky in what Mamor believes to be a prayer. Brown disappeared for a few months but was back at Mamors door before giving birth, pregnant and hungry. Mamor homed Brown in a large compound next to his house, empty with tall walls but a good place for Brown to give birth for her puppies. Brown was loud at first. She couldn’t stop barking; neighbourhood dogs joined the barking chat too. Mamor was not sure at first in the face of the noise. The neighbours have dogs for protection. They grow them cruel; cutting ears and tails of an aggressive breed, always leashed on chains. Dogs are used as a weapon to keep stranger or burglars out; only being released at night. I used to have such a dog, named Jangjaw – the warrior – but it went nasty; not even allowing the children to play in the garden. We had to set him free in a desert. Neighbours alarm-dogs quietened soon after they got used to Brown. Mamor one day found another dog in the compound. More and more dogs were coming to the street. Dogs in the drizzling days and chilly nights of the winter tend to look for lavatory holes or any other wall crack to enter into houses. Mamor blocked the hole from where the dog had entered the compound. Mamor knew Brown was pregnant and wanted to keep her safe and away from dogs. For Brown to go out playing with other dogs it was dangerous. There are friends and foes on the street. Among the foes are drivers. It is hard to find a driver in Kabul who hasn’t run over a few dogs. Some mornings when I walk to my favourite mountain spot to watch the sun rise I see a couple of dogs being squashed to the road. Drivers are the reckless enemy and often they don’t bother to break when a dog is on the road. Night-Watchers, as they are called for private guards protecting business areas and shops, are dogs’ friends. There are several times more night-watchers than police protecting private ownership and they are far nicer to everything and everyone including dogs. Night-watchers carry a big stick and make a huge fire on the street corners. Dogs are attracted to the warmth and light of the fire. The friendship of nightwatcher and dog is a mutual friendship. Dogs are kept warm by the fire in return they look after the shops in the nightwatcher territory. There are also other threats for a dog like Brown. There are three strains of dogs. The central dogs live in downtown Kabul and are quite domesticated and almost behave as pets. However, they don’t take kindly intruders. There are also mountain dogs and the third strain is wild dogs. Mountain dogs are very common in Rahamatabad; the area is immediately surrounded by rocky mountains. Mountain dogs, unlike centre dogs, have wild sources of food such as hunting and dead humans bones. Lone mountain dogs during the day do not pose a threat to anyone but when at packs they could be intimidating. One night after having some whisky with a couple of mates, I decided to take a hike just before midnight when we were chased by a large pack of something around 30 dogs, they were attacking and pulling my cloak. A lone person should be scared of the pack at night. Wild dogs, in contrast, do not come to the residential areas at all. They are dangerous and they attack villages several times every winter. They usually descend into residential areas when the snow falls. There are three or four heavy snows of well above 60cm every winter. When dog height snow falls, they come to the villages and often take some infants and children with them. Residence are inclined to stay home in heavy snows listen to the howling of the wild dogs gazing their streets. Centre dogs and domestic dogs are scared of the wild dogs.

Mamor is kind to animals. The morning after the first night of Brown in the compound he came and found Brown cold and hungry. Mamor brought Brown a blanket, and food from the street butcher, when Mamor was leaving Brown howl behind him and when he looked back Brown waggled her snout to the sky in what Mamor considered she prayed for him to God. This further attached Mamor to the bitch. Animals prayers are of great value in Islam. Mamor has a DVD on petting a dog produced in Britain, I believe, which is the only film he has and love to watch it and then tell stories of, what he dubs infidels, kindness to animals. Stories of Mamor’s fascination with dogs are famous. He urges the people of faith to compete in kindness toward animals.

Mamor has learned about the pharmaceutical waste dump. Many neighbourhood dogs go mad; getting shot by the soldiers of the nearby garrison. Mamor was afraid if set free Brown might become a mad dog with a doomed faith. There is a huge well just outside the garrison where mad dogs are damped after being shot by the soldiers, it is almost filled with crops of mad dogs, stinking from far away. A couple of people have been bitten in the neighbourhood by the mad dog that is why local residence have asked the local garrison to shoot them. Children from the neighbourhood have stories have about mad dog. ‘mad dogs are running fast. Do you know cheetah? They are almost as fast as cheetahs’ said seven years old Satar when his eyes were shining in excitement. a group of children took me to the well where mad dogs are ditched. ‘I hate mad dogs’ said Satar, throwing a rock down and starting to piss in the well. 'the mad dog vaccine costs $1000’ said Satar’s dad as giving Satar a whack at the back of the neck for being anywhere close to mad dogs. ‘How the hell do you think I can afford that’.

Mamor is feeding brown with his leftovers as well as bring bones from the butcher. A bucket is hanging from the wall on a rope from Mamor’s house into the compound. Mamor fills the bucket with water once a day for Brown to drink. Brown gives birth to six puppies on a Sunny Sunday. All the puppies are brown too. Mamor prepared a soft place made of hay with a roof to shelter them from snow and rain. The next day there was a surprise waiting for Mamor. Brown had given birth again, to another six puppies. They looked weaker and ill. The second six died the next day – rather the night- they were too weak and premature to survive the chilly night. The first six are several weeks old now. among them there is only one which is smaller than the rest and low on energy. Mamor has not yet set Brown free; he thinks the puppies need brown and he on his own can not take care of the puppies. Mamor recons the Puppies are too young to be on the street. This winter is tough. The municipality has also come hard after the dogs. Over six hundred centre dogs were killed by the municipality in Kabul. The surviving centre dogs have fled to the outskirts like Rahmatabad. There is a lot of chaos in the dogs’ kingdom. The city and wild strains of dogs have intruded in the dwelling of mountain dogs making it hard for Brown puppies to survive. Wild dogs are facing heavy snows and fewer preys; compelled to tumble down the cities. Mamor believes that the puppies might fall a piece of rations for the large hungry packs. It was a few days ago that the garrison troopers had enough of wild dogs and set out on a shooting spree. After the shooting Mamor is even more reluctant to put puppies on the street, where they belong. Mamor is trying to find relatives and friends who would take the puppies; I am thinking of taking one too.

Stop Pitying Afghans

2009-01-12T07:16:00.000Z

The image of Afghans is deteriorating in the ISAF outlook but here I am not to write about that rather vice versa which as well follows parallel trend. If the west wants a change in Afghanistan then they should make a change by taking the Pity out of the system.

I had to squeeze further toward Hakimi to fit one or two more people in the room. It is a small room, with cushions carefully laid all around the room, about to witness stories of soviet war veterans. I am sitting in front of the door at the top of the room. No one else was prepared to take the place at the top reserving for each other as a sign of respect. Today is the engagement of a mate held in Microryan, a Soviet built apartment complex; perceived as one of the major constructions Afghanistan has ever undertaken. Ironically, the room is packed with people of Panjshir a tribe -now a province - which ferociously fought the soviets. During the ten years of soviet occupation; Red Army launched seven major offensives involving up to three regiments, mechanised, infantry and Airborne, backed by squadrons of gunships and jet bombers but they never pierced through the valley. Panjshiris are today a close ally of Americans in their fight against the Taliban, originating from the Pashton south.

Everyone except me and a couple of my mates are soviet war veterans of older age. It is snowing outside today and quite cold, my breath stands in front of me as white cloud, but that changed as the veterans warmed up the room with their passionate stories. Mullah Abdullah is 50 something years old and has spent a few years in soviet prison where he learned to speak Russian and got to know the soviets better. He was later appointed as an advisor to a prominent Massood commander for the knowledge of soviets he possessed. He spoke of tortures and atrocities in the prison but he also acknowledged the humanity of some officers; a general sense of respect for his old tough enemies. Panjshiris are famous for speaking a loud now that they were excited I could hear them echoing in the room. Listening to the stories I found a quality of respect for the soviet soldiers and officers. It is not unusual for soldiers to come to respect their fierce foes. Winston Churchill admired Sinn Fein Guerrillas and Boer commandos during his struggle with them in 1899-1900 and later but despised the pacifist Indian revolutionaries. Obviously, respect and appreciation of soviets could not be contributed to one factor. Afghans have a deep sense of Nostalgia. Their identities seem to be bolted in the past as the future remains too uncertain to be planned or even thought of. Whatever the underlying reasons for respecting soviets over western NATO would be; it for sure is a point for Nato to ponder about. ‘The other day Americans came to my village. While climbing my garden fence, a very short one, a soldier asked another chubby one to hold his hand. I went to tell him, soviets had a base on the top of the sheer cliff behind you and everyday they were climbing without holding hands. You better pray we all don’t turn against you or you’ll see hell on earth.’ Said Mullah Abdullah. A pleasant soldier who hands out a pack of biscuits, then takes a picture of it with a group of children to hang on his refrigerator only reinforces pitifullness. He, in the eyes of Mullah Abdullah, does not deserve respect.

When I was telling a civilian member of NATO that Taliban has spent most of their life acquiring what they consider knowledge, was not believable for her. ‘Their views and treatment of women are atrocious. How could they have any knowledge?’ was her response. Taliban are seen as stupid oppressors in general at ISAF with extremely irrational views. It seems now that the biggest mistake ISAF mandated Nato has made is undermining Taliban. They were thought of as a barbarian gang incapable of any reorganisation. It was yesterday I read an article in a western newspaper about Mullah Omar, the leader of Taliban, and his close associates fleeing from cave to cave. Taliban might be irrational or inarticulate but that doesn’t make them stupid. If Taliban were stupid why can’t the Nato prevail; it doesn’t take much to play the stupid. Afghans, in general, are seen as backward and poor while Nato soldier in his fully isolated camp continue to live a life of home, some unaware which country they are serving in. The soldier is nice as his nature commands to be, to the people he pities. This attitude goes back all the way to Nato’s system, policy and any future strategy. The aid system they have devised is pitiful. Until the west abandons this mindset of inferioriting and pitying Afghans the insurgency seem to persist; taliban won’t be understood; an unknown enemy is hard to beat. Western soldiers patrolling urban streets or country orchards lack any sense of connection with ordinary Afghans; they don’t need to understand Afghans, as Estonians or any other eastern Europeans are not understood by British or Germans, they need to be respected and taken on equal terms.

I am finding it hard to connect with my old Kabul mates as they have gradually become pessimistic and anti-western. ‘why do they feed us with propaganda about human rights and equal values while they perceive Afghan women as chattels of pleasure for the criminal warlord’ said Rahmat after learning Americans had distributed Viagra sexual stimulus pill among some village elders as a bribe. Rahmat’s frustration is rooted in the discrepancy he sees between NATO message and historical as well as current conduct of politics. The strategic need to intervene in Afghanistan has been deceitfully communicated to the policies implemented. The general perception of the intervening western armies is to assist Afghans as oppose to stabilise the government, root out the Taliban and terrorism … increasing Afghan pessimism and distrust has created contempt in the western circles. Contempt combined with pitying is not a good combination. ‘We do you a favour by being here therefore you should stay obedient’ need to be kicked out of the current Afghan episode.

education means earning more money

2009-01-08T06:26:00.003Z

Education and more education mean more earning power. In Afghanistan, those extra earnings are often just pocket change but a new drift is emerging which translates to more than pocket change.
***
Abraham started a new career. He sells phone top up cards in his new shop. He has some other products but finds it hard to compete with his neighbour shops. The only thing he can sell is phone top up card; even that doesn’t pay off well but the shop is better than his old job in Iran which had no pay. Abraham is back in the neighbourhood where he is known as Powderi. Don’t get it wrong; he is not an addict contrary to the impression one would get from his nickname. Nevertheless the word ‘powder’ is used around the shop rows to refer to Heroin, something sold next to him. in the shop which only opens for a few certain hours after customer agreed to meet at a certain time. Abraham is a fostered child; he was brought up on formula which is a form of powder. Abraham has six or seven of each Roshan, Itesalat, NTM and AWCC top up cards at various denominations keeping it in his pocket as he sunwarms outside his shop. ‘200 units of MTN’ said a boy while holding a 500 note in his hand. Abraham started to fumble through the collection to find the 200. ‘what are you doing? Do you have MTN ’ said the boy. Abraham give the boy a 500 unit but the boy told him it was more than what he needs. Then the boy pointed to the 200 unit and asked Abraham to give it to him. ‘hang on! It is not 200 units. Are you sure it is 200?’. Abraham can’t read, he relies on customer to choose one but also makes a quarrel to ensure the customer is not taking more. it took him about 10 minutes to choose the right denomination and count the correct amount of change.
The next day when I came to hang out with Abraham he was sad and had bad news he had lost 400 Afgs; after which had had given up on selling top up cards. A customer got a 500 worth credit for 100Afgs. Abraham was not sure; he had got to know the colours and design; ‘the pink one is 500 units, you need a green’. But there was no way he could be certain.
***
Education and basic literacy seem to pay off better than ever. Better education is the way for many Afghans seeking better life through greater income. not everybody can be a minister, religious politician, judge and police chief or a relative of these which are the shortcuts to being rich. It is interesting to note that this relationship between education and earnings potential has been realised in the last five years. Education for the older generation meant a modest life, quite often worst than illiterate entrepreneurs, but it ensured no hard labour. In fact the difference in income level with education has grown significantly after the educated managed to set up businesses or found lucrative jobs in the reconstruction efforts after international intervention.
We are four years to the end of the United Nations Literacy Decade (2003-2012) yet in Afghanistan the general literacy rate is only 29%. Today some of this 29% have the opportunity today to reap the benefits they grew with their pens. For many youths literacy is central to developing the many skills that they require to survive and make money. This is all truer when a country and its populace have been decimated. After decades of war, 43% of the Afghan population is under 15 years of age.
Many girls enjoy good income working for international organisation and businesses; yet there the common public is dubious of it being a social trend. It is rather seen as ephemeral; reaffirmed by the perception of the government reflected in their girls empowerment policy. despite 85% of women and girls being illiterate in Afghanistan, the state allocated budget fund in this regard constitute a few million dollar a fragment of President Karzai’s business profit.
In Afghanistan, the number of girls going to school is less than half the number of school boys, and even in some regions like Zabul, this ratio is 3% / 97%; though the number of male and female populations aging between 6-18 year old dont have a considerable difference.

I was relaxing on a stone in the corner of a street in a residential part of west Kabul. Young boys and girls carrying a bag or books attracted my attention as they walk about their business. My first instinct was they probably go to school; I shortly found out Abuzar Ghafari School was close by. I decided to go and check out the school. At first I had mistaken the place for a prison or military post until I noticed the children hustling by the entrance gate. They were not allowed in; I waded my way through the crowd to reach the gate. I found the school empty. There were not many teachers around, the few present were keeping warm in a sunny corner. I asked the teacher if they were going to teach today but apparently they are off and students are not supposed to be here. I did not get answer when I asked ‘then what are you doing here?’. Students shouting aloud were neither interested in studying. On the part of teachers, not everybody wants to work. Employees rather goof around until the pay day; it takes a bit of professionalism, feeling responsible and organisational procedures to get teacher into classes. Students general rather dodge studying, it is up to adults to get them interested and get them into the habit of studying. Students tend to escape school, fences and barbwire were set up to keep the children inside the compound. When students are not educated in the school but confined to the compound it inevitable culminates in dire consequences including school seen as a waste of time and abridged interest by parents to send children to school. Imprisoned students develop an attitude to commit vandalism, bullying and fatal accidents. Abuzar Ghafari school was recently built by Turks, the construction work is not yet finished while buildings, chairs, tables and windows have been damaged or destroyed. Students daily smash windows and doors in order to gain access to places where they are not supposed to go or steal books or other school property.
Bullying is very common on school compounds. Educators have a duty to ensure that students have a safe learning environment. But they are part of bullying; educators from headmaster to school watchman in turn beat students. Often teachers get a group of bullies to beat another student. Bullying can be a sign of other serious antisocial and/or violent behavior. Children who frequently bully their peers are more likely than others to:
• Get into frequent fights;
• Be injured in a fight;
• Vandalize or steal property;
• Drop out of school; and
Children as young as age of 9 have realised they need to learn to have a better income; many turn to private training centres for education. In a small residential suburb in west of Kabul there are around 10 private centres teaching English, Computer, Math and Science. I went to visit one which was pack with students aging from 30 to 8.
In Jowzjan province girls are unable to go to school because there is no school for girls. Private literacy and training centres are mushrooming including two in Gharghin district. Family poverty is the formidable factor for inability of children to go to schools. Average income per capita is less than $US 200 in Afghanistan. Meanwhile only 13.5% of families have access to sustainable income sources and economic vulnerability of families has direct impact on lack ofeducation.
Virtually all Afghan girls are children workers but they are not paid and regarded as working children. Girls as young as six years old are doing household work; this is full day work plus looking after children.
The economics of politics in Afghanistan will sustain current market oligopoly. The influence of political forces on the economy combines market and employment performance elements to exclude many from taking part and enjoying the benefits of participation. Some aspects which could result in exclusion are social and economic structures, gender relations, ethnic identities and spatial patterns of production. In the present condition this pattern of market performance is reinforced. The theory of dripping from rich to the poor has a wide application, even to the condition of Afghanistan.

زنده گی در کابل

2009-01-05T07:53:00.000Z

اینجا برای ماندن من ادعا کم است
شهریست پر ملالت و در جاده ها بم است
اینجا باور بودن محال شد
یک سو سکوت، یک سو انتحار با بم است
در شاهراه عاطفه این عابر غریب
چهارراه زنده گی تندیس یک وهم است
در انتهای دهکده ما بنام عشق
خاطره فرار از این خطه تنها مجسم است
بر بال های خسته احساس این عقاب
آری، باور پرواز هنوز محکم است

از دوستم حکیمی با بعضی چوبکزدنها خودم

The problem of Palestinian is, they fail both in making peace and war

2009-01-05T06:14:00.003Z

It is up to Palestinians to raise their voice against the tyranny of hamas. I have not heard a single voice from among Palestinians to condemn hamas rocket slinging. It has been over eight years that they continue to violet the cease fire treaty signed with Israel. What does hamas want war or peace? If peace then the world has facilitated for that to happen; war is an option too. Israel doesn’t seem to hesitate to bring it to them. I went to the friday protest in Kabul to see what they wanted; it bugged me to see muslims whinging and pitying Palestinians.

‘down with Israel’

‘Allah give us another Hitler to annihilate the rest of the jews’

‘we will fight to the last blood drop against the jews’

Were some of the slogans the crowd was chanting angrily.

In politics, one does not reject the offer of one's rival at once, in a fit of anger. One must thoroughly study the alternatives to the proposal rejected. Does the Palestinian side have viable alternatives that it has not revealed?... If the alternative is a bi-national state (as apparently proposed Sari Nusseibeh, who now seems to regret his previous moderateness), or the intifada of the Al-Qassam Brigades and Al-Aqsa Brigades, (an option which has been tried without success) – then it is nothing but the last piece of evidence that the Palestinian leaders... have not learned a thing from their past mistakes.

This must be done in order to avert a disastrous and final division of Palestine – with the West Bank given to Jordan and Gaza to Hamas or to Egypt – which will consign the name of Palestine to the annals of history. This disaster is not inconceivable, but is in fact rather likely. A solution to the Palestinian problem is crucial for the stability of the Middle East… just as the oil and the petrodollars are crucial for the recovery of world economy, which is in crisis. International diplomacy will not wait around until some of the Palestinian leaders recover from their rejectionism.

The first step in recovering from rejectionism is applying self-criticism: admitting that many Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims are their own worst enemies, and that they are the ones who bring disasters upon themselves – not the Zionists, Imperialists, Free Masons, Communists, or else globalization or the New World Order – as claimed by the discourse that presents the Arabs as victims and drives them back to the stage of childish whining and pitiness. The inability of the Palestinian leaders so far to agree on a national dialogue plan for conciliation between Hamas and Fatah is the main reason why they have failed to implement their national goals. The history of the 20th century teaches us that no national liberation movement achieved victory while its people were fighting one another. The Zionist movement, for example, consisted of various political factions, but its armed forces were united, and there was one source of political authority, and this... is one of the most important secrets of its success.

The Egyptian initiative for Palestinian conciliation, which is supervised by one of Egypt's most prominent minds represent one of the last opportunities to find a solution for Fatah's inability to make peace and Hamas' inability to make war. For the intelligent among the Hamas members, this is undoubtedly a golden opportunity to get past the psychological barrier that has kept them from finally shifting from religion to politics, from adherence to the laws of the shari'a in handling political affairs to a policy of respecting international resolutions, such as the U.N. resolution on the establishment of Israel and the principle of negotiating with Israel towards the establishment of a Palestinian state. Muslims narrow minded and stubborn view of the world through the dogmas of Sharia preoccupies them with the question of justice as oppose to political realities.

Hamas Political Bureau Head Khaled Mash'al did recognize Israel as 'an existing reality,' but in international law, half-recognition is non-recognition. Hamas must recognize Israel legally – a step that requires an official statement recognizing all the official International resolutions that the PLO and PA have recognized. In Palestinian history, these words will be written in letters of gold in Palestinian history, for they will be the fuel that will move the engine of the becalmed Palestinian-Israeli peace process.

Many Muslims politicians continue to suffer from a closed-minded blindness. Palestinian politicians maintain the pathological aspirations to liberate all of Mandatory Palestine, and the Iranians have a deranged desire for an atomic bomb. the Afghan politicians are a bunch of shitheads who has no rationality and intellectual integrity other than Islam should rule. These politicians do not see the real challenges. But the fact on the ground is that all of them will eventually have to be realistic and accept the need for Arab-Israeli-Turkish-Iranian cooperation that will steer them forwards instead of wasting time, money and blood on the murderous dialectic of war and resistance...

The Friday after Eid

2008-12-19T06:51:00.000Z

The Friday after Eid

Fridays

Every week has one Friday;

There are 51 Fridays in a year;

Friday is the day before the weekend; Friday is the weekend; Friday is the day after the weekend;

Money can’t buy you any Friday;

There are plenty of Fridays in the war;

Money

Unlike Friday money is not a day of the week;

Money is cash;

Friend of man;

Foe of man; rather man foe of man over money;

***

Last Friday

Irshad asked his mother if she had received a call from Kabul bank where he has deposited 5000 Afgs to participate in Bakhat, meaning Luck, account. ‘no darling’ said his mother. ‘I am not lucky.’ He told me with confidence in his eyes ‘if I were I would have had 10000 Afg’. Irshad collects money during a year for Eid times so he can buy presents and have good time. 5000 was all he colleted but he needed 10000 so he deposited the money in the bank to participate in a draw of multiple 5000s. in a desperate attempt to make 10000 Irshad left a note outside the window of his bedroom for Santa Claus. ‘My dear generous Santa Claus, I only managed to deposit 5000 this year but I need 10000 for my Eid expenses. Please be kind enough and bring 5000 for me. I have been real good this year.’ Read the letter. in the morning he found the same letter frozen in dew.’Baba Nohil doesn’t exist, does it?’ he asked sanjar. ‘you have to leave a note on your door … Santa only read doors … he can’t know otherwise’ said sanjar in an attempt to revive his believe in edgeless frontiers of childhood optimism and probabilities. ‘When can we go to withdraw my money, eid is soon upon us.’ asked Irshad. it was in the afternoon of last Friday that Masseh, Irshad and mother went to the Branch in the commercial area of town so the children could go on a shopping spree after the withdrawal. Both Masseh and Irshad knew what was new for this year’s Eid; they had seen it owned by impatient neighbourhood mates who have already made purchases. Masseh went to Roshan Tower to buy a Spiderman suit. he was feeling rather sticky; he had seen the film the Friday before. Masseh also wanted ‘The Big Book of Action Stickers’; it is stuffed with photos and stickers of planes, cars, pirates and all the good stuff Masseh loves.

***

Last Friday

‘Poverty has one cause; the same fourteen hundred years ago and today. God has warned us of it and in his mercifulness instructed us on ways to eradicate it. it is the fourth pillar of our religion. It is Zakat - alms.’ Said the Mullah in Rahmatabad mosque while along the same words were mimic isomorphised in all Kabul mosques. ‘Why didn’t he make money grow on the trees’ whispered the parsimonious. ‘Why did he create poverty?’ whispered in confusion the cynic and ask the negative question ‘Why didn’t he give it a Farsi or Pashto name instead of Zakat so I understand the concept’. ‘Eid is time of happiness and celebration and the rich must help the poor. The rich must make an animal sacrifice and distribute it among the poor. The rich must give poor wheat as their Eid Wattir. The rich must give poor money so they can join this holy occasion.’ added the mullah.

***

Last Friday, this Friday, the Fridays before and one Friday

The mullah at Rahmatabad mosque is spending all the afternoon and evening in the mosque nibbling on Hallwa’s and the food provided by the locality. Every Friday a family is offering a feast to smear his belly and keep his mind sound in order to receive the critical piece of mind. Last Friday he was joined by his son in the mosque; someone has got to buy the kid an Eid present.

***

Last Friday

Abraham started a new career. He sells phone top up cards on the junction. It doesn’t pay off well but it is better than his old job in Iran which had no pay. Abraham is back in the neighbourhood where is known as Powderi. Don’t get it wrong; he is not an addict contrary to the impression one would get from his nickname. Nevertheless powder is used around the junction to refer to Heroin, something sold next to him. Abraham is a fostered child; he was brought up on formula which is a form of powder. Abraham has six or seven of each Roshan, Itesalat, NTM and AWCC top up cards at various denominations waving it about faces. ‘200 units of Roshan’ said a man as he rolled down his car window. Abraham took 200Afgs and started to fumble through the collection to find the 200. ‘what are you doing? You have Roshan in your right hand’ said the man in the car. ‘which one?’ asked Abraham. The man chose one and took it. ‘hang on! It is not 200 units. Are you sure it is 200?’. Abraham can’t read, he relies on customer to choose one but also makes a quarrel to ensure the customer is not taking more.

***

This Friday

Abraham lost 400 Afgs. He will no longer be able to sell top up cards as the store owner won’t lend him. A customer got a 500 worth credit for 100Afgs. Abraham was not sure; he had got to know the colours and design; ‘the pink one is 500 units, you need a green’. But there was no way he could be certain.

***

A couple of days before this Friday

Irshad presented his nephew Zaid with a Baby Baggie and a teddy bear. He spent his saving for Eid to buy presents for his 8 months old nephew. ‘I wanted to make him happy. I can save more money. I’ll buy what I want next year’ told Irshad to Zaid’s mother. Presents make eid a happy time; some like to have them, another wants to give them, another wants the-others to give them to ‘others’.