The true enemy: human tribalism

The clash of civilizations we're living through is widely seen as a battle
between Islam and Christendom. I'm convinced it's more basic than that. The
reason Iraq and Afghanistan remain unsettled battlefields isn't that our two
civilizations can't agree on the nature of God. It's because we can't agree
on the nature of man.

In the West, we take it for granted that human beings are autonomous
individuals. We decide for ourselves how we dress, where we work, whom we
marry. Our political system is an atomized democracy, in which everyone is
expected to vote according to their own idiosyncratic values and interests.
Our pop music and movies are about misunderstood loners. The ethos of
individual empowerment fuels daytime talk shows.

Individualism has become so fundamental to the Western world view that most
of us cannot imagine any other way of conceiving human existence. But in
fact, there are billions of people on Earth -- including most of the world's
Muslims -- that view our obsession with individualism as positively bizarre.

In most of South Asia and the Middle East, humans are viewed not primarily
as individuals, but as agents of a family, tribe, clan or sect. As Rutgers
scholar Robin Fox wrote in a brilliant essay -- excerpted in last month's
issue of Harper's magazine -- this explains why so many Arabs marry their
cousins. In tribal societies, your blood relations are the only people you
can trust.

This fundamental difference in outlook explains much of what we find
barbaric about traditional Muslim cultural practices. Honour killings -- to
take a newsworthy example -- strike Westerners as a particularly horrific
species of murder. But that's because we think of people as individuals. If
you instead see a woman primarily as a low-status breeding agent of her
patriarch's clan, everything changes. By taking up with an unapproved male,
she is nullifying whatever value she once had as a human. In fact, her life
has negative value in the sense that her shameful lifestyle is an ongoing
humiliation to the men expected to enforce discipline within the clan's
ranks.

An intractably tribal outlook also makes Western-style democracy impossible
-- which explains why nation-building in Afghanistan and Iraq has become
such a thankless slog.

The reason many of us post-9/11 hawks had such high hopes for these
campaigns is that we shared George W. Bush's sunny claim that "Freedom is
universal. Freedom is etched in everybody's soul." It turns out that's not
true. As Fox notes, freedom and individualism are relatively recent
development in human history. Tribalism, on the other hand, is a deeply
rooted instinct that has been "etched" on our evolutionary psychology since
simian days. Even in Western societies, you can still see it rise to the
surface when tensions flare (a point Paul Haggis made with exquisite
artistry in his Oscar-award winning film Crash).

Democracy requires consensus-building and shared values. But in tribal
societies, politics is viewed as a battle of all-against-all, in which the
strongest tribe openly appropriates the state apparatus to enrich itself at
everyone else's expense.

In this regard, Saddam Hussein was the ultimate tribal leader. Not only did
he restrict his inner circle to Sunnis, but they were Sunnis from his own
narrow Tikriti sub-clan. The idea of creating a "representative" government
that includes Kurds and Shiites with their own independent power bases would
have struck him as completely insane. So would the idea of handing over
power to another tribe merely because its leaders chalked up more votes in
an election. During most of human history, letting another tribe lord over
yours meant yielding the power to pillage your granaries and rape your
women. (In parts of Africa, it still does.)

This explains why the United States and NATO have gotten nowhere with grand
national political projects in Iraq and Afghanistan, which are both
intensely tribal societies. Instead, progress has come at the micro level --
with military commanders sitting down with individual tribal patriarchs and,
essentially, bribing them with guns and money. In the West, we call that
corruption. In tribal societies, it's politics.

Is there something about Islam that serves to lock in mankind's inherently
tribal instincts? Perhaps. The word Islam translates to "submission." And
empirically speaking, there seems to be something within the faith that
discourages individualism and the democratic freedoms associated with it.

On the other hand, the non-Muslim nations of sub-Saharan Africa are every
bit as tribalized as the Muslim nations of North Africa and Asia. And for
all the media focus on Aqsa Parvez, several of Canada's first honour murders
actually were performed by Sikhs. In any case, the successful integration of
hundreds of thousands of Muslims into Canadian society shows that, after a
generation or two, at least, the faith hardly prevents immigrants from
coming around to our democratic, individualistic ways.

As for foreign entanglements, it's worth noting Fox's warning that our own
Western march to individualism took centuries -- a grinding process in which
we moved "from tribalism, through empire, feudalism, mercantile capitalism
and the industrial revolution shrugging off communism and fascism along the
way."

In Iraq and Afghanistan, we are essentially asking the locals to cram all of
this into a few years. We shouldn't be surprised if it takes a little
longer.

taliban call

Taliban leader Mullah Omar on Tuesday called on foreign forces to withdraw from Afghanistan and taunted NATO about its capture of the southern town of Musa Qala, saying celebrating such a small victory only showed its weakness.

This year has seen a steady escalation of violence in Afghanistan with attacks up around 25 percent since 2006, but neither the hardline Taliban nor Afghan government and international forces have gained any significant advantage.

"The aggression by the Americans and their allies against Afghanistan and Iraq brought with it economic and financial losses that affected not just occupied states, but the aggressors are also suffering," Omar said in a message to mark the Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday beginning in Afghanistan on Wednesday.

"Therefore, international institutions and all countries, especially Muslim states, should find ways for the evacuation of aggressor forces, and along with occupied nations help form a permanent and independent government," the Pakistan-based Afghanistan International Press (AIP) quoted a statement as saying.

The one-eyed reclusive leader said no occupying power had ever conquered Afghanistan and the Taliban was getting stronger each day.

The Taliban, he said, "have troubled them so much that they are propagating and celebrating a partial occupation of the small district of Musa Qala, the way they did six years ago over occupation of Afghanistan."

بر اثر یک حمله انتحاری در ولایت بغلان دست کم بیش از چهل تن کشته و 140 تن دیگر زخمی شدند

در میان کشته شدگان سید مصطفی کاظمی رئیس کمیسیون اقتصاد پارلمان، صبغت الله ذکی نماینده تخار، عارف ظریف نماینده کندز، انجنیر عبدالمتین نماینده هلمند و نازکمیر سر فراز، شامل اند. زمری بشری سخنگوی وزارت امور داخله می گوید که تعداد کشته و زخمی ها به بیشتر از 40 تن می رسد.

غلام مصطفی جواد معین وزارت، شکریه عیسی خیل، سید داود هاشمی ، هاشم فولاد و عبدالسلام قاضی زاده از وکلای ولسی جرگه ، امیر گل قوماندان محلی بغلان، و به شمول تعداد از ژورنالیستان و شمار زیاد از مردم محلی و شاگردان مکاتب از زخمی شدگان این حمله انتحاری می باشند.

این حمله عصر روز سه شنبه 15 عقرب زمانی رخ داد که هیئت اقتصادی پارلمان کشور، بمنظور افتتاح فابریکه بازسازی شده قند سازی در ولسوالی بغلان جدید، می رفتند.

گفته می شود شخص انتحار کننده زمانی خود را به کاروان از نمایندگان ولسی جرگه تصادم داد که تعداد زیاد از باشندگان این ولسوالی به شمول کودکان و اطفال برای استقبال از مهمانان آمده بودند.

آمار گوناگون

هر چند تا هنوز آمار دقیق در دست نیست اما مطابق ارقام که داکتران شفاخانه ها در ولایت بغلان داده اند، نشان می دهد که کشته شدگان بیش از چهل تن و زخمی شدگان نیز بیشتر از 145 تن می باشند.

محمد یوسف فایز، رئیس شفاخانه مرکزی پلخمری در مورد گفت :" تنها در شفاخانه مرکزی پلخمری بیش از 45 تن زخمی حساب شده است."

شفاخانه بغلان نیز از حدود 40 زخمی و 5 کشته خبر داده است.

شفاخانه حیدری در پلخمری 10 مجروح و 5 کشته از این حادثه مرگبار را آمار داده است.

قرار است چند لحظه بعد اجساد کشته شده ها به کابل آورده شود.

شمال افغانستان معمولاً از این نوع حملات انتحاری بعد از سقوط طالبان در امان بوده است و این اولین حمله انتحاری �

entire first province to be captured by Taliban

جنگجویان طالب ادعای تصرف ولسوالی کجران ولایت دایکندی  را دارند.

سلطان على ارزگانى والى دايکندى  با تایید این خبر مگوید که طالبان شب گذشته از سه استقامت بالای ولسوالی حمله نموده و ولسوالى کجران را تحت تصرف در آوردند .

 قارى يوسف احمدى سخنگوى طالبان می گوید که درولسوالى کجران ٤ عسکر دولتى را کشته و ٤ تن ديگر را اسیر گرفته اند.

به گفته وی دو عراده موتر پيکپ، ده ميل سلاح خفيف، يک پايه ماشيندار دهشکه و يک پايه زيکويک نيز بدست طالبان افتيده است.

این درحالیست که جنگجویان طالب هفته گذشته ولسوالی های گستان وبکواه ولایت فراه را نیز به تصرف خویش درآورده بود.

an Afghan journalist missing around with Koran

Ghows Zalmay is a media professional. I know him for quite sometime. He has published a new translation of the Koran. Zalmay has been arrested after complaints from religious scholars that the new edition was un-Islamic. He was arrested on the border on Sunday while trying to flee into Pakistan. Demonstrators protested in two Afghan provinces against the new translation of the Koran into Dari, the second most spoken language in Afghanistan. Religious scholars are outraged at Mr Zalmay's new edition of the Muslim holy book.

They say that it is un-Islamic, that it misinterprets verses about alcohol, begging, homosexuality and adultery. They also complain that it does not contain the original version in Arabic as a parallel text for comparison. I have no idea why zalmay would do this, I have known him as somebody who would go with the stream as long as it serves his purpose. I don’t see no benefit for him in misinterpreting Koran. Zalmai was the head of the so-called journalist union and at the same time the spokesperson for attorney general, two conflict positions, especially when the attorney general is an anti media crusader.  

The Afghan constitution enshrines freedom of expression, but for many Afghans that freedom has clear limits. Religion is a taboo, there is zero tolerance to people who talk about religion.
 

Taliban behead Afghan man and woman, police say

Afghan police have found the beheaded bodies of two Afghan civilians in Ghazni province, southwest of the capital Kabul, the provincial police chief said on Saturday.
Taliban insurgents have beheaded dozens of people in Afghanistan in the last two years, accusing them of aiding the pro-Western Afghan government and foreign forces the hardline Islamist insurgents are battling to oust.
"We were informed by local residents that the bodies of a man and a woman were found beheaded in the Rashidan district," said Ghazni police chief Ali Shah Ahmadzai. "The Taliban kidnapped them from the same district three days ago. "The Taliban insurgents accused them of spying and providing information about the Taliban to foreign and Afghan forces in the area," he told Reuters.
But a Taliban spokesman denied any involvement in the killing and said it might have been the result of tribal enmity.
"It must have been the work of the Taliban militants," said Ahmadzai. "The Taliban kill people by beheading, no one else."
So far this year, Afghan authorities have found about 15 beheaded bodies of Afghans in Ghazni province.
Further south, a Dutch soldier was killed by a bomb in the province of Uruzgan, the Dutch military said on Saturday.

عساکرآلماني په جنوب افغانستان ارسال نمي شود

آنگلا مرکل صدرعظم کشورآلمان که دریک سفر غیر منتظره وارد کابل پایتخت افغانستان شده است امروزصبح طی کنفرانس مشترک مطبوعاتی با حامد کرزی رییس جمهورکشور گفت: این کشور با کمال میل جهت بازسازی  برای دولت افغانستان کمک می کند.

میرکل ازملاقات رییس جمهور کرزی اظهارخوشی نموده اضافه کرد که محور این ملاقات  آموزش پولیس وتجهیزآنها بود.

 

به گفته صدرعظم  آلمان عساکر آلمانی که درشمال افغانستان درچوکات نیروهای ناتو مصروف فعالیت های نظامی می باشند برای مدت باقی خواهند ماند وبه جنوب افغانستان اعزام نمی شوند، وصرف ازلحاظ تجهيزات به نیروهای که مصروف جنگ با شورشیان طالب هستند آنها را کمک می کند.

 

این اولین سفر خانم مرکل به افغانستان مى باشد. خانم مرکل دراین نشست خبری افزود: دولت آلمان مصمم است، دولت افغانستان را دربخش های اقتصادی، باسازی و بخصوص درعرصه خود کفایی وبهترشدن وضیعت زندگی زنان افغان کمک نماید

به گفته وی المان در شش سال اخیر مبلغ 850 میلیون دالر را دربازسازی افغانستان به مصرف رسانیده تا سال 2010 این رقم به یک میلیارد دالر خواهد رسید.

صدراعظم آلمان همچنین با سربازان آلمانی حاضر در افغانستان دیدار می کند.

سربازان آلمانی همراه با نیروهای بین المللی در شمال افغانستان حضور دارند. تعداد این سربازان به سه هزار و پانصد نفر می رسد که مسئوولیت آنها تامین امنیت برای طرح های بازسازی افغانستان می باشد.

منطقه شمال افغانس�

why i don't see future for afghanistan?

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

latest

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

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

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

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

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

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

RSF report

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

 

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

 

 

kite runner

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

mullah omar eid message

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

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

Eid Mubarak to the whole Muslims Ummah

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

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

Assalmualeikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Eid Mubarak for all,

Walaikum Assalam Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu

Serviceman of Islam, Mullah Mohammad Omar

negotiation is moving with taliban

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

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

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

competitive duplication of TV series in afghanistan

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

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

 

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

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

afghan civilian death compensation scheme

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

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

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

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

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

UN publishes report on suicide bombing by Nato

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

iranian reporter arrested

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

new solar plant benefits 1000 households

 

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

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

 

 

18000 foreign labour in Afghanistan

 

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

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

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

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

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

have your say

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

Click here

My question:

Mr. President,

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

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

negotiating with terror: making peace or surrendering

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

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

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

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

 

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

The Taliban spokesman has accepted negotiations

Source: al emerah (Taliban voice)

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

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

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

afghan journalist arrested

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

بیش از سه صد تن ورثه شهدا ومعلولین ...

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

possible cultural repruction

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

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

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

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

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

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

growth and decline of afghan media and telecommunication

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

 

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

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

 

 

 

 

a post ideological afghanistan

 

 

I went to General Staff College the other day, senior army officers and generals go to GSC for specialized training and in service skill building. GSC is the most prestigious military academy in Afghanistan.  Around twenty brigade and regiment commanders came to kabul from around the country to participate in two week seminar, telling them what is happening in the country and how things are developing. I thought it would be useful to talk with them and get them on our side.

 

I am happy I went there to talk with them, so I could give them a different perspective into issues. most of Afghan Armed Forces (AAF) general and senior officer undergo extensive training by Americans, security contractors such as Dycorps and other NATO mentors. AAF, especially police force is the public face of the government and the most important pillar of law enforcement. But AAF has been accused of corruption and low discipline. The government, Nato and international community haven’t thoroughly looked at the decision making process and judgment of commanders, and it’s connection with the kind of training they acquire as well as it’s significance in AAF performance.

 

The trainers in GSC and other AAF academies decent in the compound without much knowledge of where they are, an official in GSC who wanted to remain anonymous told me, a visiting American trainer after a few days in GSC found out that he was in Afghanistan. Foreign AAF trainers might have the best skill and knowledge but they are detached from Afghanistan and lack communication and language ability to pass optimal skills to Afghans and to learn about Afghanistan. Even if foreign trainers were willing to communicate more effectively and in a trust building manner they wouldn’t be able  to do it because they rotate every three months and that wouldn’t give them a chance to learn much. 

 

The time of communication in GSC is very persuasive and designed to reform social attitude of the Afghan officers, persistent seminars comprises social influences capable of producing substantial behavior and attitude change through the use of persuasion tactics, via interpersonal and group-based influences. this could be considered.

 

I am sitting there and waiting for my turn to tell them about Afghan media. Before me Colonel O’Brian from US army is telling them about the importance of media in covering the success of army. But he could not outline a single story afghan or international media on afghan army and it’s potential influence on public perception.

All the examples he give was either about WW II or Vietnam or Balkans or Cold war. O’Brian also mentioned the name of broadcasters and agencies, it was either CBS, BBC, NPR or some other western agency. I do think O’Brian was sincere in telling them media is important and the army should help media cover the war but the way he was telling has proved to be counterproductive. The commanders of Afghan army get to hear about western journalism and they start to respect western journalism. We have seen western journalist have been provided with information by the army that they would never offer to afghan media, western media has been extended especial courtesies while Afghan media has been restricted by the army. When a discussion started on the latest military stories in media, Afghan generals were of course talking what they have seen on Afghan broadcasters but O’Brian was saying “I can’t comment on that, but there was a story on BBC…..” since he was leading the discussion he went on to analyze the story. I think this is a great way to undermine Afghan media. If the significance of Afghan media is not stressed by O’Brian, an Afghan commander would less value it. O’Brian tells all sort of anecdotes about some little town paper and how they mobilized the town community, these sorts of anecdotes glorifies American way of living and indirectly misrepresent afghan media. Glorifying American way of reporting and journalism would negatively represent Afghan media in the eyes of army generals.  

 

Colonel O’Brian continues his speech on media, the discussion comes to Aljazeera and the officers condemn the station for having links with Taliban and Alqaida. O’Brain says; Aljazeera is not the example of a good media, what kind of journalism is propagating the message of hatred. It’s bad media. They are showing footage of Taliban crimes. Medley a civilian media advisor to NATO adds; media professionals deny any link between media and violence, but there is, media has exacerbated a conflict to genocide in Rwanda in 1994. Taliban had a radio station, Radio Sharia, propagating their version of Islam.

 

Clearly, O’Brian and Medley, two senior Nato representative (one military and the other civilian) don’t understand that Aljazeera has a broader agenda which extends behind reporting. If Aljazeera gets exclusive footage from Alqaida and Taliban it shows they are doing a good job. Alqaida and Taliban are the hot topic and Aljazeera is a new channel which came up with format to get access to the hot topic and audience survey shows Aljazeera is growing. This is what media business is about. O’Brian and Medley also forgets that their media promotes violence to and it’s more graphically than Aljazeera. When I was studying in Poland I was attending physical exercise and i was asked, as one does, where I came from. When I said Afghanistan, the girl promptly responded; Oh, Rambo 3, this tells a lot. Since the 1980s and especially since 2002 Hollywood's depiction of Afghans has gradually shown signs of vilifying Afghans.

 

Western media and especially Hollywood not only portraits a violent picture of Afghanistan but it also slanders and humiliate Afghans too. A new Hollywood movie is, called Domino, about four gangsters, one of whom is an Afghan. The Afghan guy betrays his friends and steals their money and sends it to Afghanistan for the war against American, at the end of the movie the Afghan guy blows up a business tower in a suicide attack. In this movie Hollywood shows all sorts of stereotypes that are attributed to Afghans. Domino might be considered as one of the most subversive films released by a major studio since Fight Club.

 

Hollywood network productions such as 24, escape from Afghanistan, the Beast, September 8 shows Afghan villains. Hollywood misrepresents Afghans and their collective identity.   Hollywood pictures showing Afghans holding hostage and bombing buildings and civilians only reinforces western stereotypes of Afghans being untrustworthy, irrational, cruel, and barbaric

 

The 2004 film Alexander by American director Oliver Stone, portraits a negative and inaccurate picture of Hindu Kush people. the movie portrayed Afghans as poor, gay, barbaric farmers that lives in caves and spends their time killing innocent neighbors. Alexander marries Rukhshana in Afghanistan; the movie shows that Afghans are so gay that Alexander and his army arrive to save their women.

 

A new Hollywood movie called "300" which shows a battle between Spartans and Persians. The movie portrays Persians as "deranged, ghastly, ruthless monsters."

The 2007 film 300 was widely criticized for its "racist” portrayal of Persian combatants at the battle of Thermopylae. 300 depicts the east and specifically Persians decadents sexually flamboyant and evil in contrast to the noble Greeks and the west in general. If 300 had been made in Germany in mid 1940s or earlier it would be studied today alongside ‘The Eternal Jew’, a movie with the central thesis that characterize the Jew as a wandering cultural parasiteas, a textbook example of how racist fantasy and myth can serve as an incitement to total war. 

 

We are living in a post ideological era; neither Hollywood nor Aljazeera is considered inflaming. But I believe the American Colonel and the Afghan Colonels still lives in the cold war era and think in ideological terms.