Some misunderstandings could end up in Guantanamo

Faqeer Ahmadi was held captive in Guantanamo on terror connection allegations for over a year. He is 34 years old from Kharwar district of Wardak province. I am going to go back in the chain of events to tell you his story.

*******
The mug is on the small table next to my dad’s picture, the steam of hot tea is coming out dancingly and mixing with the air as it disappears.

I just sat down to taste the spicy green tea which I bought today, I was told a whole lot about it by the salesman, I am holding the mug with a lot of expectations.
The door was knocked as I had my first sip - it was good. Two cops are standing outside the gate, I heard them whispering when I was approaching the door.
“I have fresh spicy tea which I bought today, it’s suppose to be very good, do you want a cup of it?” I asked
They frowned at me “you have a gun, you were supposed to hand it over to the disarmament team!” said one of them.

“Yes but it’s for personal protection and I have a permit” I said.
“You either have to bring it now or we’ll come inside and take it” said the police.
They shoved me aside and were trying to come in. I pushed them back and locked the door, they were punching and kicking the door trying to break in.
I said “you can’t come in, how should I know you are not thieves”
“We have uniform”
“yes, but almost in all thieveries they had police uniform”

The knocking continued for some minutes and then they sat behind the door and told me if I was not going to open they will radio the station to ask for back up and commander to come and I will be arrested. they did so and after a couple of hours there were several more police outside.
One of them with a more authoritative voice introduced himself as the commander and said
- surrender your gun; you are not suppose to have it!
- I don’t have a gun.
- You do, the district chief of intelligence reported to us.

This rang a bill; this afternoon I visited him to tell him I have a rifle with a permit from Kabul for my family protection. He registered the permit and the gun and told me there should be no more paper work and I can take the gun home.

I am now thinking what shall I do, shall I open the gate or not. My brothers and cousins are already in the yard trying to think what to do, but my thought was disturbed by policemen over the walls shouting now I should open.
Didn’t have many choices, they came inside and took me and the gun to the district centre.

I am in the police station in Kharwar district of Wardak province and I am sitting in one room with the cops. To my surprise I saw the chief of intelligence, Mohammad Usman in the room too. I told him, I came to you this afternoon and showed you my permit and you are the one who came to my house after the thieves took everything a month ago, and you helped me prove to the police office in Kabul that you can’t protect me and I need to have a permit but the police now has intruded into my house, hassling me and my family at night. He was just nodding and said:

- there has been some problem with your permit; can I see it?

I give him the permit and he said he is going to keep the permit and the gun and will contact Kabul tomorrow and resolve the misunderstanding. He said I could go now and come tomorrow.

Came back home, my tea was cold now and I couldn’t bother to make new one, went to sleep and called my office first thing in the morning to let them know I had to take care of some stuff in the village and I would come in the afternoon.

I went to the police station the day and tomorrow and the day after tomorrow and after that for several days. But Usman, the chief of intelligence had nothing to tell me yet. he was still waiting for the confirmation.

After a week he said, everything was fine with my permit and I could take the gun but I had to buy dinner for the cops and sign a letter that I received my gun back.

As I was walking out of the station I was stopped by two cops and they took my gun back.
i went back to the commander and Usman, they said, I was lying and they have a letter and they don’t have my gun anymore.
I came back home but I wasn’t feeling safe, I felt - if the cops are trying to steal there is no insurance that the thieves are not going to come back and there is for sure no faith in police that they could stop or catch them.

I decided to move in to town and found a flat in Kabul.
I have a small construction company specialising in building bridges and hand pump well.

I am not quite used to live in a flat but I had to learn and accommodate.
I woke up one morning and I couldn’t find my car in the parking place. the parking lot is protected by police who received some monthly fee for the service. But they couldn’t tell me where my car was and they were very sure it should be where I parked it.

I called the police station to tell them my car was stolen. They filed a report and referred me to their superior and the procession continued until I was in the office of Kabul chief criminal investigation office.

A man with thick moustache and a big camouflage jacket was sitting behind a big desk with Karzai and Massoud pictures hanging over his head. He is looking at a piece of paper which has my car specifications on it.
- so somebody stole your car
- seems like it, I don’t have it anymore
- can I see the key
- Why does that make a difference?
- It’s a prove of your ownership
- but you have all the documents in front of you.

Then he started to ask me if I am suspected of anyone I said No. he tried it for an hour but I really didn’t suspect anyone.

- who else was using your car
- sometimes friends and family
- what are the names and address?

I knew if I give him any name, they would be in trouble. He was starting to get edgy with me,
- if you don’t give me any suspects how the hell I am supposed to find the thieve. Have you ever repaired your car?

I told him no but of course I did, I had the car for two years and I was doing regular check ups. Then I saw a light on his eyes and he said here it says you have once made a replicant key,

- did you know the key maker could keep the sketch and can make one anytime.

We are going to bring in the key-man for investigation; he is the major lead we have at this point.
They called me after two days and I saw the keymaker behind the bars, I couldn’t recognise him first because I met him a year a go and it was for a few minutes. But he wasn’t alone. I asked the investigator, who are the other guys?
- they are all prime suspects they are all connected to the keymaker.

The key maker said, he wanted to see me in private.
“look I know it’s not your fault that we are here and you know I didn’t do it nor did these other guys. This entire case is a pretext for the police to make some money and I have talked with the investigator if you say we are not your suspects they will let us go we have paid them.”

Then the investigator came and said if he shall keep them until they talk. I said I don’t think it’s them. He said

-well if you don’t think they are your suspects then we should let them go.

I called the police a couple of weeks later and a colonel told me:

- You didn’t have any suspects and you know if you don’t have any we can’t find your car.
- You should do your job without my hint.
- You are very naïve. We all knew the car was in Pakistan before you know it was stolen.

A month was gone from my last day of visit to police. One day the police came to my office and arrested me along with NATO inspectors.
A British soldier from NATO told me there was a suicide car attacked on NATO troops in Kabul where two NATO soldier died and they found the number plate of the improvised explosive car, after they tracked it they found out I was the owner.

I said:
- But you know my car was stolen more than a month ago and I have reported it to the police.
- But you didn’t report to us. That is why we take you for questioning.
- I didn’t know you were running the country.
I think I said a few words which got me into trouble and I know I shouldn’t have said it.
I was kept in Kabul jail for a couple of days then they hand me over to Americans in Bagram airbase where I lived in a tent for a couple of days eating MREs and then according to my guardians they found enough evidence that me or my company has financed the attack and somehow they linked me to the suicider. One day they put a black sack over my head and when they took it off they told me I was in Guantanamo.

*****
My name is sanjar qiam I am a journalist. I met Faqeer Ahmadi in the ceremony held for prisoners release by Afghan Peace and Reconciliation commission. He was among eight Afghan men who were released from Guantanamo. He was sitting under the sun caressing his long beard when I came and sat next to him.
- Are you going to shave it?
- Shave what?
- Your beard
- Yeah sure, the peace commission give us 2000 Afghanis to buy razor blade

He showed me an envelope and burst laughing.
I was shaking my head and smiling, he asked me:

- why aren’t you recording the chairman
- I have it in archive; he says the same thing every time.
- I could guess but there is not much else he could say. I am just hoping it’s not going to be too long. Need to see my family - can’t wait.

Faqeer really stroke me, one would think he might be furious and pissed off with Americans. but he was very funny and took the whole thing as a misunderstanding.

تجربه تنظیم های اسلامی افغانستان، روش امریکا برای تصرف جهان اسلام

مراکز قرن بیستم قدرت در شرق میانه کم رنگتر می شود. بغداد، دمشق و قاهره قدرت خود را به تهران و ریاض می دهد. در این میان ایالات متحده امریکا نقش عمده را در توازن قدرت بازی می نماید، امریکا در حال بحث روی سياست جدیدی برای شرق میانه و دنیای اسلام می باشد. در یک بیانیه که در ماه جنوری در مقابل کمیته روبط خارجی مجلس سنا امریکا ارائه گردید، وزیر خارجه خانم کاندولیسه رایس گفت "در شرق میانه موقف های جدید راهبردی بوجود آمده است" که "اصلاح طلبان" را از "افراطیون" جدا می سازد. رایس با اشاره به کشور های سنی آنها را مراکز میانه روی خواند و افزود که ایران، سوریه و حزب الله "در انسوی خط قرار دارند". رایس افزود " ايران و سوريه گزینشی نموده اند و آن بی ثبات ساختن منطقه است"
راهبرد جدید یک تغیر بزرگی در سياست امریکا است. کشور های سنی " از ظهور شیعیان در هراس بوده، و خیلی ها متاثر از طرز برخود امریکا با شیعیان میان رو در عراق بودند" یک مشاور دولت امریکا دارای روابط نزدیک با اسرائیل است گفت. "ما نمی توانیم که دست آورد های شیعیان عراق را از آنها بگیریم اما ما میتوانیم که انرا متوقف بسازیم."
"به نظر میرسد که در داخل دولت امریکا بحثی جریان داشته که کدام روند خطرناکتر است – ایران و یا سنیان افراطی" ولی نصر یک دانشمند امریکایی در مجلس روابط خارجی امریکا گفت:"عربستان سعودی و یک تعداد از اراکین دولت امریکا به این باور اند که ایران یک تهدید بزرگتر است و افراطیون سنی خطری است کوچکتر. که این خود پیروزی شمرده میشود به عربستان سعودی و همقطارانش"
در معراق توجه روابط امریکا و عربستان سعودی بعد از مسـاله ایران، نفت، و عراق – لبنان قرار دارد. عربستان سعودی عمیقأ در کوشش های امریکا و اسرائیل جهت حمایت از دولت لبنان دست داشته است. صدراعظم لبنان فواد سینیوره در مقابل حزب الله مجادله می نماید تا بر اریکه قدرت باقی بماند، حزب الله که یک حزب شیعه میباشد ساختار های محکمی در لبنان دارد، حدود دو تا سه هزار جنگجو فعال و هزاران عضو دیگر دارد.
وضعیت فعلی حمایت عربستان سعودی و امریکا از سنی های افراطی مشابهات زیادی به حمایت امریکا و عربستان از سنی های افراطی در دهه های هشتاد و نود میلادی در افغانستان دارد.
ولی نصر وضعیت کنونی را با ظهور القاعده مقایسه می نماید. در آن زمان دولت عربستان سعودی پیشکشی به جنگ مخفی امریکا با شوروی ها در افغانستان نمود. صدها جوان سعودی به مناطق مرزی میان افغانستان و پاکستان ارسال شدند، این جوانان اقدام به ایجاد مدارس، مراکز اموزشی و محلات نفرگیری نمودند. در آن زمان همچون حالا اکثر کسانی که توسط سعودی ها تادیه می گردیدند سلفی ها بودند، که در میان شان اسامه بن لادن و همکاران او که القاعده را در سال 1988 بنا نهادند نیز شامل بود.
به گزارش گروه بین المللی بحران حلقات سنی در داخل دولت لبنان وجود دارد که به افراطیون سلفی پول می دهدند. این گروه که ارتباطاتی با اخوان المسلمین دارد در تلاش ایجاد یک کشور کوچک در شمال لبنان هستند. گروه بین المللی بحران گزارش می دهد که " این مردان در مراکز القاعده در افغانستان اموزش دیده اند"
امریکا در زمان بحران و تنش معمولآ، هم بشکل دپلوماسی علنی و هم به گونه عملیات سری، درب جنگ رو برو را باز می نماید که اکثرأ به شکل گشاد نمودن مخالفت های فرقه یی میباشد.
همچو جنگ افغانستان؛ در لبنان امریکا و عربستان تا حال میلیارد ها دالر در حمایت از گروه های خود پول سرازير کرده اند.
دیپلومات های امریکایی، اروپایی و عرب گفته اند که از جمله میلیارد ها دالر کمک شده به دولت لبنان، دولت اجازه داده است تا یک مقدار آن به دست گروه های افراطی سنی در شمال لبنان، در وادی بیکا و اردوگاه های مهاجرین فلسطینی در جنوب، برسد. این گروه ها اگر چه کوچک اند اما منحیث مخالفین حزب الله دیده میشوند که روابظ نزدیک با القاعده دارند. این پالیسی بود که امریکا و عربستان و پاکستان در افغانستان پیشه داشتند، هر زمانی که با مخالفین ایديولژیک خود سر می خوردند در سراغ حمایت از مخالفین ایشان از یک گروه افراطی می برامدند.
یک مقام استخباراتی امریکا گفت. " در این جریان، ما یک تعداد از مردان خراب را تمویل خواهیم کرد که همراه با یک سلسله از عواقب غیر قابل پیش بینی خواهد بود. " این مامور استخباراتی افزود" ما توانایی این را نداریم تا از پول خود رسید بدست بیاوریم و از کسانی که ناخواسته است جلوگیری شود" مانند تجربه که در افغانستان تکرار شد.
خانواده سعودی ترس از آن دارد که مبادا ایران توازن قدرت را نه تنها در منطقه بلکه در کشور خودشان نیز تغییر دهد. عربستان سعودی دارای یک اقلیت قابل ملاحظه شیعه در ولایت شرقی این کشور میباشد، این منظقه نفت خیز بوده و سابقه تنش های فرقه یی را دارد. مقامات خانواده سلطنتی سعودی به این عقیده اند که اعمال ایرانی در همکاری با شیعیان محلی مسوؤل چند حمله هراس افگنی میباشند.
امروز یگانه ارتش که قادر به متوقف نمودن ایران بود – ارتش عراق – توسط ایالات متحده از بین رفته است. ما ایرانی داریم که احتمالأ نیروی ذره وی خواهد داشت و دارای یک ارتش حاضر قریب به نیم میلیون سرباز میباشد در حالی که عربستان سعودی دارای ارتش حاضر هفتاد و پنج هزار نفر میباشد.
ولی نصر ادامه میدهد : "خانواده سعودی امکانات وسیع مالی در دست دارد و هم روابط بسیار نزدیک با اخوان المسلمین و سلفی ها دارد. بار اخری که ایران یک تعدید بود کشور عربستان توانست از خرابترین نوع افراطی گری اسلامی کار گیرد. مشکلی که با سلفی ها است که اگر انها را یک بار از صندوق کشید دوباره گذاشتن شان نا ممکن است" از همچو افراطی گرایی، در قالب تنیظیم های جهادی و طالبی، در جریان دهه نود میلادی عیله اقلیت های افغانستان نیز استفاده شده است که بلاخره خود امریکا و جهان مجبور به مداخله گردیدند تا گروه های افراطی را سر جایشان قرار دهند.

what is happening in Mussa Qalla

Radio Salaam Watandar
By Zalmai Ahadi and Sanjar Qiam

“The Mussa Qalla fight in no way violates the agreement, the agreement holds firm despite some of the incidents that have happened so”
Said brigadier Richard Nugee, the spokesman for ISAF in a press conference in Kabul on Wednesday. Referring to the latest clashes between the insurgents and NATO troops in Mussa Qalla which resulted in more than 70 causalities.

“The recent incident south of Mussa Qalla is about 15 to 20KM away from the district center” Nugee added.

National Council representative from Helmand province Nassima Niazzi said the agreement is no longer in place and she added to the reasons “National council representative didn’t have any part in the agreement, and the agreement wasn’t transparent, and no insurance of peoples safety was made, and it wasn’t a substantial agreement, any agreement with above criteria wouldn’t last long in Afghanistan”

But the Helmand governor spokesperson says the agreement holds stiff and Mussa Qalla is open for people to go and come in safety.

Muheeddin Khan the spokesperson for Helmand governor added “we are trying to talk and negotiate with people and up until now the flow of traffic is normal. Security is firm in Mussa Qalla and there hasn’t been any incident which might cause the cease of the agreement. The people of Mussa Qalla have said if government is not holding to its word then we’ll leave our homes. At this moment the agreement is in place. There is nothing else – no problem”

Mattiaullah Khan who introduces himself as the ex-governor of Sangin district of Helmand was in Kabul a couple of weeks ago with another 260 representatives of Helmand, they were demanding the removal of Helmand governor, Dawod. He said about Mussa Qalla operation and displacement of residents.

“These people include 10-15 narcotic traffickers and have their own factories or those who has received cash from Taliban or are part of Taliban. NATO operation is a strike on Talibans sanctuary and it’s a good thing. Taliban were organizing there and they have been to establish nests there. Taliban has also had established opium refineries and Osama related Arabs were spotted in the district. Those who claim they will leave the area are not actually the residents; they are either Taliban or drug traffickers”

On the other hand Mallim Shah who claims to be former provincial chief of intelligence supports NATO operation, and claims there has been no harm to civilians in the operation.

“The battle took place in proximity of Landi Nawie called Lashkarak. Taliban were housed in two forts of 30 to 40 each. This place is where they were getting organized for operations. The presence of civilian in the area is a lie”

In the face of Mussa Qalla residence threat to leave their houses if any future operation take place and wide spread local discontent with the Helmand governor, Dawod, we asked general Nugee if NATO support and listen to local population.
“The bottom line is the president selects the governor, we support the president and the government of Afghanistan. And therefore if the president has selected the governor we’ll support him. We will support the president and the government in Mussa Qalla agreement”

NATO summit

"I am absolutely convinced that if we allowed Afghanistan to fall back into Taliban rule it would become a failed state again and a black hole for terrorism training," Scheffer told the Daily Telegraph last week.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair used NATO summit this week to press his allies to do more in Afghanistan, where British troops are on the frontline of bloody fighting with Taliban insurgents. "The credibility of NATO... rests on us doing everything we can to help the people of Afghanistan in their search away from the Taliban," he said, his message firmly in Riga summit.Blair has good reason to be worried: in recent months the death toll among British troops has surged upwards since they spearheaded NATO's move into the south in the middle of the year, and more than 40 have now died. "I don't believe there is an alternative but to fight this and to fight it for as long as it takes," British Prime Minister Tony Blair told troops in southern Afghanistan last week.
This is while NWFP Governor Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai said “There will be no military solution, there has to be a political solution. How many more lives have to be lost before people realise it's time for dialogue?"Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai has said that the British forces will never win in Afghanistan by military means, and that it should open negotiations with the Taliban. NATO was ignoring the realities on the ground, he said and added that the reason why Taliban numbers had swelled was because moderates were joining the militants. "Bring 50,000 more troops and fight for 10 to 15 years more and you won't resolve it. The British with their history in Afghanistan should have known that better than anyone else," the Dawn quoted Aurakzai as saying in an interview with Sunday Times reporter Christina Lamb. He added: "It is no longer an insurgency but a war of Pashtun resistance exactly on the model of the first Anglo-Afghan war. Then too (in 1839-42) initially there were celebrations. adding:
"A military mission alone will not succeed," U.S. Ambassador to NATO Victoria Nuland said."We must have security married to good governance and development, and that means the EU, U.N. and NATO working in harmony with Afghans," she wrote on NATO's Web site last week.Few and few Afghan children wave as foreign patrol passes dusty streets of Kandahar, and local men sipping tea in front of shops offer only a steely gaze, one of the tea drinkers said “foreign troops don’t know where they are and can’t tell a farmer from a militant.”
Although all 26 nations have troops serving with the mission, those in the southern front lines — mainly Canada, Britain, the United States and the Netherlands — are irked that others — primarily Germany, Italy, France and Spain — have restrictions limiting their troops to the relatively peaceful north and west."Putting caveats on operations means putting caveats on NATO's future," NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said.

France and the United States hold fundamentally different views of NATO's role. Paris is wary of what it sees as Washington's attempts to use NATO to expand its influence at the expense of a more independent EU. Many blame continued tension between France and United States for the relatively limited ambition of the Riga agenda and expect more for the next summit in 2008, when there'll probably be a new president in Paris, or the one after in 2009, when there will certainly be a new president in Washington.
"More and more capitals are reluctant to commit additional troops," said French lawmaker Pierre Lellouche, who recently chaired a session of the NATO parliamentary assembly in Quebec.

"Afghanistan has become a test case for whether we can overcome the growing discrepancy between NATO's expanding missions and its lagging capabilities,” NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said at the summit. The outcome of the summit is more time for NATO to adjust its strategy and minimise the discrepancy but failure for Afghanistan where bloodshed is on the rise. A terror war doesn’t give you time like a summit does.