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

The Islamist Palestinian organisation Hamas on Tuesday liberated the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was abducted five years ago. In return Israel is releasing 1,027 Palestinian prisoners. Despite whatever Islamic sentiment I have it is hard to ignore Israel emergence as the moral victor from the exchange. Yesterday in the media all you could see is the story of a man who is much like everyone of us, with dreams, family and loved ones who was locked up by a group. The other side of the story is the release of prisoners grants the terrorist organization Hamas too prominent a role. The media story was preoccupied with what the release means for the people of Palestine. I did not see a single story that was similar to Gilad Shalit, the story of an individual suffering in the hands of brutes and kept away from the loved ones.  Palestinians were being carried awy on shoulders, chanting Allahuakbar. I could not connect with them, they were impersonal and full of anger. i thought why is no one telling the story of Palestinian prisoners. Are they really a bunch of whackos who needed to be locked up, which again gives Israil another moral triumph. The validity of the claim that the Islamists are not people that seek reasonable methods to resolve their grievances but a fanatic group that belongs to a cult of death and terror. 

first gunbattle in the neighbourhood

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

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

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?

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.

1. 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.
2. 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
3. April 18 - An insurgent kills two Afghan soldiers and an officer at the Afghan Defense Ministry.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. April 4 - Two American military personnel are shot and killed by a man wearing an Afghan border police uniform.
7. February - An Afghan solider shoots nine German soldiers, killing three and injuring six.
8. 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

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?

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.

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

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

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

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

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?

 

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

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”

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

using sms to organise kite festival

using sms to organise kite festival

Revelation of the War

 

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.