Afghan Warrior

Korean Hostage Deal

2007-09-08T17:07:00.000+04:30

Taliban insurgents finally released the group of 19 South Koreans from their custody recently. This was the first time that the Taliban kidnapped a large number of foreigners in Afghanistan and it's a warning to all other foreigners working in Afghanistan to take more caution when they travel from one province to another., The kidnapping of the South Korean group sparked anger of many Afghan people.

Because they were innocent civilians and it's against our religion and culture to kidnap innocent civilians, especially women. But unfortunately the Taliban did not care about Afghan culture and prestige. Our great prophet Mohammed peace be upon him advised his forces to only kill those enemies who fight with you face to face on the battle ground - do not kill their women and children - do not kill the young and old men who work on their fields and those who are civilians. But the Taliban broke all the teachings of Islam and kidnapped civilians who were mostly women and came here to help us.

Although some people think they came here to teach Christianity but most Afghan people believe that they came to help us and they condemned Taliban for kidnapping the Koreans. Afghans want to have good relationships with all countries around the world so we hope that the people of South Korea do not think that all Afghans are like the Taliban insurgents. They must know that the Taliban is a rebel group that can do anything for their own benefit and that has nothing to do with the Afghan people. The Afghan people are brave and hospitable and would never do such an action to make a bad name for themselves.

I think it would have been better if the Afghan government had made a deal with Taliban instead of the Korean government. The Taliban demanded the release of one Taliban commander from the custody of the Afghan government which could have been better than the Korean government dealing with the Taliban. According to some reports, the Taliban got a ransom from the Korean government to release the Korean citizens. Even though the release of a Taliban commander is a big mistake, it would have been better than the $20 million deal and the withdrawal of the Korean troops from Afghanistan. 20 million dollars is a lot of money and the Taliban can buy weapons to use against the Afghan and coalition forces and they can increase and arrange more suicide attacks around the country which will kill dozens of innocent people. I hope in the future the Afghan government should be the one to deal with the Taliban not the other government.

The presence of foreign troops is very important for peace and stability of Afghanistan. Even though the South Koreans have a small number of their troops in our country, and we have already thousands of foreign troops in our country, the terrorists have not been completely defeated and our own army is not strong enough to fight our enemies by themselves. Therefor we will need the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan for a few more years and it will be more useful if we have more troops from different countries.

If in the future any kidnap cases happen in our country then our own government is responsible to deal with kidnappers, not the 3rd country. If the other countries make deals with insurgents it will show the weakness and weak authority of our government and our people will lose their trust in their current government.

I advise foreign nationals not to travel anywhere, particularly to the south and eastern provinces, without a security escort, otherwise there will be a risk of kidnapping. The best and safest way for foreigners to travel to Kandahar, Mazar-e-Sharif, Herat and Jalalabad provinces is to travel by plane. It's cheap and safe. There are flights to these provinces 3 times a week. If they don't want to fly then they should talk with Afghan security forces before they travel. The security forces can advise them better about the situation on the motorways.

Our foreign friends should also keep in mind that if they came here for missionary activities then the Afghan people will not help them. They should know that Afghans will never accept those who are trying to carry out missionary activities. Afghans love their own religion and culture. They also love freedom but as long as it doesn't offend their religion.

Taliban is using this new tactic of hostage-taking to take advantages from the Afghan government and foreign countries that helps us in both security and reconstruction. After the successful official deal with the South Korean government, the Taliban demonstrated their wide presence in different provinces. This deal will encourage more kidnappings and the Taliban will try to kidnap more civilians to get more ransoms and advantages from the Afghan and foreign governments so we hope the foreigners will take more caution when traveling around the country. It will be safe for their own life and it will also stop the Taliban from getting ransoms and use the ransom back against the Afghan people government and foreign countries.

Civilian Casualties

2007-07-15T12:11:00.000+04:30

According to the news reports, dozens of civilians have been killed by coalition air strikes recently in the south-eastern and western parts of the country, and it has deepened the concerns of the Afghan people and human rights organizations.

Last week during heavy clashes between US-led coalition forces and insurgents in both western Farah and eastern Kunar provinces, coalition forces in both provinces called for air supports which killed a large number of civilians. According to the provincial officials, 108 civilians were killed in the Balabluk district of Farah province and 60 people were killed in eastern Kunar province. The first air strike killed 35 civilians in Kunar on Thursday including 9 family members of a man called Mohammed and 25 more civilians were killed on Friday while they were burying the bodies of those who were killed in Thursday's air raids

However the NATO spokesman denies the civilian deaths and says that all those who were killed were insurgents. But the villagers claim that there was no militants in the village. A senior police officer in Kunar also confirmed the civilian casualties in Kunar. According to the Afghan officials and international aid groups, more than 300 civilians have been killed by coalition air strikes in Afghanistan this year. According to military analysts, the shortage of ground forces allows commanders to call for air support.

In my opinion, the US-led coalition and the members of the NATO forces should increase the number of their troops in Afghanistan to be able to fight the insurgents in different parts of the country. If they use more ground troops it will prevent civilian casualties. Also there should be better coordination between the US, Afghan and NATO forces. The coalition forces should be 100% sure of insurgents' presence in the villages before they conduct any air strike against any village. I am not a military analyst but I advise that first of all the coalition forces must have coordination with the Afghan forces in every single operation. The Afghan forces can accurately tell the coalition forces about the presence of insurgents in the villages. The coalition forces should concentrate more on ground operations instead of using air raids against the insurgents in the villages. The coalition forces and Afghan army should surround the village and identify the exact location of the bad guys and then start their attacks. If they are not sure where the insurgents are exactly hidden then they should keep the village surrounded even for 2 or 3 days and use their small arms to kill the insurgents.

This will be a very useful way to prevent civilian casualties and if the coalition forces face a shortage of ground troops to do such an operation, then the coalition forces should provide an emergency contact number with each ANA or ANP checkpoints in every single district, particularly in the southern and eastern provinces, and the Afghan forces should have 4 checkpoints one mile away from each village and they can easily fight any insurgents that wants to sneak into the village. And if the Afghan forces aren't able to fight insurgents they must have an emergency contact number with the coalition air forces to call for air support and they can tell the exact location of insurgents to the coalition forces and then the coalition forces can target only those locations where terrorists are hidden. This will also prevent civilian casualties.

I have seen people in different areas talking between themselves about civilian casualties, saying that if US forces pay attention they can avoid civilian casualties - they have the best weapons and they can easily target bad guys among the civilians and they have those red lasers that they can aim at any bad guy from their aircraft and can easily kill so there should not be any civilian casualties. Dozens of the Afghan National Army and police have been killed in friendly fire by the coalition forces and it shows the lack of coordination between both Afghan and coalition forces. Most educated Afghans living in the cities know that coalition forces aren't deliberately killing the civilians, but they also oppose killing of many civilians over a few bad guys.

We do blame the Taliban for using villagers as human shields. They don't care about civilians' lives. They have been killing civilians by suicide attacks. They are killing teachers, doctors and any innocent civilians who work for the Afghan government or international organizations as employees and that's why we call them terrorists, insurgents and rebels. We just want more attention from foreign forces during their operations. It's hard to believe for many villagers that coalition forces aren't deliberately killing them because a few times villages came mistakenly under attack and there is a lack of education. They just don't like anyone who kills their family members or relatives, regardless of whether they are Afghan forces, Taliban or coalition forces.

There have been a large number of civilian casualties by coalition air strikes during the year 2005/2006, but people are hoping this will end soon. The Afghan people realise that without sacrifice we can't have our freedom, but we also expect the foreign forces to take more care. Especially now that the war has been going on for so long. In the year 2005, over 85% of the Afghans supported their elected government and the presence of the coalition forces in their country. But now it seems that this 85% support has been reduced a little. I still believe that most Afghan people still support the presence of the coalition forces till they eradicate all terrorists from Afghanistan and we have true freedom and democracy in our country. And we hope this will happen soon with support of the world community.

Peace Jirga

2007-06-11T05:09:00.000+04:30

Pakistan and Afghanistan reiterate their commitment to put up a joint front against the terrorists in the region during the Estranged South Asian Neighbors conference in Kabul. Afghan president Hamid Karzai and Pakistani prime minister Shaukat on Tuesday urged working together against the insurgents and terrorists along their common border. Addressing a joint news conference, both leaders expressed confidence towards the Peace Jirga slated to meet in the last week of June or early August in Kabul. Last week the Peace Jirga delegation from the Afghan side met President Musharaf in Islamabad and voiced maximum interest in a stable and prosperous Afghanistan. Both the Afghan and Pakistani delegation have agreed that the joint Afghan/Pakistani Jirga should be held after two months in Kabul and they are now busy with working on the Jirga agenda.

There are two main issues that need to be solved before the Jirga starts. According to members of the Afghan delegation, the Pakistani side rejects the participation of the women and 3rd party to monitor the Jirga, saying we can settle issues overselves, which is not true, because Pakistan reneged its commitments many times, so the participation of the 3rd party is very important. In the presence of international community, it will be hard for Pakistan to break its commitments in the future. However, the Pakistani prime minister expresses that they will try to resolve the two issues in the next meeting of the delegations. Most Afghan people think that this Jirga will not be very useful so therefore we are hoping that the Pakistani side will agree on the participation of the 3rd party.

There is another main issue which needs to be solved and that is the porous British era frontier which is called the Durand Line and it was given to the Indian government under a 100 year contract, which has now expired, and this issue needs to be solved before the Pakistan government creates obstacles along the joint border. Why should Pakistan create obstacles if Pakistan knows that the Durand Line contract has expired and it is smart to build a wall and split our own lands from our country. According to the Afghan tribal leaders living along the border the Pakistani army has moved their check point a few kilometers inside Afghanistan territory during the Taliban regime. This issue must be solved then Pakistan could think about building up a wall along the border.

Pakistan claims to have 90,000 troops along the Pakistan/Afghan border, which is enough force to fight the insurgents if they patrol the area constantly and honestly. Then there will be no need of barbed wire or a wall to separate the two nation and split the areas which has been unresolved. We are hoping that the Pakistan government will accept the participation of women from both countries as well as the participation of the 3rd country. If Pakistan agrees to these two main issues then this Peace Jirga will be successful and it will solve many issues including the terrorist influence along the Pakistani/Afghan border.

Civilian Kidnappings

2007-05-05T13:02:00.000+04:30

The Taliban insurgents have been kidnapping Afghan and foreign workers and journalists recently. They do this hoping to exchange these civilian journalists with their key commanders. As far as I am concerned, these kidnappings of the foreigners are the best and shameful way for the Taliban group to release their commanders from the Afghan government custody.

First they kidnapped the Italian and Afghan journalists and then they kidnapped the French male and female humanitarian aid workers along with 3 Afghan workers. Later on the French lady was released but the future of the French man along with 3 Afghans is still unknown.

These civilians had nothing to do with the Afghan government. They are just servants who carry out humanitarian aid and help the poor Afghan people. And the journalists tell us the truth about the situation in the region. These journalists aren't only telling the news on behalf the Afghan and coalition forces. They also tell the news on behalf of the Taliban too.

Sometimes we do hear news from these journalists saying the Taliban captured a district in the southern province of Helmand etc. So it means that the journalists aren't only working for a specific organization or group. They work to tell the truth and provide news for the people of the world. So they deserve respect, not death. When the Taliban released the Italian journalist, people were hoping that his fellow Afghan journalist, Ajmal Naqshbandi, would also be released, but it did not happen. The Italian journalist was released and the Afghan journalist was cowardly killed. Most people blame the Afghan government over the killing of the Afghan journalist, Ajmal Naqshbandi, and I agree with them. The Afghan government could tell the Taliban that we will release your top 3 commanders if you release the Afghan journalist along with the Italian journalist. But the government did not really care about its own citizen and said that the Afghan journalist was kidnapped again after he was released. How could he be kidnapped again if he was with the Italian journalist and had security support? Why were the Taliban commanders not arrested by the Afghan forces right after the release?

The government had a poor exchange plan and poor security management, causing the killing of the Afghan journalist. We were hoping that the Afghan government would do something to free the Afghan journalist, but they refused to release the Taliban commander. After Ajmal Naqshbadi was killed, every Afghan was really upset. I heard some people were telling each other if the Taliban can kill an innocent Afghan, why can't the government behead their commander? We must give them an answer and show them we can also kill. If we do this they may not kill our people in the future.

At the moment the French national along with the three Afghans are detained by the Taliban and the Taliban have warned the Afghan and French governments that they will kill the detainees if the French forces refuse to leave Afghanistan. I think it is a very hard decision for the French government to deal with. Also for the Afghan government. The lives of these 4 men are also very important. We hope both governments find a peaceful solution to this matter so that the bad experience of the Ajmal Naqshbandi killing won't be repeated. But if the Taliban really kill these 4 men then the government should do the same action, just as those Afghans suggested - ie if the Taliban can kill our innocent citizens, why can't our government kill their criminal detainees? Our religion Islam forbids the killing of detainees without a proof of their crimes and without a legal court. Our Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) used to tell his fighters "if you fight the enemies, do not harm their innocent civilians, do not kill the detainee kids and women, do not destroy their farms, feed the detainees the same thing you eat, do not behead or cut their body parts". So I hope the Taliban really call themselves true Muslims and would follow this way and quit beheading people without having a legal court or without proving someone's crime. If they want to fight, then fight and kill the soldiers in a face to face fight. They can release their commanders if they capture a detainee. That would be the right way. But using civilians in order to release their commanders is the worst way.

Afghan National Army

2007-04-02T02:32:00.000+04:30

According to a report by The Herald, less than half of the Afghan National Army soldiers have chosen to re-enlist after three years in uniform. This report concerned the 70,000 strong national army plan which will be completed in 2009. And if less then half of the ANA soldiers choose to re-enlist after three years service then it will be impossible to have a 70,000 strong national army by 2009. So we hope the Afghan government and coalition forces work on a better plan to increase the requirement process and also avoid the failure to re-enlist of the soldiers after three years by seminars which aims to show the importance of their service to their country.

The Afghan National Army currently faces some problems. Many of their weapons are old and the ones which are new aren't good quality weapons. Most of them look like AK-47s, but they are from China, Iran and some other Asian countries. They also have Russian weapons which remain from the Soviet Union which are better, but many of these weapons are over 25 to 30 years old and a lot of ANA soldiers complain about their weapons. The salaries of the Afghan National Army soldiers are very low compared to other employees. Also there are always delays in getting their salaries - they do not get paid on time - sometimes they have to wait 2 to 3 months to get their payments, so they go broke and that is disappointing to the soldiers. A construction worker makes more than an ANA soldier. An ANA soldier makes between $70 to $80 a month, which is unjust, and their job is risky, so they should at least make more than a construction worker. So salaries should be increased - otherwise it will be very hard to have a 70,000-strong army by the end of 2009.

The Afghan government should also make housing plans for the ANA officers and soldiers such as building apartments for the Afghan Army personnel and the government could issue land or an apartment for those who have been serving or will serve at least 5 years for the Afghan Army because most of the ANA soldiers are financially poor and with $80 salary they will not be able to afford serving in the Army. That's why many of them want to serve only 3 years. The United States of America and some other countries like Canada, Germany, England, and France physically train and financially help the ANA - particularly the United States of America which is already taking a huge part in training the Afghan National Army. Since 2003, some countries financially and logistically help the ANA, but they don't have big hand in the training of ANA. It will be possible to have a 70,000-strong Afghan National Army if some other countries take part in order to train the ANA.

Some countries aren't happy to send their troops to war against terrorists, but if they send some of their troops to train the Afghan Army, it will also be like a war against terrorists because once Afghanistan has a strong national army, we can defeat the terrorists by ourselves and other countries wouldn't need to bother sending their troops. We hope more countries like Australia, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea etc and each of these countries train one battalion at a time and issue them with new weapons or used ones - at least their weapons are better than Chinese, Iranian and Pakistani weapons. We know that it will cost millions of dollars to have a 70,000-strong Army. We appreciate those countries who have been training the Afghan Army but if more countries contribute to this process it will run faster and Afghanistan will have a 70,000-strong national army by 2009.

Holidays

2007-02-26T23:56:00.000+04:30

Note that this article was first published in the New York Times and if you reproduce this article you must retain this notice.

There have been always a very good relationship between American and Afghan troops and also with other coalition forces. I have worked in the ANA central corps and I have interpreted and communicated between the ANA and the American forces. After the official or off time they play volleyball, soccer or sometimes the ANA invites their American advisors to their chow hall and to their offices for food and tea and their advisors also invite some of the ANA officers to their chow hall. Since I work as a night shift interpreter, I have also been invited in some of these meetings to interpret between both sides and they usually ask about each other's culture, traditions and holidays. A lot of ANA soldiers and officers know about Christmas holidays. There are a few that know about other holidays too. Sometimes American soldiers go to the ANA chow hall because they like Afghan bread and rice with meat sauce. And Afghan soldiers that have eaten in US military chow halls liked the hot wings stick and American sodas.

I also know about most holidays in America because during free time I talk with the soldiers and ask lots of questions about US culture and about life in America and they always gives me useful information. During the holiday season they talk about the holidays and they wish to be back home with their families, especially during Christmas. So far I know about these holidays like Christmas, New Year, Thanksgiving, Halloween and Independence Day. I heard that on Halloween people aren't off and mostly young people celebrate. American soldiers in Afghanistan also celebrate this day. In 2003, one day I went to the chow hall to eat dinner and I saw different kinds of scary-looking and funny-looking heads and 2 coffins with a skeleton on it which said "died in 1979" on it which was very interesting.

I have also told many soldiers about our holidays. We have more holidays than the US does. We have two major holidays called Eid and people are off for 6 days during these 2 Eids. We have new year holiday, independance day and we also have another holiday called the victory of Mujaheedin against Soviets and also have 2 other religious holidays. So we have more holidays in Afghanistan. These holidays are very important for me and other Afghans because we get a chance to meet our friends and relatives. During the Eid holidays people have to go to each other's house to congratulate the Eid and everyone, rich and poor, wear new and clean clothes. They decorate their houses and cook good food and have drinks like tea with fruit.

During my services for both Afghan and US troops I have been very effective, particularly in 2004 when General Dostum's forces created some problems for the ANA in the northern provinces and his soldiers came into fighting position. It was Friday and all central corps interpreters were off and I was the only interpreter in central corps, so the US base commander, who was a lieutenant colonel, came and picked me up and I interpreted between US commanders and the ANA corps commander. We discussed the situation and the situation was solved after the US Air force came to support ANA and aircraft flew over General Dostum's militia and they moved back and nothing serious happened. So I think it was one of my most effective services for both sides.

I have lots of memorable moments from my job that I can never forget. At the end of 2002 I got my job as an interpreter for the special forces and they were all very professional trainers and their mission was to train the presidential protective guard in different fields like physical training, driving, snipers, cat team and scout. I was working with the Driving and Physical Training team where I also learnt driving and a little bit of shooting too. During the 6 months training course we graduated more than 250 presidential guards. Their food, salaries and barracks were much better than the ANA soldiers. First when these young men came to join the program, most of them could only do 10, 20 or 25 pushups. But after 2 months they could easily do over 60 pushups in a minute. Also in shooting, the first days they were missing their targets and only a few bullets could hit, but at the end of the training days they could put most of their bullets in the black circle.

Now these candidates are very active guards of their president and when sometimes I walk along the palace I see them and they really respect me as a teacher. Even though I wasn't their teacher, only a translator, but they respect me like a teacher and it makes so glad now.

Our president Hamid Karzai used to have American bodyguards to protect him and those bodyguards trained our own Afghans to handle security for their president and now they are doing a great job as bodyguards of their president.

Freedom of Speech

2007-02-19T00:15:00.000+04:30

Note that this article was first published in the New York Times and if you reproduce this article you must retain this notice.

Under the Taliban regime, Afghan civilians couldn't raise their voices through the media. Only one or 2 newspapers were in the whole of Afghanistan with one radio station that belonged to the Taliban. So in this case there was not any private media - radios and TV channels. But after the fall of the Taliban regime, the media have promoted incredibly in our country. People can easily write anything they want and express their opinions. There are some good female writers and reporters that write in the two official Afghan languages - Pashto and Dari - and there are some Afghan female reporters that report in English for the local English newspapers. We have some Afghan bloggers that write in Pashtu and Dari and only a few in English.

There are many English learning centers everywhere in Kabul city. Also in other provinces people now realize how important it is to learn English and computer, especially young boys and girls - they spend half of their day in high schools and university and after school time they go to English and computer classes. Young Afghans love watching TV and they use the internet but for some people it's hard because we suffer from lack of power. In the capital, Kabul, we have power after every 2 nights and it comes on only from 6pm to 11pm - only 5 hours. The number of young Afghan singers have increased since the fall of the Taliban. There is a TV program called Afghan Star. This program started in 2005 to find new and young talented singers. The program official goes to different provinces and holds competitions between young Afghans and selects the 12 best singers out of over thousands of singers. Last year they introduced some really good singers and this year this program is in progress and 9 singers have been selected from over 1700 singers. And when they select the 12 best singers they let people SMS each singer. They have a special code so people SMS to their favorite singers and every week those singers who get lower scores have to quit the competition. So from 12 best it goes to one best singer and they call him the Afghan star.

When I was very young I wanted to be a writer or reporter, but during the war this was only like a dream because I wouldn't know if one day Afghanistan will be liberated from the Taliban and other warlords. So after the fall of the Taliban when I came back to Afghanistan I went back to school and I was working only on Fridays. I was selling Afghan handicrafts to soldiers from different countries, mostly American, Italian, Germans and French. So with this money I could support myself and my family. It was 2002 and there were only 2 net cafes in the whole capital and it was really expensive for the locals. US$5 per hour. I could only afford to use it once a week. Most users at these 2 cafes were foreigners and you had to wait 1 to 2 hour for your turn because there was a huge crowd. One time I remember I saw over 12 foreigners were waiting for their turn. I was going for a brief time to check my email. In 2003 a few more internet clubs were opened in Kabul city. They were still expensive like US$3 per hour. In 2004 the number of internet clubs increased and the prices went down and now there are dozens of internet clubs in different parts of Kabul city. There are still a few places in Kabul that don't have any net club and I hope the prices go lower than this because many Afghans can not afford it. If you get a satellite connection for your house it costs over US$1500 for the connection, then you have to pay from US$200 to $300 a month depending on speed. There is only one phone company called Afghan Telecom, which is cheaper. I also got my internet connection from this company but it's not cheap for normal Afghans because if you use it over 3 to 4 hours a day it will cost over US$100 a month. I hear from soldiers that its costs US$20 a month in America.

I wouldn't have become a blogger if there wasn't such a thing like the internet. It was the beginning of 2005 when one day I went to a net club to check my email and I had extra time so I went to an IRC chat room and I met this Australian guy named Paul Edwards. He was very excited to talk to me and he persuaded me to start blogging. So I was the first Afghan who started blogging in English. First I wouldn't think if people will like my blogs but after posting my first blog I got over 150 comments and over 80 emails in a week and every one congratulated me and asked me to keep up the good work. In the first few weeks I had problems with blogging because I didn't have my own computer. With the help of Tom Villars I set up a paypal account. Some readers contributed in donations so the total donation money was US$1600. With this money I bought a laptop computer because it was easy for me to carry from work to home. On my holidays some readers sent me packages like Sheila Kimmel offered to send winter clothes for poor Afghan kids and I was really happy, so I gave her my commander's mail address and she sent me 3 boxes of clothes in 2005 and 2 more boxes of winter clothes last month. Paul Edwards from Australia made a great donation for the poor Afghan kids. My main problem was transportation. It was hard for me to go to work from home or from home to work. Taxis cost me so much I was paying half of my salary on taxi fares and I couldn't save any money. Paul Edwards offered to loan me US$4000 for the car, but he said do not pay it back to me, instead buy school supplies for the poor Afghan children. So now every month I save over US$100 from taxis and buy school supplies for the poor Afghan kids. I am so happy with my blogging because from blogging I got donations of clothes and school supplies for the poor kids and I also feel so good when I see smiles on their faces. I hope more readers contribute to sending winter clothes for poor refugee kids who live under tents in very cold weather. There are some refugee camps in Kabul. It will be a great help to save kids from the cold winter.

About Me

2007-02-01T03:33:00.000+04:30

Note that this article was first published in the New York Times and if you reproduce this article you must retain this notice.

My name is Waheed. I am 22 years old. I work for the US Army as an interpreter, since 2002. I have mostly spent my life in war and conflict. I was born in 1984. During that time our country was invaded by the Soviet Union and from that time fighting started in our country between Mujahideen and Soviet army. After the Soviet army left we had a civil war and then the hard-line Taliban regime. So during these wars we couldn't live in peace. When the Taliban took control over the capital Kabul, my family went to Pakistan. Life was really hard for us there. I couldn't go to school because I had to work hard and to support my family. I only had a little time to learn English in an Afghan refugee English learning center. I was very disapointed at that time. I thought I would not be able to finish my school and it was making me feel very upset. During the Taliban regime the world community forgot our people, but after the 9/11 terrorist attacks they realized that now is the time to fight the terrorists and American troops ousted the Taliban regime and a new wave of hope came to our people.

Like most Afghan refugees, we also came back to Afghanistan and I went back to my school. My father and mother who were jobless in Pakisten got jobs. Before the Taliban regime my father was an officer and my mother was a teacher, so they got their old jobs back and our life started getting better.

I was in 10th grade when I got my job with the US Army. At first I thought I would not pass the interpreting exam, but out of 20 guys, 6 of them passed the exam and I was one of those who passed the exams. I started working as a night shift interpreter because I wanted to finish my school. So finaly I graduated high school in 2004. It was a great moment for me because I could work during the night and study during the day.

I have enjoyed working with the US Army. I have been on over 800 patrols with the US Army to provide security for the Afghans. During these patrols I have meet many people and interpreted between the locals and US Army. We had Afghan green tea with the locals. They were always asking us for tea or food and one of my best patrols was to a refugee camp. It was between two hills. These refugees had just returned from Pakistan. There were more than 50 families and it was the beginning of winter. We went to talk to them about their problems and we found they didn't have any good tents, blankets, food and health care, so our patrol leader wrote down their problems and took it to the base commander. He was a kind commander and he said we will solve their problem. So after one week we went to this refugee camp with medical team, food, blankets, tents and toys for the kids, and they were really happy. I can not forget that moment. They were really happy and they spent a good winter.

We always had a medic with us during patrols, and if the villagers had any basic medical needs, they would come to us and we were ready to help. One day we saw a little girl. Her face was burnt. She belonged to a poor family. Our team immediately acted and treated her face before it got worse, and we were checking up on her twice a week until she healed. These moments are very memorable to me.

I would like to tell the American people that the Afghans are very peaceful and hospitable people. They are tired of war and they want to live free. Some American people think that Afghans aren't peaceful people, but that is not true. Now it is clear to the world community that the Taliban regime was created by Pakistani Intelligence Service ISI and this regime sheltered the terrorists and they made life hard for our people. Most of these fighters were Pakistani and from some other countries. We could not fight them on our own because we had a civil war in our country and we did not have a central government and united army.

So I hope all American people realize this. Sometimes when I have free time I go to some chat rooms and when I tell American people or some other western people that I am Afghan, they don't show their interest to talk to me and some of them call me a terrorist. So I hope they realize the difference.

The situation has been getting better for the past 6 weeks and I hope it gets even better and I hope one day American tourists could come to visit Afghanistan and see the Afghan people for themselves. We have some nice historical places and beautiful mountains and good food. I am sure they will enjoy being here and they will see a good response from us.

Situation at a Glance

2007-01-15T07:59:00.000+04:30

Note that this article was first published in the New York Times and if you reproduce this article you must retain this notice.

Afghanistan has made remarkable progress since the fall of the Taliban government in 2001. Under the Taliban regime life was really hard in different aspects. We didn't have our personal freedom, media wasn't free and there wasn't such a thing as freedom of speech. Especially life was really hard for the women - they were banned from education and work outside their houses.

After the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington the United States of America decided to oust the Taliban regime because they refused to hand over Osama Bin Laden. When the U.S. Army started their attacks on the Taliban, the Afghan people were very hopeful for a better future, because they were very tired of the hardline regime. And once the Taliban regime was ousted, better days started coming for the Afghans and it's getting better every day. Schools opened for girls and boys, women started working outside their houses and started taking part in the political field. Our media have been incredibly promoted. Many foreign companies have invested and created job opportunities for thousands of Afghan citizens. So around 85% of the Afghan people support the United States of America for overthrowing the Taliban regime because they were tired of it and they wanted a change. Now life has been changed for most Afghans and they are enjoying their lives compared to the hardline regime.

Afghans think that the U.S and coalition troops should be in Afghanistan until our own army and police force are able to handle security on their own. In my opinion the Afghan forces will need 3 more years to be able to handle security on their own. Recently the wages of our armed force have been increased which is a good sign and more young men will be encouraged to join the army.

We support the presence of the coalition forces in Afghanistan at the moment but our people have different opinions about permanent bases. Some people think after our own army can handle security on its own we don't need the foreign troops. But some people think their presence will guarantee a peaceful future. Sometimes coalition forces mistakenly target civilians and this makes every Afghan upset and they hope that the coalition troops carry out their operations with caution and before they attack any village they must confirm before they target the area because some people give wrong reports due to their personal enmity. If such mistakes continue it will decrease the popularity of the coalition troops among the Afghan people. Democracy is the most important thing for every country. We also want to have democracy in our country. Freedom is the right of every single human and every Afghan loves to live in peace and freedom so we hope next year will be the year of peace and we will be able to defeat the enemies of peace in the southern and eastern provinces too, and our people in those areas will also live in peace and freedom.

UPDATE: Here and here are some polls with some of these details.

Freedom

2006-12-14T08:33:00.000+04:30

Almost three decades of war destroyed Afghanistan. First it started between Mujahideen, communist government and the Soviets. And after the Soviets were defeated, the civil war started. The main reason for the civil war was the interference of the neighboring countries. Pakistan, Iran etc interfered in our country and supported different parties and militias for their own benefit so it caused the civil war. The civil war started in Kabul between different Mujahideen parties over the control of the capital, Kabul and then this war was sparked in some other parts of the country. During this time the Taliban movement started their activities from Kandahar and in few weeks they gained control of the southern provinces and started moving towards the capital Kabul. At first people were thinking that the Taliban may end the civil war, but it didn't happen. They made life hard for our people and banned our people from their personal freedom. Media was forbidden. There was no freedom of speech. TV was banned and there was only one radio station that belonged only to the Taliban, so life was really boring.

During this tragic period of time, the Afghan people suffered from basic needs of life like education, health care and other basic needs. We lost everything. Our economy went down and once 950,000 Afghani was equal to a US dollar. Our museum was looted, our tanks and weapons were sold to the neighboring countries, and our strong army was destroyed. Most people sold their houses and other things to get out of Afghanistan and millions of Afghans emigrated around the world.

Before the Taliban took control of the capital, Kabul, some of the northern allies were fighting between each other. But after the Taliban took the capital, Kabul, the northern allies became united to open a front against the Taliban, and the fighting continued between the Taliban and northern allies in northern provinces from 1996 till 2001. Sometimes the Taliban made advances and sometimes the northern allies did. Once the Taliban took Mazar-e-Sharif and many other nothern provinces and the nothern allies only had control of 2 provinces. But then the Taliban got defeated in Mazar-e-Sharif and the northern allies moved forward to 25km north of Kabul. People were hoping the northern allies would be able to defeat the Taliban, but the Taliban had a large number of fighters from different countries, mainly from Pakistan, better vehicles and equipment, so it was hard to defeat them. But our brave people were hoping to win.

This was the time when the world community left us alone. But the 9/11 tragic incident brought the free world's attention towards Afghanistan and the US government decided to overthrow the Taliban regime. The northern allies took advantage of the US air strikes and ousted the Taliban from the capital and other provinces. Some other small Afghan fighters also fought the Taliban in other parts of Afghanistan. Our current president Hamid Karzai was also fighting the Taliban with a group of his fighters. He was also injured. Another famous jihadi commander Haji Abdul Haq was also fighting with the Taliban but unfortunately he was arrested and killed by the Taliban before the US helicopters could rescue him. So everywhere people started fighting against the Taliban and they got defeated.

Afghans are very brave people. We are not scared of fighting. We defeated great powers in the past. We could have defeated the Taliban if we had external support. Some rich countries were behind the Taliban and it was hard to fight them. If the nothern allies had at least the air support they could have defeated the Taliban. The other reason that it was hard for the northern allies to defeat the Taliban was sadness of the people from the northern allies because the northern allies fought against each other in order to get power and thousands of civilians were killed in this war. So therefor many people were upset from the northern allies.

We don't want to be a charity case. Afghans are proud people who want to make their own way in the world but at the moment we need the support of the free world. We need more emphasis on training the Afghan army so that Afghans can take over the fighting. We need enough support to defeat the Taliban. We don't have a shortage of brave Afghans - we have brave people and we can defeat the Taliban with the support of the free world. The Taliban are not strong enough to create any civil war at the moment. Therefor they carry out terrorist attacks which mainly kill innocent civilans, and if we have the support of the free world we can defeat the enemies soon. But if the world community abandons us, Afghanistan will go back to civil war. We don't want to be part of the 3rd world. We need the support of the world community at least for 5 more years. By that time our army will be very powerful and professional and our economy will have improved and after that we will be able to use our own rich natural resources and it will improve our economy and we will be able to spend our own money and one day Afghanistan will be a rich country who will be able to support other poor countries and we hope this won't be so far.

The Afghans are not the enemy of the US or any other country. I hope that we will be strong allies forever and have good political and economic relationship and I hope Afghanistan will be able to contribute its forces to join with the US and other countries in the free world to liberate more people. Freedom is not something that only white Christians deserve. People from different religions and colors deserves freedom and we must join hands together to bring true freedom.

The NATO Summit

2006-12-05T02:12:00.000+04:30

During the two-day summit in Latvia, NATO leaders agreed to provide an extra 2500 troops for combat operations against the Taliban insurgents. This summit meeting was very important towards strengthing peace and progress for the Afghan people, and the Afghan people hope the NATO member countries contribute more troops to Afghanistan in order to defeat the enemies and strengthen security. This is the first dangerous combat mission for NATO troops and they can easily make their mission successful if they do not lose hope. The NATO Afghan mission is possible to succeed if NATO allies continue their commitment to Afghanistan.

There are a few thousand NATO troops in northern and western provinces, and the security situation is better in these provinces, so in this case half of these troops should be redeployed to the southern and eastern provinces which are the main combat zones, so they can help other allies in the war against the insurgents. There are 32,000-strong NATO forces in Afghanistan to fight the Taliban. In the presence of these forces, the insurgents have been increasing their activities. Therefore there is a need for some extra troops. 32,000 NATO troops are enough to defeat the insurgents if they increase their operations against the enemies and use more of their soldiers in some provinces. There are a large number of these troops inside bases and their operations are around the areas of the province they have their bases. If these troops expand their operations to the main combat zones, it would be very useful to prevent enemy activity.

The recent joint operations of the Afghan Army and NATO forces have been very successful. Dozens of the enemy have been killed in the southern provinces. The joint operations have been more successful and have had less civilian casualties and if both parties continue such operations it will be very useful for both parties. The Afghan Army will learn better combat techniques and they also know the language and communicate better with the locals. And in order to prevent civilian casualties, NATO troops need to have accuracy in their intelligence because some commanders have personal disputes and deliver wrong reports. So better intelligence will make their mission more successful and the locals will show better cooperation.

There are some NATO member countries that have populations against the deployment of their soldiers to Afghanistan, and they want their troops to come home soon. Afghans appreciate their contributions and we hope they go back to their countries after they complete their mission in Afghanistan and it will not be very long. According to the Canadian military's official report, Canada might not be able to keep its troops in Afghanistan beyond 2009, in order to prepare for the massive security requirements for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. We understand that their country comes first. They have done a great job already, and in my opinion by the end of 2009 the Afghan Army will be capable of handling the security responsibility if the NATO allies pledge more support in order to train the Afghan Army. The sooner we have a strong army, it will be for the benefit of all the NATO member countries. But at this moment we do need more NATO troops to be sent to Afghanistan, not only to fight the terrorists, but also to carry out reconstruction efforts, so that by the time they leave Afghanistan, it will be a free, beautiful, democratic country.

New York Times

2006-12-03T09:39:00.000+04:30

Hello Dear Readers,

I have been writing for the New York Times for the past 3 weeks. So I have not been able to post any articles on my blog. After the contract ends on December 15 I will start writing for my own blog again and I will write at least one blog a week. I have been busy with my job but I will have more in the coming weeks. Here is a link for my articles in the New York Times. I hope everyone will take a look.

Operations Against Terror should be Expanded in Pakistan

2006-11-04T05:48:00.000+04:30

For the first time the Pakistani Air Force conducted an air strike against suspected Taliban in Bajaur, a tribal area of Pakistan, which killed over 80 Taliban. Bajaur is a tribal region in Pakistan which has a joint border with the eastern province of Afghanistan, Kunar. The Pakistan government does not have full control over Bajaur and Taliban fighters have been crossing the border to carry out their attacks against Afghan and coalition forces. So Kunar province has been one of the most unstable provinces in the eastern provinces. President Hamid Karzai and other high ranking Afghan officials have claimed repeatedly that the terrorists get training, financial and logistical support from outside Afghanistan and we need to destroy their training centers outside Afghanistan. But the Pakistan government has always denied the existence of terrorist camps in their country. During the joint meeting of presidents Hamid Karzai, G.W. Bush and Musharaf, when president Hamid Karzai said that Pakistan should take more action against the terrorists and destroy the terrorist camps in Pakistan, president Musharaf got very emotional and used improper words against our president and called him an ostrich which is far from diplomatic respect and does not deserve a president to use such a words against the other president.

Many other countries like England, France and Canada asked Pakistan for more assistance and have blamed the Pakistani intelligence service ISI for supporting the Taliban. Under these requests, for the first time Pakistan took a huge action against the rebels and we welcome this and hope or more actions.

This operation proved that there are many terrorist camps in Pakistan where they are recruiting people for insurgency and training them to learn military techniques in order to fight the coalition and Afghan forces. This operation was the first significant step against the militants in Pakistan and if the casualties were really the terrorists and insurgents then the Afghan people support it and they hope the Pakistan government takes more such actions in other tribal areas of Pakistan and destroys all the terrorist camps, then hopefully a permanant peace will come to Afghanistan soon. In my opinion only air raids will not be very effective and the terrorists will keep changing their locations and these air strikes increase risk of civilians deaths. But if they have correct information about the terrorist shelters then the air raid is an easier way to end up, so we hope the Pakistan army should also carry out ground operations against the rebels and control their tribal areas with their own troops and put more soldiers in suspected areas and establish checkpoints, patrols and house searches. This will be very effective. It is a shame for Pakistan government - they are an atomic power but they do not have any control over the northern parts of their country and they blame our president for not having control outside the capital. I think we have more control with our small number of army and no-one can use our land against another country and send terrorists to destablize the peace of another country.

If president Musharaf didn't know about the existence of terrorist camps in his country, after this operation he knows that there are many terrorist bases, and now he should honestly support our government and take serious action against the enemies of peace and stability and hand over all the rebel leaders to the Afghan government and destroy their camps in Pakistan and if Pakistan continues more and serious operations, after a few months a permanent peace will be established in Afghanistan and it will be for the benefit of Afghanistan, Pakistan and the world community.

Agreement Between Pakistan and Tribal Militia

2006-10-08T13:53:00.000+04:30

The security situation in Afghanistan has been unstable recenty. Suicide bomb attacks occur almost on a daily basis in Afghanistan, particularly in the capital, Kabul, which causes huge casualties to the civilians. Many people fear that the country is moving towards an uncertain future. Most people believe the permanent peace and stability will not come to Afghanistan until the world community targets and eradicates the main sources of terrorists. Every Afghan knows that the Taliban and Al Qaeda get financial and logistical support from outside Afghanistan. The government of Pakistan hasn't done much to prevent the terrorist activities in tribal areas of Pakistan and the Pakistani Intelligence Service ISI secretly supports the Taliban. Hundreds of Pakistani fighters have been arrested in Afghanistan by Afghan and coalition forces with Pakistani identification and many of them confessed that they are organized and trained by the ISI in different camps and that is a strong document which proves the ISI's hand behind the violence in Afghanistan.

Pakistan recently made an agreement with militants active in the tribal areas along the Afghan border, where the Pakistani government has little control. Under this agreement, Pakistani forces and militia forces agreed to end military action against each other and the rebels would not cross the border to launch attacks in Afghanistan. But a few days after this agreement a new wave of attacks and violence increased by the Taliban and pro-Taliban Pakistani rebels in the southern provinces. So in my opinion if Pakistan did not make this agreement, the attacks wouldn't have been increased. This agreement will create more problems for Afghanistan and provide more opportunity for pro-Taliban Pakistani rebels to recruit and train local people for military purposes. This agreement proved that the Pakistani government is not honestly helping the world community in the war against the terrorists and extremists. How come the government of Pakistan guaranteed that these rebels will not carry out attacks in Afghanistan? These tribal militia already support the Al Qaeda and Taliban and since the Pakistan government gave them more freedom now, it's very easy for Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders to hide themselves in these areas and use these areas as a best shelter.

The government of Pakistan must start military action against them and control its tribal areas and destroy their camps. But instead the Pakistan government gave them more freedom so now they are more independent to carry out their activities and do whatever they want. Coalition forces will not succeed unless the Pakistan government quits playing games. Pakistan calls itself a close ally in the war against terrorists. It's just because Pakistan doesn't have a choice and it would come under the pressure of the world community. But on the other hand the ISI indirectly supports the Taliban for its own benefit. Before 9/11 the Taliban and ISI had a close relationship. We hope the United States and other free countries put pressure on Pakistan to control its tribal areas and disarm the tribal militia. President Karzai has a strong commitment to make Afghanistan a prosperous and real democratic country. Therefor he is trying to tell the world that the terrorists and extremists are trained and supported outside Afghanistan and we must take action against them outside Afghanistan. So we hope the world community listens to this and asks Pakistan to take serious action against the rebels. If we fight them inside Afghanistan and Pakistan before the year 2007, they will be finished and the year 2007 would be a year of peace and stability for Afghanistan and there will be more opportunities to rebuild our wartorn country.

Daily Life in Afghanistan

2006-09-20T18:36:00.000+04:30

The daily life of most Afghan people is normal but in some southern and western provinces the daily life of Afghans is not very peaceful, particularly for those people who work for government and foreign organizations. They are not feeling safe and they are under threat of the enemies. Recently the enemies have been intensifying their attacks on the villages and they have also increased their suicide attacks and many civilians and foreign troops have been killed during these attacks. Although the living situation in southern and eastern provinces is not very stable, the dalily life in the capital Kabul and other northern provinces seems normal and people live with peace. Although Kabul has been the scene of suicide attacks recently - three suicide attacks were carried out in Kabul in less than 20 days - but life is still normal because people know the enemies use their last power with carrying suicide attacks because they are not able to fight with Afghan and coalition troops so they are trying to create fear among people and destabilize the situation.

In Kabul life is normal - boys and girls go to school, women work in both government offices and non-government organizations. TV channels and radio stations run their programs without fear and freedom of speech has been improving. Many foreign companies have invested in the country and if the security situation gets better, more foreigners will invest and there will be more job opportunities for the Afghans because many Afghans are jobless and they are hoping foreigners, particularly western companies, would come to Afghanistan to open up big businesses, companies and farms where citizens of this country would work day and night to help their country become prosperous. Even though the security situation is satisfactory in the Kabul, northern, western and some central provinces, there is a lack of job opportunities for the people and many people are jobless right now. In Kabul many educated people like doctors and engineers are jobless because there are many doctors in Kabul and all posts are reserved and there is no empty post for these doctors to work. So many doctors work in private health clinics in Kabul, but we still have hundreds of jobless doctors in Kabul while there is a huge lack of doctors in southern and eastern provinces. But due to the unstable situation, these doctors are not ready to work in the southern and eastern provinces. Many doctors and engineers have been killed. The enemies of Afghanistan have been threatening all those people who work for the government and foreign organizations. Three UN workers wer killed on Saturday by a land mine. Last week I met a female teacher from southern Ghazni province and she said that the Taliban have been threating them by letters not to teach girls and they said next time we will come inside the schools with motorcycles and then it will not be good. In southern provinces girls are scared to go to schools - only in some cities they go school, but those girls who live in the villages can not go to school due to situation.

Presidents of three countries - United States, Afghanistan and Pakistan will meet in the Whitehouse in coming days. Afghan people hope talks between these leaders will be useful and they should be able to find a solution to defeat the terrorists in the region. Nowadays everyone knows that the terrorists cross the border from Pakistan and carry out attacks on Afghan and foreign troops. Many Pakistani Taliban have been captured by the Afghan and coalition forces with Pakistani identifications which proves that Pakistan hasn't done much to control its border and terrorist camps which are active in the tribal areas of Pakistan. We hope President Bush puts more pressure on Pakistan to honestly take action against the extremist Afghan people living in the southern and eastern provinces. I hope their kids go to school with happy faces and women will be more secure to educate and there will be job opportunities for people. Most companies have invested in the capital and other western and northern provinces and due to the security situation these companies are not ready to invest in these troubled provinces. If the situation gets better in these provinces many people will have jobs and they will not cultivate poppy because poppy cultivation moves the country backwards and produces a good source of income to terrorists in Afghanistan. So we are hoping the world community will help us to find the real source of terrorists - where they get training and financial support. Once we destroy their main source, in a few months the terrorists name would be erase from this world.

Major Offensive Operation against Taliban

2006-09-07T06:09:00.000+04:30

The enemies of peace have intensified their attacks since the beginning of this year. Although more than 10,000 NATO international forces have been deployed in the south, the situation is still troubled. Some international media have shown concern that the world community is not fulfilling their commitment to Afghanistan and therefor the situation is not getting better so therefor the US and international troops should target those places where there is training, supplying and sending the terrorists to our country. If Pakistan really calls itself one of the close allies of international anti-terrorism, they should honestly cooperate with the international community and destroy the terrorist camps in the tribal areas of Pakistan and arrest those who persuade and send insurgents and terrorists to our country Afghanistan.

If the international community really want to bring peace and stability to our country, they should put more pressure on Pakistan to take serious military action and destroy the nests of the terrorists, otherwise the situation will not get better and terrorists will cross the border and continue their attacks against the foreign and government troops in Afghanistan. Pakistan claims to have seventy thousand troops along its border with Afghanistan to monitor the terrorist activities and these troops have not been very successful and haven't done any specific operation against the terrorists. So it will be very useful if these troops fight the terrorists inside Pakistan where they grow. If the government of Pakistan deploys some of its troops in the tribal areas and these troops start patrolling and searching the houses and other suspected areas, I am sure the terrorists will be eradicated. And if the Pakistani army is not able to defeat them, then they should call for help and let the inernational troops fight them.

The president of Pakistan general Pervez Musharraf came to Kabul today for an official visit. The purpose of this visit was to strengthen bilateral reations. This visit occurred while the situation is very troubled in the southern provinces and the Afghan gorvernment believes that the militants cross the border from the Pakistan side and carry out their terrorist activities. President Karzai and President Musharraf had one to one talks today and they were looking very satisfied of their talking and both leaders urged joint terror fight. We hope that President Musharraf honestly fulfills his promises and our people hope that President Musharraf starts a major operation against the terrorist camps in Pakistan. After the ouster of the Taliban, Pakistan could capture many terrorists and could control their activites because the Pakistan intelligence knew everything about the Taliban. They were supporting the Taliban against the Northern Alliance before September 11, 2001. The government of Pakistan didn't honestly cooperate with the world community. Now it is still not too late and we hope Pakistan will do much more to defeat the terrorists. NATO and Afghan National Army are conducting a major operation against the insurgents in the southern provinces and more than 220 insurgents have been killed. This operation was planned a month ago, and the local elders were informed to leave their villages because the enemies try to use civilians as a shelter to save themselves. This was the biggest joint operation of NATO and Afghan forces and therefor it was very successful and no civilian deaths have been reported. We hope this operation will continue and all operations should be conducted with the coordination of the Afghan Army. We witness that every joint operation of the Afghan and foreign troops have been more successful.

Insurgency Increasing in the South

2006-08-23T11:09:00.000+04:30

According to the news reports, more than 70 Taliban have been killed in two different operations in the southern Helmand and Kandahar provinces, when Saturday night a group of Taliban attacked the Panjwayi district and clashes started between Taliban and National Police. At the same time the quick reaction forces of the Afghan National Army and NATO forces surrounded the area and pushed the attackers away from the district, which left around 70 Taliban dead. 5 soldiers of Afghan police were also killed during this fighting. NATO aircraft were called in to support Afghan National Police and army troops and NATO soldiers. Even though this was a joint operation of the Afghan National Army and NATO forces, it was the first heavy fighting between the Taliban and NATO since NATO forces took over command of the southern provinces from the US-led coalition on July 31. During an air strike operation in the neighboring Helmand provice, a dozen Taliban were killed and injured. No civilian deaths have been reported from the area.

NATO forces recently took over responsibility for security in the southern province and the situation has been very troubling and these forces face stiff resistance from the insurgents. They have been increasing their attacks since the beginning of this year and 2006 was one of the bloodiest years since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. More than 1500 insurgents, hundreds of civilians and Afghan security forces and dozens of foreign troops have been killed. Every day we hear about one or two suicide attacks. More suicide attacks are happening in Afghanistan than are happening in Iraq, but the civilian death toll is much more in Iraq because the terrorists targets big cities in Iraq, and crowded civilian areas like the capital Baghdad, Mosul and other cities. Also many civilians die in sectarian violence, but in Afghanistan the insurgent activities mostly occur in the southern and eastern provinces because they cross the border and carry out their operations and escape back. They are not very active in the central provinces, western and nothern parts of the country and their activies are mostly limited to the villages and only sometimes they target the big cities. So overall the situation is much better in Afghanistan.

Around 10,000 NATO and ISAF forces have been deployed in the southern provinces and our people are hoping these forces will strengthen the security in the southern provinces so that the reconstruction activities will begin without fear. Security is the main requirement of the Afghan people and if they carry out their operations with the coordination of the Afghan National Army and police they will be very successful because most joint operations with the Afghan forces have been very successful and have prevented civilian deaths. Last week 12 border police were killed by a coalition air strike in Paktia province. If they have radio communication with every provincial security official, it would be very useful to prevent such friendly fire. According to recent reports, the US soldiers will be deployed along the border with Pakistan to monitor terrorist activities, which is a very good decision by the American army. It will be very useful to prevent terrorist attacks. With their modern equipment, they will be more useful than the Afghan army. So we hope they will start putting their troops along the border and once we control the border the terrorists will not be able to cross or escape over the border and the situation will be much better.

Successful Military Operations in Baghdad

2006-08-06T10:32:00.000+04:30

According to the Centcom press release both coalition, Iraqi army and security forces conducted some successful clean up operations against the terrorists in Baghdad this week. During these operations, a number of suspected enemies, including a high ranking insurgent leader, were captured by the Iraqi security forces. These operations were carried out by coalition force observers. These insurgents have been involved in explosive device attacks against the coalition forces, mortar attacks, kidnapping and killing Iraqi citizens. This operation was a great success for the Iraqi forces where the situation in the capital Baghdad has been unstable and dozens of people have been killed recently in different terrorist attacks.

In another operation, coalition forces killed at least three terrorists during an air strike and multiple raids southeast of Baghdad the afternoon of Aug 3. As well as killing 3 suspected terrorists, the ground troops also seized a huge amount of VBIED material. These VBIED were planned to be use against the coalition forces, Iraqi Army and innocent Iraqi people. The material which was uncovered saved the lives of many people. Conducting such military operations against the insurgents is very necessary and it will destroy the ability of the enemies who are killing innocent Iraqi people. We hope the Iraqi forces and coalition forces together continue their clean-up operations against the enemies all around Iraq and arrest those enemies who are killing the innocent Iraqi people. These military operations ended with no death to non-combatants and we hope both Iraqi forces and coalition forces take more precautions during their operations and air strikes in the future to avoid civilian casualties.

Iraq is in a new phase of its progress and democracy. There is a legal government which was elected by the Iraqi people and a parliament which has representatives of all the Iraqi people. The only thing that needs to be done is deal with the security issue, which will hopefully be solved with the help of coalition forces, Iraqi forces and the Iraqi people. Iraqi people can play a main rule now - it's the best time for Sunni and Shiites to join hands and not let the enemies take advantage and add more fuel to the fire. In all Muslim countries, Shiite and Sunni Muslims live together in peace and brotherhood. So I hope the Iraqi people whould also be united. They are one nation and they have one religion so they should keep their unity. One day Iraq will be in the list of richest countries - there are huge natural resources like oil which will improve the life of Iraqi people and help rebuild their country.

Occupation of Two Districts by Taliban

2006-07-22T17:05:00.000+04:30

According to recent reports, two districts of the southern Helmand province were captured by the Taliban with the interference of the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e- Tayeba. And after they captured these two districts they burnt the Afghan national flag and the flag of Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e- Tayeba was hoisted in the districts. These acts of enemies sparked the anger of many patriotic Afghans. The enemies are always crossing the borders with the help of foreign rebels and they escape after their guerilla operations. The insurgents have captured some small villages before but it was the first time that the national flag of Afghanistan was burnt by the enemies and it was a big insult to our national interest and dignity.

Although nearly thirty thousand international troops have been deployed in Afghanistan, the recent attacks of enemies creates a question for many Afghans that despite the presence of Afghan national army and police and foreign troops, how come the enemies easily occupy districts without facing enough resistance? Why despite the international commitment, the security situation is not getting better? In my opinion the main reason for these attacks and capturing are the small presence of the Afghan national army in the troubled areas along the border. There is not a large number of the Afghan army to fight the insurgents and our Ministry of Defence can not deploy more Afghan soldiers to these areas because thousands of the government soldiers have been already deployed to missions and are fighting the enemies in different areas and the remaining number of these soldiers are inside the big cities' army bases and garrisons. If our government were able to deploy more soldiers to the areas along the border it would be very difficult for the enemies to carry out their attacks. We hope NATO deploys more troops in those areas where the enemies have their influence, particulary in the southern provinces.

There are hundreds of international peacekeeping forces in the big cities but we need their presence more in the troubled areas to ensure security for the Afghans. The more presence of NATO forces in the border areas will restore the situation and it will curb the terrorist activites and the enemy resistance will be broken. So NATO should continue its commitment and deploy more troops to Afghanistan. The enemy should know that their guerilla attacks will not succeed and our country Afghanistan will successfuly continue its way to progress, stability and democracy. The recent visits of American foreign and defence ministers to Afghanistan proved that the United States of America will continue its commitment, long standing strategic partnership and will not abandon Afghanistan. Many Afghans view this as a good sign and hope that America continues its support until Afghanistan will be strong enough to stand on its own two feet.

Restricting the Media Activities in Afghanistan

2006-06-23T13:32:00.000+04:30

According to the news reports, Afghanistan's intelligence department has issued a two page document to the local media which restricts their activities. This decision sparked the anger of the Afghan journalists around the country because this two page document stops the local newspapers from doing their important and main activities. The free press has made magnificent progress since the fall of the Taliban. According to the Afghan constitution the free press has the right to carry out their activities with out any pressure from the government or any other organizations. So in my opinion the government should reverse its decision and our media should be free to publish the reality and tell our people what is going on in their country. Every day in our newspapers the top articles are about roadside bombing, suicide attacks, militant activities and also there are articles about the ANA and coalition forces attacks on enemies and their success over the enemies. And if our media and newspapers do not report these important news items then there will not be any important news for them to publish and the newspapers will be almost blank because there are not much reports about reconstruction in our country. In the free world the newspapers have the right to publish good news and bad news.

Publishing news about the terrorists attacks will not weaken our government. The terrorist attacks will increase the aversion of our people to the enemies and they will try to help their government to identify the enemies and avoid the attacks. Our people will never support the enemies - they have already suffered war for almost 3 decades and they will never support the enemies of peace and freedom.

Our media is not 100% free and it's still under the pressure of some warlords and Jihadi leaders that are in the current parliament and some government posts - even though our constitution states that those leaders and commanders that have been involved in crimes can not be participating in parliament. But to the contrary, many of these leaders were elected themselves and came to parliament. Our media is not mentioning their crimes because these leaders have influence. There is only one lady who is a member of parliament and she always mentions about the crimes of these leaders in parliament. And once these leaders attacked her with water bottles because she was telling the truth. So we hope our media should be more free to tell the reality and hope our president Hamid Karzai will change this decision, and our media, especially newpapers, should be free to publish the reality about the current situation in Afghanistan.

The Recruit of Militia Forces in Afghanistan

2006-06-19T21:16:00.000+04:30

The Afghan Government has announced that it will recruit tribal militias to boost security in their areas. This decision has not been welcomed by most Afghans. On one hand the government carried out the disarmament program to disarm the militias, but on the other hand the government arms irresponsible people. We know that without security and peace it is impossible to make progress. In every country the security forces are organized under the formation of ministry of defense, ministry of interior, and intelligence forces and our government also has these three organizations and we don't need militia forces to ensure security for us.

However the government of Afghanistan has emphasised many times to disarm the irresponsible militia and therefore the government has launched DDR programs and under these programs thousands of militia forces have been disarmed. But now we see its going in the opposite direction and the government is going to arm the militias in the southern and southeastern provinces like Helmand, Farah, Konar and Paktia provinces, which can be dangerous in the future, it's hard to guarantee. These militia forces might interfere with the police and use their power in wrong ways. We have already experienced this during the civil war, so in my opinion the government should stop this process as soon as possible and if the government continues this process it will show the weakness of our government and foreign forces to provide security for the Afghan people.

We have the forces of more than 30 foreign countries here, plus our national army and police. So with the presence of these forces we dont need militia forces to boost security for us. We know that in some tribal areas we have only 40 police for a population of 200,000, which is not enough force to provide security. We need more forces to ensure security for the tribal people, but not by the tribal militias. We want our government forces to do this job, therefore we hope our government accelerates the conscription process around the country and recruits Afghans to join the national army and police. At the moment this process is going very slowly and in the past 4 years we haven't completed the 75,000 Afghan army forces.

So in my opinion the Afghan government should use all its effort to improve security and increase the number of police forces and army forces because security is the most important thing in a human's life. So we hope the world community will help our government in order to improve its security forces and recruit enough forces to eradicate the terrorists from our country.

Bloody Traffic Accident and Protest

2006-06-03T15:35:00.000+04:30

Monday's fatal traffic accident was one of the worst traffic accidents in the capital Kabul, which caused casualties unrest and financial damage. The riots started when a US military vehicle smashed into a number of civilian vehicles. A number of angry Afghans gathered at the scene and started to attack the military convoy with stones. According to the eyewitnesses, the US troops and Afghan forces opened fire on the crowd after they gathered around the convoy and it caused more casualties. Thousands of people marched through the streets of Kabul after 25 people were killed in the car accident and subsequent gun battle. The angry protesters attacked police guard posts and set fire to police cars and ransacked buildings. Although it was an accident, it caused the anger of locals who were the witnesses of this bloody accident and led to a riot.

Unfortunately some groups of bad guys take part in this protest to take advantage of the protest and to steal and destroy the property of foreign aid organizations and civilians. They looted a few places like restaurants and foreign aid organizations but most foreign aid organizations were safe because Afghan National Army and police did not let the protester to enter those area where most foreigners live and they were pointing their weapons directly towards the protesters to stop them from attacking. Police arrested dozens of people on charges of involvement in agitation and 64 people have been detained over Monday night. In my opinion those people who started the protest couldn't control themselves after they saw this bloody accident and they thought it occurred due to careless driving and therefore they started roiting. And these people did not destroy or burn anything, but some bad elements who wanted to take advantage of this protest committed violence for their own benefit and stimulated the youngsters and students to demonstrate. These groups of bad elements burnt a post office and some other government and civilian properties. Destroying their own country is such a bad action and it was unacceptable to every Afghan.

Mostly civilians suffered from this riot because many civilian properties were damaged and destroyed in this protest. Most Afghan people condemned the violent demonstration. I talked to some people, and heard some people talking between themselves, and all of them were against violence. Our constitution states that the people have the right to protest but not to destroy government and civilian property. The Afghan media and newspapers also condemned those protesters who caused destruction and advised people to protest peacefully and to not let the enemies take adantage of such a riot.

Most Afghans complain about the aggressive driving of the US military convoys. Coalition military convoys often pass through the crowded areas at high speed and sometimes disregard traffic rules. We know such driving tactics are necessary to protect the convoys from attack but they should also remember that it's also dangerous for people and civilian cars. I hope our police should seek better ways to handle the protesters and instead of killing them with bullets they must use tear gas and other equipment to separate the protesters. It's against human rights anywhere in the world to open fire at civilians. I hope our police learn from the past experience and handle such a protest peacefuly. We hope the US government could donate some of those guns that can be used against the protesters without causing casualties, like tear gas etc. However it was just an accident and these kinds of accident happen everywhere in the world. We hope our people learn to be patient. They are just experiencing the freedom. So we hope in the future all military convoys drive with caution while they pass crowded areas. This one accident will not effect anything bad in our relationship with the United States of America and our friendship will continue. The Afghan people need the presence and support of the United States in order to defeat the terrorists and make a peaceful and safer world.

Reconstructing Afghanistan

2006-05-17T15:35:00.000+04:30

An international business conference was held in the capital Kabul last week to find out new ways to invest in Afghanistan. More than 25 foreign companies from different countries participated in an exhibition in order to introduce their goods to the market. After the decades of war and conflict, Afghanistan is finally open for business. Many foreign inverstors have invested in different business fields which gives a good benefit to the government and also opens up job opportunities for the Afghan people. Almost every foreign company that has invested in Afghanistan has taken a great profit so far, especialy those companies providing telecommunication - mobile phone companies, wireless, internet companies and construction companies. A local call from a cell phone to another cell phone is 15 cents per minute which is more expensive than some western countries. Internet prices are also higher than what it is in America and other countries - more than $250 a month. Therefor people rely on internet cafes because they can't afford to get internet in their houses and most internet companies are selling their connections to the foreign organizations and hotels.

There is still a huge need for construction companies in Afghanistan, in order to build small towns and roads. Also there is a great need of cement manufacturing in Afghanistan because we import cement from Pakistan and the Pakistani cement companies have raised their prices extremly high. The investment in private universities are a great step towards a new and modern education system in Afghanistan. But due to the high fee it's impossible for almost every Afghan student to afford the new American university which inaugurated this year offering programs in business administration and information technology. But due to the $5000 high fee for a year makes it really hard for the Afghan students, because the economy of most Afghan people is very weak. The Afghanistan budget has developed well this year. Compared to the last 4 years there has been a 30 percent increase. In comparison to the last year, although the central government has been collecting the customs tax and taxes from the merchants, the tax department has not been able to collect the taxes from around the country. The tax department has not been able to collect the taxes from more than half of the sources. According to an official from the finance ministry, the government has not been able collect the taxes systematically from the hotels, shops and other companies. In the capital Kabul there is more than a hundred thousand shops, but the tax department has only collected taxes from 35 thousand of the shops.

The administration system is very poor in Afghanistan. The work has not been given to the right people, therefor taxes and customs are not being properly collected. In some parts of the country the incomes are not even collected. The income taxes which have been brought to the government treasury have not been used properly and according to some reports around 400 milion dollars from the general revenue of the country has been wasted due to administration corruption and lack of working capacity. There are some Afghans that are living under tents but our ministries are spending thousands of dollars on buying fancy cars and furnitures. Even though our budget increased 30% this year, living conditions are not developed in the country. Wages are still low - a teacher or doctor makes between 80 to 120 dollars a month which is not enough money to survive. These civil servants should make at least $200 to $250 a month. The goverment has made some promises to increase the wages of the government employees but has not fulfilled its promise. Last year the government announced a new tax program that those Afghans who makes more than 12500 Afghani a month must pay 10% tax but the program has not been executed. If the government takes serious action and collects income tax from around the country, I am sure that after a few years Afghanistan would not rely on foreign aids and Afghan people would be able to rebuild their country with their own money and would be able to help other poor countries on the world.

Reconciliation in Iraq

2006-04-30T14:44:00.000+04:30

Al-Jazeera TV broadcasted a video message from Al Qaeda leader in Iraq, Musa'ab al-Zarqawi, in which he urged his followers to intensify their attacks on American soldiers and other foreign soldiers deployed in Iraq. In my opinion most Iraqi people support their new elected government and parliament. Despite the threats and violence they went to the polling stations and elected their government and parliament and they are making political progress and working for their unity. So in this situation they will not support any insurgency from the rebels. For the past 3 years thousands of innocent Iraqi muslims have been killed during the terrorists attacks. The insurgents are not capable of fighting with the foreign soldiers and Iraqi army so therefor they mostly cowardly target the innocent Iraqi civilians. As we know, it's impossible for insurgents to defeat the elected government of Iraq. So it's for their betterment to lay down their weapons and start their civilian life. I hope the Iraqi government will start an amnesty program. It will strengthen the peace process in Iraq and it will be a great opportunity for those who want to lay down their weapons and join the government.

The Afghan government started a peace and reconciliation program last year and offered amnesty for those Taliban and warlords who wanted to lay down their weapons and join the government. This program was very successful and for the last one year more than one thousand anti-government forces joined this program. So if the new Iraqi government starts the same program, I am sure many insurgents will lay down their weapons and join this program, and it will be for the benefit of the Iraqi people. The people of Iraq elected their government and parliament and I hope now that they work hard for their unity and forget Sunni or Shiite - they are all muslims from one country and they are one nation and there shouldnt be any difference between them, and if they keep their unity soon they will defeat the rebels and make a great country.

Afghan Christian Convert

2006-04-04T15:57:00.000+04:30

Abdul Rahman was the first Afghan that converted from Islam to Christianity. Many people think that Abdul Rahman was converted to Christianity during his stay in Germany because there is no church or any school in Afghanistan to teach other religions because except for a couple of thousand Hindus and Sikhs the whole Afghan people are Muslim and they converted to Islam more than 13 hundred years ago and they love and protect their religion and they also respect other religions. That is why these Hindus and Sikhs are living and Afghanistan and they have their religious freedom. Also we have one Jew but I am not sure what part of Afghanistan he lives in.

People from different religions think that their religion is the true religion so even though we don't like their religion we should not have the right to insult and I am glad that in Afghanistan we have not insulted any religion and we will not disrespect any religion. As I said, if the Hindus and Sikhs can live here, people from other religions can also live with out any problem. The only problem is for those Muslims who convert from Islam to other religions. Islam is a religion of peace and we can not force people to be Muslim, its up to them. We can only invite not force. So now the world community should respect our law which has been made for the wellbeing of 30 million people. Free people and government should be free and independent to execute their law inside their countries. Every country in the world has different regulations and constitution and they made it for their people and they should be free to implement the law inside their country. If other countries stop us from implementing our law it means our government does not have the freedom to implement its law. In my opinion he wouldn't be executed. There was some ways that could solve the problem. Our government could solve the Abdul Rahman case. The government wouldn't execute him that soon, it would take a while. But the western pressure on our government did not allow the government to take a decision. It's because our country is poor and relies on foreign aid. In Taiwan and china they execute people who smuggle drugs in. That is their law and no western country interfere because they are rich countries. In my opinion its wrong to execute them for drug business but its ok if they go jail for few years.

After arriving in Italy, Mr Abdul Rahman said they kill you in Kabul if you are Christian and not Muslim. He just said that to get more attention and credit. Of course no one kill you if you are not Muslim. I have seen many foreigners walking in Kabul and some outside of Kabul and they are visiting historical places. No-one has killed them and no-one will kill them. Instead the locals invite them for tea and Afghan food. Yesterday I was walking along an old palace which is far from the Kabul city and I saw 2 men and one woman inside the palace yard and they were taking pictures. Up to now I am scared to go there but nothing happened to them. According to the BBC news now there is worry for the small group of Afghan Christian community in Afghanistan. I say why there should be worry? First there is no Christian community at all if there was why they were not executed? So it means there is no Christian community in Afghanistan.

I mention again people from different religion can live with us like Hindus and Sikhs and there is no problem. In our law and constitution we have the best freedom for our people and our people is totally agree with that. There is freedom of speech, equal rights for men and women and all other good rights that people want in their country. So as other countries implement law in their countries they also have to let us to execute our law in our country to prove that we have a free government.

New Wave of Insurgency in the South

2006-03-23T05:07:00.000+04:30

The enemies of peace and stability once again intensified their attacks recently as the snow began to melt in and around Afghanistan. Particularly the southern provinces have been the scene of violence and clashes as the Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar urged his followers to intensify their attacks on the government and foreign forces in Afghanistan. As a result of these attacks, just in Kandahar province 14 personnel of the Afghan National Police force, including four Albanian citizens, have been killed during the week. The killing of four Albanians made every Afghan person upset. We express our grief and sorrow to their family members and Albanian people. They came to help our people and our country and they had nothing to do with the war.

The rebels don't not have the power to carry out face to face fights therefore they continue their coward attacks using land mines on the roads, kidnapping the Aid workers and other kinds of inhumane attacks. Last year the enemies intensified their attacks in the same season and hundreds of people lost their lives including the government and foreign forces and more than 300 rebels were also killed. Our people hope that their National Army and coalition forces should begin and increase their clean up operations in the troubled regions and neutralize the enemies plans because many times the insurgents have kidnapped and ambushed the military convoys in daylight so if there will be more clean up operations and check points in those areas it will be very hard for the enemies to carry out their activities.

Everyone knows that the terrorists cross the border from Pakistan and carry out their attacks. Many Pakistanis have been arrested which proves that there is an organization in Pakistan that trains and supports these terrorists. A few weeks ago an ex-Pakistani intelligence member was arrested in the Paktia province and he confessed that he came to plan attacks and target the Afghan and foreign forces. Almost 90% of Afghans believe that Pakistan interferes in Afghanistan's internal affairs. Why can't these terrorists cross the Iranian border and carry out their attacks? Why the terrorists can not use and cross Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan borders for their terror attacks? Why they only come from Pakistan? The answer is that in these 4 countries there is no training camps for terrorists and they are controlling their borders and don't let terrorists use their land for attacking their neighbor country. Pakistan also should not let the terrorists use its land and must take serious action against them.

Our people celebrated new year on Tuesday and they are hoping that the new year will be a peaceful year. We thank all those countries who have sent their troops to Afghanistan in order to strengthen peace and stability and those countries who financially helped us so far and we hope one day we will be able to help other poor countries in the world.

Fate of ex-intelligence chief

2006-03-08T14:37:00.000+04:30

The former intelligence chief and deputy prime minister of the communist government, Asadullah Sarwary, was sentenced to death by a court in Kabul 11 days ago. Asadullah Sarwary was arrested in 1992 and spent nearly 14 years in prison without trial and the punishment that was given by the Kabul court was a completely unjust judgment because the court was not able to provide any strong document that shows the involvement of Asadullah Sarwary in killings of people. Only 16 people who missed their relatives during the communist government attended the court and gave testimony that their relatives or family members went missing during the communist government in 1979. In my opinion this was not a good judgment by the Kabul court and they took this decision so quick with out any investigation to prove if claims were true and the court was running like the courts during the Taliban regime where they were making decisions by their own choice. According to the news reports, no defense lawyers were ready to fight Mr Sarwary's case. But these reports were wrong because the defense lawyers were receiving threats from high Jihadi officials in the current government, so therefore Mr Sarwary was defending himself.

It's so sad when the many criminals in high government posts are not being prosecuted - people who destroyed 70% of the capital Kabul and killed more than 70 thousand people just in Kabul from 1992-1996. Every single one of these Jihadi commanders were acting as a king in their area. Looting and killing was done on a daily basis. But now some of them are in the current government and parliament and they are not being prosecuted. People are scared to appeal against them but if the government put these criminals in jail and bring them to justice of course thousands of people will be eyewitnesses of their inhuman crimes. It is clear to everyone that all governments have their opponent. Like the Mujahideen were against the communist government which ran the country from 1979-1992. During this time people killed from both sides and its wrong to stand a former intelligence chief responsible for crimes carried out by others. Mr Sarwary was the intelligence chief for only 6 months and the job of intelligence chief is to investigate not to kill and after investigation if the person was found to be guilty, the intelligence department introduces the case to the ministry of interior and then the ministry of interior takes action against them. Or if any prisoners die in prison that is the responsibility of the Interior Minster and prison commander, not the intelligence chief.

Asadullah Sarwary was sentenced to death while the government run a program called "national reconciliation program" and announced amnesty for the Taliban and other criminals. If the Taliban who are carrying out suicide attacks every day, burning the schools, killing the teachers and doctors can join this process, how come they don't let Assadullah Sarwary to join this process? He has been held in prison for almost 14 years. Is that not enough punishment for him? Also the president Karzai announced that the prisoners who are more than 60 years old should be free from prison and Mr Sarwary is 64 years old and already spent 14 years in prison. It shows that the court's decision was made under the threat of some high jihadi members in the current government. So we hope the world community and human rights organizations appeal against this decision and transfer his second trial to The Hague court in Holland or any other European country and he should be tried in a neutral environment that should give him justice. We hope that the human rights organizations help us in training our judges in new methods and we hope they change our old judgment system.

More on the Cartoons

2006-02-27T15:04:00.000+04:30

Although the publication of cartoons was not a good action from the Jylland's newspaper, and it hurt the feelings of Muslims, but all Muslims did not protest. Only maybe less than one percent of all the Muslims protested, not all Muslims. The Afghanistan population is nearly 30 million people - do you think all these 30 million people protested? Of course not. Only a few thousand people protested, and except in two southern provinces and one northern province, the protests were peaceful in other cities.

The western people should also know that Muslims love their prophet more than their own lives, and that is why they can not tolerate any insult against their prophet. And this has nothing to do with Islam, because Islam is a religion which teaches us peace, friendship and brotherhood and Islam didn't teach us to make violence. Those cartoons were just fake cartoons as no-one in this world has seen or remembered how our prophet looks like. The reason why the publication of these cartoons sparked the anger of Muslims is because they deeply love their prophet and they love him more than their own family members and more than their lives so therefor some Muslims could not tolerate it. But even though most Muslims were upset over this, they kept their tolerance and 99.5% of them did not protest.

I really want a peaceful world where people from different religions and cultures live together with peace and friendship and therefor I want to mention something here that will help the western countries to be close to Muslims and there won't be any misunderstanding between the two sides. We know that the west is the best supporter of freedom and we also support the freedom of speech in every part of this world. I just request from the west that now they know that the cartoons created protests and instead of love it created violence, and now they understand this so I hope in the future the western media will not publish such things that causes the anger of people from other religions.

Muslims are very kind and friendly people and they love freedom. During the time of our prophet and during the 4 caliphs of Islam there was freedom of speech for all people and they could elect their favorite leader so it shows that there is freedom of speech in Islam. Some non-Muslims think that Muslims are bad people but when they come to Afghanistan and meet our people they say you people are so nice. For example some American soldiers when they came to Afghanistan, at first they were thinking that people won't like them, but after they did some patrolling in the villages, they saw how people welcomed them and they have drunk green tea many times with the villagers.

So it shows that Muslims don't hate non-Muslims and they like to be friends of friendly nations. Just because of one or two terrorist groups, we cant blame all Muslims. There are many democratic Muslim countries in the world and now Iraq and Afghanistan are also free countries. Although there is still some violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, this violence will not last long and these two countries will be cleansed of terrorists. From then on one should take away the terrorists name from Islam because they just use the name of Islam and they are not good Muslims. There are many other terrorists groups in this world like Mafia, or like those people who smuggle human body parts. They should be also called terrorists and a serious action must be taken against them.

Some western people think that all Muslims are extremist and want violence but this concept is wrong. I hope we can work together and eradicate this concept that all Muslims want violence and we must work together to create new a concept - to create more friendship between the two sides and have mutual respect. I hope that such a thing wont happen again and if it happens against Christianity or another religion I will be the first to condemn it.

Danish Cartoons of Mohammed

2006-02-10T12:28:00.000+04:30

I strongly condemn the publication of Prophet Muhammad's cartoons in the Danish newspaper and some other European newspapers. This publication has hurt the feelings of more than one bilion Muslims around the world and caused protests and casualties. The chief editors of these newspapers must be investigated for their unwise actions, particularly the Danish newspaper's chief editor because he was the one who started this. We support the freedom of speech but not to use it in a wrong way to insult religions. People should have freedom to fight for their rights and raise their voices against despot governments and cruel people but not against the religion of others. Mulims deeply believe in their religion so they can not tolerate the insulting of their great prophet Muhammad.

We love freedom and we want to live free but we don't use our freedom to insult others' religions. So we hope people around the world should also use their freedom to make friendship, unity and brotherhood between people of different religions and cultures. I know Denmark is a free country and they have freedom of speech and they have a democratic government so there is no need for the Danish newspaper's chief editor to insult the great prophet of Islam without any reason. We have right to use our freedom of speech against the dictators, terrorists and violence and that makes sense because these 3 things are against freedom. But using our freedom to insult and hurt the feelings of other religions does not make any sense. Instead of making friendship, unity and brotherhood between the nations, it makes sadness and causes bad relations between the other nations. Terrorists do not participate in the Muslims, they are just an organization, and if the European newspapers draw cartoons of Osama and Mullah Omar it's totally fine. In the capital Kabul, the media is free and every day in some newspapers you can see cartoons of president Karzai and its ok but drawing the cartoons of the Prophet are totally wrong because our great prophet taught unity, brotherhood and taught people how to live in peace. During his time he was always helping people from different religions. He had a great personality. He died 1400 hundred years ago and he has not been involved in current situations so there is no need for the Danish newspaper to draw his cartoons. They can draw cartoons of terrorists and the cartoons of any president and there will be no problem. As I said our newspapers draw cartoons of our president and there is no problem. Our newspapers are free but they will not insult others' religions. We will never draw the cartoons of Jesus because we believe in him and we respect him. We will not insult any religion because it will not make us their friend, so we must use our freedom to work for peace, democracy and brotherhood with all religions and cultures. We believe in mutual respect. I know that the Europeans have a tradition of freedom of speech in their countries and they have the right to express it, but not to hurt the feelings of other people. Some Muslims have tolerance but some of them do not. We can tolerate anything so long as they don't insult our religion and beliefs. We respect other people's religions and we hope that freedom of speech will be used in order to improve democracy, peace and unity of the nations and brotherhood. In my opinion no-one should insult others religion or beliefs. I will be against any people who insult the religions of Christian and other religions because it won't be for the benefit of the people.

All people have the right to protest but in my opinion the violance is wrong in protests. In my country Afghanistan, 5 people have lost their lives in protest. It's because our police are not really well educated on how to face the protestors, and I hope they will be able to handle the protestors better in the future so there will be no casualties. I cant blame the whloe Danish and European people because all of them didnt do this action, but I condemn those who carried out such an action. We can't tell them to respect our religion and if they dont want to respect it's ok as long as they dont insult it. Once again I hope we will work together for peace stability and brotherhood and fight bad people and make friendship with whole nations around the world.

The Victory of Hamas

2006-02-04T07:48:00.000+04:30

The Islamic Hamas party have won the election in Palestine and their victory was unexpected to some countries and they showed their concern over the victory of Hamas party. In my opinion now we should admit their victory because they were selected by Palestinian people. The Hamas party has been helping the poor Palestinian people and therefore people voted for them and now the world community should give full opportunity to the Hamas and Hamas should feel more responsibility in order to work for peace and stability and follow the democracy so both sides should be prepared to negotiate with each other and we hope they find a way to solve the dispute in the region. If we glance at the history the fighting hasn't solved the Palestinian issue. Thousands of people have lost their lives from both sides and the issue is not yet solved. So we hope the world community calls on both sides to start negotiations and find a peacful way to stop the fighting.

Hamas should abandon the policy to wipe Israel from the map and think about Palestinian people and Israel must give full right to the people of Palestine inside their land. It is so sad when civilians from both sides get killed in this war - mostly Palestinian civilians give sacrifice. It's enough. War can not solve the Palestinian issue. We hope the world communinty especially the United States, United Nations and other countries work together and ready both sides to negotiate and solve the problem including to establish a border between two countries under the agreement of both sides and this border should be recognised by the international comminuty we hope the new Palestinian government forms in a peaceful environment and works for peace, stability and democracy and the world community should not stop their aid to the Palestinian people - they have suffered a lot in the war now its the time for them to enjoy freedom and live in peace. We pray for the permanant peace and stability in the Middle East.

Pakistani Air Strike

2006-01-18T13:28:00.000+04:30

According to recent reports, US aircraft attacked a Pakistani village near the Afghan border which destroyed some houses and killed 18 civilians. The attack was planned to target Aiman Al Zawahiri, the deputy of Osama Bin Laden, but he escaped the attack and some civilians were killed. This attack sparked some protests against the United States in different parts of Pakistan. The government of Pakistan also condemned the attack that caused some civilian casualties. In my opinion if the Pakistan government honestly took action against the terrorists then there would be no need for the US air strikes. Tribal agencies of Pakistan, especially the border areas, have been the main areas of the Taliban and Al Qaeda's activities, and many fighters cross the boder from those areas.

We feel sorry for the civilians lost and we hope tribal people help their government and identify those whom shelter the terrorists. If the government of Pakistan is against the US air strikes on Pakistani soil, then the Pakistan government must take serious action against the terrorists in those remote lands so there will not be a need for the US to conduct military operations in Pakistan. We know that Pakistan is a close ally of United States in the war against terrorism, but Pakistan should prove it by actions, not words. The Pakistani authorities do not have any control over the border areas so the terrorists take advantage of this and continue their plans and activities.

So we hope the Pakistan government puts more troops along the border and the Pakistani soldiers should conduct patrols in those remote areas and search suspicious houses. If they continue this operation for a few months I am sure the terrorist shelters will be appear soon and they will be captured, and a permanant peace and stabilty will come in the region which will be for the benefit of Afghanistan, Pakistan and the whole world.

Kabul People Support the Removing of Security Barriers

2006-01-07T06:21:00.000+04:30

The people of the capital Kabul support the decision of their government regarding the removal of the security barriers from the streets of Kabul. These barriers create a huge traffic congestion in Kabul, which the people of Kabul have been complaining about for the last 3 years via radio and TV. They say that Kabul belongs to the people of Kabul and it is not up to others to block its road and footpaths. In some parts of the city, the UN and some other civil and military organizations have blocked the footpaths with security barriers like barbed wire and concrete, so people have to walk on the road, which is not safe. The drivers also complain about this because they cant drive fast so they have to drive slowly.

The UN and other military and foreign organizations should understand the problems of the people and traffic and they have to agree with the decision of the Afghan government. If not, then they can move around Kabul city. It's also for their benefit because they can rent a place much cheaper. Also, those alreas are much safer than the city because the city is crowded and the enemies take advantage of the crowd and then they can easily attack but in those areas if any unknown person gets close to any base, the security guards can easily identify and can take action.

In my opinion the UN and other organizations have the right to have security barriers around their bases they have to be safe and go back home safe. They came here to help us but they also have to think about the traffic problems in the city which the Kabul people face it daily.

So I hope these organizations move around the Kabul city - they will be much safer and they will also enjoy the clean environment of the suburbs. We like to have these friendly organizations in our city but the Kabul streets are not wide enough to put barriers. There are already more than 10 ministries inside this small city and the people are asking the government to move these ministries around the city or expand the city. If these streets were wide enough for both traffic and security barriers then for sure I would support their presence inside the city.

Education Year Ended with Violence in the South

2005-12-20T04:21:00.000+04:30

The enemies of peace and stability killed a teacher in front of the school students in southern Helmand province last Thursday. Mohammed Harif was shot to death by the Taliban insurgents after he ignored their orders to stop teaching girls. The attack was carried out by two armed men riding a motorcycle. Teacher Mohammed Harif received many warning letters from the Taliban to stop teaching but he was still teaching the girl and boy students. In a different attack in the same province on Saturday, the rebels opened fire at the school students. These students were waiting to get their final results when two armed men opened fire at them from a motorcycle. The attack killed a 12th grade student, plus a school watchman.

In another two southern provinces, 4 more education workers have been killed by the Taliban guerillas. The Taliban banned girls education during their government so therefore the guerillas have carried out many attacks on the schools teaching girls and they have burnt many school during the night time. But recently they are killing the girls school's teachers and they also killed a student and a watchman in their last attack. In my opinon the Taliban realized that they can not stop female education by burning the girls school so now they are cowardly killing the innocent teachers so no teacher teachs in the girls school. But our brave teachers will continue their teaching despite the enemy's threats.

The education year just ended in Afghanistan and the students are off for 3 months winter holiday so when the holidays finish after 3 months and new educational year starts all school girls should have security guards at the gate to provide security for the girls schools. In the capital Kabul there are security forces in most girls high school so i hope the government will put security guards at every provincial girls school to provide security for the school so the coward enemies will not be able to attack the girls schools.

Britain to fight drugs

2005-12-09T02:33:00.000+04:30

According to the BBC news, the British government will deploy several thousand soldiers and civilian advisers in order to fight the illegal drugs trade and smuggling in Afghanistan. In my opinion it is a great step to eradicate the drugs trade and traffickers and I am sure the British forces deployment will be very useful. Although Afghan anti-narcotics forces are fighting against the drugs smuggling, they do not have enough forces and equipment to defeat the drugs traffickers. Many Afghan people believe that some warlords and some traffickers linked to the Taliban are involved in the drugs trade and they think some police forces are bribed by the smugglers because their salaries are very low. One policeman only makes US$75 to US$100 a month which is not enough to support themselves and their family. So the British forces will play a key role against the drugs smugglers. Most drug traffickers operate in rural and mountainous areas which are hard for Afghan forces to reach, but the British paratroop-led unit will easily reach those areas.

Most opium is grown in the southern provinces and southern Helmand province is one of the biggest drugs market and the drug traffickers smuggle drugs across the Pakistani border. So in the presence of British forces it would be very hard for the traffickers to deal and smuggle drugs. On the other hand the British forces will train a brigade of 3,000 soldiers for the emerging Afghan National Army and 1800 National police forces and these forces will learn better techniques from the British trainers. We welcome the British forces deployment. Although we fought with the British Army during colonial times, in the 19th century, but that is the past. Now we have to forget the past and work together for a better world. Now Afghans know that Britsh people are their friends and they came here to help us. So if the British soldiers treat our people with respect, I am sure our people will respect them and support them. We hope the British forces start their operations as soon as they get settled in. I am sure the British soldiers will defeat the drug traffickers and this war will be successful.

Desecration Update

2005-11-29T15:43:00.000+04:30

Even though the burning of the two dead Taliban bodies is not against the Geneva Convention, it's still against the Afghan culture and tradition. Most Afghan people were not upset over the burning of two Taliban dead bodies, but Afghan people were upset because the villagers were insulted by some US soldiers.

Most Afghan people don't really care about the burning of the dead Taliban bodies because they don't have a good memory of the Taliban. During their government life was very hard and they were teasing people for no reason. In my opinion the last decision of the US military that some local Afghan National Army and national police will be consulted in the cleanup operations would be very useful and it will help both Afghan and US soldiers during the operations and if there will be coordination between both sides it will help a lot to defeat the remaining enemies and also our new Army will learn more war techniques from the US Army. I think creating cultural seminars is also very useful - it will give more information to the US soldiers about Afghan culture and traditions and if the US soldiers were more informed and learnt about Afghan culture it will help them to establish a good friendship with local people and if they threaten people well I am sure Afghan people will always support and help them. So I hope all new soldiers that are coming to Afghanistan should be informed about Afghan culture and traditions by an Afghan teacher. It will not take long and they will learn all about our culture in less than a week. We hope for improved friendship with the people of America and all people around the world.

Elections

2005-11-23T06:33:00.000+04:30

After 8 weeks of slow counting, the results of the parliamentary election were finalized Saturday despite allegations of fraud in the counting process. Afghan people hope that their new parliament will start its work soon and this parliament will be a great step towards democratic stability. A number of eminent leaders, mostly jihadi leaders and one female candidate nominated themselves for the post of speaker in the national assembly. We hope an honest person will be elected for the post of national assembly speaker. Although 40% of the winners are former jihadi leaders and warlords, the finalized results show that more than 50 percent of the winners are the supporters of President Karzai so there is not a big challenge to the Karzai government. Most candidates whom lost complain about the fraud but I think even if there wasn't fraud in the counting process they still wouldn't win because most candidates whom lost the election were new faces in Afghan politics. Although some of them were well educated, they didn't have much influence among people, while other candidates who didn't have higher education managed to win, such as warlords and jihadi leaders.

I voted for Ramazan Bashardost, the former planning minister and he got the 3rd position in Kabul. During his job as Minister of Planning he was working hard and honestly and therefore many Kabul's people voted him. Even though he was a new face, his wonderful speeches won the heart of Kabul people and therefore he got 3rd position in Kabul and his presence in parliament will be very useful. Women will also play a great role in the parliament. They are more trustworthy and kind. Afghan women never had a strong voice in politics but now they can fight for their rights. Right now we need a parliament house and the Indian government is working to build it and it cost $US 25 million and it's hard to tell when the new parliament will officially starts its work, but I hope after the announcement of the speaker post our new parliament will start its work and I hope our parliament will open the best way to rebuild our country.

Liberation of Kabul

2005-11-13T15:36:00.000+04:30

Today, the 13th of November, is the anniversary of when the Taliban fighters escaped from Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. On this day the Northern Alliance, with the help of coalition forces, overthrew the Taliban regime from the capital Kabul and made them withdraw to the southern and southeastern provinces as they were ousted from Kabul. The Kabul citizens were freed from the hardline regime's prison and they came out onto the roads and celebrated the defeat of the Taliban government and they started their free lives. The Taliban, with their old thoughts and under the name of the peaceful religion Islam, committed inhumane crimes against our people, our culture and history, and dominated the plans of our foreign enemies. During the Taliban regime life was really hard and the teasing of innocent civilians was part of their daily routine. During this government our people were yelling about their violence but there was no one to hear their voices. The human rights organizations and other countries were calm and watching them and unlike some countries established diplomatic relationship with the Taliban regime and they did not pay attention to our people that were telling everyone that one day the terrorists who were sheltered by Taliban will threaten others. But there was no one to listen. Finally, after the 11th of September, the world community, particularly the United States of America, decided to eradicate the terrorists and liberate Afghanistan from the hardline Taliban regime and their terrorists allies.

Terrorists are not participating Muslims, they are just a group who can't fight the big powers and they take their anger out on innocent civilians. Our country Afghanistan is still facing threats from the terrorists and every day many people lose their lives. We must be united to fight the terrorists and eradicate their name from the world.

Taliban Ignorance Regarding Female Education

2005-11-05T13:26:00.000+04:30

According to the recent reports a girls' school was set on fire by the Taliban rebels in Logar Province. This inhumane action is a big enmity against education and female students. Taliban who claim to be good Muslims are committing crimes which are against the Islamic thoughts because in the Islam religion it is an assumption that men and women seek knowledge, and burning schools are the biggest ignorance of the Taliban. It is their own thoughts and it is not related to the Islam religion at all. Our country needs educated males and females in order to rebuild our country. We need educated females in different life processes. We need female doctors, engineers, teachers in order to treat, teach and rebuild our country because females form half of our society and they have equal rights like males.

Some non-Muslim people think that in the Islamic religion the female education is forbidden, which is completely wrong. The Taliban follow an old culture which is not related to Islam. Taliban doesn't follow some instructions of Islam religion. For example, in the Islam religion there is freedom of speech for everyone, knowledge for males and females; Islam prohibits the killing of innocent people from any religion like Muslim, Christian, Hindu. Islam says if you save the life of a person it means you saved the lives of whole humanity and if you kill someone it means you killed the humanity. But the Taliban and Al Qaeda still kill pro-government civilians and aid workers which is completely wrong. In my opinion there is a specific organization behind this that wants to bring illiteracy to Afghan society.

Desecration of Enemy Bodies

2005-10-22T15:49:00.000+04:30

The recent reports of desecration of the two Taliban militants by the US personnel and insultng the Ganbuz Villagers for sheltering Taliban spread around Afghanistan and caused the anger of some people. Even though some of these fighters are foreigners, it is still not a right action and it is against the Geneva Convention and we hope the US central command must initiate an immediate investigation and legal action (see their response here and here) and punish the offenders. In my opinion, at any place and any combat both sides involved in combat should behave with the captives, prisoners and dead bodies in accordance with the Geneva Convention. It is the first time I have heard about burning the bodies of the enemies. I never heard of it before. Also I have not heard such a thing from the ANA because in some missions the ANA soldiers are operating together with the US Army. I think the bodies of enemies should be taken to the hospital and kept there until their family members receive them. As there are some foreign fighters in Afghanistan, their bodies should be returned to their country and if they are unknown then the local authorities are responsible for their burial. The people of Afghanistan know that the Taliban and Al Qaeda are their enemies so they are not harbouring the enemies of their country. The Taliban and Al Qaeda kill innocent people like religious scholars and aid workers and there have been demonstrations against the Taliban. In yesterday's demonstration in the troubled Khost province, thousands of people including tribal leaders and school students demonstrated against the Taliban and Al Qaeda and they were chanting slogans against the Taliban such as "Death to Taliban" so I dont think any village is sheltering the Taliban.

We hope that the locals and villagers should not be insulted and taunted without any proof. I think the desecration of the enemies bodies were carried out by some American slodiers. It hasn't come from the US Central Command so we hope there will be legal action against those who carried out such an action and we hope in future operations our Islamic traditions and culture should be observed.

Our people are very happy for what they have gained over the past 4 years with the help of the United States and other friendly countries and they are hoping for a bright future of peace, democracy and stability and good relations with all countries of the world.

People Less Interested in Parliamentary Elections

2005-10-18T12:42:00.000+04:30

Afghan people did not show as much interest in the paliamentary election as what was expected. During last year's presidential election, 75% of registered people cast their votes. But during last month's parliamentary election only 50% of registered people voted, which shows the people are less interested in the parliament. The foreign media and analysts might cite security concerns for the peoples's lack of interest, but the main reason is the disappointment of the people from their government. They showed great interest in last year's presidential election, but after the passage of one year their government was not able to do anything significant to change the life of the people.

Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, is still suffering from power and water shortages, and the power supply to other provinces will take years. Wages are low, the food prices and housing rent is very expensive. Most people who did not cast their vote or those who did not register, complain about the government and they say we voted during the presidential election and selected our president but our lives have not improved and parliament will not do any thing either. So all these were the complaints of the people who did not cast their vote and who did not register. I do not blame the government, however the government has not done anything significant to improve the lives of the people because we have a weak economy and half of our budget comes from foreign assisstance. so everything takes time and our people should be patient and they should keep faith.

Different people like former Mujahideen commanders, a few former communists and many new faces nominated themselves for the parliament and people were expecting that the new faces will win seats. But far from what they were expecting, again most old faces won the seats and some of these candidates were involved in civil war. There are many reasons behind their winning, but the main reason is that many of them won for being their tribal leader. Even though they didnt have many supporters, all their supporters turned out to cast their votes. Also, these candidates spent thousands of dollars during their campaigns. The disappointment of some people that caused them to not cast their votes, lead to the victory of these old faces. Another reason is that almost six thousand people nominated themselves for the parliament so the votes were spread out and diluted.

People are concerned about the presence of the former commanders and jihadi leaders in parliament because people do not have a good impression from them. I think it it is our own people's mistake for not participating like they were supposed to do. It will be a lesson to our people and I hope in the next election they should show great interest and all people should register and participate well and elect their favorite person. It is our own people who make the difference. In my opinion the parliament members should have solid education in order to make good decisions to serve their people honestly. However some of these candidates do not have high level of education but we hope they should honestly work for their country and people.

Violence Continuing in Afghanistan

2005-10-13T15:36:00.000+04:30

Violence and suicide attacks have been continuing in southern Afghanistan. The rebels intensified their attacks after the landmark parliamentary election in different parts of the country, particularly in the southern and southeastern provinces and have killed dozens of government forces and also a few coalition forces. Taliban already vowed that they will start a new wave of their insurgency after the parliamentary election and right after the parliamentary election they raised their attacks, especially suicide attacks. Over the past 2 weeks, 5 suicide attacks were conducted by the enemies and also the rebels have accelerated their military operations in different provinces of Afghanistan. As a result, there was a suicide attack in front of Kabul military training center that killed 9 ANA soldiers and 4 more suicide attacks took place in Kandahar province which killed and injured a number of people including 4 British nationals. Also the rebels killed five health workers by an ambush in Kandahar province. The Afghan National police faced a the highest casualty during this week - at least 20 police forces were killed and a number injured when the rebels targeted their convoy from an ambush in the southern Helmand province. It was the highest level of casualties to Afghan National Police since the ousting of the Taliban regime. In a similar attack, 6 other police were killed in Uruzgan province.

Recent violence shows that the enemies are still active and recent violence is increasing people's concern over the rebels militancy, because the enemies attacks reached Kabul, and a couple of days before the arrival of Condoleeza Rice, Kabul was hit by two rockets. One of those rockets hit Canadian ambassador residence which injured two Afghan guards and the second hit the intelligence headquarters which resulted no casualties.

The NATO Secretary General, during his visit to Afghanistan, said that NATO was ready to increase their forces and deploy them to the southern provinces. We hope that more NATO forces will be deployed in the southern parts of Afghanistan as soon as possible. There is a big requirement for these forces and it will help to prevent the insurgents from attacking because there will be more patrols and military operations and it will be hard for the rebels to continue their activities in the southern provinces.

Friendly Fire Killed 4 Policemen in Helmand

2005-10-10T06:09:00.000+04:30

Four personnel of the Afghan National Police were killed and another wounded when the US-led coalition opened fire at their vehicle in the southren Helmand province on Thursday. An official from the Interior Ministry called the incident a misunderstanding and said five personnel of the Afghan National Police were carrying one of their wounded personnel and they were dressed in civilian clothes when they were targeted by the US-led coalition forces, suspecting them as insurgents. A US military spokeman confirmed the incident and said the police officers were not in uniform and they tried to drive away quickly from the area. He said "we are conducting an investigation and we regret this incident".

It is not the first time that the Afghan government forces have been targeted by friendly fire. A few similar accidents have happened in the past. However, President Karzai and American officials expressed their sorrow over this incident but still it will not be enough to prevent such an incident in the future, because there is no coordination in military operations. If there is any military operation the coalition and Afghan government forces must inform each other and they should have communication between each other and communication is the best way to prevent such an incidents. So in my opinion, the coalition forces should carry out their operations with the participation of the Afghan National Army and police and if there were Afghan National Army soldiers with US-led coalition, this incident wouldn't have happened. We hope all military operations should be under one command.

The enemies of peace try to get advantage from such an incident but they should know that the Afghan Army and their cooperators are totally united and will remain united till they defeat all the terrorists.

Taliban Spokesman Arrested in Pakistan

2005-10-06T10:06:00.000+04:30

Abdul Latif Hakimi, the spokesman of the Taliban insurgents, was arrested in Pakistan on Tuesday. Hakimi was the main spokesman of the Taliban insurgents and he was in touch with a few different news agencies and he was reporting by satellite phone from undisclosed locations and he often made untrue claims on behalf of the Taliban insurgents. Many people believed that Hakimi was in Pakistan and he was continuing his activities from there like many other Taliban. The former US Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, during his last interview with Tolo TV, an Afghan TV channel, blamed Pakistan for not honestly acting against the terrorists. During his interview he said the Taliban spokesman was reporting from Pakistan against the Afghan government and coalition forces but the Pakistani officials were unable to find him and other Taliban leaders. But the Pakistani officials denied the claim of US ambassador at that time.

The arrest of Hakimi is really important in the current situation and it will also lead to more arrests and we hope he will be handed over to Afghan custody for more interrogation and he should also be questioned for last week's suicide attack that was carried out against the Afghan National Army that killed a number of the ANA soldiers. We welcome the efforts of the Pakistan government for arresting the Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi and we hope that the Pakistani Intelligence keep seeking other hidden rebels and their leaders. Such an arrest will weaken the enemies. We hope the Pakistan government will try to find the main source and location of the rebels and find out how they get supplied from Pakistan and where they escape after crossing the border and conducting guerilla attacks inside Afghan territory. The permanent peace and stability in Afghanistan is for the benefit of Pakistan and other neighboring countries in the region.

Suicide Attack Kills 12 Injures 28 Others

2005-09-30T05:45:00.000+04:30

Yesterday's suicide attack was the first suicide attack against the Afghan National Army. The attack occurred in front of the KMTC (Kabul Military Training Center) and killed 12 officers and soldiers and a civilian. It was around 4:30 in the afternoon. The KMTC officers and NCOs usually get off from work at 4:30pm and their vehicle parking is in front of the base. According to the eye witnesses, the man who carried the suicide attack was dressed in military uniform and when three buses were full of ANA personnel and they were ready to drive, the motorbike suicide bomber detonated the explosive device.

According to some ANA source the number of casualties is 15 killed and 40 injured and among the victims there are many civilians also. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and they vowed to carry out more attacks in the future.

It was a very cowardly attack against the Afghan National Army. The enemies are no longer strong enough to fight in the battlefield so therefore they carry out cowardly attacks against the Afghan government and people like roadside bombing killing the parliamentary candidates and other open-minded people. The suicide attacker was dressed in a military uniform and many attacks have been carried out by men in military uniform. The Afghan government should confiscate all illegal military uniforms that are sold in the markets because the terrorists and thieves take advantage of the military uniforms and use them for terror purposes. There must be a big punishment for those who sell military uniforms. All the uniforms should be with the government organizations not with unauthorized people.

Assistance Still Required

2005-09-24T23:07:00.000+04:30

We still need the assistance of the Coalition forces.

Terrorism is still a threat in Afghanistan and it is hard for Afghan National Army and National Police to fight the terrorists without the corporation of coalition forces. So we still need the assistance of the US-led coalition forces to defeat the remainder of the of terrorists in Afghanistan.

The Taliban intensified their attacks recently in the southern and southeastern provinces and killed dozens of government officials and religious leaders and it shows that the terrorists are still active and they have vowed to continue their attacks on the foreign and government forces in the country so in my opinion the coalition forces should carry out their military activities but with the consultation of Afghan government. And the government must be informed before conducting any military operation. The military operations should be carried out together with the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police and I think there shouldn't be any operation by coalition forces without the participation of the Afghan National Army and National Police. The joint operations have two benefits. The first one is that the Afghan people know that their new Army is able to fight the enemies and the coalition forces are united with the Afghan Army. The second one is that if there are any house searches in suspicious areas, the searches should be done by the Afghan Army and I think the coalition forces must not search the houses of the locals without informing the local authorities. House searching by coalition forces have been unpopular with most Afghans

The house searching is important in suspicious areas because sometimes the enemies hide themselves and use the local's house as a shelter. During the military operations by the coalition forces between the years 2001-2003, the Afghans didn't mind their houses being searched by the coalition forces because they knew that we did not have enough National Army personal to participate in the military operations but now they know that we have a new army and police so the house searching and some other internal issues should be conducted by the Afghan National Army and police. They want to see their government have more authority but they also support the presence of the US and coalition forces in Afghanistan because it is necessary for several years.

The Afghan people thank the US-led coalition and other foreign forces for helping Afghans to overthrow the Taliban and Al Qaeda and with the help of the United State of America and other friendly countries, Afghanistan has achieved great success in the last four years, including a new constitution, presidential elections, having a new National Army, new National Police and the landmark Parliamentary elections which were the last step towards the restoration of peace and democracy.

First Parliamentary Election in Afghanistan for 3 Decades

2005-09-21T03:30:00.000+04:30

Afghanistan's first parliamentary election will be remembered as one of the most important days in the history of Afghanistan. Despite threats from the enemies for the last few months, millions of Afghans rushed towards polling stations to elect their representatives for the parliament. Women equally with men cast their vote. During the Election Day there were separate
polling stations for men and women in capital Kabul and other provinces. But unfortunately most women were not able to vote in Helmand and Zabul provinces even though they were registered, especially in Helmand province because the JEMB did not establish any separate polling stations for the women in 12 districts, but the JEMB officials in Helmand province claim there were no registered women voters so there was no need for establishing the separate polling stations.

Some people did not vote even though they were registered. On the election day I talked with a taxi driver and I asked him if he had voted. He said "not yet". I asked him if he was going to vote. He said "no, because during the presidential election I voted for president Karzai but he did not do anything for poor people we still suffer from the lack of power and drinking water". Some people that didn't vote said most candidates were former commanders and warlords so they don't want to elect them because of their bad past and they said we can not trust the new candidates because we don't know them very well.

In my point of view most people voted for honest and educated people who were not involved in any violence against the Afghan people. I asked my friends and some other people and everyone told me that they voted for new faces, honest and educated people.

Although hundreds of polling stations were established in the cities mostly schools and mosques were used as polling stations, but in the remote areas tents served as a polling station. Voting was slow in the morning but in the afternoon the number of the voters was increased. Except a few attacks from the enemies of peace in the southern and southeastern provinces which killed a dozen people including 2 national police and one French soldier, the situation was under control. Almost 30 attack plans of enemies were detected by the Afghan National Police and National Army in different provinces which prevented the terrorists attacks during the election day. In Ghazni province a vehicle full of explosive device was arrested by national police before it detonated also in Baghlan, Kabul and a few other southern provinces the police arrested a number of foreign terrorists and Taliban attempting to attack the polling stations.

We thank international community and anti-terrorism coalition for their great help and generosity in order to provide financial and security support for the parliamentary election. After almost three decades of war, intervention, occupation and misery, today Afghanistan is moving a step closer to real democracy and stability and it is on a journey towards a peaceful, stable and prosperous society. We hope this election will help us develop our country.

Killing of Seven Civilians for Carrying Election Cards

2005-09-16T03:51:00.000+04:30

Seven innocent civilians was killed by the enemies of peace and stability when armed rebels stopped their vehicle in Gizab district of Uruzgan province on Tuesday. Unknown armed men killed 7 civilians after they searched the vehicle and passengers and found official documents. It was a very cowardly act of the enemies because these civilians were just carrying voter registration cards and documents for the weekend's parliamentary election and they wanted to cast their vote for a better future of their country and they were not armed men and nor were they goverment officials.

In another incident 3 more civilians were killed and 4 injured including a child by a remote-controlled landmine blast in the Tirinkot district of the same province on Wednesday. In southeastern Zabul province a man was hanged by Taliban rebels on Tuesday. He was an intelligence official working for the district intelligence department. He was captured and killed by the Taliban. He was hanged. After all these killings it is impossible to trust the Taliban. However the Taliban announced that they will not target the polling stations during the election day because they don't want civilian casualties. But the killing of these 7 innocent civilians reveals that the enemies try to deceive the people. So when they kill 7 civilian just for carrying voter cards they will also attack and kill the people during on election day. While the Taliban killing innocent people everyday, in the meantime the government has established a reconciliation program in order to strengthen peace. Over 100 Taliban, including a few top officials have joined the reconciliation program but if they again continue the violence against Afghanistan and Afghan people then this program should be cancled and the government must punish the criminals so that no-one dares to use violence against Afghanistan and the Afghan people. Around 50,000 police together with 20,000 Army and some 30,000 coalition troops are ready to provide security during the parliamentary election so I am sure nothing much will happen during the election and Afghans will peacefully vote and elect their honest representatives.

Afghans Condemn 9/11 Terrorist Attack on US

2005-09-13T05:04:00.000+04:30

The people of Afghanistan have not forgotten the deadliest attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon four years ago during which around 3000 people lost their lives. We strongly condemn this cowardly terrorist attack and express our grievous condolences for all American people, especially with those who lost family members, relatives and friends.

I strongly condemn attacks on civilian people and 9/11 attack killed innocent civilians and finished their future hopes for them and their families. This attack was against all human beings because thousands of people from different religions and races lost their lives in this attack and it set families throughout the world in grief for their loved ones. The shocking incident caused the US to decide to fight the terrorists and their partners. During that time the terrorists were the royal guests of Mullah Omar the supreme leader of the Taliban and they made Afghanistan a safe haven for the terrorists where they were training the terrorists. It was the time when Afghanistan and it's people were suffering from the terrorists and thousands of innocent people were killed with charge of belonging to a specific ethnic group. It was the time where Afghans were yelling for help but except a few statements and promises nothing was done to stop the rule of terror. But the 9/11 terrorist attacks opened the eyes of the Americans and the rest of the world so therefore they diecided to fight the terrorists and finish this evil from the earth although it was a bit late.

But it was very good decision to fight and eradicate the terrorists. Islam is a religion of peace but the Taliban with their unique interpretation of religion commited big crimes which Islam does not allow. Such actions are forbidden in Islam but in some countries the Muslims were under pressure and they were beaten and few were killed because they were Muslims. I want to mention that the terrorists are not representing Muslims. That is why they have killed thousands of innocent Muslim civilians in Iraq. I hope all people across the world should know that Muslims are against the terrorists and the terrorists are not representing Muslims. The terrorists have intensified their attacks over the past 6 months in the southern and southeastern parts of Afghanistan which shows the terrorists are still active. We hope the US led coalition together with Afghan National Army defeat and eradicate the terrorists from Afghanistan and we hope that soon the name of the terrorists will be eradicated from entire world.

Bungled Suicide Attack Killed 4 in Helmand

2005-09-09T11:01:00.000+04:30

Three suicide attackers and one passerby were killed and four other passersby were injured when a suicide laden Corolla car exploded. An earlier attack detonated an explosive device to target a coalition convoy in Girishk district of southern Helmand province Wednesday morning. According to the Helmand governor's spokesman, Mohammed Wali, the Taliban planned the suicide attack to target US troops stationed in the area, but the huge explosive device went off before they could detonate on the American troops. He said the car was completely destroyed and that parts of victims' bodies were scattered all over the place and it was impossible to identify the dead bodies and three passersby were also wounded as a result of the failed blast.

In the meantime the Taliban spokesman Latif Hakimi claimed responsibility for a suicide attack and said the suicide attacker was 18 years old and successfully targeted the US troops in the area killing eight soldiers on the spot. But the Afghan authorities rejected the Taliban's claim, saying the aborted suicide attack was to carry the attack on the US troops but it went off early and no American soldiers were killed - the incident coming a day after a dozen Taliban insurgents were killed in operations in the neighbouring Zabul and Kandahar province. It was the third massive attack after the Kandahar suicide attack which killed the police chief of Kandahar. The Afghan and US troops are intensify their attacks. In a recent attack the Afghan troops and coalition forces killed 24 insurgents and captured 61 others. The operations still continue successfully against the rebels in the southern provinces.

Women Candidates and Their Problems

2005-09-04T14:49:00.000+04:30

Afghan women candidates fac majore problem to run their electoral campaigns, particulary in the south and southeastern provinces. Poor security and financial difficulties are the main problems that the female candidates are suffering from. In some rural areas of the southern and southeastern provinces they can not even attend public meetings because the areas still have a patriachal and traditional systems which are far from the Islam religion because in Islam there is equal rights for men and women. So in these areas the female candidates are facing problems. In some rural areas, women give their speeches via their relatives such as their brother or cousins. Some male candidates are armed and they carry weapons for their security. They have influence. Also they have a police force with them to pull security for them while they run their campaign. But female candidates don't have as many facilities as male candidates to afford security guards and money for their expenses. So therefore campaigning is more difficult for the women candidates.

Discrimination is still seen against women candidates and some female candidates have been threatened. The houses of two women candidates have been burned by enemies. Most female candidates take their family memebers like brothers and cousins as a guard while they run their election campaign, particulary in the rural areas. Under the Taliban regime women were not allowed to work and they were locked in their homes and not able to run any businesses. However since the fall of the Taliban, women can now work, but they have not much promoted in the financial field like men because almost every businesses and positions are on the hands of the men. Security is much better for female candidates in the capital Kabul, but some female candidates complain about financial difficulties and they are not able to run their campaigns as well as male candidates. Some male candidates spend hundreds of dollars to get more publicity.

September's parliamentary elections will be the first time that the Afghan constitution allows women to run for public office and it shows that the women have equal rights to participate in order to rebuild their country. I hope the interior ministry will provide security for female candidates in order to allow them to conduct their campaign in a peaceful environment, particularly in the southern and southeastern provinces. Female candidates are very hopeful of winning seats in parliament. Most people think that women are kinder than men and they have not been involved in any crimes so hopefully there are more chances for female candidates to win seats in parliament.

There are not many candidates from political parties - most candidates are independent - and people will aim to vote for honest and patriotic candidates like they elected their president last year during the presidential elections. There are a lot of worries that Taliban and Al-Qaeda will disturb the election but Afghan security forces and their international allies led by the US-led coalition forces have full preparation to deal with any undesirable situation.

No doubt the upcoming parliamentary election election held on September 18 will be a milestone in Afghanistan's history. These eletions are crucial and determine the political fate of this country which never had any experience of real democracy and will open a new way of resolving problems through dialogue and peaceful reconciliation.

Parliamentary Election and Women's Greater Interests

2005-08-30T04:41:00.000+04:30

With less than three weeks to September's historic parliamentary election, despite security concerns, Afghan women have shown deep interest in participating in the parliamentary election. There had already been a marked increase in women's voter registrations, especialy in the troubled southern and southeastern provinces where only a few women had registered during the presidential election last year. It is very encouraging that after so many years without any elections in Afghanistan, greater women's participation is at a pretty high level. According to the JEMB joint electoral management body, of the over 12 million registered voters in Afghanistan today, more than 40 percent of the total were female. Registration of Afghan women increased by 35 percent in the troubled southern province of Uruzgan and 23 percent in Helmand province. The most interesting registration was in Ajristan district of Ghazni province where no women registered during last year's presidential election but this year 13,000 women registered. In the Desho district of Helmand province only one woman registered last year for the presidential election, but this year 1,361 women registered for the parliamentary election. In some other southern provinces like Khost and Paktia, greater numbers of women registered and dozens of women are standing as candidates themselves for the parliamentary election.

Out of 5,800 candidates to stand for the Wolsi Jerga {lower house of parliament} and provincial councils, 582 are women. Afghanistan is one of the 20 countries in the world which has verified 27 percent of women representation in the parliament. Security concerns kept away many women to start their campaign especially in the troubled provinces. In the capital Kabul, despite warnings from the enemies of freedom, dozens of women have started their campaign. Everywhere you go you see the posters of men and women candidates stuck on the buses, taxis, walls, and on the trees in some rural areas, particulary in the southern provinces. Women voters can not even attend public meetings. This forces female candidates to meet women inside their homes if they want to compaign and make speeches. While most candidates had vowed to run election despite the threats, in some troubled areas a number of candidates have indicated that they will not carry out any campaign activities due to security concerns and threats against their life and some of these candidates campaign inside the mosques and schools.

In some villages authorities have begun shows to teach ordinary people to encourage them to vote and to explain the process and also the importance of the election and it's benefits. There are theaters on radio and television for people and these theaters play a key role to reach out to the ordinary people. These shows are very useful, especially for ordinary people, because it tells them what the election means and also provides good entertainment and fun for the these people.

People of Afghanistan show a great interest to participate and vote for the upcoming parliamentary election. They know it is a great step towards democracy after almost three decades of war in the country.

Rampant Killing

2005-08-23T14:30:00.000+04:30

The enemies of peace and stability intensify their attacks in Afghanistan ahead of its first parliamentary elections next month. Every day the terrorists cowardly kill innocent people under the name of spying for U.S Army and working for the government. In recent months the Taliban have killed dozens of innocent civilians such as religious scholars, village leaders and pro-government officials in different provinces such as Uruzgan, Zabul, Helmand, Paktia, Ghazni and Khost and once again show their cruel faces to the Afghan people. Over the past 7 days the rebels killed more than 10 civilians including a woman who was killed in front of her family, accused of spying for the U.S military in Zabul province. In another incident in Helmand province the enemies of peace beheaded 5 civilians accused of facilitating the government and in the same incident they killed two people in Ghazni province on Thursday evening, accusing them of spying and facilitating the U.S-led coalition forces. On Sunday the rebels killed a religious scholar with one of his fellows in Kandahar province and they killed another parliamentary candidate on Saturday.

The Afghan people believe that the Taliban who committed high crimes against the Afghan people during their regime are still committing crimes and they are crueler than before and they obey their foreign bosses and under their orders they kill innocent Afghans which in against humanity and against Islam. Meanwhile the Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi said yesterday that the Taliban fighters will not attack polling stations during the parliamentary election but he vowed that they will continue war against the government and U.S-led coalition forces. On one hand the Taliban condemned the election and kill candidates and warn people not to take part and vote during the parliamentary elections, but on the other hand they announce that they will not attack the polling stations. We should not trust them because if they are honestly not attacking the polling station then they should stop killing the religious leaders and village elders and other civilians - otherwise people will not be deceived. General Azimi, the spokesman of the Defense Minister, welcomed the Taliban announcement and said it is a big change in Taliban policy. Meanwhile the US military spokesman referred to the announcement as a positive step.

I think we must not believe the Taliban's word. They said they will not attack the polling stations but in the meantime they say that they will continue their attacks against government and coalition forces which means they will also attack the polling stations. The Taliban say this because they are not strong enough to attack and disrupt the election. During the presidential election they said they will attack the polling stations but the election ended peacefully. This time we have even more security forces. NATO deployed extra forces to help with security during the election. We hope the Afghan National Army, National Police together with coalition forces tighten security all over Afghanistan so people can vote in a peaceful environment.

24 Afghan Policemen Wounded in Two Different Mine Blasts

2005-08-18T14:46:00.000+04:30

One Afghan policeman was killed and 16 others were wounded when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle on Wednesday in the southern city of Kandahar. According to the Kandahar police the blast hit the police convoy while it was passing a bridge in a crowded area of Kandahar city. Officials said it was a remote control bomb which was planted and conducted by Taliban insurgents but no Taliban members immediately commented on the incident. A day earlier on Tuesday in a similar attack eight policemen were injured as their convoy ran over a land mine in the troubled Uruzgan province. Jan Mohammed Khan, the Governor of Uruzgan, confirmed the blast and said the mine was planted by the Taliban rebels recently and detonated by remote control. Meanwhile the Taliban spokesman Latif Hakimi accepted the responsibility for the incident and said that the Taliban fighters were behind the attack. Two U.S soldiers were wounded in a clash with Taliban insurgents in the eastern province of Kunar according to a statement from the U.S. military in Kabul. Hundreds of U.S. Marines and Afghan special forces are trying to take control of a remote mountain valley from insurgents tied to the deadliest attack that killed 19 U.S soldiers in June. 3 Navy soldiers were killed in an ambush and 16 soldiers were killed on a helicopter that was sent to rescue the Marines. Southern and south-eastern parts of Afghanistan have been the scene of deadly attacks by the Taliban insurgents. Since the beginning of this year over 500 people, mostly militants including insurgents, Afghan forces and coalition forces as well as pro-government officials have been killed.

10 Taliban Fighters Killed, 14 Captured

2005-08-15T14:57:00.000+04:30

At least 10 Taliban insurgents were killed and 13 others were detained in the past three days during a cleanup operation in Paktia province, according to the press release of Defense Ministry. Soldiers of the Afghan National Army {ANA} killed six suspected Taliban rebels and captured 13 others in the troubled southeast Paktia late last week. The statement said the cleanup operation which started on Thursday ended successfully, killing six Taliban and arresting 13 others in Paktia province. The troops of the Afghan National Army also seized thirteen assault rifles from the militants.

At least three other Taliban militias were killed and one was arrested Friday in Deh Rahwod district of southern Uruzgan province during a clash between Taliban insurgents and Afghan National police in which two Afghan National police were wounded. The fight occurred when Afghan and U.S. forces patrolling in the area came under attack from an unknown group of rebels. During the incident a rocket-launcher and some small arms were also seized.

Meanwhile one insurgent was killed by a roadside bomb while he was setting the explosive device in the way of an Afghan and U.S. military convoy south of Kabul. His target was Afghan and U.S military convoy but he was not lucky and he was killed by his own bomb before he harmed the joint convoy. Afghan and U.S forces are fighting successfuly against the enemies of Afghanistan in recent operations. The Taliban vowed to derail the parliamentary election which will be held on 18 September. Therefore they have intensified their attacks against the Afghan government and coalition troops. We hope that our National Army troops with the help of coalition forces will continue to fight the enemies of peace and stability until the nation is free of enemies, so our nation will have a safe and bright future.

Taliban Assassinate Afghan Woman

2005-08-11T15:20:00.000+04:30

Taliban rebels gunned down a woman in the Mizan district of Zabul province Tuesday night on a charge of spying for the US military, a government official said on Wednesday. Some armed Taliban rebels entered the house of the lady during the night in Mizan district and killed her in front of her family and took the father and brother of the accused woman to an unknown location. He refused to give more details. Taliban spokesman Latif Hakimi took responsibiliy for the incident and said that Taliban fighters took two family members of the lady into custody.

Suspected Taliban rebels have killed many goverment officials, religious leaders and Afghans working for the Americans and coalition forces in the form of interpreters and contractors. Over the past two months over 10 pro-government religious scholars and influential leaders have been killed on charge of espionage for the US Army in Afghanistan. It is the first time that the Taliban have executed a woman on charge of spying and supporting the Afghan government and US presence in Afghanistan. The remnants of the outsed Taliban regime called on people to stop working for Americans in Afghanistan or face death.

Three days ago Taliban suspects killed the head doctor of Under district of Ghazni province who was a candidate for the provincial council in Ghazni province. After the attackers shot him the villagers took arms and open fired on the attackers and one innocent villager was killed and two attackers were wounded and they were captured by locals and handed over to police. But two other attackers escaped from the area. In an interview the provincial police chief said that after the incident he went to hospital and met the two injured Taliban and asked them why they killed the doctor. He was not a goverment official and he was not an Army officer - instead he was a doctor and he was helping people and he was not an armed man. Was it good to kill a civil servant? One of the patients replied "I don't know - our commander ordered us to kill him". Eight parliamentry candidates have been killed so far in different parts of Afghanistan by the rebels.

I totally agree with the provincial police chief - it is very cowardly to kill innocent people, especially civil servants like doctors, teachers and other civil servants. I apperciate the district people's effort in fighting the rebels. I hope all Afghans in different parts of the country help police and coalition forces to prevent such attacks in the future.

Pakistan Closes Afghan Refugee Camps

2005-08-08T13:18:00.000+04:30

The government of Pakistan recently announced Afghan refugees living
in their capital city, Islamabad, as well as the nearby Rawalpindi
city, will all be moved to camps in Pakistan or repatriated back to
Afghanistan because of security concerns. According to Pakistani
sources over 100,000 Afghan refugees have been living in the twin
cities of Islamabad and and Rawalpindi Despite hundreds of thousands
of Afghan refugees having returned home, still some 3 milion Afghans
are living in Pakistan. According to Pakistani interior ministry
officials, these refugee camps provide easy shelter for criminals like
robbers and terrorists, so the refugees living in those two cities
will be shifted to other camps elsewhere in Pakistan, or sent back to
their homeland under the assistance of the United Nations High
Commission for refugees.

A UN spoksman on Friday said Pakistan had decided to shut down all the
Afghan refugee camps in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, and also from the
country's tribal region bordering Afghanistan, by August 31. He added
that approximately 105,000 refugees will be sent back to Afghanistan
with the closure of all 32 camps located in the tribal region. The
spoksman said that Pakistan's government cited security reasons for
the closure of these camps. Afghan embassador Nangiali Tarzai, in a
meeting with Pakistani interior minister Aftab Shirpao, requested them
not to repatriate Afghans living in Islamabad and other areas. He also
urged Pakistan to consult with the U.N. and repatriate the
refugees voluntarily under the agreement signed between Pakistan,
Afghanistan and the UNHCR three years ago

Milions of Afghans immigrated to Pakistan after the Soviet invasion
and during civil war, and many of them settled in camps scatterered
across Pakistan. After the U.S. military operation ousted the Taliban
regime from power in late 2001, almost 3 milions of Afghan refugees
have been returned home.

Many Afghan refugees are against the pakistan goverment's decision and
they are not ready to come back to Afghanistan. The current situation
is bad because there are no shelter facilities for refugees in
Afghanistan so it is really hard for them to afford living in
Afghanistan. But according to some eyewitnesses, the Pakistani police
harass Afghan refugees, and sometimes take money from them, according
to some refugees who recently came back to Afghanistan. Many Afghan
refugees would love repatriate back to their homeland but in a time
when they are ready.

In the current situation they are not ready to come back. The
government of Pakistan should not force Afghan refugees to leave
Pakistan it is against the agreements that were signed three years ago
between Pakistan, Afghanistan and U.N. Under that agreement the
government of Pakistan agreed that the repatriation would be voluntary
and Afghan refugees would not be forced to repatriate, but recent
decisions of the Pakistan government go against the agreement. There
is still year lelft before the agreement expires, and Afghans never
involved in any crime in Pakistan are being targeted.

Meanwhile many Pakistani criminals cross the border and fight against
the Afghan government and coalition forces. Yet Afghan refugees are
being force to leave Pakistan.

Every Afghan dreams to come back to their homland. We hope the
government of Pakistan change its decision and gives more time to
refugees so they can voluntarily come back to their country in a more
reasonable time frame.

Living Conditions in Afghanistan

2005-08-01T13:33:00.000+04:30

Life has changed a lot for most Afghans since the Taliban was removed from power. During the Taliban regime most people were jobless, producing a very small economy. Foreign investors, as well as national investors, saw no benefit to invest their interests and money into a country that had so many economic, as well as political and social problems. However, after the fall of the Taliban in 2001, life has become considerably better for most people. This is due to growing peace and stabilty in the country. Most educated people who were jobless during the Taliban regime are now working in government organizations, foreign organizations, and the private sector. Some people are busy working in private businesses. Other people who are illiterate are now working in the construction field or making their own small businesses.
Life has also changed for me and my friends. Now most of my friends who were jobless work in different organizations. Other friends who were not able to continue their educaton under Taliban regime have gone back to complete their high school education. Some of them are now in their first year of college, and they are very happy in their new and changed lives. Everybody works hard and everyone is busy with new jobs and life situations.
Most young boys and girls are learning English; most schools offer English courses after regular school hours. Everyone now understands the importance of English (the international language). Many people learn English and computers to get a better job.
Some well educated people who graduated college but do not speak English, or understand how to use computers, cannot find a well-paying job. Other people who only have a high school diploma, earn better money then some university graduates, because they understand English and computers. This has shown the people how important it is to understand the English language and computers to gain a job easily in foreign companies and government organizations. Now, many older people with a university education are taking english and computer classes to keep their position at work, or to gain a better job. In some English calsses there are young boys and and girls learning English next to adult men and women; age is no factor in education and learning. Some people think it's strange for a 45 year old man to learn English. I personally think education is important for every age; there is no age limit for education.

Many new and modern markets have been built in downtown Kabul. Some of these markets are from 8 to 12 floors high. At some of these markets you can find clothes, shoes, and cosmetics. Other markets specialize in motor parts, electronics, and computer parts. A few markets are very modern and famous in Kabul City. The most famous market is named "Roshan City Tower", Kabul City Center; which was inaugurated last month, and its the biggest one. Here you will find internet facilities with power 24 hours a day and lift facilities.
The reconstruction process is going a bit slow - this is because of Afghanistan's still-weak economy. The Kabul-Kandahar Motorway is a big sucess in construction here in Afghanistan. Almost 50% of the construction work of the Kabul Paktia Motorway is complete. This motorway is very important for tansportation between Kabul and the southern provinces of Afghanistan. Work on the Kabul-Jalalabad motorway is also in progress. According to planning officials, the work on this project will be completed in 2007.
We are making progress in every field, but it will take time to reconstruct our entire beautiful country.

At least 50 taliban killed in Uruzgan

2005-07-28T11:01:00.000+04:30

According to local authorities, at least 50 Taliban were killed and
another 25 were captured Monday night during an operation carried out
by the Afghan national Army {ANA} and Afghan national police {ANP},
working together with coalition troops in southern province of
Uruzgan. Hundreds of small arms and much ammunition was also sized on
the Monday
night operation in this area. Sadly, two US soldiers and two Afghan
soldiers were also killed during the fight.

Provincial governor Jan Mohammed said the operation took place in Cia
Choy district of Uruzgan. The US Air Force played a significant role
in destroying a Taliban stronghold in this area. Cia Choy district is
the main center where the Taliban supply weapons and armaments to the
insurgents in three important provinces: Zabul, Kandahar, and Uruzgan.
These are provinces where the Taliban often attacks Afghan and foreign
troops.

Taliban spoksman Latif Hakimi confirmed the attack but he said only
four militants were killed, and claimed that the Taliban destroyed
five US vehicles and killed 28 coalition soldiers. He also said that
three US soldiers and one Afghan soldier were wounded in the fight,
but the claim has not been confirmed by independed media.

The Taliban leader Mullah Omar, in an audio tape released two days
ago, called upon his followers to intensify their attack against
foreign troops. They have managed to increase their attacks in recent
months; some 180 Taliban were killedin Mian Nushin district of
Kandahar province late last month.

Afghans support the presence of coalition forces

2005-07-22T20:31:00.000+04:30

As an Afghan I support the US and coalition forces presence in Afghanistan. In the current situation, the US presence is really important for peace and stability. Like me, most Afghan people support the US presence, even though Afghan people have always been against foreign forces and occupiers. But they know that the US and coalition forces are here to help Afghanistan and the Afghan people and they are not here to occupy our country.? After the 1992 civil war between various factions of the Mujahideen, and during the Taliban regime, thousands of people lost their lives. The situation was really bad. Millions of Afghans emigrated to different foreign countries in the world. Our teachers, officers became street vendors. More than 50% of Afghan students were away from their education and they were working to support their families. Personally, I was away from school for 4 years while I was in Pakistan. After the 11 September tragedy, the US-led invasion finally liberated Afghanistan from the Taliban regime and Afghanistan has achieved remarkable progress and success since the fall of the Taliban. As a result, the Bonn agreement, the Loya jirga, presidential election, and establishing a democratic government having a new National Army, new National police, new Afghan currency are the achievements that Afghanistan has made in the last three years. More than 3 millions Afghan refugees have returned home and the repatriation process has continued. As of March 2005, more than Sixty thousand Afghan refugees have returned to their country and they feel really good to return to their country after beign far from their homeland. Most refugees that returned were homeless during the civil war and Taliban regime. They sold their properties for very cheap prices because the situation was very horrible and they needed money to get out of the country. During their emigration they spent their money and now its impossible for them to buy a house because the prices are 10 times higher than they sold at during the war. So most returnees are suffering without proper shelter. The main problem is shelter for the returnees. Some other refugees who didn't sell their properties are enjoying their life. Most educated returnees got good jobs in government and foreign organizations and they are much better off than before. Generally all returnees are happy to return back even if they live in tents. Most of them say living under tents in our own country is better then living in a modern house in others' country
. As an interpreter, I have been working with the US Army for the last two years and I have been on many patrols, and during the patrols we talk with the locals about their problems and they look very happy when they see us. Almost all villagers invite us for tea and a meal. Afghan people are the most hospitable. Even if people are poor, they still share everything they have and try to serve their guests as best as they can. our patrols have been always welcomed by locals. one of the best patrol was to a new refugee camp. This refugee camp was not in our patrol area before and they had returned from Pakistan. There were more than 50 tents. We went there and talked with some people in this new camp they told us about their problems. It was the beginning of winter and they needed tents, blankets, food and medicine. Our patrol leader wrote down about their problems and after 12 days we went with a few trucks full of food, blankets and tents and we also took some doctors to examine their kids and patients. Almost every one of them were looking really happy that they got everything they needed for the winter and they spent a good winter without problems. Every two weeks we would ask if they needed anything else. The only thing they were asking for was shelter and we couldn't provide it because it's up to the Afghan government to issue land to these returnees. I think it was one of the best patrols which was received very well by the people. I have talked with some of my friends - some locals and ANA soldiers and officers, and almost every one told me that the US and coalition presence is very important. If they leave us alone the terrorists will grow up again, so they should be with us until the ANA (Afghan National Army) formation completes and is capable of protecting Afghanistan. If the US and coalition forces leave Afghanistan, the terrorists and warlords will cause a big problem for the central government. People fear that if the US and coalition forces leave Afghanistan, the neighboring countries will interfere like they did during the civil war, and Afghanistan will be destabilized again. So they should stay till we have a strong national army and national police and are capable of protecting Afghanistan. Our police force is more than 50,000 strong, plus there are special forces who conduct counter-narcotics operations and our new Afghan National Army currently has around 32,000 troops. With the help of the US Army it is improving well and taking the responsibilty for supporting security across the country.
After the parliamentry elections on September 18, it is up to parliament to decide about permanent US bases. I can't say now if Afghan people support permanent bases or not. Time will tell. But most people want the US to stay for at least 5 more years. The government is accelerating the disarmament process and disarming both the regular armed forces and illegal armed groups. More than sixty one thousand former militia have been disarmed and over 95% of the heavy weaponry has been collected. After the first historic presidential elections, Afghanistan has entered into a new phase of its history which is democracy, rule of law, supremacy of constitution, unity, and brotherhood. The people are feeling free - we have an enlightened and progressive constitution, which safeguards human rights, and guarantees the equality of women and men. Afghan women have achieved much more than before, but it still takes time. There are some areas where women are still locked inside their houses, but in some big cities like Kabul, Mazar-i-Sharif and Herat, they have a bit more freedom. There are driving courses for women where they learn how to drive and I have seen some women driving in downtown Kabul and Herat city. There is a big garden especially for women in Kabul city where they go for picnics, and there is a shopping center in the garden where women sell handicrafts and cosmetics. Many women have jobs at different government and non government organizations. They are not forced to wear burkas. There are some weekly and monthly magazines for women where women can express their opinions and these magazines give a lot of useful information for Afghan women. Free press has enjoyed great development and success as demonstrated by the publication of more than 300 independent papers, more than 30 radio stations, and 5 independent TV stations. For the first time in Afghanistan, the investment conditions for foreign investors is suitable. There are some foreign companies that have invested hundreds of millions of dollars and certain industries such as the hospitality sector, banks and mobile communications have particulary benefited. The wages of civil servants have increased. Almost four million kids returned to school this year. We appreciate the United States for its generous economic support that we have received over the last three years. Without US and other friendly countries, Afghanistan would never have accomplished what we have over the past three years. We also need the United States and United Nation for their multi-year pledges of aid to support our efforts at rebuilding our country. People are hoping that the US and world community will not abandon Afghanistan. Afghanistan wants good relationships with the United States of America and other countries in the world.

23 Girls Graduate After 11 years

2005-07-18T13:32:00.000+04:30

After 11 long years, the first group of 23 girls completed their high school education in the southern province of Kandahar last week. These 23 girls graduated from Zarghona High School in Kandahar City, a former stronghold of the Taliban who had banned female education in Afghanistan

These are the first girls to graduate Khandahar City, because during the civil war and Mujahideen government the girls school was closed, due to the unstable security situation in the Region. Safi Ama Jan, head of the Women Affairs Department, said this graduation of the girls was a great success, and is a new beginning for girls education after years of war and violence. She also said that she was very glad because these (female) graduates were now in a postition to apply for government jobs; and also able to pursue higher education at university level. Female education is still a problem in the conservative south.

Families have stated many reasons why their daughters cannot attend school. There are still no schools for girls in some districts, and is very difficult and expensive to transport their daughters from outlaying villages into cities. In other provinces such as Herat and Mazer-e-Sharif hundreds of girls attend school and graduate every year. In the capital city of Kabul thousands of girls attend school and graduate every year. In Kabul there are many schools for girls, and the bussing transportation for students is very good.

We hope that the govenment will build more schools in rural areas of Afghanistan so that a larger part of the population will have access to schools and education. The main key to our advancement as a country is to educate our people as much as possible.

Taliban killed 15 Afghan in Uruzgan province

2005-07-12T16:36:00.000+04:30

Taliban fighters killed nine village elders including four policemen and 2 other civilians in the central province of Uruzgan on Thursday night, a day after government forces killed seven rebels in an attack on a security check point. Uruzgan governor Mohammed Jan Khan said guerrilas released a nine-year-old boy to bring the news of the killings and to offer to exchange the dead bodies of the village elders and the rebels. Taliban spokesmen claim that the elders had been cooperating with the Americans therefore they killed them. According to another report early on Friday morning, Taliban fighters attacked a security post in Charcheno district of Uruzgan province killing four policemen, and five guerillas were also killed and one was captured and the
rest escaped.

Two more civilians were killed in another insurgent attack in Khost Province on Thursday when rockets aimed at the government office landed northeast of the city. Deputy police chief of Khost province Mohammed Zaman said police were conducting more patrols in the area to prevent such attacks in the future.

According to reports from the southeastern province of Helmand, one Taliban fighter was killed and another captured after they were trying to attack a convoy of American troops. Provincial spokesman Haji Mohammed Khan said no U.S soldiers were hurt.

Six Afghan security personnel, including two soldiers and four policemen, were killed in a roadside bomb blast in the southern Paktia province on Saturday while a senior police officer and his driver were wounded. Paktia governor Gulab Mangal told reporters a convoy comprising the National Army, National police and ISAF forces was on a patrol in the Maist village when the explosion happened, which killed four policemen and two ANA soldiers while provincial security chief Ali Khel was wounded and had been shifted to the civil hospital for treatment. He further said the explosion did not hurt the U.N and ISAF personnel,who were part of the convoy. Some people had been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the attack.

Taliban and their allied militants have stepped up attacks in the southern part of the country since March, killing dozens of Afghan officials, security forces and 35 coalition forces. More than 400 guerillas have also been killed according to the government figures, of which 178 were killed in major attacks late last month, in Kandahar, Uruzgan and Zabul provinces.

3 Journalists Arrested in Kunar

2005-07-07T15:11:00.000+04:30

Three Afghan journalists were arrested by intelligence officials in eastern Kunar province last week on Friday and Saturday. All three journalists went there to provide news for their news agencies. Two journalists, Sher Shah Hamdard and Rohullah Anwari, are reporters with Radio Azadi and Radio Europe. Another detained journalist is Dr Shoaib, working as a photographer for the American news agency Associated Press. Asadullah Wafa, the governor of Kunar province, confirmed the arrests and said they will release the journalists after an investigation. He said he was in contact with the provincial officials to secure the release of the detained journalists. The journalists had gone to the Kunar province to do follow up stories on a US Military operation against insurgents who shot down an American chopper in the troubled eastern province. According to an official, the journalists were beaten up in custody. Interior ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mshal said the journalists had contact with the insurgents and they were trying to publish the enemies propaganda and enemies want to change people's mind with their anti-government propaganda. Afghanistan's Independent Journalists Association {AIJA} expressed grave concern at the health condition of one of the three journalists detained in the eastern province over the weekend. The journalists shifted to Kabul on Monday after they were arrested in Kunar province. AIJA head Rahimullah, who visited the three journalists in custody in Kabul Monday evening, said they had gone to cover an ongoing US military operation and they were detained without any specific charge and they are in custody without any legal process or evidence of any wrongdoing against them. He also said that the jail authorities told me to ask the inmates about their health and officials' behavior towards them and they reminded me not to ask the journalists about possible political motives behind their arrest. All three journalists are still in government custody. When they are released I will post an update about their release and the main reason for their arrest.

20 Taliban Commanders Join Peace Process

2005-07-06T17:37:00.000+04:30

20 Taliban commanders have surrendered to the government in the western province of Ghor last week. The commanders are reportedly the candidates of the parliamentary and provincial council elections. They have surrendered their weapons to the Disarmament Demobilization Reintegration (DDR) and they declared their full support for the Afghan Government.

According to the complaints commission of the parliamentary election, the names of 233 candidates have been canceled from the primary list after discussions. 208 candidates are still armed and they have not yet handed over their weapons to the DDR process. 13 of the canceled are those who have not resigned from their govenmental posts yet, and 12 others have not collected the number of signatures that is needed according to the election rules. Most of the former commanders handed over their weapons to the {DDR} process in order to participate in parliamentary elections, but a number of them have been canceled from the list that was prepared by the complaints commission. These commanders had a consultative meeting in the capital Kabul yesterday, to find a way of solving their problem. More than 50 commanders from different provinces participated in the meeting and they expressed their views regarding the problems they encountered. One of the participants, commander Noor Habib, said they are trying to find a peaceful way to solve this problem. He added that although they have handed over their weapons to the DDR process and have also received appreciation letters, their names have been canceled from the list. The commander believes that some hands are working to get them out of the poliical field.

According to reports, a week ago 18 commanders of Hezb-e-islami Gulbudin Hekmatyar joined the peace process and turned themselves in to the government in Paktia province. The commanders came under the terms of the Afghan government's amnesty program. Most of these commanders returned home after living for years in Pakistan. After a meeting with Paktia governor Taniwal and coalition representatives, all 18 commanders signed statements pledging loyalty to Karzai's elected government, including an agreement not to possess heavy weapons or take up arms against the Afghan government or coalition forces.

Taliban Killed 15 Afghans in Uruzgan Province

2005-07-04T03:04:00.000+04:30

Taliban fighters killed nine village elders including four policemen and 2 other civilians in the central province of Uruzgan on Thursday night, a day after government forces killed seven rebels in an attack on a security checkpoint. Uruzgan governor Mohammed Jan Khan said that guerillas released a nine-year-old boy to bring the news of the killings and to offer to exchange the dead bodies of the village elders and the rebels. A Taliban spokesman claimed that the elders had been cooperating with the Americans so they killed them. According to another report early on Friday morning, Taliban fighters attacked a security post in Charcheno district of Uruzgan province killing four policemen in which five guerillas were also killed and one was captured and the rest escaped.

Two more civilians were killed in another insurgent attack in Khost Province on Thursday when rockets aimed at the government office landed northeast of the city. Deputy police chief of Khost province Mohammed Zaman said police were conducting more patrols in the area to prevent such attacks in the future.

According to reports from the southeastern province of Helmand, one Taliban fighter was killed and another captured after they were trying to attack a convoy of American troops. Provincial spokesman Haji Mohammed Khan said no US soldiers were hurt.

Six Afghan security personnel, including two soldiers and four policemen, were killed in a roadside bomb blast in the southern Paktia province on Saturday while a senior police officer and his driver were wounded. Paktia governor Gulab Mangal told reporters a convoy comprising National Army, National Police and ISAF forces were on a patrol in the Maist village when the explosion happened, which killed four policemen and two ANA soldiers. Provincial security chief Ali Khel said the wounded and had been shifted to the civilian hospital for treatment. He further said that the explosion did not hurt the UN and ISAF personnel, who were part of the convoy. Some people had been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the attack.

Taliban and their allied militants have stepped up attacks in the southern part of the country since March, killing dozens of Afghan officials security forces and 35 coalition forces. More than 400 guerillas have been also killed. According to government figures, 178 of them were killed in major attacks late last month in Kandahar, Uruzgan and Zabul provinces.

News in Brief

2005-06-30T15:55:00.000+04:30

Three Afghan policemen were killed and a senior officer wounded when unknown gunmen ambushed their vehicle in the Dawlat Shah district of eastern Laghman Province on Monday night. Laghman Governor Shah Mahmood Safi told the media that Rahim Mukhlis, the police chief of Dawlat Shah, was on a daily patrol along with his squad when some unidentified gunman opened fire on them. Three policemen died on the spot, while their officer was injured and rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment. One attacker was also killed in an exchange of fire from police, but the rest of the attackers managed to escape from the area. He did not mention anyone responsible for the killing, saying they are investigating the incident. It's not clear who planned the attack and as of now no-one has taken responsibilty for the attack. A week ago, 3 Pakistanis were arrested in Laghman province during an attempt on the life of former US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad. Afghan people have now realized that all security problems in Afghanistan are managed and planned from Pakistan and some poeple think that Pakistani intelligence is behind all the security problems in Afghanistan.

According to the reports from eastern province of Kunar, the police chief of Sarkano district was killed along with two of his sons on Tuesday when a roadside bomb blew up their vehicle south of Asad Asadabad, the capital of the eastern province of Kunar. Seven other policemen were also injured in this incident on the same day several rockets were launched near an election commission office in Asadabad, but caused no casualties or damage.

Two other police officers were killed and two were injured when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle in Naish district in the southern province of Kandahar. The presidential spokesman Javid Ludin told a news conference that the election would be more successful than last October's presidential election. He said fighting in the southwest last week showed the weakness of the Taliban. He said the Afghan National Army is ready to take care of security during September's parliamentary election.

178 Taliban have been Killed, 56 Arrested, in Kandahar

2005-06-26T16:02:00.000+04:30

Afghan and US soldiers have killed 74 Taliban fighters in a new joint operation against the Taliban fighters in Mian Nisheen district of Kandahar province. It raised the Taliban casualty to 178 since Tuesday last week. Officials of the Afghan Defence Ministry confirmed the killing of the 74 Taliban. Defence Ministry spokesman General Zahir Azmimi told reporters 4 Afghan forces have also been killed. The operation which was conducted by US soldiers, Afghan National Army and national police on Tuesday evening in Mina Nisheen district was one of the biggest operations since the fall of the Taliban and most of the militant deaths occurred from US warplanes armed with laser-guided bombs and supported by British aircraft. He added that the operation ended successfuly. He said 6 of the ousted regime's top commanders have also been killed or arrested after a three-day battle in the south of the country. In total, 71 Taliban fighters have been arrested. According to a security official in Kandara, 4 Pakistani and one Arab national are also among the detainees. US and Afghan military officials claimed on Thursday that the Afghan National Army ringed four Taliban commanders, including Mullah Brader, the brother-in-law of fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, in a mountain hideout. But the claim could not be independently confirmed. But on Saturday the Defence Ministry spokesman announced that the siege had been broken and Taliban commanders had escaped from the area. Taliban spokesman Mullah Abdul Latif Hakimi rejected the government claim over the Taliban's casualties and said only 9 Taliban including Mullah Isa had been killed. He said all other government claims were untrue. Independent media have not confirmed the casualties yet.

Lebanese blogger

2005-06-24T14:21:00.000+04:30

Introducing Elie to the blogosphere!

One Election worker Killed another Wounded

2005-06-23T15:11:00.000+04:30

An Afghan election worker was shot dead and another wounded in an attack on their vehicle in the southern province of Kandahar on Tuesday. An Afghan security official said rebels opened fire with rifles in an ambush on the workers' vehicle at 2pm in the Maiwand district of Kandahar province. Both employees were Afghan civilians working for the {JEMB} Joint Electoral Management Body which is organising parliamentary elections due to be held on September 18. Kandahar police chief General Ayub Salangi said Police are looking for the culprits who fired at the {JEMB} car. Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi claimed responsibility for the attack in a phone interview with Reuters. He vows to continue with similar attacks in the future. It's the second incident of rebels killing innocent election workers.

Earlier this month another Afghan election worker who was educating the public about the vote was killed in the chaotic Uruzgan province. The Taliban have increased their insurgency in recent weeks which have seen dozens of rebels and government forces losing their lives in the increasing violence from Taliban and Al Qaida in the southern and southeastern parts of the country. Concern is being raised among the people. Some people think that the parliamentary election might not be held on time. We hope the Afghan National Army and coalition forces will not let the enemy create problems during the parliamentary election. We hope that Afghans vote in a peaceful environment and the upcoming parliamentary election will be transparent and democratic.

Kandahar Police Chief Executed By Taliban

2005-06-21T11:51:00.000+04:30

Taliban rebles admitted to executing the Mian Nushin District Chief of Police along with six other policemen on sunday. They have been holding 31 policemen and officials as prisoners since thursday, in the southern province of Kandahar. Mulla Abdul Latif Hakimi who claims to be the Taliban spoksman; said the District Police Chief of Mian Nushin District (Nani Agha) was executed and shot to death by three bullets at 8:30 am Sunday morning after a brief trial of Mullah's Taliban religious leaders. Hakimi added, District Police Chief Nani Agha was involved in killing numerous taliban fighters in Kandahar province since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001. His crime was most serious therefore he should be executed. He revealed that the body was dumped in a village near Mian Nushin district, and the Afghan Government is free to claim the corpe. This is the first known trial and execution by the Taliban since 2001. Taliban guerrillas had captured 31 policemen and the District Chief after attacking thursday and friday night in Mian Nushin District, north of Kandahar province, and taking over main government buildings

Mian Nushin was the scene of clashes last week, when government and coalition forces killed nine Taliban fighters and detained 11 others. According to the new reports by Taliban Spokesman Hakimi, the Taliban have released Malik Noor Muhammed, the District Chief of Mian Nushin District along with some other officials, after tribal elders intervened with the Taliban. An official of the interior ministry told Bakhtar the news, of the captured 31 policemen and officials. And that it had taken place with the help of a conspiring official. He did not disclose the name of the official involved. The Afghan Army and Coalition Forces are preparing for a huge operation in the region.

In another attack, Taliban insurgents have killed a judge and two other intelligance officers in a area south of Lashkarga; the capital of the troubled Helmand province. Thursday night at 7pm Amanullah, the security officer of the Helmand provice, confirmed the deaths and accused Taliban insurgents for the killings. Officials in Kabul have not commented about these incidents as of yet. Kandahar, Helmand, and other southern provices, have been the scene of new waves of insurgency by the Taliban Insurgency during the last month.

Parliamentary Candidate Killed in Kandahar

2005-06-19T20:28:00.000+04:30

Taliban rebles killed an Afghan Parliamentry Candidate in the area of the Kandahar province. Candidate Abdul Wahid was killed in an attack by an enemy of the country. According to reports, Kandahar Police Chief General Mohammed Ayub Salangi said, "Candidate Abdul Wahid was an open minded person he was very papular among kandahar people and a close friend of President Hamid Karzai." Taliban spoksman Lofullah Hakimi claimed responsibility for the killing and said we have killed another candidate in Gazni province as well. Hakimi said they will kill anyone who works for the government; we already told people many times not to work with the government or coalition forces. He said Candidate Abdul Wahid was spreading propaganda against the Taliban Islamic Emirat. Taliban rebles have increased their insurgencies with a fresh wave of violence against the national government and coalition forces in recent weeks. A few days ago a doctor and six medical attendants were killed in an attack by Taliban rebles in Khost Province in a separate incident. This incident involved a civilian wagon hitting a newly planted landmine killing two passenegers in the wagon. The Afghan National Army and Coalition Forces also increases their attacks on the Taliban insurgents; earlier this week Nine Taliban insurgents were killed, and 10 were injured in an operation conducted by the Afghan Army in the southern province of Kandahar. During this operation 21 rebles were arrested. So far this year over 150 insurgents have been killed in violence. According to US And Afghan officials, dozens of government soldiers and 13 US troopers have also died since march this year. People hope that teh Afghan National Army and Coalition Forces will increase their attacks on the rebles to defeat them completely before elections take place. So they will not be able to creat problems during the Parliamentey election in September. People want to be able to vote in a peaceful environment and atomsphere.

New Phase of Disarmament Begins in Afghanistan

2005-06-15T16:34:00.000+04:30

Afghanistan launched a new phase of disarmament to disarm militia, ordering more than 1,000 illegal armed groups to hand over their guns as the country prepares for its first parliamentary election in September. According to the Afghanistan New Beginning Program (ANBP), this process is unconditional and all militia forces that are not part of the Afghan National Army and other government organs should surrender their light and heavy weapons before the parliamentary election. US and NATO troops will be involved and cooperate in the latest phase of disarmament. Disarmed fighters in the latest phase of the disarmament program will not receive cash or other concessions. Fighters disarmed in the first phase were given money and were trained by short-term courses to open a new livelihood and most of them have entered into civilian life.

Most of the militia forces were disarmed in the first phase of the disarmament program but up to 1,800 small illegal armed groups remain and most of the groups have between 100 and 200 men which will be disarmed in the new phase of the disarmament drive. Over 60,000 ex-militia, warlords and Mujahideen have been disarmed in the first phase of the disarmament program. Afghanistan New Beginnings Program (ANBP) recorded the number of disarmed men at 60,076 of which 49,431 have returned to civilian life. Around 33,500 medium and light weapons have been collected from military units and less than a third of those weapons were transferred to the Afghan Ministry of Defence and the Afghan National Army. All usable ammunition has been transported to safe storage.

Afghan people welcome the second phase of disarmament and hope that all illegal militia forces will be disarmed before the parliamentary elections. Some people fear that some illegal armed man will create problems and might force people to vote for some of their commanders during the election. Afghanistan's electoral law prohibits any candidate with links to armed militias from standing for parliament and provincial councils. It's difficult to know which candidates command armed men.

Kandahar's Blast Was not Suicide says Akbar Khakrizwal

2005-06-11T06:19:00.000+04:30

The suicide attack in Kandahar province last week which killed over 20 people has taken a new turn after Akbar Khakrizwal, the brother of slain Kabul police chief Akram Khakrizwal, claimed that last week's bomb blast in Kandahar city's Mosque was not a suicide blast. He warned the government to initiate a serious investigation into the deadly bomb blast, otherwise he would disclose the name of all involved behind this bloody attack. Speaking at a press conference, Akbar Khakrizwal said it was a remote-controlled bomb and the culprits escaped because of the bad security arrangement. He said the bomb was planted and placed under the carpet near the door and exploded when his brother Akram Khakrizwal was exiting the mosque. Giving an eyewitness account, he said he had seen pieces of the carpet flying in the air as a result of the strong bomb blast. He said soon after the explosion the police had to close the exit gates of the mosque and let people go out one by one after undergoing body searches. He added no evidence was found yet to prove the death of any Arab in the explosion and if the officials believe it was a suicide attack then they should present proof to people. He also said that 40 people were killed, while the government said the number of casualties was 20.

Kandahar governor Gul Agha Shirzai said in his statement right after the explosion that it was a suicide attack and was carried out by an unidentified Arab national. Azatullah Wasifi, the governor of Farah province, has also rejected the involvement of a suicide attacker and asked the Kandahar officials to find evidence. Some circles in Kandahar blamed the old enmity behind it. President Karzai has already appointed a high level inquiry commission to investigate into this explosion. The Ministry of Interior spokesman Lutfullah Mashal announced yesterday that the one week investigation revealed that it was a suicide attack and the attacker was an Arab national. He added that they found two feet of unidentified person and during one week all the dead bodies were identified by their families except for these two feet, which proves they were the feet of suicide attacker. The Taliban disassociated themselves from the incident. Taliban spokesman Abdul Hakim said they could not even think of killing innocent people and targeting individuals.

Religious leaders and parties strongly condemn the bomb blast in
Kandara's mosque at a joint press conference on Wednesday. They said Islam does not allow targeting innocent people. They termed it as an inhumane attack and announced their fullest support to the president Hamid Karzai. I think the Kandahra bomb blast was an inhumane attack and it was against humanity and it was a cowardly act killing innocent people at sacred religious places such as a mosque. It is against Islam and the terrorists should never call themselves Muslims because they are not Muslims, as their actions are against human beings. I hope the government will as soon as possible capture the criminals behind this incident and punish them.

Afghan forces Destroy Country's Largest Drug Bazaar

2005-06-05T13:00:00.000+04:30

Afghan security forces, during an operation conducted in Bahram Chah Bazaar of in Helmand province; recently seized 2 1/2 tons of opium and destroyed the largest illegal drug market nearthe Pakistan border. Hundreds of these smugglers escaped across the forntier. During the three-day operation noone was killed or injured.there are usually 1,000 smugglers and traffickers of opium and heroin every day at the Bahram Chah bazaar. This bazaar is only 80 metters {yards} away from the border with Pakistan. Deputy Minister of the Interior of Counter Narcotics (Gen Mohammed Daoud) told reporters at a press conference that approximately 250 Kg heroin, 2.5 tons of opium, and 3.5 tons of chemical liquid used in the manufacture heroin have also been confiscated during this successful operation.

The bazaar was not been targeted earlier because it was considered too remote and well protected. More security forces have been deployed to Bahram Chah to prevent and control possible reorganization of the smugglers in the area. Gen Daoud showed a video of the raid by Afghan Special Narcotics Forces. Dozens of soldiers and officers with guns at the ready and scarfs warpped around their faces were riding on the back of pickup trucks driving toward the drug markets,but there was no fighting because all the drug traffickers had fled,the video then cut to the shot of a small fire, which were seized drugs being destroyed.This is the first time that the Afghan Narcotics Forces conducted such an operation in a mountainous region along the border with Pakistan where hudreds of Taliban Militias are believed to have hidden. Bahram Chah is very near Pakistan and all the smugglers and traffickers involved escaped across the border. The capacity of the Afghan Narcotics Forces improved greatly with each passing year.in 2002 The Afghan Narcotics Forces confiscated only three tons of drugs, but in 2003 the quantity shot up to over 100 tons. So far this year we have seized around 50 tons of contraband. According to the official government of Afghanistan, they are determined to remove the shame of drugs and to take serious action against those involved in the processing and trafficking of drugs. The Anti drug operation will begin soon in other parts of the country as well.

Ex-Taliban leaders stand on Parlament

2005-05-31T11:52:00.000+04:30

Former Taliban foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil along with four other former Taliban members have registered to be candidates in the Sept.18 parliamentry election. All five former Taliban members are running as representatives of southern provinces, which were strongholds during theTaliban regime. Mutawakil, the former Foreign Minister, and Mullah Khaksar, former Deputy Minister of the Interior, and other Ex-Taliban officials have nominated themselves for Parlamentary election. These few Taliban members are considered relative moderates. They have renounced the ongoing Taliban insurgency against the Afghan Government. They are trying to fill the country's new 249-seat parliament and help change their country by winning seats as independent candidates. The Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah welcomed the nomination of the taliban leaders in an interveiw saying, "These Ex-Taliban leaders who have nominated themselves as parliamentary candidates are ordinary Afghan citizens and under the Afghan constitution they have the right to take a part in political activities." According to the ISAF, a local radio station said on saturday two low-ranking Taliban officials have joined the ongoing national reconciliation process, Gul Amir and Mulla islam pledged to support the government's reconciliation efforts to bring permenant peace to the war ravaged country. Earlier this month two high-ranking Taliban leaders including Mullah Mohammed Nasim former Governor of Zabul, and Mufti Habibur Rahman, a famous commander of the Taliban had pledged their support to the Afghan gorvenment

The people of Afghanistan are happy with this political development. because thecoalition and Afghan forces and Taliban insurgents suffered numerous casualties over the past three years fighting each other. Many innocent people were killed during these clashes. Most Taliban members can join the peace process , With the exception of Mullah Omar and a few other Taliban members. President Karzai has mentioned this many times in his statements. He says we welcome all Taliban who want to join the reconciliation program; Karzai is continuing talks with the taliban for the sake of establishing peace in the country. The former US Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, and the commander of coalition forces in afghanistan also took a part in the talks,as a result, a number of Taliban commanders have stopped fighting against the government and surrendered themselves to the Afghan government.

Recent Anti-US Protests

2005-05-18T15:35:00.000+04:30

The US-based magazine "Newsweek", in its 9th May issue, reported that some interrogators at the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba "in an attempt to rattle suspects, flushed the Holy Koran down a toilet". This news sparked an angry reaction from students at the medical college at a university in Jalalabad, the capital of Ningarhar province. The demonstrations which originally started in the eastern province of Ningarhar, spread throughout the country. In Kabuk, Kapisa and Takhar, the protests were calm and ended peacefully. But in Ningarhar, Wardak and Logar, the protests turned violent. A dozen buildings were destroyed and burned including the governor's offices. Several other government buildings were set on fire, plus dozens of vehicles and a number of offices belonging to the UN. The worst demonstration was in Ghazni where five people were killed. In Ningarhar, four were killed, and in Badakhshan three people were killed. Two people were killed in Badghis and Khost provinces and more than 130 people were injured, including Afghan security officials. In the latest reports, the death toll reached 17. According to the officials, some protestors were carrying guns and five people were arrested with explosive materials.

Demonstrations occurred in many large cities and small cities across Afghanistan in protest against the desecration of the Holy Koran by some US soldiers in Guantumana Bay, Cuba. Demonstrators demanded an apology from the United States and punishment for those who allegedly carried out the act of destruction and asked the US government to put on trial and prosecute and punish anyone found guilty of desecration. Such sacrilege was unacceptable to every Muslim. The American government officialy announced that it would conduct an investigation into this matter and promised to deal legally with the culprits found guilty. Investigations will be made to determine who was behind the demonstrations. Officials claim
that militant groups and outsiders were helping to stoke protesters. In my point of view the enemy's hand was behind the destruction and casualties. The people came to protest against the Holy Koran desecration, but there were some enemy among the people, who destroyed government and civilian property. I condemn the desecration of the Holy Koran, but I also condemn the destruction. People have a right to demonstrate, but not to destroy and cause problems for civilians and government.

I hope the government investigates to identify the "enemies of peace and stability" who are allegedly behind the violence, including the attack on the Pakistani consulate. Also, people in Ningarhar, Badakhshan and Gazni provinces have not ruled out the interference of mercenaries and said armed men from inside the protestors opened fire on police and law enforcement agencies. The enemies of Afghanistan should not take the recent demonstrations as a big acheivment for themselves. These violent protests do not reflect their popularity among Afghan people because none of the Afghan participants in the demonstration took part for their own sake. I think the demonstrations in some parts of Afghanistan were conducted by the Taliban, who turned it into violence because they still hide in some provinces. The worst violence happened in Ghazni and Ningarhar, and Taliban insurgents are hidden in these provinces. But they dont have influence in Kabul. In the northern provinces therefore, the demonstrations were more calm, and patriotic Afghans peacefuly participated in the rallies and expressed their dislike of those culprits who insulted their religion by desecrating the Holy Koran. They didn't come to murder and damage their own property.

If the Newsweek magazine's report turns out to be true, the criminals should be punished for their action. The Holy Koran desecration was carried out by few American soldiers, not by all Americans, and Afghanistan still wants a good relationship with the United States. The enemies wanted to take advantage of the recent demonstrations, but they failed, and the Afghan people will never be deceived by them.

Mujaddedi Backs Amnesty for Mullah Omar and Hekmatyar

2005-05-14T07:38:00.000+04:30

The ex-Afghan president and the head of national reconciliation commission participated in a news conference on Monday and said that every Afghan can join the peace process, even Mullah Omar and ex-prime minister Gulbudin Hekmatyar. He called on Mullah Omar and Gulbudin to be included in an amnesty on the condition of observing the constitution. Mujaddedi, who leads the independent reconciliation commission for peace in Afghanistan, opined that the Taliban and Hezb-i-Islami heads were entitled to the amnesty process on condition that they shunned violence and pledged support for the new constitution and basic law of the country. Exception in the reconciliation process constituted the old policy of the government towards the Taliban leader Mullah Omar and the Leader of Hezb-i-Islami Hekmatyar. He stressed such checks would no longer be imposed on the fugitive leaders if they vowed to give up resistance and lay their weapons down. The head of the commission observed that individual who repented their past involvement in violence and promised to support the government and stay peaceful in the future could be forgiven. He pointed out 60 top members of the Taliban movement, including high level figures like foreign minister Wakil Ahmad Mutwakil and Mullah Omar's close confidant Abdul Wahid Baghrani had already entered negotiations with the government as part of the reconcilition process. The head of the independent reconciliation backed the inclusion of the two most wanted people in the current peace process.

Mujaddedi's remarks are totally at odds with the views of president Karzai and US Ambassador Khalilzad, who have expressly ruled out a pardon for Mullah Omar and Hekmatyar, and all those guilty of committing heinous crimes. Spokesman for the US military told Afghan news that neither Mullah Omar nor Hekmatyar qualified for a general amnesty meant for low-level and non criminal people associated with militant outfits. The US spokesman Col James said that Mujaddedi had not suggested forgiveness for the most wanted figures, and that he had been quoted out of context. The spokesman maintained the Afghan government fully appreciated and endorsed the terms set for the general amnesty. According to reports, the Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar has rejected an offer of amnesty and ordered his militia to keep fighting against the US and Afghan government. "We don't need any guarantee of safety from the government", Taliban spokesman Hakimi said. "We are not hiding Mullah Omar. Our leader is not hiding rather he is fighting". He said Omar had ordered Taliban fighters to battle on. Hakimi said, "On his orders we have increased attacks on US forces in recent weeks and will continue this".

Most Afghan people are against Mujaddedi's amnesty offer for the two most wanted people, and its not up to Mujaddedi to offer forgiveness for these criminals. These two are responsible for killing many innocent people and they must be punished for what they have done, and its very far from Mujaddedi's competence to make such a big offer. But Mujaddedi, the head of independent reconciliation commission, said Mullah Omar and renegade warlords Gulbudin Hekmatyar should be accepted back by the government if they renounce arms. "Our terms are that they lay down their weapons, respect the constitution, and obey the government. We don't have big conditions. President Hamid Karzai has not confirmed Mujaddedi's announcement, and it is not clear if president Karzai supports offering an amnesty to Mullah Omar and Hekmatyar - president Karzai has still not commented on the amnesty offer.

Palestinian blogger

2005-05-11T15:21:00.000+04:30

Introducing Feras to the blogosphere!

Suicide Blast in an Internet Cafe

2005-05-09T15:44:00.000+04:30

A suicide bomb blast in an internet cafe in Kabul killed three people, including a UN official from Burma, and injured five others at 5:50pm local time Saturday. According to some eyewitnesses, the blast hit the internet cafe immediately after an unusual suspect stepped into the cafe. Around 15 people, including three foreigners, were busy using the internet when the bomb blasted. The name of this internet cafe is Park Resident Internet Cafe. It's in the ground floor of the Park Resident Guest House where a large number of foreigners stay and also come to use the internet. Park Resident Internet Cafe is the first internet cafe in Kabul and it used to be the most expensive one too. This net cafe is located close to the very main area in downtown Kabul. It's beside the main road and opposite the first Microfinance Bank located in "Shar-e-Naw", which means "new city". A lot of non-government organizations are located around this area. I used to go to this internet cafe during the year 2002 and 2003, because it was the only internet cafe in Kabul and there were a large number of foreigners wanting to get a seat. Every time all 20 computers were occupied. During that time the internet cafe security guard didn't let the locals to use the internet. Only those Afghans who had an NGO ID card were allowed to go in. I had a US interpreter ID card so I could go. But after some other internet cafes started operating in different parts of the city, the Park Internet security quit asking for ID cards and everybody was allowed to go to this cafe.

This internet cafe has been targeted by terrorists because a large number of foreigners come to use the internet. Fortunately there was no usual crowd of visitors because of incessant rain in recent days. The Taliban spokesman Hakimi denied the Taliban's involvement in this terrorist attack and the Ministry of Interior Affairs is investigating the explosion. I got some messages from dear readers asking me if I was safe. By the grace of God I am safe. I don't spend much time in internet cafes after I bought a laptop. I write my blogs on my laptop and I just use the internet for 25 minutes to send the blog and check my email. Soon I will have an internet connection so the terrorists will not be able to target me.

Dozens of militants killed in southeastern Afghanistan

2005-05-08T06:36:00.000+04:30

US troops and Government forces have killed at least 20 Taliban militants in the mountains of the southeastern province of Zabul near the Pakistan border. US soldiers and the Afghan Army backed by war planes and American helicopters started bombarding the insurgents. The fighting began when an Afghan man complained to Afghan National Police officers of being beaten by a group of unknown militants. The man led the Afghan National Army forces and US forces to the location of the beating at which point they came under small-arms attack and one Afghan police officer was killed in the attack. US troops and Afghan police cordoned off the attackers by use of small-arms fire and air support from coalition war planes and the attackers escaped back to the mountains. According to the residents, hunderds of Taliban fighters from three districts were swarming all over the area. The rebels increasing attacks in recent weeks have proven that the insurgency is far from weakened. Six American soldiers and five Afghan policemen were injured during the fight against the militiants. Unspecified numbers of civilians were killed or injured in the air strikes. Six insurgents were arrested. The village leader was also detained after the villagers reported him as a Taliban member. It was one of the deadliest clashes in recent months. In another clash, 20 insurgents and nine Afghan soldiers were killed in the southern province of Kandahar after the Taliban ambushed the US and Afghan National Army forces on Wednesday evening. Clashes and bombings in recent weeks have killed dozens of rebels, Afghan soldiers, a few coalition forces and many civilians.

Taliban prisoners released from US detention

2005-05-04T15:17:00.000+04:30

Eighty-five Taliban prisoners were released on Sunday from different US military bases in Afghanistan. This was the second largest release of prisoners by the US military and comes two weeks after the US released 17 Afghan prisoners from its military prison center at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Due to the Afghan government reconciliation program, the US military handed over these prisoners to the Afghan government to be returned to their villages and homes. The Afghan government reconciliation program is to bring fighters from the former Taliban regime back into normal life. Some prisoners who were captured during the US-led military operation were suspected of having a relationship with the Taliban. 70 prisoners were freed from the main US-led military base, Bagram, north of the capital Kabul, while another 15 prisoners were released from a US military base in Kandahar. According to the Afghan officials, they pleaded not guilty and they posed no threat and they swore to be loyal to the government. A lot of eople expressed their worries over the release of large numbers of Taliban prisoners. People are concerned about them returning to the Taliban and re-engaging in war against the Afghan government.

News in brief

2005-05-02T14:10:00.000+04:30

A senior Taliban commander was killed and another arrested during a joint operation by the Afghan National Army and coalition forces in Arozgan province after the Taliban attacked ANA and coalition forces. Mullah Abdul Manan was arrested and Mullah Bismillah was killed. Both were key Taliban commanders in the troubled province. According to the ANA, the operation is to be countinued in the area to find other suspicious enemy. Meanwhile, three senior Taliban officials surrendered to the government in the eastern province of Paktia and announced their support for the government. These three Taliban confessed that they were acting against the government and were hiding from coalition forces. A week earlier, Mufti Habibur Rahman, the head of the crime branch of the Interior Ministry under the Taliban regime, surrendered in Khost province.

Violence continues in different parts of Afghanistan. Four Afghan national police were killed by Taliban insurgents. Police were on a patrol when they were ambushed by Taliban. Four of them were killed and three are still missing. In eastern Afghanistan, two civilians were killed and two were wounded in a clash that started while a US military patrol was returning from Khogyani district to Jalalabad province. The Taliban spokesman Hakimi claimed responsibility for the attacks. He said Taliban attacks have killed several ANA and American soldiers. In Zabul province, the US-led coalition patrol came under attack in Deh Chupan district. A US soldier was injured and two Taliban militants were killed. On Wednesday an American soldier was killed in Deh Rawood in the southern Orzgan province when his unit was ambushed. Last week a Romanian soldier in the US-led coalition was killed and another wounded when a roadside bomb ripped through their convoy in Kandahar province. Taliban spokesman Lutfullah Hakimi claimed responsibility for the ambush.

Remnants of the former Taliban regime have begun increasing their attacks after the winter. Attacks by Taliban have recently increased, particulary the southern and eastern provinces Zabul, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Helmand, Paktia, Paktika, Kabul and Nangarhar provinces have seen a wave of fatal attacks in recent weeks. Taliban vowed to intensify attacks on the US and Afghan government after the winter. According to the media, in a meeting held in the mountains of Paktia province last week, the Taliban radical leaders appointed new commenders with a recommendation to step up attacks on foreign forces deployed in Afghanistan, including the Afghan government as well the US Army.

Afghan refugees and their problems

2005-04-27T16:19:00.000+04:30

Almost three decades of war since the first Soviet invasion in 1979, foreign enemies and warlords forced Afghans to leave their country. A majority of Afghan refugees emigrated to Pakistan and Iran. Several others made their way to other destinations in the world, but Iran and Pakistan are home of millions of Afghan refugees. There are nearly two million Afghan refugees in
Pakistan and more than one million in Iran. Afghan refugees faced many problems during their emigration. In some countries, especially in Pakistan and Iran, several were jailed for just being refugees and police were beating and fining them with out any logical reasons. Since 2002 more than three million Afghan refugees have been repatriated.

Due to last year's cold winter, repatriation of refugees stopped, but in the current year thousands of refugees will return from Pakistan and Iran. A majority of refugees are homeless and living in tents. During the civil war and Taliban regime, most people were compelled to sell their houses and property for a very cheap price and spend the money to emigrate to other countries. Lack of shelter, unemployment and absolute poverty is a major problem to most returnees. I have been in some refugee camps in Kabul city and people complain about their living conditions. They say that they spent years in exile and with the establishment of the new Afghan government they thought it was time to return home and resume a respectable life, but now they think that returning was a big mistake.

Hundreds of children died due to cold weather inside their tents in different camps. There is a camp beside the ANA central corps with more than 60 tents. Before the onset of winter, the US Army issued blankets and food for all refugees in this camp, which was a great help. And they were safer than any other camp in Kabul. During the winter they appreciated the US Army's help, but there are some other refugee camps that still need food, clothing and medicine and need serious attention. However the government promised many times to issue land for these homeless people, but they never fulfilled their promises. Every day hundreds of refugees return home from Iran and Pakistan. I hope the Afghan government and NGOs help these refugees and that the government issues land to these homeless people and provides education for the kids inside these camps.

Thankyou everyone

2005-04-24T15:16:00.000+04:30

I appreciate all those people who kindly donated to my blog in order to buy a laptop and get the internet connection. I have already bought a laptop computer and I am going to get the internet connection in few days. I would also like to thank chap for his package and digital camera. Soon I will have interviews with the ANA officers, NCOs and soldiers and I will post their voice and photos to the world. I am trying to persuade some of my friends to start their own blog and let them use my computer. We must all work together and make a peaceful world. Once again I appreciate all of you for your kind efforts.

The Taliban's New Radio Station

2005-04-23T15:20:00.000+04:30

Taliban guerillas launched a new clandestine radio station last week, called "Shariat Zhagh" or "Voice of Shariat". It goes on the air between six and seven o'clock in the morning, and the same time in the evening, broadcasting anti-government commentaries and propaganda from a mobile transmitter. The broadcast can be heard in five southern provinces, including the former regime's old power base Kandahar. Radio Shariat was the Taliban's main radio while they were in power. By satellite phone from an undisclosed location, the Taliban spokesman Hakimi said that the Taliban is fighting an insurgency in the south and east of the country. Since they were out from power in late 2001, they needed their own voice because the international media were pro-American. The Taliban's new radio station criticized US and other foreign troops operating in Afghanistan since the Taliban were ousted. When the Taliban spokesman was asked what Taliban would do if US forces disclosed and destroyed their station, Hakimi said they would install another one.

Most Afghans listen to radio BBC, Voice of America and to the ISAF radio called "Sadai-E-Azadi" which means "Voice of Freedom" which broadcast in Afghanistan's two main languages, Dari and Pashto. There are also a few local private radio stations funded by aid donors broadcasting from the capital, Kabul, and also in a few other provinces.

However, the Taliban radio runs anti-government propaganda - the people of Afghanistan will be deceived. Afghan people selected their president and they strongly support their elected government. Afghans had a bad experience from the Taliban regime and other warlords. Some Taliban know that their fight againts the coalition forces is useless. They are not able to capture any city and a large number of Taliban accepted the government-initiated national reconciliation policy and would soon announce their support of the policy. President Karzai announced that those Taliban who want to lay down their weapons will be forgiven with the exception of Mullah Omar and a few other Taliban leaders. The other Taliban who haven't committed major crimes should feel free to talk with the government and its time to rebuild our country. Many Taliban members have surrendered to the government since the collapse of the former extremist regime.

Poppy eradication program and farmers Resistance

2005-04-21T13:41:00.000+04:30

The poppy eradication program has begun in different provinces. In Herat province the farmers attacked a police contingent after it started destroying their corps. Farmers, who wielded sticks and stones, injured at least two policemen. The farmers who have not yet received any aid from the government or the international community, have reason for resisting the anti-eradication program. Although President Karzai declared fight against the rising narco-production, farmers say that their resistance will continue until they get assistance from the government.

The second phase of poppy eradication program has begun in the eastern province of Laghman, in the mountainous area of the province. The officials could not start the eradication process earlier this month because the fields were covered by the snow and the road was blocked and it was not possible to destroy them. People in the area are not so happy with the process. They say the government should build us bridges, roads, dams and help us to get chemical fertilizer first, and then they should destroy our
poppy fields.

Officials have promised to do all this but failed to fulfill their promise. On Thursday, the Afghan farmers challenged President Karzai's plans to destroy the world's largest narcotics industry. Afghan opium growers vowed to protect their poppy corp from an ongoing eradication campaign. In Kandahar province the eradication program was suspended on it's first day when police sent to destroy the poppy fields clashed with the farmers. The protesters started throwing rocks at the police. At least 7 people were injured. An angry farmer said "If they destroy my poppy fields I will throw my children into the river". Another farmer said "If they bring tractors to destroy my fields I will lie down in front of them. They will have to kill me before they get into my field.". The farmers from Kandahar province said they would be ruined if they lost their crops, and claimed they have not seen any sign of government aid promised to help the farmers. Some farmers say they borrowed money for diesel just to irrigate their fields and they will not lose them for nothing. According to the farmers, three men have died and many were injured during the resistance against the police. I had another blog about the poppies last month and some people asked in their comments why the farmers don't cultivate saffron or cotton. I think it's a very good idea for farmers to grow cotton or saffron but the government or ministry of agriculture should provide some short courses to persuade and provide aid for farmers to grow useful plants.

New Law for Non-Government Organizations

2005-04-18T15:22:00.000+04:30

The Afghan government has asked the NGOs to submit their work reports and expenditures for the last three years. President Karzai appointed a committee of local and foreign representatives to study draft legislation aimed at controlling aid agencies after some Afghan people raised concern over the bill. The Afghan government announced that they had drafted the legislation in a move which followed a government probe into the activities of some non-government organizations {NGOs} and amid the perception by many Afghan people that the organizations are squandering international aid money. Most Afghan people say that half of the aid money is spent on the personal requirements of these NGOs. Fierce debate is raging over the slow progress in making Afghan daily life easier. The Afghan people accuse NGOs of squandering funds channeled through them. The Afghan people welcome President Karzai for appointing a committee to control the NGO activities. President Karzai skirted the NGO controversy at the outset of the Afghanistan Development Forum last week and instead pitched for more control over the way money is spent. All organizations concerned are accountable for expenditure of the funds contributed to Afghanistan. In past three years Afghanistan was the eyewitness to considerable political development and to rehabilitation and economic development of Afghanistan. It should be explained to Afghan people alongside its expenses. So the people can be assured the funds contributed for rehabilitation of Afghanistan were not embezzled. The government is responsible for its people because it is established based on their vote.

First provincial woman Governor in Afghanistan

2005-04-13T16:13:00.000+04:30

Afghanistan named its first female provincial governor. President Hamid Karzai appointed Ms Habiba Surabi as the governor of Bamian province last month and made a step forward in the slow political progress of women since the fall of Taliban more than three years ago. Surabi, who was selected from an all-female short-list, served as a Minister of Women's Affairs in President Karzai's previous transitional government for almost three years. The previous administration of President Hamid Karzai approved the constitution enshrining equal rights for women last year. Conditions for women in Afghanistan have gradually improved since the overthrow of the Taliban in late 2001, who barred women from education. Ms Surabi, the 48-year old wife and mother of three children, is an ethnic Hazara.

During her 3 years of service as Minister of Women's Affairs, she also learned to speak fluent English. Ms Surabi said "My appointment has opened a way for other women" in her speech. She believes that President Karzai, by choosing her, sent a powerful signal that women were equal to men. She hopes her appointment as Afghanistan's first female provincial governor will set a trend in a country in which women were not allowed to work outside. These things are not in Islam but are cultural traditions in some areas of the country. Surabi used to live in neighboring country Pakistan during the Taliban regime, and she returned back after the US-led forces overthrew the Taliban government after the attacks on the United States on Sep 11, 2001. When she was announced as governor, somewhere between 150 to 200 people demonstrated on the streets in Bamian town. Demonstrators were loyal to the former governor and local militia commander, but they were quickly outnumbered by up to 1,000 people who came out in her support. It shows how fed up people are with warlords and fundamentalists. Generally, the biggest challenge for women is safety from the warlords and commanders. Security is very important for women to be able to come to court or visit rights associations.

She aims to restore and rebuild historical sites in Bamian, the site of two 1600-year-old giant Buddhas which were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001, promote tourism, and oversee the reconstruction of the province that has no power and no paved roads. Bamian's population is mainly made up of ethnic Hazaras, who are mostly Shi'ite Muslims and known for their greater acceptance of women's rights. Ms Habiba Surabi said behind every great woman is a strong and liberal-minded man, "it would not be possible to do such a tough job without my husband's support". Almost all Afghan people are happy with Ms Surabi's appointment as the first woman governor. After the successful elections, the new administration contains three women ministers and for first time a woman governor.

ANA Battalion 33rd Graduated

2005-04-11T02:47:00.000+04:30

The 33rd battalion of the Afghan National Army {ANA} graduated last week with more than 512 soldiers and NCOs from the Kabul Military Training Center and moved to Central Corp. The Afghan National Army {ANA} is improving and progressing very well. Most former militia join the ANA after participating in the DDR (Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration) program. The former Afghan militia realizes that the fight is over now and Afghanistan's interests are now protected by the Afghan National Army. The central government has one professionally-trained army. It is an army that comprises soldiers and officers from all ethnic backgrounds with no collective ethnic or local allegiances. At the moment the Afghan National Army has the ability to extend the authority of the central government throughout the country. In an emergency, over 19,000 ANA can be deployed to fight against the enemy. The ANA will expand to 43,000 in the next twelve months and will reach a total of 70,000 by December 2007. Disarmament of the AMF (Afghan Militia Force) is scheduled to be completed by June 2005. All of the former AMF personell will have started their reintegration training option by June 05. The disarmament program is beginning to draw to a successful close and those AMF that wait may miss out on the training options. Currently the AMF can choose to sign up for assistance with vocational training, running their own businesses, working in agriculture, training as a teacher, joining the national police and joining the ANA. The DDR program is growing daily. Together the DDR and the expansion of the ANA will ensure a secure and prosperous future for Afghanistan and it's good news that Afghan militia who fought against the Taliban are now retraining to rebuild our country. The maintenance of peace is the bright future of the brave nation.

Afghanistan needs reconstruction

2005-04-04T13:42:00.000+04:30

Almost 3 decades of war destroyed Afghanistan and Afghanistan has suffered from the highest level of destruction of any country during the 20th century. After the fall of the Taliban, people were hoping that the world community would take part in rebuilding Afghanistan. But the progress has been very slow and the long road ahead to rebuild the country is filled with obstacles. However, Afghanistan has achieved a lot in the past three years as a result of the Bonn agreement, the Loya Jirga, the presidential elections and establishing a democratic government. These are the achievements of Afghanistan in the last three years but the main challenge for the US and world community is the reconstruction of Afghanistan which has been going very slow in past three years. Afghanistan has been destroyed by a long war of almost three decades and the reconstruction in such circumstances is a great challenge. The people of Afghanistan welcome the US for overthrowing the Taliban. They think that the US has been successful with that, but the most important phase which the US is currently going through is the reconstruction of Afghanistan. The US has set some short term and some long term development programs but prioritizing them will take a long time.

At the moment Afghan people are suffering from problems with drinking water, power, health care and lack of jobs. Except in a few cities, there is no power system in almost 80 percent of the country. Two months ago the people of the capital, Kabul, had power for only 6 hours a night every day, but after the snow and rainfall the Kabul residents got lucky and have power almost 15 hours a day. But the western part of the capital still lacks power because the power system was destroyed there in the 1993 war and in the past three years no steps have been taken to fix the power system for the western part of capital. Power is really important in daily life. Most people in the capital, Kabul don’t have drinking water pipes in their houses so they go out and sometimes have to walk far to get water from the water pumps because the water system has been destroyed and really needs to be fixed. In most rural areas of the country there is no drinking water facilities for the people and they drink the river water, or some drink from the well which is not healthy.

The 3rd main problem is health care as I mentioned in a previous blog. In most parts of the country there is no health clinic and lack of doctors make it very difficult because most doctors live in the big cities and it's really hard to find a good doctor in farther parts of Afghanistan. The government must build health clinics in every village and send doctors to help people. Our education system must be changed. We need new and modern education for our schools and universities. At the school where I graduated last year, which was the 4th-most modern in Kabul, we didn’t have enough lab facilities to do chemistry subjects. Motorways are also the main problem. In order to connect the cities to each other there are some roads for transportation, but they are not paved and very dusty and complicated and it takes many hours to drive to even close places. The Afghan people hope for international aid and hope that the reconstruction process would go quicker.

Bazaars

2005-04-03T15:04:00.000+04:30

There are bazaars every week in different coalition bases where hundreds of vendors sell their stuff. It helps those vendors who don't have shops - they go to different bazaars. There are bazaars almost 4 days a week. The bazaar schedule is different in every base. In some bases there are bazaars every Friday. In some, every Sunday you can find many different items like handicrafts, old coins, old British and Russian medals, Afghan jewellery, all kinds of gems like rubies, emeralds and lapis, rugs and carpets, leather coats, decorations like wooden boxes and marble, CDs and DVDs. It's very helpful for vendors and soldiers because they dont need to drive to down town and buy from the shops. Plus they don't have time to go there. So they buy stuff from these bazaars every week. All soldiers from different countries are happy with their shopping in Afghanistan because it's much cheaper than their countries. Especially gems, carpets, and DVDs. They can buy a 2 by 1 meter handmade carpet for $100 to $120 while back home it costs $600. Also the same thing with DVDs. The price of one DVD is $2.50 at the bazaars, but back in the US or Europe it costs $15 to $20. And all DVDs come with 5 movies on one disk. So you can buy 5 movies on one disk for $2.50, so that is why almost every soldier has bought almost 300 movies. In this list American soldiers come first. They buy more than other countries' soldiers. Also US soldiers buy carpets too. The Germans buy carpets and jewellery while French soldiers are mostly interested in buying gems and carpets. Some of my friends that are soldiers bought carpets from these bazaars and appraised it for much more back in US. So all coalition forces are happy with these bazaars. Also Afghani vendors can make enough enough money at these bazaars in order to support their families and improve their business. Two years ago I saw some guys that didn't have much stuff to sell, but now some of them have got new cars and some of them have got new shops too. Afghanistan's handicrafts are very popular around the world. Afghan carpets got first postition during an exhibition in Germany this year and Afghan carpets sold over one million Euro. Almost 70% of Afghan carpets are produced in the northern provinces. The carpet of Mazar-E-Sharif and Herat provinces are very attractive. Except for diamonds, Afghanistan has got almost every kind of stones. The Afghan's precious stone emerald is one of the best emeralds in the world and the Afghan emerald price is almost equal to diamond, as well as Afghanistan's ruby. The biggest mine of the blue stone lapis lazuli is also in Badakhshan province. Afghanistan lapis is the birth stone of January and is only found in Afghanistan. During the war our mines were not safe and our stones were sold dirt cheap by local commanders, but now is the time to control our mines. Our government badly needs money to rebuild the country.

Email questions

2005-03-30T12:03:00.000+04:30

1. How did you become interested in Blogging, and how did your Blog: Afghan Warrior come about?

From childhood I was interested to be lyric or writer. One day I went to check my email and after I checked it I had 15 more minutes so I went to IRC chat room and I met Paul Edwards who persuaded me to start my blog. My first post got many comments and I was so impressed and happy so I decided to keep on blogging.

When I was 9 years old the war started in the capital Kabul in 1992 and the situation was very horrible. Many rockets blasted near our house and we had to immigrate to many places. It is a long story to tell you and Afghan warrior means i keep fighting against those responsible.

2. What is your favorite food?

I like all kinds of food that are cooked well. Afghan rice beef steak is my favorite food.

3. Without divulging anything of a confidrential nature, what exactly do you do in your job as a translator with the U.S. Miltary?

As an interpreter I go on patrols and also communicate between ANA and US Army. When we go on patrols we talk with people and ask questions about their problems and whether they have any problem with robbery or bad guys.

4. Is Afghanistan a very tribal society?

Yes, Afghanistan is a tribal society, but the tribes are united.

5. Waheed, if it's not too personal, could you tell me which tribal group you belong to? And when you reached adulthood, did you have to undergo some sort of initiation, ritual or ceremony?

I belong to the Tajik tribe. When I reached adulthood I was in Pakistan with my family because the living conditions weren't good in Afghanistan. So I really didn't have any sort of ceremony. I was only thinking when will I be able to go back to my country and go back to school.

6. What does the name Waheed mean? Does your name have a meaning?

My name means "united" or "unity". In some old books it also means "single" or "only".

7. What's the best book you ever read?

My favorite book is Shahnama-E-Firdawsi. This book is full of nice stories about former kings of Afghanistan going back 1800 years and it's full of nice epic poems.

8. So, do you have a favorite sport or activity that you like to do?

I like all sports, especially soccer. Right now I don't have time because I work from 4pm till 7am, but sometimes I like to watch sports on TV.

9. If you could go vacation to any place in the World, where would it be?

I love to travel and visit different countries. There are many places I would love to go e.g. US, Canada, Australia, India, Egypt.

10. So, how bad was it living under the Taliban?

When the Taliban came to power I moved to Pakistan with my family but I was reading the newspaper every day. Also I was talking with people who were coming from Afghanistan. Life was hard and very boring. No TV channels, no music. It was especially hard for women as they were not allowed to work outside of their houses. There was no education for women and no freedom of speech.

11. Waheed, if someone said to you five years ago that the Taliban would be out of power, Afghanistan would have democratic elections, Kabul would be being rebuilt and blossoming, women would be actually allowed to protest for their rights, new schools would be being built, you would be working for the U.S. Military and telling the world about Afghanistan through your Blog on the Internet, would you have believed them?

During the Taliban regime we wouldn't have believed that the US Army would come to Afghanistan, but we were hoping that one day Afghanistan will be free. But when the US attacked, everything changed very quickly. I wouldn't have believed that one day I would be working as an interpreter and we would have 4 TV channels and women would have their ministry and protest for their rights.

12. Now that Kabul has four TV Channels, do you have a television program you like to watch?

I like all programs on our TV channels, but my favorite is Sahat-e-bashuma which gives very useful information about new technology and also it shows strange events. Also "hop" program, which is a music program which play different songs such as Indian, Afghan, Iranian, English, Arabic.

13. Do you have any pets?

I used to have a dog but not now.

14. Who's Prettier: Afghani women or Lebanese women?

Hahaha. I don't know which women are prettier. I guess they are very similar but we have some that are very pretty ..........................

15. What's the strangest thing you've ever seen in Afghanistan?

The strangest thing I ever saw was the 1992 war in Kabul. The rockets were coming from everywhere and the Kabul sky was covered by smoke.

16. All Afghan boys love their mothers, so what is it about your mother that is special?

Yes, all boys and girls love their parents, especially their mothers. There is a great respect for parents in Afghanistan and I love my mother more than anything in the world. My mother is a special mother - she is very smart, she is a high school teacher. The special thing about her is that she is really kind to me and she always cares for me.

17. What is the biggest problem facing Afghanistan today?

Afghanistan is facing a lot of problems today. The biggest problem we are facing is terrorism. Other problems that we are facing are power, weak economy, unpaved roads. We need hospitals and universities and we must have colleges in every province. Sports stadiums and much more.

18. Do you have a favorite place you like to visit in Afghanistan and why?

My favorite place in Afghanistan to visit is Panjshir and Paghman Valley.

19. Waheed, I understand that Internet Costs are very expensive in Kabul and that you have a great need for a digital camera and laptop. If people want to help you with these things, how do they go about it? Can they make donations to your blog?

Internet is expensive here in Kabul. It's impossible for people to get net connection for their homes because only few people have digital phones. The government hasn't issued new phone systems to the people. They are working on it, but it might take a long time. There are some net companies in Kabul that issue satellite connection which costs US$3000 for the satellite and 3 months in advance, and every month they charge you US$300 for the lowest speed. I am waiting to get a phone connection. It costs US$270 to get a phone but I don't know when they will issue them, so most people go to net cafes. There are almost 18 cafes in all Kabul now. If anyone wants to send me a second hand laptop or digital camera they can send it to me via the US Army mail. One guy offered me a laptop and one guy a digital camera, so I hope they send them. Yes, they can
donate money to my blog.

20. Thanks very much, Waheed, and final question: Have you ever seen a ghost?

I have never seen a ghost in real life but sometimes in my dreams. My friend told me that he saw a ghost.

Repeated at:
http://jarrarsupariver.blogspot.com/2005/03/in-t-view-waheed-afghan-warrior-for.html

Daily living in Afghanistan

2005-03-29T15:19:00.000+04:30

Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world. However Afghanistan has made remarkable progress since the fall of the Taliban. But we still have a very weak economy. Although Afghanistan's economy has improved over the last three years, the government has not been able to to carry out a proper assessment. Education, health care, the lack of jobs, homes, power and drinking water are the main problems that Afghanistan is facing today. Wages are extremely low. Civil servants, teachers and even doctors are lucky to get between $40 and $100 per month. The government officals only make $40 a month. Former officers, except ANA officers, only make $100 a month - even the colonels.

Food is very expensive for the people. Beside some rich people, most people eat meat once per week. Milk, bread, sugar, and cooking oil prices are very high for people, especially for the civil servants. A government worker makes 2000 afghani a month and one kilo of sheep meat is 200 afghani while one kilo of cow's meat costs 140 Afghani. A liter of diesel fuel costs 26 Afghani and a liter of petrol fuel costs between 24 and 27 afghani. Most people buy second hand clothes because the price of new clothes and shoes is very expensive. A teacher can not buy a coat for 1500 afghani because a teacher (e.g. a high school teacher) makes only 3000 afghani a month. The US dollar price in afghani is one $US dollar equals to 48 afghani. The price keeps changing every day - sometime s one US dollar equals 50 afghani.

So it is impossible for most people to buy meat every day, or even 3 times a week, because the salary of a government worker is equal to the price of 10 kilos of meat. Only those people who work for foreign organizations make much more than the government officials. Food price is not the only problem in Afghanistan - the taxi rents are very high too. Although there are many public busses, they are not enough to solve the people's problems because the population of Kabul city is over 3 million people, and since the fall of the Taliban almost two million people have returned to Kabul. Some refugees who are homeless live under tents. Almost 50% of people are homeless in Kabul and they ask the government to build shelters for them. Many people sold their houses during the 1992 war and during the Taliban regime and they spent their money while they were in Pakistan and Iran during that time. They sold their houses for really cheap prices because the situation was really bad and now their houses are 10 times more than the price they sold them at, so the people hope that the new government will issue some land to homeless people, but its unclear when that will happen.

Situation at a glance

2005-03-25T02:15:00.000+04:30

After the 11 September tragedy and US-led invasion, Afghanistan has achieved much in the past three years. Around 80% of the Afghan people are happy that the US overthrew the Taliban and installed a democracy. The reason some people are not happy is because they are against freedom and they are warlords and they want to be in power and they only think about their own benefits. And they don't want foreign forces in Afghanistan as in the presence of coalition forces they cant harm the new Afghan Government. Afghan people think that the coalition must stay till the ANA (Afghan National Army) is capable of protecting Afghanistan. At the moment we have more than 25000 soldiers in ANA formation and the plan to have 75000 soldiers in the national army is expected to be completed in 2006. ANA still needs US help to fight against the enemy because we don't have an air force. But in every mission there are some US Advisors with the ANA, so if they need air strikes their advisor can call for it. The new training academy for ANA officers was inaugurated 3 days ago. 110 ANA officers from different parts of Afghanistan will be trained at this academy. The 32nd battalion graduated two weeks ago and moved to their units. There are also some classes for ANA to learn English and they have US and Afghan teachers. Sometimes when some ANA do their homework they call me to help. I saw some that are so good in learning English. Their books come from the US. The disarmament process goes well but there are still some warlords with militias. More than 40,000 former militias have been disarmed. Afghanistan's New Beginnings Program (ANBP) reintegrates former militias through the teacher training, agriculture, vocational training and small businesses training courses in order to support their families. The local Afghan and militias worked well in the 2001 war. I think they should still co-operate in order to find the enemy.

The people are feeling free - women can go to work. Some women wear burkhas and some women not, but they are no longer forced to wear burkhas, it's their choice. School girls and college girls put a little scarf on their heads. The people of some provinces are still facing problems with their kids' education and hospitals. In some villages there are no health clinics and drinking water. There are still some clashes in southern provinces but the central provinces and northern are quite calm.

Afghans learn English as they know its an international language. Especially in the capital Kabul, there are almost 1500 English courses where thousands of girls and boys learn English at school. English teaching starts from Year 7, but most students still go to English classes after school because they think they can learn better. As I mentioned in my first blog, it's the first time that we have four TV channels in the capital, Kabul. Also there are cable networks so that people who can afford it get cable connection. Afghan TV channels also have good programs. There is a channel called "Tolo TV" which is the youngsters favorite channel. It plays music like Arabic, Indian, Turkish, English. Also they have nice sports channels and play movies every night. We have female and male announcers in all channels and female singers after the new election held last year.

Drug smuggling is still continuous in Afghanistan, however Afghan police confiscated many tons of opium. But because we have a long border with Pakistan and Iran it's hard for the ANA and national police to control, but still they arrested many drug dealers over the last few months. Air strikes also damaged many plants. The government wants to talk peacefully with the farmers to eradicate their fields, but the farmers want financial help from the government to support their family or to cultivate useful plants.

There is some Government welfare available for poor people where they learn short courses like tailoring, carpet-weaving and mechanics, but there are still many poor people and that welfare is not enough for all poor people. There are many beggars in Kabul streets begging for money.

As an interpreter, I go on patrols to some villages around the ANA Central Corps. When we go to the villages we ask the people if they have any problem with thieves or bad people and we make sure they are secure. There is a refugee camp beside the ANA central corps. They live in tents. Before winter started we went on a patrol and talked to them and they complained about the cold winter. So after 2 weeks we issued them blankets and food amd also we had some US doctors give their kids a check-up and provided medicine for them. That was a good day for me because I was the only interpreter with 60 soldiers and medics, so I was happy to help those people by interpreting. Most kids follow us, asking for pens and notebooks and pipes. Little kids can't pronounce "mister" so they say "Mishter pen please, mishter pencil" and its funny. Sometimes we give them stuff. When we go to villages all kids run and try to talk with soldiers.

Most people like president Karzai. He seems to be very loyal to his people and we hope Afghanistan will achieve and be well-promoted during his government. I like him too. He is a very good president. Only one day I was sad with his decision in which he released Pakistani prisoners without exchanging with Afghan prisoners who are in Pakistani jails for a long time without committing any big crime. I think he should have exchanged the Pakistani prisoners with Afghan prisoners who are in Pakistan. Because the Pakistanis came to Afghanistan to fight in support of the Taliban. But our prisoners were only in Pakistan as refugees.

The New Year celebration in Afghanistan

2005-03-23T13:47:00.000+04:30

Afghan people peacefuly celebrated "Nowroz", the first day of the new year with the glorious celebration on Monday. As per tradition, Afghans attended the flag-hoisting ceremonies at their local renowned tombs. In the New Year ceremony, people make and serve a special kind of fruit drink called "Haft Miwa" {comprised of seven kinds of fruit}, and they visit relatives. This festival was banned under the Taliban regime. The new year was celebrated in all provinces. In the capital, Kabul, the celebration was attended by thousands of Kabul residents and some government officials. At the flag-hoisting ceremony at the Karta-e-Sakhi tomb near the TV hill, all Afghan people were looking very happy and hopeful because the new year arrived with snow and rain and they hope it will be full of peace and security as well. Kabul's hillsides are just turning green after a long drought. Hillsides were crowded with young boys and girls and families celebrating the holiday. Unfortunately a landmine was detonated during the celebration and a young boy was wounded.

Almost every city of Afghanistan has some sort of central festival where the people collectively welcome the new year as well as the spring season. Capital Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif celebrate the new year with a different style, especially the biggest festival held every year in Mazar-e-Sharif. In Balkh province, hundreds or thousands of people, starting from early morning, gather around the historical shrine of Hazrat Ali, the son-in-law of Prophet Mohammed {peace be upon him} and also the fourth Caliph of Islam. This is the historical shrine with a history reaching back hundreds of years and the people of Afghanistan, especially the northern people, have very high respect and pay tribute to this shrine. The shrine is always full of pilgrims from almost all parts of Afghanistan. The main function of new year is also held in this shrine. This shrine is also famous because of the blue mosque. It has a lot of attractions for foreign tourists and the blue dome of the shrine is a noble piece of ancient architecture. The main reason is not only to celebrate new year but the gathering of the people and the brotherhood and unity among the people.

The red rose naturally grows every year in the deserts near Mazr-e-Sharif city, so that is why its also famous for the Red Rose ceremony - it shows the spectacular desert views.

Afghan people are hoping to enter into another phase of their history, which is democracy, rule of law, supremacy of constitution, unity, and brotherhood.

Security challenges in Afghanistan

2005-03-20T13:23:00.000+04:30

After the 11th September 2001 tragedy, Afghanistan was finally liberated through the efforts of coalition forces. The Afghan nation has made giant steps towards national reconcilition. However, although a lot has been achieved in the past three years, security is still an issue in the capital Kabul and other provinces, even though some warlords are falling into line and supporting the new Afghan government, there are still illegal militia remaining as a problem in the country. However, 42,000 armed fighters have surrendered their weapons under a program operated by the UN and Afghan Government. Security is a challenge for the government and coalition forces. The poeple of Afghanistan want the authorities to look further and find the commanders of illegal forces and also investigate other officials who play a role in maintaining such troops. The Afghan people strongly condemn the killing of Steven MacQueen, a British advisor to the Ministry of Rural Development and we believe that the killing of Steven MacQueen is heinous and inhumane. Such acts are always committed by criminal and violent extremist groups. These groups are used to committing inhumane crimes. These incidents are happening in Kabul city when the officials claim that the crime rate has fallen by 38% in Kabul and 60% in other provinces. The Afghan people wonder how the enemies of Afghanistan are still able to carry out such crimes. Even in Kabul, the capital, we are still facing a serious security challenge and serious coordinated measures should be taken to prevent any repetition of such cases. This goal can be achieved by reform in security. Our society is in extreme need of security.

Clash between police and farmers left 4 injured

2005-03-17T14:12:00.000+04:30

Farmers of Achin district of the eastern province of Nangarhar clashed with police on Wednesday, resisting police officials attempts to destroy their poppy field, resulting in injuries to two policemen and two villagers. While the police were attempting to destroy the fields the villagers started firing on the police and the police also opened the fire. The Nangarhar deputy security police, Liwal, denied the injury of any policeman. According to the locals of Depo and Goshtan villages of Achin district, the residents of two villages attacked on the police and during the clash two policemen and two villagers were injured. The residents of the area said there were two helicopters of security forces flying overhead to help the police. Locals said they will not let the campaign to eradicate their poppy fields succeed. "The government promised us a lot of things but didn't keep any of them". They said if the police destroy the poppy their children will die of hunger.

interlude

2005-03-16T13:11:00.000+04:30

PayPal has been added to the account. Thanks Tom Villars.

Farmers complain about poppy eradication program

2005-03-15T14:31:00.000+04:30

Afghanistan is the largest opium producing country in the world. Helmand province was identified s the largest poppy producing province of the country after the adoption of the national poppy eradication program. Government authorities embarked on an anti-poppy campaign, destroying poppy producing fields. The provincial authorities claimed recently that 90% of the poppy crop had been eradicated but the farmers of the Helmand province claimed that the poppy fields remain and the crop is ready for harvesting. They also claimed that officials sent out to destroy the poppy fields
were seeking bribes.
Mohammed Khan, a 28 year old farmer said all his 15 acres land of poppy field was destroyed by the district police because he did not have money to pay the bribes. He said there were some surrounding fields where the poppy crop was not destroyed. Many farmers charge the authorities of putting on a show of destroying poppy fields for visiting journalists. They claim that the authorities entrusted the task of destroying crop to the local police, who actually make deals worth thousands of dollars with the bigger poppy growers.
Mohayudin Khan, provincial administrative director, does not rule out the possibility of bribes and says maybe people pay those supposed to destroy the fields not to destroy them, but one thing I want to say is that we have enough time and resolve to destroy the remaining poppy fields.
Some farmers do not agree with the poppy eradication program, saying people have no other option. They say the government should be flexible - people don't have any alternative livelihoods.
The people of Afghanistan strongly support the poppy eradication program and they think its very dangerous for the people and young generation in Afghanistan and the rest of the world.
The people of Afghanistan support the program, but they say that the program should not be selective, it should be for all - especially for rich and influential people and the local commander who deals in the poppy business should come first.
The people of Afghanistan ask the new Afghan government to financially support the poor farmers so they can cultivate useful plants.

Artillery seized from Parwan destroyed

2005-03-12T14:59:00.000+04:30

Three tons of artillery seized from Parwan provice have been destroyed by the International Security Assistance Force. The cache included 450 machine guns, missiles measuring 30 mm and 14.5 mm and large stock of bullets of different calibers.
According to the ISAF spokesman, the arms were exploded east of Kabul in a desert area on Monday, he reported in a press conference in Kabul on Wednesday. "The arms are threatening and dangerous to the lives of the people".
However he didnt say whether the arms were active or not.
According to the locals, the arms were seized from Ghorband District of Parwan province.
Noorulhaq Ulomi, a general during the communist regime and now an analyst told Afghan Radio "the destruction of weapons is a financial loss". He said the weapons could be used in other ways, even melted down to make other things.
Lieutenant Colonel Zaher Morad, a senior official of the Defense Ministry, said active arms were handed over to the Defense Ministry but if they were not active they were destroyed.

Note: The enemy wanted to use these weapons to kill people, so that people will think our government is weak and not doing any thing to secure the people.

Two girls disappear from Khair Khana

2005-03-12T14:51:00.000+04:30

Two young girls, aged 18 and 14 disappeared from their house in Khair Khana, a locality of Kabul.
Their parents said their daughters had been kidnapped. The local police said there was no evidence of this.
Nasreen who was 18 and Naseema 14 disappeared yesterday evening at 6:30 pm from Khair Khana. According to their mother Seema the girls disappeared while they were bringing water from a well.
The girls’ mother said she did not hear any noise [of a struggle, etc] "the generator was running and we couldn’t hear anything else".
Mohammed Azim, head of the crime branch of the local police station said "the girls were not kidnapped by force if they were kidnapped by force there would have been some evidence - for example their shoes would have been left behind in the scuffle". The neighbors did not comment on the issue.

Update 2005-03-15: The girls were found two days ago and they were not kidnapped, they went with two guys of their own free will.

Update 2005-03-18: The two missing girls have been found in Kandahar. The two girls who were disappeared from their house in Kabul were located by the police in the southern province of Kandahar. Both of the girls had apparently eloped with two young men who were also arrested. They were planning to go to Iran. Police said the boys had not kidnapped the girls and that the girls eloped with the boys of their own choice. All of them will be
brought to Kabul soon for questioning.