Sunday, December 12, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Kiwi effort makes difference in Bamiyan
When Inspector Ged Byers joined the police in 1978, he never thought the job would take him to Afghanistan.
The long-serving police officer has just returned from a six-month stint working to streamline the judicial and prosecution system, combat corruption and train police in how to work with the community.
Acting as superintendent to two other police officers from Auckland and Christchurch, Mr Byers was based at the New Zealand Defence Force headquarters in Bamiyan province.
Working under the United Nations Police Mission banner, Mr Byers said one of the toughest things was trying to restructure the police force from a military role to public service.
"The issue is these people have been fighting for 40 years or so and their police have been in a military-type role where very much it is `might is right' ... and my take on things is that they've struggled with the sort of relationship they have with the public."
Working to establish a judicial system had been rewarding, leading to the first public trial in Bamiyan history.
Admitting to a few nerves when he first arrived, Mr Byers said he soon realised the province was relatively safe as long as protocol was followed. There was always a chance an insurgent could attack but the New Zealand forces were well-prepared and professional.
"I think naturally you're a wee bit concerned because while you've had pre-deployment training you're still influenced by what you hear in the media ... but the reality is it's very different in Bamiyan. Having said that, if you went to Kabul or one of the other bases you visited the situation is different, very different."
When the New Zealand forces suffered their first casualty, Lieutenant Tim O'Donnell, this year, it was a tough time in the camp. Mr Byers had worked with Mr O'Donnell's father so knew the family. He was confident the knowledge that familiar people were working hard to bring their son home had helped the family.
Asked if a New Zealand police presence in Afghanistan was necessary, Mr Byers said: "I think so. If we don't do this work then you're not going to have civilian policing. If you want development in that country, if you want to do away with the corruption you want people to have confidence in the law – and the lack of confidence in the law was one of the breeding factors for the Taleban."
News Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/middle-east/4442754/Kiwi-effort-makes-difference-in-Bamiyan
The long-serving police officer has just returned from a six-month stint working to streamline the judicial and prosecution system, combat corruption and train police in how to work with the community.
Acting as superintendent to two other police officers from Auckland and Christchurch, Mr Byers was based at the New Zealand Defence Force headquarters in Bamiyan province.
Working under the United Nations Police Mission banner, Mr Byers said one of the toughest things was trying to restructure the police force from a military role to public service.
"The issue is these people have been fighting for 40 years or so and their police have been in a military-type role where very much it is `might is right' ... and my take on things is that they've struggled with the sort of relationship they have with the public."
Working to establish a judicial system had been rewarding, leading to the first public trial in Bamiyan history.
Admitting to a few nerves when he first arrived, Mr Byers said he soon realised the province was relatively safe as long as protocol was followed. There was always a chance an insurgent could attack but the New Zealand forces were well-prepared and professional.
"I think naturally you're a wee bit concerned because while you've had pre-deployment training you're still influenced by what you hear in the media ... but the reality is it's very different in Bamiyan. Having said that, if you went to Kabul or one of the other bases you visited the situation is different, very different."
When the New Zealand forces suffered their first casualty, Lieutenant Tim O'Donnell, this year, it was a tough time in the camp. Mr Byers had worked with Mr O'Donnell's father so knew the family. He was confident the knowledge that familiar people were working hard to bring their son home had helped the family.
Asked if a New Zealand police presence in Afghanistan was necessary, Mr Byers said: "I think so. If we don't do this work then you're not going to have civilian policing. If you want development in that country, if you want to do away with the corruption you want people to have confidence in the law – and the lack of confidence in the law was one of the breeding factors for the Taleban."
News Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/middle-east/4442754/Kiwi-effort-makes-difference-in-Bamiyan
Afghan poll results threaten ethnic balance
8 December 2010 Last updated at 20:40 ET
The vote was held in September
More than 40% of the country's more than 28 million people are Pashtuns and most live in areas where insurgency is strongly visible.
Most Pashtun voters did not exercise their right to vote two-and-a-half months ago, either out of their mistrust for the government of President Hamid Karzai - who is also a Pashtun - or out of fear of reprisals from the Taliban, most of whose commanders are Pashtuns too.
Although the community was preparing itself to see its strength reduced in parliament, the final tally disappointed even the most optimistic of Pashtuns.
Pashtuns will now occupy 96 seats in the 249-member lower house, Wolesi Jirga. They had 116 seats in the last house.
The results have worried President Karzai who, according to some of his aides, "fears the group's political alienation".
In one meeting with his advisers, the president said the poll outcome could "drive Pashtuns into the hands of the Taliban".
The Pashtuns' loss has been the gain of the minority ethnic communities, particularly the Hazaras who make up only 9% of the population.
The Hazaras had only 34 seats in the outgoing house. But this time they have secured 41 seats.
A big boost to the Hazara numbers came from the southern province of Ghazni where all the 11 seats went to the community.
"The Hazara-dominated areas remained peaceful throughout the poll process. This encouraged the supporters of Hazara candidates to go out in full strength and vote," a Pashtun candidate from Ghazni said over the phone, requesting anonymity.
'Feeling abandoned'
"But look at us [Pashtuns]. We and our voters had to bear the brunt of bombs and rockets, and on top of it the Election Commission invalidated thousands of our votes accusing us of ballot stuffing and fraud."
Another minority, the Tajiks, have also done better this time. The community, which makes up 27% of the population, now commands 69 seats as against 51 in the outgoing house.
Just like the Hazaras in Ghazni, the Tajiks gained in the north and north-eastern provinces - few or no Pashtuns made it from the north.
"We are not America or Japan. We are a country at war. Anything that makes people feel disenfranchised could prove toxic for the country," he said.
A senior official with the National Security Council said: "We know President Karzai was accused of trying to favour Pashtuns. But he was not behind anyone.
"[Mr] Karzai's legacy is to unite this country not divide it. We shouldn't be expected to meet world standards."
A winning candidate, however, welcomed the poll outcome saying winners should not be seen from the ethnic prism.
"Pashtun, Hazara or Tajik, they are all Afghans first," he said.
According to a Western diplomat, candidates with a dubious past are a bigger threat to the country than the ethnic composition of parliament.
"You have people who will represent the interests of the warlords. Some are militia commanders accused of kidnappings, drug trade and human right violations. This has opened a Pandora's Box," he said.
Meanwhile, President Karzai's chief of staff, Mohammad Umer Dawoodzai, rejected reports that a drop in Pashtun members would make it difficult for the president to get his future cabinet ratified by the parliament.
"We are confident that we can work with this parliament. We will get the future cabinet approved easily," he said.
News Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11934290
Afghan poll results threaten ethnic balance
The vote was held in September Afghan officials say the result of the September vote for the lower house of parliament is threatening to worsen the tribal and ethnic balance in the country. BBC's Bilal Sarwary reports from the capital, Kabul.
The final outcome of the 18 September ballot has brought disappointment for Afghanistan's largest ethnic group, the Pashtuns. More than 40% of the country's more than 28 million people are Pashtuns and most live in areas where insurgency is strongly visible.
Most Pashtun voters did not exercise their right to vote two-and-a-half months ago, either out of their mistrust for the government of President Hamid Karzai - who is also a Pashtun - or out of fear of reprisals from the Taliban, most of whose commanders are Pashtuns too.
Although the community was preparing itself to see its strength reduced in parliament, the final tally disappointed even the most optimistic of Pashtuns.
Pashtuns will now occupy 96 seats in the 249-member lower house, Wolesi Jirga. They had 116 seats in the last house.
The results have worried President Karzai who, according to some of his aides, "fears the group's political alienation".
In one meeting with his advisers, the president said the poll outcome could "drive Pashtuns into the hands of the Taliban".
The Pashtuns' loss has been the gain of the minority ethnic communities, particularly the Hazaras who make up only 9% of the population.
The Hazaras had only 34 seats in the outgoing house. But this time they have secured 41 seats.
A big boost to the Hazara numbers came from the southern province of Ghazni where all the 11 seats went to the community.
"The Hazara-dominated areas remained peaceful throughout the poll process. This encouraged the supporters of Hazara candidates to go out in full strength and vote," a Pashtun candidate from Ghazni said over the phone, requesting anonymity.
'Feeling abandoned'
"But look at us [Pashtuns]. We and our voters had to bear the brunt of bombs and rockets, and on top of it the Election Commission invalidated thousands of our votes accusing us of ballot stuffing and fraud."
Another minority, the Tajiks, have also done better this time. The community, which makes up 27% of the population, now commands 69 seats as against 51 in the outgoing house.
Just like the Hazaras in Ghazni, the Tajiks gained in the north and north-eastern provinces - few or no Pashtuns made it from the north.
“Start Quote
End Quote A western diplomatCandidates with a dubious past are a bigger threat to the country than the ethnic composition of parliament ”
A senior official working in the country's south for the National Directorate for Security, the Afghan spy agency, said many in the government fear that less or no representation from insurgency-ridden provinces would make it easier for the Taliban to recruit Pashtuns.
"Pashtuns in these areas feel abandoned," he said. "We are not America or Japan. We are a country at war. Anything that makes people feel disenfranchised could prove toxic for the country," he said.
A senior official with the National Security Council said: "We know President Karzai was accused of trying to favour Pashtuns. But he was not behind anyone.
"[Mr] Karzai's legacy is to unite this country not divide it. We shouldn't be expected to meet world standards."
A winning candidate, however, welcomed the poll outcome saying winners should not be seen from the ethnic prism.
"Pashtun, Hazara or Tajik, they are all Afghans first," he said.
According to a Western diplomat, candidates with a dubious past are a bigger threat to the country than the ethnic composition of parliament.
"You have people who will represent the interests of the warlords. Some are militia commanders accused of kidnappings, drug trade and human right violations. This has opened a Pandora's Box," he said.
Meanwhile, President Karzai's chief of staff, Mohammad Umer Dawoodzai, rejected reports that a drop in Pashtun members would make it difficult for the president to get his future cabinet ratified by the parliament.
"We are confident that we can work with this parliament. We will get the future cabinet approved easily," he said.
News Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11934290
Friday, December 3, 2010
US embassy cables: Iranian influence at Afghanistan parliament
Tuesday, 03 March 2009, 12:08
S E C R E T KABUL 000495
NOFORN
SIPDIS
C O R R E C T E D COPY CAPTION
EO 12958 DECL: 03/04/2019
TAGS PREL, PGOV, AF, IR
SUBJECT: IRANIAN INFLUENCE AT PARLIAMENT
Classified By: CDA Christopher Dell for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).
-----------
2. (S/NF) Iranian Embassy officials exploit contacts with a number of Afghan politicians to influence Parliament's agenda. Many MPs accuse Hazaras, who like Iran's leaders are mostly Shia Muslims, of having the closest ties with Iran. Moderate Hazaras insist Iranian outreach influences only conservative Hazaras, many of whom received religious educations or lived in Iran while in exile. MPs single out Sayed Hussein Alemi Balkhi (Kabul), Ahmad Ali Jebraili (Herat), and Ustad Mohammad Akbari (Bamyan) as the Hazara MPs who receive the most support from Iran. The Iranian Embassy has also cultivated deep relations with members of opposition groups (including the United Front), Tajik Sayeds, and MPs from Herat and other western provinces.
3. (S/NF) Iranian Embassy officers frequently visit Parliament, but rarely sit in the public gallery and usually avoid high-traffic morning hours, according to Parliament watchers. After Iranian-influence allegations exploded a few years ago, the Iranian Embassy began hosting MPs more often at off-site meetings, where other MPs suspect payments are delivered in exchange for commitments to advocate Iranian policies.
4. (S/NF) According to several contacts, Iran's top policy goals in Parliament are: increasing criticism of civilian casualty incidents caused by Coalition forces, encouraging the Afghan Parliament to "legalize" foreign forces, advocating rights for Shia (including a separate judicial system), promoting "Persian culture," and limiting Western support to Afghan media. These subjects often dominate parliamentary debates, even when not on the official agenda.
Iranian Official Hands Over Talking Points to Deputy Speaker
-----------
5. (S/NF) Lower House Deputy Speaker Mirwais Yaseni (Nangarhar, Pashtun) told PolOff an Iranian intelligence officer visited his office in mid-February, coinciding with the visit of Iran's vice president to Kabul, to pressure him to allow a debate on the status of Coalition forces that would push other scheduled items from the 2/17 agenda (Speaker Yunus Qanooni was out of town, leaving Yaseni to chair the session). The intelligence officer offered to provide "support" to Yaseni if he cooperated. Yaseni declined, only to face the wrath of MPs Balkhi and Akbari, who raised the issue during debate on another item. When Yaseni suggested the MPs wait for a better time to discuss foreign forces, Balkhi accused the deputy speaker of "betraying his country" and being a Western puppet. Yaseni said Balkhi's and Akbari's remarks were identical to the talking points provided to him by the Iranian official earlier that day.
----------
7. (S/NF) Parliamentary staffers believe the Iranian Embassy has planted moles in Parliament's legal and information technology offices. An employee in the Lower House's legal affairs and research office told PolOff last fall that his new supervisor was editing the staffer's responses to questions from MPs to reflect Iran-friendly interpretations of Afghan law. Lower House Secretary General Gulam Hassan Gran has repeatedly complained to PolOff that most IT staffers have been trained in Iran and pass electronic communications to the Iranian Embassy. As a result, Gran and other Pashtun staff refuse to use Parliament's email system. Gran's deputy keeps a list of MPs who criticize the U.S. and analyzes trends in anti-U.S. rhetoric.
Comment
----------
8. (S/NF) If Iranian efforts to influence MPs are as dedicated as some believe, it means the Iranian government has successfully identified and exploited Parliament's greatest strength: the bully pulpit. The four-year-old Parliament has often struggled to find its role and usually comes out on the losing end in battles with the judicial and executive branches. Still, MPs have been quick learners when it comes to using the media to draw attention to their causes, even if their views are at times incoherent or serve no other purpose than to bad-mouth the government or political rivals. Iran has deftly taken note, forgoing attempts to influence actual legislation and instead exploiting MPs' proclivity for media coverage. By strong-arming MPs to incorporate Iranian talking points into their public statements, Iran has opened a potential channel to influence public and elite opinion against U.S. goals and policies for Afghanistan. At a minimum, Iranian interference has helped keep Parliament bogged down in unproductive debates and away from more pressing matters. DELL
News Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/194913
S E C R E T KABUL 000495
NOFORN
SIPDIS
C O R R E C T E D COPY CAPTION
EO 12958 DECL: 03/04/2019
TAGS PREL, PGOV, AF, IR
SUBJECT: IRANIAN INFLUENCE AT PARLIAMENT
Classified By: CDA Christopher Dell for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).
Summary
- A 2009 analysis of allegations that Iranian spies bribe MPs in a bid to get the Afghan parliament to back 'anti-Coalition policies'. Some parliamentary staff also believe Iranian intelligence has infiltrated parliament's legal and IT offices. Mirwais Yaseni, the deputy speaker, told US diplomats that he was visited by an Iranian spy who offered him 'support' if he allowed a debate on the legal status of NATO forces in Afghanistan. When he declined, parliament's pro-Iran MPs went ahead anyway. Key passages highlighted in yellow.
- Read related article
1. (S/NF) SUMMARY. Iranian government officials routinely encourage Parliament to support anti-Coalition policies and to raise anti-American talking points during debates. Pro-Western MPs say colleagues with close Iranian contacts accept money or political support to promote Iran's political agenda. Some staff members believe Iranian intelligence officials have infiltrated the Parliament's legal and information technology support offices, compromising the professional staff's legal advice and the legislature's electronic communications. Allegations are difficult to verify and may be inspired more by conspiracy theories and inter-ethnic rivalries than actual facts. However, the number of MPs willing to tell us of first-hand encounters with Iranian agents appears to confirm a dedicated effort by Iran to influence Afghan attitudes toward Coalition forces and other issues. End Summary.
Iranian Embassy Relations with Parliament-----------
2. (S/NF) Iranian Embassy officials exploit contacts with a number of Afghan politicians to influence Parliament's agenda. Many MPs accuse Hazaras, who like Iran's leaders are mostly Shia Muslims, of having the closest ties with Iran. Moderate Hazaras insist Iranian outreach influences only conservative Hazaras, many of whom received religious educations or lived in Iran while in exile. MPs single out Sayed Hussein Alemi Balkhi (Kabul), Ahmad Ali Jebraili (Herat), and Ustad Mohammad Akbari (Bamyan) as the Hazara MPs who receive the most support from Iran. The Iranian Embassy has also cultivated deep relations with members of opposition groups (including the United Front), Tajik Sayeds, and MPs from Herat and other western provinces.
3. (S/NF) Iranian Embassy officers frequently visit Parliament, but rarely sit in the public gallery and usually avoid high-traffic morning hours, according to Parliament watchers. After Iranian-influence allegations exploded a few years ago, the Iranian Embassy began hosting MPs more often at off-site meetings, where other MPs suspect payments are delivered in exchange for commitments to advocate Iranian policies.
4. (S/NF) According to several contacts, Iran's top policy goals in Parliament are: increasing criticism of civilian casualty incidents caused by Coalition forces, encouraging the Afghan Parliament to "legalize" foreign forces, advocating rights for Shia (including a separate judicial system), promoting "Persian culture," and limiting Western support to Afghan media. These subjects often dominate parliamentary debates, even when not on the official agenda.
Iranian Official Hands Over Talking Points to Deputy Speaker
-----------
5. (S/NF) Lower House Deputy Speaker Mirwais Yaseni (Nangarhar, Pashtun) told PolOff an Iranian intelligence officer visited his office in mid-February, coinciding with the visit of Iran's vice president to Kabul, to pressure him to allow a debate on the status of Coalition forces that would push other scheduled items from the 2/17 agenda (Speaker Yunus Qanooni was out of town, leaving Yaseni to chair the session). The intelligence officer offered to provide "support" to Yaseni if he cooperated. Yaseni declined, only to face the wrath of MPs Balkhi and Akbari, who raised the issue during debate on another item. When Yaseni suggested the MPs wait for a better time to discuss foreign forces, Balkhi accused the deputy speaker of "betraying his country" and being a Western puppet. Yaseni said Balkhi's and Akbari's remarks were identical to the talking points provided to him by the Iranian official earlier that day.
6. (S/NF) Other MPs have described similar interactions with Iranians they believe to be embassy-based intelligence officers. Some believe Iranian officers work in conjunction with Karzai's Palace staff to stir up heated reactions from MPs following civilian casualty incidents. Pro-Western MPs worry that Iran exploits such incidents to decrease public support for Coalition troop presence. The Iranian Embassy plays a lower-key role on social issues, paying MPs to support Persian cultural programs and oppose Western countries' support to local media. Despite Iran's ambitious lobbying efforts, there are limits to MPs' willingness to toe the Iranian line. A Lower House debate last November on water rights quickly struck a nationalistic tone, with several MPs accusing Iran of "stealing Afghanistan's water." No MP spoke up to disagree.
Suspicions With Staff, Too----------
7. (S/NF) Parliamentary staffers believe the Iranian Embassy has planted moles in Parliament's legal and information technology offices. An employee in the Lower House's legal affairs and research office told PolOff last fall that his new supervisor was editing the staffer's responses to questions from MPs to reflect Iran-friendly interpretations of Afghan law. Lower House Secretary General Gulam Hassan Gran has repeatedly complained to PolOff that most IT staffers have been trained in Iran and pass electronic communications to the Iranian Embassy. As a result, Gran and other Pashtun staff refuse to use Parliament's email system. Gran's deputy keeps a list of MPs who criticize the U.S. and analyzes trends in anti-U.S. rhetoric.
Comment
----------
8. (S/NF) If Iranian efforts to influence MPs are as dedicated as some believe, it means the Iranian government has successfully identified and exploited Parliament's greatest strength: the bully pulpit. The four-year-old Parliament has often struggled to find its role and usually comes out on the losing end in battles with the judicial and executive branches. Still, MPs have been quick learners when it comes to using the media to draw attention to their causes, even if their views are at times incoherent or serve no other purpose than to bad-mouth the government or political rivals. Iran has deftly taken note, forgoing attempts to influence actual legislation and instead exploiting MPs' proclivity for media coverage. By strong-arming MPs to incorporate Iranian talking points into their public statements, Iran has opened a potential channel to influence public and elite opinion against U.S. goals and policies for Afghanistan. At a minimum, Iranian interference has helped keep Parliament bogged down in unproductive debates and away from more pressing matters. DELL
News Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/194913
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
نتایج نهایی انتخابات پارلمانی ولایت غزنی اعلام شد
تمامی برندگان ولایت غزنی، مربوط به قوم هزاره هستند
کمیسیون انتخابات افغانستان نتایج انتخابات پارلمانی ولایت غزنی را اعلام کرده است.
غزنی تنها ولایتی بود که نتایج انتخاباتی آن به دلیل "مشکلات فنی" اعلام نشده بود.اعلام نتایج نهایی انتخابات پارلمانی غزنی، ظاهرا به دلیل ادعاها در مورد تقلب گسترده در این ولایت، به تاخیر افتاده بود.
اما پس از بررسی های کمیسیون رسیدگی به شکایات انتخاباتی، هیچ تغییری در نتیجه نهایی انتخابات پارلمانی ولایت غزنی بوجود نیامده است.
ولایت غزنی در مجلس نمایندگان یازده کرسی دارد و براساس فهرست نهایی برندگان غزنی، همه این یازده کرسی را نامزدانی از قوم هزاره به خود اختصاص داده اند و از پشتونهای غزنی کسی به مجلس نمایندگان راه نیافته است.
همین مسئله باعث شده بود کمیسیون رسیدگی به شکایات انتخاباتی، اعلام نتایج انتخابات غزنی را همزمان با اعلام نتایج ولایات دیگر اعلام نکند. تا ببیند که چگونه هیچ یک از نامزدهای مربوط به قوم پشتون در غزنی، موفق به ورود به مجلس نشده اند.
حامد کرزی، رئیس جمهوری افغانستان پیش از این گفته بود که در انتخابات پارلمانی در ولایت غزنی، "توازن قومی" رعایت نشده است.
اما کمیسیون انتخابات افغانستان حالا فهرست برندگان ولایت غزنی را بدون تغییر اعلام کرده و تاکید می کند که این فهرست نهایی و تغییر ناپذیر است.
تاخیر در اعلام نتایج انتخابات ولایت غزنی، با اعتراضهای زیادی روبرو شده بود. اخیرا کمیته صیانت از آرای غزنی از سوی برخی از نمایندگان هزاره در مجلس نمایندگان ایجاد شد.
اعضای این کمیته اعلام کردند که اگر نتایج ولایت غزنی بدون دلیل موجه و قناعت بخش، تغییر کند، هزاره ها به اعتراضهای مدنی گسترده دست خواهند زد.
اعلام نتایج نهایی ولایت غزنی در واقع به پایان کار کمیسیون انتخابات و کمیسیون رسدگی به شکایات انتخاباتی است که سرانجام موفق شدند بعد از نزدیک به سه ماه به کار برگزاری انتخابات و نتایج جنجالی آن نقطه پایان بگذارند.
News Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/afghanistan/2010/12/101201_k01_af_ghazni_election.shtml
Afghanistan announces last set of election results
By Hamid Shalizi
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan announced on Wednesday the final batch of results from a September 18 parliamentary election, with poll organisers aiming to wrap up a vote marred by widespread fraud and pave the way for a new parliament.
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) said preliminary winners would hold their seats in southeastern Ghazni province. The results were delayed because the victors are all ethnic Hazaras even though around half Ghazni's population is Pashtun.
Pashtun areas were plagued by the worst violence on the day of the vote, and in one district just three people voted.
Election officials released results for Afghanistan's other 33 provinces and for Kuchi nomads a week ago, but delayed Ghazni because of technical issues and irregularities.
There were concerns Pashtuns might react badly if all seats went to the Hazaras, and also speculation that the IEC might call a rerun in Ghazni, or allow the members from the last parliament, who reflect a more balanced ethnic mix, to stay in their seats while a deal was worked out.
But in the end the election organiser stuck with the votes, holding on to some credibility after a much-criticised poll.
"For the election commission, ethnicity, language or religious sect do not matter and we have completed our job responsibly," IEC chairman Fazl Ahmad Manawi told reporters.
There was no indication when a new wolesi jirga, or lower house of parliament, would be formed. Election officials had suggested last week the new 249-seat house would be formed soon.
"We look forward to the prompt inauguration of the wolesi jirga as an important further step in Afghanistan's strengthening of its democratic governance," the United Nations mission in Afghanistan said in a statement.
The U.N. mission has congratulated Afghan election officials for conducting an election in the middle of a violent insurgency, but has also noted "considerable fraud" took place.
Afghan officials claimed success on election day because violence was limited, but results were delayed for several weeks by a mountain of complaints about fraud. As a result, the country has also been without a parliament for months.
The final evaluation of the poll will weigh heavily when U.S. President Barack Obama reviews his Afghan war strategy next month amid rising violence and sagging public support, especially after a fraud-marred presidential election last year.
President Hamid Karzai has been critical of the poll, which is likely to have produced a parliament with a larger, more vocal and more coherent opposition bloc than he has faced previously.
As candidates run as independents -- to prevent ethnic factionalism -- it is hard to sort out affiliations yet.
"The president might have concerns but we have done our job professionally," Manawi said.
(Writing by Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Paul Tait and Ron Popeski)
Wed Dec 1, 2010 1:19pm GMT
News Source: http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE6B01YQ20101201?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan announced on Wednesday the final batch of results from a September 18 parliamentary election, with poll organisers aiming to wrap up a vote marred by widespread fraud and pave the way for a new parliament.
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) said preliminary winners would hold their seats in southeastern Ghazni province. The results were delayed because the victors are all ethnic Hazaras even though around half Ghazni's population is Pashtun.
Pashtun areas were plagued by the worst violence on the day of the vote, and in one district just three people voted.
Election officials released results for Afghanistan's other 33 provinces and for Kuchi nomads a week ago, but delayed Ghazni because of technical issues and irregularities.
There were concerns Pashtuns might react badly if all seats went to the Hazaras, and also speculation that the IEC might call a rerun in Ghazni, or allow the members from the last parliament, who reflect a more balanced ethnic mix, to stay in their seats while a deal was worked out.
But in the end the election organiser stuck with the votes, holding on to some credibility after a much-criticised poll.
"For the election commission, ethnicity, language or religious sect do not matter and we have completed our job responsibly," IEC chairman Fazl Ahmad Manawi told reporters.
There was no indication when a new wolesi jirga, or lower house of parliament, would be formed. Election officials had suggested last week the new 249-seat house would be formed soon.
"We look forward to the prompt inauguration of the wolesi jirga as an important further step in Afghanistan's strengthening of its democratic governance," the United Nations mission in Afghanistan said in a statement.
The U.N. mission has congratulated Afghan election officials for conducting an election in the middle of a violent insurgency, but has also noted "considerable fraud" took place.
Afghan officials claimed success on election day because violence was limited, but results were delayed for several weeks by a mountain of complaints about fraud. As a result, the country has also been without a parliament for months.
The final evaluation of the poll will weigh heavily when U.S. President Barack Obama reviews his Afghan war strategy next month amid rising violence and sagging public support, especially after a fraud-marred presidential election last year.
President Hamid Karzai has been critical of the poll, which is likely to have produced a parliament with a larger, more vocal and more coherent opposition bloc than he has faced previously.
As candidates run as independents -- to prevent ethnic factionalism -- it is hard to sort out affiliations yet.
"The president might have concerns but we have done our job professionally," Manawi said.
(Writing by Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Paul Tait and Ron Popeski)
Wed Dec 1, 2010 1:19pm GMT
News Source: http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE6B01YQ20101201?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
The other conflict in Afghanistan
By Brian M Downing
The ongoing insurgency in the Pashtun regions of Afghanistan rightly commands attention, but it obscures a critical second conflict in the country. Long-standing antagonism between the non-Pashtun peoples of the north and the Pashtun people of the south are heading toward fissure. Paradoxically, settlement of the insurgency, through negotiation or force of arms, could exacerbate this divide.
Ethnic politics
Afghanistan comprises a dozen or more sizable ethnic groups, the precise numbers and proportions of which are unclear and contested. Pashtun, Tajik, Uzbek, Hazara, Turkic, Baloch, and other groups differ on demographic matters; and the country's geography and decades of conflict offer little prospect of a neutral, acceptable census.
The center of the demographic dispute is the size of the Pashtun peoples of the south and east, who, on only sparing evidence, purport to be about 52% to 55% of the population and have so claimed since the 19th century.
Other groups, however, disagree. They insist that the Pashtun are perhaps slightly more than 40% of the population, while disinterested assessments say Northerners constitute 45% to 50% of the population. The dispute is not merely a matter for demographers or even for the issue of moneys doled out from Kabul. It now centers on who will preside over Afghanistan - and indeed if there will be an Afghanistan as presently constituted.
For a century or more the question of Pashtun majority could sit on the back-burner as most Afghans had far more interest in local government than in events in faraway Kabul where figures reigned but dared not rule. But decades of war and inept or intolerable central governments have brought the matter to the fore.
Mohammed Daoud's reforms of the late 1970s led to violent opposition in most parts of the country and plunged the country into decades of intermittent warfare and foreign interventions from which the country has yet to recover. His successors fared little better and the various mujahideen groupings could not govern, which led to the Taliban government of the mid-1990s through 2001.
There is wide agreement in the northern regions that Pashtun governments from Mohammed Daoud to Hamid Karzai have been incompetent, intrusive cabals that long misgoverned the country and are poised now to give it back to the Taliban in concert with foreigners from Pakistan and China. Northerners bitterly recall the Taliban as harsh southerners who slaughtered non-Pashtun people by the thousands.
Post-Taliban government
After fighting the Taliban to a standstill and ousting them in 2001, northerners felt their efforts guaranteed them predominance in the new government. They acceded to the accession of Karzai, the head of the (Pashtun) Popalzai tribe, to the presidency.
This was done in part owing to US pressure and despite considerable support in the country for the Tajik statesman, Burhanuddin Rabbani, who also enjoyed support from regional powers that had supported the north well after the US washed its hands of the area.
Over the past nine years, however, northerners have seen their politicians pushed out of key ministries, especially the Ministry of Defense, which was once administered by the Tajik leader Mohammed Fahim. That portfolio is now in the hands of Abdul Wardak, a Pashtun who has used his office to reassert his people's predominance in key military commands and simultaneously vitiated the militias of northern warlords. Northerners have been reduced to the rank-and-file of the Afghan National Army and ceremonial positions such as the country's two vice presidencies.
Outsiders have criticized the presidential and parliamentary elections as fraudulent. Karzai is widely believed to have interfered with local polling stations and given himself and his supporters wide victory margins. Northerners certainly agree but insist that outsiders miss an important aspect of Karzai's fraudulence. He not only inflated the national support for himself and his supporters, he also suppressed evidence of non-Pashtun voters and their support for Tajik, Uzbek, and other peoples' candidates. Pashtun politicians counter by insisting that it is the northerners who are tampering with the ballot box to overstate their numbers.
Today, northerners contend the nation is on the brink of another act of legerdemain that will ensure Pashtun predominance - and misgovernment. The loya jirgas, which are romanticized in the West as a protodemocratic institution in colorful local dress, are simply another Pashtun ploy to ensure their dominance.
Karzai's peace council has been hand-selected to approve whatever settlement he presents them. Northerners sense that Karzai is about to betray them by settling with the Taliban, granting them large swathes of territory which northerners feel the Pashtun mullahs will one day use again to assert control across the country. Further, Karzai is seen as collaborating with Pakistan to exploit Afghan resources in conjunction with China.
Warlords, army and the regional powers
Over the past few years, Generals Fahim and Rashid Dostum, leaders of Tajik and Uzbek forces, respectively, are said to have demobilized their forces and turned over their armor and artillery to the Afghan National Army (ANA) - as noted, a force largely purged of non-Pashtun commanders. Turning over heavy weapons is credible; full demobilization is not. There can be little doubt that these wily northerners, and other smaller ones, have retained patronage networks and forces in-being - lightly-armed, yet trained and loyal and angered by events in the south.
The position and reliability of the ANA are unclear. Though chiefly commanded by Pashtuns now, northerners constitute at least 55% of the ANA's officers and rank-and-file, with Tajiks greatly over-represented and judged to be the best fighters. Resentment toward Pashtun superiors - military and political - are almost certainly parts of soldierly conversations. The ANA's battle record thus far is sparse, unremarkable, and unlikely to have instilled a super-ethnic identity.
A break between northerners and Karzai would lead to serious conflicts within the ANA, including large-scale desertions and mutinies, particularly if called on to do so by Fahim and Dostum and the family of the late legendary mujahideen chieftain, Mohammed Ahmad Shah Massoud.
Regional powers are more aware of growing north-south tensions than the US. They have had ties with northern forces going back to the war in the 1980s and the standoff with the Taliban in the 1990s. India, Iran and Russia have aid programs and intelligence officers in the country, chiefly in the north. They, along with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and other Islamic former Soviet Socialist Republics, are concerned with the insurgency in the south and prepared to take extraordinary steps to prevent Islamist militancy and terrorism from spreading north. (Uzbekistan knows well that its militants fled south in the 1990s and today serve with al-Qaeda.)
Naturally, geopolitics and economics are at work as well. India seeks to counter growing Pakistani and Chinese influence in Afghanistan. Russia, too, is worried of growing Chinese influence in a region close to tsarist, Soviet and Russian interests.
Iran plays a double game. It gives small amounts of arms to insurgents and trains them at an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps base in southeastern Iran. But this is a warning to the US should it, or Israel, attack Iranian nuclear facilities. Support to insurgents can go up markedly, perhaps to include Stinger-like missiles, and Quds Force guerrillas could be deployed against US troops to make supply lines even more parlous than they are today.
Despite its limited support for the insurgency, Iran is deeply hostile to the Taliban, whom they recall as merciless Sunnis who slaughtered tens of thousands of Shi'ite Hazaras and who invaded an Iranian consulate and killed several diplomats. The three powerful regional powers also wish to share in the exploitation of Afghan resources and have a say in any pipeline that might be built there.
India, Iran and Russia are pressing Karzai on neglected northern interests. Bagfuls of money have been known to bring nettlesome matters to a politician's attention. They would support the north in the event of a break with the Pashtuns and are at least preparing to help rebuild separate military forces there. Each regional power has its intelligence people operating in the country, especially in the north.
The US position
Northern concerns are being articulated to US officials by Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazaras and other disgruntled non-Pashtuns who have been able to retain positions in the military and diplomatic service and also by those peoples. But US attention is mainly directed on counter-insurgency operations in the south and east and in seeking to begin a negotiated settlement.
Despite its maladroitness over the past nine years, the US can join the regional powers in pressing Karzai on restoring positions in the army and state to northerners and in seating them prominently at any peace conference that might convene one day.
Failure to do so may leave Karzai with a Taliban south and a secessionist north, leaving him with palaces in Kabul and restaurants abroad. A break between north and south could force the US to withdraw from the insurgent-wracked south and concentrate, politically and militarily, in the north.
This would not be uniformly adverse: the US would find political development and military support far easier among the northerners than it is with the disparate and increasingly hostile Pashtun tribes in the south. In this regard, Washington and Kabul alike should pay greater attention to the ominous conflict with the north.
Brian M Downing is the author of The Military Revolution and Political Change and The Paths of Glory: War and Social Change in America from the Great War to Vietnam. He can be reached at brianmdowning@gmail.com
News Source: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/LL01Df04.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)