Azaranica is a non-biased news aggregator on Hazaras. The main aim is to promote understanding and respect for cultural identities by highlighting the realities they face on daily basis...Hazaras have been the victim of active persecution and discrimination and one of the reasons among many has been the lack of information, awareness, and disinformation.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Taliban fighters kill 6 in ambush

BY ALI SAFI
McClatchy Newspapers

Taliban-led insurgents killed two New Zealand soldiers and four Afghan intelligence officers Saturday in an ambush in the central province of Bamiyan, local officials said Sunday.

The intelligence officers, members of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), Afghanistan's spy agency, had received a report of explosives stockpiled in the Baghak area of Shibar district and mounted an operation to seize them, said Abdul Rahman Ahmadi, the spokesman for the Bamiyan's governor. But the Taliban fighters were waiting to ambush the officers, Ahmadi said.

The besieged intelligence officers summoned assistance from New Zealand troops based in Bamiyan. When the New Zealand troops arrived, they were also fired on. Two New Zealanders were killed and six wounded, Ahmadi said.

Ten intelligence officers, an Afghan police officer and a civilian were wounded.

A spokesman to the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force confirmed the death of two ISAF soldiers on Saturday but refused to provide any further details.

However, the New Zealand Defense Force confirmed that their two soldiers were killed and another six were wounded, Reuters reported.

"The New Zealand Defense Force was responding to local security force coming under attack and it developed into a serious incident," said Jonathan Coleman, New Zealand's defense minister.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the ambush in a statement posted on the Taliban website. He said four New Zealand soldiers were killed and four others were wounded. Taliban reports of casualties usually are exaggerated.

Bamiyan, in central Afghanistan, is dominated the Hazara ethnic group, most of whom are Shiite Muslims. The province is traditionally anti-Taliban, who are Sunni Muslims, but there has been an increase in violence there in recent months.



"The roads between neighboring provinces are totally unsafe," said Ahmadi.

Ahmadi called for more assistance from the government of President Hamid Karzai. "The Bamiyan provincial government is not capable of fighting insurgents in this province. We need help," he said.

Bamiyan's police chief echoed that plea, saying his officers are not properly equipped. "The police force in Bamiyan lacks heavy weapons," the chief, Gen. Juma Gilki Yardam, said.


Also Saturday, Afghanistan's lower house of Parliament dismissed two key ministers over their failure to respond to cross-border shelling by Pakistan into Afghanistan and deteriorating security in the country.

Abdul Rahim Wardak, the defense minister, and Bismillah Mohammadi, the interior minister, also were accused of corruption and nepotism. Both ministers denied the allegations. Sunday, Karzai allowed both disqualified ministers to stay as acting ministers until replacements are named.

(Safi is a McClatchy special correspondent.)

Kansas City

Afghan ethnic violence shows signs or resurgence

AFP



Afghan Hazara tribesmen (R) and children near the remains of razed property, destroyed during a recent attack by nomadic Kuchis, in Kajab valley of Behsud district, Wardak province. – Photo by AFP

KAJAB: Bloody raids by nomads armed with machine guns and rocket launchers on villages near Kabul are raising fears about a return to ethnic conflict in Afghanistan 18 months before Nato combat troops leave.

For more than a century, ethnic Pashtuns known as Kuchis have wintered in the south and east where the weather is better, and migrated in the summer to let their herds graze in the cooler north.

But a land dispute between the Kuchis and the settled ethnic Hazaras dating back 130 years has since 2005 disintegrated into seasonal violence in the Kajab valley west of the capital.

With Nato forces due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014, there are fears that the country could slide back to the chaos seen in the 1990s, when ethnically aligned factions fought a bloody civil war.

From the early 1990s to 2001 fighting between the Pashtun-dominated Taliban and Hazaras led to tens of thousands of deaths, particularly on the Hazara side.

“Afghans have suffered a lot in internal and mainly ethnic wars in the past, and this problem, if left unsolved could hurt the volatile national unity among Afghans even further,” said author and analyst Waheed Mujda.

In early June, up to 2,000 Kuchi nomads swept into Kajab, according to residents and local officials, ransacking several villages and burning hundreds of buildings.

Most of the valley’s population of ethnic Hazaras, who are also part of the Shia minority, fled.

According to villagers, the Kuchis killed four Hazaras and seven soldiers.

Two months on from the raid, Kajab looks like a post-apocalyptic wasteland dotted with gutted, fire-blackened mud buildings.

“In each burnt home, there was a Koran. When the Americans set fire to them in the spring, the whole world cried out,” said village elder Ewaz, 55.

“But here, no one’s said anything. Who are we? What have we done? We’re also Muslims, aren’t we?” The madrassa in Dahane Gandob village was almost totally destroyed, apparently by rocket fire.

The walls of the seminary’s mosque are pockmarked with small-calibre bullet holes. A prayer room was saved, though the carpets were stolen.

The village’s two medical clinics were badly damaged – the older one was completely destroyed and the other, which was not yet in service, is now unusable.

Local authorities and villagers say there were Taliban among the Kuchi raiders, suggesting that the Pashtun-dominated insurgent group could be using the Kuchis to win land away from the government and its Nato allies.

Kajab is in Behsoud district of Wardak, a province dominated by Pashtuns where the local government denies what is widely assumed to be a strong Taliban presence.

In neighbouring Uruzgan province last week, a Hazara local police commander reportedly rounded up and killed nine Pashtun civilians in revenge for the death of two local Hazaras. Authorities say the case is still under investigation.

Behsoud lawmaker Ghulan Hussein Nasseri accused the government of President Hamid Karzai, himself a Pashtun, of discriminating against Hazaras and said they would defend themselves if they were not given protection.

“The attacks of the nomads were under the support of the government,” Nasseri said.

He said he warned the national and provincial authorities the day before the attack and on the day itself, but claimed the army only arrived in Kajab five hours after the Kuchis left.

Shahidullah Shahid, spokesman for the Wardak governor, blamed a lack of resources.

“We don’t have enough security forces in the area, although we have asked the central government to send us more, and even make a special force to control the Kuchis and Hazara brothers’ conflict,” he said.

The clashes stemmed from a “legal issue” which was beyond the remit of the provincial authorities and should be solved through judicial channels, he added.

The nomads say they want to reclaim land given to them by a royal decree 130 years ago, which the settled communities have been living on for generations.

Hazaras make up an estimated 15 to 20 per cent of the population. They suffered brutal persecution under the 1996-2001 Taliban rule, but have prospered since the 2001 US-led invasion.

Elay Ershad, a Kuchi lawmaker, accused the Hazaras of initiating the violence.

“Hazaras said they bought that land from the government, which is not true.

Hazaras start to attack Kuchis. They have big fights,” he said.

A conflict also erupted last year in Laghman province, a Pashtun province east of Kabul, he said, arguing that giving the Kuchis their own land was the only solution.

Many Kajab residents left for good after the violence in June, abandoning their farms in what is a very green and well-cultivated valley.

“We voted for a government to protect the people. If they don’t, I see a very dark future for this country,” warned Nasseri.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Two New Zealand soldiers killed in Afghanistan, six wounded

WELLINGTON | Sat Aug 4, 2012 8:20pm EDT

(Reuters) - Two New Zealand soldiers were killed and six others were injured in Afghanistan's Bamyan province on Saturday when they came under fire assisting local security forces that were fighting suspected insurgents, the New Zealand Defence Force said.

"The NZDF was responding to local security forces coming under attack and it developed into a serious incident," Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman said in a statement on Sunday.

The New Zealand troops arrived to assist the local security forces who encountered suspected insurgents near a village south of Do Abe, in the North East of Bamyan Province, the NZDF said.

It added that a further six personnel were wounded during the incident, and they were evacuated to a military hospital.

Two local security personnel were also killed, it said.

New Zealand, which has a 140-strong reconstruction team operating in the province, will formally end its mission at the end of the year and be brought home in 2013. The country has had troops in Afghanistan since 2001.

Five New Zealand soldiers have been killed earlier while serving in Afghanistan.

(Reporting by Mantik Kusjanto; Editing by Philip Barbara)

Saturday, August 4, 2012

محقق: اگر امنیت راه کابل-بامیان تامین نشود، تظاهرات می‌کنیم


به روز شده: 12:14 گرينويچ - جمعه 03 اوت 2012 - 13 مرداد 1391


محقق: "چرا ۱۱ نفر در فاصله یک یا دو کیلومتری پاسگاه حکومت سربریده می‌شوند، اما قاتلان آنها در امان هستند؟"



محمد محقق، از رهبران سیاسی مخالف حکومت افغانستان هشدار داده که اگر امنیت راه کابل-بامیان تامین نشود، مردم به خیابانها خواهند ریخت.

آقای محقق که در مراسم یادبود از قربانیان خشونتهای دو هفته اخیر در جاده کابل-بامیان در غرب کابل سخن می گفت، تهدید به راه اندازی تظاهرات خیابانی در کابل کرد.

رهبر حزب وحدت اسلامی مردم افغانستان گفت: "چرا ۱۱ نفر در فاصله یک یا دو کیلومتری پاسگاه حکومت سربریده می‌شوند، اما قاتلان آنها در امان هستند؟ حتی حاضر نیستند، نامشان را بگیرند."

این عضو مجلس ضمن انتقاد شدید از آنچه که او "بی‌تفاوتی" حکومت در برابر امنیت مسافران راه کابل- "هزاره‎جات" خواند، گفت که "جاسوسان بیگانه" این مسافران را سرمی‌برند، اما حکومت اقدامی نمی‌کند.

آقای محقق همچنین هشدار داد که اگر حکومت به درخواست او برای تامین امنیت این جاده ترتیب اثر داده ندهد، او مردم را به تظاهرات خیابانی فراخواهد خواند.

راه کابل و 'هزاره‌جات' در هفته‌های اخیر برای رفت و آمد مسافران به شدت نا امن شده و آنها از نهادهای امنیتی در این مورد انتقاد کرده‌اند.

مسافران و رسانه‎های محلی اخیرا گزارش دادند که افراد مسلح وابسته به گروه طالبان روز چهارشنبه گذشته (۱۱ اسد/مرداد) پنج تن از مسافران را در دره میدان در غرب کابل تیرباران کرده‌اند.

همچنین مقامهای محلی در ولایت میدان وردک گفته اند که افراد مسلح این گروه روز اول اسد نیز پنج غیرنظامی دیگر را به قتل رسانده بودند.

راه کابل و 'هزاره‌جات' در هفته‌های اخیر برای رفت و آمد مسافران به شدت نا امن شده و آنها از نهادهای امنیتی در این مورد انتقاد کرده‌اند.

اخیرا مقامهای محلی از راه اندازی عملیاتی علیه شورشیان در این منطقه خبر دادند و حلیم فدایی، والی میدان وردک گفت که اجرای این عملیات منجر به بهبود وضعیت در منطقه خواهد شد.

اما تیرباران پنج نفر در هفته گذشته از سوی شورشیان در این منطقه نشان داد که هنوز این راه برای رفت و آمد مسافران همچنان 
پرخطر است.

Friday, August 3, 2012

Timaru firms win contract

MEGAN MILLER

Last updated 05:00 03/08/2012

Two Timaru-based companies will spearhead an $18.6 million government venture to build an off-the-grid power supply in Bamiyan City, Afghanistan.

The end goal of the Bamiyan Renewable Energy Project will be providing electricity to 2490 households in several suburbs of Bamiyan City.

The area, about 150km west of Kabul, has been home to a New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team base since 2003.

The partnership of NetCon, a Washdyke-based subsidiary of Alpine Energy, and Sustainable Energy Services International won the contract to construct a hybrid solar-and-diesel power facility, despite competition from other companies around the world.

It was not a question of upgrading or improving an existing power source, NetCon general manager Ross Sinclair said. Instead, it was about generating electricity for communities that currently had no electricity at all.

As a result, a large portion of the project would be building not only the power station itself, but also the infrastructure - "the poles and wires", as he put it - to conduct the electricity to each potential customer. And that would likely prove to be the easy part.

"If it was just about building stuff, we can do that all day," SESI general manager Tony Woods said.

"We will need to leave Bamiyan with a trained management, maintenance and support structure so the network can continue to survive in the long term.

"It's as much about training and capacity building as it is about investing in technology," Mr Woods said.

The project was expected to require at least 12 months, and would be completed by a team of about 10 international staff - mostly Kiwis - working with 15 trained Afghan engineers and about 30 tradesmen and labourers from nearby villages.

The project, under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, would be funded through the international aid and development programme.

The Timaru companies were not awarded the contract because of their Kiwi connections, Mr Woods said, but because they offered experience working in Afghanistan and expertise in all stages of completing necessary tasks.

Mr Woods has worked on energy projects in the Middle East for many years, and heads an Afghanistan-based subsidiary of SESI, Sustainable Energy Services Afghanistan.

SESA has previously worked on projects including installing solar-powered streetlights in Kabul and a smaller solar project in the Gardez area.

On the other hand, this will be NetCon's first foray into overseas work. But the company could provide considerable managerial expertise in engineering, human resources and health and safety, Mr Sinclair said.

NetCon handles electrical work including overhead, underground and earthing services. Some of its local projects include substation construction in Timaru and aerial construction at Rangitata.