Current Projects
A New Beginning in Sight?
Following the telephonic conversation between the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and the Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, commander of the US-led Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan, General John W Nicholson’s visit to Pakistan and North Waziristan underscores the beginning of a new phase in the Pak-Afghan relations against an extremely embittered backdrop; Pakistan’s military establishment remains wary of the Indian influence in Afghanistan. It believes both the Afghans and the Washington view it through the Indian prism. The establishment also feels uncomfortable when Afghan leaders insist on a land-route through Pakistan for India to access Afghan and Central Asian markets. Pakistanis are also insisting on a cross-border mechanism to check illegal flow of goods and people through the 2560km border. General Bajwa reiterated the desire for a bilateral security mechanism in his meeting with General Nicholson, conveying Pakistan’s fixation on the issue. The Afghan leadership, however divided on some key issues internally, on the other hand, hope that General Bajwa and General Naveed Mukhtar, the new ISI chief, may mark a new beginning in the bilateral relations. Their hopes are tied to “conclusive action” against all Afghan Taliban factions. In fact, most of the Afghan discourse focuses on Haqqanis and the “Quetta Shura” as the ultimate panacea for all the ills of their country. They remain wary of the clumsy way Pakistan handled the refugee’s repatriation issue, epitomised by the return to Afghanistan of the National Geographic famed Ms Sharbat Gulla. Her return was preceded by a lot of controversy and the public pressure forced the Pakistani authorities also to approach and tell her she could stay on here. But poorly thought-through, short-sighted administrative measures had already done the damage and given birth to countless negative stories on the way police and bureaucracy treated the Afghan refugees, even those born in Pakistan. Following a...
Sabawoon Showcase: The Conditions of Education in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
January 09, 2017, Peshawar: The latest episode of Sabawoon[i], flagship radio program of the Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), discussed the current conditions of education in FATA. The discussion themes included impact of militancy and war on terror on education in FATA, lack of basic facilities in schools, enrollment campaigns, problems of teachers, absence of transparency and accountability in the education department of FATA, and the role of FATA Directorate in promoting education. The program was aired under the theme of Jarga Marrakka (debate and council) on Monday. Mr. Hashem Khan, Director FATA Education Directorate Peshawar, and Mr. Dast Ali Khan, President All FATA Teachers Association Peshawar, were the studio guests. A radio report was also included in the program. It shared data on the education sector of FATA and the role of FATA Secretariat and non-governmental organizations in the reconstruction of schools. Twelve callers took live part in the program. They urged the government to focus on the promotion of education in FATA as the region was highly affected by militancy and government apathy. Mr. Khan echoed the same views and noted that rehabilitation of education system in FATA should be one of the government’s priorities. Sabawoon airs Monday through Thursday on FM-101.5 Peshawar & DI Khan 711 KHZ from 3:20 PM to 4:00 PM. [i] Sabawoon is a flagship radio program by CRSS in the KP/FATA region, designed to highlight local issues, and promote fundamental global values such as women’s rights, rule of law, equal citizenry, democracy, governance and accountability. It airs four times a week, under four themes. On Monday, Jarga Marrakka covers current affairs and issues, coupled with government and other senior officials. On Tuesday, Da Semi Jaaj gives a holistic regional overview of the most important stories across the length and breadth of KP/FATA. On Wednesday, Jwandai Jazbey covers issues most important to youth, students...
Ghani Urges Islamic Countries to Help Bring Peace
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has said that Afghans across the board want peace and that Islamic countries should put pressure on extremist groups to join the peace process. Speaking to Asharq al-Awsat – an Arab newspaper – Ghani said it was important for Taliban to separate itself from terrorist groups that pose a threat to Islamic nations. “We hope that Islamic countries, including Saudi Arabia, exert pressure on extremist leaders to push them toward reconciliation,” he said. Ghani also said that Afghanistan had strong relations with Saudi Arabia describing them as strong and essential. He said Afghanistan has good ties with other Islamic countries, including the United Arab Emirates. On Pakistan he said Pakistan’s best interest lies with the Afghan government. On Daesh he said the group was a threat to the entire region. “Unfortunately, when you look at the history of these groups you see that each lifespan is on average between 20 to 40 years and we need a minimum of 20 years to stop them,” Ghani said. “Are you concerned regarding foreign interventions in Afghanistan’s internal affairs?” asked the newspaper. In answer Ghani said: “Millions of Afghans resorted to neighboring countries at the beginning of the crisis and some moved to different cities in Afghanistan. By the end of 2016, one million Afghans returned to their country and we welcomed them.” He said: “Unfortunately, some countries differentiate between a good and a bad terrorist – those who conduct operations outside their countries are good terrorists and vice versa.” This article originally appeared on www.tolonews.com, January 10, 2017. Original link. Disclaimer: Views expressed in the article are not necessarily supported by CRSS.
Afghanistan Struggles to Absorb Wave of Returnees from Pakistan
A breakdown in Afghanistan’s relationship with Pakistan has driven a flood of Afghans living there to return, severely straining their war-ravaged homeland’s resources just as it is experiencing an escalation of violence. Many of last year’s more than 600,000 returnees had lived in Pakistan for decades as refugees, both documented and undocumented, and have few local connections to assist in their resettlement. The pressure on aid organizations—also dealing with more than half a million Afghans displaced internally by fighting in 2016—has left many returnees facing the harsh winter without any financial assistance. “This government hasn’t even given me a glass of cold water,” said Maghfourullah Khadem, part of a community of about 350 families trying to make a fresh start in tents on a barren plot in Barekab, a village on the northern edge of Kabul province. The influx of people to informal settlements outside major cities is causing living costs to soar while depressing the labor market. And the United Nations and other agencies are expecting similar numbers this year. “The refugees are a humanitarian issue and should not be linked to politics,” said Hafiz Ahmad Miakhel, an adviser at the Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations. “But unfortunately sometimes our countrymen become the victims of political issues.” Ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been troubled for a long time. The exodus, however, follows the collapse in early 2016 of a joint effort to start peace talks with the Taliban and a series of high-profile terror attacks in both countries. Kabul accuses Pakistan of nurturing the Taliban, allowing its leaders to live openly in cities like Quetta and offering its fighters medical treatment and shelter across the border. Islamabad denies the charge and similarly blames Afghanistan for terror attacks on Pakistani soil. In June, Pakistan introduced strict controls at the Torkham border crossing, choking off an important economic artery for...
In Afghanistan, Putin Courts China In Search of ‘Another Syria’
A Russia-led initiative involving China and Pakistan that seeks a political settlement to Afghanistan’s civil war has the makings of a diplomatic alliance that could supplant the United States as the leading power in Central Asia. The grouping was unveiled after a third meeting in Moscow late last month and may be expanded to include regional powers Iran and Turkey, which formed a separate tripartite grouping on Syria with Russia in talks preceding the parleys on Afghanistan. The Afghan government reacted angrily to the Moscow meeting, to which it had not been invited, because the meeting proposed the relaxation of UN restrictions on the movement of key Taliban figures involved in pre-dialogue negotiations. This contradicted Kabul’s call in November for the UN to blacklist Taliban chief Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada because of his refusal to enter peace talks. Instead, the tripartite talks in Moscow echoed one of two Taliban preconditions for dialogue with Kabul, reiterated by spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid earlier in December. The other condition is the withdrawal of US-led Nato forces from Afghanistan. “This is a focused attempt to deal with the aftermath of Western withdrawal from Afghanistan and an opportunity that Russia senses might have opened up for itself in Central Asia. After West Asia, it’s Central Asia where [Russian President Vladimir] Putin feels he can reassert Russian authority and China is happy to provide a helping hand,” said Harsh V. Pant, a professor of international relations at King’s College London. “However, if we take the Indo-Pacific strategic landscape, there China is the leader and Russia will have to follow China’s lead.” The emerging quid pro quo between Moscow and Beijing comes amid uncertainty over whether US president-elect Donald Trump will endorse an agreement reached last July by leaders of the Atlantic alliance to extend financial and military support to the Afghan security forces until the end of 2020. Since Trump’s election...
The Rise of Religious Extremism in Balochistan
Religious extremism is on the rise in Balochistan. Several factors are driving this, but undoubtedly one concerns Balochistan’s northern regions, specifically Zhob district, which adjoins the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Following Operation Zarb-i-Azb in Fata, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) fighters and other banned religious outfits penetrated deep inside Balochistan, where they are reportedly regrouping. As a result, Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, has been witnessing deadly assaults. A case in point is the August bombing at Quetta Civil Hospital, which killed more than 70 people, the majority of them lawyers. This was followed in October by an attack on the Police Training College (PTC), involving heavily armed militants. More than 60 police cadets were killed. ISIS has claimed credit for both attacks. Yet another act of terrorism took place the following month in Khuzdar District of Balochistan at Sufi Shrine of Shah Norani, where more than 50 pilgrims were killed. Again, ISIS claimed responsibility. This marked the third major attack carried out by ISIS in Balochistan in three months. It was an ominous development for Pakistan, and one that sent shockwaves around the world. In the past, Pakistani authorities have flatly denied ISIS had a presence in their country, and in Balochistan in particular. While working on a piece for The Diplomat, “Can ISIS Gain a Foothold in Balochistan?” I still remember how a senior Quetta based senior police official airily dismissed a question I put to him about whether ISIS could gain a foothold in Balochistan. However, as I argued in my piece, “there is growing evidence that it is trying to do just that.” Government officials have claimed that the assault on the Police Training College was carried out by the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) Al Alami, an offshoot of the banned LeJ. According to Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti, “The attack was carried out by LeJ AL Almai originally, despite...
CHINA WATCH [JANUARY 3-9] CHINA-PAKISTAN ECONOMIC CORRIDOR (CPEC) PROJECTS
Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms, Ahsan Iqbal, has said that energy projects under CPEC would be operational by 2017 and 2018. Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pervez Khattak expressed his satisfaction with the outcome of deliberations at the Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) meeting in Beijing. China has responded to India’s criticism of Beijing’s blocking of UN Security Council’s move against Masood Azhar and warned that it will not ‘sit still’ if India goes too far in its arms race against Pakistan. The group of three chambers of commerce and industry termed as “golden industrial triangle” has expressed serious reservations against the plans of setting up industrial units along the CPEC route. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has urged that the fruits of CPEC should be equitably distributed among all the federating units. CPEC Projects: Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms, Ahsan Iqbal, has said that energy projects with cumulative capacity of about 5,000 megawatts under CPEC would be operational by 2018.[1] Under the CPEC agreement, it was agreed between China and Pakistan that 8,810 MW of electricity would be produced by 2017 and 2018 through thermal, wind and solar power projects. But the minister noted that inter-ministerial disputes and inclusion of financially unviable projects in CPEC have retarded the achievement of this target. On the other hand, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif asked the officials concerned to include in the CPEC non-controversial hydro-electric power projects to be set up on the Indus.[2] Energy-related projects sits at the core of CPEC and are intended to help Pakistan overcome its acute energy shortages. Provincial Consensus: Chief Minister of KP, Pervez Khattak has said that he was satisfied with the outcome of deliberations at the last JCC meeting in Beijing.[3] He also noted that three major development projects will be launched in the province under CPEC. These projects include generation of 1,700...
2017 Afghanistan Humanitarian Needs Overview
Afghanistan remains one of the most dangerous, and most violent, crisis ridden countries in the world. The continued deepening and geographic spread of the conflict has prompted a 13% increase in the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in 2017, now 9.3 million. Violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and Human Rights Law (HRL) occur regularly - including, targeted killings, forced recruitment and attacks on health and education facilities. The 8,397 civilian casualties in the first nine months of 2016 is the highest recorded, and included a 15% increase in child casualties compared to 2015. In 2016 increasingly frequent ground engagements continued to be the main cause of civilian casualties, while also limiting freedom of movement for civilians and contaminating areas with explosive remnants of war (ERW) which disproportionally affect children. Health partners reported 57,346 weapon wounded cases between January and September alone, compared to 19,749 in 2011, representing almost a three-fold increase. The country is facing increasing numbers of people on the move. In 2016 the conflict has led to unprecedented levels of displacement, reaching half a million in November - the highest number recorded to date. 56% of the displaced are children and face particular risk of abuse, and exploitation, as well as interrupted school attendance and harmful child labour. Multiple forms of GBV, particularly early and forced marriage, domestic, psychological, and sexual abuse are reported, affecting individuals in hosting and displaced communities alike. Further, a lack, or loss of civil documentation, with difficulties in obtaining documents outside of the province of origin, regularly results in hindered access to services for considerable numbers of affected individuals. Recent estimates suggest over 9 million people have limited or no access to essential health services. Rates of infant and maternal mortality remain among the highest in the world...
Thousands Of Marines Fought In Southern Afghanistan. Now, The Service Is Going Back
The Marine Corps will send a new task force of military advisers to southern Afghanistan’s restive Helmand province this spring, returning to a region where tens of thousands of Marines fought during the Obama administration and hundreds were killed. About 300 Marines with a unit called Task Force Southwest will deploy, advising the Afghan army’s 215th Corps and Afghan national police with the 505th Zone. The forces will work in part from a large Afghan installation known during earlier Marine operations as Camp Leatherneck, but will be based in other locations and could face combat, senior Marine officers said Friday. “We’re viewing this as a high-risk mission that really requires training that is going to ensure that our Marines are capable of countering a full-spectrum threat,” said Brig. Gen. Roger B. Turner Jr., who will lead the mission. “We’re not in any way viewing this as a noncombat mission or anything to take lightly.” Army Gen. John W. Nicholson Jr., the senior U.S. commander in Afghanistan, asked the Marines to replace a similarly sized Army unit called Task Force Forge as it rotates home, Turner said. Marines were pulled from Helmand in October 2014 as part of President Obama’s planned withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Afghanistan, but Afghan forces have struggled mightily there to maintain security against a resilient Taliban. Turner said the Marines who will deploy are a seasoned, senior force, about half of whom have deployed to Helmand at least once before. The senior ranks of those involved reflect the mission, which primarily calls for advising senior Afghan army and police officials. “We had to pull very senior Marines in all functional areas to match up with their counterparts and really provide a level of expertise,” Turner said. “Because the Afghans have made some good progress on a lot of these areas. . . . It’s not a simplistic mission. They’ve really gotten to a point where our level of advising needs to be pretty sophisticated to...
Obama's Toughest Decision? 30,000-Troop Afghanistan 'Surge'
What was President Barack Obama's hardest decision during his two terms in office? A massive troop surge in Afghanistan, he said in an interview aired Sunday. "Toughest decision was early in my presidency when I ordered 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan," Obama, who leaves office in less than two weeks, told ABC's "This Week." After a protracted debate inside the administration that pitted US military commanders against White House advisers, Obama announced the 30,000-trooop "surge" in December 2009. The decision would bring the US contingent in Afghanistan to nearly 100,000 troops along with almost 50,000 allied troops. "I think it was the right decision because the Taliban at that point had gotten a lot of momentum before I'd gotten into office, partly because we hadn't been paying attention as much as we needed to Afghanistan," Obama said in the interview taped Friday. The president had hoped to withdraw most US military forces from Afghanistan by now, leaving behind just a small force. But the United States still has some 8,400 military personnel in the country, and announced Friday it is sending some 300 Marines to Helmand province in the coming months. Meanwhile in Iraq, more than 5,000 US soldiers are still on the ground providing critical support to the country's army, which is unable to man a war alone against the Islamic State group's extremist fighters. Asked whether he found it disappointing that so many troops remain in both countries, Obama said the United States is "not going to get the kind of decisive, permanent victories in this fight against terrorism that we would get from fighting another country." "But we don't have this huge footprint, we are less likely to be targeted as, you know, occupiers," he added about the reduced number of troops. Even after decimating Al-Qaeda in Pakistan's tribal areas and killing the jihadist group's leader Osama bin Laden, groups in the region still "have both the interest and the capacity if we don't maintain...
TOP STORIES
TESTIMONIALS
“
I am also a member of National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting. Recently, we held a meeting with the Director General of Radio Pakistan and we told them to initiate such local programs (like Constituency Hour) in regional languages to educate and inform people. Even Indian Radio can be heard in FATA which is being used for propaganda purposes and must be closed. Therefore, we should launch some standard and quality programs like CRSS that will change the taste of the listeners.