Current Projects
Despite 15 years of occupation, Afghanistan’s opium production has only gone up
There was also a significant decline in poppy eradication in 2016. Provincial governors destroyed 355 hectares, or 877 acres, of poppy this year, a 91% decline from the 3,760 hectares, or 9,291 acres, eradicated last year. The 3,760 hectares eradicated in 2015 was a 40% increase over the previous year. Eradication efforts were hamstrung by logistical and financial issues, as well as by the country's worsening security situation. The Taliban is thought to control more of the country than at any point since the US invasion in the weeks after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Farmers and others in some parts of the country also reportedly attacked eradication teams, preventing them from crop elimination in some areas. Southern Afghanistan, Helmand (or Hilmand) province in particular, continues to be a locus for opium-poppy cultivation. That region had 59% of the country's total cultivation, while Helmand was home to 80,273 hectares. The Southern and Western regions of Afghanistan were home to much of the country's opium-poppy production in 2016.UN Office on Drugs and Crime Helmand is a longtime Taliban stronghold and one of the country's most restive provinces — in October, after weeks of fighting, a Taliban offensive on the provincial capital had cut the city off and led to hundreds of deaths. The number of Afghanistan's 34 provinces that were free of opium poppies dropped from 14 last year to 13 this year, and every region except the southern one had an increase in opium production. A US Army soldier and a member of the Afghan Uniform Police arm wrestle prior to a joint patrol near Command Outpost AJK (short for Azim-Jan-Kariz, a nearby village) in Maiwand District, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, January 28, 2013.REUTERS/Andrew Burton The Northern region saw a tremendous 324% increase, followed by the Northeastern at 55% and Eastern at 44%. Production in the Southern region was stable, declining 1%. Opium production has fallen from levels seen during the...
What Has President Ghani Done For Afghanistan?
In Afghanistan, disagreements among senior authorities have left people concerned about their present and future lives. Recent statements by Vice President General Abdul Rashid Dostum are stoking the flames as he accused the president and chief executive of nepotism, inability and taking liberties. The response of the president’s office to the accusations was retaliatory. This caused observers to comment on the verbal skirmish between powerful individuals in the country. The era of President Hamid Karzai has allowed small players to dominate the scene. For example, Mohammad Atta Noor, acting governor of Balkh, is considered a mission impossible for President Ashraf Ghani as despite his tremendous efforts, he wasn’t able to remove him from his position as acting governor. On the other hand, President Ashraf Ghani is seen by many as a stellar intellectual with a strong résumé who many observers commend for having done a tremendous amount for Afghanistan’s reconstruction since the fall of the Taliban. He has faced serious challenges and problems, a number of which were left behind by the previous government. He inherited corruption, a lack of governance, financial problems, a fragile political situation, social problems, the fragile pledges to fund the Afghan National Security and Defense Forces (ANSDF) and the withdrawal of almost 150,000 international troops. The core factor of the leadership crisis Regarding differences in educational background, President Ashraf Ghani is described as an academic while his partner Dr. Abdullah Abdullah has spent his life on the battlefield. In addition, President Ghani has a national vision while the focus of his power-sharing partner is limited to his party “Jamyati Islami Afghanistan,” Nazar Council and to his ethnic Tajik community. In 2001, the Northern Alliance established by Ahmad Shah Masoud and Vice President Abdul Rasheed Dustom and Mohammad Mohaqiq, deputy chief executive of Afghanistan, joined the alliance to fight...
What Is Going On In Afghanistan And Why Is The US Still Involved?
Insurgents have threatened the major northern city of Kunduz twice since 2014, most recently a few weeks ago, and were only expelled with US support. Meanwhile, many other provincial capitals are in danger, including Lashkar Gah in Helmand and Tarinkot in Urozgan. How did we get here? In 2013 Taliban insurgents and the Afghan military (and its foreign allies) were at a stalemate. The Taliban saw it as a "wait-and-see" phase. "They knew that eventually, as President Obama had announced, all the foreign forces would leave Afghanistan, and then they would start a big push," Dawood Azami, the former BBC bureau chief in Kabul, told Rear Vision. "This is what we saw. When the foreign forces left Afghanistan, thousands of militants and Taliban insurgents poured in." The situation was further exacerbated in June 2014 when the Pakistani military cracked down on Taliban militants in nearby North Waziristan. Up to 5,000 militants crossed the border into Afghanistan to escape the Pakistani military, reinforcing the Taliban. US President Barack Obama had planned to withdraw from Afghanistan completely by 2014, but according to Anatol Lieven, a professor of international politics at Georgetown University, he was forced to back down on his plan after repeated warnings that it would cause the Afghan army and state to collapse. The NATO and US coalition had invested time and money training the Afghan military in preparation for the withdrawal, but much of the focus was on containing the Taliban in the south and east of the country. After international troops left the insurgency spread to other parts of Afghanistan and the military was not equipped to respond. Why is the Afghan military so weak? Professor Lieven argues that the Afghan armed forces are extremely corrupt and demoralised. "They know that the US will in the end bail them out, with air power, and so they don't see the need really to pull themselves together," he said. "I don't know any military expert who thinks that...
Afghanistan Fires 7 from Cabinet In Intensifying Political Crisis
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan’s Parliament has dismissed seven government ministers over the past four days, adding to the woes of a fragile coalition that for months had bickered over filling the cabinet positions in the first place. The suddenly vacated cabinet positions, adding to two ministries already vacant because of resignations, will further bog down the work of a government that has struggled to get its house in order while also facing emboldened Taliban offensives and decreasing support across the country. The Afghan Parliament began hearings last week over what lawmakers said was the ministers’ inability to spend the national development budget. The dismissal of one minister on Tuesday brought the total to seven ministers dismissed out of 12 who had been called for hearings, including the ministers of foreign affairs, public works, information technology, labor and social work, education, higher education and transportation. Publicly, President Ashraf Ghani has challenged the legality of the hearings and asked the dismissed ministers to continue with their jobs until the country’s Supreme Court makes a final ruling. He also told ministers not to show up for the hearings, more of which are scheduled in the coming days. Parliament, which itself has been in a legal limbo since its term officially expired more than a year ago with no date set for elections, has refused the government’s pleas to stop the hearings. And Hajji Zahir Qadir, the deputy speaker of the Parliament, said on Tuesday that despite President Ghani’s claims, the ministers’ dismissal could not be reversed by the Supreme Court. “If the government is just fooling itself, that’s a separate issue,” Mr. Qadir said. But that is far from the only issue. Some analysts believe that a byzantine political intrigue may be underway: that the cabinet purge might have some degree of support from Mr. Ghani, despite his public protestations. Supporting that argument is that some of the dismissed...
Sharbat Case: From Across Border
For most Afghans Sharbat Gula symbolises the sufferings and hardships that this nation has gone through ever since the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in December 1979. The CIA-ISI-led insurgency then made global headlines then, with the Afghan mujahideen happily rubbing shoulders with the American-Pakistani trainers and mentors. They even went as far as the White House. But that is history. Now, both the Afghans and the Pakistanis are dealing with the consequences of that insurgency – commonly known as jihad. The popular narrative on Sharbat Gula is premised on victimhood and innocence. The common Afghan looks at this issue through the moral prism. All they know is that the lady was deported from Pakistan disgracefully to the disregard for her over three decades of residence there. Also, the commoners don’t know that Pakistan’s provincial and central governments did offer to prevent Gula’s deportation through an appeal to the court. They are also unaware that Gula had herself first challenged her deportation orders and withdrawn her petition as Pakistani authorities offered to help her stay on. Also, most Afghans appear to be in a state of denial over internal and domestic political motivations behind the high-profile treatment of cases such as that of Sharbat Gula. The dominant majority of Afghans possess Pakistani IDs, why are they not being arrested and deported, they ask? Smelling rat so to say. This particular case consumed quite a bit of time during a Track 11 Beyond Boundaries at Mazar-e-Sharif, northern Afghanistan. When parliamentarians, journalists and foreign policy /security experts from both Pakistan and Afghanistan went into a huddle to discuss common challenges, Sharba Gula’s case topped the initial proceedings with regard to the treatment she got — 15 day detention for possession of a fake ID Card and the harassment of Afghans in Pakistan at the hands of the police and intelligence officials. Afghan delegates looked at the issue more from an...
NSG Still a Far Cry For India As China Insists On NPT Linkage
China on Monday obliquely criticised the India-Japan agreement on nuclear energy by pointing out that all countries are entitled to peaceful use of atomic energy, so long as they abide by “the international nuclear non-proliferation regime.” “With regard to nuclear agreement signed between India and Japan and on the use nuclear energy we believe that under the promise of absorbing international obligation of nuclear non- proliferation, all countries are entitled to the peaceful use of nuclear energy,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang observed during his regular briefing. “At the same time, the relevant cooperation should be conducive to safeguard the authority and effectiveness of the international nuclear non-proliferation regime,” he said. ‘NPT is the cornerstone’ China maintains that the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which India has not signed, is the cornerstone of preventing the spread of atomic weapons. In a separate statement, the Chinese Foreign Ministry commented on the November 11 meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in Vienna, which discussed the, “Two-Step Intergovernmental Process to Address the Issue of Non-NPT States’ Participation.” The meeting follows India’s bid to become a full member of the 48-nation NSG. China has so far opposed India’s membership, citing the need for evolving a common criteria for all non-members of the NPT, which includes Pakistan. The Foreign Ministry statement said the Vienna meeting was held to discuss, “Technical, Legal and Political Aspects of Non-NPT States’ Participation in the NSG,” in accordance with the mandate adopted in June during the grouping’s meeting in Seoul. It added that the meeting held in the Austrian capital was a maiden attempt since the NSG’s inception in 1975, by the Group to formally take up non-NPT states’ participation “in an open and transparent manner.” India still out of consideration However, the statement reiterated China’s insistence on linking NSG membership...
Putin Envoy: There Is No Quick Solution in Afghanistan
Russia’s presidential envoy to Afghanistan has said there is no cheap and quick solution in Afghanistan, blaming foreign forces that have been deployed in the country for 15 years. Zamir Kabulov, President Vladimir Putin's special envoy to Afghanistan and the Foreign Ministry's director of the Second Asian Department, spoke to Anadolu Agency in Moscow about the situation in Afghanistan, developments in the region, and Russian foreign policy. Kabulov said that the situation in Afghanistan has aroused deep concern. "Today in Afghanistan there are not three important elements such as the economy, good governance, and strong armed forces. The absence of these three elements creates anxiety and pessimism. It is very difficult to offer a solution in these conditions. There is no cheap and quick solution in Afghanistan right now.” Kabulov said the situation in Central Asia originating from Afghanistan could pose a threat to Russia's national security, adding that the worsening of the situation in Afghanistan would negatively affect the region. "As countries in the region, we are in favor of Afghanistan's stability, because this is our common area and what happens there directly affects us," Kabulov said. Kabulov stated that Russia supports the Kabul administration, but stressed that it does not mean that they are ignoring administrative failures, adding, "In today's conditions, the future of Afghanistan is quite bleak. But it does not mean it will be bad in the future because everything is bad. We will work to prevent Afghanistan from sliding into chaos. " On Russia's support for Afghanistan, Kabulov also said, "This year we gave 10,000 Kalashnikovs to Afghan police. We have already given similar assistance. Every year we train Afghan police and soldiers. We have humanitarian aid directly and through the UN.” Kabulov said Russian businessmen had not invested in Afghanistan due to various reasons, and are not considering investing large sums there. ‘The Taliban is a real...
Ghani Wants Taliban Chief to be Included In UN Security Council Sanctions List
President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani wants the United Nations Security Council to include the supreme leader of the Taliban group Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada to be included in the sanctions list. During a meeting with the UNSC delegation in Kabul, President Ghani urged the delegation to include the names of the terrorists together with Taliban chief in the sanctions list. President Ghani also insisted on international talks to help curb the financial resources of the militants which he believes are mainly guaranteed through criminal economic issues, specifically with the smuggling of drugs. He said the second major contributor to the militants’ financial resources is the illegal extraction of mines in the country and the government of national unity has terminated several contracts in the past two years in a bid to create capacity for the better management of mining. In regards to the ongoing insurgency in the country, President Ghani said the violence in Afghanistan has regional roots and more than 30 insurgent groups are contributing to the complex Afghan war. President Ghani also discussed regarding the provision of sanctuaries to the terrorists by certain countries, emphasizing for the declaration of clear stance against those supporting the terrorist groups as well as jointly working on various issues including the transactions of black money which reach to the terrorist groups. The UNSC sanctions committee delegation in their turn promised full support to help dry the financial resources of the terrorist groups as well as other criminal activities that fuel insurgency, including opium cultivation and smuggling and money laundering. This article originally appeared on www.khaama.com, 14 November, 2016. Original link. Disclaimer: Views expressed in the article are not necessarily supported by CRSS.
900,000 Afghan Refugees Return from Pakistan And Iran
About 900,000 Afghan refugees have returned this year from Pakistan and Iran surpassing all previous years, said Afghanistan's Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations (MoRR) on Tuesday. More than 600,000 refugees have returned from Pakistanwhereas 300,000 from Iran, according to the MoRR. "Government has announced the allocation of $100 million USD for the returnees, some financial cooperation has been considered for each returnee," the Tolo News quoted media advisor to MoRR, Hafiz Ahmad Miakhail as saying. Meanwhile, the World Food Program (WFP) has said that among those return-refugees there are about 23,000 children of which many are suffering from malnutrition. Spokesman to WFP, Wahidullah Miakhail said, "There are about 23,000 children among the families repatriated and these children either suffer from malnutrition or are threatened with malnutrition and we are trying to help these children." An Afghan returnee Rozi Khan said, "Government has failed to deliver on its promises regarding the refugees; the refugees are living in very bad conditions." "We left Pakistan five days ago, now there is no shelter for us to live in and no food to eat, we have a lot of problems," said another refugee Mohammad Jan. This article originally appeared on www.business-standard.com , 15 November, 2016. Original link. Disclaimer: Views expressed in the article are not necessarily supported by CRSS.
All Roads Lead to Gwadar
On 10th April 2016, talking to the Washington Post, Zhang Baozhong, chairman of China Overseas Port Holding Company said that his company could spend a total of $4.5 billion on roads, power, hotels and other infrastructure for the industrial zone, which he said would be open to non-Chinese companies. The company also plans to build an international airport and power plant for Gwadar. This would be the first time where a country deliberately and unequivocally has given a direct incentive for growth to the manufacturing and production sectors in another country. This is just one of the features that are coming to light with the development of Gwadar. Economists and analysts around the world are of the view, that if Gwadar develops as per plans between the Chinese and Pakistan government, it will be one of the most booming port cities in Asia. It is the apex point of the $50 Billion plus investment by China in Pakistan under the umbrella of CPEC, One Belt One Road Initiative and Maritime Silk Projects. It seems that the strategic position of Pakistan which has been a curse from a historical perspective is finally transforming into a promising treasure holding immense rewards for the nation. The Gwadar port is among the initial construction works to be completed. The port is being built in two phases after being inaugurated in 2007. Now, that the Gwadar port management and completion on time has been sublet to the Government of China. Gwadar port is all set to have more trade volume capacity than Karachi and Port Qasim combined. Gwadar is without a doubt a unique entity in its own. It is a city in the southwestern coast of Balochistan, just 600 Kms away from Karachi. Included in the overseas possessions of the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman since 1783, it was purchased the Government of Pakistan in 1958. This was, not a coincidence of any sort but rather a deliberated strategy that came after the authentic “Deep Water Report” issued by the United States...
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.