Current Projects
America's War in Afghanistan: 15 Years, Three Stories
Fifteen years ago, in response to 9/11, the United States launched a bombing campaign in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, that led to the end of the radical fundamentalist Taliban regime and initiated one of the world's most expensive rebuilding projects. Since then, Afghanistan has seen significant progress in women's rights, millions of children who might otherwise have been denied educations have been to school, and independent media have flourished. And yet, for all the billions spent, Afghanistan remains one of the poorest and most unstable countries in the world, with corruption rife, the drug trade rampant, and growing insecurity a global concern. As the longest war in U.S. history enters its 16th year, we asked three Afghans from different parts of the country how they think their lives have been affected and what they think the future holds. INFOGRAPHIC: Afghanistan: 15 Years On Roya Mahboob in her office in New York Roya Mahboob Tech entrepreneur Herat, western Afghanistan In 2001, Roya Mahboob was 12 years old and living with her family in neighboring Iran, where they had fled after the Soviet invasion of 1979. As an Afghan refugee, Mahboob was not allowed to enroll in an Iranian school. Without access to the Internet or even a computer, she assuaged her interest in technology by studying books on computer hardware. "When I came back to Afghanistan, I found so many new opportunities," Mahboob, a native of the relatively stable western Afghan city of Herat, tells RFE/RL. "Like me, there were many girls and boys who took advantage and changed their lives, their family's lives, and changed their future." Today, Mahboob is one of few female CEOs in the country. She founded her Afghan Citadel Services, an IT consulting firm, in 2010, and she and her 25 employees (most of them women) provide computer, Internet, and software assistance to schools, hospitals, and businesses around the country. In 2013, Time magazine included her on its list of the 100...
How India-Pakistan Tensions (And Us-China Rivalry) Are Raising Nuclear Stakes
An escalation in tensions between India and Pakistan is likely to increase Chinese support for Pakistan and add impetus to India’s strategic partnership with the United States, further polarising the subcontinent geopolitically and increasing the nuclear threat in the region. China is now expected to raise its already substantial defence cooperation with “all-weather friend” Pakistan and possibly resume transfers of strategic weapons technology that were officially ceased in the 1990s under US pressure. “The conventional wisdom is that China will intensify support to Islamabad amid rising India-Pakistan tension,” said Michael Kugelman, senior associate for South and Southeast Asia at the Woodrow Wilson Centre, a Washington think tank. “China will want to reiterate its commitment to Pakistan and express its strong support, particularly if Beijing starts to worry that India’s more muscular approach towards Pakistan could entail efforts to undercut or even sabotage the China-funded China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project.” The US$46 billion trade route running from Pakistan’s Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea to China’s Xinjiang (新疆), is a “One Belt, One Road” initiative designed to expand China’s economic and political outreach in Asia as well as provide its landlocked, backward western provinces a sea route for trade. Tensions between India and Pakistan have been rising since last month, when 18 Indian soldiers were killed by a militant strike on an army base in India-administered Kashmir. India blamed the attack on Pakistan-based militants and within days launched a retaliatory “surgical strike” on alleged militant bases on the Pakistani side of the Line of Control, the de facto border between the two countries. Pakistan has denied any complicity in the militant attack on the Indian army base and has also denied India’s “surgical strike” ever took place, but that has hardly helped matters, with fears rising over a fully fledged conflict between the...
Exiled From Pakistan, Destitute Afghans Return To a Country at War
Almost 40 years ago, Allah Noor took his family to a safe haven in Pakistan, following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Last week he returned, to a country at war. At the crack of dawn, when his family crossed the border to Afghanistan on a truck heaving with all their possessions, they were greeted by the roar of fighter planes returning from nightly bombing missions. A white surveillance blimp hovered above. Noor’s family is among more than 100,000 Afghans who have been coerced out of Pakistan since July. Pakistan’s government has ordered all Afghan migrants and refugees to leave – about 3 million people. Roughly 250,000 of their number have left so far this year, according to figures from the World Food Programme, in the biggest eviction of Afghans in decades. Whole neighbourhoods are being uprooted, often second- or third-generation refugees with little connection to Afghanistan. Many arrive in their place of origin to find no help from international agencies. Pakistani authorities have raided homes, and returning families have spoken of police harassment and arbitrary arrests. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Ocha, expects 600,000 Afghans to have returned by the end of the year. With another 250,000 people newly displaced by the Afghan conflict, the UN warned last month of a looming humanitarian crisis. Yet the response from international aid agencies has been slow and insufficient. Noor’s family of 18 left after months of intimidation by police, who came to their house near Peshawar almost every day to order them to leave. The family’s truck crossed the Afghan-Pakistan border post at Torkham. Slipping out of the bottleneck of decorated jingle trucks, they passed Jalalabad airport, which since 2001 has been occupied by the US military with its jets anddrones. Noor, 62, is the family’s only adult male. Two sons live in Saudi Arabia and the UK. In the back of the truck sat burqa-clad women, squeezed among a thicket of...
Zakhilwal Says 3,80,000 Afghan Refugees Repatriated
As many as 3,80,000 Afghan refugees have been repatriated from Pakistan since January till October 6 this year, Afghan Ambassador Omer Zakhilwal said Friday (October 7, 2016), the highest figure since 2002 after the ousting of Taliban from Kabul. Afghan Ambassador Omer Zakhilwal told CRSS that the figure of the repartiation includes both registered and unregistered cases. “The UNHCR is giving figure of only registered repatriation,” he added. UNHCR Spokesperson Duniya Aslam Khan said that 218,000 registered refugees were repatriated this year till October 6. According to an estimate, over a million of the Afghan refugees are living without registration in Pakistan. “Proof of Registration” Cards were issued to the refugees in 2009, validating their stay until December 2009 that later kept on extending. Recently the date was extended till March 2017. It is the highest figure of Afghan refugees return since 2002 in Pakistan as more than 1.5 million Afghan refugees were repatriated from Pakistan in 2002. The spokesperson said that the tightening of control over the border especially the Torkham area is a major cause of the increasing number of volunteer repatriation of Afghan refugees as they now cannot move across the border freely. Earlier, the refugees used to travel to Afghanistan for meeting relatives or trade without any check or documentation. Cracking down on illegal refugees who had no Proof of Registration Card also expedited the process of repatriation. The law enforcement agencies have also allegedly started harassing the registered refugees due to security reason, also a factor for large number of the repatriation. “Checking of the refugees was due to the security reason and then finding out unregistered cases in not possible if you don’t check the refugees,” an official told CRSS on the condition of anonymity. Abdul Qadir 33, who along with his 7-member family recently returned to Kabul after 20 years in Islamabad, said that difficulties...
World Bank report: Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2016: Taking on Inequality
Two complementary goals to leave no one behind On April 20, 2013, the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank adopted two ambitious goals: end global extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity in every country in a sustainable way. This implies reducing the poverty headcount ratio from 10.7 percent globally in 2013 to 3.0 percent by 2030 and fostering the growth in the income or the consumption expenditure of the poorest 40 percent of the population (the bottom 40) in each country. These two goals are part of a wider international development agenda and are intimately related to United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals 1 and 10, respectively, which have been adopted by the global community. Each goal has an intrinsic value on its own merits, but the two goals are also highly complementary. Take the example of a low-income Sub-Saharan African country with a high poverty headcount ratio and an upper-middle-income country in Eastern Europe or Latin America with low levels of extreme poverty, but rising concerns about inequality. Ending extreme poverty is especially relevant in the former, while expanding shared prosperity is especially meaningful in the latter. The complementarity of the two goals also derives from the composition of the world’s poor and bottom 40 populations. At a global scale, while 9 in every 10 of the extreme poor were among the national bottom 40 in 2013, only a quarter of the bottom 40 were among the extreme poor (both cases refer to the orange area in figure O.1) This complementarity has three important implications. First, by choosing these two goals, the World Bank focuses squarely on improving the welfare of the least well off across the world, effectively ensuring that everyone is part of a dynamic and inclusive growth process, no matter the circumstances, the country context, or the time period. Second, monitoring the two goals separately is necessary to understand with precision the progress in achieving better living...
Top NATO Aide Wants Kashmir Dispute Resolved
A top Nato official on Thursday said the world cannot remain indifferent to the issue of Kashmir. “The Kashmir dispute has to be addressed as two nuclear powers are party to it,” Chairman of the Nato Military Committee General Petr Pavel was quoted as saying in a meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. “The world cannot remain indifferent and must be concerned,” the visiting Nato general said. “The international community and the United Nations have to be consistent on principles and rules while addressing important issues,” he added. Gen Pavel said Nato wants a broader political framework agreement with Pakistan to expand mutual military cooperation. “By virtue of its size, Pakistan can play an important role in the region. We expect a broader political framework agreement between Pakistan and Nato to unlock further mutual military cooperation,” the Prime Minister’s Office quoted him as saying. He called the scale of Pakistan’s counter-terrorism campaign ‘large and impressive in yielding results’. “Pakistan has shown great progress in the war against terror in the last couple of years. The reconstruction and rebuilding process will be worth following in this regard,” he said. Prime Minister Nawaz said his government has a stated policy on Afghanistan which he expressed from the day one after assuming the responsibilities as premier. “We have conveyed to the leadership of Afghanistan that the enemies of Afghanistan are the enemies of Pakistan and we have stood by our words,” he said. The prime minister said that even yesterday Pakistan announced an assistance of $500 million in addition to an earlier assistance of $500 million for Afghanistan to help them overcome problems and achieve stability. “We genuinely believe that stability in Afghanistan is crucial for achieving stability in our own country and the region,” he added. “I myself and the chief of army staff visited Afghanistan and always assured them of our fullest cooperation to root out the...
The Brussels Conference on Afghanistan (2016)
On 5 October, the European Union and the government of Afghanistan co-hosted the Brussels Conference on Afghanistan. This conference brought together 75 countries and 26 international organisations and agencies. President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah represented Afghanistan while President of the European Council Donald Tusk represented the European Union. Participants endorsed the ambitious reform agenda presented by the Afghan government. They undertook to ensure continued international political and financial support for Afghanistan over the next four years. The total sum committed by the international community is US$15.2 billion (+/- €13.6 billion). The EU and its member states committed to US$5.6 billion (+/- €5 billion). This is an exceptional level of funding which ensures that Afghanistan will remain on a firm path to political and economic stability, state-building and development. The regional stakeholders and the international community also reaffirmed their commitment to a political process towards lasting peace and reconciliation. The opening session of the conference included speeches by President of the European Council Donald Tusk, President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and US Secretary of State John Kerry. The Afghan government then presented its reform programme in support of strong Afghan-led state and institution building over the next four years. Statements by participants were delivered to the Conference. The morning session was chaired by EU High Representative Federica Mogherini and Afghan Minister of Foreign Affairs Salahuddin Rabbani. The afternoon session was chaired by the Afghan Minister of Finance Eklil Hakimi and the European Commissioner for Development Cooperation Neven Mimica. Two representatives of Afghan civil society also addressed the conference, recalling that ultimate accountability is to the Afghan people. The Conference was concluded with closing...
Businessmen Demand End to Excessive Taxation
Provinces should proactively and vigorously collect taxes and the burden should shift from the captive tax-payers like the salaried class, Mr. Naveed Qamar, parliamentary leader of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in the National Assembly, spoke at the maiden public-private dialogue organized by the Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) as part of its endeavor – in partnership with Center for International Private Enterprise - to foster dialogue for economic reforms by convening high level policy discussions between the business community and political leadership. The series of dialogue fora aims to provide platform to the private sector to discuss with political representatives the economic issues and challenges hampering the economic growth, and solutions and framework for economic reforms. The discourse is hoped to generate critical feedback for the economic manifestos of participating political parties. Mr. Naveed Qamar while speaking on the occasion underlined a forward looking thought and not an "accountant-thought" for improving the tax collection in the country. He said the myth that agriculture is not taxed needs to be debated because this is the fault of provincial governments to collect taxes. Dr. Vaqar Ahmed Deputy Executive Director at Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), while giving presentation on the Tax Reforms in Pakistan, said that due to the vast number of exemptions, concessions and preferential treatment allowed to select sub-sectors under agriculture, industry and services, it was difficult to collect taxes. “After the 18th constitutional amendment, GST on services (GSTS) is now a provincial subject. The necessary measures required to collect the due GSTS will now depend on the political will and administrative capacity of each of the provinces. And then there is weak audit and enforcement capacity”, he quoted the other difficulties in tax collection. “Taxes should not merely be seen as means to run the government...
Pakistan’s Afghan refugees: A timeline
Pakistan officially hosts the third largest refugee population in the world after Jordan and Turkey, sheltering some 1.4 million registered Afghans and, according to estimates, up to a million more residing without documentation. Since 2009, Islamabad has repeatedly pushed back a deadline for Afghan refugees who arrived from the 1980s onwards to return to their home country, but fears are growing that the latest cut-off — March 2017 — will be final. Here is a timeline of key events. 1979 The exodus of Afghan refugees begins in late 1979 when Soviet troops invade Afghanistan to shore up the unsteady communist government and install their own president. “I arrived in 1979, I lived my whole life here…. I am returning but my heart is crying, I am depressed,” Abdul Rab, a 46-year-old political activist originally from Jalalabad but who settled in Pakistan’s Peshawar, told AFP. By the end of 1979 there are already 400,000 refugees in Pakistan according to the UNHCR. Foreign powers including the United States, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and China meanwhile support the resistance mujahideen as the country plunges into a 10-year war that claims hundreds of thousands of lives. “Our lives were in danger, we had no option but to flee,” Inamullah Khan, a grocery shop owner in Peshawar told AFP, adding that he lost many family members to the fight against the Russians. The UNHCR estimates a total of 3.1 million flee to Pakistan over the course of the war and a similar number to Iran. 1989 Following the withdrawal of the Soviet Union in 1989, Afghanistan’s mujahideen turn on each other in the struggle for power. Fighting breaks out between the Northern Alliance, led by Ahmad Shah Massoud, and Gulbuddin Hekmetyar’s Hezb-i-Islami. 1992 Massoud’s forces enter Kabul in 1992 heralding the start of a new civil war. In 1994, Mullah Muhammad Omar founds the Taliban movement who enter the fray, seizing power two years later. 1999 Despite the upheavals, a UNHCR report in 1999 found that...
Pakistan's Afghan refugees: A timeline
Pakistan officially hosts the third largest refugee population in the world after Jordan and Turkey, sheltering some 1.4 million registered Afghans and, according to estimates, up to a million more residing without documentation. Since 2009, Islamabad has repeatedly pushed back a deadline for Afghan refugees who arrived from the 1980s onwards to return to their home country, but fears are growing that the latest cut-off — March 2017 — will be final. Here is a timeline of key events. 1979 The exodus of Afghan refugees begins in late 1979 when Soviet troops invade Afghanistan to shore up the unsteady communist government and install their own president. “I arrived in 1979, I lived my whole life here…. I am returning but my heart is crying, I am depressed,” Abdul Rab, a 46-year-old political activist originally from Jalalabad but who settled in Pakistan’s Peshawar, told AFP. By the end of 1979 there are already 400,000 refugees in Pakistan according to the UNHCR. Foreign powers including the United States, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and China meanwhile support the resistance mujahideen as the country plunges into a 10-year war that claims hundreds of thousands of lives. “Our lives were in danger, we had no option but to flee,” Inamullah Khan, a grocery shop owner in Peshawar told AFP, adding that he lost many family members to the fight against the Russians. The UNHCR estimates a total of 3.1 million flee to Pakistan over the course of the war and a similar number to Iran. 1989 Following the withdrawal of the Soviet Union in 1989, Afghanistan’s mujahideen turn on each other in the struggle for power. Fighting breaks out between the Northern Alliance, led by Ahmad Shah Massoud, and Gulbuddin Hekmetyar’s Hezb-i-Islami. 1992 Massoud’s forces enter Kabul in 1992 heralding the start of a new civil war. In 1994, Mullah Muhammad Omar founds the Taliban movement who enter the fray, seizing power two years later. 1999 Despite the upheavals, a UNHCR report in 1999 found that...
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.