Current Projects
Will the World Keep Funding Afghanistan?
International donors are gearing up to contemplate their financial commitments to Afghanistan once more. The two day conference, which will take place in Brussels next week, follows on from the 2012 Tokyo conference at which major donors pledged $4 billion annually in development aid through 2015. But four years on, billions in aid later, Afghanistan seems no more stable in either the security or political realm. The massive gathering–70 countries and 20 international organizations are expected to participate–aims to “endorse a realistic program of reforms to bring about the Afghan government’s vision and to ensure continued international political and financial support” for the country. Donors are expected to commit to the same level of aid–$4 billion annually–although a leaked memo obtained by The Guardian indicates that the EU will make some aid contingent on Kabul accepting some 80,000 deported asylum seekers. The leaked memo underscores one of the conclusions–that aid conditionality has not been consistently effective in influencing Afghan government behavior–in a report released today by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, an independent U.S. oversight body. The report–part of SIGAR’s recently launched lessons learned project–was based on a closed-door conference convened in the spring at the U.S. Institute of Peace which included among its participants seven sitting ambassadors, five former ambassadors, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as representatives from major donor countries and organizations. The report (PDF) cites four themes stemming from the discussions. First, conflicts between divergent goals and different actors resulted in the pursuit of “disparate and sometimes ill-defined missions in Afghanistan.” The tension between pursuing short term security goals and investing in long term development combined with individual states having to balance civilian and military initiatives,...
Afghanistan’s Shaky National Unity Government Approaches Its Second Anniversary
Afghanistan’s national unity government, which will complete two troubled years in power Thursday, has set aside its internal differences and prepared an upbeat report of its achievements and goals to present to international donors in Brussels next week, hoping to secure their renewed commitment to long-term support. By highlighting their efforts to combat public corruption and waste, and outlining a five-year plan to develop agriculture, private investment and regional ties, President Ashraf Ghani and his aides hope to prove that Kabul deserves the trust of a skeptical world community that has paid Afghanistan’s bills for the past 14 years. Abdullah Abdullah, Ghani’s governing partner and chief executive, has embraced the initiative and dropped the sharp public criticism he leveled last month at Ghani, calling him “unfit” to lead. This week, Abdullah said that the government will remain “legitimate” after the two-year power-sharing agreement expires Thursday, and that it will continue for Ghani’s full five-year presidential term. “The CEO is fully on board. He has been at every single meeting and discussion in the planning for Brussels,” said Nader Nadery, a senior spokesman for the Ghani administration. Nadery ticked off a long list of reforms achieved in the past two years, including curbing customs fraud and collecting a record amount of taxes. “We are frank and self-critical about where we have not made progress, but in many areas we have made a lot,” he said. But critics say that the long-running dispute between Ghani and Abdullah has only been put on hold, and that a flurry of pre-Brussels good-news gestures — including last week’s announcement of a peace deal with fugitive militia leaderGulbuddin Hekmatyar — cannot mask the failures that have led to deep public disillusionment after two years of aggressive insurgent attacks, rampant unemployment and entrenched public corruption. They also say that despite Abdullah’s conciliatory new stance and...
Modi’s War Hysteria
After drumming up war hysteria for several days, India’s top brass has taken the route of de-escalation, manifest in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s words on September 24 at a BJP meeting: “People of Pakistan should question their leadership on why, when both countries gained freedom together, while India exports software, Pakistan exports terrorists.” In the same breath, Modi challenged Pakistan to “fight a war on poverty and unemployment and see who wins first, India or Pakistan.” Only two days earlier, in a travesty of diplomatic norms and contravention of international law, the Indian embassy at Geneva had received Brahamdagh Bugti, a terrorist wanted by Pakistan. Ironically, the same day an official of the Permanent Mission of India to the UN Eenam Gambhir, called Pakistan “a terrorist state” which, according to her, channelises billions of dollars, much of it diverted from international aid, to training, financing and supporting terrorist groups as militant proxies against its neighbours… where terrorist entities and their leaders, including many designated by the UN, continue to roam the streets of Pakistan freely and operate with State’s support. This essentially implied that the US reimbursements under the Coalition Support Funds to Pakistan, which undergo thorough scrutiny, were being diverted for terror missions—quite an indictment of the quality and rigour of US auditing! The Indian rhetoric also conveniently sidestepped the fact that its best friend Iran too enjoys the distinction of once being branded by the United States part of an “Axis of Evil” alongside North Korea. Writing in the Hindustan Times on Sept 25, Ramachandra Guha advised the ruling BJP to recall what Jayaprakash Narayan, the renowned Indian independence activist, social reformer and political leader, had said on Kashmir back in 1966: “It will be a suicide of the soul of India, if India tried to suppress the Kashmiri people by force”. And, further: “Kashmir has distorted...
Peace With Hekmatyar: What Does It Mean For Battlefield And Politics?
The peace deal signed today by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of Hezb-e Islami, and President Ashraf Ghani, has been hailed by the Afghan government as the first major peace achievement of the last fifteen years. However, expectations should be tempered. Given Hezb-e Islami’s almost total absence on the battlefield, the deal is unlikely to significantly lower the current levels of violence. It is also unlikely to inspire the Taleban to follow Hezb’s example, considering the completely different trajectories and aims of the two groups. Even so, says AAN’s Borhan Osman, Hekmatyar’s outsized ‘jihadi credentials’ could present a challenge to the legitimacy of the Taleban insurgency and his eventual return to civilian life can only be expected to leave its mark on Afghanistan’s politics. How did this peace deal come about? The agreement is the climax of six and half years of negotiations which included dozens of meetings between the two sides. It was a turbulent process, fraught with interruptions and breakdowns only to be followed by resumptions. Contacts with US officials were initiated even earlier, in 2008. That year, the Hezb-e Islami faction led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (often abbreviated as HIG: Hezb-e Islami-ye Gulbuddin) published its outline for a peace plan and two years later it handed over a 15-point plan to the government (see this AAN analysis). Despite the long trajectory, it was not until spring of this year that a deal finally looked imminent. The negotiations that culminated in the current draft agreement started in March 2016, and in April, HIG dropped its most substantial condition for an agreement, the withdrawal of foreign troops; chief negotiator Karim Amin called the full withdrawal of foreign troops a goal, rather than a condition for an accord. In May 2016, a draft agreement between the two sides was initialled by Amin and HPC chair Pir Sayed Ahmad Gailani (AAN analysis here). In the following month, however, the fate of the agreement was...
Pashtun Identity and Geopolitics in Southwest Asia: Pakistan and Afghanistan since 9/11
Based on archival research at the British Library, Bodleian and in South and Central Asia besides interviews in Britain, United States, Brussels, and the Sub-continent, this volume reviews the various hypotheses about Pashtuns (Pathans) varying from their Semitic origins to Aryan roots. It investigates the form of political Islam espoused by the Taliban on both sides of the Durand Line along with studying NATO’s longest ever warfare in a Muslim region. The book reviews the fourth British military involvement in the country since the First Anglo-Afghan War of 1838-42 and how it has cost so many lives along with incurring trillions of dollars to 35+ nations engaged in the Hindu-Kush region. Other than studying civil societies, the volume locates gender-related issues, EU’s socio-economic engagement in Pakistan and Afghanistan besides looking at the regional imperatives of post-9/11 developments. Contents: Introduction; Gandhara Lands: Wrestling with Pashtun Identity and History; Imperial Hubris: The Afghan Taliban in Ascendance; Masculinities in Conflict: Western Pedagogy and the Return of the Afghan Taliban; Understanding Pakistan: Geopolitical Legacies and Perspectives on Violence; Locating Civic Sentiments and Movements in Pakistan: Stalemated Cycle, or a Way Forward? The United States and Pakistan: Friends or Foes!; The European Union and Southwest Asia: Perceptions, Policies and Permutations; Conclusion: Pashtun Troubled Lands, Uncertain Southwest Asia, or a New Beginning! Book review source Disclaimer: Views expressed in the article are not necessarily supported by CRSS.
Tennant Information System (TIS) of KP Police – with database of 128,000 tenants across Peshawar – is Critical Resource in Controlling Crimes, SP Cantt., Peshawar
The reformation of Police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was not an easy task given the challenges of War-on-Terror (WoT), but with the decrease in the militancy post 2012, and visionary police leadership, KP police successfully reformed its structure with several significant steps and services aimed at public service. The driving force of these initiatives was the vision of top police leadership, which had been transformed into practical implementation of all these reforms and made the department ever more accountable and transparent. The behavior of KP police was always better comparing to the other provinces due to the cultural values of the province. These were the remarks made by Mr. Kashif Zulfiqar, Superintendent of Police (SP), Peshawar Cantt. during a public forum on police reforms at press club, Peshawar. Senior Journalist, Mr. Arshad Aziz also spoke on the occasion. The event was participated well by the members of community with diverse backgrounds including lawyers, local government representatives, media, academia and youth representatives. The forum was part of the project “Ulasi Police” an awareness and advocacy campaign undertaken by the Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) – as part of USAID Small Grants and Ambassadors’ Fund Program – to strengthen the rule of law in KP province by promoting and disseminating the significant police reforms aimed at incorporating local communities’ policing needs and international human rights standards. The endeavor aims to tackle the trust deficit between the public and police, help KP police become an accountable and community-focused police force. He said that improving police behavior towards the public was another challenge to develop the critical public-police linkages. KP Police, responding to this issue, has introduced Police Access Service (PAS) in the entire province. Police Assistance Line (PAL) is another dedicated facility with several centralized services for the public that they seek...
Analysis: Rising Tensions; Possible Pakistan-India War Viewpoint
The Indian analysts and experts believe that once a war sparks between India and Pakistan, New Delhi and Islamabad cannot fight more than 18 days. Ajai Sanhi, the Executive Director of the Institute for Conflict Management in New Delhi has commented on the flaring tensions between India and Pakistan, saying that the Indian leaders are well aware that they cannot engage in a battle with Pakistan that lasts more than 15 days. At the same time, it is not possible for Pakistan to manage a direct war with India for a long time. Meanwhile, some hard-line Hindu leaders and army commanders have asked the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take heavy-handed measures against Pakistan including intruding the Pakistani territory and launching military operations against the Pakistani extremist groups. However, many experts have argued that New Delhi is not qualified for this kind of measures. According to the AFP, the Indian leaders are now examining five war plans to fight Pakistan. Ajit Dobby, a military and defense analyst at The Week magazine has written an article about the recent tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi. He wrote that India has stationed infiltrating forces in Pakistan, particularly in Kashmir region, and at the present time it can inflict damages on Pakistan using them. According to Dobby, India will try to isolate Pakistan internationally. To this end, it is following some plans, the analyst said. The present time is the best time for India to realize this goal. Meanwhile, the media in India have called on their government to recall the Indian ambassador to Pakistan. For long years India secretly has been offering support for the separatist movements in Pakistan’s Balochistan province in a bid to spread instability across the area and so prepare the ground for sectarian and ethnic clashes there. But, to surprise of all, the Indian prime minister a couple of weeks ago in his speech has openly announced backing of the separatists of...
Another Repatriation Centre for Afghan Refugees Opened
The United Nations refugee agency inaugurated on Wednesday its second voluntary repatriation centre to facilitate the safe and dignified return of Afghan refugees to their homeland. With the opening of the new centre in Azakhel, Nowshera, the UNHCR now has the capacity to facilitate the return of up to 10,000 refugees everyday through the Torkham border crossing. The inauguration ceremony was attended, among others, by UNHCR Representative in Pakistan Indrika Ratwatte, Chief Commissioner for Afghan Refugees Dr Imran Zeb Khan and Afghan Ambassador to Pakistan Dr Omar Zakhilwal. A high-level delegation comprising ambassadors of the European Union, Austria, the Czech Republic and Denmark and charge d’ affaires of the Netherlands was also present. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Ratwatte commended the Pakistani government for extending the stay of Afghan refugees in the country to March 31 next year. “The extension is an important decision made by the government of Pakistan which recognises the importance of policies to manage the legal stay of registered Afghans in Pakistan,” he said. Dr Zeb Khan said the government had ensured that the repatriation remained voluntary in nature and that the refugees returned home in safety and dignity. He also acknowledged the Afghan government’s commitment towards facilitating the repatriation process and praised the steps being taken by it to enable the refugees’ sustainable reintegration in their country. Ambassador Zakhilwal encouraged the Afghan refugees to return home “despite the many challenges” and join the nation-building process. He said the fact that Afghan refugees were returning to their homeland of their free will demonstrated their confidence in the efforts being made in this regard by the Afghan national unity government. The ambassadors visited the repatriation centres at Azakhel and Chamkani, in Peshawar, met elders of the Afghan Refugee Shura and talked to them about their time spent in Pakistan and their...
In A First For Post-Taliban Afghanistan, A Grass-Roots Protest Movement Challenges The Government
Two years after assuming power, Afghanistan’s flailing, U.S.-brokered unity government is facing a growing challenge from the biggest grass-roots protest movement since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Calling themselves the Enlightening, members of the Hazara ethnic minority have mobilized several mass demonstrations against what they say is systematic discrimination by President Ashraf Ghani’s government. They want more economic development and a greater share of positions in the Cabinet, ambassador corps and military. Organizers called off a protest planned for this week in Kabul and agreed to begin talks with the government, averting a possibly tense showdown as the government marks its second anniversary Thursday. With security in Kabul increasingly fragile, United Nations and civil society representatives persuaded Enlightening leaders to cancel the protest. “Given the security challenges, we can’t reach our goals only by continuing protests,” said Sultan Haidari, 36, an activist in Kabul. “There are ways to achieve our demands through talks. … I think more protests will be the last option.” But the group said it would resume demonstrations if the negotiations with the government fail. The Afghan government said in a statement that it “respected the civil movements and [is] ready for any discussions about demands that have been considered by the people.” The last time the group took to the streets of Kabul, two months ago, twin explosions killed more than 80 people and wounded hundreds. The Islamic State militant organization claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it targeted Shiite Muslims; most Hazaras are Shiite. Enlightening leaders say the government has failed to launch a proper investigation. Another mass gathering would have embarrassed Ghani’s government just a week before an international conference in Brussels at which the United States and other donor countries are expected to tout progress in Afghanistan and renew funding pledges....
EU's Secret Ultimatum to Afghanistan: Accept 80,000 Deportees or Lose Aid
When international donors and the Afghan government convene in Brussels next week, the EU secretly plans to threaten Afghanistan with a reduction in aid if the war-torn country does not accept at least 80,000 deported asylum seekers. According to a leaked restricted memo (pdf), the EU will make some of its aid “migration sensitive”, even while acknowledging that security in Afghanistan is worsening. Meanwhile, the Afghan government is also struggling with internal turmoil, and has failed to revive the economy or produce jobs for the young who leave the country in droves. It would be challenging for Afghanistan to absorb 80,000 deportations. So far, in 2016, about 5,000 Afghans have returned voluntarily from Europe. “This is putting unreasonable pressure on the Afghan government, which is not able to respond to such numbers,” said Timor Sharan, senior analyst for the International Crisis Group in Afghanistan. Afghans make up the second largest group of migrants arriving in Europe, with1 96,170 applying for asylum (pdf) last year. At the two-day summit in Brussels, which begins on 4 October, international donors are expected to roughly match the $4bn (£3bn) annually pledged at the 2012 Tokyo conference over the next four years. The pressure on Afghanistan is part of a broader EU strategy of making aid to poor countries conditional on them accepting deported migrants. The best known example is the €6bn deal (£5.2bn) offered to Turkey in exchange for taking back asylum seekers and improving border controls. Other targeted countries include Niger, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Lebanon and Libya. The EU has also considered similar deals with Eritrea and Sudan, the governments of which are accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes. In Afghanistan, analysts warn that the EU is sending people back to danger and destitution. Yousuf* fled Afghanistan in 2011. His father was a policeman under the communist regime of the 1980s. Yousuf, 28, himself a communist, received threats...
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.