Current Projects
Ashraf Ghani Meets Modi in Delhi: Full Text of India-Afghanistan Joint Statement
Prime Minister Narendra Modi received Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani on Wednesday on his second trip to India. Both the countries exchanged several agreements on extradition, mutual legal assistance treaty, peaceful uses of outer space, according to the Ministry of External Affairs. Modi and Ghani expressed concern at the continued use of terrorism and violence in region for achieving political objectives. They also agreed that this phenomenon presented the single biggest threat to peace, stability and progress in the region and beyond. Both the leaders also reaffirmed their resolve to counter terrorism and strengthen security and defence cooperation. Later in the day, Ghani, along with Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh, will address an interactive business meeting. The visiting dignitary will also deliver a speech at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses before paying a courtesy call on President Pranab Mukherjee in the evening. Here is the India-Afghanistan joint statement released by MEA during the visit: The President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan His Excellency Dr Mohammad Ashraf Ghani was warmly welcomed on his working visit to India on 14 and 15 September, 2016. During the visit, he held discussions with Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and will be received later on Wednesday by Rashtrapatiji. Meeting President Ghani, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi fondly recalled his visits to Kabul and Herat in December 2015 and June this year, respectively. The Prime Minister mentioned that he cherished both the warm reception he had received during those visits and the fruitful discussions then and in his other meetings with the President in Tehran (May 2016) and Tashkent (June 2016). Both leaders expressed their happiness at the close and regular consultations between India and Afghanistan at all levels, which have served to guide their strategic partnership and strengthen all-round cooperation. Recalling that India-Afghanistan...
Flawed approach to Pakistan
THERE are several choices that Pakistan has made over the decades that have contributed to regional problems and there continue to be areas where official rhetoric and policies on the ground do not quite match. But increasingly apparent is the sense that regional dynamics are once again converging against Pakistan and its interests. And once again, terrorism and Afghanistan are the sources of growing regional differences. Testifying before the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Olson resorted to what has long been a cornerstone, and a flawed one at that, of US policy towards Pakistan: seeing this country through the prism of Afghanistan. With the centrality of US demands of Pakistan concerning in some way or the other the need for stabilising Afghanistan, is it really surprising that so much suspicion still remains here about America’s true goals and intentions? It is not so much that America’s demands are wrong — a terror-free neighbourhood is in the fundamental interest of all — than the seemingly lopsided focus of demands. For a decade and a half now, the US has directly and indirectly tried to defeat the Afghan Taliban insurgency without quite acknowledging that much of that victory depends on Kabul providing a viable and reliable governance alternative. First, the Hamid Karzai era was propped up regardless of the obviously and massively damaging choices that dispensation made for political stability and governance. Now, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is also being insulated from domestic pressures by a virtual American guarantee that the National Unity Government will complete its term no matter if it delivers on constitutional and governance reforms. Freed from having to bear the weight of querulous domestic politics alone thanks to US support, Mr Ghani is turning to external issues, which, in this case, means essentially blaming Pakistan for all of Afghanistan’s internal problems and seeking...
Misunderstanding Afghanistan
Pakistanis, no matter what their political inclination may be, rarely consider Afghanistan a sovereign set of people. There are the right-wingers for whom Afghanistan is a country where we can fight our eternal battles against India. Not quite home but a place where he have home advantage – like Misbah’s team playing their cricket in the UAE. Others profess concern for Afghanistan but that usually ends up taking a paternalistic form, an ‘Oh, poor Afghanistan’ kind of pity which does not give the country and its rulers the agency to be responsible for charting their own course. This infantalisation of Afghanistan is particularly severe when discussing the country’s ties with India. The billion dollars in aid that India has offered Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is seen, depending on where one falls on the hawk-dove spectrum, either as proof that the two countries are scheming against us or understood as a natural response to our constant meddling. Here’s a thought: maybe Afghanistan is doing what’s best for it and is accepting even more money from the country that is the fifth largest donor to the country. Any deal with India has to have a certain amount of anti-Pakistan rhetoric built into it but maybe, for once, everything isn’t about us. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is no ideologue. He is certainly an ambitious schemer but that is balanced out by his technocratic instincts. His predecessor Hamid Karzai was similar but had rougher edges, likely because he was at least in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion and its aftermath. Ghani served Afghanistan in the vital battlefields of Columbia University, Berkeley, Johns Hopkins and the World Bank. This is a man with ice-cold pragmatism running through his veins. After his election as president in 2014 – or rather his brokered agreement with Abdullah Abdullah in 2014 which elevated him to the presidency – Ghani was conciliatory towards Pakistan. Bilateral visits were filled with warm words. Analysts in Pakistan...
It takes Two to Tango
Before looking at the future of the current thaw, let us rewind to the tumultuous year of 1999. In February that year, Atal Behari Vajpayee became the first Indian prime minister to cross Wahga border on board a bus and eventually visit the Minar-e-Pakistan as a great gesture of recognition of the Muslim state. Within five months of that historic visit, he received probably the biggest snub when his forces found out that Pakistan Army and militants had intruded into the Indian-controlled Kashmiri territory and occupied several strategic peaks. The ensuing summer was hot and ended with humiliation for Pakistan when prime minister Nawaz Sharif had to rush to Washington and sign a deal virtually dictated by New Delhi. Six months later, the Indians endured another blow. This time, militants hijacked the flight 814 from Nepal and eventually landed it in Kandahar. On December 30th, Indian foreign minister Jaswant Singh flew into Kandahar with Omar Saeed Sheikh, Maulana Masood Azhar and Mushtaq Zargar for their release in return for some 250 Indian passengers. “We will never surrender to terrorists,” an agitated and upset Singh told media after handing over four Kashmiri militants to Taliban foreign minister Abdul Wakeel Muttawakil. Within ten months, Pakistani military and militants had delivered two serious blows to the Indian ego, and that became the basis for the Indo-US strategic dialogue on terrorism, with counter-terrorism cooperation being the key component. “We will absorb what you have done to us,” Vivek Katju, the chief negotiator of the Indian team told me outside the Kandahar airport terminal on December 31st, pointing to the aircraft, which was being readied for the flight back. “But you will not be able to absorb what we might do to you.” His words clearly implied his belief that Pakistani agencies were behind the aircraft hijacking. The rest is open to imagination. It took the Indian leadership about four years to recover from the insult at Kandahar...
Armed but Not Dangerous
The imminent retirement—as of now—of Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif continues to attract speculation. The rumour mill and alarmist analysts are still talking about whether the general will bow out quietly or pursue some misadventure to trump the civilian Sharif. None of this gossip was quelled by his announcement early this year that he would not be seeking an extension. Those who speculate about the November decision dredge up history, citing the peculiar past of the Pakistan army when it comes to such matters. Perhaps they should give more weight to the immediate past. Pakistan’s army, the bedrock of an otherwise fragile state, may not be the most progressive of institutions. But recent developments suggest that our military leaders realise it needs to change, even if key concerns remain, said the Guardian in 2010, months after General Ashfaq Kayani had replaced General Musharraf as the chief of army staff. Unlike his predecessor, Kayani came across as a modest man of a few words, focused on military matters, even if the army stood out as the predominant stakeholder in domestic politics. He generally avoided “rhetorical flourishes or getting involved in public politics.” Most of the PML-N brigade, led by a visibly unhealthy prime minister, has been seen as preoccupied with Imran Khan. The military machinery, all the while, churns ahead with a focus on how to highlight the role it plays in Pakistan Kayani had inherited an army that reeled from the long controversial Musharraf years. His primary focus was to rehabilitate its image, contain and neutralize the bloody spate of violence and acknowledge the rank and file. Never before had a COAS focused so much energy on the welfare of the soldier as much as Kayani did. He dealt with possibly the worst multiple security crises this country ever faced, particularly the years 2009 to 2011. Despite that, recalls General Asif Yasin, a former corps commander, Gen. Kayani spent four Eids in various...
2016 Fighting Season in Afghanistan: Taliban Target Senior Ranks
A senior police chief, General Zarawar Zahid, was killed in an IED blast on Sunday in the volatile province of Nangarhar. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. Nangarhar has faced increasing instability as Islamic State (ISIS) militants have increased attacks in the region. Zabihullah Zmarai, a member of the provincial council, said, “Out of the 22 districts, only six are secure.” Attempting to mount a counterattack to stave off collapse of Hisarack district, Gen. Zahid visited the embattled district, where he was struck by the blast. Zahid was a well-respected officer who boasted an impressive resume that included stints in Zabul and Ghazni provinces. In recent weeks, Taliban militants have stepped up high profile attacks on high ranking Afghan officials. Last week, twin blasts outside the Ministry of Defense in Kabul killed several high ranking officials, including General Abdul Raziq, the ministry’s senior commander, Kabul’s intelligence chief, and a local district police chief. Sharif Faiz, deputy head of the Afghan National Army Support Brigade, was killed in the second blast, as a suicide bomber targeted first responders. The successful attacks on high profile targets are a costly blow to Afghan forces. Training and equipping Afghan officers is no easy task and takes years of training. Consider that fact that the United States has been engaged in the conflict in Afghanistan for the last 15 years, but even the first second lieutenant would not yet be promotable to general and staff ranks. To plug gaps and capabilities for Afghan forces during the early onset of the conflict, U.S. forces relied heavily on militia and former soviet mujahideen commanders to fill the role of company grade officers — with warlords serving as generals. The program failed as many militia commanders were incompetent, illiterate, and personal interests at times trumped national interests. The current model requires Afghan officers to graduate from the Afghan...
UN: 93 Aid Workers Abducted In Afghanistan In 2016
The United Nations has warned of a growing threat to aid workers in Afghanistan where it says millions of people are in urgent need of life-saving assistance. “I am deeply concerned that aid workers are being targeted, with 93 of our colleagues abducted since the beginning of this year,” said Stephen O'Brien, the U.N.'s emergency relief coordinator, in speaking with reporters in Kabul at the end of a visit to Afghanistan. “All parties are obliged to uphold the principles of international humanitarian law and ensure the protection of civilians and aid workers,” he said, without giving further details or identifying the nationalities of the abductees. More aid needed O'Brien also called on the international community to urgently increase its support to around 1.1 million people who are expected to be displaced internally and cross borders by the end of the year. O’Brien said the humanitarian community in Afghanistan urgently needs $150 million to respond to the “life-saving” needs for the next four months in the wake of the increase in numbers of new people on the move. “The displaced families and communities are a mix of refugees returning from Pakistan and hundreds of thousands of people who have been forced from their homes this year due to the conflict in Afghanistan,” said O’Brien. The U.N. says that more than 5,000 displaced Afghans are returning from Pakistan every day, adding to the challenges facing the humanitarian community. Afghan refugees Pakistan hosts around three million Afghan refugees, nearly half of them living there illegally, who are currently facing pressure from authorities to return to Afghanistan. O’Brien said that alarming levels of malnutrition affect 2.7 million people in Afghanistan, including 1 million children under the age of 5. He urged governments, donors and humanitarian groups to do more to tackle the crisis to prevent more than 126,000 children from dying this year. “Only 35 percent of children with severe acute...
Shanghai Pact Anti-Terror Database Lists 2,500 Suicide Bombers, 69 Groups
The Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (RATS SCO) possesses data on 2,500 suicide bombers and 69 terrorist organizations, the first deputy director of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Tuesday. Sergei Smirnov spoke at the 29th RATS SCO session in southern Kazakhstan. "Today we have a database of 2,500 suicide bombers and 69 organizations. We have initiated the idea of compiling a database and will decide on the formal establishment of the databank at the next [RATS] session," Smirnov said. He noted that despite the timely submission and exchange of information with the use of a comprehensive set of security services, the difficulty remains in locating suspects who change official residential registrations. This article originally appeared on www.sputniknews.com ,September 13, 2016. Original link. Disclaimer: Views expressed in the article are not necessarily supported by CRSS.
India, Afghanistan Call for End to All Support of Militants
India and Afghanistan on Wednesday called for an end to all sponsorship, support and sanctuaries to militants, including those who have committed violence in the two countries. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani did not name Pakistan in their remarks, though they have previously. The neighboring country has been accused of supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan and rebels in Indian-controlled Kashmir. India offered a fresh $1 billion in aid to Afghanistan for building capacity in education, health, agriculture, energy and infrastructure, said a joint statement by the two sides. They also signed an extradition treaty. Kabul has cultivated closer ties with New Delhi in recent years as a balance to Pakistan. Ghani arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday for a two-day visit. Modi and Ghani also reaffirmed their resolve to strengthen their security and defense cooperation, but did not give any details. India already has donated three multirole Mi-35 helicopters to Afghanistan. The two sides also stressed that fast implementation of an agreement among Afghanistan, India and Iran to develop the Chabahar port in Iran would increase connectivity within the region. India said in May it would invest up to $500 million to develop the Iranian port, which India plans to use for trade with Afghanistan in the absence of a land route through Pakistan. This article originally appeared on www.voanews.com, September 14, 2016. Original link. Disclaimer: Views expressed in the article are not necessarily supported by CRSS.
Ex-Afghan Leader Attacks New U.S. Combat Rules
Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai has sharply criticized new authorities giving the U.S. military greater freedom to fight Taliban insurgents, saying they were a further erosion of the country's sovereignty. In an interview, Karzai, who continues to exert considerable behind-the-scenes influence on Afghan politics, also called on the Islamist militant movement to be more realistic in demands that have hampered progress in peace talks. His comments on American involvement in the war were at odds with the government of his successor, President Ashraf Ghani, which has welcomed U.S. political and military support. "How could the U.S. president authorize U.S. troops to launch attacks on their own in Afghanistan?" Karzai said, referring to Barack Obama's June decision to alter the rules of engagement for the American military. "Don't we have a government here? Aren't we a sovereign country?" The new authorities, which U.S. officials say were agreed with the Afghan government, affect ground operations where U.S. troops provide support to Afghan forces as well as air combat, and Karzai has long been critical of U.S. air strikes in Afghanistan, be they by fighter jets, helicopters or drones. He would ban them altogether, even though the Afghan armed forces, struggling to contain the insurgency, say they could not cope without support from the skies and want more. The former leader's opposition reflects broader unease among Afghans who believe innocent people have been killed in air attacks targeting militants, unease that may grow with new powers granted to the U.S. military. The U.S. says its air strikes support Afghan operations and it takes extreme care to avoid civilian casualties, despite incidents such as the bombing of a Medecins Sans Frontieres hospital in Kunduz last year in which 42 people died. Calling Afghanistan the victim of a 21st century version of the "Great Game" between competing powers on the 19th century borders of British India, Karzai...
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.