Arman-e Melli: The ECO meeting and Dr Spanta’s continued illegitimate hold on office

Afghan paper slams government for foreign minister standoff, October 21

Independent Afghan daily Arman-e Melli criticizes government for insisting on keeping Foreign Minister Dr Spanta despites parliament’s no confidence vote. The paper also questions Germany’s support for the FM, claiming foreign countries seek their own interest rather than strengthening institutions in Afghanistan. The paper also says that MPs’ participation in parliamentary sessions is in decline as MPs have lost image and moral. The following is the text of an article headlined “The ECO meeting and Dr Spanta’s continued illegitimate hold on office” published on 21 October; subheading inserted editorially:

Political crisis in dependent countries like Afghanistan reflect not only internal challenges, but also diverse regional policies. This problem can be solved only if policy makers display proper political skills and aptitude to balance policies aimed at tackling internal problems with policies of foreign countries vis a vis Afghanistan.

Policy makers and those at the helm of affairs have, unfortunately, been unable to make sure that policies aimed at ensuring national interests are not in conflict with external considerations.

Insistence on keeping [Foreign Minister Dadfar Rangin] Spanta in the cabinet despite the fact that the majority MPs is against his continuation in office is an example of a lack of political aptitude in the government.

This problem has been compounded by reports that Afghanistan will be the ECO’s [Economic Cooperation Organization] chair over the next year. The announcement came during the ECO [foreign ministers] meeting in Herat.

The situation got even worse when the Foreign Ministry’s spokesman said that Dr Spanta would be the ECO’s president for the next one year. He did not mention that Afghanistan would be the ECO’s chair.

This comes at a time when Afghanistan’s Wolasi Jerga [lower house of parliament] has given vote of no confidence to Dr Spanta, thereby rendering his role as foreign minister illegitimate. Countries in the region are also aware of this standoff between the government and the parliament.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs must speak on behalf of Afghanistan, not on behalf of Dr Spanta who may not remain in office next year. The lower house has repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of his role in office.

Parliament undermined

The standoff between the parliament and the government over the removal of Dr Spanta or his continuation in office explains the snobbery of a small group in power, insisting on continuation of a minister who has been striped of his authority. This status quo also casts serious doubts on the will and capacities of elected public representatives in the parliament.

Although, the confrontation between the parliament and the government over a minister (who has hardly had any achievements) [bracket as published] seems to be phoney, it has harmed the prestige of the parliament as an institution monitoring the government’s activities as well as the credibility of the government, thereby destabilizing the state as a whole. Standoffs between a government and a parliament are common issue in any country, but it has never led to demeaning of a government in public opinion, and a gradual dissolution of a parliament (without the government directly dissolving it).

Why Mr Karzai uses Dr Spanta as a shield?

Mr [Hamed] Karzai knew that if the Wolasi Jerga succeeded in removing the minister of foreign affairs, sooner or later it would have been another minister’s turn. This would have made a crack in the government ranks and would have curtailed the government’s power to appoint or remove ministers, even if not leading to complete capitulation of the president’s team. Consequently, the government team in the presidential palace would have left the scene for new political movements. Hence, it was deemed necessary to violate the law to ensure the hold of one team on power.

The government is aware of its own actions. The people also know that, contrary to its slogans of meritocracy, the government brought people into power on compromise as it deemed necessary. People know the figures that have been brought into the government in this manner. There is no need to mention their names, because it is enough to say that if political games are played at the cost of people’s expectations, it will sooner or later spark a social tragedy. It must be borne in mind that political games are also bound by certain principles which if violated will backfire.

Untouchable ministers

It appears from MPs’ comments that after Dr Spanta the house intended to take on other ministers, such as Zarar Ahmad Moqbel [minister of internal affairs], who have no effectiveness.

However, the government’s stiff resistance made this task unattainable. The government, thus, totally denied the parliament its role as a monitor and reformer. The government which has never showed such determination on even a single national issue seems to be determined to stand on Dr Spanta at any cost. Why the government did not take the same stance on former Minister of Refugee Affairs Akbar Akbar?

Germany wrong to support FM Spanta

What does it mean when Germany insist on Dr Spanta remaining in office [Dr Spanta is a German citizen]? If Dr Spanta works for Germany or other foreign circles, why on the earth should this issue cause a political crisis in the country at a time when it needs stability and national trust more than any other time in the past.

To what extent have those at the helm of affairs gone in their commitment to be dictated by others? Is the opinion of a European country with some troops in Afghanistan to secure its own interests more important than the opinions of people and the Wolasi Jerga? Is the German government ready to take the responsibility of an emerging crisis and a lack of trust between the two trembling bodies of the state of Afghanistan? Is it, then, appropriate to call it the government of people of Afghanistan?

At least learn some lessons from Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq’s prime minister, who does not compromise at the dignity and pride of his nation despite the presence of 150,000 foreign troops in that country. He even dares to oppose President Bush on sensitive issues. Recently, the Iraqi government suspended operations of two known American security companies. The major problem of this [Afghan] government] is that it violates its own laws, let alone countries like Germany who (as stated by themselves) “play tricks” in Afghanistan.

If every European state begins dictating the weak government of Afghanistan, what can one expect from such a government?

Wolasi Jerga’s silence: The Wolasi Jerga first voted for Dr Spanta with optimism by overlooking his credentials, an action that raises questions in the people’s minds. Interestingly, replying to some members of parliament who said they had voted for him to make him minister of foreign affairs, he said: Why did you vote fore me? You should not have voted for me.

Every MP knew that Dr Spanta lacked social influence and national trust within the Afghan society, and that he did not have experience in the field of diplomacy, but their mysterious approach brought into office a person who became a bone of contention between the parliament and the government. He is now taking advantage of this situation to ensure his stay in office.

If the hand of a foreign country and the prospect of links and connections are not involved in this issue, how can a person who naively admitted in an interview with the Iranian, Radio Voice of Iran, that “I have no knowledge of diplomatic games and tricks” continue grabbing the ministry with his both hands?

Parliament has become irrelevant

Should meeting with a few foreigners and addressing small gatherings of Afghans abroad while being totally oblivious of the pains and suffering of Afghan society make a person eligible to be a lifetime minister?

Why the Wolasi Jerga agrees when one ministry is removed from his post while another continues to stay in office illegally? Silence after a series of warnings by Mohammad Yunos Qanuni, Speaker of the Wolasi Jerga, to shut down parliament is also a mystery. Past experiences show that there are personal dealings behind such mysteries. If Wolasi Jerga is not able to defend its decisions, and the government has intentionally limited its role, why is it engaging itself in unimportant petty daily issues? The house should know that there is hardly a difference between dissolving of a parliament or sidelining it and curtailing its role by the government.

Experts of political affairs in Afghanistan say that it was apparent from the very beginning that if the Wolasi Jerga failed to stand on its own feet, the government would try to ensure its clout over it, thus making it a tool in the government’s hands. Apparently, the house has not come under total influence of the government, but the government’s indifference towards its decisions and its legal status has brought the house activities to a standstill. This situation and the pessimism of many members of the Wolasi Jerga have almost brought the jerga to a close. The only different between this state and dissolution of the house is that in case of dissolution, members of parliament do not come in for criticize, and have no legal responsibility as they can say that they did what they could, but it was the government which violated the law and dissolved the parliament. But in the present situation, members of the Wolasi Jerga are serving. Therefore, the public opinion judges them and takes them to task. Question to be asked is that why Wolasi Jerga has chosen to remain silence against the government, particularly in Dr Spanta’ case?

According to reports, the government’s indifference towards the Wolasi Jerga decisions, particularly in Dr Spanta’s case, has left many members of parliament uncertain about the continuation of the parliament’s work. Their participation in parliament sessions has decreased significantly.

On other hand, there has been no collective motion within the parliament to correct the situation. Question to be asked is that if head of the state is only the president of Dr Spanta and some foreign countries, or is he an elected president of all people of Afghanistan? If the former is true, this must be publicly announced, but if he is the president of all people [of Afghanistan], he must respect the law, the same which granted people the right to elect him.

Law obliges the president to respect Wolasi Jerga decisions. It is wished that the government had also shown the same persistence and resoluteness in dealing with other important issues, such as prosecuting individuals involved in bribery, economic bands, and mafia groups, which have induced corruption in the government, causing people to turn to the Taleban.

How good if foreign countries had pressured the government on these issues so to prevent looming social crisis in Afghanistan. The government’s use of power tools, and the foreign circles’ use of the weak Afghan government to achieve their own objectives will only compound the trend of increasing lack of confidence among people [vis a vis the government] and will result in increased social threats.

[Description of Source: Kabul Arman-e Melli (National Aspiration) in Dari -- Four-page independent daily with broad coverage of domestic political issues, including interviews with political figures. Also carries international, science health issues, and readers' letters, some of which are critical of the government. OSC IAP20071025950037 Kabul Arman-e Melli (National Aspiration) in Dari 0000 GMT 21 Oct 07)

Tirana ATA: More Albanian soldiers to Herat

Defense Minister Says Albania Ready To Send Military Experts to Afghanistan

Tirana, 26 October (ATA) — The Minister of Defense, Fatmir Mediu, confirmed Albania’s willingness to send military experts to Afghanistan, who will assist to enhance professionalism of the Afghan Army and Police. This is the current NATO’s and ISAF priority regarding Afghanistan.

The Press Office in the Ministry of Defense reported on Friday (26 October) that on October 24, Minister Mediu attended the meeting of defense ministers of the NATO and partner nations, that take part in ISAF mission in Afghanistan, held in Noordvijk of Holland.

Mr.Mediu stressed that “Albania will stand in Afghanistan up to completion of ISAF mission. This is a serious and constant commitment to build a democracy through peace and stability.”

He acquainted the participants with the reforms the Albanian government has implemented in the threshold of NATO summit in the coming spring in Bucharest, where our country is expected to get membership invitation in the North Atlantic Alliance.

“In Riga summit, the NATO Secretary General demanded additional contributions by the participating nations in ISAF mission in Afghanistan. Albania responded immediately to this appeal, through sending additional companies under Italian command in Herat,” said Mr.Mediu, while he announced that “actually, Albania is present in Afghanistan with three important contributions, one squad under Turkish command in Kabul, a company in Herat and the joint medical team in the framework of the Adriatic Charter under Czech command.”
[Description of Source: Tirana ATA in English -- government press agency. OSC EUP20071026005009 Tirana ATA in English 1231 GMT 26 Oct 07]

Herat TV: Afghan Herat TV recognized as best national channel

Text of report by provincial state-owned Afghan Herat TV on 26 October

A workshop has been held in Kabul to discuss measures to make TV programmes national in the provinces. The workshop was attended by the heads of radio and TV departments from various provinces. The head of the Herat Radio and TV Station, Hassamuddin Shams, also attended the workshop and briefed the participants on achievements of the Herat TV channel.

The workshop also had discussions on the quality of TV programmes in all provinces. The speakers praised the efforts of officials in charge of the Herat Radio and TV and marked this TV channel as the best among other provinces.

It is also important to note that Abdol Sattar Alkozay, reporter at the Herat TV Station, was recognized as the best reporter among reporters in the country.

[Description of Source: Herat Herat Television in Dari -- state-run television. OSC IAP20071027950004 Herat Herat Television in Dari 1630 GMT 26 Oct 07]

Radio Sahar: Twenty-five Afghan police desert posts in west, Taleban say they join them

Excerpt from report by Afghan female-orientated community Radio Sahar on 27 October

[Presenter] Afghan security officials in Herat Province say 25 police officers have deserted their jobs and have taken away their weapons in the Delaram District of Farah Province. At the same time, the Taleban claim these police officers have joined their side. Hami Azad has a report on this:

[Correspondent] Mr Ali Khan, head of the crime prevention branch of the Western Zone Security Command, states that 25 police officers have escaped from the checkpoints in Delaram District of Farah Province and have returned home in the Adraskan District of Herat Province. It is said that these officers have also taken away their weapons with them. In addition, Mr Ali Khan says that they have contacted the elders who had recommended these officers. The elders have agreed to surrender the policemen to security officials.

[Passage omitted: official's remarks, repetition]

On the other hand, the Taleban claim that 25 policemen have joined their side in western Afghanistan. The head of the crime prevention crime branch of the Western Zone Security Command denies this. The official asserts that these policemen must be punished in line with the laws and for deserting their posts.

Some sources attribute the desertions to delays in paying their salaries of these policemen.

[Description of Source: Herat Radio Sahar in Dari -- local independent radio station in Herat run mainly by women. IAP20071027950063 Herat Radio Sahar in Dari 1230 GMT 27 Oct 07]

Pagah: “Increasing smuggling in Herat”

Text of editorial entitled “Increasing smuggling in Herat” by Afghan Herat University newspaper Pagah on 27 October 2007

Recently, security organizations in Herat Province, particularly the border police, have done their best to seize large amounts of drugs in border regions.

In addition, since the recent replacement of the Herat security commander, security situation has been relatively under control and the police have started to treat people humanely. Of course all this should be appreciated. However, the very question as to whether all these efforts are sufficient and effective enough to help security stay as it is will be answered in the course of time. Let me start with this fact: As a strategic and border town in a country like Afghanistan, which is the largest producer and cultivator of drug in all over the world, Herat has undoubtedly attracted the local and international mafia. This is because Herat can play the role of the best and most proper harbour for drug smugglers to carry out their business. A proof for this fact is the prevailing market of opium, heroin and crystal trade in Herat. As heard repeatedly from high-ranking government officials, some accomplices of the drug mafia and smugglers are working in senior government posts and provincial security officials share the profits with groups of drug smugglers.

Yes, a number of drug smugglers, who have been involved in bloodsheds, are carrying out their business without any fear in Herat Province, too. Unfortunately, these individuals had managed to receive weapons and safety warranty from the police before Mr [Joma] Adel was appointed Herat’s security commander. The men are still continuing their inhumane business by using the facilities they possess. Although, as executive organizations, Herat security officials have untiringly been working to establish security in the province, they will achieve nothing unless they set up foundational, accurate strategies to fight drug smuggling – identifying and arresting important members of the drug mafia. We feel the lack of such measures in the fight against the drugs trade. This is at a time that the anti-narcotics department is operating as a foundation where policies are made. This department is making tough efforts while it does not have a correct understanding of the region and situation. Their efforts resemble the struggle of a gardener who tries to repair the branches of a tree, while its roots have a serious problem.

Furthermore, corruption in government departments and preference of nepotism over competence are the main factors which have provided the ground for the drugs mafia to carry on with their business.

We are proud that drug cultivation has dropped significantly in Herat Province, but we are unaware that supply and demand are closely linked with each other. This means that the presence of drug smugglers in Herat have caused demands to rise in the country. And this market is getting busier and busier every day, which leads to an increase in drug cultivation and production.

On the other hand, drug smugglers are negligent of the tragic side of their business. By preferring their own interests to that of the nation and satisfying their ego, they are leading thousands of young men to self-destruction and bringing sorrow to mothers. They are ignorant that by sending out their stuff to other countries, nations will start to hate Afghans.

We hope that the central government, particularly concerned officials in Herat Province, pay serious attention to this issue so that our national identity and pride will continue to remain the same and that Afghans will continue to have friendly relations with the rest of the world. This will also help prevent many young people inside the country from becoming addicted to this destructive stuff. We hope that we are moving towards a prestigious and renovated Afghanistan.

[Description of Source: Herat Pagah in Dari --Sometimes critical of the government and foreign forces. OSC IAP20071027950070 27 Oct 07]

NYT: Afghan Ex-Militia Leaders Hoard Illegal Arms

October 28, 2007

By KIRK SEMPLE
KABUL, Afghanistan, Oct. 27 — Many former militia commanders and residents in northern Afghanistan have been hoarding illegal weapons in violation of the country’s disarmament laws, giving the excuse that they face a spreading Taliban insurgency from the south that government forces alone are too frail to stop, Afghan and Western officials say.

After years of moderate success for government disarmament programs, rumors of widespread defiance in the north have arisen recently among government officials and intelligence agencies in Kabul and elsewhere. Although there is little hard evidence that commanders are greatly enlarging their arsenals, officials say, some have been thwarting government programs, refusing to disarm and possibly even remobilizing militias.

The talk of rearming underscores a deepening north-south ethnic divide that some diplomats and Afghan officials privately worry could lead the way toward a shift of power back to warlords — and toward a countrywide armed conflict — if left unchecked. And the situation poses a major challenge for President Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun from the south, whose administration has failed to win the confidence of many non-Pashtun leaders and northerners.

Prices on the weapons black market in the north have skyrocketed as residents, governed by suspicion and foreboding, have kept their firearms, driving down the supply.

“There is an environment of mistrust” in the government, Brig. Gen. Abdulmanan Abed, a Defense Ministry official who works with the government’s demilitarization program, said in an interview this month in Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of Balkh Province. “There is a fear of the return of the Taliban.”

A prominent political leader from the north, speaking on condition of anonymity, put it this way: “The Taliban are coming toward us. What should we do? Who will defend us? Who will protect us? This is in the minds of the people in the north.”

Col. Mats Danielsson, the Swedish commander of a 450-man military unit helping to provide security in four northern provinces, said the Karzai administration and its international allies must find a way to roll back the Taliban threat and reassure northerners.

“We have to keep the window of opportunity open, but I feel that the window is closing,” he said.

The Taliban insurgency is strongest in southern and eastern Afghanistan. And while it has been able to bedevil Afghan and international troops in some other regions of the country, before this year its reach rarely stretched into the northern provinces.

But government officials report an increase in Taliban activity in the north this year, particularly in the northwest. The number of Taliban attacks on Afghan and international security forces in Balkh and the other relatively peaceful provinces of north-central Afghanistan has risen from last year, the authorities say.

Residents here in Balkh Province and elsewhere in north-central Afghanistan say they are beginning to feel encircled.

“The Taliban is trying to start up its old networks here,” Colonel Danielsson said in an interview in early October at his headquarters in Mazar-i-Sharif. “We have to figure out how to stop this influence.”

Afghan and Western officials also say that in addition to an increase in Taliban activity, there has been an escalation in crime and, in some areas, tensions among rival northern political factions. These officials say it is often difficult to determine who is to blame for specific violent acts.

The most apparent signs of rearming, officials say, are in Faryab Province, in the northwest, where commanders have organized an armed militia to fend off a growing Taliban presence in neighboring Badghis Province that has gone largely unchecked by Afghan and international security forces.

Gen. Dan K. McNeill, commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, said in a recent interview in Kabul that he had received unconfirmed intelligence reports that small shipments of weapons had been smuggled across the border “from one or two countries to the north” and delivered “to receivers in some of the northern provinces.” But he declined to provide further details.

Afghan government officials also say that in certain northern districts, militia commanders have evaded government weapons inspectors by breaking down their stockpiles of illegal firearms and redistributing them throughout their communities, making them harder to find.

Afghan and Western officials say that weapons are hidden everywhere: in grain silos and closets, in mountain caves and in holes in the ground.

And though the government’s demobilization programs have gone some way toward dismantling many of the hundreds of illegal militias, and have removed nearly all the heavy weapons from those factions, former warlords still hold considerable sway.

“They have the power of a phone call to put hundreds, or thousands, in arms,” Colonel Danielsson said. “There are a lot of weapons up here.”

All the weapons in Afghanistan were supposed to be in the government’s hands by now, all the private militias were to be a thing of the past.

After the Taliban fell in 2001 and fighting erupted among rival warlords, the Afghan government began the first of two disarmament and demobilization programs that were principally intended to dismantle warlords’ militias and other illegal armed groups. In three decades of war, weapons had poured across the borders and authority was often established by the rule of the gun.

The programs, which are voluntary, have dismantled at least 274 paramilitary organizations, reintegrated about 62,000 militia members into civilian life and recovered more than 84,000 weapons, including thousands of heavy arms that had fallen under the control of regional warlords. Afghan and NATO forces have confiscated and destroyed many other weapons, officials said. But Afghan and international officials acknowledge that hundreds of illegal armed groups still operate in Afghanistan. And hundreds of thousands — maybe millions — of weapons remain in private hands, although they are mostly small arms rather than heavy weapons, the officials say.

Of the weapons that have been collected, they say, at least 40 percent were not functional.

“There is at least one weapon in each house,” said General Abed, who was an officer in the anti-Taliban mujahedeen. Government officials note that the demilitarization programs were not intended to collect arms and were instead focused on disbanding armed groups.

“I think it will take many, many years” to disarm the population, said Hameed Quraishi, manager of the government’s demilitarization program in the north. “It doesn’t matter how hard you try. It’s the level of confidence the people have in the government.”

But the talk about rearming is not entirely military. It also appears to be a means of pressing the Karzai government, which many northern leaders have accused of favoring the south, a region mostly populated by members of his Pashtun ethnicity.

“We selected Karzai to unify the country,” said a prominent politician from the north and former member of the Northern Alliance, which fought the Taliban. “But people who joined him have pushed him to being a Pashtun leader, not a national leader.”

Disproportionate amounts of aid money and weapons have flowed to the south to prop up the regional leadership and battle the Taliban. As part of this effort, the government has been trying to build an auxiliary police force among southern Pashtun tribes to confront the insurgency.

Many northern leaders say that they have been shortchanged in the distribution of development aid and worry about the militarization of the south as they are being asked to disarm.

“Northern commanders are saying: ‘We can’t disarm. This guy is trying to unite all Pashtuns. We have to defend ourselves!’ ” a European diplomat said in Kabul.

General McNeill doubts some of the northern claims. “There’s no question that there’s a hell of a lot of political posturing in the northern sectors,” he said. “Where they think they’re ignored in the reconstruction process, there often is a report: ‘They’re here! The Taliban! They got us surrounded!’ ”

In interviews, northern Afghan leaders said that in spite of their concerns about the central government, they were standing by Mr. Karzai. And most of them denied that any stockpiling of weapons was occurring.

“If we take up arms, it means the democratic process is defeated,” said Sayed Mustafa Kazemi, spokesman for the National Front, a political coalition mainly composed of non-Pashtun leaders from the north. “We want this government to survive its entire term because we don’t want the process to be defeated.”