آدم‌ربایی کودکی ۹ ساله در بلخ ضعف دولت افغانستان در تامین امنیت شهروندان را نشان میدهد

آدرم‌ربایی کودکی دربلخ که دل یک ملت را به درد آورده است

بیش از پنج ماه است که عبدالرووف ۹ ساله، پسر یک بازرگان از قوم ترکمن از شهر مزارشریف به دست آدم ربایان در راه رفتن به مدرسه ربوده شده و به جاهای نامعلومی منتقل شده است. آدم ربایان تا حالا چندین کلیپ ویدیویی برای خانواده عبدالرووف از آزار و اذیت و شکنجه اش فرستاده و خواستار دو میلیون و دوصد هزار دلار آمریکایی در ازای آزادی او شده اند. 

گرچه هویت آدم‌ربایان از سوی دولت به گونه رسمی افشا نشده، اما یک منبع آگاه از این پرونده می‌گوید حلقه‌های نزدیک به قدرت در این آدم ربایی دست دارند. 

اتهام حمایت مقام های ارشد دولت از مجرمین

این منبع آگاه می‌گوید فرمانده اخترمحمد ابراهیم‌خیل مشهور به اختر لچک مسئول پیشین کمپین انتخاباتی اشرف غنی در بلخ همراه با پسرانش در این آدم ربایی دخیل‌اند. به گفته این منبع والی بلخ در نخستین روز های آدم ربایی با استناد به شواهد و مدارک ۱۱ نفر به شمول فرزندان فرمانده اختر را بازداشت و برای تحقیق به کابل فرستاد. اما فرزندان فرمانده اختر بدون اینکه مورد بازجویی قرار گیرند در کمترین مدت با ضمانت دوباره آزاد شده و به مزارشریف بازگشتند. هواداران آنها هنگام بازگشت از این افراد با گل استقبال کردند. پدر عبدالرووف نیز تایید می کند که این حلقه افراد زورمند در این آدم ربایی دست دارد.  

در همان روز نخست که عبدالرووف ربوده شد، نیروهای امنیتی می‌خواستند شخصی به نام ضمیر را که پیشینه جرمی هم دارد، بازداشت کنند.

نیروهای امنیتی بلخ او را تحت تعقیب داشتند اما این فرد به منزل عبدالسلام بای (مشهور به سلام بای کفایت) از تاجران بزرگ پناه برد.

 با آنکه امنیت ملی اصرار بر بازداشت فوری اش داشت، اما با وساطت یکی از معاونان امنیت ملی گرفتاری با تاخیر بیشتر از یک ساعت مواجه شده و برخی اسناد و مدارک ازجمله تلفن همراه که به واسطه آن به پدر عبدالرووف تماس گرفته شده بود، ناپدید شد. 

به گفته منبع، بعد از گرفتاری ضمیر، تماس های بعدی با پدر عبدالرووف از شماره دیگر صورت می‌گرفت. 

این منبع می‌گوید، ضمیر فردیست که با خانواده فرمانده اختر قرابت نزدیک دارد. برادر ضمیر داماد فرمانده اختر است. معاون امنیت ملی که این گریز را زمینه سازی کرده بود، نیز بخاطر این کار، از وظیفه سبکدوش شد.  

به گفته منبع آگاه از این پرونده، سلام بای و ضمیر طراح این آدم ربایی اند و فرزندان اختر محمد و همدستان شان مجریان آن.

منبع می‌گوید، ضمیر از همدستان فرزندان فرمانده اختر در جرایم دزدی و سرقت هاست. فرزندان فرمانده اختر در گذشته نیز در پیوند به دزدی ها و قضایای جنایی متهم شده اند، اما بخاطر حمایت مقام های ارشد حکومت مرکزی، مسوولین حکومت محلی نتوانسته اند آنها را بازداشت و به نهاد های عدلی و قضایی معرفی کنند.

این بار نیز منابع آگاه می‌گویند فرزندان فرمانده اختر در این آدم ربایی دخیل اند و به همین دلیل آنها بازداشت شده و برای بازجویی به کابل منتقل شده بودند.

حاجی نبی، پدر عبدالرووف مدعی است، این آدم ربایی از سوی سلام بای سازماندهی شده و مجری آن فرزندان اختر محمد است. 

فرمانده اختر از زورمندان محلی است که در بلخ قدرت دارد. او پیشتر نیز دست به اقدامات ضدامنیتی زده است. 

حدود سه سال پیش نیز یکی از فرزندان اختر محمد در حال ربودن یک جعبه پول از یک مغازه مورد پیگیرد پولیس قرار گرفت. پسر اختر محمد پس از فرار از ساحه ی جرم به منزل پدرخود اختر محمد پناه برد. پلیس که توانسته بود مجرم را تا دم در فرمانده اختر دنبال کند، با مخالفت نیروهای مسلح فرمانده اختر مواجه شده ومنزل این فرمانده برای ۲۴ ساعت تحت محاصره نیروهای امنیتی قرار گرفت. سرعت عمل فرمانده اختر در یاری جستن از کابل به حدی سریع بود که پلیسی که در دم در خانه اش بود قبل از ورود با ممانعت دولت مرکزی مواجه شد.

با آنکه ویدیوی جریان سرقت پول در شبکه های اجتماعی منتشر شده بود، آنزمان نیز مسوولین حکومت مرکزی در این قضیه دخالت کرد و نیروهای امنیتی نتوانستند وارد منزل اختر محمد شده و فرزند او را بازداشت کنند. به گفته منبع، در آن زمان هدایت کابل به مقام های محلی بلخ این که بود که این موضوع را به شکل مسالمت آمیز حل کنند.

در نهایت پس از ۲۴ ساعت، پلیس حلقه محاصره را شکست و مقام های بلخ ازجمله رئیس شورای ولایتی این موضوع را یک(سوء تفاهم) خواند. امری که با واکنش تند کاربران شبکه های اجتماعی مواجه شده و دولت مرکزی را حامی جانیان و دزدان خواندند. 

این‌بار نیز مقام های محلی تلاش کردند تا پیش از آنکه آسیبی به عبدالرووف ۹ ساله برسد، مظنونان را بازداشت و مورد بازجویی قرار دهند، اما مخالفت مقام های مرکزی باعث شد که شماری از آنها به شمول فرزندان فرمانده اختر بدون کدام بازجویی با قید ضمانت آزاد شوند. 

محمد فرهاد عظیمی والی بلخ در پیوند به این آدم ربایی به رسانه ها گفته این پرونده خیلی پیچیده و تا حدی سیاسی است. به گفته والی بلخ، حال این پرونده در سطح رئیس جمهور، معاون اول ریاست جمهوری و مشاور شورای امنیت ملی پیگیری می‌شود.

منبع میگوید پیچیدگی این پرونده به پیوند های خانوادگی فرمانده اختر با دیگر متهمان گره خورده است.

برخی از افراد مظنون در این پرونده از ساحه تحت کنترول دولت فرار کرده و در مناطق تحت نفوذ طالبان پناه برده اند. طالبان شماری از آنها را دستگیر و اعتراف شان را گرفته است. یکی از این افراد سید کریم آغا یکی از  فرماندهان محلی  مربوط به غلام حضرت گرگری است.

گرگری از فرماندهان ملیشه در زمان داکتر نجیب الله است که بعداً با طالبان یکجا شده و پس از سقوط این گروه به پاکستان پناه برده بود. او با حمایت حامد کرزی دوباره به أفغانستان آمده و حال هم یکی از فرماندهان شورش های مردمی در بلخ است. سید کریم آغا در اعتراف خود به طالبان پذیرفته که پسران فرمانده اختر عبدالرووف را یک شب در منزل او آورده بودند، اما بعداً آنجا را ترک کردند.

طالبان همچنان یازده تن از افراد گروه خود را بخاطر تبانی با آدم ربایان بازداشت کرده است. 

در اعتراضات مردمی ۱۹ دلو در شهرمزارشریف، حاجی نبی پدر عبدالرووف به رسانه ها نام یکی از آدم ربایان را پَلی گفت. پَلی هم از افراد فرمانده گرگری است که در یکی از اعترافات افراد دستگیرشده از سوی طالبان گفته او این آدم ربایی را با همکاری عنان و دونفر دیگر انجام داده و عبدالرووف را برای ملک بای سپرده است. عنان فعلاً در بازداشت امنیت ملی و تحت تحقیق این نهاد است.

غلام حضرت گرگری با فرمانده اختر محمد ابراهیم‌خیل رابطه نزدیک دارد. فرزند فرمانده اختر داماد فرمانده گرگری میشود. پَلی و سید کریم آغا افراد گرگری اند و گرگری هم خسر یکی از فرزندان فرمانده اختر. 

حاجی نبی در این راهپیمایی هشدار داد، اگر حکومت به ویژه رئیس جمهور برای رهایی فرزندش تعلل کند، نام آدم ربایان دیگر را نیز بعداً با رسانه ها شریک خواهد کرد. هشدار مستقیم پدر عبدالرووف به کابل و رد پای این همه مجرمین در بلخ به یکجا ختم میشود، به منزل فرمانده اختر. و حامیان فرمانده اختر هم مقام های ارشد در حکومت مرکزی.  

ریشه این ناامنی در کجا است؟ 

اشرف غنی رئیس جمهور و عطامحمد نور، فرمانده نیرومند محلی در بلخ، از زمان انتخابات ۲۰۱۴ روابط پرتنشی داشتند. در انتخابات سال ۲۰۱۴ عطامحمد نور از حامیان بی پروپاقرص عبدالله عبدالله رقیب اشرف غنی بود. در جریان مبارزات انتخاباتی هردو طرف سخنرانی های آتشین علیه هم دیگر داشتند. به گونه مثال، اشرف غنی دریک نشست مبارزات انتخاباتی خود در بلخ وعده داد پس از رئیس جمهور شدن عطامحمد نور را از سمت ولایت بلخ برکنار می‌کند.

حرفهای که با واکنش تند عطامحمد نور مواجه شد و اشرف غنی را باد آورده ی از غرب خواند. در دوران حکومت وحدت ملی اشرف غنی در یک تفاهم سیاسی با عبدالله عبدالله گرچه حکومت را پنجاه پنجاه تقسیم کرد، اما با مرور زمان صلاحیت های عبدالله عبدالله را در امور اجرایی حکومت محدود کرد. عطامحمد نور از عبدالله عبدالله بخاطر عدم واکنش در برابر اشرف غنی ناراض شده و خودش وارد گفتگو شد. اشرف غنی با عطامحمد نور هم وارد یک تعامل سیاسی شد و برای عطامحمد نور و حامیانش چند وزارتخانه و سفارت پیشنهاد داد، اما در عوض خواستار کناری گیری او از قدرت شد.

عطامحمد نور نزدیک به سه ما در برابر این خواست اشرف غنی مقاومت کرد اما بالاخره در اثر فشار های داخلی و بین المللی شکست را در برابر رئیس جمهور وقت پذیرفت. کناره گیری عطامحمد نور از قدرت مشروط به چند موضوع بود. یکی از آن جمع، سپردن مسوولیت ولایت بلخ به حامیان و طرفداران خودش. اشرف غنی هم این خواست او را پذیرفت و محمد اسحق رهگذر، یکی از نزدیکان عطامحمد نور را در بلخ به عنوان والی گماشت. اما این پایان کار نبود.

او میخواست از گروه‌های که با عطامحمد نور میانه خوب ندارند حمایت کند و این گروه ها را منحیث وسیله فشار علیه عطامحمد نور و نزدیکانش در بلخ تقویت کند.

فرمانده اختر و جمعه خان همدرد، و شماری دیگر که از گذشته با عطامحمد نور روابط پر تنش داشتند مورد حمایت اشرف غنی قرار گرفتند. لازم ذکر است، اشرف غنی پس از پیروزی در انتخابات ۲۰۱۴ زمانی که به مزارشریف سفر کرد، اولین جایی که مسکن گزید، منزل فرمانده اختر محمد ابراهیم‌خیل بود. 

مساله آقای غنی این بود که عطا محمد نور با حکومتداری دوامدار در بلخ تمام نیروهای سیاسی را تصفیه کرده و خودش بلخ را به یک مرکز حزبی و شخصی خود تبدیل کرده است. 

حال در پرونده آدم ربایی عبدالرووف نیز ارگ ریاست جمهوری جانب مخالفین عطامحمد نور را گرفته است. محمد فرهاد عظیمی با آنکه وابسته به حزب جمعیت اسلامی نیست، اما از افراد مورد حمایت عطامحمد نور است، و فشار بر او در حقیقت تحت فشار قرار دادن عطامحمد نور است. هرقدر نارضایتی مردم از حکومت محلی بیشتر شود به همان اندازه اشرف غنی برای برکناری حامیان عطامحمد نور از قدرت دست باز پیدا میکند، البته به نحوی که با مقاومت مردم هم مواجه نشود. 

چنانچه با در نظر گیری اوضاع پیش آمده در بلخ، حدود دو ماه و نیم پیش اشرف غنی خطاب به مقام های محلی در بلخ هشدار داد، اگر کودک ربوده شده پیدا نشود، تمام مقام های امنیتی را برکنار خواهد کرد. او برای مقام های محلی بلخ ۱۵ روز زمان داده بود. 

اما در پرونده آدم ربایی عبدالرووف ۹ ساله، اسناد و شواهد علیه فرزندان فرمانده اختر و نزدیکان او یکی پی دیگر افشا میشوند و این امر رئیس جمهور را در تنگنا قرار داده است. اخیراً پدر عبدالرووف علیه سه نفر از جمله فرمانده گرگری، شاه آغاسی یکی از پسران فرمانده اختر، و یک افسر پلیس که به پسر شاه ولی مشهوراست، شکایت درج کرده و مقام های محلی بلخ این سه تن را در بازداشت و به کابل منتقل کرد.

پهلوهای سیاسی این پرونده:

حکومت محلی در بلخ و در تلاش برای ردیابی عبدالرووف علاوه بر فرزندان فرمانده اختر، گروه های دیگر را نیز مورد تحقیق و بازجویی قرار داده است. 

یکی از این افراد که نیروهای مسلح در بلخ دارد، فرمانده نظام الدین قیصاری، فرمانده پیشین ولسوالی قیصار است که فعلاً با افراد مسلح خود در شهر مزارشریف زندگی میکند. 

او پیشتر گفته بود که افراد نزدیک به عطا محمد نور، در این آدم ربایی دخیل اند. او همچنان مدعی شد، نام تمامی آدم ربایان را به هیئتی امنیتی که از کابل آمده بود گفته است. اما به گفته قیصاری، «یا دولت در این پرونده دست دارد، یا هم نمی‌خواهد و یا هم نمیتواند آدم ربایان را دستگیر کند.»

قیصاری در این ویدیو همچنان با تاکید میگوید ، تمامی آدم ربایان را میشناسد و اگر رییس جمهور افغانستان، بخواهد، نام همه آنها را فاش می‌کند.

حدود یک ماه پیش رئیس امنیت ملی در کنفرانس خبری مشترک با مشاور شورای امنیت ملی و سرپرست وزارت دفاع ملی گفت ریاست امنیت ملی بیش از ۲۹ عملیات راه اندازی کرده اما همه عملیات ها ناموفق بوده است. او نیز این پرونده را پیچیده توصیف کرد.

این درحالیست که معترضان به آدم ربایی عبدالرووف و ناکارایی حکومت در شهر های مختلف دست به اعتراضات زده و برای ده روز بنادر تجارتی افغانستان در شمال از جمله شهرک بندری حیرتان، بندر آقینه، و شاهراه جوزجان- بلخ را مسدود کرده بودند. 

حاجی نبی، پدر عبدالرووف در تماس اش با من گفت، وقتی برای دیدار با رییس جمهور و پیگیری پرونده پسرش به کابل آمد و گرانی نرخ گاز و آرد  و وضعیت پریشان مردم را دید از حامیانش خواست تا بنادر را برای تجار باز کنند. 

او اما تاکید کرد چادر های تحصن همچنان پابرجاست و پس از دیدار با رییس جمهور تصمیم خواهد گرفت که به اعتراضات سرتاسری شان ادامه دهند یا خیر.

 حاجی نبی میگوید، در دیدار با رئیس جمهور با همان وعده های میان تهی مواجه شده است و تا حال که پنج ماه از پرونده میگذرد هیچ سرنخی از دلبندش پیدا نشده است. 

پدر این کودک ۹ ساله به من گفت، من پنج ماه را دور از فرزند دلبندم در غم و اندوه بسر برده‌ام، اما تا هنوز نمی‌دانم اجبار ریس جمهوری چیست که با این همه شواهد و اسناد علیه آدم ربایان، نمی‌تواند عبدالرووف را از چنگ آنها آزاد کند.

آدم ربایان اخیراً کلیپ صوتی را برای پدر عبدالرووف فرستاده که در آن صدای ناله و فریاد این کودک ۹ ساله در حالی که شکنجه میشود، شنیده میشود. حاجی نبی میگوید، همراه با این کلیپ آدم ربایان پیامی هم فرستاده اند و تقاضای پول را به گونه مشروط از دو میلیون و دوصد هزار به یک میلیون و دوصدهزار کاهش داده اند، البته اگر همه ی این پول در پنج روز پرداخت شود.

او می‌گوید توان پرداخت این پول را ندارد. حاجی نبی میگوید، دولت در ردیابی و آزاد سازی کودک اش از چنگ آدم ربایان ناکام بوده است و هرگاه اتفاقی برای فرزندش بیافتد  دربرابر پارلمان افغانستان خیمه تحصن برپا کرده و یک‌بار دیگر اعتراضات سرتاسری فراخواهد خواند.

اختر محمد برای گفتگو در مورد اتهام‌های که به او وارد شده حاضر به گفتگو با ما نشد. 

مستند: طبابت زیر سلطه طالبان

The US-Taliban peace deal discussed

Data Age and Digital Security

By: Zabihullah Noori 

At this age of technology where activists use various forms of digital communication whether it is texting on a mobile phone, sending an email, twitting breaking news or organizing an online campaign on Facebook, the privacy and the protection of data is at the center of all these platforms.

Afghanistan Journalists Center as an associated member of the CIVICUS participated in a digital security training that discussed the techniques and maneuvers of detecting data breaches and coming under cyber attack through phishing, malware, and spyware. The training also provided useful tips and list of procedures to follow on how to limit these threats and try to prevent them in the first place.

First and foremost, journalists, civil society activists, and human rights defenders should download software from well-known sources. Regularly update their computers, tablets and mobile phones. Un-updated softwares are more vulnerable to cyber attacks. They should also install an anti-virus on their Mac and PC desktop, laptop, tablets and mobile phones and run a health check at least once a week.

Once these steps are done then the journalists, civil society activists, and human rights defenders can follow these measures that will assist them to safeguard their data and devices such as computers, tablets, and mobile phones and to protect their identity from hackers.

A password is at the heart of protection. The stronger the password, the more you are protected. The creation of a strong and unpredictable password backed up by a Two Factor Authenticator (2FA) is of utmost importance. Passwords are the primary key to hackers who would be interested in hacking one’s account. The weaker or the most predictable the password the more it makes the hackers’ job easy to break in into the account. A password of 15-20 character-long containing numbers, characters and Upper and lower case letters would be really hard for hackers to break in. The 2FA will put another protection layer into the account. Even if a hacker manages to figure out the password in an activist’s computer, it will be really difficult to break in the 2FA that has been activated in another device such as mobile phone.

Variation of passwords for different accounts is another recommendation that journalists and activists must consider.  If the same password were used for different accounts, once a hacker manages to break into one of the accounts, then breaking into all accounts wouldn’t be a hard job.

Since memorizing so many passwords is not an easy task, using the password manager can help. The password manager is a great help in two ways. First for creating a strong randomized password, and second for storing all the randomized passwords for different accounts into a password protected folder. Instead of memorizing 10 different randomized passwords, the activist will only need to memorize the password for the Password Manager application.

Encrypting the computer hard drive, USB and external hard drive is another measure in keeping the data protected and secure from the hackers. It is worth noting that in some countries the governments can force the service providers to share the contents of the activists with them. However, if the data is encrypted, it will make it really hard, if not impossible to decrypt the data, given that is protected by a strong, unpredictable and randomized password and the 2FA.

Some countries ban activists from their activities by imposing a restriction on their Internet. To break this and to be able to access the Internet and do not disclose your physical location to such authorities, it is better to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN).

If you ever felt hacked or got suspicious of coming under a malware attack, you can contact Afghanistan Journalists Center that will connect you to the right sources at Access Now whose staff will analyze the threats and advise you on how to deal with it.

And finally, since journalists and activists try to reach as many people as possible they reach out to various sites, particularly social networking sites that are vulnerable to hackers. The activists and journalists must take extra care in using the sites that are safe for their communication.

Below are the list of some of the website and the purpose they could be used for.

https://www.google.com/landing/2step/ (Google 2 Factor Authentication to back up your password)

https://www.cnet.com/news/the-best-password-managers-directory/(Password manager for creating a randomized password and for storing all your passwords in one place)

https://prism-break.org/en/(websites for downloading open source websites)

https://www.accessnow.org/blog(warning about serious threats)

https://www.torproject.org/(keep your search anonymous and encrypt your search, but only use it for delicate and sensitive matters)

https://haveibeenpwned.com/(check if your email has been hacked)

https://share.riseup.net/(files sharing= equivalent of we transfer, but a lot safer)

https://www.sync.com/(for an end to end encryption-*paid)

https://signal.org/download/ (-messaging, audio, and video calls)

https://wire.com/en/(video calls-End to End encrypted)

https://securityinabox.org/en/(offer step-by-step instructions to help you install, configure and use some essential digital security software and services)

This article was first published on Afghanistan Journalists Center 

The West On The Brink Of Failure In Afghanistan

Int'l community needs to engage in stabilizing the country politically by listening to all Afghans, making sure equal distribution of power among all ethnic groups.

The U.S. and NATO mission in Afghanistan was to eliminate al-Qaeda terrorist network, dismantle the hardline Taliban, and ensure some important Western values such as democracy, women's rights and women's education in the country. 

Sixteen years on, the country still is in turmoil. According to U.S. intelligence reports about 20 terrorist groups including al-Qaeda, Taliban and Daesh are active in Afghanistan. 

The Afghan forces are losing ground to insurgents. Taliban fighters have reached the doorsteps of Kabul. The Afghan government is dysfunctional with all its three branches of power acting illegally and against the Afghan Constitution. 

The international community’s financial and military efforts in Afghanistan will be in vain if it does not engage fully and impartially in resolving the current political dispute among different parties. The dissatisfaction of major players within the government can lead to a civil war and the collapse of the political system, which will only pave the way for the Taliban and Daesh to gain more territory.

The current system of government—a coalition government—was not foreseen in the constitution, and is therefore in contrast with it. The base of this coalition government, as prescribed by the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, is a political agreement between the two front-runners in the 2014 presidential election runoff - both of whom publicly accused each other of orchestrating massive fraud in the elections. The truth is that former Secretary Kerry destroyed the very democratic system of the government in which the U.S. and other nations invested men and money. 

Three years down the road from the establishment of the National Unity Government (NUG), the government has failed to fulfill any of the three major articles of the agreement: reforming the electoral system and the electoral commission, distributing the long-awaited electronic or digital national ID cards and convening a grand assembly to amend the Constitution to legalize the position of the Chief Executive Officer. 

Even putting these failures to one side, the government is three years into its five-year term yet still needs to appoint many of its cabinet ministers. Eleven ministries, nearly 45 percent of Afghan cabinet, are run by acting ministers, seven of whom were given no-confidence votes by the MPs last November for their failure in spending the development budgets in their ministries. 

By law, those ministers should have been out of office within a couple of weeks, but the president ordered them all to continue in their positions to date. An order that is in complete contrast with the Afghan Constitution. The acting ministers' limited authority has added to the already corrupt system and has slowed down the public services even more.

The president appeared in a press conference on 11 July 2017 and told reporters that he plans to introduce the new candidate ministers to the Afghan Parliament in the next six months.

The parliament, which in a real democratic government is a check on the executive branch, also lacks the legitimacy to stand against the president, because their paychecks are dependent on the president issued decree.

The parliamentary election is nearly three years overdue. The MPs sitting in House of Representatives are illegal and against the law, while the Senate is one-third short of its members because the district council election never took place in the past 16 years.

Putting the corruption aside, the judiciary system is incomplete with three judges in the Supreme Court yet to be appointed by the president.

A major turn back to democracy in the formation of National Unity Government (NUG) was the demolition of true political opposition. Since both front-runners running the government, there's no real opposition to hold them accountable to the people.

The only opposition the government has is the civil society with its very limited resources. When the civil society raises the people's voices through organizing demonstrations and public gatherings, the government suppress them in a completely totalitarian method.

Instead of taking measures to improve security, the government continued to cover up the shortcomings of the security officials, partly for ethnic and partisan biases. The government's culture of impunity to officials made the security officials even more irresponsible and indifferent to the situation. While this foul approach encouraged the Taliban and ISIS to become even more proactive.

The oppositions became so courageous that they went inside a fortified military corps in relatively safe and secure province of Balkh in northern Afghanistan. Ten Taliban insurgents wearing the Afghan security forces uniform and using the Afghan defense ministry vehicle managed to enter the 209 Shaheen Military Corps and carry out an unprecedented attack where they killed more than 150 military personnel and wounded about 250 more.

The outburst of public frustration forced the government to take action. But to public surprise, the government disappointed them even more. After severe criticism of the public in mainstream and social media, the Afghan Defense Minister and his Joints Chief of Staff appeared in a press conference and announced their resignations. But just two days after the announcement, the president appointed both men as Afghan ambassadors to Jordan and Kazakhstan.

Following a deadly blast in the heart of Kabul in May that according to Afghan media killed more than 230 and injured more than 800 others the people came to streets and demanded the resignation of security ministers. To disperse the protesters, the Afghan police opened fire on the protesters and killed six people. No government ministers were fired or brought to justice for failure in the job or incompetence.

The Afghan president, an economist with delusion, trusts a finger counted number of people in the government who are all Pashtoon—the same ethnic background as president Ghani. The president’s dictatorship approach and his way of bypassing all players except people in his close circle have created lots of political opponents, including the first vice-president.

Recently the top government players such as first Vice President General Abdul Rashi Dostum, the Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani, the deputy to Afghan CEO Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq and the Provincial Governor of Balkh Atta Mohammad Noor created a coalition in Turkey calling for reform in the government and inclusion of political players from other ethnic backgrounds in decision making processes. Upon return to the country governor Noor spoke among his supporters. Warning the Afghan government and the international community, governor Noor said that if the government doesn’t bring reform and if the international community continues to side with one group while ignoring all parties involved, he will seek and accept “any support, from anyone”.

The first vice-president who is in exile in Turkey, because of the accusation of abuse of authority and sexual harassment, wanted to come back to country, but his plane was not granted permission to land in the Afghan territory. His plane was forced to return back to Turkey. Afghans across the country worry that the vice-president will definitely show serious reaction.

The president still runs the office his way and the West continues to back him politically and financially. President Ghani measures success in obtaining funds from international community. Enjoying the unconditional backing international community, the U.S. specifically, having no powerful political opposition, and having no legal parliament to impeach him, president Ghani has his luckiest days in office.

However, the recent statements by the UN, U.S. and NATO high-ranking officials indicate that the West has come to a realization that it will fail in Afghanistan and will fail badly unless it changes course and takes some serious actions to resolve the matters soon.

In a briefing to the United Nations Security Council on 21 June 2017, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Tadamichi Yamamoto said, “Political fault-lines that emerged are increasingly along an ethnic basis, which is particularly worrying at a time when the Islamic State (Daesh) is attempting to provoke sectarian strife in the country through attacks against Shia Muslims.”

Expressing concerns over deteriorating political situation Mr. Yamamoto said,
“I remain concerned, however, that without changes in governance practices we are likely to face future crises that might be more difficult to contain.”

Speaking to reporters ahead of defense ministerial meeting, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg admitted lack of success in Afghanistan. Emphasizing on the complexity of war in Afghanistan he said, “We don’t think this operation in Afghanistan is going to be easy and we don’t think it's going to be peaceful … this year or next year or in the near future.” In contrast to the Afghan government’s approach for peace talks with the Taliban, he said, “As long as the Taliban believe they can win the war they will not negotiate. We need to break the stalemate and to enable the Afghans to make advances.”

NATO pledged more troops to Afghanistan and 15 nations have shown green light. It is said that NATO will deploy about 3000 more troops to Afghanistan. Currently, NATO has 5000 men on the ground to train and support the Afghan troops under the organization’s Resolute Mission.

Unlike Obama administration officials who often boasted about winning in Afghanistan, the new US administration officials are careful with their words and analysis of the situation in Afghanistan. Learning from the imperfect and nearsighted policies of Obama administration, the Trump administration officials admit their defeat in Afghanistan, while promising a workable and thorough strategy for the Afghan war.

Testifying to the Senate Armed Services Committee, the US Defense Secretary James Mattis said, “We’re not winning in Afghanistan right now and we will correct this as soon as possible.”

The U.S. is currently considering sending around 3,900 troops to Afghanistan, which will bring the total number of American troops in the country to 12,400.
All in all, if approved the total number of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan could rise to 20,400.  It is worth noting that at the height of war in Afghanistan the U.S. had more than 100,000 troops there.

While the U.S. is focused on a military win in Afghanistan, the truth is that there won’t be any long lasting peace or security in country unless the international community gets involved thoroughly in the Afghan situation. Providing funding to corrupt officials with no or little oversight will do no good to Afghan citizens.

To win in Afghanistan, in addition to training the Afghan security forces, the international community must put pressure on Pakistan to close down the terrorist training camps inside Pakistan and to act honestly in targeting terrorists inside its territory. But perhaps most importantly, the international community needs to engage in stabilizing the country politically by listening to all Afghans, making sure that equal distribution of power takes place among all ethnic groups and by holding the government accountable to its citizens. 

This article was initially published at Tolonews.com https://www.tolonews.com/opinion/west-brink-failure-afghanistan

She defied the Taliban: in exile Rahela Sidiqi fights for Afghanistan

An Afghan in exile, Rahela Sidiqi who stood against the brutality of the Taliban in the 90s to educate women and girls in Afghanistan now provides scholarships for disadvantaged girls in her home country. In this video, she talks about some horrible experiences she had with the Taliban.

Afghan Cultural Festival, London

Hundreds of Afghans from across the United Kingdom got together in London for an afternoon of fun, food, live music and enjoyment in celebration of Afghan Cultural Festival.

The Afghan Cultural Festival aimed to illustrate various aspects of the Afghan culture. The Festival had something for every participant whether adults or children.

Afghans enjoying their time at cultural festival

Hamidullah Hamid came from Manchester to enjoy the concert and meet with his friends in London. He said, “ I come to concert to enjoy the live music and meet with friends and family here in London. It’s a lot of fun to meet all these Afghans in one place.”

Maliha Wahab, 52, mother of six came to watch the live performance of Ms. Naghma—a famous female Afghan Pashto singer.

Mrs. Wahab said, “I love Naghma and I always wanted to see her live performance. Today’s festival made my dream come true.”

Famous musicians and nine Afghan singers were invited from Canada, USA and Europe to perform live music for an audience of about 1000 people at Gunnersbury Park.

Ghulam Nabi, 17, an asylum seeker from southern Afghanistan has only been in the United Kingdom for a week. Master Nabi said that he feels lucky that his host family had another Afghan boy who knew about the concert. Nabi said that he has not been to any concert in his village, because so far as he remembers there has always been fighting in his village in Helmand province. He said, “It is unbelievable to see so many Afghan together and hear the songs in your own language. I cannot find words to express my joy and happiness.”

In addition to music the organizers put a lot of efforts to represent the Afghan culture in as many ways as possible. Afghan models on the catwalk showed different Afghan traditional dresses. Food stalls offered traditional Afghan meals like Qabili Palau (steamed rice cooked with lamb, raisin and carrot), Mantoo (Ravioli), Bolani (Pan fried pastry filled with potato) and Shor Nakhod (boiled chickpea) for sale.  One stall sold Afghan books in Dari and Pashto languages at discounted prices; the other stall had contemporary and traditional Kochi dresses for sale; another stall sold Afghan-style kite and string. On one corner of the park fun fair has been organized to entertain the children.

The veteran Afghan journalist and TV presenter Ahmad Ghous Zalmai came from Canada to host the event.  Emphasizing on the importance of Afghan Cultural Festival Mr. Zalmai said that such events can teach a great deal of cultural values to Afghan children who are born abroad. 

He said, “When the children come in these festivals, they see the interaction of Afghans with each other, they see the Afghan singers, they hear different languages of Afghanistan, and they make friends and network with other Afghans.”

Suleiman Halim an employee of Navab&Co Accountants Company—one of the leading sponsors of 5^th Afghan Cultural Festival said, “Afghanistan is a very diverse country with several local languages and accents. In this festival, we tried to bring singers of different languages, so everyone can feel and enjoy their own music.”

Afghan Cultural Festival has been growing over the years. Initially, Paiwand Afghan Association initiated the idea of celebrating Afghan Cultural Festival, but over the years various Afghan companies and businesses have come forward to sponsor and support this event. The 5^th Afghan Cultural Festival was organized and managed by Navab&Co with support from Kabul City restaurant, Elonat magazine, HH Studio and Mangal exchange and travel.  

Afghan elections: Ballot Shortage, Calm before Storm

By: Zabihullah Noori

More than 7 million Afghans, one third of whom women, cast their votes on April 5^th presidential and provincial councils elections. Afghans flocked to the polling station and cast their votes, despite a series of serious disruption threats from Taliban and terrorists. However, the shortage of ballot papers in several provinces disappointed many voters who went to the polling stations just to find out that they could not cast their votes.

The turnout of voters in a relatively cold and rainy day not only was a clear indication of their frustration with current corrupt government and president Karzai’s pro-Taliban policies, but also a show of enthusiasm for a change and their support for democratic process in transfer of power from one elected president to the next. This was a historic day for Afghanistan. It was the first time in the country’s history that the transition of power could take place without any coup or bloodshed.

Just days before the election the Taliban attacked several key locations including site offices and headquarter of the Independent Electoral Commission in the country’s capital Kabul, killing people and causing chaos. The Taliban have vowed to disrupt the elections in any way they could. But determination of Afghans showed that they value democracy at the cost of their lives.

Alongside the general public, April 5^th 2014 proved a historic day for the Afghan National Security Forces as for the first time the ANSF acted in collaboration with each other and ensured the security of voters and polling stations without the support of international troops. 

Apart from security threats, fraud and interference of government in the Independent Electoral Commission’s affairs was another big worry that most Afghans, but specifically the runners in the race had. During the electoral campaign period different government opposition political parties and candidates accused the incumbent president and government officials for abusing power and supporting specific candidates. But president Karzai has always dismissed such accusations and emphasized on impartiality of the government and his ministers.

As seen, the transparency of this year’s election was much better than the past two elections, in part, due to huge participation of the public. But the shortage of ballots in specific parts of the country showed the incapability of the IEC in its preparation for this important day.

The IEC claims that it had dispatched 600 ballot papers for each polling center, estimating a one-minute time scale for each voter in a ten-hour day mission. But the independent observers, the journalists and the voters in these centers reported that some polling centers run out of ballot papers in the early hours of the day. According to reports polling centers in Balkh, Herat, Samangan, Badakhshan, Jawzjan and Kabul provinces run out of ballot papers as early in the day as 11am.

When asked for explanation, the IEC officials denied the claims, but insisted in prosecuting the perpetrators, if their investigation finds any staff guilty of fraud.   

The ballot shortage, not only deprived people from practicing their rights and casting their votes, but also brought the thoroughness of elections along with the independence of Electoral Commission under question.

Perhaps it might not come as surprise that the ballot shortage was mostly reported in the North and West of the country, where the frontrunners Dr. Abdullah Abdullah and Dr Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, the main competitors to the Dr. Zalmai Rassoul—a candidate said to be backed by the president—had large number of voters.

With President Karzai cherry picking and appointing the entire commission’s members and with reports surfacing about the ballot shortages in specific parts of the country, most people accuse the Commission for organizing a systematic fraud.

As expressed by candidates spokespersons as well as voters through social media sites, they believe that the ballot shortage in North and West was planned by the Commission to stop the frontrunners from winning in the first round and to provide president’s favorite candidate with a chance to close the gap and make it among the top two in the race.

While official results are expected in two to three weeks, the candidates’ representatives have already begun to question the issue of ballot shortage in media talk shows. The upcoming days are crucial as the observers and media will closely monitor the process and will inform the public about the Electoral Complaint Commissions’ findings. Reports of any intentional wrongdoing by the IEC staff in favor of any candidate not only can undermine the results, but can also jeopardize the whole process. The ballot shortage issue seems to be the calm before storm.

This article was first published in the Eurasiareview.com on April 9, 2014
Disclaimer:  The photo published with the article in Eurasiareview.com was chosen by the site administrator.