Afghan female athlete is threatened, seeks asylum in lieu of attending Olympics

Instead of competing in the Olympics this August as planned, Afghan athlete Mehboba Ahdyar is instead seeking asylum in Europe after receiving death threats from religious extremists. According to a report Monday in Spiegel Online, Ahdyar, 19, ran away from a training camp in Italy because of the negative reaction she has faced since receiving media attention earlier this year. Neighbors accused her of prostitution and extremists objected to her participation in sports as a Muslim woman.

According to the article, after disappearing, “she told [her family] that she was in Europe and would not be coming back. She said she was scared of reprisals because of her sports career. Her parents are now reportedly under pressure from members of the Afghan Olympic Committee, who say that if she does not come back they will be held responsible and could be thrown in jail.”

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Women leaders making their voices heard, even in Afghanistan’s more conservative regions

In many instances, women are more organized and better able to articulate their concerns then their male counterparts, with Afghanistan serving as a case in point, according to The Canadian Press.

The articles describes the scene at a joint shura, or town council meeting, in Kandahar, where more than 20 burka-clad women took a seat in the board room.

“It is a women’s event and I think women are much more organized and better concerned about the problems in society than men,” Rangina Hamidi, a well-known women’s rights advocate and one of the group’s leaders said after the meeting.

According to the article, “The event last month was a combined effort of the Women’s Problem Solving Committee and the provincial women’s shura, Hamidi said. Its goal was to discuss the problems facing Kandahar women and to make decisions on how best to address those problems.”

The article added that: “The women also gloated in the fact that many men were completely taken aback after hundreds of Afghan women across the country held simultaneous peace prayers last month to call for an end to the war and destruction that has claimed the lives of so many of their husbands, sons and brothers.”

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Afghans demonstrate for release of journalist accused of ‘mocking Islam’

Afghan activists and journalists demonstrated in the northern Balkh Province on Sunday to demand the release of a 23-year-old newspaper reported detained by Afghan security forces for alleged blasphemy, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported Monday citing Bakhtar news agency and other Afghan media.

According to Bakhtar, Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, a student at Balkh University, has been detained for three months “accused of mocking Islam and the Holy Koran” and for distributing an article saying the Prophet Mohammad “ignored the rights of women.”

“Demonstrating outside the Human Rights Commission’s office in the provincial capital of Mazar-e Sharif, protesters said that the accusation is false and demanded Kambakhsh’s release,” RFE/RFL noted. “Afghanistan is experiencing a boom in media activities and relative journalistic freedom since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001; however, charges of blasphemy still carry the death penalty.”

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Photojournalist documents other side of Afghanistan

Paula Lerner, a photojournalist who managed to capture a glimpse of the everyday life of the people of Afghanistan, wants to show Americans another side of Afghanistan, according to The Boston Globe.

“Lerner, a magazine and commercial photographer, became interested in Afghanistan through her volunteer work for the Business Council for Peace, or Bpeace, which helps women establish businesses in post-conflict regions,” the article says, adding later, “Her photos, as well as video and audio recordings that focused on the lives of five Afghan women, eventually were put together for a multimedia project on The Washington Post’s website.”

Lerner considers herself a journalist and advocate. “I make no bones about it,” she said. “I think it’s more interesting to take a point of view.”

“Afghanistan’s fate has become closely intertwined with the foreign policy of the United States,” the article says, “and yet, Lerner noted, ‘it’s hard for us Americans to wrap our heads around the culture,’ but ‘it’s vital for us to have a connection with that place.’”

According to the article, “One of her photos shows Afghan children – too young to know about Taliban or Russian rule – playing in a yard. While taking the photos, Lerner could see the impact of their innocent laughter on the face of her Afghan guide.”

“It made a difference; it was healing,” Lerner said, “I could see it in front of me. That’s what’s so compelling about being in a place like that and telling those stories. It’s not just living through all that but coming out the other end and being human again.”

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Wilson Center event addresses Afghanistan six years after Taliban’s fall

The Woodrow Wilson Center held a public event on December 6 entitled, “Appraising Afghanistan: Measuring Success and Failure, Six Years Later.” Speakers from four different fields presented their viewpoints on the situation in the war-torn nation.

According to William C. Martel, an associate professor of international security studies at Tufts University, there are three levels of victory: tactical victory, political military victory and grand strategic victory. He explained the meanings of the different levels, saying that tactical victory is short-term victory, for example, victory in a battle. He described political military victory as a larger institutional transformation. Grand strategic victory was explained as the reordering of the international system, and Martel cited World War II and the Cold War as examples.

In Afghanistan, in late 2001, the Taliban regime started to crack; this could be referred to as tactical victory, Martel said. When the al-Qaeda members were first chased out of government positions, this was a political military victory. The U.S. objective in Afghanistan was to chase out the Taliban regime, before the Taliban would become a threat to U.S. interests, and then rebuild Afghanistan. This reflects a grand strategic victory, Martel said.

Seth G. Jones, a political scientist with the RAND Corporation and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, followed Martel on the panel. According to Jones, domestic governance and external support are two of the most critical issues for Afghanistan. With regards to domestic institutions, Jones pointed to the fact that in the country’s rural areas, the police are often poorly trained, which means that villages are not being protected. Jones adds: “In these areas they have no chance but to provide the Taliban what they ask for, otherwise they will be shot in the head and dragged behind a car.” ON the subject of governmental problems, he also noted that access to water and electricity is still nonexistent for many Afghans. Jones also said that one of the major problems facing Afghanistan today is meager public support. While support for the Taliban is not high, he said, support for the government is very low.

On the matter of external support, Jones said that in the past several years, international attention to Afghanistan has waned considerably. He added that there has been insufficient emphasis on a regional approach to the situation.

William Byrd, an economist in the World Bank’s South Asia division, began his presentation by focusing on the counternarcotics effort. “Counternarcotics have failed,” he said, noting that while there have been some indications of progress, the circumstances at present are dire.

“If we do not deal with the drugs it will be hard to solve anything else,” Byrd said. He added: “We need a smart strategy because the drug industry is not static.” Byrd said that a key step in such a strategy is confronting large trafficking rings and their sponsors and also ensuring that complicit Afghan officials are fired from their posts. Still, he cautioned that the problem will not be solved quickly. “It will take a long time before we get rid of drugs in Afghanistan,” Byrd said.

Malaly Pikar Volpi, the executive director of the U.S.-Afghanistan Reconstruction Council, a nonprofit organization founded by Afghan-Americans and Americans, spoke last on the panel. Volpi presented some signs of progress, noting that the number of healthcare workers has increased in Afghanistan. However, she also presented a striking anecdote: “I met a woman who was a nurse and she was one of those women who are counted as educated in the Afghan community. But she told me that she was illiterate, and I asked her how she knew what kind of medicine to give to her patient. Then she told me that she had colored the bottles so she would know which one went for which disease.”

After discussing healthcare, Volpi addressed violence against women in Afghanistan – a problem that she said is increasing. However, Volpi noted that underreporting is widespread because of infrastructural deficiencies and the fact that many do not regard it as a crime. Statistics are available though. Volpi called attention to recent United Nations figures that indicate that 64 percent of the women who report being abused were married. Violence from a family member is the most common type of abuse, she said. Volpi also noted that 60 to 80 percent of the marriages in Afghanistan are forced. These types of marriages can be enmeshed within a cycle of extreme violence. “If one person kills another person, the family members get the daughter of the killer’s family and than they can do whatever they want to this woman,” Volpi said.

Afghan women still living in fear

As human rights day (December 10) approaches, the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has joined forces with local authorities and the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) to urge the Afghan people to promote the rights of women, ReliefWeb reported Tuesday, citing UNAMA.

Today, many women in Afghanistan and throughout the world live in fear of violence, both in the private and public sphere.

Despite progress over the past six years, violence against Afghan women is widespread.

“Scores of women and girls have been murdered this year by members of their own families and countless others have been beaten or otherwise abused. Many of the victims continue to suffer in silence. This violence is unacceptable regardless of whether it is perpetrated by family or strangers, in the public sphere or behind closed doors, in times of peace or conflict,” said Marguerite Roy, Head of UNAMA’s regional office in Mazar-e-Sharif.

“While the United Nations is playing a vital role in helping to empower Afghan women and build the capacity of Afghanistan’s institutions to support victims, we must recognize that we all have a part to play,” she added. “Within our own families, amongst our friends and in the wider community we must send a strong message that violence against women must end.”

An international campaign to combat violence against women has also been launched by the U.N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).

For the full article, click here.

For more on UNIFEM’s campaign, click here.

Afghan women choose self-immolation over forced marriage

The women in the new burn unit in Herat tell stories about how they got injured during cooking mishaps or other kind of accidents at home. However, doctors say that the reality is something else - they say that the severe injuries that the women have could only have been caused by self-inflicted burns, CanWest News Service reported Tuesday.

Herat, which lies in western Afghanistan, has the only burn unit in the country because the need is at its greatest there. According to the article: “Setting oneself on fire, or self-immolation, is the preferred method of suicide for Afghan women under age 20 – it’s increasingly seen in Kandahar and common in Herat.”

“This year alone the Herat unit has seen about 70 cases of women setting themselves alight. Some burns at the unit are genuine accidents, but self-inflicted burns make up about 20 per cent of the cases the unit doctors see,” the article says.

The article notes that “Self-immolation is commonly seen among girls and women who have a forced engagement to a man they don't want to marry, or have married into a family where they are beaten or intimidated -- by their husband or in-laws,.” It later adds: “Almost three in five Afghan girls are married before the legal age of 16, according to statistics from the ministry of women’s affairs and women’s organizations. And between 60 and 80 per cent of all marriages are believed to be “forced” – a term that covers a range of practices including marrying off girls to repay debts or resolve conflicts between families, according to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.”

One medical staffer at the unit, Ebrahim Mohammadi, has his own theory about why even men are turning to self-immolation. “After 28 years of war in Afghanistan, so many people have so many psychological problems.”

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Oxfam calls on U.S. to spend more on development aid in Afghanistan

The money that the United States spends on aid work in Afghanistan is much less than what is spent by the American military and too much of it simply pays the high salaries of expatriate employees, the international aid agency Oxfam said on November 20, as reported by The Associated Press the same day.

According to the article: “Though the government aid arm U.S. Agency for International Development has spent more than $4.4 billion in Afghanistan since 2002, British aid agency Oxfam said that figure is dwarfed by U.S. military spending here — some $35 billion in 2007 alone.”

“As in Iraq, too much aid is absorbed by profits of companies and subcontractors, on non-Afghan resources and on high expatriate salaries and living costs,” said the report, which was prepared for a British parliament committee. “Each full-time expatriate consultant costs up to half a million dollars a year.”

“The report said ‘urgent action’ is needed to avert humanitarian disaster and that millions of rural Afghans face ‘severe hardship comparable with sub-Saharan Africa,’” the article says.

The report also called for donors to improve the efficiency of aid work through greater use of Afghan resources. “Some two-thirds of U.S. foreign assistance bypasses the Afghan government that officials say they want to strengthen,” Oxfam said.

According to the article: “The group said the education and health sectors in Afghanistan have improved dramatically since 2001, but that more work needs to be done. It noted that though school enrollment is up, only 50 percent of boys and 20 percent of girls attend primary school. The numbers drop to 20 percent and 5 percent, respectively, for high school classes.” It adds: “Of 220 schools in Daykundi province, it said, only 28 have buildings. Of 1,000 teachers, only two are professionally qualified.”

There have been record levels of violence in Afghanistan this year, with more than 6,000 people have been killed in insurgency related violence, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Western and Afghan officials.

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Afghan children primary victims in Baghlan incident

The Associated Press reported on Monday that an unendorsed internal U.N. report stated that Afghan lawmakers’ bodyguards fired “deliberately and indiscriminately” into a crowd following the November 6 Baghlan suicide bombing, and that children suffered “the brunt of the onslaught.”

According to the article: “Hundreds of children crowded onto the tree-lined driveway leading to the New Baghlan Sugar Factory to greet visiting lawmakers when the blast went off.”

The report also stated there no was evidence that an attempt had been made by authorities to identify and prosecute the gunmen.

The AP also obtained a report from the U.N. Department of Safety and Security that stated the Department was uncertain how many people died from the suicide attack as well as the subsequent gunfire.

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U.N ranks Afghanistan as fifth least developed country in the world

Afghanistan has dropped one place in the U.N. global human development index despite anticipation of significant improvement in its development indicators, IRIN reported on Sunday.

Afghanistan’s National Human Development Report, a 176-page document drafted by around 40 Afghan and international experts, included the results. Despite double-digit economic growth over the past several years, the country has failed to significantly reduce poverty and hunger. Among developing countries, Afghanistan has one of the lowest adult literacy rates: 23.5 percent in 2005, according to the report. Afghan women tend to be the most disadvantaged. Their school enrollment rates are about half of those for their males; many also have difficulty accessing health services and substantial employment opportunities.

The report also addressed major shortcomings in the country’s formal and informal legal mechanisms and called for a hybrid system that would bridge traditional rules and the formal legal system.

According to the article: “The report warned of Afghanistan’s limited progress towards its nine millennium development goals (MDGs). It said in spite of remarkable advances in human development since 2002, the country is not progressing fast enough in many sectors to achieve its MDGs by 2020, which will have ‘dire consequences for the poor and most vulnerable.’”

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Two Afghan children die in U.S.-led raid

U.S.-led troops raided a compound in search of a suspected Taliban militant, resulting in the deaths of two children, CNN reported Thursday.

Maj. Chris Belcher, Combined Joint Task Forces-82 spokesman, said that troops raided the compound in Nangarhar Province after receiving “credible intelligence.”

“It is regrettable when innocent lives are put at risk by militant forces. Our sincerest condolences go out to the families of the deceased and wounded.”

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Fewer Afghans returning home from Pakistan

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has temporarily suspended its voluntary Afghan repatriation program from Pakistan for the winter months, but will restart it in March of next year, IRIN reported Wednesday.

Since the program’s inception in 2002, over 3.2 million Afghans have returned from Pakistan.

However, despite bolstered financial assistance packages from UNHCR, the number of Afghan’s returning home is in decline due to security concerns.

“Indeed, the situation has deteriorated in parts of Afghanistan, especially the south, southeast and increasingly the central regions,” Vivian Tan, a spokeswoman for UNHCR, said. “Others said they cannot return for economic or social reasons, such as the lack of jobs, land, shelter, schools and clinics in Afghanistan,” she added.

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Iranian official pressed by Afghanistan on death penalty, refugees

Afghanistan said it called Iran’s representative to Kabul on Thursday to discuss refugee repatriation and reports of Afghan minors being sentenced to death for drug smuggling, Agence France-Presse reported today.

In border provinces, it is not unusual for there to be executions of drug smugglers of Afghan origin. An unconfirmed report included a case of a 17-year-old hanged for smuggling 1.5 kilograms, or 3 pounds, of heroin.

“These children are being misused by drug smugglers and their conviction is contrary to human rights, international standards and the very good relations between two countries,” said Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed Kabir Farahi.

Farahi also brought up the issue of forced repatriation of Afghan refugees in border areas, especially regarding those with legal documents.

“At this time Afghanistan does not have the ability to absorb refugee groups. We want the Iranian authorities to revise their decision on this issue,” he said.

About 160,000 unregistered refugees and 6,500 registered refugees have been returned by Iran this year.

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U.N. warns of opium ‘tsunami’ if Afghanistan’s borders are not secured

The U.N. anti-drug chief said Wednesday that a “tsunami” of opium will hit Afghanistan’s neighbors if border security is not improved, The Associated Press reported the same day.

In 2007, Afghanistan witnessed a dramatic increase in the production of opium – a drug that equals more than half of the country’s legal gross domestic product. The record harvest poses a “major threat” to global public health, according to Antonio Maria Costa, chief of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. The security of Afghanistan’s neighboring countries is also susceptible, as 90 percent of opium profits flow to international criminal gangs and terrorist networks, Costa, said

“We all know that opium and heroin cause severe, severe problems, addictions, corruption, criminality, terrorism,” said Gen. Khodaidad, Afghanistan’s acting counter-narcotics minister. “Afghanistan is not alone. Many countries in the region share this problem. If we are all part of the problem we are all part of the solution.”

According to the article: “Jean-Luc Lemahieu, a UNODC official, said the international body is looking at regional border solutions for Afghanistan such as purchasing communications equipment that officials in neighboring countries could use to coordinate with each other on drug searches. UNODC is also exploring the possibility of joint operations by neighboring countries, he said.”

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Afghan garment factories pose health risks for women workers

IRIN reported on Wednesday that workers in Herat garment factories are exposed to microbes from fur and wool that harm the respiratory system and cause chest infections.

In the past year, seven Afghan women workers employed at wool and fur factories in Herat have died due to respiratory diseases and chest infections, according to Mohammad Ibrahim Ghafori, an official at the Safi factory.

Although Afghan labor law dictates that employers should provide medical insurance to those who work in hazardous conditions, the law is not adequately enforced.

Due to their low wages, workers are also unable to afford medical treatment. However, they continue to work out of dire economic need.

For the full article, click here.

Attacks on aid workers on rise in Afghanistan with 34 killed this year

The U.N. reported that 34 aid workers have been killed in Afghanistan this year and called for Taliban militants and other criminals to stop attacking humanitarian aid convoys, particularly with winter looming, The Associated Press reported today.

The convoys have had difficulty accessing Afghanistan’s main highways due to the increasing violence in the south.

“Those responsible for these attacks and for the insecurity are pushing the most vulnerable people outside of our reach,” Tom Koenigs, the head of the U.N. Assistance Mission to Afghanistan, said. “Those responsible for these attacks need to know that they are attacking the welfare of Afghanistan’s most vulnerable communities.”

The World Food Programme (WFP) said that it has been set back $750,000 in stolen aid due to attacks on aid convoys, according to BBC News. Rick Corsino, the head of WFP in Afghanistan, added that the cost of transport has increased to the heightened violence.

“In a majority of these incidents, food was looted ... and so far we have lost something like 100,000 tons of food,” Corsino said.

The continued conflict has “tremendously” worsened the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan and 78 districts in the country are rated as “extremely risky” for U.N. workers to operate, Koenigs said.

“Reaching the people is not a political issue, it is a humanitarian priority,” Koenigs said.

For the full Washington Post article, click here.

For the full BBC article, click here.

Afghan M.P. Qanooni speaks at Wilson Center

Washington’s Woodrow Wilson Center today hosted Younus Qanooni, the speaker of Afghanistan’s lower house of Parliament, for a democratization forum.

Qanooni began his overview of democratic development in Afghanistan by comparing democracy to a new-born baby, saying that assistance and patience is necessary. He urged the audience to keep in mind that Afghanistan’s form of democracy is unique and will continue to develop in a way consistent with the will of the people. Still, he desires the “child” to grow strong with the help of the U.S.

“Democracy is not a slogan, but a goal,” Qanooni said. While much work is required for it to be realized, the Afghan people are committed, he added. Qanooni also claimed that his country is witnessing a new political life, having grown tired of the “old ways.” Citizens have matured politically by forming new parties, he said.

Qanooni highlighted the challenges of Afghanistan’s new democratic system – obstacles such as political and religious extremism. To counter these challenges, he urged Afghan leaders and citizens to act and not simply talk, and to have the courage to accept ideas different from their own. In essence, he declared that democracy should be a strategy – one tackled from the bottom-up and the top-down. He also argued that Afghan citizens should have the “correct interpretation” of democracy.

During the question and answer session, Qanooni fielded inquiries regarding the role of police, relations with Iran and Pakistan, and the prevalence of poppy cultivation.

The most poignant discussion touched upon how Afghanistan will be affected if the U.S. were to invade Iran. Qanooni lamented that the Iraq war has overshadowed the desperate needs in Afghanistan and fears that the U.S. will forget his country again if it embarks on another invasion.

Hundreds of Afghans protest poppy cultivation

Farmers and tribal elders congregated on Wednesday to rally against poppy cultivation in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar Province, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported today, citing Pajhwak Afghan News.

The protest transformed into a public meeting, where residents and tribal leaders spoke out. One resident emphasized citizen demands for alternative livelihoods, while the residents of Chaparhar district unanimously pledged to stop cultivating poppies.

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New poll reveals top concerns among Afghans

A poll sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development and conducted by a team of Afghans concluded that security issues, including terrorism and violence, were the single biggest problem in Afghanistan, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

According to the article: “The main goal was to gauge public sentiments on social and political issues, ‘in a country that is undergoing rapid changes,’ the authors said.”

“Insecurity is the main reason for the people to believe that the country is headed in the wrong direction,” the authors of the poll wrote. “In the eyes of men and women of Afghanistan, the security situation in the country has deteriorated.”

The poll found that this view remained unchanged from the previous year.

In terms of political sentiment, the poll revealed that the ideas of political tolerance and freedom of expression were not fully realized in society; many still felt reluctant to speak freely and critically about their government.

Some confidence was expressed with regard to national institutions such as the media, aid groups, security forces, and tribal and provincial councils. However, confidence in the justice and political system is weak.

In terms of empowerment of women, the results remained mixed, with 53 percent of respondents strongly agreeing that women should have equal rights while 32 percent “somewhat agreed.”

Religion remains an important issue in Afghan society. Sixty-six percent of respondents said democracy could be Islamic, while 29 percent said that democracy challenged Islamic values.

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Defense Secretary Gates criticizes NATO on Afghanistan

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates faulted European members of NATO on Monday for failing to offer the extra troops for security in Afghanistan that their governments had promised last year, The Associated Press reported the same day.

Of particular concern is the shortage of troops needed to train the Afghan National Army and the Afghan Police.

“I am not satisfied that an alliance whose members have over 2 million soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen cannot find the modest additional resources that have been committed for Afghanistan,” Gates told a news conference after a meeting of a separate organization of southeast European countries.

During the Southeast European Defense Ministers meeting, Gates implored members to increase their contributions to security efforts in Afghanistan, warning that their countries “risk eventual irrelevance” if no action is taken.

For the full article, click here.