Letter From Kabul | Witness to a ten-year war

I arrived in Kabul early in the morning on Saturday August 20 for my fourteenth annual visit since 2002. One is immediately struck by the militarization of the entire city, from the man who stamped my passport, to the heavily armed police presence at every street intersection. Check points, huge concrete blast walls, barbed wire on every official and foreign establishment, armed guards, soldiers and police are ever present.

We drove by the British Council, scene of a ten-hour battle between six suicide insurgents and the Afghan police assisted by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) the day before. The large building was completely flattened, with all the nearby windows shattered and debris all over. The Toyota van the insurgents had used to smash the metal gate by explosion was reduced to mangled pieces of metal and not recognizable as a car. This was one of a series of spectacular attacks and assassinations by the insurgents this year. It seems that they can attack anyone, any time, any place.

Zaher Wahab | 1 September 2011

Mural image from Windows and Mirrors: The Children of Afghanistan, by Camille Perrottet, New York, NY.


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Last night he sent me these thoughts on what life is like in Kabul today. It is an unvarnished account of the dangers an Afghan peacemaker sees emerging in the country. In June he sent a dispatch that looked at the rays of hope.


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Letter From Kabul | Witness to a ten-year war and occupation

Since early 2002, I have been spending at least a semester annually here in Afghanistan, attempting to (re)build the higher education system in the ravaged country. My adopted country - the US, launched operation Enduring Freedom on October 7/2001 claiming to bring freedom, peace, prosperity, democracy, security, women’s liberation, eradication of drugs, and stability to the war-torn country. There are now some 150/000 troops from 45 countries, that many civilian contractors from around the world, and 340,000 U.S. trained sectarian Afghan security forces all ostensibly fighting “terrorism”.

The US alone spends ten billion dollars per/ month on the war, a total of about half – a- trillion dollars in the last ten years. 1600 Americans (70 of them last August) have been killed and thousands wounded. An estimated 40,000 Afghans have been killed, 971 civilians from June to August this year alone, untold numbers wounded, and half–a-million displaced. According to a recent UN report, 2011 has been the most unstable, deadliest and most violent year for all sides, since the war started in 2001. All of the country’s neighbors also meddle in Afghan affairs and are waging proxy struggles in the Afghan theater.

After ten years of occupation (and “development”), costing the US $500 billion, Afghanistan still ranks at the bottom of the Human Development Index. Half of the population is hungry and/or food insecure. Per capita income is about $350. The average life span is 45 years. 90% of the women and 70% of the men are illiterate. Only half of the school age children attend school. More than half the schools have no building. Only 20% of the teachers are considered qualified. The Afghan government spends just $70 per year per student.

Americans spend one million dollars per year per soldier in Afghanistan. Just 1% of the age group is enrolled in college. UNICEF labeled the country as the worst place for children and women. A woman dies in child birth every hour. Half of the children die before age five. All marriages are arranged, and the majority of the girls are married (sold) off before age 16.

Ninety seven percent of the country’s $15 billion GDP and 97% of the government’s $4 billion budget are based on the presence of foreigners (armies, aid, NGOs, etc). There is little organized licit formal productive economy. Drugs constitute about a third of the economy and there are close to 2 million addicts. Half the people are (un)underemployed. Anyone who can is leavening the country. People have been divided, demoralized, and exhausted.

But since this is mostly a young nation so the prospects for an “Afghan Spring” are a real possibility.

The American installed and protected government has no legitimacy, credibility, authority, ability, will, or efficacy. It is essentially a dysfunctional plutocracy- mafiocracy with various crime syndicates and criminal gangs milking the foreigners and preying on the disempowered, divided and enraged public. The government cannot and will not provide the basic services like education, healthcare, work, security, justice, law and order, water, electricity, sewerage systems, garbage collection, clean air, roads or even traffic lights in the capital Kabul. The old and new criminal, treacherous, treasonous and sectarian warlords are empowered, paid, armed, legitimated, used and protected by the occupation forces at the expense of the wretched population. And the country’s very future is in question. Many express nostalgia about the monarchy, the communists, even the Taliban eras.

There has been no serious attempt either by the occupiers or their self-spring and corrupt client regime to build a functioning government, democracy, institutions, civil society, freedom, justice, national unity, long- term peace, real security, or stability.

The insurgents control about 70% of the country, including the outskirts of Kabul. They can hit anyone, any time, any place as demonstrated by the recent assassinations of A.W. Karzai, Daoud Dauod, Jan Mohammad a close adviser to president Karzai, the Kandahar mayor, the Kundoz governor, former warlord, former president and president of the so- called High Peace Council, B. Rabbani, the CIA employee, etc. The insurgent attacked the Intercontinental Hotel, the British Council, The US Embassy and the ISAF headquarters, and petrified and paralyzed Kabul for days. I have experienced four lockdowns, one lasting three days in the last six weeks. Kabul looks and feels like a garrison city under siege, but with no sense of security, legality, justice or normalcy.

The people despise, distrust and disdain the government, and the government has little to no concern, responsibility or respect for the people. Most Afghans hate, despise, and distrust all the foreigners and blame them for all the calamities visited upon the country. And the non Pashtoons fear and dislike the Taliban insurgents. The country is on the brink of a bloody civil war. But the one percent predatory warlords, criminals, and war profiteers love the foreigners, the war, and the “new freedom”. Anything goes, everything is negotiable, nothing matters, and people are disposable. There are governments within the government, cities within cities, and countries within the country. There is the war related contracting mafia, the land mafia, the timber mafia, the development mafia and the drug mafia, weapons smugglers, and human traffickers.

The occupiers work hand – in- gloves with the older and new known war criminals, human rights abusers, thieves and gangsters. This has widened the distance between the people and the colonial settler power and its local intermediaries. There is no clear boundary between the government the warlords and various crime syndicates, they are closely intertwined. All this explains the success of the insurgency, the moral-political-military disarray of the US/NATO invaders in the country, and the stalemate if not success of the insurgents in the war. In short, life has become much harder for the vast majority of Afghans. Who still lead primitive lives.

Additionally, they endure a brutal occupation with heavy use of storm troops, air power, drones, night raids, and the mercenary Afghan regular and irregular armies. And now there is open talk of resurgent civil war. Mr. Rabbani’s assassination has ruptured the so-called “peace talks.” The US/NATO, while talking about withdrawal is also pressing for a permanent “strategic agreement” with Kabul. There is great confusion, fear, anxiety, and uncertainty in the country. No wonder then, those who can, are leaving, with the rest preparing for the worst.

Only a miracle can save the people and the country.

Zaher Wahab | 2 October 2011

Graffiti Artists of Kabul | Shamsia Hassani

A huge mural showing a group of women wearing blue burkas emerging from water by Shamsia Hassani.

“You can see the water and woman coming from the water,” she says. “Blue is a freedom color is a clean color and I shows that all Afghan women are like water clean and blue.”

Laura Lynch is reporting from Kabul for PRI. She has provided a evocative slideshow of public art seen on the walls of Kabul.

Also see:

The writing on Kabul’s Walls

Windows and Mirrors: Reflections on the War in Afghanistan

CIA Drone Strike Kills Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen

U.S. officials have confirmed that Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born cleric linked to al Qaeda's Yemen-based wing, was killed by a CIA drone strike today. The targeted assassination is being claimed as a success for Washington and its partners in the fight against Islamic militancy.

"The United States has stepped up drone strikes in Yemen to try and keep al Qaeda off balance and prevent it from capitalizing on the strife and chaos gripping the nation.

Awlaki was the first U.S. citizen who the White House authorized the CIA or other U.S. agencies to kill because of his alleged operational role in militant attacks directed against the United States.

This authorization was issued after intelligence was collected linking him to a botched attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound plane in December 2009. He was also accused of helping to oversee a failed plot in October 2010 to blow up U.S. cargo aircraft, the Obama administration official said."

More Drone Strikes in Pakistan

The Voice of America reports that earlier today targeted CIA drone strikes in Pakistan killed three people. "U.S. officials do not publicly acknowledge the use of drone strikes inside Pakistan, but privately have confirmed their existence to various news outlets. Pakistani leaders condemn the strikes as a violation of the country's sovereignty."

The Long War Journal reports that "today's strike is the fourth in Pakistan's tribal areas this month, and the third since September 23. In the last two strikes, which took place in North Waziristan on September 23 and South Waziristan on September 27, no senior al Qaeda or Taliban leaders were reported killed. The previous strike, on Sept. 11, killed killed Abu Hafs al Shahri, whom U.S. intelligence officials have described as al Qaeda's operations chief for Pakistan."

The attacks in Pakistan come as tensions are increasing between the two countries. Several U.S. officials, including Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen, have accused Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, or ISI, of directly supporting Haqqani Network attacks inside Afghanistan.


Additional Resource: How the CIA Became a Killing Machine

Bringing Refugees Home | The Challenge Ahead

In 1990 the U.N. estimated there were 6.3 million Afghans in exile. 3.3 million in Pakistan and 3 million in Iran.

By 2001 it was estimated that perhaps one-third of Afghanistan’s 26 million people had been forced to flee their homes, temporarily or permanently.

By 2009, a survey by the International Committee of the Red Cross/Crescent Society found that 76% of Afghans had been displaced by violence.

Addressing the needs of Afghans displaced by violence is going to be a huge challenge to all future governments.

As has been the case from the beginning, until there is a measure of security, accountability and opportunity for Afghans, facilitating their return will be difficult.

Here is evidence of a start.

"Afghan officials say an ambitious program is being planned to try and bring back millions of Afghan refugees living in Iran and Pakistan, RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan reports.

The program, which will be discussed at an international conference on Afghanistan to be held in Tokyo next year, envisions the repatriation of more than 3 million Afghan refugees living mainly in the border regions of neighboring Iran and Pakistan.

Afghan Minister for Refugees and Returnees Jamohir Anuri told RFE/RL on September 27 that the government needs international assistance to successfully implement the program.

"Millions of Afghan refugees around the world live in difficulty, with many denied basic rights and access to health care, food, and shelter," he said. "We believe they have a better chance of receiving these things in Afghanistan."

Violence Up 39% From 2010 | UN Report

Afghanistan has become more insecure in 2011 from a year ago, with a sharp rise in security incidents and higher numbers of civilian casualties, displaced people and complex suicide attacks. These are the findings of the U.N. quarterly report to the Security Council released today.

The total number of security incidents recorded during the first eight months of the year represented a nearly 40 percent rise from the same period of 2010.

This has been a trend since 2005.

Disputing the U.N. findings, the U.S.-led coalition said it plans to hold a news conference tomorrow to release its own statistics related to overall violence trends in Afghanistan.

Coalition officials say insurgent attacks fell 20% in July from July 2010. By the end of August, according to the coalition, violence had fallen during 12 of the previous 16 weeks when compared to the same weeks of last year.

CNN is reporting that “Earlier, an ISAF spokesman noted that there are "differences in reporting of security incidents."

"ISAF only counts attacks initiated by insurgents, while the United Nations includes all incidents, ISAF spokesman Lt. Col. Jimmie E. Cummings said in a statement.

"[The] United Nations includes weapons cache finds, arrests, assassinations, intimidation, and some other events as "security incidents," which ISAF does not, Cummings said.”

The UN report notes the political and emotional impact from four high-level assassinations in July:

Ahmad Wali Karzai, Head of Kandahar Provincial Council
Hikmatullah Hikmat, Head of Kandahar Ulema Shura
Jan Muhammad Khan, Senior Adviser to the President
and Ghulam Haydar Hamidi, Mayor of Kandahar

The report notes a 50 per cent increase in car bombings compared with the same period in 2010.

Intercross | New Blog by ICRC

A minibus returning from a wedding in the western province of Herat hit a roadside bomb Tuesday, triggering an explosion that killed 16 people from the same family. 11 were children and four were women.

The escalating violence in the country compelled the International Committee of the Red Cross/Red Crescent societies (ICRC) to open a seventh orthopaedic centre in Helmand province last October.

Afghanistan is the ICRC’s largest operation worldwide.

Alberto Cairo who has been head of the orthopaedic program in Afghanistan since 1992 selected pictures from the organizations photo archive for this report, covering 30 years of service in the country. The scale is stunning.

Also, check out the new blog by the ICRC.

“The ICRC mandate, in a nutshell is: to protect the lives and dignity of victims of war and internal violence and to provide them with assistance; to prevent suffering by promoting and strengthening humanitarian law and universal humanitarian principles; to coordinate the relief activities of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in situations of conflict.”

Brief History

The ICRC has been present in Afghanistan since 1979, working initially out of Pakistan, and since 1987 from its delegation in Kabul. The institution has over 130 expatriates and more than 1,400 national staff based in Kabul and in fourteen other locations throughout the country.

The ICRC regularly visits places of detention run by nations contributing to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), by the US forces, and by the Afghan authorities. The aim is to monitor conditions of detention and the treatment of detainees. In 2010, it also began visiting people detained by the armed opposition. Moreover, it helps families who are separated by the conflict to stay in touch with one another through Red Cross messages and telephone calls, and endeavours to trace those family members who have gone missing.

Our Man in Kandahar | Matthieu Aikins

Matthies Aikins has a long expose in The Atlantic magazine about Afghan General Abdul Raziq. It will haunt you.

The 5,000-word investigation is the result of multiple trips to the country over two years. It tells the story of an ongoing series of serious human rights abuses--including a cold-blooded massacre and the torture of prisoners--by General Abdul Raziq, a powerful warlord in Kandahar Province, southern Afghanistan.

More than an anatomy of a massacre, the article is a condemnation of the US policy to support Afghan warlords as a shortcut to security. It’s a big-picture-policy debate that put the US at odds with NATO allies during the early years of the war. It continues to be a difference in strategy.

Fundamentally it is a policy the majority of Afghans abhor.

You see it through their rejection of the Afghan Local Police scheme – where local communities (militias) are armed and funded by the United States and you see it with continuing calls from civil society groups in Afghanistan for more accountability and transparency from the Government.

The terms Afghans use are impunity and immunity.

Disturbingly, the US government has been aware of these abuses for at least five years, but has continued to support him and his force with funding and training. In violation of the Leahy Amendment of 1997.

The law prohibits State Department or Defense Department assistance or training to a foreign military unit where there is ‘credible evidence that such unit has committed gross violations of human rights.’

It remains the case that in the eyes of Afghans, it does not matter if the people abusing them are Taliban, Warlords, Government or Foreign forces; human rights violations and human rights violations.

People should be held accountable.

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There is a back story. The story of how a young man rose from working in a shop in Pakistan pre-2001 to become a critical US ally and acting police chief in Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second largest city.