CIVIL - MILITARY FUSION CENT RE Afghanistan Review Week 23 05 June 2012 Comprehensive Information on Complex Crises This document provides a weekly overview of developments in Afghanistan from 29 May – 04 June 2012, INSIDE THIS ISSUE with hyper-links to source material highlighted in blue and underlined in the text. For more information Economic Development on the topics below or other issues pertaining to events in Afghanistan, contact the members of the Afghanistan Team, or visit our website at www.cimicweb.org. Governance & Rule of Law Security & Force Protection Economic Development Steven A. Zyck ► [email protected] Social & Strategic Infrastructure he Meshrano Jirga, the upper house of the Afghan parliament, summoned the Afghan DISCLAIMER ministers of finance, commerce and industries, economy and agriculture, irrigation and T livestock in order to learn more about their plans for maintaining and growing the coun- The Civil-Military Fusion Centre try’s economy beyond 2014, according to Khaama Press. Minister of Finance Omar Zakhilwal (CFC) is an information and indicated that the economy would face challenges beyond 2014 as foreign countries began knowledge management organisa- phasing out their levels of development assistance to the country. He noted that foreign donors tion focused on improving civil- were planning a gradual reduction in aid between 2014 and 2025, which would be clarified fol- military interaction, facilitating lowing the upcoming Tokyo Conference in July. Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Live- information sharing and enhancing stock Mohammad Asif Rahimi, providing an example, said a USD 432 million water project situational awareness through the would be unveiled in Tokyo. The Minister of Economy, Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal, expressed CimicWeb portal and our weekly disappointment that more had not been done to promote economic growth over the preceding and monthly publications. decade. CFC products are based upon and Azerbaijani newspaper Trend says that Afghan President Hamid Karzai met on 31 May with link to open-source information the special representative of the Russian president for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Zamir Kabu- from a wide variety of organisations, lov, in order to discuss strengthening economic ties between Afghanistan and Russia. President research centres and media outlets. Karzai reportedly told Kabulov that “Afghanistan wants to develop economic cooperation with However, the CFC does not endorse Russia. There are projects in various fields in the country, and Russia could join these pro- and cannot necessarily guarantee jects”. Kabulov reportedly expressed Russia’s willingness to continue supporting energy and the accuracy or objectivity of these infrastructure projects in Afghanistan. sources. Officials from the Ministry of Commerce and Industries (MoCI) and the Ministry of Agricul- CFC publications are inde- ture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) held their fourth regular meeting to promote Afghan ag- pendently produced by Desk ricultural exports, says Wadsam. The meeting highlighted weaknesses in irrigation, mechanisa- Officers and do not reflect tion and cold storage which the participants say impede value-added agriculture. One MAIL NATO or ISAF policies or posi- official in Kabul, Hashmatullah Enayat, noted that strong levels of precipitation meant that this tions of any other organisation. year’s harvest should be strong and that plans are in place to build additional cold storage facil- ities. For instance, Pajhwok Afghan News says that a group of traders pledged on 30 May to The CFC is part of NATO Allied build several cold storage and agricultural Command Operations. processing facilities in Kabul. These facil- ities will reportedly enable Afghan farm- Visit the CFC’s New ers and traders to maximize their income Tokyo Conference Page from the country’s agricultural output. At present, MAIL officials say that up to The CFC has established a page dedicated to 40% of Afghan produce spoils while the July 2012 Tokyo Conference on Afghani- awaiting export. stan. At that page you will be able to read news CONTACT THE CFC pertaining to conference preparations and the According to the Agence France-Presse, For further information, contact: on-going transition process in Afghanistan Afghanistan’s Deputy Attorney General, along with relevant research reports and previ- Afghanistan Team Leader Rahmatullah Nazari, announced that 35 ous international agreements on Afghanistan. [email protected] people were being referred to a special This page builds upon the success of the CFC’s tribunal for their role in the near-collapse page on the December 2011 Bonn Conference. The Afghanistan Team of Kabul Bank, the country’s largest [email protected] private financial institution, in 2010. While arrest warrants had been issued for the 35 individuals, who were not named, 14 of them are reportedly living outside of Afghanistan. The prosecution of many of those responsible for the Kabul Bank crisis comes two months after Noorullah Delawari, the governor of Afghanistan’s Central Bank, announced that the re-named “New Kabul Bank” would be sold off by the Afghan government. Delawari also suggested that part of the bank could be sold to a private firm and then run as a joint venture with the government retaining a stake. Investment site Seeking Alpha claims that a steady decline in the market price of copper could lead mining and metals companies to delay new ventures, perhaps including mining at Afghanistan’s Aynak copper deposit. Copper is reportedly selling for USD 7,645 per tonne, which is 26% lower than copper’s 2011 peak price. In other mining news, Indian Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal will be leading a delegation to Afghanistan in order to establish a memorandum of understanding (MOU) giving two Indian companies, Coal India Ltd and Singareni Collieries, the right to explore Afghan coal deposits, says The Indian Express. The Indian government is increasingly focused upon investing in Afghanistan’s natu- ral resources, as requested by Afghan President Hamid Karzai. India’s ministries of commerce, mines, petroleum and steel have also signed MOUs with the relevant Afghan ministries, particularly the Ministry of Mines, in recent months. Demonstrating Indian en- gagement in Afghanistan’s natural resources, India Times reports that a consortium of Indian companies has sent a team to conduct due diligence at several copper and gold mines in Afghanistan. The Indian firms were shortlisted alongside competitors from the Unit- ed Arab Emirates, Canada and Australia for the rights to the copper and gold deposits. The economy of neighbouring Pakistan grew by 3.7% during the 2011-12 fiscal year, which is better than the preceding year’s 3.0% growth rate but short of the projected 4.2%, says Pak Tribune. The lower-than-projected growth rate, according to the country’s fi- nance minister, resulted from the global economic slowdown, floods and high oil prices. Meanwhile, inflation has declined markedly, though the consumer price index rose by 10.8% between July 2011 and May 2012. Pakistani Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh did cite increased trade with Afghanistan as one economic success story. The Daily Times reports that the total value of trade between Afghanistan and Pakistan has risen to USD 2.5 billion annually due, in part, to the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement. This figure is somewhat lower than the USD 3 billion figure cited by a report from the Center for International Private Enterprise (CI- PE) earlier this year. Governance & Rule of Law Stefanie Nijssen ► [email protected] ccording to The New York Times, 18-year-old rape victim Lal Bibi has spoken out publicly against her rapists, who include local militiamen and members of the Afghan Local Police (ALP). Lal Bibi says she was raped because her cousin insulted a A family linked to a local militia commander. The commander allegedly had his men abduct her in retribution. Lal Bibi said she was chained to a wall, sexually assaulted and beaten for five days. Lal Bibi’s relatives brought her to Kunduz Hospital and filed a complaint with the governor. According to the article, her plight is a test of the government’s willingness to challenge the impunity of the many armed groups operating in the country. It has also brought attention to reports of abuses perpetrated by the ALP. US military officials said that as far as they could determine, members of the ALP were not involved in this case. However, a number of the local authorities, including the governor and the ALP director for the province, said the men who had abducted her and beat her were ALP members. Provincial military prosecutor General Mohammed Sharif Safi said that the attackers were among the first 300 ALP mem- bers trained by US Special Forces and stated that “[i]t is not the first time that they have committed such a horrible crime”. So far, two people have been arrested in the case, including Khudai Dad, who is accused of raping Lal Bibi, and his brother, Sakhi Dad, who is an ALP member, according to officials. Not yet detained, however, is the chief suspect in Lal Bibi’s abduction, Commander Mu- hammad Ishaq Nezaami, who disappeared shortly after the young woman was taken. The Indian government has shown concern about NATO’s plan to withdraw most of its forces from Afghanistan by 2014, states New York Daily News. Nirupama Rao, India’s ambassador to the United States, had the following to say: “We understand that after 10 long years of war there is a manifest and genuine desire to seek an end to conflict. But equally, we must ensure that the enormous sacrifices and efforts of the past decade have not been in vain.” Yashwant Sinha, an Indian legislator, stated that he believes Pakistan may at- tempt to support armed groups in Afghanistan after 2014 and use the country as a proxy. “NATO has to stay the course in Afghanistan until we are absolutely confident that the Afghan army and the armed forces of Afghanistan are in a position to meet the Taliban threat,” he said.