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My Life with the Taliban
MY LIFE WITH THE TALIBAN Courtesy of www.pdfbooksfree.pk ABDUL SALAM ZAEEF My Life with the Taliban Edited by Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn Courtesy of www.pdfbooksfree.pk Columbia University Press Publishers Since 1893 New York Chichester, West Sussex Copyright © Abdul Salam Zaeef 2010 Editors’ introduction and translation Copyright © Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn, 2010 Foreword Copyright © Barnett R. Rubin, 2010 All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Za’if, ‘Abd al-Salam, 1967 or 8– My life with the Taliban / Abdul Salam Zaeef. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-231-70148-8 (alk. paper) 1. Za’if, ‘Abd al-Salam, 1967 or 8– 2. Taliban—Biography. 3. Afghan War, 2001—Biography. 4. Prisoners of war—Afghanistan—Biography. 5. Prisoners of war—United States—Biography. 6. Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp—Biography. I. Title. DS371.33.Z34A3 2010 958.104'7—dc22 [B] 2009040865 ∞ Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper. This book is printed on paper with recycled content. Printed in USA c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 References to Internet Web sites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared. Courtesy of www.pdfbooksfree.pk CONTENTS Kandahar: Portrait of a City ix Editors’ Acknowledgements xxv Editors’ Notes xxvii Character List xxix Foreword by Barnett R. Rubin xxxvii Preface by Abdul Salam Zaeef xli Maps xlviii–xlix 1. -
Algemeen Ambtsbericht Afghanistan Juli 2010
Algemeen ambtsbericht Afghanistan Juli 2010 Directie Consulaire Zaken en Migratiebeleid Afdeling Asiel, Hervestiging en Terugkeer Inhoudsopgave Pagina 1 Inleiding 4 2 Landeninformatie 5 2.1 Basisgegevens 5 2.1.1 Land en volk 5 2.1.2 Geschiedenis 9 2.1.3 Staatsinrichting 13 2.2 Politieke ontwikkelingen 18 2.3 Afghaanse veiligheidsorganisaties 22 2.3.1 Afghan National Army 22 2.3.2 Afghan National Police 23 2.3.3 Veiligheidsdienst NDS 26 2.3.4 Burgermilities 27 2.4 Internationale militaire presentie 28 2.5 Machtsfactoren 30 2.5.1 Taliban 32 2.5.2 Jalaluddin Haqqani 34 2.5.3 Hezb-i-Islami 35 2.5.4 Ontwapening, demobilisatie en re-integratie 36 2.6 Veiligheidssituatie 37 2.6.1 Bescherming tegen geweld 38 2.6.2 Doelwitten 38 2.6.3 Burgerslachtoffers 39 2.6.4 Gedwongen rekrutering en ronseling 41 2.6.5 Regionale verdeling veiligheidsincidenten 41 3 Mensenrechten 46 3.1 Juridische context 46 3.1.1 Verdragen en protocollen 46 3.1.2 Nationale wetgeving 46 3.2 Toezicht 48 3.2.1 Mensenrechtencommissie AIHCR 49 3.2.2 Transitional Justice 50 3.3 Naleving en schendingen 53 3.3.1 Vrijheid van meningsuiting 53 3.3.2 Vrijheid van vereniging en vergadering 56 3.3.3 Vrijheid van godsdienst en overtuiging 56 3.3.4 Bewegingsvrijheid en documenten 59 3.3.5 Rechtsgang 62 3.3.6 Arrestaties en detentie 64 3.3.7 Foltering, mishandeling en bedreiging 66 3.3.8 Ontvoeringen 67 3.3.9 Buitengerechtelijke executies en moorden 67 3.3.10 Doodstraf 68 3.4 Positie van specifieke groepen 69 3.4.1 Politieke opposanten en mensenrechtenactivisten 69 3.4.2 Etnische groepen 70 -
Afghanistan: Post-Taliban Governance, Security, and U.S
Afghanistan: Post-Taliban Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy Kenneth Katzman Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs September 22, 2011 Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov RL30588 CRS Report for Congress Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Afghanistan: Post-Taliban Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy Summary Stated U.S. policy is to ensure that Afghanistan will not again become a base for terrorist attacks against the United States. Following policy reviews in 2009, the Obama Administration asserted that it was pursuing a well-resourced and integrated military-civilian strategy intended to pave the way for a gradual transition to Afghan leadership from July 2011 until the end of 2014. To carry out U.S. policy, a total of 51,000 additional U.S. forces were authorized by the two 2009 reviews, bringing U.S. troop numbers to a high of about 99,000, with partner forces adding about 42,000. On June 22, 2011, President Obama announced that the policy had accomplished most major U.S. goals and that a drawdown of 33,000 U.S. troops would take place by September 2012. The first 10,000 of these are to be withdrawn by the end of 2011. The transition to Afghan leadership began, as planned, in July 2011 in the first wave of areas, four cities and three full provinces, and some U.S. troops have been withdrawn. Amid widespread doubts that Afghan governance and security institutions will be strong enough to protect themselves by the end of 2014, U.S. and Afghan officials are negotiating a “strategic partnership” that would guide the long-term relationship, although differences over U.S. -
Afghan Presidential Election: Potential Candidates and Powerbrokers
Afghan Presidential Election: Open Source Center As of March Potential Candidates and Powerbrokers15, 2009 Presidential Election Scheduled for 20 August Article 61 of Afghanistan's Constitution1 states that the presidential election should be held "thirty to sixty days prior to the expiration of the current president's term," which ends on 22 May. However, Afghanistan's Independent Powerbrokers Election Commission on 4 March announced that it would push back the date of the election to 20 August in order A number of prominent Afghan figures appear to be powerbrokers in Afghanistan's political scene. to address funding, security, and weather challenges to organizing a nationwide free and fair election (iec.org.af). Many of these men acquired their influence as Jihadi leaders with authority and arms, which they Afghan media have highlighted potential candidates and powerbrokers who may be influential in the election. parlayed into backing from religious, ethnic, regional, or party coalitions that continue to support them. They could prove influential in this year's elections by supporting and mobilizing their political, religious, tribal, regional, and ethnolinguistic constituencies to support preferred Potential Candidates for 2009 candidates. Abdullah Abdullah, Afghanistan's minister of foreign affairs from 2001 to 2006, is running as the candidate for the National Front. In a 2 February interview with Jawedan.com, he supported the presence of international forces to improve the security situation in the country. Regarding the Taliban, he said that the door for negotiation should be "kept open to anyone willing to lay down their arms and join the peace process, except for Mullah Omar and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar," whom he claimed were "pushing Afghanistan to war and destruction." Once a special adviser and chief Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal is the current chairman of the Islamic Party of Afghanistan, formed in 2008 by . -
The Network Politics of International Statebuilding: Intervention and Statehood in Post-2001 Afghanistan
The Network Politics of International Statebuilding: Intervention and Statehood in Post-2001 Afghanistan Submitted by Timor Sharan to the University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Politics In October 2013 This thesis is available for Library use on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has been identified and that no material has previously been submitted and approved for the award of a degree by this or any other University. Signature: ………………………………………………………….. 1 ABSTRACT This thesis focuses on international intervention and statebuilding in post- 2001 Afghanistan. It offers an alternative lens, a network lens, to understand the complexity of internationally sponsored state re-building and transformation. It therefore analyses how political power is assembled and flows through political networks in statebuilding, with an eye to the hitherto ignored endogenous political networks. The empirical chapters investigate the role and power dynamics of Afghan political network in re-assembling and transforming the post-2001 state once a political settlement is reached; how everyday political network practices shape the nature of statehood and governance; and subsequently how these power dynamics and practices contribute towards political order/violence and stability/instability. This thesis challenges the dominant wisdom that peacebuilding is a process of democratisation or institutionalisation, showing how intervention has unintentionally produced the democratic façade of a state, underpinning by informal power structures of Afghan politics. The post-2001 intervention has fashioned a ‘network state’ where the state and political networks have become indistinguishable from one another: the empowered network masquerade as the state. -
Afghanistan's Parliament in the Making
The involvement of women in Afghanistan’s public life is decreasing. Attacks, vigilantism, and legal processes that contradict the basic principles of human and women’s rights are the order of the day. The security situation is worsening in step with the disenchantment E MAKING H arising from the lack of results and functional shortcomings of existing democratic structures. In the face of such difficulties, we often forget who should create the legal underpinnings for the power in Afghanistan: the women and men in parliament who are working to build a state in these turbulent times of transition. To what extent will these elected representatives succeed in creating alternatives to established traditional power structures? What are the obstacles they face? What kinds of networks or caucuses are they establishing? This book, which is based on interviews of male and female members of parliament held in Kabul in 2007 and 2008, examines the reali- IN T pARLIAMENT ANISTan’s H ties of parliamentary work in Afghanistan. It shows how varied and G coercive the patterns of identification prevalent in Afghanistan can AF be, and it provides a rare opportunity to gain insights into the self- images and roles of women in parliament. ISBN 978-3-86928-006-6 Andrea Fleschenberg Afghanistan’s parliament in the making Andrea Fleschenberg Gendered understandings and practices of politics in a transitional country .) ED BÖLL FOUNDATION ( BÖLL FOUNDATION H The Green Political Foundation Schumannstraße 8 10117 Berlin www.boell.de HEINRIC Afghanistan’s parliament in the making Andrea Fleschenberg, PhD, currently works as research associate and lecturer at the Institute of Social Science at the University of Hildesheim, Germany. -
August 20 Silent Period
Report Date: 19 August 2009 STATION INCIDENT ADDITIONAL INFO Salam Watandar 8.00 Karzai and Ramazan 13.00 12 journalists Bashardost voted, no DS arrested by police in Kabul for filming 9.00 Dr. Abdullah and Hamid Karzai are taking voters in Reporting about election buses to the polling stations returns based on provincial election 10.00 Balkh Media Commission is center results directing people to vote for Dr. Abdullah or Hamid Karzai Report Date: 19 August 2009 STATION INCIDENT ADDITIONAL INFO Radio Killid 9.58 Daad Noorani spoke about Dr. Abdullah and Hamid Karzai violations 10.23 Sare Pul reporter said that Dr. Abdullah rep said that he was not allowed into polling station 10.27 Noorani and Mubarez spoke about election violations, that Hamid Karzai and Dr. Abdullah are committing election violations 10.34 Karzai picture posted at a polling station 10.51 Takahar reporter said that Chal district and Farkhar people are working for Dr. Abdullah 10.52 Noorani and Mubarez spoke about Dr. Abdullah violations 11.03 Reporters spoke about Ramazan Bashardost claims that ink was being washed off 11.04 Ghazni report, Hamid Karzai pictures posted at a polling station 11.13 MP Hashimi said Hamid Karzai was not a good president 11.25 Chardehi Report, Dr. Abdullah, Mirwais Yasini and Hamid Karzai posters at polling stations 11.26 Dr. Abdullah picture posted at polling station 11.43 Hamid Karzai, Dr. Abdullah names spoken 12.04 Paghman report that only Dr. Abdullah and Hamid Karzai campaign reps are here Report Date: 19 August 2009 STATION INCIDENT ADDITIONAL INFO 11.57 Bala Murghab, campaigning taking place for PC Khan Mohammad 13.06 Zeenat Karzai voted and Dr. -
Ethnicity, Space, and Politics in Afghanistan
University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Urban Studies Senior Seminar Papers Urban Studies Program 11-2009 Ethnicity, Space, and Politics in Afghanistan Benjamin Dubow University of Pennsylvania Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/senior_seminar Dubow, Benjamin, "Ethnicity, Space, and Politics in Afghanistan" (2009). Urban Studies Senior Seminar Papers. 13. https://repository.upenn.edu/senior_seminar/13 Suggested Citation: Benjamin Dubow. "Ethnicity, Space, and Politics in Afghanistan." University of Pennsylvania, Urban Studies Program. 2009. This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/senior_seminar/13 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Ethnicity, Space, and Politics in Afghanistan Abstract The 2004 election was a disaster. For all the unity that could have come from 2001, the election results shattered any hope that the country had overcome its fractures. The winner needed to find a way to unite a country that could not be more divided. In Afghanistan’s Panjshir Province, runner-up Yunis Qanooni received 95.0% of the vote. In Paktia Province, incumbent Hamid Karzai received 95.9%. Those were only two of the seven provinces where more than 90% or more of the vote went to a single candidate. Two minor candidates who received less than a tenth of the total won 83% and 78% of the vote in their home provinces. For comparison, the most lopsided state in the 2004 United States was Wyoming, with 69% of the vote going to Bush. This means Wyoming voters were 1.8 times as likely to vote for Bush as were Massachusetts voters. Paktia voters were 120 times as likely to vote for Karzai as were Panjshir voters. -
Political Laws and Ethnic Accommodation: Why Cross-Ethnic Coalitions Have Failed to Institutionalize in Afghanistan
Political Laws and Ethnic Accommodation: Why Cross-Ethnic Coalitions Have Failed to Institutionalize in Afghanistan Mohammad Bashir Mobasher A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2017 Reading Committee: Robert Pekannen, Chair Jonathan Eddy, Co-Chair James Long Scott Radnitz Leigh Anderson Program Authorized to Offer Degree: School of Law © Copyright 2017 Mohammad Bashir Mobasher University of Washington ABSTRACT Political Laws and Ethnic Accommodation: Why Cross-Ethnic Coalitions Have Failed to Institutionalize in Afghanistan Mohammad Bashir Mobasher Chairs of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Robert Pekannen – Jackson School of International Studies Professor Jonathan Eddy – School of Law Afghanistan suffers from an ethnic-based and fragmented party system. Although some cross-ethnic coalitions have emerged, especially during the presidential elections, these coalitions have failed to survive across elections and branches of government. As for what explains the failure of the consolidation of coalitions, some scholars pointed to the SNTV system and others to the presidential system. This study examines all related institutional designs, including the SNTV system for parliamentary elections, the runoff system for presidential elections, the presidential system, dual vice presidency, and party qualification thresholds. These systems and institutions are designed by three bodies of political laws: the Constitution, electoral laws, and party laws. Analyzing these laws and institutional designs, this study makes three observations. First, the failure of coalitions to institutionalize in Afghanistan is not due to a single political law or institutional design but due to the influence of a number of them. Second, for cross-ethnic coalitions to institutionalize, all related institutional designs must act cohesively or else they fail to incentivize coalition-building, as is the case in Afghanistan. -
Afghanistan: Politics, Elections, and Government Performance
Afghanistan: Politics, Elections, and Government Performance Kenneth Katzman Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs November 8, 2011 Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov RS21922 CRS Report for Congress Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Afghanistan: Politics, Elections, and Government Performance Summary The limited capacity and widespread corruption of all levels of Afghan governance are factors in debate over the effectiveness of U.S. policy in Afghanistan and in implementing a transition to Afghan security leadership by the end of 2014. The capacity of the formal Afghan governing structure has increased significantly since the Taliban regime fell in late 2001, but many positions, particularly at the local level, are unfilled. Widespread illiteracy limits expansion of a competent bureaucracy. A dispute over the results of the 2010 parliamentary elections paralyzed governance for nearly a year and was resolved in September 2011 with the unseating on the grounds of fraud of nine winners of the elected lower house of parliament. Karzai also has tried, through direct denials, to quell assertions by his critics that he wants to stay in office beyond the 2014 expiration of his second term, the limits under the constitution. While trying, with mixed success, to build the formal governing structure, Afghan President Hamid Karzai also works through an informal power structure centered around his close ethnic Pashtun allies as well as other ethnic and political faction leaders. Some faction leaders oppose Karzai on the grounds that he is too willing to make concessions to insurgent leaders in search of a settlement—a criticism that grew following the September 20 assassination of the most senior Tajik leader, former President Burhanuddin Rabbani. -
Understanding Ethnic-Electoral Dynamics: How Ethnic Politics Affect Electoral Laws and Election Outcomes in Afghanistan
MOBASHER 4/18/2016 3:11 PM UNDERSTANDING ETHNIC-ELECTORAL DYNAMICS: HOW ETHNIC POLITICS AFFECT ELECTORAL LAWS AND ELECTION OUTCOMES IN AFGHANISTAN *Mohammad Bashir Mobasher After the fall of the Taliban in 2001, Afghanistan began transitioning toward democracy. The democratization, which began with the Bonn Agreement, was very promising for all ethnic groups in Afghanistan. The Bonn Agreement provided that Afghanistan must establish “broad based, gender sensitive, multi- ethnic and fully representative government.”1 As a part of this agreement, Afghanistan adopted a new Constitution in 2004, which established elections as the foundation for representative government and guaranteed that the elections be inclusive, fair, and representative of all groups and regions. Despite this progress in the laws, Afghanistan has not been able to reduce ethnic tensions. In fact, this article shows that ethnic tensions tend to intensify during elections, a result that belies the vision of the Bonn Agreement. After presenting a statistical and qualitative analysis of voting practices across three presidential elections and 26 provinces, this article makes several observations about the role of ethnicity in Afghan presidential elections. These observations are: (1) people of an ethnic community are more likely to vote for a candidate of their own ethnic group; (2) voters from one ethnic group are likely to vote for a candidate from another ethnic group only when they do not have a candidate of their own; (3) cross ethnic voting is more likely to occur in blocs and in exchange for patronage to the elites of voting groups; and (4) candidates and ethno-political elites tend to prioritize their electoral campaigns by ethnic mobilization, manipulation of laws and political bargains rather than by policy development in order to generate votes. -
Afghanistan Presidential and Provincial Council Elections August 20, 2009
Afghanistan Presidential and Provincial Council Elections August 20, 2009 Election Observation Mission Final Report The International Republican Institute 1225 Eye Street, NW, Suite 700 Washington, DC 20005 www.iri.org © 2010 International Republican Institute 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary I. Introduction II. Pre-Election Period A. Administrative Framework for Elections Electoral Law Electoral Institutions B. Politics and the Political Environment C. Voter Registration D. Civic Education E. Election Campaigning F. Media Coverage III. Election Period A. Election Day B. Participation of Women C. Domestic Observers D. Ballot Counting and Reporting IV. Post-Election Period and Final Results V. Findings and Recommendations VI. IRI in Afghanistan VII. Appendix A. IRI’s Delegation List B. IRI’s Preliminary Election Observation Statement C. IRI Statement on Ballot Counting and Adjudication D. IRI’s Statement Before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia E. IRI’s Statement on President Election Runoff 2 Executive Summary On August 20, 2009, for only the second time in their nation’s history, Afghans went to the polls to elect a president and representatives to 34 provincial councils. In the face of genuine Taliban threat, the commitment to democracy by many Afghans was encouraging. However, large numbers of irregularities and resistance to the adjudication process called into question the legitimacy of the elections and reinforced widely held perceptions of corruption and lack of accountability. All elections