Afghan Factional Army?

Came across a good article that highlights the inefficiencies of the Afghan National Army, and why after years of training and funding, the Army is still beset with ethnic factionalism, corruption and unprofessionalism.

After nine years in power, President Karzai became suddenly worried about the political and sectarian influence of former mujahideen groups in the ANA last year. President Karzai warned that during the mujahideen years, it was sectarianism, ethnic violence and political rifts that destroyed the army. During the so-called mujahideen rule in the 1990s, the country’s weapons, tanks, missiles and soldiers were all distributed among sectarian warlords.

This was the worst way to destroy the ANA. The mujahideen destroyed over 5,000 tanks, sold Ariana Afghan Airline planes and looted all the museums, libraries, warehouses and military headquarters. President Karzai has recently complained about the politicisation, ethnicisation and sectarianisation of the ANA. He named some former mujahideen and communist groups that raised their flags in the army headquarters. A military expert says that if the seeds of factionalism, sectarianism and regionalism take root in the army, another future civil war cannot be ruled out in Afghanistan.

These concerns, the president’s disillusion and his gestures about the expected future war within the Afghan Army need to be considered deeply. Keeping in view President Karzai’s concerns about the factionalisation of the ANA during his rule, military experts claim that all appointments to the defence and interior ministries are being made on political and sectarian bases. For example, the first non-professional and illiterate defence minister was Qasim Fahim who belonged to a sectarian and linguistic group of the Northern Alliance. The Chief of Army Staff Mullah Bismillah Khan was from the same group.

The present defence minister, General Abdul Rahim Wardak, belongs to the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan (Pir Gilani Group), the deputy defence minister, Gul Zarak Zadran, has a long association with Professor Sayyaf Group. The former interior minister, Yunus Qanooni, belongs to the Northern Alliance. The three slogans of the Afghan Army, ‘Khuda, Watan, Wazifa’ (God, country and responsibility) now just remain confined to paper, as the soldiers look upon one another as enemies. The present bunch of 140,000 soldiers of the AFA is decreased and curtailed. Every day, soldiers run away due to hardship.

For the past eight years, the lack of leadership in army units has resulted in abuses of power. Notwithstanding fixed ethnic quotas for army recruitment, Northern Alliance warlords still control the command of the armed forces. This domination of the high command created more problems in the south. Most officers of the Afghan Army have been deeply involved in illegal contracting practices, drug trade, embezzlement and killings. They fight alongside their Taliban partners against the US and NATO forces at night.

They have been playing the role of 10, 20 and 50 dollars-a-day Taliban for the last five years. The International Crisis Group (ICG), in its report for 2010, has revealed that ethnic and political rivalries among high-ranking officers of the Afghan military establishment and the general staff put the popularity and credibility of the forces at stake. From 2006-2009, a cold war between Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and Chief Of Army Staff General Bismillah Khan caused deadlocks over control of staff, resources and operations.

Army vehicles and helicopters are being used by army officers for commercial purposes. Arms are being sold to the Taliban. The culture of this military corruption has complicated the task of NATO, ISAF and ministry of defence advisers. The issue of the recruitment of Pashtuns has become more complicated as the Northern Alliance does not like seeing a large number of Pashtuns in the army. According to sources from within the Afghan Army, at present, the Islamic Unity Party of Professor Sayyaf, National Islamic Front, Northern Alliance, Shia groups, Gulbuddin’s Hizb-i-Islami, and former Afghan communist groups have strong representation in the AFA. With weak training and education, inadequate logistics and equipment, the army has never been able to prove effective in the war against terrorism.

In southern Afghanistan, non-Pashtun soldiers feel like foreigners. In January 2011, a Tajik soldier said that as there are ethnic minorities in the country’s Pashtun-heavy army, bribery was the only way they could make sure their Pashtun commanders give them a break. Another soldier said, “As a non-Pashtun, I am cheap. I am not as valuable to them (the army) as a Pashtun soldier.” The US approach to demobilisation and reintegration has, specifically, eliminated the Afghan Army’s professionalism and skills of countering the Taliban insurgency. To prevent future civil war within the Afghan Army, the president must reshape the management by strengthening legal and administrative departments to depoliticise and de-ethnicise the military establishment.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011%5C01%5C26%5Cstory_26-1-2011_pg3_2

The Strange Saga of Colonel Imam

Yesterday, media outlets reported that Sultan Amir Tarar aka Colonel Imam, had died while being held in captivity in North Waziristan.

Col. Imam was a former Pakistani Army officer, high ranking ISI official and the former Pakistani Consul General in Herat during the Taliban regime. He was also instrumental in the training of the Afghan mujahideen during the Soviet invasion.

Post 9/11 he was suspected of being a part of a "renegade" group of former Pakistani army and intelligence officers aiding and abetting the Taliban insurgency.

Less than a year ago, Imam, British journalist Asad Qureshi and another former ISI official Khalid Khwaja were kidnapped in North Waziristan by a previously unknown group called the "Asian Tigers", which was later suspected of being an umbrella group of former Punjab based Islamic militant groups and Mahsud tribesmen, led by one Usman Punjabi, Sabir Mahsud, and a renegade Kashmiri militant Ilyas Kashmiri. The kidnapping of Imam was allegedly justified by Usman Punjabi as retribution for Imams support of the Afghan Taliban but denounciation of the Pakistani insurgents. (http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=3521&Cat=13&dt=1/24/2011)

Khwaja was killed soon after, his body dumped by a road with a note attached, indicating he was a CIA/ISI spy. Qureshi was released months later after a ransom was paid allegedly.

Apparently Sabir Mahsud and Usman Punjabi developed some differences that may or may not have had to do with Imam. In any case, Sabir Mahsud's outfit allegedly attacked Usman Punjabi and killed him and some of his men. In retribution, the leader of the TTP (Pakistani Taliban) Hakimullah Mahsud had Sabir Mahsud killed, and Imam fell into Hakimullahs hands. He was reported to be still with the TTP at the time of his passing. (http://paktribune.com/news/print.php?id=235706)

As with anything involving that part of the world, and/or the ISI, alot of details remain murky. Initially press reports indicated that Imam had been shot, but later reports indicated he had died from a cardiac arrest while in custody. However, Hamid Gul, the retired former head of the ISI (and reported ringleader of the "renegade" ISI officers) has stated publicly that Imam had no heart condition. Complicating matters is that no group has publicly claimed responsibility for Imams death, and his body has not been unceremoniously dumped a la Khwaja. In fact, there is a ransom demand being made for his body to be returned.

Several possibilities have emerged regarding Imams passing, and more details should hopefully be revealed in the coming days.

1. The right wing Pakistani nationalist camp, represented by Pakistani analyst/commentator Zaid Hamid, claims he was killed by Blackwater/CIA types.

2. Some analysts believe that Imams death is proof that the Afghan Taliban dont have much leeway with the militants in the tribal areas east of the Durand. Both Sirajuddin Haqqani and Mullah Omar reportedly appealed for his release.

3. Its possible that Imam was simply seen as a bargaining chip, and that there was never any intention to cause him harm. Imams family spoke to the Pakistani press, and said that they spoke with Imam last week and he seemed in good health and frame of mind. Imams family also apparently spoke with the militants holding him, who reassured Imams family that Imam was a "respected elder" and that he was simply being held as long as the Pakistani state were unwilling to release prisoners and/or pay the ransom.

4. Tribal Elders and members of the North Waziristan Peace Committee held a press conference claiming that Imam was neither "kidnapped nor killed" in North Waziristan.
(http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=27522&Cat=2&dt=1/25/2011)

This is supported by the above article in the Pak Tribune which claims Imam was moved to Khost province in Afghanistan, when he passed away.

5. Theres always the possibility, as with any intelligence apparatus, that Imam was a disposible asset, and the ISI may have taken him out themselves.

Lets talk about Bases

Retired US Army Colonel Discusses Why the War in Afghanistan is Unwinnable

by Jacob Shafer

We've spoken with Ret. Col. Ann Wright of Oahu before-about her decision to resign from the State Department on the eve of the 2003 Iraq invasion, about the follies of the Bush Administration, about Israel, and about the importance of dissent.

Now, recently returned from a fact-finding trip to Afghanistan, Wright has plenty to say about America's oft forgotten, decade-old war.

You went to Afghanistan in September 2009, and then again last month. What, if anything, has changed?

The change that I noticed and that was talked about the most by Afghans was the huge increase in U.S. military bases-now over 400. We saw the construction of a huge base just north of Kabul. The high wall on the front side of it stretches over two miles and encloses a large training area. In the shadow of the wall, just across the road in an internal displacement camp, are tens of thousands of Afghans who have fled the fighting in the South and East of the country. They are living in abject misery in small dirt hovels, with no water or sewage and only a few sticks of wood each day to cook a tiny meal. Yet across the road are hundreds of millions-if not billions-of dollars spent on infrastructure for military training and operations. Villas built with the huge profits from the multi-million dollar U.S. logistics contracts to support our military presence are rented back to the international community contractors and non-governmental agencies for $10,000 to $15,000 per month. Yet most Afghans live in poverty.

In travelling outside of Kabul north of the Panjshir Valley, we went past the turn-off to Bagram Air Base, now an American city with over 20,000 U.S. military living and working there, as well as an infamous prison with over 10,000 detainees who are being held without any judicial process, many for years. We observed two new, 'smaller' U.S. military bases on the way to the valley-with the standard and expensive bomb-blast protective walls with at least 50 pre-fab buildings in each and an American flag flying above each base.

With its latest $500 million expansion project, the United States Embassy in Afghanistan will be the largest in the world, even bigger than the mammoth U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. Over 1,400 U.S. government employees will reside inside the walls of the compound, which is expanding to take over the Afghan Ministry of Health grounds and part of an Afghan Ministry of Defense area. The U.S. is building two consulates, one in Heart and one in Mazir Sharif. Each will cost $50 million.

The United States' presence in Afghanistan is so large that it has its own air terminal at the Kabul International Airport, plus the two mega air bases at Bagram and Kandahar, and the air base in Kyrgyzstan.

This huge infrastructure build-up is to support the Obama administration's strategy for Afghanistan. That strategy-which increased the U.S. military presence by 50,000-was opposed by the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, retired three-star General Karl Eikenberry. Eikenberry was the former commander of U.S. military forces in Afghanistan. Two of his secret State Department cables to Obama during the strategy review-with his recommendation that a military increase was not what was needed-were leaked to the public, not through Wikileaks, but apparently directly to a major newspaper in the United States. Obama chose to ignore his own Ambassador and former military commander and approve Generals Patreaus and McChrystal's recommendation of a dramatic increase in military troop strength.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/01/23-3

23rd Anniversary of the great PACHA KHAN

Yesterday was the 23rd anniversary of the passing of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan aka Bacha/Pacha/Badshah Khan aka the Fakhr E Afghan.

For those who were not familiar with this wonderful giant of a man and his shining legacy:

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1890 - 20 January 1988) (Pashto : خاں عبدالغفار خاں, Hindi: ख़ान अब्दुल ग़फ़्फ़ार ख़ान) was a Pashtun political and spiritual leader known for his non-violent opposition to British Rule in India. A lifelong pacifist, a devout Muslim,[1] and a close friend of Mahatma Gandhi, he was also known as Badshah Khan (also Bacha Khan, Pashto: lit., "King Khan"),Fakhr-e-Afghan(pride of Afghans) and Sarhaddi Gandhi (Urdu, Hindi lit., "Frontier Gandhi").

He was initially encouraged by his family to join the British Indian Army; however the treatment of a British Raj officer towards a native offended him, and a family decision for him to study in England was put off after his mother's intervention.

Having witnessed the repeated failure of revolts against the British Raj, he decided social activism and reform would be more beneficial for Pashtuns. This ultimately led to the formation of the Khudai Khidmatgar movement (Servants of God). The movement's success triggered a harsh crackdown against him and his supporters and he was sent into exile. It was at this stage in the late 1920s that he formed an alliance with Gandhi and the Indian National Congress. This alliance was to last till the 1947 partition of India.

Ghaffar Khan strongly opposed the Muslim League's demand for the partition of India.[2][3] When the Congress party accepted the partition plan, he told them "You have thrown us to the wolves."[4]

After partition, Ghaffar Khan was frequently arrested by the Pakistani government in part because of his association with India and his opposition to authoritarian moves by the government. He spent much of the 1960s and 1970s either in jail or in exile.

In 1985 he was nominated for the Nobel peace prize. In 1987 he became the first person not holding the citizenship of India to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award. Upon his death in 1988, he was buried in Jalalabad, despite the heavy fighting at the time, both sides in the Afghan war declared a ceasefire to allow his burial.

A few paragraphs from Wikipedia cannot in any way truly convey the importance of this man and what he meant for not only the Pashtun people, but people of that region and throughout the Islamic world.

It is a bitter reality of our circumstances today that as Afghans we are forced between the Karzais and Omars of the world, and yet we forget one of the greatest Pashtuns to ever live.

My appearance on the Michael Coren Show

Yesterday, I had the privilege of being a guest on the Michael Coren show, along with the former Canadian Ambassador to Afghanistan Chris Alexander, Captain Ray Wiss of the Canadian Armed Forces, and James Clark from the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War.

Here is the link

http://www.ctstv.com/michaelcoren/?vidID=20828

Iran's Muscle Flexing

Iran has never hesistated to flex its muscle in Afghanistan. They're at it again.

"Afghanistan's frigid winter has been made colder by some un-neighborly actions by Iran: for a month, most fuel trucks bound for Afghanistan through Iran have been stopped at the border. As a result, gasoline and heating fuel prices have spiked, which poor Afghans can ill-afford.

Iran claims it's trying to stop fuel heading for U.S.-led NATO forces, which the U.S. denies. Observers in Kabul say Iran is showing its leverage with the U.S. Army next door.

But there have been side effects — anti-Iranian protests in Kabul, and even a rare protest in favor of the U.S. presence.

It's not just that the price of heating oil and gas is up 50 percent; knock-on effects are driving up prices of anything that needs to be transported by truck. And in Afghanistan, that's just about everything."

http://www.npr.org/2011/01/18/133020323/fuel-costs-spike-in-afghanistan-as-iran-flexes-muscle

The Iranians have always played a very contradictory role in Afghanistan. On one hand they never miss an opportunity to attack the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan but reman adamantly opposed to negotiations with the Taliban or even their integration into the government.

On one hand, it actively supports the Kabul regime, whether its aid, reconstruction or bag fulls of cash directly to President Karzai's office.On the other hand, we are increasingly seeing evidence of financial and material linkages between Iran and the Taliban insurgency.

Of course, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of one of the main insurgent factions Hezb E Islami, lived in Iran in exile during the Taliban era.

Complicating factors is the natural sympathy the Iranians have culturally with the Persian speaking minorities of Afghanistan, and the fellow Shia Hazara community. However, even then, the relationship has seen strains historically. As for the Taliban, its incredelous to believe that the Shia theocracy of Iran has found some common ground with the hardline Sunni Taliban.

Iran has a point to prove in Afghanistan, and this isnt the first time. One may recall back in 2007 and 2009, Iran's shameful mass deportations of Afghan refugees.
It's one giant game of Musical Chairs in Afghanistan, and occasionally an elbow or two may have to be thrown to ensure a seat.

Cowardly Cowards and Cowardice

Part of the narrative used against the Afghan insurgency has been the labelling of the Taliban as cowards. Usually, its the use of I.E.D.'s, suicide bombings or other unconventional tactics that justify the usage of the term cowardice. Came across another article where the C-word gets dropped.

Both conflicts will enter their endgames with planned withdrawals, predicts Staff Sgt Austin, a forecast which suggests the enemy in Afghanistan, as in Iraq, will never be beaten outright.

“It’s hard to identify the insurgents,” he says. “They are cowards. One minute they are meeting and greeting you in the street and the next they are firing at you.

http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/News/Living-with-Lady-Luck-on-duty-in-Afghanistan.htm

Its nothing new of course. Insulting the enemy is as old as war itself. But its usage in the Afghan context is kinda amusing to me. Reminds me of Lady Sale's reflections nearly 200 hundred years ago:

I often hear the Affghans designated as cowards: they are a fine manly looking set, and I can only suppose it arises from the British idea among civilized people that assassination is a cowardly act. The Affghans never scruple to use their long knives for that purpose, ergo they are cowards; but they show no cowardice in standing as they do against guns without using any themselves, and is escalading and taking forts which we cannot retake.

I wonder what good ole Lady Sale would make of the Drone strikes.