Sheikh Janzada has reason to celebrate. Political and judicial reforms have finally come to his mountainous village in Bajauar Agency, part of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), realizing a lifelong dream.
On August 12, the Pakistani government announced that political parties would be allowed to freely campaign in FATA, located along the country's western border with Afghanistan. Also slated for revision are draconian Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR), which will undergo modest improvements to allow for more accountability and some conformity with modern human rights standards.
On August 12, the Pakistani government announced that political parties would be allowed to freely campaign in FATA, located along the country's western border with Afghanistan. Also slated for revision are draconian Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR), which will undergo modest improvements to allow for more accountability and some conformity with modern human rights standards.
2. Afghan Villagers Stone a Taliban Commander to Death
KABUL, Afghanistan — Angry villagers stoned to death a local Taliban commander and his bodyguard in southern Afghanistan Sunday after the militants killed a 60-year-old man accused of aiding the government, Afghan officials said.
It was a rare reversal of brutality aimed at the Taliban and, some Afghan officials believe, suggests a growing sense of security in an area where the insurgency has lost ground to NATO forces in the last two years. The stoning happened in the Nawa District of Helmand Province, a verdant agricultural area along the Helmand River Valley, now considered one of the safest places in the volatile south as a result of a heavy influx of American troops and aid dollars.
3. The Great Hindukush Gold Rush (1): Another Silver Bullet
When last year the not-so-new news hit the headlines that Afghanistan possesses enormous mineral resources, a lot of eyes started to shine with joy. Some Afghan and foreign officials believe that they finally have found the Holy Grail for post-2014 Afghanistan: a resource from which the country can pay its own security and development costs, currently incurred by Western donors mainly. But resources can also be a curse, as examples from other Third World countries – and current practice in Afghan mining - show. The hazards are manifold: social, ecological and in the political economy. The Kabul government is busy auctioning the deposits off already, making the right noises about ‘prudent’ and ‘responsible’ use of the resources, but before proper legislation exists to guarantee this. Thomas Ruttig, a Senior Analyst at AAN, starts looking at a few questions related to this Great Hindukush Gold Rush.
4. Afghans brace for economic fallout of U.S. exit
Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan— Sorosh Tokhi's wallet is a lot fatter since foreign troops moved into Afghanistan in 2001. As an interpreter for the U.S. military earning $700 a month, he has bought a flat-screen TV and a sport utility vehicle, helped his parents out and paid for relatives' tuition.
So President Obama's recent announcement that U.S. troops will step up the pace toward a 2014 departure makes him nervous.
So President Obama's recent announcement that U.S. troops will step up the pace toward a 2014 departure makes him nervous.
5. The Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East http://www.frrme.org/
6. How Pakistan Drifted Away from Itself
With the partition of the Indian subcontinent, the Dominion of Pakistan came into existence on Aug. 14, 1947. The valiant and astute Muhammad Ali Jinnah led the minority Muslim community of United India to the fulfillment of its dream for a separate homeland. The basis for the very demand of independence was the upholding of the freedom of religion, profession and speech.
Jinnah was an outstanding lawyer who had studied law in London. He had a modern outlook on the world and was strongly secular. "No subject ... in Pakistan shall, on grounds only of religion, place of birth, descent, color or any of them be ineligible for office," read part of the oath under which he took office. He was absolutely clear that the new state he was founding would accommodate people of all faiths and descents without any prejudice. To assert this point, he appointed a non-Muslim as his first law minister. The Muslims in his cabinet consisted of Sunni, Shia and Ahmadis alike. He believed that Islam endorsed a secular democracy and the two were perfectly compatible.
7. Of 'Instructors' and Interests in Iraq
The Obama administration repeatedly says that US forces are "on track" to vacate Iraq by the end of 2011, in keeping with candidate Barack Obama's pledge to "end the war in Iraq." Yet over the summer the US and the Iraqi government have rather quietly converged on the contours of a deal to keep thousands of US soldiers, to be described as "instructors," in Iraq past December.
Reidar Visser unravels the tangled Iraqi politics behind the negotiations in "Of 'Instructors' and Interests in Iraq," now available in Middle East Report Online:
8. Cutting Through Pentagon Spin About Businesses in Iraq
I've been trying to understand the purpose of the Pentagon's Task Force for Business and Stability Operations for about a year now. It is an intriguing effort to apply business development as a tool for economic growth and as an instrument of counterinsurgency -- a frankly rare example of really outside-the-box thinking from the military. At the same time, evaluating its effectiveness has proved to be incredibly difficult. Along the way, almost a dozen puff-pieces about the TFBSO, as its known, have been published, which repeat many talking points about the task force but don't actually discuss what it does.
9. Iraq dreams big with infrastructure projects
(Reuters) - In Iraq where renovating a single street can take years, government plans for a multi-billion dollar high-speed train to rival Japan's bullet train have been greeted with skepticism by many Iraqis struggling to get even basic electricity services.
The $10 billion project to build a railway connecting Baghdad to the southern provinces is the latest in a series of large-scale infrastructure proposals by Iraq's government to try to rebuild the OPEC oil-producing country after years of war.
10. Washington Rivalry
With federal budget cuts looming, both the State Department and the Defense Department are scrambling to justify their budgets and to explain why they are each better qualified than the other to manage spending when their tasks overlap. And there is quite an overlap these days, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan. Congressional partisans are already taking sides in the debate.
Stephen Glain's "State vs. Defense" enters the battle as a battering ram at the Pentagon's gates. Mr. Glain assails the expansion of the Defense Department from strictly military matters to nation-building and economic development—turf that rightly belongs, the author says, to the State Department and to the Agency for International Development. Civilians can govern and foster development better than soldiers, he argues; and unlike soldiers, the presence of civilians does not alienate foreigners fearful of American imperialism. He also argues that the Defense Department's huge budget—and the Pentagon's growing authority to give military assistance outside the State Department's channels—have allowed Defense to exercise an undue influence over U.S. foreign policy
11. Realistic Policy Options in Iraq
Two new articles on the post-2011 US presence in Iraq as well as the ongoing political struggles relating to security portfolios and the national council for high policies:
“Of Instructors and Interests in Iraq”, available at http://www.merip.org/mero/mero082211
“Power Grabs and Politics Are Stalling Progress in Iraq”, available at
Recent blog posts include:
Iraqiyya and the Kurds Challenge Maliki on Oil and Gas
The Last Straw? Maliki Appoints Dulaymi as Acting Minister of Defence
Parliament Finishes the First Reading of the Strategic Policy Council Bill
Another Change to the Second Maliki Government as the Electricity Minister Is Sacked
Ramadan Agreement Provides Some Answers but Many Uncertainties Linger
All available at http://gulfanalysis.wordpress.com/
(Reuters) - An Afghan policeman shot dead taxi driver Mohammad Jawid Amiri six month ago, for no apparent reason. According to a Kabul police official, the shooting was an accident, and the offending policeman is now behind bars.
That's news to the family of 27-year-old Amiri.
They say the only contact with the policeman they had since the shooting was when his family offered a sheep and three bags each of rice and flour as compensation, but only if the Amiris signed papers saying their son died a traffic accident, and not from gunshot wounds.
