Vulnerable Afghans
struggle to survive harsh winter
by Abdul Haleem, Yangtze Yan
KABUL, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- "I am a mother of three and have
nothing to keep my hut warm," a destitute woman appealed to
passersby for alms in downtown Kabul.
Sitting alongside a snowy street and holding up an umbrella to
keep herself and two kids from heavy snowfall, the dejected lady
said that the continued cold spell and snowfall had doubled her
pains.
"I have no choice but to beg, I have three children and no
proper food and shelter," the upset mother told Xinhua on Friday.
Nevertheless, the begging but shy woman refused to disclose her
name, saying that "I need assistance and not talking to people."
Inquiring women's name in the conservative Afghanistan
sometimes creates problem for the questioners as many Afghan women
do not like to reveal their names to others other than their close
relatives.
The impoverished lady is not alone that has been living on
charity provided by passersby and relief agencies.
Begging, particularly by women, is a taboo in Afghanistan.
However, the continued instability and extreme poverty have forced
many to beg on streets.
Almost in every street of the war-battered yet under-
construction capital city and other Afghan cities, the begging
men, women and children often disturb the attention of onlookers.
Grabbing her two children on arm in the snowy day, another
woman was also busy in seeking handout to survive.
"Please help me as much as you can. I am in urgent need of
firewood, food and money," said the woman dressed in tatters.
To cope with the poverty and assist the needy Afghans in 2012,
the government of Afghanistan and the United Nations' Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) appealed for 437
million U.S. dollars on Jan. 28.
"The appeal is a total of 437 million U.S. dollars," UN
Humanitarian Coordinator Michael Keating told a joint press
conference with Afghan Minister for Rural Rehabilitation and
Development Jarullah Mansoori.
At the press briefing, the UN official said that 8.8 million
Afghans are in need of humanitarian assistance in 2012 and over
187,000 people were displaced in 2011, mostly due to security
incidents.
Unprecedentedly in couple of years, the current chilly winter,
accompanied by heavy snowfalls, has been hitting most parts of the
mountainous Afghanistan over the past month. The snow depth marked
up to 60 centimeters in Kabul and adjoining provinces since
Thursday.
More than 40 people have lost their lives in avalanche and
snowfall some two weeks ago in the northeast Badakhshan province
and scores others sustained injuries, according to officials.
"Please help me to buy a few nan and feed my children tonight,"
said a 39-year-old man who introduced himself as Karim outside a
roadside hotel.
Nan is a flat bread and the most affordable food item that
Afghan families often put on their dining tables during mealtime.
ISAF Joint
Command
morning operational update
NATO News Release
KABUL, Afghanistan (Feb. 03) –
Afghan hostage rescued by combined Afghan Force
A combined Afghan and coalition security force conducted an
operation freeing a kidnapped Afghan citizen in Khoghjani
district, Ghazni province, Wednesday.
During the operation, the security force rescued one hostage
and detained several insurgents connected with the kidnapping. The
insurgents revealed that a second hostage had escaped one day
prior and admitted they planned to kill the remaining hostage that
day.
The security force also seized multiple small arms, ammunition
and tactical vests during the operation.
The insurgents were detained by Afghan security forces for
further questioning. The rescued hostage received medical
attention on site and was taken to a coalition hospital for
further observation.
No civilians were harmed and no shots were fired during the
operation.
In other International Security Assistance Force news
throughout Afghanistan:
South
An Afghan and coalition security force captured a Taliban
leader during an operation in Nahr-E Saraj district, Helmand
province, today. The leader was a Taliban-appointed deputy and
head of the insurgent group’s military commission in Badghis
province. The captured leader arranged large-scale attacks,
distributed weapons and collected taxes. He represented both the
Taliban and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan groups and was
responsible for coordinating insurgent activities in Badghis and
Faryab province. One additional suspected insurgent was detained
during the operation.
East
In Bakwaw district, Farah province, a combined Afghan and
coalition security force discovered a drug and weapons cache
during an operation yesterday. The cache consisted of
approximately 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms) of opium, 16 improvised
explosive devices, several containers of explosive-making
materials, $1.5 million in Pakistan currency and a motorcycle
rigged with explosives to be used as a suicide vehicle borne IED.
Security forces detained three suspected insurgents and
confiscated the drugs and currency. The weapons were destroyed on
site without incident.
'NATO set to
withdraw troops
from Afghanistan by the end of 2014'
Press TV
February 3, 2012
NATO's Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says the
military alliance will withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of
2014, as “originally planned.”
Rasmussen announced the decision at a news conference on Friday
after NATO's defense ministers resumed their talks at the
alliance's headquarters in Brussels.
But French President Nicolas Sarkozy had earlier announced that
French troops will pull out a year before then.
However, Rasmussen insisted that the handover of combat roles
to local Afghan forces would depend on the security situation on
the ground.
The NATO ministers convened on Thursday to discuss major
changes to the war strategy in Afghanistan during the two-day
meeting.
The talks have also been discussing how to pay a yearly 4.5
billion euros for Afghanistan's security forces once they take
over from the alliance in 2014.
It is unlikely a final decision will emerge before NATO's
summit in Chicago in May, while austerity budget cuts in a
crisis-hit eurozone have made it difficult to reach agreement on
future funding.
In 2001, the United States led an invasion of Afghanistan under
the pretext of removing Taliban militants from power.
Insecurity, however, continues to rise across Afghanistan
despite the presence thousands of US-led troops in the war-weary
nation.
Meanwhile, a recent NATO report leaked to the media suggested
that Afghan militants are confident they can defeat the coalition.
Interview: Rashid
On 'Bad Timing' Of
NATO Report On Pakistan And Taliban
February 1, 2012
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Ahmed Rashid, a journalist and the well-respected author of
several books on the Taliban and militant Islam, answers questions
about the impact of a leaked NATO report that alleges that
Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency is "intimately involved" with
the Afghan insurgency. Rashid spoke with RFE/RL correspondent
Abubakar Siddique.
RFE/RL: Is the revelation in this NATO report about Islamabad's
support for the Taliban news to you?
Ahmed Rashid: It's very well known amongst NATO militaries
[and] amongst the U.S. military. I was told by senior American
generals that they approached [U.S.] President [George W.] Bush
and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld back in 2005 about the
support that the Taliban were getting from Pakistan. But it was
ignored by Bush at that time.
So this is nothing new, I think, for anyone. But the fact that
it should be leaked and that it should come in such language, I
suppose, is going to create quite a furor.
RFE/RL: How do you read the timing of this leak, then, given
that all sides are now pushing for a negotiated settlement?
Rashid: Well, the timing obviously is very bad because this is
precisely the time that Pakistan needs to be wooed and Pakistan
needs to come on board this peace process with the Taliban, be it
American or German or Qatari-led -- whatever.
Certainly, what you see now happening is that Pakistan is going
to go its own way. It's not going to cooperate with the Americans
or with NATO. And this kind of leak that has happened is going to
make things much more difficult for Pakistan to accept an American
negotiated end to the war.
RFE/RL: So, if they go their own way, does that mean we are
back to square one?
Rashid: Certainly, there is a danger of that. I think the
timing could have been connected to the fact that today the
Pakistani foreign minister was expected to visit Kabul and hold
talks with [Afghan President Hamid] Karzai. So there will be a lot
of suspicion in Islamabad that the Americans deliberately leaked
this at this particular movement to perhaps sabotage Pakistan's
effort [to reach an understanding with Afghanistan].
RFE/RL: There is a lot of uncertainty around the future of
international efforts in Afghanistan. France, for instance, has
already announced that they are going to leave a year early. Could
something like this prompt others to follow suit?
Rashid: There is an enormous diplomatic effort right now to try
to persuade other NATO countries not to leave early. But the
possibility, of course, exists that some countries with some of
the smaller contingents of troops could decide to leave early.
Certainly, the Americans don't want to announce anything more
until the NATO summit in Chicago in May, in which things might
become clearer. And where you might see the Americans themselves
bring the date forward for their exit from 2014 to perhaps a few
months earlier.
Pakistan, UNHCR agree new
regional approach to Afghan refugees
ISLAMABAD, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- The UN refugee agency Thursday
called for additional international solidarity with Pakistan and
Iran which continue to host large numbers of Afghan refugees after
more than 30 years.
There are currently 1.7 million registered Afghan refugees in
Pakistan. Since 2002, more than five million Afghan refugees have
already left for home, the majority with assistance from United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
In 2011 just over 50,000 Afghan refugees returned home from
Pakistan, down from nearly 110,000 thousand in 2010. Despite the
decline, the number of Afghan returns last year still represented
the largest refugee repatriation programme in the world.
"At a time when many countries are closing their doors to those
fleeing violence and persecution, the generosity of the people and
the government of Pakistan towards Afghan refugees deserves
greater recognition and support on the part of the international
community,"UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ant nio Guterres told
a news conference in Islamabad.
During his visit Mr Guterres also met with Prime Minister Yusuf
Raza Gilani and Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar. Central to
their talks was an agreement reached in Dubai earlier this week
between Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and UNHCR to pursue a regional
strategy aimed at finding durable solutions to the Afghan refugee
situation.
The new strategy will be presented at an international
conference to be held in Switzerland in early May.
The conference will seek international support for programmes
inside Afghanistan that will increase the attractiveness and
sustainability of returns while providing additional support to
communities that continue to host Afghan refugees.
"The priority now," said the UNHCR chief, "is to create
conditions inside Afghanistan that will allow for large scale
voluntary repatriation." Afghan refugees will be more ready to go
home once the right conditions are in place inside Afghanistan, he
added.
Mr Guterres also commended the government for reaffirming its
commitment to the voluntary and gradual return of Afghan refugees.
He thanked Pakistan for its hospitality towards Afghan refugees
while praising its continued commitment to finding lasting
solutions to the situation.
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