US Marines launch
major offensive in Afghanistan
By Jason Straziuso
Associated Press
July 2, 2009
NAWA, Afghanistan – Thousands of U.S. Marines poured from
helicopters and armored vehicles into Taliban-controlled villages
in southern Afghanistan on Thursday in the first major operation
under President Barack Obama's strategy to stabilize the country.
The offensive was launched shortly after 1 a.m. Thursday local
time (4:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday, 2030 GMT Wednesday) in Helmand
province, a Taliban stronghold and the world's largest opium
poppy-producing area. The goal is to clear insurgents from the
hotly contested region before the nation's Aug. 20 presidential
election.
The Marines have not suffered any serious casualties and have
seen only a sporadic resistance, said Lt. Abe Sipe, a spokesman
for the unit.
"The enemy has chosen to withdraw rather than engage for the
most part," Sipe said. "We had a couple of heat casualties, but
not deemed serious in nature at this time."
The operation came as U.S. military announced that one of its
soldiers was missing and believed captured by insurgents in
eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday. The missing soldier was not
involved in the Helmand operation.
Officials described the offensive — dubbed Khanjar or "Strike
of the Sword" — as the largest and fastest-moving of the war's new
phase and the biggest Marine offensive since the one in Fallujah,
Iraq, in 2004. It involves nearly 4,000 newly arrived Marines plus
650 Afghan forces. British forces last week led similar, but
smaller, missions to clear out insurgents in Helmand and
neighboring Kandahar province.
"Where we go we will stay, and where we stay, we will hold,
build and work toward transition of all security responsibilities
to Afghan forces," Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson said in
a statement.
Pakistan's army said it had moved troops from elsewhere on its
side of the Afghan border to the stretch opposite Helmand to try
to stop any militants from fleeing the offensive. It gave no more
details, but U.S. and Pakistani officials have expressed concern
that stepped-up operations in southern Afghanistan could push the
insurgents across the border.
Transport helicopters carried hundreds of Marines into the
village of Nawa, some 20 miles (30 kilometers) south of the
provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, in a region where no U.S. or
other NATO troops have operated in large numbers.
The troops took many insurgents by surprise, dropping behind
Taliban lines, said Capt. Drew Schoenmaker, from Greene, New York.
"We are kind of forging new ground here. We are going to a
place nobody has been before," said Schoenmaker, 31, who commands
Bravo Company of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment.
Daybreak brought the sporadic crackle of gunfire. Medical
helicopters circled overhead and landed, indicating possible early
casualties among the Marines.
A Marine unit in Nawa traded gunfire with a group of some 20
insurgents, while Afghan troops exchanged small arms fire with
militants after they were attacked with rocket propelled grenades
fired from several houses. A Cobra helicopter circling overhead
for most of the day fired rockets at a tree line nearby. Other
troops walked through fields of corn and past mud-wall homes. Only
a handful of villagers dared to venture outside.
A roadside bomb early in the mission wounded one Marine, but he
was able to continue, spokesman Capt. Bill Pelletier said.
Southern Afghanistan is a Taliban stronghold but also a region
where Afghan President Hamid Karzai is seeking votes from fellow
Pashtun tribesmen.
The Pentagon is deploying 21,000 additional troops to
Afghanistan in time for the elections and expects the total number
of U.S. forces there to reach 68,000 by year's end. That is double
the number of troops in Afghanistan in 2008 but still half as many
as are now in Iraq.
The Taliban, who took control of Afghanistan in 1996 and were
ousted from power following a U.S.-led invasion in 2001, have made
a violent comeback, wreaking havoc in much of the country's south
and east, forcing the United States to pour in the new troops.
Pelletier said troops in Thursday's operation were sent in by a
mixture of aircraft and ground transport under the cover of
darkness.
The operation aims to show "the Afghan people that when we come
in, we are going to stay long enough to set up their own
institutions," Pelletier said.
Once on the ground, the troops will meet with local leaders,
hear their needs and act on them, Pelletier said.
"We do not want people of Helmand province to see us as an
enemy. We want to protect them from the enemy," Pelletier said.
Thousands of British forces, fighting under NATO command, have
been in Helmand since 2006 with broadly the same strategy, but
security has deteriorated. They have met with stronger resistance
than initially expected against Taliban fighters bankrolled by the
vast opium and heroin trade.
Reversing the insurgency's momentum has been a key component of
the new U.S. strategy, and thousands of additional troops allow
commanders to push and stay into areas where international and
Afghan troops had no permanent presence before.
While Marine troops were the bulk of the force, recently
arrived U.S. Army helicopters were also taking part in the
operation.
In March, Obama unveiled his strategy for Afghanistan, seeking
to defeat al-Qaida terrorists there and in Pakistan with a bigger
force and a new commander. Taliban and other extremists, including
those allied with al-Qaida, routinely cross the two nations'
border in Afghanistan's remote south.
Last year, NATO and Pakistani forces cooperated in a series of
complementary operations on the border, but the overall commitment
of Islamabad to Washington's aims in Afghanistan has long been
questioned. Pakistan has frequently been accused in the past of
failing to stop — and sometimes aiding — the movement of
insurgents into Afghanistan from its side of the border.
The governor of Helmand province predicted Operation Khanjar
would be "very effective."
"The security forces will build bases to provide security for
the local people so that they can carry out every activity with
this favorable background and take their lives forward in peace,"
Gov. Gulab Mangal said in a Pentagon news release.
Obama aims to boost the Afghan army from 80,000 to 134,000
troops by 2011 — and greatly increase training by U.S. troops
accompanying them — so the Afghan military can take control of the
war. The White House also is pushing forces to set clear goals for
a war gone awry, provide more resources and make a better case for
international support.
There is no timetable for withdrawal, and the White House has
not estimated how many billions of dollars its plan will cost.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan, insurgents captured an American
soldier on Tuesday, said Capt. Elizabeth Mathias, a U.S. military
spokeswoman. The missing soldier was not part of the Helmand
operation.
"We are using all of our resources to find him and provide for
his safe return," Mathias said.
Mathias did not provide details on the soldier, the location
where he was captured or the circumstances.
Afghan Police Gen. Nabi Mullakheil said the soldier went
missing in the Mullakheil area of eastern Paktika province, where
there is an American base.
Zabiullah Mujaheed, a spokesman for the Taliban, could not
confirm that the soldier was with any of their militant forces. A
myriad of insurgent groups operate in eastern Afghanistan, and the
Taliban is only one of them.
The soldier was noticed missing during a routine check of the
unit on Tuesday and was first listed as "duty status whereabouts
unknown," a U.S. defense official said on condition of anonymity
because details are still sketchy.
Two U.S. defense sources said the soldier "just walked off"
post with three Afghan counterparts after he finished working.
They said they had no explanation for why he left the base. He was
assigned to a combat outpost, one of a number of smaller bases set
up by foreign forces in Afghanistan, the officials said.
The most important insurgent group operating in that area is
known as Haqqani network and is led by Siraj Haqqani, whom the
U.S. has accused of masterminding beheadings and suicide bombings.
__
Associated Press writers Fisnik Abrashi in Kabul, Nahal Toosi
in Islamabad and Lara Jakes and Pauline Jelinek in Washington
contributed to this report.
Q&A - How will new assault
change the war in Afghanistan?
Jonathon Burch
Reuters
July 2, 2009
Thousands of U.S. Marines stormed into a river valley in
southern Helmand province on Thursday in an operation seeking to
break the Taliban's hold on the key opium-growing region and turn
the tide of the war in Afghanistan. Skip related content
Following are questions and answers about what impact Operation
Khanjar, or "Strike of the Sword," might have.
WHAT ARE THEY TRYING TO ACHIEVE?
The Marines hope by appearing suddenly and in overwhelming
numbers, they can capture some of the Taliban's firmest
strongholds with little resistance. U.S. commanders say a rapid,
decisive victory in the Helmand valley will turn the course of a
war some in Washington have said they are not winning.
But launching such a bold operation also carries great risk. A
protracted, bloody fight could erode support for the war in the
United States, among its NATO allies and, most importantly, among
Afghans the U.S. government and military are trying to win over.
"In every counter-insurgency there are times when you have to
go in after the insurgents. There are no retired insurgents, but
we can't afford to make more enemies along the way," General
Stanley McChrystal, who has taken over foreign forces in
Afghanistan with a new counter-insurgency strategy, has said.
WILL THEY BE ABLE TO HOLD THE GROUND THEY WIN?
That has been the biggest problem so far for overstretched,
British-led NATO troops in Helmand. Without enough manpower, they
have been forced to defend scattered outposts and move into areas
by day, only to withdraw back to barracks hours later and watch
the Taliban flood back in.
Some 10,000 U.S. Marines are now in Helmand, more than double
the size of British-led forces.
"One of the biggest problems in the counter-insurgency fight in
Afghanistan is that when NATO forces launch an operation and clean
up an area, they create a vacuum," said Haroun Mir, political
analyst and co-founder of the Afghanistan Centre for Research and
Policy Studies in Kabul.
"They cannot stay in that area ... then the Taliban come out
from their hideouts and take over the village again," he said.
But commanders now hope the extra troops will allow them to
hold ground by setting up small bases, effectively living and
fighting among the people, a strategy adopted from the Iraq war.
DOES IT HAVE THE SUPPORT OF THE PEOPLE?
A key component of the operation is winning the trust of the
local Afghan population.
Company commanders have been ordered to set up shuras, or
community councils, with the local populations within 24 hours of
arriving in towns and villages.
"I want to make sure you understand ... we're attempting to
seize the population. We're going to seize the population from the
Taliban and never let them go," said Lieutenant-Colonel Christian
Cabaniss, commander of the 2nd battalion, 8th Marines.
Mir said this was crucial.
"This is what McChrystal, I think, has grasped in Afghanistan
-- to reach out to Afghan people and try and bring them on board
instead of alienating them," said Mir.
Military commanders hope by the end of the summer to provide
security for 90 percent of the population in the south, up from
about 60 percent now.
WHAT ABOUT RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT?
Poor security has largely kept foreign aid organisations out of
the south, particularly in Helmand.
The Afghan government and foreign military commanders hope by
securing and holding parts of Helmand, aid organisations will be
able to move in and begin reconstruction in an area that has seen
little or no development.
"In this district the people have asked the government to help
them. This operation will improve things," said Daoud Ahmadi,
spokesman for the governor of Helmand.
Saleem Zmarial, adviser to Helmand's governor on development
and counter narcotics, said: "The people there need to start a new
life with access to healthcare and clean water."
WILL IT BE A LONG FIGHT?
While military commanders hope their overwhelming numbers will
overpower the insurgents with little resistance, Taliban fighters
have had years to reinforce positions among the valley's
irrigation ditches and canals, fiercely resisting past advances.
The Taliban say they will oppose the Marines but are unlikely
to challenge them in face-to-face combat, which they would almost
certainly lose. The insurgents are more likely to dig in and use
deadly roadside bombs and similar tactics.
American soldier
feared captured in Afghanistan
By Fisnik Abrashi
Associated Press
July 2, 2009
KABUL – Insurgents have captured an American soldier in eastern
Afghanistan after he walked off post with his three Afghan
counterparts, officials said Thursday.
Spokeswoman Capt. Elizabeth Mathias said the soldier
disappeared Tuesday.
"We have all available resources out there looking for him and
hopefully providing for his safe return," Mathias said.
Mathias did not provide details on the soldier, the location
where he was captured or the circumstances.
The news broke as thousands of U.S. Marines launched a major
anti-Taliban offensive in southern Afghanistan. The missing
soldier was not part of that operation.
"We are not providing further details to protect the soldier's
well-being," she said.
Afghan Police Gen. Nabi Mullakheil said the soldier went
missing in the Mullakheil area of eastern Paktika province, where
there is an American base.
The soldier was noticed missing during a routine check of the
unit on Tuesday and was first listed as "duty status whereabouts
unknown," a U.S. defense official said on condition of anonymity.
It wasn't until Thursday that officials said publicly that he
was missing and described him as "believed captured." Details of
such incidents are routinely held very tightly by the military as
it works to retrieve a missing or captured soldier without giving
away any information to captors.
Initial reports indicated that the soldier was off duty at the
time he went missing, having just completed a shift, the official
said on condition of anonymity because details are still sketchy.
The missing man is an enlisted soldier, and his family has been
notified.
Two U.S. defense sources said the soldier "just walked off"
post with three Afghan counterparts after he finished working.
They said they had no explanation for why he left the base. He was
assigned to a combat outpost, one of a number of smaller bases set
up by foreign forces in Afghanistan, the officials said.
Zabiullah Mujaheed, a spokesman for the Taliban, could not
confirm that the soldier was with any of their forces. A myriad of
insurgent groups operate in eastern Afghanistan, and the Taliban
is only one of them.
The most important insurgent group operating in that area is
known as Haqqani network and is led by Siraj Haqqani, whom the
U.S. has accused of masterminding beheadings and suicide bombings.
___
Associated Press writer Pauline Jelinek in Washington
contributed to this report.
Security
developments in Afghanistan
July 2 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in
Afghanistan at 1400 GMT on Thursday.
HELMAND - About 4,000 U.S. Marines and 650 Afghan troops
launched a major offensive in southern Helmand province, a
traditional Taliban stronghold, U.S. military commanders said. A
U.S. military spokesman said there had been small skirmishes and
some minor casualties had been reported. A Taliban spokesman, Qari
Mohammad Yousuf, said one Taliban fighter had been killed and two
wounded and claimed that 11 foreign troops had been killed or
wounded.
PAKTIKA - A U.S. soldier has been missing since Tuesday and was
thought to have been captured by insurgents in southeastern
Paktika province, the U.S. military said in a statement.
ZABUL - Afghan police killed nine insurgents in Dai Chopan
district in southeastern Zabul, the Interior Ministry said in a
statement. A tonne of explosives was also uncovered in the
operation, it said. HELMAND - Britain's Ministry of Defence
identified as British two soldiers from the NATO-led force who
were killed in a bomb attack in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday.
They were killed during an operation near Lashkar Gah, it said in
a statement.
(Compiled by Golnar Motevalli; Editing by Paul Tait)
ACLU Says Government Used False
Confessions
By Del Quentin Wilber
Washington Post
Thursday, July 2, 2009
The American Civil Liberties Union yesterday accused the Obama
administration of using statements elicited through torture to
justify the confinement of a detainee it represents at the U.S.
military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The ACLU is asking a federal judge to throw out those
statements and others made by Mohammed Jawad, an Afghan who may
have been as young as 12 when he was captured. His attorney argued
that Jawad was abused in U.S. custody, threatened and subjected to
intense sleep deprivation.
"The government's continued reliance on evidence gained by
torture and other abuse violates centuries of U.S. law and
suggests the current administration is not really serious about
breaking with the past," said ACLU lawyer Jonathan Hafetz, who is
representing Jawad in a lawsuit challenging his detention.
Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said the government
would not comment on the types of evidence it will use in Jawad's
case challenging his imprisonment. "We intend to prove our case in
court rather than attempt to do so through the media," Boyd said.
In court papers, the Justice Department alleges that Jawad
threw a grenade into a vehicle containing two U.S. Special Forces
soldiers and their Afghan interpreter on Dec. 17, 2002. Jawad was
also associated with a group tied to Osama bin Laden, the
government alleges.
After the grenade attack, Jawad was picked up by Afghan police,
according to military and federal court records.
During U.S. military commission hearings on his case, a judge
found that Afghan interrogators threatened to kill Jawad and his
family if he did not confess to playing a role in the attack.
Jawad then admitted to participating in the attack, wrote the
judge, Army Col. Stephen R. Henley.
Later the same night, he was questioned by U.S. Special Forces
and confessed again, Henley wrote.
In November, Henley found that the first set of statements were
elicited through "physical intimidation and threats of death" and
that Jawad's fears "had not dissipated by the second confession."
He ruled that prosecutors could not use either of the confessions
during military commission proceedings.
Despite Henley's ruling, Hafetz said the Justice Department
wants to use those very confessions to justify Jawad's detention
in the detainee's lawsuit before U.S. District Judge Ellen S.
Huvelle.
Hafetz said he is also asking Huvelle to suppress other
statements Jawad made to interrogators at the U.S. military
prisons at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay.
Those statements were tainted, Hafetz said, because Jawad was
beaten, forced into painful "stress positions," and chained to a
wall and deprived of sleep in Bagram. At Guantanamo, Jawad was
interrogated more than 50 times and subjected to sleep
deprivation, Hafetz said.
Jawad's situation received attention last year when a military
prosecutor abruptly quit his post, saying that the case was
riddled with problems and that the prisoner had suffered physical
and psychological mistreatment while in custody.
That former prosecutor, Darrel Vandeveld, later filed a
declaration supporting Jawad's challenge to his confinement in a
federal lawsuit.
"It is my opinion, based on my extensive knowledge of the case,
that there is no credible evidence or legal basis to justify Mr.
Jawad's detention," Vandeveld wrote.
Migrant squalor in Calais
'jungle'
By Emma-Jane Kirby
BBC Paris Correspondent
Thursday, 2 July 2009
On a slip road close to the port of Calais in northern France,
a group of dusty Afghan men are huddled around a single tap,
filling water bottles and washing their feet.
They have only recently got this facility - until some weeks
ago, most of the migrants washed in the sea or in waste water next
to a chemical plant.
Hamkar, a 17-year-old from Helmand Province, looks weary and
hot but he says he is happy to have the tap because at least now
he can try to wash once a week.
The only problem is finding a moment of privacy because this
one tap is shared with around 800 other members of "the jungle".
"The jungle" is the main illegal makeshift camp that sprang up
in the woods around the Calais port shortly after the closure of
the Red Cross Reception Centre at Sangatte in November 2002.
It was hoped that shutting down Sangatte, which was a magnet
for migrants trying to cross the Channel to Britain, would stem
the flow of refugees and asylum seekers, but instead numbers have
swelled.
The increase has prompted the UN Refugee Agency to set up a
permanent office in the northern port to offer asylum advice and
to help migrants make informed decisions.
"Every day the people are increasing here," said Mussa, a shy
young Afghan in his early twenties.
Landfill home
"They're trying to go to England but they don't know about the
conditions of this jungle. If they knew about the conditions of
this jungle, they would not come."
He invited me to take a look for myself and I followed him
through the sands into the trees.
One hundred metres into the woods and I am in the heart of the
makeshift, insanitary campsite.
It is a sort of shanty town and there is so much rubbish and
litter lying about, it looks as if it has been built in the middle
of a huge landfill site.
Tents have been made out of metal grilles and chicken wire
which have been covered by plastic sheeting and bin liners - in
Mussa's tent, which is about 10ft square, the roof has been
patched over with a sheet of birthday paper.
Mussa told me that eight people sleep here regularly but
sometimes they have to make room for 10.
Inside the tent, it is stiflingly hot and the bits of old
carpet and car floor mats that line the floor are giving off a
smell like old meat.
There are no beds or mattresses. One of Mussa's friends said
they often had skin problems and strange itches.
Twenty-year-old Nassid from Helmand Province has been in the
jungle for six months and is determined to make it to Britain.
He tries twice a day to climb aboard lorries and trucks to
cross the Channel undetected but each time he has been discovered.
He knows the routine perfectly now - a quick trip to the police
station, a written warning, sometimes a court appearance, but then
he is just set free to return to the jungle and to make a new
attempt.
Ten of his friends he claims have already succeeded in getting
to the UK.
"Britain has a good government" he said, "Britain will help me
to get a better life."
I asked him if he has paid people traffickers to help him get
to Britain but he shook his head and said he had no money. He had
to try alone, he explained, which made things very difficult so he
had to try twice a day.
Most of the migrants do pay smugglers to help them get across.
Last April the Calais police launched a major raid to try to break
up the trafficking rings, arresting more than 190 migrants and
bulldozing tents.
Starvation fear
But the migrants just came back. In dealing with the problem,
the French authorities have a difficult balancing act - they
cannot leave the migrants to starve but equally, they cannot offer
too much humanitarian aid in case it encourages even more to come
here.
But Vincent from the charity group Salaam, which provides a
soup kitchen and clothes for the jungle's inhabitants, believes
the government has to do much more to help.
He said: "Currently it's only volunteers with the immigrants.
And if tomorrow we decided to stop, what would happen?"
"If they needed to eat, what would they do? They would maybe go
to the shop and steal what they need to survive. "
Vincent pointed to a dirty cotton sheet in Mussa's tent and
asked how he was supposed to keep warm with just that.
Legal fear
He said they used to have more, but the riot police raided the
tent and sprayed tear gas all over their clothes and blankets.
He added: "They were forced to throw them out because they
couldn't use them again.
"But what do the police think - that with no blankets the
people here will be forced to go home and the problem will just go
away?"
In fact, Vincent and his organisation have to be very careful
with the type of aid they give.
In France, housing and transporting undocumented migrants is a
crime which can result in hefty fines or even prison sentences.
A recent hit film here, called Welcome, showed a Calais-based
swimming coach helping a Kurdish teenager to train to swim the
Channel to Britain - when he invited the desperate young boy home,
his neighbours informed the police.
Political dilemma
The film, with its resonances of World War II deportations,
caused a political storm.
It managed to portray the huge dilemma of this seaside town.
With 14% unemployment, many residents loathe the presence of the
refugees while others loathe the fact that in civilised France,
men are forced to bathe in waste water from a chemical plant.
The French authorities are under growing pressure from Britain
to stem the tide of migrants trying to cross the Channel.
But the French government has also called upon Britain to
tighten its controls, warning that migrants still see the British
illegal job market as the promised land.
Many of the migrants in the jungle say that with no identity
card system, Britain is a much easier place for an illegal
immigrant to find work.
The French and British governments are currently discussing the
creation of a new immigrant holding centre within the British side
of the Calais docks which would allow London and Paris to break
through the quagmire of asylum law to send illegal immigrants home
more easily.
In Mussa's tent Khab, who has run away from family feuds in his
native Kabul, asked why Britain cannot just end the misery and let
in the 800 men in the jungle.
He said: "We have come here because we had problems in
Afghanistan - we are not here for enjoyment.
"We have problems with water, we have problems with doctors, we
have problems with sleep. I just want to say help. Please help."
Italian NGO faces
funding crunch
KABUL, 2 July 2009 (IRIN) - An Italian NGO called Emergency,
which runs three hospitals and 28 healthcare centres for war
victims in Afghanistan, is planning to cut back its activities due
to shrinking funds.
With an annual budget of about US$8 million and 1,000 national
and 40 international staff in Afghanistan, Emergency's health
facilities provided medical services to over 100,000 patients and
war wounded in 2008.
The NGO says it has treated over 2.1 million people since 1999.
Its three hospitals are in Kabul and the provinces of Helmand and
Panjshir.
"It is definitely the impact of the global financial crisis,"
programme coordinator Marco Garatti told IRIN in Kabul, explaining
that Emergency was considering reducing the number of its
international staff and cutting some project activities.
"Our funds come from private individuals, not from
institutional donors such as the World Bank and USAID [US Agency
for International Development]. When people's priorities are not
fulfilled they reduce their contributions," Garatti said.
NGOs involved in medical activities say a large number of
Afghans are hard pressed to find the health care they need,
particularly in the insecure southern and eastern provinces.
"The intensity of the conflict leads to many wounded and
displaced and to a disruption of services, adding to the health
crisis faced in parts of Afghanistan," the international medical
NGO Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said in a statement on 29 June.
In addition to treating victims of war, Emergency's health
centres provide obstetric, paediatric and other essential health
services. "Our activities are needed more than before," Garatti
said.
MSF returns
Meanwhile, MSF has announced the resumption of its activities
in Afghanistan after a five-year absence.
MSF suspended operations in the country after five MSF workers
were killed by unidentified armed assailants in the northwestern
province of Badghis on 2 June 2004.
According to an agreement signed between MSF and the Ministry
of Public Health on 30 June, MSF will help deliver health services
at two hospitals - in Helmand and Kabul provinces.
"For its work in Afghanistan, MSF will not accept financial
support from any government and chooses to rely solely on private
donations, thus safeguarding its independence from political and
military powers," an MSF statement said.
Ambassador to
Japan tells Afghanistan's story
By YURI KAGEYAMA
Associated Press
July 2, 2009
TOKYO – Haron Amin chose theater to tell people about the
complex but often misunderstood history of Afghanistan.
"The Crossroads Country," a play he commissioned while he was
Afghanistan's ambassador to Japan, opened last month in Tokyo to a
packed crowd, including international dignitaries, and is being
made into a DVD. Amin is hoping for a U.S. run.
"Ultimately, the future of democracy and the human collective
conscience is tied to the victory in Afghanistan," he told The
Associated Press from Washington, D.C., where he is awaiting his
next diplomatic assignment. He served as ambassador to Japan from
April 2004 through May of this year.
The play, written and directed by Alexander Harris, a
Welsh-born playwright in Tokyo, is in English. Japanese subtitles
were shown on screens near the stage during the two-day, four-show
run.
Japan, like other nations, is increasingly concerned about the
efforts to stabilize Afghanistan as the Aug. 20 elections there
approach.
The two-hour play, peppered with humor, chronicles some 30
years of the country, including the fall of communism, the rise of
the Taliban and their ouster following a U.S.-led invasion in
2001.
A multicultural cast of foreigners living in Japan, called the
Tokyo International Players theater group, play Soviet rulers,
members of the Taliban, American presidents and many other roles.
The plot centers on a little boy, who is more concerned about
his everyday happiness than about larger international issues. He
is a confused, innocent victim of the happenings around him.
Amin says the boy was based on his own life, and he
acknowledged he had mixed feelings about making his life a driving
force of the play. But he and Harris decided it would make the
piece more accessible.
"The play is very important because it shows the human side to
all the parties involved during the period," said David Mashiko,
an Australian actor. "Too often we lose sight of the realities
that are faced by people in war because we are fed a lot of spin
and propaganda by mainstream sensationalist media."
In the play's moving closing scene, the actors face the
audience and ask if they care more about Afghanistan.
"For those who are aware of Afghanistan only in the light of
9/11 or the Soviet invasion of the 1980s, this should be an open
door to a world of rich intrigue and interesting history," Harris
said. "What we're seeing here is the birth of something original,
historic and unique."
___
On the Net:
Official site for "The Crossroads Country":
http://crossroadscountry.com/
Afghan drug lord
in US for trial
Press TV / July 1, 2009
A reputed Afghan drug lord held over accusations of smuggling
heroin to the United States is set to face a pending trial in
Washington.
The defendant, identified as Haji Bagcho, appeared before a
federal magistrate in Washington on Monday.
He faces an indictment for heroin trafficking conspiracy and
for importing heroin into the US and some other countries
Bagcho was arrested during an undercover operation conducted by
Afghan law enforcement in eastern Khost province.
He was flown to the US last week to answer an indictment for
heroin trafficking.
Sources described Bagcho as 'a big fish' who had made profits
of more than $100 million over the several past months.
Afghanistan's opiate output has risen more than 40-fold since
the 2001 US-led invasion, according to the United Nations'
figures.
Afghanistan's eastern and southern provinces produce much of
the heroin that funds the Taliban.
The conflict-torn country supplies more than 90 percent of the
world's heroin.
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