Saturday, January 31, 2015

دجنرال کریمي په ناکامولو کې د بسم الله محمدي او لویې پکتیا د وکیلانو رول او ونډه - روهی ویب

په هغه اتلس تنو نوماند وزيرانو کې، چې ولسي جرګې ته معرفي شوي وو، يو کم شمېر مسلکي کسانو په کې شتون درلود، چې يو يې سترجنرال شېرمحمد کریمي و.

نوموړی ښايي د نوماندانو په لست کې یوازني شخص به و، چې  له ډير کوچنۍ دندې په تدريج سره د لوي درستيزۍ تر مقام رسيدلی دی. خو اوس پوښتنه دا ده، چې نوموړی د مسلکي وړتیا سربېره ولې و نه توانېده، چې د ولسي جرګې (!) د باور رایه ترلاسه کړي؟

روهي ویبپانې په دې اړه ځینې داسې اسناد او معلومات تر لاسه کړي دي، چې له مخې یې څرګندیږي، چې د جنرال کریمي په ناکامولو کې د دفاع د پخواني وزیر بسم الله خان محمدي او د خوست او پکتیا د وکیلانو لاس و.

په ولسي جرګه کې دخوست وکیل کمال ناصر اصولي، لیاقت بابکرخیل، همایون او .... سناتور.. د بسم الله خان په کور کې راټولیږي او هلته پر دې بحث کوي، چې جنرال کریمي څرنګه ناکام شي. هماغه و، چې دا وکیلان او بسم الله خان په ولسي جرګه کې خپلو ملګرو او پلویانو ته سپارښتنه کوي، چې جنرال ته رایه ورنه کړل شي او په دې برخه کې باید نور هم وهڅول شي، چې رایه وانخلي دلته دا هم د یادونې ده، چې له ولسمشر اشرف غني سره د لويې پکتیا وکیلانو ته ولسمشر وايي: خپه کیږې به نه دا ځل له لوې پکتیا څخه په کابینه کې وزیر نشته دوی هم ورسره دا خبره مني، خو دا شرط پرې ږدي، چې د دې دریو ولایتونو والیان به زموږ پر خوښه ټاکئ او په اداره امور کې به زموږ یو سړی مقرروئ او پر دې سربېره به ځینې سفیران هم له لوې پکتیا څخه وي.

بسم الله خان ځکه له جنرال کریمي سره مخالفت کاوه، چې د دفاع وزارت ځینې پروژې د ده له زوی او ځینو وکیلانو سره شریکې دي؛ دوی انګیرله که جنرال کریمي راشي کېدای شي د دوی قراردادونه له ستونزې سره مخ شي.

د جنرال کریمي په ناکامولو کې د پکتیا وکیل نواب منګل هم لاس درلود، نوموړی د رایې ورکولو په ورځ د پارلمان په تالار کې هم د جنرال کریمي پر ضد کمپاین کاوه، دوی او یو شمېر نورو وکیلانو ویل که جنرال کریمي راشي دا بیا د هغو کسانو مخه نیسي، چې دوی یې د وزارت یا نورو منصبونو لپاره وړاندیز کوي؛ دوی غوښتل، چې د سوداګرۍ اوصنایعو وزارت لپاره خپل کاندید وړاندې کړي. که چیرې جنرال کریمي کابینې ته لار موندلې وای بیا د دوی وړاندیز نه منل کېده.

په ولسي جرګه کې د رايې د ورکړې په ورځ، د دې وکیلانو په سپارښتنه له ناثبت (نا راجستره) شوو سیمکارتونو څخه ځینې وکیلانو ته زنګونه وهل شوي، ورته ويل شوي چې د لوی درستيز له دفتره ورته زنګ وهل شوی او له توهین نه ډک ګواښونه شوي او په زور ترې د جنرال کریمي لپاره رایه غوښتل شوې ده. کله، چې بیا د دې سیمکارتونو په اړه پلټنه ترسره کیږي دا مالومیږي، چې دا سیمکارتونه راجستر شوي نه دي.

په پای کې د لوې پکتیا وکیلانو دا هم غوښتل، چې کریمي په لوی لاس سپک کړي؛ د کمال ناصر اصولي په نوم وکیل څو ځل ورڅخه غوښتنه کړې ده، چې د پکتیا وکیلي راضیه سعادت منګل کور ته ورشي او د رايې په تر لاسه کولو کې ورڅخه مرسته وغواړي، خو جنرال کریمي د دې وکیلې کور ته نه دی ورغلې.

د لويې پکتيا په وکيلانو کې يو تن، چې د جنرال کريمي پر رايه نه اخستلو ډير خواشينی و، هغه نادر خان کټوازی و.

د موضوع سره په تړاو کې دا خبر هم کتلی شئسترجنرال کریمی او رحمت الله نبیل وکیلانو ته: رشوت نه و ورکړی، ولی یو رد بل تائید شو؟  Read More at  دجنرال کریمي په ناکامولو کې

Friday, January 30, 2015

Is a Strong Dollar Good for Americans? newsweek

The “strong dollar” has been a mantra for the United States for decades. Recently, as the euro has fallen to an 11-year low against the dollar, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has once again been paying homage. “I have been consistent in saying, as my predecessors have said, that a strong dollar is good for the United States.”
Really? This week, a slew of blue chip U.S. companies–from Caterpillar to Procter & Gamble to DuPont–reported a sharp fall in earnings attributed in part to the rising U.S. dollar.
While a stronger dollar lowers the cost of imports, which is good for consumers, it hurts U.S. competitiveness. With U.S. companies ever more dependent on exports and overseas sales, a strong dollar means that each sale denominated in weaker currencies abroad returns less to the United States. Doug Oberhelmen, chief executive of Caterpillar, said the surging dollar “will not be good for U.S. manufacturing or the U.S. economy.”
For the Obama administration, which has heavily promoted the importance of U.S.-based manufacturing and has made much of the recent small uptick in manufacturing jobs in the United States, a statement like that should be setting off alarm bells.
And if that’s not enough, this week’s House and Senate hearings on U.S. trade policy should have done the trick. One after another, members of Congress from both sides of the aisle said it was crucial that the administration at least try to address currency issues in the current Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade negotiations.
Yet the U.S. Trade Representative, Mike Froman, repeatedly deferred, saying that currency was a Treasury responsibility. And Treasury’s only response so far has been to say that the surging dollar is just fine.  Read More at Is a Strong Dollar Good for Americans?

افغانستان : بی ثباتی سیاسی به تضعیف روند حمایت از حقوق اساسی افراد دامن میزند - فشار دونرها نسبت به حمایت از حقوق به خطر افتاده افراد ملکی، زنان و ژورنالیستان حیاتی میباشد

(کابل، 29 جنوری 2015) - دیده بان حقوق بشر امروز در گزارش جهانی 2015 این سازمان اعلان داشت که انتقال سیاسی شکننده افغانستان و منازعات مسلحانه فزاینده در این کشور باعث بوجود آمدن نگرانیها در رابطه با به مخاطره افتادن دستاوردهای حقوق بشری دهه گذشته افغانستان شده است. عواملی چون تقسیم قدرت سیاسی میان اشرف غنی بحیث رئیس جمهور و عبدالله عبدالله به صفت رئیس اجرائیه، افزایش فشارها از جانب شورشیان طالب، و کاهش کمک های خارجی اجندای حقوق بشر مبنی بر حمایت از افراد ملکی، پاسخگو قراردادن ناقضین حقوق بشر، و حمایت از حقوق زنان و رسانه ها را پیچیده تر میسازد.

محترم فیلیم کاین، معاون آسیایی دیده بان حقوق بشر گفت که :"رهبران جدید افغانستان در جریان کمپاین های انتخاباتی شان وعده های خاصی را نسبت به حمایت از حقوق بشر به مردم دادند. حکومت باید وعدهای داده شده را در قالب یکسری اقدامات جدی عملی نموده و ضمن مبارزه با ناقضین حقوق بشر، آزادی های اساسی افراد را رعایت، و برای قربانیان و متضررین که حقوق بشری شان نقض میگردند عدالت را تامین نمایند."

دیده بان حقوق بشر در گزارش 656 صحفه ای جهانی این سازمان که در واقع بیست و پنجمین(25) گزارش جهانی این سازمان میباشد، عملکردهای حقوق بشری دولت ها را در 90 کشور جهان مورد بررسی قرار داده است. رئیس اجرایی دیده بان حقوق بشر، محترم کینیت رات، در مقاله ای مقدماتی خویش خطاب به دولت ها تاکید میکند که حقوق بشر در اوضاع بی ثباتی و نابسامانی ها رهنمودهای اخلاقی موثری را پیشنهاد نموده و نقض حقوق بشری افراد باعث بوجود آمدن چالش های جدی امنیتی میگردد. دستاودهای کوتاه مدت ناشی از تضعیف ارزشهای مهم مربوط به آزادی و اقدام به اعمال تبعیض آمیز به سختی میتواند بهای سنگین و درازمدت همچو اعمال را جبران نماید.

طالبان و سایر گروهای شورشی در جریان دو دور انتخابات ریاست جمهوری گذشته حملات متعددی را راه اندازی نموده و در طول سال جاری افراد ملکی را مکرراً مورد حمله قرار دادند. طبق آمار سازمان ملل متحد، تلفات افراد ملکی در طول شش ماه اول 2014 در مقایسه با شش ماه اول 2013 حدود 24 فیصد افزایش یافته است. که اکثر تلفات افراد ملکی ناشی از حملات شورشیان مسلح بوده است. تشدید جنگها و وخامت اوضاع امنیتی منجر به بیجا شدن 38000 تن از خانه های شان در طول ماه های جنوری تا دسامبر 2014، گردیده است. که با این رقم تعداد مجموعی بیجا شدگان داخلی در افغانستان به بیشتر از 755000 تن میرسد. با وجود اینکه تعداد زیادی کشورها تعهد نمودند تا کمک های شانرا به افغانستان ادامه دهند ولی با تکمیل روند خروج نیروهای بین المللی از افغانستان، علاقه مندی سیاسی کشورها نسبت به افغانستان به پیمانه زیادی کاهش یافته است.

معافیت نیروهای امنیتی دولت در قبال موارد سوء استفاده از صلاحیت های وظیفوی شان همچنان به حیث یک نورم باقی ماند. در گزارش های مختلفی که توسط نهادهای ذیربط در رابطه با شکنجه، اعدام های خودسرانه، و ناپدید شدن اجباری در طول سال 2014 به نشر رسیده اند، از نیروهای پولیس کندهار به شکل خاص نام گرفته شده است. پولیس محلی افغان (پولیس اربکی) – شبکه ای از نیروهای دفاعی ای که عمدتاً توسط نظامیان امریکا با همکاری حکومت افغانستان ایجاد گردید – همچنان مسئول مواردی نقض جدّی حقوق بشر به شمول اعدام های خودسرانه قلمداد گردیده است. طبق گزارشها، درجریان یک حمله که درماه آگست بر علیه طالبان در ولسوالی ژری کندهار راه اندازی گردید، یک کندک پولیس محلی افغان تحت فرماندهی جنرال رازق، تعداد شش تن را به اتهام همکاری با طالبان دستگیر و خودسرانه اعدام کردند.

دیده بان حقوق بشر بیان داشت که درسال 2014، حقوق زنان همچنان مورد تهدید قرار داشت. در ماه جنوری پارلمان افغانستان ماده ای را در مسوده قانون اجراآت جزایی تصویب نمود که باعث تضعیف روند تعقیب عدلی عاملان خشونت های فامیلی میگردد. گرچند ماده مذکور در نهایت تعدیل گردید ولی هنوز تعداد زیادی از اعضای فامیل متضررین خشونت های خانوادگی را از تکلیف حضور در محکمه جهت ادای شهادت معاف میسازد. سایر موارد مربوط به بدتر شدن وضعیت حقوق زنان در سال 2014، شامل انجام حملات متداوم برعلیه زنان برجسته، تهدید و ترور آنان به شمول زنان موظف در نیروهای پولیس و فعالین حقوق زن، میباشد. تطبیق قانون منع خشونت علیه زنان که برای اولین بار در سال 2009 تصویب گردید، محدود باقی مانده و اکثر قضایای خشونت علیه زنان یا نادیده گرفته شده اند و یاهم از طریق "میانجیگری" که معمولا به ضرر زنان متهم پایان میابد، حل و فصل میگردند.

موارد حمله بر رسانه ها مخصوصاً حملات انجام شده توسط عناصر طرفدار دولت افزایش یافته است. طوریکه در جریان شش ماه اول سال 2014 تعداد 68 مورد حمله بر ژورنالیستان به ثبت رسیده است. این در حالی است که رقم این حملات در جریان شش ماه اول 2013 به 41 مورد میرسید.

آقای کاین علاوه نمود که: "کشورهای دونر باید روی دولت جدید فشار وارد نموده و از آن بخواهد تا اقدامات شدید تری را جهت پایان دادن به روند تهدیدات علیه حقوق زنان و معافیت نیروهای امنیتی در قبال نقض حقوق بشری افراد روی دست گیرد. دولت باید به وعده های خویش در قبال حمایت از دستاوردهای حقوق بشری افغانستان که در طول 13 سال گذشته بدست آمده است، عمل نماید."   Read More at Human Rights Watch
World Report 2015: افغانستان

Afghanistan: Political Uncertainty Fuels Rights Decline
World Report 2015: Afghanistan

Afghanistan: Political Uncertainty Fuels Rights Decline - Donor Pressure Crucial to Protect At-Risk Civilians, Women, Journalists - HRW

(Kabul) – Afghanistan’s fraught political transition and intensifying armed conflict have generated uncertainty placing the rights gains of the past decade at risk, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2015. The power-sharing deal naming Ashraf Ghani as president and Abdullah Abdullah as chief executive officer, growing pressure from Taliban insurgents, and the decline in foreign assistance complicate the human rights agenda to protect civilians, hold abusive forces accountable, and protect the rights of women and the media.

“Afghanistan’s new leaders made specific campaign promises to promote human rights,” said Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The government needs to translate those promises into decisive action to combat rights abuses, uphold basic freedoms, and provide justice to victims of rights violations.”

In the 656-page world report, its 25th edition, Human Rights Watch reviews human rights practices in more than 90 countries. In his introductory essay, Executive Director Kenneth Roth urges governments to recognize that human rights offer an effective moral guide in turbulent times, and that violating rights can spark or aggravate serious security challenges. The short-term gains of undermining core values of freedom and non-discrimination are rarely worth the long-term price.

The Taliban and other insurgents launched attacks during the two rounds of presidential elections and frequently targeted civilians throughout the year. The United Nations recorded a 24 percent rise in civilian casualties in the first six months of 2014 compared to 2013, most due to insurgent attacks. Intensified fighting and diminished security displaced 38,000 people from January through September 2014, bringing the total number of internally displaced people in Afghanistan to over 755,000. While many countries pledged to continue aid to Afghanistan, political engagement waned as international forces completed their withdrawal from the country.

Impunity for abuses by government security forces remained the norm, Human Rights Watch said. The police in Kandahar, in particular, were cited in numerous reports of torture, summary executions, and forcible disappearances through 2014. The Afghan Local Police – a network of local defense forces established largely by the US military in cooperation with the Afghan government – continued to be responsible for serious human rights violations, including extrajudicial executions. During an offensive against the Taliban in August in Zhare district, Kandahar, an Afghan Local Police unit under Brig. Gen. Abdul Raziq’s command reportedly captured and executed six men it accused of working with the Taliban.

Women’s rights remained under threat in 2014, Human Rights Watch said. In January, parliament passed a provision in the draft criminal procedure code that would undermine prosecution of domestic violence. The provision was ultimately amended, but still exempts many family members from being called as witnesses in domestic violence cases. Other setbacks for women’s rights in 2014 included attacks on high-profile women, including police officers and activists. Implementation by the authorities of Afghanistan’s landmark 2009 Law on the Elimination of Violence Against Women remained poor, with many cases of violence against women ignored or resolved through “mediation” that denied victims their day in court.

Attacks on the media, particularly by pro-government entities, increased, with some 68 attacks on journalists in the first six months of 2014, compared to about 41 attacks in the same period in 2013.

“Donors should press the new government to take stronger measures to address threats to women’s rights and end the impunity of the security forces,” Kine said. “The government needs to follow through on its pledges to protect the human rights gains of the past 13 years.”   Read More at Afghanistan: Political Uncertainty Fuels Rights Decline
World Report 2015: افغانستان (Pashto Translation, PDF)
افغانستان: سياسي ناڅرګندتیا له حقونو سرغړاوی زیات کړی دی (PDF)
World Report 2015: Afghanistan

Obama must finally end NSA phone record collection, says privacy board - Guardian

White House could take action ‘at any time’, says Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board chair as key Patriot Act measure is poised to expire

The US government’s privacy board is calling out President Barack Obama for continuing to collect Americans’ phone data in bulk, a year after it urged an end to the controversial National Security Agency program.

The Obama administration could cease the mass acquisition of US phone records “at any time”, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) said in an assessment it issued on Thursday.

The PCLOB’s assessment comes amid uncertainty over the fate of legislation to cease that collection. An effort intended to stop it, known as the USA Freedom Act, failed in the Senate in November. While the administration said after its defeat that Obama would push for a new bill, it has yet to do so in the new Congress, and the president has thus far pledged in his State of the Union address only to update the public on how the bulk-surveillance program now works in practice.

David Medine, the PCLOB chairman, said on Thursday that the administration was acting in “good faith” and had agreed in principle to most of the 22 reform recommendations the board had offered in its two 2014 reports into bulk NSA surveillance. The board’s report found that the administration had in many cases not implemented recommendations it agreed to in principle, such as assessing whether the NSA is successfully filtering out purely domestic communications when it siphons data directly from the “backbone” of the internet.

Medine reiterated his call for Obama to cease the domestic bulk phone records collection unilaterally.

“At some point, you have to draw the line and say you have to act on your own, because this program isn’t particularly effective. A better alternative is to go to the phone companies on a case-by-case basis,” Medine told the Guardian.

“It’s now well past time for the administration to have developed alternative procedures and alternative relationships with the telephone companies to stop the daily flow of data to the government,” said James Dempsey, another member of the PCLOB.  Read More

New Saudi king announces major government shake-up

Saudi Arabia's new King Salman has announced a cabinet reshuffle, as well as bonuses for civil servants, students and pensioners. 

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's new King Salman on Thursday (Jan 29) further cemented his hold on power, with a sweeping shakeup that saw two sons of the late King Abdullah fired, and the heads of intelligence and other key agencies replaced alongside a cabinet shuffle.

Top officials from the Ports Authority, the National Anti-Corruption Commission and the conservative Islamic kingdom's religious police were among those let go.

The new appointments came a week after Salman acceded to the throne following the death of Abdullah, aged about 90.

Salman also reached out directly to his subjects on Thursday. One of his more than 30 decrees ordered "two months' basic salary to all Saudi government civil and military employees," the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said. Students and pensioners got similar bonuses.

"Dear people: You deserve more and whatever I do will not be able to give you what you deserve," the king said later on his official Twitter account. He asked his citizens to "not forget me in your prayers".  Read More at New Saudi king announces

Refugees: Living in a minefield: the refugee camp where Pakistanis are a step from death

Gulan refugee camp, home to Pakistanis fleeing North Waziristan, is on the site of an Afghan battlefield

When Niazullah left his home in the tribal areas of Pakistan in June, he figured he would be gone for five days, a week at most. The army had given a three-day warning before an offensive against Islamist militants in North Waziristan and had banned vehicle travel, so many families left in a hurry with just the clothes they were wearing.

Niazullah, 23, and his wife carried their two daughters and son through the mountain passes into Afghanistan, where they settled in a refugee camp in a flat and dry desert than 10 miles from the border. It wasn’t arable, but the land was vast and empty. A stream and craggy hills provided a natural defence.

Gulan refugee camp in Khost province is located on a former battlefield where the mujahideen resistance mounted its last defence against the advancing Soviet army in the late 1980s. To protect their supply routes, the mujahideen planted anti-tank mines, the size of large dinner plates, across an area of 100,000 square metres.

The fact that none of the 24,000 refugees in the camp has died is “fortunate and surprising”, said Tom Griffiths of Halo Trust.

Over the past three decades of war, nearly three million Afghans have fled toPakistan, where they share a language, religion and culture. Now the migration is being reversed.  Read More at Guardian

Japan, Jordan working closely on fate of captive Japanese journalist

(Reuters) - Japan was working closely with Jordan on Friday to find out what was happening to a Japanese journalist held by Islamic State militants after a deadline passed for the release of an Iraqi would-be suicide bomber on death-row in Jordan.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said every effort was being made to secure the release of journalist Kenji Goto. "We are gathering and analyzing information while asking for cooperation from Jordan and other countries, making every effort to free Kenji Goto," Abe told a parliamentary panel.

An audio message purportedly from Goto said the pilot would be killed unless Jordan freed Sajida al-Rishawi, who is on death row for her role in a 2005 suicide bomb attack that killed 60 people in Amman.

The message postponed a previous deadline set on Tuesday in which Goto said he would be killed within 24 hours if Rishawi was not freed.

The hostage crisis comes as Islamic State, which has already released videos showing the beheadings of five Western hostages, is coming under increased military pressure from U.S.-led air strikes and by Kurdish and Iraqi troops pushing to reverse the Islamist group's territorial gains in Iraq and Syria.  Read More at Japan, Jordan working closely 

U.S. Congress questions plan to admit Syrian refugees

Three U.S. contractors killed in 'insider attack' in Afghanistan

(Reuters) - An Afghan soldier killed three U.S. contractors and wounded a fourth on Thursday at Kabul's military airport, an Afghan air force official said.

An increase in so-called insider attacks in Afghanistan eroded trust between government forces and their international allies in the final years of the combat mission that ended in 2014, prompting foreign forces to scale back interaction with Afghans.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack saying a militant infiltrator had carried it out.

The Afghan air force official said it was not clear why the attacker had killed the advisers.

"No one else was there to tell us the reason," the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.  "An investigation has been opened."

The international force in Afghanistan confirmed the shooting took place on Thursday evening. It also confirmed that one Afghan had been killed but it did not specify that he was the attacker.  Read More

U.S. Congress questions plan to admit Syrian refugees

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Reports | Freedom House - Freedom in the World 2015

Reports | Freedom House  Each country score is based on two numerical ratings—from 1 to 7—for political rights and civil liberties, with 1 representing themost free and 7 the least free.

Of the 195 countries assessed, 89 (46 percent) were rated Free, 55 (28 percent) Partly Free, and 51 (26 percent) Not Free. All but one region had more countries with declines than with gains. Asia-Pacific had an even split.  Read More at  freedomhouse

Taliban not a terrorist group? White House official says it’s ‘armed insurgency’ - RT

A White House spokesperson preferred to talk of the Taliban as “an armed insurgency” rather than a terrorist organization during a press briefing, when a reporter pressed him about Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s release.

Responding to a question posed by ABC’s chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl, deputy press secretary Eric Schultz argued the US can swap prisoners with the Taliban because the group is not a terrorist organization but “an armed insurgency.”

“As you know this was highly discussed at the time and prisoner swaps are a traditional end-of-conflict interaction that happens. As the war in Afghanistan wound down, we felt like it was the appropriate thing to do,” Schultz replied.

Schultz added: “I’d also point out that the Taliban is an armed insurgency. ISIL is a terrorist group. So we don’t make concessions to terrorist groups.”

Karl pressed: “You don’t think the Taliban is a terrorist group?”

“I don’t think that the Taliban…the Taliban is an armed insurgency,” Schultz said after a pause. “This was the winding down of the war in Afghanistan, and that’s why this arrangement was dealt.”  Read More at  White House official says it’s ‘armed insurgency’

White House Labels Taliban ‘Armed Insurgency,’ Not Terrorists - WSJ

The White House is drawing a sharp distinction between Afghanistan’s Taliban and the Islamic State — describing the Taliban as an “armed insurgency.”

Asked about a Jordanian plan to swap a would-be suicide bomber for a Jordanian pilot being held by Islamic State militants, the White House reiterated the longstanding policy of the U.S. to refuse negotiations with terrorists.

“Our policy is that we don’t pay ransom, that we don’t give concessions to terrorist organizations,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said Wednesday. “This is a longstanding policy that predates this administration and it’s also one that we communicated to our friends and allies across the world,” he added.

But the U.S. engaged in a similar prisoner swap with Afghanistan’s Taliban last year, releasing several Guantanamo Bay prisoners in exchange for the freedom of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. Mr. Bergdahl had been held by the Taliban as a prisoner since 2009 until his release last year as part of a prisoner swap.

The White House said the situation was different because Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, is a terrorist group operating in Syria and Iraq while the Taliban is not, in the administration’s thinking.

“The Taliban is an armed insurgency, ISIL is a terrorist group. We don’t make concessions to terrorist groups,” Mr. Schultz said.

Asked directly if the White House considered the Taliban a terrorist group, Mr. Schultz repeated the line that they are an armed insurgency and said that the swap for Mr. Bergdahl was part of the “winding down of the war in Afghanistan.”

The Taliban was the ruling government of Afghanistan before being ousted by U.S. forces in late 2001 over the government’s refusal to hand over members of al Qaeda who were believed to be complicit in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.

Since then, the Taliban has emerged as an insurgent force with bases of power in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan that continues to attack U.S. forces, Afghan government forces and civilians in both countries. In December, Taliban militants staged an attack on a school in Peshawar, Pakistan, where 145 people were killed, mostly children.

The United States does not list the Taliban on the Foreign Terrorist Organization list run by the State Department, but it has listed the group on a separate Specially Designated Global Terrorist list since 2002. And the National Counterterrorism Center lists the “Taliban Presence in Afghanistan” on a map of global terrorism presences.  Read More at  ‘Armed Insurgency,’ Not Terrorists

Watchdog: White House has done little on surveillance reform

A federal privacy watchdog tasked with reviewing the National Security Agency’s controversial spy programs said Thursday the White House has agreed to many of its suggested reforms but taken little action.

“Many of the recommendations directed at the Administration have yet to be fully satisfied, with the Administration having taken only partial steps, at most, toward implementing them,” said the report  from the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB).

In 2014, the PCLOB issued two reports. In January, the board's first review lambasted the NSA’s program to collect bulk data on Americans telephone records, calling it borderline unconstitutional and telling the White House to axe the practice. The second report in July largely gave a stamp of approval to the NSA’s programs collecting troves of Internet data.

The White House has yet to enact the PCLOB's major suggestion — kill the telephone records program.

“The Administration has not implemented the Board’s recommendation to halt the NSA’s telephone records program,” the PCLOB said.

Instead, the White House has urged Congress to pass legislation to curb the NSA’s surveillance authority and end the program. The report acknowledges these efforts, but didn’t let the administration off the hook.

“It should be noted that the Administration can end the bulk telephone records program at any time, without congressional involvement,” the group said.

Lawmakers did come close in late 2014 to passing a bill, the USA Freedom Act, that would have cut the program and transferred the responsibility of maintaining telephone data to the major telecom companies.

“While legislation like the USA FREEDOM Act would be needed to retain the unique capabilities of the program without collecting telephone records in bulk, the Board examined those capabilities and concluded that they have provided only ‘limited value’ in combatting terrorism,” the report said.

The administration has been more receptive to the PCLOB’s offerings on reforming the NSA’s Internet surveillance programs. Most of the board's suggestions related to heightened oversight.

On this count, “the Administration has accepted virtually all recommendations,” the report said, “and has made substantial progress toward implementing many of them.”

Across both of its reviews, the PCLOB repeatedly urged intelligence agencies to be more transparent about their legal justifications and the scope of their surveillance capabilities.

The report released Thursday included vague references to upcoming progress on this front.

“Intelligence Community representatives have advised us that they are committed to implementing this recommendation,” the report said. “They will soon be releasing” a transparency report with more information, the group added.  - Read More at thehii

Watchdog: White House has done little on surveillance reform

White House: Taliban not a terror group - Thehill

The Taliban carry out “tactics that are akin to terrorism” but are not considered a terrorist organization by the Obama administration because they do not harbor ambitions outside Afghanistan, the White House said Thursday.

Deputy White House press secretary Eric Schultz raised eyebrows on Wednesday when he described the Taliban as an “armed insurgency” rather than a terror group. 

He was making the distinction to explain why the U.S. had opposed Jordan's decision to seek a prisoner swap with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) when the U.S. traded a group of Guantanamo detainees to the Taliban last year to secure the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.

The U.S. has said it opposes Jordan’s decision because it has a policy against negotiating with terror groups.

Earnest said the Taliban differed from organizations like al Qaeda because those terror groups have “a much broader global aspiration to carry out acts of violence and acts of terror against Americans and American interests all around the globe.”

Still, Earnest said, the White House considers the Taliban “a very dangerous organization.”

“The president has pursued is a clear strategy for building up the central government of Afghanistan and the Afghan security forces, so that they could be responsible for security in their own country and take the fight to the Taliban,” he said.   Read More at White House: Taliban not a terror group

US classifies spending, stats on Afghan forces

اقتصاد افغانستان؛ سه پله سقوط در یک سال - سلام وطندار

اقتصاد افغانستان در 12 ماه گذشته، به دلایل گوناگون نزدیک به سه پله سقوط کرده است. رسانۀ امریکایی فاکس‌نیوز در گزارش اخیرش در مورد اقتصاد افغانستان نوشته است که بازسازی اقتصادی و خودکفایی اقتصادی کشور، برای رئیس‌جمهور غنی یک هشدار است. این خبرگزاری افزوده است، پیش از این که جامعۀ جهانی در افغانستان حضور نظامی ‌و فعال ‌داشتند، اقتصاد افغانستان هر سال بیش‌تر از 10درصد رشد داشته؛ اما از سال گذشته تاکنون رشد اقتصادی افغانستان یک یا یک‌ونیم درصد بوده است.


این رسانۀ امریکایی، از قول صرافان سرای شهزادۀ کابل می‌نویسد که بانک مرکزی، هر هفته، 40 تا 50 میلیون افغانی را در بازار وارد می‌کند تا ارزش پول افغانی را در یک سطح نگهدارد. بر اساس گزارش فاکس نیوز، امریکا در افغانستان، به جز بخش نظامی، نزدیک به 100میلیارد دالر را در بخش ملکی سرمایه‌گذاری کرده است. این رسانه می‌افزاید، سرمایه‌گذاری در بخش ساختمانی تا حد زیادی، زمینۀ کار را برای اتباع فراهم می‌کند، اما امسال در این بخش نیز میزان سرمایه‌گذاری پایین است.

به گفتۀ فاکس‌نیوز، در حال حاضر کشت خشخاش و قاچاق آن، بخش بزرگ عواید افغانستان را تشکیل می‌دهد. یعنی، هر سال حدود 3 میلیارد دالر. این رسانه اضافه می‌کند که معرفی بیش از حد ناوقتِ کابینه از سوی رئیس‌جمهور غنی، روی اقتصاد افغانستان اثر منفی گذاشته است. هنوز هم شرکت‌های خارجی، خصوصاً در بخش سرمایه‌گذاری بر معادن، از شرایط امنیتی و سیاسی راضی نیستند و هنوز مافیای داخلی کشور،  معدن‌ها را چپاول می‌کنند.

ین در حالی‌ست که بر بنیاد گزارش بانک توسعۀ آسیایی، در سال 2013، نیز رشد اقتصادی افغانستان 8 درصد کاهش یافته بود. این بانک علت کاهش 8 درصدی رشد اقتصادی افغانستان را در سال 2013، نگرانی‌ها از سال 2014 و عدم ثبات سیاسی خوانده بود.

در 26 سنبله سال جاری وزارت مالیه کشور، از کسر بودجه در این وزارت خبر داد و خواستار کمک فوری 537 میلیون دالری برای رفع این معضل شد. هم‌چنین مقام‌های وزارت مالیه در طرح بودجۀ سال مالی 1394، از کسر 446 میلیون دالری در بودجۀ سال گذشته خبر دادند و علت آن را کاهش 9 میلیارد افغانیگی (حدود 16میلیون دالر) درآمد داخلی و کاهش کمک‌های خارجی عنوان کردند.

گفتنی‌ست که طرح بودجۀ سال مالی 1394 به دلیل «غیرمتوازن» بودن و «ناعادلانه» بودن از سوی ماقتصاد افغانستان در 12 ماه گذشته، به دلایل گوناگون نزدیک به سه پله سقوط کرده است. رسانۀ آمریکایی فاکس‌نیوز در گزارش اخیرش در مورد اقتصاد افغانستان نوشته است که بازسازی اقتصادی و خودکفایی اقتصادی کشور، برای رییس‌جمهور غنی یک هشدار است. این خبرگزاری افزوده است، پیش از این که جامعۀ جهانی در افغانستان حضور نظامی ‌و فعال ‌داشتند، اقتصاد افغانستان هر سال بیش‌تر از 10درصد رشد داشته؛ اما از سال گذشته تاکنون رشد اقتصادی افغانستان یک یا یک‌ونیم درصد بوده است.  Read More 

ANGELINA JOLIE - A New Level of Refugee Suffering

KHANKE, Iraq — I HAVE visited Iraq five times since 2007, and I have seen nothing like the suffering I’m witnessing now.

I came to visit the camps and informal settlements where displaced Iraqis and Syrian refugees are desperately seeking shelter from the fighting that has convulsed their region.

In almost four years of war, nearly half of Syria’s population of 23 million people has been uprooted. Within Iraq itself, more than two million people have fled conflict and the terror unleashed by extremist groups. These refugees and displaced people have witnessed unspeakable brutality. Their children are out of school, they are struggling to survive, and they are surrounded on all sides by violence.

For many years I have visited camps, and every time, I sit in a tent and hear stories. I try my best to give support. To say something that will show solidarity and give some kind of thoughtful guidance. On this trip I was speechless.

What do you say to a mother with tears streaming down her face who says her daughter is in the hands of the Islamic State, or ISIS, and that she wishes she were there, too? Even if she had to be raped and tortured, she says, it would be better than not being with her daughter.

What do you say to the 13-year-old girl who describes the warehouses where she and the others lived and would be pulled out, three at a time, to be raped by the men? When her brother found out, he killed himself.

How can you speak when a woman your own age looks you in the eye and tells you that her whole family was killed in front of her, and that she now lives alone in a tent and has minimal food rations?

Nothing prepares you for the reality of so much individual human misery: for the stories of suffering and death, and the gaze of hungry, traumatized children.

Who can blame them for thinking that we have given up on them? Only a fraction of the humanitarian aid they need is being provided. There has been no progress on ending the war in Syria since the Geneva process collapsed 12 months ago. Syria is in flames, and areas of Iraq are gripped by fighting. The doors of many nations are bolted against them. There is nowhere they can turn. 

At stake are not only the lives of millions of people and the future of the Middle East, but also the credibility of the international system. What does it say about our commitment to human rights and accountability that we seem to tolerate crimes against humanity happening in Syria and Iraq on a daily basis?

 When the United Nations refugee agency was created after World War II, it was intended to help people return to their homes after conflict. It wasn’t created to feed, year after year, people who may never go home, whose children will be born stateless, and whose countries may never see peace. But that is the situation today, with 51 million refugees, asylum-seekers or displaced people worldwide, more than at any time in the organization’s history.   Read More at A New Level of Refugee Suffering

EDITORIAL - Inconvenient Truths in Afghanistan

In late December, as they do every few months, American military officials in Kabul sent a trove of data to the office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction for its quarterly report. Over the years, such figures have told an often dispiriting story about Washington’s enormous investment in the country’s security forces, laying out their size, readiness, attrition level and the state of their infrastructure.

Five days later, military officials followed up with an unusual request. Commanders in Afghanistan informed the inspector general’s office that they had decided to classify the bulk of that data. The decision came after the military, late last year, classified a periodic report that the inspector general has used over the years as the primary source to assess the state of Afghan forces. The stated reason? It could give the enemy the upper hand.

“With lives literally on the line, I am sure that you can join me in recognizing that we must be careful to avoid providing sensitive information to those that threaten our forces and Afghan forces, particularly information that can be used by such opposing forces to sharpen their attacks,” Gen. John Campbell, the American commander in Afghanistan, wrote to the inspector general, John Sopko, on Jan. 18.

The threats that Afghan and American troops face in Afghanistan remain all too real. But it strains credulity to believe that insurgents would become more proficient fighters by poring over lengthy inspector general reports about an increasingly forgotten war. Classifying that information unreasonably prevents American taxpayers from drawing informed conclusions about the returns on a $107.5 billion reconstruction investment that, adjusted for inflation, has surpassed the price tag of the Marshall Plan.

Mr. Sopko, a former prosecutor who takes great pleasure in needling bureaucrats, has at times gone overboard in his protests over the state of reconstruction projects. On this issue, however, he’s rightfully outraged.

“The decision leaves SIGAR for the first time in six years unable to publicly report on most of the U.S. taxpayer-funded efforts to build, train, equip and sustain” Afghan forces, the agency wrote, using its acronym, in its latest quarterly report, which was issued Thursday. Mr. Sopko last year had protested the decision to restrict dissemination of a more limited set of data that would have otherwise been included in the October report. He said there was no evidence that aggregate nationwide data on Afghan military capabilities could give militants an edge.

“Its inexplicable classification now and its disappearance from public view does a disservice to the interest of informed national discussion,” Mr. Sopko wrote in the October report.

Under the new classification guidelines, the military is not publicly reporting how many Afghan policemen and soldiers are employed, how much Washington is spending on their salaries, the state of corruption in Afghan ministries or the results of an effort to recruit more women in the army. Washington’s war in Afghanistan nominally ended at the turn of the year, when a campaign called Operation Enduring Freedom folded and a new mission, called Operation Freedom’s Sentinel, began. While it’s tempting to think that Americans troops and taxpayer dollars are no longer at war in Afghanistan, they very much are. More than 10,000 American troops are there training and supporting the Afghans.

The Obama administration has pledged to continue spending billions to keep the Afghan government afloat for years. Americans are entitled to the unvarnished truth about that daunting effort.  Read More at  Inconvenient Truths in Afghanistan