Monday, November 30, 2015

BBC Persian - فهرست دارایی رئیس جمهوری افغانستان اعلام شد

اداره عالی مبارزه با فساد اداری فهرست داراییهای محمد اشرف‌غنی، رئیس جمهوری افغانستان، را نشر و اعلام‌ کرده که آقای غنی و رولا غنی، همسر او، ۳۲۰ میلیون افغانی (حدود ۴.۷ میلیون دلار) دارایی منقول دارند که از فروش جایداد (اموال) اجدادیشان در لبنان و آمریکا بدست آورده‌اند.

بیشتر دارایی آقای غنی و رولا غنی براساس اطلاعات اداره عالی مبارزه با فساد اداری افغانستان، مشترک است. زیورآلات به خانم رولا تعلق دارد که توسط پدرش در سال ۱۹۷۰ به وی هدیه داده شده و ارزش کنونی آن بالغ بر ۳.۱ میلیون افغانی (بیش از ۴۶ هزار دلار) می‌شود.

علاوه برآن یک منزل به مساحت ۴ جریب و ۳۰۰ متر در منطقه دارالامان در غرب کابل به نام آقای غنی ثبت شده که خودش از فردی بنام عین‌الدین در سال ۱۳۸۲ به قیمت ۲۵ میلیون افغانی(حدود ۳۷۳ هزار دلار) خریده که ارزش کنونی آن به ۳۵۰ میلیون افغانی (۵.۲۲ میلیون دلار) افزایش یافته است. این پول از فروش جایداد او در آمریکا تامین شده است.

خانم غنی نیز یک آپارتمان در واشنگتن دارد که ارزش آن ۲۲ میلیون افغانی ( حدود ۳۲۸ هزار دلار) است و پول آن از حقوق بازنشستگی‌اش تامین شده‌ است.

آقای غنی از سال ۱۳۸۵ رئیس نهاد مدیریت دولت در آمریکا بوده که ماهانه ۱.۲ میلیون افغانی (حدود ۱۸ هزار دلار) حقوق دریافت می‌کرده است. او از سال ۱۳۸۹ تا سال ۱۳۹۳ رئیس کمیسیون انتقال امنیتی از نیروهای خارجی به نیروهای امنیتی افغان بوده، که به صورت افتخاری کار می‌کرده و حقوقی دریافت نکرده‌ است.
آقای غنی و خانمش بیش از ۷۱ هزار دلار سرمایه نقد در بانک دارند که از حقوق بازنشستگی و کرایه آپارتمانشان در آمریکا جمع‌آوری کرده‌اند.

رئیس جمهوری افغانستان ۸ خودرو شخصی دارد که قیمت آنها به بیش از ۱۰۲ میلیون افغانی (بیش از ۱.۵ میلیون دلار) می‌رسد.

آقای غنی و خانم رولا ۷ هزار جلد کتاب دارند که در کابل و بیروت ،پایتخت لبنان، نگهداری می‌شوند. ارزش این کتابها ۱.۲ میلیون افغانی (حدود ۱۸ هزار دلار) ذکر شده که از حقوق خودشان در مدت ۴۰ سال گذشته خریداری کرده‌اند.

آقای غنی ۱۲۲۰ جریب زمین و باغ در کابل و ولایت لوگر در جنوب کابل دارد که از پدرش به ارث مانده‌است. خانم رولا نیز ۶۰ جریب باغ در لبنان دارد که میان او و دو برادر و خواهرش مشترک است. قیمت این جایدادها نیز بین ۳۲۰ (بیش از ۴.۷ میلیون دلار) الی ۶۴۰ میلیون افغانی ( بیش از ۹.۵ میلیوان دلار) اعلام شده‌است.

آقای غنی عضو شرکت تحقیقاتی در آمریکا است که ۴.۵ میلیون افغانی (بیش از ۶۷ هزار دلار) در آن سهم دارد.

رئیس جمهوری افغانستان ماهانه ۲۶۶ هزار افغانی (حدود چهار هزار دلار) حقوق بازنشستگی خود را از بانک جهانی می‌گیرد. ۴۸۷ هزار افغانی (بیش از هفت هزار دلار) نیز از دولت افغانستان حقوق دریافت می‌کند. خانم رولا غنی نیز ۱۶۵ هزار افغانی (بیش از ۲۴۰۰ دلار) ماهانه از کرایه آپارتمانش در آمریکا بدست می‌آورد. - Read More at BBCnews

فهرست دارایی رئیس جمهوری افغانستان اعلام شد -


 فهرست دارایی عبدالله عبدالله اعلام شد -

Princess Charlotte: Kensington Palace releases new photos - BBC

New photographs of Princess Charlotte have been released by Kensington Palace to mark her six month milestone.
The two pictures were taken by the Duchess of Cambridge at their family home, Anmer Hall in Norfolk.

The duchess took a joint portrait of her two children - George, aged two, and Charlotte - a few weeks after her daughter was born in May. The last time the princess was seen in public was in July during her christening.

In a statement the palace said: "The duke and duchess continue to receive warm messages about Princess Charlotte from all around the world and they hope that everyone enjoys these lovely photos as much as they do." - Read More
Princess Charlotte: Kensington Palace releases new photos 

Two new Princess Charlotte photographs released - More

Loneliness May Warp Our Genes, And Our Immune Systems - NPR

Loneliness has been linked to everything from heart disease to Alzheimer's disease. Depression is common among the lonely. Cancers tear through their bodies more rapidly, and viruses hit them harder and more frequently. In the short term, it feels like the loneliness will kill you. A study suggests that's because the pain of loneliness activates the immune pattern of a primordial response commonly known as fight or flight.

For decades, researchers have been seeing signs that the immune systems of lonely people are working differently. Lonely people's white blood cells seem to be more active in a way that increases inflammation, a natural immune response to wounding and bacterial infection. On top of that, they seem to have lower levels of antiviral compounds known as interferons.

That seemed to provide a link to a lot of the poor health outcomes associated with loneliness, since chronic inflammation has been linked to everything from cancer to depression. The human body isn't built to hold a high level of inflammation for years. "That explains very clearly why lonely people fall at increased risk for cancer, neurodegenerative disease and viral infections as well," says Steve Cole, a genomics researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, and lead author on the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday

But it still doesn't explain how or why loneliness could change our bodies. To find that out, Cole and his collaborators tracked 141 people over five years. Every year, the researchers measured how lonely the participants felt and took blood samples to track the activity of genes involved with immunity and inflammation. They also tracked concentrations of the hormone norepinephrine, one of the two main signals during the flight-or-fight response. - Read More 

Loneliness May Warp Our Genes, And Our Immune Systems


رئیس جمهور غنی جهت سفر رسمی عازم اروپا شد

ارگ، کابل: محمد اشرف غنی رئیس جمهوری اسلامی افغانستان شام امروز در راس یک هیات عالی رتبه دولتی برای سفر رسمی عازم کشورهای فرانسه، ایتالیا، آلمان و سویدن گردید.

رئیس جمهوری اسلامی افغانستان در جریان این سفر شش روزه، ابتدا به فرانسه خواهد رفت و در آنجا ضمن سخنرانی در کنفرانس بین المللی تغییراقلیم، با رئیس جمهور آن کشور دیدار خواهد کرد.

رئیس جمهور غنی شام روز پنجشبنه جهت دیدار رسمی از کشور شاهی سویدن عازم شهر استکهلم پایتخت آن کشور خواهد شد. 
محمد اشرف غنی به روز جمعه با شاهدخت ویکتوریا ولیعهد سویدن، صدراعظم و وزرای خارجه و دفاع آن کشور دیدار های جداگانه خواهد داشت و در انستیتوت سلطنتی تکنالوژی آن کشور به ایراد سخنرانی خواهد پرداخت. 

رئیس جمهوری اسلامی افغانستان را در این سفر صلاح الدین ربانی وزیر امور خارجه، اکلیل حکیمی وزیر مالیه، داکتر نسرین اوریا خیل وزیر کار و امور اجتماعی و داکتر محمد همایون قیومی مشاور ارشد رئیس جمهور، همراهی می کنند. - Read More at president

رئیس جمهور غنی جهت سفر رسمی عازم اروپا شد 
جمهور رئیس غني په رسمي سفر اروپا ته روان شو 

Major powers pledge $20bn for green energy research

The US and 18 other countries have pledged to double funds for clean energy research to a total of $20bn over five years, boosting a parallel initiative by Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg and increasing the prospects for successful agreement at the Paris climate negotiations that start on Monday.

The countries, which include the UK, Canada, China, Brazil, India and South Africa, span the biggest global economies and major emitters, oil and gas producers, and leaders in clean energy research, the White House said.

Tech and business leaders, including America’s Bill Gates, George Soros, Meg Whitman and Mark Zuckerberg, Germany’s Hasso Plattner, India’s Ratan Tata and China’s Jack Ma, will also pledge on Monday to take on additional investment risks to bring environmental technologies coming out of scientific research to the marketplace.

“This announcement should help to send a strong signal that the world is committed to helping to mobilise the resources necessary to ensure countries around world can deploy clean energy solutions in cost-effective ways in their economies,” said Brian Deese, a senior White House advisor.

The announcement came as the first of more than 130 world leaders began jetting into Paris in preparation for the crunch negotiations. They will attend the first day of the two-week talks on Monday, instructing their negotiating teams. - Read More at Guardian
Major powers pledge $20bn for green energy research

COP21: on eve of UN climate conference, Ban says 'time for action is now' - Read More

Sunday, November 29, 2015

SIGAR releases October 2015 Quarterly Report to Congress, including an interview with President Ghani.

SIGAR issues its twenty-ninth Quarterly Report on October 30, 2015. Public Law 110-181 directs SIGAR to submit a quarterly report to Congress. This congressionally mandated report summarizes SIGAR's audits and investigative activities. The report also provides an overview of reconstruction activities in Afghanistan and includes a detailed statement of all obligations, expenditures, and revenues associated with reconstruction. - Read More at SIGAR
October 30, 2015 Quarterly Report to Congress

SIGAR | Quarterly Reports - More

Get more information about SIGAR in Dari دری and Pashto پشتو .

in a quarterly report to Congress - SIGAR - Read More

Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction ...

NSA bulk phone surveillance program shutting down Sunday - The Hill

The National Security Agency will no longer be allowed to collect phone metadata in bulk beginning Sunday, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The controversial surveillance program was shut down under the USA Freedom Act, signed by President Obama in early June, and has been in a six-month transition period that ends Nov. 29.

Beginning Sunday, authorities may only obtain the records of a person or device that is “specifically identified” in connection with a terrorist or criminal threat. Under the USA Freedom Act, the surveillance must be done in such a way that it “limits the scope of information sought to the greatest extent reasonably practicable.”

Some Republican lawmakers tried to delay the termination of the metadata program, originally authorized under the post-9/11 Patriot Act, in response to the deadly terrorist attacks on Paris this month.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.)’s Liberty Through Strength Act would have delayed the Sunday deadline for more than a year, as well as make permanent several other Patriot Act provisions.

"If we take anything from the Paris attacks, it should be that vigilance and safety go hand-in-hand,” Cotton said in a statement. “Now is not the time to sacrifice our national security for political talking points.

“We should allow the intelligence community to do their job and provide them with the tools they need to keep us safe.”

The legislation had the backing of both Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), but withered in the face of support for NSA reform from both the White House and both sides of the Congressional aisle.

“With the transition period ending, the Intelligence Community has fulfilled an important Presidential commitment that allows national security professionals to retain the capabilities necessary to continue protecting the country, while strengthening the civil liberties protections that the American people cherish,” the ODNI said in a statement Friday. - Read More at the NSA 

NSA bulk phone surveillance program shutting down Sunday


Privacy watchdog: Don’t use Paris attacks to expand surveillance - More

آمریکا و ناتو در افغانستان صلح نمی خواهند

داکتر فاروق بشر آگاه امور سیاسی در برنامه «راه حل» گفت: آمریکا از یک طرف با ما قرارداد امنیتی امضا کرده است تا امنیت افغانستان را در برابر گروه های تروریستی تضمین کند اما ازطرف دیگر آنها را تمویل می کند. انگلیس و آمریکا هر دو دوست و همکار با پاکستان هستند و به وسیله این کشور تروریست را پرورش و تمویل می کنند. این کار هم به این دلیل است که در این منطقه و به خصوص در افغانستان منابع نفت و گاز زیادی وجود دارد با تسلط بر این مناطق می توانند به این منابع دسترسی بیشتری داشته باشند. همانطور که آنها قبل از این در ایران بودند اما با انقلاب ایران مجبور شدند که از آنجا خارج شوند.

وی در خصوص مشکل نیامدن صلح در افغانستان اظهار کرد: مشکل اساسی کشور ما در اینجا است که افغانستان تا به امروز یک استراتژی صلح ندارد. حکومت یک روز شورای صلح را تشکیل می دهد، یک روز کمیته صلح را ایجاد می کند اما کسانی در شورای صلح هستند، با صلح مخالفت دارند. یعنی اینها نمی خواهند که صلح به میان آید. چرا که همه افراد در آنجا کسانی هستند که از جانب کسانی حمایت می شوند که صلح نمی خواهند. در این میان پاکستان هم می خواهد چهره ای خشن به افغانستان نشان دهد و بگوید که کلید صلح در دستان من است اما در واقعیت اینطور نیست. کلید صلح پیش ناتو و آمریکا است. آمریکا و ناتو هم نمی خواهند که از این کلید استفاده کنند و صلح را بیاورند. چرا که اگرصلح بخواهند کار آنها در اینجا به پایان می رسد. این پیمان امنیتی هم در عمل هیچ کاربردی ندارد. اگر آنها از اینجا بروند به آن اهدافی را که در سر می پروراندند نمی رسند.

بشر، کلید صلح را به دست ناتو و آمریکا می داند و می گوید: در این شرایط موجود ما که از یک طرف عناصر داخلی برای سقوط حکومت فعالیت می کنند و از جانب دیگر حکومت افغانستان دو قطبی است و جهانیان هم اعتمادی به آنها ندارند، توانایی آوردن صلح نداریم. رفتن به دروازه پاکستانی ها هم اشتباه محض است. تا زمانی که ما آمریکا را قانع نسازیم که بودن تروریست ها در این منطقه نه تنها به ضرر افغانستان و منطقه است بلکه آمریکا و اروپا هم در امان نخواهد بود، صلح به وجود نمی آید. تروریست در این منطقه آتشی است که اگر کمی بیشتر شعله ور شود تمام کشورهای منطقه را در برخواهد گرفت و به اروپا و آمریکا هم سرایت خواهد کرد. چنانچه همین حالا هم به اروپا رسیده است. چرا که حالا این تروریست ها از کنترل خودشان نیز خارج شده اند.

وی در خصوص پیشنهاد همکاری روسیه به افغانستان برای از بین بردن تروریزم گفت: سیاست افغانستان در منطقه هنوز مشخص نیست. مشخص نیست که دوست و دشمن ما کیست. با چه کسانی باید دوستی کنیم و از چه کسانی دوری گزینیم. هم اکنون ما در برابر روسیه باید با احتیاط رفتار نماییم. باید از آنها اسلحه بگیریم. سربازان خود را به آنجا برای تعلیم بفرستیم و مهمات بگیریم اما به آنها اجازه ندهیم که سربازان خود را وارد افغانستان کنند. - Read More

آمریکا و ناتو در افغانستان صلح نمی خواهند

Friday, November 27, 2015

The Paris Climate Talks By the Numbers

An estimated 500 people, including world and business leaders, will take part in the COP21 climate talks in Paris next week, which will attempt to move the world forward on issues of climate change, sustainable energy, carbon emissions and green technology.

Conference venue organizers Climate Action said in a statement they felt “assured that security in Paris will be appropriate to the level of threat.”

COP21, the official name of the Paris climate talks, stands for the 21st Conference of the Parties. The meeting is an annual conference of nations that want to address climate and emissions issues, and is organized by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The first conference was held in in 1995. A year later, assembled countries agreed to accept scientific findings on global warming from an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). At the Copenhagen conference in 2009, countries committed to financing emissions reduction in the short and long term.

The number of days over which the conference will take place, from November 30 to December 11. The U.S., the European Union and environmental groups hope to walk away with a negotiated deal that will require similar conferences every five years, to review progress on emissions reduction.

The number of countries that have put forward plans to reduce emissions. At the conference, heads of state will meet with NGO leaders and environmental groups to discuss green technology and other methods to reach emissions goals.

How many heads of state are planning to attend COP21. U.S. President Barack Obama will join everybody from United Nations General Secretary Ban-Ki Moon and French President Francois Hollande to Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, the respective presidents of Russia and China, also will attend. Heads of states will be making speechs, beginning at 11 a.m. on November 30.

Number of attendees expected at the event, including 25,000 world government delegates, according to UNEP. - Read More at Newsweek

The Paris Climate Talks By the Numbers

COP21 | United nations conference on climate change - More

Norway advertises stricter asylum rules in Afghan newspapers

OSLO Norway is telling Afghans that its door is not as open as it was to migrants, advertising its stricter asylum rules in Afghan newspapers as part of a campaign to limit the number of people hoping to reach the Nordic country for protection. 

 It is also using social media. The country's justice ministry has a Facebook page called "Stricter asylum regulations in Norway," and the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration has tweeted about new rules in Pashto, Dari and English.

Norway expects to receive some 35,000 asylum seekers this year, triple what it was last year, but still a relatively modest number compared with neighboring Sweden.

The government tightened the country's asylum rules last Friday in a bid to stem the sharp rise of arrivals.

The headline of the ads, on the front pages of the Afghanistan Times and the Hasht-e-subh newspapers, read "Stricter immigration regulations in Norway - important information!". 

The print campaign began on Monday. A justice ministry spokesman said they may run next week as well and that Norway was considering doing the same in other countries. 

One of the largest groups of asylum seekers are Afghans. Norway considers Kabul relatively safe even though much of Afghanistan remains chronically unstable amid continued fighting between the Western-backed government and Taliban militants. - Read More at Reuters

Norway advertises stricter asylum rules in Afghan newspapers

German Foreign Policy Shifts Focus to Refugees

With the refugee crisis showing no signs of abating, Germany is rapidly changing its foreign and security policy focus. Gone are the days of democracy promotion. Now the primary goal is that of preventing people from migrating to Europe.  By SPIEGEL Staff more... 

On the last Friday in October, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen found herself in a government jet flying just outside of Syrian airspace. She was on the way to an international security conference in Bahrain for several meetings. Her mission: crisis diplomacy.

Meanwhile, diplomats from around the world were gathered in Vienna to discuss possible ways in which the Syrian civil war could be brought to an end -- a conflict that is the primary cause for the enormous wave of refugees currently crashing over Germany and the rest of Europe. 

Action Rather than Resignation
It is a goal that the German government has made its highest foreign and security policy priority: That of ensuring that as few refugees as possible embark on the long journey to Germany. The pursuit of that strategy has led to the launch of diplomatic initiatives, the questioning of development policy concepts, the subordination of long-held principles and the expansion of military missions.

Because Europe can't simply cut itself off, according to the logic of German refugee policy, much of the world must be transformed into a better place -- an incredibly ambitious goal that is a combination of desperation and megalomania. "We have to restore state power and stability in countries like Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya," Minister von der Leyen said the weekend before last. Action, rather than complaint and resignation, is her motto, the minister has often been heard saying in recent weeks. If you just energetically address a problem, she believes, the fortitude to solve it will appear by itself. It sounds, in other words, as though Minister von der Leyen believes in miracles.

Resistance To Deployments Is Shrinking
The most recent example is the astonishing lack of resistance to the extension of the Bundeswehr's mission in Afghanistan. Instead of completely withdrawing to Kabul as had been planned, German troops, it was decided in mid-October, are now to remain in the north of the country, continue training Afghan security forces and do what they can to at least slow the advance of the Taliban. The ultimate hope is that of improving living conditions in Afghanistan such that tens of thousands of people there will no longer want to uproot and head for Europe.

But it's not just German foreign and security policy that is to be recalibrated to address the refugee crisis. Development policy is also shifting. Until recently, support was made contingent on a country's progress toward democracy and application of the rule of law. Now, there are plans afoot to use funding as a lever to encourage foreign governments to cooperate in refugee repatriation.

Abandoning the Merkel Doctrine
The reorientation of German foreign policy is an admission of failure. For years, Chancellor Angela Merkel pursued security policy by way of weapons exports and military training missions: The so-called Merkel Doctrine. The goal, as Merkel described it in a 2011 speech, was to enable strategically important countries to guarantee their own security. Merkel's hope was that the strategy could preclude the need for Germany to become involved in unpopular military missions abroad.

Among Chancellor Merkel's center-right conservatives, foreign and security policy experts are laying the political groundwork for a change of course. "Foreign and security policy must now be increasingly focused on combatting the causes of refugee flight," says the conservatives' deputy floor leader Franz Josef Jung, who served as minister of defense from 2005 to 2009 in Merkel's first government. His party colleague Roderich Kiesewetter, who is the leading Christian Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee in German parliament, says: "We have to focus on being prepared so that crisis regions do not become new sources of refugees."

Safe Areas:  It is, of course, unlikely that the extended presence of a few thousand NATO troops will succeed where 140,000 NATO troops, at the height of the Afghanistan operation, failed. That's why Berlin's primary goal is that of ensuring that at least part of the country remains safe enough that rejected asylum-seekers can reasonably be deported. Last Thursday, following a meeting with her two coalition partners -- Sigmar Gabriel from the Social Democrats and Horst Seehofer of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party to the CDU -- Merkel said that "intra-state flight alternatives" are to be created in Afghanistan. Chancellery Chief of Staff Peter Altmaier spoke of protective areas. De facto, that means that parts of the war-torn country are to be declared safe regions of origin. Not long prior to the meeting, Merkel held a telephone conversation with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to confirm that there were, in fact, areas in Afghanistan safe enough for deported refugees.

Still, the idea of safe areas is a controversial one within Merkel's governing coalition. Development Minister Gerd Müller, of the CSU, says that such a plan could only be successful if it were it accompanied by massive investments in infrastructure and education. "A purely military solution will not work in the long term," he said. SPD foreign policy expert Niels Annen warns: "Those demanding protection zones in Afghanistan are essentially demanding the re-launching of the military mission at a much greater dimension than before."

Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, by contrast, indicated he was open to the idea following a meeting with SPD parliamentarians last Tuesday. "In the coming days, we will receive more refugees from Afghanistan than from Syria," he said. Conservative floor leader Volker Kauder is also a supporter of the idea: "I think it is correct to establish safe zones in Afghanistan so that Afghans without the right to remain in Germany can return to secure areas of their homeland," he says. Deputy floor leader Jung adds that the protection of such zones requires a well-trained and well-armed Afghan national army. "That is why we should continue our support of the Afghan national army and extend and expand the Resolute Support Mission, in which the Bundeswehr is a participant," Jung says. Conservative foreign policy spokesman Jürgen Hardt adds that a plan must be developed for how the German military, together with the Afghan army, can establish the security necessary in the safe zones. - Read More at Der Spiegel

Deutsche Welle - جهادگرایان آلمان که هستند و چه می‌کنند؟

اسلام‌گرایان افراطی در آلمان برای جذب جوانان به فعالیت‌های جهادی به زمان زیادی نیاز ندارند. گاه تنها چند هفته یا چند ماه کافی است تا این گروه‌ها جوانی ساده‌دل را جذب و سپس به سوریه اعزام کنند.

هولگر مونک، رئيس اداره جنایی آلمان، درباره فعالیت افراد و گروه‌های جهادی توضیح داده است. او در گفت‌وگویی با روزنامه "دی ولت" گفته است تا کنون بیش از ۷۵۰ نفر از این افراد از آلمان به سوریه سفر کرده‌اند. حدود یک سوم از آنها به آلمان برگشته‌اند و حدود ۷۰ نفر از آنها در زمینه رزمی دارای تجربه شده‌اند.

به نظر می‌رسد که مضمون جهاد همچنان برای بسیاری از جوانان افراطی جذاب است. نهادهای امنیتی آلمان اعتقاد دارند که در حال حاضر حدود ۴۳ هزار اسلام‌گرای افراطی در آلمان اقامت دارند. این افراد اعتقاد دارند که امور جامعه باید با شریعت اسلام انطباق پیدا کند. - Read More at the dw.com

 جهادگرایان آلمان که هستند و چه می‌کنند؟ -- Deutsche Welle

Report: Violence and corruption plague Afghanistan - Deutsche Welle‎

A confidential report by the German Foreign Ministry paints a grim picture of Afghanistan, a German public broadcaster says. Recently, German officials called for more Afghan refugees to be returned to their country.
The Afghanistan population faces massive human right abuses and security issues, broadcaster NDR reported on Wednesday, citing the German Foreign Ministry's analysis of "asylum and deportation situation."

The situation in the Asian country varies from region to region, but remains "volatile," the 28-page document reportedly states.  "The biggest threat for the Afghani citizens are local strongmen and warlords," it goes on to say.  While the Kabul government is aware of its responsibility to protect the populace, "it is not always in position to do so effectively."

According to the analysis, the number of civilian victims in the first half of the 2015 reached 1,600, the highest value since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001.  Violence and sexual assaults on women and children are also widespread in Afghanistan, the report states, claiming that even the Afghani policewomen are not always protected.  The security forces often recruit minors "in order to approach them sexually," it says.

In addition, large sections of the Afghanistan justice system are reportedly rife with corruption, and the country's development is also undermined by bribery. - Read More at the DW
Report: Violence and corruption plague Afghanistan 

German defense minister: Do not ′equate′ refugees with ...More

Shifting Afghan Gears: Build, Don't Blast - Edward Corcoran

Afghanistan has enormous economic potential as outlined in a recent US Army review; developing this is the key to stability. Despite fourteen years of US military support, the situation has deteriorated to the point that the senior US officer has stated flatly, "we have to provide our senior leadership options different than the current plan.” This plan focuses on building up the capacity of the forces; it ignores the underlying reality that security simply cannot be achieved without development. No wonder Americans want out. Over 3,000 US service members and civilians have been killed and more than 20,000 wounded; direct, short-term costs come close to a trillion dollars. The Taliban's reach is the widest it has been since the United States entered the country while corruption severely undermines the prospects for stability. Not only has the US government focused on the military operations, so has the media; major improvements in infrastructure, telecommunications and human resources have been invisible to the American public which understandably sees Afghanistan as a black hole that eats people and resources. Far from being a short-term solution, the military effort has evolved into a long-term quagmire. The United States has failed to provide a coherent alternative to the Taliban.

The Obama administration understands that a collapse in Afghanistan would be detrimental to US interests. Yet it continues to pursue a military solution when it needs to shift gears and focus on systematic economic development. Prioritizing economic development should be perfectly natural for the United States, the most advanced commercial economy in the world. Post-World War II the Economic Recovery Program - better know as the Marshall Plan - turned a group of historically warring European countries into a region of peace; later US support to South Korea transformed that war-torn country with almost no economic resources into a commercial powerhouse. - Read More at the Huffingtonpost

Shifting Afghan Gears: Build, Don't Blast


Thursday, November 26, 2015

Reconsidering The Pilgrims, Piety And America's Founding Principles - Tom Gjelten

The Pilgrims are among the early heroes of American history, celebrated every Thanksgiving for their perseverance in the New World against great odds.
To Christian conservatives, they are role models for another reason as well: They were deeply committed to their Christian faith and not afraid to say so.

In the Mayflower Compact, the governing document signed shortly before the Pilgrims disembarked in Massachusetts' Provincetown Harbor, Pilgrim leaders said they undertook their voyage across the Atlantic "for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith."

Some Christian activists cite that declaration as evidence for their claim that America was founded as a Christian nation, notwithstanding the fact that the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were written more than 150 years later and incorporated a much broader variety of early American views.

Puncturing Myths About The Pilgrims
In countless retellings over the past 400 years, the Pilgrim story has become part of American mythology, and fact has not always been separated clearly from fiction. The Pilgrims, a new PBS film released in time for the Thanksgiving holiday, attempts to set the record straight

"Our aim is just to say, 'Hey, what really happened?'" says Ric Burns, who wrote and directed the film. "What made the Old World intolerable to these people who came over? What did they believe? What happened to them along the way? How were they transformed by the extreme nature of the experience they had?" - Read More at NPR

Reconsidering The Pilgrims, Piety And America's Founding Principles


Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Afghanistan 2015: The View From Kabul - Joseph V. Micallef

Kabul Afghanistan, November 5, 2015:  At first glance this is like any other third world city: noisy, dirty, chaotic. The traffic is a moving amalgam of cars, people and pack animals, a high-speed game of bumper cars where anything goes as long as you honk first. It makes rush hour traffic in most modern cities seem a veritable oasis of calm and serenity. Power outages are the norm. Flashlights always at the ready since you never know when you might be plunged into darkness.

Kabul has no underground sewer system. Waste drains in the open, concrete lined ditches alongside the roads. It only rains about 12 inches here, mostly in the winter. In the summer and fall the drainage ditches get clogged up with ... well you can imagine what they get clogged up with. Workers dig out the crud and leave it along side the roads. In the heat of summer it turns to dust.

The standing joke at ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) headquarters is that newbies are advised to do away with lip balm and lip-gloss as the dust in the air will stick to it and that 15% of the dust is made up of animal and human fecal matter. No one knows if that is true, but in Kabul it has become an urban legend that foreigners swear by -- whatever you do the newbies are told: don't lick your lips.

Technically the ISAF mission ended in December 2014 and was replaced by the Resolute Support Mission (RSM). Their function remains the same however. Both Afghans and NATO military personnel still refer to the military support mission as ISAF and I have continued to use the designation as well.

But this is also a city on the front line of a war that it has now endured for almost four decades. In the outlying areas there is little evidence of this save for the ubiquitous presence of razor wire on top of the stonewalls that surround many houses. Police cars are 4 by 4s with 35mm machine guns mounted on the flat bed. The accompanying policemen carry AK-47s, M-16s or M-4s. Not exactly your typical suburban police patrol.

In the city core, however, the legacy of almost forty years of unrelenting conflict is unmistakable. Government buildings and embassies are veritable fortresses. Blast proof doors of four-inch thick steel guard the entrances surrounded by 20-foot, 18-inch thick, concrete barricades. The 20-foot concrete barricades are nicknamed "Texas" size while the five foot ones are called "Jersey" size.

Machine gun nests sit behind outposts of sandbags and concrete guarding the entrances. Everywhere, the ubiquitous razor wire adorns the tops of walls and barricades. If you were looking to start a business in Kabul, manufacturing and distributing razor wire would be a very good place to start.

Roads within the downtown core are blocked off with checkpoints and barricades. Referred to as the "Ring of Steel", the enhanced security was supposed to protect key government ministries and foreign embassies. Armed soldiers and police are everywhere. Automatic weapons and heavy caliber weapons the norm. There is no mistaking that this is a place where the prospect of death and violence are both familiar and expected. This is a city that feels and acts like it is on the front line of war. 

Those with capital look to move it to Dubai and from there, elsewhere. Significant portions of the refugees streaming into Europe are Afghans looking to escape the uncertainty of Afghanistan. Germany, who has ended up with many of them, is planning to send them all back home to Afghanistan. The city is littered with half finished or empty buildings, especially in the suburbs. Rents are dropping, noticeably so for the better properties which were being used by foreigners. There is a steady stream of NGOs pulling up stakes or cutting back their staff.

The reality is that politically the Taliban is a spent force. In the countryside it may be a welcome alternative to corrupt, brutal warlords that terrorize the inhabitants of the villages they control. They have lots of money at their disposal, money that can pay for bribes, money that can buy influence and support. When they need them, men with guns are easy to find. This is Afghanistan after all. Two hundred thousand dollars will get you 700 to 1,000 fighters for two to four weeks. As a bonus they bring their own guns. Ammunition is extra.

Afghanistan is a work in progress. The present level of military deployment can keep the Taliban under control and sufficiently contain them from the cities until they fall into irrelevance. The problems of governance, however, must ultimately be resolved by the Afghan people themselves; the prospect of a stable, free Afghanistan and a new generation of Afghans committed to keeping it that way, may in time, resolve those issues or at the very least reduce them to a manageable level. Make no mistake, however, if we are truly committed to finishing the job we started in Afghanistan we will need to maintain this level of military deployment for the next 15 to 20 years.

It is a new morning in Kabul. It rained last night clearing the dust and grime from the air. For the first time, I can look out across the valley and see the magnificent vista of the Hindu Kush; the tops now covered in the white of freshly fallen snow. It is a new day in Afghanistan too, one of what can be many new days, but only if America stays the course and tells the Afghan people unequivocally that they are here for the long-term. - Read More at the Afghanistan 2015:

Afghanistan 2015: The View From Kabul - More