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Afghanistan
Clashes Intensify in Herat as Reinforcements Arrive
2021-08-02
[ToloNews] The government deployed more security forces to the western city of Herat
...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns...
 on Sunday a day after the Taliban
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
 advanced closer to the central parts of the city.

Local officials said that the festivities intensified in villages in the western parts of Herat city.

Abdul Rahman Rahman, senior deputy of the Interior Ministry, also visited Herat city on Sunday and said that a large-scale operation will be launched against the Taliban in Herat.

"We have come with the security forces from Kabul and these forces have joined Herat forces. We will act as soon as possible to defend the Herat people," he said.

The festivities have been ongoing in the western parts of Herat city and Guzara and Karokh districts over the past four days.

At least 20 people were killed, including 16 security force members, and 90 people were maimed in the past four days of fighting in Herat, according to data from Herat’s regional hospital.

Local officials said that "the Taliban has suffered heavy casualties during the festivities."

Reporters for Pajhwok news agency and Salam Watandar Radio were briefly taken captive by the Taliban on the battlefield but none were maimed, according to the news hounds.

"We had a 10-meter distance from the security forces," said Storai Karimi, a Pajhwok news hound, "we were surrounded by the Taliban."

Shekib Shams, news hound of Salam Watandar also said: "It was terrible because a few bullets hit our car. When I stopped the car, I saw that four Taliban had surrounded us and told us to take the car into the road."

The news hounds said that they were freed after an hour.

Security sources said the Taliban advanced this morning in Herat city, adding that "the Taliban launched large attacks on several villages in the west of Herat city and festivities are still ongoing."

"There are festivities in Pul-e-Malan on the battlefield and the Taliban were prevented from advancing. Sometimes troops move forward and then retreat but it does not mean that the lines were broken," said Abdul Saboor Qane, provincial governor.

Colonel Mohammad Nasir Alizai, commander of a commando unit from Zafar 207 Military Corps, said: "The Taliban's war is a psychological war, and it wants to cause panic among the people. I urge the people of Herat not to lose their spirit."

Clashes in the city of Herat began their fourth day on Sunday. Clashes are underway in the southern part of Herat near Malan Bridge, which was taken over by the Taliban on Saturday.

Defense Ministry front man Fawad Aman said hundreds of reinforcements arrived in the city on Sunday morning.

Hundreds of families have been displaced from their homes in the southern parts of Herat city due to the ongoing festivities, local officials said.

Taliban attacks on the city of Herat were criticized on Saturday by some politicians and analysts who say they are a clear violation of the group's commitments to the Doha agreement.

The Taliban said that the group has made no commitment to not attack major cities.
Khaama Press adds:
The reinforcement includes nearly 150 fully equipped Afghan commandoes and will be deployed and stationed in areas where needed, said local officials.

Meanwhile,
...back at the shouting match, a new, even louder, voice was to be heard...
 the Ministry of Defense on Sunday said that 66 Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
 fighters were killed and 13 more maimed as a result of Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s in Enjeel district and center of Herat province.

The Facebook post of the ministry further reads that a large amount of weaponry of the Taliban has also been seized during the operations.

Last night, a special get-together was hosted by the Lower House Speaker Mir Rahman Rahmani which was aimed at discussing the overall security situation of Afghanistan and particularly that of Herat province. The meeting was attended by NSA Hamdullah Muhib, head of HCNR Abdullah Abdullah
...the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against both Karzai and Ghani. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun. He also held the meaningless salaried sop position as CEO of Afghanistan, while Ghani was president...
, former vice-president Yunus Qanuni and a number of MPs.

In the meeting, Ismail Khan was offered as provincial governor of Herat province and head of the Security Council of the province. Ismail Khan, the former warlord is now fighting the Taliban in the province.

Besides, some other names were also given to be appointed as commander of national police and head of the Afghan military in Herat province.

Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin's take:
...meanwhile, the militants are already wandering the streets of Herat. Ismail Khan, whom the government is hoping for, today called on Herat residents (both men and women) to take up arms to repel the "invasion of the army of ignorance."

In the areas of Herat occupied by the Taliban, the mullahs quickly changed their shoes and are broadcasting from mosques calls for the military and police to surrender to the Taliban.

Such is the information war for the Afghani.

Herat, bordering Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
in the west of Afghanistan has witnessed heavy conflicts in the past two months and now the Taliban is controlling all but one district of the province.
Related:
Herat: 2021-07-31 Afghanistan: Heavy clashes between Taliban and government forces in Herat
Herat: 2021-07-30 No Salaam Telecom Service Nationwide Since Wednesday
Herat: 2021-07-30 Taliban Attacks Repelled in Herat City, Karokh: Officials
Link


Afghanistan
Blasts target major Shia ceremony in Afghanistan's Kabul
2019-03-07
[TRTworld] The explosions happened during a ceremony marking the 24th anniversary of the death of Shia Hazara leader Abdul Ali Mazari that was attended by many of the country’s elite.

An explosion rattled a large Shia ceremony in western Kabul Thursday, with the event abruptly cancelled and sending attendees fleeing, including chief executive Abdullah Abdullah and other leading government officials.

"Stay calm, the area of the blast is far from us," said former lower house speaker Mohammad Younus Qanooni during a live broadcast of the event.

But moments after the announcement, another explosion could be heard that sent people running for the exit.

The explosions happened during a ceremony marking the 24th anniversary of the death of Shia Hazara leader Abdul Ali Mazari that was attended by many of the country’s elite, including Abdullah and former President Hamid Karzai.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blast and no casualties have been reported.
A twitter guy says: Daesh/ISIS/IS affiliates in #Afghanistan.
Update from Tolo News at 6:30 a.m. ET:
At least three people were killed and 19 others were maimed in back-to-back mortar attack at a gathering of hundreds of people who were marking the 24th death anniversary of Abdul Ali Mazari, leader of the Hezb-e Wahdat party.

The attack took place at aroune 12pn Kabul time and it was started when Chief Executive of the National Unity Government Abdullah Abdullah
... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun...
 was giving speech at the ceremony in Musala-e-Mazar compound in the west of Kabul.

The mortars landed in a different part and around the gathering.

Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, former president Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
...A product, and probably the sole product, of the Southern Alliance...
, former National Security Advisor Haneef Atmar, former Vice president Yunus Qanuni, Acting Foreign Minister, Salahuddin Rabbani, Second Deputy Chief Executive Mohammad Mohaqiq, and other officials were at the ceremony.

No high-ranking official was hurt in the attack. But sources said that Abdul Latif Pedram, a presidential candidate and head of the National Congress Party of Afghanistan sustained injuries in the attack.

TOLOnews news hound Gulabuddin Ghubar who was covering the gathering said that at least 15 were kabooms heard at the area.

Sharif Amiry, another TOLOnews news hound, said the victims of the attack were taken to hospital by police vehicles and ambulances.

"The mortars also hit civilians houses and there are also casualties," he said.

In the meantime, officials from the Ministry of Public Health said that "two people were killed in a house after it was hit by a mortar shell and three others were maimed."

"From the gethering, one person was killed and 16 others were maimed," the ministry said.

Atmar in a statement said that eight of his bodyguards were wounded in the attack.
Link


Afghanistan
Council of Jihadi Leaders and Political Parties To Help Ease Challenges
2015-10-17
[Tolo News] The joint commission of the Council of Jihadi Leaders and Political Parties said on Friday they will never try to erode the national unity government, It is said that seven members of the commission will be appointed by the government and soon the commission will start work to evaluate the ongoing situation in the country.

Many believe that if the council is determined to work to help strengthen the political system, this would be helpful at curbing national issues; however there is a perception in the country that those who pursue particular ambitions must not be included in the council's structure.

After a series of consultations and discussions, former Jihadi leaders and political parties are now trying to help the national unity government to overcome challenges which the country faces.

The council has a joint commission and seven members will be decided by government.

"The commission should have a look at the last year and find out which factors really caused the ongoing crisis and abnormalities. The commission should also refer the recommendations of Jihadi leaders and political parties to government," council member Sadiq Mudabir said.

Meanwhile,
...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Nunzio had his hands full of angry bleached blonde...
 the head of the council has said that the commission will assess the performance of the national unity government during the last year to find out what caused the current situations.

"The council is determined to be helpful to government. The council will never try to weaken the government," Mudabir said.

"If the council supports and works for stability of government, it would prove effective, but government must prevent entry of those who want to gain political influence," law expert Nasrullah Stanikzai said.

Following the collapse of the strategic city of Kunduz in northern Afghanistan to the Taliban recently, a number of former Jihadi leaders under the leadership of former Jihadi commander Abdul Rab Rasool Sayyaf
...Afghan Salafist warlord, owned by Saudi Arabia. He was the guy who invited al-Qaeda to come into Afghanistan and make themselves at home...
 gathered to form such a council.

Former Jihadi leader Abdul Rab Rasool Sayyaf, former defense minister Bismillah Mohammadi, former Jihadi leader and former vice president Mohammad Yunus Qanuni, former Jihadi leader and ex-minister of water and energy Mohammad Esmail Khan and other prominent Jihadi leaders and heads of political parties are members of the council.
Link


Afghanistan
Ashrafi's Comments Prove Need for Policy Shift: National Coalition
2013-03-08
[TOLONEWS] The controversial comments of Pak holy man Tahir Ashrafi in support of suicide kaboom indicate that the insurgency has religious backing, the National Coalition party said Thursday, warning that Afghanistan must adjust its policies accordingly.

Speaking at a gathering in Kabul, National Coalition member Mohammad Yunus Qanuni said the Pakistain-appointed holy man had proved that terrorism enjoys religious as well as political support.

"The words by the head of the Pakistain Ulema Council indicate that terrorism in Pakistain has political and religious support. We strongly condemn the statement," Qanuni said in a gathering in Kabul to observe International Women's Day on March 8.

The Coalition said the Afghan government must react, beginning with changes in policy such as that of releasing Taliban prisoners.

Last week, Ashrafi said in an interview with TOLOnews that Moslems were justified in "sacrificing their lives to Allah" as long as Afghanistan was "occupied" by US forces.

The statement was widely condemned, and Ashrafi later said he had been misunderstood.

The Pakistain Embassy in Afghanistan released a statement saying it was Ashrafi's personal opinion and not one condoned by the government. But the damage has been significant.

"It (Ashrafi's statement) has proven that terrorism enters Afghanistan from Pakistain," Qanuni said.

The release of Afghan Taliban prisoners from Pakistain's jails was a deal struck two months ago between the governments in an apparent hope that freedom would encourage the Talebs to negotiate for peace with the Afghan government.

Its impact appears to have fallen flat with most of the prisoners disappearing upon their release.

"Releasing these Taliban has no justification to us and will only be a cause of trouble," political analyst Mahmood Saiqal said Thursday.

National Coalition front man Sayed Aqa Fazel Sancharaki said Afghanistan needed a stronger, single policy towards Pakistain or it would continue to be pressured by outside forces.

"The lack of a focused policy by Afghanistan has allowed Pakistain to force its demands onto Afghanistan," he said.
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Afghanistan
Suicide Blast in Kabul Kills 2
2007-11-27
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - A suicide car bomber triggered a huge blast Tuesday near two armored vehicles used by U.S.-led coalition troops in Kabul, killing at least two civilians and destroying the wall of a nearby house, witnesses and officials said.
The bomber damaged the armored vehicles and wounded four people, though none of the troops was injured, said Lt. Col. David Johnson, a coalition spokesman.

At least two civilians were killed in the blast, said Gen. Ali Shah Paktiawal, director of criminal investigations for the Kabul police.

Four other people, including two Pakistani road construction workers, were injured in the blast, said Dr. Mohammad Musa, from Kabul's Wazir Akbar Khan hospital.

U.S. and Afghan security forces raced to the scene, where broken glass and pieces of the bomber's vehicle littered the street in a neighborhood of the capital where many foreigners live. The body of one victim lay in the street.

A day earlier, a blast ripped through a car south of the capital, killing four civilians, police said. The explosion occurred in the Musayi district of Kabul province, where a bomb had been freshly planted in the muddy, unpaved road, regional police commander Gen. Zalmai Oryakhail said.

Also Monday, a remote-controlled roadside bomb struck an Afghan army vehicle in the eastern province of Paktia, killing four soldiers and wounding two, Din Mohammad Darwish, spokesman for the provincial governor, said.

In protest of the government's response to an attack on a traveling group of lawmakers earlier this month, dozens of lawmakers walked out of parliament Monday, led by lower house speaker Mohammad Yunus Qanuni who is also a top opposition figure.

Qanuni is a leading figure in the National Front, the largest opposition group challenging U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai's authority and the walkout is likely to deepen Afghanistan's political divide.

Qanuni said the government had ignored parliament's demand for the suspension of officials in the northern province of Baghlan where a suicide bomber attacked a visiting delegation of lawmakers on Nov. 6.

Some 77 people, including 61 students and six lawmakers were killed, and more than 100 were wounded in the blast and the subsequent shooting by panicked guards, officials said. One of the lawmakers killed was a key opposition member.
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Afghanistan
Afghan parliament speaker to support Karzai
2005-12-24
KABUL- The newly elected chairman of Afghanistan’s parliament has said he will resign as leader of the opposition and will support U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai’s efforts to rebuild the country after a quarter century of war.
There's something to be said for backroom deals. And I trust Qanouni to keep his word a lot better than I'd expect Rasool Sayyof to...
The announcement by Mohammad Yunus Qanuni at a press conference late Thursday was a major boost for Karzai, who hopes to form alliances between his government and rival ethnic and political factions in the legislature. Qanuni was one of Karzai’s primary political rivals, having finished second to him in the presidential elections in October last year.
Kind of a remote second, but still second...
He resigned his post of education minister, which he was given by Karzai, so that he could challenge Karzai for the presidency. He was narrowly elected chairman of the assembly in a vote Wednesday. “I cannot be the chief of the parliament and the chief of the opposition,” Qanuni told reporters. “Several times, I said that if I became head of the parliament ... I would resign from being the chairman of the opposition party. Now, I am abiding by my promise.”
An honest politican? What next, a charitable banker?
He said the new opposition leader would be Burhanuddin Rabbani, a fellow ethnic Tajik and former president during a destructive civil war in the 1990s. The two men are old friends and Rabbani withdrew his own candidacy for the chairmanship of the parliament last week in favor of the younger Qanuni. “My belief is that the parliament of Afghanistan should support the positive policies of the government,” Qanuni said. “In the national interest, the parliament, the judiciary and other arms of the government should cooperate. This cooperation will help the people of Afghanistan.”
"And of course, me and my pal will keep in touch. Over golf."
He said that in the past four years, since the Taleban was ousted in 2001, “there has been no change in the lives of the Afghan people,” despite billions being spent on foreign aid.
Link


Afghanistan
Under the radar: First Afghan parliament in decades to meet Monday
2005-12-16
Four years after the overthrow of the Taliban, a new Afghan parliament will meet for the first time on Monday in the culmination of an international plan to bring democracy to the country following three decades of conflict.

Lineups of the 249-seat Wolesi Jirga, the lower house, and the 102-member upper house, or Meshrano Jirga, read like a Who's Who of protagonists of the bloody past -- to the bitter disappointment of many victims.

Former Communists, leaders of guerrilla groups which overthrew them and ex-Taliban will sit side by side in a parliament which emerged from U.N.- backed September elections.

Trying to limit their influence will be idealistic new politicians, including technocrats and women's rights activists.

The parliament is seen as a means of reconciliation and a potential counterbalance to the administration of President Hamid Karzai, installed after U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001 and elected president last year.

Karzai's record has been patchy, but analysts say it remains unclear how much influence parliament will be able to exert.

"It is a very mixed group of people with very different backgrounds," said Niamatullah Ibrahimi of the Crisis States Research Centre.

"Many are not experienced in legislative and parliamentary issues and will have difficulties focussing on national agendas."

Self-styled opposition leader Yunus Qanuni has been seeking to create a front of support, but after an election held on an individual, not party basis, the assembly is expected to be a disparate body with a parochial focus.

Security will be tight for the opening after a wave of attacks blamed on Taliban insurgents and their al Qaeda allies.

The threat was underlined on Friday when a suicide attacker detonated a car bomb between two Norwegian peacekeeping vehicles near the parliament, killing himself and wounding two passers-by.

The Taliban said the bomber had intended to target the "bogus" parliament but took the opportunity to attack the peacekeepers. Spokesman Qari Mohammed Yousuf vowed more attacks to disrupt the parliament, "a symbol of American occupation".

In a country which has not seen a representative parliament since the 1970s, procedures still have to be laid down and what happens after the inaugural session is unclear.

It should sit for nine months, but may adjourn until spring, given logistical problems posed by winter and January holidays.

Parliament's first task will be to elect presidents of the two chambers.

More than a dozen people are vying to lead the lower house, including Qanuni, two women and several factional leaders dubbed warlords by their critics and accused of serious rights abuses.

The parliament must also endorse Karzai's cabinet.

Before the September vote, Qanuni predicted his National Understanding Front would win more than 50 percent of the lower house seats and said it might not endorse all Karzai's ministers.

Analysts say he appears short of his target, but he is not alone in criticising Karzai's administration, which many Afghans complain has failed improve their lives.

Tens of thousands of U.S.-led foreign troops and billions of dollars of aid have ensured relative stability and brought new prosperity to cities like Kabul.

But the Taliban insurgency has intensified and beneficiaries of the boom have been the already rich, while the poor struggle with soaring prices.

Plans to reform the judiciary and other parts of government have achieved little, and many people opted not to vote in polls critics say were marred by significant fraud and allowed many figures blamed for abuses to seek legitimacy and influence.

Human Rights Watch says up to 60 percent of deputies are warlords or their proxies, boding ill for efforts to account for abuses and to stamp out a huge opium and heroin trade.

Woman MP Safia Seddiqi, bidding for the lower house presidency, also vowed to oppose some cabinet members.

"We need to reform the entire structure of the government. Some ministers are not capable of doing their jobs. It is parliament's job to restructure the government and cabinet."

Even so, Karzai appears to have enough support to avoid major problems, although he will need to court interest groups, which could water down essential reforms further, analysts say.

While the United States and its partners will hail the new parliament as a success in countering Islamist radicalism, analysts say it is not the end of the story.

"I think the international community has a high motivation to portray the technical success of the elections as a sign of real victory," said Sam Zarifi of Human Rights Watch.

"But many Afghans see a failure of the political process. There will be a heavy burden to show this is not just a talkshop where warlords and druglords further their interests."
"Can't you see that it's a futile effort, a quagmire, and that these people just aren't able to have democracy? Can't you? Can't you?"
Link


Afghanistan-Pak-India
Former commanders and Taliban among Afghan poll winners
2005-11-14
Final results of Afghanistan’s legislative elections show several former commanders of military factions, three old Taliban officials, women activists and several ex-communists won seats in the new parliament. The results of the September 18 vote for the 249-seat lower house, or Wolesi Jirga, and councils in all 34 provinces were finally released on Saturday, after being delayed by a slow count and accusations of vote fraud. Bissmillah Bissmil, chairman of the United Nations-Afghan Joint Electoral Management Body, described the polls as a milestone in the country’s transition to democracy. The UN-organised elections were held on a non-party basis, with all 5,800 candidates running as independents, raising fears that a fragmented parliament will emerge, with members focused on parochial issues as they compete for government resources.
That's often what parliaments do, y'know? Sometimes we call it "representing the interests of their constituents," rather than "focusing on parochial issues."
President Hamid Karzai has no political party and stayed out of the fray, although several supporters, including two relatives, won parliamentary seats. Yunus Qanuni, leader of an alliance of parties opposed to the US-backed president, also won a seat. The former interior and education minister in Karzai’s government came a distant second to Karzai in the October 2004 presidential election. Qanuni’s brother Haji Baryali said Qanuni and his allies had hoped to win up to half the seats in parliament but it was unclear if they had achieved that goal.
My guess is that they didn't, my hope is that they did...
Qanuni is an ethnic Tajik and a senior leader of an alliance that helped US-led forces topple the Taliban in 2001, whereas Karzai is a Pashtun, the largest ethnic group and the one from which most Taliban were drawn. The vote was mostly based on ethnic lines because of the dominance of the tribes in their respective regions. Turnout was 6.8 million of about 12 million registered voters.
If you've got a tribal system, which Afghanistan doesn't quite, then you've got to have some sort of proportional representation of the tribes. However, while they Pashtuns are tribal in outlook and organization, the remainder of the country isn't. There are Pashtun chiefs of clans, but Uzbek and Tajik and Hazara clans aren't nearly as much of a factor, and as far as I know none of the other ethnic groups are divided into tribes and subtribes like the Pashtuns are.
Among others who won seats in the Wolesi Jirga were former president Burhanuddin Rabbani, a conservative ethnic-Tajik cleric from the north who is seen as a Karzai supporter and, according to associates, wants to become chairman of the parliament.
Rabbani was, justifiably I believe, sour graping for awhile after the Talibs were ousted. He considered himself the legitimate president of Afghanistan, and I think he was. But he stepped down for the Bonn meeting and he's taken a back seat to Karzai. He's conservative, but he's most definitely not the Taliban.
“I see the parliament as an alliance of Karzai with the fundamentalists,” said Abdul Hamid Mubariz, a politician and a former deputy information minister. “Karzai has made the alliance because of his weakness so it would not be a headache for him. Freedom of expression and democracy will suffer.”
That last I can agree with. Karzai's had to make some convoluted alliances to assert his control, and he's surprised the hell out of anybody who's been paying attention. Nobody bleats that the Afghan gummint's writ doesn't extend outside of Kabul anymore.
Parliament is expected to sit for the first time next month in a renovated old assembly building. One of parliament’s key jobs will be to approve or veto the nomination of cabinet members. An election for a new upper house will be completed by the end of this month.
Brief, sternly suppressed vision of Robert Byrd in turban, deferring to "Mah distinguished colleague, the distinguished senator from Pashtunistan..."
Several old armed faction commanders, labelled warlords and accused of war crimes by rights groups, also won seats. Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq, from the Shia Muslim Hazara ethnic minority, won most votes in Kabul province. Former-commander Abdul Rabb Rasoul Sayyaf, a religious conservative, an ethnic Pashtun and a Karzai supporter, also won.
Interesting, to see that Soddy Arabia's man in Afghanistan is a Karzai supporter. Hek and the Talibs were trying to woo him a couple years ago. I thought he'd bite, but he's a wiley devil...
Three prominent former Taliban won seats in parliament - ex-commander Haji Mullah Abdul Salaam Rocketi, ex-provincial governor Mawlavi Islamuddin Mohammadi and a senior former security official, Hanif Shah Al-Hussein. Women obtained all 68 seats reserved for them in the Wolesi Jirga, but five provincial council seats in the conservative south and east were left vacant as too few candidates registered.
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Afghanistan-Pak-India
Nuggets from the Urdu Press
2005-10-22
UN Charter is against Islam
According to the daily Pakistan, an organisation called the World Islamic Forum held its session in Lahore and decided that the UN Charter should be changed because it was against Islam. Maulana Isa Mansuri and Zahidul Rashdi put out a memorandum that they would present to the UN to ask it to change the charter and put Muslims inside the Security Council according to their population in the world. They also asked the UN to allow atomic power to all states and give veto to the Muslim states.

Indian clerics threaten Sania Mirza
According to Khabrain, Indian Muslim-born tennis star Sania Mirza was warned by the clerics of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind that she will have to wear a shalwar in place of her shorts to play tennis in future or they will take action against her. On this, the Indian government increased Ms Mirza’s security. She said that she was determined to play in Calcutta but she did not comment on the clergy’s threat to stop her from playing if she did not play in a shalwar.

Imran Khan on Qazi Hussain Ahmad
Speaking at the inauguration of Asghar Khan’s book, Imran was quoted in Jang as saying that Qazi Hussain Ahmad will not be successful in his movement against the government because the people in the army who used to back him are no longer backing him now. He said Pakistani foreign minister talking to the Israeli foreign minister was like sticking a knife in the back of the Palestinians.

America will ask for more!
Quoted in the Nawa-e-Waqt, ex-foreign minister Agha Shahi said that if Pakistan went on bowing before America’s tough conditions, they will only be increased. To appease India, the US had set aside its own laws and this it did to oppose the increasing Chinese influence on the region. He said that Pakistanis should stop asking the US to arbitrate between India and Pakistan. He said that international affairs turned on power; and military power was the only thing that counted.

Law minister slaps waiter
According to Khabrain, federal law minister Wasi Zafar said that he merely called the waiter loudly at a hotel, which felt like a slap but he had not actually slapped him. The news which earlier appeared in the press stated that he had slapped a waiter on the face. Mr Zafar stated that the waiter had brought his meal late, upon which he had protested while the waiter kept saying that he had not brought his meal late. Earlier, Mr Zafar had watched his son brutally beat up a passenger at the Karachi airport.

Eve was born of Adam’s rib!
Writing in Khabrain, Azam Sultan Suhrawardi stated that the clerics of Lahore had condemned the lecture of Pakistani scholar Dr Riffat Hassan, which said that there was no mention in the Quran of the creation of Eve from Adam’s rib. The clerics said that if a fact became accepted by Muslims down the centuries, it becomes truth and anyone denying it was apostate.

Stuffing the parliament in Afghanistan
Columnist Hamid Mir wrote in the Jang that talking to an Afghan leader in Kabul, he discovered that the old Jamiat Islami of Ustad Rabbani had split on the vote to President Karzai. Yunus Qanuni split from Rabbani and created his own party and was in the process of sending 150 of his own candidates to the 149-seat Volesi Jirga in the September 2005 elections in Afghanistan. Qanuni was being funded by Iran to ensure that the coming parliament is biased against President Karzai, who has no party of his own. Hamid Mir was told that judges in Afghanistan were appointed after payment of money by the judges, which the judges later made up through corruption.

NGOs and Musharraf
Writing in the Nawa-e-Waqt, Ataur Rehman stated that Musharraf had embraced the liberal and enlightened intellectuals and NGOs when he came to power. These liberal enlightened intellectuals were once supporters of the Soviet Union but now they had become slaves of the United States because of the money they received from it. After Musharraf gave them shelter, these NGOs threw away their caution and revealed their total slavery of the US. Now Musharraf was angry with the NGOs and their enlightened ladies, while Pakistan’s secular intellectuals looked like the lost sheep of Israel who didn’t know their direction.

Jews in Pakistan
According to Prof Adil Najam writing in the daily Pakistan, there was a Jewish synagogue in Karachi which was destroyed in 1960 to make place for a plaza. There was also a Jewish graveyard looked after by a Jewish lady. This graveyard was also destroyed to make place for a plaza. The Jewish lady was promised an apartment in the plaza after its completion but she never got it and vainly tried to approach the government to help her. The Jews left Pakistan in great misery after 1947.
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Afghanistan/South Asia
Qanuni Eyes Up to Half of Seats
2005-09-08
Afghanistan is having politix! That's good, right?
The head of Afghanistan’s opposition yesterday said President Hamid Karzai was a weak leader and a new Parliament, to be elected on Sept. 18, would have to improve government policy across the board. Yunus Qanuni a former interior minister and education minister in Karzai’s transitional government and runner-up to Karzai in last year’s presidential election, said he and his allies expected to win up to 50 percent of Parliament seats. “Afghanistan faces a leadership crisis, the main crisis is the weakness of the leadership,” Qanuni told Reuters in an interview at his home in the northern outskirts of Kabul. “The government’s economic policies are unsuccessful, its policy against terrorism has collapsed, its policy against drugs has collapsed, corruption is rising daily and international aid has not been used effectively and transparently.”

“These are the priorities which parliament should debate and help the government move toward improvements.” Afghans will vote for a lower house of Parliament and provincial councils to complete the last step in an international plan to restore democratic government after 25 years of conflict with security worries mounting on a surge of Taleban violence. Qanuni, an ethnic Tajik from the Panjshir Valley, the heart of opposition to Soviet occupation and Taleban rule, said the government had no strategy to end the insurgency. “The problem of the Taleban is not because of the Taleban’s power and strength, it is because of the weakness of the government,” he said. “If we had a powerful government and a strong leadership, the issue of Taleban and terrorism would have been solved,” he said.

Despite his criticism, he said he did not want to see hostility between the legislature and the government. “We’re hopeful that at the beginning there won’tbe hostility... Our vision of a future parliament is a moderate one. We hope to have a real national parliament, through transparent elections, which is neither an enemy of the government nor its tool,” he said. But in a sign of possible trouble ahead, Qanuni said the new Parliament may not approve all of Karzai’s Cabinet, which will be one of its first tasks. “The current Cabinet of Afghanistan has no tangible achievements... I’m not so hopeful that all members can be approved,” he said without elaborating.
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Afghanistan/South Asia
Top Karzai rival plans new party
2004-12-27
Afghan President Hamid Karzai's strongest rival in October's election, Yunus Qanuni, has announced he is forming a new political party. Qanuni said his party will go under the name of New Afghanistan and will contest April's parliamentary polls. The ethnic Tajik politician said he had turned down a job as defense minister in President Karzai's new cabinet in order to form the opposition grouping.

Correspondents say militia leaders have been sidelined in the new cabinet. Among those excluded is Gen Mohammed Fahim, a leader of the powerful, largely-Tajik Panjshiri faction, who was formerly Karzai's defense minister. President Karzai has said he will support Qanuni's new venture as long as it defines itself as a national, rather than an ethnic or regional party. "We need political parties because in [their] absence... politics will become ethnic or linguistic," he said.
I consider this a wonderful sign. If Afghanistan's really lucky, this is the beginning of a two-party system. And Qanouni seems to be one of the good guys...
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Afghanistan/South Asia
Afghanistan set to start counting votes
2004-10-13
Afghanistan was set to start counting votes on Wednesday from a historic presidential election after several candidates backed off from declaring the poll illegal. The ballots poured into collection centres across the country, brought by donkey, road and helicopter, with officials expecting to start counting sometime on Wednesday.

US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad has been influential in persuading several rivals of frontrunner President Hamid Karzai to abandon a boycott of Saturday's landmark poll over what they said were fraud and irregularities. The Afghan-UN Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) is setting up a panel to investigate. Privately, election officials say few votes were fraudulent and would have no major effect on the poll. Karzai's chief rival, Yunus Qanuni, on Monday withdrew a boycott call, issued after suspicions emerged of illegal multiple voting after a mix-up at some polling stations over the type of ink used to mark voters' fingers. Another main candidate, Uzbek general Abdul Rashid Dostum, came to Kabul and met Khalilzad, but there was no immediate word on the outcome of the meeting. Agreement by Dostum to recognise the election, joining Qanuni and Hazara leader Mohammad Mohaqiq, would signal the collapse of the boycott that had undermined a vote in which millions of Afghans turned out despite threats of attacks by Islamic fundamentalist Taleban insurgents.
These guys have to learn how to lose gracefully. Come to think of it, so do a lot of Democrats.
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