DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY November 6, 2009 ~ U.S. Officials Fear President Hamid Karzai Can't Keep Anti-Corruption Pledge
*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media
(NSI News Source Info) KABUL, Afghanistan - November 6, 2009: President Hamid Karzai vowed Tuesday that he would clean up his government in his second five-year term, but U.S. officials are worried that the Afghan leader will have to award key posts to ethnic warlords and regional power barons who are linked to drug trafficking in exchange for their help in his re-election.
Former Presidential challenger Abdullah Abdullah speaks to the media during a press conference at his home on November 4, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Abdullah was the main opposition candidate but withdrew from the November 7th run-off, handing Mr Karzai a second term. Abdullah spoke to the media today to say that Karzai's government lacks legitimacy because of the controversial election process that declared Mr. Karzai the winner by default.
The U.S. concerns were heightened by the return from Turkey late Monday of Abdul Rashid Dostum, a notorious former communist general and a leader of the ethnic Uzbek minority who's alleged to have allowed the 2001 killing of as many as 2,000 Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners, then having their mass graves dug up and their remains hidden in 2008.
Dostum, who left for Turkey a year ago after allegedly beating a political rival and his family, last visited Kabul four days before the Aug. 20 presidential election as part of an alleged deal to deliver the votes of his large following to Karzai. Dostum, however, quickly left again for Turkey after the U.S. complained.
U.S. officials were concerned that Dostum's return late Monday - the same day that President Barack Obama pressed Karzai in a telephone call congratulating him on his re-election to crack down on high-level corruption - was a prelude to his appointment to the Afghan leader's new Cabinet.
"Dostum came back to cash in" said a U.S. defense official, who requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly.
But Karzai insisted, in his first news conference since he was certified on Monday as the winner of the election, that he'd move forcefully to eliminate corruption in his new administration.
"We have been tarnished with corruption, and we will continue to make every possible effort to wipe off this stain," Karzai said.
The Obama administration has identified corruption in the Karzai administration as a key problem undermining the eight-year-old war effort against the Taliban. Karzai has had uneasy relations with the administration, however, particularly as the Afghan president's campaign was accused of widespread voter fraud.
Many U.S. officials, Western diplomats and other experts fear that Karzai will award positions in the central and provincial governments to unsavory figures, including regional militia leaders and power brokers who oversaw the massive ballot box-stuffing on his behalf.
"I think the corruption and the failures in the system and the government cannot only be fixed through removal," Karzai said Tuesday. "There are rules, and there are regulations, and there are laws that need to be reformed."
One of the most controversial members of Karzai's new government, Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim, stood next to the president at the news conference. Fahim, the first vice president-elect, has been accused of war crimes and dogged by allegations that he's tied to the drug trade.
Karzai "is too beholden to these types and he doesn't see it yet in his interest to remove them and start a clean government and be a genuine partner with the international community," said Rachel Reid, who monitors Afghanistan for U.S.-based Human Rights Watch.
"The next few days, weeks and months are almost more important than the election itself as we see who Karzai appoints to his new government," she said. "This will send the signal of whether we see a new kind of governing, a more credible form of governing, or whether Afghanistan will continue to spiral into further corruption and insecurity."
"It's not enough to blame Karzai," Reid continued. "The U.S. and other major players in Afghanistan are complicit in this impunity culture. They have relationships with many of the most notorious former warlords, current criminals and militia leaders. They have high-level meetings with them, they use their armed gangs to guard their bases, they invite them to the White House. They, too, must clean up their act, or they don't have a leg to stand on when they come to tell Karzai to change his allegiances."
Other figures of concern who provided critical support for Karzai's re-election include former Helmand province governor Sher Mohammad Akhundzada, who was found with 9 tons of drugs in 2005; Assadullah Khalid, a former governor of Kandahar province; and parliamentarian Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, a former anti-Soviet guerrilla leader and hard-line Islamist linked to Osama bin Laden who's accused of war crimes and land theft.
Karzai also received considerable help from his brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, the main power in Kandahar, who's allegedly involved in drug trafficking and other abuses, but also reportedly receives payments from the CIA. He denies the allegations.
The U.S. defense official said there are concerns that Karzai may find himself in deep political trouble because he may be unable to keep all of the power-sharing promises he made to unsavory figures in return for votes.
"He can't deliver all the jobs he promised," the U.S. defense official said.
Karzai claimed a new term after his challenger, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, dropped out of a runoff election this Saturday over concerns that voter fraud also would mar the second round.
Karzai has never admitted that his campaign was involved in fraudulent activities during the first round Aug. 20, and he referred to those allegations again Tuesday as "defamation and disrespect."
He said he wanted to form "a government of unity, a government for all Afghan people," but he gave no specifics as to whom he might include or whether he'd back any of the changes that Abdullah sought, such as electing, rather than appointing, provincial governors.
Karzai also said he'd reach out to the Taliban and try to get them to renounce violence, but again he offered no specifics on how that might be done.
The Taliban have sought this week to generate a propaganda victory from the decision to scuttle the runoff and declare Karzai the winner.
"The cancellation of the runoff election shows that all decisions are made in Washington and London but announced in Afghanistan," said a statement released by the Taliban's Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
U.S. soldiers take cover and return fire from an irrigation canal as Taliban fighters ambush U.S soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division during a patrol outside of the village of Qatar Kala in the Pech Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar province.
A combined security force detained a group of suspects in Khowst province, including a Hezb-i-Islami Gulbuddin militant group commander believed to be responsible for managing a homemade-bomb network and working with Haqqani terrorist network elements in the area.
Recent media reports profile the Hezb-i-Islami Gulbuddin as one of the three main militant groups in Afghanistan, officials said. The group keeps a low profile by cooperating with Taliban and Haqqani elements and deferring credit to those factions for attacks it conducts.
U.S soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division return fire after their patrol in the Pech Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar province was ambushed by Taliban fighters Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009.
The combined force targeted compounds near Paru Kheyl village in the Sabari district, north of Khowst City, after intelligence indicated militant activity there. The force searched the compounds without incident and detained the suspects. One of the men surrendered and identified himself as the Hezb-i-Islami Gulbuddin commander. No shots were fired, and no one was injured.
Elsewhere, a combined force detained several militants in Kandahar province while pursuing a Taliban commander associated with homemade-bomb attacks in the province.
Acting on intelligence that indicated the Taliban commander’s presence, the force targeted a vehicle outside Mokhanjak village in the Meyan Nashin district and found about 1,300 pounds of urea nitrate, several cans of fuel and assorted documents.
A US Army convoy patrols in Kandahar on November 5, 2009. The United Nations is to evacuate around 600 non-essential foreign staff from Afghanistan after a Taliban attack on a guesthouse killed five employees on October 28.
Urea nitrate is a primary ingredient for homemade explosives and becomes a powerful explosive when mixed with fuel. The force destroyed the urea nitrate and fuel in place. No shots were fired, and no one was injured or killed.
In a separate operation, a combined force killed multiple militants and detained several suspected militants in Logar province while pursuing a Taliban commander responsible for numerous attacks in the area.
The force targeted a compound near Shah Mazar village in the Baraki Barak district after intelligence indicated militant activity there. The force received hostile fire and returned fire, killing the militants, then searched the compound, recovered pistols, hand grenades and ammunition, and detained several suspected militants. All recovered items were destroyed at a safe distance from buildings and other structures. No civilians were harmed during this operation.
Meanwhile, a combined force killed several militants in Nangarhar province while pursuing an al-Qaida operative known for a range of duties, including militant training. He also is believed to be responsible for several attacks in the area.
The force targeted a compound near Baghdarreh village, south of Jalalabad City, after intelligence indicated militant activity there. The force received hostile fire and returned fire, killing the militants. The force recovered a machine gun and assault rifles. All weapons were destroyed at a safe distance from the compound.
In a separate operation, a combined force killed a militant and detained a suspected militant while pursuing a Taliban commander responsible for supplying foreign fighters and homemade bombs to other militant elements in the area. He is known to be in charge of as many as 40 Taliban fighters.
The force targeted the building near Stazkhan village in Achin district after intelligence indicated militant activity there. The joint force received hostile fire and returned fire, killing the militant. The force then searched the building, detained a suspected militant and recovered bomb materials, rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades and chest racks fully loaded with ammunition. No civilians were harmed during this operation.
