President Obama’s midnight visit

His furtive, short and clad-in-dark visit to Presidential Palace in Kabul and Bagram Airfield on 9:15pm-11:59pm on 28 March 2010 demonstrated how insecure and unreliable Kabul is for the U.S. President.

“Now, I know for most of you, you didn’t get a lot of notice that I was coming,” Obama admitted to thousands of American soldiers at Bagram Airfield, arguably the safest and most protected location in Afghanistan.

However, he fell short to elucidate the fact that prevalent insecurity and fear of Taliban attacks forced him to make a rather stealthy and sneaky visit to Kabul.

I may look impolite to call him a “coward” but I am afraid this is the impression President Obama has left with his surprising visit.

Undoubtedly Mr. Obama spent more hours in his Air Force One on the long way from Washington to Kabul than with his troops and partner in Kabul.

He gave a 372-word speech in the heavily fortified Karzai Palace as helicopters and jets roared overhead but did not answer a single question from journalists.

Arguably for U.S. Presidents Afghanistan means Hamid Karzai and therefore meeting Karzai means visiting Afghanistan and Afghans.

Bravo Mr. President! You visited Afghanistan. Get back to the Oval Office and revamp another policy/strategy for Afghanistan because you’ve got first-hand knowledge.

Where Afghan and American democracies disagree

I read with fear a Washingtonpost article in which Afghanistan is described as democratizing and developing because a music TV show –American Idol – has been badly mimicked by a bunch of disconnected youths in Kabul.

Hank Stuever, author of the article titled TV preview of 'Afghan Star' naively writes: “The Taliban cruelly dialed Afghanistan's clock back to the Middle Ages, so it now falls to the producers and performers of "Afghan Star," the country's version of "American Idol," to bring pop culture forward to at least a David Cassidy level of cool.”

Hank wrongly links the duplicate show’s cell-phone text voting to a new “culture of democracy” and puts a hugely exaggerated number – 11 million! - for the viewers without mentioning where and how he got the statistics in a country which is yet to count its people.

He compares the show to a “Borat”-like mimicry of the Western pop culture and lauds an Afghan girl – Setara – as “outspoken” for dropping her scarf and doing a funky dance in a show.

Himself a gay, Hank writes about a man - Daoud Sediqi - who used to run the “Afghan Star” show as a modernizer and an enlightener. Off course he does not mention the fact that Mr. Sediqi has ran away from his country (applied for asylum in a Western country) apparently because he was imposing an indigestible pop culture on his conservative nation.

Eight years on with billion of dollars spent and hundreds of Americans and thousands of Afghans killed there is still no common understanding of “democracy and development” between Afghans and the Americans, sadly.

We, Afghans, love our traditions, religion and values regardless of how bad or derogatory they are perceived in the West. We love our sisters, daughters and mothers to have their scarves and avoid dancing in clubs and discos.

We believe democracy means legitimate, accountable and efficient governance – not a corrupt regime of warlords imposed by fraud. We consider development means achieving human security from physical violence, hunger, illiteracy, preventable diseases and poverty. We don’t think eating McDonald burgers and wearing tight jeans would solve our problems. Blindly copying the Americans way of life does not fit us and would lead us nowhere but to problems we have repeatedly suffered since 1919.

A distinct Afghanistan, albeit democratic, is possible between the Taliban’s Middle Ages and the American Idol.

The ‘Afghan Star’ is a fake, fragile and alien social product which cannot be digested by a majority of Afghans. Its expiry date is: ‘when US forces withdraw’.

PS: This is understandably not a thorough critique of Afghanistan’s democratization, but a few quick observations.

Government’s “corrupt” spokespeople

A journalist friend who works for a prominent – wealthy and generous – media corporation gave me an embarrassing answer when I complained to him about the unavailability and bad behavior of some government spokespersons (frankly the MoI spokesman).

“We bribe them,” he said “and we don’t need to call them to inquire about an incident or an issue but they call us and keep us [exclusively] update up-to-the-minute.”

When I asked him what “bribe” means he said: “a bottle of wine, a telephone handset or a coat from Dubai!”

I hopelessly hope this is untrue!

Ironically, these days it is easy for me to get a quote/confirmation/rejection from the Taliban’s spokesmen. Zabihullah Mujahid regularly texts me security incidents as they happen, albeit with hugely exaggerated figures.

However, I spend hours to catch a government spokesperson on the phone and the worse thing is they often gave me rubbish!

Alas! Corruption is everywhere in this country.

I may need a “spokespersons’ relations budget” – bribing fund – in order to be able to access prioritized information.

Is Great Game re-Starting in Afghanistan?

Reuters has quoted President Karzai as saying “Afghanistan does not war any proxy wars on its territory”.

Yes, Mr. Karzai there is a lot Afghanistan does not want, but in reality it has often been forced to unwanted directions. We did not want Soviets to invade our country, but they did. We did not want Pakistani and Iranian generals to rip apart the very foundations of our society, but they did. And our history is indeed replete as such.

The problem is we are too wishful and too little realist.

You need to do more than politely pleading to Iranian, Indian and Pakistani officials to leave us alone.

As it appears, whether we want it or not, our country is again falling into the dangerous quagmire of regional rivalries – perhaps another Great Game.

تيروتنه

نن سبا يوه ستره تيروتنه د ګڼو خبريالانو او شنونکو لخوا تکراريږي: "په تيرو اتو کلونو کي د رسنيو پرمختيا او لاسته راوړنې د ولسمشر کرزي د واکمني له سترو لاسته راوړنو شمير کيږي"ا

اکثر دغه متناقض استدلال په هغو خبرونو او شننو کي ډير اوريدل کيږي چي د حکومت لخوا پر رسنيو د بنديزونو، له خبريالانو سره د چارواکو د زورياتيو او يا نورو ناسمو چلندونو په تړاو وي

د غيرحکومتي رسنيو پرمختګ د هغو سلګونو او آن زرګونو خبريالانو، ليکوالو او فرهنګيانو ګډه لاسته راوڼه ده چي د لږو امکاناتو په لرلو او د سترو خنډونو، ګواښونو او ننګونو په زغملو يي د ژبې، قلم او فکر په مټ د رسنيو نهال پاللي او روزلې دې

افغانستان کي د رسنيو پرمختګ د شهيد صمد روحاني، اجمل نقشبندي او ګڼو هغو خبريالانو او ليکوالو د سرښيندنو له برکته ترلاسه شوي چي د تيرو اتو کلونو راهيسي له هر زورور او واکمن څخه يي څاپيړې خوړلي دي

د بيان د آزادي او د رسنيو د بريا اصلي ساتونکي او ګټونکي نه حامدکرزي، نه يي مخالفين او نه يي هم باندني ملاتړي دي - بلکه هغه ويښ ځوانان او پيغلي دي چي ګډ نوم يي افغان خبريالان دې

لطفا، په وينو او خورا سختو ستونزو ګټل شوي د رسنيو د برياوو وياړ د سياسيونو او واکمنو په دستار مه ټومبوي

Dostum tasked to stabilize the North

“I have brought to you regards and gratitude from the Commander-in-Chief of the army and the President, Mr. Hamid Karzai, for your votes [in the elections] - the votes which you gave to your Dostum,” the bury militia leader, Abdul Rashid Dostum, told dozens of supporters in an emotional talk in Sheberghan city last week.

In his bilingual talk, in Uzbeki and Dari, Dostum leaked Kabul’s increasing agony about widening insecurity in the northern provinces and, indeed, the alienation of local power holders such as Ustad Atta in Balkh.

“Your votes were vital,” Dostum shouted, falling short to say ‘votes were vital for his own survival and impunity from prosecution for his alleged egregious crimes’.

A garish show-of-power, Dostum’s visit was aired at his private TV channel, Aina – mirror.

Dostum said he will tour the North – Kunduz, Baghlan, Jozjan, Faryab, Maimana – at the behest of Mr. Karzai in order to find out why insecurity is slipping out of control.

“A Woloswal [district governor] called me and said he would resign if the situation is not improved. I told him better you coward resign!”

Watching Dostum’s empty slogans I recalled his allegiance to former Moscow-backed Dr. Najibullah whom Dostum had vowed to serve “until the last drop” of his blood. He was instrumental in the collapse of Najibullah’s regime, however.

In 1990s Dostum made and broke several other allegiances.

Dostum is signing his old mantra only to his new patron.

He is now Hamid Karzai’s ‘Iron Fist’ in the North.

Story Behind Washingtonpost’s Kabul Bank Story

Andrew Higgins revealing piece on Kabul Bank and capitalist cronyism in the highest hierarchies of the Kabul regime is fascinating.

But do you know how a Washington-based columnist found out the strict secretaries of an extremely corrupt and inaccessible regime in Kabul?

Well, here is an enlightened answer: Higgins wrote some of the findings of an enhanced anti-corruption unit in the US Embassy in Kabul. The unit is comprised of investigators from the FBI and State Department. The unit looks into large-scale and unlawful financial transactions from Kabul; monitors the accounts of senior government officials and their family members; and checks other financial flaws.

Higgins’s story is intended to scrutinize and warn Hamid Karzai and his corrupto-criminal allies in an undiplomatic way as Washington has fell short in hammering the Kabul regime for fear of losing leverage on an increasingly intractable Karzai.

“Hey guys! We know what wrongs you’re doing…if you don’t stop we will let everybody know about them and off course we can add to the spice with more revelations!” is Washington’s indirect message to the Kabul regime delivered through the Washingtonpost’s article.

[Photo by: Andrew Higgins - showing Karzai's home in Dubai's luxury port Palm Jumeirah. ]