AFG-2-12-2015.pdf - Afghanistan Times

Truthful, Factual and [email protected] Vol:X Issue No:124 Price: Afs.15Eye on the News

www.facebook.com/ afghanistantimeswww.twitter.com/ afghanistantimesWEDNESDAY. DECEMBER 02 . 2015 -Qaus 11, 1394 HS

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Immigration to Norway is strictly regulated.If you wish to work or study in Norway, you must apply for the relevant permit(s) before youtravel to Norway.

Persons who do not qualify for a permit in Norway and whose applications are denied mustreturn to their country of origin or country habitual residence. If you do not leave voluntarily,you will be returned by force.

People from safe areas of Afghanistan or who have been granted residence in another countrywill have their application rejected and will be deported. People from areas that are not consideredsafe may be returned to other parts of Afghanistan. Very many Afghans who have their applicationrejected will be referred for “internal flight” to Kabul. In 2014/2015 more than 500 people havebeen returned from Norway to Afghanistan.

The government intends to:

1. Reduce benefits for people living in reception centres. Furthermore, the benefits will asfar as possible consist of food and clothing, instead of cash. The purpose is to avoidthat cash allowance are spend on repayments of debts to human traffickers instead ofbuying food and clothes for themselves.

2. Introduce new temporary residence permits, which may remain temporary regardless ofhow long the foreigner resides in Norway. Permanent residence will only be given afterat least five years, if the foreigner is still in need of protection. If the situation in theforeigners home country changes during this time, the foreigner will be obliged toreturn.

3. Use integration criteria for the granting of applications for permanent residence.

4. Limit family reunification and family establishment rights for refugees.

5. Reconsider the level of social benefits for refugees. Hereunder, require activity andearnings for receiving special social benefits for refugees.

More information: www.government.no/asylumregulations

Stricter immigrationregulations in Norway –important information!

0778894038 0708954626

KABUL: At least three children were killed and 15 others wound-ed when a mortar exploded in northern Baghlan province, saidlocal officials on Tuesday. According to the officials the childrenfound an unexploded mortar while playing. The mortar exploded,killing three of children on the spot and left 15 others injured inGharo Shak area of Pul-e-Khumri, the provincial capital. Soon thesecurity forces arrived at the scene and shifted the victims to thenearby hospital. According to the hospital sources the death tollcould rise. Most of the victims were underage. An investigationhas been underway to investigate whether the mortar shell wasleftover or new. This comes less than a week when a mortar killedeight children in Kabul. The children found the unexploded mortarwhile playing at a construction site. The mortar was believed tohave been left over from the devastating civil war.

Mortar explosion kills three

children, hurts 15 in BaghlanAT Monitoring Desk

KABUL: Wang Min, China’s Dep-uty Permanent Representative tothe United Nation (UN) said thatAfghanistan is at the start of a de-cade-long transition period andasked the international communi-ty to firmly advance political rec-onciliation process in the war-hitcountry.

While addressing the UN Gen-eral Assembly meeting, Wang saidthat the international communityshould continue supporting andassisting Afghanistan in a mannerto respect the ownership of theAfghan masses.

Moreover, he believes thatAfghanistan has embarked upon anew historic journey of state-building and economic develop-ment.

He went on saying that Afghanmasses are enough capable to takeover their own business and final-ly through their last-ditch effortsthey would achieve peace and sta-bility in their country. Further-more, he called on the internation-al community to firmly promoteAfghanistan’s political reconcilia-tion process.

He said China is very muchhopeful to see that different Af-ghan political parties to take state-building and national interest aboveeverything else.

“Afghan politicians shouldactively participate in the politi-cal reconciliation process, discus-es and held meetings on matters ofpeace, stability and prosperity ofthe country,” he said.

He also put weight behind Af-ghan-owned peace and reconcilia-tion process and called upon theinternational community to sup-port and promote peace talks be-tween Afghan government and theTaliban.

Chinese envoyseeks support

forAfghanistan’speace process

AT Monitoring Desk

KABUL: Commenting on the cur-rent meeting held between Presi-dent Muhammad Ashraf Ghani andPakistani Prime Minister NawazSharif at the sidelines of the UN-sponsored climate change summitin Paris, Indian ambassador toKabul said that if both countrieswant to see peace process, suc-cessful reduction in violence is amust.

Amir Sinha said that only sit-ting at the negotiations’ table andexchanging good words would notcure a country where 8,000 arebeing killed every year. “Reduc-tions in violence is a basic thing toa successful peace talks, and thiswhat Afghan government and In-dia is expecting from Pakistan,” hesaid.

AT Monitoring Desk

He expressed concerns aboutterror emanating from Pakistan andsaid that Afghans are also con-cerned about violence fueled byIslamabad.

“If Pakistan Prime Ministercan deliver on these things, I guesswe are on a good track and we willhave peace and stability in the re-gion which is very important for

development,” he said.While showing optimism

about the peace talks, Sinha saidthat both countries should wait asit was a good commitment on thehighest level.

President Ghani and PakistanPrime Minister Nawaz Sharif dur-ing their meeting promised jointefforts to promote Afghan-ownedreconciliation process.

In response to a query, AmarSinah told Azadi Radio that Indiais committed to support Afghani-stan when needed. However, hesaid that equipping Afghan securi-ty forces was the duty of the in-ternational troops and the “Reso-lute Support”.

The Resolute Support is amission of the NATO launched

after security transition.“Despite that we are neighbors

we should support each otherwhen needed. We should recreatethe history and build the future.Thus, we are committed to sup-port Afghanistan in every area,whether it is economy, reconstruc-tion or security,” he added.

President Ghani’s political ad-viser, Akram Khpalwak, said thatthe peace process with the insur-gents would not be resumed un-less Afghanistan and Pakistan re-solves their disputes.

He said that before reconcilia-tion with the insurgents, both Kab-ul and Islamabad should resolvetheir problems because the Afghanwar is controlled by Pakistan notthe Taliban.

KABUL: NATO Secretary Gen-eral, Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesdaysaid the alliance has committed toprovide $4 billion USD annuallyfor the Afghan National SecurityForces (ANSF) until 2020 year.

While speaking at the NATOforeign ministerial meeting held inBrussels, he said that current com-mitment was until 2017 but thealliance has extended this throughto 2020. He also said that work toensure finance Afghan securityforces from 2018 to 2020 is cur-rently underway. He said that Chi-cago Summit several years ago de-cided to finance Afghan securityforces till the end of 2017, wherecurrently work is underway to ex-tent the financial support to ANSFafter 2017. “I will talk about theissue at the foreign ministerialmeeting and final decision will betaken at the NATO summit in Julynext year,” he said. We will alsolook at ways to strengthen ourlong-term partnership with Af-ghanistan, he said. He further saidthat NATO would also discusshow to continue training, advisingand assisting Afghan security forc-es during 2016. Stoltenberg saidthat NATO wants to keep 12,000troops up to the end of 2016.

He assured that they would notabandoned Afghanistan, insteadcontinuing to support Afghans anddecision would be taken based onthe facts on the ground.

NATO vowsfinancial

support toANSF till 2020AT Monitoring Desk

KABUL: Minister of InteriorNoorul Haq Ulomi on Tuesdaysaid that the Taliban and IslamicState (IS) militants are still trainedin the neighboring Pakistan.

Addressing a ceremony totorch narcotics here, he said thetrained militants are sent back toAfghanistan to fighting against thegovernment forces.

Expressing serious concernsover spread of militancy and con-tinued support for the insurgentsby the regional players, the Afghaninterior minister said that rebelswere recruiting young people tocontinue their attacks against Af-ghanistan. He said the insurgentswere getting orders from Islama-bad.

“Taliban and Daesh fighters asalways are being trained in Paki-stan. They are equipped and fi-nanced there and are then sent toAfghanistan. They [insurgents] arebeing given hope while in Pakistanof achieving their goals in Afghan-istan. Drugs are one of the mainsources of income for insurgentsin the region. They continue theirattacks and are recruiting our youththrough drugs,” Tolonews quotedthe minister.

Minister for Counter-Narcot-ics, Salamat Azimi, on the occa-sion said that narcotics are a majorproblem faced by the government.

She said that not only the Af-ghan government but internationalcommunity is also concerned aboutthe drug problem.

In October this year, the Unit-ed Nations Office on Drugs andCrimes (UNODC) and Ministryof Counter Narcotics (MoCN) re-ported 48 percent decrease in opi-um production and 19 percent de-cline in poppy cultivation.

A survey, conducted by theMoCN and the UNODC, estimat-ed under poppy cultivation area183,000 hectares in 2015. In 2014,poppy was cultivated on 224,000hectares land. The cultivation hassignificantly decreased for the firsttime since 2009.

Salamat Azimi said that 48percent decline in opium produc-tion was witnessed in the country

AT Monitoring Desk

Ghani asserts his administration’sstrong will to combat terror

KABUL: President Ashraf Ghani has said development and progresswould enable Afghanistan to reduce carbon production, asserting hisadministration’s unwavering commitment to fighting against the scourgeof terrorism. Speaking at the Climate Change Summit in Paris on Mon-day, the president said France, while still mourning deadly recent at-tacks, was hosting the important conference for a better future.

On November 14, at least 160 people were killed and more than 200others, including women and children, injured in the attack across Paris.The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the assaults.

“The Afghans, who experience terror activities of different groupson a daily basis, fully understand your pain. I have a strong will toconvert Afghanistan into a graveyard of terrorists,” Ghani told the con-ference. “We, the people and a majority of leaders from Muslim coun-tries, highlight Islamic values like patience and tolerance, unlike thosetrying to kill millions of people,” he remarked, hoping Afghanistanwould find a road to peace in the darkness created by terrorist net-works. Ghani called Paris summit a good opportunity to create a frame-work for the prevention of global warming, harmful gas emissions andstrengthening the resistance of countries under threat.

The value of energy policy with regard to the environment wascrystal clear, but heavy cost of building the requisite infrastructure wasyet to be known, he said, adding that paying attention to creativity ininfrastructure development could reduce greenhouse gases.

Afghanistan’s development direction caused no gas emissions, butreduced them, as well as global warming in the region, the presidentexplained.

Afghanistan had the ability to generate 316,000 megawatts of elec-tricity from water, sun and wind, the president said, adding his countrywanted to pave the ground for transferring power and natural gas fromCentral Asia to Southern Asia. (Pajhwok)

KABUL: The National Director-ate of Security (NDS) has said thatits operatives have arrested fourkidnappers, who killed a hostagein northern Balkh province.

A statement issued by theNDS here on Tuesday stated thatits operatives arrested four kid-napers in Mazar-e-Sharif capitalof Balkh province.

The kidnappers were identi-fied as Mohammad Gul, AbdulJabbar, Mohammad Ashraf andAbdul Hakim who had recentlykidnapped Mohammad DawoudS/O Abdul Rahman in the jurisdic-tion of Dehdadi district, the state-ment added.

The kidnappers had sought

4 kidnappers held afterkilling hostage in Balkh

the boy’s father for Afs10 millionas ransom.

However, the father of the ill-fated boy could not manage to paythat much ransom. Nonetheless,the kidnappers killed his son andburied him in Qutan Shah Mah-mood village of Chahar Kint dis-trict.

Dawoud’s body was later re-covered from Qutan Shah Mah-mod village after the NDS interro-gated the kidnappers.

It is worth mentioning that thespy agency has recently rescuedeight-year old Muhammad Ibrahimwho was kidnapped from 17th po-lice jurisdiction in Kabul city. Akidnapper was also detained.

this year. The survey in 2015 not-ed opium production 3,300 tons,where production in 2014 was6,400 tons. Eradication of poppyfields increased 40 percent thisyear. “Poppy cultivated on 3,760hectares was eradicated in 2015.Poppy standing on 2,692 hectareswas destroyed in 2014. Poppycultivation was reported in twen-ty provinces,” she added.

AT Monitoring Desk

Two get 10-year in jail forraping Ghazni girl

GHAZNI CITY: Two men were sentenced to 10 years in prisonfor raping a 15 years old girl by the appellant court in southernGhazni province, an official said on Tuesday.

The victim was attending a literacy course in Ghazni City, theprovincial capital. Her teacher Mohammad Bakhshand his broth-er Mohammad Bakhsh were accused of sexually assaulting thegirl several times.

Some months ago, the men were arrested in Jaghatu districtand sentenced to three years in jail.However, the victim’s familydemanded more stringent punishment for the men.

Mohammad Bakhsh managed to flee after Taliban militantsattacked the main jail in Ghazni City some months back. Appel-lant Court Judge Mohammad Ali Karimi, during an open trial ofthe case, said the accused had confessed to their crime. The mendeserved longer jail sentences, he remarked. (Pajhwok)

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WEDNESDAY. DECEMBER 02, 2015

AFGHANISTAN TIMES

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Naswar, Taimani Project, Kabul, Afghanistan.

Email: [email protected]

For the tens of thousands of Af-ghan migrants fleeing to Europe,the hardest part of the journeymay not be the perilous trip acrossthe Mediterranean Sea. Beforethey navigate that risk, many haveto get through Iran.

That step on the Afghans’westward journey is being met byan abusive crackdown from Irani-an security officials, according toAfghans who say they have facedarrest, beatings, torture and gun-fire from Iranian guards blockingaccess to Turkey.

The stories of abuse are sur-prising mostly because Iran has ahistory of some hospitality forAfghans, accepting more than 2million refugees during the 1980sand 1990s as Afghans fled the So-viet occupation and subsequentcivil war.

Now that Afghans are tryingto use Iran as a pathway to Eu-rope, that warmth has shifted, af-fecting as many as 80,000 Afghanswho, according to unofficial gov-ernment statistics, have fled thecountry this year, with most hop-ing to settle in western and north-ern Europe.

Government leaders in Kabulare pleading with residents to stayhome instead of testing the pa-tience of Iranian officials, after re-ports that dozens of Afghans head-ing to Europe have been killed inIran in recent weeks.

“They cut a water pipe andwere beating us with water pipes,”said Mortaz Ibrahimi, an Afghanteenager arrested by Iranian author-ities near the Turkish border in lateJuly. “It was beating after beat-ing.”

According to Afghan officials,Iran has justified its harsh treat-ment of refugees as essential in theeffort to prevent foreigners fromjoining Daesh (the self-proclaimedIslamic State of Iraq and the Le-vant), the militant group battlingIran’s allies in Syria and Iraq.

“The Iranian government hasviolated the rights of these peo-ple, but the Iranian governmenttold the Afghan government: ‘Dosomething to stop these people’,”said Islamuddin Juraat, a spokes-man for the Afghan Ministry ofRefugees and Repatriations. Hesaid that Iranian Interior MinisterAbdolreza Rahmani Fazli was inKabul in September to deliver themessage. “They told us they arevery serious.”

Iran’s ambassador to Kabul,Mohammad Reza Bahrami, de-clined an interview request, as didhis spokesman. Iranian officialsalso did not reply to written ques-tions about the allegations.

Afghan refugees caught at-tempting to sneak into Turkey saythey are being detained and inter-rogated in prisons in Iran — eventhough many of them have no ideo-logical link to Daesh.

There are about 1 million reg-istered Afghans living in Iran, manyof whom hold low-skill, low-pay-ing jobs. But in recent years, Irani-an authorities have been steadilymaking it more difficult for Af-ghans to remain in the country.Hundreds of thousands of Afghansare deported each year, includingthose who had been born in Irandecades ago.

More than a dozen of Iran’s31 provinces have enacted bans onAfghans living or working there,so most Afghans are clustered nearseveral major cities, including thecapital, Tehran. Afghan workers inIran send about $500 million(Dh1.84 billion) in remittances toAfghanistan each year.

Human rights officials haverepeatedly lambasted the Iraniangovernment for its policy of arbi-trary deportations, cruel workingconditions for Afghan refugees anda spate of executions targeting Af-ghans convicted of nonviolentcrimes.

Interviews with Afghans whowere imprisoned in Iran this sum-mer while trying to reach Europeshow the extent of the danger.

One of those interviewed, AliReza Samandari, said he decidedto leave Afghanistan out of con-cern that the Taliban could sweepback into power in Kabul, the cap-ital.

So Samandari, 22, quit his jobas a TV news cameramen and paid$1,000 for an Iranian visa and aflight to Tehran. Then he plottedon a map how he would fly to Te-hran, cross the border into Tur-key, cross the Aegean Sea by boatand walk through at least eightcountries before reaching Norway,his chosen destination.

After arriving in Tehran in ear-ly July, Samandari said, he paid asmuggler $700 to transport him inthe back of a fruit truck to theTurkish border. Crammed in with70 other Afghans in the window-less container, Samandari and theothers were dropped off about fivemiles from the border.

But as they camped in a fieldwaiting for their smuggler’s helpto cross the border, several menarmed with pistols and assault ri-fles stormed in and robbed the Af-ghans of their cash, cellphones andbackpacks. An hour later, as thescared Afghans were huddled in afield, Iranian border agents burstinto the camp and arrested all ofthem.

“They were yelling at us, ‘Youare using this road to go to Turkeyso you can join Isis [Daesh]’,” saidSamandari. “We were telling them,‘No, we want to flee Isis’.“

After being tied up, Samanda-ri said the Iranian guards beat him.He was then shuffled from prisonto prison, including one thathoused at least 2,500 other Af-ghans who had also been arrestedfor trying to cross into Turkey, hesaid. During the day, Samandarisaid he and other prisoners wereforced to work in the homes of Ira-nian police officers.

“They were forcing us to dochores, such as washing their cars,cleaning their houses, cleaning theirback yard,” Samandari said. “And,if anyone resisted, they came andbeat up that person badly.”

Another Afghan, Ali ShahYaqubi, 22, said he was detainedin Iran for several weeks this sum-mer after he was caught trying tocross the border into Turkey.

When they reached a policestation, Iranian authorities gaveprisoners a blunt ultimatum:“They said, ‘Either you go backto Afghanistan now, or we are go-ing to send you to Syria to fight

for the Syrian government’,” Yaqu-bi said.

Since last year, several newsorganisations have published sto-ries detailing how Afghan refugeesfrom Iran have been spotted inSyria fighting for President BasharAl Assad. Iranian officials havedenied they are forcing refugees tofight in Syria. Afghan governmentofficials say they have not beenable to substantiate the reports.

In his case, Yaqubi quicklyagreed to be returned to Afghani-stan. Before he was released,though, Iranian police officers de-manded that he pay them $50 todrive him to the border.

Mohammad Musa Mahmodi,executive director of AfghanistanIndependent Human Rights Com-mission, said he and other officialsare still trying to determine howmany Afghan refugees are impris-oned in Iran.

Mahmodi said the reports ofabuse are all the more shockingbecause teenagers account for a sig-nificant share of Afghanistan’s mi-grant population.

“Young Afghans feel as if theyhave no future here,” Mahmodisaid.

Afghan teenagers, he said, areparticularly vulnerable to pitchesfrom smugglers promising a safe,hassle-free journey to Europe. Par-ents in Afghanistan also mistaken-ly believe that European nationsare more likely to approve asylumrequests from minors, officialssaid.

Ibrahimi, the teenager arrestednear Turkey in July, was just 16 atthe time, having dropped out ofschool so that he could attempt totravel to Sweden with his uncle.After collecting $600 from his par-ents — their entire savings, he said— Ibrahimi hired a smuggler whodropped him off in northwesternIran among a group of perhaps 70migrants.

But one migrant was shot andkilled when the group was inter-cepted by Iranian border guards,Ibrahimi said, and he and otherswere arrested, beaten up and ac-cused of trying to flee Syria to joinDaesh.

“I was humiliated,” Ibrahimisaid. “They had sticks in theirhands and basically acted like theywere shepherds and we were flocksof animals.”

Despite such stories, the num-ber of Afghans trying to make thetrip to Europe shows no sign ofsubsiding. Hundreds of Afghansline up each morning at the IranianEmbassy in Kabul trying to get avisa.

Ahmad Shah, a visa brokerwho helps expedite applications,said his business is up by 40 percent — and that 80 per cent ofapplicants are hoping to travelthrough Iran towards Europe.Fears over security and joblessnessare so widespread in Afghanistan,he said, that many of his custom-ers return for a visa even afterthey’ve been arrested in Iran.

“People come back here, showtheir backs with marks of tortureand beating from Iranian guards,but say they want to try again,”Shah said. “They just want to getto a secure place, which is Europe.”

–Washington Post

By day, Stephanie Case is a hu-man rights officer for the U.N.Office of the High Commissionerfor Human Rights in Gaza. Afterhours, she operates the nonprofitFree to Run … and she’s probablyrunning, too.

In 2012, the competitive long-distance runner moved to Afghan-istan, where she met women in ashelter who had experienced do-mestic abuse.

Case wanted to help them, soshe ran three ultramarathons andraised $10,000 for the shelter. Thewomen were grateful for the mon-ey but also curious about her ex-perience running the races. Theycouldn’t even walk outside with-out a male chaperone, let aloneparticipate in sports.

Case said she became deter-mined to find safe ways for thewomen to get outside. “Whenwomen can engage in movementand reconnect their mind and body,especially when they have the

chance to do that outdoors, theyare finding new sides of themselvesand reclaiming public space,” shesaid.

“It changes perceptions thatsociety has of what role womencan and should play.”

So in 2014, Case started Freeto Run, which brings sports op-portunities to women and girls inconflict areas. The group, which isincorporated in New York, has amain office in the Central High-lands of Afghanistan, part of theHimalayan mountain chain.

Free to Run sets up outdooropportunities for women and girlsin conflict areas, including the Cen-tral Highlands of Afghanistan. Pho-to courtesy of Free to Run

Free to Run sets up outdooropportunities for women and girlsin conflict areas, including the Cen-tral Highlands of Afghanistan. Pho-to courtesy of Free to Run

Most of its work is done inAfghanistan. Programs includehiking clubs for students and train-ing participants in long-distancerunning events.

For the hiking activity, Case’sorganization partnered with a lo-cal environmental organization,which has strong relationships

with farmers and other local work-ers.

“It’s only because of this alli-ance that we can take a bunch ofgirls into the hills and hiking, andwe’re able to get acceptance by thefarmers and the other men who see

them there. Slowly but surely itbecomes a normal thing,” she said.

Free to Run paid the way fortwo Afghan women to participatein a seven-day race across the Chi-nese Gobi desert. One of the wom-en, Zainab, went on to become thefirst female marathon runner inAfghanistan in October.

Based on its success, Free toRun decided to train a team foranother ultramarathon – this timein Sri Lanka.

Arzoo (her last name was with-held to protect her identity) plansto participate in the event in Feb-ruary. The 23 year old, who spenther childhood in Kabul, said sheplayed soccer with her classmates.But in a male-dominated country,she found it difficult as a womanto jog down the street without get-ting unwanted attention.

The upcoming ultramarathonin Sri Lanka will provide a pro-tected and supportive environ-ment, along with a goal for some-

thing she loves to do. Arzoo saidshe decided to sign up “because Ibelieve in myself. … This mara-thon will make me strong.”

Before, she would run in theearly mornings when the streetswere empty, but she expects that

to change. “I have questioned my-self about when we are going tostop being afraid, so that’s why Iwant to run during the day, afterDecember.”

In the Afghan capital Kabul,Free to Run is working to provideyoga and dance classes to womenin the shelters. And it recentlyhired a member of the national fe-male boxing team of Afghanistanto teach the women how to box,and showing them how female ath-letes can make it at the nationallevel.

“Maybe not everyone wantsto try hiking or biking or running,but the point is they should havethe freedom to choose and at leastexperience what it’s like,” saidCase.

Free to Run also has a chapterin Hong Kong, where there’s a“Hiking to Heal” program forwomen refugees, mostly from So-malia and Yemen and many ofwhom have been traumatized,

along with a mixed-gender runninggroup.

Case said the challenges aremany. “But I’ve always thought ifit wasn’t difficult, then this wouldalready be done by someone elseand there wouldn’t be a need.” pbs

On November 25, General John F.Campbell, the commander of USForces in Afghanistan, announcedthe findings of an initial investiga-tion into the air strike by an AirForce AC-130 gunship that hit aMédecins Sans Frontières (MSF,or Doctors Without Borders) trau-ma center in Kunduz, Afghanistanon October 3. The strike—in whichthe AC-130 attacked using its on-board cannon, killing 30 patientsand members of the MSF hospitalstaff and injuring another 34—last-ed nearly a half-hour.

Campbell called the strike "atragic, but avoidable accidentcaused primarily by human error."But among the secondary factorscited in the report, he noted, therewere several contributing techni-cal failures, including a network-ing failure that could have provid-ed information that would haveprevented the mistaken targetingof the hospital. Furthermore, in-formation systems available to thecommand responsible for the air-craft failed to alert those on dutyin the operations center that thetarget selected by the aircraft wason a no-strike list.

The sensor suite of an AC-130U "Spooky" operating at night.Infrared cameras are a primary partof the targeting system.

The aircraft responsible for theerrant attack on the hospital wasan AC-130U "Spooky" gunship, a20-year-old aircraft that carries afive-barreled 25 millimeter Gatlinggun, a 40mm Bofors cannon, and a105mm howitzer. The airplane isa veritable flying artillery batterythat "orbits" its targets while fir-ing upon them with high-explosiverounds. (The Air Force has alsodeployed the AC-130W "Stinger,"a modified version of the specialoperations transport the MC-130W "Dragon Spear," to Afghan-istan. These aircraft carry a 30mmautomatic cannon and launch tubesfor Griffin and Hellfire missiles andlaser-guided glide bombs.)

The aircraft's onboard com-mand post, known as its "BattleManagement Center" (BMC), ismanned by two sensor operators,a navigator, a fire control officer,and an electronic warfare officer.The BMC crew is responsible forsteering the aircraft to targets, iden-

tifying them, and shooting them;the aircraft's battery is slaved tothe sensor suite for targeting. Atnight, the primary sensors used fortargeting are infrared cameras,though the aircraft also carries atargeting radar—an enhanced ver-sion of the system used on the F-15E Strike Eagle fighter/bomber—to detect and track ground targets.

On the night of the attack, theAC-130U was launched more thanan hour ahead of its original mis-sion time because of an urgent re-quest from troops on the groundfor close air support. As a result,the air crew didn't get the usualmission brief on things like whereoff-limits targets were. It was thendiverted from its original missionto Kunduz to support Afghan andUS special operations forces at-tempting to clear the Taliban fromthe city.

Campbell said that "the elec-tronic systems on board the air-craft malfunctioned, preventing theoperation of an essential commandand control capability and elimi-nating the ability of aircraft totransmit video, send and receive e-mail or send and receive electronicmessages." The failure of the com-munications link prevented thesharing of data to and from the

command center that would havemade it possible to make up forthe lack of a mission briefing—andfor commanders back at BagramAir Base to see the target beforethe AC-130 fired upon it.

Then, as the AC-130 crew waspreparing to engage the intendedtarget—a building that had been theoffices of the Afghani NationalDirectorate of Security—the crew"believed [the aircraft] was target-ed by a missile," Campbell said.This forced them to take a muchwider orbit around the target area,putting them about eight milesaway. The greater distance meantthat the fire control sensors had amuch less clear picture of the tar-get area, and the precision of thetargeting system was degraded.

Bad aimA US special operations team

on the ground, given coordinatesof the Afghani NDS building bythe Afghan forces they were work-ing with, passed them to the AC-130. But when the AC-130 crewpunched the grid coordinates intotheir targeting system, it aimed atan open field 300 meters awayfrom the actual target. Workingfrom a rough description of thebuilding provided from the ground,the sensor operators found a build-

ing close to the field that they be-lieved was the target. Tragically, itwas actually the hospital.

Since it was night, and the air-crew was working from infraredvideo, they were unable to see themarkings on the building identify-ing it as a hospital. But the mis-take persisted even after the air-craft moved back in closer and thecoordinates they were given re-aligned with the actual target.They had already found their tar-get, and they believed it was theright one—since no one on theground was telling them otherwise.

Meanwhile the targeting datafor the hospital was sent back toBagram Air Base's operations cen-ter. Commanders there had receivedinformation on the location of thehospital from the MSF, and it waspart of a list of off-limits targets.However, no one in the operationscenter was alerted to the overlapof the targeting information withthe list. For the next half-hour, theaircraft would shell the hospital.And while MSF called Bagram totell them of the attack, it took 17minutes for that information toreach the operations center—bywhich time the AC-130 had com-pleted its fire mission on the wrongtarget. arstechnica

It is worth to mention here thatPresident Muhammad AshrafGhani has participated in the Par-is Climate Change Conference toexpress the commitment of Af-ghanistan in combating the climatechange.

In April this year, NEPA andMinistry of Urban Developmentmarked the International Earth Dayat Baghe-e Babar in Kabul withgreat zeal. Chief Executive Officer(CEO) Abdullah Abdullah alsoparticipated in the one-day con-ference aimed at to build supportfor environmental protection.

The chief executive said thegovernment is committed to pro-tect the environment and wouldbring in use all available resourcesin this regard. He urged the citi-zens to keep their surroundingsclean and green as it was their moraland social duty.

He said that family as a basicunit of society comes first to keepenvironment clean, then mosquesand schools. Abdullah said that at-tention should be paid to protectthe environment from harms

caused by humans.Local media has been criticized

for being reluctant to create aware-ness among people about protec-tion of environment and wildlife.

M. Nadeem Alizai, an analyst,said that most of Afghans knowthat President Ashraf Ghani andPakistani Prime Minister NawazSharif had met at the sidelines ofthe climate change conference inParis, but very few know that whythe Afghan president is there.

“It is failure of media to tellthe public that President Ghani isthere to discuss the climate changeand assure that Afghanistan willplay its role to reduce the emis-sion of gases that are destroyingozone and are responsible for theclimate change,” the concerned an-alyst said.

He added that NEPA is doingits best to protect the agency butlack the required funds. “Despitehaving minimum resources, theNEPA has established a biggestnational park in Badakhshan toprotect wildlife. The environmen-tal protection agency also worked

hard to collect data on the endan-gered species. Data is necessaryfor planning to protect the spe-cies,” he maintained.

Criticizing the government hesaid that authorities are more con-cerned about political, economicaland security issues and had putthe challenge of climate change onthe backburner. He added that theprevious government was veryactive in protecting the environ-ment and wildlife. “The formerpresident Hamid Karzai was veryconcerned about the environmen-tal and wildlife protection. He is-sued a decree banning hunting ofthe wildlife. He also encouragedpublic through radio speeches toprotect the nature. Unfortunately,this government is not really con-cerned about the climate, forestsor ecological system,” M. NadeemAlizai lamented. People shouldtake care of birds, plants, forests,rivers and animals as they take careof us. Protection of environmentis not a job of one person, groupor institute but of all and sundry,he suggested.

From P12

Afghanistan worst affected by climate change

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India-Afghanistan relations took aninteresting turn in November 2015.In the span of a month, New Delhihosted at least two high-level vis-itors: Afghan National SecurityAdvisor Hanif Atmar, and AfghanDeputy Foreign Minister HekmatKarzai. Additionally, the AfghanDeputy Minister of Culture,Sayed Mossadeq Khalili, too vis-ited New Delhi to address an aca-demic conference.

Atmar’s visit followed an in-vitation from his Indian counter-part, Ajit Doval. Atmar met Dovaland the Indian Minister of DefenceManohar Parrikar, and discussedsecurity-related cooperation indetail. Close on the heels of thisvisit was that of Karzai’s, who metIndian External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj and Indian ForeignSecretary S Jaishankar, amongothers. This visit was centred pri-marily on the “operationalisationof the [India-Afghanistan] strate-gic partnership [agreement]”signed in 2011. What Kabul ex-pects from the 2011 agreement waswell-illustrated in Karzai’s 17 No-vember Op Ed in The Hindu, ti-tled ‘Traditional friends, modernallies’.

More importantly, details ofIndian Prime Minister NarendraModi’s first official visit to Afghan-istan, scheduled to take place inthe near future, were discussed.This visit might coincide with theinauguration of the Afghan parlia-ment building that India is con-structing.

These visits and exchangeshave altered the general perceptionof a limbo in Kabul-New Delhi re-lations. That perception had set inwhen the then newly-elected Af-ghan President Ashraf Ghani madepeace overtures to Pakistan in anattempt to draw them into to theconflict resolution process. Indiatook a ‘wait-and-watch’ approachvis-à-vis deepening engagementwith Afghanistan, and Kabul’s pre-occupation with Islamabad, Wash-ington and Beijing made it appearas though India was relegated tothe side-lines.

Following the debacle overformer Afghan Taliban Chief Mul-lah Omar’s death, his subsequentsuccession by Mullah Mansourand the Kunduz siege, the dispen-sation in Kabul, which was at-tempting to reorganise its equationwith Pakistan as priority, decidedto move on.

Furthermore, the US appearsto be increasingly desperate forany deal that can help them projectsuccesses achieved in Afghanistan,especially in the wake of the on-going discussion on a nuclear deal

for Pakistan. This was evident inthe 4 November 2015 statementby Captain Jeff Davis, USN, Di-rector, Defense Press Operations,at the US Department of DefenseBriefing for Foreign Journalists, inwhich he said, “…What we’re notdoing counterterrorism operationsagainst is the Taliban. We don’t –we actually view the Taliban asbeing an important partner in apeaceful Afghan-led reconciliationprocess. We are not actively tar-geting the Taliban.”

Meanwhile, although the rec-onciliation process is not dead yet,the Afghan Taliban’s attacks onAfghans and Afghan territories stillcontinue; and the Afghan NationalSecurity Forces are stretched ex-tremely thin. Furthermore, theAfghan public’s perception of thecoalition government is at an all-time low. Kabul is hard-pressed todeliver. Afghanistan will not settlefor just any deal. Their priorities,especially on security matters, areclear. They are unlikely to acceptany lopsided and/or incomprehen-sive bargain; and they definitelydo not take the evolving undercur-rents lightly.

Their reaching out to India, andIndia’s receptiveness follows thisscheme of events. This is not anypolicy shift from the Indian side.India had not made any dramaticchanges to its Afghanistan policyin the first place – all it did wastake a more measured approachthan before, without interferenceand with Afghanistan taking thelead in its own dealings. At themost, one could say India contin-ued its engagement with Afghani-stan while simultaneously accept-ing the altered procedure to do so,and it appears to be willing to ac-cept the new alteration as well.This is not ill-advised, and NewDelhi will continue maintainingpositive relations with Kabul.

Nonetheless, India still doesnot fall in the inner core of Ghani’s‘Five Circle Foreign Policy’. Con-versely, the US, Pakistan and Chi-na, do.

Signalling and SymbolismSymbolism is key here. There

might be an opportunity for NewDelhi to make a positive differenceto the peace process. India couldreach out to Yunus Qanuni, thenewly-appointed chief of the Af-ghan High Peace Council, which istasked with negotiating with theAfghan Taliban.

He has held various positions:he is a former Afghan vice presi-dent, the former speaker of theWolesi Jirga (lower house), and theformer minister of interior of theerstwhile interim government ofAfghanistan, among others. Addi-tionally, he is not viewed entirelyas an adversary by the Afghan Tal-iban. In fact, he was one of theseven Afghan leaders proposed bythe Afghan Taliban to conduct ne-gotiations with. Most important-ly, India holds a good place in Qa-nuni’s mind and experiences. NewDelhi should build on this connec-tion, engage with him, and identi-fy ways in which we can contrib-ute to the peace process.

While the Kabul-New Delhibilateral has always remainedwarm, India has consistently cho-sen a measured stance for a vari-ety of practical reasons. India hasnot involved itself in the Afghanpeace process yet as it cannot of-fer much if things fall apart. There-fore, any further engagement onthat front should be purely basedon an assessment of the prospectof positive outcomes; how far In-dia can go, practically, keeping itsown compulsions in mind; andonly at a request from Kabul.

Most of all, New Delhi, whileworking towards contributionsthat are positive for Afghanistanin whichever measure, should tryand avoid getting entangled in thenew-age Great Game afoot in theregion. For that, India will have toexpress its stance on how it plansto engage. To that end, Modi’sKabul visit will be a moment Indiacan use to vocalise how it definesits role and place in that region.IPCS

Rajeshwari Krishnamurthy

The cost of being the bravestwoman in Afghanistan

Roghul Khairzad is a senator fromAfghanistan who continues to de-fend the rights of women in hercountry despite devastating at-tacks on her and her family.

On August 4, 2013, two daysbefore the Muslim festival of Eid,the Taliban attacked my vehicle asI drove my family home. Theykilled my nine-year-old daughterDunya and my brother GhulamJailani. Dunya’s twin sister wasparalyzed because of the injuriesshe received. I was shot nine times,including in my liver, lung and leg.

I was attacked again on Janu-ary 8, 2015, when four armed menopened fire on my car. I was in acoma for two weeks and nearlydied. I have been struggling withmy recovery ever since and havehad to leave Afghanistan for treat-ment. My son is suffering fromtrauma having witnessed the at-tack.

As soon as I came out of hos-pital after the first attack I wentstraight back to work. Everyonesaid: “How can you be back withthe threats you’re facing?” But Iwanted to show them I can con-tinue working. And I wanted tomotivate other women to carry ontheir work, too. The Ministry ofWomen’s Affairs gave me an awardfor being the bravest woman inAfghanistan.

My fight hasn’t come cheapI’m not alone. The Taliban

have no mercy for anyone, espe-cially if it’s women working forwomen’s rights or women whowant to be in decision-making po-sitions. They want to spread fear

and stop our activities.Of course, my fight hasn’t

come cheap. My family lives inconstant fear. Sometimes I feelashamed because whatever theyhave gone through is because ofmy work and what I believe. Theysay to me: “Look what you havedone to us. We have no life be-cause of what you’re doing.”

I always thought I’d be un-breakable, but now I think I ambroken. Today, I’m in anothercountry and I’m safe and protect-ed, but for me it is also a kind ofdefeat. I want to be in Afghanistanand I want to fight for the rights ofthe Afghan people.

But I am very scared that myfamily will be attacked again. I feellike a cat, carrying my childrenfrom location to location, withoutbeing able to put them in one placeand settle them in safety.

We are strongerI have kept the intelligence ser-

vices informed of the threatsagainst me, but the official re-sponse has been negligible. And Istill have no answer as to who wasresponsible for killing my daugh-ter and brother.

The Afghan governmentdoesn’t do anything for women. Ifthere was enough support, I wouldhave had more protection. If a malepolitician had suffered the threatsand attacks I faced, he would havebeen surrounded by bodyguards.But when it comes to women, thegovernment just turns the otherway.

My message to Afghan wom-en human-rights defenders is that

we are far stronger and more pow-erful than men. I don’t think weshould think of having equalitywith men in Afghanistan, becausethese are men who destroyed ourcountry, who raped children, whodid so many bad things. We are farbetter than them, and we shouldfight for that betterment, to iden-tify our strengths and move thesituation on.

You give me powerI can’t find enough words to

thank Amnesty International forall the support they have given meand other Afghan women in verydifficult situations. They havestood by me and have kept sup-porting me through different phas-es in my life. They give me power.They give me energy. Withoutthem, I wouldn’t be able to be sopassionate about my future.

I am asking the organizationand its supporters to continue sup-porting Afghan women, includingwomen who are in politics, the civilservice and other areas of life whoare trying to bring a change to thelives of other women.

I’m not giving up politics. Iwill continue fighting, I will con-tinue to stand for the rights of theAfghan people. If you have a highermission in life, it can be importantenough to keep you going.

My plan is to work hardenough to make a better future forall the vulnerable women in mycountry who are in serious need.Politics is my passion, this is whatI have chosen to do, and this iswhat I will continue doing.europe.newsweek

KABUL: The Khalifa Bin ZayedAl Nahyan Foundation (KBZF)with support of the United ArabEmirates (UAE) Embassy provid-ed relief assistance to the recentearthquake victims in northernBadakhshan province.

A press statement issued hereon Tuesday said that followingorder of the president of the UAE,Khalifa Bin Zahid Al-Nahyan, thecrown prince of Abu Dhabi, the

Relief items distributed amongquake-victims in Badakhshan

deputy commander of the armedforces and the deputy prime min-ister Sheikh Mansour Bin ZayedAl Nahyan, the charity foundationassisted over 2,000 affected fami-lies in Badakhshan province.

Each family received 50kg offlour, 10kg of cooking oil, 10kg ofsugar, 10kg bean and four blankets.The relief items were distributedamong the affected families in Faiz-abad, the provincial capital.

UAE Ambassador in Kabul,Yusof Saif Saba Al-Ali, said thatthe relief items were distributed incoordination with the provincialofficials.

The charity foundation willcontinue its assistance and sup-port to the needy and affected peo-ple in different provinces of Af-ghanistan, he said. The KBZFhas also helped flood-affected peo-ple in the northern provinces. Ben-

eficiaries and the government offi-cials, including the provincial gov-ernor, voiced pleasure over distri-bution of relief items to earthquakeaffected people in the province. Itis pertinent to mention that aroundfive weeks ago a powerful earth-quake shook Afghanistan, whichkilled and wounded over 600 peo-ple and destroy hundreds of hous-es in different provinces across thecountry.

Country Representative of WHOin Afghanistan, Dr RechardPeeperkorn, said that around 37million people live with HIV allover the world and only a bit overhalf of them know their HIV sta-tus and 1.2 million died from HIV-related causes in 2014 this around3,300 dying every day.

He said that HIV prevalenceis low in Afghanistan and HIV ep-idemic is concentrated among spe-

cific groups especially injectedgroup.

This year the World HIV Daytheme is “HIV Treatment for All”.Peeperkorn said that too manypeople still lack access to compre-hensive HIV treatment and preven-tion services in Afghanistan andelsewhere.

“Strengthening HIV testingmethods, expanding the availabili-ty of treatment options and in-

creasing the number of health cen-ters providing anti-retroviral ther-apy are crucial measures that needto be taken to stop the HIV epi-demic. We must continue our ef-forts to ensure that those most atrisk of contracting HIV receiveprevention and treatment servic-es,” he said.

He said that one of the targetsof the newly-launched global Sus-tainable Development Goal is to

end the AIDS epidemic by 2030,adding that to reach this goal “weneed to translate commitments intoaction”.

World AIDS Day is held onthe 1st December each year and isan opportunity for people world-wide to unite in the fight againstHIV and show their support forpeople living with HIV. WorldAIDS Day was observed for thefirst time in 1988.

MoPH registers 1,874 HIV/AIDS cases from 1989-2014From P12

NEW YORK: Hitting out at Paki-stan for using terrorists as “vio-lent proxies”, Afghanistan hasblamed Islamabad’s “unnecessaryanxiety” over its ties with Indiafor a sharp spike in civilian andmilitary casualties that made 2015the bloodiest year since 2001.

“External support to the Tali-ban and other terrorist groups isprimarily motivated by regionalrivalry, with excessive and unnec-essary anxiety and suspicion ofone state over its rival’s otherwiseordinary relations with Afghani-stan,” Mahmoud Saikal, Afghani-stan’s Permanent Representativetold the United Nations GeneralAssembly without directly men-tioning India.

“This has resulted in an unsa-vory policy of using violent prox-ies in pursuit of political objec-tives, which has created a signifi-cant trust deficit between Pakistanand Afghanistan and provides ox-ygen for terror to breathe,” he add-ed.

Saikal was making the remarksat yesterday’s Plenary Session onthe Situation in Afghanistan.

“This year has been the blood-iest in Afghanistan since 2001, witha sharp increase in civilian and mil-itary casualties. We have comeunder high levels of attacks fromforeign-based Taliban including theHaqqani network, Al Qaeda, ISIS(Daesh), Hekmatyar’s faction, andother extremist groups,” he said.

The Haqqani network isblamed for some of the deadliestattacks in Afghanistan, includingthe Indian embassy bombing andthe attack on Kabul Serena Hotelin 2008.

The peak of this was the Tali-ban’s temporary capture of Kun-duz city in late September, duringwhich together with hundreds ofinternational terrorists they un-leashed their reign of terror on the

population, he added.Saikal said the “foreign” or-

chestrators of this year’s ferociousattacks had taken advantage ofthree factors, including the with-drawal of international forces, andthe strong belief of the terroriststhat their attacks would make thepolitical system collapse.

Lack of coordination of Paki-stan’s untimely counter- terrorismoperations with Afghanistan, al-lowing part of international terror-ists to enter Afghan soil; and Kab-ul’s preoccupation with its 2014political transition, involving tworounds of elections, which sloweddown governance were the othertwo reasons, he listed.

“Alongside these threats, in2015 Afghanistan continued toface regular attacks across the Du-rand Line by Pakistani securityforces in clear violation of our sov-ereignty and territorial integrity. Asa result of heavy artillery shellingin the eastern provinces many ci-vilian and border police lives havebeen lost, and our citizens live infear,” he said in his strongly- word-ed speech which is perhaps thefirst time Afghanistan raised be-fore the international forum Paki-stan’s motives for backing Talibanand other terrorist organizations.

He said these issues were dis-cussed with the Pakistan govern-ment “yet no action has been tak-en to rectify the situation”.

Pakistan’s UN envoy Malee-ha Lodhi said that while Pakistanremained ready to assist in reviv-ing an Afghan-led and owned peaceprocess, it would do so only oncerequested by the Afghan govern-ment.

“But anti-Pakistan rhetoricfrom Kabul must cease. Pakistanremains committed to the princi-ples of a peaceful neighborhoodand peace for development,” shesaid.

Pakistan using terrorists asviolent proxies:Afghanistan at UN AT News Report

AFGHANISTAN TIMESWEDNESDAY . DECEMBER 02 2015

Biggestpolluters must

pay greaterprice: Sharif

PARIS: Prime Minister NawazSharif on Monday said that coun-tries with deeper carbon footprintsand history of large emissions needto shoulder the greatest burden ofclimate change as he affirmed Pa-kistan’s commitment to the devel-opment of a responsive global cli-mate change framework.

“Stemming the tide of climatechange is a global challenge thatrequires collective action. Our re-sponsibilities, however, are notevenly spread,” Nawaz said whileaddressing world leaders at thetwo-week 21st UN ClimateChange Conference (COP21)which kicked-off near the Frenchcapital on Monday. Climate changeserious threat to human life: PM

“For the effective implemen-tation of our (Pakistan’s) nationalprogrammes, finance, technologytransfer, and capacity building re-

main key enablers.”Nawaz added that any agree-

ment must be built around a prin-ciple of “common but differenti-ated responsibilities” (CBDR) ashe pointed out that countries likePakistan had minimal contributionto global warming but it was oneof the most vulnerable to its ef-fects.

Pakistan to argue its case atParis summit

As some world leaders point-ed towards greater responsibilitythat lay on developing countries,who were fuelling their fledglingeconomies by burning coal, Nawazsaid the summit’s agreement shouldtake into account the needs of thesedeveloping countries and strike abalance between mitigation andadaptation. In this regard, he ad-vocated an effective ‘loss and dam-age’ mechanism.

India quietly begins move for entryinto Nuclear Supplier's GroupNEW DELHI: Notwithstandingprotests by Pakistan and attemptsby China to play spoilsport, Indiahas quietly launched process of thecountry's possible entry into thecoveted Nuclear Supplier's Group(NSG) next year with the recent visitof the group's current chairman Rafa-el Grossi to meet Foreign MinisterSushma Swaraj and senior govern-ment officials. Ever since India wasgranted clean waiver by 48-member-NSG in 2008 Delhi has aspired tobe a member of the coveted groupbased on what officials describe asimpeccable track record in mattersof non-proliferation and export con-trols. The Modi government recent-ly hosted current NSG ChairmanRafael Grossi from Argentina whomet Swaraj and other senior officialsto discuss the issue of India's mem-bership of the coveted group. Peo-ple familiar with the developmentsindicated that Grossi is trying tobuild a consensus for India's possi-ble entry into the group next June at

its annual meet notwithstandingthe fact that Delhi is not a signa-tory to the Non-ProliferationTreaty. Grossi is holding the chairof NSG for the period 2015-16.Successive governments over thepast decade had moved all keymembers of NSG including USA,Russia, France, UK besides oth-er members to get an entry intothe elite club which was ironical-ly created after Delhi's PeacefulNuclear Explosion in 1974 atPokhran. Delhi is now trying towoo some European members ofNSG that follow strict non-pro-liferation norms. The USA saysthat India is now "ready for mem-bership" of the NSG. Officialshere point out to Pakistan's non-proliferation track record withthat of India and referred to thePak-based AQ Khan networkthat has dealt in clandestine nu-clear trade across globe. Officialstherefore point out that entry intoNSG will be a victory for India.

But Delhi hopes 2016 could befeather in cap by getting both NSGand Missile Technology ControlRegime (MTCR) memberships. Itwill also enhance India's geo-po-litical influence, experts pointedout. The possible inter-governmen-tal agreement on civil nuclear ener-gy with Japan, a strict adherent tonon-proliferation, in Decembercould further brighten India'schange of NSG membership. In-dia's case will receive further boostwith successful implementation ofcivil nuclear deal with Australia.The "NSG's relationship with In-dia" was discussed in the group'sannual plenary meeting held atBariloche in Argentina last June.Recently India made headway inobtaining MTCR membership atthe groups meeting in Europe. In-dia is also seeking entry into ex-port control regimes including Was-senaar and Australian groups.

But the biggest obstacle couldbe China, a member of NSG and

"all-weather friend" of Islamabad.Pakistan has started lobbyingagainst India's entry into NSG.Last week Pakistan Foreign Min-istry alleged that the grant of ex-clusive NSG membership to Indiaas an exception, on account of po-litical and commercial consider-ations, would adversely affect thecredibility of non-proliferation re-gime. Islamabad conveyed to theNSG that India's entry into thebloc would also "bear negative im-plications for regional peace andsecurity"

Expressing similar sentimentsChina continue to insist on a 'con-sensus' within the bloc on the is-sue of admissibility of "non-NPTnations" into the bloc and evenlinked India's bid for membershipof NSG with that of Pakistan.Beijing and Islamabad had dis-cussed the matter when Pakistan'sPresident recently travelled toChina. NSG is a group of nuclearsupplier countries that seeks to

contribute to the non-proliferationof nuclear weapons through the im-plementation of two sets of Guide-lines for nuclear exports and nu-clear-related exports. The body isconcerned with reducing nuclearproliferation by controlling theexport and re-transfer of materialsthat may be applicable to nuclearweapon development and by im-proving safeguards and protectionon existing materials. NSG com-prises Argentina, Australia, Aus-tria, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bul-garia, Canada, China, Croatia, Cy-prus, Czech republic, Denmark,Estonia, Finland, France, Germa-ny, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ire-land, Italy, japan, Kazakhstan,Republic of korea, Latvia, Lithua-nia, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico,Netherlands, New Zealand, Nor-way, Poland, Portugal, Romania,Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia,South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Swit-zerland, Turkey, Ukraine, UnitedKingdom, and United States.

Nepal blockade puts millions of children at risk: UNShortages of fuel, food, medicinesand vaccines are putting more thanthree million infants at risk of deathor disease as winter begins in Ne-pal, the UN children's fund (Unicef)has warned. It said the situation hadbeen worsened by more than twomonths of political unrest in thesouth of the country. A blockade hasseverely hit the import of key goodsby land from India. The blockade isled by ethnic communities angeredby Nepal's recently promulgatednew constitution. The Madhesicommunities say the new constitu-tion does not represent them prop-erly. Why is Nepal's new constitu-tion controversial? Fuel crisis threat-ens Nepal's forests A Nepalesewoman carries firewood being soldby the government in Kathmandu

(16 November 2015)Image copy-rightAFP Image caption Thereare fears that Nepal's rising de-pendence on firewood - triggeredby the fuel crisis - is increasingindoor pollution Nepalese schoolchildren shout anti India sloganduring a rally in Kathmandu (24November 2015)Image copy-rightEPA Image caption Childprotesters in Kathmandu lastweek accused India of deliberate-ly worsening the embargo Thegovernment accuses India of de-liberately worsening the embar-go, but India denies this. Theblockade is being enforced whileNepal is still recovering frompowerful earthquakes earlier thisyear which left up to 9,000 peo-ple dead.

In a stark warning, Unicef sayssupplies of vaccines and antibiot-ics in the country are now critical-ly low - and the fear is that chil-dren could be the worst hit.

More than 200,000 families af-fected by the earthquakes are stillliving in temporary shelters at analtitude above 1,500m (4,920 ft)where weather conditions will beharshest this winter.

"The risks of hypothermia andmalnutrition, and the shortfall inlife-saving medicines and vaccines,could be a potentially deadly com-bination for children this winter,"Unicef Executive Director Antho-ny Lake said in a media statement.

"During my recent visit to Ne-pal, I witnessed first-hand the pre-carious living conditions of many

of the earthquake survivors. Theycould now be facing a new disaster- without adequate food, protec-tion from the cold, or healthcare."

There are also fears that the

rising dependence on firewood -triggered by the fuel crisis - is in-creasing indoor pollution, which inturn could lead to a rise in pneu-monia cases.

Russian President Vladimir Putinsaid that recently Russia had man-aged to reinforce the legal founda-tion of relations with Sri Lanka,which will lay the groundwork fordeveloping comprehensively Rus-sia’s bilateral cooperation with SriLanka.

He also noted that Russia’straditional contacts with Sri Lan-ka in the fields of fishing and agri-culture were expanding.

The Russian President ex-pressed these views when he ac-cepted the Credentials of Sri Lan-ka’s new Ambassador to Russia Dr.Saman Weerasinghe.

The newly appointed Ambas-sador of Sri Lanka to the RussianFederation presented his Creden-tials to Putin, in the AlexandrovskyHall of the Great Kremlin Palacein Moscow. Minister of ForeignAffairs of the Russian Federation

Sergey Lavrov was also present atthe Ceremony. Ambassador Dr. We-erasinghe conveyed the warm greet-ings and best wishes of PresidentMaithripala Sirisena, Prime Minis-ter Ranil Wickremesinghe and theGovernment of Sri Lanka to Presi-dent Vladimir Putin and the Gov-ernment of the Russian Federation,which were warmly reciprocated byPresident Putin. The Ambassadorbriefed President Putin on the latest

developments in Sri Lanka fol-lowing the Presidential and theGeneral Elections in January andAugust 2015, respectively. Heexpressed Sri Lanka’s apprecia-tion for the steadfast support thatthe Russian Federation has al-ways extended to Sri Lanka andstated that Sri Lanka would liketo further enhance the existingclose and friendly relations withthe Russian Federation.

German showsreadiness to helpBangladesh prepare forclimate change impactsGerman Ambassador in DhakaThomas Prinz has said his coun-try is ready to help Bangladeshprepare for climate change im-pacts.

The German embassy in Dha-ka issued a statement on Mondaywhen world leaders met in Paris todiscuss climate change.

“Due to its geography and its

demographics, Bangladesh isamongst the countries that are mostprone to experience negative ef-fects of global warming,” Prinz saidin the statement.

“We are ready to assist Bang-ladesh in its endeavour to preparefor the impacts of climate change,”he added. Prinz also said Germa-ny showed its support through

Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s visit to Bang-ladesh in September.

His French counterpart Lau-rent Fabius was with him duringthe visit.

“He (Steinmeier) got a fist-hand impression of the effects ofglobal warming on a country likeBangladesh”, Prinz said.

India unveils global solar alliance of 120 countries at Paris climate summitIndia’s prime minister has launchedan international solar alliance ofover 120 countries with the Frenchpresident, François Hollande, atthe Paris COP21 climate summit.

Narendra Modi told a pressconference that as fossil fuels putthe planet in peril, hopes for fu-ture prosperity in the developingworld now rest on bold initiatives.

“Solar technology is evolving,costs are coming down and gridconnectivity is improving,” he said.“The dream of universal access toclean energy is becoming more real.This will be the foundation of thenew economy of the new centu-ry.”

Modi described the solar alli-ance as “the sunrise of new hope,not just for clean energy but forvillages and homes still in darkness,for mornings and evening filledwith a clear view of the glory ofthe sun”.

Earlier, France’s climate changeambassador, Laurence Tubiana,had called the group “a true game-changer”.

While signatory nations most-ly hail from the tropics, severalEuropean countries are also onboard with the initiative, includingFrance. Hollande described theproject as climate justice in action,

mobilising public finance from rich-er states to help deliver universalenergy access.

“What we are putting in placeis an avant garde of countries thatbelieve in renewable energies,” hetold a press conference in Paris.“What we are showing here is anillustration of the future Paris ac-cord, as this initiative gives mean-ing to sharing technology and mo-bilising financial resources in anexample of what we wish to do inthe course of the climate confer-ence.”

The Indian government is in-vesting an initial $30m (£20m) insetting up the alliance’s headquar-ters in India. The eventual goal isto raise $400m from membershipfees, and international agencies.

Companies involved in theproject include Areva, Engie, Enel,HSBC France and Tata Steel.

“It is very, very exciting to seeIndia nailing its colours to the mastand providing leadership on thisissue,” said James Watson, the di-rector of SolarPower Europe,which represents the continents’solar photovoltaic industry. “Itwill mean more opportunities forsolar across the world and that canonly be positive for combating cli-mate change.”

The UN secretary general, BanKi-moon, placed the initiative in thecontext of the body’s sustainabledevelopment goals, particularly arelated target, set in 2011, of achiev-ing universal access to sustainableenergy by 2030.

India has repeatedly said that itwants to use cheap solar to connectcitizens who are currently withoutaccess to the electricity grid in re-mote and rural areas.

“The idea is that larger marketsand bigger volumes will lead to low-er costs, making it possible to spurdemand,” said Ajay Mathur, India’ssenior negotiator and spokespersonat the Paris summit.

“This bold effort could bringaffordable solar power to tropicalvillages and communities world-wide,” said Jennifer Morgan, thedirector of the World Research In-stitute’s climate programme.

India’s pledge to the Paris sum-mit offered to draw 40% of its elec-tricity from renewables by 2030.The country is projected to be theworld’s most populous by then,with 1.45 billion people.

Climate Action Tracker de-scribed the promise as being “at theleast ambitious end of what wouldbe a fair contribution”, and not con-sistent with meeting a 2C target.

But some see Modi as a cleanenergy enabler, having rapidlyrolled out more than 900MW ofsolar energy across Gujarat whenhe was chief minister there.

“India has emerged as thenatural leader for this alliance,with its ambitious targets to in-stall 175GW of renewable ener-gy by 2022,” said ArunabhaGhosh, chief executive of theCouncil for Energy, Environmentand Water in India.

Modi’s announcement onMonday comes hot on the heelsof a pledge by the US and 18other countries to provide $20bnfor clean energy research by2020, a doubling of current fund-ing commitments.

Zuckerberg, Gates and othertech titans form clean energy in-vestment coalition

A separate Breakthrough En-ergy Coalition, which will act asan investment platform for cleanenergy projects, is also beinglaunched on Monday by BillGates and the Facebook founder,Mark Zuckerberg.

On Sunday, Dubai an-nounced a Dh100bn ($27bn) pro-gramme to make solar panelsmandatory for all rooftop build-ings by 2030, part of a plan to

make the city a global clean energycentre.

Dubai aims to generate 25%of its energy from clean sourcesby 2030, rising to 75% by 2050.

The Indian initiative, called theInternational Agency for SolarTechnologies and Applications(Iasta), aims to spread cheap solar

technology across the globe withpooled policy knowledge.

Can Narendra Modi bring thesolar power revolution to India?

“We share a collective ambi-tion to undertake innovative andconcerted efforts aimed at reduc-ing the costs of financing and ur-gent technological deployment for

competitive solar facilitiesthroughout our country,” a mem-bership statement by the alliancesays.

It adds that the alliance will“pave the way for production tech-nologies and storage of solar ener-gy, adapted to the specific needsof our country”.

AFGHANISTAN TIMESWEDNESDAY .DECEMBER 02, 2015

News-in-Brief

U.S. President Barack Obamacalled on Russia and Turkey tomove beyond a furious row overthe downing of a fighter jet andfocus on the Islamic State of Iraqand Syria (ISIS) jihadist group, af-ter meeting his Turkish counter-part in Paris on Tuesday. Relations

between Moscow and Ankarahave plummeted in the past weekafter Turkey downed a Russianfighter jet along the Syrian bor-der. Russia has announced eco-nomic sanctions and advised itscitizens not to visit Turkey. “Iwant to be very clear: Turkey is

a NATO ally. The U.S. supportsTurkish rights to defend itself andits airspace and its territory,”Obama told reporters after meetingwith President Recep Tayyip Er-dogan. “We all have a common ene-my and that is ISIL and I want tomake sure we focus on that threat,”

Obama said, using an alternativename for ISIS. Erdogan said he waskeen to move past the dispute. “Weare always willing to resort to thediplomatic language (...) we wantto avoid the tensions,” he said.

The United States and its al-lies are concerned the Turkey-Rus-

sia spat could further complicateefforts to reach a diplomatic solu-tion to the crisis in Syria, whereRussia and Turkey support oppos-ing sides.

Obama met with Russian Pres-ident Vladimir Putin on Mondayon the sidelines of the climate sum-mit in Paris.

“President Obama expressedhis regret for the recent loss of aRussian pilot and crew member,” aWhite House official said after theirclosed-door meeting.

Hours earlier, Turkey had sentback to Russia the body of a pilotkilled when his plane was shotdown by the Turkish air force onNovember 24 for allegedly violat-ing its air space on the Syrian bor-der, reports said.

Putin accused Ankara of seek-ing to protect ISIS oil exports -- animportant source of funds for thejihadist group.

“We have every reason to thinkthat the decision to shoot down ourplane was dictated by the desire toprotect the oil supply lines to Turk-ish territory, right to the portswhere it is loaded onto tankers,”Putin said during a news conferenceon the fringes of the climate talks inParis.

One of the Russian pilotsaboard the downed plane was shotdead in Syria after parachuting fromthe burning aircraft, while the sec-ond was found safe and sound. OneRussian soldier was killed in a res-cue operation.

Germanyapprovesmilitary aidfor ISIS fightThe German cabinet on Tuesdayapproved a mandate offering mili-tary assistance to back the inter-national fight against the IslamicState of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) jiha-dist group following the Paris at-tacks.

The package, which still re-quires parliamentary approval,covers Tornado reconnaissancejets, a naval frigate and up to 1,200troops following a French request,the government said in a statement.

“The German contributionserves the fight against terrorismunder the auspices of the allianceagainst ISIS and is aimed at sup-porting in particular France, Iraqand the international alliance in itsfight against ISIS,” the mandatesays.

The mandate is for one year ata cost of 134 million euros ($142million) and can be extended in2016.

By providing for up to 1,200soldiers for aerial reconnaissanceand support, it would be the larg-est Bundeswehr mission at themoment, following a drawdown inAfghanistan.

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier acknowledgedahead of the cabinet vote that itcould be a protracted fight.

“We are doing what is militar-ily necessary, what we can do best,and what we can back politically,”Steinmeier told the daily Bild. “Weneed patience against an enemy likeISIS.”

The head of the armed forcesunion, the Bundeswehrverband,Andre Wuestner, told publicbroadcaster ARD that he expectedthe fight to last “far more than 10years” and called for a “clearlydefined mission”.

No date has been set for theparliamentary vote but approvalis considered virtually guaranteedas Chancellor Angela Merkel’s“grand coalition” government hasan overwhelming majority.

Germany is to send an unspec-ified number of Tornado aircraftfitted with surveillance technolo-gy that can take high-resolutionphotos and infrared images, evenat night and in bad weather.

A German frigate will helpprotect the French aircraft carrierCharles de Gaulle in the easternMediterranean, from which fight-er jets are carrying out bombingruns, and the tanker aircraft couldrefuel them mid-air to extend theirrange.

The mandate will also coverthe sending of up to 650 soldiersto Mali to provide some relief toFrance as it bears a large part ofthe burden in the global fight againstISIS jihadists.

The German soldiers wouldfocus on logistics and reconnais-sance as part of the U.N. peace-keeping mission in Mali (MINUS-MA).

Parliament will also be askedto approve provisions for emer-gency medical assistance for Francein the case of “catastrophicevents”, and a still-to-be-deter-mined amount of additional hu-manitarian aid for refugees and dis-placed people in Syria, Iraq andneighbouring countries.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assadaccused France of “supporting ter-rorism” and said he saw Prague asa possible venue for signing anyfuture peace deal to end his coun-try’s four-year civil war, in com-ments broadcast on Czech TV.

In an interview due to be airedin full on Tuesday, Assad wasasked whether he could see a peacedeal being signed in Prague, asCzech President Milos Zeman hadsuggested in September.

“Naturally, if you ask Syriansthey will tell you they don’t wanta peace conference in France, forexample, because France supportsterrorism and war, not peace,” hesaid on the CT public station.

“And as you mention Prague,it would be generally accepted be-cause of the balanced position ofyour country.”

As the last diplomatic outpostof the West in Syria, the Czechembassy has become a hub for con-fidential U.S. and EU communica-tion with the Damascus regimeamid moves aimed at ending thefour-year conflict.

France has been adamant in itsopposition to Assad, describinghim as a “butcher” of his own peo-ple and on Monday Foreign Min-

ister Laurent Fabius said working with the Syrian army to fight the ISIS group was not on the cards until he was removed. On a trip to Washingtonlast week, French President Francois Hollande and reiterated his determination to see Assad step down in order to give Syria a chance for peace,saying “it should be as soon as possible.” “He has been the problem - he cannot be the solution,” Hollande said. Syria’s conflict began as a peacefulpro-democracy revolt in 2011 that later morphed into a multi-front civil war after Assad’s regime unleashed a brutal crackdown against dissent.

Iraq’s interior ministry blamed Ira-nian authorities for allowing tensof thousands of Shi’ite Muslim pil-grims to storm a border crossingand enter the country without vi-sas, in a rare public confrontationbetween the two neighbors.

The ministry said in a state-ment that the pilgrims, traveling onfoot toward the Shiite shrine cityof Karbala to take part in the annu-al Arbaeen religious ritual, over-whelmed security forces on Sun-day, pulling down fences and injur-ing border guards.

It accused them of deliberatelyrushing the border crossing in orderto pressure security forces to al-low them to enter illegally, and itsaid the border guards had refrainedfrom exercising their right to useforce against them.

“We hold the Iranian side re-sponsible because they did not ful-fill their duties and obligations” to

prevent those without visas fromapproaching the crossing, the min-istry said. Iraq’s Shiite-led govern-ment is heavily backed by Iran,which also provides training, armsand money to Iraq’s powerful Shi-ite militias, seen as a bulwark inthe battle against ISIS militants inthe country’s north and west.

Many leading Shiite politiciansin Iraq including former Prime Min-ister Nuri al-Maliki developedclose ties with Iran while living inexile there during the rule of Sadd-am Hussein, from the Sunni mi-nority, who brutally repressedShi’ites before he was toppled bythe 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Video posted online on Mon-day appeared to show hundredsof pilgrims dressed from head totoe in black forcing open a largegate and running through the check-point. Few security forces ap-peared to be present.

Saudi invites Syrian opposition ahead of talksSaudi Arabia has issued invitationsto 65 Syrian opposition figures toattend a conference in Riyadh totry to unify their positions aheadof proposed Syrian peace talks,Saudi newspapers reported onTuesday.

Asharq al-Awsat and al-Hayatsaid no date has yet been set forthe Riyadh meeting, but quotedunnamed sources as saying it couldtake place next week.

Asharq al-Awsat quotedAhmed Ramadan, a member of theSyrian National Coalition (SNC)opposition group, as saying that

the Saudi foreign ministry had“invited 65 figures to attend theconference in Riyadh.”

He said 20 members of thecoalition, which is based outsideSyria, had been invited, along withseven from the National Coordi-nation Body, an internal opposi-tion group.

Another 10 to 15 placeswere allocated to rebel leaders and20 to 25 to independents, busi-ness leaders and religious figures,the paper quoted Ramadan assaying.

Saudi Arabia, a main sup-

porter of opposition groups seek-ing to topple President Bashar al-Assad, has said it was in contactwith them about the conference,which comes after an internationalagreement to launch talks betweenthe government and the oppositionby Jan. 1.

The Riyadh meeting marks anattempt to bring together groupswhose disunity has been a long-standing obstacle in seeking a peace-ful solution to the nearly five-yearconflict that has killed more than250,000 people and displaced mil-lions.

U.S. Secretary of State JohnKerry held talks in Abu Dhabiwith United Arab Emirates offi-cials and Saudi Foreign MinisterAdel al-Jubeir last week to dis-cuss ways of bringing the opposi-tion together. Al-Hayat newspa-per quoted NCB co-chairman,Hassan Abdul-Azim, as saying hehad sent a list of 22 nominees, in-cluding the head of the KurdishDemocratic Union, Saleh Muslim.Muslim had said earlier last monththat Syrian Kurds need politicaland military representation at theopposition conference in Riyadh.

Turkey calls formilitary talks with

RussiaTurkish Prime Minister Ah-met Davutoglu called onTuesday for the opening ofcommunication channels be-tween Turkey and Russia toprevent incidents like thedowning of a Russian war-plane by Turkish jets alongthe Syrian border last week.

Russian PresidentVladimir Putin and TurkishPresident Tayyip Erdogan didnot meet at Monday's sum-mit in Paris which Erdoganhad described as an opportu-nity to mend shattered tiesbetween the two countries.

"Our call to Russia againis to open military communi-cation channels to preventsimilar incidents happening.Let's keep diplomatic chan-nels open," Davutoglu told anews conference before de-parting on an official visit tonorthern Cyprus.

"We must sit down andtalk at the table instead ofmaking unfounded allega-tions," he added.

Putin, who has signed adecree imposing economicsanctions on Turkey over theincident, said on MondayTurkey shot down the Rus-sian jet because it wanted toprotect supplies of oil fromISIS militants. Erdogan hascalled claims that Turkeybuys oil from ISIS "slander".

Davutoglu said Turkeywill continue in its efforts toexpel ISIS militants from thearea on the Syrian side of theborder between the two coun-tries.

Nusra releases 16Lebanese troops,Baghdadi’s ex-wife

Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate onTuesday freed 16 Lebanesesoldiers and police, and formerwife of Islamic State of Iraq andSyria (ISIS) chief’s leader inexchange for the release of pris-oners and delivery of aid, tele-vision footage showed.

The 16 men, held captivesince August last year, arrivedat an army checkpoint in themountainous Jurud Arsal regionof eastern Lebanon in four RedCross vehicles, live footagebroadcast by Lebanon’s MTVshowed. The first group of fivecaptives were handed over andseen boarding a Red Cross ve-hicle. The released is under aQatari-mediated deal, in addi-tion to 13 Islamist prisonersincluding Saja al-Dulaimi, theex-wife of ISIS leader Abu Bakral-Baghdadi, a senior Lebanesesecurity official said. The offi-cial spoke on condition of ano-nymity in line with regulations.Al-Dulaimi was detained inLebanon last year after shecrossed into the country ille-gally with her current husbandusing forged identity cards.Another official, also speakingon condition of anonymity un-der regulations, said the NusraFront captives were being re-leased in exchange for 13 pris-oners, including five women.Al-Dulaimi, who appeared inLebanese court for a hearing lastmonth, was seen along with herfour children at the meetingpoint Tuesday.

Dozens of Houthiskilled in major

offensiveDozens of Yemeni Houthi mi-litias were killed during an as-sault on the border with SaudiArabia, residents and Saudistate television said on Tues-day, in what they described asa major push to try to captureterritory inside the kingdom.

The Houthis have beentrying to push into Saudi ter-ritory since an alliance led bySaudi Arabia intervened in Ye-men’s civil war in March, try-ing to drive back the Iran-al-lied group and restore exiledYemeni President Abd-RabbuMansour Hadi.

“There was an attempt, asusual, to breach the border andsneak into Saudi territory butthe ... armed forces as a whole,were watching them and thisattempt was thwarted,” Brig-adier General Ahmed al-Assi-ri, spokesman of the Saudi-ledcoalition, said in commentsbroadcast by Saudi state tele-vision on Tuesday.

“Those who tried to infil-trate were killed and the situa-tion is stable, thanks be toGod,” he added.

The channel said Assiriput the number of those killedat 180 Houthis and allied mili-tias loyal to former PresidentAli Abdullah Saleh. That num-ber could not be independent-ly verified, but local residentssaid dozens of Houthi militiashad been killed in what theysaid was a major assault byhundreds of Houthi fighters onthe border. Saudi forces usedhelicopters as well as rocketsto repel the Houthis, they said.

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WEDNESDAY . DECEMBER 02 2015

AFGHANISTANTIMES

We a r e a n a t ion a l in st i t u t ion a n d n ot t h e vo ice o f a gov t o r a p r iva t e o r ga n iza t ion They shut down my column

By Mohammad Taqi

Pakistan’s globetrotting Chiefof Army Staff (COAS) GeneralRaheel Sharif has been ped-dling the ostensible success ofa military operation called Zarb-e-Azb in assorted world capi-tals. The director of the Inter-Services Public Relations, LtGeneral Asim Saleem Bajwa,has unleashed a social andconventional media blitzkriegthat creates a halo of accom-plishment, nay infallibility,around his boss, General Sharif.But in tandem with the mili-tary’s media blitz is its unde-clared war on dissent, whichimpugns, maligns and tries toostracise those in the intelli-gentsia who refuse to buy themilitary’s version of events.This low intensity, systematicwar on the diversity of opinionin Pakistan barely gets local orinternational attention.

During my morning ritual ofgoing through emails this pastFriday (November 27), I spot-ted one from my op-ed editor,which read: “It is with an ex-tremely heavy heart that I re-gret to inform you that DailyTimes will be unable to accom-modate your daring and con-scientious articles. Due to theclimate under which print me-dia operates in these timessuch pieces are constantly be-ing put under scrutiny and sothe newspaper with it. It is alsomy unfortunate duty to informyou that Rashed Rahman hasresigned as editor-in-chief dueto the same reasons of contin-ued interference in the affairsof the editorial department andas a soldier for unbiased truthhe is now serving his threemonths notice”. As the leadweekly columnist for the liber-al Pakistani newspaper DailyTimes, I have written extensive-ly about how the dissenters inthe Pakistani media, academiaand the political class werehounded relentlessly; that theundeclared censor’s guillotinehad fallen on my hand, was nota shock. What was surprisingwas that it took six years for itto do so.

My editor, Rashed Rahman,a seasoned journalist and aveteran leftist political cam-paigner, had insulated me andothers like me from the interfer-ence of what he calls “the pow-ers that be” — a euphemism forPakistan’s military establish-ment — for years. After the as-sassination of Salmaan Taseer,the high-profile owner of theDaily Times and the then gov-ernor of Pakistan’s Punjabprovince at the hands of a reli-gious zealot, his family contin-ued with his liberal traditionand continued to afford me,and others like the veteranBaloch activist and writer Mir

Muhammad Ali Talpur, thespace for speaking our mind. Itseems, however, that the cush-ion against the military’sstealthy interference was wear-ing thin since the ascent ofGeneral Sharif, not just at ourpaper but the media in general.

Along with putting the Pa-kistani COAS on a pedestal, hismedia team was actively weed-ing out his detractors. For ex-ample, about a year ago, theeditorial staff advised Talpur totake a break from writing onBalochistan since that issuedraws flak from the military.After a hiatus, Talpur wrote ascathing criticism of the virtualcolonization of Balochistan bythe Pakistani military. The own-ers finally told our editorRashed Rahman this pastThursday to shut down bothTalpur’s and my weekly col-umns.

A six-year association withthe Daily Times thus endedunder pressure from Pakistan’salmighty army. I say army be-cause none of the cultural andmusic pieces or the personali-ty profiles that I did would haveoffended anyone. It was mycriticism of the army’s duplici-tous policy vis-à-vis the jihad-ist terror unleashed in Afghan-istan that annoyed the army.

My premise has been sim-ple: The Pakistani army hascaused irreparable damage toPakistani society through itspatronage of the jihadists sinceat least the mid-1970s and de-spite its proclamations to thecontrary, it has not changed as

far as the use of jihadist prox-ies against Afghanistan andIndia is concerned. I have con-sistently underscored the factthat the biggest price of the ar-my’s jihadist venture has beenpaid by the Pakistani people,especially the Pashtuns and thevulnerable religious groupssuch as the battered and be-leaguered Shias, Ahmadis,Christians and Hindus. The ar-my’s massive human rightsabuses in the restive and re-source-rich Balochistan hasstoked the separatism there andclosed the door on a meaning-ful political reconciliation withthe Baloch seeking indepen-dence — or secession — de-pending on one’s perspective.I have strived to give voice tothe voiceless sections of Paki-stani society because each oneof them has touched my life insome way and enriched it in theprocess.

When I saw my friends anddear ones being shot, the Pa-shtun leaders that I knew per-sonally being killed and the AllSaints Church where I playedcricket, being blown to smith-ereens — all in my hometownPeshawar — by the Taliban, Iwanted to bear witness andchronicle those atrocities,which in my opinion were a di-rect blowback of the Pakistanarmy’s jihadist project. Afterthe heinous attack on the ArmyPublic School in Peshawar lastyear, the army cracked down onwhat it had described once asthe “bad Taliban”, that is, theones that hit inside Pakistan.

While it claimed that it is goingafter jihadists of all shades, Icontended that it was sparingthe “good Taliban”, that is, theones who attack inside Afghan-istan.

My last Daily Times columnpointed out that General Sharifspeaks with a forked tongue,pledging to fight against terrorand bring peace in Afghanistanwhile jihadists infiltrate Af-ghanistan from Pakistan un-checked. The army and its min-ions perhaps could not take itanymore and my column wasshut down for good.

The media and press free-dom in Pakistan under GeneralSharif’s leadership is a myth. Amultitude of media outlets, in-cluding the television chan-nels, create the illusion of di-versity but are effectivelychurning out the variousshades of army-approved hy-per-nationalism that passes forpatriotism. One can perhapsslip in a critical column or ashow, but to do so in a sus-tained manner is nearly impos-sible now.

The troubling part is thatthe political class has abdicat-ed its role to define patriotism.The Pakistani intelligentsia canmake a case for wresting backthe power to define the nation-al interest, but unless politi-cians are willing to do theheavy lifting, we’d be fightingan uphill battle in which manymore columns will be shut downand writers banished from thepublic view. (Courtesy: The In-dian Express)

Article 80

During their tour of duty, the Ministers shall not use their positions for

linguistic, sectarian, tribal, religious or partisan purposes.

Violence

Too much rant. Too little sense. It looks ideas and rambling rantscluttered their brains. They speak most of the times about prob-lems and very much little about the solutions. Then it must makeany sense that we are winning against all the economic, social, po-litical, and security evils? To talk of evil is just one side of the story.And to talk of solutions and strategies the other. And when the twoare combined, we are on the other side of the deadliest tunnel ofterrorism, corruption, political chaos, and ignorance. The other sideof the tunnel means we have left our yesterday’s issues behind, andwe have entered into a beautiful tomorrow.

The policymakers and those responsible for running the affairshave a verbal diarrhea when it comes to just pointing problems, butall of sudden they fall short of brain when it comes to coming upwith cures. They must use their brain faster. And it is when we willwin against the forces of extremism, causes of poverty, and thereasons of illiteracy. If words were enough to cure problems, wewould have been the world’s most developed and advance nation.However, some issues are really genuine. And it takes spleen to talkon them and point them out.

There is perhaps a conscious attempt to keep the general publicignorant and out of the center of designs, which is totally againstdemocratic values. The general public needs to be well-informedabout what the government wants to do. Mohammad Sarwar Dan-ish while speaking to legislators in the Wolesi Jirga (Lower Houseof the Parliament) on Monday said that government officials andinstitutions are breaking the law. Danish is President Ashraf Ghani’sSecond of Vice President.

Law breaking by big wheels of course is a matter of seriousconcern, however, it will be seen how the government comes upwith the solutions. Danish had the spleen to point out a problem.Yet at the same time, they must have the capacity to crack down onthose who misuse their official authority. No one is above the lawand no one must be allowed to humiliate the entire nation by playingwith the law or breaking it.

Danish addressed the parliament when six candidates for theslots of the Independent Commission Overseeing the Implementa-tion of the Constitution were going to be introduced. He urgedlawmakers to approve the candidates so that the commission canstart functioning in time. According to him, the violation at timesmeans the government institutions overstep their mandates beingdefined by the Constitution, and thus some individuals break thelaw. He had called a spade a spade.

And the need is the government must implement the law in letterand spirit. Since it is the job of the commission overseeing theimplementation of the Constitution, therefore, competent, fair anddedicated candidates must be introduced for the commission slots.There must not be appointments on nepotism or any other affilia-tion, lest the commission will lose its creditability.

http://www.afghanistantimes.af

The views and opinions expressed in the articles are those of the author(s)and do not reflect the views or opinions of the Afghanistan Times.

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WEDNESDAY . DECEMBER 02 2015

AFGHANISTANTIMES

Letter to editor will be edited for policy, content and clarity. All letters must have the writer’s name andaddress. You may send your letters to: [email protected]

LETTER

TO

THE

EDITOR

The Modi government’s per-formance has been debated onmany counts since it came topower almost a year and a halfago. While there has been a lotof emphasis on the variousschemes that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has proposed(Jan Dhan Yojana and SwatchBharat, to name a few), his gov-ernment’s role in the upcomingclimate summit in Paris hasbeen considerably under-played. One of the crucial ba-rometers for success on the in-ternational stage for this gov-ernment will be to see how itnavigates the complex con-tours of the summit in Pariswhere India is a significantstakeholder.

Climate change hasplagued the world for decadesnow, and it is time to have acomprehensive internationalagreement to protect the plan-et. There was a lot of optimismsince the precursor to the Par-is summit saw a landmark emis-sions agreement between theUnited States and China. Whilethe Chinese agreed to peakemissions by around 2030 andto cap their annual coal con-sumption through 2020, theAmericans committed to re-ducing greenhouse gas emis-sions by at least 26 percentbelow 2005 levels by 2025.Many observers felt the De-cember 2014 Lima climate talkswere just kicking the can downthe road and were not a suc-cess. However, some did feelthat it brought the countries to-gether on the path of taking re-sponsibility for climate change.

The political equations be-hind a global climate changeregime are significantly complexand thus not much has tran-spired in terms of tangible out-comes since the Kyoto Sum-mit. India’s role in climate sum-mits has always been reflectiveof the view of developing coun-tries. Prior to the summit inLima, India’s stance was un-equivocal on the issue of emis-sions — it was not going toagree to any binding agree-ment, considering India’s percapita carbon emissions were1.7 metric tons in 2010 and re-mained below the global aver-age of 5 metric tons. Accord-ing to the World ResourcesInstitute(WRI), India was atthe bottom for per capita emis-sions among the top 10 emit-ters, with average per capitaemissions of around 1.92tonnes of carbon dioxideequivalent, while that of Cana-da was 24.6 tonnes, the UnitedStates 19.6 tonnes, Russia 15.3tonnes, and China 7.69 tonnesin 2011. In March of this year,India was not willing to agreeto the U.N.’s Intended Nation-ally Determined Contributions

Paris climate change summit:India’s moment to shineThe 2015 Paris Climate Change Conference is India’smoment to play its role on the global stage and Modimight be the right man to make it happen.

BY SRIRAMBALASUBRAMANIAN

(INDC), which wanted coun-tries to commit to a cap on emis-sions (though they have sinceupdated their stance with a newcommitment on INDC, whichincludes reducing India’s emis-sions intensity by 33 to 35 per-cent by 2030 as well as transi-tioning to 40 percent cumula-tive electric power installed ca-pacity to transition to non-fos-sil fuel based energy resourc-es by 2030; emissions intensi-ty is the measure of the rate ofconverting carbon emissions toGDP). The world now views In-dia’s role to be crucial for theParis summit deal to go throughsince India is now the third larg-est emitter after China and theUnited States.

One of the biggest sparksof hope in this regard is thepositive track-record of Modi.He has a stellar track record inpromoting renewable energy inGujarat over his tenure as thechief minister for 12 years. Un-der his leadership, Gujarat builtone of Asia’s largest solarparks

and was one of the pio-neers in commercializing solarpower throughout a state inIndia. His views on climatechange as a subject and India’strack record are at odds witheach other. India had agreed forthe first time at the 2010 Can-cun summit to have voluntarycuts on emissions and afterModi came to power, during theLima summit in Peru, India tooka more aggressivestance

arguing the need fordevelopment for poorer coun-tries.

It is expected that in theParis summit, India will push forthe “climate justice” argumentas promoted by Modi. India’sINDC targets make clear itscommitment to clean energy. Inaddition, the country has alsocommitted to improving itsemissions intensity per unitGDP from 33 to 35 percent by2030; and to create an addition-al carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billiontonnes of carbon dioxidethrough additional tree cover.The key contentious issuesbetween India and the UnitedStates would be on the valua-tion for “adaptation” — thecosts of adaptation that the de-veloped countries need to paydeveloping countries such asIndia to forego their develop-ment initiatives using non re-newable means. India estimatesit might need up to $206 billionfor itself alone from 2015-2030.

Considering the clout thatModi has in the internationalcommunity from his global en-deavors, this is his biggest op-portunity among world leadersto be the catalyst for this land-mark agreement. Probably forthe first time India can take aleading role in driving thechange. Modi’s penchant forclimate change could be the

push that India needs to attainthe next level and his relation-ship with Barack Obama couldprovide the much needed pushfor the climate talks to take it toa substantially progressive lev-el.

This would constitute assymbolic international leader-ship and it can be done in thefollowing steps. First, Modineeds to ensure that the Amer-icans and Chinese are on thesame page on key issues relat-ed to emission controls and re-spective pledges a few weeksbefore the summit; for this hewill have to use his proximityto both Obama and the Chineseleadership. A core goal shouldbe to transfer the verbal com-mitments to on-paper demandsconsidering that reports sug-gest that the Americans mightnot keep to their $100billion

pledge from the lastsummit. In addition, this pro-cess could also raise the pros-pects of an Indo-Chinese-American agreement prior tothe summit. Second, the Indiannegotiators should push theUnited States on the definitionof INDC targets — the devel-oping nations want the devel-oped countries to include miti-gation (interventions to reducethe sources, adaptation financ-ing as well as technical assis-tance available whereas theUnited States wants the scopeto be narrowed down to miti-gation alone). The two coun-tries could reasonably strike abargain and allow two of thethree variables here, so that itis acceptable to both the de-veloped and developing coun-tries. Third, the influence of theAsian bloc could be leveragedto the maximum especiallyaligning with other initiativessuch as the China-led AsianInfrastructure Investment Bankwhich are rivaling global insti-tutions. These factors couldpropel the summit to be a placewhere there can be substantivedialogue and a coherent ap-proach to ensuring that theworld sees a climate deal at last.

To sum up, for the summitto be a success, someone hasto have vision and leadershipthat can drive the process. In-dia, being a key player, needsto execute its vision, keepingits own objectives on the tableyet providing leadership thatcan transform the global narra-tive. In this the Indian primeminister can be the appropriateman to lead the charge consid-ering his rapport with globalleaders. Modi’s best opportu-nity to put India on the globaldecision-making map is right atthe Paris summit. Will his lead-ership inspire his negotiatorsas well as provide a break-through in the summit? Onlythe outcome of the Paris climatesummit 2015 will tell.

Millions of Americans believethat war doesn’t work, that warcannot end terrorism becausewar is terrorism, and that U.S.war-making is breeding a newgeneration of terrorists aroundthe world. Millions also wantthe senseless killing to stopand they realize we must beginwith ending our own military’skilling sprees. Americans wanta new nonviolent response tothe violence in Syria, Iraq, Af-ghanistan and Yemen. Wedon’t want to keep on inspir-ing millions of oppressed peo-ple to join ISIS or Al Qaeda. Wewant to stop the killing, makereparations, and start healingour world.

Al Qaeda and ISIS are theoutcomes of far too many yearsof U.S. warfare in the MiddleEast. The American govern-ment has killed hundreds ofthousands, militarized much ofthe Middle East, funded thePalestinian occupation, andused drones to kill innocent ci-vilians in Afghanistan, Paki-stan, Yemen, Libya, and else-where.

What is needed instead ofcontinued military violence isa new global nonviolent re-sponse. The United Statesshould immediately halt all itsbombing raids and drone at-tacks and pursue ceasefireseverywhere. We should start amassive reparations program toIraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Pales-tine, and every land we havebombed, on a scale greater thanthe Marshall Plan. We shouldcut off all funding to ISIS fromall quarters, and fund nonvio-lent peacemakers throughoutthe Middle East. Creative non-violence should become ournew foreign policy and the pol-icy of every nation.

Of course, America is go-ing to have to spend billions ofdollars on nonviolent options.This money is available for warand should instead be madeavailable for peace. To startpaying for nonviolent solu-tions, we can close all our nu-clear weapons plants, disarmour nuclear arsenal, and allo-cate those many billions of dol-lars to the many problems weface in the world. We havespent some seven trillion dol-lars on nuclear weapons sinceHiroshima. It’s time we insteadspent serious money on non-violent conflict resolution in-stead.

We have definitive proofthat active nonviolence works.Unlike war and violence, stra-tegic nonviolence brings last-ing, peaceful results. Erica Che-noweth and Maria Stephan’sgroundbreaking book, WhyCivil Resistance Works, provesthrough empirical data andstrong scientific analysis thatviolence in response to vio-lence only increases violenceand that nonviolent conflictresolution can bring a morepeaceful and just solutions.

“An eye for an eye only

By JOHN DEAR

makes the whole world blind,”Gandhi famously said. This sadtruth is being played out everyday now. We need to have thecourage to stop the cycle ofviolence and use the methodsof creative strategic nonvio-lence to end this madness andpursue a more nonviolentworld. This is achievable, butit requires that everyone get in-volved in building a globalgrassroots movement of non-violence. We need to stop thewarmakers on all sides who areintent on furthering the cycleof violence and war.

“To retaliate with hate and

bitterness would do nothingbut intensify the hate in theworld,” Martin Luther King, Jr.said. “Along the way of life,someone must have senseenough and morality enough tocut off the chain of hate. Thiscan be done only by project-ing the ethics of love to thecenter of our lives.”

“When evil men plot, goodmen [and women] must plan,”King continued. “When evilmen burn and bomb, good men[and women] must build andbind. When evil men shout uglywords of hatred, good men[and women] must commit

themselves to the glories oflove. When evil men wouldseek to perpetuate an unjuststatus quo, good men [andwomen] must seek to bring intobeing a real order of justice.”

I hope everyone will stoplistening to the voices advo-cating violence and instead lis-ten to the voices of nonvio-lence.

Please join the grassrootsmovements of active nonvio-lence in pursuit of peace be-cause the people of the worlddeserve so much more than vi-olence and war has ever givenus. (Counterpunch)

Twenty-four years ago this month,my wife and I married in Barcelo-na, Spain. Two weeks after ourwedding, flush with internationalidealism, I had the bright idea ofsharing a bit of American culturewith my Spanish in-laws by cook-ing a full Thanksgiving dinner.

Easier said than done. Turkeysare not common in Barcelona. Thelocal butcher shop had to order thebird from a specialty farm inFrance, and it came only partiallyplucked. Our tiny oven was toosmall for the turkey. No one hadever heard of cranberries.

Over dinner, my new familyhad many queries. Some were prac-tical, such as, “What does thisbeast eat to be so filled withbread?” But others were philo-sophical: “Should you celebratethis holiday even if you don’t feelgrateful?”

I stumbled over this last ques-tion. At the time, I believed oneshould feel grateful in order to givethanks. To do anything else seemedsomehow dishonest or fake — akind of bourgeois, saccharine in-sincerity that one should reject. It’sbest to be emotionally authentic,right? Wrong. Building the best lifedoes not require fealty to feelingsin the name of authenticity, butrather rebelling against negativeimpulses and acting right evenwhen we don’t feel like it. In anutshell, acting grateful can actu-ally make you grateful.

For many people, gratitude isdifficult, because life is difficult.Even beyond deprivation and de-pression, there are many ordinarycircumstances in which gratitudedoesn’t come easily. Beyond rot-ten circumstances, some peopleare just naturally more gratefulthan others. A 2014 article in thejournal Social Cognitive and Affec-tive Neuroscience identified a vari-ation in a gene (CD38) associatedwith gratitude. Some people sim-ply have a heightened genetic ten-dency to experience, in the re-searchers’ words, “global relation-ship satisfaction, perceived part-ner responsiveness and positiveemotions [particularly love].” Thatis, those relentlessly positive peo-ple you know who seem gratefulall the time may simply be mu-tants. But we are more than slavesto our feelings, circumstances andgenes. Evidence suggests that wecan actively choose to practicegratitude — and that doing so rais-es our happiness. This is not justself-improvement hokum. For ex-ample, researchers in one 2003study randomly assigned onegroup of study participants tokeep a short weekly list of thethings they were grateful for, whileother groups listed hassles or neu-

By Arthur C. Brooks tral events. Ten weeks later, thefirst group enjoyed significantlygreater life satisfaction than theothers. Other studies have shownthe same pattern and lead to thesame conclusion.

Expressing gratitudeHow does all this work? One

explanation is that acting happy,regardless of feelings, coaxes one’sbrain into processing positive emo-tions. In one famous 1993 experi-ment, researchers asked humansubjects to smile forcibly for 20seconds while tensing facial mus-cles, notably the muscles aroundthe eyes called the orbicularis ocu-li (which create “crow’s feet”).They found that this action stim-ulated brain activity associatedwith positive emotions.

If grinning for an uncomfort-ably long time like a scary lunaticisn’t your cup of tea, try express-ing gratitude instead. According toresearch published in the journalCerebral Cortex, gratitude stimu-lates the hypothalamus (a key partof the brain that regulates stress)and the ventral tegmental area (partof our “reward circuitry” that pro-duces the sensation of pleasure).

It’s science, but also commonsense: Choosing to focus on goodthings makes you feel better thanfocusing on bad things. As myteenage kids would say, “Thankyou, Captain Obvious.” In theslightly more elegant language ofthe Stoic philosopher Epictetus,“He is a man of sense who doesnot grieve for what he has not, butrejoices in what he has.”

In addition to building our ownhappiness, choosing gratitude canalso bring out the best in thosearound us. Researchers at the Uni-versity of Southern Californiashowed this in a 2011 study ofpeople with high power but lowemotional security (think of theworst boss you’ve ever had). Theresearch demonstrated that whentheir competence was questioned,the subjects tended to lash outwith aggression and personal den-igration. When shown gratitude,however, they reduced the badbehaviour. That is, the best wayto disarm an angry interlocutor iswith a warm “thank you”.

I learned this lesson 10 yearsago. At the time, I was an academ-ic social scientist toiling in profes-sorial obscurity, writing technicalarticles and books that would beread by a few dozen people atmost. Soon after securing tenure,however, I published a book aboutcharitable giving that, to my utterbefuddlement, gained a popularaudience. Overnight, I started re-ceiving feedback from total strang-ers who had seen me on televisionor heard me on the radio.

One afternoon, I received anunsolicited email. “Dear Professor

Brooks,” it began, “You are afraud.” That seemed pretty un-promising, but I read on anyway.My correspondent made, in bru-tal detail, a case against everychapter of my book. As I mademy way through the long email,however, my dominant thoughtwasn’t resentment. It was, “Heread my book!” And so I wrotehim back — rebutting a few ofhis points, but mostly just ex-pressing gratitude for his time andattention. I felt good writing it,and his near-immediate responsecame with a warm and friendlytone.

Does expressing gratitudehave any downside? Actually, itmight: There is some researchsuggesting it could make you fat.A new study in the Journal ofConsumer Psychology finds evi-dence that people begin to cravesweets when they are asked toexpress gratitude. If this findingholds up, we might call it thePumpkin Pie Paradox.

The costs to your weight not-withstanding, the prescription forall of us is clear: Make gratitude aroutine, independent of how youfeel — and not just once in a while,but all year long.

There are concrete strategiesthat each of us can adopt. First,start with “interior gratitude,” thepractice of giving thanks private-ly. Having a job that involves giv-ing frequent speeches — not al-ways to friendly audiences — Ihave tried to adopt the mantra inmy own work of being grateful tothe people who come to see me.

Next, move to “exterior grat-itude”, which focuses on publicexpression. Psychologist MartinSeligman, father of the fieldknown as “positive psychology”,gives some practical suggestionson how to do this. In his best seller“Authentic Happiness”, he rec-ommends that readers systemat-ically express gratitude in lettersto loved ones and colleagues. Adisciplined way to put this intopractice is to make it as routineas morning coffee. Write two shortemails each morning to friends,family or colleagues, thankingthem for what they do.

Finally, be grateful for use-less things. It is relatively easy tobe thankful for the most impor-tant and obvious parts of life — ahappy marriage and healthy kids.But truly happy people findways to give thanks for the little,insignificant trifles.

Be honest: When was the lasttime you were grateful for thespots on a trout? More serious-ly, think of the small, uselessthings you experience — the smellof autumn in the air, the fragmentof a song that reminds you ofwhen you were a kid. Give thanks.

According to a report published in Daily Afghanistan Times, 300,000 acres of land has been grabbed in eastern Nangarharprovince illegally. Land grabbing is considered as a hurdle before implementation of uplift projects. Most of the governmentlands allocated for green areas, state buildings, schools and other welfare institutions were grabbed by a number of influentialfigures, warlords, and government officials.

The government should take serious action against the land grabbers. It should make public the names of those involved inland grabbing so that people will know who they are. The government should also introduce the land grabbersto the judicial organizations and should conduct a drive to recover the grabbed lands.

Obaidullah Khan, Deh Afghanan, Kabul

Curb land grabbing

WEDNESDAY . DECEMBER 02, 2015

AFGHANISTANTIMES

Unaccompa-nied childrefugees fleeBurundiNduta Camp, Tanzania - A brightpurple bus roars into the dustycompound carrying scores of Bu-rundians who have left their coun-try to seek refuge in neighbouringTanzania. Tit-for-tat attacks be-tween the government and oppo-sition have escalated over the re-cent post-election months,prompting thousands of people toflee. Among the new arrivals es-caping the daily violence and ar-riving at Nduta Camp in remotewestern Tanzania are 18-year-oldFulpence Ndikumwenayo and hiscousin, 16-year-old Eliose Kabule.Afraid of being recruited into theImbonerakure, the violence-proneyouth wing of the ruling party, theydecided to leave their home and tofollow their older brothers acrossthe border.

Over the past seven monthsof a crisis sparked by PresidentPierre Nkurunziza's controversialdecision to run for a third term,thousands of minors have takenrisky, unaccompanied journeysbecause they are afraid to stay inBurundi.

New arrivals from Burundistep off the bus, having been col-lected by humanitarian agenciesfrom the border [Tendai Marima/Al Jazeera] Join them or run

The boys explain how theyleft in the night after being askedto join the Imbonerakure. It was atwo-day bus journey from theirrural village in Rumonge Province,in the southwest of the country,to the eastern boundary of Burun-di. They felt they had no choicebut to leave, says Ndikumwenayo,a high school pupil.

"We were followed home bythe Imbonerakure. There were 10of them carrying sticks and theyasked us to join them. We refused,but they continued," he recalls.

"As we arrived they stopped,but they promised that even if weleft they would find us and makeus join them. We had to run awaylike our brothers."

Staring down at his yellowsandals, Kabule recalls how thegroup of youngsters set up make-shift road blocks to target suspect-ed opposition supporters in thevillage of Kilama.

"The Imbonerakure are thesoldiers in our village. They standon the streets beating people withsticks if they think they supportthe opposition. They don't careabout your tribe, but whether yousupport the government's party ornot," Kabule explains.

"We saw them hitting peoplemany times, so we decided to fol-low many others who have runaway because the Imbonerakurecome looking for them," he adds.

Although the Imbonerakurereject allegations that they havecommitted abuses and claim theyare simply a youth wing of thepresident's National Council forthe Defense of Democracy - Forc-es for the Defense of Democracyparty, the UN has described themas a "militia". International humanrights groups accuse the Imboner-akure of being a key force in theongoing violence that has killed atleast 240 people. New refugee ar-rivals queue for food at Ndutacamp [Tendai Marima/Al Jazeera]A perilous journey Carrying littlemore than a small green rucksackwith a faded Arsenal Football Clublogo and a plastic bag containing afew belongings, the two cousinstried to escape. But on their way,they say, they were ambushed bypeople they believe to have beenmembers of the pro-governmentyouth group.

The journey is often a danger-ous one - for adults and childrenalike. Many must walk for daysthrough the forests. Some are at-tacked and some stopped fromleaving.

Athens, Greece - Clothes aredraped from the windows of theonce abandoned Elliniko OlympicGames venue that now serves as atemporary residence for refugeesand migrants on the outskirts ofthe Greek capital.

A steady staccato of cheers andarguments rises from the footballfield, where a group of young menfrom Iran and Morocco kick a ballall day long as they wait for thenext chance to continue their jour-ney through Europe.

Forty-five-year-old AbedineKhany Kalareh sits in the bleach-ers with his hands crossed on hislap. Wearing shorts and a T-shirtdespite the chilly weather, he re-calls being soaked as it poured withrain while he waited for seven daysat the Greek-Macedonian borderhoping to pass.

Kalareh was one of more than100 Iranians, Moroccans and Al-gerians who were bussed back tothe Elliniko centre over the week-end. Unsure if Macedonia willopen its borders to them again,they are now stuck in limbo.

Forty-five-year-old AbedineKhany Kalareh is from Iran [SorinFurcoi/Al Jazeera]

"It was very cold outside," he

says. "I cannot blame the Mace-donian police for not letting uspass, but they were very aggres-sive."

With up to 2,500 peoplestranded at the Idomeni bordersince Macedonia announced itsclosure to certain nationalities lastweek, several clashed with Mace-donian border police on Saturdaywhen officers began erecting a metalfence along the border.

Croatia, Serbia and Sloveniahave imposed similar border cross-ing restrictions.

Constance Theisen, the hu-manitarian affairs director for Doc-tors Without Borders (MSF), saysthat "many people have been forcedto sleep outside" because the campinfrastructure in Idomeni can onlysupport between 1,300 and 1,500people.

"Ever since the closure therehave been daily fights betweengroups of refugees and migrantsand some clashes with Mace-donian police," she explains.

Related: EU reaches $3bn dealwith Turkey to curb refugee crisis

Macedonian President GjorgjeIvanov said the move was designedto prevent "tensions" betweenMacedonians on the one hand, and

refugees and migrants on the oth-er. Ivanov claimed that any morethan 2,000 refugees crossingthrough the country at any givenmoment would cause "permanentand direct threats and risks for na-tional security".

As borders tighten and closeacross Eastern Europe, only thosewho can prove citizenship of Syr-ia, Iraq or Afghanistan are allowedto continue on their way to seekasylum in Western Europe.

Tens of thousands of peoplefleeing from African and SoutheastAsian countries have been dubbed"economic migrants" and deniedpassage.

Human Rights Watch has saidthat the four Balkan countries areexercising 'collective discrimina-tion' by denying those from cer-tain countries access to asylum-seeking procedures [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]

According to Human RightsWatch, by effectively denyingpeople access to asylum-seekingprocedures, the four Balkans coun-tries are exercising "collective dis-crimination".

'I'd rather kill myself than goback "I don't know why they saywe are 'economic migrants'," says

Kalareh, who is not married andhas no children. "We are fleeing thegovernment."

Coming from Sarpol-e Zahab,the capital of the largely KurdishKermanshah province, Kalareh isa member of the Yarsani religiousminority. Situated in western Iranand eastern Iraq, the Yarsanis areestimated to number between half-a-million and a-million.

Putting his fate in the hands ofsmugglers and risking his life cross-ing borders and waterways, hemade the trip to Europe with thehope of attaining asylum in the UK,where he studied during the 1980s.

"I went back to Iran hopingthat the situation would be bet-ter," he says. "It has only gottenworse. I had no option except toleave Iran.

"I had a job - I am not comingto Europe for a job," he continues."Every family in my region has hada relative executed or put in jail."

Earlier this month, 36 humanrights organisations, includingAmnesty International and HumanRights Watch, issued a joint state-ment urging United Nations Gen-eral Assembly member states totake action on Iran's human rightsrecord.

The groups cited Iran's execu-tion of at least 830 people betweenJanuary 1 and November 1, as wellas "members of ethnic and religiousminorities languishing in arbitrarydetention".

"For us, we are feeling religiousoppression in Iran. I'd rather killmyself than go back," saysKalareh. "We accept the risk ofdrowning or dying on the trip, butthe risk in Iran is more."

'Do you know if the borderwill open?'

Sina, a 26-year-old who didn'tprovide his last name for fear ofhis family's safety, holds his wife'shand as he recalls converting toChristianity while on a trip toAustralia three years ago.

Children play in Elliniko Ref-ugee Temporary Centre [SorinFurcoi/Al Jazeera]

As they sit in the makeshiftdining hall of the venue, images ofrefugees pouring across the borderflash on the muted television be-hind the couple. The centre is qui-et save for the echoes of childrenplaying in the next room.

"We don't know anythingabout the border," he says. "Doyou know if it's open? Will it evenopen again?"

Joined by his wife's brother,the couple left Tehran two weeksago. "Iranians are not hungry," Sinasays. "We are not going to Europefor money. We want freedom, andwe have political and religiousproblems from the Iranian govern-ment."

Estimated to number between300,000 and 370,000, IranianChristians are recognised as a reli-gious minority by the Iranian gov-ernment.

After braving the mountainousborder region between Iran andTurkey, Sina and the others took aboat to the Greek island of Les-bos, a transit hub for refugees andmigrants en route to Europe.

But, when they arrived in Ido-meni, Macedonian border guardstold them that the border wasclosed to Iranians.

"We slept outside in the coldweather and rain for two days,"says Sina. "The UN didn't haveenough blankets or tents for us, sowe slept outside."

Sina describes how they hadto throw their suitcases overboardas their dinghy boat filled withwater on the way to Lesbos. Thatis why they have been wearing thesame clothes for the last week, he

explains. "I at least want to getclothes for my wife - I am fine, Idon't need any - but the UNHCRrepresentative said we have towait."

'Tell Macedonia that we justwant to pass through'

Twenty-nine-year-old Mehdileft Iran three weeks ago. Follow-ing half-a-dozen cousins andfriends, he was the only person inhis group who did not make itacross the Macedonian border be-fore it was sealed.

"I was waiting [in Athens] toreceive money at the WesternUnion," he remembers. By the timehe made it to Idomeni, however, itwas too late. "Tell Macedonia wedon't want to stay there," he says."Tell Macedonia we just want topass through."

Due to "some problems fromthe government" for activism-re-lated reasons,

Mehdi says he was forced towork in black market jobs becausehe was informally barred fromemployment in Tehran.

Declining to elaborate on hissituation, he simply adds: "Irani-ans are good people. We don'twant to make problems in Europe.We just want a safe place."

By Abdul Hayee Aryan

On December 2, 1973, midnight4:00 am, a 66-year old man wassleeping in his room at Sayyid Ja-mal-ud-Din Afghan Road Quetta.On that ill-fated night, someone inthe street was calling, “is SamadKhan there? Samad Khan woke upand said, “Yes I am here.” The nextmoment two hand grenades werehurled into his room through theventilator opened to main road. Thegrenade attack caused him seriousinjuries. He succumbed to his in-juries in hospital. Physically, Ab-dul Samad Khan Achakzai died buthis political philosophy survivedand eventually turned into a na-tional movement. It was not thebomb that kept him alive but hisprolonged commitment to hiscause. Cause…? Which cause?

Much has been publishedabout the struggle of Nelson Man-dela and his 27 years rigorous lifein prison. Unlike him, Pashtuns’Nelson Mandela didn’t remain inthe limelight for his greatest cause.Therefore, very little has been pub-lished about the legendry leaderAbdul Samad Khan Achakzai akaKhan Shaheed who spent morethan 30 years in prisons as a polit-ical prisoner both during BritishRaj of India and after the partitionof India in 1947. He was jailed fora longer period in Pakistan wherehe was awarded life sentence withrigorous punishment in the epochof General (R) M. Ayub Khan.

Abdul Samad Khan Achakzaiwas born on 7th July 1907 in amighty Khan family in Qilla Ab-dullah Khan, a district of the thenPishin, emerged as a sign of reliefboth for his Pashtuns in the thenBritish Baluchistan and Baluchs ofthe ‘Kalat State’. He is credited asthe pioneer of politics in the thenKalat states of Baluch areas andthe present political awareness inBaluchistan is the outcome ofKhan’s endeavors for awakeningthe area’s people 70 years ago. In1929, his formal political careerbegan when he went to Lahore toattend the annual sessions of Con-gress, Beharat Loksaba and otherpolitical parties. Where he partic-ipated in these meetings, metmany Indian leaders, shared hisviews and listened to their pointof views. He enlightened himselfwith new and innovative national-istic ideas for the emancipation ofthe oppressed Pashtuns of Indiathat finally led him to awake hisnation. On his return to home, hestarted preaching awareness aboutthe slavery of his people but wasarrested by the British governmentin 1930 and sent him to ‘Muchjail’ for two years. Here starts hisjourney as a political prisoner.

After the release, he went toDelhi on the eve of the first roundtable conference where he metMahatma Gandhi and remainedGandhi’s special guest for fifteendays. Khan Shaheed was in Hind,when the great Afghan leader BachaKhan also came to the conference.The two leaders met for the firsttime and lived there together forsome days.

Khan Shaheed was a very keenand astute leader. He struggled forthe rights of Baluch, Pashtun, Sin-dhi and other nations in the coun-try. His endeavors bore fruits andfirst united Pashtun-Baloch polit-ical party was established. Theparty was named ‘Anjuman-i-Wa-tan’. He was unanimously electedthe president of the party. Anju-man-i-Watan’ struggled for the na-tional integrity, development, pro-vincial autonomy, knocking downof the so-called tribal heads Jirga

system, and chronic Sardari sys-tem, Frontier Crimes Regulation(FCR). On the call of Anjuman-i-Watan, Bacha Khan visited theBritish Baluchistan and held pub-lic meetings in different districts.Anjuman-i- Watan remained inde-pendent and nominally affiliateditself with Indian National Con-gress in 1942 on the condition thatthe Congress will also struggle andvoice for the Pashtuns’ rights.

On July 3, 1947, Lord Mountbatten’s transfer-of power-planwas announced and Hindustan wasdivided into Pakistan and India.Pashtuns’ political struggle andopinion was totally overlooked andthe British Raj announced that thefuture of NWFP (now KhyberPakhtunkhawa) would be decidedby the so-called referendum whilethe future of British Baluchistan(Southern Pakhtunkhaw) would bedecided by the Quetta MunicipalCommittee and Shahi Jirga, a loyalassembly consisted of British gov-ernment privileged Sardars, Nawaband Khans to join India or Paki-stan. The Pashtuns of the region—stretching from Chitral to Bolan,were scapegoated as there was nothird option of “a separate state“for the Pashtuns. This biased at-titude of the Indian National Con-gress and Lord Mount Battan irri-tated Pashtuns of the region andmillions of Pashtuns were readyto take up arms for their freedom.

After the partition, the newBritish imperial experiment—Pa-kistan, and the announcement offreedom Act of 1947, all the tribalareas got liberation in a sui generisway and the ‘Act’ also caused thenullification of the treaty of Du-rand as under international law trea-ties are not transferable to a suc-cessor state. Moreover, Pakistanin no way fits in the definition of asuccessor state as it was newlycarved out. With the creation ofPakistan, for Pashtuns, it was justa change of masters. Earlier, theBrits were the masters and aftercoming of Pakistan into existence,the power went into the hands ofPashtuns’ perpetual rivals. Theymounted atrocities on Pashtuns tothe extent that they left Brits milesbehind.

Abdul Samad Khan Achakzaiand Bacha Khan witnessed a new

wave of oppression. This time itwas from their Muslim brethrenin the new Islamic state. Khan Sha-heed and Bacha Khan were imme-diately arrested and thousands ofPashtuns were bulleted in Babaraand workers of the non-violencenational movement were sent be-hind the bars. The oppressiondidn’t stop here. They abolishedthe constituent assembly in 1954and put an end to the provincialstatus of British Baluchistan,Sindh, NWFP (Khyber Pash-toonkhawa) and Baluchistan stateUnion and at last the disreputableOne Unit was formed, controlledby Lahore. When they were form-ing ‘One Unit’, Khan Shaheed wasin prison. Yet, he continued hisstruggle from the jail for the unifi-cation of a united and autonomousprovince from Chatral to Bolanunder the name of “Pashtunistan”.

In 1956 Khan Shaheed and theleaders of all other oppressed na-tions of the East and West Paki-stan formed a new party with thename of “National Party”. NationalParty was formed after the mergerof following parties. Waror Pash-tun of Khan Abdul Samad KhanShaheed. Khuda-i-Khidmatgar ofBacha Khan

Sindh Hari Party of HaiderBakhsh Jatoi

Sindh Awami party of J.MSayyid

Azad Pakistan Party of MianIftikhar-u-Din of Punjab

Later, Awami League of Maul-ana Bashani was merged into Na-tional Party and the party was re-named as National Awami Party.However after some years theNAP was divided into two groupson some political differences. NAP(Wali Khan Group) and NAP(Maulana Bashani group).

In 1970, General (R) YehyahKhan announced the abolition ofOne-Unite and restoration of theprovinces to its prior status. More-over, in April 1970 new provinceswere formed but unfortunately, allthe Pashtun areas in Pakistan wereimperialistically kept divided intofour parts while the British Bal-uchistan (not the present Bal-uchistan) was merged into Kalatstates and formed the present prov-ince of Baluchistan.

The flaccid and distant behav-

ior of the Indian National Congress,Pakistani political parties andNAP, Khan Shaheed reached atthe conclusion that Pashtun nationshould have a separate politicalmovement “|Khpal Qam KhpalaParty” to redress the national ques-tion of Pashtun. In July 1970, somePashtun leaders called a grand Jir-ga in Hana area of Quetta wherethey formed a new political partyby the name of National AwamiParty Pakhtunkhawa. The word‘Pakhtunkhawa’ was for the firsttime in Pakistani introduced byKhan Shaheed. Abdul Samad KhanAchakzai was elected as the chair-man of the new party, unanimous-ly.

Khan Abdul Samad Khan Sha-heed devoted his entire life to thePashtun national movement. He

Abdul Samad Khan, Bacha Khan and Maulana Bashani: File photo was the pioneer of modern Pash-tun nationalism by introducing

The concept of ‘Khpal QamKhpala Party’.

Khan was a versatile and un-tiring grit leader. He was an activepolitician, a journalist and a writ-er. During his 66 years of life, hespent 33 years of his precious lifein different prisons, formed polit-ical parties eg. Anjuman-i- Watan,Waror Pashtun and National Awa-mi Party Pakhtunkhaw to defendthe suppressed Afghan Pashtuns,and voice their rights. He alsolaunched many newspapers andmagazines including “Istiqlaal” andthe monthly ‘Pashto’. Khan Sha-heed also translated many booksinto Pashto including Tarjaman-ul--Quran by Indian Muslim leaderMaulana Abdul Kalam Azad,‘Gulistan-i-Saadi by Sheikh Saadi,and ‘Future of Freedom’ by Dot-

son Carto. He also wrote his auto-biography titled “Zama ZhwandAo Zhawandun”. He created newand easy Pashto-alphabet titled“Pashto leek dod” and compiled adictionary of Pashto. Khan Sha-heed was a multilingual. He learnedseven languages during his stay invarious prisons.

Besides his political struggle,much research is needed to be doneon his contributions.

The thoughts, deviation, sac-rifices of the great leader KhanShaheed are still bearing fruits andmillions of his followers are unit-ed under the leadership of Meh-mud Khan Achakzai. Pashtuns arestill oppressed. Achakzai’s vision-ary politics and commitment looksto be the only hope to put a fullstop of Pashutns’s miseries un-leashed by Pakistan—the legacyof British-India.

Abdul Samad Khan, Bacha Khan, and his elder brother Dr. Khan : File photo

WEDNESDAY . DECEMBER 02, 2015

AFGHANISTANTIMES

IMF approvesChina's yuanas elite reservecurrency

The International Monetary Fundwelcomed China’s yuan into itselite reserve currency basket onMonday, recognizing the ascen-dance of the Asian power in theglobal economy.

The yuan, also known as therenminbi, will join the U.S. dollar,euro, Japanese yen and Britishpound next year in the basket ofcurrencies the IMF uses as an in-ternational reserve asset.

IMF Managing DirectorChristine Lagarde called the deci-sion “an important milestone in theintegration of the Chinese econo-my into the global financial sys-tem.”

“It is also a recognition of theprogress that the Chinese authori-ties have made in the past years inreforming China’s monetary andfinancial systems.”

The decision by the IMF ex-ecutive board solidifies China’sambition to see the government-controlled yuan achieve global sta-tus as one of the world’s top cur-rencies alongside the United States,Europe and Japan.

China, the world’s second-larg-est economy, asked last year forthe yuan to be added to the Fund’sSpecial Drawing Rights basket.

But, while already meeting theSDR criteria for being widelyused, as recently as August theFund considered the currency tootightly controlled to qualify.

However, IMF staff expertsin early November said that Beijinghad taken the steps necessary forthe yuan to be called “freely us-able”, opening the way for Mon-day’s decision.

Lagarde said the yuan’s inclu-sion in the basket was expected tohelp China open up further to theworld economy.

“The continuation and deep-ening of these efforts will bringabout a more robust internationalmonetary and financial system,which in turn will support thegrowth and stability of China andthe global economy,” she said.

The unexpected devaluation ofthe yuan last August received goodmarks from the IMF as it expand-ed the currency’s movements basedon market forces.

In addition, Beijing lastWednesday announced that an ini-tial group of foreign central banks

has been allowed to enter the Chi-nese currency market, which like-ly will promote further interna-tionalization of the yuan in globaltrading.

IMF members can use theSpecial Drawing Rights basket toobtain currencies to meet balance-of-payments needs. The Fund alsoissues its crisis loans - crucial tostruggling economies like Greece -valued in SDRs.

The yuan’s entry into the bas-ket takes effect on October 1,2016.Chinese challenges

But China is expected to facechallenges with the yuan includedas an IMF reserve currency.

It puts the Bank of China un-der pressure to provide moretransparency in line with its peers,such as the Federal Reserve andthe European Central Bank.

“If part of their policy is togradually liberalize the capital ac-count and the financial sector, thisis setting in motion a process ofopening up that cannot be re-versed,” Angel Udibe, a financialmarkets expert at the Peterson In-stitute for International Econom-ics, told AFP.

“It really make the case athome that they need to continuewith the process of liberalization.”

The composition and weight-ings of the SDRs basket are re-viewed every five years. The lasttime the currencies in the basketwere changed was in 2000, whenthe euro replaced the German deut-schemark and the French franc.

The value of the SDR is basedon a weighted average of the cur-rencies in the basket. With the in-clusion of the yuan, the dollar’sweight in the new basket will belittle changed from its current 41.7percent. The euro will be 30.9 per-cent, the yuan 10.9 percent, theyen 8.3 percent, and the pound 8.1percent. The inclusion of the yuancame with the support of the Unit-ed States, the IMF’s largest share-holder.

Until recently Washington ac-cused China of keeping the yuanartificially low to gain a trade ad-vantage. But in October the U.S.Treasury Department softened itstone, saying that after Beijing’smoves to loosen controls, the yuan“remains below its appropriatemedium-term valuation.”

Solar plane raises $20m to resumerecord round-the-world tripThe Swiss solar-powered planewhose record-setting, round-the-world flight was put on hold inJuly by weather and battery trou-ble has raised the $20 million itneeds to finish the trip, co-founderand pilot Andre Borschberg saidon Monday.

Borschberg, at the United Na-tions’ Paris climate summit withco-pilot Bertrand Piccard, saidbackers that include chemical mak-er Solvay, Swiss lift maker Schin-dler, power grid maker ABB andSwatch’s Omega brand, made con-tributions.

Borschberg and Piccard hadhoped to finish the 35,000 km(21,748 mile), multi-leg circumnav-igation in 2015, leaving from AbuDhabi in March.

First, crosswinds in Chinacaused weeks of delays. Then,when its batteries overheated dur-ing a record-breaking five-day, five-night Pacific crossing from Japanto Hawaii in July, the plane wasforced to winter inside a hangar atKalaeloa.

“The financial side is undercontrol,” Borschberg, a formerSwiss Air Force fighter pilot andco-founder of Solar Impulse, toldReuters.

“We are all very focused andlooking forward to continuing nextyear,” said the 62-year-old, whoflies solo, alternating between pit-stops with Piccard at the controlsof the single-seat plane.

Solar Impulse’s budget since2004 is now some $170 million.The plane has 17,248 solar cells, awider wing-span than a Boeing 747and weighs as much as a five-seat-er family car.

Borschberg said he plans tostart test flights around March and,barring obstacles, the 2,500-mileleg from Hawaii to North Americastarts in April, when daylight

hours are sufficient to recharge thebatteries.

West Coast stops have beenleft open to accommodate poten-tially fickle weather. Vancouver, aswell as San Francisco, Los Ange-les or Phoenix are all candidates,Borschberg said.

They also reckon on a U.S.

Midwest pit-stop followed byNew York’s John F. Kennedy Air-port, before crossing to either Eu-rope or North Africa and, finally,Abu Dhabi.

“We know we can do it, but itremains a challenge,” Borschbergsaid. He hopes a year’s delay willnot undermine the message he aims

to spread at the Paris climate talks:deploying renewable energy tech-nology will help stop climatechange.

“That’s what we used to makeit feasible to fly day and night withthe sun only,” he said. “That’swhat we certainly could implementon a larger scale.”

LONDON/JAKARTA : Manu-facturing activity deterioratedacross much of Asia in Novemberand while European factories re-ports improved, the region strug-gled to gather momentum.

Business surveys on Tuesdayshowed few signs of vigour acrosstrade-reliant Asia, apart from Ja-pan, with sluggish demand at homeand abroad forcing manufacturersfrom China to Indonesia to throt-tle back production, cut sellingprices and shed more jobs.

Euro zone manufacturinggrowth picked up to a 19-monthhigh in November but the pace wasstill relatively modest and withfirms cutting prices for a thirdmonth, expectations for furthereasing from the European CentralBank on Thursday will solidify.

"The deal has been sealed forthe ECB, markets have moved af-ter the very strong hints and onedata point wouldn't change its mindat this stage," said Jennifer McKe-own at Capital Economics. "Theseparticular data anyway aren't all

that encouraging. There is just noreal inflationary pressure."

As part of its battle to boostinflation - nowhere near the Bank's2 percent target ceiling at just 0.1percent - the central bank has beenbuying 60 billion euros ($63.55billion) a month of mostly govern-ment bonds since March.

Official data showed euro zoneunemployment fell slightly morethan expected in October and Mar-kit's final manufacturing Purchas-ing Managers' Index rose to 52.8in November, above the 50 markthat separates growth from con-traction but not vigorous given theamount of stimulus.

With firms cutting prices for athird month, there was little toconflict with the findings in a Reu-ters poll last week that suggestedthe ECB would expand and extendits quantitative easing programmewhen policymakers meet on Thurs-day. [ECB/INT]

The ECB is also highly likelyto cut its deposit rate further intonegative territory, effectively in-

creasing the amount banks have topay to park money overnight.

Just as global policymakersand investors are factoring in thatextra easing from the ECB, theyare bracing themselves for the firsthike in U.S. rates since 2006, whichmost analysts see coming at theFederal Reserve's Dec. 15-16 meet-ing.

British manufacturing growthslowed last month from the rapidpace recorded in October. And inthe latest in a long line of relative-ly upbeat data, a similar surveydue from the U.S. later on Tues-day is expected to show a slightpick-up.

There was little in Asia's sur-vey numbers to cheer about."Asia's economy looks decidedlywobbly going into year-end. Ex-ports continue to struggle amidsluggish demand in the West andother emerging markets," saidHSBC economist Frederic Neu-mann. China's official PMI fell fora fourth month in a row in No-vember, hitting its lowest since Au-

gust 2012, as new export ordersdropped for the 14th month. A pri-vate survey, the Caixin/MarkitChina PMI, which focuses on smalland mid-sized companies, edged upto its highest reading since June,but still pointed to a ninth monthof contraction. However, a pick-up in services activity in a similarofficial survey offered some hopethe sector would offset persistentweakness in "old economy"growth drivers such as manufac-turing. Facing what could be itsslowest pace of economic expan-sion in a quarter-century, China hasslashed interest rates six times inthe past year as part of sweepingstimulus efforts, and more easingis expected next year. While themoves may have reduced the riskof a so-called hard landing for theeconomy, so far they have yet toshow signs of re-energising de-mand. "With soft growth momen-tum and deflation pressures creep-ing up, we expect the authoritiesto further ease monetary policy andcontinue to implement an expan-

sionary fiscal policy," said econo-mists Li-Gang Liu and Louis Lamat ANZ bank. Meanwhile, in thefirst indication of how Asian tradeperformed in November, SouthKorea's exports fell 4.7 percentfrom a year earlier, the 11th monthof contraction. There was muchbetter news out of Japan, wheremanufacturing firms, possibly aid-ed by a weak yen, may be produc-ing enough to lift the world's third-largest economy out of recession.Manufacturing production expand-ed by its fastest pace in 20 monthsin November as new orders pickedup, according to the Markit/NikkeiJapan manufacturing PMI. Withfinancial markets on edge ahead ofany repercussions should the Fedgo ahead and raise rates, Asian cen-tral banks are for the most partstaying pat for now while hintingthere is room to ease further if con-ditions do not improve next year.Both Australia's Reserve Bank andthe Reserve Bank of India heldrates on Tuesday in widely-ex-pected moves.

ATHENS: Europe's eurozone bail-out institution has approved a 2.72billion euro ($2.88 billion) dis-bursement to recapitalize Greece'sailing Piraeus Bank.

The amount is part of 10 bil-lion euros set aside for Greek banksunder the country's third interna-tional bailout, which was agreedon this year.

The fund, called EuropeanStability Mechanism, said Tues-day that Piraeus had covered about2.2 billion euros of a 4.93 billioneuro shortfall identified during re-cent stress tests on Greek banks,and that the stability mechanismwould provide the remainingamount.

ESM head Klaus Regling saidGreece had "cleared an importanthurdle by securing sufficient inter-est for the recapitalization amongprivate investors."

The ESM said the release ofthe remaining 7.28 billion euros forthe banks "will be decided on acase by case basis."

LONDON : Crude oil prices stead-ied on Tuesday as the dollar eased,but with OPEC widely expectedto stick to its output target thisweek, concern about oversupplyremained in focus.

The European Central Bankwill announce its latest policy de-cision on Thursday, OPEC's deci-sion on output is due on Fridayalong with U.S. monthly jobs num-bers, meaning oil prices have beenhemmed into a range of no morethan $4 for the last week.

Brent crude futures were up 4cents at $44.65 a barrel by 1143GMT, while U.S. WTI crude fu-tures were up 13 cents at $41.78 abarrel.

Both fell by around 10 per-cent in November.

"Crude is entering a third weekof trading almost unchanged on aweekly basis. Towards the end ofthe week, we have the ECB, the(jobs) number and the OPEC meet-ing, so that is going to really setthe outlook for the first quarter (of2016)," said Olivier Jakob, an ana-lyst at consultant Petromatrix.

"There is a lot of waiting be-fore those macro inputs are out ofthe way and, until then, it's a bitdifficult to have a strong directionalbias," he said.

The ECB is widely expectedto further loosen euro zone mone-tary policy, while the U.S. econo-my is expected to have added morejobs, albeit at a slightly more mod-est rate in November.

Meanwhile, the dollar eased byaround 0.2 percent against a bas-ket of currencies, which tends tomake it cheaper for non-U.S. buy-ers to snap up dollar-denominatedassets such as oil or gold.

The premium of Brent crudeoil over Dubai crude is now at itslargest since July 2014, meaningoil priced off the North Sea bench-mark is less attractive to Asianbuyers.

OPEC's biggest producer Sau-di Arabia, which heavily influenc-es the group's policy, is widelyexpected to keep output steadydespite declining prices.

OPEC made a historic decisionlast year to keep pumping oil toprotect its market share againstU.S. shale drillers and other pro-ducers, which resulted in a glut thathas cut the value of a barrel of oilin half. "There is a real risk that we

could see lower prices," said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMCMarkets in Sydney. "The prospects for demand growth are not largeenough to go into the supply overhang." Hedge funds cut their bets ona rise in U.S. crude to a more than five-year low, on the back of concernthat U.S. output is not falling fast enough to offset global oversupply.

Climate action plans ofpoorest nations to cost $1tThe world’s 48 poorest countries will need to find around a trilliondollars between 2020 and 2030 to achieve their plans to tackle climatechange - and those plans should be a priority for international funding,researchers said. Estimates based on plans submitted by the least-devel-oped countries (LDCs) toward a new U.N. deal to curb global warmingshow they will cost some $93 billion a year from 2020, when an agree-ment expected to be ironed out in Paris over the next two weeks is dueto take effect. That includes $53.8 billion annually to reduce emissionsand $39.9 billion to deal with more extreme weather and rising seas,according to a report from the London-based International Institute forEnvironment and Development (IIED). IIED Director Andrew Nortonsaid the least-developed countries currently get less than a third of allinternational climate funding provided by wealthy governments. “A fairand effective deal at Paris should prioritize the investment of interna-tional public climate finance for this group to implement their climateaction plans, while agreeing measures to help better-off countries attractprivate climate finance,” he said in a statement. The least-developedcountries - from Ethiopia to Zambia, and Yemen and Pacific islandnations - are home to some of the poorest communities who are suffer-ing the worst impacts of intensifying droughts, floods, storms and crum-bling coastlines. Yet they produce just a tiny fraction of the planet-warming gases that drive climate change. Such countries have a wide-spread lack of resources and expertise to tackle climate change. But all48 have produced so-called Intended Nationally Determined Contribu-tions (INDCs) to a new global climate deal. These plans set out howthey will curb their emissions from 2020 - by shifting to renewablepower sources, such as solar, or building cleaner public transport, forexample. They also outline what countries need to do to help theirpeople live better with climate change impacts. In some cases, they sayhow much all this action will cost. The IIED report noted that threecountries - Burkina Faso, Djibouti and Zambia — are showing “extraor-dinary commitment” by aiming to find more finance within their bordersthan beyond them. “Even so, all LDCs agree that fulfilling their INDCscannot be done without a significant contribution from internationalclimate finance, whether it be public or private,” it said. The least-developed countries “cannot hope to implement their INDCs quicklyenough alone”, it added. The countries will require technology sharingand help to build their capacity, as well as investment capital, particu-larly for high start-up costs. Much of the money must come frominternational sources, the report said. Adaptation loses out Despitepoorer countries’ clear need for funding to combat climate change, thelion’s share of government finance goes to wealthier nations, it noted.Brazil, China, India, Morocco, South Africa and Turkey are receiving asmuch public money as all the least-developed countries together, thereport added. And of the annual $11.8 billion in donor governmentmoney flowing to the least-developed countries in 2013 and 2014, thebulk - $10 billion - went to support efforts to curb emissions. Just $1.8billion was allocated for adapting to climate stresses, according to recentfigures from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Develop-ment. The Paris talks are due to clarify how rich countries will mobilizea promised $100 billion per year by 2020 to help poorer nations devel-op cleanly and withstand climate pressures, and set out a longer-termpath for climate finance. There is growing pressure from African andother developing countries for donors to give a larger share of theirmoney for adaptation, which has received less than a fifth of the total.“Making finance available is one thing, but ensuring it gets to those whoneed it most is another,” said Norton.


AFGHANISTANTIMES

Striking one day off on thefashion calendar, Fashion PakistanWeek (FPW) kicked off with astring of designer heavyweightsshowcasing their signature WinterFestive collections on the runway.Offering a mix-and-match of tradi-tional and contemporary silhou-ettes, warm tones on fabrics suchas velvet, brocade and silk wereamong designer favourites. AsKarachiites turned up in full forceto attend one of the leading fash-ion extravaganzas, the event’s firstday served as the ideal warm upfor the winter season. DesignerShehla Chatoor’s extraordinary hitwas the miss of others, with thetalented designer saving the firstshow of the week. The ExpressTribune gives a round-up of thedesigners and their showcasesfrom the evening.

Shehla ChatoorExuding a royal appeal was

Shehla Chatoor’s bridal and trous-seau collection. Drawing inspira-tion from the period of the BritishRaj, the line featured eastern aes-thetics with a contemporary twistin terms of silhouettes for the mod-ern bride. Experimenting with darktones of ruby red and emeraldgreen, the showcase boasted an-tique mukesh, tilla and KashmiriZardozi on winter fabrics such asvelvet and silk.

Dominant trends: The show-case brought a blend of shimmeryjackets, ghararas, Dhaka pyjamas,printed saris and lehnga-cholis onthe ramp, with models adorningexquisite jewellery pieces in formsof chand balis, tikas and maathapattis, reminiscent of the mahara-nis of colonial times. Waist-beltsand palmlets offered an impecca-ble mix-and-match of fashion fu-sion. We admired how a Shehlabride can keep at pace with mod-ern trends while clinging to sub-continental roots. Pointed-heelsalong with studded and embroi-dered wedges completed the col-lection.

Our pick: The showstopperensemble sported by Ayesha Omarwas a visual treat. An emerald greencholi with cut-out sleeves pairedwith a gold lehnga embellished withleather weaving at the waist drewthe curtains on the opulent show-case.

Staying true to form, the de-signer didn’t break away from hersignature tradition of using flow-ery tones in her bridal collection.Drawing inspiration from Renais-sance homes with spectacular in-teriors of gold edged mirrors andsilver ceilings, the collection was atreat for the fashion-savvy.

Dominant trends: The offer-ings included flattering silhouettes,gold wire work and intricate em-broidery. From red velvet jackets,to off-white ghararas and se-quinned dupattas, the line emanat-ed vivacity and elegance. The pal-ette began with soft creams andearthy tones blending into shadesof green, dull gold and rich jeweltones. Appliqued floral work andgold sequinned embellishmentsdominated the collection; not toforget the roses in between.

Our pick: The black sequinnedsari worn by Areeba Habib rivetedour attention. Not too casual ortoo formal, the outfit was perfecteye-candy for any occasion.

Celebrating a decade as the of-ficial sponsor of London FashionWeek, Saeeda Mandviwallabrought a myriad of hair trends tothe ramp. Offering a mix of hair-dos and hairstyles, the showcasefeatured models in SaniaMaskatiya and Maheen Khan de-signs.

Radiating a casual yet classyfeel, Maskatiya’s collection boast-ed voluminous crimped and side-braided hair embracing the winterseason as seen on actor SyraYousuf. On the other hand, actorImran Abbas walked the runwayin an unruly hairstyle for men.

Fringes and visible pigmentsof colour created by using new haircontouring techniques added glitzand glamour to the overall appeal.Maheen Khan’s collection entailedvibrant colours and shimmery out-fits, with prominent waves, fiercecurls and texturedrope braids, set-ting the tone for a ‘rich girl gonewild’ look.

Our pick: Actor Sarwat Gilanisported the noveau knot, a trendwe feel will dominate this festiveseason.

Living up to its name, Hash-wani’s collection featured ancientGreek landscapes on contempo-rary silhouettes and modern cuts,providing an image where the oldworld meets the new. This festiveevening wear became alive withdigital prints of Acropolis worn bymodels dressed as Greek goddess-es. Featuring a feminine showcase,the line saw a diverse colour pal-ette with winter-centric hues ofblack, beige, brown and purpletones in flowy silk.

Dominant trends: Comprisingcontemporary ruffled and taperedcuts with fluted hemlines, the col-lection put together a combinationof rich fabrics, prints and styleson the runway. Waist-whittlinggowns and offerings embroideredwith gold thread work around thenecklines, tipped the showcasetowards the Eastern end of thefashion scale. With sparkles as

embellishments, the designs wereat par with the choice of a westernwoman.

Our pick: Sadaf Kanwalwalked the ramp in a chocolatebrown top, paired with a printedskirt. The slit in the middle addedoomph to her skinny frame.Chunky jewellery and banglescomplemented her look.

Designer duo Sana Safinaz pre-sented their Luxury Prêt collectionfeaturing an ode to the glamourassociated with the winter season.With more misses than hits, themodels were surely not dressed toimpress.

Dominant trends: Experiment-ing with silk and crêpe fabric,there’s no gainsaying that the col-lection was innovatively draped.However, the textured prints onbold colours didn’t fit the fun andexotic theme that the collectionpromised to offer. Cigarette pantspaired with jackets and matchingseparates with strappy cuts werethe prevailing trends in the collec-tion. Vibrant bursts of rich jewel-toned hues in blue, green and reddominated the colour scheme. Ex-quisite jewellery by Outhouse leftus with some hope for the nextcollection.

Our pick: The olive green jack-et paired with turquoise pants wasour best bet. Mehreen Syedwalked the ramp in the ensemble,ornamenting her look with chunkyOuthouse earrings and a boxedclutch.

Taking a step further from hissignature design philosophy,Hisham Malik drew inspirationfrom Alexander Pope’s romanticpoem, Eloisa to Abelard. Revolv-ing around the conflict betweendivinity and boundless humanlove, the transformation of colourson the runway depicted a world oflimitless boundaries.

Dominant trends: Earthytones such as blue and sea greentranslated in shades of grey andwhite as the showcase progressed.The colour scheme was based onthe various stages of flame and itsdifferent colours. Maintaining aromantic mood, the line featuredWestern wear with motifs of birds,peacocks, flamingos and spar-rows. Comprising gowns primari-ly, the showcase took a subtle ap-proach to the chilly season.

Our pick: Mehreen Syedlooked every bit a princess in alight grey Victorian cut gown. Ac-cessorising her fairy-tale appealwith a head piece and draping veilat the back, the off-shoulder dresswas imprinted with a floral land-scape.

Silent Bollywood

shuns India's

political limelightMUMABI: A furious backlashagainst two Bollywood stars whocomplained of rising intolerance inIndia has highlighted the film in-dustry’s uneasy relationship withpolitics, in contrast to Hollywoodwhere celebrities are often laudedfor their activism.

Top actors Aamir Khan andShah Rukh Khan were accused ofbeing unpatriotic after suggestingHindu-majority India was becom-ing more intolerant, with membersof the ruling Bharatiya Janata Par-ty (BJP).

I never said India is intolerant:Shah Rukh Khan

“We have these highly po-larised and heated responses to anypolitical stand a film personalitytakes,” movie director HansalMehta told AFP. ”There is no roomfor debate or discourse, especiallywhen it comes to Bollywood ce-lebrities,” he added.

Aamir — the star of Dhoom3, one of the highest-grossing Bol-lywood movies of all time — pro-voked a furious response when he

said that a sense of “insecurity”and “fear” was gripping India.

Aamir, who like many Bolly-wood stars is Muslim, also revealedthat his Hindu wife had even ques-tioned whether the couple shouldleave the country.

BJP spokesperson Shah-nawaz Hussain warned Aamir itwas “not all right to malign” Indiaand told the actor: “Don’t forget,India made you a star.”

Television footage showeddozens of activists burning post-ers of Aamir in several Indian cit-ies, while police protection at hisMumbai home was upgraded andsocial media was awash with crit-icism of the star.

Indians lash out at Aamir Khanfor statement on intolerance

The 50-year-old was the lat-est in a series of high-profile fig-ures from the arts world to raiseconcerns about religious and cul-tural intolerance since Hindu na-tionalist Prime Minister NarendraModi was elected last year.

Few of these were film stars.but fellow Bollywood icon ShahRukh Khan sparked a similar fu-rore earlier in November when hereferred to “extreme intolerance inIndia” after the lynching of a Mus-lim man in October over rumourshe had eaten beef.

Senior BJP leader Kailash Vi-jayvargiya accused Shah Rukh, oneof India’s most recognisable actors,of being “anti-nationalist” and saidthe actor’s “soul is in Pakistan” ina series of tweets he later retract-ed. The rows were a rare forayinto political comment for Bolly-wood celebrities, who usually re-main quiet for fear of damaging theirfilm prospects. If they do speakup, it is to pander to the rulingparty. “The fault lies somewherein the Bollywood system,” saidMehta, director of popular hitsShahid and CityLights.

Leaving India or staying?Aamir Khan breaks silence follow-ing criticism “We want to hobnobwith politicians and be extremelydiplomatic. We don’t take a stand,and this is reflected in our filmswhich are populist in their dis-course. “People can have politicalopinions in private, but in publicthey want to be in favour and thisis often because of fear of a back-lash,” he added. In marked con-trast, many Hollywood idols suchas George Clooney and Susan Sa-randon have voiced support fornumerous issues, including climatechange and human rights, withouthaving their patriotism questioned.

As if we’re not already in love withSRK-Kajol’s sweltering chemistryin Gerua, the makers of Dilwalehave blown us away yet again witha BTS clip of the music video.

A special behind-the-scenes ofthe song has been released, show-ing the dynamic duo Shah RukhKhan and Kajol — along with di-rector Rohit Shetty and choreog-rapher Farah Khan — strugglingin the freezing temperatures of Ice-land.

Will SRK, Kajol’s ‘Gerua’ bethis year’s top hit?

What looks like a perfect one-take shot in the final video actual-ly required immense hard work tobring together the most breathtak-ing video of the year.

The actors can be seen narrat-ing their experience in the BTSvideo and share what it takes toportray a ‘typical’ Bollywood ro-mance during Iceland’s ‘summer’.

Gerua, which means saffron,was released last week.

The upcoming film also starsVarun Dhawan and Kriti Sanon andis slated to release December 18.

The much-awaited Ranbir Kapoorand Deepika Padukone starrer'Tamasha', which hit theatres lastweek, raked in Rs 38.23 crore inits opening weekend.

Says a source, "The film is get-ting mixed reviews, but has man-aged to pull crowds to theatres.Audiences have loved Ranbir andDeepika in the film and after see-ing the weekend figures, the film isexpected to do well on weekdays."

According to Amod Mehra,"After the success of the leadingpair's last film 'Yeh Jawaani HaiDeewani' (2013), this one wassupposed to being in huge crowdsbut the flick opened to averagehouses on Friday. However, withcritics having loved it, the num-bers grew steadily on Saturday andfurther on Sunday. The film willhave to maintain the momentumor it will end up losing money, asit is a big-budget film. One aspectthat cannot be ignored is that al-though it is going strong in multi-plexes, it is being rejected in singlescreens."

Trade expert Taran Adarsh alsostresses on the fact that the filmneeds to hold fort during week-days. He says, "'Tamasha' has beenliked by the niche audience and dida good business over the weekend.But the real test is now. The filmneeds to do well on weekdays aswell as its an expensive film. Solet's wait and watch."

Meanwhile, Diwali release'Prem Ratan Dhan Payo' main-tained its slow run at the box of-fice in its third weekend. The filmminted Rs 3.10 crore last week,taking the total collections to Rs206.63 crore in India.

Box office: 'Tamasha' rakes inRs 38 cr in its opening weekend

Bankrupt rapper 50 Cent has giv-en his fans a glimpse inside hisfridge - revealing stacks of banknotes.

The rapper, who revealed hewas bankrupt just months ago,took a camera crew around hiskitchen in a new Instagram video -before opening his fridge door toreveal its contents, reportsmirror.co.uk.

The star had stacked up count-less dollar bills on the shelves, ashe captioned a screenshot: "Gottakeep a cool little $tash and someEffen Vodka Happy Holidays.#EFFENVODKA #FRIGO #SM-SAUDIO."

He ended the video by grab-bing a piece of cheese and munch-ing it in a close-up shot.

It's not the first time the starhas poked fun at his money situa-tion.

Back in October, he posted avideo to his Instagram page show-ing him literally rolling around incash.

The rapper was once estimat-ed to be worth $150 million, but isnow reported to be $28 million indebt.

Actor Daniel Radcliffe says he isjealous of the wonderful wizardoutfit Eddie Redmayne gets towear in "Harry Potter" spin-offfilm "Fantastic Beasts and Whereto Find Them".

"Oh f**k you, Eddie, in yourbrilliant costume... I got jeans anda zip top for 10 years and you'vegot a great coat already," Radcliffetold NME magazine, reportsfemalefirst.co.uk.

Radcliffe essayed J.K. Rowl-ing's literary character in all eight"Harry Potter" movies from 2001to 2011 and he says it's going to beodd for him to watch someone else

Radcliffe jealous of Redmayne's 'Harry Potter' outfittake on the role in the upcomingLondon West End stage show"Harry Potter and the CursedChild".

The 26-year-old said: "It'sweird. But I'm happy for it to goon without me. I've no ownershipof it."

When asked if he'll go andwatch the production, he added:"Now that I know (Harry's in it) Iactually really want to see it. Itwould be a mental thing to try andsee it with lots of very excited 'Har-ry Potter' fans.

But I kind of would like toknow what happens now."


AFGHANISTANTIMES

Lakers'star

Bryant toretire at

the end ofseason

Los Angeles Lakers great KobeBryant, one of the best basketballplayers ever, will retire after thecurrent NBA season.

Bryant, who is strugglingthrough the worst season of hisillustrious 20-year career with theLos Angeles Lakers, said in a pieceposted on the Players' Tribunewebsite: "I'm ready to let go."

The decision was not totallyunexpected, as the 37-year-oldLakers guard has been plagued byinjuries in recent seasons and hadrecently said he was consideringretirement.

"I can't love you obsessively

for much longer. This season is allI have left to give," wrote Bryant.

"My heart can take thepounding, my mind can handle thegrind, but my body knows it's timeto say goodbye."

Bryant, a surefire first-ballotHall of Famer who is third on theNBA's all-time scoring list, has acareer-worst 31.5 shooting per-centage through his first 12 gamesof the season on a Lakers team thathas the second worst record in theleague.

Named Kobe by his parentsafter they spotted the popular Jap-anese cut of beef on a restaurantmenu shortly before his birth, Bry-ant is now a five-time NBA cham-pion, having won titles in 2000,2001, 2002, 2009 and 2010.

He was drafted out of highschool with the 13th overall pickin the 1996 NBA Draft by theCharlotte Hornets but was tradedshortly after the Lakers for Serbi-an Vlade Divac.

He has appeared in 17 All-Stargames, was named the Most Valu-able Player for the 2007-08 regu-lar season and landed MVP ho-nours in the 2009 and 2010 Finals,when he led the Lakers to consec-utive championships.

Bryant has also won gold med-als with the US basketball team atthe 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

Bryant was sidelined nearlyeight months in 2013 with a tornAchilles tendon, then played justsix games during the 2013-14 sea-son because of a severe knee inju-ry.

Last season, he played 35games but increasingly sufferedsoreness in his knees, feet and back,prompting coach Byron Scott tocut back significantly on Bryant'splaying time while altering his on-court role.

Three leading Kenyan athleticsofficials have been suspended bythe ethics commission of athletics'governing body, the IAAF, overcorruption allegations and the "po-tential subversion of the anti-dop-ing control process" in the coun-try.

Athletics Kenya PresidentIsaiah Kiplagat, Vice-PresidentDavid Okeyo and 2015 worldchampionships team leader JosephKinyua have been suspended for180 days "in the interests of theintegrity of the sport", the com-mission said in a statement onMonday.

How serious is corruption insport?

In the latest scandal to envel-op a beleaguered sport, the triofrom one of the world's most suc-cessful athletics nations also faceaccusations that they were in-volved in "the potential improperdiversion from Athletics Kenya offunds received from Nike".

The IAAF also said a primafacie case had "also been found toexist in respect of Mr Kiplagat inrelation to receipt, personally orby Athletics Kenya, of an appar-ent gift of two motor vehicles"from the Qatar Athletics Federa-tion in 2014-15.

The ethics commissionstressed that the suspensions wereprovisional and "in no way" pre-judged the outcome of the investi-gation to be carried out by barris-ter Sharad Rao.

The trio would remain pre-sumed innocent until the outcomeof the investigation, it added.

Kenyan athletics has been

thrown into turmoil recently as the accusations against the trio have surfaced, prompting anger within the athletics community there and vehementdenials from the officials. Dozens of Kenyan athletes stormed the AK headquarters in Nairobi last Monday, locking out officials and demanding thatsenior officials step down. Last Friday, the country under close scrutiny from anti-doping bodies after a series of doping cases banned seven moreathletes, raising the total number of Kenyan doping cases in the last three years to 40.

Hollymania is running wild in NewMexico.

Holly Holm has been awayfrom her home state most of thetime since her stunning knockoutvictory over Ronda Rousey tocapture the UFC women’s ban-tamweight title on Nov. 14 in Aus-tralia. The UFC jetted her to bothcoasts to make big-time mediarounds in Los Angeles and NewYork over a grueling week beforeshe had a chance to spend theThanksgiving holiday in Coloradoand finally get some down time.

But while Holm has beengone, the aftershocks of her mo-mentus victory continues to rever-berate around Albuquerque, whereher presence is ubiquitous. Bill-boards congratulating Holm can beseen all over the city. Local TVand radio stations run bumper adsdoing the same. The mayor, Rich-ard J. Berry, went so far as to de-clare a Holly Holm Month in thecity.

But nowhere has the win beenmore deeply felt than at her homegym, JacksonWink MMA.

Long known as one of thesport’s top camps, with a rosterthat includes everyone from JonJones to Carlos Condit to AndreiArlovski to Donald Cerrone toDiego Sanchez and so many more,there’s an extra zip in everyone’sstep in the wake of one of the mostmonumental moments in mixedmartial arts history.

“Holly winning the belt in-spires everybody, it inspires theyoung guys, it inspires everyone,”said Jones, regarded by most asMMA's top pound-for-poundfighter. “Holly winning right nowcouldn’t have come at a bettertime.”

The JacksonWink crew isused to busy periods, but Holm’svictory kicks off an extra-hecticstretch. They’ve just opened anew, 36,000 square-foot complexdowntown near the intersection ofInterstates 40 and 25. Jones, ofcourse, has been cleared to returnto the sport after the resolution ofhis legal situation and the lifting ofhis UFC suspension. And twoother UFC title fights are on theupcoming docket, as Cerrone chal-lenges Rafael dos Anjos for thelightweight title on Dec. 19 in Or-lando and Condit goes after Rob-bie Lawler’s welterweight belt onJan. 2 in Las Vegas.

“I’m sure for Carlos and [Cer-rone] with these big fights comingup, that lit a fire under their ass towant to join Holly in that spot-light,” Jones said.

Striking coach Brandon Gib-son believes there’s a ripple effectafter a victory like Holm's, notingin particular that Jones went outof his way to help Holm with herapproach to the Rousey fight.

“Part of Holly’s amazing per-formance was attributable to thework that Jon put in,” Gibson said.“Jon did a lot of work game-plan-ning, went to a lot of her mitt ses-sions. He was watching her spar,watching her drill. Jon was heavi-ly vested in Holly becoming cham-pion. He was elated. It’s not a top-down thing at this gym, it’s col-laborative, and Jon putting in thatwork for Holly helps set the tone

for the rest of the team.”The deepest reaction to

Holm’s win came from those whohave been working with her thelongest. Her affiliation with train-er Mike Winkeljohn, a decoratedkickboxer in his day, goes back to2000 (Winkeljohn and Jacksonmerged their operations into thecurrent gym in 2007).

Jodie Esqiubel, for one, knowsHolm’s story better than most.

Esquibel, who fights Angela Hillin an Invicta strawweight bout onJan. 16 in Costa Mesa, Calif., alsohas a pro boxing career whichdates back to 2005 and once wasHolm’s roommate.

“It still gives me the chills alittle bit just thinking about it,”Esquibel said. “I’ve lived withHolly, she’s helped me in a lot ofdifferent ways even outside mar-tial arts. I’ve never wanted some-

thing so bad for somebody, evenabove myself. Holly’s the mostdisciplined martial artist I’ve evermet. Holly had all the skillset sheneeded to, focus to execute per-fect gameplan. To see it unfoldperfectly, I saw that and I criedlike a baby. It was beautiful.”

Another fighter with longtimeties is the 31-year-old Condit, whobegan training with Jackson whenCondit was a sophomore in high

school. Condit is a former WECwelterweight champion and UFCinterim champ who is looking towin the UFC’s real thing when hemeets Lawler at UFC 195. He wasin the gym early on the morningafter Thanksgiving to put in fiverounds of mitt work, and he wasn’tafraid to admit that Holm’s victo-ry provided a little bit of extramotivation.

“Holly is just an incredibly

hard-working, dedicated athlete,”Condit said. “As a person she’sjust super genuine and, you knowshe’s just a good person all around.To see her achieve something she’sbeen working on for so long, youcan’t have nothing but pride andadmiration for her. This is an indi-vidual sport and we all have ourown agendas, but you see whatHolly did and it makes you workjust a little bit harder.”

Tyson Fury laughed off the possi-bility of facing Deontay Wilder,but the American said: "I want thatfight to happen as soon as possi-ble."

WBC heavyweight championDeontay Wilder has outlined hisambition to unify the division bybeating Tyson Fury, the new IBF,WBA and WBO champion.

Fury instantly became the big-gest draw in heavyweight boxingwhen he inflicted a first loss in 11years on Wladimir Klitschko inDusseldorf on Saturday with ashock points triumph.

The undefeated Briton has al-ready laughed off the possibilityof facing Wilder, who is also yetto lose and has won 34 of his 35fights by knockout.

However, Wilder told BBCRadio Five live: "I want that fightto happen as soon as possible.

"I've got to fight someone inJanuary and after that fight I wouldlove to have a unification bout -and guess what, I wouldn't mindcoming to the UK for that one.

"No matter where it might be,I want to be the undisputed cham-pion of the world."

Fury had earlier said:"Wladimir Klitschko was thenumber one in the division, proba-bly the pound-for-pound king,whatever that means. So whywould I be bothered about a nov-ice like Wilder. Let's laugh at hisname, shall we?"

Wilder eyes

unification

bout with FuryNovak Djokovic hasfinished the year ontop of the ATP worldrankings, according tothe final list of 2015published on Mon-day.

The Serb, whoalso topped the rank-ings at the end of2011, 2012 and 2014,finished a massive7,500 points or soahead of his closestrival, world numbertwo Andy Murray,who at the weekendhelped Britain win theDavis Cup for thefirst time in 79 years.

Djokovic top of the world at the end of the year

Stormy Lucy rallied from far backto win the $300,000 MatriarchStakes by a head at 65-1 odds Sun-day on closing day of Del Mar'sfall meet.

Ridden by Kent Desormeaux,Stormy Lucy ran a mile on turf in1:35.16 and paid $132.80, $50.40and $21.20 as the longest shot inthe field of older fillies and mares.

''She ran huge,'' Desormeauxsaid. ''Terrific race for her. Neverbeen involved in one in a stakeslike this. Amazing.''

Recepta returned $9.20 and$6.60, while 5-2 favorite Filimbiwas another 1 1.2 lengths back inthird in the Grade 1 race.

The victory was worth$180,000. It was Stormy Lucy'seighth win in 31 career starts. Sheis trained by Ed Moger Jr. andtrained by his brother Steve.

''We've been trying to get aGrade 1 win for her all year. It'sthe first Grade I for me and I'vebeen waiting for it for a long time,''Moger Jr. said. ''I've been trainingfor 40 years.''

65-1 shot StormyLucy springs

upset inMatriarch at Del

Mar

WEDNESDAY. DECEMBER 02 . 2015-Qaus 11, 1394 H.SVol:X Issue No:124 Price: Afs.15

KABUL: Law enforcement agen-cies have seized more than 500 ki-logram of drugs in Kunduz, Nim-roz and Baghlan provinces, saidofficials on Tuesday.

In addition two suspects werealso apprehended.

Kunduz police Chief Moham-mad Jangal Bagh, told Pajhwok Af-ghan News that at least 180 kilo-gram of narcotics was seized froma truck which was approachingfrom Badakhshan to Kabul. He saidtwo suspects were also arrested ina connection to the seizure in KisaTopak area on Kunduz-Baghlanhighway.

The chief of counter-narcoticsMajor Muhammad Pervez Sarwarisaid that anti-narcotic police haveseized 126 kilograms of hashishduring an operation in Chakhan-sor district of Nimroz province.

Sarwari said the narcotics wererecovered from ruin places andpacked in plastics. However, noone was arrested during the opera-tion, he added.

Meanwhile, an official from theNational Directorate of Security(NDS) in Baghlan said that the spyagency has seized 200 kilogramsof hashish from a truck that wascarrying coal from Samangan toKabul.

It is worth mentioning that theDeputy Minister of Interior forCounter-Narcotics Baz Moham-mad Ahmadi during his press con-ference in Kabul a couple of weeksago said that more than 1,800 drugdealers were arrested and 100 tonsof narcotics, alcoholic beverageswere seized. Hundreds of vehiclesand mobile sets were also seizedduring anti-narcotic operations. Inthe continuous anti-narcotics op-erations backed by air support,scores of drug factories were de-stroyed across the country thisyear.

AT Monitoring Desk

KABUL: The National Environ-mental Protection Agency (NEPA)on Tuesday said that Afghanistanhas the lowest (below 0.5 percent)role in spreading greenhouse gasesand climate change but suffersmost from the climate change.

The deputy director of NEPA,Abdul Wali Modaqiq, said thatNEPA has formulated a mechanismto fight climate change affects andseek international community’sassistance.

Speaking at a press conferencehere he said, “Afghanistan as a vic-tim of climate change seeks $17billion assistance from internation-

Afghanistan’s role is below 0.5pc in climate change and pollution, yet it is the worst victim, says NEPA. As a victim ofclimate change, Afghanistan seeks $17 billion assistance from international community to protect climate.”

By Farhad Naibkhel

al community to protect climate.The funds would be spent tolaunch special programs and de-

crease greenhouse gases emissionby 13 percent till 2030.”

Afghanistan seeks ways to

provide people with clean energyto decrease spreading of gases thatnegatively impact the climatechange, he asserted.

“Afghanistan has sufferedenough from climate change. Wehave witnessed droughts, floodsand water contamination in the re-cent year. Cultivable lands, pas-tures and forests are the resourceswhich handle life. They are alsoaffected by climate changes,” headded.

Abdul Wali Modaqiq said thatAfghanistan should be supported;otherwise, it would fail to followthe programs to decrease spread-

ing of greenhouse gases in future.Elaborating the environmental

protection agency’s plan, he saidthat NEPA would also run aware-ness campaigns increase knowl-edge of people about climatechange and encourage them to pro-tect the environment. He said thatonly NEPA would be unable to dealwith the situation and would failto overcome the issues of climatechange and pollution in Afghani-stan, if other relevant organizationsfailed to support the environmen-tal protection agency and extentall out support.

WORLD AIDS DAY OBSERVED

KABUL: The Ministry of PublicHealth (MoPH) in cooperationwith the World Health Organiza-tion (WHO) on Tuesday markedthe World AIDS Day.

Minister of Public Health, Fer-ozuddin Feroz, said that from 1989up to the end of 2014 the ministryhas registered around 1,874 casesof HIV/AIDS.

He said that 1,481 women, 327men and 66 children, below the ageof 15 years, were infected byAIDS.

Pointing out the main factorsbehind the staggering number ofHIV cases, he said that homosexu-ality among men, lack of standardhealthcare services particularly insurgery wards, poverty, jobless-ness, illiteracy, immigrations, bloodtransfusion and existence of thee

By Akhtar M. Nikzad

million addicts in the country areresponsible for spread of AIDS.

But the minister of public

health said that Afghanistan is thecountry which has low-level ofHIV/AIDS cases in the region ascompared to the other countries.

“Afghanistan’s ability to bet-ter diagnose HIV has improvedtremendously in the past due to

our strengthened surveillance sys-tem, people’s increased awarenessabout the disease and major im-

provements in the quality of HIVservices and blood testing. We mustensure that quality HIV treatmentreaches all those in need,” he men-tioned.

Hinting to the efforts of theministry to control AIDS, he

stressed that accelerated efforts arenecessary to ensure HIV preven-tion and treatment services reacheveryone in need, adding that cur-rently HIV testing and counselingservices are available in 10 prov-inces and nearly 650 people livingwith HIV are receiving anti-retro-viral therapy in two provinces.Five health centers provide servic-es to pregnant women to preventmother-to-child transmission ofHIV.

Feroz termed strengthening ofHIV testing methods, expansion ofthe availability of treatment op-tions and increasing the number ofhealth centers providing anti-ret-roviral therapy as crucial measuresfor control of AIDS and HIV epi-demic in the country.

500kg drugs seized

in Kunduz, Nimroz

and Baghlan

(See P2)

(See P3)

KABUL: Questioning Pakistan’ssincerity in the peace process ofAfghanistan, Meshrano Jirgastressed that there must be an in-ternational guarantee that Pakistanwill remain committed to Afghan-istan.

Fazel Hadi Muslimyar, Speak-er of the Meshrano Jirga, said thatpeace talks with Pakistan haveturned into an enigma. “We wantpeace in Afghanistan, but we wantto have upper hand in the peaceparleys,” he added.

This comes at a time that Pres-ident Ashraf Ghani met with Paki-stan’s Prime Minister NawazSharif at the sideline of Paris Cli-mate Change Conference the otherday. The two leaders discussedresumption of peace talks betweenthe Afghan government and theTaliban.

It is worth mentioning thatPasthun nationalist leaders fromKheyber Pakhtunkhwa and

Pak’s dubious role: Senateseeks int’l guaranteeregarding peace talks

AT Monitoring Desk

Balochistan during their recent visitto Afghanistan urged PresidentGhani to meet Sharif.

However, President Ghani’sdeputy spokesman Sayed ZafarHashimi told Azadi Radio thatonly peace in Afghanistan can im-prove relations between the twocountries.

However, Gul Ahmad Azimi,a member of the Meshrano Jirga,said that Pakistan has never beensincere, thus there should be aninternational guarantee that Paki-stan will not peruse a double stan-dard policy towards Afghanistan.“There should be an internationalguarantee to every decision be-tween Kabul and Islamabad overpeace talks with the Taliban,” hestressed.

Matiullah Kharoti, a politicalanalyst, believes that internation-al pressures have forced Pakistanto play its role in resumption ofpeace talks between the Afghangovernment and the Taliban.

KABUL: The Second DeputySpeaker of the Wolesi Jirga urgedthe government to introduce landgrabbers to judicial organizations.

Muhammad Nazir Ahmadzaitold Azadi Radio that the govern-ment should release a list of theland grabbers and should introducethem to judicial organizations.

It is pertinent to mention thatPresident Ghani during his visit tonorthern Kunduz province saidthat the government has identifiedsome 16,000 people involved inland grabbing. The presidentpledged that the governmentshould take serious action againstthe land grabbers. He said that ev-ery step against land grabbers wascommendable. According to re-ports, 1.3 million jeribs of landshave been grabbed across the coun-try. A number of tribal elders, localinfluential figures and governmentofficials are involved in the landgrabbing. Head of the High Officeof Anti-Corruption,Sayed Hussain Fakhri, said thatreleasing the list will help in fightagainst land grabbing.

Ahmadzai urgesgovt to release

list of landgrabbers

AT Monitoring Desk

AFG-2-12-2015.pdf - Afghanistan Times

Documents

Transcript of AFG-2-12-2015.pdf - Afghanistan Times