Did you know that Afghanistan is very pro-India. I’m not just talking about ordinary Afghans who just adore Bollywood movies. Also the government fosters strong relations with India due to aid and trade. This doesn’t pass to well with Pakistan. They feel kind of surrounded. India is its arch-enemy and relations with Afghanistan are strained due to Karzai’s accusations that Islamabad supports insurgents and his threats to attack militants across the border in the mountainous tribal areas of Pakistan. All of this culminated in the attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul. In July 2008 a car bomb rammed the gates of the embassy and killed 41 people. It was the deadliest attack in Kabul since the invasion in 2001. Quickly after the attack Afghan government officials declared this attack was carried out to disrupt relations between India and Afghanistan. The one who would benefit the most of deteriorating relations between these two countries is Pakistan. It is widely believed but never outspoken that the ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence service, was involved in the bomb attack. The Afghan Minister of Interior stated that they believe the attack was carried out "in co-ordination and consultation with an active intelligence service in the region". Without saying it explicitly everybody knew who he was talking about.

The burqa. The burqa was not introduced by the Taliban as is widely believed but they did make it compulsory. The burqa is actually a cultural phenomenon that exists for more than 100 years. People acknowledge it is not something you have to wear in order to be a good Muslim. They accept the fact that the Koran prescribes to cover everything except your face and your hands. The reason the women wear a burqa is because men would feel more relaxed. Men in Afghanistan are not only attracted by the curves of the body but claim there is a lot of beauty in the face as well (sissiesJ). In order not to be led into temptation they want their women to cover their faces as well. In short, the reason why women wear the burqa is because men can’t control themselves. At least that is what I understood from my first conversation with a man who’s wife wears a burqa sometimes. According to him the final choice to wear it or not, is the decision of the women. A burqa costs around 12 USD and you have them in all sizes and colours. Blue is the most common, but in the North women tend to wear white ones. They also exist in black and red. But I think I will have to see one before I believe that.

A crate of Heineken, on the other hand, costs 55 USD in the UN-shop and on the black market 42 USD. Selling or serving alcohol is forbidden in Kabul except in some places where expats visit regularly. These places made a deal with the government. They can serve alcohol only if they forbid access too local Afghans. For 21^st of July I went to Kabul airport to celebrate the Belgian national holiday (first time I heard so many people shouting with conviction: vive le roi!!!). The Belgian army is based in the airport, so I overheard they wanted to prohibit alcohol for all soldiers on the airport base. Luckily, the Belgian Minister of Defence, Mr De Crem himself, avoided this rule from being implemented. Now soldiers from all over the world present in Kabul are grateful to our Minister. And that evening, for the first time in my life, I was proud of our Minister of Defence.

If you want to be with an Afghan girl, you shouldn’t do things Western style. Getting her drunk, won’t seal the deal. Here, in Kabul at least, you can meet a girl, in a public place, the office, anywhere. If you like her, you can talk to her but nothing else. If you get along very well and you want to take the next step, you will have to activate your family. The boy warns his family who will go to the girls’ family to make a proposal. The girls family can accept or refuse. At least here in Kabul parents take into account what their sons and daughters wish for themselves. In the rural areas I suspect it’s a whole other story. You are allowed to have up to four wives on condition you can take care of them equally. Not only financially but also in the way you love your women.

I’ve already told you about Improvised Explosive Devices (IED). Well, apparently they exist in quite a range of appearances. You have the famous Body Borne IED (BBIED) and the Vehicle Borne IED (VBIED). But in the ANSO, the monthly security update for NGO’s, they also mention the less known DBIED which stands for Donkey Borne Improvised Explosive Devices. In the beginning the coalition troops were here, they got attacked by VBIED all the time. It got so bad that the moment a vehicle got too close to a military convoy they would shoot it. Last time we passed a convoy our driver parked on the side of the road not to look suspicious. The insurgents’ solution, inventive as always, was to invent the DBIED. That’s why sometimes coalition forces shoot suspicious donkeys and dogs on the way to their base and on patrolling exercises. Donkeys, another, less-known victim in this crazy war.

25-07-2009 om 12:25 geschreven door gijoom  

Since May this year Afghanistan has a lame duck as president. President Karzai’s term in office was supposed to end in May. Karzai wanted to organize elections during spring time but was stopped by the election commission and the international community. The opposition accused him of trying to clear the field of challengers since they couldn’t be ready to campaign by that time. The fact that insurgents control more than half of the country was another reason to postpone the elections. Under pressure of the international community and because of the decision made by the election committee, Karzai was forced to organize elections on 20^thAugust. This raised the question of who would rule the country from May until August. In the end the Supreme Court decided, against the will of the parliament and the opposition, that Karzai could stay in power until the next president was chosen. Analysts feared a power vacuum and the opposition was afraid that Karzai was going to take advantage from his presidential status to organize his campaign.

In the meanwhile American and British troops are cleaning up the South to ensure the elections can take place without fear of being terrorized and manipulated by the insurgents. This is one of the main reasons why I mentioned in my previous contribution that this military operation is crucial for the future of the country. If the insurgents hold control over these areas and prevent people from voting, enemies of the government could claim the next administration is elected undemocratically because of the low voter turn-out. This could lessen the legitimacy of the next president and ultimately destabilize the country.

Up until now Karzai has been doing exactly what the opposition feared. He used the power given to him as president to break up the Northern Alliance’s political front by buying of Uzbek and Tadzjik warlords. One prominent member of the opposition with national outreach, Mr. Fahim, is currently serving as his vice-president. This is how he build a patronage-client system only topped by the best patrimonialistic networks set up by dictators in post-colonial Africa. It works like this: clan elders and warlords promise loyalty and votes to Karzai, if Karzai shares bits of his power with them. But this doesn’t mean there is no hope at all for the opposition. One theory goes that Afghans are so fed up with the corruption and the inefficiency of Karzai’s administration that they will disregard the advice of their elders and vote against Karzai. People in remote areas (almost anywhere outside Kabul and the major cities) have nothing to do with Kabul. They have been taking care of themselves during their whole life and stopped expecting support from the government. These votes could be decisive if it wasn’t for the division of the opposition by previous mentioned reasons. The Americans know this as well and are kind of fed up of the corruption in this government. Analysts say that one of their future strategies could be to neglect the central government, which has no power in the provinces anyway, and to invest in local government structures which are in direct contact with the local population

The main challenger for Karzai is a man who’s parents had a lack of creativity. His name is Abdullah Abdullah. He originates from the Panjshir region and therefore has a lot of support from the Mujahedeen in the North. He’s from Tadzjik and Pashtun origin and was a leader of the Tadzjik faction in the Northern Alliance. A poll suggested that Karzai had 42% of the votes while Abdullah had only 7%. But this was before the campaigning started. The constitution states that if none of the candidates wins 50% of the votes, a run-off between the two leading candidates will be organized. Breaking up the opposition, like Karzai did, favours the incumbent but it also makes the event of a run-off more likely. In that case we can expect that the loosing candidates will negotiate deals with the challenger and join up behind him during the run-off. If that would happen, nobody can predict which direction this country is heading up for. (And I’ll probably get a second vacation)

23-07-2009 om 19:37 geschreven door gijoom