Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights(OHCHR) / 2010-07-22

The United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has adopted a general comment* on the right to the truth in relation to enforced disappearances, to focus attention of States more effectively on the relevant obligations deriving from the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance that flow from the right to the truth. According to the general comment, the right to the truth in relation to human rights violations, acknowledged by the Working Group in its very first report in 1981, is now widely recognized in international law.

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CNN / 2010-07-15

The avenue of appeal is now open for people who believe they are unfairly on a U.N. Security Council blacklist of individuals with suspected connections to al Qaeda or the Taliban. A United Nations official, who will review requests to get off the list, appeared before reporters in New York Thursday, for the first time since being appointed last month. Kimberly Prost has the title of "ombudsperson" for the highly sensitive position with the controversial list, which was established in 1999.

Global Post / 2010-07-13

President Barack Obama describes the departure of Gen. Stanley McChrystal from the command of U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan as a change in personnel, not policy. But Gen. David Petraeus is unlikely to succeed if Afghan policy stays the same and persists in ignoring the ramifications of a long list of injustices that continue to pile up in Afghanistan. Afghans have little confidence that they will ever obtain justice under the current regime in Kabul. The absence of justice is a key driver of instability that is largely ignored by the major players. However, the justice deficit is well understood and exploited by the Taliban. A growing surge of disillusionment with the Karzai regime, and its international backers, can be traced to a long list of injustices that are systemic as well as systematic.

CNSNEWS / 2010-07-13

Afghans paid $1 billion in bribes last year, the highest amounts of which were paid for social services such as health and education, according to the National Corruption Survey 2010 compiled by the non-profit watchdog group Integrity Watch Afghanistan [IWA]. The $1 billion figure paid in bribes during 2009 more than doubled the $466 million paid in 2006. IWA revealed, “The Afghan population as a whole paid twice as much [in bribes] in 2009 as it had paid in 2006.”

Human Rights Watch (HRW) / 2010-07-13

This 65-page report addresses the potential challenges to women's rights posed by future government agreements with insurgent forces. The report describes how in areas under Taliban control, women are often subjected to threats, intimidation and violence, girls' education is targeted, and women political leaders and activists are attacked and killed with impunity.

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The Washington Post / 2010-07-12

Afghan President Hamid Karzai plans to seek the removal of up to 50 former Taliban officials from a U.N. terrorism blacklist -- more than a quarter of those on the list -- in a gesture intended to advance political reconciliation talks with insurgents, according to a senior Afghan official.

The New York Times / 2010-06-12

The United Nations is speeding up efforts that could lead to the removal of Taliban leaders from an international terrorist blacklist, the top United Nations official here said Saturday. At a news conference, the official, Staffan de Mistura, the secretary general’s special representative to Afghanistan, said the United Nations was responding to the call of Afghanistan’s recent consultative peace gathering, called a jirga, to de-list Taliban figures.

Institute of South Asian Studies /2010-05-05

The recently held peace jirga in Kabul have once again raised hopes among the Afghans and international community of finding peace through ‘other means’. The continuing military stalemate and talks of exit have emboldened the Taliban who perceive the tide to be in their favour. In such a scenario, are the peace gestures by the Afghan government a way forward? Will such peace initiatives lead to durable peace in Afghanistan? Will the recently concluded peace jirga provide a consensual framework of negotiations for the Afghans and international community?

Human Rights Watch (HRW) / 2010-07-13

Ongoing Taliban attacks on women in Afghanistan show why women's rights should be a priority in any political agreement with insurgent forces, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The Afghan government and its international supporters have ignored the need to protect women in programs to reintegrate insurgent fighters and have not guaranteed that women's rights will be included in potential talks with the Taliban, Human Rights Watch said.

The Wall Street Journal / 2010-06-25

More than $3 billion in cash has been openly flown out of Kabul International Airport in the past three years, a sum so large that U.S. investigators believe top Afghan officials and their associates are sending billions of diverted U.S. aid and logistics dollars and drug money to financial safe havens abroad.

Institute For The Study of War / 2010-0628

As the Karzai administration continues to press ahead with preliminary outreach to insurgents, Pakistan has quietly stepped in to offer their assistance. The Pakistanis have reportedly offered to help reach out to the murderous Haqqani organization in the hopes of bringing the movement’s leader, Siraj Haqqani, to the negotiating table; however, any proposed deal with the Haqqanis is directly at odds with President Obama’s reaffirmed commitment to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Haqqanis rely on Al Qaeda for mass appeal, funding, resources and training, and in return provide Al Qaeda with shelter, protection and a means to strike foreign forces in Afghanistan and beyond. Any negotiated settlement with the Haqqanis threatens to undermine the raison d’etre for U.S. involvement in Afghanistan over the past decade.

The Guardian / 2010-06-27

Pakistani proposals for peace talks between President Hamid Karzai and an insurgent commander have triggered political tensions inside Afghanistan that analysts warn could dangerously destabilise the country. Western officials say Pakistan's ISI spy agency has offered to negotiate with Sirajuddin Haqqani – an al-Qaida linked commander – as part of a broader initiative to find a find a settlement to the conflict.

The Guardian / 2010-06-22

Coalition forces in Afghanistan should open talks with the Taliban "pretty soon" as part of a future exit strategy, the head of the army said today. Insisting that talking to the enemy was eventually inevitable in a conflict of this kind, General Sir David Richards also seemed to cast doubt on whether the coalition would be able to inflict "strategic defeat" on the Taliban.

The Washington Post / 2010-06-19

Afghanistan and Pakistan are talking about how to make peace with insurgents fighting U.S. troops in Afghanistan, including one faction considered the coalition forces' most lethal foe, according to Pakistani and U.S. officials.

The Long War Journal / 2010-04-15

The top leader of the dangerous Haqqani Network operating in eastern Afghanistan said that al Qaeda fighters are welcome to fight alongside the Taliban, and that his forces control 90 percent of the areas under his command. Siraj Haqqani, the military commander of the deadly Haqqani Network, a Taliban group that operates in eastern Afghanistan, made the statements during an interview conducted by Abu Dujanah al Sanaani for the newly established Al Balagh Media Center. A translation of Siraj's interview was provided by Flashpoint Partners.

The Washington Post / 2010-06-22

The U.S. military is funding a massive protection racket in Afghanistan, indirectly paying tens of millions of dollars to warlords, corrupt public officials and the Taliban to ensure safe passage of its supply convoys throughout the country, according to congressional investigators.

United States House of Representatives / 2010-06-21

Abstract: In Afghanistan, the U.S. military faces one of the most complicated and difficult supply chains in the history of warfare. The task of feeding, fueling, and arming American troops at over 200 forward operating bases and combat outposts sprinkled across a difficult and hostile terrain with only minimal road infrastructure is nothing short of herculean. In order to accomplish this mission, the Department of Defense employs a hitherto unprecedented logistics model: responsibility for the supply chain is almost entirely outsourced to local truckers and Afghan private security providers. The private security companies that protect the convoys are frequently involved in armed conflict with alleged insurgents, rival security providers, and other criminal elements. The security providers report having lost hundreds of men over the course of the last year alone, though the veracity of these reports is difficult to judge. Many of the firefights purportedly last for hours and involve significant firepower and frequent civilian casualties. Indeed, in an interview with the Subcommittee staff, the leading convoy security commander in Afghanistan said that he spent $1.5 million on ammunition per month. From one perspective, the HNT contract works quite well: the HNT providers supply almost all U.S. forward operating bases and combat outposts across a difficult and hostile terrain while only rarely needing the assistance of U.S. troops. Nearly all of the risk on the supply chain is borne by contractors, their local Afghan truck drivers, and the private security companies that defend them. But outsourcing the supply chain in Afghanistan to contractors has also had significant unintended consequences. The HNT contract fuels warlordism, extortion, and corruption, and it may be a significant source of funding for insurgents. In other words, the logistics contract has an outsized strategic impact on U.S. objectives in Afghanistan.

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The DAWON Media Group / 2010-06-16

Pakistan has dived headlong into the Afghanistan reconciliation process by taking on the task of acting as a bridge between the Haqqani network and the government in Kabul, Dawn has learnt. “Preliminary contacts have been established with Siraj Haqqani and other leaders of his group through intermediaries in a bid to engineer a rapprochement with the Karzai administration,” a senior security official told Dawn.

The New York Times / 2010-06-17

A new coalition initiative to lure Afghan insurgents away from the battlefield allows the Taliban and other militants to keep their weapons if they sign on to a government peace plan, a senior coalition official said. Instead of disarming insurgents who agree to stop fighting, the new program would let them keep weapons to provide security for their own communities, said British Maj. Gen. Philip Jones, who directs the reintegration effort for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Based in Kabul, the Afghanistan Watch focuses on activities that promote justice, respect for human rights and a culture of accountability and transparency in the country. Recognizing the need for greater understanding of the perils and opportunities facing Afghanistan today, the organization aims to conduct in-depth research and publish reports and papers on issues relevant to its goals and values independently or in partnership with other national and international organizations.

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International Relations and Security Network(ISN) / Security Watch
14 December 2009

Middle East Institute Viewpoints: Afghanistan, 1979-2009: In the Grip of Conflict • www.mei.edu
By: Abdul Jalil Benish, director of Afghanistan Watch

Impunity in Afghanistan is like an unwritten law which benefits the wealthiest and most powerful criminals.Read More

Niamatullah Ibrahimi, Co-Founder of Afghanistan Watch writes on The Relevance of the ICC in the Context of Afghanistan in the ICC Monitor, the Journal of the Coalition of the International Criminal Court

The relevance of the ICC has been keenly felt in Afghanistan since 2001. During this period, human rights violations have continued unabated, a culture of impunity and lack of accountability has been further entrenched, and the Afghan state has displayed a chronic lack of commitment to hold accountable those responsible for heinous crimes and massive human rights abuses.
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