• Afghanistan's President Karzai in Qatar, Taliban talks in focus
• Afghanistan: School buildings to be constructed/reconstructed
• US hands prison over to Afghans

• 'Military solution improbable in Afghanistan': Invincible Defence Technology addresses root causes of terrorism and war - Pajhwok Afghan News

• Taliban attacks kill nine people in Afghanistan, April deadliest month
• Afghan attacks kill US diplomat, soldiers, others
• Afghan militias complicate aid, security

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Positive Trends
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Afghanistan's President Karzai in Qatar, Taliban talks in focus
31 March 2013 - President Hamid Karzai held talks with Qatari leaders on Sunday, official media reported, on a visit the Kabul government has said would seek to explore the possibility of talks with Taliban insurgents on ending Afghanistan's war. Qatar's state news agency QNA said Karzai held talks with the emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, attended by the Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani. (more)

Afghanistan: School buildings to be constructed/reconstructed
31 March 2013 - The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has agreed to grant Afghanistan's education ministry with $68.5 million, according to a report from Pajhwok Afghan News (PAN). Per the report, under the agreement signed in Kabul, 2,270 schools will be built in Afghanistan's rural areas to pave the way to provide education to 555,000 Afghan children. (more)

US hands prison over to Afghans
25 March 2013 - The US military gave control of its last detention facility in Afghanistan to Kabul on Monday, a year after the two sides initially agreed on the transfer. The handover of Parwan Detention Facility ends a bitter chapter in American relations with Afghanistan's President, Hamid Karzai, who demanded control of the prison as a matter of national sovereignty. It took place just a few hours before US Secretary of State John Kerry flew into Afghanistan on an unannounced visit to see Karzai. (more)

US, Afghanistan bury hatchet in Kabul meeting
25 March 2013 - US Secretary of State John Kerry and Afghan President Hamid Karzai made a show of rare, recent unity between their two nations on Monday, as the US military ceded control of its last detention facility in Afghanistan, ending a longstanding irritant in relations. After a private meeting, Kerry said he and Karzai were 'on the same page' on security and reconciliation issues and brushed aside suggestions that relations were in peril. (more)

Afghanistan's Karzai heads to Qatar to discuss peace with Taliban
24 March 2013 - Afghan President Hamid Karzai will travel to Qatar within days to discuss peace negotiations with the Taliban, the Afghan Foreign Ministry said on Sunday, as efforts intensify to find a negotiated solution to the twelve-year war. Karzai's trip to Qatar would represent the first time the Afghan President has discussed the Taliban peace process in Qatar, and comes after years of stalled discussions with the United States, Pakistan, and the Taliban. (more)

Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan to link by railway
20 March 2013 - Afghanistan has signed a deal with ex-Soviet neighbours Turkmenistan and Tajikistan to build a new railway linking the three nations. The 400-kilometer (250-mile) railroad would link landlocked Afghanistan to a regional transport network, increasing the country's export potential. It would link the Afghan town of Akina-Andhoi, about 650 kilometers (400 miles) northwest of Kabul to Atamyrat in Turkmenistan and Pyandzh in Tajikistan. (more)

Official says Afghanistan ready to take over
13 February 2013 - The Afghan government on Wednesday welcomed President Barack Obama's decision to bring home half of the 66,000 American troops in Afghanistan within the next year, saying Afghan forces are ready to take responsibility for the country's security. President Hamid Karzai has been pressing for a faster pace in the withdrawal of foreign combat troops from Afghanistan and agreed with Obama last month to accelerate the handover of security responsibilities to his country's newly trained security forces to this spring -- instead of late summer as originally planned. (more)

US withdrawing 34,000 troops from Afghanistan within a year
12 February 2013 - President Barack Obama will announce in his State of the Union address on Tuesday that 34,000 troops -- about half the US force in Afghanistan -- will withdraw by early 2014, a senior administration official said. The decision brings the United States one step closer to wrapping up the unpopular and costly 11-year-old war but also appeared to give the White House time and flexibility before it answers bigger questions about America's exit strategy. (more)

Young Afghan musicians in NY for date at Carnegie Hall
12 February 2013 - The Afghan Youth Orchestra, many of whose members are not far removed from eking out a living on the streets of Kabul, is on the New York leg of a US tour that melds Western classics with traditional Afghan music. (more)

US starts using Pakistan route for Afghan pullout
11 February 2013 - The US has started using the land route through Pakistan to pull American military equipment out of Afghanistan as it draws down its troops in the country, US and Pakistani officials said Monday. Pakistan will be a key route for the US to withdraw tens of thousands of containers of equipment out of landlocked Afghanistan as it pulls most of its combat troops out by the end of 2014. (more)

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Success of Maharishi's Programmes
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'Military solution improbable in Afghanistan': Invincible Defence Technology addresses root causes of terrorism and war - Pajhwok Afghan News
17 June 2009 - A scientifically verified alternative to military action is available in Afghanistan, say Invincible Defence Technology (IDT) experts Major General (Ret.) Kulwant Singh, Colonel Brian Rees, and David Leffler, PhD. Extensive peer-reviewed published research demonstrates the effectiveness of group practice of the Transcendental Meditation Programme and its advanced techniques for reducing the societal stress that fuels violence, terrorism, and war. (more)

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Flops
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Taliban attacks kill nine people in Afghanistan, April deadliest month
21 April 2013 - Insurgents killed six police officers at a checkpoint and a suicide bomber killed three civilians at a shopping bazaar in separate attacks Sunday in eastern Afghanistan, while an independent security group warned 2013 is on track to be one of the most violent years of the war. April already has been the deadliest month this year for security forces and Afghan and foreign civilians as the US and other countries prepare to end their combat mission by the end of next year. According to an Associated Press tally, 222 people have been killed in violence around the nation this month, including Sunday's nine fatalities. Hostilities have surged in Afghanistan as the spring fighting season begins. This year's is being closely watched because Afghan forces must operate with less support from the international military coalition. With foreign forces due to hand over combat responsibilities to the local forces next year, the current fighting is a test of their ability to take on the country's insurgency. (more)

Afghan attacks kill US diplomat, soldiers, others
6 April 2013 - A car bomb blast killed five Americans, including three US soldiers and a young diplomat, on 6 April, while an American civilian died in a separate attack in the east. The diplomat and other Americans were in a convoy of vehicles in Zabul province when the blast occurred, Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement. The Washington Post identified the diplomat as Anne Smedinghoff, 25. Smedinghoff was Kerry's embassy guide and aide when he visited Afghanistan last month, the paper said. 'Our American officials and their Afghan colleagues were on their way to donate books to students in a school in Qalat, the province's capital, when they were struck by this despicable attack,' Kerry said in his statement. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the Zabul attack in a text message from spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi. He said a car bomb killed seven foreigners and wounded five others, although he later revised the toll to 13 foreigners killed and nine wounded. The Taliban routinely exaggerates casualty figures. (more)

Afghan militias complicate aid, security
5 April 2013 - The war in Afghanistan is often seen as a fight between Taliban insurgent groups and government and international forces, but in reality, local armed groups frequently operate between and among the two sides in a kind of grey area. These groups can worsen insecurity and complicate aid delivery. Militias create insecurity for ordinary people, who are frequently confused by the assortment of armed ethnic gangs, village protection forces, and semi-official militia, according to half a dozen aid organizations in Kunduz interviewed by IRIN. These groups often tied to local strongmen, provide security against Taliban insurgents in areas without a government presence, and many have, at different times, been in partnership with government and international forces. Individual members have often switched sides and allegiance between the different groups involved in the conflict. (more)

Afghan villagers flee their homes, blame US drones
28 March 2013 - The US military is increasingly relying on drone strikes inside Afghanistan, where the number of weapons fired from unmanned aerial aircraft soared from 294 in 2011 to 506 last year. With international combat forces set to withdraw by the end of next year, such attacks are now used more for targeted killings and less for supporting ground troops. It's unclear whether Predator drone strikes will continue after 2014 in Afghanistan, where the government has complained bitterly about civilian casualties. The strikes sometimes accidentally kill civilians while forcing others to abandon their hometowns in fear, feeding widespread anti-American sentiment. Criticism of the use of drones for targeted killings around the world has been mounting in recent months. The UN Special Rapporteur on Counter Terrorism and Human Rights has launched an investigation into their effect on civilians. (more)

Afghan insurgent attacks misreported, did not fall in 2012 - NATO
26 February 2013 - The NATO-led force in Afghanistan said on Tuesday it had incorrectly reported a 7 per cent drop in the number of attacks by Taliban insurgents last year, acknowledging that in fact there had been no decline in the closely watched statistic. The disclosure raises questions about recent US claims of progress in the costly, unpopular war. It also serves as a reminder of Taliban resiliency as withdrawing US and NATO forces prepare to declare the combat mission over at the end of next year. NATO's International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, pointed to a record-keeping mistake which failed to take into account some data from Afghan forces, which are increasingly bearing the brunt of the conflict as Western forces move into a support role. After updating the figures, last year's 7 per cent decline in so-called enemy-initiated attacks -- key data used to help assess progress in the war -- was shown to have instead remained unchanged between 2011 and 2012, ISAF said. (more)

Afghanistan: Taliban peace talks flounder as troops draw down
3 February 2013 - The Afghan peace effort is floundering, fraught with mistrust and confusion among key players even though the hard-line Taliban militants show signs of softening. Members of the Taliban are in contact with representatives from 30 to 40 different countries, according to senior US, Afghan, and other officials The Associated Press interviewed in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Moreover, the relationship among the key players -- the US, Afghanistan, and Pakistan -- is marked by distrust that keeps tugging momentum away from the peace process. One senior US official said the process is so nascent and egos so fragile that it's like negotiating a minefield. A European diplomat told the AP that there are so many backdoor talks going on that it's hard to keep track of who is talking to whom. This week, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he wanted an end to all these talks. Speaking at a water management conference in the Afghan capital, Karzai expressed suspicion that the peace process was being hijacked by the West to strengthen his opponents and undermine his government. (more)

Rights in Afghanistan at risk as NATO troops leave
1 February 2013 - Afghanistan's human rights situation remains poor and will likely deteriorate even further with the departure of NATO-led forces from the country next year, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in its annual global report on Thursday. Increasing international fatigue over the 11-year war has led to reduced pressure on the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai to limit the role of warlords, corrupt politicians, and other human rights abusers, the report said. 'The future of human rights protections in Afghanistan are in grave doubt,' HRW Asia director Brad Adams said. 'Corruption, little rule of law, poor governance, and abusive policies and practices deprive the country's most vulnerable citizens of their rights.' The situation for people at risk of abuse was expected to worsen as NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) gradually withdraws its troops ahead of the end-2014 deadline for the end of the NATO-led war, the report said. The report's concerns echoed a United Nations paper released in January which said that despite ongoing international attention, torture and mistreatment of Afghans held by the country's police and spy agencies was continuing. (more)

Suicide bombers kill 5 at Afghan district compound
6 January 2013 - Two suicide bombers penetrated a government compound in the country's south Sunday, killing five people, Afghan officials said. There were no reports of foreign troops or civilians at the site. In neighbouring Helmand province, a bomb planted at a bus station killed one policeman and wounded another person, a provincial official said. The suicide attack was in the district of Spin Boldak in Kandahar province in one of the nation's most violent areas. The district is a major infiltration corridor for Taliban fighters from Pakistan as well as a smuggling route for weapons and narcotics. A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said the group was responsible for the Spin Boldak attack. He said the Taliban did not orchestrate the bombing in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand. Mohammad Hashim, district chief of Spin Boldak, said the two militants were targeting a meeting of local officials at a compound in the district of Kandahar province near the Pakistani border. Hashim said the two attackers arrived in a car, killed a guard and entered the facility firing weapons before blowing themselves up along with their vehicle. The compound houses offices of the district chief and district council as well as other government buildings. (more)

Bleak Afghan outlook for 2013
2 January 2013 - More violence and a worsening humanitarian situation are likely in Afghanistan in 2013, say aid agencies. 'The worsening conflict trends over the last five years indicate that civilians will continue to suffer because of armed violence and that the humanitarian situation will deteriorate,' says the new Common Humanitarian Action Plan (CHAP) for 2013, published by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Afghanistan has some of the worst humanitarian indicators in the world -- 34 per cent of the population are food insecure and 10 per cent of children die before they start primary school. Many analysts think the steady withdrawal of international forces in 2013, ahead of full withdrawal in 2014, will lead to an upsurge in violence as anti-government forces capitalize on their stronger position vis-à-vis national security forces. If humanitarian challenges in 2013 were limited to conflict, they would be serious enough. But Afghanistan is also frequently a victim of natural disasters, which on average affect around a quarter of a million Afghans each year. Harsh winters, deadly avalanches, earthquakes, landslides, droughts, and floods leave nearly half of Afghanistan's districts hazard-prone. (more)

Spring Wish denied as suicide bomber brings down Afghan juice empire
26 December 2012 - When a Taliban suicide bomber killed two people on the edge of the Afghan capital this month, there was another casualty -- a global fruit juice business optimistically called 'Spring Wish' which provided work for thousands of farmers across the country. Mustafa Sadiq's empire had been expanding healthily, bringing in badly needed foreign capital, before the attack inflicted the kind of financial loss cash-strapped Afghanistan can ill afford. The pomegranate juice business was nearly wiped out in the split second it took the militant to detonate explosives in a truck parked near the factory on 17 December. Spring Wish, which employed about 1,000 people, was selling produce to the health conscious in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, bringing money into Afghanistan, while anxious Afghans carted $4.5 billion in cash out of the country last year to safety. As Sadiq tries to persuade his staff to keep dreaming big and to rebuild, one question may haunt him for some time. The suicide bomber parked his truck in a lane between his company and a foreign firm. The Taliban said it attacked an American company next door, but he still wonders whether his factory, which relied on Italian machinery and benefited from US aid programmes, was the target. And he acknowledges he is desperate for money from Western donors. (more)