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Tagged: Afghanistan

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Afghanistan
11:13 am
Thu March 29, 2012

Dreams Of A Mining Future On Hold In Afghanistan

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Credit Majid Saeedi / Getty Images
Afghan miners in a makeshift emerald mine in the Panjshir Valley in 2010. Reports suggest that Afghanistan is sitting on significant deposits of oil, gas, copper, iron, gold and coal, as well as a range of precious gems like emeralds and rubies. Currently these minerals are largely untapped and are still being mapped.
Credit Benjamin Lowy / Getty Images
Hesco barriers and concertina wire surround the living quarters of the Chinese-owned Ainak copper mine in Logar, Afghanistan, in 2011.
Credit Majid Saeedi / Getty Images
Afghan miners work a coal mine some 60 miles east of the western city of Herat, Afghanistan, in 2010.
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Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 5:27 pm

Afghanistan faces the daunting prospect of a drastic reduction in foreign aid, which currently makes up about 90 percent of the country's revenue. Some have seen an economic life raft in geological surveys that indicate huge deposits of copper, iron, uranium and lithium in various parts of the country. But multinational mining firms have been slow to invest in Afghanistan — not least because of questions about stability after American troops draw down.

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Afghanistan
4:00 am
Tue March 20, 2012

Grieving Afghan Father: 'All My Dreams Are Buried'

Credit Allauddin Khan / AP
Afghans gather outside a military base in the Panjwai district in Afghanistan on March 11, after 16 civilians were killed in a massacre allegedly carried out by a U.S. soldier.
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Afghans say they're so inured to civilians killed in wars that they bury their dead and move on. That's not so easy for Muhammad Wazir. He lost his mother, his wife, a sister-in-law, a brother, a nephew, his four daughters and two of his sons in last week's mass shooting in two villages.

"My little boy, Habib Shah, is the only one left alive, and I love him very much," says Wazir.

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Afghanistan
1:55 pm
Thu March 15, 2012

U.S., Pakistan At Impasse Over Afghan Supply Routes

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Credit Masroor / Xinhua/Landov
Oil tankers sit at a NATO supply terminal in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi on Feb. 9. In November, Pakistan's government shut down the main routes for bringing supplies to U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan.
Credit Masroor / Xinhua/Landov
Oil tankers line the road near a NATO supply terminal in Karachi, on Feb. 9, 2012. Analysts say Pakistan is in no hurry to reopen the supply routes to Afghanistan, though truckers complain that they can't earn any money.
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Nearly four months after Pakistan closed the main supply lines for U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, the shutdown is creating hardship for Pakistani truckers and is forcing the U.S. to turn to costly and less-efficient alternatives.

The Pakistani move came after an errant U.S. airstrike left 24 Pakistani soldiers dead along the Afghan frontier back in November.

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Afghanistan
12:01 am
Tue March 13, 2012

Killings A Blow To U.S. Strategy In Afghanistan

Credit Allauddin Khan / AP
A U.S. soldier, part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, stands outside a military base in Panjwai, Kandahar province, south of Kabul, on Sunday.
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The killings of some 16 civilians in Afghanistan on Sunday allegedly by a U.S. soldier are raising new questions about U.S. military strategy: whether the surge of American troops worked, and whether the U.S. troops have won over the Afghan people or alienated them.

The place where the killings happened was a "no-go zone" for American and even Afghan troops as recently as two years ago — it was Taliban country.

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Afghanistan
2:43 pm
Thu March 8, 2012

For Afghan Policewomen, Sex Abuse Is A Job Hazard

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Credit STR / EPA/Landov
Afghan female police officers are trained by Afghan police and NATO soldiers in eastern Afghanistan's Ghazni province on Sept. 12. In the culturally conservative country, women serving in the security forces say they face systemic sexual coercion and even rape by male colleagues.
Credit Aref Karimi / AFP/Getty Images
Afghan female police officers march at the Police Training Center on the outskirts of Herat province in western Afghanistan on Dec. 8.
Credit Punit Paranjpe / AFP/Getty Images
Afghan female cadets attend their graduation ceremony at the Military Training Center in Kabul, the Afghan capital, May 19. Some women say they joined the security forces in order to serve their country, but many say it's because the pay is better than working as a maid or teacher.
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Originally published on Thu March 8, 2012 8:33 pm

The image of Afghan women wearing police and army uniforms is meant to inspire pride and hope for a future where the rights of women will be protected in Afghanistan.

So why would female police officers in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif be ashamed to admit they wear the badge?

"Except my very close family members, no one really knows that I am a police officer," said one woman at a NATO training session.

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National Security
12:01 am
Thu March 1, 2012

In Mock Village, A New Afghan Mission Takes Shape

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Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Lt. Col. Mark Schmitt, who will be among a group of U.S. military trainers heading to Afghanistan soon, calls out orders during a mock attack on the model Afghan village at the U.S. military base in Fort Polk, La.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Afghan police role-players (in blue shirts) gather in a mock village. The scenarios are staged to help prepare U.S. soldiers for training the Afghan forces.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Afghan police role-players, equipped with AK-47 assault rifles, walk the streets of the mock village during a security patrol.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Dressed in traditional clothing, an Afghan role-player waits for a shura — meeting — to end.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Role-players dressed as Afghan policemen clear a mosque in the mock village where a sniper had been firing at them.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
The Afghan policemen successfully secure the mosque.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
U.S. Capt. Donnell Mann greets female Afghan role-players.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
U.S. and Afghan security officers meet with civilian Afghan role-players.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
A terrorist role-player detonates his suicide vest in front of Afghan security forces.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Capt. Marquay Edmondson runs for cover while trying to keep an eye on his Afghan counterparts during a gunfight.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Afghan role-players cover their ears and hide behind a wall during a gun battle.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
A mock suicide bomber plays dead in the middle of a shootout.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
A U.S. soldier carries a wounded Afghan policeman from the battlefield after he was shot during a mock gun battle.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Role-players from the Afghan National Army, in tan, and Afghan National Police, in blue, help an injured American soldier.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
A U.S. soldier puts a wounded Afghan policeman in to the back of a truck after he was shot during a mock gun battle.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
U.S. troops wait for the signal to bring a injured Afghan soldier out to a waiting helicopter.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Col. Michael Kasales stands outside a mock Afghan village at Fort Polk, La., where U.S. Army soldiers are learning how to train Afghan security forces.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Role players from the Afghan National Army, in tan, and Afghan National Police, in blue, take up positions during a training exercise in a mock Afghan village in Fort Polk, La.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
A U.S. Army trainer examines the scene after a mock battle. The man on the ground was playing the role of an Afghan policeman.
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Originally published on Wed May 23, 2012 10:59 am

At the Fort Polk military base in the pine forests of central Louisiana, the Army has created a miniature version of Afghanistan — with mock villages and American soldiers working alongside Afghan role-players.

This is the training ground for a new American approach in Afghanistan as the U.S. begins to look ahead to the goal of bringing home the U.S. forces by the end of 2014. The idea is that Afghan forces have to be good enough to defend their country against the Taliban, and to make that happen, the U.S. Army is creating small U.S. training teams at Fort Polk.

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Afghanistan
5:51 pm
Thu February 23, 2012

U.S. Apology Over Qurans Fails To Stop Afghan Riots

Credit Noorullah Shirzada / AFP/Getty Images
Afghan demonstrators burn an effigy of President Obama and shout anti-U.S. slogans in the eastern city of Jalalabad on Wednesday, Feb. 22. Afghans have been rioting for three days after word that several Qurans were desecrated at a NATO base. The U.S. says the burning of the Qurans was accidental.
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President Obama apologized in a letter and Afghan President Hamid Karzai appealed for calm.

But that was not enough to keep Afghans from protesting violently for a third day following word that several copies of the Muslim holy book, the Quran, were burned at a large NATO base outside Kabul.

The latest incident resembled other cases in recent years, where rumors that a Quran was desecrated — even thousands of miles away in Florida or Guantanamo Bay — ignited deadly riots in Afghanistan.

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Afghanistan
12:01 am
Wed February 8, 2012

Afghans Hedge Bets Amid Mixed Messages From U.S.

Credit AFP / AFP/Getty Images
Afghan men walk past American soldiers in Ghazni province on Thursday. U.S. and Afghan officials are in talks that will determine how many American troops stay in Afghanistan after the NATO mission ends in 2014.
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After a long hiatus, the Afghan and U.S. governments this week reopened talks on a strategic partnership that will determine how many American troops stay in Afghanistan past the end of the NATO mission in 2014.

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Afghanistan
12:01 am
Wed February 8, 2012

Afghans Worried About Early Exit Of French Troops

Credit Joel Saget / AFP/Getty Images
A French gunner mans a machine gun in a Puma helicopter as it flies over Afghanistan. French President Nicolas Sarkozy recently ordered the withdrawal of all French troops from the country a year ahead of schedule.
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By Ahmad Shafi

Uncertainties surrounding the future of the NATO mission in Afghanistan are of particular concern for an area near Kabul that French troops have controlled for the past decade. France now plans to withdraw its army a year ahead of schedule, sparking fears of a potential crisis in Kapisa province.

On a plateau amid the towering Hindu Kush mountains, Hukum Khan, a 31-year-old Afghan farmer, says the presence of French troops hasn't made much difference in his life in the past 10 years.

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