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Amin Tarzi

Also by Amin Tarzi

July 01, 2005
Afghanistan: Is Helicopter Downing A Sign Of New Tactics, Weapons?

A U.S. military Chinook helicopter (file photo) If confirmed as a hostile-fire incident, the 28 June downing of a U.S. military helicopter in Afghanistan that left 16 soldiers dead would be the most costly such incident for U.S. forces in that country since October 2001. The recent resurgence of violence seems to have shattered assertions following Afghanistan's October 2004 presidential election that the insurgency there had been quelled.
June 02, 2005
Afghanistan: Is Reconciliation With The Neo-Taliban Working?

Karzai's reconciliation plan with the Taliban is controversial The latest surge of violence associated and often claimed by the neo-Taliban brings into question Afghan President Hamid Karzai's reconciliation policy with members of the ousted regime. However, the incidents, including the deadly suicide attack inside a mosque in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on 1 June, may involve more actors than the resurgent elements from the Taliban regime, or the neo-Taliban, and, as such, can be a destabilizing factor in Afghanistan's future.
May 25, 2005
Afghans Cautious On U.S. Military Bases

During a meeting in Washington on 23 May, U.S. President George W. Bush and visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai signed a memorandum of understanding towards establishing a "strategic partnership" between Washington and Kabul. At a joint news conference in the White House the same day, Karzai stated that the arrangement signed with Bush would "enable Afghanistan to stand on its own feet." Bush said that the strategic partnership signed with Karzai "establishes regular high-level exchanges on political, security and economic interests" and consultations with Afghanistan "if it perceives its territorial integrity, independence or security is at risk." The text of the "Joint Declaration of the United States-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership" released by the White House on 23 May specifies if such a risk is determined by Kabul to exist, the Afghanistan and the United States will take "appropriate measures" to address it.
May 19, 2005
Afghanistan: Was Taliban Involved In Uzbek Violence?

Aftermath of riots in Andijon, 14 May On 13 May, Uzbek security forces fired on demonstrators in the eastern city of Andijon, following attacks on a police station, military barracks, and prison. The government has said that 169 people were killed, including more than 50 foreign fighters, though opposition groups say as many as 750 people were killed. [For more on these events, see RFE/RL's dedicated webpage: Unrest in Uzbekistan --> /specials/uzbek_unrest/ ]
May 16, 2005
Afghanistan: The Significance Of The Koran

Hundreds of people took to the streets in protest last week Demonstrations, some of them violent, have recently rocked Afghanistan as well as several other countries with Muslim majorities. In Afghanistan, these demonstrations, led initially by students, have claimed at least 13 lives. Ostensibly, these demonstrations began in protest at a short report in the U.S.-based "Newsweek" on 9 May, which alleged that interrogators at the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba "in an attempt to rattle suspects, flushed a Qur'an down a toilet."
May 13, 2005
Afghanistan: What Is Fueling The Anti-U.S. Demonstrations?

A protest in Kabul The trigger that launched the deadly and destructive student-led demonstrations which began peacefully on 10 May in the eastern Nangarhar Province and spread to at least eight other provinces around Nangarhar and in the southern and northern parts of the country as well as Kabul are well-known. What is less understood is who has been fueling these rallies and for what purpose.
May 09, 2005
Afghanistan: Taliban Radio Back On The Air

In April, residents of the southern Afghan city of Kandahar were able to hear again Shari'a Zhagh (Voice of the Shari'a) -- the name used for Kabul's Radio Afghanistan during the Taliban rule between 1996 and 2001.
April 20, 2005
Afghanistan: Disarming The Militias -- Which Militias And Which Arms?

With the Afghan parliamentary elections set for this fall, many observers are focusing on the successes and shortcomings of the UN-backed Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) program. Few would dispute that in the absence of a comprehensive disbanding of Afghan militia forces the elections are likely to be disrupted by voter intimidation and even violence.
April 06, 2005
Afghanistan: Opposition Alliance Receives Official Praise, Popular Doubt

Yunos Qanuni (file photo) On 31 March, former Education Minister and presidential candidate Mohammad Yunos Qanuni announced the formation of the National Understanding Front (Jabha-ye Tafahom-e Melli, JTM) as the main opposition group to President Hamid Karzai's government. A day after the formation of the JTM, Karzai issued a statement welcoming the formation of "an opposition to the government." The 1 April statement added that Karzai believes that in a democratic system the existence of an opposition "committed to reform and the true application of law" is essential.
April 05, 2005
Afghanistan: Kabul Plays Musical Chairs With Provincial Security Chiefs

5 April 2005 -- Authorities have shuffled the security commanders in four of Afghanistan's largest provinces in the past two weeks. The moves appear to be aimed at countering the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan's largest cities, and perhaps serve as a response to the demonstrations that took place in March in the southern city of Kandahar and the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif (see "RFE/RL Afghanistan Report," 11 March 2005).
March 09, 2005
Analysis: Afghan Demonstrations Test Warlords-Turned-Administrators

Demonstrations rocked two of Afghanistan's five largest cities on 7 March -- Kandahar in the south and Mazar-e Sharif in the north. While the reasons behind these protests varied and the central government's response to them was markedly different, one factor connects the incidents: the presence of former warlords acting as governors of the two provinces.
February 11, 2005
Analysis: Let Bygones Be Bygones?

Reckoning with the past has been a hot topic in the Afghan press The report on human rights abuses issued by the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) on 29 January, which claimed that the majority of Afghans want people who have violated human rights in the past to be declared ineligible for public office, has generated a heated debate in the Afghan media and official circles.
February 04, 2005
Analysis: Afghans Demand Reckoning With Past Abuses

A new report on human rights issued by the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) presents Afghanistan's leadership with a dilemma. The report, released on 29 January, asserts that the majority of Afghans want people who have violated human rights in the past declared ineligible for public office. However, the leaders of postconflict Afghanistan are inclined to try to forget, if not forgive, the grave violations of human rights committed by successive regimes, warlords, gangs, and their foreign backers. They want to secure quickly the country's future as a stable and secure society based on law -- without a reckoning with the past.
January 19, 2005
Analysis: Karzai Turns Warlord Into Potential Ally

Ismail Khan (file photo) When Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced his cabinet on 23 December, most observers hailed it as a technocratic team mostly devoid of warlords and other unsavory elements among Afghanistan's powerful personalities.
December 07, 2004
Analysis: Difficult Choices, Constitutional Dilemmas Confront Afghan President

Karzai has led the Interim, and subsequently Transitional, administrations for nearly three years (file photo) On 7 December, Hamid Karzai was sworn as the first popularly elected president in Afghanistan's history in the presence of an unprecedented number of foreign dignitaries.
November 09, 2004
Analysis: The UN Afghan Kidnappers And Their Motives

Unidentified gunmen in Kabul on 28 October abducted three foreign nationals working for the UN-Afghan Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB). The abductees included two women from Northern Ireland and Kosova and one Filipino. JEMB spokesman Sultan Ahmad Bahin told Hindukosh News Agency on the same day that the kidnappers have not contacted the election body. Reports indicated that five kidnappers, dressed in military uniforms, stopped the UN vehicle carrying the workers at mid-day and, after beating the driver, took the three with them.
October 25, 2004
Analysis: Afghan Leader Awaits Official Declaration Of Presidential Victory

With over 90 percent of the vote counted by late last week, it appeared likely that Afghan Transitional Administration Chairman Hamid Karzai would become the country's first directly elected president. According to the latest statistics provided by the UN-Afghan Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB), Karzai --> http://www.azadiradio.org/en/specials/elections/candidates-karzai.asp had secured 55.3 percent of the vote, while his closest challenger, Mohammad Yunos Qanuni --> http://www.azadiradio.org/en/specials/elections/candidates-qanuni.asp , stood at about 17 percent, followed by Mohammad Mohaqeq --> http://www.azadiradio.org/en/specials/elections/candidates-mohaqeq.asp and General Abdul Rashid Dostum --> http://www.azadiradio.org/en/specials/elections/candidates-dostum.asp , each with 10 percent of the vote (see http://www.afg-electionresults.org). Qanuni reportedly conceded defeat through a spokesman on 24 October, echoing Dostum's earlier concession, although Qanuni also stressed that he would await the results of the ongoing probe into alleged electoral fraud before drawing his final conclusions.
September 30, 2004
Analysis: Afghan Leader Counsels Patience

Afghan leader and presidential hopeful Hamid Karzai (file photo) [For more on the Afghan elections, see RFE/RL and Radio Free Afghanistan's dedicated webpage "Afghanistan Votes 2004-05." --> http://www.azadiradio.org/en/specials/elections/ ]
September 23, 2004
Analysis: Is Herat A Prelude To The End Of Afghan Warlordism?

On 11 September, Afghan Transitional Administration Chairman Hamid Karzai finally did what he had long been promising to do: He officially sacked one of Afghanistan's most colorful warlords, Governor Mohammad Ismail Khan of Herat Province in western Afghanistan.
August 04, 2004
Analysis: Mas'ud's Legacy

On 26 July, the last day when candidates in Afghanistan's 9 October presidential elections could register their candidacy, Afghan Transitional Administration Chairman Hamid Karzai officially joined a pool of 23 hopefuls to become Afghanistan's future leader.

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