Thirty years ago, the dwelling would have been luxurious. But today, between walls damaged by artillery blasts and under collapsing ceilings, over 1,000 nomads from Afghanistan’s south are preparing to spend the winter in Kabul’s condemned Darul Aman Palace.
The United States intends to expand security cooperation with Central Asian states, US diplomats say. One means to do so, they add, is increasing the capacity of the Northern Distribution Network, which ships military cargo bound for US and NATO forces overland through Central Asia to Afghanistan.
As Russian President Dmitry Medvedev prepares to make an appearance in Lisbon during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit on November 19-20, Russian officials are pushing for the Atlantic Alliance to demonstrate a greater spirit of cooperation with Moscow in combating drug production in Afghanistan.
UNITED NATIONS -- Afghanistan's ambassador to the UN has urged the Security Council to remove more members of the Taliban from its international sanctions list, saying the move is "critical for achieving lasting peace and security."
Russia’s recent involvement in an anti-drug operation in Afghanistan indicates that the exigencies of the present crisis outweigh the burdens of past actions for Moscow. While Russian leaders appear ready to take Kabul’s feelings into account, the Kremlin is no longer willing to let its past sins keep Russia on the sidelines in Afghanistan.
President Hamid Karzai’s plan to shut down private security forces in Afghanistan has many military contractors and assorted peace-builders in a panic. But some humanitarian aid workers in the country contend that a ban isn’t such a bad idea.
It would be up to the Afghan National Police (ANP) to provide security for US military fuel and supply convoys bound for Afghanistan, along with storage depots inside the country, if a ban on private security firms is implemented. Experts believe such a potential development would be a disaster waiting to happen.
The US Defense Department has gained an inordinate amount of influence over the distribution of security assistance in Central Asia, exerting an “oversized impact” on US foreign policy in the region, according to a report released October 15.
Uzbekistan wants to help the United States transform the Northern Distribution Network from a supply route for military cargo bound for Afghanistan into a broader trade network, government officials say.
It is dawn in Jangalak, and the former industrial park has the appearance of an apocalyptic fairground. The drug addicts melt away at first light, leaving their syringes littering the ground. Schoolchildren walk down dusty paths among shelled, machinegun-strafed buildings.
