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October 23, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
The New York Times: One evening last August, as President Hamid Karzai wrapped up an official visit to Iran, his personal plane sat on the airport tarmac, waiting for a late-running passenger: Iran’s ambassador to Afghanistan. The ambassador, Feda Hussein Maliki, finally appeared, taking a seat next to Umar Daudzai, Mr. Karzai’s chief of staff and his most trusted confidant. Full news...
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October 23, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
PAN: Nearly two million hectares of state land has been illegally occupied by powerful individuals over the past three decades, a senior official informed the Wolesi Jirga on Saturday. It was no easy job to retake the land, Muhammad Salim Kunduzi, deputy agriculture and livestock minister, told lawmakers. A department called 'Afghanistan Land Authority' has been established to reclaim the land. Full news...
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October 22, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
Deutsche Welle: Now the secret, which never was one, is out. The Wolesi Jirga, Afghanistan’s lower house, will continue to be run by the country’s warlords over the next five years. Former mujahedin leaders and their allies have won in almost all the constituencies. Even in Kabul, a city which at the beginning of the 1990s was almost completely destroyed by the battles between the various mujahedin groupings, the picture is the same. Full news...
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October 21, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
The Christian Science Monitor: Since its Revolutionary days, the American military has been no stranger to the use of paid help – from carpenters to ditch diggers – to wage war. By 1965 in Vietnam, the practice of relying on private defense companies became widespread enough within the Pentagon that Business Week dubbed it a “war by contract.” Full news...
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October 18, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
ABC News Radio: A videotape obtained by ABC News appears to show fraud in last month's Afghanistan elections. Cell phone video captures underage voters and ballot stuffing, and may mean thousands of votes may have to be thrown out. One part of the video shows someone in a police uniform watching as one person casts dozens of fake ballots, while another folds them into the ballot box. Full news...
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October 13, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
Reuters: Cash from the US military and international donors destined for construction and welfare projects in restive parts of Afghanistan is ending up in the hands of insurgents, a contractor and village elders said. The alliance of largely Western nations who back President Hamid Karzai and have nearly 150,000 troops on Afghan soil have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on aid... Full news...
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October 11, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
AFP: Afghanistan’s election watchdog confirmed Sunday that more than 170 candidates who stood for parliament, including 25 current lawmakers, have been accused of electoral fraud. The Electoral Complaints Commission (EEC) said they have registered 4,149 complaints since polling day on September 18. More than half the complaints have been given top priority and if proven, could affect the final results. Full news...
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October 11, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
The Sydney Morning Herald: AUSTRALIAN officers are training Afghan police who are corrupt, obtain money from the Afghan drug trade and are often sexually abused or sexual abusers, a new report says. The report, by the non-government organisation The Liaison Office in Afghanistan, comes as the Home Affairs Minister, Brendan O'Connor, and the Federal Police Commissioner, Tony Negus... Full news...
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October 8, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
The Guardian: The two Afghan warlords were referred to as “Mr White” and “Mr Pink”, the characters from Quentin Tarantino's movie Reservoir Dogs. They were well named, every bit as ruthless and bloody as their namesakes in the 1992 film. Their activities are documented at length in a US Senate committee report, published last night, that provides a rare glimpse into the world of private security companies operating in Afghanistan. Full news...
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October 8, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
BBC News: Heavy US reliance on private security in Afghanistan has helped to line the pockets of the Taliban, a US Senate report says. The study by the Senate Armed Services Committee says this is because contractors often fail to vet local recruits and end up hiring warlords. The report demands "immediate and aggressive steps" to improve the vetting and oversight process. Full news...
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October 6, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
CNN: Authorities in southwestern Afghanistan have seized 19 tons of explosive devices that had been transferred across the border from Iran, police said. Nimruz Police Chief Abdul Jabar Purdel said a suspect was detained. Nimruz province, in Afghanistan's southwestern corner, borders Iran and Pakistan. Full news...
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October 3, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
PAN: Governors and other high-ranking government servants have been accused of fraud and interference in last month's parliamentary elections in northern Afghanistan, an official said on Sunday. An Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) spokesman told a news conference in Mazar-i-Sharif, capital of northern Balkh province, they had so far received 49 complaints of irregularities and fraud in the second post-Taliban parliamentary vote. Full news...
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September 30, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
Global Post: A year-long probe into USAID funding in Afghanistan found that Afghan subcontractors have been funneling millions of dollars in taxpayer money to the Taliban, according to a report obtained by GlobalPost. The report concludes that Afghan subcontractors implementing a Local Governance and Community Development (LGCD) project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), were likely paying a “protection tax” to local insurgents... Full news...
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September 28, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
RAWA News: Afghanistan might be characterized as having a paucity of toilets and an excess of corruption. These two aspects capture the post-Taliban essence of the country. The “achievements” of Hamid Karzai the de facto mayor of Kabul, the United States and NATO in Afghanistan after more than eight years of U.S. occupation and approximately $25 billion in disbursed (2001-9) non-military aid, include Afghanistan being ranked as the worst place in the world for sanitation (per UNICEF data) and in 2009 posting 179th (out of 180 countries) in Transparency International’s corruption-perceptions index. Full news...
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September 27, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
The Wall Street Journal: Federal prosecutors in New York have opened a criminal probe of one of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s brothers, raising the stakes in Washington’s sometimes-contentious dealings with the Karzai government. U.S. officials said Mahmood Karzai has become a focus in a corruption probe handled by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York... Full news...
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September 26, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
Al Jazeera: The integrity of Afghanistan's recent parliamentary election has been plunged into fresh doubt with the emergence of amateur videos that appear to show police officers tasked with stopping fraud allowing vote-rigging to occur. The videos, obtained exclusively by Al Jazeera, cannot be independently verified but appear to show Afghan police involvement in electoral fraud... Full news...
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September 26, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
Reuters: Faint hopes that Afghanistan's fledgling parliament would hold President Hamid Karzai to account are evaporating after another violent, fraud-tainted election likely to produce an assembly as ineffective as its predecessor. Without any need to court parliament or worry that it will present a challenge to him, Karzai will again be able to essentially rule as he pleases, analysts say. Full news...
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September 25, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
McClatchy Newspapers: Last year, Kabul-based artist Aman Mojadidi transformed himself into an Afghan policeman and set up a fake checkpoint where he searched cars and then offered drivers $2, along with an apology for any bribes they had been forced to pay to policemen in the past. This fall, Mojadidi’s latest incarnation, the Jihadi Gangster took his bling, his gold-plated guns, and his bravado on the campaign trail to run for parliament. Full news...
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September 23, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
McClatchy Newspapers: Internal reports from Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission on Tuesday provide new evidence of serious fraud in Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections, including turnouts that exceeded 100 percent in many southeastern districts under the control of the Taliban or other militants. One district in Paktika province recorded 626 percent voter turnout, according to reports obtained by McClatchy Newspapers. Full news...
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September 22, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
The Nation: A significant number of unregistered Afghan voters, mostly the refugees, who had moved to Afghanistan from Pakistan were used by Afghan government to cast votes in favour of government-backed electoral candidates, TheNation has learnt. Full news...
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September 21, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
AFP: Afghanistan’s electoral watchdog said on Tuesday it has received over 3,000 complaints about irregularities in the run-up to Saturday’s parliamentary election and on polling day itself. The Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) said 1,388 complaints had been received specifically about election day irregularities -- which could impact the results -- ahead of a 4 pm (1130 GMT deadline) deadline for submissions. Full news...
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September 21, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
The Associated Press: Several warlords supported candidates in Afghanistan's parliamentary elections last weekend, and observers allege they engaged in widespread intimidation and vote-buying. While analysts say it's important to give such groups a way into the mainstream, they suspect warlords will use Parliament seats to consolidate control over certain regions – setting the stage for more violence and possibly even civil war when international forces eventually depart. Full news...
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September 20, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
The Australian: AFGHANISTAN'S weekend parliamentary election was a seller's market for voters who hawked their support around candidates' offices looking for the highest bidder, according to observers. Details of a thriving voter blackmarket emerged yesterday, along with more allegations of ballot-box stuffing and vote fraud. About 2500 candidates stood for 249 lower house seats. In Kabul, 664 candidates vied for just 33 seats. Full news...
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September 18, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
BBC News: It was not the most auspicious start. Twenty minutes past the 0700 (0230 GMT) opening time, and the polling station in eastern Kabul still had not opened. But then the small line of voters were allowed in, each was searched and their voting card inspected; Afghanistan's parliamentary elections were under way. Full news...
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September 18, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
The Washington Post: Insurgents have kidnapped a parliamentary candidate and at least 18 election workers, Afghan officials said Friday, raising fears on the eve of an election that has emerged as a test of wills between the Afghan government and the Taliban. Insurgent leaders have urged voters to refrain from voting in Saturday's election, the third major vote in Afghanistan’s short and troubled history as a democracy. Full news...
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September 18, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
Reuters: Some Afghan voters scrubbed their fingers clean of supposedly indelible ink on Saturday in a bid to return to cast extra votes in a parliamentary election the government has acknowledged will be flawed. An ink-stained fingertip is meant to mark out those who have already cast ballots in the second parliamentary election since the fall of the Taliban government in 2001. Full news...
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September 18, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
wsws.org: Today’s elections in Afghanistan for the 249-seat Wolesi Jirga, or lower house of parliament, are a travesty of democracy. The poll further discredits the puppet regime of President Hamid Karzai, who was re-elected last year on the basis of widespread fraud. The election takes place under the shadow of the Obama administration’s military “surge,” which has increased the number of foreign troops in the country to more than 140,000. Full news...
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September 17, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
The Huffington Post: President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan is getting on everyone's nerves in the US and Afghanistan over the endemic corruption in his government. Despite promising a tougher anticorruption fight, Mr Karzai continues to protect officials from his inner circle and his family members by helping them hold on to ill-gotten wealth and transfer hundreds of millions of dollars every month outside the country. Full news...
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September 17, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
The Independent: Often characterised as valiant crusaders defying Afghanistan's chauvinistic culture, many female candidates standing in tomorrow's parliamentary elections may in fact be just the opposite: proxies doing a warlord's bidding. Women's rights campaigners in Kabul claim that the majority of a record number of female candidates in the vote – a contest widely expected to be marred by bloodshed and fraud – have little interest in advancing their own political agendas or promoting women's and human rights. Full news...
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September 17, 2010 :: RSS :: Print :: Email
The Sydney Morning Herald: THE United Nations has ordered 300 of its international staff out of Afghanistan and the British commander of foreign troops in the south of the country predicts mayhem as violence and corruption collide as 13 million Afghan voters attempt to elect a new national parliament today. Full news...
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