http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/29/us-usa-afghanistan-camp-idUSBRE90S16I20130129
(Reuters) - A $7.3 million base camp built to house 175 Afghan Border Police was sitting virtually empty two months after it was handed over to Afghan authorities, and some equipment like wood-burning stoves had been dismantled, U.S. inspectors reported on Tuesday.
The facility, located in Kunduz Province, consisted of 12 buildings, including a dining hall, that were contracted by the Army Corps of Engineers and completed September 3, 2012, according to a report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.
Inspectors who visited the site to ensure construction by Omran Construction, Consulting and Engineering Co was carried out according to contract found only a dozen Afghan personnel at the camp and nearly all of the buildings locked, SIGAR reported.
"These findings are similar to a July 2012 inspection of Afghan Border Police facilities in Nangarhar province, where we noted that $19 million was spent to construct four Border Police sites, yet the facilities were unoccupied or not being used as intended," SIGAR reported. "As a result, we question the need to construct a site of this size and design at this location."
The inspectors found no major construction quality issues, the report said, but they were only able to inspect three of the buildings because the caretakers did not have keys for most of the site. The 12 Afghan personnel said they were not aware of any plans to move additional staff to the facility, SIGAR said.
The NATO Training Mission for Afghanistan said in response that the Afghan Border Police had decided to reduce the size of its force in the area to 59 by the time the camp had been completed. Most of the force would be dispersed throughout the region for daily operations, so the camp would rarely be at full capacity, the report said.
The inspectors said most of the buildings "appeared unused" and wood-burning stoves made of brick near the base dining facility had been dismantled. The SIGAR report included a photo of piles of bricks outside the empty building where the stoves had stood two months earlier when the camp was completed.
The NATO training mission, in a response, said the police had dismantled the stoves because the pots they were using were larger than the available cooking area on the stoves provided. The Afghans have now built a new larger stove and are using that, the report said.
The Border Police camp was built based on plans to grow the size of Afghan military and police forces to 352,000 people. The Afghan force is later expected to shrink to a more sustainable size.
The special inspector general recommended the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the NATO training mission re-evaluate plans for constructing Afghan police facilities and determine whether contracts are appropriately sized for the force they plan.
Inspectors also determined that sustaining the Border Police facility would require people with the skills needed to do maintenance on electrical generators, fueling stations, water treatment systems and heating and air conditioning systems.
"There is neither an operation and maintenance contract nor a plan to train Afghan personnel to operate and maintain equipment," the SIGAR report concluded. "This raises questions about the Afghan government's ability to sustain the facility."
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http://dawn.com/2013/01/29/karzai-accuses-foreign-countries-of-plotting-against-afghan-peace/
Karzai accuses foreign countries of ‘plotting’ against Afghan peace
AFP | 24 hours ago
Afghan President Hamid Karzai speaks during the 3rd National Conference on Water Resources in Kabul on January 29, 2013. Karzai accused foreign countries of plotting against his war-weary nation’s peace programme, saying all peace talks should take place under his administration. — AFP Photo
KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai accused foreign countries on Tuesday of plotting against his war-weary nation’s peace programme, saying all negotiations should take place under his administration.
Without pointing a finger at any particular country, Karzai said he had told the US government during a recent visit to Washington that “no foreign party must try to take the Afghan peace process in its hand”.
All negotiations with Taliban insurgents should take place through the government-appointed High Peace Council, but unnamed “foreigners” had tried to sidestep the council, Karzai said.
Karzai made the comments in a long diversion during a speech to a water management conference in Kabul, but it was unclear why he raised the issue or who exactly he was targeting.
A senior official told AFP that Karzai was referring “to foreign and internal elements who are trying to tell the Taliban to hold talks with other groups and encouraging political groups to hold talks with the Taliban”.
The plan was to weaken the Afghan government, he said, adding that the “foreign elements” were from both Western and regional countries.
Afghan Defence Minister Bismillah Khan Muhammadi is on a five-day visit to neighbouring Pakistan, where he has met Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani.
Afghan-Pakistani relations are understood to have improved recently despite years of suspicion and mutual accusations of Taliban violence plaguing both countries.
“Any effort to conduct peace talks individually is not an effort for peace but it’s a plot by the foreigners, aimed at weakening Afghanistan,” Karzai said.
Washington began tentative moves towards peace with the Taliban a year ago.
But the militia broke off the talks a few months later, apparently over the failure of the United States to free Taliban prisoners held at GuantanamoBay.
The Taliban are in the process of opening a political office in Qatar to facilitate talks, but the US ambassador to Afghanistan said earlier this month that a peace process “hasn’t even really begun”.
The United States, which will withdraw its combat troops next year, has repeatedly said any peace process should be Afghan-led.
Pakistan, which Kabul accuses of harbouring Taliban fighters, said it freed 26 Taliban prisoners late last year in a bid to kick-start peace talks ahead of the withdrawal of US and NATO forces.
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http://cphpost.dk/news/international/danish-troops-out-afghanistan-end-next-year
Danish troops out of Afghanistan by end of next year
January 29, 2013 - 15:00
After troop withdrawal, Denmark will support developing civilian institutions in Afghanistan with 530 million kroner in aid annually until 2017
The Afghan National Army will be responsible for Afghanistan's security following the withdrawal of international forces in 2014 (Photo: Scanpix)
Denmark will end its military presence in Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and instead start to focus its efforts to support the civilian population according to the government’s new two-year plan for Afghanistan.
According to the foreign minister, Villy Søvndal (Socialistisk Folkeparti), the withdrawal of Denmark’s approximate 650 person contribution in southern Afghanistan is necessary if the country is to regain responsibility for its own security.
“The Danish Afghanistan Plan contributes to a responsible transition of the full responsibility to the Afghan authorities while at the same time enabling our soldiers to return home from Afghanistan,” Søvndal stated. “Over the next two years the task will be to support the Afghan authorities and the Afghan people in safeguarding and building upon the progress already achieved.”
The Afghanistan plan, which was agreed between all political parties except the far-left party Enhedslisten, confirms a promise made by Søvndal last April regarding Denmark's future engagement in Afghanistan and plan for withdrawal of international forces. Following the withdrawal, Denmark will continue to support the development of the Afghan police force by providing Danish police officials and financial assistance, although this will eventually be reduced and replaced by an EU-supported police mission.
The War in Afghanistan began when international forces invaded Afghanistan a month after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attack on New York. After more than a decade of occupation and only modest gains, there are fears that the withdrawal of international forces will create a power vacuum that the Taleban will seek again to occupy.
Defence Minister Nick Hækkerup (Socialdemokraterne) said he recognised that the task of securing Afghanistan would not be completed over the next two years and that there will be a need for international support in Afghanistan for many years to come.
“But after 2014 the responsibility for Afghanistan’s security will lie with the Afghans,” Hækkerup said. “Thus, our role will - to a much greater extent - be to train, advice and support the Afghans.”
Afghanistan has suffered through several decades of conflict and as a result is lacking the necessary institutions and infrastructure that are needed if it is to move toward democracy.
Danish aid will focus on developing these institutions, and as a result Afghanistan will become the largest recipient of Danish development assistance, receiving an average of 530 million kroner in aid per year between 2013 and 2017.
But according to the development minister, Christian Friis Bach (Radikale), Afghanistan must live up to certain responsibilities in exchange for the aid.
“The Afghan government will be held to account for their promises of tangible progress in areas such as the respect for human rights, elections and the fight against corruption,” Friis-Bach said. “There will be consequences for our development assistance if the Afghans do not deliver on their commitments.”
Some media outlets report that the government is considering bowing to the demands of opposition centre and right-wing parties, who want to send F16 fighter jets to Afghanistan after Danish troops are withdrawn. This, however, was not confirmed by the government’s press release.
Forty-three Danish troops have lost their lives since Denmark joined international forces in Afghanistan in 2002.
