John Kerry's Afghanistan Visit

[M.harris]

KABUL: US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday met Afghan businesswomen running companies involved in everything from trucking to computer software who fear losing their rights, security and customers when foreign forces leave next year.

Kerry spent close to an hour at the US embassy in Kabul with the entrepreneurs in an effort to show US commitment to women's rights - at one point heading a soccer ball with a 22-year-old female player.

Women who pursue careers in Afghanistan often face opposition from their ultra-conservative society, and despite women winning back many rights since the Taliban were toppled by US-backed Afghan forces in 2001, their situation remains precarious.

Kerry voiced amazement at the accomplishments of the women, most of whom ran several companies and whose businesses included software services, designing and manufacturing high-heeled shoes and clothing and growing vegetables.

"Everybody's a tycoon," Kerry exclaimed at one point.

But the women voiced concern that the withdrawal of most foreign troops from Afghanistan in 2014, and the election of a new president the same year, will undercut security and inhibit their ability to run their businesses.

One businesswoman, Hassina Syed, told Kerry she was worried about the handover to Afghan security forces that will be completed that year and, in private, was even more blunt.

"They are not able to keep security. Everybody knows the reality," she told Reuters after speaking to Kerry, saying that the authorities simply could not admit that.

Syed estimated her trucking company got 85 to 90 percent of its business from what she described as the "international sector" by providing services such as trucking in fuel from Uzbekistan for the US military.

She also said that she spent between 32 and 35 percent of her earnings on protection payments to ensure that her trucks - she owns 200 and subcontracts 300 - can run safely.

However, Syed said she wanted to stay in the country. "I will be the last woman who will leave Afghanistan."

Zahra Mahmoodi, captain of the Afghan women's national soccer team, asked Kerry for help to build a dedicated stadium where women and girls could play soccer.

Speaking to Reuters afterwards, she said she was particularly worried about a return of the Taliban after 2014.

"Yes, I am worried about that but I don't want to think about it," she said with a nervous laugh. "If the Taliban come back there will be no human rights and I think that it will be even worse than the past." Kerry backs Afghan businesswomen amid handover fears | SAMAA TV

 

[Cyberian]

Kerry makes unannounced visit to Afghanistan
Tuesday, March 26, 2013

KABUL: US Secretary of State John Kerry paid an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Monday for talks with President Hamid Karzai, a US official said, with both sides hoping to stabilise the country before most foreign troops leave by the end of 2014.

Kerry and Karzai will discuss a host of issues including Afghan reconciliation, the transfer of security responsibility to Afghan forces and Afghanistan’s elections, the US official told reporters.

Karzai’s government is trying to open formal negotiations with the Taliban, who have remained resilient in the face of superior NATO firepower in the war now in its 12th year.

Karzai is due to travel to Qatar within days to discuss the peace process and the opening of a Taliban office for conducting negotiations. The trip comes after years of stalled discussions with the United States, Pakistan and the Taliban.

Commenting on Karzai’s trip, the US official told reporters: “I wouldn’t want to overplay it but I think that it’s a very positive sign. It’s another step on a continued path toward ... getting to some sort of reconciliation process.

“Nobody is expecting that he will open an office there in a week. Nobody is expecting that he will be sitting down with Taliban in a week. This is a long process and this is one more small but positive step in that ... process.”

Tensions between the United States and Afghanistan have deepened in recent years over a range of issues, including civilian casualties during air strikes, night raids and the transfer of prisoners.

The official acknowledged the difficulties in the US-Afghan relationship but said he believed they had resolved a number of them, including an agreement to remove US forces from part of Wardak province where they were accused of mistreating local residents.

He also said the United States believed that the two nations had moved beyond an incident in which Karzai recently accused Washington of colluding with the Taliban to keep foreign forces in Afghanistan, marring US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s first trip to Afghanistan since taking on his new post.

“There will always be bumps in the road ... It’s a relationship that can withstand those,” the US official said. “The process of winding down our current position and role in Afghanistan and stepping into more of a support role ... is not going to be a smooth process at all times. Issues of sovereignty and security are always going to be difficult.”

The official said Kerry had wanted to visit Pakistan on this trip but had decided not to given the May 11 election, in part to avoid any appearance of seeking to influence what would be Pakistan’s first civilian to civilian electoral handover.

The military has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its 66-year history, either through coups or from behind the scenes. afp

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[UmarJustice]

Kerry, Karzai strike upbeat note in Kabul
KABUL - US Secretary of State John Kerry held a second round of talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul on Tuesday after the two put on a public show of unity in a bid to repair damaged ties.
Kerry visited Afghanistan as the United States ceded to a key long-standing demand of Karzai by delivering full control of Bagram prison, where Taliban and Al-Qaeda suspects are held north of Kabul, to Afghan forces.
Karzai had turned the fate of Bagram and its hundreds of detainees into a rallying cry for his push to take back sovereignty as the bulk of US-led combat troops prepare to leave by the end of 2014 after more than a decade of war.
After a series of fiery anti-US outbursts from Karzai in recent weeks, both he and Kerry were keen to make a public display of friendship and stress that relations were back on track. “Bagram prison was handed over to the Afghan government... Finally after many years of effort we have reached a deal,” Karzai told reporters at a joint press conference late Monday.
Kerry said: “The US is committed to an enduring partnership... The US supports a strong and united Afghanistan. “We are committed to Afghanistan’s sovereignty and we will not let Al-Qaeda or the Taliban shake this commitment.”
Earlier this month, Karzai accused Washington of working in concert with the Taliban and his spokesman described the Nato coalition’s war effort as “aimless and unwise”, triggering fury from Afghanistan’s foreign backers.
Responding to a storm of protest over the collusion allegations, Kerry said he was confident that Karzai “does not believe that the United States has any interest except to see the Taliban come to the table to make peace”.
For his part, Karzai said: “I was interpreted as saying the US and Taliban are colluding, but I did not use this word.”
Afghan forces are gradually taking on responsibility for battling the Taliban as most of the 100,000 foreign troops prepare to exit by the end of 2014.
Karzai is due to step down at elections next year, 13 years after he came to power with US backing when the hardline Taliban regime was ousted in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks of 2001.
During his trip, Kerry emphasised the importance of a credible poll in 2014, and paid tribute to Afghan lawmakers, rights activists and election officials. “You’re engaged in a remarkable effort and the whole world is watching,” he told them on Tuesday before he flew out of Kabul.
The war in Afghanistan is increasingly unpopular in the United States, and the latest outbursts from Karzai led many US commentators to call for Washington to take a tougher stance towards Kabul.
The Afghan leader in past weeks has also demanded US special forces leave the flashpoint province of Wardak and banned international troops from university campuses, both due to unproven harassment claims.
Washington was concerned that the handover of Bagram to Afghan forces would allow suspected Taliban and Al-Qaeda detainees to return to the battlefield. But a final agreement was sealed on Saturday and a handover ceremony was held at the jail shortly before Kerry landed in Afghanistan.
Kerry, Karzai strike upbeat note in Kabul