Envoys criticize Afghan war efforts; Charges filed in Operation Anfal

AFPAK wary of war effort

The two-front Afghan-Pakistani strategy unveiled by Washington lacks the troop components and financial resources needed to succeed, envoys said.

The Afghan envoy to the United States, Said Jawad, and his Pakistani counterpart, Husain Haqqani, spoke before the Atlantic Council of the United States, criticizing parts of the Washington strategy for the region, The Washington Independent reports.

U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled a revitalized plan for Afghanistan in March that called for increased troop numbers for Afghanistan and non-military aid to Pakistan.

Jawad noted the Kabul government "very much welcomed" the new plan but pointed to a shortfall in the troops needed according to provisions outlined by conventional counterinsurgency doctrine.

An initial troop surge in Afghanistan would put just more than 60,000 American and NATO forces on the ground to support 140,000 Afghan troops. Counterinsurgency doctrine, however, calls for 20 police or soldiers for every 1,000 citizens, suggesting Afghanistan would need something closer to 600,000 troops.

Haqqani questioned the $7.5 billion package for Pakistan currently before U.S. lawmakers, saying Congress should "revisit" that appropriation in light of massive corporate bailouts.

Both ambassadors, however, praised one another's efforts to turn the tide in the region, adding they would work in unison with the Obama administration to tackle a common threat.

Corruption as dangerous as Taliban

Corruption in the government of Afghanistan poses as much a threat to national security as the resurgent Taliban, a leading presidential contender said.

Former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani told National Public Radio that corruption is eroding the capability of the Kabul government to rebuild the war-torn nation.

"Corruption is dangerous because corruption (creates) a vacuum of government," he said.

Critics of Washington's strategy for Afghanistan say the principal challenges there -- al-Qaida, corruption and others -- could be met by integrating reconstruction with national security, noting there is no military solution in Afghanistan.

Ghani, for his part, said a tendency to overlook the problem of corruption in Afghanistan during the administration of George W. Bush led to tacit approval of crooked governance.

"During the Bush administration, there was an implicit endorsement (of corruption) by not calling attention to it, by not supporting civil-society organizations, by not supporting reformers within the government," he said. "An implicit partnership of tolerance had developed."

He called on the international community to coordinate government reform as part of its renewed effort in Afghanistan, saying there is "universal" dissatisfaction with the status quo.

Afghanistan monitors private security firms

Afghan Foreign Ministry officials met with a delegation from the U.N. human rights office to discuss private security companies and the role of mercenaries.

Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Kabir Farahi welcomed representatives of the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights who were in the country as part of a group working to prevent violations from mercenaries and related activity, the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted.

The U.N. working group is in Afghanistan to gather accounts of mercenary-related activity and obtain information on regulatory mechanisms enacted by the Kabul government.

Farahi told the delegation the government had established a commission to regulate private security companies working in Afghanistan.

The ministry statement said U.N. officials praised Farahi's efforts, noting, "Afghanistan could be used as a model for other countries" working to control such activities.

Farahi, meanwhile, reminded the officials that Afghanistan is a party to several international treaties and conventions pertaining to human rights.

His comments come amid widespread condemnation over a so-called rape law targeting the Shiite minority in Afghanistan.

Charges filed in Operation Anfal

Ethnic Kurds filed a lawsuit in Maryland against three U.S. companies accused of supplying Baghdad with chemical-weapons precursors used in Operation Anfal.

In June 1988 the Iraqi military, directed by Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali," killed thousands of Kurdish civilians and guerrillas using chemical weapons as part of a crackdown against uprisings in Iraqi Kurdistan. Majid admitted to ordering troops to execute Kurds, but he denied the use of chemical weapons during the campaign.

Five survivors of the campaign, known as Operation Anfal, filed a class-action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Baltimore against chemical companies Alcolac, VWR International LLC and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. for selling materials used in the manufacture of the chemical weapons used in the campaign, Maryland's The Daily Record reports.

Alcolac was linked to the manufacture of thiodiglycol, a component of mustard gas, in a 2005 case against Frans van Anraat, a Dutch citizen who supplied the component to Iraq. Alcolac pleaded guilty in 1989 for violating export laws linked to thiodiglycol shipments to Iran.

The Baltimore case lodges similar accusations against Alcolac, now defunct.

Human Rights Watch estimates at least 50,000 Kurds were killed in the six-month campaign in 1988. Majid was sentenced to death for his role in the assault.

Baathist legacy of land mines

The northern Kurdish territories in Iraq are noted for their relative calm and tranquil scenery, but local citizens are under constant threat from land mines.

During the bloody Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, Saddam Hussein littered the northern border with Iran with land mines to deter Iranian forces as well as Kurdish Peshmerga rebels.

Local residents refer to the mine-strewn landscape as evidence of the legacy of Saddam and his Baathist regime as thousands have died since the 1990s.

The Kurdish General Foundation for Land Mine Affairs estimates at least 11 people died and countless others were injured from land mines in Erbil province in 2008 alone, the Iraqi political Web site Niqash.org reports.

Abdul Wahid Gwani, a local leader in the Choman district near the Iranian border, blames the presence of land mines as a deterrent to regional reconstruction, saying though security has returned, a normal life has not.

The British Mines Advisory Group has a noted presence throughout Iraq. Its work in Iraq has cleared more than 1.5 million mines from hundreds of acres of land since 1992, Niqash reports.

Washington looms in Baghdad talks with Moscow

Trade and energy talks Friday between Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the Russian president are inevitably tainted by Washington, an analyst said.

Maliki left Baghdad for an official visit to Moscow, meeting Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday. The talks focused on general trade, military and oil deals with Baghdad, but the American presence in Iraq overshadows any ties with Moscow, defense analyst Andrei Murtazin writes for RIA Novosti.

In 2003 Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to write off a substantial portion of Iraq's debt in the hopes of revitalizing Saddam Hussein-era deals with Russian oil giant Lukoil.

Lukoil reached an agreement in 1977 to develop the West Qurna oil field, but Saddam revoked the contract in 2002. That deal may be featured in negotiations Friday, Murtazin wrote.

Meanwhile, Maliki is looking to secure defense equipment from Moscow, which has a historic military relationship with Iraq, as part of a broader trade and economic package. But before Moscow and Baghdad can restore their relationship, the American presence in Iraq should be considered.

"Therefore, in building new relations with Russia, the Maliki government will always look back at Washington," Murtazin wrote.

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(dgraeber@upi.com)