کابل پرس

Afghan Godfather, his Gangsters and the US Aid Cutoff during Covid-19 Crisis

Mohammad Amin Wahidi — 2020-04-05T04:37:29Z

Despite real danger of Covid-19 for the health of millions of citizens of Afghanistan, the populist leader of the Afghan Cabinet tries to stop breach of any news and real information to the media regarding their deficiency with the campaign against Coronavirus.

Prominent Hazara educationalist, founder and CEO of Star Educational Society, Ali Reza Yasa wrote on his social media page that he's lost a family member who couldn't get the services of Covid-19 special hospital in Herat city due to racism and systematic discriminations against Hazaras in that province.

Just a few days ago, unconfirmed news circulated in the social media that two physicians were fired from their jobs one in Kabul and one Herat after they complained from the shortage of facilities and the insufficiency of the resources to combat Covid-19 in Afghanistan, despite Afghan Government's wrong information circulation that assures everything is under control.

These days, Ashraf Ghani appointed Dawood Sultanzoy a famous former plane-hijacker as the Mayor of Kabul, an appointment that is against the article 141 of the Constitution that clearly states that “the mayors and city council members are elected through general free, secret and direct elections.”

One of Afghan Governments that is led by Ashraf Ghani (the other parallel government is led by his rival Abdullah Abdullah who claims to be the legitimate winner president) as a result of election dispute, tries to manipulate the information flow and uses it as much as possible for the favor of its power and legitimacy, while on the other hand, the other proclaiming president Abdullah Abdullah does not have enough resources and budget to make his independent parallel government begin functioning, so that to finish the electoral dispute here.
Their dispute on the result of election has brought reluctance of the International Community to the Afghan issues; especially the USA is not anymore interested to Afghanistan as it was in the last 19 years as the main aid provider and supporter of this country since 2001.

As announced by the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo after his recent visit to Kabul, there will be a 1.B$USD One Billion Dollars cutoff from the US aid to Afghanistan during this year, as the USA is not happy with the political ongoing in Afghanistan, however it may not have any direct effects on the lives of millions of citizens of Afghanistan as long as the corrupt system in governance of Afghanistan is not very transparent an responsible for the foreign aid expenditure.

The current Afghan Regime is consisting of a bunch of corrupt incumbents most of whom are occupying their positions not for the expertise they own but for their relationship with Ashraf Ghani who is considered as the Afghan Godfather of the country. The people surrounding the Godfather Ashraf Ghani are not technically the most capable ones in the country but they are good at making fifty-fifty deals in mega embezzlements with the Godfather engaging some corrupt international counterparts in the ambiguity of disarray and lack of transparency in Afghanistan. At least 60 percent of the amount could go into the pockets of Afghan Ministers who invest their money in offshore companies in UAE or in property markets in Turkey.

As reported by the prominent daily newspaper in Afghanistan, Etilaatroz.com there is another easy way of embezzlement by the Godfather, from the national budget that is the Code 91 Fund, a special Emergency Fund allocated to the head of Executive Branch, spent only by the President's decrees in the time of need. The findings of EtilaatRoz showed that the Code91 https://tolonews.com/afghanistan/extra-money-allocated-code-91-documents" class="spip_out" rel="external">Fund was spent with millions of embezzlements at least 22mln$USD only in 2019.

Most of these office holders in the current government hold dual citizenships (an Afghan) and at least one from a Western country, for the day of their escape after they are done enough with project embezzlements, and then they easily leave the country. One of the recent examples was Eklil Ahmad Hakimi a Pashtun former Minister of Finance who fled from Afghanistan to the USA in 2018 with an American passport, after he wasn't able to respond the accountability of millions of dollars disappeared from his ministry and the accusations against him rose during the trial of Minister of Telecommunication and Information Technology who was actually guiltless. http://www.afghanpaper.com/nbody.php?id=152342" class="spip_out" rel="external">Eklil Hakimi as the Minister of Finance was responsible of accountability of ATRA (Afghan Telecom Regulatory Authority) that collected 10% Tax on mobile credits (that was mounted an amount of circa 105 million $USD in two years period from 2015-2017 but was disappeared in un unknown destination.

Right now there are six to seven former ministers who are accused of mega-embezzlements but they are not only immune to being trialed but also being generously rewarded with key positions in the government because they are praised and caressed by the Godfather Ashraf Ghani who need them in his business.
For instance, Farooq Wardak, another former minister who is accused of embezzlement of at least $USD 750,000,000 (seven hundred and fifty million dollars) for the famous ghost schools he'd created in Afghanistan during his time as the Minister of Education 2008-2015.

Despite his multi-million dollar embezzlement, Farooq Wardak not only was not trialed for corruption but also has been recently appointed as the Afghan Ambassador to Turkey as reported by the national media.

The other famous Afghan ex-minister is Omar Zakhilwal, who holds a dual citizenship (Afghan-Canadian) the former Minister of Finance is accused ofat least 40 million $USD embezzlement from the funds of International Aid to Afghanistan when he was President of AISA (Afghanistan Investment Support Agency) and had a link with Kabul Bank Scandal, when he was Minister of Finance in 2009. Currently he is the Ambassador of Afghanistan to Pakistan under Ghani Administration.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704254304576115780302300212" class="spip_out" rel="external">Hanif Atmar another former minister who served in different ministries is accused embezzlements from the scandalous Kabul Bank in the early years and then he was accused of creation of an ISIS-like group within the Intelligence Services of Afghanistan to hit the Taliban and the political opponents of Ghani through mysterious explosions.

Populism, nepotism, family-business and propaganda are the main pillars of this kind of regime.
The Godfather is at the top of executive power and controls the whole system and all others are his hand-kissers or followers each of who does their best to have a fair share of this business; it is seen in the structure of the NPA or the National Procurement Agency that controls all public purchases and contracts and chaired by the Godfather- Ashraf Ghani himself.

With a little research in the family relationship of who-is-who in the current Afghan cabinet, you find that most areclose family relatives and they are even known to the Afghans as the Brother-in-Laws in power. Taking everything in strict control by the Godfather prevents the oversight and transparency in the information outreach to the public regarding the public expenditure and national budgets.

The NPA or (National Procurement Agency) is considered as the chamber of the family business, with a lot of contracts each with values of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars given to their relatives and acquaintances such as relative ministers, and even the Afghan-Lebanese First Lady, Rula Ghani is accused of hundreds of millions of dollars embezzlements under the Women Supporting Projects.

The reconstruction companies that get the contracts of the Afghan Monuments Reconstructions as well as new structures such as Afghan Ministry of Defense new building, are mostly related to the Lebanese First Lady but the notices do not reach the English or other language media because they are being systematically censored in Afghanistan. Who investigates about these mega-embezzlements is being summoned to the Attorney General's office under accusation of finking into state affairs.

The Godfather's propaganda is focused on constructing the image of a National Hero out of himself to hide his other side of the medal. Ghani's reconstruction of some of old buildings which he considers them symbol of greatness of Afghanistan is a part of the propaganda which in reality does not help the betterment of conditions of lives of millions of needy people who live below poverty line.

Apart from nepotism in public recruitments, sexism is the other vulnerability of the Godfather Ashraf Ghani's regime. Most women, who want to get a job in pubic offices, face sex requests in exchange to being hired. This is very known regulation even in the Arg or the Godfather's Palace that is likely to become a Harem, and a lot of women are being hired there with sexual favors they had to undergo.
The saddest and the worst part of sexism in Ashraf Ghani's regime is taking place in the Ministry of Disabled and the Martyred where the widowers of the Afghan Army refer to get their lost's monthly wage as a life-compensation but they are faced with sex request and sexual harassments by the office incumbents of the ministry.
With all dimensions of existing corruption in Afghanistan, any kind of foreign aid is just a drop in a barrel and nothing could directly reach to the poor and needy population as long as the Godfather holds the power. In addition to the Godzilla of corruption, Coronavirus is yet another fatal challenge to overcome in a corrupt Afghanistan where over seventy percent of the population lives under poverty line and most of the politicians have their families resettled abroad in the islands of safety including Godfather's.
Only God knows what could happen to the Afghanistani people.

A letter to Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Mohammad Amin Wahidi — 2020-03-03T05:10:35Z

Dear Coronavirus
I should rather be Thankful
To you,
Not for killing innocent people,
But,
For examining all those,
Coward living beings who've always lived,
In their warm shells of luxury and ignorance,
As long as they are safe and sound,
But they feel threatened,
And they lose their minds, conscience and courage,
As soon as there is a breeze,
That moves the rustling leaves,
And they imagine it a tornado,
And they shit in their pants.

Dear Coronavirus,
Undoubtedly,
I'm grateful to you,
For unveiling the existent hypocrisy
And washing away, all those,
Fake masks everyone got used to,
Put on his face,
Before your arrival,
To conceal their real features,
And their real existence.

Dear Coronavirus,
I should rather thank you,
For you are so kind,
You kill,
Only 2 % of people you meet and embrace,
You are so elegant and gallant!
While on the cursed land of God,
Bombs fall down as rain from the sky,
And make burst in the air,
Smoky pieces of meat with blood,
But still don't awake up anyone.
Or in the extreme Wilderness,
The Yankees kill one another,
As easily as a glass of water,
On daily basis,
Or on that other corner of the world,
That is considered,
The land of roaming souls,
The bearded Satans of our time,
Get thirstier for the blood of mankind,
Day after day,
As they drink blood of human beings,
So greedily in their black or white turbans,
No one notes, no one sees, no one hurts!
But you are so kind,
Dear Coronavirus,
With this low percentage of bloodshed you make.

Dear Coronavirus,
We should all be thankful to you,
For being our honorary guest,
In this important time of history,
To keep us busy, to entertain us,
With your clamorous Bang!!!!!!!
So that our ears wouldn't be disturbed,
By the whine of burning Koalas in Australia,
Or by rough jet-noise of drones bombing Syrian children,
Or by the rumble of the colossus tanks,
Destroying houses in Afghanistan,
Or the cry of a mother and her child,
For the pain of wounds on their feet and hands,
From the tangled razor-sharp barbwires,
When crossing the Turkish border towards Greece,
Or the enthusiastic yell of a laughing Taliban,
When beheading happily a Hazara passenger,
Forced to get off the coach,
In the Valley of Death or Dar-e-Maidan,
They are all disturbing and disgusting facts,
Thanks for being so entertaining to forget them!

Perhaps,
You should have come earlier, long ago,
Decades or centuries back, or maybe,
You should have been fiercer than you are,
So that you would wash away all human species,
And their dirty stains that remain,
On the face of the earth or
On the forehead of they history,
So that we wouldn't be witnessing,
All this shit and cruelty,
Committed by us, human beings,
Dear Coronavirus!
You are smaller than us,
Millions or even billions of times however,
Thank you for teaching us!
To be kind, faithful and courageous!

To all direct victims of Coronavirus outbreak in all over the world
To all those who are indirectly victim of racism as a result of Coronavirus outbreak in the world

03/03/2020
Milan- Italy

A Tribute to the Incurable Wound of Kabul: Afshar Genocide

Mohammad Amin Wahidi — 2020-02-12T15:04:30Z

When I Was Still Alive…..

From the time I am floating very lightly in the air and wandering freely everywhere, I have a much clearer view of the earth and the things on it but what caused me to be floating in the sky is not a good thing to remember.
However, now my job is only to observe, to see and to recount to the others what I see, but unfortunately I can't do anything; I can't act, I can't move my body to act and can't either react to all what I see. I can just watch everything from up here; from a bird-eye point of view and as a testimony and observer; the only thing I can do.
Now I am a free soul, but I can't forget that day, I can share my story with you.

****
We'd passed a terrible long night of heavy weapon attacks in our zone. The sky was full of fire and horrible bombardments, artillery shooting by tanks, rocket launchers and even helicopters rumbles fulminated into our ears. The whole night, Rajab was hiding his head under the sets of mattresses, pillows, blankets and night-clothes we'd pilled in a corner of the guest room. By any explosion, he sprang even though he hid his head through the pile of clothes thinking that he would be safer there. He cried and tried to hug me tighter when each explosion was heard closer to our street. What would you expect from a three-years-old child?

That day, my parents weren't at home. My mom had twisted her leg a couple of days back, when she'd slid over icy surface close to the water well in our courtyard where she was washing the dishes. She had to go to her mother's home to get rest and be assisted by a bonesetter, my dad had accompanied her and they remained there that night. It was in the midst of war, not possible to commute easily in the warzones. Blind bullets were whizzing everywhere and anyone could easily have one in the heart or in the skull. We lived in Afshar and grandpa and granny lived in Barchi. There was a dozen of kilometres distance between us.

Rajab my three-year-old brother had remained at home when my parents had to go to a bonesetter to the other area, and I had to look after him. After all we couldn't leave a child with the neighbours or relatives who lived along our street, nor we could join mom and dad under those heavy rocket launches towards our area; any move was just shot targeted by snipers, by rocket launchers who were positioned at the top of the Silo mountains or Tv Mountains over our area, that night.

In our area a lot of people lived, some were different than the others, but majority had faces like us; round face, smooth noses, smiley almond shaped eyes, I didn't know much about complexity of our differences with the other people. I thought everybody was the same; all human beings.

*****

The strident sound of shootings had never let us sleep the whole night, but close to dawn, those horrible sounds of heavy weapons were reduced, maybe the soldiers and fighters were tired or it was time to pause for the morning prayer, the time when usually mom and dad also prayed, so our bodies automatically were to calm down because of extreme tiredness and our eyes were about to shut. Poor Rajab was sleeping on my lap, but then as the sun rose a little bit, other sounds began to rise up which were heard getting closer and closer to us; I heard the sound of marching, of running soldiers, shooting guns and hurrahing! It seemed that things were changed in our zone over the night. There were no more heavy weapon firing but just gun fires; one here close by, one there too far away, one in the midway towards the main street.

******

I was in between reality and dream, after I had closed my eyes for a short while, I was dreaming my parents, they were back home, my mom's leg was fine, we were all together at home. But in reality, only Rajab and I were at home, and Rajab was still sleeping on my lap when the loud shouts of victorious soldiers in the streets were heard kicking the doors forcibly and shooting people in the houses, got closer to us gradually until our next door neighbour's door was kicked open. When the Aajay Peer, the old kind woman went to see who was there at the door, she was immediately shot dead by a hot bullet of a fierce soldier who was thirstily looking for shedding human's blood, especially Hazaras' blood. It was when I sprang up, by the last whimper of the old woman and the cry of her family that was quietened by a machine gun soon after. There was only smoke of gun fire in the air and the stink of blood shed at their door on the street. I could smell it even from inside our house.

******

Then it was obviously our turn, I had felt it with my senses, with my bones. I quickly placed Rajab in a quiet safe angle, to hide him under blankets, but he was afraid and didn't let my hands leave him. Lalai, Lalai, where are you going?! Shhhhhhhhh!!!!! Do not say anything!!!! Keep quiet Rajab, my dear!!!!! I'm here with you. You do not talk!!!!! Okay!!!!! Just for a short time, after the soldiers are gone, then we talk!!!!! I will tell you stories again, but now just be quiet!!!! Okay?!
Okay, Lalai Jan! But stay here with me!
Okay! I'm here with you but if you talk, the soldiers are going to kill us!!!!”

Hearing this, Rajab began crying!!!!! “The Soldiers are going to kill us?!!!” Oh, No!!!!!!!!

How stupid I was, I shouldn't have told him such a horrible fact, but I had no way, at that precise moment, how could I think of selecting my words or creating another story to make my three year old brother keep quiet.
No!!!!! I'm just kidding! But for God sake Rajab, do not say anything, just for a short while, just for a few seconds. Do not cough. Do not sight! Do not even breathe! Do not do anything! Got it?!! It's just for a few seconds, my dear little brother!!!! This will pass soon!!!!

******

It was a terrible moment to hide Rajab within the pile of blankets, pillows and night clothes, but there was no other solution at that moment. I just had to leave him in the hands of destiny. I was doubtful whether to rush to the door and open to see what was going on outside, or to hide myself in another corner when our door was kicked by force and two angry soldiers and broke into the courtyard, first firing in the air while shouting; Hazaras, O Bastard Hazaras!!! Where are bustard Hazaras hiding?! We are looking for Hazaras! Are there any Hazaras here?!! I remained blocked, nailed in my place for the shock of fear I faced them. Who knows how pale I was. The fear was not because of my own life but Rajab's, our little angel, the family's youngest member. The savage soldier's long dirty wild hairs stunk, their eyes were bloody reddish and they had Pakol hats on their heads. They were in greenish camouflage military uniform with a lined scarf around their necks. Insanely they were searching for Hazaras. As they saw me, they rushed towards me. Before I said anything, one of them gave me a heavy kick on the chest and I was thrown away, a couple of meters from them, collided with wall of the room and was thrown on the ground. One spitted on me. “You dirty Hazara!!!!” “What the fuck, are you doing still alive?!” I had a lot of pain, and my left ear began bleeding, my nose bled as well. But still I was happy that they didn't see my little brother Rajab. One of the soldiers, the shorter one, put his foot on my face and forced it to squelch my cheek, I heard the smashing of my face-bones and my jaws were almost broken, more bleeding through my ears and eyes, while the taller one was continuously spitting on me and saying bad words about Hazaras.
When the shorter soldier was tired of torturing me, he paused for a while, took a pack of cigarette out of his pocket and lit one and began smoking. Then he passed the remaining half to his friend. After a few puffs when the cigarette reached almost to its filter, the taller soldier sat down beside me and put the cigarette flame on my face and pushed it hardly against my forehead with his two fingers and the thumb, even now you may see sign of my burnt face. I was almost numb but still was happy inside me that they couldn't find my brother.
When the two soldiers were tired of playing with my half-dead body, the shorter one, who was meaner than the other, took his gun and pointed right at my head.
In cold blood, very simply he pushed the trigger twice…
Pam! Pam!
And shot me dead!
And when my head was bleeding badly and I was rewinding the scenes of the whole my life of yet 13 years, I was still happy that these two savage creatures were not able to find my little brother who was hiding in the room.

*****

This is the story of how I was killed by two soldiers of Ahmad Shah Masoud in AFSHAR district of Kabul in an early morning on February 11th 1993 but this is not the whole story.
When the soldiers, the two murderers saw my blood flowing on the ground and my face was pale enough, they were sure that I was no more alive so they begin to search the house if they could find someone else or to loot the house.

And when my soul was separating from my body, I felt very light, as light a ballon in the hand of a child, it was when I could easily move around and see how was feeling Rajab, I was still worried about him. The soldiers entered into the room and searched everywhere, but they were blinded. I was just witnessing every move of them but couldn't do any thing; on the other hand they couldn't see me. At the end they didn't find Rajab, they just searched for the valuables; they found my mom's gold jewelleries, there were some cash in a cupboard near the big mirror which they grabbed happily and went out of the room. The taller one stood for a while beside my body and filled the peak of the dagger on the top of his rifle into my blood basin on the floor, then wrote with it on one of the walls of our house; YADGAR E GUL AGHA, which means “Gul Agha's Remembrance”. Then they went out of the house trampling my body, whistling and singing and shooting in the air for they have killed a Hazara boy and looted their house.

******

After the solders were gone, I was happy that they didn't find Rajab in the middle of the blankets and pillows and my soul was happy for having saved my little brother when I was alive. But when the soldiers got far from us, and when I felt to be alone with my brother, I went to hug him but I heard nothing from him. I went closer to him, but didn't hear anything from him; I was just a witness, a passive witness not an active alive presence. Rajab did not move either. He was pale, and I was not sure if he was sleeping or…….
But he was out of breath, with his face smiley. Rajab was dead. He was not killed by those two fierce soldiers, but died when he'd heard my moaning after I was shot.
He told me later that night, when his soul joined me; finally he was out of danger and out of fear…..

******
Thereafter I decided not to move out of this area, out of AFSHAR, just to keep an eye on what is going on in our area and to testify one day, who killed all those innocent people in the area including me and Rajab. Sometimes Rajab comes with me during my late night walking in the dark in AFSHAR DARK STREETS.

Afghan-Dutch War Criminal Promotes Ethnic Genocide Under ICC Eyes

Mohammad Amin Wahidi — 2019-12-12T17:33:40Z

“To unify Afghanistan, Arian race should do more; Hazaras and Uzbeks are not Arians, if I were on power, I would rather order to eliminate their ethnic leaders and would force their women to marry Pashtun men.”

The statement above is neither from German Nazis nor from Italian Fascists of the WWII times but it's by an Afghan war criminal of our time that lives in Holland and holds a Dutch citizenship.

There is no surprise that different groups of “victims of Genocides” and oppressed people of Afghanistan want to file a lawsuit against #Halim_Tanwir in European HR courts for his recent hate speech and killing order of ethnic leaders in Afghanistan addressed in a gathering of the Afghans in Koln city Germany, but the main surprise is that how he'd been able to deceive the #Dutch_Government for almost four decades to introduce himself as a democrat, liberal, educated and open-minded person. In reality he's been a tribesman, a supporter of #fundamentalism and a #war_criminal in Afghanistan by longtime supporting of #Gulbudin_Hekmatyar who's known as #Kabul_Butcher for his crimes against humanity during the 1990s in Kabul.

Based on article II commas (a), (b) e (c) and article III commas (b), (c) and (d) of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide approved by the United Nations General Assembly resolution 260 A (III) on 9 December 1948 and entered on force on12 January 1951, Halim Tanwir would be considered guilty and punishable.
Born in Qalai Alimardan area of Kabul on 21st October 1952, Halim Tanwir had to flee from Kabul first to Pakistan, then India and then on 5th May 1982 he arrived in Holland where he got political asylum and then citizenship where he still resides as a Dutch Citizen as stated in his autobiography.

The worse part of the fact is that, Mr. Halim Tanwir lives in a country where ICC is located and he provokes Genocides and ethnic cleansing in Afghanistan, right under the eyes of ICC.

The investigative journalism suggest that there are serious accusations against him for his involvement in Afghan Civil War, support of war criminals during the 1980s and 1990s, money laundry under the name of helping Mujahedeen and money laundry in the recent years for the Iranian Government (Where he claims to have a PHD in Persian Literature from the Iranian Payam_e_Noor_University which is a Pro Sepah_e_Pasdaran Educational Institution in Iran), through his close relationship with the Iranian embassy in Kabul, and through his meetings with the Iranian Officials in Turkey and in Dubai for money laundry purpose after the US sanctions against Iran.

Apart from his recent hate speech in Köln Germany through which he promoted ethnic Genocide in Afghanistan (the videos of which is available online) the list of accusations against him is long and many Afghans and others in the Netherlands, Germany and other European countries as well as in the Americas, in the Oceana are getting prepared to file lawsuits in the relevant courts.

There are serious accusations against Halim Tanwir during 80s and 90s that need investigation

Fraudulent Activity:

– He has been collecting money under the name of Mujahedeen through the years 1983-1990 from Turkish and other Muslim community mosques in Dutch cities a part of which has been contributed to the (Hezb-e-Islami-e-Afghanistan) a notorious fundamentalist armed party led by the Afghan war criminal Gulbudin Hekmatyar whose involvement in the Afghan civil war caused the destruction of Kabul from 1992-1994 and left at least 60,000 civilians killed.

Terrorism Support:

– Halim Tanwir's online Jihadist Propaganda Journal (Al-Badr) that promoted fundamentalism in Europe had radicalized the younger generation of Afghan Diaspora and other Dutch Muslim communities during the 1990s.

Participation in Civilian killing:

– There are images that show his participation in the civil war, and there are people who claim to have video cassettes and photos of Halim Tanwir while killing civilian people in the Afghan civil war of early 1990s.

Espionage and National Betrayal Assumption:

– He is accused of having strict ties with the secret services of Pakistan ISI which backs to the 80s and 90s and continues until today, thus he usually travels to Pakistan.

Fraudulent Activity:

– He is also accused of using charity funds collected under the name of his journal Al-Badr and Hezb-e-Islami of Afghanistan, for his own personal investment in properties in Pakistan, Turkey, Afghanistan and Dubai, while in the Netherlands he's been living for long under social welfare scheme of the state.

– He is accused of producing made-up and fake reports against hundreds of Afghan asylum seekers in the Netherlands who were statesmen during the pro-communist government in the late 80s and early 90s most of whose cases were being rejected from the Dutch Asylum System because of those fake reports, some of whom had been deported back to the war torn Afghanistan.

Espionage and National Betrayal Assumption:

– He has been the main contact between the war criminal Hekmatyar and the Iranian Government when Hekmatyar was given asylum in Iran (1998-2002) during Taliban's rule on Kabul, the role that Mr. Tanwir still continues to keep tied.

Accusations against Halim Tanwir during 2000s that need to be investigated
Physical violence:

– He has attacked his brother-in-law (sister's husband) by knife in 2001 and was in police custody for some days. The reason behind this attack was apparently reported “ideological intolerance”, his brother-in-law was open-minded and Halim Tanwir couldn't tolerate him.

Money Laundry:

– His involvement in Iranian money laundry through his relationship with the Iranian Embassy in Kabul that helped trafficking millions of USD from Afghanistan to an-under-sanction Iran.

Promoting Fundamentalism and collaborating with Terrorists:

– During the years after the fall of the Taliban, he has been one of the voices of the Taliban while working in Ministry of Information and Culture, his collaboration with terrorists has resulted release of hundreds of dangerous Taliban and Hezb e Islami Terrorists from prisons.

Literary Theft:

– Literary Theft from a book by the Iranian scholar/lecturer Dr. Abdul Karim Soroush, commentary on Rumi's Mathnawi.

It's now in the hand of #ICC and other HR Courts in the Netherlands and other European countries to evaluate under International Conventions and Laws the consequences of Halim Tanwir's hate speech and promotion of Genocides in Afghanistan; the world is waiting.

the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide approved by the United Nations General Assembly resolution 260 A (III) on 9 December 1948 and entered on force on 12 January 1951.

Hereby agree as hereinafter provided :

Article I
The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in
time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to
punish.

Article II
In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with
intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as
such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its
physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Article III
The following acts shall be punishable:
(a) Genocide;
(b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;
(c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;
(d) Attempt to commit genocide;
(e) Complicity in genocide.

https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-crimes/Doc.1_Convention%20on%20the%20Prevention%20and%20Punishment%20of%20the%20Crime%20of%20Genocide.pdf

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/04/afghan-warlord-gulbuddin-hekmatyar-returns-kabul-20-years-call-peace

https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/05/04/526866525/the-butcher-of-kabul-is-welcomed-back-in-kabul?t=1576148634780

https://www.foxnews.com/world/butcher-of-kabul-shows-his-face-after-20-years-in-exile

https://www.livemint.com/Politics/uyvFTNCYGluEwkYNJBQqEM/Gulbuddin-Hekmatyar-the-butcher-of-Kabul-back-in-city-af.html

https://www.pri.org/tags/butcher-kabul

https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-hekmaytar-prisoners-released-deal-ghani/28969678.html

Talibans' Return to Power and the Fear of Darkness

Mohammad Amin Wahidi — 2019-08-31T16:56:45Z

As an old proverb “threat to death so to make content at least to cancer” nowadays the Taliban use this strategy to ease their return to power; the Taliban put pressure on Afghanistani citizens by horrifying them a situation when millions still remember the dark era of that regime full of terror and horror of primitive on-field persecutions based on Sharia Law that imposed many restrictions on women and ethnic/religious minorities in Afghanistan.

The ultimate increase of suicide attacks carried out by the Taliban in Kabul, especially targeting the Hazara ethnic as a defenseless group (their schools, their wedding halls, their cultural centers, their public gatherings), affirms the fact that this terrorist group is very serious in its intention to challenge not only the Afghan Government they consider illegitimate (and a US puppet), but also their Intentional supporters and all foreign troops that are deployed to Afghanistan since 2001.

While the people of Afghanistan have to be returning back to the zero-point (the point they were under same Taliban's regime until 2001). After almost two decades of war, destruction they faced and the many sacrifices they made for a bunch of relatively positive changes that were brought in the post-Taliban era during these years, everything seem to be lost in an overnight decision when the negotiations with the Taliban is heard to be almost finalized. The nightmare of the most people in these nights is to lose the basic freedoms and rights they obtained in post-Taliban era in their country; (right to study, freedom of expression, right to vote, rights of demonstrations, right of social participations, and right for women to work and study).

The main mission of the International Community and the major western countries that was to bring peace and stability and sustain the emerging democracy and progress, is already failed in Afghanistan; it has reached to its dead-end due to confusion, lack of the International Community's interest and lack of a clear strategy and willing to fight seriously the terrorists, to bring a happy-ending to the long war in Afghanistan.

Bad for the families of thousands of US and European soldiers, who were killed in Afghanistan with the dream of helping the Afghanistani people bring peace in their country, if now that dream seems to be impossible when their politicians (especially the US) deal with the terrorists who shed their blood.

Now the Trump Administration wants to use at any cost, the “Safe Return Home from Afghanistan” as the only winning card to get the consent of the US voters for the 2020 Presidential Elections, while this administration is failed in its all other International Affair and deals, such as Iran Nuclear Crisis, North Korea Nuclear Crisis, Israeli-Palestinian Crisis in addition to newly created Commercial War with China.

Back in 2001 along with huge media propaganda, the International Community under the US leadership began a war on Afghanistan with the title “Enduring Freedom” to eradicate the Taliban as a terrorist group that was threatening the whole world; and the Taliban were overthrown but not fully on that time. However the people of Afghanistan embraced the International Community's intervention in their country hoping for peace and stability but nowadays after 18 years of suffering, their dream for peace and stability had never come true, instead they've been facing bloodshed, terror and insecurity more and more as time passed.

Nowadays while the Taliban are still playing the same role; they are moving ahead their terror machine in the country, killing civilians, destroying schools, hospitals, mosques and roads as they did years back, their status of “being terrorists” have changed into “being simply rebels” that's why they are not only being forgiven by the same International Community that began a war against them 18 years back, but also given incentives and rewards for promoting terror and killings, that's why people of Afghanistan are confused with the International Community's double-role policies in Afghanistan.

The definition of the word “Terrorist” remains still the same in any dictionary (a person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims) that is what exactly the Taliban still do on daily basis in different corners of the country, but they enjoy immunities against any kind of trial or prosecution for the crimes against humanity they commit.

Now the main question that rises in people's mind is “what is really behind Taliban that has made them a precious object of interest for all parties involved in Afghanistan including some neighbouring countries and everyone makes a race to make a deal with the Taliban first?”

Taliban leaders, who were the remains of the cold war radical fighters, gave birth to a younger generation as a movement in the lap of Pakistani Inelegance Services as a Fundamentalist Islamic Student Movement to fill the power vacuum in Afghanistan during the early 1990s after the civil war broke among the Mujahedeen groups. Taliban soldiers were the young men born and raised in poverty, ignorance and deprivation from enough livelihoods who sought their desires in an imaginary world of hereafter thus they were ready to do anything for their believes; even to kill themselves for their imaginary paradise that their Islam promised them. In a mixture of tribal traditions and misinterpretation of the Koran, these young men became followers of a new way of religious radicalism. While their leaders who issued the Fatwa from their luxurious lounges in Quetta or Waziristan of Pakistan supported financially by the Saudis, their soldiers became a destructive force who could change the formula of war in Afghanistan, it was then when they took all over Afghanistan in a few months in1994.

In the beginning, they were believed to be the doves of peace that could save Afghanistan from the hands of the civil war fighters. As they got more powerful and took control of almost all over Afghanistan, they created their government in the form of Emirate, based on the Islamic history of fourteen centuries back. A lot of people still believe that the Taliban were somehow directly or indirectly created by the USA through the helps of the Saudi Arabia and Pakistan as a force to take all over Afghanistan and help the passage of the famous multibillion UNOCAL pipeline for the oil and gas from Turkmenistan to India through Afghanistan and Pakistan that's lately known as TAPI. The Taliban who emerged as Terrorist group in the first months of their presence in Kabul, were somehow tolerated or accepted by the USA, because of this precious pipeline deal but then they were overthrown by the USA for other reasons.

Despite almost two decades of war against them, currently the Taliban are returning back on power with more enthusiasm and high spirits because in the national level, they have the support of the Pashtun leaders within the Afghan government including the former president Hamid Karzai and the current one Ashraf Ghani who is an ethnocentric Pashtun leader (instead of being the president of the whole country) and who supports the Taliban based on the ethnic ties; Taliban are prominently Pashtun and based on the codes of ethic among Pashtuns (Pashtunwali), a brother does not hurt or kill another brother. Therefore, since Ashraf Ghani's presidency, the Taliban have been overtaking almost 65 percent of the Afghanistan territory without any obstacles on their way; they are guaranteed safety on battlefields; the soldiers of the (ANA) Afghan National Army in most cases do not have permission to open fire on Taliban; the other end of the chain of command in the army is now tied directly to the decision of the president as the Chief of Command. In some other cases the ANA soldiers are not provided with enough arms and ammunitions to fight the Taliban on battlefields, while the Taliban are fully armed, so the ANA soldiers are always put in a defensive position instead of being offensive, thus the casualties of the Afghan National Army soldiers have reached to 45,000 only during Ashraf Ghani's presidency from 2014 to 2019, most of whom belong to the other ethnicities than Pashtun.
In some cases it's reported that the Taliban who've captured the ANA soldiers on battlefields, they released the Pashtun ones and killed other ethnicities on the spot, there are videos of such horrible scenes available on YouTube and other media channels. Despite all cruelty by Taliban, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, releases continuously these terrorists from prisons in any special occasions such as New Year or any religious feasts, without any trials.

In the international level, the Pashtun lobby influencers are so active and during these years, they have been successful to soften the International opinion about the Taliban by brining them forgiveness for their war crimes; they present the Taliban as “armed rebel group” that fight for the freedom of Afghanistan from the hands of westerners, instead of naming them terrorists that kill innocent civilians and destroy infrastructures of the country continuously.

Granting the status of the “Rebels” instead of “Terrorists” to the Taliban (who are actually terrorists by any definition) was a process that took a few years (starting circa from 2012 and still continues until nowadays), initiated first by the then President Hamid Karzai who named Taliban as his “Unsatisfied Brothers” and then continued by the hard work of the other Pashtun lobbying influencers in the USA such as Zalmay Khalilzad (senior Afghan born American diplomat with Pashtun background), Anwar ul Haq Ahadi, Ali Ahmad Jalali and Omar Zakhilwal (all with Pashtun background and US or Canadian citizenships) and promoting by the national and international media through the efforts of these influencers to soften the image of the Taliban in the international level that guaranteed them a “sanctuary for forgiveness” in the public opinion despite continuation of their war crimes against humanity all through the years after their fall in 2001.

Since the US intervention in Afghanistan, additional challenges emerged from the neighboring countries such as Russia that was waiting for an opportunity to revenge the USA for its defeat in Afghanistan in the past. The Russians got the chance to get close to the Taliban, who were overthrown by the USA and were against the USA, and supported the Taliban. Iran on the other hand, as the other neighboring country began supporting the Taliban with arms and logistics to fight its own war against the USA. In this case, Taliban became an object of interest for different parties in Afghanistan, Chinese as well, began their own secret talks with the Taliban.

The second move towards Taliban's legitimization was made by the Afghan Government lead by Karzai and continued by Ghani in 2013-2014 when the Taliban leaders and commanders were given immunity, houses, offices and cash incentives in Kabul under the name of the Afghan Peace Process Scheme. Then their resistance on battlefields got stronger. In this project the International Community including European Union had contributed financially to the incentives to the Taliban leaders and commanders.

Then requests were made officially by the Afghan Government to remove the Taliban senior leaders from the US blacklists and sanctions.

Then the Qatari Kingdom, who was and still is boasting for its competition with the Saudi Arabia in the region entered into this game to play an important role in the Taliban war, the Qatari monarchy gave the Taliban an office in its capital Doha in 2013 that now plays the role of their political representation office or (a kind of Taliban's Embassy) then Taliban's position got stronger and they began using both diplomatic lobbying through their office in Doha along with military attacks on fields in Afghanistan to put more pressure on countries involved in Afghanistan.

With all these attention, importance and care given to the Taliban, it's obvious that they felt to be a shining gold and an object of interest for different parties; they began fighting fiercer than before and demanded greater things as the game of war in Afghanistan got more complicated.

As the Taliban Group got stronger than the Afghan Government, different talks have been organized with them to bring them onto peace process tables; such as talks in Pakistan, talks in Qatar and talks in Moscow and their representatives have visited China and Uzbekistan as well, but none of these talks have been clear to the people of Afghanistan so far. What is still an enigma for the Afghanistani people, what the USA was after, when it attacked the Taliban as “Terrorists” back in 2001 if now after 18 years of war they make secret deals with the same Taliban who are still “Terrorists”? The other question that still remains unanswered is, “What will happen to the promises the USA made to Afghanistan when the two countries signed a Long Term Strategic Partnership and Security Treatment after 2014 elections in Afghanistan, which compels the USA to defend and support Afghanistani forces in case of need while the ANA has never been in need such as now.

In the middle confusion and delusion, there are different losers in this game if the Taliban make their return on power again; women, ethnic and religious minorities such as the Hazaras, The Hindus and Sikhs, Civil Society, and of course the USA and its International partners who have spent trillions of dollars and given many lives in this blind war, will be the obvious losers.

The Hazaristan Concept, Why We Want Federalism in Afghanistan?

Mohammad Amin Wahidi — 2019-08-27T17:12:02Z

Afghanistan is a multiethnic country composed of at least 14 or more minor or major ethnic groups out of which 4 are more populated: Hazaras, Tajiks, Uzbeks and Pashtuns.

We do not see any representation of the different ethnic groups in division of power or national resources distribution in Afghanistan while everything is in the hands of the Pashtuns.

Hazaras make up to 22-35% of the population of Afghanistan but these people do not have any access to government representation, power sharing nor national resources distribution or reconstruction funds.

Here in current Afghanistan everything is in the hand of the Pashtuns which is not fair for the other ethnic groups:

In the current Ashraf Ghani Administration:

1. President - Pashtun

2. Consultant of National Security Council - Pashtun

3. Director General of National Security - Pashtun

4. Minister of defense - Pashtun

5. Minister of finance - Pashtun

6. Minister of communication - Pashtun

7. Minister of Rural Development -Pashtun

8. Minister of agriculture - Pashtun

9. Minister of Tribal Affairs - Pashtun

10. Minister of State in Parliament Affairs - Pashtun

11. Minister of Information and culture – Pashtun

12. President of Supreme Court - Pashtun

13. The Attorney General – Pashtun

14. President of the president of the National Logistics - Pashtun

15. Director of the commission on the monitoring of the constitution - Pashtun

16. Director of Supreme Medical Council - Pashtun

17. President of the senate - Pashtun

17. President of Afghanistan Science Academy - Pashtun

18. Director of National Television - Pashtun

19. President of Afghanistan National Bank - Pashtun

20. President Pashtun bank - Pashtun

21. Director General of Natural Gas Petroleum Materials - Pashtun

22. Director of Kabul Zone Development - Pashtun

23. Chairman of the board of law and justice - p. Pashtuns

24. Chairman of cricket board - Pashtun

25. President of Olympics, Sports and Physical Trainings - Pashtun

26. Director of Statistics and Census - Pashtun

27. Director of Ariana Afghan National Airlines - Pashtun

28. Deputy Director General of Costume Duties of Afghanistan- Pashtun

29. President of the Electoral Commission- Pashtun

30. President of Afghan National Bank – Pashtun

31. First Deputy Minister of Defence - Pashtun

32. Deputy of Logistics in Ministry of Defence - Pashtun

33. Commander of the Comando Corps of the Army - Pashtun

34. Commander of Shanin Corps of Army- Pashtun

35. Commander of Maiwand Corps of Army - Pashtun

36. Commander of Atal Corps of Army - Pashtun

37. Commander of Thunder Corps of Army - Pashtun

38. Commander of Seelab Corps of Army Pashtun

39. Commander of Borders Defence - Pashtun

40 Head of HR and Recruiting of Ministry of Defence - Pashtun

41. Head of Foreign Relations of the Ministry of Defence - Pashtun

42. Head of Public Relations and Spokesman of the ministry of defence - Pashtun

43. First Deputy Minister of Interior - Pashtun

44. Senior Deputy Minister of Interior on Security Affairs - Pashtun

45. Deputy of Senior Deputy Minister Interior - Pashtun

46. Deputy Minister of Interior for Logistics - Pashtun

47. Deputy Minister of Interior for Public Protection - Pashtun

48. Administrative Deputy Minister of Interior - Pashtun

49. Recruitment and HR of the Ministry of Interior - Pashtun

50. General Director of Intelligence in Ministry of Interior - Pashtun

51. General Commander of order and security of the ministry of interior - Pashtun

52. Director General of Logistics in Ministry of Interior - Pashtun

53. Director General of Establishments and Buildings Department of Interior Ministry -Pashtun

54. President of the Ministry of Interior - Pashtun

55. Director of Finance ministry of interior - Pashtun

56. Political Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs - Pashtun

57. Economic Deputy Minister Foreign Affairs - Pashtun

58. Head of Administration of Foreign Affairs Ministry - Pashtun

60. President of Protocols in Foreign Affairs Ministry – Pashtun

61. Director of Diplomacy Institute of Foreign Affairs Ministry - Pashtun

62. Director of Security Cooperation in Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Pashtun

63. President of the Parliament Affairs of Foreign Affairs Ministry - Pashtun

64. President of the 5th Political Department of Foreign Affairs Ministry - Pashtun

65. President of the 2nd Political Department of Foreign Affairs Ministry - Pashtun

66. Head of the 1st Political Department of Foreign Affairs Ministry - Pashtun

67. President of the United Nations Affairs in Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Pashtun

68. President of Regional Cooperation in MoFA- Pashtun

69. President of Provincial Representation in MoFA - Pashtun

70. Afghan Ambassador in the united states - Pashtun

71. Ambassador of Afghanistan in Canada - Pashtun

72. Afghan Ambassador in Germany - Pashtun

73. Afghan Ambassador in the Russian Federation - Pashtun

74. Ambassador of Afghanistan in Afghanistan - Pashtun

75. Ambassador of Afghanistan to Republic the people of China - Pashtun

76. Ambassador of Afghanistan in Pakistan - Pashtun

77. Afghan Ambassador in Japan - Pashtun

78. Afghan Ambassador in India - Pashtun

79. Ambassador of Afghanistan in Italy - Pashtun

80. Ambassador of Afghanistan Norway - Pashtun

81. Afghan Ambassador in Jordan - Pashtun

82. Afghan Ambassador in France - Pashtun

83. Afghan Ambassador in Doha Qatar - Pashtun

84. Afghan Ambassador in Saudi Arabia - Pashtun

85. Ambassador of Afghanistan in Belgium - Pashtun

86. Ambassador of Afghanistan in South Korea - Pashtun

87. General Consul of Afghanistan in Dubai - Pashtun

88. General Consul of Afghanistan in Peshawar - Pashtun

89. General Consul of Afghanistan in Karachi - Pashtun

90. General Consul in Quetta – Pakistan- Pashtun

91. General Consul of Afghanistan in Bonn Germany - Pashtun

92. General Consul of Afghanistan in the Marry of Turkmenistan - pashtun

93. General Consul of Afghanistan in Istanbul Turkey - Pashtun

94. General Consul of Afghanistan in New York - Pashtun

95. Head of Local Organizations Department in the Arg-Palace- Pashtun

96. Financial Deputy of the Local Organizations Department - Pashtun

97. Head of Anti Corruption Organization - Pashtun

98. Governor of Kandahar-Pashtun

99. Governor of Nangarhạr-Pashtun

100. Governor of Ghazni-Pashtun

101. Governor of Khost-Pashtun

102. Governor of Paktia-Pashtun

103. Governor of Paktika-Pashtun

104. Governor of Kunduz-Pashtun

105. Governor of Baghlan-Pashtun

106. Governor of Kunar-Pashtun

No Better Subject than “Afshar Massacre” for Angelina Jolie's New Movie in Afghanistan

Mohammad Amin Wahidi — 2019-02-10T20:58:43Z

Two months after her first movie's premiere and worldwide success, as a new director, Angelina Jolie has announced to the media that she has an idea and is writing a script on the Afghanistan Civil War.

Her debut feature, “In the Land of Blood and Honey”, a critically acclaimed movie about the civil war in the former Yugoslavia has expanded her fame as an emerging director and it proved her talent in making good movies as well in addition to be an extraordinary actress.

This new announcement seems to be good news for the people who look for justice in Afghanistan; the victims of the civil war and genocides such as Afshar Massacre.

Suffering injustice in Afghanistan even after ten years of two new governments, people are still hopeless for the transitional justice to be applied by the corrupted government of Afghanistan, but millions believe cinema as an effective medium can make their dream come true; depict the picture of committed crimes during these years which may push the war criminals to the justice courts.

Afshar Massacre, as a brutal genocide and a spot of shame in the contemporary history of Afghanistan, has caused the loss of almost 5,000 innocent people including women and children in a one-day military operation in west of Kabul in February 1993.

This evident massacre, has been recorded by different international human rights organizations and many documents including names and statistics, photos and videos of the killed and captured people are available in the HR organizations achieves.

Besides there are some documentaries available which have interviews with the remainders of the victims and their relatives that could help write a strong script based on this harsh scene of the contemporary Afghanistan History.

The result of a film on Afshar Massacre could be a Hotel Rwanda II which will not only have a humanitarian value but a critic acclaim and a box-office success for sure.

The Academy Award winner actress, Angelina Jolie is famous for her humanitarian assistances to the poor, war-torn countries as she has been a Goodwill Ambassador of the UNHCR and has so far made several trips to the countries in conflict- zone including, Afghanistan, Chad, Iraq, Libya and Sudan.

Her background as UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador since 2001 has helped her gain a deep knowledge and understanding the level of sufferance the people in these war torn countries face and how many victims remain unhealed even long after the war.

Thus in her first movie as a director, she has proved to have had understood the meaning, the essence and the consequences of a civil war that is horrible and its consequences destroy even generations.

Afghanistani filmmakers and script writers would welcome Ms. Jolie to come and work on an Afshar Massacre script for her new movie in Afghanistan where she will be warmly welcomed, assisted and supported by them.

This article was published first on Thursday 23 February 2012

7 Reasons Why the Pashtun Can't Bear Democracy and Don't Believe in Elections

Mohammad Amin Wahidi — 2018-04-27T13:32:57Z

A good news indeed when we hear that finally the Pashtun, as one of the major ethnic groups in Afghanistan are tending towards civil movements instead of cheering up for insurgency in the south of Afghanistan. Lately they have rallied for peace in Hilmand, a province which has been the main base of the Taliban and their richest center of Narco-economics in the last twenty years; this province is a long suffered one, for bloodshed and insecurity.

It's good and surprising news but this movement doesn't seem to last long because it doesn't have real social basis among the Pashtuns yet. It is just a symbolic promotional and propagandic purposes to label the Pashtun unrealistically as a Democratic Society which they are no because the reality appears to be totally different if we have a look into the Pashtun society with a deeper insight from a clear angle.

Based on the demographic patterns and social facts about the Pashtun population, this ethnic group has strongly maintained its nomadic and primitive social structures in which the whole society is run under the forms of tribes, clans and sub-clans and everyone is obliged to obey the Tribal Code of Ethics which is a bunch of non-written primitive ethical codes, rather than any civil code or modern laws in force in the country. In such a closed society, Western terms and forms of socio- political way of living, such as Democracy and Open Society nor have a meaning neither a space of application as they are in contradiction with the existence of tribal societies.

Even in younger democracies, the basic necessity of a political form called Democracy is an arena of participation for different voices and opinions which should be inclusive, while in Tribalism system, although a tribe itself is consist of a group of specific people who come under a common shelter for common interests, but each voice and opinion does not have a role, it is the head of the tribe, in most cases a man, that has to decide everything and the members should obey him blindly. In this case, diversity does not exist or if exists so, it means belonging to the other clan or tribe, which is considered a threat or cause of fear.

In a tribal society like the Pashtun, patriarchy is the foundation that means, in its essence, “the women” as half of the society remain without a voice and the effects of denial of women's role and identity in such a society may not be visible in short term, but if you experience this process for a long time, in generations for instance, the consequences are horrific; as a result, women remain as objects and possessions of the men, which reduces the dynamism of a society into half, on the other hand the growing children become part of the continuity of patriarchy machinery and without women's participation and reduction of their importance in training the children, this machinery could even turn into a war machinery which we face in the actual Pashtun society nowadays.

Children are born in a strictly closed society, where the presence of women are only in the backdoors of houses or in the kitchen and being a woman is like a crime; these children if male go to madrasas or schools where they are only in interactions with men, the same on the streets, so they grow without love of their mothers who are already considered cheap objects of their fathers. They do not have even the possibility to think about the position of their mothers other than a household servant who has to prepare food and wash clothes; this is the most tragic part of the fact. This way, they grow as warriors as they've never felt the tenderness of love.
With a short glance to an Afghan National ID card or the so called Tazkera, which is based on Pashtun Tribal Tree of Identification (because the Pashtun have been ruling on Afghanistan since 1747), on which you find Name, Father's Name and Grand Father's name. There is no place for Family Name, neither for Mother's Name. The lack of family name on Afghan National ID card comes from the fact that the Pashtun use their Tribe Names as their Family Names and thus this rule should be applied for the entire nation they think; the nation that is multiethnic and multi-culture but is under the control of Tribal Pashtun leaders. Only this very simple fact shows how exclusive the tribal system is, and the question of Afghan ID card which is based on Pashtuns' tribal system has been problematic for most citizens of Afghanistan in different parts of the world because it's very primitive and doesn't match with any International ID Standards.

***

The enigma of the long war in Afghanistan could be resolved if we analyze the strong ties of the Pashtun as a major ethnic group on power, with Tribalism in a multiethnic Afghanistan that is going forward.

We could also see the serious threats and challenges Tribalism could create against the coexistence of other ethnicities; that could cause even an ethnic clash, as well as it is against the progress and development of the whole country. With this foreword on how Tribalism can affect the lives of millions of citizens in today's Afghanistan, we could also study its roots and contexts and the way how to overcome it.

For example, based on statistics and classified documents of the (NDS) National Directorate of Security or the Afghan Intelligence Agency, 98 % of all insurgencies and suicide attacks taken place in Afghanistan since 2003 are carried out by Pashtun youth, although the Afghan Government denies the fact in public by a huge campaign to amend the Pashtun's image and reputation to hide the real grade of growing Fundamentalism and Radicalism that has rooted among the Pashtun. They do it for political purposes and ethnic ties while in reality these facts shouldn't be concealed from the public opinion but rather it should be worked on to resolve it soon, because the insurgencies and terror machines among the Pashtun youth is still in its climax on real grounds even today.

Unfortunately, it's dealt with in a Tribal way, while in a democratic system, culprits are being treated with as equal human beings as everyone else, and trialed based on what they've committed through a judicial system.

Here again, we see that the Pashtun politicians, who run the country try to use the Tribal Code of Ethics which obliges them to defend their tribesmen as brothers in any condition, rather than dealing with it with a vaster aspect and by referring to the laws that are in force in the country.

The Tribal Code of Ethics of the Pashtun is called Pashtunwali, which means “The Essence of Being Pashtun” and is based on a few simple rules like the Ten Commandments which are respected and implemented strictly by the Pashtuns instead of all other laws in force.

Pashtunwali has 10 to11 non written principles with a few good ones such as; Hospitality, Bravery, Homeland and some bad ones or dangerous ones such as; Hostility, Revenge, Protection and Sword that are sometimes being misused invisibly by the actual Pashtun politicians who run the country. They use the bad ones for their political purposes and for saving their culprit Pashtun tribesmen from trials regardless of gravity of their crime.

The negative effects of Pashtunwali on the lives of millions of citizens in Afghanistan are more visible when some former Pashtun ministers who are accused of fraud, money-laundry and corruption during their mandates, still enjoy a kind of immunity from trials because of this tribal Code of Ethics.

To be precise, in the case of Farooq Wardak, a Pashtun former Minister of Education who is accused of embezzling 750,000,000 USD$, during his mandate (from 2008 to 2015) in the ministry under the name of imaginary schools, but then enjoyed immunity after his dismissal from the ministry and now serves as President Ashraf Ghani's Minister of State for the Parliamentary Affairs.

Mr. Farooq Wardak is not the only Pashtun minister who is accused of corruption but enjoys immunity under the shade of Pashtunwali; there are at least three other former Pashtun ministers who are all accused of corruption but still enjoy freedom without being trialed because of the immunity Pashtunwali guarantees them as a privilege. Namely they are Hanif Atmar, a former Pashtun Minister of Education and former Minister of Rural Development who is accused of hiring dozens of his family members in the ministry as advisors with high salaries heisting millions of USD$, but he not only still enjoys freedom but a tremendous promotion; he serves as the Senior Security Advisor for President Ashraf Ghani who is Pashtun too.

The two other former Pashtun ministers are Omar Zakhilwal and Anwarul Haq Ahadi who both served as Ministers of Finance and are accused of corruption but they still enjoy freedom without being trialed.

Apart from abovementioned cases, Pashtunwali has softened the war against terror, by giving immunity to the Taliban terrorists or the so called ISIS in Afghanistan, because they are Pashtuns and based on Pashtunwali, they deserve forgiveness or asylum, and therefore they are forgiven.

This policy of forgiveness to the dangerous terrorists has lowered down the morale of the Afghan National Army soldiers throughout the country who do not have permission to fire directly on Taliban in most cases in combat fields. It has decreased the efficiency of the war against terror, because by the order of their superiors including the Chief of Command of the Armed Forces, President Ashraf Ghani Taliban are his dissatisfied brothers, because they are Pashtuns and based on Pashtunwali they deserve immunity. It was mentioned in a recent comment by the Baghlan Governor Sultan Mohammad Ebadi, who said, he didn't let the soldiers to kill Taliban because they are his Pashtun brothers.

The worst effects of Pashtunwali are seen in security sector with a voluntarily breach for the infiltration of the Taliban terrorists into the ANA the Afghan National Army. The most famous effect of such breach is the growing number of attacks known as GREEN on BLUE ATTACKS. The infiltration of the Taliban in the army is based on Brotherhood code of Pashtunwali through which the Pashtun Soldiers in the Army let the Taliban infiltrate in as brothers, and then these Taliban terrorists carry out those attacks. So far hundreds of Afghan soldiers of other non Pashtun ethnicities and the NATO soldiers are being killed from behind through these “Green on Blue Attacks” as a result of Infiltration of the Talibans into the ANA.

Taliban keep killing civilians, beheading soldiers and putting in fire villages and schools, but still President Ashraf Ghani forgive them, calling them his dissatisfied brothers, because Pashtunwali permits it. .

Gulbudin Hekmatyar, a Pashtun terrorist leader, better known as Butcher of Kabul, who has been fighting against the Afghan Government and the NATO forces since 2001, killing thousands of civilians and soldiers, has been forgiven and brought to Kabul as a winning hero with a lot of rewards and privileges, just for Pashtunwali.

TORA or Sword is another dangerous part of Pashtunwali, which allows the Pashtuns carry guns. This code threatens the coexistence of different ethnicities in a multiethnic country like Afghanistan. This code encourages the Pashtuns to carry guns and be armed. This means, by carrying guns in any condition, you support the warlords, encourage irresponsibility and a cause a chaos for the country. The clear example of its effect is seen when the sky of Kabul is full of bullets at nights when the Afghan Cricket Teams wins a match.

It means based on Tora code of Pashtunwali, most Pashtun inhabitants in Kabul city and rural districts are fully armed.

TORA code of Pashtunwali has planted long ago another dangerous seed; on the other side of the Durand Line border, only a few hundred kilometers from Kabul, there is Darra Adam Khel in FATA of Pakistan, one of the world's largest illegal markets of arms, run by the Afridi and other Pashtun tribes and sell arms to the Taliban, to the so called ISIS and export arms to war zones of Afghanistan and Pakistan. This market is created based on the idea of Tora or the Sword code of Pashtunwali and as long as Pashtunwali exists, such markets would also continue to live.

And the last thing is the legitimacy of the parliamentary elections ahead which could be questioned if it's going to be managed with a huge fraud as four years ago. The Presidential Elections of 2014 reached to a dead-end after a huge fraud which took the country into a political crisis, and then by the direct intervention of the US Secretary of State Mr. John Kerry the current National Unity Government was born with participation of both candidates.
No to be forgotten the negative effect of Pashtunwali on presidential elections in 2014.

Mr. Zia Ul Haq Amarkhel, the Pashtun secretary of Afghan Election Commission of the time, who was accused of a huge fraud by filling the ballot boxes with millions of fake votes in Pashtun provinces, he not only was not fired and trialed but also rewarded based on Pashtunwali. He was given a medal as a hero in an official ceremony to have made Ghani win as the president.

In the Pashtun areas, based on Pashtunwali, women are not given freedom to move alone outside home; therefore, a lot of Pashtun women remained without ballot papers and could not vote. In this regard, Mr. Amarkhel's phone conversation was intercepted when he was encouraging people to vote instead of their women and children as many times as they can.

Conducting healthy and fair elections is the concern of many in Afghanistan, considering insecurity, target killing of the minorities, fraud and forgiveness and immunity for the fraudulent factors based on Pashtunwali.

Considering the attack of suicide bombers on the electoral registration sites, as it took place in the West of Kabul last Sunday, millions worry about their safety during the polling.

Based on all above-mentioned specifications of the Pashtun Society today, we can not ignore the realities that Tribalism and Democracy are two different forms of socio-political lives of human beings on two opposite sides. The fact is that they are the two totally different things; “we can not expect the flavor of strawberry from a banana or an apple”, so when two things are totally different we can not consider them the same by coloring them one as the other! Democracy brings representation, responsibility and accountability while Tribalism brings muteness and obedience, thus they are on the two opposite sites.

However, the Pashtun ethnic has been on power in Afghanistan since the 18th Century, this time as well, they will remain on power regardless of winning or losing the elections as the world needs Tribalism as well; Vintage is the new tendency once again nowadays!

References:

Darra Adam Khel

Green on Blue Attacks

NATO Fails to Guarantee Safety for Friends of Democracy in Afghanistan

Mohammad Amin Wahidi — 2018-04-24T18:02:09Z

Last Sunday was a shocking day for Afghanistan but the World Media talked about it very little; more than 90 innocent civilians were killed and dozens were injured when an electoral registration center for the upcoming parliamentary elections was attacked in a Hazara area in the West of Kabul.

In this bloody attack, which was soon claimed responsibility by the so called ISIS in Afghanistan many children and women were the victims; the women who were there to get their voters' ID and the children who were on their way to school.

This last one was the eleventh of such horrible attacks on Hazara areas since early 2017. A number of Hazara mosques, a couple of schools and some cultural centers in Hazara neighborhood were targeted in this period whether by Taliban or the so called ISIS who consider Hazaras as infidels and permit themselves to kill as many of them as possible.

Based on the latest evidences a lot of Afghans are reluctant regarding the coming elections in October for several reasons; some for security reasons while a great number of people have lost their faith in democracy processes and the transparency in the elections, having experienced huge frauds in the 2014 fraudulent presidential elections while a lot more believe that most of the politicians are corrupt and by not going to vote, they can express their objections and ban the elections. Some even believe that elections can not change anything; everything is decided already by the Westerners, considering the formation the National Unity Administration.

In the midst of hope and reluctance there is a particular ethnic group in Afghanistan that may still resist and believe in democracy and peaceful processes for a better Afghanistan; they are the Hazaras.

Known As One of the Most Persecuted People on the Planet by The Atlantic, the Hazara natives of Afghanistan have passed a long suffering history in which they were massacred in thousands and their lands were confiscated by tyrant kings of Afghanistan and they were displaced to different parts of the country during the decades.

Based on reports from Aljazeera, CCTV America and Minority Rights Group International, once this ethnic group made up to 70 percents of the Afghanistan population until the end of the 19th Century but then their numerous genocides by Amir Abdul Rahman Khan during 1880s- 1890s reduced them into the third largest ethnic group that is believed to make up to 25 percent of the actual population of Afghanistan.

The Hazaras today known as the friends of democracy and progress in Afghanistan have so far played a major role in the democratization process of Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban Regime in 2001.

By their magnificent presence in the past elections and peaceful transition processes they've given legitimacy to the elections and they've demonstrated to the world that democracy and progress could come only if there are peaceful, legitimate and fair election processes to bring changes for the betterment of the country. Thus they are known as banks of votes by different candidates of other ethnicities but after the elections are over; their share of power or resources has always been insignificant in comparison to their votes.

Being ignored for long time and having experienced racism and systematic discriminations applied by the Afghan governments on them in the past, the Hazaras grew a kind of thirst for justice, equality and progress that springs out and pushes them to be the pioneers in any process they see useful for development and stability of their country always hoping to take a relaxing breath far from persecutions and oppressions enjoying peace, equality and brotherhood.

For instance, despite their economical poverty because of deprivation from foreign aids for building roads and schools in their areas, the Hazaras themselves invest on education and have the highest literacy rate in the country; as a result the best private universities in Kabul and provinces are built by the Hazara scholars while until fifty years ago, they were not permitted to pursue studies until high schools by discriminatory governmental official decrees. Regarding education, there is a common saying in almost every Hazara family; “if you have two coins in your pocket, one is for bread and one is for a pen and a notebook.”

During the Taliban rule on Afghanistan, the Hazaras were massacred in thousands and many more were forced to flee their country for Iran, Pakistan, Europe and even Australia thus today they make the biggest Diaspora from Afghanistan. The Taliban's fall in the beginning was considered a new era of hope for the Hazaras to compensate the loss of those dark years by hardworking and investment on education, sports, arts and especially women empowerment in the society but their rewards were the vice versa in the following years and they were once again ignored by the government and were removed from their participation in the government and public offices.

With their hardworking efforts and huge investment on education for male and female, the Hazaras currently own hundreds of thousands of Bachelor Degree holders from within Afghanistan and hundreds of Master Degree holders and several PHD Degree holders from prestigious universities of the world, which is a tremendous human resource for rebuilding Afghanistan, but due to existence of systematic racial discriminations against them, they still get refused from governmental jobs.

Need not to mention the number of Hazara athletes, writers, journalists, poets, filmmakers and artists who have achieved hundreds of medals and prizes as credentials for Afghanistan during the last seventeen years.
They also keep the record of the first female governor in Afghanistan, the first female mayor and the first female minister after the fall of the Taliban.

In spite of doing all these good things for Afghanistan, their Turkic- Mongolic physiognomy makes them the victims, a recognized group, which most of the time bring them bad luck; the terrorists recognize them easily and target them easier as they did so far, on the other hand, the governmental offices also recognize them more easily and keep them away from hiring. .

The Bonn Agreement in 2001 which was held after Taliban's overthrow, had diagnosed, “injustice and inequality” as the main seeds of conflicts in a multiethnic Afghanistan, therefore the ethnic groups had to be given shares of public wealth resources based on their population and their presence, there the Hazaras were given a 20 percent share promise which remained unfulfilled until today.

Since the new era, it's been almost seventeen years that the Hazaras thrive in education, arts, sports, literature and inventions, but they continuously suffer racial and ethnic discriminations wherever they refer to. They make efforts for democracy and progress in a country where guns talk louder than any other thing.

To get rid of existent discriminatory and dirty policies in the Afghan governmental offices, they not only have to combat for their basic rights as equal citizens as everyone else, but they also have to make more efforts to support and encourage democratic participations of the mass. They propose national innovative programs for change and betterment of the whole country such as nationwide literacy program or general book distribution program for children throughout the country.

In the end of 2015 as a part of Hazara target killings, when 31 Hazaras went into hostage in the hands of terrorists in south Afghanistan, seven of them were brutally beheaded including two women and a 9 year old child named Tabassom. This horrible killing caused a nationwide rage against the incapability of the Afghan Officials and formed a movement named Tabassom after the child victim. In November 2015 with hundreds of thousands of people marching towards the presidential palace, Tabassom Movement was the biggest ever civil movement formed in the history of Afghanistan and made a historical record.

A few months later in 2016 when a shocking report on misleading the route of TUTAP, the imported 500V transmission power plant from Turkmenistan, was revealed by a national newspaper, the Hazaras formed another civil movement to stand against injustice and systematic discrimination. Based on the Fichtner experts' advices, for technical and economical reasons the transmission power plant had to pass through Bamiyan in the central highlands but it was rerouted by the Afghan Government, because Bamiyan was the Hazara inhibited province and they did not deserve such a project.

The second movement is known as the Enlightenment Movement. As the Afghan government kept neglecting the Hazaras, this movement continued its protests by rallies in the capital and other cities to correct the route of TUTAP power plant. On July 23rd 2016 The Enlightenment Movement biggest rally was targeted by a suspicious explosion in Dehmazang Square in the West of Kabul which left 85 killed and 400 wounded, most of victims were educated up to Master degrees that was the end of Hazaras' hope for betterment in Afghanistan.

After the attack on Enlightenment Movement in Dehmazang in 2016, a lot of Hazara youth are hopeless from the International Community. They believe the International Community is here in Afghanistan just to support a bunch of corrupt Afghan government officials who are on power and not the mass grassroots who make the real change in the country. These young people do not believe anymore in sincerity of the Western counties and their real intentions for their presence in Afghanistan; some believe that the NATO forces are failed to bring peace and stability in Afghanistan as they could not guarantee safety for the Hazaras and other vulnerable ethnic groups. They think fancy words such as “Democracy”, “Global Values” and “Human Rights” are beautiful words in fantasy but not in real world at least in Afghanistan.

“Through the years the Hazaras did their best to support democracy, peace and stability in Afghanistan in different ways and they have strong proofs but their rewards were their genocide, their target killing and a systematic discrimination against them despite presence of the NATO forces and several countries of the International Community in Afghanistan.

But when they arrive to the edge of non existence, like the situation of nowadays they may take guns instead of pens for the purposes of legitimate self-defence and simply for their survival, and to establish their basic human rights, which is of course not an easy decision to make.”
It's the saying of a survival of Dehmazang attack on Enlightenment Movement.

Despite its critical security condition and human crisis, Afghanistan once again appears to be a forgotten land for the International Community or the Western Countries that are involved there with a heavy military presence for almost two decades as its supporters and stakeholders.

The Western intervention in Afghanistan first known as Operation Enduring Freedom that overthrew the Taliban Regime in 2001 has been losing its sense and direction gradually; the initial mission that was supposed to eradicate the terrorism from Afghanistan, it now nourishes and caresses terrorism and increases war and destruction and encourages more killings of the innocent civilians day after day as yesterday's most dangerous terrorists have become Mr. President's Dissatisfied Brothers today! The President that is appointed by the West!

References:

The Atlantic:
Life as One of the Most Persecuted Ethnic Groups on the Planet

Aljazeera:
Afghanistan: Who are the Hazaras?

CCTV America
HazaraGenocide on CCTV 13 China

HRW:
Afghanistan's Shia Hazara Suffer Latest Atrocity

National Geographic:
Hazaras: Afghanistan's Outsiders

Hazara International Network:
The Outsiders
Set apart by geography and beliefs, oppressed by the Taliban, the Hazara people could

Will Hazaras Be Safe in Afghanistan, After NATO's Pullout?

Mohammad Amin Wahidi — 2014-07-28T13:59:53Z

Thousands of people in Afghanistan participated in demonstrations in Kabul, Herat, Mazar e Sharif and Bamyan to condemn Hazaras' latest massacres by the Taliban and other terrorist groups.
Only in July this year, for the second time the Hazaras are being targeted by the Taliban, once in Urozgan and then in Ghor province.
On July 1st 2014, the Taliban beheaded 17 Hazaras, mostly students and workers in Urozgan Province.
Then on July 25th 2014, the second attack took place in Ghor Province and as a result 14 Hazaras including women and children were tortured and then shot dead.
Based on the statements of the eyewitnesses, the Taliban combatants, got on the buses and asked the passengers for their identity documents, and then separated the Hazara from non Hazara citizens. They let the non-Hazara citizens go and killed all 14 Hazaras including three children. The signs of torture are seen as well on the bodies of the victims.
The victims of massacre in Ghor Province were on a wedding trip, accompanying a newly- wed couple to Kabul but all were shot dead, including the bride and the groom.
It is Eid day now, the feast for the end of Ramaddan, but the Hazaras are still mournful in these days facing two shocking massacres in one month.
Though the civil moments have already began demonstrations in the larger cities such as Kabul, Herat, Mazar e Sharif and Bamyan to condemn these massacres but the concerns about the security of the Hazaras go beyond it.
The Hazaras, with more than six million people, make one of the main pillars of democracy in Afghanistan with more than two million voters that made them notably as a strong wall against terrorism and fundamentalism in new Afghanistan.
Not only in elections they are the power balancing ethnic group, but the Hazaras are so far being also the leading ethnic group for building schools, for expanding education for girls and women and promoting literacy for all. They have built the best private universities in Afghanistan and most of the talented students of Kabul University are Hazara.
On the other hand they are vulnerable as the threats of the Taliban or the armed groups such as Kuchis increase against them.
The Hazara provinces are the most peaceful provinces in Afghanistan as they have embraced peace, democracy and education but they are continuously targeted in the borders of the provinces while moving from one place to the other. Their facial appearance reveals their identity and the fundamentalist groups such as the Taliban note them easily and mark them as their targets.
Not being defended by the Pashtun-led government, the Hazaras concern that they might lose their notable achievements of the last decade, as they are being continuously targeted by the armed groups such as Taliban and the Kuchis in different provinces of Afghanistan.

In addition to Hazaras of Afghanistan, the Hazaras in Pakistan are being massacred in Quetta as well, where more then one thousand and five hundred people are being killed in the last three years. Lately, Human Rights Watch organization has published a special report on Hazara massacres in Quetta under the title; “We Are the Walking Dead”.

Historically the Hazaras are being massacred three times including once during the Taliban, therefore they fear the return of the Taliban on power as NATO pulls out.