| Submit your comments on this article |
| Afghanistan |
| Civil Society Federation Demands Foreign Troop Withdraw |
| 2014-01-03 |
| [Tolo News] The Federation of Afghan Civil Society Institutions asserted on Thursday that one of the main reasons for the ongoing war and rampant corruption in Afghanistan is the presence of foreign troops, calling for their withdraw. The comments come at a time that negotiators and the general public consider the future of the Kabul-Washington Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA), which would ensure a contingency of foreign troops stay in Afghanistan after the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... combat mission ends in December. As of now, the pact remains unsigned as President Hamid Maybe I'll join the TalibanKarzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtunface on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... has held firm in his demands that first the U.S. ensure starting progress in Taliban peace talks and halt all raids on Afghan homes. "We believe that the presence of foreign forces in Afghanistan has been the main cause of war, corruption and drug trafficking, oppression, and many innocent civilians bit the dust in the attacks conducted by foreign forces, so we don't support the foreign troop presence in this country," Chairman of the Federation Sediq Mansour Ansari said. The argument that a continued presence of foreign troops would perpetuate conflict and injustice in Afghanistan has been a popular one amongst those who oppose the BSA. The Taliban, in particular, was very clear in November when the BSA was being deliberated over by a 2,500-person Loya Jirga that if foreign troops stayed in Afghanistan, the insurgency would continue. Nevertheless, the proponents of the BSA, and the continued support of foreign troops, remain ostensibly more outspoken and numerous. Aside from MPs and security experts, a number of civil society groups have come out in support of the BSA, saying that given the practical reality on the ground, the Afghan forces still need the help of foreign troops and their governments. "The civil society institutions want to respect the aspirations of the people...if Afghanistan wants to be have international cooperation and international commitments and keep its economic and political relations with the world, then it should have interactions with the world," civil society activist Aziz Rafaee said. If the BSA is signed, some 8,000-10,000 U.S. troops would likely stay behind in Afghanistan post-2014 to help train and advise the Afghan forces. About 4.1 billion USD in military aid is also tied to the agreement. "The institutions who oppose this agreement in fact have insufficient information and understanding about the situation of the country and they want to serve the interests of other elements and impose them," civil society advocate Ismail Jahangir said. "What has been done over the last month in fact was in support of the agreement and not opposing it, civil society institutions of Afghanistan have favored the signing of the agreement." Jahangir said that all institutions are free to express their views on the topic, but that over the past year, the majority of Afghans have expressed support for a enduring presence of foreign forces for the benefit of Afghan national security. |
| Posted by:Fred |