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There have been 118 registered cases of violence against women in Ghor in the past year, and those are only cases that have been reported, said Fawzia Koofi, head of the womens rights commission in the Afghan Parliament, who recently visited Ghor to raise awareness about the lack of justice. And not a single suspect in these 118 cases has been arrested.

There is no value for women there, Ms. Koofi added. It is as if she deserves to die.

With a population of over 700,000 and located in west-central Afghanistan, Ghor is considered one of the most deprived provinces of the country. It has received little government attention over the years, and the rule of law is almost nonexistent in certain parts of the territory. Ghor also shares borders with some of the most violent provinces with strong Taliban presence, making it vulnerable to the insurgency.

Some of the cases in Ghor briefly shock the nation before fading into its long history of abuse.

A teenage girl, Rukhshana, who was forced into an arranged marriage, was later caught fleeing with a lover. She was buried waist deep in dirt and stoned to death in October 2015 by a gang of men the government said were Taliban. The male lover was flogged and set free.

From her waist up, the rocks had ripped her body and some piece of stones had made it inside her ribs, said Hanifa, Rukhshanas mother. The blood would not stop. There were 12 other women in the room helping me wash her in preparation for burial, she said.

Aziz Gul, 19, was shot at night and buried before her parents could even see her body.

Police records said she was also fleeing with a man, reportedly a lover, to avoid a forced marriage, when she was caught by a mob and killed on the spot last June. But her parents said she was abducted from her uncles house, and after she was recovered villagers accused her of adultery and then shot her.

They killed her around night prayer, and I heard the news at dawn prayer, her mother, Belqis, said. By that time they had buried the body already.

In the most recent case, a woman named Suraya was trying to flee what she said was an abusive forced marriage of four years. She left in March with her lover and an elderly aunt, who accompanied them to help them avoid suspicion. All three were chased by heavily armed villagers and killed. Their charred bodies remained in the open for days; villagers threatened anyone who would come to pick them up.

Ms. Koofi, the lawmaker, said the violence had its roots in tribal feuds and the pervasive practice of marrying off girls at a very young age for large dowries. By the time the husband-to-be comes up with the money, often after years of labor in Iran, the girl has grown up and developed feelings for someone else.

Also playing a crucial role in the violence, Ms. Koofi said, is the absence of the rule of law and a complete sense of impunity.

When security officials are pressed on the situation in Ghor, Ms. Koofi said, they say they have to balance justice with security and that if they go after the perpetrators, they will side with the Taliban who are already gaining ground in the province.

This sense that the provinces misogyny and injustice would be tolerated as a compromise for stability was underscored when President Ashraf Ghani decided not to support a female governor he sent to the province after she faced resistance. The governor, Seema Joyenda, was ousted at the end of 2015, within six months of her arrival, and that move may have further cemented a feeling of impunity among fundamentalists.

There are other episodes that raise questions about the governments commitment to trying to stop, or at least punish, the killing of women in the province.

Mullah Saadyar, one of the militant leaders listed on police documents as ordering the stoning of Rukhshana, recently came for treatment for an illness in Ghors provincial capital, Chaghcharan, but the government did not arrest him.

No one has yet been prosecuted for the death of Tabaruk, either.

In the months before she died, Tabaruk, who, like many Afghans used only one name, was focused on protecting her daughter from her own almost certain death.

The daughter, Mah Yamsar, says she was at home last year when a neighbor, Sayed Ahmad, raped her. She hid the episode from everyone, until her body started changing, and she realized she was pregnant. Her mother become her secret-bearer and helper. In rural Afghanistan, it is common for such pregnancies to end in honor killings.

Mr. Ahmad had pills delivered to Mah Yamsar that would help her have an abortion, which occurred in the seventh month of her pregnancy.

Mah Yamsar went to the hospital and stayed there for eight nights, needing two blood transfusions.

When she was discharged and returned to her village in the Dawlat Yar district of Ghor, elders gathered for a council to decide the familys fate. Tabaruk and her husband were in attendance, as was Mr. Ahmad, the accused rapist, but Mah Yamsar was not.

He said, I wont swear on the Quran, but I did not rape her, Mah Yamsar said her mother told her about Mr. Ahmads words at the meeting.

The village council, swayed by Mr. Ahmads powerful relatives, said Mah Yamsars family had brought dishonor on the village. Load up, and leave this place, the family was told.

Mah Yamsar, still recovering from the abortion, was put on a motorcycle. Her mother rode a horse, while her father, her brother and two village elders, both men, followed behind.

Mah Yamsar arrived ahead of her family in Kharsang, also in Ghor, where the family planned to start a new life. Her mother never made it.

At first, her father said Tabaruk would come. Then he said she had fallen off the horse and died.

But her brother said their father was lying. His father and the two village elders took Tabaruk off into the distance, telling him to stay behind. When they returned, his father said Tabaruk had fallen off the horse.

But the child told Mah Yamsar he heard gunshots.

A version of this article appears in print on July 9, 2017, on Page A6 of the New York edition with the headline: In Lawless Afghan Province, No Value and No Justice for Women.

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No Justice, 'No Value' for Women in a Lawless Afghan Province - New York Times

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Afghanistan national cricket team would strive to win its first-ever match against the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) atLords in London on Tuesday.

The MCCteam would be captained by Brendon McCullum, former New Zealand skipper in the 50 over game, said a statement from the Afghan Connection Group.

Other MCC players would be include two other former international captains, Kumar Sangakkara, of Sri Lanka, and Misbah ul-Haq of Pakistan. The Afghan team would include the highly respected all-rounder, Mohammad Nabi, and the 18-year-old prodigy, Rashid Khan.

The rise of the Afghan national cricket team has been phenomenal over recent years. Most notably, as the match at Lords approached, Afghanistan has been confirmed as a full member of the elite group of ICC (International Cricket Council) Test Match nations.

President of MCCMatthew Fleminghas had close connections with Afghan cricket, and was a very keen supporter of the game there. I have visited Afghanistan and seen the enthusiasm and skill of so many players there, both of senior teams, and of boys and girls too, he said.

MCC has supported Afghan cricket since 2009. MCC supports the game there by funding cricket pitches and helping with coaching, not least of children all around the country. We do this through working with Afghan Connection, a charity which had already become successfully involved with supporting Afghan cricket, says Matthew Fleming.

Afghans love cricket so much, says Dr Sarah Fane, Founder and CEO of Afghan Connection.But they hardly haveany equipment.So Afghan Connection made a delivery to the national team and began supporting grassroots cricket around the country for the young.

"Within a year MCCbegan backing Afghan cricket through Afghan Connections projects. Since 2009 this has led to 100 cricket pitches being built, serving well over 100,000 Afghan children, as well as provision of equipment and coaching for them.

Since 2002, the Afghan Connection has funded the construction of nearly 50 schools in remote areas of northern Afghanistan, serving about 75,000 boys and girls in almost equal numbers, along with training programmes for over 900 teachers.

Afghan kids love going to school.And cricket has become such a large part in the lives of so many, said Dr Fane.

nh/mud

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Afghanistan all set for Tuesday's encounter against MCC - Pajhwok Afghan News (subscription) (blog)

Members of Afghan robotics girls team which was denied entry into the United States for a competition, work on their robots in Herat province, Afghanistan July 4, 2017.

We want to make a difference and most breakthroughs in science, technology, and other industries normally start with the dream of a child to do something great. Team Afghanistans statement on the competition website

They seized the chance to study in a country that has long denied that advantage to many girls. They excelled in science and technologyamale-dominated field. And they competed successfully to represent their country against some of the brightest young minds in the world.

But, after overcoming these improbable odds, a robotics team of six Afghan girls found a hurdle they couldnt clear: the United States government, which denied them visas to attend the robotics competition in Washington, DC.

The robot they built is being shipped to the US, but the girls will participate via Skype. Almost all other teams were allowed in, including those from countries barred under the US travel ban, such as Iran and Sudan.

In the days after the September 11 attacks on the US, Americans heard a lot about Afghan girls. Images of women in blue burqas and girls yearning hopelessly to go to school helped build support for the US-led military intervention. Laura Bush, Kofi Annan, Cherie Blair, and Hillary Clinton were among those speaking out in the weeks after 9/11, pleading for the world to aid Afghan women.

Today, many Afghan women feel betrayed. The Trump administration is formulating a new Afghanistan strategy, but the talk is all about troop numbers, not school books and certainly not girls. The number of girls attending school in parts of the country is falling due to rising insecurity and poverty, and declining donor support. The Talibans grip on the country is growing and their desire to deny girls education largely unchanged.

This context makes the achievements of the robotics team exceptional. The team members are in their teens, an age when many Afghan girls leave school because of child marriage, child labor, lack of secondary schools for girls, and social barriers. Sixty-six percent of girls ages 12 to 15 are out of school. In a country where only 37 percent of adolescent girls and 19 percent of adult women are literate, donor countries should be sweeping these girls up to see how their achievement can be replicated not slamming the door in their faces.

The robotics team, struggling to call in to Washington, DC, via Skype on a lousy internet connection, in the middle of the night, is all too emblematic of the hollowness of US efforts to empower girls in Afghanistan.

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Forgetting About Girls in Afghanistan Again | Human Rights Watch - Human Rights Watch

The Trump administration has set a cap on the number of additional troops Defense Secretary James Mattis can send to Afghanistan without getting additional approval fromthe White House, The Wall Street Journal reported.

President Trump last month gave Mattis authority to set troop levels in Afghanistan, with 3,000 to 5,000 additional soldiers as the reported goal.

But days after Trump granted the authority, national security adviser H.R. McMaster penned a classified memo that limits forces to Afghanistan to no more than 3,900 troops. Mattis must confer with the White House before sending more beyond that number, people familiar with the document told the Journal.

The memo sent to a small group of administration officials came as a surprise to some. A few officials told the Journal they thought that the White House would impose no such restrictions. The White House National Security Council declined to comment to the paper.

Dana White, the Pentagons chief spokeswoman, told the Journal she couldnt discuss details of any classified memos.

Defense officials said that though the memo constrains military decisionmaking, its not likely to tie up Pentagon planning.

The White House is struggling with how it will end the 16-year war in Afghanistan that has cost trillions of dollars, with Pentagon leaders calling for more troops to end what many consider a stalemate.

Mattis told lawmakers in June that the U.S. isnot winning in Afghanistanbut promised to correct this as soon as possible and to brief Congress in detail on a new strategy for Afghanistan by mid-July."

But differing opinions on what U.S. goals should be in Afghanistan have emerged in thethe White House.

White House senior strategist StephenBannon is reportedly skeptical of any additional resources and troops sent to the region, while Mattis, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford andCommander Joseph Votel of U.S. Central Command are all pushing for increased forces.

The U.S. already has roughly 8,400 troops in Afghanistan on a joint mission of advising and training Afghan forces and conducting anti-terror operations against groups such as al Qaeda and ISIS.

Trump, meanwhile, has long touted his stance that the White House shouldnt micromanage the military and has frequently criticized his predecessor, President Barack ObamaBarack ObamaTillerson: Trump and Putin had 'positive chemistry' White House limiting number of troops to Afghanistan: report Tillerson: Trump pressed Putin on election interference MORE, for doing the opposite.

What I do is I authorize my military, Trump said April 13 following the use of the Pentagons largest non-nuclear bomb on a militant compound in Afghanistan.

We have the greatest military in the world, and theyve done the job as usual, so we have given them total authorization. And thats what theyre doing. And frankly, thats why theyve been so successful lately.

Excerpt from:
White House limiting number of troops to Afghanistan: report - The Hill

What has changed, what has achieved and whose benefits are at stake?

By Mohammad Adil Zahed for The Diplomat

July 08, 2017

As envisioned in his election manifesto and soon after being elevated as the new president of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani issued a legislative decree to reform public procurement of Afghanistan. The reform was initiated by merging the existing procurement entities and establishing a central regulatory body, the National Procurement Authority. It came at a time when the prolonged and disputed presidential election caused massive delays to the procurement process of development projects.

For a newly formed entity it was challenging to both establish itself and operate at the same time. Clearing the massive backlog of procurement, responding to the demands of both the procurement entities and the donors in terms of proceeding with the procurement of new projects, and dealing with the urgent need of security sectors fuel and food contracts can be enumerated as major challenges.

What has changed?

This institutional reform was not warmly welcomed initially by many including politicians, legislatures, bureaucrats, and donors. It was considered to be centralization of authority by the Office of the President. While comparing the pre and post reform organizational structure, centralization of authority is less apparent. A special procurement commission to approve above threshold contracts, Afghanistan Reconstruction and Development Services (ARDS) to facilitate procurement processes, and Procurement Policy Unit to formulate and provide policy guidance were functioning previously in the public procurement sector of Afghanistan.

The functions of the National Procurement Authority (NPA) are adequately similar to the former structure in terms of authority distribution, hierarchical arrangement, and contracts award authority. The reform principally addressed the key flaws of the former dispersed organizational structure: lack of coordination, duplication of responsibilities, and spread out functions that have not only caused hindrance for the procurement entities but resulted in reduced efficiency and effectiveness of the procurement processes.

What has been achieved?

The political and programmatic success of public procurement reform has been acknowledged both domestically and internationally. Afghanistans commitments to the Tokyo Mutual Accountability Framework (TMAF) and renewed commitments at the London Conference on Afghanistan 2014 were greatly concentrated on reforms and as wished-for, this reform has satisfied its aimed onlookers particularly the international community.

NPAs focus on increasing efficiency, effectiveness and value for money by meritocratic appointments and the introduction of transparent and accountable systems have played an important role in achieving its intended objectives. United States Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction SIGARs recent report to the U.S Congress recognized these steps encouraging in the fight against corruption. Transparency International calls it one bright spot in the governments fight against corruption by saving more than $200 million that might have been lost to corruption.

Afghanistan has also scored well in World Banks 2016 benchmarking public procurement in both thematic areas of procurement lifecycle and complaint and reporting mechanisms. Furthermore, Afghanistans score in Transparency Internationals CPI index has also witnessed a significant improvement in 2016 compare to the earlier four years. The recent agreement on implementing Open Contracting Data Standards (OCDS) will also increase transparency through increased community engagement and citizens participation.

Whose benefits are at stake?

Public procurement is politically sensitive because of substantial public money involvement. In Afghanistan, the main causes and practices of corruption varies from administrative corruption, clientelism and patronage, to low pay and bribery. Corrupt parasitic and monopolistic networks within and outside governments are mostly those affected by the anti-corruption reforms. Resistance to this reform can be divided into two broad categories. The first category is street level bureaucrats who demonstrate rigidity not due to personal interest but because of historical inertia and no willingness to change. The second category are those whose personal interests are at stake. These include elite and influential public and private actors both within and outside government.

In Afghanistan, where corruption is systematic and embedded in political and economic systems, sustainable anti-corruption reform is a pre-requisite to sustainable development. Close coordination and regular communication between the procurement entities and the government institutions can play an important role in increasing accessibility and reducing political and bureaucratic blame games.

Moreover, addressing a single element in isolation to other institutional pillars of a national integrity system cannot guarantee success but reforms shall be initiated under a unified reform strategy. The reform strategy needs to consider certain institutional pillars such as the judiciary, the civil service, watchdog agencies, civil society, and others in order to prevent corruption at first place rather than relying on penalties after the event. Countries where corruption is worse, alongside institutional reforms, social empowerment is equally important and can play a critical role in the fight against corruption. Engaging civil society and providing public access to documents can also add value to the reform initiatives and assist the state in gaining trust and increasing legitimacy in the eyes of its people.

Ghanis efforts of fight against corruption are paying off in terms of regaining the trust of international community by demonstrating strong political will to root out corruption from Afghanistan and to increase effectiveness of the foreign aids. However, continuous support of the international community is essential in order to sustain these reforms.

Mohammad Adil Zahed is a Chevening scholar and studies MPA in International Development at the University of York and tweets at @adilzahed

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How Afghanistan's Public Procurement Reform Is Changing - The Diplomat