Mediaboss Marketing

It was night-time and it was raining. Thats when the shooting started.

Nine-year-old Wali Khan Norzai remembers holding his fathers hand in the mountainous, borderland darkness. Ahead lay Turkey, behind them Iran, further back their abandoned home in Afghanistan. Now suddenly, all around them, bullets.

The group of 100 people scattered. When the dust settled and Wali Khan and his father, Said Ghullam Norzai, emerged from hiding, there was no sign of Wali Khans mother or his six siblings.

In the year since, father and son have heard nothing from them. Norzai says if he had known that the journey would have meant losing seven members of his family, he would have stayed in Afghanistan and risked life under the Taliban.

From Turkey, Norzai and Wali Khans journey to Britain was the sort of tragic odyssey that has become familiar over the past few years: a hazardous crossing of the Mediterranean, a long walk through European countries they had never heard of, and months in Calais risking their lives to get on the back of a lorry.

But if the mass movement of people to Europe was the tale of 2015-16, the story of 2017 is what happens to those people now. What does the future hold for the tens of thousands of families like the Norzais?

It is these questions that the Guardian will explore as we embark on an ambitious project to learn about Europes new arrivals and the communities in which they are making their homes. Teaming up with Der Spiegel, Le Monde and El Pas, we will follow refugees and asylum seekers in four European countries a large Syrian family in Germany, a Sudanese family en route to France and a group of Africans who have joined a football team in Spain. In Britain we will be telling the story of Said and Wali Khan, and others like them, who are desperately hoping to make the country their permanent home. We will assess whether Europe is keeping its promises to refugees, how they are changing European society and how it is changing them.

For Norzai, a melon farmer driven from Kunduz province by a resurgent Taliban, his new life is a lonely one. As an asylum seeker , he is not allowed to work and has few connections in Derby where he and his son have been sent to live by the Home Office. The 40-year-old speaks almost no English and progress at the free English classes he attends is slow. He is tormented by thoughts of his missing wife and children.

After he drops Wali Khan at school, he sits alone in his flat in the quiet for as long as he can bear. There is little else to do. He has no radio, computer or smartphone; the television in the bedroom that father and son share is broken. When he can take the silence of the flat no longer, he goes out and strolls the streets of Derby by himself, counting the minutes until the school day is over and he can pick up his son.

In contrast, Wali Khans English after just a few months in a British school, is already good and the nine-year-old functions as interpreter for his father, calling doctors, officials, even G4S, who manage the property they live in, to report maintenance issues. He loves school, he says, and has eight friends there. They play tag and sometimes football and cricket. He would like to be a doctor.

Whether he will have a chance to study here is uncertain; the Norzais life in Britain is extremely precarious. A few days before publication, Norzai learned that his asylum case had been rejected on the grounds that Afghanistan is considered safe.

As he is illiterate, he did not open the letter sent to him, and has now missed his 14-day window to appeal. He is discussing his case with an immigration solicitor and hopes to file a late appeal. About half of all appeals from Afghan asylum seekers are granted.

At the end of 2016, 38,517 people such as Said and Wali Khan Norzai applied for asylum in Britain. To tell the story of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK, the Guardian has travelled across the country, from Coventry to Cardiff, Liverpool to Leicester. From church halls in Sheffield and community halls in St Helens, to the flats of asylum seekers in Nottingham and Peterborough, we have been meeting those who are seeking sanctuary and the communities, charities, lawyers, case workers and faith groups trying to help them.

In some ways, Said and Wali Khan Norzais story is fairly typical. In 2016, Afghanistan was the fourth most common country of origin for asylum seekers to the UK, accounting for 8% of asylum claims. Roughly 70% of asylum seekers in the country are male often because families can only afford to send one person and for a variety of reasons choose a young man and, as was the case with Norzai and his son, it is rare for asylum-seeking families to arrive in the UK intact.

At a drop-in centre in Liverpool visited by the Guardian, Ahmed*, an Iraqi Kurd in his early 40s, recounted how he was forced to leave his home after Shia-Sunni tensions escalated in his region. One night, less than two months before he was sitting sharing his story in a cold church hall in Merseyside over a plate of vegetable curry, the familys home was set alight while they slept. Ahmed got his two sons a six-month-old baby and three-year-old out of the house. His sister was killed inside and his wife died in his arms in the street.

He fled Iraq, taking with him his three-year-old son. He had to leave his younger boy in the care of his mother because he felt he could not make the journey with a baby. He hopes his younger son will be able to join him once he has refugee status, but for now he is stuck in limbo, with his older boy and his grief for company.

Ahmed was just one of many who visited the drop-in centre that day. Others included two young Sudanese men who have been in the UK for three weeks, having come from Calais on lorries. There were two Palestinian men one of whom was a prominent figure on Arab television who met in Britain after fleeing the Palestinian territories and became friends, one slightly starstruck by his famous companion.

You talk to people with the most incredible stories, said Peter Carpenter, who was at the Liverpool drop-in centre as a representative of the charity Refugee Action. And you ask: what would it take for me to do this? To put everything I own on my back?

Later an older Sikh couple from Afghanistan came in. They left the country after attacks on Sikhs escalated and the mans beard was cut and his throat slit. They did not want to stay at the centre for lunch but did want a pair of socks. The woman pulled up the hem of her dress to show she was wearing slip-on shoes with no socks and she was very cold. The clothing bank, stocked with donations, was out of socks and the woman was told to come back next week. She left, but returned a few minutes later to make sure they understood how serious the situation was. If anyone came with socks, she said, could they please save them for her.

For many, there is enormous gratitude to be in Britain and to be safe; for others there is frustration that their claims are taking so long to be heard and boredom while they wait. Many do not understand why they cannot work while they wait for their claim to be processed, and some complain of difficult, sometimes intolerable conditions in the accommodation provided for them by the Home Office.

There are serious issues faced by asylum seekers in the UK and over the course of this series the Guardian will explore these, comparing the issues in Britain, Germany, France and Spain, asking how the different governments and communities have responded to the new arrivals.

We will follow the story of some of Britains asylum seekers, beginning with Said and Wali Khan Norzai. We do not know how their case will progress.

I want to carry on with my life here so my child can continue with his education, to become something, said Norzai.

When my son is coming home at night he is asking me: Dad, where are my mum, brother and sisters? Now I am here I thought they would give me a passport. Im now waiting for a document to go to Turkey and look for them. If I cant find them Ill go to Iran. Apart from this, what can I do?

Im asking the British government to give me a document to go and search for my family. It is one year now that my children are lost. I dont know whether they are in Iran or Turkey, whether they are alive or dead.

*Name has been changed

This project is funded by the European Journalism Centre via a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Share your experiences

If you arrived in the the UK as a refugee or work with refugees, wed like to hear from you. Wed like to find out about initiatives that are working well and also the the challenges of integrating into local communities.

Share your stories and experiences, anonymously if you prefer, in the encrypted form below. We will do our best to ensure your responses are kept secure and confidential. A selection of contributions will be featured in our reporting.

Read the original here:
They left Afghanistan a family of nine. They arrived in the UK a family of two - The Guardian

Common Dreams

In Afghanistan, America's Biggest Foe Is Self-Deception Common Dreams That statistic came up in recent Senate testimony by the U.S. commanding general in Afghanistan, John "Mick" Nicholson Jr., who is (to give no-end-in-sight further context) the 12th U.S. commander since the war began. Appearing before the Senate Armed ... Afghanistan As America's 'Bleeding Wound'Huffington Post Why Russia Is Returning to AfghanistanWorld Politics Review UK Tells Gay Asylum Seekers From Afghanistan To Pretend To Be Straight If They Are DeportedTowleroad all 6 news articles »

See original here:
In Afghanistan, America's Biggest Foe Is Self-Deception - Common Dreams

Afghanistan is back on the political map.

President Trumps three major security appointments all have a profound interest in the country, which separates them from President Obamas. Defence Secretary James Mattis, National Security Adviser H R McMaster and Homeland Security chief John Kelly all have military experience in the region.

Kellys son, Lt Robert Michael Kelly, was killed in Sangin serving with the Marines. In a speech in 2014 Kelly said the war did not end because opinion-formers had grown war-weary.

In the UK, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon is pledging more military muscle to shore up the Afghan army.

The renewed interest is partly because Islamic State has shown up in the south-east of the country and partly because Afghanistan is in a tantalising state of transition. So much Western blood and treasure has been invested in the country that it cannot be allowed to fall back in to being a terrorist state.

After decades of conflict the country has reached a kind of stalemate. The Afghan government, led by President Ashraf Ghani, controls the cities, the Taliban around 30 per cent of the rest of the country.

Everything about Afghanistan comes back to maps and borders. Iran on one side, Pakistan on the other, Russia involved against IS, China protecting its assets, particularly copper.

The saying goes that first came the Soviets, then the Americans and next it is the turn of the Chinese to try to control this country.

The British role is especially interesting. I have just returned from a couple of days in Kabul with a delegation from the Department for International Development (DfID). Priti Patel, its leader, describes the British mission as nation building a term very out of fashion during the George W Bush/ Donald Rumsfeld years.

The British Armys Camp Bastion may have vanished into the sand but everyone seems to accept that we have to stay with Afghanistan for the long haul now.

This means, along with training the Afghan army and providing aid for education and jobs, being party to Northern Ireland-style peace negotiations with the Taliban.

The acceptance of this is partly realism the Taliban has a solid base and steady recruitment from Pakistan. It is also a reflection of the changing face of terrorism.

President Ghani claims there are about 20 different terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan. The population may not like The Taliban, but at least they are home-grown unlike IS, which is regarded as foreign.

The Taliban is not asking for a caliphate and there is even talk of it having moderate members. Young men need employment and some have drifted to the Taliban for want of anything else.

One British military official repeats the old adage: You can buy a Pakistani but you can only rent an Afghan.

In Kabul there is no official Taliban presence, although there are enough insurgents to create tension.

It is more than a decade since I visited Kabul and its transitional phase still looks hairy. The DfID delegation travels by helicopter from the airport to the embassy in the fortified zone because the roads are considered too dangerous.

No one would think of travelling by road outside Kabul. They try to avoid convoys since an attack in 2014 on a British Embassy convoy in which six people died. Mobile reception is blocked while driving to protect against bombs triggered by phones.

The city is under surveillance from American airborne cameras.

Afghanistan is a cinematic place with a memory of tolerance and civic life before the rise of the Taliban in 1996.

The first lady, Rula Ghani, from a Christian Lebanese family, longs for the days when Afghanistan, much like her own country, was a cosmopolitan land of pleasure. It is a cruel reversal of feminism when mothers remember a freedom their daughters cannot know.

An Oxford-educated activist I meet in Kabul called Shaharzad Akbar says women everywhere are on their guard. She says that if she is out alone she becomes fearful of mens responses.

Women have retreated to the home in many areas. Virginity testing is still common practice. What inspires girls is access to phones, the internet and television, so they can compare their lives with women in the rest of the world.

Shaharzad said she watched Hillary Clinton lose the American election with bitter tears. Is that what happens? The crazy man gets it? What do women still have to do?

The criticism made of British and US policy in Afghanistan is that it was tactical rather than strategic. The population in return live for the short- term.

The President is doing his best to govern but the fragmented power bases are inherently unstable and the country seems always to be at the mercy of outside forces.

The latest threat is the one-and-a-half-million refugees returning to the country. Half-a-million have been expelled by Pakistan.

Some will certainly have been Taliban-trained. Refugees are also streaming back from Iran, and then there are those who did not get to Europe. Shaharzad observes that the world is in her country but wont allow Afghans in theirs.

Was ever a country so at the mercy of outside interests? Can Afghanistan defeat the Taliban if Pakistans madrassas continue to train the next generation?

Pakistan is suspicious of Afghanistans friendship with India. Iran is busy preserving the power of Shias.

Russia is believed to be ambivalent towards the Taliban, seeing a mischievous historical justice in disrupting the US/British intervention America did the same in supporting the Mujahideen against the Soviets.

Meanwhile, Russia contemplates gas pipelines and transport from the north. The UK looks to India.

In other words, Afghanistan is still at the centre of the Great Game.

See the original post here:
Sarah Sands: Will Afghanistan ever escape being a pawn in the Great Game? - Evening Standard

NEW DELHI [INDIA]: The foreign ministry of Afghanistan has lodged a formal protest with Pakistan over reported border violations by the latter after the closure of Torkham, Spin Boldak, Ghulam Khan and Angur Adda border crossings.

A statement issued by the foreign affairs ministry said the protest was conveyed to Pakistan's Ambassador Syed Abrar Hussain on Monday.

Pakistani troops, reportedly, resorted to rocket shellings over Khas Kunar, the Dara-e-Shali, Sarkano, Dara-e-Noli, Shadi Khel, and Dara-e-Shongri areas.

Director of the first Political Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mosa Arefi also expressed deep concern over the persecution and force deportation of Afghan refugees by Pakistan's government and considered it in contrary to all tripartite obligations among Afghanistan, Pakistan and UNHCR.

Arefi said that the Turkham Gate is still closed which is a clear violation of all international norms of WTO and trade agreements between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"This closure also causes the Afghan and Pakistani businessmen as well as general public being affected every day," the statement read.

Pakistan's Ambassador said he would convey Afghanistan's concerns to authorities back home.

This is the third time that the Pakistani envoy has been summoned in the past two weeks as tensions between the neighbouring countries over terrorism and cross-border shelling escalated.

See original here:
Afghanistan summons Pakistan envoy, protests border violation - Economic Times

By Maj. Claude Lambert Best Defense guest columnist

Our war in Afghanistan has had not just a complex command and control structure, but also military command continuity challenges aside from its complex command and control architecture.

Changes of command, particularly at the highest levels, which put tremendous stress on the force and continuity of command, are just as important as the principle of unity of command. Therefore, as Washington mulls over whether to change direction in Afghanistan, command continuity should play a prominent role in the discussion.

From 2007 to 2014 there were seven International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) commanders appointed to manage the war in Afghanistan. During this time, the longest tenure for an American ISAF commander was 19 months. Conversely, in World War II, General Dwight D. Eisenhower served as Commanding General of Allied Expeditionary forces in Europe from 1942-1945. Also, in Vietnam, two out of four U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam commanders served four years apiece providing significant continuity of command for the U.S. national command authority.

Throughout military history, commanders have come and gone in disputes over policy and execution. But it is difficult to deny that frequent changes of command at the highest levels are disruptive events. Even if the overall strategy does not change, newly installed commanders and their staffs routinely conduct 60 to 90 day assessments and strategy reviews that frequently shift or alter the momentum at the operational and tactical levels of war.

Major Claude A. Lambert is an active duty U.S. Army Strategist. The views expressed here are solely his own and do not reflect the views of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, U.S. Army, or U.S. Special Operations Command.

Photo credit: the author

Twitter Facebook Google + Reddit

Continued here:
Who's in command in Afghanistan? A scorecard that indicates a lack ... - Foreign Policy (blog)