Articles found Mar 1, 2013
Afghan police officer drugs, kills 17 colleagues
By Reuters
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KABUL - An Afghan police officer drugged 17 colleagues and shot them dead on Wednesday with the aid of the Taliban, police said, the latest in a series of so-called “insider”, or green-on-blue, attacks involving Afghan security forces and the Taliban.
The attacks have undermined trust between coalition and Afghan forces who are under mounting pressure to contain the Taliban insurgency before most NATO combat troops withdraw by the end of 2014.
The killings, the worst in a string of similar attacks in recent months, occurred at a remote Afghan Local Police (ALP) outpost in the eastern province of Ghazni.
“An infiltrated local policeman first drugged all 17 of his comrades, and then called the Taliban and they together shot them all,” the chief police detective for Ghazni, Mohammad Hassan, told Reuters.
Seven of the dead were new recruits still undergoing training, officials said.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a text message by spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.
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Afghan president orders US troops out of volatile province on Kabul's flank
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President Hamid Karzai has asked US Special Forces to leave Wardak Province, raising concerns about how security might be affected in Afghanistan's capital city.
By Paige McClanahan, Correspondent / February 25, 2013
Kabul, Afghanistan
The Afghan government has demanded that US Special Forces leave a strategic province that lies just to the west of Kabul, claiming in a written statement that American soldiers operating in the region have been “torturing and even murdering innocent people.” The US-led coalition denies the claims.
The Afghan government’s announcement, which was made on Sunday, ordered Special Forces from the United States – but not necessarily other countries – to immediately cease operations in Wardak Province and to entirely leave the area within two weeks.
In a press conference following the release of the statement, Aimal Faizi, the spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, suggested that Afghan nationals working with US Special Forces were thought to have committed the violent acts against civilians, not necessarily American soldiers themselves. But the order for US Special Forces to withdraw from Wardak remains intact.
Given Wardak’s proximity to Kabul, the prospect of an American departure from the province has raised concern about how security might be affected in the capital city. Just hours before the Afghan government’s announcement Sunday, Afghan security forces shot dead a suicide bomber who was targeting an intelligence agency office located in Kabul’s diplomatic quarter. Coordinated suicide bombs in two other eastern cities killed three and injured seven within hours of the foiled Kabul attack.
“This decision will have a huge impact on the security situation in Kabul,” says Waliullah Rahmani, a security analyst with the Kabul Center for Strategic Studies. “Wardak is one of the most volatile provinces. It is a center for the insurgency, which is mainly focused on Kabul.... I don't know why the Afghan president has come to reach such a risky decision.”
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Pakistan textbooks raise debate about 'curriculum of hate'
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Government-sanctioned textbooks across Pakistan contain numerous examples of anti-minority and anti-Western language, prompting activists to encourage teachers to stop using them.
By Taha Siddiqui, Correspondent / February 28, 2013
Islamabad, Pakistan
In a public school located just outside the capital, a classroom of ninth-graders follows quietly along in their history textbooks as their teacher reads out loud about what happened shortly after the creation of Pakistan in 1947:
“Caravans that were on the way to Pakistan were attacked by Hindus and Sikhs. Not a single Muslim was left alive in trains coming to Pakistan.”
As the magnitude of the sentence registers with the students, the phrase “No Muslim was left alive!” echoes around the classroom from whispered lips. Students are clearly engaged with the subject and clearly disturbed with what history they have just learned.
The only problem? That description in the students' books is highly misleading.
Though the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 was indeed one of massive violence, Mubarak Ali, who has written several books on India-Pakistan history, says this is a one-sided account of events and an exaggerated version of the truth. In fact, it was the Pakistani side where the communal riots started, and in reaction, Indians responded, he says, adding: "But very few trains were attacked. And many more made it alive, which is not taught."
Dr. Ali says that such content should be expunged from school books, much as India has managed to do.
"Instead of teaching Pakistani youth that Hindus from India are to be blamed for everything, textbooks should critically look at this communal violence, which can actually be traced to the way both Muslims and Hindus responded to British imperialism before the independence. We should not glorify this division but rather criticize it, because Muslims and Hindus coexisted peacefully for centuries before," he says.
Across Pakistan, government-sanctioned school textbooks contain blatantly anti-religious-minority, anti-Western material. And many are worried the curriculum is fueling intolerance, especially among youths – leading to violent behavior and even sympathy for the Taliban.
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