Hanan Habibzai

By Hanan Habibzai   Religious-hood is an extensive thought in Afghanistan ,and you   can not deny the reality. Afghans want more than anything is for the violence  and killing to stop. At this time of intensification of conflict, a debate is taking place among Afghan intellectuals questioning the presence of the US and NATO in Afghanistan . This is the anti-Western sentiment that the Taliban have for long been whispering into the ears of ordinary Afghans in the villages and valleys of the restive regions.  Those Afghans who saw their children die those who watched their women and elders in pools of blood are increasingly becoming susceptible to this type of rhetoric.  Many are in the process of changing their minds about the international troops. Military attacks carried out by foreigners and that result in the killing of civilians are an insult to Afghans’ traditions and beliefs. In many instances, when the local population accuse international forces o...

Reporters Without Borders is outraged by Radio Kapisa director Hojatullah Mujadadi’s prolonged detention by the Afghan intelligence agency known as the National Directorate of Security (NDS). Tomorrow, Mujadadi will complete his third month of being held at NDS headquarters in Kabul, where he has not been allowed to see a lawyer. The NDS and certain officials in the northeastern province of Kapisa, where Mujadadi’s radio station is based, have behaved in an illegal and unreasonable manner in this case. Mujadadi is neither a terrorist, nor an insurgent nor a criminal. He is a respected journalist whose only offence was to upset officials in Kapisa. President Hamid Karzai’s credibility as someone able to enforce respect for the rule of law and guarantee a minimum of security for Afghan journalists is at stake in this case. We urge him to intercede to obtain Mujadadi’s release. NDS spokesman Saeed Ansari told Reporters Without Borders that the NDS has the right to detain “any suspect...

By Reuters Reading through some of the many thousands of words written about Richard Holbrooke, for me two stories stood out in their ability to capture what will be lost with his death: “While beleaguered members of Mr. Holbrooke’s traveling party sought sleep on transcontinental flights, he usually would stay up late reading. On one trip to Pakistan, he padded to the forward of the cabin in his stocking feet to point out to a reporter a passage in Margaret Bourke-White’s memoirs of the time of India-Pakistan partition and independence. Bourke-White quoted Pakistani leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah telling her that Pakistan would have no problems with the Americans, because ‘they will always need us more than we need them.’ Mr. Holbrooke laughed, saying, ‘Nothing ever changes.’” Talking about Washington’s approach to Pakistan, Holbrooke said, “The relationship with Pakistan is so fraught with a history of disappointment on both sides… We can’t align our interests exactly, because they...

Assange's creativity shakes global politics His creativity shakes global politics WikiLeaks will continue releasing the leaked US embassy cables despite the arrest of its founder, Julian Assange, over allegations in Sweden of sexual offences. According to the Guardian News Paper, the whistleblowers' website has made arrangements to continue publishing the classified documents, the airing of which has embarrassed the US government. The leaked cables have provided a daily flow of revelations about the superpower's involvement in the most sensitive issues around the world, including those affecting Iran, Afghanistan and China. The decision to press on will help allay fears among Assange's supporters that his arrest would hobble the organization’s work. Assange has also pre-recorded a video message, which WikiLeaks which was released last week shortly after his arrest. The Guardian cited that it understands the organization has no plans to release the insur...

                                                            By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS  Holbrooke with Obama photo:Ruth Fremson Th New York Times     Richard C. Holbrooke, the Obama administration’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, was hospitalized Friday after falling ill at the State Department. The department spokesman, Philip J. Crowley, said Mr. Holbrooke, 69, was undergoing evaluations at the hospital, but he declined to provide details.

US embassy cables :  whats happening in the world of powerful diplomacy? Remember,  Wikileaks's recent releases below.  (Lennart Preiss/AP/File) Julian Assange The founder of Wikileaks arrested Tuesday Assange, 39, turned himself in to police  Tuesday morning, hours after  Britain  received a formal warrant for his arrest  from Swedish authorities. Assange denies  any wrongdoing and says he will fight the  attempt to extradite him, beginning with a hearing Dec. 14. That could be the start of a legal battle  that could drag on for weeks or even  months, in part because the case against  him in Sweden remains rather murky.  Assange, who is Australian, is eager to  avoid extradition for fear that it could set  the stage for him to be sent to the U.S. if  prosecutors there charge him with offenses  relating to the WikiLeaks disclosures of  State Department  diplomatic cables and  classifi...

  She has no access to healthcare and she lost her son WHERE THE BILLIONS OF FOREIGN AID GOES?  By Hanan Habibzai  Malalai mourns the death of her one-year-old son, Jamil, who died two weeks ago due to water-borne diseases at a local hospital in Baghlan Province , Northern Afghanistan . For several days, Jamil and his family slept in open air with no shelter. The child had drunk dirtied water, which his mother had collected from a nearby river for drinking, cooking and washing. There is consent among some residents in Seya Saang village and indeed many other rural communities across Afghanistan , that water is always clean, unless its colour, smell and or taste change. However, not only was Malalai's son but many other children are the victims of various water-borne diseases according to medical experts in Pulikhomri, provincial capital of Baghlan region.  UNICEF estimates around 92 percent of Afghanistan ’s nearly 30 million popu...

By Hanan Habibzai Zamarai Ahmadzai from Logar province of Afghanistan found himself in England when he came out from a container on a lorry. His journey begins in Logar province of Afghanistan in mid-2001 but it was August 2002 when he got in to the UK. Alongside the time, the journey cost thousands of US dollars paid to several layers of human traffickers. Now, he lives in east London. However, despite his eight-years-stay in the UK, he has not succeeded in obtaining the right to live in the UK as a resident. ‘’This is all because of our own government.’’ He added. ‘’One dollar earned at home is better then in a foreign country. I didn’t know but now I regret I should not have come to the UK.’’ Since he left his country of origin, he suffered long tiredness, but his efforts to get asylum in the UK were unsuccessful. Zamarai illegally came to the UK in search of a safer and better life and to be able to repay the money his family had borrowed to furnish his journey. Thoug...

By Hanan Habibzai In January 2002, Tom Ford, aka  Mr Fashion, at his menswear show for Gucci  in Milan, comes up with a surprising idea to recognize the newly appointed Afghan leader, Hamid Karzai, “the most chic man in the world”. He was in the news not for his political knowledge and foreign policies but for his dressing style. After eight years, Mr Karzai no longer remains a ‘’chic man ‘’. His government appeared  deeply involved in corruption  and injustice. Most Afghans no longer hope for a better life while corrupt officials hold power. ‘’It is a shame that  foreign donors are wasting their money by giving it in the hands of corrupt officials and we therefore do not see any positive result’’ a Kabul shopkeeper Sayed Karim regrettably told me during an interview. ‘’International community and Afghan people should bring a change within official circles to insure that people have access to justice, food, education and remain united.’’ Karim added. His go...

By Hanan Habibzai General Parviz Musharaf , who led Pakistan into a war, backed US-led occupation of Afghanistan in 2001  , and attacked the Red Mosque on July 2007 which took him to an uncertain battle against his own people. Therefore, he faced the serious anger of his fellow countrymen but despite widespread displeasure he announced a new party All Pakistan Muslim League the APML, earlier  October. ‘’I’d like to come to the politics in democratic dispensation of Pakistan.’’ The former Pakistani ruler said during an exclusive interview with RFERL. In October 1999, Musharaf comes up with a military coup against Nawaz Sharif and seizes the power. He was long regarded as a military dictator who ended a democratic regime. He spent most of his life in military uniform, now in civilian dress, vigorously blames India of ‘’trying to create anti-Pakistan Afghanistan Soon after the 9/11, he becomes a close ally of the west when he slashes links with the Taliban. He was forced out fro...