AFGHANISTAN | افغانستان‎ | Projects and Updates

[hakz2007]

Chinese mine in Afghanistan threatens ancient find

This photograph made on Oct. 12 shows ancient Buddha statues inside a temple in Mes Aynak, south of Kabul, Afghanistan. AP photo

It was another day on the rocky hillside, as archaeologists and laborers dug out statues of Buddha and excavated a sprawling 2,600-year-old Buddhist monastery. A Chinese woman in slacks, carrying an umbrella against the Afghan sun, politely inquired about their progress.

She had more than a passing interest. The woman represents a Chinese company eager to develop the world's second-biggest unexploited copper mine, lying beneath the ruins.

The mine is the centerpiece of China's drive to invest in Afghanistan, a country trying to get its economy off the ground while still mired in war. Beijing's $3.5 billion stake in the mine - the largest foreign investment in Afghanistan by far - gets its foot in the door for future deals to exploit Afghanistan's largely untapped mineral wealth, including iron, gold and cobalt. The Afghan government stands to reap a potential $1.2 billion a year in revenues from the mine, as well as the creation of much-needed jobs.

But Mes Aynak is caught between Afghanistan's hopes for the future and its history. Archaeologists are rushing to salvage what they can from a major seventh century B.C. religious site along the famed Silk Road connecting Asia and the Middle East. The ruins, including the monastery and domed shrines known as "stupas," will likely be largely destroyed once work at the mine begins.

Hanging over the situation is the memory of the Buddhas of Bamiyan – statues towering up to 180 feet high in central Afghanistan that were dynamited to the ground in 2001 by the country's then-rulers, the Taliban, who considered them symbols of paganism.

Salvaging the site

No one wants to be blamed for similarly razing history at Mes Aynak, in the eastern province of Logar. The Chinese government-backed China Metallurgical Group Corp., or MCC, wanted to start building the mine by the end of 2011. But under an informal understanding with the Kabul government, it has given archaeologists three years for a salvage excavation.

Archaeologists working on the site since May say that won't be enough time for full preservation.

"That site is so massive that it's easily a 10-year campaign of archaeology," said Laura Tedesco, an archaeologist brought in by the U.S. Embassy to work on sites in Afghanistan. Three years may be enough time just to document what's there, she said.

Philippe Marquis, a French archaeologist advising the Afghans, said the salvage effort is piecemeal and "minimal," held back by lack of funds and personnel.

Around 15 Afghan archaeologists, three French advisers and a few dozen laborers are working within the 2-square-kilometer area - a far smaller team than the two dozen archaeologists and 100 laborers normally needed for a site of such size and richness.

"This is probably one of the most important points along the Silk Road," said Marquis. "What we have at this site, already in excavation, should be enough to fill the [Afghan] national museum."

The monastery complex has been dug out, revealing hallways and rooms decorated with frescoes and filled with clay and stone statues of standing and reclining Buddhas, some as high as 10 feet. An area that was once a courtyard is dotted with stupas standing four or five feet high.

More than 150 statues have been found so far, though many remain in place. Large ones are too heavy to be moved, and the team lacks the chemicals needed to keep small ones from disintegrating when extracted.

MCC appears to be pushing the archaeologists to finish ahead of schedule. In July, the archaeologists received a letter from the company asking that parts of the dig be wrapped up by August and the rest to be done by the end of 2010.

A copy of the letter - signed by MJAM, the acronym for the joint venture in charge of the mine, MCC-JCL Aynak Minerals Co. - was provided to the Associated Press by the head of the archaeological team. MCC and MJAM officials did not respond to requests for comment.

August has come and gone, and excavations at Mes Aynak continue. But the Afghan archaeologist overseeing the dig said he has no idea when MCC representatives might tell him his work is over. So he tries not to think about deadlines.

"We would like to work according to our principles. If we don't work according to the principles of archaeology, then we are no different from traffickers," Abdul Rauf Zakir said.

The team hopes to lift some of the larger statues and shrines out before winter sets in this month, but they still haven't procured the crane and other equipment needed.

Mes Aynak, 30 kilometers south of Kabul, lies in a province that is still considered a major transit route for insurgents coming from Pakistan. In July, two U.S. sailors were kidnapped and killed in Logar. Around 1,500 Afghan police guard the mine site and the road.

Promised funding from foreign governments has yet to materialize. The Afghan government has allotted $2 million for the dig and is trying to find another $5 million to $10 million, said Deputy Culture Minister Omar Sultan.

The United States has promised funding but hasn't yet figured out how much, said a U.S. Embassy spokeswoman, Mireille Zieseniss.

Mes Aynak's religious sites and copper deposits have been bound together for centuries - "mes" means "copper" in the local Dari language. Throughout the site's history, artisan miners have dug up copper to adorn statues and shrines.

Afghan archaeologists have known since the 1960s about the importance of Mes Aynak, but almost nothing had been excavated. When the Chinese won the contract to exploit the mine in 2008, there was no discussion with Kabul about the ruins - only about money, security and building a railroad to transport the copper out of Logar's dusty hills.

But a small band of Afghan and French archaeologists raised a stir and put the antiquities on the agenda.

Economic development

The mine could be a major boost for the Afghan economy. According to the Afghan Mining Ministry, it holds some 6 million tons of copper (5.52 million metric tons), worth tens of billions of dollars at today's prices. Developing the mine and related transport infrastructure will generate much needed jobs and economic activity.

Waheedullah Qaderi, a Mining Ministry official working on the antiquities issue, said MCC shares the government goal of protecting heritage while starting mining as soon as possible.

A good resolution is important for MCC "because it is their first-ever project in Afghanistan," Qaderi said. MCC is expected to make an offer for another lucrative mineral prize - the Hajigak iron mine in central Afghanistan, estimated to hold 1.9 billion tons (1.8 billion metric tons) of iron ore. Kabul opened bidding to develop the mine in late September and is expected to award the contract late this year or in early 2011.

Still, a diplomat briefed on internal meetings says MCC has pressured Kabul to stop archaeologists from looking for new places to dig beyond the 12 sites already found. The diplomat spoke anonymously because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Marquis said MCC has been cooperative and has helped the archaeologists, hauling dirt away and asking what more needs to be done.

Zakir, the Afghan archaeologist, laughs. "Yes, they are very helpful. They want to help so that we can finish quickly. They want us gone."

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.p...ind-2010-11-15

[hakz2007]

Afghanistan pledges to secure major pipeline

KABUL (AFP) – Afghanistan will deploy up to 7,000 troops to secure a major transnational gas pipeline slated to run through some of the most dangerous parts of the war-torn country, an official said on Sunday.

The pledge comes a day after Turkmenistan signed broad agreements with Afghanistan, India and Pakistan at a summit in its capital Ashgabat on the ambitious venture.

The 1,700-kilometre (1,050-mile) TAPI pipeline, Ashgabat's dream project that first appeared in 1995, has been on hold for many years due to the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.

The pipeline aims to transport over 30 billion cubic metres of gas annually from the Dauletabad gas fields in southeast Turkmenistan and could turn into a cash cow for Afghanistan in transit fees.

"This huge project is very important for Afghanistan," Wahidullah Shahrani, the minister of mines and industries, told a press conference in Kabul.

"Five thousand to seven thousand security forces will be deployed to safeguard the pipeline route."

The proposed Afghan section of the pipeline passes through southern Taliban heartlands including Helmand and Kandahar, where the central government has a tenuous grip on the territory.

"We will also keep an eye on the security situation as it develops. If we conclude that more troops are needed, we will take action," the minister added.

According to Shahrani, the pipeline will generate thousands of job opportunities for local communities during and after construction.

"This (job opportunities) will encourage local communities to contribute more in securing and protecting the pipeline," he said.

The pipeline will allow the Afghan government to earn "hundreds of millions of dollars each year" from transit fees, he added.

Construction of the pipeline is due to start in 2012 and be completed and operational by the end of 2014, he said.

The pipeline is slated to go through the Quetta area in Pakistan and end in Fazilka, an Indian city near the India-Pakistan border.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101212...20101212162954

Afghanistan plans national electronic ID cards

KABUL (Reuters) – War-torn Afghanistan lacks basic national infrastructure, yet on Sunday the government unveiled plans for a $100 million electronic identification system with cards to be issued to all Afghans within five years.

A chip in the wallet-size identification cards will hold a drivers' license, vehicle registration, signature and voting registration and would aid fairer, more transparent and efficient future elections, the Ministry of Communications said.

After three decades of conflict, Afghanistan is struggling to rebuild its economy and crumbling infrastructure such as roads, electricity and water access.

A September parliamentary election was tainted by widespread allegations of fraud, including reports of fake voter identification cards and repeat voting.

"We consider this a very important initiative for the development of Afghanistan," Minister for Communication and Information Technology Amirzai Sangeen told a news conference at which a $101.5 million contract for the project was signed with Afghan company Grand Technology Resources.

"In our country the need for having proper identification is a very urgent matter," he said. "Giving ID cards to everyone is a process ... probably it is a three to five year process."

The Ministry of Finance will fund the project from its development budget, as the government believes the system will help improve the country's security.

Distributing ID cards in insurgent strongholds in the south and east of the country could prove difficult, however, as insurgents often intimidate or target Afghans seen to be cooperating with the government or foreign troops.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101212/...cation_cards_1

Afghanistan envoy Richard Holbrooke dies

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Richard Holbrooke, who was President Barack Obama's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, died on Monday, an administration official confirmed. He was 69.

The veteran diplomat, who brokered the 1995 peace agreement that ended the Balkans war, had been a key player in Obama's efforts to turn around the faltering 9-year-old war in Afghanistan.

Holbrooke, who also served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and to Germany and twice was assistant secretary of state, died after surgery on Saturday to repair a tear in his aorta. He fell ill at the State Department on Friday.

Holbrooke was once called "Washington's favorite last-ditch diplomat" and "America's toughest diplomatic tactician" by Time magazine. His portfolio included serving as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and Germany and he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize seven times.

Holbrooke joined Obama's administration in 2009 as special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, a tough job coordinating the approach to trouble spots that are key foreign policy priorities for Obama.

Holbrooke had been very critical of President George W. Bush's Afghanistan policy. His position in the Obama administration was considered critical as the new president sought to crackdown on al-Qaeda and a resurgent Taliban in the region.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101214/...a_holbrooke_19

[Norkey]

If there is any valuable heritage in Aynak in Logar, especially if it is 2,600 years old, it should be definitely protected, no matter how much minerals is hidden under it..

Anyway, other news from Logar:

: Czech PRT and Afghan authorities starts construction of one of the first high schools in SE Afghanistan in Pol-e-Alam:





[IMG][/IMG]

[hakz2007]

President Hamid Karzai agrees to let new Afghanistan parliament meet, averting crisis

Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan, and Kabul, — A showdown between President Hamid Karzai and his country's newly elected parliament was averted late Saturday after the Afghan leader agreed to convene the inaugural legislative session this week rather than push for a one-month postponement.

Lawmakers were intent on defying Karzai's order to delay the first session, initially scheduled for Sunday, and had vowed they would meet at a mosque or in the street if security forces blocked them from the parliament building.

The standoff had pushed the Afghan leader and his government to the brink of a full-blown political crisis.

Members of the 249-seat lower house of parliament were elected in September in elections tainted by allegations of fraud and voter intimidation. After investigating the allegations, an election watchdog body discarded one-fourth of the ballots cast and disqualified 19 winning candidates.

Karzai's government, however, pushed for further inquiry into alleged irregularities. It is widely believed that Karzai, an ethnic Pashtun, felt that vote fraud prevented a higher turnout in districts dominated by Pashtun constituencies.

A Supreme Court-ordered special tribunal was established in December to continue investigating the election, and Karzai wanted the inaugural parliamentary session delayed while the tribunal continued its work.

Fraud charges that have come to define elections during Karzai's tenure as president. When he was reelected in 2009, findings of fraud disqualified a third of the vote.

Karzai met with lawmakers Saturday at the presidential palace to hammer out a compromise. Under mounting pressure from the U.N. and the U.S. to back down, Karzai backed off of his insistence on a one-month delay.

Lawmakers said they expected Karzai to formally announce Sunday the agreement reached between the two sides, and then be present Wednesday to inaugurate the new parliament as required by the country's constitution.

If he reneges on the compromise, said lawmaker Fawzai Kofi, "we are ready to inaugurate parliament ourselves at any time."

Elsewhere in Afghanistan on Saturday, one Afghan civilian was killed and two others injured when three militants caught in a firefight with Afghan and coalition troops detonated their explosives-filled suicide vests in the eastern province of Khost, said Abdul Hakim Eshaqzai, the provincial police chief.

Ten militants were killed in the gun battle and 11 others were arrested, Eshaqzai said.

Also Saturday, two NATO troops were killed in a roadside bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan. NATO did not divulge the nationalities of the troops or the specific location of the attack.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...0,858910.story

[ardamir]

Originally Posted by hakz2007

Chinese mine in Afghanistan threatens ancient find
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.p...ind-2010-11-15

Wow, I never heard about this.

[adam_uk]

anyone has any recent pictures of azizi tower construction site in kabul.

[hakz2007]

In Afghanistan, a Village Is a Model of Dashed Hopes

ALICE-GHAN, Afghanistan — This tiny village rose from the rocky soil with great hopes and $10 million in foreign aid, a Levittown of identical mud-walled houses built to shelter some of the hundreds of thousands of Afghans set adrift by war and flight.

Five years later, the village of Alice-Ghan and those good intentions are tilting toward ruin. Most of its 1,100 houses have been abandoned to vandals and the lashing winds. With few services or jobs within reach, hundreds of residents have moved away — sometimes even to the slums and temporary shelters they had sought to escape.

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/09/wo...ia/09land.html

[Pakia]

Kabul Rock City
Afghan youth take on corruption and war with heavy metal.



The Afghan rock band, The White Page, takes on corruption and war via their music [Travis Beard]


In November 2010, four 20-something Afghans took the stage at a private party in a Kabul French restaurant. As the young men walked on stage, their long black hair, leather jackets, hoodies, electric guitars, a bass, and a drum kit conspicuously took the place of the traditionally Afghan tabla, harmonium, and robab. This was Afghanistan's "first heavy metal band," D.U., who proceed to rip into a cover of shock-rocker Marilyn Manson's cover of the Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)".

The shock rocker's disturbing and gritty take on a pop song built almost entirely on computers may seem to some as out of place in today's Afghanistan, but it is in fact a perfect continuation of Afghanistan's long legacy of music and poetry. From Rabia Balkhi's fabled odes, to her beloved writing on the walls of a hamam (bath) with the very blood gushing out of her jugular veins in the final moments of her life, to an iconic Afghan singer-songwriter singing about crushing defeats in a life full of "death and despair" in the 1970s, the rich history of poetry and music in Afghanistan has often veered onto darker paths than the devotionals to the beloved that have made Afghan-born Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi the world's best-selling poet.

Though icons of Afghan music like Ahmad Zahir, Farhad Darya, and the band Stars have been mixing Western and traditionally Afghan styles of music since the 1970s, D.U. is part of a new wave in the youth-led Afghan music scene. Along with the White Page and Afghan-American singer-songwriter Ariana Delawari, D.U.'s music has the distinct character of post-Taliban Kabul. This is music that is as much affected by the artists' time outside the nation as they are brazenly vocal affronts to Taliban-era repression of Afghan culture and self-expression.

[Gadiri]

First major Afghan railway opens

25 August 2011

AFGHANISTAN: Freight services began running on Afghanistan's first major railway on August 20-21. This followed the signing on August 4 of a three-year agreement for Uzbek national railway UTY to operate the 75 km 1 520 mm gauge line, which it built at a cost of US$165m using Asian Development Bank funding.

The line starts at the Hayratan freight terminal on the Afghan side of the Uzbek border, which handles around half of Afghanistan's imports and is served by a Soviet-built rail spur dating from the early 1980s. It runs though an empty landscape to a freight terminal near Mazar-i-Sharif airport.

UTY has been appointed to operate the line as its only international connection is through Uzbekistan, and the lack of an indigenous rail industry in Afghanistan means it will take time to train local operations and maintenance staff.

Afghanistan's only other main line railway is a short spur across the border from Turkmenistan. However an Iranian-funded 1 435 mm gauge line is under construction from Iran to Herat, and studies are underway for the creation of a northern rail corridor from Herat to Mazar-i-Sharif and Tajikistan. This would provide the Central Asian republics with a route to the sea; studies are underway for a link from Atamyrat in Turkmenistan to Andkhoi which could link with this corridor.

A north-south line to serve the Aynak copper mining development is also being studied by Chinese mining firm MCC.

http://www.railwaygazette.com/nc/new...way-opens.html

[IndiansUnite]

^A video from last year showing some scenes of the railroad:

[IndiansUnite]

India's Track 3: Afghan-Iran rail link

In a bold move to assert itself in the Af-Pak region and reduce Pakistan's room for manoeuvre, India is finalising a plan to construct a 900-km railway line that will connect Chabahar port in Iran, being built with Indian help, to the mineral-rich Hajigak region of Afghanistan.

It will open opportunities for Indian companies to explore Afghanistan's mineral wealth, believed to be worth $1-3 trillion (Rs 50-150 lakh crore), for mutual benefit. Just consider: the entire Indian economy is valued at $1.2 trillion (Rs 60 lakh crore);



It will add to the economic rationale for Indian investment in Chabahar; Once the entire network comprising of road, rail and port is in place, it can become a launching pad for greater economic and strategic involvement of India in the oil and mineral-rich Central Asia; However, the greater cooperation with Iran in Chabahar (and, presumably, in other areas) will almost certainly upset the Americans, whose support is essential if India is to play a greater role in the region.

Based on a note prepared by the ministry of external affairs (MEA) on this subject, foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai held a meeting on August 10 with representatives of the ministries of railways and mining, sources told Hindustan Times.

Indian ambassador to Afghanistan Gautam Mukhopadhyay was also present at the meeting.

"In order to coordinate the strategy for investment in Hajigak in the backdrop of the security, infrastructure, financial and regional challenges involved, there is a need to plan and craft our strategy to address these challenge," says a note the MEA had sent to the Railways.

Hajigak, 130 km west of Kabul in Bamiyan province, holds Afghanistan's largest iron ore deposits. Of the 22 companies shortlisted for the bid for these mines 14 are Indian, including a consortium led by the public sector Steel Authority of India Limited.

[IndiansUnite]

Map showing priority areas for mineral development


Source-The Telegraph

[japanese001]

image hosted on flickr

アフガニスタン by bbjunko100, on Flickr

[hakz2007]

Afghanistan likely to dominate summit

The 12th Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit opened in Beijing on Tuesday, ahead of next week's International Conference on Afghanistan in Kabul on June 14.

Therefore, even though the agenda for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit is one of finalizing its membership procedures, Afghanistan will still set the tone and tenor of proceedings.

Read more

[IndiansUnite]

Good reads:

-- India's growing stake in Afghanistan

-- Afghanistan woos Indian investors

Meanwhile,

India's SpiceJet launches service to Kabul from Aug 14

NEW DELHI, JULY 13:
Low-fare airline SpiceJet has announced launching flights to Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, from August 14. With this, it will become the first private airline to operate to that country. Ticket sales commence today. Its fleet consists of Bombardier Q400 NextGen Turboprop and Boeing’s 737 aircraft.

Speaking on the announcement, SpiceJet's Chief Executive Office, Mr Neil Mills said, “Kabul is an important destination for us. India and Afghanistan have ancient cultural connections and the launch of new services would bridge the distance between the two countries and help to enhance this old relationship. It is our endeavour to offer and maintain a competitive and affordable price structure to make SpiceJet a preferred carrier for inbound and outbound passengers.”

SpiceJet would initially offer thrice-weekly flights on the Delhi-Kabul route — on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

[IndiansUnite]

US Army Press Release: Corps of Engineers completes $5 million Afghan flood-control project

KABUL, Afghanistan (June 19, 2012) -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed a $5 million flood-control project constructed to protect the Afghanistan National Army 201st Corps garrison at Gamberi from devastation.

Lakeshore, who built the flood control project located in Laghman Province, was joined by members from the Afghanistan National Army 201st Corps, USACE, the director of Public Works and other civic and provincial leaders and stakeholders in a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the project's completion.

After a local Imam blessed the project, an ANA official thanked everyone for their contributions to the success of the ANA mission. The ceremonial ribbon was cut into many pieces and passed as souvenirs. Many in the crowd applauded as the first cars drove across the new bridge. The old bridge will be demolished and removed.



Constructed by Detroit-based Lakeshore Toltest JV LLC., the Wadi Mitigation and Outer Perimeter Road project was built after the garrison experienced two back-to-back 100-year floods in 2009 and 2010. A 100-year flood is often described as flooding that is expected to exceed water levels every 100 years on average, thus there is a one percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any single year.



"The project was designed to capture rain runoff from the surrounding hills and channel it to a nearby river before it runs through the garrison," noted Maj. James Thompson, officer-in-charge of the Afghanistan Engineer District-North's Gamberi Resident Office. "The diversion ditch is lined with concrete to enhance its long-term sustainability by allowing ANA to remove any silt build-ups after major rains."

[IndiansUnite]

- Turkey to Extend 150 mln USD to Projects in Afghanistan

- Afghanistan Signs $125m Grant with the World Bank to Improve Rural Roads

- US to spend $297m on energy projects in Afghanistan

[jonasry]

So there are no development news? A few years ago there where pretty spectacular ides for Kabul.

[hakz2007]

AFGHANISTAN, SMART DEFENCE DOMINATE NATO''S FOCUS IN 2012

BRUSSELS, Dec 29 (NNN-KUNA) -- Future engagement of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Afghanistan, developing NATO's military capabilities and strengthening partnerships worldwide were three issues which dominated the focus of the 28-member Alliance in 2012.

And concerning the Gulf region, namely Kuwait, officials re-affirmed the strategy of maintaining "partnerships" with states of the region, namely Kuwait.

Read more

[hakz2007]

World's best frenemies: Karzai, Obama set to discuss long-term ties

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Nabilla Achmadi should be a poster child for the United States intervention in Afghanistan: She attends high school and is a member of the the country’s cricket team, both of which would have been unthinkable under the Taliban.

Despite this, she has decidedly mixed view of the foreign soldiers in her country.

“It is time for America to go,” she told NBC News, then added: “But after they do, the Taliban will recapture Afghanistan and their cruel rule will begin again, so maybe the U.S. should stay here."

Read more