“It was a hard fit for Richard Holbrooke,” according to David Corn, the Washington Bureau chief for Mother Jones magazine. “He just never found his footing in the Obama administration on this very vexing question of Afghanistan.”

A transparently corrupt election in the summer of 2009 poisoned Holbrooke’s already rocky relationship with President Hamid Karzai. Well-publicized tensions inside the Obama administration and with military leaders contributed to an image of Holbrooke as powerless and sidelined. By 2010, the President was leaving Holbrooke out of important strategic meetings on Afghanistan.

“I think it was somewhat an unfortunate cap to his long diplomatic career.” Corn said. “We’re left not being able to judge him fully on this last mission.”

But history has already judged Holbrooke favorably for re-framing the war effort, and explicitly connecting Pakistan with Afghanistan in the US strategic vision. Today, with routine coalition attacks on targets in Pakistan, the Afghanistan-Pakistan link has become conventional wisdom. But the widely-used shorthand “Af-Pak” was coined by Holbrooke just a few years ago.

“Previously in the State Department or the White House, these two countries were even managed by different bureaus,” according to Vali Nasr, a senior adviser to Holbrooke, and professor of international politics at the Fletcher School at Tufts University. “Holbrooke understood that the most basic element of this diplomacy here was to understand that peace and security in Afghanistan is dependent on peace and security in Pakistan, and you have to get this right to find a way out.”

Journalist Kati Marton, Holbrooke’s wife for the last 15 years of his life, says he thought America’s “relationship with Pakistan was the most complicated, the most frustrating, the most fraught and the most dangerous. Richard and I never went for a walk in the park without him either getting a call from Pakistan or making a call to Pakistan. He established very close relationships with people where he was on first name basis with pretty much the entire power structure in Pakistan.”

There were some tensions with the Pakistani government and military; but Holbrooke deeply impressed many Pakistanis, wading out to distribute relief during the disastrous floods of 2010. Since his death, America’s image in Pakistan has been defined by drone strikes and the killing of Osama Bin Laden, which alienated many Pakistanis.

“The relationship with Pakistan has deteriorated rather dramatically,” noted Marton. “I cannot categorically say that that’s because Richard Holbrooke is no longer minding the store but he’s not — and things have gotten much worse.”

While his gains in Pakistan may have fallen apart, Holbrooke’s supporters point to a diplomatic accomplishment that could have lasting impact: strengthening diplomatic ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Relations between the two countries are deeply strained today. But before Holbrooke was involved, they were almost nonexistent.

“Since the creation of Pakistan in 1947 they had not really signed any treaty of substance,” according to Nasr. “Holbrooke said, ‘you have to begin to close this one treaty at the time.’ And he spent two years and an enormous amount of energy and time pushing these two closer and closer together.”

By October 2010, the two countries had signed their first border treaty in over 40 years.

Kati Marton says Holbrooke believed that dialogue between the Afghans and the Pakistanis was essential for any peace process. “His ultimate goal was to get some kind of a peace conference that would be a regional peace conference, and that was where he was heading, and that was where he didn’t get.”

It’s impossible to predict what will come next in Afghanistan, but the importance of Pakistan and a regional solution has come into even sharper relief. After the assassination of a key Afghan peace envoy, President Karzai announced this month that he was abandoning initiatives with the Taliban in favor of direct talks with Pakistan.

Arun Rath is a reporter for PBS FRONTLINE

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The text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

Lisa Mullins: Now to a country with plenty of US troops on the ground, Afghanistan.  This week, Afghan President Karzai announced that he will abide by his country’s constitution and not seek a third term in 2014.  The political transition in Afghanistan coincides with NATO plans to hand over security duties to the Afghan government.  Jockeying for position ahead of that key date is just starting in Afghanistan. One politician who wants to play a role is Sarwar Ahmedzai.  Ahmedzai was a candidate for president in Afghanistan’s disputed 2009 election, while recently he’s been living in San Francisco.  He told us today that he’s heading back to Afghanistan in the next few weeks to help launch a new political party there.  He would not say however, whether he wants his name on that group’s ticket in 2014.

Sarwar Ahmedzai: I think there are other capable personalities also in the group, but we will see.  I think in the coming three years we will find out who will probably be the most acceptable to the Afghan people and they will chose that person.

Mullins: So what does your party stand for?  And we don’t know if you’re gonna run for president or not as you said, it has not been decided, but what would be the thrust of any campaign?

Ahmedzai: Well, Lisa, as you know, Afghan of course, security is the number one concern in that area.  And of course, a strong central, capable, honest government is the first condition for bringing security and peace to the country.  And also, rule of law, there are still so many warlords, the drug mafia and also corruption, Afghanistan is second in the world on the list of the top most corrupt countries after Somalia. And also economic development, if you see 85% of the people fighting the Taliban, there was a survey, they are only fighting for $200-300/month because there are no jobs.  So the economic development, corruption, rule of law, security and of course, women’s rights and human rights are the platform he will be running on.

Mullins: That’s a hefty platform.  I would imagine that’s a number of pages in your campaign manifesto, the idea that you want to take on the drug mafia, institute a rule of law, take on corruption, get rid of cronyism and find jobs for people, all seem like laudatory goals.  How would you possibly do that?  I mean if you look at just a couple of those things, corruption as rampant as it is is serving a lot of people well, including in the government; the drug mafia, well, we still have a situation don’t we in Afghanistan where there are a lot of people who can only make their living if they’re growing crops that are eventually used for opium?  How could you make a dent in either of those things?

Ahmedzai: There is no doubt it may not be easy in a short period of time, but I think Afghanistan is lucky and was lucky to have the support of the strongest nation in the world.  Billions of dollars were poured in in Afghanistan.  There are so many institutions being built or are still there by the World Bank and IMF to help the Arab-run government to tackle the corruptions in Afghanistan, and I think pretty soon you will see all those people who have committed crimes, who have violated human rights, probably they will be brought to justice as they did in the Middle East and other parts of the world.

Mullins: What do you see as the role of America in the future of Afghanistan?

Ahmedzai: Well, Lisa, there’s no doubt the US is also suffering in its home from economic hardships.  Afghanistan, two thirds of their budget comes from the international donors and countries like the US.

Mullins: Which means you basically can’t do without it.

Ahmedzai: Well, I don’t think it would be possible in a short period of time as we stand on our own feet; it will take time.  And I think they also say we have billions and trillions of dollars for natural resources, but I think that’s far from now, probably 20-30 years.  But I think the US role I see in Afghanistan in long term, I don’t think the US troops will leave after 2014, I think there will still be 20,000-25,000 troops because strategically Afghanistan is so important to the US majority of the nuclear armed countries are in that region — Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran is building it also, and also India.  So I think strategically it’s very important for the US.  I don’t think I will see the US as leaving, and I don’t think so for years, I will suggest the US to leave completely from Afghanistan by 2014.

Mullins: That’s former Afghan presidential candidate, Sarwar Ahmedzai.  He was talking about the future of Afghanistan and the role of a new Afghan political party that he’s planning to launch early next month.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

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This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

MARCO WERMAN:  I’m Marco Werman, this is The World.  U.S. troops in Afghanistan may be getting ready to launch a major offensive against the Taliban this summer, but Afghan President Hamid Karzai could be trying to open peace talks with the Taliban soon.  This, after an assembly of Afghan leaders today endorsed Karzai’s plans to attempt negotiations with the insurgents.  The BBC’s Martin Patience has been following events from Kabul.  Martin, what did the peace jirga, this assembly, agree on today?

MARTIN PATIENCE:  Well I think most significantly they called for the establishment of what was called a broad-based commission to lead efforts and possible talks with the Taliban.  From this jirga we also heard calls from many of the delegates for steps to be taken in the hope that they will draw the Taliban to the negotiating table.  Some of those steps were removing the Taliban’s leadership from a black list which says they could be captured or killed.  And as you mentioned, there is also a general, a call for a general amnesty for militants who have renounced violence, as well as a transfer or insurgents held in American run jails over to the Afghan authorities.  Now what was really significant about all of this is that these are purely recommendations.  Whether or not these recommendations will actually be implemented, well that will be up to President Karzai and his government.

WERMAN: The Taliban won’t come to the negotiating they’ve said, until foreign troops leave.  So what is President Karzai to do about that little problem?

PATIENCE: There’s basically two schools of thought, two approaches here.  One is talks with the Taliban leadership.  Now that’s certainly something America is not onboard with.  But second of all, the government, backed by the west is trying to weaken the Taliban through inducements to lure lower level Taliban foot soldiers.  So there is a hope that strategy could weaken the movement, which would then lead the leadership to try and seek a deal with the government.  Obviously the American military, at the same time, will be putting pressure on the Taliban leadership, senior commanders, they’ll be conducting military operations to try and squeeze the Taliban to the negotiating table.

WERMAN: This week we actually spoke with a tribal leader in Paktia, we spoke with another one in Hos Province who were skeptical that local leaders could implement this reach out to the Taliban plan given the insecurity in the valleys and the villages.  They say they’ll be killed.  Did the jirga come up with any kind of sense of how this plan would actually work?

PATIENCE: No, it’s all very broad brush strokes at the moment.  The specifics of any plan will be worked on by an Afghan government.  But I think that gets back to the bigger point.  I remember speaking to a former senior Taliban commander and he said that ultimately what the Taliban are looking for is not the nod and the wink from the Afghan government.  They’re looking for America to get onboard because they feel that the Afghan government has weakened itself and that even if it wanted to do a deal, it wouldn’t be able to protect and secure Taliban commanders that perhaps came across to the government side.  So there is a real concern that even if the government did want a deal, then it couldn’t carry out the terms of agreement.

WERMAN: Martin, what about the concerns raised at the peace jirga by women and liberal delegates about dealing with the Taliban given their intolerance.

PATIENCE: Well that’s right, but the concerns, the red lines of any deal with the Taliban are supposedly the constitution, which enshrine women’s rights as well as a renunciation of violence.  I think many skeptics will say well that’s having your cake and eating it.  That’s saying to the Taliban, come join us if you agree with us.  The bigger flaw on this plan is perhaps not enough has been offered to the Taliban to try and entice them to end this war.

WERMAN: And finally, while some women and liberal delegates at the peace jirga were saying we need more consideration here, I also read that other delegates were making proposal to ban immoral TV?  That sounds like the Taliban was in the peace jirga tent.

PATIENCE: Well that’s right.  The Taliban physically weren’t in the peace jirga tent, but there were certainly many Taliban sympathizers from across the country.  No, you’re right in pointing out there was a call to ban so-called “immoral TV series”.  These are Bollywood series which were incredibly popular.  You know, what that demonstrates is how conservative this society is.  And what you have to remember is that the Taliban actually still do command a fair amount of support in Afghanistan.  The people are incredibly conservative here.  There is a large minority who think that youth watching Bollywood movies is possibly a corruptive influence.  So you have to remember that this is Afghanistan, it’s not Europe or America.

WERMAN: The BBC’s Martin Patience in Kabul.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

The final communique from the London summit said it welcomed Afghanistan’s goal of taking charge of the “majority of operations in the insecure areas of Afghanistan within three years and taking responsibility for physical security within five years.” It said the international community would continue to improve the capabilities of the Afghan security forces, boosting the army to 171,600 and the police to 134,000 personnel by October 2011. The summit said the Afghan government had acknowledged that it had to tackle corruption.

Earlier this week, the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan said increased troop levels could bring a negotiated peace with the Taliban. General Stanley McChrystal told the UK’s Financial Times newspaper that there had been “enough fighting”. He said a political solution in all conflicts was “inevitable”. His remarks came as the top UN envoy in Kabul said it was time to talk to the militants.

Afghan and Pakistani leaders are in Turkey to discuss tackling the Taliban-led insurgency in their countries. This is the fourth such meeting initiated by Turkey, which has offered to broker talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban. Both Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Pakistani counterpart, Asif Ali Zardari, will attend an international conference on Afghanistan in London on Thursday.

Last week, Taliban gunmen and suicide bombers attacked buildings in the heart of the Afghan capital, Kabul, setting off explosions and sparking gun battles. Fighting erupted near the Serena Hotel and the presidential palace, the Taliban said 20 of its fighters had taken part in the attacks. Two civilians and three security personnel have been killed plus 71 others wounded, officials say. Seven attackers had also been killed, Interior Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar said.

General McChrystal, praised the work of Afghan forces in quelling Monday’s attack. “Afghan National Security Forces effectively dealt with the situation and should be commended. We convey our heartfelt condolences to the innocent victims of this cowardly attack,” he said in a statement issued by the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The Taliban fighters were armed with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms, the ISAF statement said.

The World’s Matthew Bell on the implications of the brazen Taliban attack in Kabul (Jan 18)
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In December, General McChrystal told Congress that the United States will reverse Taliban momentum within a year and accomplish its mission in Afghanistan, but it will be “undeniably difficult” and costly. Appearing before the House Armed Services Committee a week after President Barack Obama announced his new Afghanistan strategy, McChrystal warned the mission would fail without more troops and praised President Obama’s decision to deploy more forces.

The World’s Katy Clark on the congressional hearing:
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On December 1st, President Barack Obama announced he was sending an additional 30,000 troops to help battle the Taliban insurgency. The Taliban reacted to the President’s speech by saying they will step up their fight in Afghanistan. A Taliban commander told the BBC that if more US troops came, more would die.

Coverage of the President’s speech on The World

Prior to his speech at West Point, the President said it was his intention to “finish the job” in Afghanistan. Marco Werman talks with Andrew Bacevich of Boston University, Monica Toft at Harvard University, Stephen Biddle of the Council on Foreign Relations, and Peter Bergen of the New America Foundation about “finishing the job” in Afghanistan.
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Taliban fighters

Coverage on The World:

• Katy Clark on building up Afghanistan’s own forces
• Katy Clark on what if the US loses in Afghanistan
• Jeb Sharp on the mission in Afghanistan
• American Influence podcast: Tough Choices for US in Afghanistan
• Inside the Taliban
• Jeb Sharp’s award winning series ‘How Wars End’

Hamid Karzai remains president

On Nov 19, 2009, Hamid Karzai was sworn in as Afghan president for a second elected term, saying he wants Afghan forces in charge of the nation within five years. In his inauguration speech, Mr Karzai announced a conference to tackle corruption and a national gathering to help bring peace to Afghanistan. He also invited his defeated rivals to join him in working for peace.

Kabul’s streets were almost empty as security forces set up numerous roadblocks ahead of the ceremony. The international airport was closed, a holiday was called and people were advised to stay indoors as part of the security lockdown. Dignitaries from about 40 countries were attending the ceremony, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband. The international community – including the US and Nato – congratulated Karzai on his inauguration, but warned that results were needed on tackling corruption and improving security.

Karzai was declared Afghan president after a second round run-off was called off when his sole remaining challenger pulled out, saying the vote could not be free and fair. Widespread fraud in the August 20 first round led to Mr Karzai being stripped of the outright win he appeared to have secured.

American Influence podcast: Tough Choices for US in Afghanistan

US Marines in Helmand

In July, US forces launched a major offensive in the southern province of Helmand. US Marines said Operation Khanjar, or ‘Strike of the Sword’, was intended to seize the lower Helmand River valley. More than 700 UK troops also launched a major offensive against insurgent strongholds in southern Afghanistan. The province of Helmand is considered to be the heartland of the Taliban insurgency. Operation “Strike of the Sword” is the first large-scale operation since President Barack Obama authorized the deployment of 17,000 additional US troops to Afghanistan, as part of a new strategy for winning the conflict. Many of them have been redeployed from operations in Iraq.

June 24, 2009: A BBC investigation into the treatment of former prisoners at a US detention center in Afghanistan uncovered allegations of physical and emotional abuse. Inmates held at the Bagram military base between 2002 and 2008 said they’d been beaten, deprived of sleep, threatened with firearms or dogs and hung from the ceiling.

The Pentagon has denied the charges and insisted that all inmates in the facility are treated humanely.

The Taliban in Pakistan

Throughout 2009 Pakistan has been hit by a string of attacks blamed on the country’s Taliban movement. The wave of attacks has left hundreds of people dead or injured:

Dec 15: At least 22 people have been killed in a bomb attack in a market in central Pakistan, officials say. About 50 others were wounded in the blast in Dera Ghazi Khan, which badly damaged a number of buildings.

Dera Ghazi Khan attack (12/15/2009)

Dec 7: Two bomb blasts ripped through a busy market in the center of Pakistan’s second largest city, Lahore, killing at least 30 people, police and medics say. The attack, which injured some 100 people, sparked a huge blaze at the city’s Moon Market. The blasts came just hours after a suicide bomber on a rickshaw killed at least 10 people in Peshawar when he blew himself up near the courthouse.

Dec 4: Militants are said to have killed at least 35 people, including 17 children, at a mosque near the Pakistani army’s headquarters in Rawalpindi. At least four attackers opened fire on worshippers during Friday prayers attended by many military staff in the garrison city. Security forces fought back in an hour-long gun battle before three attackers blew themselves up, reports say. The Pakistan Taliban later said they had carried out the strike.

Oct 28th: More than 90 people were killed after a huge car bomb ripped through a busy market in Peshawar, Pakistan. The attack, which injured at least 200 others, was the deadliest to hit Pakistan this year. Similar attacks killed more than 200 people in previous weeks, as the army carried out operations against Taliban militants in South Waziristan. The attack in October came as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began a visit to the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. Mrs Clinton told a news conference the US was “standing shoulder to shoulder” with Pakistan in its fight against “brutal extremist groups”.

Oct 15th: A series of attacks on security forces in Pakistan killed at least 38 people. The violence began in Lahore – Pakistan’s second-largest city. It was long spared the brunt of Pakistan’s unrest but has seen a number of attacks since the start of the year. Militants attacked offices of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), as well as two police training centers.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan is under pressure to flush out militants as President Barack Obama is sending more troops to neighboring Afghanistan. Pakistani government forces launched an offensive earlier this year to crush a Taliban-led uprising in the Swat valley aimed at enforcing Sharia law. Taliban leaders promised to launch revenge attacks on major Pakistani cities.

Taliban in Afghanistan

Afghanistan has been declared the primary focus of American military operations. On May 6th, 2009 President Barack Obama vowed to “defeat al-Qaeda” and its allies in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Afghan police and soldiers, as well as American and other foreign troops belonging to the NATO-led International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF), are frequent targets of Taliban attacks. Southern Afghanistan is the main battlefront between the insurgents and Afghan and foreign forces, but there have been attacks elsewhere in the country, notably in eastern areas and also in the capital, Kabul. In April, President Barack Obama urged better use of NATO resources in Afghanistan, saying al-Qaeda is a greater threat to Europe than to the U.S. Speaking before a NATO summit co-hosted by France and Germany, he said the U.S. wanted to see a stronger Europe. However, NATO’s secretary general said members would be reluctant to send more troops if Afghanistan adopted a new law seen as violating the rights of women. In March President Obama confirmed a fundamental rethink of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan to combat an “increasingly perilous” situation. He said growing radical forces in the area posed the greatest threat to the American people and the world. He said an extra 4,000 U.S. personnel would train and bolster the Afghan army and police, and he would also provide support for civilian development. Pakistan would also be a focus, with a $7.5 billion program of “direct support”. But he said this support would not come as a “blank check”, and Pakistan would have to demonstrate its own commitment to rooting out al-Qaeda and associated forces. President Obama said his “comprehensive new strategy” was an outcome of a “careful policy review” which had consulted military commanders and diplomats, regional governments, partners, NATO allies, NGOs and aid organizations. The President painted a bleak picture of the situation, with insurgents increasing their control of territory in the region and attacks rising. He said American strategy must relate directly to the threat posed to the Americans by al-Qaeda and its allies – who, he reminded his listeners, were behind the 9/11 attacks on American soil eight years ago.

Most of the fighting in the volatile southern provinces is being done by troops from the U.S., UK, Canada and the Netherlands. Many U.S. allies, including Germany, France, Spain, Turkey and Italy, have refused to send significant numbers of combat forces there. The United States has more troops in Afghanistan than the other NATO nations combined. But not all of the U.S. forces are part of the 64,500-strong NATO-led ISAF command (see map below) – a large number of U.S. troops are on separate missions to hunt down al-Qaeda fighters as part of Operation “Enduring Freedom.” Most of the casualties suffered by troops serving with NATO troops have involved just four countries: the United States, Britain, Canada, and the Netherlands. Germany, Spain, and Italy all have troops in Afghanistan but due to “national caveats” – or restrictions – they are confined to more peaceful areas.

ISAF deployment map

According to NATO (Oct 2009) there are approximately 67,700 NATO-led troops operating in Afghanistan; the main troop contributors are: US (31,855), UK (9,000), Germany (4,245), Canada (2,830), France (3,070), Italy (2,795), Netherlands (2,160), Poland (2,025), Australia (1,200), Spain (1,000), Romania (990), Turkey (820), Denmark (700), and Norway (600). NATO assumed control of all allied military operations across the whole of Afghanistan on October 5th, 2006.

Taliban history


The Taliban emerged in the early 1990s in northern Pakistan following the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. A predominantly Pashtun movement, the Taliban came to prominence in Afghanistan in the autumn of 1994. It is commonly believed that they first appeared in religious seminaries – mostly paid for by money from Saudi Arabia – which preached a hard line form of Sunni Islam. The Taliban’s promise – in Pashtun areas straddling Pakistan and Afghanistan – was to restore peace and security and enforce their own austere version of Sharia, or Islamic law, once in power. In both countries they introduced or supported Islamic punishments – such as public executions of convicted murderers and adulterers and amputations of those found guilty of theft. Men were required to grow beards and women had to wear the all-covering burka. The Taliban showed a similar disdain for television, music and cinema and disapproved of girls aged 10 and over from going to school. Pakistan has repeatedly denied that it is the architect of the Taliban enterprise. But there is little doubt that many Afghans who initially joined the movement were educated in madrassas (religious schools) in Pakistan. Pakistan was also one of only three countries, along with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which recognized the Taliban when they were in power in Afghanistan from the mid-1990s until 2001. It was also the last country to break diplomatic ties with the Taliban. The attention of the world was drawn to the Taliban in Afghanistan following the attacks on New York and Washington in September 2001. The Taliban in Afghanistan was accused of providing a sanctuary to Osama Bin Laden and the al-Qaeda movement who were blamed for the attacks. Soon after 9/11 the Taliban were driven from power in Afghanistan by a US-led coalition, although their leader Mullah Mohammad Omar was not captured, neither was Osama Bin Laden. In recent years the Taliban has re-emerged in Afghanistan and grown far stronger in Pakistan, where observers say there is loose co-ordination between different Taliban factions and militant groups. The main Pakistani faction is led by Baitullah Mehsud, whose Tehrik Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is blamed for dozens of suicide bombings and other attacks. Observers warn against over-stating the existence of one unified insurgency against the Pakistani state, however. The Taliban in Afghanistan are still believed to be led by Mullah Omar, a village clergyman who lost his right eye fighting the occupying forces of the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Afghans, weary of the mujahideen’s excesses and infighting after the Soviets were driven out, generally welcomed the Taliban when they first appeared on the scene. Their early popularity was largely due to their success in stamping out corruption, curbing lawlessness and making the roads and the areas under their control safe for commerce to flourish. From south-western Afghanistan, the Taliban quickly extended their influence. They captured the province of Herat, bordering Iran, in September 1995. Exactly one year later, they captured the Afghan capital, Kabul, after overthrowing the regime of President Burhanuddin Rabbani and his defense minister, Ahmed Shah Masood. By 1998, they were in control of almost 90% of Afghanistan. They were soon accused of various human rights and cultural abuses. One example was in 2001, when the Taliban went ahead with the destruction of the famous Bamiyan Buddha statues, despite international outrage.

US invasion


On October 7, 2001, a US-led military coalition invaded Afghanistan and by the first week of December the Taliban regime had collapsed. However, Mullah Omar and most of the other senior Taliban leaders, along with Bin Laden and some of his senior al-Qaeda associates, survived the American onslaught. Mullah Omar and most of his comrades have evaded capture despite one of the largest manhunts in the world and are believed to be guiding the resurgent Taliban. Since then they have re-grouped in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, but are now under pressure in both countries, from the Pakistani army and NATO respectively. But Mullah Omar and most of his comrades have evaded capture despite one of the largest manhunts in the world and violence in Afghanistan has returned to levels not seen since 2001. Despite ever higher numbers of foreign troops, the Taliban have steadily extended their influence, rendering vast tracts of Afghanistan insecure. Their retreat earlier this decade enabled them to limit their human and material losses and return with a vengeance.

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On the history podcast this week a compilation of recent stories. Gerry Hadden tells us the story of a Nazi traitor who finally had his conviction overturned. Alex Gallafent tells us about changing U.S. views of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. And Marco Werman interviews Loyola University historian Elizabeth Schmidt about the significance of the September 28th stadium in Guinea.

Click here for an article on the 2005 pictograms.

Click here for a New York Times slideshow: “Sartorial Stumping.”

(Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

Fresh violence has erupted in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on the eve of the country’s presidential election. Explosions and gunfire were heard as troops battled and killed three attackers who raided a bank close to the presidential compound. The Taliban have vowed to disrupt the election and said they were behind the raid, but this could not be confirmed. The World’s Jeb Sharp explores how ethnic rivalries are shaping tomorrow’s vote.

Click here for more on the deadly attack in Kabul.

Click here for a breakdown of Afghanistan’s ethnic groups.

Click here for the BBC’s investigation of voter fraud in Afghanistan.

Click here for an Afghan elections Q & A.

Click here for more of The World’s Afghanistan coverage.

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This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

LISA MULLINS: None of the candidates has convincingly addressed an issue that’s as crucial to Afghan families as security is – that’s the infant death rate and the chronic malnutrition of Afghan children who survive. The BBC’s Hugh Sykes went to a hospital in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

HUGH SYKES: According to the World Health Organization one mother dies every half hour in Afghanistan because of birth problems and out of every 1000 babies who are born successfully nearly a fifth don’t survive. The babies die either in the womb or from oxygen starvation from prolonged delivery, or bleeding during birth, or infection immediately afterwards. And many who survive birth then die because mothers stop breastfeeding too soon. Not because they want to but because men want them to. This is the senior pediatrician here, Dr. [PH] Goul Hutai.

GOUL HUTAI: Some elders in the family they believe that if they give the breastfeed to the child the child will die so they discontinue breastfeeding and they start bottle feeding and as you know in Afghanistan hygienic conditions are not very much satisfactory so children get diarrhea and that’s another cause for death.

SYKES: So bottle feeding is a very bad idea in a country where there’s no availability of guaranteed clean water.

HUTAI: Yes, yes it’s really a bad idea for bottle feeding and better to encourage breastfeeding at least up to six month of age.

SYKES: But some mothers breastfeed for too long causing malnutrition. Because they provide only breast milk, nothing else, for babies up to one and a half years old.

HUTAI: In Afghan families, traditionally, the women they are not allowed to decide for the child or for themselves like a childbearing and also when to start breastfeeding, when to stop, and how to give the supplementary food. Usually elder of the families and men take the decision. So if the women will have more strength and more freedom of course it will put a good effect, especially when we educate the women.

SYKES: How do you get that message through to the men?

HUTAI: Difficult question. We just can argue and at least to some extent that they can decide for themselves in some aspect if not in all aspects of life.

[BABY CRYING]

SYKES: We’re standing next to a little baby in cot now – tiny, tiny baby and she’s got tubes attached to her cheek; attached to her wrist. What’s her name? How old is she? Why is she here?

HUTAI: She’s 28 days old. Her name Sarah and she’s admitted for neonatal sepsis. She’s unable to feed and she needs oxygen. For this she has tube in the mouth and in the nose.

SYKES: Neonatal sepsis…

HUTAI: Neonatal sepsis.

SYKES: …is what?

HUTAI: It’s an infection of neonatal period – from first day of life up to one month.

SYKES: So she has to be fed and given oxygen?

HUTAI: Yes.

SYKES: And she’s fast asleep. Is she strong? Will she be alright do you think?

HUTAI: She’s much better now. After we started treatment with antibiotics she’s doing better. Now she’s much active then before and we hope that she will recover very soon and she will be alright.

SYKES: Sitting patiently next to Sarah’s cot her grandmother [PH] Parveen who thinks things are getting worse for babies in Afghanistan.

PARVEEN: [SPEAKING DARI]

SYKES: She told me, I think there are more sick children here now then when I was a mother 20 years ago.

MULLINS: BBC reporter Hugh Sykes sent us that report from the French Medical Institute for Children in Kabul.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

(Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

Today is the final day of campaigning in the run-up to Thursday’s elections in Afghanistan. Some 30 candidates are challenging President Hamid Karzai. Abdullah Abdullah, Karzai’s former foreign minister, is the leading contender to unseat the current president. The elections will take place against escalating violence in the country, and Taliban threats against those who do cast ballots. Afghanistan has some 17 million eligible voters.

In an unprecedented move today, challenger Abdullah Abdullah staged a massive rally in Kabul stadium (see right), a venue formerly used by the Taliban to stage executions. An estimated 10,000 people were in attendance.

Click here for the latest BBC coverage from Afghanistan.

Click here for profiles of all the main candidates.

Afghan voters tell the BBC what they would do if they were president.

Click here for The World’s four part series, “Inside the Taliban.”

(AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh)

General Abdul Rashid Dostum, an ex-warlord and President Hamid Karzai’s former chief of staff, returned to Afghanistan today. He had been living in exile in Turkey. Dostum is the leader of Afghanistan’s Uzbek community. It is assumed that Karzai allowed Dostum to return in order to shore up the current President’s support among ethnic Uzbek voters ahead of Thursday’s elections. Both the United Nations and the United States have expressed concern over the timing of Dostum’s return. The World’s Jeb Sharp reports.

Click here to read a profile of General Abdul Rashid Dostum.

Click here to see a profile of Aghanistan’s ethnic communities.

Click here for The World’s four-part series, “Inside the Taliban.”

Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

LISA MULLINS: I’m Lisa Mullins and this is The World. President Barack Obama today warned of difficult days ahead in Afghanistan.

BARACK OBAMA: Today our troops are helping to secure polling places for this week’s election so that Afghans can choose the future that they want. Now these new efforts have not bee without a price. The fighting has been fierce and more Americans have given their lives.

MULLINS: That’s President Obama speaking at the National Convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Phoenix, Arizona. And there is more disquieting news from Afghanistan today. President Hamid Karzai has allowed an exiled warlord, General Abdul Rashid Dostum, back into the country. In return Karzai won Dostum’s promise of support. Dostum is the leader of the Uzbek minority. Uzbeks make up about 9% of Afghanistan’s population. Their vote could be crucial to Karzai’s chances in Thursday’s election. The World’s Jeb Sharp reports of the warlord trying to be king maker.

JEB SHARP: General Dostum has a long and checkered history. He was once a communist general who supported the Soviets. Later he was a leader of the Northern Alliance that fought the Taliban. In 2001 he joined forces with the US-led coalition that invaded Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11. But the US has distanced itself from him in recent years. Susannah Sirkin, of Physicians for Human Rights, says he’s associated with a large number of atrocities.

SUSANNAH SIRKIN: Most particularly we’re concerned about the massacre that occurred in Northern Afghanistan in November 2001 in which as many as 2000 captured or surrendered Taliban and assorted fighters were loaded onto container trucks that had no air and enormously high heat and were suffocated to death.

SHARP: Dostum’s also accused of a cover up. Physicians for Human Rights has been calling for a full investigation of the incident and so now is President Obama. One fear is that President Karzai has made a deal with Dostum that could put him in a key government post. Alex Thier, director of the Future of Afghanistan Project at the US Institute of Peace remembers first meeting Dostum when Thier was an aid official in Afghanistan back in 1993. Their wanted to speak to Dostum because his men were preying on refugees returning from Iran.

ALEX THEIR: We went to see him in his mud-walled fortress in Northern Afghanistan. There were dozens of supplicants waiting to see him to get something. There was Soviet television with topless women dancing in the background. And we stated our case to him and he essentially waved us off as being not important. He wasn’t really concerned about the plight of refugees and he was already known then as somebody whose troops had committed grave abuses.

SHARP: Thier is troubled that Karzai is now courting Dostum instead of condemning him. He says the problem with Karzai’s government consorting with warlords again is they’re the reason the Taliban was so successful in the 1990s.

THIER: These warlords had turned Afghanistan into such a chaotic and corrupt environment that when the Taliban swept through Afghanistan they were welcomed by many of the Afghan people because the looting and rape and despotism that they represented was so horrific that the Afghan people welcomed the Taliban in their place.

SHARP: President Karzai pushed Dostum into exile last year after Dostum took a Member of Parliament hostage and ended up in a standoff with police. Thier says it’s devastating to see the warlord back.

THIER: Finally after years of thousands of people and Afghans of the international community complaining about Dostum, he was pushed out. And the fact that Karzai went to such lengths to bring him back to the country just a few days before the election I think has really tarnished Karzai’s image.

SHARP: Not only that, it could lead to an unpopular and unstable government. Selig Harrison directs the Asia Program at the Center of International Policy in Washington. Harrison wrote in today’s New York Times about Karzai’s dependence on a security apparatus, made up mostly of ethnic Tajiks. That’s left his own Pashtun constituency feeling neglected and dominated. Harrison says Karzai’s need for Dostum’s Uzbek vote is part of the same thing. Because Karzai’s unpopular with Pashtuns he’s making deals all over the place with other powerful ethnic groups.

SELIG HARRISON: If Karzai is able to return to power it will be simply because he’s been able to buy local groups of various kind including ethnic groups in support of his candidacy. So it’s not going to be a tight ship, a well-balanced, democratic system and it’s going to be, I think, more unstable than it has been until now.

SHARP: But right now it’s not clear Karzai will return to power. If he doesn’t secure 50% of the vote on Thursday there will be a runoff election six weeks later. For The World I’m Jeb Sharp.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

Click here for more of Aaron’s recent Afghanistan coverage.

Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

LISA MULLINS: A media company in Kabul is working hard to turn the process of democracy into stirring television. In fact as The World’s Aaron Schachter tells us it’s hoping to become the CNN of Afghanistan.

AARON SCHACHTER: It’s been a heck of an election season. Posters promoting rival candidates plaster billboards and walls and Kabul and vehicles with loud speakers drive around urging people to vote for one candidate or another. There are 17 television stations covering what’s going on including this event which Afghans have rarely seen before.

ASHRAF GHANI: [SPEAKING DARI]

SCHACHTER: This is presidential contender Ashraf Ghani, the former finance minister campaigning.

GHANI: [SPEAKING DARI]

JAHID MOHSEN: The fact that people are being wooed is extremely positive. You gotta keep in mind we’ve never had a traditional people being wooed. We had a traditional key power holders being wooed and then the rest of the people being told what to do.

SCHACHTER: Jahid Mohsen runs the MobyGroup, a media company that owns TV and radio stations in Afghanistan including the hugely popular Tolo TV. The company has spent the better part of the year planning CNN-style election coverage.

MOHSEN: There was like two aspects to it. One was to create visibility which is important for transparency, etcetera. And the other one was to start engaging people so that there was no apathy. We felt that there was a strong sense of apathy from people where they felt the decision was going to be made for them in the halls of power in London and Washington and Europe.

[SOUND CLIP OF MUSIC AND TV ANNOUNCER]

SCHACHTER: This is one of the political talk shows that run every night on Moby’s television stations. The host is the company’s director of news and current affairs, Mujahid Kakar. Here he is on the program.

MUJAHID KAKAR: [SPEAKING DARI]

SCHACHTER: Kakar is a soft-spoken man who wouldn’t last a minute on the loud free-for-alls that mark American talk shows. He laughs when I tell him that and says while Afghans may seem tough, even fierce to outsiders, the style of discourse is polite and friendly and that means giving everyone a voice. As we talk an obscure presidential candidate comes in to tape an interview. During presidential debates, held with the top two challengers to incumbent President Hamid Karzai, Afghans were encouraged to send in text message questions for the candidates.

KAKAR: If you talk with the ordinary Afghans they have strong interests in the media because they know that this is the only way to approach to the government officials, to critique the government, or to report what’s going on in their areas. And they know the importance of the media.

SCHACHTER: Moby TV also uses citizen journalists to keep their viewers interested in the campaign. But the media can only go so far when it comes to covering the elections. For example, Afghans would be afraid to answer an exit poll so there won’t be any real way to get a handle on results until the official count ends some two weeks after voting day. But Moby Group boss Jahid Mohsen says his stations will build viewership in other ways.

MOHSEN: Initially there’s going to be a lot of interesting stories about voting booths and what happened – things that have gone wrong, things that have gone right. From the candidates expectations of what they’re going to get. There’s going to be a lot of stories on the process. A part of this is also going to be around what happens when the new administration comes in. So there’s a fair bit of stuff to cover between all of those things.

SCHACHTER: According to surveys some 80% of people in Afghanistan cities have a television. About 25% have one in the villages where electricity is a problem. More and more people are getting TVs mostly so they can watch Indian soap operas. But they may find themselves transfixed by some of the election coverage as well. For The World I’m Aaron Schachter, Kabul, Afghanistan.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.