A U.S. soldier has been shot and killed, by an Afghan Army soldier, in Jalalabad. The shooting occurred after a meeting between a high-level American diplomat and provincial leaders, where the U.S. soldier was providing security for the meeting. The Afghan soldier was also killed, and up to seven persons are reported wounded.
One U.S. soldier was killed and at least two were wounded by an Afghan in military uniform when a firefight erupted after a U.S. Embassy delegation’s visit in eastern Afghanistan, according to U.S. and Afghan officials.
American soldiers subsequently killed the assailant in a shootout. Officials said one Afghan soldier was killed and two were wounded in the assault.
U.S. soldier killed, 2 wounded in suspected Afghan ‘insider attack’, Washington Post
It was the second fatality suffered by Nato since the beginning of the year, when the coalition launched its new mission in Afghanistan, Resolute Support. An Afghan soldier killed three American contractors on 29 January.
General Fazel Ahmad Sherzad, who is police chief for the eastern Nangarhar province, where the shooting happened, said it took place immediately after the embassy official had left the meeting in the governor’s compound.
“Right after the US official had left, suddenly an Afghan army soldier opened fire on the US soldiers who were present in the compound,” Sherzad said.
The American troops returned fire, killing the Afghan soldier, whom Sherzad identified as Abdul Azim, from Laghman province.
US soldier shot dead in Afghanistan 'insider attack', Associated Press
Two Afghan soldiers were also injured in the shootout, but it was unclear who had fired first, Afghan police said.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said shooting was initiated by an unidentified Afghan man dressed in the uniform of Afghan security forces. He was killed in the ensuing return fire from American troops.
A second U.S. official estimated that around six Americans were wounded.
The U.S. State Department acknowledged only that an exchange of gunfire took place about an hour after State Department officials held a meeting with the provincial governor in Jalalabad.
U.S. soldier killed in possible Afghan insider attack, Reuters
The American diplomat at the meeting is reported as Donald Yamamoto, a State Department adviser to the military. Yamamoto and other American officials had departed before the shooting.
It can sometimes be hard to discover who the governors of Afghan provinces even are.
Gul Agha Sherzai was the long time governor of Nangarhar, until he resigned to run for President. He was replaced by Attaullah Ludin.
Ludin recently resigned, giving somewhat vague descriptions of the frustrations of the job.
He did not put light on the reason for his resignation but said that the central government had given him limited authorities and was also middling in his duties.
Ludin further said that he tried his best to fight corruption in Nangarhar but failed.
Nangarhar acting governor resigned, Khaama
Ludin linked his decision to the problems he encountered in introducing reforms, combating corruption, law enforcement and preventing land grb.
“I’m standing down because willful operations (in the province) ordered from Kabul and working in acting capacity don’t allow me to continue in this position,” he added.
Citing hurdles from Kabul, Nangarhar governor resigns, Pajhwok
Attaullah Ludin, previous governor of Nangarhar, had been a commander with the anti-Soviet insurgent group Hezb-i-Islami.
The Taliban-affiliated terrorist group Hezb-i-Islami has claimed responsibility for the shooting of the American soldier.
The Taliban-affiliated terrorist group Hezb-i-Islami claimed responsibility for the shooting. The group's spokesman, Zubair Sediqi, said the shooter was their agent inside the ANA unit based in Nangarhar.
US soldier killed in Afghan insider attack, several wounded, Stars and Stripes
In Kohband district, Kapisa province, northeast of Kabul, rival Hezb-i-Islami and Jamiat factions fight for control, in a long running war.
Despite not hosting many supporters of the Taleban, Kohband is haunted by a variety of illegally armed groups that carry out assassinations and targeted killings on a daily basis. In one of the major valleys of Kohband, Durnama, only five kilometers south of the district centre Bolah Ghain, commanders affiliated with Hezb-e Islami Afghanistan (HIG, led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar) and Jamiat continuously fight each other, posing a major challenge for the provincial security department.
Their competition has a long history in Kapisa (see here, here and here).
Fire in the Pashai hills: A two-district case study from Kapisa, Afghanistan Analysts Network
In Alasai district, Kapisa, a compromise deal with the Taliban has fallen apart, and Taliban are largely in control.
A few years ago, reports came out about a compromise deal between the Taleban and government forces in Kapisa province. As a result, in Alasai district Taleban and police would take turns strolling around to show their control of the bazaars on alternate days of the week. This state of things has since changed with the changing balance of power. For two years now, locals say, the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) in Kapisa’s Alasai district—not only the police but even the garrisons of the few army bases—are only allowed out of their bases, camps and offices for one hour per day, and even then, only to go to the district center’s bazaar.
The Taleban’s shadow district governor, Mawlawi Asef, has imposed these restrictions on the ANSF’s movements. His men are now running their own court sessions in mosques and private houses, addressing people’s legal issues, mainly land and family disputes. He also founded a military council which meets regularly and advises him on security issues, as well as a finance department in charge of collecting the so-called ushr (a tax usually amounting to the tenth part of the agricultural produce) from Alasai’s residents, thus ensuring financial resources for the Taleban’s operations. There is even a ‘detention center’ run by the insurgents located in Meryal khel, a village just a few hundred meters away from the district centre.
Fire in the Pashai hills: A two-district case study from Kapisa, Afghanistan Analysts Network
Taliban control followed, among other events, a failed Jamiat uprising against the Taliban.
When the fighting ceased, the villages of Konbad, Dahrata, Qalah and Sahrae were in the hands of the Taleban. Many houses were set on fire and the families of the commanders of the uprising—who had meanwhile fled to neighbouring Laghman province—were forced to leave the area. Jamil, a blind old man who could not escape from Konbad, told AAN that Taleban entered his house searching for weapons. Then they dragged him out and set the house on fire.
Fire in the Pashai hills: A two-district case study from Kapisa, Afghanistan Analysts Network
Last year, Gran Hewad and Casey Garret Johnson wrote a guide to youth politics in Afghanistan. A frequent concern had been both moving away from, and dealing with the power of, the old jihadi factional politics.
Youth politics in 2013 is still deeply tied to old-guard political networks. In many provinces, power brokers use youth organizations to maintain political control.
A Rough Guide to Afghan Youth Politics, United States Institute of Peace
Because of the history, and from unity attitudes in a younger generation, party can have a bad reputation.
After more than thirty years of war waged in large part by political-military parties, it is no surprise that the youth of today—particularly in the provinces—shy away from describing their movements as parties.6 Even youth members of old-guard political parties were quick to admit during interviews the negative impact that political parties have had on the stability of the country over the last three decades. Anecdotally, youth membership in these old-guard parties is in decline for a number of reasons: real and perceived corruption, under-performance, inability to live up to religious standards,7 lack of autonomy from foreign funders,8 and the nature of an Afghan political system—in which political power is won on the basis of personal connections, patronage, and service provision rather than on the ability of parties themselves to organize voting blocs based on interests and policies.
A Rough Guide to Afghan Youth Politics, United States Institute of Peace
From what I've seen on twitter, young civil society activists are often religiously devout, anti-sectarian, follow events in a wider Muslim world, emphasize employment, rule of law, human rights, and empowering women, and have a strong sympathy for the oppressed.
Protests and other efforts continue, after the beating death of Farkhunda, by a mob of men, three weeks ago in Kabul.
Farkhunda has emerged as an icon for rights and justice campaigners. The now-familiar banners of her battered, bewildered face hang by the riverside mosque, and a green satin flag of martyrdom has been erected near where her body was burned. On the stony bank below, activists planted a pine tree to mark the spot.
Afghan woman beaten to death by Kabul mob becomes icon for shocked Afghans hoping for change, Associated Press
Amnesty International has released a report on violence against women in Afghanistan, and the lack of protection.
Afghanistan is turning its back on women leaders and activists and leaving them vulnerable to violence, Amnesty International said Tuesday, urging the international community to stand up for women's rights.
Women politicians and rights campaigners have endured an escalating number of targeted car bombings, grenade attacks and killings of family members, the London-based rights group said in a report.
“Laws meant to support them are poorly implemented, if at all, while the international community is doing far too little to ease their plight,” the report said.
Most of the threats come from the Taliban and other armed opposition groups, but government officials and local warlords also commit abuses against women leaders and activists, the report added.
Amnesty International slams Afghanistan's ‘failure’ to protect women, Al Jazeera
The U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction has released a letter questioning waste and poor management in U.S. programs to help women in Afghanistan.
Just months after criticizing the U.S. Agency for International Development for poorly tracking its efforts to help women in Afghanistan, a government watchdog is asking tough questions about the organization’s new program to get Afghan women into leadership positions.
USAID announced the launch of the program, called Promote, last year. Described as its most ambitious women-empowerment effort in Afghanistan to date, Promote aims to bolster Afghan women’s advancement in government, the private sector and civil society.
Though the development agency has awarded $416 million in contracts for the program, USAID’s “plans for fully implementing and overseeing Promote remain unclear,” said the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.
In addition, the source for nearly half of Promote’s funding has not been identified, Inspector General John F. Sopko said in a March 27 letter to USAID’s acting administrator, Alfonso E. Lenhardt.
SIGAR questions USAID program for Afghan women's empowerment, Stars and Stripes