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Afghan withdrawal would be folly

At the base of the 1st Battalion 5th US Marine Expeditionary Brigade at Garamsir in south Helmand they have a slogan on their T-shirts guaranteed to enrage Caroline Lucas and Simon Jenkins, two of Cif's most recent commentators on Afghanistan.

"Just do Marja" it reads. Marja is a quilt of small fertile plots just south and west of Lashkar Gah, the current provincial capital of Helmand. Like the irrigation channels that feed the fields of Marja, Lashkar Gah is largely the creation of a huge project by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) that made Helmand the bread basket of Afghanistan, and a magnet for tourism even.

Marja has become one of the big poppy growing plots of the world. Today it is largely under Taliban control, who run their "parallel government" there by night – which means robbing the farmers in the name of Islamic taxation, closing schools and demanding tribute in food, warm clothing, and young recruits for their jihad. It is also a centre for assembling IED roadside bombs, which they lay with astonishing deftness and speed.

Marja will be the first target of the Marine Expeditionary Unit now expected here before Christmas as a result of President Obama's anticipated announcement that he will send an extra 30,000 US military personnel to Afghanistan for the next two years. Squeezing Taliban out of Marja, and then Nad-e-Ali to the north, will remove the threat to commerce and farming along the west bank of the Helmand river.

Lashkar Gah is thriving and buzzing, compared with two years ago, when I was last here. The bazaars are booming full of all kinds of produce, a new line in iron bedsteads, small wheat-milling machines, and hundreds of motorbikes – most made in kits in China and assembled in Iran. Farmers and merchants now travel to Gereshk to the north and to Kandahar, less than three hours away. They say the roads are pretty safe, bar the risk of the odd rogue roadblock manned by Taliban or renegade Afghan police.

Lashkar Gah is at the centre of a security bubble or "protected development area" – a key concept of the "ink spot" approach of counter-insurgency theory and practice, recently retooled by General Stanley McChrystal. You take the main centres, such as Lashkar Gah, Garmsir, Gereshk and Musa Qala in Helmand, and protect them with international and then local forces. Confidence and commerce grow, and in time the different areas link together.

The problem, however, is that Afghanistan today defies all such generalities: the whole story is a patchwork quilt, a mosaic, of quirky and contradictory detail. Security and commerce, and even schooling and health, are visibly improving in many parts of Helmand, till now dubbed Afghanistan's most violent province. The Americans and the British are not being "defeated", though they are facing casualties. But to declare any kind of victory would be daft and dangerous. While there are signs of improvement in Helmand, elsewhere there is more than enough evidence that things are getting worse – as Carlotta Gall's report from Kunduz in today's New York Times highlights.

The McChrystal counter-insurgency is already being implemented, and showing signs of working particularly here in central Helmand. Roads are being secured, clinics and schools opened, courts and local councils set up. Communities are swinging from Taliban loyalty to supporting the government, but after nearly 50 years of war and violence they're hedging their bets. Almost all generalisations from the pundits and panjandrums in London, Washington an all points north seem vapid before the complexity of the facts here on the ground.

This struck most forcibly when yesterday I visited Nawa, between Lashkar Gah and Garmsir. It's not so much a one-horse town as a one-ditch town, with its bazaar strung out on a dirt and tarmac track alongside a slow-running, but remarkably clear irrigation ditch.

Until June the place was home to 60 British soldiers training a company of Afghan army troops. They were holed up in the barracks where they exchanged fire with Taliban in the surrounding orchards and bazaar on a daily basis. Last July the US marines arrived, staked out the place with a company of 300 troops, and a fortnight later drove the Taliban off with a full battalion attack of more than 1,000 ground forces with air and helicopter support.

Today the bazaar is booming. On the eve of Eid, the festival of joy and celebration at the end of the hajj, more than 80 shops were open – the Taliban had closed all but about six – selling fresh fruit, sweets, mobile phones, and the electricity from a sun panel to power them. The township has its own community council. But seven weeks ago the Taliban kidnapped its head, then executed him out in the desert, and shot two other councillors in their office. At first the rest of the council stayed away, but lately most meetings get a quorum of 25 out of the remaining 42.

"Every day of peace is like Eid," Haj Mohammed Khan, the clerk to the council told me. He continued:


The marines brought peace because the British didn't have the numbers. If you go away again, the violence will be much worse. There will be a disaster, the world will come here again to fight in a really big war.
You left twice before – and let in the mujahideen and what came after. This time it will be far worse.

His words had a strange echo from Captain Brian Huysman of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion 5th Marines, whose 70 men are helping the rebuilding and renovation of the council offices and barracks at Nawa. He was asked by a colleague to compare his experience of Helmand with two tours in Iraq at Fallujah and then running a community centre for five months of 2005 in Ramadi ("a complete failure" in his words). He said:


At least I get the feeling we're winning, which I didn't there. The answer is in the approach to the people, getting in among the people, and here we eat in the bazaar every day. Get the approach right and then the force numbers right, that's the key.


"Yes, and that's the way we will be doing things for the next 15 or 20 years, and it's what every grunt and general needs to learn now," added his colleague Major Val Jackson, a US marines civil affairs officer.

Nawa, last year the heart of Helmand darkness, now seems to point the way to the future for the Afghans here, and to how the international support agencies, not just the military, can help and then get out.

The problems are still complex and enormous, not least the issues raised by the complexion of the Karzai administration, its legitimacy and the corrosive nature of the drugs trade. But there are signs of forward momentum, and this should be helped by the modest reinforcements of troops and aid due to be announced next week. The task has been likened to by an NGO colleague to her experiences in working in Cambodia after the psychopathic rule of the Khmer Rouge. "So much was completely broken here by the mujahideen civil war and then the Taliban."

To quit now, as Jenkins and Lucas recommend, would be sheer folly – and a folly which would have direct impact on homeland Europe, UK and America even. I agree with Jenkins on one thing: Whitehall, Westminster and large parts of Washington are blanketed in a cloud of passivity and pessimism about Afghanistan. The complexities of the picture on the ground elude commentators who come her in flying visits with high powered delegations of high powered ambassadors and generals, whose helicopter wheels let alone feet barely touch the ground.

Afghanistan could still go either way, but the indicators from my snapshot visits round Helmand this past week are not all negative. The problem is that the argument is likely to be won and lost in the dining rooms of London and Washington and not in the fields and bazaars of Afghanistan. This is being conditioned by the enormous gap of perception between the metropolitan commentators at home and the reporters and workers out on the ground here. We are not so much worlds apart, but operating on different planets.
Article Source

West fears Iran may reverse-engineer S-300 system

MP Mohammad Karami-Rad has stated that the West is afraid that Iran may reverse-engineer the S-300 missile system.


The Westerners are afraid that Iran may begin producing its own version of the S-300 missile system and thus increase its military might, he said on Saturday.

Karami-Rad, who is also a member of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said that certain Western countries are trying to scupper contracts signed by Tehran and Moscow, which should have been implemented six months ago.

The MP advised Russian officials to not allow the Westerners to undermine ties between Tehran and Moscow.

West impeding delivery of S-300 missiles

MP Hassan Sobhaninia says that the West is impeding the delivery of S-300 missiles to Iran.

“The United States and certain Western countries are afraid that the contracts between Iran and Russia in the economic, political, and military spheres will increase Iran’s political and military might. Thus, they are making efforts to impede the implementation of these contracts,” Sobhaninia told the Mehr News Agency on Saturday.

The Islamic Republic of Iran can greatly enhance its military might with these missiles, and this has made Westerners worried, said the MP, who is a member of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee.

Sobhaninia also stated that Iran and Russia are cooperating on a variety of issues, including civilian nuclear technology.

The S-300 system, which can track targets and fire at aircraft 120 kilometers (75 miles) away, features high jamming immunity and is able to simultaneously engage up to 100 targets.

The truck-mounted S-300PMU1, known in the West as the SA-20, can shoot down cruise missiles and aircraft. It can fire at targets up to 150 km (90 miles) away and travel at more than two km per second.

Russia’s image would be tarnished by delay in delivery of S-300 system

The Iranian chairman of the Iran-Russia Parliamentary Friendship Group stated that a delay in delivering the S-300 missiles would tarnish Russia’s image in Iran.

MP Mahdi Sanaei made the remarks in an interview with ISNA on Saturday.

He stated that other countries will no longer trust Russia if it does not fulfill its commitments in regard to the contract for the S-300 system.

Iran should not put all its eggs in one basket in its foreign policy by relying too much on Russia because Russia is not dependable, Sanaei added.

Moscow should heed public opinion in Iran

Political analyst and university professor Mahdi Motahharnia has said that Russia should not be indifferent to public opinion in Iran.

“If Russia is concerned about its long-term interests in the region, it should not be indifferent to public opinion in Iran about its policies on Iran,” he told ISNA on Saturday.

Motahharnia stated that public opinion in Iran has become sensitive to Russia’s policies on Iran, and more and more Iranians are beginning to believe that Russia is not honest in its dealings with Iran.

Iran will be able to produce S-300 missiles in near future

Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Chairman Alaeddin Boroujerdi has said that Iran will be able to produce S-300 missiles in the near future.

Nevertheless, the Russians should still fulfill their commitments, he told the Mehr News Agency on Saturday.

He also urged Russia to fulfill its commitments and to stop delaying the delivery of S-300 missiles to Iran.

Boroujerdi stated that he recently had a meeting with the Russian ambassador to Iran and the ambassador agreed that both sides should fulfill their commitments.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the MP said that Russia should also complete the Bushehr nuclear power plant by the end of the Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2010)

Article Sourcetehrantimes.com

Tehran developing ties with Africa and Latin America to get support for its nuclear programme

Ahmadinejad is in Caracas, fourth leg of a five-nation tour (Gambia, Brazil, Bolivia, Venezuela and Senegal). The Iranian president is promoting closer bilateral cooperation and seeking support for his country’s nuclear programme. The visit triggers protests by Venezuelan Jews; for them, he is an “ominous” figure.

Caracas (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Caracas (Venezuela) today on a five-day tour of Latin America and Africa to promote economic cooperation and trade as well as gain support for his country’s controversial nuclear programme. So far, he has visited Gambia, Brazil and Bolivia, and is expected to travel to Senegal, the last stop before his flight home.
Venezuelan authorities gave the Iranian leader the red carpet ceremony. Ahmadinejad and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez are both critics of the “imperialist” policies of the United States and Israel. During their summit, they plan to discuss ways to strengthen bilateral relations.

Iran’s official news agency, IRNA, said that Tehran and Caracas have already signed 280 agreements, 80 joint projects in the areas of energy, industry and agriculture. The two sides have also agreed to a new visa system. Venezuela will also support Iran’s controversial nuclear programme.

Caracas has accepted Tehran’s contention that it is for peaceful purposes. Both capitals reject Western claims that Iran’s nuclear programme masks plans to build an atomic bomb.

The visit by the Iranian president in Venezuela has led to protests by the local Jewish community, who call him an “ominous” figure who “could cause serious harm to humanity” if not stopped.

For a Jewish group said, the summit “gives legitimacy to a regime about which there are serious doubts over its transparency and legality”.

In previous days, Ahmadinejad got the green light on the nuclear issue from Brazil and Bolivia.

Bolivian President Evo Morales recognised “the legitimate right of all countries to use and develop nuclear energy for peaceful ends.”

The leaders of Iran and Bolivia also signed a deal increasing Iran's involvement in mining research in Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni, a vast salt desert near the Chilean border with the largest lithium deposits in the world, containing up to 100 million tonnes of the metal.

Article Sourceasianews.it

Victoria and Albert Museum and Iran Heritage Foundation announce the creation of a new post

The V&A Museum and Iran Heritage Foundation are delighted to announce that Dr. Moya Carey will become the Iran Heritage Foundation Curator, Iran Collections, in the Asian Department of the V&A. This new curatorial role is one of a series of positions created as part of Iran Heritage Foundation's new programme of developing strategic partnerships with major academic and cultural organisations.
"Dr. Carey brings a wonderful combination of expertise, imagination and an in-depth knowledge of Iranian art and culture," said newly appointed Iran Heritage Foundation Executive Director, Dr. Ladan Akbarnia. "Coming from a curatorial background myself, I am particularly excited about this important position and I look forward to supporting Dr. Carey in her new role."

Of Dr. Carey's appointment, Mark Jones, Director of the V&A, said: "The V&A and Iran Heritage Foundation have a long history of collaboration. The appointment of Dr. Carey was made possible through a generous grant from the Iran Heritage Foundation and will enable the V&A, for the first time, to devote the resources of a full time curator to its considerable Iranian collections."

About Dr Moya Carey
Dr Carey earned her doctorate from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in 2001. Since then, she has worked for a number of organisations with important Iranian collections, including the Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan Collection in Geneva, the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin and the British Museum in London; she has also taught at university level at Aga Khan University, SOAS, and at the Sotheby's Institute and Birkbeck College.
About the Iran Heritage Foundation
The Iran Heritage Foundation is a UK registered charity and the leading supporter of Iranian studies in the UK. It promotes academic research through fellowships, grants, scholarships and publications. In association with museums and leading institutions, the Iran Heritage Foundation organises exhibitions and convenes conferences on the history and contemporary culture of Iran.
Since its inception in 1995, the Iran Heritage Foundation has organised or supported 40 conferences, 36 multi disciplinary events and exhibitions, and 62 film and performing arts festivals and events. It has facilitated the study and understanding of Iran's history and contemporary culture through 59 academic and travel grants, 65 cultural and academic publications, and 7 university fellowships. Previous events include 'Shah 'Abbas: The Remaking of Iran' at the British Museum, 2009; 'Iran: New Voices' at the Contemporary Iranian Theatre, Film and Video Art Festival, Barbican, 2009; 'Iranian Contemporary Art and Culture' - the first ever exhibition of contemporary Iranian art in Europe - at the Barbican, 2001; and 'Women: The Heart of Iranian Cinema' at the Film Festival and Conference, BFI, 2002.
www.iranheritage.org

About Victoria and Albert Museum
The V&A is the world's greatest museum of art and design with collections unrivalled in their scope and diversity. It was established to make works of art available to all and to inspire British designers and manufacturers. Today, the V&A's collections, which span over 2000 years of human creativity in virtually every medium and from many parts of the world, continue to intrigue, inspire and inform. The V&A has one of the most extensive and renowned Middle East collections in the world with an extensive Iranian component.

Article Source