A Stranger Behind the Afghan School – #AngelinaJolie

At a school in a bombed-out Afghan village near Kabul, Angelina Jolie is known as an aid worker or engineer — never as one of the world’s most famous film stars. Jolie, a special envoy of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, built the school in Qala-i-Gudar last year and is planning to open more in Afghanistan with profits from a newly-launched jewellery line that she has designed.

The Hollywood star visited Qala-i-Gudar in 2011, and she retains an avid fanbase among residents who have never seen any of her films and have no idea about her global fame as an actress. Acting is controversial in the country, with many conservative Afghans associating it with un-Islamic behaviour and even prostitution. Homaira, aged 13, is one of 250 pupils at the all-girls school who has benefited from the new facilities, which opened for their first full academic year last month.

“We used to study in the backyard of the mosque, it was hard,” Homaira said. “Now we are so happy to have a school. It’s a beautiful place.” Asked who built her school, Homaira smiled and answered, “the beautiful American lady.” The two-storey building, 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of Kabul, has large windows and neat rows of desks. On the outside, which is painted light blue, is a plaque proudly boasting of its founder.“Through the generous contribution of Angelina Jolie UNHCR Special Envoy,” it reads.

Even headmaster Gul Rahmman Ayaz appeared ignorant of Jolie’s superstar celebrity, apparently believing she was a senior UNHCR official. “Is she?” Ayaz asked doubtfully after learning Jolie was an actress. “Well whatever, she is a great woman, very kind woman,” he added with a smile.
“She was very humble. She sat on dust. She didn’t behave like a movie star,” Ayaz said, remembering Jolie arrived in a UN-marked vehicle and wore a modest black outfit and brown headscarf.

Afghanistan refuses to hand over notorious Pakistani terrorist to Pakistan

Afghanistan has refused to extradite notorious terrorist Maulvi Faqir to Pakistan. He was detained together with five accomplices five days ago in the east Afghan province Nangarhar and is being kept in-custody at a pre-trial detention center of the Chief Department of National Security (CDNS) in Kabul. On Thursday, the Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Hina Rabbani Khar called on her Afghan colleague Zalmai Rassoul, asking to extradite to Islamabad the criminal who has blood of many Pakistanis on his hand, nevertheless was refused. The Foreign Minister of Afghanistan specified that Pakistan does not hand over the Afghan Talibs on request of Kabul, referring to absence of the official extradition treaty of criminals. He hoped that very soon such agreement will be signed after all.

India Playing Great Game in Afghanistan: Pervez Musharraf

Accusing India of trying to gain influence in Kabul after the planned US withdrawal by 2014, former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf has also hit out at Afghan president Hamid Karzai for “going along” with it.

“India is certainly, certainly doing that. And, unfortunately, Afghan government is going along,” Musharraf told CNN in an interview when asked if he saw a new great game beginning where Pakistan and India are struggling for influence in Afghanistan.

“I mean, I know that diplomats, intelligence personnel, military men, security people, go to India for training,” Musharraf said, suggesting that similar offers from Pakistan were rebuffed.

“I have been bending backwards, asking President Karzai to send people to Pakistan instead of India,” he said. “We’ve opened up all our training institutions free of cost. Come to Pakistan and we’ll train you. Not one has come.”

“What is his game?” Musharraf asked, suggesting that the planned pullout of US troops from Afghanistan due to be completed by 2014 had pushed Karzai closer to India.

Musharraf said he did “not at all” trust Karzai, but thanked him for once making a pro-Pakistan statement though he dismissed as “preposterous” a suggestion that the US may attack Pakistan.

Asked about Karzai’s recent statement that Kabul would back Pakistan if the United States were to attack Pakistan, he said: “I think it’s totally preposterous to imagine this kind of thing.”

“And then I thank him that this is the first time he’s made a pro-Pakistan statement.”

Musharraf believed Karzai would not be able to hold on to power as the Americans draw down. “I think it’s going to be very difficult. Very difficult. Very, very difficult. He is not liked by the majority of Pashtuns because of what he is doing.”

Musharraf also dismissed suggestions in an article in The Atlantic magazine about the dangers to Pakistan’s nuclear assets as over the last few years there have been six attacks by militants on sites that are generally known to be Pakistani nuclear sites.

“Well, no. I don’t think so. Our nuclear assets are very well dispersed, they are – and strongly held and in – placed in very, very reinforced areas which cannot be – which are not accessible,” he said.

By IANS

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Is U.S. Planning a Revenge Attack on Pakistan?

The U.S. 10 year alliance with Pakistan is a question of trust now.

The relation between U.S., Pakistan is facing an uncertain future and many in Washington are questioning is Islamabad a reliable ally?

Will U.S. ever trust Pakistan for its war against terrorism and al-Qaeda?

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Sunday called back foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar from the U.S. amid strained ties with Washington following an accusation that Pakistan was supporting the Haqqani terror network.

The gradually warming Pakistan-U.S. ties have suddenly turned sour in the aftermath of the September 13 brazen terrorist attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, which senior American military and government officials have squarely blamed on the North Waziristan-based Haqqani militant network, led by Sirajuddin Haqqani.

U.S. military commanders have accused Pakistan’s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, of supporting the Haqqani network for carrying out two attacks on the U.S. embassy in Kabul and U.S. military base in Afghanistan’s Wadak province this month.

This has prompted U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to warn that the U.S. could do everything it could to defend American forces from the Pakistan-based Haqqani militants staging attacks in Afghanistan, including operations inside Pakistan.

Panetta’s warning was followed by Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s decision to cancel his planned trip to the United States that was scheduled for September 16.
The killing of Osama bin Laden by U.S. forces on Pakistani soil, paved way to the tensions between the two nations. It is a relationship that for years has been marred by mistrust.

America has been the blessing in disguise for Pakistan with their innumerable aid for Pakistan. The alliance between the two countries began in 2001, a joint effort to fight against terrorism namely al-Qaeda and Taliban until recently, Pakistan offered support for U.S. drone strikes in tribal areas targeting al- Qaeda and Taliban leaders which became massively unpopular among the Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, leader of the opposition in National Assembly, said that the present war on terror Pakistan was a result of U.S. using Pakistan in the most abominable manner and weakened it to the extent that almost all institutions are facing crises.

He further says Pakistan’s pro-U.S. policies have destroyed the economy, the living, and peace. “It will not be far from truth to say that America has incapacitated us by injecting the sweet poison of aid.”

There has been disquiet about Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan for several years now. After the attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul in 2008, Washington had pointed to ISI complicity in the incident. But American unhappiness with Pakistan has never been so directly expressed as now.

Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar went a step further and warned the US that if such allegations continue, it “will lose an ally”. And Interior Minister Rehman Malik specifically warned the US against taking any unilateral action against the Haqqanis in Pakistani territory. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani remarked last week, the U.S. needed Pakistan in Afghanistan, observing that the Americans “can’t live with us. They can’t live without us.”

Related articles

• Pakistan Says U.S. Afghan Policy Shows ‘Confusion,’ ‘Disarray’ (businessweek.com)
• Pakistan: U.S. “can’t live without us” (cbsnews.com)
• U.S. Should Consider ‘All Options’ With Pakistan, Graham Says (businessweek.com)
• Pakistan warns that US accusations may cost Washington an ally – Los Angeles Times (news.google.com)
• Pakistan criticizes U.S. spy agency comments (cbc.ca)