Afghanistan and the blue stone

A year ago, to leave Afghanistan, I regretted not having bought lazurite mines of Sar-e-Sang lapis global epicenter for more than six thousand years.

The plane down between the mountains bald, a deep ocher and monotonous, and lands in Kabul.

I ride in an old bus that passes before a row of UN helicopters. The airport is newly constructed, with a party of Japanese development aid.

I have the same translator last year, Obai. I can hardly reach you because I run out of mobile balance upon arrival. Very bad. Obai is studying computer science at the University.

Although it has begun to cool in Kabul, the streets are just as dry and dusty. My first day housing is a cozy guesthouse. Outside go unnoticed. The bad: only watched a guard.

I have not much time. Legislative elections are in four days and Kabul not left wanting for the sprinters.

They say that the house of Abdul Salam Zaeef, former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, is a guest house financed by the Afghan government.

Your child is a boy who barely speaks English Kandahar. Cross street: his father is away, he says, to visit. Above, from a window, a bearded offers tea. Pashtuns love to hear are the most hospitable people in the world.

Zaeef with the phone.

Close-do not know whether with or without relation-Wakil Muttawakil lives, the last foreign minister of the Taliban. The road is unpaved, it is dark.

"Do not leave the car." A guard raises his Ak47. He is recorded (my driver is called Nazir, circulated in a red Corolla). Leaves a son, he says, Muttawakil. He will receive on Friday, "with a camera, and the New."

The Afghan government faces, calculates the Defense Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi, about 20,000 to 30,000 Taliban, "all assets", and presumably ready to muss the elections.

"All ISAF troops are on full alert, of course. Our forces have been organized throughout the country, "says the deputy commander of ISAF operations, Wayne Detwiler.

I leave the press conference, designed to appease the more suspicious. Presidential aides repeated that everything will be fine.

"I warn America. If you burn the Koran, there will be revenge. " In recent days, there have been demonstrations in various parts of Afghanistan. The domino Florida has caused more than a headache in Kabul.

Throw the warning a group of followers of Afghan Siddiqi, a mathematician who graduated from Moscow. Today it carries the Philosophical Mathematics Center.

In 1992, his model identified a promising future for Afghanistan. Soon after, war broke out.

Inside the building, a stone's throw from the Presidential Palace, the UN mission and several ministries, there is a large three-dimensional cube that serves as a calendar. A portrait of Obama made with numbers. A false symmetry Afghan heads of state.

"A set Kandahari Afghanistan. Other (Karzai) has sold to foreigners. " Next to the picture of Karzai is the face of Mullah Omar. They say he is hiding somewhere near Quetta (Pakistan), he heads a 'shura'.

"We're not allowed to talk about the election," he answers the phone questioned the Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid.

More on lapis: in city center shops, which are a money judgment for the (few) tourists, sold smoothed and varnishes. Blue as the sea drops Afghan ocher.

Afghanistan is a country embedded in borders that separate from it. A roundabout thirsty three formidable powers: the Indian subcontinent to the south, the great west Persia. To the north, the new czars of central Asia.

Haggling for a stone almost triangular, narrow base, of a bright blue sea. Rs 1,500. Surely my stone will have been dyed in advance, it would be fair to say that the dealer and I have done business.

The lapis is mined in a gorge between mountains over 6,000 meters. An area with more wolves than men in the abandoned and frigid region of Badakhshan, northeastern end.

"If you do not want to die, prevents Kokcha Valley," wrote the British explorer Lieutenant John Wood, reaching in 1837 the mines of Sar-e-Sang on behalf of the East India Company.

Nazir for the Corolla with the Russian embassy, ​​near the Parliament. As in the spy movies, there must locate an envoy of Malalai Joya, who has been called "the bravest woman in Afghanistan."

In December 2003, addressed without compromise against the warlords, with the peculiarity that the front of her. "I would say a couple of minutes ago .." he said in the Loya Jirga. Were actually three:

"Why do not you put cried-all criminals in the same committee, and we see what they want for the country? They who put our country in the heart of national and international wars (...) should go to the national and international courts. "

Joya, who has had five attempted murders, lives in hiding and moving house every few days. Hate the burqa, as untimely, if it were not because he can hide when out on the street.

Two old men arrive in a car and stand up with us. Sniff a little, but just a gesture. Then, the two vehicles snake through streets are sand. At the gates of a house as the other, a huge guard Tajik records up to the soles of the socks and shirt collar.

"This is me in silence: they want to eliminate me," he says calmly the little jewel.

This time he resigned to stand for election. "I want to kill, but I look at the smiling death". The protection of women, a convenient lie.

With the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Western countries had to pull the quarry only active policy in the country: the "warlords", regional and local barons who for years had slaughtered each other and in the process killed thousands of civilians.

The Mujahideen, the Northern Alliance. Likewise Allah's pious who fought the Communists who fought the Taliban. Like its rivals, people almost medieval outputs. Now the Afghan democracy breathes through the pores of the vanes.

"People are tired of the international troops, and that the burning of the Koran may be the straw that breaks the camel. Protesters repeat it: if all run toward the base, die a few hundred, but in the end ... "says Farhad Peikar Afghan journalist, the German agency DPA, while sharing a" chicken shawarma "in a Lebanese bistro.

Farhad's people is about 70 kilometers from Kabul. There, at a rally a few days ago, a 12 year old boy ordered him to stop the music to make an announcement. In front of the mayor and police chief, said: "The Taliban say they will votéis in this election. You are warned. "

Nobody recalls Farhad, reacted. Neither the police. "How will you deal with that tomorrow some guys maybe are their superiors, who give the orders? People already preparing for the day after. Everyone is taking positions. "

The day after the day after the withdrawal. Obama announced last December reinforcements (in Afghanistan is now 150,000 foreign troops, two thirds of Americans), but also revealed that his troops begin to withdraw in July 2011.

Obama is supposed to work under tremendous pressure. His generals and their valets nuanced then those words or became a minor lapse. But many Afghans, including Taliban, have taken note. The moral evil have taken.

A former U.S. diplomat Robert Blackwill, advocates and the U.S. should leave the south and east and concentrate on areas less likely to defend the idea Taliban, or areas Tajik, Uzbek, Hazara.

Afghanistan from de facto to prevent the Pashtuns.

The latter are the majority ethnic group, but their geographical distribution is more or less clear: in an arc that runs through the west, south and east, with some exceptional bags in northern regions. Of them is nurtured the Taliban movement.

His plan horrifies the Afghan president, a Pashtun, Hamid Karzai. Seen as weak and corrupt. It is said that once, on a flight Herat-Kabul, ordered the pilot to head the presidential plane to Kandahar, and that these, despite their rage, they refused.

However, Karzai is strong, because he knows that in Afghanistan there is no other that can serve as a partner of the West and also as Pashtun dike.

In 2009, elections rigged with hundreds of thousands of votes in his favor. He got caught. There were months of international pressure. Some changes in the leadership of key institutions. Purpose of amendment. That is: Is the U.S. playing a single card?

(I say that in these elections Complaints Commission, responsible for detecting fraud, annulled only the most flagrant cases, and in fact the result then was a tie between Karzai and his arch rival, the Tajik Abdullah Abdullah).

They say men have become Karzai to mobilize, and this time will be easier. Almost all candidates for the House are independent. No one but his close followers, knows what they stand for.

Karzai is easier to finance their campaigns sottoterra related: officials of the provinces depend on it.

Analysts say these elections will be a small amount of fraud in favor of candidates who dominate the levers of state or have the financial power.

It feels the same way the Electoral Commission: its president, Fazal Manawi, insists that seek to ensure security, which have introduced measures against fraud. That elections are all clean and fair as it allows a country to the Afghan situation. Je.

More than a woman's name, Malalai resembles that of an entire tribe. It's what he sings Shafiq Mureed, a promising singer from Laghman sacrificed to hear the cry of Malalai. Joya does not refer to, of course, but Malalai of Maiwand, the great heroine of the second Anglo-Afghan war, 130 years ago.

The retreating Afghans. Malalai, a village of Khig in Kandahar arrampló the flag and sang a "Landay," a poem which children study today, who can, in schools: "If you die in Maiwand, may Allah let you live to enjoy your cowardice. "

Afghan militias, much higher than the British in number but not technical, they reacted and eventually overwhelm the British in one of the few victories during the nineteenth century an Asian army over a European. The battle, however, swept away to Malalai.

Today, the British are back in Helmand as part of an international coalition. It is hard not to find parallels between this struggle and this one.

Breakfast with a kid who does not resist to talk with foreigners. Represents the new Kabul: young, well dressed, confident speech. I sense that in relation to any outside company. Anyway, a story in the misery of the Afghan peoples.

"I worked four years with the Americans. In Bagram. They will stay here forever. They will not go. The soldiers wonder what they do here, so far. But yes, they know internally. Afghanistan is a strategic country. Rico. "

Conspiranoia spurred this ad for months the Afghan government, on the discovery of deposits of precious metals and minerals, including lithium, worth over a billion dollars. (Any extraction is at present far: lacking security, infrastructure).

Then there is the Afghan position: crossroads, place of China, the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, Iran! Enough reason to be here? "Strategy is strategy. They will stay here forever, "he repeated. "In twenty years, answer as they are now friendly and get out-turn and talk."

Emal Haidary says, our man in Kabul: "There's this poet, Habibullah Rafi. He will have many things on landays ".

In Kabul hardly anyone wears glasses, is that not many read. The election posters themselves are filled with endless letters, faces of mullahs and also youngsters who admire the West but wary.

The aperturistas have been stranded too many times. So many, glosaría a rhetorician, and invaded Afghanistan. Warring since the time of Alexander the Great.

As planned, I move to Heetal, a fortress rose in the most protected from Kabul. It has several security cordons. It is promoted by announcing his "bunker with water and food," his "armored car rental", "s or armed security around the building 24 × 7".

Among the guests there seguratas shaved brawny, some Yankees brave photojournalists with those pants that look like mailboxes. A handful of oenegeros so that one pint of afganólogos flees.

What if I lived in Afghanistan? Classified Kabul: "House of 19 beds, Wazir Akbar Khan, $ 14,999 a month." "Home of 24 beds and 28 bathrooms, Shar-e-Now, $ 24,999 a month." There are houses, but mother ships. Grazing international organizations.

As if that was not obvious enough: the war is making a handful of wealthy Afghans.

There is a press conference in the information department of the Government. On the way down the Shah M. Books, the cave of the bookseller of Kabul. It has a great background, but the prices are neither in Manhattan. No landays book for less than 15 bucks. Neither knows of Habibullah Rafi.

Have suspended the press conference was to give the presidential spokesman. Instead, Karzai spoke to a select group of media. Anyway I'm to the point of the call, to claim my status select media. See if school ...

In the absence of Rafi and poems of the Bookseller of Kabul, I take the only book I brought to Kabul, "Romanticism, odyssey of the German spirit," the historian Rüdiger Safranski.

It begins: "Two and a half centuries after Columbus and a century before Nietzsche's motto, an adventurer of the spirit [Herder] germinated the need to go to sea and break into the terrible reality that exists."

The most decadent of Kabul, apart from some hiding in the mountains, must be the English cemetery. For 30 years, the pay of the British Embassy, ​​took care Rahimullah, this spring died a natural death, depending on where a rare privilege.

I'll see him one day: there are graves of soldiers killed during the Anglo-Afghan wars, also was thrown from when Kabul was stop on the route of the movement "hippy" or victims of the current war. Here buried Gayle Williams, an aid worker shot dead in 2008.

"Herder Goethe saw the adventurer who had returned from sea and brought fresh wind of the trip, a breeze that stimulated the imagination." Sturm und drang. Tempest and momentum.

When sent to Afghanistan, Mullah Omar asked why Rahimullah graves cared infidels, and this he replied that, with age, even a blind man would have more chances of finding a job. Omar, who was (is) one-eyed, did not take it amiss.

Kabul, otherwise it is a city that is deployed in the mountains. Adobe houses falling like a waterfall, in cubic replications, a network ocher also opens endless neighborhoods and make the center a hypnotic feeling as out of time.

One explorer John Wood of the mines of Sar-e-Pang called the Pamir mountains of the "roof of the world." I put my lazurite, from a lost canyon, next to the computer.

It opens the door Muttawakil son. The guards at the door with a portrait of Ahmad Shah Mehsud, the Lion of Panjshir, the great enemy of the Taliban, killed in suicide attack just two days before the 11-S. Mehsud is perhaps the warlord who knew best how to manage your image.

-In Spain there are many Muslims, right? Muttawakil-opens fire.

- Was Muslim for centuries, and has left many landmarks.

Muttawakil was the last foreign minister Taliban before the fall. Mullah Omar chose to leave; him stay. He spent three years in prison. Its name came from the list of supporting terrorism by the UN in January. A nod to the insurgents lay down their arms?

He invited me to tea. He is from Maiwand, like the great Malalai. How about a Taliban warrior woman? "We have no problem with Malalai. We want as many women are Malala i ". It comes to my head Malalai Joya.

I leave the house Muttawakil, a nice man and of ways-not ideas-moderate. "The yellow dog is brother of the wolf," says a proverb of the hospital Pashtuns.

Is it anything to foreigners to leave? Setting the phone Zaeef.

"If you were Taliban, what would you do to fight the powerful foreign army? You need the support of everyone, of all those who pitch in. With Al Qaeda, it is a covenant in the war. The goal is not the same, the enemy does, "says the former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan.

No other place overlooking the city of Kabul and the television tower on the ridge of a hill imposing. I need video resources for election day and there will be more panoramic. Buy kebabs and chop up the road with the Corolla. Nazir is a phenomenon.

Upon arrival we were a cop, so we give up flying so high and we moved into a berm, a few tens of meters below the tower. Time is something unpleasant and Kabul takes a dye almost unreal master houses, its decline as a ladder. Almost play a few comets.

Some boys go up the hill laden with bags. They stop to look abroad. "One day we get closer to the tower and the police shot at us." You do not know whether to believe these allegations sporadic. Not that surprised, in a country so molded to war.

It starts to drizzle, a rarity in the September semi-arid city. Drops down loaded powder. It was almost magical food, career, levitating to Kabul.

I have an email from the Government: "Go to school tomorrow Amani Saturday at seven o'clock. The president will vote there and you will enter. "

The Amani school in Kabul is an island located in the Government security. That's where the elite vote Kabuli, including leading politicians. After all, and for once, I'm half selected. There will be up early.

To get there, leave left the Philosophical Institute of Mathematics and pass a security check first that it is fierce. "Spanish Embassy?" Repeats an officer while studying the list of accredited media.

Once past the obstacle, you walk between concrete blocks, while off-road vehicle loaded with the black coats are the presidential guard. You spend the UN mission in Kabul, then comes the Amani. If you followed a while in the deserted sidewalk, llegarías for president.

I registered in the street with trained German Shepherds. Then the cameras were trampled to achieve the best angle of Karzai. Amani in the gym, paid for with German money, everything is perfectly orchestrated: a place of pristine cleanliness, materials complete first.

First comes the head of UNAMA in Kabul (will come on foot?), Staffan de Mistura, one of those diplomats Boomers: "To say that safety is guaranteed is too big," he rip. Bueno.

Karzai arrives wrapped in his chapan, green and blue that layer of Mazar-i-Sharif. He likes to show this type of symbols to emphasize the unity of the Afghan peoples (his advisors then reveal who voted for a candidate Hindu symbol it off).

But he is a Pashtun tribe of the Popalzai, as the unifier of Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah Durrani, which will delight fans of the philosopher and mathematician Siddiqi psychedelic symmetries Afghan history.

The first set Kandahari Afghanistan. The latter sold it to foreigners.

CIA Holds:

- Afghan Ethnic composition: Pashtun 42%, 27% Tajiks, Hazaras and Uzbeks, 9% each.

- Afghan Religions: Sunni 80%, Shia 19%

- Languages: Afghan Persian (Dari) 50% Pashtun 35% (the rest, mostly, are languages ​​of Central Asia such as Turkmenistan).

That is, there are Pashtuns who speak Dari. Other Shiites in addition to the despised Hazaras. Sunni Iranian farsi speakers. Uzbek away from home. Afghanistan was always a carousel.

Karzai repeated something pompous liturgy and held voting last year, before a huge sign that he clings to a child. The catacombs of propaganda. Just answer a question and goes on wings, wrapped in their commands.

Few Afghan leaders have died in bed, and Karzai is a permanent tension guess. In a recent book, "Obama's Wars" (Bob Woodward), is said of him who is addicted to drugs, paranoid and depressed. A weirdo, according to a U.S. envoy.

The atmosphere is relaxed immediately. Other leaders arrive. First, the Second Vice President Karim Khalili, Hazara ("hope it is not fraud," trust). Then the other, Mohammed Fahim, who suffered a heart attack two weeks ago. As still reeling, somebody helps you vote.

The Afghan ethnic gap is still in force: Khalili's bodyguards are Hazaras. The Fahim, Tajik pakol adhered to the front and Ak-47 snarling at the thought of a photograph.

With them and the Taliban bullet that fell at dawn near the U.S. Embassy can one assume that the 2010 parliamentary elections have begun in Afghanistan.

The attack at dawn did not feel it I do atribuló, hours before a 6.3 magnitude earthquake and its epicenter in the Hindu Kush mountains that shook the walls of the Heetal and made me jump out of bed. A plane flying low? Have you reached the Fedayeen?

The morning is much quieter Kabuli: all shops are closed. Police are deployed to control the vehicles in the "ring of steel", the pretentious milestones of your safety plan. I'm taking pictures as they approach slowly two white Corollas.

Every time I think of the fedayeen comes to head the photographic image of the Taliban that killed Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan: dark glasses, short hair and Western clothes. The visualized in white Corollas. Admittedly, at times in Kabul gets to a certain uneasiness.

Corollas away and comes a policeman. What do I do recording. My card does not convince you, I registered. Go time for a scuffle. Afghan media have begun to report cases of fraud across Afghanistan, but it will be days before a movie have conclusive.

The Taliban have passed a list of 150 polling stations attacked. Before the day, the Commission decided not to open another 1,000 because he could not guarantee safety. And the Government recognizes that it has a presence in nine districts.

In some schools there have been queues, men on one side, women on the other. But the day ends and the feeling is that people have voted recently. "I do not want to be a journalist," says Obai. "He works hard and without peace." Then goes to a corner to pray and falls asleep.

The staff of Afghan security will speak at 20.00 am in the headquarters of the Electoral Commission. There I find Ibrahimi, a sympathetic journalist Wakht to be pulled after the great slaughter Afghan men. Usually sprout well.

Ibrahimi not know the whereabouts of Habibullah Rafi, but I passed a number of his professor at the University of Kabul, "a poet, a scholar," he says with reverence. If I had time ...

"The Taliban are much weaker. If you look at the violent events that occur, are in many cases mines or IEC, launch missiles, innocent deaths. Kill or threaten ordinary people does not show strength, but weakness, "says the head of the Afghan secret service, Rahmatullah Nadil.

Moralizing responses are a bad enemy of truth.

I leave the building with the defense minister, the former mujahedeen and then Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak. He does not like the press, but you feel like talking.

"Gradually we take responsibility for security in our country. That is our historic responsibility. This is the first time in our history that boys and girls come from foreign soil to defend ourselves. "

"Throughout history, has always been our pride in having defeated all invaders of all the superpowers. And we want to restore this honor again. "

The rhetoric of the device indicates that the Afghan Taliban are paid by Pakistan. The rhetoric Taliban says it is an invasion like Malalai and others.

It's one o'clock and my head burns. I remember a few days so hard.

But the elections have passed and there was no catastrophe: Afghanistan is still here.

Obai reading me by phone a couple of questions in Pashto to the spokesmen of the Taliban. I have little confidence in that answer. ISAF does: "The Taliban are killing more than ever because we are fighting in more places than ever." Something here smacks of tautology.

Between January and June died, according to the UN, 1,271 civilians in the Afghan war. June, with 102 soldiers killed, was the bloodiest month for ISAF troops from entering the country in 2001. In the past three years the Taliban have expanded much of the country, including northern areas before relaxing.

I read in a magazine that decades of war have endangered the snow leopard, exposed to poaching and hunted for their fur. He also talks a photographer who claims to worship the pomegranate juice, apparently the number one commandment "afganidad".

"Anor", ask a shopkeeper. Pomegranate juice. Let's see how it goes.

- Obai, do you know the Faculty of Arts?

- Yes

- I want you and ask if they know anything of Habibullah Rafi.

Afghan culture retains a strong oral legacy. The "moshairas" or poetry readings still meet thousands of people who delight in the "ghazals" and "landays" of their poets. In Jalalabad there every year a "moshaira" especially famous, dedicated to oranges.

"I bring a flower to me. Take it or let me go, "women still sung in the villages, is one in a safe from prying eyes.

Kabul - Jalalabad - Peshawar. A route like pearls on a necklace. Afghanistan still does not recognize the Durand Line, a 2,600 km border drawn by the British in 1893, which halved the Pashtun people. Today separates Afghanistan from Pakistan.

The Electoral Commission has called a press conference at its headquarters in Jalalabad road. There are several Spanish journalists. The Commission has begun to receive envelopes with votes and with complaints. The standard envelopes are white, those of the complaints, brown.

Some 50 people during elections. It seems that everything went well.

As I registered, I ask the guards if they like Shafiq Mureed. The Afghan people are in love with music.

With the call to prayer and the cry of bilal Malalai, oh, I sacrifice myself for my country and my love, my beautiful Afghanistan. I do a little survey: all seguratas the door with the Electoral Commission declared fans the radio format.

The Taliban banned music instruments. Instead, enhanced the "Trana" vocal music sung by boys. As Sajad Abdul Hakim. He sang:

"Take your sword and your gun, now is the time of martyrdom / jihad is necessary for all / come on, march to the trenches, it's time for courage and honor."

After a week negotiating a meeting with the President of parliament, Yunus Qanuni, the choice falls and with it complicates my topic today, an overview of the warlords.

And, Habibullah Rafi was not in his office.

"The war was the case, you you ended up getting used. Walking down your street. Took cover in your yard. They bet on your roof. All we have lived here, "says a student at the University, Farooq. "So we are tough guys," he laughs.

After the Soviet withdrawal, the various Afghan factions were locked dead and pumps for years in the mud of Kabul. Many welcomed the Taliban in 1996 as a way to restore order.

Then they had to let the double b of talibabas, burqas and beards, and disenchanted.

The U.S. invasion in 2001 was as plate tectonics: the majority of warlords aligned with international troops, a few, like Hekmatyar, took to the hills.

The first became respectable men. They reached the Government, Parliament. In 2007, approved an amnesty under which spared the outrages were committed before the fall of the Taliban and the invasion of the country by Western troops.

The poet Abdul Hamid protested Samay then: Come out to the streets! / Because that girl / on the roof of your tent, bathed in blood / was who was playing with your daughter.

"I think you can still get on the black market videos (....) literally killing people," says Emal Haidary.

The Afghan parliament has 249 seats (68 reserved for women). Have made ​​their way leaders like Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, Rabbani Burhunudín, Mullah Ezat, Sayed Ansari, Hazrat Ali, Mohammed Mohaqiq.

He even speculates about whether Hazrat Ali helped Osama bin Laden to escape Tora Bora caves. Obai and I managed to contact Mohaqiq:

The equivalent of "Yes?" Phone is in Afghanistan: "Is it?".

"This is the land of jihad and jihadis are the people who rescued the country from Soviet occupation. They are entitled to stand for election and their existence is good for the people, "said Mohaqiq. He speaks in third person.

Should a democracy forgiving past crimes of those who embrace it?

The Mujahid Taliban responds by saying he does not understand the questions I asked him on grass.

It's Monday.

ISAF has my badge waiting for days. The delivered outside his base near the airport. I must leave today for Afghanistan will be a good idea to pick the way. Voro.

Last year, the ISAF's made me wait 20 minutes in the door. On the civilian side, the outer concrete walls of their headquarters in Kabul. Twenty long minutes with the image of guys in dark glasses and short hair.

This time they were much faster. The cards are ready at the entrance.

- You are patrolling on the street less than last year, right? I ask the soldier in charge of the cards, Lt. Gabriel.

On the street I've only seen a couple of Turkish convoys. A clever move, leaving the Turks in charge. This, come to say those of ISAF, not a war between Christians and Islam. (Then comes a threatening to burn the Koran, all the fret).

'I have no idea. Perhaps it is that now we have become more subtle, says Gabriel while handing me my badge later.

What satisfaction when you find ways.

I leave the red Corolla and I say Nazir. You are very great. Next year, I say, yes that I will talk to Habibullah Rafi. Laughs.

I recorded the keepers of the airport. My suitcase slides slowly through the scanner. The for the police. "What is this?" He says. "A stone?".

Shit.

The blue stone.

- Where are the papers?

- I have no papers. Afghanistan is only a memory. Did they lack papers?

- You are not allowed to travel with her.

Yet I insist. The guard asks me who I am, what I have done in Afghanistan, where I'm going. I say that I'm Spanish ("ah, isbaniya"), I travel to India. I show my cards to prove I'm not lying. Move your hand.

- Dale.

And what satisfaction when you find ways.

A support for Caceres 2016 from Kabul

A video from Kabul (Afghanistan) to support the candidacy of Cáceres 2016 as European capital of culture. We'll make it!

Alleged torture of Pakistan Army

The video shows the alleged beating of Pakistani Army soldiers give to women to several residents of areas under control / or Taliban activity. They know the place and source of the video, but Pakistani troops launched several months intensive operations in the Swat Valley (North) and prepare to do the same in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. It is estimated that several thousand insurgents and civilians have been killed, and hundreds of thousands lost their homes temporarily. The Taliban in Pakistan have acquired a power unimagined a decade ago, the question is whether the treatment given to the army population spurs are not only weakens them. The Army has opened an investigation to determine the authenticity of the video and, if any, of accountability. Pakistan remains the weakest link in the chain.

Afghanistan dreaming of his first symphony orchestra

Kabul, 24 Aug 2009. - The notes of the violins dance noise of the saws at the National Institute of Music in Afghanistan, a block under construction in Kabul who aspires to host a symphony orchestra after years of silence and Taliban ban.
"We do not usually give permission to visit the school. We want to keep a low profile so that the boys do not become a target for the Taliban, "says Efe Afghan Deputy Minister of Education, Mohammad Salim, while overlooking the city center, opposite his window.
The institute is just a skeleton, there are no doors or windows, classrooms are filled with debris and the walls are dozens of bullet holes, witnesses to the fighting between mujahedin for control of the country in the 1990s.
And then, the arrival of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan also condemned to music: the teachers had to go abroad or leave his job and devote to something else, because the banned fundamentalist instruments.
"We started from scratch seven years ago. It remains difficult to attract students, but we have an ambitious and foreign donors to help us, "says the affable director of the school, Mohammed Daud.
The institute is under full reconstruction, but learning not to interrupt the teachers teach some classes in tents lined up in the yard, leaving the irregular notes of violins, saxophones, harmoniums and guitars.
And while the workers and operators are applied to go to shape the new building, in theory take two months, students take advantage of the empty classrooms to rehearse with shyness their first steps in music, no chairs but a lot will.
"I find it easy and I like a lot," says Simagul, a girl of six years studying the harmonium squatting, with the help of a friend and teacher.
"That's me, that's the sun, that's yes," repeated the trainer to Simagul, which is in its first month of school.
The girl, quietly clarifies Daud is one of the twenty orphans who hosts the music center, kids to which the Institute off the streets and shelters to open a bank account that is paid for with donations from abroad.
"Our big problem is that we lack teachers: we only have eight. But we are planning to hire fifteen and eleven more in Afghanistan from abroad, "adds the director.
The lack of professional musicians is one of the sides of the Afghan crisis in education: teachers, Deputy Minister Salim regrets, refuse to teach in areas with presence of the Taliban, and there remains an acute shortage of teachers.
"How many girls are willing teaching if they know that one day the can kill? "asks Salim, referring the Taliban, who oppose to female education, the banned during his regime and attacked in the past several girls' schools.
At the Institute, the 140 children are mixed, although the former are the majority. In the courtyard, a group around an old teacher who explains music theory and goof off in a corner a few, the section of the battery, to Daoud scolds him for not applied carefully enough.
The boys, nice for the camera, early in the morning and arrive at the center until two o'clock, in part with his musical training and learning math or English part ("Bush is former president of America", says one of shales).
"We Afghans instruments, violin, guitar, trumpet, saxophone and piano. But it is true that we only have two pianos, so first-time students, as Simagul should take their first steps with the harmonium, "says Daud.
One of those two coveted pianos Alham Said launches a genius little overboard twelve years to the tune of the movie "The Godfather" serve as a compass saw and the hammer used by workers in the same room, torn 30 years of war.
And while listening to the strains of key and hammer, sighs the director, declaring amateur Beethoven: "Soon, inshallah, we will have a building and an orchestra."

11 Taliban killed election workers and voters fingers cut

Kabul, 22 Aug 2009. - Two days after the Afghan elections, the Election Commission (EC) announced today the death of 11 members at the hands of Taliban, who also cut the fingers of two voters in Kandahar (south) on a day when, according to the EU, participation of women was very limited.
"We have learned that eleven employees of the EC (...) died from brutal attacks by unknown assailants in a deliberate attempt by the enemies of peace", a term with which the Government refers the insurgents, the Commission today in a statement.
The Taliban, who had called for a boycott of the elections, threatened more violence to disrupt the electoral process, the insurgents considered pure "propaganda" American.
And as part of their punishment, at least amputated finger two voters last Thursday in the southern Kandahar, said today an independent electoral body, the Afghan Foundation for a Free and Fair Elections (FEFA).
"One of our observers could see the insurgents cut off the finger with the ink stain two people in Kandahar province, "said Efe council president, Nader Nader.
In a previous press conference, Nader had recognized that its observers witnessed violent actions of the Taliban in its massive campaign of intimidation voters.
The insurgents had threatened to cut off fingers who voted, taking advantage for their votes, and fraud prevention, voters must permeate their rates in indelible ink, which makes them easily identifiable victims.
Although the Afghan elections have not been free of irregularities and south were hampered by the Taliban presence, according to analysts recognize, the Election Commission has ruled out a massive fraud and has promised to look into the allegations.
Just today, for example, the candidate Mirwais Yasini appeared at the luxury Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul headquarters of the observers, with two bags full of ballots his name, and supposedly taken illegally from the polls in the south.
Despite to these allegations, the mission of observers from the European Union in Afghanistan (EUEOM) has given its approval presidential elections, which considers "generally" well organized despite the shortcomings of the process and institutional weaknesses.
"(The Mission) sees the elections as a victory against those who wanted to prevent Afghans decide their own future, "the organization said in a statement today on its website.
Observers who have monitored the electoral process during the past two months, maintain that the Afghan Electoral Commission could "generally" to function effectively, despite some "operational deficiencies and institutional weaknesses."
According to the note, many candidates were able to establish a genuine debate about the country's problems, although the campaign was marred by attacks on electoral bias towards certain candidates and discrimination against women.
"The exercise of civil and political rights of women, both as voters and candidates, was severely limited in the elections despite to be enshrined in the Constitution, "the EU mission in the statement.
The mission oversaw the transparency of the elections with the presence in the votes of a large number of foreign and Afghan observers.
Some 17 million people were called to the polls to elect the country's president and interim board members on a day that left fifty dead, 21 of them insurgents, according to official.
In the absence of definitive data, Electoral Commission sources estimate that the turnout was 45 to 50 percent of registered citizens and look forward to the first preliminary results next Tuesday.
Afghanistan is a country without a census, with an armed conflict that causes thousands of deaths annually, poor communications also hampered by the terrain, and a high rate of illiteracy.

Climate of insecurity and attacks on the eve of elections in Afghanistan

Kabul, 18 Aug 2009. - Just two days after the presidential elections, the Afghan Taliban back to act today with two suicide bombings that killed at least a dozen deaths and a rocket attack on the Presidential Palace in Kabul, a city on alert and completely taken by the security forces.
The most serious attack took place on the dangerous road leading Jalalabad (east) from Kabul, a frequent target of insurgents because at the exit of the capital are several barracks of U.S. troops and ISAF.
The bomber threw his car into a military convoy of the ISAF, killing seven people and wounded other forty, according to official sources in Afghanistan.
But in a statement, NATO said the last information available "indicates that among the dead soldier of ISAF, seven Afghan civilians and two Afghan employees of the UN mission in Afghanistan", the latter data confirmed by the United Nations.
ISAF also increased the number of injured to 55, including two NATO military.
The attack was condemned by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, hours after two rockets fell near his palace without causing casualties.
And, according to a police source consulted by Efe, another suicide attack claimed the lives of two civilians and three Afghan soldiers and wounded five other people in the central-southern Uruzgan, where the Taliban have a strong presence.
This month there have been several attacks and rockets fired from the outskirts on Kabul, a relatively isolated city of armed conflict and where people still remember the martyrdom to which they were subjected during the civil war in the 1990s and live almost daily with attacks.
Attacks like today against ISAF convoy and other military installations or headquarters official charged whenever a majority of casualties among civilians in the vicinity.
On the eve of elections, Kabul is taken by thousands of army soldiers, police and private security guards armed with "Kalashnikov" or machine guns to protect important buildings.
The embassy area with successive passage controls and strategic buildings are walled with thick barbed wire and concrete blocks to protect themselves from attacks by the Taliban, who have demonstrated their ability to hit l to city.
"Security said Efe the chief of the Afghan secret service, Amrullah Saleh-like bread. A well you need without ceasing. Will forever be our concern and we will need is a good time. Our actions and efforts will not stop after the elections. "
The massive presence of security forces has not dented the perception of Afghans: According to a recent study by the American Institute IRI, security is one of the two main problems in Afghanistan for 56 percent of citizens polled, 21 points above the economic situation.
"I have it (the gun) for safety. Here in Kabul there are constant robberies and kidnappings, "says Efe a 22 year old Tajik concerned about rising crime, while wielding a Beretta 9 mm Italian Parabellum inside a car.
According to various reports, the Afghan roads are infested with bandits who ambush truckers and travelers, without being clear on many occasions the border separating the insurgent Taliban common criminal.
"I'm not sure, of course not. Police are not active and has no equipment to solve problems. Kidnappings and robberies are perpetrated by people Kabul in uniform. Corruption is one hundred percent, "says Mohammad Nader businessman in the capital district of Makroyan.
Before the Taliban threat and climate of generalized insecurity, foreign embassies in Kabul rush to advise its citizens to take precautions, especially during the election period.
“Conviene salir sólo lo imprescindible, vestirse de forma que no llame la atención, lo menos elegantemente posible. El nivel de alerta es permanente y no hay que bajar la guardia”, dijo a Efe una fuente diplomática.
En Afganistán hay unos 100.000 policías, pero la mayoría están mal formados y equipados, tienen salarios bajos y apenas cuentan con infraestructuras adecuadas, expuso a Efe el portavoz de la misión policial de la UE en Afganistán (Eupol), Andrea Angeli.
Sólo en la capital, hay unos 8.500 agentes encargados de velar por el orden, pero según Angeli son precisos muchos más en una ciudad asolada por los robos y los secuestros, con los empresarios y los extranjeros como objetivos principales.

Finish the campaign with a massive rally Taliban opposition and called for a boycott

Kabul, 17 ago 2009.- Miles de afganos marcharon hoy hasta el estadio de Kabul para dar su apoyo al principal candidato opositor, Abdulá Abdulá, en el último día de la campaña para las elecciones presidenciales de Afganistán, en el que los talibanes reiteraron su llamada al boicot.
Las elecciones, en las que parte como favorito el actual presidente, Hamid Karzai, tendrán lugar el próximo día 20 en un clima de completa incertidumbre por las amenazas de los insurgentes talibanes, que las calificaron de “propaganda” norteamericana en un comunicado colgado en Internet.
Los talibanes negaron que hayan alcanzado pacto alguno para permitir el proceso -las autoridades habían anunciado uno en julio en la occidental Bagdhis- y aseguraron que “la mayoría de Afganistán” está bajo control suyo, por lo que “no hay posibilidad de celebrar elecciones”, dijeron, “salvo en unas pocas ciudades y centros provinciales”.
Pese a la amenaza integrista, miles de personas con gorras y banderas celestes acudieron hoy al estadio de la ciudad para arropar a Abdulá, un odontólogo y ex ministro de Exteriores al que las encuestas sitúan como principal rival de Karzai.
El propio candidato llegó hasta el estrado entre empellones y arrastrado por una horda de seguidores que su guardia privada -un grupo de tayikos armados con “kalashnikov”- apenas pudo contener, hasta el punto de que varias personas sufrieron contusiones.
En el estadio, los seguidores de Abdulá proferían gritos de apoyo para su candidato, un antiguo lugarteniente de Ahmed Shah Masud -el líder de la Alianza del Norte asesinado por integristas en 2001-, cuyas fotografías dominaban el estadio.
“Todo el mundo en Afganistán quiere un cambio y estamos seguros de que ganaremos”, dijo a Efe un portavoz de la campaña, mientras un helicóptero blanco arrojaba panfletos sobre el estadio para delicia de los asistentes, con un mensaje a favor del cambio.
La última encuesta conocida, publicada por el instituto estadounidense IRI, otorga a Abdulá un 26 por ciento de los votos, por detrás del 44 por ciento adjudicado a Karzai, resultado que llevaría a los dos candidatos a una segunda vuelta.
“Ayudaré a la juventud, todos debéis apoyarme para el desarrollo nacional de Afganistán. Ayudadme a ganar y yo os ayudaré”, se desgañitaba el candidato ante los micrófonos mientras la multitud coreaba su nombre y llamaba “inútil” a Karzai.
Según los expertos, el voto de Abdulá, de padre pastún y madre tayika, procederá sobre todo de los miembros de esta última etnia, la segunda del país y masiva hoy en el estadio de Kabul, el lugar que usaban los talibanes para ajusticiar a los reos.
Las elecciones presidenciales están marcadas precisamente por la amenaza de boicot de los talibanes y sus intentos por desbaratar el proceso con acciones, como el atentado del sábado ante el cuartel general de la ISAF en Afganistán, que causó siete muertos.
Aunque el Gobierno ha prometido movilizar todos sus recursos para proteger los comicios, el ministro afgano de Interior, Mohamed Hanif Atmar, reconoció a Efe este domingo que sus fuerzas no serán capaces de garantizar la seguridad al cien por cien.
En su carrera por proclamarse vencedor sin necesidad de segunda vuelta -para lo que necesita más del 50 por ciento de los votos-, Karzai dedicó el día de hoy a descansar y su equipo anunció la retirada de cuatro candidatos que darán su apoyo al presidente.
“Nos reunimos con él y vimos que está comprometido con la democracia y el desarrollo de Afganistán”, dijo a Efe uno de ellos, el doctor Nasín Anís, quien negó haber negociado un puesto en un hipotético futuro Gobierno de Karzai.
El presidente, pastún, ha sumado hasta ahora una decena de apoyos de candidatos y apuesta por sumar votos de las distintas etnias afganas, aunque sus rivales le acusan de haberse entregado para ello a los caudillos regionales y antiguos “señores de la guerra”.
“Viendo el tipo de participación política y nacional que hemos creado y el hecho de que una decena de candidatos nos apoye, las cosas han funcionado bien”, explicó a Efe el portavoz de la campaña de Karzai, Waheed Omar.
Abdulá visitó hoy por la tarde distintas provincias, como también hicieron los aspirantes Ashraf Ghaní y Ramazan Bashardost, este último un excéntrico candidato que ha dirigido su actividad desde una tienda de campaña en Kabul y se ha aupado hasta la tercera posición en estimación de voto.

Gobierno asume que talibanes practicarán intimidación masiva en los comicios

Kabul, 16 ago 2009.- Las autoridades afganas anunciaron hoy que sus fuerzas observarán un alto el fuego el 20 de agosto, día de los comicios presidenciales, y reconocieron Efe that provide an insurgent campaign of "massive intimidation" with a view the elections.
Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, a colleague of Interior, Mohammad Hanif Atmar, and the head of the Afghan secret service, Amrullah Saleh, staged a press conference to calm things down a day after Taliban attack resulted in seven deaths at the ISAF headquarters in Kabul.
"To say that perfect peace will be difficult, but we must be prepared for every eventuality," he admitted Efe conference after Defense Minister, who promised to "work hard" to ensure the process.
Warzak anunció the media that the Afghan authorities establish a triple safety net, made ​​by the Police, the Afghan army and ISAF the Force (ISAF) for election day.
Según dijo Efe Minister Afghan troops are also to abstain from developing offensive operations on the day of the election, but will answer any possible attack by the Taliban, who have called the population to boycott the process.
The electoral commission has ordered 6,500 polling places, 400 more than in 2004, but there are concerns that insurgents are present mainly in the south and east of the country, commit assaults and attacks to prevent the holding of elections.
La rueda de prensa conjunta se produjo de hecho sólo un día después del atentado suicida perpetrado por un insurgente contra el cuartel general de la ISAF, en pleno corazón de Kabul, que causó la muerte de siete personas y heridas other 91.
The interior minister, Hanif Atmar, said that security forces have foiled 62 attempted attacks in the last six months and ensured the involvement of police in the elections far reaching capabilities.
"We will deploy all our resources to protect our people, 'said a Efe Atmar-. Pero sabemos con seguridad que los enemigos de Afganistán harán lo mismo para herirlos”.
Atmar admitted however that his government can not ensure one hundred percent of the voting security in a time when the Taliban have stepped up their activities and increased its presence new parts of Afghanistan.
Los insurgentes, embarcados en una campaña de asesinatos y ataques contra los activistas políticos y los candidatos -sobre todo en áreas rurales- han llegado issuing threatening pamphlets citizens who decide a emitir su voto el próximo día 20.
“Sabemos -añadió Atmar- de que los talibanes recurrirán a la intimidación masiva, atentados terroristas, bombas suicidas y atacar los convoyes y las personas con material electoral”.
Front provided to insurgent actions, the head of Afghan intelligence services (National Directorate of Security) revealed a Efe que su organización está desarrollando tareas para fomentar la participación y movilización de los votantes.
"We are going a los líderes de las tribus para que nos ayuden to mobilize people. The proof is that yesterday in Helmand (south) a candidate was able to gather a crowd at an event just 24 hours after a suicide attack, "confided Amrullah Saleh, referring a rally of the current president, Hamid Karzai.
"It's not necessarily support a un candidato en particular, sino de que aumente la participación”, añadió.
Ni Saleh, ni Wardak ni Atmar pudieron cuantificar en cuántos de los 6.500 centros electorales será imposible garantizar la seguridad, aunque una observadora de la Unión Europea aclaró Efe that so far no evidence of fraud in the campaign.
Según las encuestas, el actual jefe del Estado, Hamid Karzai, cuenta con una amplia ventaja en estimación de voto sobre sus rivales, aunque con un porcentaje que no llega al 50 por ciento necesario para ser declarado presidente en la primera vuelta.

El viraje democrático del viejo talibán

Kabul, 16 ago 2009.- El singular candidato “Rocketi”, antiguo comandante talibán reconvertido a la causa de la democracia afgana, destaca entre la cuarentena de rivales de Hamid Karzai en las próximas elecciones a la Presidencia y apela a los insurgentes a “dejar el desierto” y seguir su ejemplo.
Bautizado “Rocketi” por su manejo de los proyectiles en sus tiempos de “muyahidín” contra la ocupación soviética, Abdul Salam gesticula con seriedad ante cientos de hombres barbados -la mayoría, pastunes- que han viajado desde el sur y el este de Afganistán para escucharle.
“Rocketi” ocupó un alto cargo del Ejército talibán durante los años de Gobierno integrista, aunque en la caída del régimen entregó sus armas y se convirtió a la causa democrática tras un paso de nueve meses por la cárcel, ya con las tropas extranjeras en el país.
“No llevo la cuenta de cuántos cohetes habré lanzado en mi vida -ironiza “Rocketi” en una entrevista con Efe, poco después de un mitin capitalino-. Pero en Afganistán ya es tiempo de paz. Toca negociar con los talibanes”.
Tras luchar contra los soviéticos, enrolarse en los talibanes y acudir luego al Parlamento afgano, “Rocketi” mide estos días sus posibilidades como candidato a la Presidencia de Afganistán en las elecciones del próximo día 20 de agosto.
Y el auditorio, compuesto por cientos de hombres con turbantes, de luengas barbas, y seis mujeres en “burka”, lanza gritos de “Alá es grande” como apoyo a las promesas del ex comandante talibán: justicia islámica, paz, tolerancia cero con la corrupción, seguridad y trabajo.
“Rocketi” escucha sentado las encendidas intervenciones de líderes tribales, los poemas de interludio, una carta abierta de un niño y versos cantados sin acompañamiento instrumental, según una tradición musical empleada todavía por los propios talibanes.
Sus seguidores encarnan la parte de Afganistán que se niega a adoptar influencias extranjeras y se aferra a las tradiciones de los pastunes -la etnia más numerosa del país-, basadas en la lealtad a la tribu y una lectura del Islam muy conservadora.
Y por eso se suceden durante el acto los gritos en favor de este antiguo talibán que, como dice un estudiante en el estrado, “ni acepta las costumbres de los extranjeros ni se cambia de ropa sólo porque haya (norte)americanos en Afganistán”.
“Son los extranjeros quienes no dejan que progresemos. Países como Rusia, Irán y Pakistán no permiten el desarrollo afgano. Debemos fortalecer nuestras fuerzas de seguridad para que las tropas extranjeras se marchen de aquí”, se justifica ante Efe el candidato.
Aunque a juicio de los analistas las posibilidades de “Rocketi” son casi nulas -según una reciente encuesta, es uno de los candidatos más impopulares-, su importancia radica en el ejemplo que puede suponer para los talibanes que aún combaten en el país.
El propio presidente afgano y principal favorito en los comicios, Hamid Karzai, ha hecho, como promesa estrella, aunque sin éxito, una oferta de negociación para los talibanes moderados que dejen las armas y entren en el proceso democrático.
“Si Karzai negocia será su mayor éxito. Así terminará la guerra”, dice a Efe entre el público el antiguo “muyahidín” Mohammed Nader, venido desde la provincia norteña de Kunduz, quien por lo demás considera que el gobierno no ha dado satisfacción a los “yihadistas”.
La conversión democrática de “Rocketi”, sin embargo, ha sentado mal a sus antiguos aliados integristas, que en esta campaña han atacado dos veces sus actos y han matado a uno de sus colaboradores, tras instar the population a boicotear las elecciones.
“Son actos erróneos -lamenta malhumorado el ex comandante insurgente mientras se mesa la barba-. Los talibanes de Afganistán deben respetar el proceso democrático y votar a sus candidatos. El pueblo de Afganistán quiere la paz y la estabilidad”.
“Rocketi” dice haberse gastado en la campaña hasta el último céntimo que obtuvo por la venta de su casa, unos 82.000 dólares, pero asegura que merecerá la pena si el desembolso sirve para que Afganistán vuelva a la senda del desarrollo.
Y sus seguidores, entre rezos, claman por el “éxito del valiente 'Rocketi'”, ese polémico y antiguo comandante talibán de Jalalabad que se emplea ahora en que los “insurgentes dejen el desierto” y comiencen a marchar en la misma dirección que los demás afganos.

Un atentado talibán frente al cuartel de la ISAF enturbia la campaña afgana

Kabul, 15 ago 2009.- Los talibanes enturbiaron hoy la campaña electoral afgana con un atentado suicida que causó siete muertos frente al cuartel general de la ISAF en Kabul, perpetrado sólo horas después de un ataque con siete proyectiles contra la base militar española de Herat, en el oeste del país.
A las 08.30 de la mañana (04.00 GMT), un estruendo ensordecedor dejó paso a una densa columna de humo blanco procedente del fortificado barrio de Wazir Akbar Khan y visible desde varios puntos de Kabul.
Allí tienen su sede, entre otros edificios, la embajada estadounidense y el cuartel general de la ISAF -la misión de la OTAN en el país-, hasta donde llegó el suicida a bordo de un vehículo que hizo estallar pese a las fuertes medidas de seguridad.
El Ministerio afgano de Defensa confirmó que el atentado causó la muerte de siete personas y heridas a otras 91, la mayoría trabajadores afganos que esperaban a las puertas del cuartel general de la organización para entrar en el recinto.
En un comunicado, la ISAF reconoció que la explosión acabó con las vidas de varios civiles y que también resultaron heridos varios militares extranjeros, pero sin llegar a precisar el número de víctimas.
El atentado fue reivindicado por los talibanes, cuyo portavoz, Zabiullah Mujahid, aseguró a Efe por teléfono desde un lugar no especificado que el objetivo del suicida era atacar la embajada de Estados Unidos y el cuartel general de la ISAF.
“(El ataque) fue ejecutado con un todoterreno cargado con 500 kilogramos de explosivos”, precisó Mujahid, quien dijo haber causado la muerte de 25 personas.
Los canales locales emitieron imágenes de los equipos de bomberos y los servicios de rescate esforzándose por apagar el incendio causado por la explosión, entre los bloques de cemento y barreras de seguridad que protegen la céntrica zona capitalina.
La ciudad de Kabul está sometida a una fuerte vigilancia de patrullas de la ISAF, tropas afganas y la Policía local, que rodean los edificios gubernamentales y controlan el acceso a las vías donde tienen sus sedes las embajadas extranjeras.
Despite a ello, el aeropuerto de Kabul recibió ayer el impacto de dos proyectiles -según el Ejército estadounidense-, después de que otros ocho cohetes cayeran en la ciudad el pasado 4 de agosto, lanzados desde áreas rurales cercanas a la capital.
En el resto de país, pese al despliegue adicional de tropas con motivo de los comicios, los talibanes han incrementado durante las últimas semanas sus ataques y ayer varios cohetes fueron lanzados sobre la Base de Apoyo Avanzado española por segunda vez en una semana.
El Estado Mayor de la Defensa español (EMAD) detalló en Madrid que fueron lanzados entre las 22.35 y las 22.55 horas locales (18.05 y 18.25 GMT) sobre la base, aunque no se produjeron muertos ni heridos.
Afganistán celebrará el próximo día 20 de agosto las elecciones presidenciales y a los consejos provinciales, pero los insurgentes talibanes han pedido a la ciudadanía que boicotee los comicios y han emprendido ataques contra el proceso por todo Afganistán.
Además de amenazar a quienes voten con cortarles los dedos, los insurgentes han protagonizado saqueos de oficinas de candidatos, han asesinado a activistas y han intentado acabar con las vidas de varios importantes políticos afganos.
El pasado jueves, el ex presidente afgano Burhanudín Rabani, partidario del candidato opositor Abdulá Abdulá, salió ileso de una emboscada talibán contra su convoy cuando viajaba por el distrito norteño de Kunduz.
El candidato a vicepresidente Mohamd Qasim Fahim, un antiguo “señor de la guerra” que concurre en la lista del actual jefe de Estado, Hamid Karzai, sufrió otro ataque similar a finales de julio, aunque también resultó ileso.
“Los enemigos de Afganistán, con estos ataques en vísperas de las elecciones, quieren crear temor en el pueblo. Pero deben saber que los afganos conocen la importancia de ir a votar”, dijo hoy Karzai tras el atentado suicida en Kabul en un comunicado oficial.
Su jefe de prensa, Sediq Sediqqi, confirmó a Efe que Karzai mantendrá sus actos de campaña y mantuvo que los talibanes “no lograrán cambiar la voluntad de los ciudadanos” pese a sus esfuerzos por sacudir el proceso electoral.

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