AAM DISPATCH

This report was created by Muhammed Nawzad, a 23-year old reporter living in Erbil.

AAM is pleased to partner with The Tiziano Project over the next three months in an effort to bring the work of young journalists in Erbil, Iraq before a larger audience. The Tiziano Project provides community members in conflict, post-conflict and underreported regions with the equipment, training and affiliations necessary to report their stories and improve their lives.

Katherine Gypson

On Tuesday, the UN released a report reporting civilian casualties surged by 31% during the first six months of this year compared the same period in 2009 in Afghanistan. The report goes on to blame most of the deaths to the Taliban and other insurgents, while fewer are being killed by coalition forces. With increasing deaths and public sentiment turning against the war in Afghanistan, many people are asking, “Is this war winnable?”

According to Stephen Biddle, Roger Hertog Senior Fellow for Defense Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, early rapid progress lead to overly optimistic sentiment on the part of the military and the government. He compares Afghanistan now to Iraq in June 2007, near the beginning of the surge of American troops. Biddle argues that we must wait through a “fighting cycle” — one year to 18 months to see where we stand in Afghanistan. He cites the current situation in Helmand Province as an example of a successful campaign: the Taliban were kicked out, they tried to re-establish, the Taliban failed and now the province is reasonably stable. If at the end of the current fighting cycle, in places such as Kandahar, or the situation deteriorates in what were once safe havens, it will be hard to sustain public support.

The stakes are particularly high because of Afghanistan’s proximity to nuclear Pakistan. Pakistan’s internal war conflict and access to nuclear weapons leaves no doubt that an unstable Afghanistan could again become a base for launching attacks against the US. Biddle goes on to state that although the deadline for troop withdrawl is August 2011, he thinks the US will not abandon Afghanistan and that may change some perceptions in Afghanistan concerning security and governance.

America Abroad journalist Sean Carberry embeds with the military in Paktya and Khost Provinces in southeastern Afghanistan to see how the counterinsurgency campaign is playing out near Afghanistan’s lawless border with Pakistan. Listen >

Javier Barrera Afghanistan

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, meeting with Vietnamese leaders Thursday in Hanoi, expressed concern about the status of human rights in the country. She met with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem and made comments on the jailing of democracy activists, attacks on religious groups and curbing Internet social network sites. From The New York Times:

“Vietnam, with its extraordinary dynamic population, is on the path to becoming a great nation, with unlimited potential,” Mrs. Clinton said in her opening statement at a news conference, as Mr. Khiem stood stone-faced next to her. “That is among the reasons we expressed concern.”

Four years after the U.S. removed Vietnam from the CPC (Countries of Particular Concern) list, Vietnam has made small but important strides when it comes to religious freedom. The Vietnamese government’s recent passage of religious freedom laws provides basic protection to sanctioned religious organizations and is considered a small diplomatic miracle.

America Abroad‘s Matt Ozug traveled to Vietnam for the radio program, The First Freedom, Promoting International Religious Liberty, to look at what U.S. diplomatic pressure has yielded for Vietnam’s faithful. Listen >

Javier Barrera

AAM is pleased to partner with The Tiziano Project over the next three months in an effort to bring the work of young journalists in Erbil, Iraq before a larger audience. The Tiziano Project provides community members in conflict, post-conflict and underreported regions with the equipment, training and affiliations necessary to report their stories and improve their lives.

We’ll publish dispatches and slideshows examining daily life in Erbil, Iraq twice each week. Five Questions will be an ongoing series, with a new slideshow from a different Tiziano reporter each week.

Katherine Gypson

One of AAMTV’s favorite days of the year took place this past weekend: the thirteenth annual Afghan Cup, an event organized by the Afghan Sports Federation that brings Afghan-Americans from all across the country to compete in a weekend of soccer, ping pong, basketball and volleyball tournaments.

The contests always culminate on a Sunday, with a championship soccer game, trophy ceremony and a concert featuring a popular Afghan singer. This year, Najim Nawabi –an Afghan singer famous for his song Kabul Jaan (Kabul Beloved) – played to a packed house of athletes and spectators.

Read more…

Katherine Gypson

An American charter plane, right, and a Russian aircraft at Vienna International Airport 09 July 2010. (Patrick Radosta, Austria Wings, EPA / July 9, 2010)

The largest spy-swap since the end of the Cold War between the US and Russia took place on the tarmac of the airport in Vienna. In the groundbreaking deal, the US transferred ten Russian agents for four people convicted in Russia for spying for the US.

The ten suspects were arrested on June 27th in the US, and one in Cyprus. They were accused of being undercover spies who attempted to penetrate the top levels of US policy-making. The arrests followed a decade-long investigation by US authorities and accuse suspects of attempting to acquire intelligence on nuclear weapons, the global gold market, the CIA, and US foreign and security policy.

AAM talks with several experts to discuss the Russian spy case and its implications. Bios at end of post.

Read more…

Javier Barrera

In the past two days, sentences have been handed down in two homegrown terror cases – the five men from Alexandria, Va. who traveled to Pakistan with the presumed intent of carrying out attacks and Faisal Shahzad, the failed Pakistani-American Times Square bomber.

After a year-long inquiry into American Islam, spanning 75 cities and more than a 100 mosques across the United States, Professor Akbar Ahmed is curious about the point of failure in these mens’ lives.

At a Brookings Institution event launching his new book “Journey into America; The Challenge of Islam,” Ahmed wondered what would make these homegrown terrorists want to blow people up instead of helping them.

“We need to know these answers. I’m not prepared to accept the answer that Islam is provoking this….[the answer is, the young man] is failing, his Imam is failing, his community is failing, his parents are failing. It’s not easy to grow up as a Muslim in post-9/11 America.”

Read more…

Katherine Gypson

While producing PUL – AAM’s weekly interview program for Afghanistan’s Tolo TV – I often come across great background material that illuminates hidden corners of Afghan life.

These reports and papers may ultimately make their way into the final program as a question to a guest or a statistic in the show’s introduction but most of the time they serve as backup research, one piece in the foundation that allows American producers and an Afghan-American host to create a perspective that informs and speaks to an Afghan audience.

We recently taped three new shows for Afghanistan. The first episode looked at a topic that’s just beginning to get widespread attention in Afghanistan: environmental issues. Before the Soviet Invasion of 1979, Afghanistan had a reputation as being “the orchard of Asia.” More than thirty years later, the country faces almost every environmental challenge possible: from air pollution in rapidly expanding cities to severe droughts and deforestation in rural areas.

Read more…

Katherine Gypson

This week marks the 164th annual Bathini Fish festival in Hyderabad, India, which draws tens of thousands of asthmatics seeking a cure in the form of a wad of herbs, administered in a small, live fish. The medicine’s been administered for generations by the Bathini family. So, in their honor, an audio slide show from a… never-broadcast radio piece:

America Abroad producer Matt Ozug traveled to Hyderabad, India for the radio program, Diplomacy Under Fire.

Matt Ozug

April 5, 2010

FOB WARRIOR, KIRKUK, Iraq

The “alarm” went off a little early this morning. At 5:47 am, I heard a buzzing sound followed by, “Incoming, Incoming, Incoming!”

By the time I hopped out of my sleeping bag and grabbed my pants, I heard a dull thud in the distance. Whatever it was, it was either small or far… or both. That was it. No further alarm, and I don’t yet have any info on what happened. But, since I’m up 30 minutes early, I figured I’d upload a photo blog of Saturday’s mission.

Saturday’s itinerary involved visiting three villages with the Combined Security Force. The troops gathered in the late morning, conducted their mission brief, and set off to the west of Kirkuk City.

The mission was to speak with village elders about local conditions, their needs, and what the Alpha Company of the 1-30, and the US military more broadly can do to improve quality of life in the villages. The CSF provided security as the US civil affairs and Alpha Company troops walked through the villages and spoke with the elders.

While all of the villages need medium to long-term assistance with water or roads, the CSF has been authorized to provide quick impact projects. In each village, the elder was presented with a choice of one option among these four: school supplies, a soccer field, painting of a public building like a school or mosque, or trash cleanup.

The first village was New Dibak Tappah. It’s a Kurdish village that’s under construction. Funded by the Kurdish Regional Government to resettle exiles.

The second village was Old Dibak Tappah. It’s now an Arab village, but in the past was mixed. However, the Kurds that were displaced did not return – many instead going to New Dibak Tappah. In Old DT, the mukhtar showed the soldiers the trash and sewage problems in the village.

The third village was Adleia – a very small community of Arabs – who interestingly voted for the KRG list in the election, simply because they were the only ones who came to the village to campaign.

The people of Old Dibak Tappah and Adleia all say they were forced to flee by Saddam back in the 1980s.

Sean Carberry Combined Security Force, Kirkuk, New Dibak Tappah, Old Dibak Tappah, raq