Afghan Warrior

Yesterday's suicide attack was the first suicide attack against the Afghan National Army. The attack occurred in front of the KMTC (Kabul Military Training Center) and killed 12 officers and soldiers and a civilian. It was around 4:30 in the afternoon. The KMTC officers and NCOs usually get off from work at 4:30pm and their vehicle parking is in front of the base. According to the eye witnesses, the man who carried the suicide attack was dressed in military uniform and when three buses were full of ANA personnel and they were ready to drive, the motorbike suicide bomber detonated the explosive device.

According to some ANA source the number of casualties is 15 killed and 40 injured and among the victims there are many civilians also. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and they vowed to carry out more attacks in the future.

It was a very cowardly attack against the Afghan National Army. The enemies are no longer strong enough to fight in the battlefield so therefore they carry out cowardly attacks against the Afghan government and people like roadside bombing killing the parliamentary candidates and other open-minded people. The suicide attacker was dressed in a military uniform and many attacks have been carried out by men in military uniform. The Afghan government should confiscate all illegal military uniforms that are sold in the markets because the terrorists and thieves take advantage of the military uniforms and use them for terror purposes. There must be a big punishment for those who sell military uniforms. All the uniforms should be with the government organizations not with unauthorized people.

We still need the assistance of the Coalition forces.

Terrorism is still a threat in Afghanistan and it is hard for Afghan National Army and National Police to fight the terrorists without the corporation of coalition forces. So we still need the assistance of the US-led coalition forces to defeat the remainder of the of terrorists in Afghanistan.

The Taliban intensified their attacks recently in the southern and southeastern provinces and killed dozens of government officials and religious leaders and it shows that the terrorists are still active and they have vowed to continue their attacks on the foreign and government forces in the country so in my opinion the coalition forces should carry out their military activities but with the consultation of Afghan government. And the government must be informed before conducting any military operation. The military operations should be carried out together with the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police and I think there shouldn't be any operation by coalition forces without the participation of the Afghan National Army and National Police. The joint operations have two benefits. The first one is that the Afghan people know that their new Army is able to fight the enemies and the coalition forces are united with the Afghan Army. The second one is that if there are any house searches in suspicious areas, the searches should be done by the Afghan Army and I think the coalition forces must not search the houses of the locals without informing the local authorities. House searching by coalition forces have been unpopular with most Afghans

The house searching is important in suspicious areas because sometimes the enemies hide themselves and use the local's house as a shelter. During the military operations by the coalition forces between the years 2001-2003, the Afghans didn't mind their houses being searched by the coalition forces because they knew that we did not have enough National Army personal to participate in the military operations but now they know that we have a new army and police so the house searching and some other internal issues should be conducted by the Afghan National Army and police. They want to see their government have more authority but they also support the presence of the US and coalition forces in Afghanistan because it is necessary for several years.

The Afghan people thank the US-led coalition and other foreign forces for helping Afghans to overthrow the Taliban and Al Qaeda and with the help of the United State of America and other friendly countries, Afghanistan has achieved great success in the last four years, including a new constitution, presidential elections, having a new National Army, new National Police and the landmark Parliamentary elections which were the last step towards the restoration of peace and democracy.

Afghanistan's first parliamentary election will be remembered as one of the most important days in the history of Afghanistan. Despite threats from the enemies for the last few months, millions of Afghans rushed towards polling stations to elect their representatives for the parliament. Women equally with men cast their vote. During the Election Day there were separate
polling stations for men and women in capital Kabul and other provinces. But unfortunately most women were not able to vote in Helmand and Zabul provinces even though they were registered, especially in Helmand province because the JEMB did not establish any separate polling stations for the women in 12 districts, but the JEMB officials in Helmand province claim there were no registered women voters so there was no need for establishing the separate polling stations.

Some people did not vote even though they were registered. On the election day I talked with a taxi driver and I asked him if he had voted. He said "not yet". I asked him if he was going to vote. He said "no, because during the presidential election I voted for president Karzai but he did not do anything for poor people we still suffer from the lack of power and drinking water". Some people that didn't vote said most candidates were former commanders and warlords so they don't want to elect them because of their bad past and they said we can not trust the new candidates because we don't know them very well.

In my point of view most people voted for honest and educated people who were not involved in any violence against the Afghan people. I asked my friends and some other people and everyone told me that they voted for new faces, honest and educated people.

Although hundreds of polling stations were established in the cities mostly schools and mosques were used as polling stations, but in the remote areas tents served as a polling station. Voting was slow in the morning but in the afternoon the number of the voters was increased. Except a few attacks from the enemies of peace in the southern and southeastern provinces which killed a dozen people including 2 national police and one French soldier, the situation was under control. Almost 30 attack plans of enemies were detected by the Afghan National Police and National Army in different provinces which prevented the terrorists attacks during the election day. In Ghazni province a vehicle full of explosive device was arrested by national police before it detonated also in Baghlan, Kabul and a few other southern provinces the police arrested a number of foreign terrorists and Taliban attempting to attack the polling stations.

We thank international community and anti-terrorism coalition for their great help and generosity in order to provide financial and security support for the parliamentary election. After almost three decades of war, intervention, occupation and misery, today Afghanistan is moving a step closer to real democracy and stability and it is on a journey towards a peaceful, stable and prosperous society. We hope this election will help us develop our country.

Seven innocent civilians was killed by the enemies of peace and stability when armed rebels stopped their vehicle in Gizab district of Uruzgan province on Tuesday. Unknown armed men killed 7 civilians after they searched the vehicle and passengers and found official documents. It was a very cowardly act of the enemies because these civilians were just carrying voter registration cards and documents for the weekend's parliamentary election and they wanted to cast their vote for a better future of their country and they were not armed men and nor were they goverment officials.

In another incident 3 more civilians were killed and 4 injured including a child by a remote-controlled landmine blast in the Tirinkot district of the same province on Wednesday. In southeastern Zabul province a man was hanged by Taliban rebels on Tuesday. He was an intelligence official working for the district intelligence department. He was captured and killed by the Taliban. He was hanged. After all these killings it is impossible to trust the Taliban. However the Taliban announced that they will not target the polling stations during the election day because they don't want civilian casualties. But the killing of these 7 innocent civilians reveals that the enemies try to deceive the people. So when they kill 7 civilian just for carrying voter cards they will also attack and kill the people during on election day. While the Taliban killing innocent people everyday, in the meantime the government has established a reconciliation program in order to strengthen peace. Over 100 Taliban, including a few top officials have joined the reconciliation program but if they again continue the violence against Afghanistan and Afghan people then this program should be cancled and the government must punish the criminals so that no-one dares to use violence against Afghanistan and the Afghan people. Around 50,000 police together with 20,000 Army and some 30,000 coalition troops are ready to provide security during the parliamentary election so I am sure nothing much will happen during the election and Afghans will peacefully vote and elect their honest representatives.

The people of Afghanistan have not forgotten the deadliest attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon four years ago during which around 3000 people lost their lives. We strongly condemn this cowardly terrorist attack and express our grievous condolences for all American people, especially with those who lost family members, relatives and friends.

I strongly condemn attacks on civilian people and 9/11 attack killed innocent civilians and finished their future hopes for them and their families. This attack was against all human beings because thousands of people from different religions and races lost their lives in this attack and it set families throughout the world in grief for their loved ones. The shocking incident caused the US to decide to fight the terrorists and their partners. During that time the terrorists were the royal guests of Mullah Omar the supreme leader of the Taliban and they made Afghanistan a safe haven for the terrorists where they were training the terrorists. It was the time when Afghanistan and it's people were suffering from the terrorists and thousands of innocent people were killed with charge of belonging to a specific ethnic group. It was the time where Afghans were yelling for help but except a few statements and promises nothing was done to stop the rule of terror. But the 9/11 terrorist attacks opened the eyes of the Americans and the rest of the world so therefore they diecided to fight the terrorists and finish this evil from the earth although it was a bit late.

But it was very good decision to fight and eradicate the terrorists. Islam is a religion of peace but the Taliban with their unique interpretation of religion commited big crimes which Islam does not allow. Such actions are forbidden in Islam but in some countries the Muslims were under pressure and they were beaten and few were killed because they were Muslims. I want to mention that the terrorists are not representing Muslims. That is why they have killed thousands of innocent Muslim civilians in Iraq. I hope all people across the world should know that Muslims are against the terrorists and the terrorists are not representing Muslims. The terrorists have intensified their attacks over the past 6 months in the southern and southeastern parts of Afghanistan which shows the terrorists are still active. We hope the US led coalition together with Afghan National Army defeat and eradicate the terrorists from Afghanistan and we hope that soon the name of the terrorists will be eradicated from entire world.

Three suicide attackers and one passerby were killed and four other passersby were injured when a suicide laden Corolla car exploded. An earlier attack detonated an explosive device to target a coalition convoy in Girishk district of southern Helmand province Wednesday morning. According to the Helmand governor's spokesman, Mohammed Wali, the Taliban planned the suicide attack to target US troops stationed in the area, but the huge explosive device went off before they could detonate on the American troops. He said the car was completely destroyed and that parts of victims' bodies were scattered all over the place and it was impossible to identify the dead bodies and three passersby were also wounded as a result of the failed blast.

In the meantime the Taliban spokesman Latif Hakimi claimed responsibility for a suicide attack and said the suicide attacker was 18 years old and successfully targeted the US troops in the area killing eight soldiers on the spot. But the Afghan authorities rejected the Taliban's claim, saying the aborted suicide attack was to carry the attack on the US troops but it went off early and no American soldiers were killed - the incident coming a day after a dozen Taliban insurgents were killed in operations in the neighbouring Zabul and Kandahar province. It was the third massive attack after the Kandahar suicide attack which killed the police chief of Kandahar. The Afghan and US troops are intensify their attacks. In a recent attack the Afghan troops and coalition forces killed 24 insurgents and captured 61 others. The operations still continue successfully against the rebels in the southern provinces.

Afghan women candidates fac majore problem to run their electoral campaigns, particulary in the south and southeastern provinces. Poor security and financial difficulties are the main problems that the female candidates are suffering from. In some rural areas of the southern and southeastern provinces they can not even attend public meetings because the areas still have a patriachal and traditional systems which are far from the Islam religion because in Islam there is equal rights for men and women. So in these areas the female candidates are facing problems. In some rural areas, women give their speeches via their relatives such as their brother or cousins. Some male candidates are armed and they carry weapons for their security. They have influence. Also they have a police force with them to pull security for them while they run their campaign. But female candidates don't have as many facilities as male candidates to afford security guards and money for their expenses. So therefore campaigning is more difficult for the women candidates.

Discrimination is still seen against women candidates and some female candidates have been threatened. The houses of two women candidates have been burned by enemies. Most female candidates take their family memebers like brothers and cousins as a guard while they run their election campaign, particulary in the rural areas. Under the Taliban regime women were not allowed to work and they were locked in their homes and not able to run any businesses. However since the fall of the Taliban, women can now work, but they have not much promoted in the financial field like men because almost every businesses and positions are on the hands of the men. Security is much better for female candidates in the capital Kabul, but some female candidates complain about financial difficulties and they are not able to run their campaigns as well as male candidates. Some male candidates spend hundreds of dollars to get more publicity.

September's parliamentary elections will be the first time that the Afghan constitution allows women to run for public office and it shows that the women have equal rights to participate in order to rebuild their country. I hope the interior ministry will provide security for female candidates in order to allow them to conduct their campaign in a peaceful environment, particularly in the southern and southeastern provinces. Female candidates are very hopeful of winning seats in parliament. Most people think that women are kinder than men and they have not been involved in any crimes so hopefully there are more chances for female candidates to win seats in parliament.

There are not many candidates from political parties - most candidates are independent - and people will aim to vote for honest and patriotic candidates like they elected their president last year during the presidential elections. There are a lot of worries that Taliban and Al-Qaeda will disturb the election but Afghan security forces and their international allies led by the US-led coalition forces have full preparation to deal with any undesirable situation.

No doubt the upcoming parliamentary election election held on September 18 will be a milestone in Afghanistan's history. These eletions are crucial and determine the political fate of this country which never had any experience of real democracy and will open a new way of resolving problems through dialogue and peaceful reconciliation.