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As a newlywed, Maryams husband promised to let her finish her university degree. Then she got pregnant, and everything changed.

For a week, I was in shock. If my husbands family knew I was pregnant, they would never let me finish university, Maryam said.

So she acted promptly. She found a midwife willing to perform a surgical abortion, selling jewellery from her dowry to raise the required 250,000 afghanis (2,900).

At the clinic, something went wrong. Maryam ended up in hospital where she awoke to find her husband shouting angrily: Why did you do this? Why did you kill my child?

The punishment started as soon as she was discharged. In Afghan society, abortion is seen as a blot on a familys honour; Maryams husband defended his by beating her viciously and shaving her head.

To show I was a whore, she said.

Maryams story is not uncommon. Abortions in Afghanistan are severely stigmatised, and rarely legal. Yet, according to health workers, the number of Afghan women resorting to illegal, unsafe abortions is consistently growing, partly due to an increased number of trained midwives in the country.

One sign that abortions are becoming more widespread is the price, which has dropped since Maryam had her abortion four years ago. Clinics now charge15-20,000 afghanis for a surgical procedure, while a medical abortion costs about 6,000. For young, often unemployed women it is a hefty but not always ruinous fee.

Karima had been a nurse in Kabuls Karte Se district for three months before she discovered what went on in the clinics closed-off rooms.

At first, she was ridden with guilt. One particular memory, of flushing a four-month-old foetus down the toilet, still haunts her. But, she says, she discovered that abortions save more lives than they take.

The honour of these girls is more important than religion. If I dont do anything for her, it will be shameful for her family. They might kill her, Karima said.

Among those who come to Karimas clinic for abortions are single women with boyfriends, wives with drug-addicted husbands, and couples too poor to care for a child.

The honour of these girls is more important than religion

If they were legal, abortions would be much safer, she said. Sometimes Im afraid the police will find out. But I am happy to help save the honour of the girls, especially those who are not married.

Another midwife, Laila, said abortions have become more commonplace in recent years. She said she has performed more than 50.

Sometimes I feel guilty; when the babies are over five months old, Laila said.

In Afghanistan, abortions are legal to save a mothers life or if the child will be born with severe disabilities. In rare instances, women can also get an abortion if deemed too poor to raise a child. That judgment is up to a religious council.

Perhaps surprisingly, councils in Taliban-controlled areas are most likely to justify an abortion based on poverty, said Farhad Javid, country director for Marie Stopes International, the leading post-abortion care provider in Afghanistan. Communities under Taliban influence are often desperately poor and burdened with large numbers of children, Javid said.

His charity recently launched Afghanistans first advert for post-abortion care in Afghanistan.

Marie Stopes International, along with organisations such as the Afghan Family Guidance Association, an affiliate of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, provides post-abortion care only for women who undergo legal procedures in government clinics.

Marie Stopes also trains midwives and nurses, and imports an annual haul of 100,000 Misoprostol tablets, an abortion drug available at private clinics. Misoprostol is safe to use within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy but, because it is more affordable than a surgical procedure, many women will use it, illegally, far beyond the recommended period.

For most women, though, the only available abortions are illegal, in private health clinics, at the hands of untrained nurses.

Afghanistan has one of the worlds highest birth rates. The number of mothers who die from pregnancy-related complications is also at the upper end of the scale.

Unsafe abortions can be hard to conceal because they often result in complications.The stigma that follows can be deadly.

Unfortunately, [pregnant] girls can get killed by parents. If we facilitated services for them, we could save the lives of these girls, said Javid.

I think the midwives and doctors are making a big mistake. God will never forgive them

Shabana, 16, had an abortion after her brother-in-law raped her. I am the victim, but I am a criminal, she said.

Shabanas sister did not believe her husband would rape her. Neither did the teenagers parents: as punishment, they banned her from leaving the house.

Marriage is now a distant dream. Everyone knows she had an abortion. Her reputation as a non-virgin will deter most potential suitors.

What was my crime? Shabana said. I am in jail, a jail my family made for me.

Without education about contraceptives, unsafe abortions become a form of birth control. There are no precise statistics for Afghanistan but one in eight annual maternal deaths worldwide roughly 50,000 women is caused by unsafe abortions.

Even among staff at clinics, opposition to abortion runs deep. In one of them, Tajwar has worked for five years as a cleaner. It took her two years to discover what was actually going on. One day, a teenage girl came to the clinic, crying. After her operation, Tajwar cleaned the room and noticed a large pool of blood.

I dont agree with abortion. I think the midwives and doctors are making a big mistake. God will never forgive them, she said. I have thought about calling the police, but then I remember my young children. If I lose my job, who will take care of them?

Despite the countrys laws, prosecution for abortion is rare. Judgment is primarily social.

Maryam was forced to sleep for seven months in a cold, unfurnished room before she was sent back to her parents. For months, she begged her husband to take her back. He refused, and remarried. Four years later, at 23, Maryam still struggles with depression, compounded by damage done to her reproductive organs by the botched abortion. She can no longer conceive.

Some names have been changed to protect sources identities

Link:
'I am a criminal. What is my crime?': the human toll of abortion in Afghanistan - The Guardian

Russia turned the heat up on its counter efforts to tame U.S. influence in the region, especially to the north-ward of Afghanistan. The counteractions from Moscow went apace after 2014 when Russia came to the sense that U.S attempts to perpetuate and enlarge presence.

In the last two years, the ISISs expansion in Afghanistan which is mainly pointed to Russia was not so subtle. The rise of ISIS in parts of Afghanistan coupled with Afghan governments apparently no all-out crackdown on burgeoning militant hotspots rest assured Russia to act unilaterally or align itself with heavyweight regional powers.

At long last, Russians discovered that Taliban and other belligerent groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan are projects endless in sight. Mostly under new Afghan government, Islamic State, in particular, started to encroach into Afghan borders with Central Asian countries.

In January, Moscow hosted a trilateral peace conference on Afghanistan with Pakistan and China and brushed aside the Afghan government. Afghan officials blasted the Moscow-led Afghan talks and described it inconclusive without involvement of Afghanistan.

To appease Afghanistan for exclusion in the first talks, Moscow called Afghanistan along with India and Iran on the top of pre-conference participants to its February peace negotiation on Afghanistan. Russias initiative seems to be a striking tit for tat approach for the last years U.S-led Quadrilateral talks on Afghanistan where Afghanistan, Pakistan and China were on board.

Involvement of Afghanistan in Russias February conference suggested it is in no row with Afghan government, nor it counts on it because Moscow has found out that the Afghan government has stoked insurgency and facilitated floods of rebels into where that poses a direct security menace to Russia.

Moscow is heavily engaged in conflicts, largely in Syria and it has a profound idea that waging a single war comes too costly. Admittedly, Russia backs down to avoid clash, but it doesnt mean it is unwilling to stand up to gauntlets thrown by its nemesis. To build up defensive capability amid ISISs arrival into northern Afghanistan provinces, Russian president Vladimir Putin in a meeting with his Tajik counterpart the other day declared that it would send reinforcement to Tajik border with Afghanistan.

Russia feels bullied by intensifying insurgency in Afghanistan and allows itself to build own regional coalition as a display of power to the U.S. It is quite surprising that Moscow warmed to Pakistan, an all-weather U.S. ally, in an attempt to hold ISIS back. Last year, Moscow and Islamabad came together to stage military drills, even as Russia is conscious of Pakistans support of Jihadists against Soviet forces in Afghanistan.

In so doing, Moscow work out to get a fairly large foothold in terrorism-related talks and plans and subdue part of the U.S-led movement bearing down on Russia. While it embraces the fact it may not win the entire game in its favor, it is a dominant voice in the world and able to turn many potential powers into its bloc in the war against the U.S.

Russia could dazzle powerful countries in the region by being one of the largest manufacturer of military arms and hardware and this characteristic is enabling it to have important actors around it. It is open to become an alternative source for those who turn back to United States. As part of this bid, Moscow might have tabled some offers to the states involved in the latest Moscow talks on Afghanistan. Any such development by Russia could purposefully or spontaneously question the hegemony and over-dominance of the U.S. in the great region.

Getting in touch and negotiation with the Taliban and the United States closest ally Pakistan was among top items of Moscows agenda in an effort to show up potential of wresting its proxies in the region and take lead of a similar rebel force against its strongholds in Afghanistan.

The U.S. has demonstrated it over time that it is tough on sharing power and prefers confrontation. If the current Russia-U.S. diplomatic efforts and cold war derails into hot war and the use of arms, Afghanistan may really become another Syria and this is probably when the ongoing Russias non-U.S. and U.S.s non-Russia counterbalance and the so-called Afghan peace dialogue go from bad to worse and to a tipping point where a direct or proxy war is on the cards.

Russia is emboldened to say that if the United States comes along great distance with hyped fears of being threatened by terrorism in Afghanistan, so does Russia feel unsafe.

Russias posture towards the Afghan government has appeared as though it regards it a player into the hands of U.S. It may not be in pursuit of subverting the Afghan government, but it takes the failure of Afghan government and the U.S. seriously in fighting ISIS affiliates influx into northern Afghan provinces.

Russia is strongly unwilling to step military in Afghanistan, not just out of bitter defeat and exit in 1989, but mostly to avoid sparking another fire.

Russia saw a barrage of criticism in Afghanistan over outright support of Taliban against ISISs surge. It was quite impetuous to reveal its relationship with Taliban which made room for Western media to take after Russias support of terrorists.

It is not a war of Taliban or ISIS; it is rather confrontation of powers and superpowers in Afghanistan in the cover of extremists. Whenever a warring side plans to give a kick to the other, it channels it through radical groups. Afghan war is not just fought between Russia and the U.S., it is as well flared up by Pakistan-India hostilities and occasionally by Saudi-Iran feud.

Moreover, the United States interests are not just running counter to Russias; it also clashes with Britains stakes in Afghanistan. The starkest example of this conflict of interest is the latest deployment of U.S. marines in southern Helmand province.

Why Helmand? Isnt it for what the province is globally famous? Yes, drug and the rare earth elements (REEs).

In the United States viewpoint, the Britain has had enough of drug trafficked out of Afghanistan and now it cant take it anymore. Helmand province is still under heavy fire despite being massively stationed by British forces in more than one-and-a- half decade long war. The U.S. marines deployment amid no promising security developments suggests it seeks to shrink British militarys engagement and run over part of that lucrative territory.

Vladimir Putins special envoy for South Asia, Zamir Kabulov in an interview with Turkeys Anadolu agency in January voiced concern over the number of United States military bases and continued presence in Afghanistan. He added that if Russia does the same in Mexico, it would be disturbing for America. In a more rhetoric part of interview, he said

Come on, you are not talking to stupid people, we know the reasons [for the ongoing U.S. military presence in Afghanistan]. Russia will never tolerate this.

His remarks give away the ground realities behind U.S. military bases which are primarily aimed to Russia. The rare verbal attack reveals that the tension between duos still runs high. From a Russian perspective, the U.S. keeps riding its operations in Afghanistan in a nonchalant way.

Referring to U.S.-Afghan Bilateral Security Agreement, he said he warned Afghans from the very beginning that it may have implications for our bilateral relations if the U.S. uses this infrastructure against our national interest.

They [Afghan government] said the Americans had promised. Well, we know the value of American promises, he added. Such a move would not be an invasion in terms of a U.S.-Afghanistan bilateral security agreement.

What he meant here was that the U.S. legalized its invasion and is closely intertwined with the government of Afghanistan.

Masud Wadan is an author and researcherbased in Kabul

Read the original:
The ISIS Expansion in Afghanistan Is Pointed at Russia - Center for Research on Globalization

By Air Force Maj. Jon Quinlan, 507th Air Refueling Wing

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla., April 25, 2017 A group of citizen airmen from the 507th Security Forces Squadron here deployed March 31 to Kandahar Air Base, Afghanistan, to support the Afghan air force in its fight against insurgents in support of NATOs Resolute Support mission.

For the next six months, the team will be part of a fly-away security team. Air Force FAST teams are made up of security forces airmen who travel with aircraft to provide extra security around unsecured overseas airfields.

As a civilian, Air Force Senior Airman Casey Jardot of the 507th SFS is a research technician at an oil and gas company. This is his second deployment. He left the Marine Corps to join the Air Force Reserve, and said he is excited to go downrange to perform a vital security mission.

Its important because we are there to show a presence of force and relieve active duty, Jardot said. We do so much as reservists. Weve got to go to the fight.

Part of the fight is protecting personnel, multi-million dollar aircraft and sensitive equipment. When air missions depart, security forces travel with the aircraft to protect the mission and provide full security overwatch at forward operating bases.

The defenders also provide security for air advisors while training and advising Afghan security forces at Kandahar Air Base.

The airmen trained for several months in preparation for this deployment, said Air Force Tech. Sgt. Kathelene Mercado, the 507th SFS unit deployment manager. As reservists with civilian careers and families, time management and prioritization of training are key elements in preparation for deployments.

This mission still exists. The threat is still real, she said. We sent out a well-trained team to accomplish the mission.

The commander of the 507th SFS, Air Force Maj. Richard Martin II, said farewell to both groups as they departed Oklahoma City, stating that he would go anywhere at any time with his deploying team.

They sacrifice a great deal, he said. It never ceases to amaze me as long as Ive been doing this job. I watch mothers and fathers hand over their infants and toddlers to go do something they feel very strongly about. That sacrifice they make for the greater good is tremendous.

Fellow defenders from the 507th SFS joined the airmen at the airport to show their support and to bid them farewell. When Jardot and his team boarded the plane, he said even though he felt sad to leave his family, he felt anxious to support the mission.

The rest is here:
Air Force Reservists Serve in Afghanistan > U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ... - Department of Defense

New York Times

2 Top Afghanistan Military Officials Resign After Taliban Attack New York Times BALKH, Afghanistan The Afghan defense minister and the army chief of staff both resigned on Monday as the government faced mounting pressure over a Taliban sneak attack that killed more than 160 soldiers last week. The resignations, followed by ... Top U.S. General in Afghanistan Sees Russia Sending Weapons to TalibanU.S. News & World Report Taliban attacks US base as Mattis flies into AfghanistanCBS News US general in Afghanistan suggests Russia arming the TalibanWashington Post Sacramento Bee -New York Magazine -NBCNews.com -New York Times all 860 news articles »

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2 Top Afghanistan Military Officials Resign After Taliban Attack - New York Times

NPR

Corruption Limits Security In Afghanistan, Ex-State Department Officer Says NPR Let's examine the political side of the security equation in Afghanistan. To discuss U.S. strategy, Rachel Martin talks to Kael Weston, ex-political adviser to Marine units in Iraq and Afghanistan. Facebook; Twitter. Google+. Email ...

Link:
Corruption Limits Security In Afghanistan, Ex-State Department Officer Says - NPR