Karzai admits failure to deliver justice

Kabul: Afghan President Hamid Karzai yesterday admitted his Western-backed administration was unable to deliver justice to the people, despite decade-long international efforts to rebuild the war-torn nation.
Led by the United States, the international community has pumped billions of dollars into Afghanistan since the Taleban’s Islamist regime was toppled in a 2001 invasion, and NATO has 130,000 troops defending Karzai’s government.
“No doubt there has been lots of progress in governance, in delivering service to the people. The government, the parliament and the courts have better capabilities compared to 10 years ago,” Karzai said in a speech as he inaugurated an association of Afghan women judges.
“But are we in the place that the people desire, are we in the place to heal the pains and suffering of the Afghanistan people in a way that the people desire? No.
“The reason that the people of Afghanistan in the villages and across the countryside, (even) in the cities, still seek justice through the traditional method is because the government neither has the ability to provide that justice nor can it be addressed on time.
“And sometimes — I hope it’s only sometimes, not most of the times — instead of getting justice, they are getting injustice.”
Because of corruption in the courts many Afghans prefer traditional justice systems, often local community councils, to settle their disputes.
In parts of the country where Taleban insurgents are most active, the villagers turn to the Taleban’s harsh interpretation of Islamic sharia law.
The public execution of a young woman for adultery last month, captured on a video which showed a crowd of cheering men watch as she was shot dead, drew international condemnation.
Karzai’s admission came as the US-based Human Rights Watch issued its own condemnation of Afghanistan’s justice system, saying UN studies have shown “prosecutors and judges to be among the most corrupt officials in Afghanistan.”
“Afghanistan’s justice system in both military and civilian trials remains weak and compromised, in spite of over 10 years of donor assistance,” the rights group said.
Its comments came in a statement urging France to call on Karzai to commute the death sentence handed down this week to an Afghan soldier for killing four French troops in January.
Meanwhile, a Taleban bomb attack yesterday destroyed 22 fuel tankers carrying supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan, local officials said.
A pre-dawn explosion triggered a fire which engulfed the trucks, parked in the northern province of Samangan overnight on their way from Uzbekistan toward NATO forces in the south, Samangan deputy governor Ghulam Sakhi Baghlani said.
“The first explosion resulted in a fire which quickly engulfed as many 22 trucks,” he said, adding that three drivers were also injured in the blaze.
NATO was forced to make greater use of more expensive northern supply routes after Pakistan banned NATO traffic following a botched US air strike which killed 24 Pakistani soldiers last November.
Taleban insurgents fighting to overthrow the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai claimed responsibility for the attack, saying several private guards were killed.
A spokesman for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said initial reports showed 24 tankers were destroyed after an improvised bomb attack.
But he said he could not immediately confirm that the civilian tankers were carrying fuel for ISAF, which relies on contractors to move many of its supplies.
ISAF spokesman Brig. Gen. Gunter Katz said this week that there had been an increase in insurgent attacks in Afghanistan recently.
“Generally, in the past 12 weeks, we have a slight increase, 10 percent, of insurgent attacks on Afghan security forces and international troops,” he told a news conference.
Two NATO soldiers were killed in an improvised bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan yesterday, ISAF said in a statement, taking the total number of deaths this year to at least 242, according to a tally by the icasualties.org website.
Two others were injured in a helicopter crash in western Afghanistan. The cause of the incident was under investigation, the coalition said.
NATO has about 130,000 troops helping the government of President Hamid Karzai fight a Taleban insurgency, but they are due to withdraw by the end of 2014.