Interview

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US Visas Hold Up Pakistani Help for Haiti

February 9, 2010 in Foreign Aid, Haiti, Interview, Pakistan, Political | 10 comments

Pakistanis have told me that the images coming from the relief effort in Haiti remind them of their own country’s massive earthquake five years ago.  The effects of that disaster still are visible.  But despite Pakistan’s current hardships, some people, such as Abdul Sattar Edhi, are working to send aid to the small Caribbean nation.  Watch the story below:

My interview with Edhi — who is known in some quarters for his humanitarian works as Pakistan’s “Father Teresa” — occurred a few weeks after the earthquake struck Haiti.  I spoke to him by phone today to see if his wait for visas was over.  It isn’t.

Initially, Edhi had gone to the Cuban Embassy in Islamabad to get visas for himself and his fellow team members.  However, he said Cuban officials denied their requests because the U.S. military is managing the traffic in and out of Haiti’s main ports of entry.

Edhi then went to the U.S. Embassy.  He has a permanent Green Card for the United States, but his team members do not.  Today, Edhi said he is frustrated because U.S. officials gave him the impression that his team would not receive any visas for at least six months.

The United States has tightened restrictions on issuing visas during the past few years.  In addition, a U.S. Embassy spokeswoman told me today that humanitarian efforts are not given any special consideration, and everyone has to go through the same process.

So as it stands, there is at least a million dollars and a team of workers with quake experience on stand by, half-a-world away.

What do you think?  I’d love to read your comments below about your views on the situation.

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Pakistan Mindful of Indian Involvement in Afghanistan

January 27, 2010 in Afghanistan, Foreign Aid, India, Interview, Pakistan, Terrorism | 1 comment

I spoke with former Pakistani Foreign Secretary Najmuddin Shaikh, and he says that Pakistan does not think a military strategy can achieve peace in Afghanistan.  Instead, he says Pakistanis believe that they should help promote a political resolution.  Watch the story below:

We also discussed a point that Shaikh says international debates are not covering enough: the Pakistan-India dynamic.

The two nuclear powers have fought three wars against each other over the years.  Now, India is a major donor in Afghanistan, and Shaikh says Pakistani officials suspect India has strengthened its influence in the war-torn country.

The former foreign secretary also says Pakistanis worry that there is a shortage of troops on their eastern border.

A large number of the Pakistani army’s fighting force is now concentrated in the country’s western regions battling Taliban militants.  Shaikh says that if the United States had its way, more Pakistani troops would battle along that border, especially in the North Waziristan tribal area where Jalaluddin Haqqani’s Taliban network is centered.

Coalition commanders say the Haqqani network is a major cause of instability in eastern Afghanistan.  These Taliban fighters fled Afghanistan following the U.S.-led invasion, and now operate largely with impunity from the Pakistani military.

I asked Shaikh if Pakistan views the Haqqani network as a strategic asset in Afghanistan in order to counterbalance India’s influence.

Shaikh replied that Jalaluddin Haqqani was “the most capable commander by my reckoning in the resistance against the Soviets and was certainly someone that the Americans talked to in the aftermath of 9/11.”  He added that the fighting situation could make for “strange bedfellows” if the future of the Haqqani network remains at the forefront of Pakistan’s relationships with Afghanistan and the United States.

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Interview With Afghanistan’s Corruption Czar

November 8, 2009 in Afghanistan, Corruption, Interview, Political | 2 comments

I had the opportunity today to sit down in Kabul with Mohammad Yasin Osmani, the head of Afghanistan’s High Office of Oversight and Anti-corruption.

Maroney Interview with Mohammad Yasin Osmani

Maroney Interview with Mohammad Yasin Osmani

In American parlance, Osmani is Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s “Corruption Czar.”  He is responsible for overseeing the fight against corruption in the Afghan government.

It is a daunting task.  Osmani’s office is less than a year old, and he says it is only 30-percent staffed.  It also is at the center of a storm of international criticism.

I asked him about a recent article in The Times of London, which quoted Afghan officials as saying U.S. President Barack Obama gave Mr. Karzai six months to address corruption or risk losing American support.  Osmani would not comment on the specifics of the article, but he agreed with the six-month time frame for reducing corruption.

He says that within that time, Afghan ministers must examine all their employees to determine if they were hired on the basis of merit or cronyism.

We spoke at length about how his office does not have the authority to investigate or prosecute, it can only “oversee” the strategy to fight corruption.  But he said that with the assistance of Afghanistan’s international partners, including the U.S. Department of Justice, his office has helped draft a new law that would grant it more power in the process.

I asked him about British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s comments this week about the Afghan government.  English may not be Osmani’s first language, but I did detect a strong hint of sarcasm when he said that he was “so happy that [Afghanistan's] international partners are so keen to bring this up.”  He said fighting corruption is a complicated process, especially when Afghanistan still lacks a comprehensive legal code.  But he said there have been some successes.

Osmani told me how Afghan officials have prevented about $200 million in corruption after simplifying the process for registering a vehicle.  The process originally took about a month and up to 20,000 Afghanis — roughly $400 — in bribes to register.  Now, Osmani says the process takes two days and no money.

Osmani says he is committed to uncovering corruption at all levels of Afghanistan’s government, despite the risks.  And after looking at the country’s recent history, including the past presidential election, he certainly has his work cut out for him.

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