The government is planning a new survey of forests. Illegal tree felling may have reduced the estimated 1.7 million hectares of forest land to 750,000 hectares.
The government is planning a new survey of forests. Illegal tree felling may have reduced the estimated 1.7 million hectares of forest land to 750,000 hectares.Ministry of Agriculture spokesman Majeedullah Qarar told Killid in an exclusive interview the ministry is formalising plans to resurvey the forest wealth. Powerful people are involved in felling forests, he asserts. The worst affected provinces are Nangarhar, Kunar, Paktia, Khost, Badghis, Samangan and Takhar. “Whoever can, they cut the forests. This is not only an issue of insecurity (conflict),” he said.
Qarar wants the public to help curb the unlawful activities of timber smugglers and traders. He says, “If the common people don’t help our efforts are of no use.”
People who Killid spoke to say government authorities are directly involved in cutting timber and selling it to “traders from outside”.
Atiqullah, 26, from Kunar who had come to the market in Jalalabad to buy food provisions says, “The wood is being taken to Pakistan through the border districts.”
Haji Khanjan, former Member of Parliament from Kunar, agrees. Smuggling has increased over the years, he says. “Big logs of wood from Dangam (Kunar) and other areas are being smuggled to Pakistan.”
Fifty six-year-old tribal leader Sahawali Khan in Landi Khyl area of Pacheer Agam District, Nangarhar province, says the forests below Spin Ghar (White Mountain) are almost gone. “This area was very popular because of its evergreen forests,” he adds.
He accuses the authorities of failing to do their duty. “The government claims forests are a national asset. It is a crime to damage a national asset,” he asserts. According to him, “smugglers have links with officials. Nobody prevents them. Nobody says it (destruction of forests) is a crime.”
Malak Shawali from the same province says: “The wood is being transported on mules and camels, and smuggled across Kambo (an intermittent stream on the border with Pakistan).”
Collecting bribes
A local from the Mano area in Chaparhar district, Nangarhar, who did not want his name revealed, says, “Some security officials in Chaparhar and Agam areas are there only to facilitate the smuggling.” He says these men do nothing to prevent the smugglers. “Agam is not Agam rather it is Dubai,” he says caustically. “The commanders collect thousands in cash every night.”
Killid has confirmed this charge with an official in Pacheer Agam who wants to remain anonymous. “It is true the wood is being cut by the local people and transported from mountain areas on mules.” He believes the border police are interested only in taking bribes from smugglers to look the other way. “The wood is smuggled in different ways to Pakistan,” he asserts. As proof that he is an upright official, he told Killid he has called many meetings of mullahs and village elder to raise awareness of the benefits of protecting the forests.
The lucrative illegal timber trade has affected the business of furniture-maker Zabuhullah Sheenwari who has a shop in Jalalabad city. He complains of steep prices of wood. He says it’s not too late for the government to have a strategy for forest conservation.
Sayed Aminullah Agha, the head of the Forests Department in the Ministry of Agriculture, says they have got “decrees from the president’s office on the prevention of felling in the forests, which have been sent to the provinces”. However, the local authorities, particularly the local police, have not been helpful, he complains. “The border police help the smugglers (take wood to Pakistan),” he says. The department has sent a complaint to the office of the attorney general seeking “harsh punishment for the offenders”.
In his opinion smuggling will stop when there is cooperation between the Ministry of Interior Affairs, attorney general’s office, national security office (intelligence), Ministry of Defence, border security forces and the offices of provincial governors.
Passing the buck
Are provincial authorities prepared to take responsibility for the destruction of forests? Authorities in Nangarhar are quick to deny the complaints against them. Mohammad Hosain Safi, the head of agriculture, insists the forests were safe in the province because the local people have created councils and associations to prevent forests from being cut.
Ahmad Zia Abdul Zai, the spokesman of Nangarhar governor Gul Agha Sherzai claims the local government is cooperating with the central government. He said under governor Sherzai “serious attention” has been paid to the issue. “The governor has held many meetings with the district governors and police commanders of the different districts to combat the problem.” The preservation of national property was the responsibility of people in the province, Abdul Zai concludes. “When we are united the hands of smugglers are cut.”
