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Britain out of step with Nato allies
Taliban walk right in, sit right down ...
Commander among 18 Taliban killed in Afghanistan: police
Fifteen Taliban killed in Afghan clash: police
Canadian, Afghan troops engage in firefight with Taliban in Panjwaii district
Afghanistan says Pak terror sanctuaries threat to global security
Key Afghan governor supports spraying of opium poppies, reaching out to Taliban
Border watch is joint duty of Pakistan, Afghanistan and NATO: Musharraf
Think Tank Says U.S. Aid Helped Afghanistan, Not Uzbekistan
RAND Corporation asks US to suspend aid to Pak police over HR abuse
Two militants, two cops detained in Herat
Badghis airport runway rebuilt
Canadian wheelchairs delivered to help Afghan civilians disabled by war
PM announces for formation of ‘Jirga Commission’ with Afghanistan
Britain out of step with Nato allies.
By Ahmed Rashid in Islamabad 1:58am GMT 06/01/2007 Daily Telegraph (UK)
British policy in Afghanistan is seriously damaging Western efforts against the Taliban, diplomats from allied countries have warned.
Officials from the United States and European members of Nato have told The Daily Telegraph that Britain is increasingly at odds with its coalition partners over its policy of making arbitrary peace deals with the Taliban, while at the same time declining to put pressure on Pakistan to stop providing sanctuary to the Taliban leadership.
Diplomats in Kabul and Islamabad say Britain's "go it alone policies" are threatening military preparations for a major Taliban offensive expected next month.
Western officials have strongly criticised a peace deal in Musa Qala, Helmand, where thousands of British fought daily battles with a resurgent Taliban.
British commanders say the deal was struck with tribal elders, but it has been claimed that the agreement was actually made with the Taliban, who controlled the town. British officers deny the claim.
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The truce is now reported to be breaking down with large numbers of heavily-armed Taliban returning to Musa Qala.
Britain wants more such deals, but the US and some Nato allies have rejected the idea.
Lt Gen David Richards, the British commander of the 32,000-strong Nato force, will be replaced this year by Lt Gen Dan MacNeil, an American who is expected to cancel all such agreements, officials said.
"We're going to have to fight those people [Taliban]. I don't see any opportunity or need to negotiate," said Richard Boucher, the US assistant secretary of state, recently.
Europe's other contention is the relationship with Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president.
Nato is trying to forge a common front to put pressure on Mr Musharraf to end the sanctuary that elements within Pakistan's intelligence services provide to the Taliban.
The issue is of critical importance in the next few weeks as the Taliban are expected to recruit thousands of men and collect armaments and other supplies for their spring offensive.
But Britain has resisted such pressure. Tony Blair lavished praise on the president when he visited Islamabad in November.
The reason, say diplomats, is the co-operation between MI6 and Pakistan's Interservices Intelligence (ISI) agency on Britain's domestic terrorist threat from British-born extremists of Pakistani origin.
"Even though British troops in Helmand are facing attacks from Pakistan-based Taliban, London is willing to sacrifice that issue in exchange for getting ISI help on its home-based terrorist problems," said a senior European official.
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Taliban walk right in, sit right down ...
By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online / January 5, 2007
KARACHI - Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was due in Afghanistan on Thursday to meet with President Hamid Karzai, primarily to discuss a Pakistani plan to seal the notoriously porous border between the two countries by planting mines and building fences.
Karzai opposes the idea, saying that it would inconvenience civilians and would not prevent the cross-border flow of Taliban.
Karzai is dead right. It will take more than barricades to prevent the Taliban from going about their business in either country. Moulvi (cleric) Abdul Jalil serves as a shining example of how the Taliban move around right under the eyes of officials.
A life without borders
With his light-brown skin, long black beard and a white cap, it took me some seconds to recognize Jalil standing in the bustling Lea Market of Karachi. He looked just like any other Pashtun selling goods, but he is a Taliban commander.
I had met him recently in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and now, after a formal exchange of greetings, we sat in one of the hotels near the market to chat over a cup of green tea.
Lea Market, not far from downtown Karachi, is severely congested, with flashy new Japanese cars jostling for space with pedestrians and camel-drawn carts. People of all backgrounds work here, from Gujaratis (originally from Indian Gujarat 200 years back) to Pashtuns, operating diverse businesses ranging from selling fruit on pushcarts to peddling the latest electronic gadgetry.
It is common knowledge that the narrow streets around Lea Market provide a safe haven for people wanted by the government, from Baloch insurgents to members of outlawed sectarian organizations. Thus such outfits as the Intelligence Bureau and the Police Intelligence Department maintain a strong proxy network in the area.
Nevertheless, Jalil seemed quite content to be seen in public, and to talk with me. The reason is simply that Jalil, a native of Kandahar, does not have a price on his head and he has no record to make the security agencies suspicious. In his appearance, language and mannerisms, he is much like the more than 1.5 million other Pashtuns living in Karachi.
Yet appearances could not be more deceptive as Jalil is one of the main cogs in the Taliban-led insurgency in the Punjwai district of Kandahar.
When I met him in November in the city of Kandahar, he came across as well balanced and completely at home in his environment. Then, he was roaming the markets, buying commodities as part of his responsibilities as a logistics official for the Taliban. In addition, Jalil coordinates with pro-Taliban elements in the Afghan establishment, and he happens to be an expert in making improvised weapons, especially by using unexploded US bombs.
Jalil explained that he did not even have to cross the border illegally between Afghanistan and Pakistan to reach Karachi; he simply crossed at the regular Chaman border post, passing through all checkpoints like Pashtuns from both sides of the Durand Line that separates the countries. He can do this because he is not yet a marked man.
Meeting Jalil reminded me of the many Pashtun Taliban commanders I have met over the years who on the face of it seems ordinary folk, sons of the soil, moving freely around in such places as Spin Boldek, Chaman, Kandahar and Karachi.
Mending - and building - fences
Karzai, even before meeting with Aziz, expressed his skepticism over building fences along the 2,430-kilometer border.
He should know, as he took refuge in Quetta in Pakistan's Balochistan province during Taliban rule in Afghanistan to organize anti-Taliban activities. After the assassination of Karzai's father - most likely by the Taliban - in Quetta in 1999, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was after Karzai for conspiring against the Taliban government in Kabul. Karzai moved to Karachi, where he stayed in the Defense Housing Authority at his cousin's residence. The ISI was unable to find him.
Karzai comes from the distinguished Popalzai tribe of Pashtuns in Kandahar province. His father was hereditary khan (chief) of the Popalzai, a title Karzai assumed.
Members of his family still live in Quetta and Karachi, and he must be fully aware how tribal societies on both sides of the divide treat the border as non-existent.
Western decision-makers tend to view the insurgency in Afghanistan as the handiwork of underground militias that carry out hit-and-run cross-border operations. This might have been true two years ago, but it is certainly not the case now.
The insurgency, mostly as a result of last spring's offensive, is growing into a full tribal-supported mass movement. Until a new political formula is worked out to ensure the representation of all tribes at all levels, according to the stature of each tribe, no mines, fences, crackdowns or military operations will prevent the insurgency from spreading.
Nor will such measures prevent the likes of Moulvi Abdul Jalil from shuttling between Kandahar and Karachi.
Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief.
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Commander among 18 Taliban killed in Afghanistan: police
Fri Jan 5, 6:52 AM ET
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - Afghan forces backed by NATO-led troops fought Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan killing 15, including a regional commander, while three more died planting a bomb, police said.
Fighting erupted in Kajaki district of southern Helmand province late Thursday when militants armed with machine guns and rockets attacked patrolling troops, regional police commander Nabi Jan Mullahkhail said on Friday.
"Our troops were on a routine patrol when they came under attack from the enemy. We killed 15 Taliban in the gunfight," he said, adding that a Taliban commander named Mullah Azizullah was among the dead.
The district was the scene of intense fighting earlier in the week, with police saying Wednesday that 17 rebels were killed in a three-day operation there also involving International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops.
ISAF is represented in Helmand -- which produces most of Afghanistan's opium crop -- by about 4,500 British troops.
Separately, three suspected militants were killed when a mine they were laying on a road exploded in Greshk district of the same province, Mullahkhail said.
He said the men were believed to be Taliban loyalists and were armed with AK-47 rifles.
Helmand, on the Pakistani border, is one of the most tense provinces in southern Afghanistan. The south sees the most violence linked to a bloody insurgency being waged by the extremist Taliban movement.
The insurgency, launched months after hardliners were toppled from government in a US-led invasion, spiked last year leaving more than 4,000 dead -- about three quarters of them insurgents.
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Fifteen Taliban killed in Afghan clash: police
Fri Jan 5, 8:12 AM ET
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - NATO and Afghan government troops killed 15 Taliban fighters in a clash in a restive southern province, police said on Friday.
Last year was the bloodiest Afghanistan has seen since the Taliban were ousted in 2001. The level of violence has eased in recent weeks since winter set in but intermittent attacks are taking place in the south and east.
The chief of police of Helmand province, Mohammad Nabi Mullahkhail, said 15 Taliban, including a district commander, had been killed in the battle on Thursday evening. No NATO or Afghan troops were hurt, he said.
A spokesman for Afghanistan's 32,000-strong NATO force confirmed that there had been a clash but said no casualty estimate was available.
In a separate incident in Helmand, three Taliban were killed when explosives they were planting went off accidentally, Mullahkhail said.
More than 4,000 people died in Afghan violence in 2006 including nearly 170 foreign troops killed in attacks and accidents while on patrol.
The worst violence was in southern provinces, including Helmand.
The Taliban, fighting to expel foreign troops, have vowed to mount a fresh offensive in the spring.
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Canadian, Afghan troops engage in firefight with Taliban in Panjwaii district
Fri Jan 5, 11:50 AM
LACOOKHAL , Afghanistan (CP) - Canadian and Afghan troops took on the Taliban in a firefight in the Panjwaii district today.
Members of Quebec's Vandoos regiment and troops from the Afghan National Army were searching compounds after reports of Taliban in the area.
Seven men carrying weapons were spotted.
A few minutes later a 45-minute firefight began with the Taliban firing bullets, rockets, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars at the troops.
An air strike against the Taliban had to be called off because there were civilians in the region but it's believed two Taliban fighters were either wounded or killed.
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Afghanistan says Pak terror sanctuaries threat to global security
Washington, Jan 5 (ANI): The war of words between Islamabad and Kabul has now spilled over to the US as well.
Afghan ambassador to the US, Said T Jawad, in a letter to the Washington Post charged that September 5 North Waziristan deal with the Taliban" had failed and cross-border attacks into Afghanistan had increased dramatically.
"Military deals with terrorists must stop of the sake of regional stability and global security. It is time for Islamabad to recognise that its deal with the Taliban in North Waziristan has failed," the Daily Times quoted him as saying in the letter.
"Terrorist sanctuaries are a threat to global security. Without the sincere commitment of all parties to fight against the sources, supporters, financiers and trainers of terrorists, and the teachers and mentors of hatred, the fight against terrorism will not succeed," he said.
"The international community must help Pakistan close down the Taliban's ideological, financial and physical safe havens within its borders. The majority of the Pashtuns in Afghanistan and Pakistan are victims of extremists. Much of the traditional leadership that emphasised moderation, secular rule and nationalism has been attacked or eliminated by extremists who enjoy institutional support in our region. Resources to strengthen civil society are crucial," he added in his letter.
Elsewhere, M Akram Shaheedi, a spokesman at the Pakistan embassy here, said the Afghan ambassador's remarks were unfortunate and without any basis.
Referred to a September 2006 report by the UN secretary general, which said that the "centre of gravity" of terrorism was in Afghanistan, he said the writ of the government in Kabul was weak and several areas of the country were under the Taliban.
"Drug trade had flourished and warlords were active," he said, adding Afghanistan's problems were internal and instead of blaming Pakistan, the "Afghan government should set its own house in order".
He further said the Waziristan deal was signed not with the Taliban but with respected tribal elders of the area, adding that the agreement was holding, contrary to what the envoy had alleged.
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Key Afghan governor supports spraying of opium poppies, reaching out to Taliban
The Associated Press - Friday, January 5, 2007 KABUL, Afghanistan
The new governor of Afghanistan's largest opium-producing province said Friday that he supports a U.S.-backed plan to spray herbicide on lucrative poppy fields, and that he will ask Taliban fighters to support the government.
Gov. Asadullah Wafa, who replaced Mohammad Daud as Helmand province governor last month, said his policy as governor will be to talk with all Afghans, from tribal leaders to Taliban fighters.
"I believe in government including the people," Wafa told The Associated Press at his home in Kabul. "Without the people, how do you have government?" Wafa said he supports a U.S.-backed plan to spray poppies with herbicides "on (the) condition it doesn't affect other crops."
Helmand province is believed to grow more than a third of the world's opium. Spraying is a new concept in Afghanistan, where some fear herbicides' effects. U.S. officials insist that a common weed killer without harmful side effects would be used, sprayed from ground-based equipment — not aircraft.
John Walters, director of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, said last month that Afghan poppies would be sprayed with herbicide this year, though the Afghan government has not publicly said it would go ahead with the plan.
Wafa said that it would be a "struggle" to eradicate Helmand's poppy crop this spring and summer, and that a successful operation would require more Afghan police and the international community's support.
Afghanistan's opium production last year rose 49 percent to 6,700 tons, enough to make about 670 tons of heroin. Helmand makes up 42 percent of Afghanistan's poppy crop, according to U.N. figures.
Wafa said he has a draft drug plan "will have good results" if implemented. It includes persuading farmers to grow cotton or fruit instead of poppies.
Wafa said farmers could make as much money growing legal crops as they do growing opium poppies. The majority of profits in Afghanistan's heroin trade go to smugglers and traffickers.
Wafa has previously served as the governor of Paktia and Kunar provinces, where he was widely viewed as an effective leader.
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Border watch is joint duty of Pakistan, Afghanistan and NATO: Musharraf
Saturday January 06, 2007 (0337 PST) PakTribune.com
ISLAMABAD: President General Pervez Musharraf said Friday that safeguarding the Pak-Afghan border is the combined responsibility of Pakistan, Afghanistan and NATO.
He was talking to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz who visited him in Presidential Camp Office here.
Shaukat Aziz told President Musharraf that Pakistan had increased aid to Afghanistan from 250 million dollars to 300 million dollars. He said that he discussed in details fencing and mining the border with the Afghan leadership and apprised Afghan authorities about the motive behind the step being taken by Islamabad.
The prime minister informed the president of Afghan President Hamid Karzai`s reservations over fencing and mining the border.
Meanwhile, the president made it clear that fencing the border was aimed at controlling cross border movement and tightening security adding the barbed wire would be erected on specific point on the border and the steps was not aimed to tease someone. "We have taken the decision after consulting the authorities` concerned and all our allies," he added.
The president said that fencing the border would help control infiltration of terrorists.
He said that Pakistan wanted a stable and peaceful Afghanistan and had been playing a key role for restoration of peace in that country. "Peace in the region is possible due to a stable Afghanistan," he added.
During the meeting the president and prime minister discussed political situation in the country. President Musharraf said that the parliament would complete its tenure and the election would be held on time. He said that he would decide about his military uniform in line with the constitution and would take the decision on proper time.
Talking about power load shading, the president said that construction of big dams was pivotal to cope with the energy crisis in the country. "The government is taking tangible steps in this connection and no one will be allowed to politicize construction of big dams," he added. He said that major dams were the need of the country.
He urged the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) to ensure minimum load shading to facilitate masses.
Shaukat Aziz informed President Musharraf about the economic situation in the country. The president underlined the need for taking steps for elimination of poverty and inflation in the country.
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Think Tank Says U.S. Aid Helped Afghanistan, Not Uzbekistan
By Golnaz Esfandiari
January 5, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- The RAND Corp., a leading U.S. think tank, says in a report that Washington's security assistance to states that are transitioning from conflict to democratic systems -- like Afghanistan -- has been more effective than assistance to governments that remain repressive, such as Uzbekistan.
The RAND study evaluates U.S. assistance to security forces in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, and El Salvador since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, examining if human rights and police performance improved. RFE/RL spoke to Olga Oliker, a senior international policy analyst at RAND and one of the authors of the report.
RFE/RL: In your report you evaluated U.S. security assistance to four countries, including Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. Could you first briefly tell us about the main conclusions of the report?
Oliker: What we were trying to do with study is begin the process of evaluating the extent to which U.S. assistance -- specifically to internal security forces in countries that are undergoing transitions or that are repressive -- is effective in improving the capacity of these structures to respond to the security threats facing these countries, and also the capacity of these structures to become more accountable, to become more respectful of human rights. One of the things that we found is that these are interlinked; that improving accountability, transparency, respect [for] the people actually does make the security structure -- we feel -- more effective against a variety of security threats in the broad, long-term sense. What we found is that the current programs that are under way are not terribly effective, A, and B, what we found is that oversight of these programs may be insufficient, that we are not doing enough to measure and assess and determine what works and what doesn't work and, as a result, we are potentially not improving these programs or potentially not ending things that don't work, we are potentially overlooking possibilities to make this effort more effective because we're continuing a program that may not be working.
RFE/RL: As you said, you selected countries that have repressive regimes and countries that are undergoing transition, including Afghanistan, where the report says U.S. aid has brought positive results and has helped improve the human rights practices of the Afghan police. In what way? Could you give us an example?
Oliker: The Afghan police were built from scratch so to say improving that is a bit of misnomer because that would suggest that there was something to start with -- there wasn't. But we do find that while there are a great many human rights abuses that continue in Afghanistan, these don't implicate the police forces that were built. They predominantly implicate warlords and factions in Afghanistan; those are the people who are responsible for carrying out the vast majority of abuses. So with the Afghanistan case and also the El Salvador case it suggests that if you start from scratch in a postconflict society it is certainly possible to build responsible, accountable internal security structures.
RFE/RL: But at the same time the report says -- regarding Afghanistan -- that the country's internal forces are still not very effective. Does it mean that the programs have not been able to increase both respect for human rights and effectiveness?
Oliker: The problem with Afghanistan and El Salvador is the question of effectiveness: can you build them to be effective and, at the same time, the problem with some of this is that it just takes so long, you certainly have a much bigger window, much more capacity to influence a country that is in transition from conflict, that has depended on foreign assistance, where you are starting from the beginning, but this takes time. It takes a great deal of time to train up a force that's effective and capable as well. So the result on both El Salvador and Afghanistan is that you can do some good but even with these programs we did not feel that it was an unmitigated success; while there was progress it was not sufficient. In Afghanistan it built up some capacity within internal security forces but so much of what's going on still depends on warlords and regional commanders who continue to persist in human rights abuses -- that isn't sufficient.
RFE/RL: Regarding the situation with Uzbekistan, the report says that U.S. assistance was not successful in fostering reforms [there]. Is this because the U.S. did not have enough oversight or is it because the U.S. did not pay enough attention to human rights issues?
Oliker: The U.S. did pay attention to human rights issues but did not have sufficient oversight of the programs that it was implementing to make sure those programs were effective and actually promoting human rights. One of the anecdotes that we heard, when we did this research, was for instance in the legal-reform efforts. A great many Uzbek judges went through programs that taught them how to run a fair trial, how to ensure that everybody was heard, how to protect the rights of suspects, and yet conviction rates in Uzbekistan remained at the 99.98 percent rate, which it's just not possible that all these people committed all these crimes. These were judges who had their certificate, they'd had gone through the U.S. program and they learned how to answer the questions appropriately: that yes I will respect human rights and whatever else but that wasn't actually reflected in their actions and the program was deemed successful because somebody could count so many judges went through this program, so many attorneys went through that program, but the actual impact on the criminal justice system was minimal, if any.
RFE/RL: So do you think the U.S. should suspend its aid to Uzbekistan or reevaluate it?
Oliker: It depends on the area and it depends on the program. For instance the drug enforcement agency has a program with Uzbek law enforcement and that program, in our view, has not had sufficient oversight to assess how effective it is. So in programs that continue, one of the questions that has to be asked is "are they helping, do they help, whom do they help?" And there are programs that seem to be useful, some of the export controlling programs, the nonproliferation program for example. The problem with Uzbekistan is that from the U.S. side there wasn't enough of an effort made to develop programs that would work and oversee them to make sure they would work. From the Uzbek side, there wasn't a high-level commitment to these concepts of transparency and accountability -- there was a fundamental disagreement on the part of the Uzbek government on what would contribute to security. The senior leadership of the Uzbek government actually felt that more [repression] and less transparency contributes to security, whereas what the U.S. was trying to do was increase security by increasing accountability. At the present I think the programs that are continuing need to be reevaluated and if they're not working they need to be stopped.
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RAND Corporation asks US to suspend aid to Pak police over HR abuse
DailyIndia.com
Washington, Jan 4 (ANI): The Washington based RAND Corporation has asked the US government to suspend financial aid to Pakistan's internal security forces because of their failure to respect human rights.
The corporation study evaluated US assistance to security forces in Afghanistan, El Salvador, Uzbekistan and Pakistan since the September 11, 2001 WTC attacks, examining whether police performance improved as well as human rights practices.
Seth Jones, one of the lead authors of the study "Securing Tyrants or Fostering Reform," said despite US assistance, Pakistani security forces continued to impose "highly draconian punishments such as home demolition, the seizure of businesses, and the forfeiture of other properties and assets".
As such, "the United States should significantly restructure or even withdraw its assistance if their internal security agencies fail to improve transparency, human rights practices and overall effectiveness", the study said.
"In repressive climates, cooperation might continue, but assistance to law enforcement agencies should stop. And this option should be considered in Pakistan," the Daily Times quoted RAND Corporation as saying in its statement.
"We found little evidence that the United States has paid very much attention to human rights issues in its programmes of security assistance to Pakistan. Moreover, there is little evidence of improvement in Pakistan's accountability and human rights practices over the last five years," added Olga Oliker, the other principal author of the report.
The study further said that of the four countries studied, the aid directed to countries moving from an authoritarian system to democratic reform, such as Afghanistan and El Salvador, "had been more effective in improving their internal security forces than assistance to governments that remained repressive, such as Pakistan and Uzbekistan".
"Countries emerging from conflict provide a window of opportunity to shape new security forces and are more open to advice from outside actors such as the United States or the United Nations. As for Uzbekistan, US assistance was "largely unsuccessful in fostering broader reform," the statement added. (ANI)
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Two militants, two cops detained in Herat
HERAT CITY, Jan 4 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Security officials in the western Herat province Thursday said they have arrested two suspected militants for planting explosives on the road leading to the provincial airport.
Addressing to a news conference here, provincial police chief Major General Shafiq Fazli said the two miscreants were arrested with remote-controlled bombs on Wednesday while planting bombs on the road.
Denying to disclose identity of the two suspects, the police chief said the were questioning the two detained and that more details will be released after completion of the investigation.
The arrest of the suspected militants comes about a week after a suicide explosion on the same road killed four people, including chief of the sixth border brigade.
Separately, Fazli said two local policemen were detained for their alleged involvement in abduction of an Afghan man who had recently returned from neighboring Iran.
The two arrested policemen had confessed their involvement in the case. The cops have made confession to taking 14000 afghanis from the kidnapped returnee, the police chief concluded.
Ahmad Qureshi
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Badghis airport runway rebuilt
HERAT CITY, Jan 04 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Reconstruction of runway of the Qala-e-Naw airport in the western province of Badghis has been completed at the cost of $1.2 million by the Spanish Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT).
John Carlo Ciaburro, spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in the western zone, told Pajhwok Afghan News on Thursday that the airport having 2000-meter long and 25-meter wide runway could be used for any type of Boeing airbus flights.
He added that other facilities as lights, radar and other equipment will be installed later at the airport.
Sayed Zia Wasiqi, spokesman for the Badghis governor, said that the Afghan Ariana Airline's planes should have to land at the runway earlier, but bad weather has impeded that till now.
He said that only planes belonging to the ISAF were using the airport for their flights.
The Spanish troops are engaged in reconstruction and security maintenance in Badghis province under ISAF.
Badghis deputy governor said the airport was made in 1968 for the first time which could be used for small plane it was expanded later to be used for all kinds of flights.
Two weeks back, runway of the Bagram airport in Parwan province was also reconstructed to be used for big military flights.
The 3600-meter long and 46-meter wide runway was built at the cost of $68 millions by 400 Afghan workers in two years.
Ahmad Quraishi
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Canadian wheelchairs delivered to help Afghan civilians disabled by war
Thursday, January 04, 2007 The Canadian Press
CAMP SHIRZAI, Afghanistan -- It's a scene that's becoming more common: a Canadian politician arriving to bring humanitarian aid and a photo opportunity is arranged to record the event.
The gift this time was something desperately needed in this country torn by war and littered with landmines - a donation of 560 wheelchairs.
It is common to see Afghan people of all ages walking with crutches, having lost a leg after stepping on an improvised explosive device. There are thousands of undetected landmines in Afghanistan, many dating back to the 10-year war against the Soviets that ended in 1989.
There is other evidence of the Soviet presence just a kilometre away from Camp Shirzai, home of the Afghan National Army. Dozens of Soviet-era tanks, many now covered with graffiti, remain behind barbed wire in a compound. They were left behind in the rapid Soviet withdrawal.
The presentation Thursday got off to a bumpy start. The Afghan man being given a wheelchair lost his leg in a suicide bombing but was still too ill to sit in it.
Russ Hiebert, parliamentary secretary to the defence minister and an MP from Surrey, B.C., made the official presentation.
"The independence provided by these rugged wheelchairs provides previously unimagined freedom to the recipients," said Hiebert, who explained the executive director of Wheelchairs Federation Canada is one of his constituents and spearheaded the drive.
"I'm here to recognize the mostly generous Canadians who have chosen to send donations, large and small, to meet the needs of the Afghan people," he said in a 12-minute address.
"Like these many generous Canadians, our soldiers and provincial reconstruction team are doing development work without seeking public recognition," Hiebert said.
During Hiebert's speech and that of the local doctor and Afghan National Army official, the elderly Afghan man was lying in a hospital bed largely ignored by the gathering. He was wrapped in a colourful Afghan blanket for the occasion.
When time came for the presentation, Hiebert shook hands with the man and talked to him through an interpreter. The nan was helped into the chair, in which he slumped in exhaustion while pictures were taken.
"As soon as I fix my arm I will be able to ride it," the man, identified simply as Mr. Ramazan, said through an interpreter.
"I was injured in the last suicide attack in Kandahar city. I thought somebody had shot at me. I lost my leg and hurt my arm in the suicide attack."
Ramazan told reporters he had just one wish for the future. "We need peace in Afghanistan and no fighting where things are going to happen," he said.
Dr. Adbul Qaium Pakhala, from Kandahar's Mir Weis hospital, said that in 2005 there were 5,176 Afghan civilians who had amputations as a result of fighting or vehicle accidents.
He said more aid like the wheelchairs is desperately needed.
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PM announces for formation of ‘Jirga Commission’ with Afghanistan
KABUL (Pakistan Link): Pakistan and Afghanistan Thursday agreed to speed up the process of sending over three million Afghan refugees living in camps in Pakistan to their homes.
It was decided during the meeting of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Afghan President Hamid Karzai held here at the Presidential Palace.
At the joint press conference after the talks, Prime Minister Aziz said the repatriation of refugees will be through a phased process. He said modalities will be finalised soon to repatriate over three million Afghan refugees with the assistance and cooperation of world community and the United Nations.
The one on one meeting between President Karzai and Prime Minister Aziz, which lasted well over two and half hour -- longer than expected -- with a view to promote these relations.
The meeting was followed by delegation level talks. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and President Hamid Karzai stressed the need to address all aspects of the problem to bring peace, security and stability to the region.
Prime Minister Aziz said although Pakistan is not an aid giving country, but ready to help its brother Afghanistan in its reconstruction and announced increase in the assistance for rehabilitation from 250to 300 million dollars.
He said the increased fund would be spent through a type a "Marshal Plan" programme on the reconstruction of schools and hospitals.
The Prime Minister also announced formation of a "Jirga Commission" that will work closely with the Afghan government and can lead to the formation of a joint jirga at a later stage.
Pakistan and Afghanistan also discussed ways and means to increase the US 1.2 billion dollars bilateral trade. The Prime Minister said in this regard trial link from Chaman to Spin Boldak was an important project to improve trade relations.
Both the counties also agreed on the dualization of Jalababad-Torkhum Highway linking the two countries. Prime Minister Aziz said a strong, stable and prosperous Afghanistan was in the interest of its people and Pakistan and vital for lasting peace in the region.
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