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November 21, 2007 

Resurgent Taliban closing in on Kabul: report
By Luke Baker Wed Nov 21, 8:16 AM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - The conflict in Afghanistan has reached "crisis proportions," with the resurgent Taliban present in more than half the country and closing in on Kabul, a report said on Wednesday.

If NATO, the lead force operating in Afghanistan, is to have any impact against the insurgency, troop numbers will have to be doubled to at least 80,000, the report said.

"The Taliban has shown itself to be a truly resurgent force," the Senlis Council, an independent think-tank with a permanent presence in Afghanistan, wrote in a study entitled "Stumbling into Chaos: Afghanistan on the brink."

"Its ability to establish a presence throughout the country is now proven beyond doubt," it said. "The insurgency now controls vast swaths of unchallenged territory including rural areas, some district centers, and important road arteries."

Senlis said its research had established that the Taliban, driven out of Afghanistan by the U.S. invasion in late 2001, had rebuilt a permanent presence in 54 percent of the country and was finding it easy to recruit new followers.

It was also increasingly using Iraq-style tactics, such as roadside and suicide bombs, to powerful effect, and had built a stable network of financial support, funding its operations with the proceeds from Afghanistan's booming opium trade.

"It is a sad indictment of the current state of Afghanistan that the question now appears to be not if the Taliban will return to Kabul, but when," the report said.

"Their oft-stated aim of reaching the city in 2008 appears more viable than ever."

TROOP BOOST
NATO has a little over 40,000 troops operating in Afghanistan as part of the International Security Assistance Force. The United States and Britain are the largest contributors, with 15,000 and 7,700 soldiers, respectively.

Those numbers pale in comparison to Iraq where at the peak of operations there were nearly 200,000 troops on the ground and where around 160,000 remain.

While Iraq is showing the first signs of an improvement in security, Afghanistan's situation is becoming more precarious, Senlis argued, underlining the need for a rapid increase in troop numbers in a country that is larger than Iraq.

"In order to prevent NATO's defeat at the hands of the Taliban, a rejuvenated 'coalition of the willing' is needed," the report said, calling the proposal 'NATO Plus'.

"Every NATO state is mandated to contribute to this new force, with a firm level of commitment that will provide a total force size of 80,000."

Bolstering NATO's presence in Afghanistan, and getting member countries to contribute more, is expected to be a major issue on the agenda at a NATO summit in Romania in April.

Before then, Britain, which is responsible for security in the restive south of Afghanistan, where violence has been greatest, is expected to unveil new security strategies, including a possible increase in troops and proposals to deter Afghan poppy farmers from selling their crop to the Taliban.

Senlis said that without the troop "surge," and renewed efforts to win over the Afghan population and make reconstruction take hold, the country was in danger of falling back into the hands of the Taliban.

(Editing by Kate Kelland and Michael Winfrey)
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55 Taliban killed in clashes, Afghan police say
AP - Thursday, November 22
KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan and foreign troops called in airstrikes after clashing with suspected Taliban militants in southern Afghanistan, leaving some 55 insurgents dead, police said Wednesday.

The joint force battled militants, killing 50, in the mountainous area in Charchino district, Uruzgan province, late Tuesday, said Juma Gul Himat, the provincial police chief.

Separately, five militants were killed when Afghan troops clashed with militants in Uruzgan's Dihrawud district also Tuesday, Himat said.

Neither account could be independently be verified due to the remoteness of the area.

Afghanistan has seen record levels of violence this year. More than 6,000 people have been killed in insurgency related violence in 2007, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Western and Afghan officials.
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Afghanistan stalling on reconciliation: UN rights chief
Wed Nov 21, 2:31 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - UN rights chief Louise Arbour criticised Afghanistan Tuesday for stalling on a plan to address atrocities and human rights abuses committed in its more than two decades of armed conflict.

Arbour, wrapping up a six-day visit, told reporters little had been done on measures outlined in a three-year peace, reconciliation and justice "action plan" adopted by the government in December last year.

Instead, the plan had been "reduced to the single issue of prosecution of violators of human rights," said Arbour, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights.

Arbour said that "without abandoning the ideal of accountability," victims need to be acknowledged and compensated.

There must be progress on other initiatives to help the country come to terms with its past, including "truth-telling, documentation, compensation ... symbolic recognition of the suffering of the victims," she added.

Many alleged rights violators hold positions of authority in the post-Taliban government of President Hamid Karzai, which critics say undermines public support for the administration.

Suggestions that these "warlords" may have to account for their actions is deeply sensitive.

Arbour said she had also urged Karzai during a meeting to abandon the death penalty. Fifteen prisoners were executed last month in the second known executions since the Taliban government was toppled in 2001.

"In a country where the criminal justice system suffers so many deficiencies, it is particularly problematic to have the death penalty applied in any case," Arbour said.

She also questioned commanders of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force about the "very alarming" number of civilian casualties in military operations this year.

"I was assured that methods of operation are being reviewed to ensure a reduction of exposure of civilians," she said. About 600 civilians are estimated to have been killed in international military action this year.

Arbour said the government and its international partners were also lagging on efforts to improve the lives of Afghan women, only about 13 percent of whom are literate.

"The provision for 28 percent of seats in parliament to be reserved for women has in fact obscured the fact that they are very absent from virtually all other sectors of public and political life, particularly from the judicial sector," she said.
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U.N. blames all sides for Afghan civilian deaths
By Hamid Shalizi Tue Nov 20, 3:43 PM ET
KABUL (Reuters) - United Nations Humans Rights envoy Louise Arbour criticized both Taliban insurgents and international troops in Afghanistan on Tuesday for killing civilians.

There has been a steady escalation of violence in Afghanistan this year, and the United Nations estimates the number of security incidents has risen by 20 to 30 percent from last year.

More than 200 civilians have been killed by Taliban suicide bombs this year, and overall some 1,200 civilians have died, about half in operations by Afghan and international troops.

Afghanistan's biggest problems -- poverty, drug production, corruption and weak government -- are all linked to the lack of security due to the Taliban insurgency.

"Some seem to think that human rights are a luxury that can be enjoyed only after security is ensured. But the major sources of insecurity in the country stem from human rights violations or the failure effectively to address the violations of the past," Arbour told a news conference in the capital, Kabul.

She said the Taliban had deliberately targeted civilians, including teachers and humanitarian workers. They also use ordinary Afghans as human shields, targeting troops and taking shelter in civilians' homes, she said.

"The use of human shields is itself a contravention of international humanitarian law," she said. "The fact that one side of the conflict uses human shields does not relieve the other side of its obligation to do everything to minimize the danger to civilian life."

"SOBER REALISATION"
She said civilian casualties from operations by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan had reached "alarming levels."

"These not only breach international law, but are eroding support among the Afghan community for the government and international military presence, as well as public support in contributing states for continued engagement in Afghanistan," she said.

International troops say they do everything in their power to minimize civilian casualties and ISAF says it has already changed procedures for launching airstrikes, which are blamed for killing most civilians.

"I am reassured that there has been a sober realization by ISAF commanders of this concern and a willingness to address the issue in a constructive way," Arbour said, but she urged ISAF to be responsive in offering compensation to victims' families.

The shortage of troops in Afghanistan -- a third of the number in Iraq -- leads the military to rely more on airstrikes to overcome insurgent attacks. There are four times as many airstrikes in Afghanistan as in Iraq.

Arbour said there needed to be more progress in prosecuting those responsible for war crimes during the last 30 years of war in Afghanistan. Parliament, packed with former warlords, voted an amnesty this year for past war crimes.

She said progress in women's rights had also been disappointing.

Arbour also voiced her concern to Afghan President Hamid Karzai over the use of the death penalty.

Fifteen criminals were executed by firing squad last month, only the second time the death penalty has been carried out in Afghanistan since the Taliban were toppled in 2001.

The executions were widely popular in Afghanistan among a public angered by constant conflict and frustrated with a government many perceive as weak and unable to combat the Taliban insurgency effectively.
(Writing by Jon Hemming; Editing by Tim Pearce) Back to Top
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For some Afghan carpet weavers, opium use starts in the cradle
by Shoib Najafizada Wed Nov 21, 2:00 AM ET
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan (AFP) - In a grubby courtyard outside a simple two-room house in northern Afghanistan, six women are working on a single large carpet.

There are four or five dirty sheep hanging around, as well as a cow and a barking dog.

There are a lot of children too: some of the older ones are helping with the arduous task of knotting the carpet; four of the small ones, aged between one month and one year, are sleeping peacefully nearby -- with the help of a little opium.

"It's usual here to give opium to small children so they do not disturb us during our work," says 28-year-old Nazira, one of the weavers who have all pulled their burqas over their faces because unknown men are visiting.

The women work all day making the carpets, which for most families in this area -- the Dawlat Abad district of Balkh province, near the border with Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan -- are the main source of income.

And they need to have their hands free of child-caring duties and distractions to complete the task which in this case will likely take around four months and earn the group about 600 dollars.

Drug use introduced in the cradle sometimes continues into later life with northern Afghanistan home to around 51,000 opium users -- about a third of the total number of users in the country, according to a UN survey in 2005.

Afghanistan is the world's top producer of opium, which is also used to produce heroin, and while fewer than four percent of the population is believed to use drugs or alcohol, according to the UN survey, experts have warned this could rise.

The husband of one of the weavers says he was first given opium when he was just months old by his mother, who also made carpets.

"While I was baby, my mother gave me opium," says Aka Murat, 40.

"By the time I was around two years old, the eating of opium had become a habit. Now if I don't take opium twice a day, I feel pain in my body and become like a crazy man."

Murat, who has a dress shop, says he spends around half his total earnings on opium, for himself and his family.

"We spend around 300 afghanis (six dollars) every day on buying opium," he says.

-- Child care a simple solution to life-long drug addiction --

Nazira says that simply by providing child care facilities at workplaces, the authorities could go a long way towards solving the problem of cradle-to-grave opium addiction.

There are some day care centres in the Balkh capital, Mazar-i-Sharif, but none in Dawlat Abad district, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) away.

"If we had a kindergarten, we wouldn't need to give our children opium and spend our money on buying opium," she says. "And I know after 10 years nobody would use opium in here."

Officials say they are aware of the need for child care facilities and that they are doing something about it.

"During the coming five years we plan to build four kindergartens in four districts and one of them is Dawlat Abad," says the head of the provincial Labour and Social Affairs Department, Fawzia Hamidi.

"We know there are problems and I hope by building this school we will help."

Government attempts to tackle the country's drug problem, with the help of Britain and the US, have failed: this year Afghanistan produced 8,200 tons of opium, 34 percent more than last year, a UN survey released in August said.

But Balkh appears to be bucking that trend, with the province this year added to a list of 13 considered opium-free, the same survey found.

The UN says the price of opium has dropped nationwide because of the increased production, but in Balkh buying or finding opium has become more difficult over the past two years, residents say.

And prices have increased from around 2,500 afghanis (50 dollars) a kilogramme (half a pound) to between three and four thousand, an indication of its scarcity in the area.

"Two years ago, everyone grew opium on their land and the price was very cheap. Anyone could find it," says Shayemardan Qol, 46, a farmer who once produced opium just for his family's use.

"Now the price has increased and we have to look hard to find it," he said.
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AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN: No sudden deportation of "undocumented" Afghans in Pakistan
21 Nov 2007 15:36:47 GMT
More  KABUL, 21 November 2007 (IRIN) - Over 100,000 Afghans living and working in Pakistan without refugee cards will not be "unilaterally and hastily" deported to Afghanistan, a senior Pakistani official said at the end of a tripartite meeting of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan on 21 November in Kabul.

Of the estimated 300,000 Afghans who could not get a refugee identity card through a Pakistan government registration process in late 2006, about 200,000 have already returned to Afghanistan, said Rauf Khan, chief commissioner for Afghan refugees in Islamabad, Pakistan.

"The government of Pakistan considers undocumented Afghans living in Pakistan illegal aliens who are liable to be deported and sent back to their home country," Rauf said.

However, Pakistan's Secretary of the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions, Muhammad Jamil, who also attended the tripartite meeting, said undocumented Afghans would not be expelled without prior consultation with the Afghan authorities.

"Gradual repatriation"

"We fully understand the problems of the Afghan government and we do not want to add to them by a mass deportation of Afghan citizens from Pakistan," Jamil told IRIN.

Sharing a long porous border with Afghanistan, Pakistan has hosted millions of Afghan refugees in the past 25 years and is currently home to over two million registered Afghan refugees.

Since 2002 over three million Afghan refugees have returned home from Pakistan, according to the UNHCR.

Afghan officials praise Pakistan for its receptive treatment of Afghan refugees.

"Soft behaviour", however, does not imply that Pakistan has any plans to absorb Afghan refugees permanently, Jamil emphasised.

"Afghan refugees are a big burden on our economy, environment and infrastructure," said Jamil. "Our ultimate target is a dignified and gradual repatriation of all Afghans living in Pakistan," he said.

Insecurity in Afghanistan affecting rate of return

The UNHCR says growing insecurity in Afghanistan has had a negative impact on the voluntary return of Afghans from Pakistan.

Fewer Afghan refugees voluntarily returned from Pakistan in 2007 than any time since UN-assisted repatriation started in 2002, the UNHCR said.

Insecurity has also restricted the UN's ability to reach and assist returning refugees in Afghanistan, particularly in rural areas.

"The UNHCR's access has decreased to just 55 percent of the country," the organisation said in a statement on 21 November.

Insecurity and aid agencies' limited access to all parts of Afghanistan will not defer the closing of the remaining three refugee camps in Pakistan, agreed to take place in 2008.

According to UNHCR, Afghan refugees living in Jalozai camp in North West Frontier Province and Girdi Jungle and Jungle Pir Alizai camps in Balochistan Province will have the option to either return to Afghanistan or move to other locations in Pakistan, after the camps' closure.
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AFGHANISTAN: Conflict-affected displacement "major" humanitarian challenge - Afghan Red Crescent
20 Nov 2007 16:34:10 GMT
More  KABUL, 20 November 2007 (IRIN) - Afghan civilians displaced by armed conflict in volatile parts of the country have become a "major" humanitarian challenge, the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) told IRIN on 20 November.

Due to access restrictions there are no reliable statistics about the numbers of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Afghanistan, but in a report to the UN Security Council on 28 October the Secretary-General said about 44,000 Afghans were displaced as a result of fighting in the first half of 2007.

"While this country does not have the luxury to prioritise one among several of its humanitarian problems, in general, conflict-affected displacement has become a major humanitarian challenge," said Fatema Gailani, president of the ARCS.

According to Gailani, thousands of civilians have been displaced in southern, southwestern and southeastern parts of the country because warring parties had allegedly breached international humanitarian law and not paid adequate heed to civilian protection.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says displacement of populations affected by armed conflict and other causes is a major humanitarian issue in the country. However, Salvatore Lombardo, head of the UNHCR in Afghanistan, said it was difficult to determine the magnitude of the problem.

About one million Afghans were displaced internally in 2002-2003 because of conflict, inter-communal tension, drought and food-insecurity, aid agencies say. The government of Afghanistan, backed by UN agencies and other aid organisations, has assisted most IDPs to either return to their original areas or integrate in other communities.

However, there are still over 125,000 individuals considered "protracted IDPs" who reside in several camps across the country.

Efforts to combat aid dependency

Officials in at least three insurgency-affected provinces, namely Kandahar, Helmand and Uruzgan, estimate about 80,000 people have been displaced by insurgency and counter-insurgency military operations thus far in 2007.

However, Khalid Koser, deputy director of the Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement, said in a statement on 8 November that the true number of IDPs in Afghanistan was probably closer to 300,000, citing the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (http://www.internal-displacement.org).

In an effort to avoid a protracted humanitarian emergency and aid-dependency, in March 2006 UN agencies operating in Afghanistan formally ended their aid assistance to IDP camps in Kandahar and Helmand provinces, UNHCR confirmed.

Over one year later, however, the humanitarian needs of former IDPs have increased and the situation has been exacerbated by thousands of newly displaced persons, officials in Kandahar and Helmand provinces say.

Shelter, food and medical services are among the urgent needs of almost all displaced families, according to ARCS. Because neither the UN nor the government of Afghanistan support the establishment of new camps - fearing this may encourage other people to leave their homes in search of aid - IDPs have been dispersed in and around urban locations, often living with relatives or in irregular settlements.

In late August a visiting representative of the UN Secretary-General on the rights of IDPs, Kälen Walter, said he was "struck by the complexity of the phenomenon of internal displacement" and the lack of both a national strategy and coordination among various players dealing with population displacement.

Urgent needs not being met

Gailani of ARCS said aid agencies could not meet the most urgent humanitarian needs of many vulnerable displaced families, particularly in conflict-affected areas.

"The Afghan Red Crescent Society does not have adequate resources and capacity to assist all IDPs," Gailani said, adding that the basic needs of many displaced families had remained unmet.

The UN and some other international organisations say insecurity is impeding their access to many vulnerable people in large parts of the country.

If armed hostilities intensify and spread to different parts of Afghanistan, internal displacement could see a significant increase, warn experts, including UN's Walter. Such a scenario, warns Gailani, could contribute to a humanitarian crisis.
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AFGHANISTAN: Revitalise transitional justice system - UN human rights commissioner
21 Nov 2007 12:37:38 GMT
More  KABUL, 21 November 2007 (IRIN) - The government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the international community involved in Afghanistan must recommit to the Action Plan for Peace, Reconciliation and Justice (APPRJ) - known as transitional justice - which is expected to address crimes committed in the past three decades in the war-torn country, said the UN high commissioner for human rights, Louise Arbour.

At the end of her week-long visit to Afghanistan, Arbour told IRIN it was time to renew the already missed deadlines for APPRJ targets, set two years ago.

"It is unthinkable to expect a full implementation of this whole document [transitional justice] within three years. It should be recommitted and renewed," Arbour said.

Backed by the UN and several other international actors, the government and the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) set an ambitious three-year agenda for the implementation of transitional justice in late 2005.

The APPRJ calls for the documentation of past crimes, the identification of alleged criminals, compensation to victim families, remembrance of all victims and prosecution of human rights violators.

Almost two years later, however, the AIHRC says the transitional justice project has been a "complete failure" due to various problems - mainly lack of political commitment and support.

Reiterating the AIHRC's concerns, Arbour said: "I am very disappointed at the lack of progress in implementing the commitments made by the government and supported by the international community under the APPRJ."

Need to broaden national debate about transitional justice

Whilst the UN and the AIHRC confirm there has been a lack of progress in all aspects of APPRJ, Arbour criticised concentration only on the prosecution of alleged criminals "some of whom continue to hold high positions".

"Transitional justice is a multi-faceted process, which focuses on the needs of the victims - for truth, for compensation, for rehabilitation - as well as on the punishment of the perpetrator," Arbour told journalists in Kabul on 20 November.

Afghanistan should re-energise and broaden its national debate about transitional justice, she added.

The UN top human rights official, meanwhile, called on the world body and the wider international community to provide better support and assistance to the Afghan government in the implementation of transitional justice.

"There is a sense that there is not a strong commitment very much from the international community and other actors to follow the implementation of transitional justice," she said.
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Afghanistan, Tajikistan Begin River Water Dialogue
KABUL, Nov 21 Asia Pulse - A two-day workshop for better utilization of Oxus River water between Afghanistan and Tajikistan started in Kabul on Tuesday.

Zahidullah Hamdard, Public Relations officer of Independent Environmental Protection Agency of Afghanistan told Pajhwok Afghan News the workshop would help resolve longstanding problems between the two neighbours over use of the water from Amo River.
 
In the workshop the ecological bodies of the two countries in collaboration with United Nation Development Program (UNDP) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) would devise effective plans for use of the Amo-River water.

Known as Oxus in Greek and Jayhun in Arabic, the historic Amo River forms 1200 kilometer border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.

The river flows in from northern Badakhshan, Takhar, Konduz, Balkh and Jawzjan provinces.

"The quantity of the water and flowing speed of the water in the river was yet to be ascertained, Hamdard said, adding, the workshop would also pave the way for agreement between the two sides to agree on a project to determine the speed and quantity of water in the River.

Tajik representative in the workshop, Namatullah Safarov, while terming the workshop as essential said, the seminar would result in close coordination between ecological bodies of the two countries.

"We are in dire need of Amo river water for agriculture and hydroelectricity, but we can not use it alone," he said.
(Pajhwok Afghan News)
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20 Afghan prisoners transferred to Afghan custody from US military jail
By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer AP - Thursday, November 22
KABUL, Afghanistan - The United States military transferred 20 Afghan prisoners from its detention facility at Bagram Air Base to the custody of the Afghan Defense Ministry, a ministry statement said Wednesday.

The handover comes a week after human rights group Amnesty International called on NATO to stop the transfer of prisoners to Afghan authorities, claiming they risk being tortured.

International troops had arrested the prisoners during operations throughout the country, said Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, the defense ministry spokesman.

The latest transfer from the prison at the main U.S. military base at Bagram brings to 183 the number of prisoners held at the military wing of Afghanistan's largest prison, Pul-i-Charkhi, in the eastern outskirts of Kabul, Azimi said. They include 19 Afghan prisoners sent from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, he said.

London-based Amnesty International said it "is increasingly concerned about the fate of many detainees who face the risk of torture and other ill-treatment when they are transferred to Afghan authorities."

NATO said it has no evidence of systematic torture of detainees transferred to Afghan authorities and insisted that its policy for handing over prisoners met all international standards.

Louise Arbour, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said Tuesday in Kabul that she has no reason to dispute Amnesty International's findings, and that transfers of prisoners to Afghanistan's secretive intelligence service "are particularly problematic."

Under the rules governing NATO's International Security Assistance Force, its 41,000 troops in Afghanistan must hand over prisoners to Afghan authorities within 96 hours of their capture. The rules state that the International Red Cross or Red Crescent must be informed every time NATO takes a prisoner.

Many NATO nations _ including Britain, Canada and the Netherlands _ have agreements with the Afghan government guaranteeing detainees will not be mistreated and granting access to transferred prisoners, but Amnesty International said those agreements do not provide enough safeguards.
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Juvenile, adult militants separated in Afghan jails: Tories
Tuesday, November 20, 2007 CBC News (Canada)
Defence Minister Peter MacKay says he believes juvenile soldiers captured by Canadian troops in Afghanistan are kept separate from adults when they are sent to prison.

Opposition parties pounded the Conservative government Monday after documents released by the Foreign Affairs Department last week indicated that officials have been discussing the issue of what to do with the young fighters.

"My understanding is that there are current provisions within the Afghan detention system to segregate or keep juvenile prisoners separate from others," MacKay told the House of Commons.

"Similarly, with respect to detainees taken by Canadian Forces, we take a similar practice. They're not housed in proximity to other detainees. Under this new arrangement they have increased ability to monitor and track detainees."

Jay Paxton, a spokesman for the minister, said in an e-mail to the Canadian Press that "juvenile prisoners are held in a designated wing of the prison in Kandahar, which is where any juveniles detained and transferred by the Canadian Forces would be held."

Canadian diplomats have also reported back to Ottawa on the arrest and firing of the warden at the main prison of Kandahar, accused of raping young detainees. He was exonerated after an Afghan judge ruled a "drunken man in his 50s" couldn't commit rape.

Another set of released documents, obtained by Liberal defence critic Denis Coderre, suggests the military dispatch juveniles to the care of the Afghan forces as quickly as possible.

Allegations of torture

"Temporarily detained persons who appear to be less than 18 years of age will be treated with care … in most instances they shall be transferred expeditiously to the Afghan National Security Forces," reads a copy of military standing orders dated February 2006.

Since that time, the Afghan prison system has come under intense fire over allegations of torture, from opposition parties and human rights organizations.

Last week, the Foreign Affairs officials told a media briefing that they had come across "credible evidence of mistreatment" during their latest investigation.

The government was also forced by a federal judge to release more than 1,000 pages of provocative documents detailing what it knew about allegations of abuse last year. The documents revealed that Canadian officials were reporting back to Ottawa about appalling conditions in Afghan prisons last April, and on claims of mistreatment and torture they had heard first hand.

At the same time officials were wiring back those reports, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and senior cabinet ministers were calling high-profile newspaper reports on the same issue "baseless," and even suggesting there were no "specific allegations of torture."

'Saw nothing, heard nothing'

Harper was blasted on the discrepancy on Monday, accused by the Liberals of misleading the Commons and Canadians.

"In April, the government stuck to the mantra as far as torture was concerned that it saw nothing, heard nothing and knew nothing but we now know from federal court documents that it knew the truth all along," said deputy Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff.

"It deceived Parliament and deceived Canadians and that is unworthy of the people serving in Afghanistan."

Harper did not address his statements of last spring, instead focusing on what the Department of Foreign Affairs had said last week.

"The honourable member is wrong in his assertion, as the government has already said that we learned of evidence of abuse in one recent case in the past couple of weeks," Harper told the Commons.

"That is being investigated according to the arrangement we have with the Afghan government."

Canada first sent troops to Afghanistan in early 2002 and currently has about 2,500 soldiers deployed as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.
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Analysis: Teatime war in Afghanistan
by Stefan Nicola Berlin (UPI) Nov 20, 2007 via Space War - Nov 20 7:38 PM
The German army has refuted accusations its helicopters left Norwegian and Afghan troops alone in a battle in order to make it to home base before dusk, but the incident still underscores how unhappy some NATO officials are with the Germans in Afghanistan.
"For us ze war is over by teatime, ja," ran the headline in the Nov. 18 edition of the (London) Sunday Times. The British weekly accused the Germans of having abandoned their NATO allies in an offensive against the Taliban. Apparently, Bundeswehr medical evacuation helicopters pulled out in the middle of the battle because they needed to be back on home base by sundown. The other NATO forces were thus forced to retreat as well, the newspaper said.

"We were attacking the bad guys, then at three or four o'clock the helicopters are leaving," a Norwegian officer told the Sunday Times. "We had to go back to base. We should have had Norwegian helicopters. At least they can fly at night."

Abandoned by their Western allies, some 600 Afghan soldiers were also forced to retreat until a convoy of U.S. Humvees arrived the next day to reinforce them.

The article said the German unwillingness to fly at night is undermining Operation Desert Eagle, an allied offensive directed at the Taliban involving 500 NATO troops plus 1,000 Afghan soldiers and police. The Germans are not allowed to travel more than two hours from a hospital equipped for emergency surgery -- another issue that has fueled tensions between Germany and its NATO allies, who are angry that Bundeswehr troops keep away from the intense battles.

"(The Germans) spend much of their time in an enormous base, complete with beer halls and nightclubs, in Mazar-i-Sharif, a 90-minute flight from the fighting," the article said.

In Berlin, the accusations have been vehemently refuted.

"There is no ban on night flights," a German armed forces spokesman told the online version of German news magazine Der Spiegel.

Weather conditions could potentially limit the flight of German helicopters, the spokesman said, "but then it's not just us -- the others don't fly either." He added that no official complaint was filed from the Norwegians, and even the Scandinavians seem to doubt that things happened as described in the Sunday Times.

Lt. Col. John Inge Oeglaend of the Norwegian Joint Headquarters told Spiegel Online he has heard nothing concrete of the incident, adding the mission was not abruptly ended. "I have no idea how the officer on the battlefield came to such a conclusion," Oeglaend said.

Other nations on previous occasions have praised German efforts in northern Afghanistan, where numerous civic reconstruction projects (schools, bridges, water infrastructure) have been realized in the past years; moreover, the German emergency medical installations in Afghanistan are among the alliance's finest.

However, the German military spokesman confirmed a safety restriction mentioned in the article; it's true that Bundeswehr soldiers are not permitted to travel more than two hours away from hospitals with emergency surgery capabilities, he said.

The incident underlines how high tensions run in Afghanistan, where the West is fighting an uphill battle against the Taliban.

Germany has more than 3,000 troops stationed in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led, U.N.-mandated International Security Assistance Force. Roughly 500 soldiers run and maintain six Panavia Tornado jets that fly reconnaissance missions all over the country, and some 100 soldiers take part in the U.S.-led anti-terror mission Operation Enduring Freedom, but they are hardly ever called into action. Germany's lawmakers last week voted to renew German participation, despite widespread public opposition in the country.

While the renewed official German backing for OEF has soothed Washington, the country has in the past repeatedly come under fire for confining its troops to the northern provinces, where the number of roadside bombs and suicide attacks has increased, but where safety generally can be ensured. This is not the case in the southern provinces, where Germans have refused to go and where NATO forces are taking heavy fire from Taliban rebels.

Last year allegations surfaced that Germany had turned down a Canadian request for emergency help because the fighting was taking place in the southern provinces. At the time, the Bundeswehr also refuted these allegations.

While the pressure is increasing on Germany to join its allies in the south, observers say such a move will have to be tackled very soon or wait until after the next elections, in 2009. The issue is simply too hot to be touched shortly before voters go to the polls.
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Czech Defence Minister hands helicopters to Afghan army officials
Ceské noviny
Prague- Czech Defence Minister Vlasta Parkanova (junior governing Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL) and chief of staff Vlastimil Picek handed the first three helicopters to Afghan army representatives in a ceremony at Prague-Kbely airport.
 
In all, the Czech military has donated 12 redundant combat and transport helicopters to the Afghan armed forces.

The helicopters are to become part of the newly-formed Afghan air force.

The Czech government approved the decision to donate 12 redundant helicopters to Afghanistan in April.

However, first the helicopters had to be repaired and upgraded at the Letecke opravny Malesice (LOM) military repair works.

The modernisation cost some 650 million crowns that were paid by NATO. All 12 helicopters are to be supplied to Afghanistan by mid-2009.

Apart from the helicopters, the Czech Republic also intended to donate redundant weapons to Afghanistan.

In April, the Czech government approved the donation of 20,000 automatic rifles and 650 machine guns for more than 30 million crowns. However, Afghanistan announced in July that it was not interested in receiving the weapons.

($1=18.051 Czech crowns)
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Taliban captures 10 alleged security guards in S Afghanistan
Xinhua / November 20, 2007
Taliban insurgents have captured around 10 people allegedly belonging to a private security company in Garmser district of southern Afghan Helmand province, police said Tuesday.

The incident occurred on Monday night and the people had been providing protection service for a foreign building company working on a road linking southern province Kandahar to western Herat, provincial police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal told Xinhua.

Andiwal did not identify the nationality of the security service company.

Talking to Xinhua via phone from an unknown location, a Taliban commander Mullah Mohmmad Hashim however said the Taliban had abducted six policemen and beheaded another one who was trying to defend himself during the action.

The Taliban, removed from power by the U.S. invasion in late 2001, has waged insurgency against Afghan administration and the international troops deployed in the country.

Rising militancy-related violent incidents have killed over 5,700 people so far this year in the war-torn country.
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Militancy Spreads to Northern Provinces
By Tahir Qadiry
MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Nov 20 (IPS) - Militancy, which has turned southern Afghanistan into a conflict zone, has spread to the northern provinces that have been relatively peaceful since the Taliban regime was ousted from Kabul in end-2001.

Some 79 people were killed, including six parliamentarians, schoolchildren and teachers, in Baghlan province on Nov. 6 in a suicide attack, the bloodiest incident in six years. An Interior Ministry committee has been despatched to investigate the human bombing by Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The attack occurred when the parliamentarians were visiting a sugar cane factory in the industrial city of the province.

Two people, including a spiritual prayer leader, have been detained on charges of the attack.

Mohammad Jamshid, who lost a daughter in the attack, said he has lost confidence in the government’s ability to provide security. "My daughter was studying when she was brought to welcome the delegation. She was 12 years old. How dared they kill her?" he lamented. "The government has to give me an answer," he said in tears.

"I lost my 11-year-old daughter," cried Mastora, who is a widow. "Fighting during the Taliban claimed my husband. Now, I lost my daughter. What shall I do? I will never forgive the government," she bitterly added.

The Afghan government immediately announced a compensation of 100,000 Afghanis (2,000 US dollars) to the relatives of each victim. The injured would be given 5,000 Afghanis (100 dollars) each.

The families want the government to find the people behind the attack. "I have lost my cousin," said Mohammad Jawad, who runs a shop, "What shall we do with money? What kind of government is it? Why do they not ensure people’s security?" he added.

Immediately after the suicide bomb, there were rumours that some of the wounded and the dead had suffered bullet injuries. But that was ruled out by Dr Khalilullah Narmgoi, head of the Baghlan hospital, who told IPS that he could not confirm such a thing. "It was an accusation by people, but I have not seen it. Even, there were rumours that one of the victims, the parliamentarian Syed Mustafa Kazemi, had been shot at. But, the investigations showed it was not true," said Narmgoi.

However, Kazemi’s Hezb-e Eqtidar-e Melli Afghanistan said the attack was deliberate. . In a press release, they called for an international investigation into the ‘murder’ of their leader and other parliamentarians and people.

Taliban insurgents who have carried out more than 130 suicide attacks in Afghanistan this year, denied they had a hand in the Baghlan attack which was denounced by various groups in Afghanistan, and the international peacekeeping force.

Gen. Dieter Warnecke, commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), Regional Command North, called it a "cowardly" attack. He said: "The cowardly suicide attack arouses deep consternation among the ISAF soldiers. It seems to be one of the biggest attacks over the last years."

Mohammad Alam Ishaqzai, governor of Baghlan province, called it a suicide attack and said the government’s enemies were behind it.

Speaking to IPS he said: "It was a terrorist act. We cannot accuse any particular party for the attack, but it was done by the government’s and people’s enemies."

The governor, who was accused of wavering over ensuring adequate security for the visiting parliamentarian, said the authorities had not expected an attack on such a scale.

"Northern Baghlan has always been safe. Who knew what was to happen?" he added. The dead parliamentarians were Sayed Mustafa Kazemi, spokesman for the United Front Line and head of the economic commission of the Afghan parliament, Shibur Rehman Himmat, Sibghatullah Zaki, Muhammad Arif Zarif, Abdul Matin and Nazak Mir Sarfaraz.

The governor admitted that the suicide bomber blew himself up just when schoolboys had lined up to greet the parliamentary delegation. But he said it was too early to announce who was behind the attack.

Gen. Abdul Jamil, chief of the Baghlan security command, has accused the Taliban insurgents of the attack.

"Taliban have always been behind the suicide attacks in Afghanistan. This could have been done by them," he added saying the investigations will soon reveal the truth.

Rohullah Mojadidi, a political analyst in Mazar-e Sharif, commented that the Taliban are flexing muscles in the north of Afghanistan as well.

"Taliban are regrouping in the northern provinces," said Mojadidi "They are coming from the south to disrupt the security situation here. It is now up to the government to take decisive measures to defuse their attacks and eliminate them in the region, before they infiltrate."
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Pentagon Wants More Funding For Pakistan Frontier Corps
By Ron Synovitz
November 20, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- The U.S. military wants to nearly double its funding to train and equip Pakistan's Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force with members who are the same ethnicity as pro-Taliban tribal fighters near the border with Afghanistan.

Pakistan's Frontier Corps is responsible for protecting the country's western regions along its more than 1,500-kilometer porous border with Afghanistan.

With a reported 60,000 paramilitary troops, the force is comprised of 14 units based in the Northwest Frontier Province and 13 units in Baluchistan. The troops operate under the orders of Pakistan's Army Headquarters as well as the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions.

The Pentagon's proposal for more funds calls for a training center to be built in northwestern Pakistan.

It also calls for surveillance centers to be constructed on Pakistan's side of the border with Afghanistan in order to monitor movement by militants. There is a similar post on the Afghan side of the border.

The Pentagon says it also needs the additional money to help purchase equipment for Pakistan's Frontier Corps -- including helmets, bulletproof vests, and night-vision goggles. The plan would not provide weapons or ammunition to Pakistan. That task would be left up to Islamabad.

Altogether, the U.S. Department of Defense has asked to spend $97 million in support of the Pakistani paramilitary force in 2008, nearly double the amount for this year.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell says the U.S. military believes it is more effective to work with a paramilitary force like the Frontier Corps within Pakistan's tribal region than with Pakistan's army.

Morrell says the Frontier Corps commands more respect from tribal leaders in the border region than the Pakistani army because the Frontier Corps is recruited from locals who know the region, who have similar language abilities, and who have the most credibility with residents of the tribal areas.

Threat Of Instability

The Pentagon's budget request comes amid political instability in nuclear-armed Pakistan under President Pervez Musharraf and amid increasing U.S. concerns about the spread of Islamic militancy in the tribal areas.

Despite the imposition of emergency rule across Pakistan by Musharraf, violence in the Afghan-Pakistan border region continues to escalate.

The upsurge has some former military officials in Pakistan concerned about the long-term impact of the U.S. proposal.

Mahmood Shah, a retired army brigadier general who also had been in charge of security in Pakistan's tribal regions, tells RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan that U.S. support for Pakistan's Frontier Corps seems uncomfortably similar to the situation in Afghanistan during the 1980s, when the United States used Pakistan as a conduit for support to Afghan mujahedin commanders who were fighting Soviet forces.

"This will have far-reaching negative consequences," Shah says. "In Afghanistan [during the Soviet occupation in 1980s], there was a weak [central] government and the country was occupied by foreign forces. People objected to the formation of armed Afghan resistance groups at that time and voiced concerns that these groups would eventually undermine Pakistan's security. The current situation proves that those concerns were justified."

Shah claims the Pentagon proposal "is not smart thinking." He warns that it could backfire and eventually strengthen renegade militia forces in  Pakistan's tribal regions.

"In Pakistani society and state structure, it is very difficult to prop up such structures without the government's help," Shah says. "Even if such armed groups are formed, they will turn into a militia which will greatly contribute to undermine security. Even if it helps in the short term, in the long term such measures will have grave consequences."

There also are concerns among U.S. lawmakers about how long Pakistani troops can continue to battle the pro-Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants who are known to be hiding in the mountainous border region.

Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in Washington November 15 that there were no indications that Pakistan's political crisis was jeopardizing the security of the country's nuclear weapons. And he said Musharraf's declaration of emergency rule had not had a negative impact on relations between Pakistani forces and the U.S. military.

Morrell says the Pentagon would not try to proceed with a plan to support Pakistan's Frontier Corps unless there was some degree of confidence in Washington that the results would be fruitful.

Morrell describes the support program as a joint venture with Pakistan's government. Musharraf has said that his government will provide Frontier Corps fighters with tanks and guns so they can take a lead role next year in any fighting within the tribal regions -- allowing Pakistan's army to take a more supporting role.

(RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent Najib Aamir contributed to this report from Peshawar, Pakistan)
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