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EU calls for deal on UN envoy for Afghanistan
by Bojan Kavcic Fri Feb 22, 2:12 AM ET
BRDO PRI KRANJU, Slovenia (AFP) - The European Union called for the appointment of a special UN envoy that would coordinate operations in Afghanistan after Kabul rejected earlier this month the candidature of Paddy Ashdown.
NATO: Suicide bombs used as propaganda
By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer Thu Feb 21, 11:24 AM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - Militants using mass-casualty suicide attacks in Afghanistan are trying to swing public opinion among NATO nations that have troops here, the top alliance official said Thursday.
NATO chief calls for more commitment to Afghanistan
Thu Feb 21, 11:21 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer called Thursday for more international commitment to the fight against the Taliban, saying extremists were intent on destabilising the West as well as Afghanistan.
Taliban bomb-making expertise growing
By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer Thu Feb 21, 1:31 PM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - A ruthless new generation of Afghan insurgents is casting aside Taliban doctrine that opposed killing large numbers of civilians, instead using more powerful explosives and packing bombs with ball-bearings to maximize kills.
Economy a key to Afghan peace
Defence department studies say military force is not as effective as helping reconciliation
Feb 21, 2008 03:30 PM Allan Woods Toronto Star
OTTAWA–Building Afghanistan's economy and promoting "national reconciliation" have a greater chance of achieving a lasting peace than the use of military force, according to a military study of the parallels between the NATO
Afghanistan war will top high-level talks with US
Daniel Flitton and Brendan Nicholson The Age, Australia February 23, 2008
AUSTRALIA'S fears about slow progress in the Afghanistan war will top the agenda today when a high-level United States delegation meets Australian counterparts in Canberra.
Australian troops in Afghanistan 'long-term': minister
Fri Feb 22, 2:55 AM ET
CANBERRA (AFP) - Australia pledged Friday to keep its troops in Afghanistan for the long haul despite Canada's decision to set a timetable for the withdrawal of its forces from the volatile south of the country.
Canada to withdraw from Afghanistan south in 2011: PM
by Michel Comte Thu Feb 21, 6:19 PM ET
OTTAWA (AFP) - Canada will withdraw its 2,500 troops from volatile southern Afghanistan in 2011, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday, yielding to opposition demands for a firm exit strategy.
U.S. senators forced to make emergency landing in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A helicopter carrying three U.S. senators was forced to make an emergency landing in Afghanistan Thursday, military and congressional sources tell CNN.
Afghan pullout would be "epic" mistake: U.S. ambassador
Peter Goodspeed, Canwest News Service Thursday, February 21, 2008
TORONTO - It would be a mistake of "epic proportions" for members of NATO to leave Afghanistan before that country's armed forces and police can properly defend themselves, U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins said Thursday.
Afghan plan carved in paper
Don Martin, National Post Friday, February 22, 2008
OTTAWA -Combat soldiers patrolling outside the Kandahar military base should shake their helmets in disbelief at the motion sickness rocking Parliament Hill in their name.
Liberals to support Afghan motion
Tory `compromise' agrees to 2011 cut-off; Dion cites `progress'
Allan Woods Toronto Star - Feb 22 1:43 AM
OTTAWA–Liberals cast themselves as the architects of a compromise position on the extension of the Afghan mission after the government said Canada would leave Kandahar in 2011 and shift next year from counterinsurgency
Compromise on Afghanistan muffles election drumbeat
Prime Minister bows to Liberal demands on withdrawal date
CAMPBELL CLARK February 22, 2008 Globe and Mail, Canada
OTTAWA -- The Conservative government has proposed a firm date of July, 2011, for Canadian troops to withdraw from southern Afghanistan, moving closer to a deal with the Liberals and removing one potential trigger
Iran refutes claims of expelling Afghans
(IRNA) 21 February 2008
Iran's Embassy in Kabul on Wednesday dismissed rumours that Afghan nationals had been expelled from Iran.
Can't train Afghan army without combat, says incoming Canadian commander
The Canadian Press
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Canadian troops will have no choice but to remain in combat even if their focus in Afghanistan after 2009 is solely on training the Afghan National Army, two Canadian military officers said.
Boost Japan's Afghan aid for war on terrorism
The Daily Yomiuri, Japan
The war on terrorism is a long and treacherous challenge common to the international community. Japan, too, has to recognize its responsibility and must fulfill its roles positively in various aspects of this war.
To rescue the Afghan mission, honesty is the best policy
MARK SEDRA, Special to Globe and Mail Update February 21, 2008
The recent revelation that the federal government concealed a decision to halt the transfer of prisoners to the Afghan government amid suspicions of abuse reflects the lack of transparency that has characterized the Conservatives'
Waving a white flag in Kabul
The Copenhagen Post- 21 February 2008
A Danish artist will march through the streets of Kabul bearing a white flag as part of a theatre project
Residents of Kabul will be greeted with an unusual sight on 28 February when a Danish man carrying a white flag walks through the streets of the war-torn city.
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EU calls for deal on UN envoy for Afghanistan
by Bojan Kavcic Fri Feb 22, 2:12 AM ET
BRDO PRI KRANJU, Slovenia (AFP) - The European Union called for the appointment of a special UN envoy that would coordinate operations in Afghanistan after Kabul rejected earlier this month the candidature of Paddy Ashdown.
It also said that an international conference on development aid for Afghanistan, announced last month by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, would be held in late June in Paris.
"We want to have a special envoy in order to coordinate the military and the civilian side and also the international community together with the government of Afghanistan," European foreign affairs commissioner Benita Ferrero Waldner said here.
When asked about posible candidates for the post, Ferrero Waldner said "there are a few names, but I'm not going to speculate."
Afghan President Hamid Karzai's vetoed earlier this month the candidature of Ashdown.
Ferrero Waldner arrived earlier Thursday in Slovenia, which currently holds the bloc's six-month rotating presidency, to take part at a meeting of the EU Troika with Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta.
Spanta said the appointment of a special UN envoy "is very important" for coordination between the international community and Afghanistan, and blamed media speculation about Ashdown's role for the failure of his candidacy.
Meanwhile EU special representative Francesc Vendrell said France would host an international aid conference for Afghanistan in late June to review rebuilding efforts.
"The Paris conference, late in June, should provide an opportunity for us to reiterate our support and review the process that started in London," Vendrell said.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced last month the organization of the conference without giving a date.
The EU Troika and Spanta also reviewed the current situation in Afghanistan where the "security situation has deteriorated" over the last year, according to Ferrero Waldner.
"We have a mutual aim: that is to go forward and work for a common stabilization of Afghanistan," Ferrero Waldner told journalists.
The EU has already invested 1.2 billion euros (1.68 billion dolars) in Afghanistan and plans to "be there for the long term," Ferrero-Waldner said.
Spanta said his country had achieved a lot since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001 but more challenges were ahead.
"The main challenges we have to address now is terrorism, drug production and drug trafficking, and weakness of state institutions," Spanta said.
Vendrell said he expected the deployment of a 195-man EU-led police training mission by early April.
"If we perform well I think there will be willingness on the part of the EU, Canada and New Zealand to enlarge the numbers," Vendrell said.
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NATO: Suicide bombs used as propaganda
By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer Thu Feb 21, 11:24 AM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - Militants using mass-casualty suicide attacks in Afghanistan are trying to swing public opinion among NATO nations that have troops here, the top alliance official said Thursday.
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said convincing people and Western parliaments that the situation is not deteriorating is of "key importance."
The bombers "want to influence Afghan public opinion, but at the same time the public opinion in our nations who provide the forces," de Hoop Scheffer said at a news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. "Let's not give them a ticket to ride."
The NATO chief was leading a delegation of the alliance's North Atlantic Council, consisting of its 26 permanent representatives, that met with local and international officials in Afghanistan.
Two suicide bombings this week left more than 140 people dead in the south, mostly civilians.
Afghan authorities on Wednesday detained seven men suspected in the deadliest insurgent attack since the Taliban's ouster in 2001 — a bombing that killed more than 100 at a dog fight Sunday in the provincial capital of Kandahar, Gov. Asadullah Khalid said.
Also Wednesday, Afghan and U.S.-led coalition troops battled for five hours with militants north of Musa Qala, where Taliban militants were in control for much of 2007 before Afghan, U.S. and British troops took the town and surrounding areas in December.
The Afghan Defense Ministry said 30 suspected Taliban fighters were killed in the operation, during which coalition aircraft bombed militant hide-outs. The coalition, reporting no casualty figures, said 11 militants were detained in Wednesday's operation, and 1,000 pounds of heroin and an arms cache were seized.
Helmand is the world's largest opium-producing region, and officials estimate up to 40 percent of proceeds from the country's drug trade are used to fund the insurgency.
The southern region is also where the insurgency is most active, and NATO commanders have asked for more combat troops for the area. NATO's International Security Assistance Forces is now 50,000-strong.
De Hoop Scheffer said more troops would deployed, but did not say how many or where they would go.
NATO also lags in efforts to provide enough military trainers to mentor the fledgling Afghan National Army, de Hoop Scheffer said, calling it a "mission of necessity."
"If we do not prevail, if we lose, it will not only be Afghanistan on the losing side, it will be our community, our societies in ... the West and elsewhere," he said.
Countries like Canada, which has 2,500 troops in Kandahar, have threatened to end their combat role in Afghanistan unless other NATO countries provide an additional 1,000 troops to help the anti-Taliban drive there.
The United States, which has some 28,000 forces in the country — both in the NATO-led mission and as part of a separate U.S.-led counterterrorism coalition — is sending an additional 3,200 Marines in April, most of whom are expected to be stationed in Kandahar during their seven-month tour.
Insurgency-related violence in Afghanistan killed more than 6,500 people in 2007 — the deadliest year since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, according to a tally of figures from Afghan and Western officials. Most of those killed were insurgents.
An explosion in Helmand on Wednesday killed a British soldier and wounded another, Britain's Ministry of Defense said in London. The blast hit a British patrol trying to disrupt Taliban activity, the ministry said, adding that the cause of the explosion was not immediately known.
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Associated Press writers Fisnik Abrashi in Kabul and Noor Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report.
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NATO chief calls for more commitment to Afghanistan
Thu Feb 21, 11:21 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer called Thursday for more international commitment to the fight against the Taliban, saying extremists were intent on destabilising the West as well as Afghanistan.
Countries contributing to a 50,000-strong NATO-led force in Afghanistan must also rid themselves of the notion that the mission is failing, the alliance's secretary general said after talks with Afghan leaders.
Scheffer visited Afghanistan with 26 NATO ambassadors and other alliance officials amid tensions over contributions to the NATO-led force fighting Taliban and some countries hinting at pulling out.
"This is not considered by NATO as a mission of choice," he told reporters after talks with President Hamid Karzai. "It is a mission of necessity."
"The spoilers are not after destabilising the Afghan society, killing the Afghan society, but also ruining our societies," he said, referring to Taliban insurgents and other rebels in a violent campaign against the government.
"It is essential that not only NATO but also the other members of the international community are fully committed to Afghanistan," he said.
There have been calls from the main contributors to post-Taliban Afghanistan -- notably Britain and the United States -- for more "burden-sharing" in the gruelling fight against the rebels.
About a dozen countries are represented in the south, the violence hotspot where opium cultivation is flourishing, and taking heavy casualties that are feeding public dissatisfaction at home.
Others choose to operate in more stable areas, such as the north where Germany is in command.
The United States is sending more than 3,000 soldiers -- combat troops and trainers -- into Afghanistan in April to deal with a traditional surge in violence around spring.
It has been calling on other nations to give more support to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.
Scheffer said ISAF had swollen by 8,700 soldiers over the past year to number about 50,000 and he was confident of more support in the coming year.
He said the perception in many countries in the ISAF force that "things are going wrong in Afghanistan or that the country is going downhill, is not true."
There has been much progress, notably in health, education and construction. "Of course we are not failing but I am ambitious. We can do better," he said.
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Taliban bomb-making expertise growing
By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer Thu Feb 21, 1:31 PM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - A ruthless new generation of Afghan insurgents is casting aside Taliban doctrine that opposed killing large numbers of civilians, instead using more powerful explosives and packing bombs with ball-bearings to maximize kills.
Just this week, some 140 people died in two bombings. Afghan security officials say the militants have started using C-4, a powerful explosive not seen before in Afghanistan
"It's not like Baghdad, but the terrorists are learning lessons from each other," said Abdul Manan Farahi, counterterrorism chief for the Interior Ministry.
The recent bombings are part of a bloody trend in the deepening Afghan conflict. Militants have stepped up attacks, and NATO has boosted its forces and taken the fight to the Taliban. Last year was the deadliest since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, with over 6,500 people killed in militant-related violence, mostly Taliban fighters.
Both sides have caused civilian deaths. According to an Associated Press count based on figures from Afghan and Western officials, militants killed 480 civilians in 2007, while U.S. or NATO action killed 360 civilians — many of them in airstrikes.
The United States and NATO have successfully worked to cut down on civilian deaths since a spate of casualties in June drew stern warnings from President Hamid Karzai and outraged the Afghan public.
At the same time, a surge in suicide attacks in the past two years is increasingly putting Afghan civilians in the line of fire. There were only six suicide bombings in Afghanistan in all of 2003 and 2004. Militants ramped up such attacks in late 2005 and they've been rising steadily since, culminating in more than 140 in 2007.
Sunday saw the deadliest insurgent bombing since the Taliban's 2001 ouster from power, when a suicide attacker killed more than 100 people at a dog fighting match near the southern city of Kandahar. The next day, 38 Afghan civilians were killed when a suicide car bomber attacked a Canadian military convoy, officials said.
A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for Monday's attack — claiming that only police and soldiers were killed. But the spokesman denied the militia was behind Sunday's killings.
The Afghan government has not formally accused the Taliban of Sunday's attack. However, Karzai's spokesman hinted the Taliban was to blame when he said the bombing had "all the hallmarks of previous attacks."
"Whether they claim responsibility or not, they are held responsible by the people of Afghanistan and the government of Afghanistan," Humayun Hamidzada said.
The Taliban insists that it is avoiding attacks that target civilians.
However, a militant spokesman said Taliban leaders have called on bomb-makers to raise the power of blasts against U.S. and NATO military forces, which could increase the possibility that civilians will also be killed.
"All these bombs that are stronger than before, this is because of the growing experience of our jihadi fighters," spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told The Associated Press by telephone from an undisclosed location. "We will continue to make these kinds of bombs to attack our enemies."
Reclusive Taliban leader Mullah Omar has in the past called on his fighters not to carry out attacks around civilians, apparently aware that such killings hurts the militia's cause. But a new breed of ruthless militants has replaced dozens of insurgent leaders killed or captured by coalition and Afghan forces.
A recent analysis by NATO theorized that while the older Taliban leadership associated with Mullah Omar sought to avoid civilian casualties, "the new guys just don't care," said an official at NATO's headquarters in Kabul who asked not to be identified by name when revealing internal reports.
The influence of one such commander — Siraj Haqqani — is growing, the U.S. says. Haqqani, a Taliban-associated militant with close ties to al-Qaida, is accused of masterminding beheadings and suicide bombings reminiscent of the deadliest days of the Iraq war.
"We believe him to be much more brutal and much more interested in attacking and killing civilians. He has no regard for human life, even those of his Afghan compatriots," said Army Lt. Col. David Accetta, spokesman at the U.S. military's main base in Afghanistan, Bagram.
Accetta said the recent Kandahar bombings were "classic terrorist methodology — intimidate the population."
While it is difficult to identify specific links between militants fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, military and counterterrorism officials have acknowledged there is a crossover between the Taliban and al-Qaida, and jihadists across the world share knowledge using the Internet and videos.
The U.S.-led coalition has said the tactics used by Haqqani are more closely aligned with "international jihadism" — a reference to al-Qaida — than tactics used by Mullah Omar or even longtime insurgent leader Jalaluddin Haqqani, a veteran of the war against the Soviet occupation and Siraj Haqqani's father.
The U.S. military has offered a $200,000 bounty for Siraj Haqqani, who the U.S. says is believed to oversee several madrassas in Pakistan that train insurgents. He has expanded his operations from eastern Afghanistan to include Ghazni and Wardak in central Afghanistan and into Helmand and Kandahar in the south.
Hamidzada, Karzai's spokesman, condemned the Taliban for attacking "soft targets" — a tactic already scaring war-hardened Afghans in Kandahar, former seat of the Islamist regime.
Ibrahim Khan, whose nephew was killed in Sunday's Kandahar bombing, said he told his relatives to stay away from crowds.
"I told my family especially not to go to cultural festivals or dog fighting matches," Khan said. "These insurgents are carrying out attacks everywhere. There are no safe places. We are worried about our children. We are praying for God to bring peace to our country."
___
Associated Press writers Rahim Faiez in Kabul and Noor Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report.
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Economy a key to Afghan peace
Defence department studies say military force is not as effective as helping reconciliation
Feb 21, 2008 03:30 PM Allan Woods Toronto Star
OTTAWA–Building Afghanistan's economy and promoting "national reconciliation" have a greater chance of achieving a lasting peace than the use of military force, according to a military study of the parallels between the NATO mission and the Soviet invasion of the 1980s.
War planners have dismissed the notion that there are similarities between the two campaigns, but two Department of National Defence studies circulated at the highest levels of government and the military caution there are important lessons to be learned from the Soviet experience.
The studies come as Canada debates an extension of its Afghan presence to 2011 and a shift away from counterinsurgency toward training and development.
Quietly released on a DND website recently, the studies note that in both instances where the Afghan government relied on foreign forces to assert power, there were chronic imbalances between military and development efforts and the insurgency was "underrated."
Chief among the warnings is that Afghanistan must be weaned off foreign aid and become economically self-reliant, a tall measure given that much of the country's annual operating budget comes from foreign donors.
"The (Soviet) emphasis on the security situation in Afghanistan compromised sound economic development during the period 1979-89 ... Thus, the Afghan economy continued to be overly dependent on foreign aid," one study notes.
"Without breaking this dependency, no long-term solution to stabilize Afghanistan is possible."
Canada has pledged $1.2 billion for development in Afghanistan over a decade. Some of that money goes to programs like a micro-lending operation intended to spur entrepreneurship, but most goes to the Afghan government and to non-governmental organizations like the World Bank.
Experts say Kabul doesn't have the capacity to distribute all the money, and much is lost to corrupt local officials.
The studies say the Soviet push for "national reconciliation" three years before the Red Army left Afghanistan was "more successful than military operations." The authors suggested this be a guiding principle for NATO's diplomatic efforts today.
The Russian policy sought to be more inclusive by involving the various tribes, regions and armed fighting groups, allowing the country's Islamic character to take precedence over secular Communist principles and reaching out to resistance fighters by integrating them or buying them off.
By 1990, one-quarter of all armed fighters not aligned with the Soviet regime had signed reconciliation agreements, while 40 per cent had signed ceasefire pacts.
The Afghan government is open to talks with elements of the insurgency, even though NATO and the Canadian government have stayed clear of the proposition. The Taliban demands the withdrawal of all foreign troops before it will engage in talks.
Seediq Weera, a policy adviser to Afghanistan's education minister and a peace-building and diplomacy expert, said the only similarity between the Soviet reconciliation efforts and the current peace efforts are that both have been insufficient. The Soviets were not "genuine and sincere," he said last week.
"It was like, `Come and surrender, join us, put your arms down,'" Weera said. "The approach that we have so far, which is unfortunately failing, is also like that."
Fen Hampson, an international affairs expert at Carleton University in Ottawa, disagreed that the Soviet reconciliation efforts could be characterized as successful. He said it is unrealistic to expect the Afghan government or the Taliban insurgency to cede the ground necessary to come to a peaceful solution to the conflict.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai's position is too weak to pressure the insurgents into a negotiated settlement.
"If you're going to be effective in sitting down with those elements of the Taliban who can be talked to, you've got to do it from a position of strength, not weakness, and he's still pretty weak."
In Ottawa, meanwhile, former Liberal foreign affairs minister John Manley has denied reports that the federal Tories have put his name forward as a potential United Nations "super envoy" for Afghanistan. Manley chaired a blue-ribbon panel on the future of Canada's presence in Afghanistan.
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Afghanistan war will top high-level talks with US
Daniel Flitton and Brendan Nicholson The Age, Australia February 23, 2008
AUSTRALIA'S fears about slow progress in the Afghanistan war will top the agenda today when a high-level United States delegation meets Australian counterparts in Canberra.
Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon will tell his US counterpart that Australia has no plans to follow Canada's lead and set a date for pulling troops out of Afghanistan.
Canada announced yesterday it would withdraw its 2500 troops troops from Afghanistan's volatile Kandahar province in 2011. Mr Fitzgibbon and Foreign Minister Stephen Smith will sit down with US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte for the first annual ministerial security talks, known as AUSMIN, since the Rudd Government took office.
Broader security concerns such as Iraq, strategic co-operation in the Asia-Pacific and the fight against terrorism will also be on the table for discussion.
"This is the new government's first opportunity in a formal way, aside from Stephen Smith's recent visit to Washington, to further develop and strengthen the great relationship between the two countries," Mr Fitzgibbon said. "Secretary Gates and myself in particular will find ourselves concentrating a fair bit on events in Afghanistan."
Mr Fitzgibbon said he understood Canada's reasons for pulling out, but declined to set a withdrawal date for Australian troops, saying the commitment was for the long term.
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Australian troops in Afghanistan 'long-term': minister
Fri Feb 22, 2:55 AM ET
CANBERRA (AFP) - Australia pledged Friday to keep its troops in Afghanistan for the long haul despite Canada's decision to set a timetable for the withdrawal of its forces from the volatile south of the country.
"We've made it very, very clear that our commitment in Afghanistan is a longstanding one," Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon told reporters.
"I said in the parliament just this week what a tragedy it would be if all that we'd done in Afghanistan so far was in the end all for nought. So our commitment is a long-term one."
Fitzgibbon said however that he understood Canada's decision, announced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Thursday, to pull its 2,500 troops out of the south by 2011.
"I'm not surprised Canada has set a date and I'm not surprised they've started to put some conditions upon their contribution," he told reporters.
"They've lost more than 70 people in Afghanistan, so the domestic concern is understandable. They have been and will continue to make a magnificent contribution.
"It just underscores again the need for us to make a collective effort to ensure that those underperforming countries, NATO countries, do more, and do more with less caveats."
NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer called Thursday for more international commitment to the fight against the Taliban, saying extremists were intent on destabilising the West as well as Afghanistan.
Scheffer visited Afghanistan with 26 NATO ambassadors and other alliance officials amid tensions over contributions to the 50,000-strong NATO-led force fighting Taliban, with some countries hinting at pulling out.
Countries contributing to the force in Afghanistan must rid themselves of the notion that the mission is failing, the alliance's secretary general said in Kabul after talks with Afghan leaders.
Australia has nearly 1,000 troops in Afghanistan, mostly assisting a Dutch-led reconstruction operation in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan, a former Taliban stronghold. Three have been killed in action.
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Canada to withdraw from Afghanistan south in 2011: PM
by Michel Comte Thu Feb 21, 6:19 PM ET
OTTAWA (AFP) - Canada will withdraw its 2,500 troops from volatile southern Afghanistan in 2011, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday, yielding to opposition demands for a firm exit strategy.
However, the opposition Liberals have not yet publicly endorsed the plan.
Previously, they had agreed with the ruling Conservatives for the need to maintain troops in Afghanistan to 2011 only if NATO allies send reinforcements soon.
But they differed on whether Canadian soldiers should continue hunting insurgents beyond their current mandate of February 2009, or stick to a non-combat role in Kandahar province.
The stalemate could have led to snap elections in March, if all three opposition parties united to topple the minority Conservatives over its motion to extend the mission.
Now, "it seems obvious that we've arrived at a consensus that can be submitted to Parliament for ratification," Harper said in a speech to the Conference of Defense Associations.
"We both agree that Canada should continue the mission until 2011 and (that) we should leave operational decisions to our commanders on the ground in Afghanistan," he said.
Thus, "Canada will end its presence in Kandahar as of July 2011, completing redeployment from the south by December of that year," he said.
If both parties agree, the motion will be presented to parliament for ratification shortly, before a NATO summit in April, he said.
But the Liberals still want clarification on some nuances, the Liberal party's MP for defense Denis Coderre told AFP.
"We wanted the mission to be changed, we wanted it to have an end date, and we wanted it refocused so that it is not solely military but is balanced with diplomacy and development," Coderre said.
The oddly bipartisan motion states Canada would focus hereafter on training Afghan forces and providing security for reconstruction.
It is not clear, however, if Canadian offensive operations would cease, as demanded by the Liberals.
"Firm targets and timelines for the training, equipping and paying of the Afghan National Army, the Afghan National Police, the members of the judicial system and the members of the correctional system" would be set, the motion states.
If NATO does not send reinforcements, medium lift helicopters and drones soon, as requested, Canada would pull out at the end of its current mandate of February 2009, it says.
Earlier, NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer called for more international commitment to the fight against the Taliban, saying extremists "are not after destabilizing the Afghan society, killing the Afghan society, but also ruining our societies."
Countries contributing to a 50,000-strong NATO-led force in Afghanistan must also rid themselves of the notion that the mission is failing, he said after talks with Afghan leaders.
"This is not considered by NATO as a mission of choice," he told reporters. "It is a mission of necessity."
Scheffer noted ISAF had swollen by 8,700 soldiers over the past year to number about 50,000 and he was confident of more support in the coming year.
In recent weeks, Canada's prime minister and Defense Minister Peter MacKay have pressed NATO allies to send 1,000 additional troops to bolster the Canadian forces in Kandahar.
The main contributors to post-Taliban Afghanistan -- notably Britain and the United States -- have also called for more "burden-sharing" in the grueling fight against the rebels.
About a dozen countries are represented in the south, the violence hotspot where opium cultivation is flourishing, and taking heavy casualties that are feeding public dissatisfaction at home.
So far, only France and Poland have hinted to Ottawa they may send more help.
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U.S. senators forced to make emergency landing in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A helicopter carrying three U.S. senators was forced to make an emergency landing in Afghanistan Thursday, military and congressional sources tell CNN.
The military helicopter carrying Democratic Sens. Joseph Biden of Delaware and John Kerry of Massachusetts, and Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska had to land in the mountains because of a snowstorm, said Elizabeth Alexander, a spokeswoman for Biden.
No one was hurt in the incident, said Kerry spokesman David Wade. The senators proceeded to their destination in a ground convoy after the helicopter landed in a field, he said.
"After several hours, the senators were evacuated by American troops and returned overland to Bagram Air base, and left for their next scheduled stop in Ankara, Turkey," Wade added.
Pentagon officials said the incident occurred at approximately 8:30 a.m. ET.
Sen. Biden is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Sens. Kerry and Hagel are members of the committee. Their aides were also on the helicopter.
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Afghan pullout would be "epic" mistake: U.S. ambassador
Peter Goodspeed, Canwest News Service Thursday, February 21, 2008
TORONTO - It would be a mistake of "epic proportions" for members of NATO to leave Afghanistan before that country's armed forces and police can properly defend themselves, U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins said Thursday.
"It would just be plain wrong in my opinion for those of us who enjoy the blessings of freedom to abandon Afghanistan's 31 million people to the likes of the Taliban. If we do that, we will simply find ourselves in the same position we found ourselves in prior to 9/11," Wilkins told the annual meeting of the Canadian chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce in Toronto.
"In my opinion it would be a mistake of epic proportions for members of the NATO missions to leave Afghanistan before its army and police are better prepared to defend its people against the forces that seek to destroy them," he said.
Wilkins, who has been criticized in the past for injecting himself into Canadian political debates, hastened to add: "I fully appreciate and fully understand and fully acknowledge that Canadians and Canadians alone will decide for themselves what the face of the Afghan mission will look like after 2009."
Wilkins described how he visited Canadian troops in Kandahar in southern Afghanistan over Christmas along with Defence Minister Peter MacKay and Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier.
On Christmas Eve, their group travelled to an isolated Canadian forward operating base to serve the troops dinner. "It was sparse living conditions," he said. "It was dry; it was dusty; it was an old school house - concrete walls, no running water, no central heat, tough living conditions. Christmas Eve and morale was strong, spirit was high. It was an incredible thing to see."
"My trip proved to me beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we should not leave. What we have accomplished so far is great. But the work left to do is greater still."
He went on to praise Canadian soldiers serving alongside their U.S. counterparts in Afghanistan, saying: "they are doing an incredible job and really making a difference over there to people in need."
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Afghan plan carved in paper
Don Martin, National Post Friday, February 22, 2008
OTTAWA -Combat soldiers patrolling outside the Kandahar military base should shake their helmets in disbelief at the motion sickness rocking Parliament Hill in their name.
While they're racing to drop another engine pack into a stalled tank within rifle range of Taliban hideouts, scrambling to hitch a ride in another nation's helicopters over oft-mined roads, or wondering if that banged-up Toyota they're approaching is booby-trapped, Canadian politicians are twisting their deadly mission into political origami.
Last week's four-page Liberal motion on conditionally extending the Afghanistan mission was countered by a four-page Conservative motion released yesterday that would pass for a photocopy.
There is no measure of mission success or failure in either motion. Only a firm 2011 date for a retreat to somewhere else is up for discussion. The vote is five weeks' worth of political chattering away.
It's a bit odd how a usually-defiant Stephen Harper allowed Liberal nemesis Stephane Dion to ghost write his most pressing foreign affairs decision, but that either proves how determined his government is to avoid an Afghanistan referendum wrapped in an election or how laughably far the Liberals have caved to spoon with the Tory position.
A journalistic mob seized the Conservative motion upon release, frantically checking it word-for-word against the Liberal proposal to spot real or imaginary differences. At most there are three potATEoversus-potATo variances of little significance. - Soldiers will down weapons and start packing on either Feb. 1, 2011 (Liberals) or Canada Day that year (Conservatives). - The six-month process of knocking down tents and loading up equipment will be completed and Canada's spot on the Kandahar Air Field rendered an empty patch of dirt and gravel by either July (Liberals) or December, 2011 (Conservatives). - The troops and their equipment will either be relocated north into safer provinces or out of the country entirely by the end of 2011. That next destination requires someone to interpret a clause stating there shall be a "redeployment of Canadian Forces troops out of Kandahar" which neglects to clarify if that means all of Afghanistan.
Yet you can parse every syllable in the motion and it's clear nothing will change on the ground for the next three years.
The motions affirm a drift that is already happening -- forcing the military to realign its priorities into training the Afghan army and de-corrupting the police while putting a renewed emphasis on relief and reconstruction. Soldiers can still initiate a fight or return fire upon command from their officers.
What makes both motions worth less than the paper they're printed on is that four years represents an eternity in military deployments and minority government lifespans. By the time Canada starts its sixth year in Kandahar in 2011, one of the two national parties could have a majority mandate for the prime minister to do as he or she damn well pleases in military matters.
If that person is still Stephen Harper, we will not be leaving on schedule in 2011.
This Prime Minister clearly relishes being a middle-power leader with the capacity to unleash "peace-enforcement missions" at will -- a country no longer ignored as the nation of blue helmets with binoculars for weaponry.
We'll get a grounding in reality in a speech from feisty Chief of Defence Staff Rick Hillier this morning, who promises to ensure the soldiers' perspective isn't lost in all the clause-by-clause wrangling over motions.
After that, it's over to politicians for weeks of chatter before MPs approve the extension and send Mr. Harper off to a NATO summit with an ultimatum that another 1,000 troops be delivered to Kandahar next year or Canada will immediately abandon its post.
That demand will undoubtedly be nailed down long before the Prime Minister boards the plane. Mr. Harper may already have a deal from his recent global telethon of allies, opting to withhold that announcement for the international stage because it will look better in Conservative campaign television commercials.
But any soldier-boosting commitment will ensure Canada remains in Kandahar for another 1,500 days, give or take a week under the Conservatives' withdrawal timetable.
For the defence contractor crowd, who provided a standing ovation backdrop for Mr. Harper's announcement yesterday, a longer mission means another hefty batch of equipment orders are on their way.
But at the current rate of casualties, a motion that leaves our Kandahar commitment not even half completed means 100 Canadian soldiers and a million family tears are yet to fall.
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AFGHANISTAN MOTION
Main points of new Conservative motion on Afghanistan - Canadian troops to begin leaving Kandahar in July 2011 and complete withdrawal by December. - Extension of mission beyond February 2009 is conditional on NATO providing 1,000 additional troops, additional helicopters and unmanned aerial drones for intelligence use. - Firm targets and timelines to be set on training members of Afghan army, police, judicial system and correctional service. - Canada to play stronger diplomatic role in the region, including support for appointment of a special envoy to oversee coordination of activities. - Government to provide public with "franker and more frequent reporting of events in Afghanistan." - House to strike special Parliamentary committee on Afghanistan to meet regularly with senior officials. - Government to provide greater transparency on treatment of detainees.
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Liberals to support Afghan motion
Tory `compromise' agrees to 2011 cut-off; Dion cites `progress'
Allan Woods Toronto Star - Feb 22 1:43 AM
OTTAWA–Liberals cast themselves as the architects of a compromise position on the extension of the Afghan mission after the government said Canada would leave Kandahar in 2011 and shift next year from counterinsurgency to development and training local security forces.
After a month of political wrangling, the Conservatives put forward what they cast as a "compromise" proposal to extend Canada's mission for two years beyond February 2009. The motion vows to complete the withdrawal of troops from the southern province of Kandahar by 2011, meeting the principal demand of Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion.
It also promises more transparency to Parliament and Canadians for the challenges that confront the mission and less secrecy around the sensitive topic of how Canada's battlefield detainees are handled while in Afghan custody.
"This motion affirms that our commitment is not open-ended," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a speech to a military conference in Ottawa.
He added that the two major parties in the House of Commons had "moved significantly toward the kind of bipartisan consensus that could be presented to Parliament for ratification."
There are several differences between the Liberal proposal and the Tory motion, notably the government's insistence on finding 1,000 troops from Canada's NATO allies to fight in Kandahar as a precondition of the extended mission. The Liberals had called for "sufficient" troops to secure Kandahar and let the 2,500 Canadians focus on development, training and security.
The government still must explain how it came up with this particular number when experts say upwards of 10,000 more soldiers are necessary, said Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae. He said that would be one of the top questions put to the government when debate on the motion takes place next Monday and Tuesday, but suggested it would not be a dealbreaker.
"At the same time we have to recognize that the government has come a long, long way with respect to a whole lot of other things we suggested were critical for the mission to go forward," he said in an interview.
The Tory motion stood out for being almost identical in wording to the proposal put forward by the Liberals earlier this month.
Dion, speaking from Prince Albert, Sask., said he was pleased the Tories "finally accepted the principle that the mission must have a clear and firm end date.
"I think it's progress," said Dion. "We welcome this new motion that is based on our Liberal motion."
The government motion pushes the date to complete the Kandahar withdrawal to December 2011, five months after the July 2011 date the Liberals had proposed. The Liberals said they would not quibble, so long as there is a firm date for withdrawal from Kandahar.
Harper also brandished new lines that show a more complex, nuanced understanding of the challenges in Afghanistan than the government has previously expressed.
Instead of insisting on the primacy of military might to ensure the safe delivery of aid and reconstruction efforts, Harper spoke yesterday of the "unbreakable link" between security and development.
Harper also announced a boost in the guaranteed annual funding increase to the Department of National Defence of 2 per cent from 1.5 per cent. Reports suggest that could mean an additional $90 million in 2011-12.
With Liberal and Conservative MPs backing the mission extension, a vote on the question would appear to be a formality. The government wants that to take place in early March. But a vote on the federal budget next Thursday, which could conceivably spark the government's defeat and an election campaign, risks pre-empting the parliamentary approval.
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Compromise on Afghanistan muffles election drumbeat
Prime Minister bows to Liberal demands on withdrawal date
CAMPBELL CLARK February 22, 2008 Globe and Mail, Canada
OTTAWA -- The Conservative government has proposed a firm date of July, 2011, for Canadian troops to withdraw from southern Afghanistan, moving closer to a deal with the Liberals and removing one potential trigger for a spring election.
But even as Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered compromises on the Afghan mission yesterday, he delivered a full-throated call for a strong shooting military and a government willing to deploy it if Canada wants to be taken seriously. He also pledged long-term acceleration of defence spending.
A parliamentary motion unveiled by Mr. Harper both bows to Liberal demands for a firm end date to the Afghan mission and accepts Liberal wording that the combat mission must refocus on training and security for reconstruction efforts.
"It seems clear that we have moved significantly toward the kind of bipartisan consensus that can be presented to Parliament for ratification," Mr. Harper said in a speech to the Conference of Defence
Associations.
The proposed date is five months later than what the Liberals wanted, but foreign affairs critic Bob Rae said it is unlikely to be a major sticking point.
"It would be churlish for anyone to suggest that the government has not come a long way," Mr. Rae said.
"We're certainly closer than we've ever been."
After a conference call between Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion and a half-dozen Liberal MPs who work on Afghanistan issues, a spokesman for Mr. Dion, Leslie Swartman, suggested that only minor points remain to be bridged.
"I think it's progress," Mr. Dion told reporters in Prince Albert, Sask.
"We welcome this new motion that is based on our Liberal motion. We'll look if we need clarification and amendments and we will participate in this debate."
Debate on the Afghanistan motion starts Monday, but will be interrupted Tuesday afternoon by the budget, which takes precedence over all other business in the House of Commons.
The Liberals could still defeat the government over its budget, but they have recently expressed reluctance to do so.
The government said it plans to have MPs vote on the Afghan motion next month before the Prime Minister heads to a summit of NATO leaders in Bucharest, April 2-4. The government wants NATO to commit another 1,000 troops to Kandahar and help it obtain helicopters and unmanned drones.
The Tory motion adopted almost all of the wording of a motion proposed by Mr. Dion on Feb. 12, but changed a few key points.
It deleted the Liberals' demands that the Canadian Forces refuse to transfer detainees to Afghan authorities. Instead, the government commits to "meeting the highest NATO and international standards" on respecting prisoners' rights.
Mr. Rae said the important point is that the government agreed to accept a firm end date, broadening the mission with more aid and diplomatic efforts, and adopting the Liberal wording on changing the focus of the mission to training Afghan forces and providing security for reconstruction efforts.
"That's what the mission will do. The issue will be if NATO says, 'We want other things to be done,' you say, 'Well, if you want those things to be done, you're going to have to find an additional partner to do that.' "
Also yesterday, Mr. Harper delivered a speech to a defence think tank that stressed the need to be willing to send soldiers to fight to enforce peace in dangerous areas, rather than sticking to classic blue-bereted peacekeeping.
"That is the reality and will be the reality of our world for the foreseeable future," he said. "That means we will need a strong, multifaceted military, backed by the political will to deploy."
He said the world will ignore well-meaning countries without military strength.
"Countries that cannot or will not make real contributions to global security are not regarded as serious players," he said.
"They may be liked by everybody. They may be pleasantly acknowledged by everybody. But when the hard decisions get made, they will be ignored by everybody."
Mr. Harper promised his government would hike the "automatic" increases in military spending in the federal budget starting in 2011, from 1.5 per cent a year to 2 per cent. He said accelerating the increase in defence spending would "thoroughly reverse the so-called rusting out of our Canadian Forces."
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Iran refutes claims of expelling Afghans
(IRNA) 21 February 2008
Iran's Embassy in Kabul on Wednesday dismissed rumours that Afghan nationals had been expelled from Iran.
The Cultural Affairs Department of the Embassy in a statement on Wednesday said no Afghan has been expelled from Iran after the end of a temporary plan for deportation of the Afghans illegally residing in the country.
It said those wishing to travel to Iran illegally will not be allowed to step in the country and if crossed into its territory, they will be deported.
The Embassy reiterated that no Afghan has been ordered to leave Iran after the end of the project for expulsion of foreign nationals and any report to that effect is false.
Afghan Minister of Refugees and Returnees Affairs had recently claimed that since start of 2008, Iran had expelled 17,000 Afghan refugees.
Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Sultan Ahmad Behin too claimed that in the past month, 7,000 Afghans were deported from Iran. There are 2.5 million Afghans in Iran, 925,000 of whom having residence permits.
Those illegally residing in the country are not considered refugees and immigrants based on the world conventions. There are also five million Afghans living in other countries now. –IRNA
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Can't train Afghan army without combat, says incoming Canadian commander
The Canadian Press
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Canadian troops will have no choice but to remain in combat even if their focus in Afghanistan after 2009 is solely on training the Afghan National Army, two Canadian military officers said.
The Afghan army isn't ready to conduct combat operations on its own and won't be for some time, say both the incoming and outgoing commanders of the Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team, or OMLT, the group of Canadian soldiers working alongside the Afghan security force.
Canadians will need to be with them every step of the way.
"We are in combat with them, let there be no mistake," said Col. Francois Riffou, who assumed command of the team at a ceremony in Kandahar on Thursday.
"We're just not going to be out front, we're not going to take the lead on Afghan army operations. We are there to support them."
Debate rages in Ottawa over what role the Canadians in Afghanistan should have once the current combat mission expires in 2009.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper unveiled a new motion saying the mission will focus on training and reconstruction. It also says all Canadian troops will be out of the volatile Kandahar region by December 2011.
The opposition Liberals insisted on both those points in return for their support of the motion, which Harper has declared a confidence matter.
But as wind from a storm whipped dust around him in Kandahar, Col. Stephane Lafaut, the outgoing head of the OMLT, said it's impossible to put a timeline on when the Afghan army will be able to stand on its own.
"I have almost 25 years of experience and it's hard for me, and even for my bosses who are more experienced than myself, to put a date. So I don't know who can put a date," he said.
"We're talking about years. How much time really it is going to take, we're not sure."
The Afghan army presence in Kandahar has almost tripled since Canadians began working alongside its soldiers in 2006. There are now two full Kandaks - an Afghan battalion of about 600 men - in operation, plus a third that the military says is well on its way.
Eventually, the goal is to have five Kandaks fully operational in the province, about 3,000 soldiers.
Canada has about 2,500 troops on the Afghan mission, most of them in Kandahar province. A little less than half of them are involved in combat operations in four of the 17 districts where Canadians are maintaining a presence.
The current government motion calls for an additional 1,000 soldiers to be added solely in a combat role to counter what is seen as a rise in violence throughout Kandahar.
Lafaut said in a recent interview with The Canadian Press that at this point, there is only one Kandak now able to handle almost all elements of combat operations by themselves.
"They now come to us, say they've heard insurgents are in an area and they want to do an operation," Lafaut said.
"We just help them implement it."
Lafaut said he's seen members of the ANA communicate directly with insurgents during operations, asking them to surrender.
"We don't want to mirror our army on their own," he said. "We want to help them in the process of building their own force."
Out in at a forward operating base in the Panjwaii district a few weeks ago where members of the OMLT work alongside the Afghan army, one senior mentor said the Afghan National Army is establishing a certain amount of control in parts of the country.
"It used to be that we were in front and they were behind," Maj. Jean-Sebastien Fortin said. "Then it moved so we were together. And now, slowly, it's switching. They are taking over our jobs and we are falling back."
But where the ANA struggles is in planning and logistics, as well as in tactical support.
The Canadian military recently donated hundreds of old rifles to replace the Soviet-era AK-47s in order to bring their capabilities in line with that of NATO countries.
"They're very good fighters," Lafaut said.
"But they're now learning that when you start an attack you need to think about how much food you're bringing, how much water you need to bring, the tactical problems," Lafaut said.
On the battlefield, the ANA is still reliant on Canadians.
"They are still lacking artillery capabilities, air force, helicopters, medical assets," he said after Thursday's ceremony.
"Eventually they will have those assets but in the meantime we are providing them with those things."
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Boost Japan's Afghan aid for war on terrorism
The Daily Yomiuri, Japan
The war on terrorism is a long and treacherous challenge common to the international community. Japan, too, has to recognize its responsibility and must fulfill its roles positively in various aspects of this war.
The Maritime Self-Defense Force's supply vessel Omi refueled a Pakistani Navy destroyer in the Indian Ocean on Thursday afternoon, in line with the new Antiterrorism Law that was enacted in January. The refueling operation resumed after a nearly four-month hiatus.
In the Indian Ocean, more than 10 vessels from six countries--Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Pakistan and the United States--have been engaged in maritime interdiction activities that monitor and take action against terrorist movements, as well as checking for the transport of weapons and narcotics at sea. New Zealand also is scheduled to participate again this year by dispatching its vessels to the area.
While the MSDF was absent, Pakistani vessels had to make port calls at a base for refueling, causing their work efficiency to decrease by about 40 percent.
The refueling activity constitutes the core of Japan's effort in the war on terrorism. Only a limited number of countries, such as Japan, Britain and the United States, can maintain a long, sustained refueling mission. Since it represents a physical contribution that works to the MSDF's strengths, such as highly skilled ocean-based refueling techniques, we hope it will be continued steadily.
It also is important for the government to pay careful attention so as not to cause a recurrence of a scandal in which the fuel oil supplied by the MSDF was used for U.S. operations in Iraq, an issue that emerged during the course of Diet deliberations on a bill for a new antiterrorism law.
Work on other issues
However, we should also not forget that part of the war on terrorism is assisting with Afghanistan's reconstruction.
The Afghan situation faces a very difficult phase. Since last year, activity by the Taliban, the former ruler, has gained momentum and suicide bombings have increased sharply. The International Security Assistance Force, dominated by North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops, is planning to increase its troops to deal with the situation, despite the loss of more than 750 soldiers.
In early February, Japan hosted an international conference on reconstruction assistance to Afghanistan. The problems discussed included measures to thwart the Taliban's rise, restore civil order, improve the Afghan government's governing abilities, revamp poor districts and eradicate poppy cultivation there, which currently makes up 90 percent of the global production.
It is clear that the country has abundant problems. However, there have been no effective measures to eliminate them.
Financial cooperation is key
Japan has so far provided $1.25 billion in cooperation funds that have been used, for example, for road construction, education and the disarming of former soldiers. This is the second-largest contribution following that of the United States. Currently, Japan places emphasis on the disbanding of illegal armed groups led by local warlords and providing indirect support for provisional reconstruction teams run by the United States and European countries.
Japan has been extending assistance to nongovernmental organizations working in school construction and vocational training in areas run by Lithuanian- and Swedish-run provisional reconstruction teams. Synergistic effects by parties involved are expected in such areas.
At this point, it is not realistic to dispatch Self-Defense Forces members to Afghanistan. Inevitably, Japan's cooperation must come from financial support.
Because of this, it is important for Japan to find the best way to expand cooperation and maximize its results in security restoration and regional reconstruction efforts. Technical and personnel know-how accumulated by Japan through its long years of official development assistance should be used to aid the war on terrorism.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Feb. 22, 2008)
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To rescue the Afghan mission, honesty is the best policy
MARK SEDRA, Special to Globe and Mail Update February 21, 2008
The recent revelation that the federal government concealed a decision to halt the transfer of prisoners to the Afghan government amid suspicions of abuse reflects the lack of transparency that has characterized the Conservatives' handling of the Afghan mission. This disclosure followed close on the heels of John Manley's report, which criticized the Harper government's communications strategy on the mission and called for it to "engage Canadians in a continuous, frank and constructive dialogue about conditions in Afghanistan and the extent to which Canadian objectives are being achieved."
The government often cites "operational security" to justify withholding information about some of the more controversial aspects of the Afghan mission. Another tactic used by the government to play down news of setbacks and to counter questions on the mission's daunting challenges is to list the successes that have been achieved. The same achievements have been touted for almost three years now: the return of six million children to school, the repatriation of more than five million refugees, successful presidential and parliamentary elections. These are monumental achievements, but should not be used to stifle debate or conceal the severity of the growing security crisis.
It is not uncommon for states at war to attempt to control the flow of information reaching the domestic population. Concealing the complexities of the Afghan war from the Canadian public is seen by some as a legitimate strategy to secure public support. But while controlling the message received by the public might have been possible during the First World War, when even letters written home were vetted by censors, this is much more difficult in this information age.
In fact, efforts to control the message can have the opposite effect, creating public suspicion of the mission. The disparity between the government's depiction of the situation in Afghanistan and the information Canadians find elsewhere, such as images of ramp ceremonies for fallen soldiers and battlefield accounts by embedded journalists, have undermined the compelling arguments in favour of our continued involvement.
Ours is not the only government to attempt to gloss over the growing crisis in Afghanistan. Rather than admitting that the insurgency has built momentum, Washington and Kabul insist on citing every major new attack or shift in strategy as evidence of Taliban desperation.
I witnessed this spin firsthand in October, when I participated in a panel discussion at the British Parliament. I was shocked when one of my fellow panelists, an official from NATO headquarters in Brussels, stated that there was no definitive evidence that the Afghan security situation was deteriorating or that the Taliban were gaining strength. After the event, he privately admitted that the statement was wrong. Such willful manipulation of the facts undercuts public confidence in the mission and impedes the sense of urgency that can lead to innovative solutions.
In truth, the seriousness of the Afghan situation is no longer in doubt. In the last week of January, a report from the Atlantic Council of the United States, led by retired Marine Corps general James Jones, warned that "urgent changes are required now to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a failing or failed state." The same week, an open letter by Oxfam to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned of a "humanitarian catastrophe" unless Western countries undertake "a major change of direction." The International Crisis Group's latest report states that Afghanistan is not lost, "but the signs are not good."
While the government has been guilty of spinning the mission to the public, the positions of the opposition parties are similarly at odds with reality. Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion insists that Canada end the combat mission in February, 2009, and assume a humanitarian and reconstruction role that focuses on the training of Afghan security forces. This position ignores the fact that without a NATO partner to take Canada's place in Kandahar, the security situation will not be conducive to humanitarian work. The NDP's demand for an immediate withdrawal of all Canadian troops in favour of focusing on the provision of development assistance also ignores the fundamental tenet that you can't do development without security. The fact that much of the country's south is currently off-limits to aid agencies and Afghan government institutions reflects this.
To secure public support for the Afghan mission, this government must adopt a different approach. It must be frank with Canadians about Afghanistan. It must tell them that it is a long-term mission, that things may get worse before they get better, that it will cost significant amounts of money, that more soldiers may die. It must also tell them that the mission is in Canada's interest. It must convey the high stakes involved.
If the Afghan state collapses, it could destabilize the region and the entire world by providing a haven for terrorists and criminal organizations who export extremism and narcotics. It could undermine Canada's reputation and harm the integrity of NATO, a multilateral body of which we are a founding member, and which is vital to both our diplomatic clout and collective security.
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Waving a white flag in Kabul
The Copenhagen Post- 21 February 2008
A Danish artist will march through the streets of Kabul bearing a white flag as part of a theatre project
Residents of Kabul will be greeted with an unusual sight on 28 February when a Danish man carrying a white flag walks through the streets of the war-torn city.
Part of a theatre project to promote democracy, Claus Beck-Nielsen will carry the flag of democracy, a white flag with a hole in the middle, where one would normally find a national symbol.
As part of the project, he will walk from the outskirts of Kabul to the National Theatre, a walk, between 10 to 20 km , that will take him onto centre stage where he will become part of the performance.
The play, 'The Parliament', written by Beck-Nielsen, is about an architect who wants to design and build history's first world parliament and introduce world democracy.
However, the endeavour is not without some danger and Beck-Nielsen was concerned about his safety.
'You never know what people will think. I carried flags with a colleague in Iran and we were constantly arrested by the secret police,' he told national broadcaster DR.
'In Kabul, Taleban and government officials, or even a stray Danish soldier from the Helmand province might think I'm doing something dangerous.'
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