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Afghan suicide attack kills child, soldier: police
GHAZNI, Afghanistan (AFP) - A suicide car bomb in the town of Ghazni in eastern Afghanistan killed a young child and an Afghan soldier and wounded several people, police said.
France mulls increased Afghan role
By PAUL AMES, Associated Press Writer
VILNIUS, Lithuania - France is considering sending forces to southern Afghanistan amid U.S. and Canadian pressure to move more troops into the fight against the Taliban.
Canadians sound out French on Afghan troop offer
VILNIUS (Reuters) - Canada sent senior officials to Paris on Friday to sound out France on a possible offer of support for 2,500 Canadian troops in south Afghanistan and said it had got its message across to allies on the need for help.
NATO chief says Afghan government must improve
by Mary Sibierski
VILNIUS (AFP) - The NATO chief on Friday called on Afghanistan to improve its government and boost support for its security forces to step up the fight against the Taliban.
Rice seeks strong Afghan commitments
By ANNE GEARAN and ROBERT BURNS, Associated Press Writers Thu Feb 7, 6:02 PM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - The United States and Britain, the nations with the most troops fighting in Afghanistan, made a renewed push Thursday to portray the war as winnable and worthy of international support despite
Afghan border province angry Kabul 'doesn't bother'
by Beatrice Khadige
SHARAN, Afghanistan, Feb 8, 2008 (AFP) - With only one female doctor, three hospitals and little potable water, electricity or roads, Afghanistan's eastern province of Paktika is angry with the powers that be in the capital Kabul.
Amnesty fails to block Canada's Afghan transfers
Thu Feb 7, 3:48 PM ET
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Amnesty International Canada on Thursday lost the first round of its bid to prevent Canadian troops in Afghanistan from transferring prisoners to Afghan authorities, where Amnesty fears they could be tortured.
Judge blasts Ottawa on Afghan detainees
Though court won't block transfers, human-rights groups hail ruling as proof existing safeguards cannot prevent prisoner abuse
PAUL KORING February 8, 2008 Globe and Mail, Canada
A Federal Court judge has refused to block detainee transfers, but lambasted the Harper government for failing to put adequate safeguards in place to prevent prisoners from being tortured in the hands of Afghanistan's security forces.
Diplomat with 'encyclopedic knowledge' to lead civilian efforts in Kandahar
DANIEL LEBLANC From Friday's Globe and Mail February 8, 2008 at 5:00 AM EST
OTTAWA — Ottawa is putting a new face at the top of its team in Kandahar, nominating diplomat Elissa Golberg to oversee Canada's mission in a province that needs aid and development to emerge from decades of war.
REVOLT IN PAKISTAN'S TRIBAL AREAS, Part 1
Ceasefire: A lull before the storm
PART 2: The next battlefield
By Syed Saleem Shahzad Feb 9, 2008 Asia Times Online, Hong Kong
PESHAWAR, North-West Frontier Province - The ceasefire deal between the Pakistani security forces and a leading member of the al-Qaeda-linked Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, brokered by two stalwart Afghan
Australian addicts turning to Afghan heroin: experts
By Michael Edwards Australian Broadcasting Corporation - Feb 07 4:31 PM
Australian drug users are turning to Afghan heroin in unprecedented numbers as supply from the war-torn country soars, drug users' groups say.
Afghan showdown
National Post (Canada) Thursday, February 07, 2008
Whatever one thinks of Canada's role in Afghanistan, it must be conceded that Stephen Harper's decision to introduce a Parliamentary confidence motion to extend our Afghan combat mission beyond its current 2009 deadline
Taleban to reap £50 million from opium
The Times 2.7.08 –
The Taliban could earn £50 million from another bumper crop of opium in Afghanistan this year despite the presence of British troops in its main production zone, a United Nations survey said yesterday.
Varying views of Afghan operation
Friday, 8 February 2008, 13:19 GMT BBC News
The US and UK have been urging other Nato countries to share more of the combat burden in the south of Afghanistan.
Turkmenistan, partners to revive Afghan gas project
By Marat Gurt via Guardian Unlimited, UK
ASHGABAT, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Partners in a proposed natural gas pipeline through Afghanistan will meet in April to discuss ways to breathe new life into the stalled multi-billion project, a Turkmen government source said on Thursday.
Afghanistan leaves Dion cornered
February 07, 2008 JAMES TRAVERS, TORONTO STAR
OTTAWA- Stéphane Dion is adding another D to Afghanistan's 3Ds of defence, diplomacy and development: Dither.
Husband of slain Afghan woman testifies
By Ben Aguirre Jr. San Jose Mercury News - Feb 07 8:26 PM
The husband of an Afghan mother of six who was slain in Fremont about 15 months ago said Thursday that he did not help his 5-year-old daughter testify, but rather aided her in understanding her colors.
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Afghan suicide attack kills child, soldier: police
GHAZNI, Afghanistan (AFP) - A suicide car bomb in the town of Ghazni in eastern Afghanistan killed a young child and an Afghan soldier and wounded several people, police said.
The bomb exploded just metres (yards) from the entrance of an Afghan National Army base in the town as an army vehicle passed, deputy police chief Mohammad Zaman said.
A child aged under 10 was killed as well as a soldier, he said. Three other soldiers were badly hurt and two civilians were also wounded.
The car used in the attack was in pieces and blood and debris was flung several metres from the blast site, an AFP reporter at the scene said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack but it was similar to scores claimed by the extremist Taliban movement which launched an insurgency soon after being driven from government in late 2001.
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France mulls increased Afghan role
By PAUL AMES, Associated Press Writer
VILNIUS, Lithuania - France is considering sending forces to southern Afghanistan amid U.S. and Canadian pressure to move more troops into the fight against the Taliban.
A reversal of France's refusal to deploy combat units to the southern front-lines would ease tensions within NATO. A rift has emerged in the alliance between nations such as the United States, Canada and Britain, who have troops in the south, and those like France, Germany and Italy, whose units operate in the relative safety of north and west Afghanistan.
France is to meet a Canadian delegation Friday on Ottawa's appeal for 1,000 extra troops to support its beleaguered force in volatile Kandahar province.
"They were very receptive to our message," Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay said of previous talks between French and Canadian officials. "We want to talk in more detail about logistics, and that's exactly what's happening in Paris today."
However, French officials cautioned that it was unlikely Paris would provide all the troops Canada is seeking and said a decision on whether to deploy was unlikely before April, when NATO leaders meet for a summit in Bucharest, Romania.
While NATO defense ministers resumed talks in Lithuania, Canadian diplomats said the delegation heading to Paris would lay out details of what Ottawa needs in Kandahar.
The lack of support from key European allies in southern Afghanistan has provoked stark warnings this week from the United States about the future of alliance unity and prompted an ultimatum from Canada.
Ottawa said it would withdraw its 2,500 troops from their key role in the 43,000-strong NATO force next year unless it got reinforcements. Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay said Ottawa wants an offer of help by the April summit in Bucharest.
"We knocked on a lot of doors, some of them opened," MacKay told reporters. "France is one of those countries that we are going to continue to have some discussions with."
French Defense Minister Herve Morin on Thursday said France would help Canada, but declined to give details. He suggested President Nicolas Sarkozy could announce a strengthening of the French role in Afghanistan with a redeployment of the 1,500 French troops that are mostly in Kabul area.
"My message to the Canadian public is 'be a bit patient,'" Morin said when asked if France would help in the south. However, he added that a media report that Sarkozy was considering the deployment of 700 paratroopers to the south was premature.
"In the framework of this new policy in favor of Afghanistan, what we are studying are several options," he told reporters. "But announcing figures like that is really going too fast."
Meanwhile, Norwegian Defense Minister Anne-Grete Strom-Erichsen confirmed Friday his country will add to its 500 soldiers in Afghanistan in March with the deployment of special forces and helicopters, a total of 200 extra troops.
France, along with Germany, Italy, Spain and Turkey, has so far refused to deploy significant numbers of combat troops in southern Afghanistan, the heartland of the Taliban insurgency. Although none of the European holdouts has publicly announced a change in its position at the NATO meeting, diplomats were hopeful that France would answer the Canadian appeal.
If Sarkozy were to agree to deploy to the south, it would be a significant shift from the policy of his predecessor Jacques Chirac and underscore the new president's stated aim of improving relations with the United States. Under Sarkozy, France is also considering a full return to NATO's integrated military command, from which President Charles de Gaulle withdrew in the 1960s.
Canadian officials said Canada would likely have talks with other allies, although MacKay acknowledged that not all nations had the military capacity to maintain 1,000 troops in the tough Kandahar battlefields.
Many European governments are under public pressure not to send troops to the Afghan front-lines. Some think it better to focus on reconstruction in the more stable areas rather than pursuing the insurgents. Others say their militaries are stretched elsewhere.
Germany in particular has bristled at recent U.S. criticism, insisting its 3,300 troops in Afghanistan are doing important work supporting reconstruction in the relatively stable north.
"If we constantly rush back and forth between the different regions in Afghanistan, I think that also would be a difficult thing," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Berlin Thursday. "This deployment is not easy and that everyone who is active in this operation is doing his best to build up Afghanistan's overall structure."
A senior German official on Friday dismissing the idea that his and other European countries are "quitters."
"We already have more than 20 dead to mourn from this work, so it isn't so very safe," Gernot Erler, a deputy foreign minister, said on the Inforadio channel. "It simply is not true that some are doing the hard work and the others are quitters, to put it drastically."
Afghanistan's Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, who joined the NATO talks Friday, said the Afghan army was rapidly improving and was determined to beat the Taliban. However, he appealed for NATO nations to give his troops better equipment, saying he was better armed in the days when he led rebels against the Soviets.
"We are not receiving what we really require," he told reporters. "When I was commanding the Afghan mujahadeen I had much better weapons than we have today."
Despite the difficulties raising forces, NATO insisted they were gaining ground in the battle against the Taliban and efforts to promote reconstruction in Afghanistan, rejecting the findings of a series of recent high-profile reports.
"Despite some gloomy headlines, there is clear progress," alliance Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said, pointing to military successes against the Taliban and improvements to the country's economy, schools and health care.
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Canadians sound out French on Afghan troop offer
VILNIUS (Reuters) - Canada sent senior officials to Paris on Friday to sound out France on a possible offer of support for 2,500 Canadian troops in south Afghanistan and said it had got its message across to allies on the need for help.
In what would be a major setback for the NATO peacekeeping mission, Canada has said it will pull its soldiers from the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on schedule next February unless other NATO nations provide an extra 1,000 troops there.
"We knocked on a lot of doors. Some of them are open and France is one of those countries ... We are going to have some discussions about logistically how we can make it happen," Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay told reporters.
A Canadian Defense Ministry spokesman earlier confirmed a delegation was traveling to France, but declined to comment on a Canadian television report they were going to negotiate the transfer of 700 French troops to the south.
MacKay, speaking on the last day of a two-day NATO defense ministers meeting, said it was too early to say exactly what the French help would consist of, but that France had the capability to meet Canada's requirements.
"We came here with a clear message," MacKay added of his talks in Vilnius.
"I feel we delivered that message. There is no confusion what the requirements are," he said, pointing to a need for more troops and equipment. "We achieved some success."
French Defense Minister Herve Morin told reporters at the NATO meeting on Thursday that Paris was willing to help Canada, but had taken no decision on deploying troops or equipment. France has some 1,500 troops, based mostly in the capital Kabul.
Morin said on Thursday France was studying deployment options as part of a wider reorganization of the 43,000-strong NATO-led Afghan peace force which he expected to be discussed at an April 2-4 alliance summit in Bucharest.
Canada's minority government plans a parliamentary vote of confidence in late March on prolonging its military mission in Afghanistan, officials said earlier this week.
(Reporting by Patrick Lannin, Illona Wiessenbach and Mark John; Editing by Catherine Evans)
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NATO chief says Afghan government must improve
by Mary Sibierski
VILNIUS (AFP) - The NATO chief on Friday called on Afghanistan to improve its government and boost support for its security forces to step up the fight against the Taliban.
Speaking at a NATO defence ministers meeting dominated by the conflict in Afghanistan, Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer warned that "governance must visibly improve."
The ministers set aside a dispute over foreign troop levels in the country to discuss international aid for Afghanistan with representatives of the United Nations, European Union, World Bank and Afghanistan's Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak.
"Governance must visibly improve, so that the Afghan people have trust in their leaders," the NATO chief told the meeting.
"The police need robust support to develop and they need it now. The narco-economy must be replaced by a legal, sustainable economy. And the Afghan army must get more support from NATO nations and from partners, to stand on its own feet and defend its own country," he added.
Scheffer said "NATO will play its part -- but NATO and ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) are only part of the answer."
"Our goal today will be to see how all the countries and organisations represented here today can step up our efforts and our cooperation," he said.
The UN-mandated ISAF has 43,000 troops from 40 states, but is now struggling against a renewed Taliban insurgency and NATO commanders have sought more troops and weapons.
Germany has rejected calls from the United States and Canada to move some of its troops to the frontline in southern Afghanistan amid warnings that the dispute could harm NATO's cohesion.
But US Defence Secretary Robert Gates adopted a pragmatic line on Thursday suggesting that states which could not send more troops because of domestic politics should send equipment or non-combat troops instead.
"We are realistic about politics here in Europe," Gates told journalists. "The governments here in Europe get it, they understand the importance of Afghanistan but many of them are in coalitions and just aren't able to do certain kinds of things.
"If somebody can't send combat soldiers in certain areas because of the politics at home then perhaps they could pay for helicopters or provide helicopters," said Gates, in what appeared to be a reference to Germany.
German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung resisted US pressure to send German troops -- 3,200 currently deployed in northern Afghanistan -- to the restive south.
The Bundestag voted in October to extend Germany's Afghan mission for a year, but exclusively in the north. Opinion polls suggest that a majority of Germans oppose Bundeswehr troops engaging in combat missions.
French Defense Minister Herve Morin said Thursday that France was prepared to help Canada in southern Afghanistan, but stopped short of pledging troops as demanded by Ottawa.
Canada sent a high-level delegation to Paris Thursday to discuss its request for NATO reinforcements to help Canadian soldiers fighting the Taliban in Kandahar province.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has warned NATO allies that Canada would withdraw its 2,500 troops from Afghanistan unless NATO sent 1,000 extra troops plus equipment.
"Yes, we have sent some people to Paris to follow-up on discussions that the prime minister had with the president (Nicolas Sarkozy)," a spokeswoman for Harper told AFP.
Over the last 18 months, the United States has urged European NATO allies -- notably Germany, France, Spain and Italy -- to join Britain, The Netherlands and Canada in fighting Taliban insurgents.
ISAF forces have grown from 16,000 to 43,000 troops over two years, but commanders have been calling for another 7,500 troops to fight the resurgent Taliban, which has used bases in remote tribal areas of northern Pakistan to regroup.
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Rice seeks strong Afghan commitments
By ANNE GEARAN and ROBERT BURNS, Associated Press Writers Thu Feb 7, 6:02 PM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - The United States and Britain, the nations with the most troops fighting in Afghanistan, made a renewed push Thursday to portray the war as winnable and worthy of international support despite a so-far-unsuccessful struggle to get more allies to commit frontline forces.
On a visit here with her British counterpart, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice emphasized the improvements that Afghanistan has seen since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 toppled the radical Taliban regime. And Defense Secretary Robert Gates, at a meeting of NATO allies in Lithuania, said that despite fissures in the alliance over sharing burdens in Afghanistan, "I don't think there is a crisis."
The dual diplomatic efforts by two of President Bush's top advisers demonstrated the importance of Afghanistan's future in the struggle against Islamic extremism as well as the depth of the administration's concern that the mission of stabilizing this country is in danger of stalling or even deteriorating.
A chief worry is the reluctance of some key NATO allies to provide more military resources, including combat troops, at a time when the Taliban has stiffened its resistance, particularly in southern Afghanistan. Some Europeans argue that the United States puts too much emphasis on the military aspects of helping Afghanistan.
In Afghanistan, as in Iraq, the strongest U.S. partner has been Britain.
On an unannounced visit, Rice and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband pointed to progress despite multiple setbacks more than six years after the Taliban regime was overrun and was thought to be all but defeated.
"If you look at the Afghanistan of 2001 and the Afghanistan of now there is a remarkable difference for the better," Rice said. She also said that it would be unfair to say the efforts by NATO and the Afghan government aren't working.
"Can we all expect the security situation will still be difficult? Yes, because Afghanistan has determined enemies who laid waste to this country over a period of a decade," Rice said, adding, "The strategy is one that I believe is having a good effect."
President Hamid Karzai, standing with her at a news conference, defended his leadership, saying the economy and education systems have improved under his watch and there are more democratic freedoms under a new constitution.
"Afghanistan, if given more attention, would be very, very glad and thankful but it is not right that Afghanistan has been forgotten," said Karzai, who was responding to a recent independent report that said the country is in danger of becoming a failed state.
In Vilnius, Lithuania, where Gates and his NATO counterparts gathered for two days of talks focusing largely on Afghanistan, the public message was strikingly similar to the Rice and Karzai statements.
"It is simply not true," NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said in Vilnius, that the Afghanistan mission is in danger of failing. He called on the international community to exercise "patience, with a capital `P.' "
And the NATO chief said he is working on a "comprehensive political-military strategy" for consideration by Bush and other NATO heads of government at a summit meeting in Bucharest, Romania in April. He put forth the idea of creating "benchmarks" for measuring progress in Afghanistan.
Gates also was notably upbeat, ticking off a list of indicators of gradual progress in Afghanistan — from road building and the establishment of a national government to gains in education and the economy. Last month Gates created a furor in Europe when his remarks in an interview with the Los Angeles Times was seen by many as a slap at the Europeans' ability to make meaningful combat contributions.
In Vilnius, Gates told reporters that the public portrayals of his entreaties to the Europeans have been "overblown."
He said, however, that strengthening the combat force in southern Afghanistan — as strongly recommended by the American general who is commanding the fight — would help speed the defeat of the Taliban. Gates has ordered 2,200 Marines to go to the south this spring, and he wants other NATO members to commit to replacing the Marines when their tour of duty is up toward the end of this year.
"My view is that it represents potentially the opportunity to make further progress faster in Afghanistan if we had more forces there," Gates said.
In a show of unity, Rice and Miliband made the trip to Kabul and Kandahar -- a former Taliban stronghold -- so they could get a firsthand look at the area where the future of NATO's combat role is in greatest doubt.
Kandahar was the seat of the Taliban regime that ruled Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001. Taliban insurgents remain active in the surrounding province, which lies in a southern block of the country where the Islamist militia draws its strongest support.
All 26 NATO nations have soldiers in Afghanistan and all agree the mission is their top priority. But the refusal of European allies to send more combat troops is forcing an already stretched U.S. military — focused on the Iraq war — to fill the gap, and it is straining the Western alliance.
The U.S. contributes one-third of NATO's 42,000-member International Security Assistance Force mission, making it the largest participant, ahead of Britain with about 7,700 soldiers in Afghanistan. The U.S. has another 12,000 to 13,000 troops there involved in counterterrorism operations.
The high-level U.S.-British visit comes in the bloodiest year in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led toppling of the Taliban in 2001. More than 6,500 people — mostly insurgents — died in violence in 2007, according to an Associated Press count of figures provided by local and international officials.
Rice said that the Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militants have turned to suicide bombings and other tactics that make it more challenging to fight.
"It's not work that's going to be completed overnight," she said of the efforts to rebuild the country and fight insurgents at the same time.
Earlier Thursday, Rice said the Afghan government must meet its responsibilities in fighting the Taliban.
"This is a two-way street, and I think everybody has to step back and concern ourselves with the Taliban," she told reporters.
Said Miliband: "We've got responsibilities that we're determined to live up to and obligations that we're determined to live up to and ditto for the Afghan authorities. That's something we want to follow through and at the heart of both our strategies is the belief this has to be done with the Afghan government and in fact led by the Afghan government, with our support."
___
Eds: Gearan reported from Kabul and Kandahar. Burns reported from Vilnius Lithuania.
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Afghan border province angry Kabul 'doesn't bother'
by Beatrice Khadige
SHARAN, Afghanistan, Feb 8, 2008 (AFP) - With only one female doctor, three hospitals and little potable water, electricity or roads, Afghanistan's eastern province of Paktika is angry with the powers that be in the capital Kabul.
Its position on the border with Pakistan makes the province a transit route for Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters trained outside the country, but there has been little real help to deal with insurgent unrest, locals say.
And the lack of security is considerably slowing down development for a population estimated at around 350,000.
An indicator of the dire state of affairs is education. Only 185 students passed their final exams last year, says education adviser Siddiq Batman.
There are about 100,000 pupils for 297 schools that "are badly run and not very effective, mainly because they lack teachers," admits provincial governor Akram Khepelwak.
There is no secondary school for girls in the entire province, officials say.
This leads to problems in the health sector. There are only two trained female nurses and one female doctor -- and she only arrived in September.
There are five trained midwives -- none of them from the province and two from Pakistan, health officials say.
"The result is that women do not want to come for treatment until they are seriously sick," says Mohammad Hassan, director of the main hospital in the provincial capital Sharan.
Tradition and religion mean Afghan women will not be examined by men.
Hassan is from Jalalabad, a town 200 kilometres (124 miles) northeast of Sharan. He cannot bring his family with him because there is no suitable accommodation and security is precarious.
That is also why few non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operate in the province, some choosing to not even leave the relative security of Kabul.
Taliban insurgents and criminal gangs have captured or killed dozens of aid workers for political reasons or for ransom. A US aid worker was kidnapped by unknown gunmen in the southern city of Kandahar more than a week ago.
In Paktika it is NATO-linked military-led units called provincial reconstruction teams (PRT) that do most of the work in getting the area running.
They have equipped, built or rebuilt schools, mosques and administrative buildings, put in solar panels where the power lines don't reach or sunk wells.
The budget last year was 79 million dollars, says US General Eduardo Fernandez, the PRT commander in Paktika.
But locals say there is a lot more to do that the authorities in Kabul -- about 200 kilometres to the north -- would not know about because most of the eight provincial parliamentarians rarely visit their constituencies.
"Many things are decided in Kabul but the development strategies don't take into account what is really happening in Paktika," says Khepelwak.
Batman agrees there are gaps. "We voted five years ago for funds to develop education in Paktika but we have not spent them," he says.
Influential tribal chief Ahmadzai Wazir, from the border district of Bermol, says the main issue is insecurity.
"The terrorists are trained by the intelligence services of Pakistan who then help them come here," he says, adding that he is "very angry" he has not seen any aid from Kabul to secure his area.
"We don't have any problems among ourselves," he says. "But we are tired of being without drinking water, without electricity, without schools. We are too far for Kabul to really bother about us."
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Amnesty fails to block Canada's Afghan transfers
Thu Feb 7, 3:48 PM ET
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Amnesty International Canada on Thursday lost the first round of its bid to prevent Canadian troops in Afghanistan from transferring prisoners to Afghan authorities, where Amnesty fears they could be tortured.
Canada's Federal Court denied a request by Amnesty and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association for an injunction to prohibit the transfer of Afghan detainees, while the court conducts a more lengthy review of the issue.
Justice Anne Mactavish ruled that the rights groups had failed to demonstrate "that irreparable harm will likely result unless the injunction is granted."
Canada stopped handing over prisoners to the Afghan authorities last November after receiving evidence that a detainee had been mistreated.
Canada's minority Conservative government says the transfers could resume at any time if it is determined that enough safeguards against torture in place, and the rights groups wanted to block that possible resumption.
According to an Afghan human rights official, Canada has kept up to 20 prisoners at its southern Afghan base in Kandahar since the interruption of the transfers. It has 2,500 troops at the base.
Mactavish said her decision would not prevent the Canadian rights groups from renewing its request for an injunction if transfers resume.
Amnesty said the judge's ruling was "a powerful and unequivocal vindication" of what the group had been saying about the problems with the transfers.
"She's laid out a litany ... of problems, including deficient record-keeping, missing detainees, the serious and very worrying allegations of mistreatment," Amnesty International Canada's secretary-general Alex Neve told Reuters.
(Reporting by Randall Palmer and David Ljunggren)
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Judge blasts Ottawa on Afghan detainees
Though court won't block transfers, human-rights groups hail ruling as proof existing safeguards cannot prevent prisoner abuse
PAUL KORING February 8, 2008 Globe and Mail, Canada
A Federal Court judge has refused to block detainee transfers, but lambasted the Harper government for failing to put adequate safeguards in place to prevent prisoners from being tortured in the hands of Afghanistan's security forces.
In a ruling released yesterday, Madam Justice Anne Mactavish said she had "very real concerns as to the effectiveness of the steps that have been taken thus far to ensure that detainees transferred by the Canadian Forces to the custody of Afghan authorities are not mistreated."
However, she refused a request by Amnesty International Canada and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association for an injunction blocking all transfers. But she says those concerns are not an issue, at least for now.
"It is not clear at this point when, and indeed if, detainee transfers will ever resume," Judge Mactavish wrote.
The rights groups hailed the ruling. The judge "has signalled to the government that its approach to detainee transfers is deeply flawed," Alex Neve, secretary-general of Amnesty International Canada, said in an interview.
"It would be folly for the government to consider resuming transfers without making major changes."
He also called on Canada's North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies "to follow suit and immediately suspend all prisoner transfers in Afghanistan."
Judge Mactavish "confirms the prevalence of torture in Afghan prisons and sets out a list of deficiencies the government must resolve before resuming transfers," Jason Gratl, president of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, said in a statement.
Canada ceased transferring prisoners in early November because of compelling evidence that at least one detainee had been tortured.
The information was kept secret from the court and the public for more than two months.
Judge Mactavish also declined to order the government to give notice if it resumed transfers, suggesting that the widespread public interest in the case would make it hard for the government to successfully keep that a secret.
And she made clear that the rights groups were free to "renew their request, should detainee transfers resume in the future."
Yesterday's ruling didn't address the central dispute in the case over whether the Canadian Charter of Rights marches with the army abroad and so affords prisoners taken on foreign battlefields certain rights. However, the judge made it clear she was deeply concerned about the risk of torture and not convinced that the government had, so far, done enough to protect transferred detainees as required by international law.
"The evidence . . . is very troubling, and creates real and serious concerns as to the efficacy of the safeguards that have been put in place thus far to protect detainees transferred into the custody of Afghan prison officials by the Canadian Forces," she wrote.
The judge also made clear that she was unimpressed by the investigations conducted by Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security, itself widely accused of torture, into the eight allegations of abuse made by the detainees handed over by Canadians between May and November of last year.
"These complaints included allegations that detainees were kicked, beaten with electrical cables, given electric shocks, cut, burned, shackled and made to stand for days at a time with their arms raised over their heads," Judge Mactavish wrote. "While it is possible that these complaints were fabricated, it is noteworthy that the methods of torture described by detainees are consistent with the type of torture practices that are employed in Afghan prisons, as recorded in independent country condition reports, including those emanating from" Canadian diplomats in Afghanistan, she added.
Fearing reprisals against the prisoners claiming they were tortured, Canadian officials don't even tell Afghan security forces the name of the detainees making the allegations. Although all the completed Afghan investigations concluded the accusations were groundless, no written reports were ever produced and the conclusions in all eight cases were delivered at the same time to a Canadian diplomat in a single conversation.
"As a consequence, there is no way of knowing whether the investigation was fair, thorough or impartial," Judge Mactavish wrote, adding, "all of these considerations raise concerns as to the reliability of the findings of the investigation that all of the allegations were unfounded."
Judge Mactavish made it clear that she was relying on the Harper government's pledge that "transfers will not resume until such time as the Canadian Forces can be satisfied that detainees will not face a substantial risk of torture."
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Diplomat with 'encyclopedic knowledge' to lead civilian efforts in Kandahar
DANIEL LEBLANC From Friday's Globe and Mail February 8, 2008 at 5:00 AM EST
OTTAWA — Ottawa is putting a new face at the top of its team in Kandahar, nominating diplomat Elissa Golberg to oversee Canada's mission in a province that needs aid and development to emerge from decades of war.
Ms. Golberg was named this week to the new position of representative of Canada in Kandahar, after having served as executive director of the Manley panel on the country's future role in Afghanistan.
In fact, her nomination is seen as part of the federal response to last month's Manley report, which urged the government to revamp its aid efforts and offer assistance that addresses the "immediate, practical needs of the Afghan people."
In previous years, the most visible elements of Canada's presence in Kandahar were the 2,500 soldiers in the province. But the internal announcement of Ms. Golberg's nomination made it clear that she will be at the top of the ladder in Kandahar, giving more prominence to Canada's civilian presence.
"Ms. Golberg will be responsible for ensuring a coherent, co-ordinated and strategic approach to Canada's efforts across southern Afghanistan," said David Mulroney, associate deputy minister at Foreign Affairs, in an internal statement.
"She will act as the primary Canadian interface with senior Afghan government officials in Kandahar province."
Ms. Golberg earned a master's degree from Carleton University's Norman Paterson School of International Affairs in 1997. The school's director, Fen Hampson, said she was an "outstanding" student and individual, and will be key to reshaping Canada's role in Afghanistan.
"It's a way to show the flag in another way in Kandahar," Prof. Hampson said of the nomination.
"We'll now have a strong and effective diplomatic voice and presence on the ground, much needed."
Ms. Golberg was appreciated for her "encyclopedic knowledge" of international law on the Manley panel, said member Derek Burney, who applauded the nomination.
"It's evidence of a stronger commitment from the civilian side for our mission. As you well know, the military side has dominated the public focus in Afghanistan," Mr. Burney said.
He said the creation of the position heralds a new role for Canadian diplomacy, adding that Ms. Golberg could eventually start running the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Kandahar, which is currently under military command.
"This is not a cakewalk, and I think it's a great signal to others in the department that there are officers who are ready to take on tough assignments," Mr. Burney said.
While there is a growing emphasis on bringing effective aid to Afghanistan, Ms. Golberg is well aware of the need for a continued military role in any dangerous region of the world.
In a 2003 interview with the UN's IRIN News, Ms. Golberg said humanitarian agencies have to work in a secure environment.
"Agencies need to make sure protection does not fall through the cracks at the field level and in operational planning. Sometimes, this demands a more holistic approach. There are times when it's great if beneficiaries get material assistance, but if they don't feel physically safe, then obviously that's problematic," Ms. Golberg said.
At Foreign Affairs, Ms. Golberg was also involved in the Kosovo and Lebanon files, and worked on the Canadian government's response to the South Asia earthquake of October, 2005, and the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster of December, 2004.
"She really lives and breathes public service and the need for Canada to get serious about what it's doing in these highly charged conflict zones," Mr. Hampson said.
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REVOLT IN PAKISTAN'S TRIBAL AREAS, Part 1
Ceasefire: A lull before the storm
By Syed Saleem Shahzad Feb 9, 2008 Asia Times Online, Hong Kong
PESHAWAR, North-West Frontier Province - The ceasefire deal between the Pakistani security forces and a leading member of the al-Qaeda-linked Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, brokered by two stalwart Afghan commanders who persuaded Mehsud to stay in Afghanistan, is just the lull before a big storm and the beginning of a new chapter of militancy in Pakistan.
On Thursday, the government officially announced a ceasefire in the restive South Waziristan tribal area on the border with Afghanistan. At the same time, Mehsud's spokesperson announced a ceasefire throughout the country.
"A ceasefire has been agreed. This is why there has been little by way of major exchange of fire in the past few days," a senior Pakistani official said on Thursday night.
Over the past few months, Mehsud, a hardline Takfiri - a believer in waging war against any non-practicing Muslims - has become isolated from the Taliban leadership, with Mullah Omar "sacking" him because of his fixation in waging war against the Pakistan state. Mehsud has widely been accused of complicity in the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpinidi on December 27.
The ceasefire deal, brokered by Taliban commanders Sirajuddin Haqqani and Maulvi Bakhta Jan, is face-saving for both the militants and the security forces and provides them with breathing space; they had reached a stalemate in South Waziristan.
The militants had laid siege to the main military camps at Razmak Fort and Ladha, and were firing missiles and mortars from three sides into the camps, at the same time cutting off their supply lines.
Earlier, commandos from Pakistan's Special Services Group launched an operation to catch Mehsud, but the mission only resulted in them losing several score men and the militants about a dozen.
At this point, Islamabad reached the conclusion that its only option was to unleash an aerial assault on suspected militant camps. However, local tribal elders intervened and assured the authorities they would get Mehsud to retreat.
Once this was guaranteed, the authorities accepted with alacrity, mindful of the parliamentary elections scheduled for February 18 and the demoralization of their troops in the bitterly cold weather and harsh terrain.
It's not over yet
The Afghan Taliban see the ceasefire as the ideal opportunity to step up their preparations for their annual spring offensive - they rely heavily on the Pakistan border areas for manpower and provisions.
Acutely aware of this, the US State Department has indicated its disapproval of the ceasefire. A ceasefire in North Waziristan in September 2006 - after partial ones beginning in April of that year - led to the Taliban's strongest showing in the battlefield since being ousted in 2001.
Even before Thursday's ceasefire, the Taliban's preparations in the strategic backyard of Pakistan were well underway. This included the isolation of Mehsud and appointing a new team of commanders in the Pakistani tribal areas. Most of the new appointments are Afghans, to signify the importance of fighting a war in Afghanistan rather than in Pakistan. The two main commanders are Abdul Wali in Bajaur Agency and Ustad Yasir in Khyber Agency.
A key component of the Taliban's offensive this year will be to counter the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO's) plans against them and al-Qaeda.
Last year, the New York Times published a story of a classified US military proposal to intensify efforts to enlist tribal leaders in the frontier areas of Pakistan in the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. This was to be part of a broader effort to bolster the Pakistani forces against an expanding militancy, US military officials said.
This would include pumping more military trainers into Pakistan, providing direct finance to a tribal paramilitary force that until now has proved largely ineffective, and providing funds for smaller militias to fight against the militants. The US currently has only about 50 troops in Pakistan, according to the Pentagon, and this number could grow by dozens under the new approach.
A contact affiliated with al-Qaeda told Asia Times Online on condition of anonymity, "Pakistan has already tried to revive an outdated tribal system to counter the Taliban, but by killing tribal elders in Waziristan, the Taliban effectively stopped that scheme. Now the Americans and the Pakistani government are working on tribal elders of the Shinwari and Afirdi tribes of Khyber Agency, which is the main route of NATO supplies to Afghanistan. Approximately 80% of supplies pass through this route.
"But since the Taliban want to chop off NATO supplies from Pakistan into Afghanistan, the Pakistani Taliban have warned these tribal elders to stay away from the conflict. However, the elders have received huge bribes [funds] from NATO, and so they are obsessed with providing protection to the supply convoys. Therefore, the Taliban will increase their activities in Khyber Agency, which means a war with the elders of the Shinwari and Afirdi tribes," the contact said.
The second sector of Taliban activity will be in Nooristan and Kunar provinces in Afghanistan, where US forces are conducting huge counter-insurgency operations.
"This year, the Taliban will focus their main attention on a new plan specifically aimed at Kunar and Nooristan. The details of the plan cannot be revealed at this point," said the contact.
The contact said that the al-Qaeda camp in Pakistan is convinced that American pressure will be so strong that the ceasefire will not be long-term.
This perception is not without substance. Wana military airfield in South Waziristan and Miranshah airfield in North Waziristan have been upgraded from makeshift airstrips into proper runways with backup facilities, which indicate plans for a powerful air operation.
The deployment of US forces at Lowari Mandi and Ghulman Khan checkpoints (both on the Afghan side of the border near North Waziristan) and the construction of a new military camp near Shawal (North Waziristan), on the Afghan side, indicate that the US is not planning on peace for very long.
The only real issue is which side will strike first, and where.
PART 2: The next battlefield
Afghan heroin: experts
By Michael Edwards Australian Broadcasting Corporation - Feb 07 4:31 PM
Australian drug users are turning to Afghan heroin in unprecedented numbers as supply from the war-torn country soars, drug users' groups say.
Figures from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime say Afghan opium production is booming and now accounts for 90 per cent of the world's supply.
The UN says much of the heroin which makes it overseas is produced in areas controlled by the Taliban.
Traditionally, Australian heroin users have preferred so-called 'China white' heroin imported from South East Asia.
But now drug users' groups say there has been an unprecedented shift towards 'Afghan brown' heroin in some parts of the country.
"The reports we have been getting have been coming out of western Sydney and some parts of Adelaide," said Annie Madden from the Australian Injecting and Illicit Drug Users League.
"One of the factors that has changed recently is that there is certainly evidence that the production of Afghan heroin has hugely increased over the last 12 months, 18 months.
"Obviously that massive increase in production of 'brown' heroin is going to be finding its way, has been finding its way, and will continue to find its way into the world markets.
"Australia could well be a new market for that form of heroin."
Gideon Warhaft, from the New South Wales Users and AIDS Association, says users on the streets of Sydney are finding it easier to get 'brown' heroin rather than 'China white'.
"It is certainly possible, given the huge yields of opium and heroin in Afghanistan over the last couple of years that people have decided to take advantage of that and have started importing Afghan heroin," he said.
There are more differences to 'Afghan brown' than just its country of origin.
Compared 'China white', 'Afghan brown' is unrefined.
In many parts of the world it is smoked rather than injected.
But Ms Madden says some users do inject it and this can lead to extra health problems.
"If you do inject, it does tend to lead to more vein damage and abscesses and those sorts of things because it is a more complex process to mix it into a solution suitable for injecting," she said.
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Afghan showdown
National Post (Canada) Thursday, February 07, 2008
Whatever one thinks of Canada's role in Afghanistan, it must be conceded that Stephen Harper's decision to introduce a Parliamentary confidence motion to extend our Afghan combat mission beyond its current 2009 deadline is a strategic masterstroke. The Prime Minister has once again put the opposition Liberals in a no-win position. The Grits may defeat the motion and force an election they do not want (and cannot afford), abstain and look as pathetic as they did when they sat out last fall's vote on the Throne Speech, or vote in favour of the mission and lose it as a wedge issue when an election finally does come.
By all accounts, the Liberal caucus is divided over Afghanistan. Deputy party leader Michael Ignatieff, who is also de facto leader of what passes for the party's hawkish wing, declared last week that the world needs an interventionist Canada that won't stand around waiting for the U.S., and that Canada "can't be a country that gives people little lectures. We have to take a stand" with a strong military and diplomatic corps.
Meanwhile, many Toronto and Quebec Liberal MPs are closer to the NDP position of an immediate withdrawal. Somewhere in the middle, the bulk of the caucus seem to agree with Stephane Dion's demand of leaving our troops in Afghanistan beyond next February, but reassigning them away from combat.
Money will be a factor in the Liberals' decision-making. Donations to the party were off nearly 60% in 2007, from nearly $11-million in 2006 to less than $5-million. The party has yet to file its financial statement for last year. But if its expenses in 2007 rival those from a year earlier, the $6-million drop in donations would put the Liberals $2-million in the red, on top of a $2.3-million debt they carried at the end of 2006. They face the prospect of having to campaign against the cash-rich Tories on borrowed money.
It's true that running on the Afghan mission is a risky move for the Tories. Canadians are nearly evenly split on whether we should be fighting there. But since the Tories are the only wholly pro-mission party, the stance separates them from the other parties, amongst whom the anti-war vote will be split four ways (including the Greens).
We would have preferred if Mr. Harper had waited until after this week's meeting of NATO defence ministers before introducing his motion, as he promised to do last week. There is a chance the NATO gathering will not produce the 1,000 extra troops from other countries that the Prime Minister, having taken John Manley's advice, has made a pre-condition to our continued combat role. If it does not, then the Tories (not to mention our troops) may find themselves in a bit of a bind themselves.
Still, we like the two most likely outcomes of Mr. Harper's gambit: an election that the Tories would enter in a position of strength, or a Parliamentary extension of our mission backed by the chief opposition party.
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Taleban to reap £50 million from opium
The Times 2.7.08 –
The Taliban could earn £50 million from another bumper crop of opium in Afghanistan this year despite the presence of British troops in its main production zone, a United Nations survey said yesterday.
Afghanistan, which produces 90 per cent of the world's illegal opium, is also expected to increase its output of marijuana, according to the survey by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The survey showed that opium output was expected to drop in northern and central Afghanistan, but it would continue to rise at an “alarming rate” in the insurgency-hit south and southwest, and could exceed last year's crop, which accounted for 78 per cent of Afghanistan's total cultivation.
Afghanistan cultivated a record 193,000 hectares (477,000 acres) of opium in 2007, a 14 per cent increase over the previous year. Total production, boosted by unusually high rainfall, rose by an even faster 34 per cent.
“Opium cultivation in Afghanistan may have peaked, but the 2008 amount will still be shockingly high,” Antonio Maria Costa, the head of UNODC, said. “Europe and other major heroin markets should brace themselves for the health and security consequences.”
Rangeen Dadfar Spanta, Afghanistan's Foreign Minister, said that his country was determined to reduce poppy production by 25 per cent this year. “Afghanistan believes we have only one choice,” he said. “Poppy can destroy us or we destroy the poppy.”
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Varying views of Afghan operation
Friday, 8 February 2008, 13:19 GMT BBC News
The US and UK have been urging other Nato countries to share more of the combat burden in the south of Afghanistan.
BBC correspondents sum up viewpoints from different troop-contributing countries to the international military operation.
LEE CARTER - CANADA
The Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has made it clear that he is ready to put the future of the country's mission in Afghanistan to a confidence vote, a move that may trigger a general election.
Canada has 2,500 soldiers stationed in Kandahar, where they are engaged in direct combat operations against the Taleban.
Some 78 Canadian soldiers have died in Afghanistan since their mission began there in 2002, many in roadside bomb attacks.
Many Canadians feel that their troops are disproportionately taking casualties, while other Nato members are declining to put their troops in harm's way.
Last week, Mr Harper delivered an ultimatum, saying he would pull Canada's soldiers out of Kandahar early next year, unless Nato sends at least 1,000 extra troops.
Mr Harper's minority government has unwaveringly supported the mission and wants parliament to approve extending it.
Liberal leader Stephane Dion, by contrast, says he will not compromise on his position that Canada should end its combat role in Afghanistan - but there are reports that not every Liberal agrees with him.
Public opinion has been similarly divided over the war, although the latest Angus Reid opinion poll suggests there has been an increase in support for the Afghan mission since last summer.
When asked if Canada should extend its mission, 36% said they agreed, up from 16% last July.
HUGH SCHOFIELD - FRANCE
Ask most French people about the country's troop commitment in Afghanistan, and they will have little idea what you are talking about.
This is despite the fact that some 1,600 soldiers are currently deployed with Nato in Afghanistan, that 13 French soldiers have been killed in the last five years, and that French jets have had an active role in the fighting in the south of the country.
The reason for the lack of awareness is the lack of coverage in the national media, and this is itself linked to the fact that most French soldiers in Afghanistan work in the relatively safe environs of Kabul.
There are no graphic accounts of life on the front line as are now regular fodder in the British, Canadian and American press.
President Nicolas Sarkozy, who visited Afghanistan before Christmas, has said the war against the Taleban is one that "we cannot lose". He wants France to play a much bigger role inside Nato as part of his overall foreign policy.
In recent days his government has hinted it may look favourably on a request for more manpower in Afghanistan. But whether or not this would involve an active combat role, and how the French public might respond, remains to be seen.
TRISTANA MOORE - GERMANY
Despite growing pressure to send combat troops to southern Afghanistan, the German government is refusing to change its position - German soldiers will remain in the north and continue to observe their parliamentary mandate.
Germany has around 3,300 troops in Afghanistan - mainly deployed in the relative safety of the north and near the capital Kabul. The focus of the mission is on reconstruction and development and not combat.
According to the remit of the mission, German troops can only be sent to the south in emergencies.
The German defence minister has confirmed that Berlin is going to send an extra 200 troops to serve as part of a quick reaction force in northern Afghanistan, to replace a Norwegian contingent in the summer.
Their main tasks are to conduct patrols and provide security and crowd control, as well as mount evacuation and search operations.
Although there are some dissenting MPs, there is broad political consensus for the current remit of the Afghan mission.
But in terms of public attitudes, the German mission in Afghanistan remains very unpopular and many people oppose a deployment of troops in the south of the country.
A recent opinion poll suggested that the majority of Germans believe that the Bundeswehr is right to steer clear of the more volatile south.
With the news that Germany is sending troops to serve in the quick reaction force, some commentators expressed their concerns that the soldiers would be sucked into combat operations, exceeding their current mandate.
But others argue that Nato is facing the risk of failure in Afghanistan and the German government should change course and send troops to the south of the country.
Last autumn, the German parliament extended the mandate of the Afghan mission by another year. Given the shaky public support for the entire mission, it is unlikely there will be any big changes in the near future.
CHRISTIAN FRASER - ITALY
Italy has come under increasing pressure from its Nato allies to increase its commitment to Afghanistan.
Last year the US ambassador to Italy, Ronald Spogli, and five other ambassadors stirred controversy when they sent a letter to a national newspaper calling for an "increase in the contribution for reconstruction and civil development".
Italy has 2,290 troops in Afghanistan, most of them stationed in the western province of Herat.
Despite pressure from within the ruling coalition, the government has given the Afghan President Hamid Karzai assurances that it will stick to its key commitments until 2011 - even though public support is waning.
In one poll carried out by Italian magazine Panorama, 56% of people questioned said they wanted troops withdrawn.
There are elections looming in Italy which could have an impact on the country's future involvement. At the last election the centre-left pledged to pull 2,300 troops out of Iraq.
Romano Prodi made good on that promise within six months - although in truth it was his predecessor, Silvio Berlusconi, who had started the initial withdrawal.
Mr Berlusconi, now well ahead in the polls, is seen in Washington as one of their more reliable allies. He had supported the war in Iraq.
But, in the face of such public opposition to the Afghan mission, it is unlikely he will endanger his election by pledging to send more troops - or changing the remit of those already there.
SARAH RAINSFORD - TURKEY
Turkey has contributed troops to the Isaf mission in Afghanistan since the start and led Isaf twice - in 2002 and 2005.
It has approximately 1,150 personnel in Afghanistan, according to the website of the chief of staff.
Turkey has also established a joint civilian and military team in Wardak province, close to Kabul, engaged in reconstruction and infrastructure work and training local Afghan police.
The deployment - as it stands - is uncontroversial here. The troops are in the relatively safe region around Kabul and do not participate in combat operations.
No Turkish soldier has been killed in Afghanistan since troops went in over six years ago, according to Hikmet Cetin - Nato's former senior civilian representative in the country, and a Turk. (His name has recently been discussed as a possible candidate for the post of UN envoy to Afghanistan.)
Analysts here believe Turkey, as a Nato member, is committed to maintaining its current contribution to the international military presence in Afghanistan.
However Ankara is unlikely to go any further. Last year, Turkey's top general ruled that out explicitly and has given no indication since that his view has changed.
Turkish troops are already heavily deployed at home, fighting the Kurdish separatist PKK in the south-east and launching air strikes on suspected PKK targets in Northern Iraq.
Their deployment in Afghanistan is not a "hot" public issue at the moment. But any change that further endangered Turkish lives, fighting in another Muslim country, would be controversial.
NAOMI GRIMLEY - UNITED KINGDOM
It is not easy to know where British public opinion on the war in Afghanistan actually stands at the moment.
The last poll (by YouGov) on the subject was six months ago. That suggested that 27% of the public wanted the troops home immediately. Another 37% wanted them back in the next year or so.
British politicians - who still predominantly back the war - point to the fact that public support for military action in Afghanistan has always been more solid than it was for the war in Iraq.
But even members of parliament who want Britain to stay in Afghanistan fear that public opinion and political could waver.
"The political will is there," says James Arbuthnot, chairman of the House of Commons defence committee.
"First, we don't want to see another 9/11. Second, 90% of the heroin on our streets comes from Afghanistan."
"But that political commitment is weakened by questions about whether we are actually doing the right things to solve those two problems."
Those calling for a complete withdrawal of British troops say the argument is now shifting their way.
Paul Flynn, a Labour member of parliament, thinks there might be a backlash after Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, suggested that the British army had caused insecurity in Helmand province.
"That's outrageous," Mr Flynn says. "If Britain is giving its blood, that ingratitude will swing public opinion away from the war."
BRIDGET KENDALL - BBC DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT - UNITED STATES
Of all the Nato allies, the US has the largest number of troops in Afghanistan - upwards of 27,000 - and, with a death toll of some 480 so far, it has sustained the greatest number of casualties.
Only half the American contingent is part of Nato's Isaf force.
The rest operate separately in the far less high profile US-led counter-terrorism force known as Operation Enduring Freedom, whose task since 2001 has been to hunt down al-Qaeda insurgents and keep up the so far fruitless search for Osama Bin Laden.
There is little doubt of the US administration's commitment to keep troops in Afghanistan for the long term, and even provide more for the Nato operation when needed.
Washington has already announced plans to send an additional 3,200 marines for a six-month spell starting this spring.
Both the US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have made it clear they expect other Nato allies to follow the US example.
"I worry a great deal about the alliance evolving into a two-tiered alliance, in which you have some allies willing to fight and die to protect people's security and others who are not," Mr Gates told US Congress this week.
For the US, this is a far less controversial deployment than the war in Iraq.
No doubt this is because the cost - in terms of lives lost and money spent - is far lower. Unlike the war in Iraq, Afghanistan does not even figure as a separate issue on most Americans' lists of top political concerns.
Recent comments by top US commanders and some prominent analysts paint an increasingly bleak assessment of the challenges ahead.
But opinion polls suggest most Americans still think the conflict in Afghanistan - seen by and large as a counterterrorist campaign - is worth supporting.
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Turkmenistan, partners to revive Afghan gas project
By Marat Gurt via Guardian Unlimited, UK
ASHGABAT, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Partners in a proposed natural gas pipeline through Afghanistan will meet in April to discuss ways to breathe new life into the stalled multi-billion project, a Turkmen government source said on Thursday.
The idea of the pipeline has been floating around for over a decade, but conflict in Afghanistan has hampered efforts to embark on the project which aims to export Turkmen natural gas to Pakistan and India.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB), which has conducted a feasibility study into the project, is organising a meeting in Islamabad to discuss potential Turkmen gas prices and other technicalities, the source said.
"Signing a general agreement, including the price for Turkmen gas, will be on the agenda," the source said.
The project is important for Turkmenistan, Central Asia's top gas exporter, as the former Soviet nation explores ways to diversify supplies away from Russia, which controls its pipeline network through gas monopoly Gazprom.
The West views Turkmenistan's Caspian deposits as an alternative energy source for Europe as well, and is trying to woo Turkmenistan to engage in projects bypassing Russia.
The West particularly wants Turkmenistan, which borders Iran, to step up work on the U.S-backed trans-Caspian pipeline, designed to help Europe diversify gas imports away from Russia.
Washington tentatively supports the Afghan proposal but opposes a similar pipeline plan with Iran because it has accused the Islamic Republic of attempting to develop nuclear weapons, an accusation Tehran denies.
Locked away under Soviet rule and then the 21-year reign of former present Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmenistan is now opening up to new projects under its more reformist leader, Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, who came to power a year ago.
Turkmenistan, which has yet to publish its total natural gas reserves, has said it has enough gas for all export projects.
According to BP's annual statistical review, Turkmenistan's proved natural gas reserves stood at 2.9 trillion cubic metres at the end of 2006.
Turkmenistan's new-found enthusiasm in oil diplomacy raised concern among investors at the end of last year when it halted daily deliveries of up to 23 million cubic metres to Iran, citing technical issues.
Ashgabat has not commented on its actions and it remains unclear when exports might resume. (Writing by Maria Golovnina; editing by James Jukwey)
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Afghanistan leaves Dion cornered
February 07, 2008 JAMES TRAVERS, TORONTO STAR
OTTAWA- Stéphane Dion is adding another D to Afghanistan's 3Ds of defence, diplomacy and development: Dither.
By failing to settle early and firmly on a sound, coherent, politically saleable position, the Liberal leader delivered to the Prime Minister a win-win proposition. Needlessly backed into a corner, Dion must now either fight an election before Liberals are ready, and on Conservative terms – terms that beyond Afghanistan include crime and, crucially, the coming budget – or bow to extending the mission.
A cynical observer – or crowing Conservative – might conclude there are now two new Dion Ds, dumb being the second and most damaging. A leader still struggling to understand Afghanistan failed to grasp the lifeline tossed to the party by another Liberal.
John Manley's report and qualified recommendation to stay the course beyond next February offered two shining opportunities. One was to modify the party's naïve proposal to end the combat mission while somehow continuing to rebuild a badly failing state. The other was to pressure Harper to meet Manley's caveats of more NATO troops and helicopters while attaching Liberal conditions to set an exit deadline and improve military, corruption and opium strategies that aren't working.
Instead of seizing the initiative and demonstrating capacity for creative policy, Dion left the political vacuum Harper is now filling with an Afghanistan vote that could kill this Parliament if it doesn't die first on the budget.
Of course all elections come with risks and one turning on Afghanistan has ample for the ruling party. Even a single bad day in Kandahar could throw the Conservative campaign off course. No prime minister wants to tour the country deflecting questions about casualties.
But consider this: Harper is keen to fight the election on leadership and will frame Afghanistan as the kind of tough decision strong prime ministers make. More intriguing, many Liberals worry they chose a weak one in Dion and have mixed feelings about an election likely to return another minority and perhaps formally restart the leadership contest that never stopped.
Given Conservatives are rolling in dollars and Liberals are not, the rationale is more persuasive for pulling the plug on a Parliament that may not live much longer anyway. But mostly missing from that dynamic is the national interest.
Apart from providing a catalyst for Liberals to unite around one of the issues that divides them, Manley's greatest contribution was to provide the Afghanistan analysis needed for the first thoughtful debate on Canada's future role. That could still unfold in Parliament or, despite Kim Campbell's infamous warning about mixing head-hurting policy with political campaigns, in an election. But it's far more likely the three national parties, like voters, will polarize around sadly wanting positions.
The Conservative open-ended commitment essentially focuses foreign policy on a single country that won't be saved soon or without high cost. Liberal reconstruction rhetoric is empty without the security only Canada is now willing to provide in southern Afghanistan. And the unilateral withdrawal the NDP wants would blow a hole in the multilateral protection Canada gets from the United Nations and NATO.
This brinksmanship is just hours old with plenty of time and space still for manoeuvre. But Dion's moves must now be deft if he's to avoid adding yet another D: Defeat.
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Husband of slain Afghan woman testifies
By Ben Aguirre Jr. San Jose Mercury News - Feb 07 8:26 PM
The husband of an Afghan mother of six who was slain in Fremont about 15 months ago said Thursday that he did not help his 5-year-old daughter testify, but rather aided her in understanding her colors.
Ahmad Ansari testified for the first time Thursday in the trial of his wife's accused killer. He was asked if he told his daughter Latifa what to say in court earlier this week. Ansari said he did not.
Ansari's discussions with his daughter - the only eyewitness to the Oct. 19, 2006, killing - became an issue Wednesday when the 5-year-old girl testified that her father told her to say that the killer's shirt was white. Earlier in the trial, she testified that the killer's shirt was black.
That color is the same color as the shirt defendant Manuel David Urango was wearing when he was detained on the day of the shooting. It's also the same color Urango is wearing in a photo that has been displayed in court since the trial began about three weeks ago.
"I told her what white, black and red were," Ansari said, describing conversations he had with his daughter last weekend. He went on to say that they did not discuss the case only the color of a sheet of paper and the pens she was using.
At one point Thursday, Latifa returned to the stand and Caruthers asked her if her father told her what to say.
"Did your father tell you that the man in the photo killed your mother?" the attorney said.
"Yes," she answered.
Caruthers then asked when he said that and how many times. Latifa said she did not know when but that she only heard him say it once.
During the trial and other hearings, the girl told Alameda County Superior Court Judge Reginald Saunders and attorneys that the killer was a black man who wore all black clothing.
Urango, 30, is Latino and was wearing a white T-shirt and black pants when he was detained by police. Witnesses had told police Urango matched the description of the assailant they saw fleeing the Glenmoor Drive crime scene.
During his hour-long testimony, the father went on to say that the girl does not know her colors and often describes everything as being black, the only color she really knows.
Ahmad Ansari told jurors that he met Alia Ansari in 1986 and had married her in 1989. He said they had lived in Fremont for seven years.
Alia Ansari often would drive her kids to school and pick them up in the afternoon. But a day before the killing, the family's minivan broke down and she was forced to walk to Glenmoor Elementary school on Oct. 19, 2006, to pick up her children, her husband testified.
Alia Ansari was shot in the face about 2:40 p.m. as she walked with her daughter - who was nearly 4 years old at the time - to the school. Her husband said he worked that morning, ran errands with a relative in the middle of the day and then returned to work in Newark, where he was employed as a mechanic.
Ahmad Ansari said he did not know about the shooting until almost 90 minutes after it happened.
His uncle called him after 4 p.m. and said that his wife had been hurt, he said. Ahmad Ansari then drove to the crime scene and spoke to police, who later informed him that his wife was dead.
Ahmad Ansari and his children remained in Fremont only one day after the killing. They then stayed with a relative in Union City before moving to Afghanistan in the following weeks, where they have lived ever since. Latifa has remained by his side.
"I'm more than a father now," he testified, later adding that his daughter sleeps in the same bed as him. I'm a mother, too."
The father and the girl both concluded their testimony Thursday. They are expected to leave for Afghanistan on Monday, along with Ansari's 14-year-old daughter, Tahiba.
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