In this bulletin:

• Row over Afghan clash casualties
• Seven suspected al Qaeda facilitators killed in Kunar Province
• Around 30 Taliban killed in clashes with NATO, Afghan forces
• Afghan president under fire over poverty
• Losing Afghanistan – Editorial
• Pakistan actively participating in reconstruction of Afghanistan: minister
• UK troops to withdraw from Afghan highlands
• Afghanistan will be key in Canadian politics when Parliament resumes
• Afghans mute rage in wake of shooting
• Statement by the Prime Minister on the passing of Corporal David Braun
• Hillier calls Afghan boy's death "devastating" - Body returned to parents
• Deal on gas pipeline in final stages
• US$2.7 million grant to prepare priority road projects in Afghanistan
• Airport opened in Uruzgan
• The price of dictatorship
• Interview: 'Afghanistan can go either way'

Row over Afghan clash casualties - BBC News / Thursday, 24 August 2006

Eight people, including a child, have been killed in a raid by US-led forces in eastern Afghanistan, coalition and Afghan officials say. The coalition forces said the seven men killed in the raid in Kunar province were suspected al-Qaeda members.

But local people told the BBC that men were tribal elders who had gathered to resolve a local dispute. Hundreds of people have died this year in Afghanistan's worst bloodshed since the fall of the Taleban five years ago.

The US-led coalition forces said that they raided a house and killed seven suspected al-Qaeda "facilitators" near the village of Asmar in Kunar on Thursday morning.

"Afghan and coalition forces came under direct fire when approaching the compound and defended themselves with return fire," a US military statement said.

The statement said the child who was also killed during the fighting was between 10 to 12 years of age.

"The al-Qaeda fighters deliberately put women and children at risk in an effort to protect their illegal and immoral operations," coalition spokesman Col Thomas Collins said.

But local people said the dead men were tribal elders who were meeting to settle a dispute. Four other men in the house were arrested by the troops. No coalition or Afghan forces were hurt in the operation.

The BBC's Roland Buerk in Kabul says US forces have been involved in heavy fighting in Kunar as they search for Taleban fighters and their al-Qaeda allies in the ragged mountains along the border with Pakistan.

The Taleban and forces loyal to the anti-government warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar are active in the area. Militants have recently stepped up their insurgency against government and foreign forces in the south and east.

Nato forces recently assumed formal control of military operations in southern Afghanistan from the US-led coalition, which overthrew the Taleban in 2001.

Seven suspected al Qaeda facilitators killed in Kunar Province - COMBINED FORCES COMMAND – AFGHANISTAN - COALITION PRESS INFORMATION CENTER
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - Aug. 24, 2006

            KABUL , Afghanistan – Seven suspected al Qaeda facilitators were killed early today when Afghan and Coalition forces conducted an operation on a compound housing suspected terrorists today near the village of Asmar in Kunar Province.
            Afghan and Coalition forces came under direct fire when approaching the compound and defended themselves with return fire.  Afghan and Coalition forces continued to take fire from hostile forces in the surrounding area after the initial objective was secured.
            All of the men killed were engaging Afghan and Coalition forces with hostile fire.
            A child, approximately 10 to12 years old, was killed and a woman was wounded during the fighting.  An investigation is currently being conducted to determine the identities of these individuals.  Additionally, four other males in the compound were taken into custody.
            The additional enemy fighters fled from the site when engaged by the Afghan and Coalition unit.
            The woman who was wounded during the fighting was immediately evacuated to a nearby Coalition medical facility for treatment.
            “The al Qaeda fighters deliberately put women and children at risk in an effort to protect their illegal and immoral operations,” said Col. Thomas Collins, Coalition spokesman.
            Multiple weapons, ammunition and grenades were confiscated in the operation.
            The purpose of this operation was to capture a known al Qaeda facilitator.  Credible intelligence linked the targeted individual to suspected terrorist activities and attacks against Afghan and Coalition forces in Kunar Province.
            No Afghan or Coalition forces were injured during this operation.

Around 30 Taliban killed in clashes with NATO, Afghan forces - Wed Aug 23

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - Afghan soldiers fought back Taliban who stormed an isolated outpost, killing 18 rebels, while NATO forces bombed 11 more who were moving into position for attack.

The Taliban fighters charged an Afghan army outpost before dawn in relatively calm Zabul province, setting off a fierce gun battle which left 18 attackers dead, a top Afghan army commander said.

An Afghan soldier was also killed and three wounded in the attack 70 kilometres (43 miles) north of the provincial capital Qalat, said General Rahmatullah Raufi, commander of the volatile south.

Four more civilians also became victims of a relentless Taliban insurgency, one of them shot by Canadian troops who thought he was about to attack, while a Canadian soldier died after being wounded in a suicide bombing.

News of the latest violence came as the commanders of the Afghan military, NATO and US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan met their counterparts from Pakistan to discuss the upsurge in fighting.

The insurgency has grown each year since the Taliban were driven from power in late 2001, with officials saying their strategy is more sophisticated and backed from abroad -- notably from elements inside Pakistan.

Meanwhile NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) killed 11 more rebels in a precision air strike on a group spotted by air surveillance moving into position for an ambush, the force said. The militants realized they had been seen and fled into a compound, it said.

War planes were called in and dropped a bomb. ISAF "assesses 11 Taliban were killed in the airstrike while two insurgents were later seen leaving the compound," a statement said.

The attack was in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province which ISAF officials say has the biggest concentration of Taliban fighters in the south, the birthplace and heartland of the extremist movement that emerged in the early 1990s.

The attacks was near Highway One, a key road in the south where four Canadian soldiers were killed in a barrage of attacks on the same day early this month.

ISAF says the rebels are trying to seize the east-west route to cut links to nearby Kandahar, the first city captured by the Islamists before they swept to power in 1996.

The 15th Canadian soldier died Tuesday as a result of hostile action. The young corporal was in a military convoy struck by a taxi filled with explosives, which was rammed into an armoured vehicle by a suicide bomber.

Taliban commanders have said they have hundreds of other suicide bombers ready to be called into action against "infidels".

Nearly 80 foreign troops and 1,000 rebels have been killed in fighting this year in some of the fiercest battles since the Taliban were forced from government in late 2001. Scores of civilians have also been affected by the violence.

ISAF said its soldiers had shot and killed one man who had failed to heed warnings to halt in a cordoned-off area around Tuesday's suicide blast. The troops had fired warning shots and had feared a "follow-on attack," ISAF said.

Three other civilians were killed and another wounded in two bomb blasts just outside Kandahar city late Tuesday on a road often used by NATO troops.

In the west of the country, 80 Taliban fighters signed up to a government programme that gives them amnesty if they lay down their arms.

But officials say many more young men cross the border from Pakistan to take part in what Taliban propaganda says is a holy war against invading foreign forces.

Generals of the Afghan and Pakistan forces agreed at a meeting with their NATO and coalition counterparts in the Kabul Wednesday to explore the possibility of joint border patrols to staunch the inflow.

Afghan president under fire over poverty - By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer Wed Aug 23

KABUL, Afghanistan - The bloodiest fighting since the Taliban's fall, abject failure to control the drug trade and gaping disparities between rich and poor are shaking the credibility of Afghanistan's U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai.

Less than two years after Karzai sealed a strong majority vote in the war-battered nation's first post-Taliban election, the popularity of his administration has dwindled amid rising anger over poverty and corruption.

"Security is the big concern for the people," said Muhammad Qasim Akhgar, an Afghan political analyst. "Even inside Kabul city, the people are not feeling safe anymore."

More than 1,600 people, mostly militants, have died nationwide in violent incidents since the start of May, mostly in the south, according to a tally compiled by The Associated Press based on reports from Afghan officials, the U.S. military and NATO.

In violence reported Wednesday, NATO and Afghan forces killed 36 suspected Taliban militants in the volatile south, while roadside bombs killed three civilians.

NATO also shot to death an Afghan youth in the aftermath of a suicide bombing in Kandahar that killed a Canadian soldier and wounded three other people Tuesday.

Western officials say the surge in violence is largely due to international forces taking the battle to Taliban-led fighters who had gradually extended their sway across the poorly policed south.

The failure of the government and its international supporters to stabilize the Taliban heartland since the hard-line regime fell in late 2001 has severely impeded efforts to develop the area, shaking faith in Karzai's ability to bring change.

When Karzai was first chosen to lead the administration, initially as interim leader in late 2001, he was "very good ... he was accepted by all the people," said Abdul Hamid Mubares, a former deputy minister for information and culture.

Now his government is weak and unable to find solutions to people's problems, and "you see this unhappiness in the assembly and the bazaar," Mubares said.
Discontent over the pace of development is not restricted to the south.

While a small elite has enjoyed unprecedented prosperity, more than half of Afghanistan's 31 million people live below the poverty line and 40 percent are unemployed. Electricity and water shortages are acute. Illicit crops like opium represent more than a third of gross domestic product.

In a sign of continued American backing for the Afghan leader, President Bush called him on Tuesday to assure him "of the continued and long-term U.S. support for Afghanistan" and invited him to Washington. Karzai last visited in May 2005.

Afghanistan relies on foreign aid, about $10.5 billion of which was pledged at a February donor conference in London. Few would deny some progress has been made since the austere days of the Taliban, notably in access to education and health care — but social services remain sparse and infrastructure poor.

"People want jobs and security, but the government cannot provide them with either," said Akhgar. "People also complain about corruption and government does nothing about it."

Karzai's chief of staff, Jawed Ludin, responded that the government had "done pretty well given our resources" in the past five years. He described the rebuilding of Afghanistan after 30 years of war as a generational project.

"We have obviously not delivered on one thing and that is security ... especially in the south, but it is very clear that this is due to a host of factors, most of them out of President Karzai's control. They have emanated from outside this country," Ludin told The Associated Press. He apparently was referring to neighboring Pakistan, where some militants are believed to be based. "The international community could have done more to stop this," he said.

Some of Karzai's official appointments also have come under criticism, including an attempt to renew the term of a hard-line Supreme Court judge who was then rejected by Parliament and the installation of a new Kabul police chief accused of ties to organized crime.

Western diplomats have said Karzai was reluctant to sack any officials, regardless of how corrupt they were, preferring to transfer them to avoid confrontation.

The president has publicly acknowledged the corrosive effects of Afghanistan's world-leading drugs trade, set to be fueled further this year by a record opium crop. But despite the mounting criticism, no apparent challenger has emerged to face Karzai, whose five-year term expires in late 2009.

Losing Afghanistan – Editorial New York Times Published: August 24, 2006

Reclaiming Afghanistan from the Taliban remains a crucial element in America’s global struggle against terrorism. So it should be setting off alarm bells in Washington that Afghans are becoming disenchanted with the performance of the country’s pro-American president, Hamid Karzai.

The democratically elected Karzai government is a big improvement over any of its recent predecessors. But it has not brought security, economic revival or effective governance to most of the country. That has left it vulnerable to complaints about blatant corruption, the pervasive power of warlords and drug lords, and escalating military pressure from a revived and resupplied Taliban.

Nearly five years after American military forces help topple a Taliban government that provided sanctuary and training camps to Osama bin Laden, there is no victory in the war for Afghanistan, due in significant measure to the Bush administration’s reckless haste to move on to Iraq and shortsighted stinting on economic reconstruction.

The Taliban, operating from cross-border sanctuaries in Pakistan, has exploited Washington’s strategic blunders and Mr. Karzai’s disappointing performance to rebuild its political and military strength, particularly in the southern region where it first began its drive to power more than a decade ago. Daily battles now rage across five southern provinces. Civilian and military casualties are rising sharply, including those among the NATO forces that have recently moved into these areas.

Mr. Karzai cannot deliver security and redevelopment without sustained and effective international help. But he should be doing a lot more to curb the corruption of his political allies and appointees.

Their ostentatious greed has widened the gap, and sharpened political antagonisms, between the favored few and the desperately poor majority in one of the world’s least developed countries. Such venality is a gift to austere Taliban recruiters.

So is the notorious corruption of the police and judges, which makes it impossible for people to win redress of simple grievances. Frustration with the courts is again driving people to look to the swift and brutal punishments that have always been a Taliban specialty. Mr. Karzai did himself no favors by appointing a warlord and organized-crime figure as Kabul’s police chief earlier this year.

Americans are coming to see the war in Iraq as something apart from the war against 9/11-style terrorism — and a distraction from it. The war in Afghanistan has always been an essential part of that larger struggle. That makes it a war that America simply cannot afford to lose.

Pakistan actively participating in reconstruction of Afghanistan: minister - People's Daily Online, China

Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao Wednesday said that Pakistan is actively participating in the reconstruction of Afghanistan.

He told a United Nation delegation headed by special representative Thomas Koeings that out of the pledged assistance over 100 million U.S. dollars had been successfully utilized on important projects in Afghanistan, state-run APP reported.

Thomas Koeings briefed the interior minister about UN projects in Afghanistan and appreciated the leading role being played by Pakistan in the reconstruction efforts.

Sherpao said that peace, reconstruction and development in Afghanistan are in the best interest of the region and Pakistan. It would encourage the 2.6 million Afghan refugees still living in Pakistan to return to their homeland.

"We respect the principle of voluntary repatriation and would like them to return home with dignity and honor," he said, adding that the government in cooperation with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is working for registration of Afghan refugees.

"The United Nations is doing a commendable job in Afghanistan," Sherpao said.
Source: Xinhua

UK troops to withdraw from Afghan highlands - Reuters 08/23

LONDON - Britain's troops in southern Afghanistan are pulling back from mountain redoubts to focus on safeguarding reconstruction in lowland valleys, a senior British commander said on Tuesday.

The change in tactics follows months of unexpectedly bitter fighting in the mountains of Helmand province, which the commander said had dealt a big blow to Taliban guerrillas.

"They have blended into the hills a little bit, and their leadership has gone to have a rethink," said the commander, who was authorised to speak to reporters under condition he not be named.

"It is not in our campaign interest to get focussed on head-to-head tactical contact with the Taliban, but it has been necessary in recent weeks."

The commander said the battles were necessary to prove to locals that British forces could take on the Taliban, but were a distraction from the main mission of providing security for reconstruction in "development zones".

A new unit of Afghanistan's national army has been assembled ahead of schedule and was now ready to take control of forward bases in the mountain towns, with troops in the lowlands on standby to support them as needed.

"We've got to reposture in order to deliver what we want to do," he said. "It isn't a question of withdrawal, it's a question of replacement."

Britain sent the first large foreign force to Helmand, Afghanistan's biggest drug-producing province in the south, this year as part of an expanding NATO peacekeeping mission.

Western commanders now say leaving large parts of the country such as Helmand empty of international troops after the Taliban government fell in 2001 allowed guerrillas to regroup and mount a threat to President Hamid Karzai's government.

Over the past few months troops moved into remote mountain towns such as Sangin, Musa Qala, Nawzad and Kajaki, where they came under attack from Taliban groups. Commanders have acknowledged the fighting was heavier than they expected.

The government has already had to increase its initial force in the area by about 1,000 troops to 4,500. The British has little slack for further reinforcements for Afghanistan while it also keeps 7,000 men in Iraq.

The NATO commander in Kabul, David Richards, who is also a British general, has said he would be able to operate more quickly and efficiently if he had extra backup troops and aircraft.

The British commander in London denied NATO was abandoning the mountain towns in Helmand because it lacked the forces needed to hold them while still securing the lowlands.

"That is factually inaccurate," he said. "If we had infinite forces we would be able to do lots of things concurrently, but very few military commanders have ever approached that sort of military Nirvana."

Afghanistan will be key in Canadian politics when Parliament resumes
Wed Aug 23, By John Ward

OTTAWA (CP) - Rising casualty rates, a seemingly resurgent Taliban and the tragic shooting death of a 10-year-old are pushing Afghanistan into the midst of Canadian politics.

When Parliament resumes next month, the military mission in Kandahar is likely to be a set feature of question period.

"Afghanistan is an issue amongst Canadians," says Ujjal Dosanjh, the Liberal defence critic. "It was an issue during the spring, it will continue to be an issue."

Dawn Black, the NDP defence critic, agreed: "I think it will be front and centre when the House reconvenes."

The opposition, however, will have to dodge government accusations that in questioning the mission, they're undercutting the troops.

Recent public opinion polls have shown an almost even split between those who support the Afghani commitment and those who want out.

The casualty rates - eight soldiers killed this month alone - may be eroding support, analysts say.

"The problem with any counter-insurgency is that there are no quick solutions, no easy victories and every now and then there will come a report, such as the shooting of the boy, that most people don't understand or want to hear about," said John Thompson of the Mackenzie Institute, a Toronto-based group that studies international unrest.

Dosanjh and Black say Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his government haven't answered the tough questions, even as they pushed a parliamentary vote last spring to extend the mission to 2009.

Black says she doesn't see how you can win over hearts and minds at gunpoint. "What is the end point of this?" she said. "Is there and end point that is successful? What are the goals of this mission?

"Canadians are seriously questioning this and I think the government has a hard obligation now to answer the questions that many MPs and people in Canadian society are asking." Where is the development aid going? Dosanjh asked.

The government is sticking to its guns, saying the mission is dedicated to helping the Afghan people preserve democracy against insurgents and rebuild their battered country.

Gen. Rick Hillier, the chief of the defence staff, expressed sadness Wednesday at the death of the Afghan boy, but added:

"Unfortunately in this mission, which is complex and dangerous, the conditions which caused that death to occur are set by a Taliban who refuse to accept the fact that a stable Afghanistan is better for all people."

While the opposition are ready to pounce in question period, others wonder about the real meaning of the polls. John Wright of pollster Ipsos-Reid, points out that even a new government would likely be loath to pull out of Afghanistan because it's a commitment to NATO.

"There's no going back," he said. He added that the government will just have to "ride out the storm."

David Rudd of the Canadian Institute for Strategic Studies, said the poll numbers may not mean a lot. "Yes, there's a split and the polls show people are subtly against it but no one's demonstrating out in the streets, no one's vigorously calling for withdrawal," he said.

"The polls show an impression more than they show a real decided upsurge in discontent." The analysts say, though, that Afghanistan will test political will on both sides.

Thompson says the Taliban sees the struggle in terms of shame and honour; honour that was lost in their 2002 ouster and which can be regained by destabilizing the new government.

"The Taliban are there for the long term," he said. "They've got more passion."
Rudd says it's a matter of stamina. "Does the Taliban have more stamina than the troop-contributing and money-contributing countries? "Who wants it more? Do we want to stabilize that country more than the Taliban want to take it back? "It comes down to political will."

The test of that political will comes next month, when Parliament resumes.

Afghans mute rage in wake of shooting

Calm prevails in Kandahar one day after Canadian soldier killed boy at roadblock - GRAEME SMITH Globe and Mail - August 24, 2006

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN -- The people of Kandahar did not rush to blame a Canadian soldier yesterday after a 10-year-old boy was shot dead at a roadblock and the city braced for a backlash.

Tense but calm, Afghanistan's second-largest city appears to have avoided the kind of rioting that shook the country's capital after another incident in which Afghans died at the hands of foreign troops.

Word about the shooting spread slowly, partly because it happened on the northeastern edge of the city with relatively few people watching on late Tuesday afternoon as a motorcycle broke through an Afghan police roadblock and sped toward a Canadian military cordon.

The troops were protecting the scene of a bomb blast that killed a Canadian soldier, and many Afghans who heard the story about the shooting said they understood why foreign troops might shoot at youths, a 17-year-old and a 10-year-old, who drove straight toward them like suicide bombers.

Provincial council members in Kandahar discussed the shooting briefly during their day-long session, but did not condemn the Canadian actions. Relatives of the dead boy expressed anger and disgust to reporters who reached their home in a suburb about seven kilometres south of Kandahar city, but they kept a respectful silence during a short ceremony at a Canadian military base where their son's body was delivered to them. The 17-year-old remained at a military hospital yesterday in serious condition. Both were struck by the same bullet.

Even the boys who work as street vendors near the blast site, who are similar in age to the two youths, defended the Canadian troops as they picked through the rubble of their shops for anything they could salvage from the latest clash between insurgents and foreigners.

"Police waved them away, but he went through anyway," said Agha Shereen, 10, clutching a pomegranate he salvaged from the remains of his family's store.

"These are stupid people if they don't know the rules," said Sami Ullah, 15, who's worried about whether the Canadians will help rebuild his store and restock it with grapes, bread, soda and other goods destroyed by the bombing. But he's not concerned, he says, about whether the Canadian troops should have been more careful with the youths on the motorcycle.

"Canadians said to the driver, 'Don't come here,' " Sami said. "Why did they go there?"

The military now has no reason to suspect the motorcyclists were trying to harm the troops, said Colonel Fred Lewis, deputy commander of the Canadian contingent in Afghanistan. But Taliban insurgents have previously packed motorcycles with explosives and used them as improvised explosive devices, he said. Soldiers are also warned to watch for follow-up attacks after bombings.

"They [troops] have seen pictures of suicide bombers using motorcycles," he said. "So I have a sneaking suspicion that that's exactly what was going through the mind of a soldier, that this was a secondary IED."

General Rick Hillier, Canada's chief of defence staff, said a full investigation was under way, but initial reports indicate protocol was followed.

"Unfortunately in this mission, which is complex and dangerous, the conditions which caused that death to occur are set by a Taliban who refuse to accept the fact that a stable Afghanistan is better for all people," Gen. Hillier said yesterday in St. John's. "It's always devastating when you lose anybody, particularly a child."

It remains unclear why the two youths disobeyed the warnings. Talatbek Masadykov, head of the United Nations office in Kandahar, said the government could improve its education programs about how to behave around foreign troops.

"Most people here know it's dangerous to violate the rules," Mr. Masadykov said. "The international forces have lost so many people that they don't have a lot of tolerance for mistakes. We're trying to share this information with local people, but it would be better if the local administration took up this issue, on radio and TV."

Despite fears that insurgents will use the shooting as a propaganda tool, Mr. Masadykov said there's no evidence of that happening yet. The foreigners in Kandahar have reason to be watchful, however.

Sentiments in this southern city are more xenophobic than inside the relatively cosmopolitan capital city of Kabul. But a similar incident in Kabul, in which a runaway American military truck killed three pedestrians, sparked widespread riots in late May. At least 17 people died in the unrest.

Hoping to avoid such anger, NATO's International Security Assistance Force issued a high-level apology yesterday. "We are very sad at what happened and we express our deep regret and condolences to the family and community," said Colonel Arie Vermeij, deputy commander of ISAF's Regional Command South.

People in the south are more reluctant to protest in the streets, because they're worried about upsetting the fragile balance in this volatile region, said Haji Syed Jan, a provincial council member in Kandahar. But the situation could reach a tipping point, he said. "Today was quiet," Mr. Jan said. "We don't know about tomorrow."

Statement by the Prime Minister on the passing of Corporal David Braun

August 23, 2006 Ottawa, Ontario

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today issued the following statement on the passing of Corporal David Braun.

“On behalf of all Canadians, I offer condolences to the family and friends of Corporal Braun. Three other Canadians were injured in this incident, and I extend wishes for their speedy recovery.

“Our country honours this brave soldier, who exemplifies the best that Canada has to offer. While deeply saddened by his loss, I hope his family may find some comfort in knowing that Canadians share their sorrow.

“We are proud of Corporal Braun's contribution to our mission in Afghanistan, and of all our Canadian Forces men and women who soldier on in the name of democratic values and freedom.

“Despite these risks, we are confident in the ability of our Canadian Forces members and know that they have the skills they need to succeed in Afghanistan and make a meaningful contribution to the lives of the Afghan people.”

Hillier calls Afghan boy's death "devastating" - Body returned to parents - Canadian Press 08/23/2006

The death of a 10-year-old boy in Afghanistan, shot and killed by a Canadian soldier after a suicide attack that claimed the life of a Manitoba-based troop, was "devastating," the country's top soldier said Wednesday.

"Unfortunately in this mission, which is complex and dangerous, the conditions which caused that death to occur are set by a Taliban who refuse to accept the fact that a stable Afghanistan is better for all people," General Rick Hillier said on the tarmac of the St. John's airport. "It's always devastating when you lose anybody, particularly a child."

Gen. Hillier, who was in St. John's to give a speech to the annual conference of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, said a full investigation will be conducted to prevent similar incidents from happening again, but that initial reports are proper protocol was followed.

The chief of defence staff said he sympathizes with the family of Corporal David Braun, who was killed in a suicide attack on a Canadian convoy in Kandahar that also injured three others.

"We lost a soldier yesterday, a fine young man, and obviously our thoughts, our prayers are with his family during this, the worst days of their lives," Gen. Hillier said.

Despite the recent surge in attacks on Canadian troops, Gen. Hillier said he doesn't believe that the Taliban insurgency is growing.

The 10-year-old, whose name has not been released, was a passenger on a motorcycle that military officials say crossed a security perimeter around the bombing site.

The soldiers, fearful of another suicide attack, fired on the motorcycle after giving the driver several warnings to stop, officials said. The 17-year-old driver of the motorbike was taken to hospital at Kandahar Air Field, where he is listed in stable, non-critical condition.

The body of Cpl. Braun, who was based at Canadian Forces Base in Shilo, Man., is expected to be returned to Canada within the next two days, officials said.

One of the three soldiers injured in the attack was expected to be released from hospital Wednesday and return to his unit in Kandahar. The other two remained in hospital in good condition.

Deal on gas pipeline in final stages - By Khaleeq Kiani Dawn (Pakistan)

ISLAMABAD, Aug 22: Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan envisage development of complete energy corridor under multi- billion dollar TAP project including two parallel gas and crude oil pipelines, railway track, road and optic fibre system, but India is interested in a gas pipeline alone.

Informed sources told Dawn that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) was currently in the final stages of revising framework agreement and inter-state agreements to include India in the project before these are discussed and cleared by the technical groups and the steering committee for ratification.

New Delhi is seeking to incorporate in the agreement special clauses that could guarantee that gas volumes contracted to India would in no circumstances be disturbed at any stage if Pakistan required higher quantities than original contracts for Gwadar port, the sources said. This would, however, not restrict Pakistan to have maximum supplies subject to pipeline capacity.

The revisions in the framework agreement would allow the ADB to include extension of the TAP gas pipeline to India in the pre- feasibility study including routes, pipeline capacity, design and security aspects. The agreement would also define in clear terms the right of the participating states to inject or draw gas from the pipeline in case of additional gas quantities.

Meanwhile, an official spokesman said the “assessment of the consultant will not be binding”. He said Pakistan is pursuing a two-pronged strategy on bilateral as well as trilateral basis. In order to facilitate discussion on gas pricing parameters, the three countries considered it appropriate to engage a mutually acceptable consultant to provide inputs with regard to such parameters

He said the project was a commercial deal and high-level discussions between Pakistan and Iran were meant to accelerate the progress. He said the discussions on financial, commercial, technical and legal aspects were being held in a parallel rather than a sequential manner.

The spokesman claimed that the gas price quoted in a news report was misleading as discussions at this stage were on the gas pricing mechanism rather than absolute numbers.

According to an update of the petroleum ministry $7 billion TAP pipeline project is currently faced with seven major bottlenecks. These include non-confirmation of uncommitted gas volume by Turkmenistan regarding Daulatabad gas field, uncertainties or lack of clarity with regard to price of the gas to be demanded by Turkmenistan and security situation in Afghanistan.

US$2.7 million grant to prepare priority road projects in Afghanistan
Source: Asian Development Bank (ADB) 22 Aug 2006

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - A US$2.7 million grant will prepare a series of high-priority road improvement projects in Afghanistan. As the rehabilitation of regional highways nears completion, the Government has made its next priority rehabilitating national highways and provincial roads to provide people in the hinterland with better access to the center of the country.

A road master plan, developed with ADB assistance, sets out the second phase of priority improvements. "Reestablishing Afghanistan’s road network should provide remote provinces with better access to basic social services, heighten security, and involve the whole population in nation-building activities," says Dong-Soo Pyo, an ADB Principal Financial Specialist.

The grant will strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Public Works for road sector management. It will also strengthen the road construction department of Kabul Polytechnic University to ensure a stable supply of qualified engineers and develop a new program where staff will be seconded to local construction companies to gain experience in project management and procurement.

The grant will also strengthen the Ministry of Transport’s ability to regulate road transport services. After decades of conflict, the government agency has become powerless, and its staff and their relevant skills have become depleted.

"With improved road accessibility and the growing number of vehicles, the importance of road transport regulation looms large," adds Mr. Pyo. The total cost of the project is estimated at $2.82 million. The Government will contribute $120,000 in the form of staff and office accommodation. The project will be carried out over about 12 months

Airport opened in Uruzgan - Najib Khilwatgar 

KABUL, Aug 22 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The only airport in the southern Uruzgan province was opened for military flights after reconstruction on Tuesday.

The airport was reconstructed and opened for the first time since 1992. Earlier, the airport had landing arrangements only for helicopters. An N-32 transport plane was the first to land on the runway of the newly reconstructed airport at 10:55am Tuesday morning.

Commander of the air force General Abdul Wahab Wardak said the Uruzgan airport was not capable to have landing facility for planes other than helicopters since 1992. He said the airport was destroyed during the civil war.

He said the airport was recently rebuilt by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the Afghan National Army (ANA). The ANA will use the airport to transfer injured and dead to Kabul and other medical facilities.

Maj General Rahmatullah Raufi, commander of the regional army corps in the southern region, told Pajhwok Afghan News the airport was equipped with all necessary equipments and would be used for military purposes.

The price of dictatorship

The west's support for military rule in Pakistan has made the country a seedbed of terrorism - Benazir Bhutto Wednesday August 23, 2006 The Guardian (UK)

To some, the disquieting pattern of the link between Pakistan and terrorist plots against the west may seem irrelevant and coincidental. To me the pattern is a consequence of the west allowing Pakistani military regimes to suppress the democratic aspirations of the people of Pakistan, as long as their dictators ostensibly support the political goals of the international community.

In the late 1970s the democratically elected government of Pakistan was toppled by a coup led by the army chief General Zia ul-Haq. At first the international community demanded a restoration of democracy. But after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan these demands subsided as the US saw an opportunity to hobble the Soviet Union. The US funnelled aid for the fundamentalist mujahideen through Pakistan, specifically through the military intelligence agencies Zia had created to cement his iron rule.

This alliance converted my homeland from a peaceful nation into a violent society of weapons, heroin addiction and a radicalised interpretation of Islam, and the diversion of resources to the military devastated Pakistani society. As the government relinquished its responsibility in education, health, housing and social services, people looked elsewhere for support. The clearest manifestation of this was the spread of political madrasas. They became the breeding ground for hatred, extremism, militancy and terrorism. Once the Soviets left Afghanistan, the west abandoned democracy there. Pakistan and Afghanistan became the sources of a political and religious extremist movement that morphed into the Taliban and al-Qaida.

The new Pakistani dictator, General Pervez Musharraf, has played the west like a fiddle, dispensing occasional support in the war on terror to keep America and Britain off his back as he proceeded to arrest and exile opposition leaders, decimate political parties, pressure the press and set back human and women's rights by a generation. His regime, claiming sections of the frontier are ungovernable, has relinquished responsibility to the Taliban and al-Qaida. During both of my tenures as prime minister, my government enforced the writ of the state there through the civil administration and paramilitary troops.

The Musharraf dictatorship doles out ostensible support in the war on terror to keep it in the good graces of Washington, while it presides over a society that fuels and empowers militants at the expense of moderates. And the political madrasas, which I spent years as prime minister dismantling, flourish and grow under the military dictatorship. Why is it that the terrorist trail always seems to lead back to Pakistan? Why are second-generation Pakistani emigres far more attracted by this pattern of terrorism than other disillusioned Muslims in the west? What is it about Islamabad that puts it at the centre of terrorist plots?

For decades the message sent to Pakistani youth through repeated military interventions is that might is right. The west, by supporting the suppression of the democratic aspirations of Pakistanis, has enabled the dictatorship to permeate this message among a new generation of Muslim youth. Further, the use of radical institutions to superficially address some social needs is the key to understanding the pattern that links Islamabad to terror-related incidents.

Democratic governments do not empower, protect and harbour terrorists. Democratic societies largely produce citizens who understand the importance of law, diversity and tolerance. A democratic Pakistan, free from the yoke of military dictatorship, would cease to be the Petri dish of the pandemic of international terrorism.

· Benazir Bhutto is a former prime minister of Pakistan and the leader of the opposition People's party

Interview: 'Afghanistan can go either way' - By STEFAN NICOLA UPI Germany Correspondent

BERLIN, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- Washington is under increasing pressure to stop the violence in Iraq. In Afghanistan, meanwhile, the situation is gradually deteriorating for the International Security Assistance Force, the U.N.-mandated peacekeeping mission. Add to that the simmering conflict in the Middle East, and it becomes clear the region is not more at peace today than it was before the U.S.-led Iraq war.

United Press International's Berlin correspondent Stefan Nicola spoke to Rolf Tophoven, Germany's leading terrorism expert, who says the situation in the Middle East -- and especially in Afghanistan -- has reached a crucial juncture.

Nicola: How has terrorism changed since Sept. 11? Are there new targets, new recruiting methods, new strategies?

Rolf Tophoven: Al-Qaida now has a ghost army in many European cities. They are not those who fought against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and not the ones in the terror camps in the Hindu Kush in the 1990s, where up to 30,000 Arabic men were trained. They are the third generation of al-Qaida fighters. Often, they stem from immigrant circles or migrant families. They live quiet, independent lives right in the middle of our society. Only their ideology still links them to Osama bin Laden; they emerge out of their hiding only for the enactment of the attack. In Germany and most of Western Europe, the recruiting does not mainly happen in mosques anymore, because people know they may be observed. It has moved into the underground, into private circles, where two or three people meet in an apartment to plan an attack.

Maybe the most important recruitment tool today is the Internet, which is used for propaganda and inciting purposes. The Web has turned into something like the University of Jihad -- it has become a virtual self-service shop of Islamist terror.

UPI: The conflict in the Middle East is dominating the global political scene. Do you think it will further fuel Islamist terrorism?

Tophoven: The unresolved issues in the Middle East, mainly between Israel, the Palestinians and the Muslim world, are stirring up emotions all over the world, which more often lead to justification attacks. The conflict is increasingly exploited: Bin Laden, for example, has long been silent when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But after Sept. 11, he has always in his video messages pointed to the fate of the Palestinians, and ignited Muslims to wage the holy war, to wage Jihad against the non-believers and the Jews. One always easily says that if this conflict is resolved, if the other conflicts, in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Chechnya, in the Balkans, are resolved, then we will wipe out terrorism, as (U.S. President George W.) Bush always says.

But I say it is impossible to eradicate terrorism 100 percent. Of course, solving the conflict in the Middle East would be a great element to fight terrorism. It would take away one justification. But there is still a long way until that happens.

UPI: Hamas and Hezbollah, two groups the United States and Europe classify as terrorist organizations, are key players in the conflict. How do they differ from al-Qaida?

Tophoven: Hamas and Hezbollah are locally or regionally focused groups. Hamas has not launched any attacks outside the Middle East. In the 1990s, Hezbollah targeted embassies and educational institutions in Buenos Aires (Argentina), so it attacked on the periphery, but it largely concentrates on the conflict at home. Al-Qaida, on the other hand, is consciously trying to act on a global level. Hezbollah also has a second function because it is in the Beirut parliament: On the one hand terror organization, on the other hand a political group and a welfare organization.

Despite their recent election victory, Hamas still has to find itself a position in the political realm. Their unwillingness to accept Israel's right to exist could eventually be harmful for them -- or even deadly.

UPI: The recent weeks have seen an increased level of violence in Afghanistan, where the ISAF is facing almost daily attacks. How would you characterize the situation there?

Tophoven: I think the development in Afghanistan now is at a tipping point, it could go either way. The Taliban have come back better equipped. Taliban leader Mullah Omar had sent guerrilla experts into Iraq to wage war there -- they received further training and have been funneled back into Afghanistan with their new know-how. We know that because of the type of bombs now used there, and the types of ambushes that are set. The Taliban now fight against battalion-sized international units. They are better coordinated than during their loss against the U.S. immediately after Sept. 11. And they have brought back new strategies: The phenomenon of the suicide bombing has been imported from Iraq. Today, like fish in a huge sea, they are able to submerge unrecognized into the population in the south and southeast of the country.

Their goal is the disruption, the destabilization of Afghanistan. A classic example: They approach a school teacher and tell him: 'If you don't close the school tomorrow then you're dead.' And the teacher understands and closes the school. They repeatedly torpedo the help of the West.

The situation in Afghanistan is now at a watershed point. Only to highlight Kabul as a positive example would be wrong, because if you leave the city you have to expect the worst.

UPI: In nearby Iraq, the violence continues. It seems the United States is unable to defeat the insurgency there. Would it help if they left the country?

Tophoven: I don't think so, although that theory has been developed. America's big tactical mistake has been that they had no real political concept for Iraq after the swift defeat of Saddam Hussein. This has led to daily scenes of terror, chaos and violence. Every day, we are faced with a terrorist body count.

The country is far from being at peace. And it's not only Islamist insurgents that do the killings; it's more and more the Sunni opposition. Iraq is on its way to a civil war between Shiites and Sunnis, if the war has not already started. The recent incidents during the Shiite religious festival, where Sunni snipers shot randomly into the crowd shows it's an inner-political struggle for power that the allied forces can hardly pacify.

As for the insurgency -- as long as Western forces are still in Iraq, the terrorists are confronted every day with the image of the enemy. On the other hand, if the Americans left the country, the showdown would only intensify. Maybe there is only one chance: Building up a strong Iraqi army that can restore order in the country to then pull put. But I doubt that will happen anytime soon.

UPI: Did the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi weaken al-Qaida in Iraq?

[Disclaimer: The content of this news bulletin does not necessarily reflect the view or policy of the Afghan Government, unless specifically stated as such. The collection of articles and commentaries from Afghan and international news sources is provided for informational purposes, and accuracy of the news is the responsibility of the original source.]