In this bulletin:

• Soldiers die in 'Taleban attack'
• Human rights the priority for new UN envoy to Afghanistan
• Canadian troops take over from U.S. forces in volatile southern Afghanistan
• Most Canadians uneasy about Afghan mission: poll
• Canada says aware of dangers in bigger Afghan role
• Casualties 'a risk' in Afghanistan
• Pak rejects Afghanistan's demand to rename its missiles
• Afghanistan/Pakistan: 'Inseparable Twins' In Need Of Separation
• Karzai's visit and continuing acrimony
• Operations in North Waziristan suspended
• Remember Afghanistan?

Soldiers die in 'Taleban attack' - BBC News, 24 February 2006

Suspected Taleban rebels have killed four Afghan soldiers in the southern province of Helmand, officials say. The soldiers are said to have been ambushed while on a patrol in Girishk district. They returned fire but the attackers fled the scene.

Violence has been on the rise in Helmand. A fierce battle between Taleban fighters and Afghan troops earlier this month left 25 dead. British troops have recently begun setting up bases in Helmand.

They are part of an expanded Nato deployment in southern Afghanistan. The latest attack is said to have happened late on Thursday. "The soldiers were patrolling in vehicles when they were attacked," district police chief Khan Mohammad Khan is quoted as saying by the Reuters news agency.

The clash in Helmand earlier this month was described as the most serious fighting between the two sides in two years. Last year, attacks mainly in southern and eastern Afghanistan left more than 1,400 people dead. It was the country's bloodiest year since US-led forces ousted the Taleban in late 2001. The Nato contingent in the south is replacing a much smaller US force which is hunting the Taleban.

Human rights the priority for new UN envoy to Afghanistan - Feb 24

KABUL (AFP) - The new UN special representative to Afghanistan said that improving human rights and the war-torn country's capacity to govern itself were priorities of his tenure.

Tom Koenigs, who arrived in Afghanistan last week, said destitute Afghanistan faced huge challenges after war had resulted in the "practically complete destruction of all institutions".

The aim of the UN mission in Afghanistan was to assist the government so that in due time they will "have enough capacity on their own to govern and to administer their own country."

Human rights was also a priority although patience was necessary not to jeopardise stability, said Koenigs, formerly the German government's commissioner for human rights policy and humanitarian aid.

"There is all over the world a tension between transitional justice -- justice of those perpetrators of past gross violations of human rights -- and stability... "Nobody can expect fast results. We all want justice but nevertheless we have to strike a balance between these two elements," he said on Thursday.

Several of the warlords involved in the nearly 25 years of war and internal conflict in Afghanistan, some of them accused of rights abuses, have top positions in the government and many still wield considerable power. The government agreed late last year to a process to bring those accused of rights abuses to justice.

Koenigs said Afghanistan's development depended on security and those opposed to the direction of the new government should use legitimate channels to express their opinions instead of resorting to violence.

An insurgency led by remnants of the hardline Taliban regime ousted in a US-led campaign in late 2001 claims lives nearly every day and has shown no signs of ending despite the presence of nearly 30,000 troops.

Koenigs was in particular disturbed by the regular attacks on Afghanistan's schools and teachers. More than a dozen schools have been torched in the past two months in the southern provinces worst-hit by insurgency-linked violence.

Several teachers and educational workers have also been killed, including a headmaster who was killed in Zabul province last month. "These attacks amount to a denial of the human right of education for Afghanistan's children," Koenigs said.

"I can only appeal to those who appear to disagree with the development Afghanistan takes -- leave Afghanistan's children alone." Koenigs succeeds Jean Arnauld, who was the UN secretary general's special representative here since February 2004.

Canadian troops take over from U.S. forces in volatile southern Afghanistan - Canadian Press LES PERREAUX 2/24/06

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - Tough talk greeted Canadian troops on Friday as they officially took over the fight on the front lines of Kandahar province from their American allies.

Soldiers of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry battle group assumed control of the volatile southern Afghan province from the U.S. Task Force Gun Devil in the first of a series of official ceremonies.

Lt.-Col. Bert Ges, the head of Task Force Gun Devil, urged the Canadian troops to remember that Afghans are not the enemy. "But when the enemy rears its ugly head, I expect you to kill and capture them and defeat them," Ges told Canadian troops.

"Keep up the aggressiveness and continue on the fight against the enemy." Ges then turned to a decidedly Canadian analogy to describe the transition taking place. "The change today is similar to a line change in hockey. It's still the same team going down the ice ready to score, just a different capability out there," he said.

Lt.-Col. Ian Hope, the officer who is leading the Canadian battle group, read off the names of seven American soldiers from Task Force Gun Devil who died recently fighting on the same ground where Canadians will operate.

Hope said he believes Canadians support their presence in Afghanistan, despite the increased danger they will face in the restive southern portion of the country. "The average Canadian, regardless about what he feels about Afghanistan and geo-politics, is actually supporting Canadian troops and I am convinced that will be sustained," Hope said.

Canadians have been patrolling the area for weeks, but Friday's ceremony marks the first in a series of command transitions that will culminate next week with the installation of Canadian Brig.-Gen. David Fraser as the head of coalition forces in southern Afghanistan.

His command will include major Dutch, British and U.S. contingents in the three provinces around Kandahar, replacing U.S. dominance with a multinational brigade.

The troops will all remain under the U.S. umbrella of Operation Enduring Freedom until summer, when NATO is expected to take over the southern region. NATO already leads the effort in northern and western Afghanistan through the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF.

Most Canadians uneasy about Afghan mission: poll - CTV.ca News Staff 02.23.06

Federal Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor is pledging that Ottawa will follow through on its mission in Afghanistan. But a new CTV News poll suggests most Canadians are uneasy about the military's involvement in the volatile region.

"We will stay the course because our mission in Afghanistan is important," O'Connor said Thursday. "It's important for the future of Afghanistan, it's important for the stability of the region and it's important for international security."

O'Connor said stability in the region is important to the international community, but is especially in Canada's interest. "On September 11, 2001, terrorists attacked North America and Canadians were killed. Let me be clear: when terrorists attack Canadians, Canada will defend itself. That's why we're in Afghanistan," he said.

By early March, approximately 2,200 Canadian troops will have been deployed to Kandahar, as Canada will assume the lead of the multinational forces over the next nine months. The Conservative government pledge to see the Afghanistan mission through came amid calls for a parliamentary debate on Canada's presence in the war-torn nation.

"There has been no full debate in the House of Commons on the issue of our troops in Afghanistan and I think that does need to happen," said the New Democrat defence and peace advocacy critic Dawn Black.

"The New Democrats have called for that under the previous government, and will call for that again under this government," Black said, appearing on CTV Newsnet's Mike Duffy Live.

Liberal defence critic Ujjal Dosanjh echoed the sentiment, saying the government needs to "make sure that if the people of Canada believe there ought to be a debate. He added: "There's no reason why we can't have a debate while our troops are actually doing the work that needs to be done in Afghanistan."

Indeed, a new poll suggests many Canadians are nervous about the military's involvement in Afghanistan. In an exclusive poll for CTV News and The Globe and Mail, The Strategic Counsel asked Canadians if they would vote in favour or against sending troops to Afghanistan. Just 27 per cent were in favour and 62 per cent were against.

Furthermore, 73 per cent of respondents said the decision to send troops to Afghanistan should require parliamentary approval, while 20 per cent said it should not.

While Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada is grateful for foreign assistance, he cautioned that terrorists will seek to exploit partisan conflicts. "Their goal is to use time and a battle of nerves to tire us, to intimidate us, to make us doubt our objectives, to sow dissension and turn it into a contentious political debate," Omar Samad said Thursday.

CTV News has learned the debate on Afghanistan is also being waged within the Prime Minister's Office about whether or not Stephen Harper should travel to Kandahar next Wednesday, when a Canadian general will take command of NATO troops.

Canada says aware of dangers in bigger Afghan role – Reuters 02/24/2006
By Randall Palmer

OTTAWA - Canada is fully aware of the dangers involved in taking an expanded role in Afghanistan and also plans to build a more robust Canadian Forces with more impact, newly elected Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor said on Thursday.

A retired general with 32 years of military service, O'Connor made the remarks in his first major policy speech since the Conservatives defeated the Liberals in the Jan. 23 election.

The Conservatives, long critical of Liberal government cuts to the military, pledged during the election campaign to put more resources into the military.

In Afghanistan, Canada is building its troop level to 2,300 people by early next month and will be taking over command of the multinational forces in the volatile Kandahar region.

O'Connor said much progress had been made but extremism remained a force and the drug trade dominated the economy. "I can assure you that Canada will not be intimidated or deterred by terrorists. We will stay the course because our mission in Afghanistan is important," he said.

He said the mission was important for Afghanistan, international security and for Canada's national interests, pointing out that the suicide bombers behind the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in New York trained in Afghanistan and killed Canadians.

"Let me be clear: when terrorists attack Canadians, Canada will defend itself. That's why we're in Afghanistan," he said. O'Connor also pledged to fulfill Conservative campaign promises, including increasing the size of the military to 75,000 personnel from 60,000.

"The Canadian Forces need to be revitalized. They need to be rebuilt," he said. "That's why I'm here." He voiced worry over Canada's capability to exercise sovereignty over its vast Arctic area and reiterated plans to put more money, equipment and people into northern defenses.

Interim Liberal leader Bill Graham, a former defence minister, challenged the affordability of the Conservative promises. The Conservative platform said C$5.3 billion ($4.6 billion) would be added over five years to previous Liberal defense spending plans.

"Just the ships alone in the Arctic probably represent C$5 billion or $6 billion," he told reporters. "I think we'll see there's a difference between their rhetoric and what the finance minister will have them achieve."

O'Connor also said Canada would seek to expand the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) agreement, which expires in May, to cover maritime surveillance and not just invasions from the air.

He also reiterated openness to participation in the U.S. missile defense program, which the preceding Liberal government had rejected.

O'Connor said if the United States requested it and the Conservatives determined it to be in Canada's interests, such a deal would be put to a vote in Parliament -- where it would face an uncertain fate since the Conservatives have only a minority of seats.

Casualties 'a risk' in Afghanistan - The Scotsman 2/24/06

British casualties in the forthcoming deployment to southern Afghanistan are "a risk" and one that troops are prepared for, the officer in charge of preliminary operations has said.

Hundreds of engineers and marines are currently in Lashkar Ga, Helmand Province, building a base for more than 2,000 troops who are expected to be in place by the end of June.

Their goal is to support the Afghan National Army (ANA) in its attempt to secure control of the hazardous south and oust any terrorists harbouring in the remote mountain areas.

They will also provide back-up for Afghan attempts to crush the country's out-of-control narcotics industry, which sees more than two billion US dollars raised from opium crops each year.

British troops will not be involved in direct eradication of crops but will seek out areas where narcotics are grown and make sure those crops that have been destroyed have been properly wiped out.

But today, Colonel Gordon Messenger, commander of preliminary operations, based in Kandahar, warned of the potential difficulties troops will face. "I think we are geared up to expect casualties, and medical support is there," he said.

"There is certainly a risk to troops and there is a risk to the Afghans, there is no doubt about that - we are prepared to mitigate that risk."

Col Messenger said there had been recent incidents which highlighted the dangers in the remote and treacherous region. "There have been a number of roadside bombs, certainly targeting both Afghans and coalition troops," he said.

"There have been a number of suicide attacks, there is a risk there. That is one of the reasons we are deploying a military force and not a civilian force," he added.

After establishing a relationship with the local Afghans in Helmand province, the troops will focus on supporting the national army to shore up the "porous" southern border with Pakistan. "The level of legal and illegal cross-border activity from Pakistan is significant," the officer said.

Pak rejects Afghanistan's demand to rename its missiles – NewKerala 02/24/2006

Islamabad - Pakistan has rejected Afghanistan's demand to rename its missiles, as they coincided with the names of former Afghan rulers. The Daily Times quoted Pakistan Foreign Office spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam as telling the BBC that Islamabad could not fulfil the request because Pakistan and Afghanistan shared a common history and heroes.

Afghan Information Minister Syed Makhdoom Raheen had urged Islamabad to stop naming its military missiles in the names of former Afghan rulers. "Education and culture institutes should be named after Afghan leaders like Shahabud Din Ghauri, Mehmood Ghaznavi and Ahmad Shah Abdali instead of naming destructive devices after them," he had said. Pakistan has military missiles named after Ghauri, Ghaznavi and Abdali, all former Afghan rulers.

Afghanistan/Pakistan: 'Inseparable Twins' In Need Of Separation - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty - February 23, 2006

During his recent trip to Islamabad, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Afghanistan and Pakistan are "joined together like twins" and are "inseparable." But for all the diplomatic gestures, relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan are now at their lowest ebb since the demise of the Taliban regime in late 2001.

President Karzai's main stated grievance is that his Pakistani counterpart Pervez Musharraf is, at best, unable or, at worst, unwilling to curtail the activities of the neo-Taliban inside Pakistan and to break up the support network created by Pakistani religious and military groups for the militants.

Afghan officials and the media have consistently accused Afghanistan's eastern neighbor of backing the violence perpetuated by the neo-Taliban. Recently, too, the Afghan public has taken up the call, in anti-Pakistani protests.

Karzai himself, though, had maintained a more diplomatic line. That has since changed, due to a wave of around 30 suicide attacks that killed nearly 100 people since mid-November. During a weekly radio program in late January, Karzai charged that "a neighbor" of Afghanistan has had a hand in the recent upsurge in violence. "The reason for these attacks is the continuation of subversive endeavors" by foreigners whose aim is "to dominate" Afghanistan, Karzai said. The former Taliban regime was, the Afghan president continued, part of a "hidden invasion" of Afghanistan "by a neighbor for the second time" since the Soviet Union invaded the country in 1979.

While clearly pointing to -- but refraining from directly identifying -- Pakistan, Karzai added that since the collapse of the Taliban regime following the U.S.-led invasion in late 2001, those "who controlled Afghanistan during the Taliban regime have not altered their intentions." Karzai went on to say that the unnamed neighbor has continued to interfere in Afghanistan's internal affairs and, for "this reason, terrorism and attacks [are] still widespread."

Militants and Secret Services - Islamabad may itself have voiced displeasure of its own at the 15 February meeting. Unconfirmed reports from Pakistan suggest that Pakistani officials handed Karzai evidence that Indian security agents have been operating in Pakistan's Baluchistan Province and tribal areas along the Afghan border. The reports suggest the agents had been using India's consulates in Afghanistan as bases.

Those reports are unofficial. However, Karzai was very empathetic when he stated on 15 February that Afghanistan's "relations with India in no way, no way, no way will impact" on ties between Kabul and Islamabad.

Islamabad has on a number of occasions since 2003 alleged that India is using Afghanistan as a base from which to interfere in Pakistan's internal affairs. In 2003, Pakistan's then interior minister, Faisal Saleh Hayat, accused India of running camps in Afghanistan to train Afghans and Pakistanis as terrorists.

The confusion that followed Afghan officials' announcement that they had given Pakistan a list of 150 former Taliban members living in Pakistan seemed, therefore, to be symptomatic of a broader divergence in views between the two countries. On 20 February, Pakistan denied receiving a list. The next day Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao acknowledged that Islamabad had indeed received a list of "about 150 terrorists." But this was, he said, a routine exchange of intelligence. Differences persist. Most Pakistani officials say the list named Al-Qaeda members. Afghan officials say the list names members of the Taliban. Neither Afghan nor Pakistani officials have revealed any of the names.

A Separate But Equal Partnership - There are, though, glimmers of hope that Kabul and Islamabad might at least find it beneficial to work together to promote trade and transit opportunities.

On 15 February, Afghan and Pakistani officials met in Turkmenistan to discuss a proposed pipeline that would carry Turkmen gas to both countries, and perhaps onward to India. There is also talk of running a railroad through Afghanistan that would connect the republics of Central Asia with Pakistan and, through Pakistan's ports, to overseas markets. Similarly, there are ongoing discussions about bus links between Afghanistan and Pakistan. And, while resistant, Pakistan has not flatly rejected a proposal to allow an overland transit route between Afghanistan and India through Pakistan.

However, one proposal made by Karzai during his trip to Pakistan -- to adopt an open-border policy as a prelude to other confidence-building measures -- will have roused anxiety in Islamabad, as it is Afghanistan's longstanding policy not to recognize the Durand Line, the disputed boundary between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Afghanistan has never officially recognized the Durand Line, and Pakistan has therefore always regarded Afghanistan as a potential threat and sought to retain leverage in Afghanistan. It has done so partly by nurturing political opponents who could, in time of need, serve Pakistani interests.

The support that Pakistan is alleged to be providing the neo-Taliban is therefore part of a long-term strategy that predates the current war on terrorism and overreaches Musharraf's stated goodwill towards the Karzai government. And that also suggests that if the inseparable twins are to become separate but equal states, they will need to agree where exactly their borders lie.

Karzai's visit and continuing acrimony - The News International Opinion by Imtiaz Gul

Years of support for jihad and those willing to join it heralded a certain religio-political culture within society as well as the establishment. This has bled Pakistan ever since

As expected, Afghan President Hamid Karzai's three-day visit last week was marked by the usual mutual ceremonial vows of friendship and cooperation. But insiders suggest that most of the official meetings ended on either a bitter or stale note because of the contentious issues raised by both sides.

President Karzai called on Pakistan to intensify its efforts to root out terrorism soon after he arrived in Islamabad on February 15, a point he continued to raise during and after the talks. All that the Afghans want is to intensify the campaign against terrorists -- whether in Afghanistan or Pakistan -- the president told the media.

On February 16, in his address to army officers at the National Defence College in Islamabad, Karzai made a similar appeal to the armed forces: "Preventing progress in Afghanistan is, ladies and gentlemen, exactly preventing progress in Pakistan for very obvious reasons … the stronger, the better, the more prosperous Afghanistan, the stronger, the more prosperous is Pakistan," he said. "Going to the roots of terrorists and bad elements, finding out where they get trained, finding out where they get equipped, and drying out the resources of their financial support is the solution."

The tone and tenor of Karzai's speeches and talks was clear: we are not satisfied, do more to stem the flow of militants across the Durand Line, stop sheltering them and bring them to justice. To underline his point, Karzai and his delegation handed over a list of wanted Taliban officials including their fugitive leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, who some Afghan officials believe lives in Pakistan. Afghan officials also pointed out that at least 200 schools in Afghanistan had either been torched or had to be closed because of terrorist threats. Defence Minister Rahim Wardak disclosed that his side had given Islamabad a list of wanted miscreants believed to be hiding in Pakistan. He said the list includes those who are leading insurgents in Afghanistan. He refused, however, to say how many people were on the list or who they were.

Wardak claimed that Pakistani authorities had promised to track down and arrest elements extending support to Taliban insurgents, who have lately intensified attacks on Afghan security forces and foreign troops through at least two dozen suicide attacks in different parts of Afghanistan. Most Afghan leaders as well as their American and European supporters believe most of the 37-odd high-ranking wanted Taliban are hiding in Pakistan and that Pakistani security forces might be protecting them.

For their part, officials in Islamabad gave a detailed presentation to Karzai at Aiwan-e-Sadr on the anti-Pakistan activities initiated by RAW through the Indian consulates in Jalalabad, Kandahar, Mazar-e-Sharif and Herat. The presentation contained evidence on camps being run by the Marri and Bugti tribes, and President Musharraf told his Afghan counterpart that the unrest in Waziristan also stemmed from foreign involvement.

That the visit would be marked by acrimony and complaints was evident from the beginning. Officials in both countries seemed to be at daggers drawn, particularly since the January suicide attack in Kandahar which killed more than two dozen people. Not surprisingly, most Afghan officials blamed it on Pakistan. And within no time anti-Pakistan protests flared up and drew personal appreciation from Hamid Karzai. For him, the organisers of the protests did the right thing.

Then, just three days ahead of Karzai's departure for Islamabad, Afghan police made the startling claim of having seized about 700 home-made bombs hidden in orange crates. They were being smuggled into Afghanistan from Pakistan, an interior ministry spokesman told the media. Wires and fuses were also found among the improvised explosive devices discovered in Kunar province on the border with Pakistan, the interior ministry official said, adding that one person had been arrested. Shortly before this, the same ministry had arrested some 40 Pakistanis, alleging that they had been inciting the public against the government.

Led by Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, most Afghan officials have also been laying the blame for the surge in the insurgency at Pakistan's doorstep, singling out the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for all bad acts. "Pakistan is ... fanning the flames," charged Latfullah Maashal, the chief spokesman of the Afghan interior ministry. "The Pakistanis ... do not want to see a strong, peaceful and prosperous [Afghanistan]." Late last year, Maashal had claimed that the Taliban are being allowed to maintain arms depots, training camps and sanctuaries in the lawless tribal belt on Pakistan's side of the frontier. And in Islamabad too, officials have been sharpening their responses and preparing counter-attacks. On February 13, foreign ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam had vowed that Pakistani leaders would discuss the cross-border attacks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai during his visit to Islamabad. A day earlier, a private news agency had also quoted intelligence officials as saying that they had "solid proof" of the Afghanistan-based Indian consulates' involvement in the Balochistan turmoil.

As for the Taliban, whether or not their leaders are being officially protected, the fact remains that their activists and low-ranking officials do use Pakistani mobile phone numbers to post their messages and claims on developments inside Afghanistan. Many of them frequently call up news agencies or journalists of their trust and exchange views. Abdullah Mesood, the South Waziristani Taliban leader, or Mullah Dadullah, the Afghan Taliban leader, also stay in touch with their Pakistani friends through a number of cellular phone connections, which they switch on apparently only when they need to talk to somebody.

But locating all Taliban leaders or their henchmen is a difficult task for several reasons. Firstly, they are mostly on the move and hence difficult to track down. Secondly, tens of thousands of Afghans still live in cities such as Peshawar, Quetta, D I Khan, Kohat and Karachi. In fact several thousand families live in Sialkot, working in the auxiliary industries there. Afghans are also common to farming in Punjab and to the brick kilns, where entire families toil day and night to survive. It is quite easy for leaders and their followers to merge into these Afghan settlements, making them hard to identify.

Thirdly, as the Taliban disapprove of filming and photography, most of their leaders have never stood in front of the camera. So even common Afghans, particularly those outside power centres like Kabul and Kandahar, and those living as refugees, would not recognise many of them.

This certainly doesn't condone any alleged connivance, lethargy or neglect within the Pakistani security forces as far as the hunt for al-Qaeda or the Taliban is concerned. Yet such things are not surprising in a state that has been turned soft and porous by the overzealous US and European involvement in the anti-Soviet crusade that they loved to call jihad. Years of support for jihad and those willing to join it heralded a certain religio-political culture within society as well as the establishment. This has bled Pakistan ever since, both domestically and internationally.

The country is now paying a heavy price. Despite its avowed efforts against militants and the arrests of hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders, and despite the heavy losses that the armed forces have suffered in the tribal area, nobody trusts this country or its leaders.

President Karzai's sermons in the face of General Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz provided a good glimpse of how others view Pakistan and its leadership. Regardless of the merits or otherwise of Karzai's exhortations on the anti-terror front, Pakistani decision-makers need to stand up to these challenges thrown even by guests from across the border, and proactively work to rectify the country's image.

Operations in North Waziristan suspended - NWFP governor says govt believes tribesmen can restore peace through customs and traditions - The News: Jang –Pakistan 2/24/06

PESHAWAR: The government has suspended operations in North Waziristan Agency, as it believes the tribesmen are able to restore peace and normalcy through their own customs and traditions, said NWFP Governor Khalilur Rehman on Thursday.

"It doesn’t mean that the government has backed out of its earlier determination; rather, we want to let the tribesmen improve the situation themselves. However, if there is no improvement, the operations would be resumed with full vigour and severity," he warned, addressing a Jirga of the Utmanzai Wazir and Daur tribes at Miranshah on Thursday.

The governor said the tribesmen should realise the gravity of the situation and discharge their responsibilities to evade further operations. The government was taking action against elements, which "are enemies of the entire world and humanity," he added. "If we do not fix them up, others are ready to follow them till total elimination."

The governor, according to a handout, lauded the tribesmen for their patriotic sentiments for and loyalty to the country as well as their sacrifices for Pakistan during the independence movement and thereafter on many other occasions, saying that "now again the time has come that the tribesmen should demonstrate the same spirit to uphold the dignity and prestige of the country".

He said the deployment of army troops in the tribal belt was aimed at securing the borders and purging the country of terrorist and unwanted elements. "You must assist the security forces for the sake of peace and socio-economic development of the area," he advised the tribal elders.

Rehman said that in North Waziristan, the government was taking all steps in the social and economic interest of the people. Unprecedented development has taken place during the previous six years and the process is going on, but the basic prerequisite for the sustainability of the process is peace and normalcy, he stressed.

The governor informed the Jirga about the government’s efforts to develop backward tribal areas and said that in North Waziristan alone more than one billion rupees were being spent during the current financial year, "which has no example in the entire development history" of the agency.

He announced the upgrading of all technical institutions in the agency, providing skill development opportunities to 700 persons annually, with each trainee getting a stipend of Rs 500 per month. The skilled labourers would be provided with jobs both within the country and abroad, said.

The governor also announced the launch of a "Sustainable Plain Development Project" in North Waziristan, saying that under the project wasteland would be made cultivable to promote agriculture. He said President Gen Pervez Musharraf had approved a coveted plan for copper mining in the agency, work on which would start soon, with the project expected to provide job opportunities to 600 local workers in the initial stage.

The governor promised to raise the number of Khasadars as well as the Lungi allowance and approved the construction of an inspection hut in the Shawal area of the agency to promote tourism. He assured the tribal elders he would look into demands for the establishment of a degree college in Spinwam and the construction and repair of roads and bridges mentioned in a Sepasnama. He also promised to consider demands for the construction of new school buildings, provision of ambulances to the AHQ Hospital and upgradation of the Spinwam RHC.

Responding to a demand, the governor announced that machinery of all outdated tube-wells would be replaced. Earlier, on his arrival in Miranshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan Agency, the governor was warmly received by the tribal elders. He later performed the groundbreaking ceremonies of Cantonment Road and the Government Degree College for Women. The governor also attended a briefing on the law and order situation and the development profile of the agency.

Remember Afghanistan? - Los Angeles Times 02/22/2006 By Neamat Nojumi

AFGHANISTAN'S impressive achievements are in danger of being lost. Donor nations aren't giving enough development funds. Western nongovernmental organizations are mismanaging reconstruction. And Pakistan has failed to arrest Al Qaeda and Taliban militants in its backyard. The optimism and hope generated by last October's presidential election and last month's legislative voting will soon fade. Afghanistan could again become a base for global Islamist terrorism.

Four years after the U.S.-led coalition kicked the Taliban out of power, Taliban and Al Qaeda remnants continue to use Pakistan as a sanctuary, training base and staging area for attacks on coalition and Afghan soldiers. More than 50 U.S. soldiers and hundreds of Afghans have been killed this year. Reconstruction is stalled in Afghanistan's border provinces because of a lack of security. Last year, groups of five to 10 engaged in the cross-border attacks from Pakistan, according to tribal elders I met in eastern Nuristan province. This year, the attackers number in the 70s and 80s and often wear uniforms.

Despite Pakistani military operations in Waziristan, periodic arrests of militants and announcements that the border has been "sealed," Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and his generals still play both fireman and arsonist in Afghanistan. This will only worsen unless President Bush and Congress stop indulging Pakistan's two-track policy.

The great majority of Afghans I've spoken with believe that the promises of reconstruction assistance from the Afghan government and the international community remain unfulfilled. Several major roads have been built, and many schools have reopened. But four years into reconstruction, most of Kabul lacks electricity, the capital's streets are unpaved and the sewer and water systems don't work.

The lack of reconstruction programs is most evident in Afghanistan's rural areas. A doctor in the Guzara district of Herat province told me that many pregnant women die on their way to hospitals because they lack transportation or the roads are impassable. More than $5 billion in reconstruction aid has not bought one new power plant, even though electricity is a crucial ingredient in agricultural and industrial development. Opium production is at unacceptably high levels, with terrorist groups and warlords reaping large profits trafficking drugs. Corruption is on the rise.

A big part of the problem is the more than 1,000 Western nongovernmental organizations that receive and channel the aid. Too often they perform governmental functions that elected but under-sourced Afghans should be doing. Maintaining the maze of foreign NGOs is also wasteful. Their logistics, personnel, housing and other internal costs eat up more than 60% of the assistance money (some estimates are as high as 80%). Afghans joke that they suffered under the Soviets, then the Taliban and now the NGOs.

Afghanistan's governing institutions remain too weak to be effective. Little progress has been made in preparing Afghans to govern. Afghan judges and legal experts repeatedly told me that resolving the huge upsurge in property disputes left over from 20 years of war is beyond the judiciary's ability.

In judicial as well as other governmental and administrative areas, aid agencies are not devoting sufficient attention to training and deploying a professional Afghan cadre of managers and skilled civil servants essential to administering the country. Weak democratic institutions and an inadequate civil society undercut President Hamid Karzai's ability to deal with Muslim extremists and warlords.

What's to be done? First and foremost, the United States, bilateral donors and the United Nations must investigate and eliminate the inefficiency and mismanagement rampant within the NGO-administered reconstruction. Government functions performed by non-Afghans should be transferred to Afghan institutions, both public and private, as expeditiously as possible.

To reduce corruption, donors should demand more accountability from the Karzai government. When the new Afghan parliament convenes, it will target this corruption. Karzai would be wise to fire some ministers and implement anti-corruption regulations before that day.

Friends of Afghanistan need to recognize that the successful September legislative elections didn't make the country a functioning nation-state. Continued progress doesn't depend on more foreign troops, but on a smarter, redirected and better-funded reconstruction strategy.

[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.]