Secretary of State Rice and Afghan President Hamid Karzai arrive for a news conference in Kabul June 28, 2006. (Ahmad Masood/Reuters)

In this bulletin:

• Afghanistan's enemies will never win: Rice
• Rice Strives to Close Afghan-Pakistani Rift
• Pakistan asks Afghanistan to ID hideouts
• President Karzai Returns to Kabul after His Visit to the Province of Baghlan
• Afghan drugs threat - FM Lavrov
• Italy to withdraw 400 Afghan troops
• Attack on U.S. Convoy in Afghanistan Fails
• Canadian commander dismisses report criticizing mission in Afghanistan
• They're Back: A New, Vicious Taliban Take Shape in Afghanistan
• Karzai's call for different approach rings true
• It's Time to Secure Afghanistan

Afghanistan's enemies will never win: Rice

Kabul (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reaffirmed Washington's support for insurgency-hit Afghanistan, saying it would not allow the country's "ruthless" Taliban enemies to succeed.

Rice also made a show of support for President Hamid Karzai in a short trip that comes amid increasing frustration with his government over the raging violence and slow pace of reform since the Taliban were toppled in late 2001.

The top US diplomat said at a press conference with Karzai that the international community stood behind the Afghan government's fight against a "common enemy" responsible for attacks around the world.

The Taliban and Al-Qaeda, which was sheltered by the Taliban regime toppled by a US-led coalition in 2001, may have changed their tactics but Kabul's allies were working together to find new strategies against them, she said.

"Afghanistan has determined enemies, they are ruthless but they will not succeed," she said after talks with Karzai at the presidential palace. "They are simply not going to win... we will not allow it to happen."

"This is a thinking enemy that is changing its tactics too," she said. "We are making great progress, we share our views about changes that might be made or tactics or even strategies."

As Rice was in Kabul two suicide bombers killed themselves in the southern province of Zabul in what appeared to have been a botched attack on a US convoy, police said, in the latest in a line of such attacks.

Suicide blasts, beheadings, roadside bombings and attacks on remote, undermanned police posts are among the guerrilla-style hallmarks of the insurgency.

Rice arrived from an overnight stay in Islamabad where she called for greater cooperation between the often bickering neighbours against Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have been at loggerheads for months over claims by Kabul -- and sometimes the US-led coalition -- that Islamabad has failed to crack down on militants launching cross-border attacks from its soil.

Islamabad has deployed some 80,000 troops in its rugged tribal regions to hunt down Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters who sneaked into the region after the ouster of the hardline government for sheltering Al-Qaeda leaders.

Rice also praised Karzai whose standing has taken a knock amid frustration about the relentless violence and lack of significant change since the Taliban were toppled.

"I don't know anyone who is more admired and respected in the international community than President Karzai for his strength, for his wisdom and for his courage to lead this country first in the defeat of the Taliban and now in rebuilding a democratic and unified Afghanistan," Rice said.

"I have the greatest confidence that the democratic institutions and democratic future of Afghanistan are getting stronger and getting stronger every day," she said.

Rice also met the leaders of the US-led coalition that helped to drive the Taliban out of power in late 2001 and has been hunting down insurgents since then.

And she held talks with leaders of NATO's International Security Assistance Force that is also trying to help secure Afghanistan.

The United States has more than 20,000 soldiers in Afghanistan as part of the coalition and is the main funder of the country's attempts to rebuild after decades of war.

Rice last visited the region just three months ago when she accompanied US President George W. Bush, highlighting the continuing need for Washington to back its anti-terror allies.

After an eight-hour stopover she flew out of the main US air base at Bagram and headed to Moscow for a meeting of the Group of Eight industrial powers starting Thursday.

Rice Strives to Close Afghan-Pakistani Rift - The Washington Post 06/28/2006 By Glenn Kessler

ISLAMABAD - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sought Tuesday to heal a rift between Pakistan and Afghanistan, two Muslim allies of the United States, but tensions spilled over during a news conference in which Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri angrily accused the Afghan government of making false charges.

Rice smiled tightly during Kasuri's emotional, five-minute outburst, which was prompted by a question about Afghan claims that Pakistan is allowing its largely lawless border areas to shelter insurgents who are mounting their biggest offensive in Afghanistan since the Taliban was ousted in 2001.

With close to 10,000 international troops conducting sweeps in rugged southern Afghanistan, Rice's trip here was organized on short notice in an effort to end feuding that many analysts say is undermining efforts to stabilize the government of President Hamid Karzai.

Kasuri said Pakistan would add 10,000 troops to the 80,000 now operating in areas bordering Afghanistan. He noted that already "we have 650-plus martyred soldiers." Officials offered few other details of the content of the talks.

Rice flew Wednesday to Kabul to meet with Karzai, who is facing mounting international criticism over his performance. As she traveled to Islamabad on Monday, Rice hailed Karzai as "an extraordinary leader" and said the United States would "back him fully."

Rice's visit comes as Karzai is straining to hold his country together but is losing popular support because of increasing violence, corruption, drug trafficking and an inability to demonstrate tangible progress since the fall of the Taliban. A failure of the Karzai government would undermine Bush administration claims that Afghanistan has become a symbol of rising freedom and democracy in the world.

It is a sensitive time in Pakistan, too. With elections scheduled for next year, there are signs that Gen. Pervez Musharraf -- whose military efforts in the border areas are not popular in Pakistan -- is maneuvering to extend his presidential term. He seized power in a bloodless coup nearly seven years ago, and Rice reiterated her belief that the 2007 elections would be "free and fair."

But U.S. officials have been wary about pressing Musharraf too hard, seeking to balance demands for action against extremist groups with tangible U.S. rewards, such as sales of F-16 fighter jets, many analysts say.

In the news conference, Kasuri said he had recently met with Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta. They had pledged not to debate each other through the media, he said, but he told reporters he could not remain silent. He said he told Spanta, "Excellency, brother, you are a scholar and professor, give me a motive why we would willingly destabilize you."

Kasuri pointedly said Pakistan could not be blamed for recent riots in Kabul, which were sparked when a U.S. military truck crashed into a crowd. He said that Afghanistan, for all its complaints about terrorists taking sanctuary in Pakistan, has provided little intelligence that was useful.

"Tell me, brother, have you ever given us actionable intelligence?" he said he asked Spanta, noting that intelligence that Karzai personally gave President Bush was later deemed "out of date" by the CIA. "Tell us where they are hiding," Kasuri demanded. "We promise to investigate and take action."

Pakistan is eager for oil and gas deals and greater trade with Central Asia, which would be dependent on a secure Afghanistan, Kasuri said, asking, "Which country has a greater stake in peace and stability in Afghanistan?"

After Kasuri's statement, Rice minimized the dispute, saying that "our view is that we have two good friends and two fierce fighters in the war on terror." She said the key to success was greater unity, not division.

"We, Afghanistan and Pakistan are going to unify all our efforts, as we have done over the last several years, towards the goal of eliminating the threat of al-Qaeda and the Taliban," Rice said.

Pakistan asks Afghanistan to ID hideouts - The Associated Press 06/28/2006

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's military government challenged neighboring  Afghanistan on Tuesday to identify the terror hideouts that Afghanistan claims exist in Pakistan, using a meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to make its argument.

Rice, making back-to-back visits to the quarreling allies, could do little but smile thinly while her Pakistani counterpart, Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri, answered Afghan criticisms point by point.

"Our view is that we have two good friends and two fierce fighters in the war on terror," Rice said following meetings with Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Kasuri.

Musharraf became an unlikely ally of the Bush administration following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks when he pledged cooperation against terrorists who traveled easily between Pakistan and the lawless Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan.

Rice will see Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday for talks on that country's political progress and the international military campaign to quell terrorism in the south. That chaotic and often lawless border region is also the source of tension with Pakistan, and the presumed hiding place for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Karzai has criticized Pakistan for not doing enough to go after terrorists along the mountainous border between the two nations. A clearly frustrated Karzai last week also criticized the U.S.-assisted coalition anti-terror campaign in his chaotic country, deploring the deaths of hundreds of Afghans and appealing for more help for his government. The coalition has killed hundreds, mostly Taliban militants, since May.

"Which country has a greater stake in peace and stability in Afghanistan?" Kasuri asked during a press conference with Rice.

Pakistan wants cross-border oil and gas pipelines, more regional trade and other development that it is not possible without more stability in Afghanistan, Kasuri said. He described recent talks with the Afghan foreign minister as productive, but said he asked his counterpart what possible motive Pakistan would have to destabilize its neighbor.

Kasuri challenged Afghanistan to prove militants are hiding out in Quetta, as some officials have claimed, or elsewhere in Pakistan. Previous tips from Karzai himself about militant whereabouts were out of date, he added.

"Tell us where they are hiding," he said. "We promise to investigate and take action." Alluding to Afghanistan's many problems that have nothing to do with the border, Kasuri said Pakistan was not to blame for deadly riots in Kabul last month.

The May 29 riots were the worst in Kabul since the Taliban's 2001 ouster, with hundreds of people rampaging through the city screaming "Death to America!" after a U.S. military truck plowed into a crowd. About 20 people were killed.

Rice also planned to meet with counterparts from the Group of Eight industrialized nations in Moscow on Thursday, where the topic was expected to be Iran's disputed nuclear program.

The Bush administration considers Karzai and Musharraf, along with the influential and relatively moderate Iraqi Shiite cleric Ali al-Sistani, as the "indispensable men" of post-Sept. 11 foreign policy for their ability to hold Islamic extremism at bay.

Musharraf faces little political opposition within Pakistan, but lives under constant threat of assassination. Karzai is increasingly embattled, hard pressed to extend his political control into many regions of Afghanistan and facing a resurgence of the radical Taliban movement toppled by U.S.-led forces four years ago.

Taliban forces have been blamed for a surge of violence in recent months, adopting methods commonly used by militants in Iraq: suicide bombings, ambushes and beheadings.

In an effort to curb the bloodletting, some 10,000 troops from the U.S.-led coalition have been deployed in a major offensive across Afghanistan's south. The spasm of violent attacks and intense fighting has killed more than 600 people, mostly militants, since May.

NATO is increasing its force in Afghanistan from 9,700 to 16,000, with an expansion into the south due to be completed by late July. The alliance hopes to take on eastern Afghanistan by November, completing its expansion across the country and increasing its total numbers to 21,000.

President Karzai Returns to Kabul after His Visit to the Province of Baghlan - Date of Release: 27 June 2006

Arg, Kabul – H.E. Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, returned to Kabul this afternoon after his visit to the province Baghlan where he inaugurated the Pul e Khumri -Shirkhanbandar road.

The Pul e Khumri-Shirkhanbandar road was built with $29,600,000 in funding from the World Bank. The 163- kilometer road linking Baghlan with Kunduz was completed by a Chinese construction firm in April 2006 after months of work. The completion of this road will provide an economic boost for the provinces of Baghlan, Kunduz and other neighboring provinces.

The President visited agricultural sites, spoke to the farmers and gave them assurances that the government will assign a commission to find suitable markets for their products. The President also visited a school and met with students and encouraged them to continue their education.

During this visit, the President met with community representatives from all the districts of Baghlan province which included women, students, tribal elders, Ulemas and Government officials.

The people of Baghlan asked for the construction of schools, religious schools and health clinics, for the provision of housing for teachers, for the establishment of the faculties of engineering, agriculture, economy and religious subjects and for the extraction of mines.

While addressing a public gathering in Pul e Khumri the President said “Four and a half years ago, Afghanistan embarked on a journey towards reconstruction and peace. The completion of this project is another major step towards reconstruction and this process will continue”

“It will take us years to achieve the progress our people have been hoping for. Our relations with the world have significantly expanded in the past years and our national institutions were established. We will be able to implement some of your proposed projects in the near future, but the other projects are long-term projects which will take time.”

The President called upon the people of Baghlan to educate their children to end our country’s dependence on outside expertise.

“With the strong will of the people of Afghanistan, we have succeeded to achieve national unity, but we have not been able to ensure that level of security desired by our people. The enemies of Afghanistan burn our schools and kill our Ulemas. At the present, at least 200,000 children on both sides of the Durrand Line are not able to go to schools because the terrorists have burnt their schools. It’s our top priority to end this situation.”

“We are engaged in discussions with the international community on a daily basis to save Afghanistan and the rest of the world from terrorism and destroy its supporting and funding sources.”

The President thanked the international community for their support to the fight against terrorism and said “I have repeatedly said to the representatives of the international community that all efforts should concentrate on the sources of terrorism where they get financed, trained, recruited and equipped.”

“Security in Afghanistan is in the best interest of our neighbors and we want our neighbors to realize that peace and prosperity in our country is their peace and prosperity.”

The President reiterated that we want friendly relations with our neighbors and Afghanistan poses no danger to them.

Speaking about the police reform, the President rejected rumors about the formation of militia groups and said “We are against the formation of militia groups and all efforts will concentrate on the strengthening of national police and army.”

The President expressed satisfaction at the implementation of DIAG and said “The disarmament of irresponsible people is vital for our country’s security I want the people of Baghlan to cooperate with the DIAG program.”

Released by the Office of the Spokesman to the President - Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

Afghan drugs threat - FM Lavrov

MOSCOW, June 28 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's foreign minister said Wednesday that a regional drugs information center set up in the former capital of Kazakhstan would be a powerful tool in the fight against drug trafficking.

"The formation of the center will be a powerful component for intercepting drugs," Sergei Lavrov said at the international conference on the fight against the drugs threat from Afghanistan.

The Central Asian regional information and coordination center, formed under the Paris Pact on the fight against drugs, will open by yearend in Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan and the country's commercial center.

Italy to withdraw 400 Afghan troops - The Associated Press 06/28/2006

ROME - Italy's ruling coalition agreed Tuesday to withdraw as many as 400 soldiers from Afghanistan , dealing another blow to U.S.-led military efforts overseas, according to reports. The government already has committed to pulling out all its troops from Iraq by year's end.

Italy's contingent is stationed in Kabul and Herat, but with NATO expanding its mission into Afghanistan's volatile south, the government has been reviewing the level of its commitment.

The compromise was aimed at radical leftists, who are seeking to have troops withdrawn. It was part of a measure this week to extend the financing of Italy's military deployments overseas.

Attack on U.S. Convoy in Afghanistan Fails - By NOOR KHAN - The Associated Press Wednesday, June 28, 2006

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Two suicide bombers attacked a U.S. military convoy Wednesday in southern Afghanistan, killing only themselves while soldiers escaped unhurt, police said.

The attack came as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Afghanistan and promised victory over a resurgent Taliban. Rice said the United States is committed to Afghanistan for the long haul.

"We are not going to tire, we are not going to leave," she said after talks in Kabul with President Hamid Karzai and military commanders.

Three men were involved in planning the suicide attack, although only two were inside the car that blew up near the American convoy, Zabul provincial police chief Noor Mohammed Paktin said. He said police were searching for the third man, an Afghan.

The attack happened just outside the provincial capital of Qalat. No civilians or coalition soldiers were wounded, said Ali Khail, spokesman for the governor.

A purported Taliban commander, Mullah Masum, telephoned The Associated Press to claim responsibility, but mentioned only one attacker. Masum identified him as a Taliban fighter named Mullah Abdul Shakoor from Khost, south of the Afghan capital of Kabul. His claim could not immediately be verified.

He warned Afghans to stay away from coalition forces if they didn't want to be hurt. "We will pursue suicide attacks against coalition forces," he said.

More than four years after the American-led invasion that toppled the Taliban regime, bombings and ambushes targeting U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces are on the rise. More than 10,000 U.S.-led forces have been on a counteroffensive, hunting resurgent militants across southern Afghanistan.

An attack in northern Afghanistan slightly wounded three German soldiers, the German military command center said.

It said militants shot at a patrol of two armored vehicles and the Germans returned fire. It was the second time in two days that German soldiers had come under attack in the region.

On Tuesday, a suicide car bomber attacked a convoy of German troops but did not hurt any of them. However, two Afghan civilians were killed and eight were wounded, including four children. The attacker also died.

Germany has some 2,000 troops in the NATO security force in Afghanistan and has taken a lead in rebuilding the country's police.

Canadian commander dismisses report criticizing mission in Afghanistan - CanWest News Service

Wednesday, June 28, 2006 KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The commander of Canadian combat troops in Afghanistan reacted angrily to a scathing report published today by a European think-tank that says Canada’s military mission in South Asia is an impossible task that is doomed to failure.

The report released in London by the Senlis Council, a drug-policy research organization, was crammed with alarming tabloid-style statements such as "Following U.S. policies is turning Kandahar into a suicide mission for Canada."

The 91-page report states "Canadian troops and Afghan civilians are paying with their lives for Canada’s adherence to the U.S. government’s failing military and counter-narcotics policies in Kandahar" which the council claims has triggered a new war with the Taliban.

"It is completely off, this report, from what I've read," said Lt.-Col. Ian Hope, commander of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry battle group. "It tries to place the blame for the insurgency on those who are here trying to help the Afghans instead of insurgents.

"The blame is not on those who are trying to help the Afghan government. It’s on the Taliban and those who are supporting the Taliban."

The Senlis Council, that has in the past suggested licensing Afghanistan's opium production to produce morphine and codeine, recommends more development money and engagement with the local community to differentiate the  2,300 Canadian forces from their U.S. counterparts.

"Canadian troops are more or less following U.S. policies in Kandahar," executive director Emmanuel Reinert said. "It is turning the mission into some kind of suicide mission," he said.

The Senlis Council interviewed Afghan farmers, mullahs and others to produce the report, titled Canada in Kandahar: No Peace to Keep. Reinert said the Americans’ Operation Enduring Freedom "has failed to bring security into the region."

"It is now blatant, after almost five years of presence over there (that) it is absolutely necessary for Canadian troops to break away from this legacy," he said. "It appears that they have not been able to do so in the past 10 months."

The Canadian forces took over the provincial reconstruction team in Kandahar last August and are working under Operation Enduring Freedom.

Reinert said Kandahar province faces crises due to poverty, the opium trade and lack of security. "Development money has to come first" to alleviate the poverty problems, he said.

The Senlis Council also recommends avoiding civilian deaths and stopping the eradication of the poppy crop. "It’s very important to send a clear signal to the local population that there was a change of management," Reinert said.

"To clearly manifest that this is now a totally different approach so as to avoid attacks on the livelihood of the farmers, to avoid the deaths of civilians, and to avoid being seen as invaders" would signal a more positive contribution in Afghanistan, he said.

They're Back: A New, Vicious Taliban Take Shape in Afghanistan - By GRETCHEN PETERS

KABUL, Afghanistan June 27, 2006 — - Coalition forces battling the Taliban across southern Afghanistan aren't fighting the same bearded extremists they toppled in October 2001. It's as if the sequel to a horror film is being replayed across southern Afghanistan this summer.

Call it "Taliban II." They're back, reloaded, and more ruthless than ever. Suicide attacks and roadside bombs -- once unheard of in this country -- are now almost a daily occurrence.

The Taliban seem unconcerned if they hit civilian or military targets. On Tuesday, a suicide bomber in northern Kunduz killed two and injured eight. A suicide attack near the Bagram Airbase on Monday wounded two children.

Soldiers with the U.S.-led coalition are currently battling the Taliban across four southern provinces: Kandahar, Helmand, Zabul and Uruzgan. More than 1,100 -- most of them Taliban -- have died in the vicious fighting.

Reports vary but all involve violence such as Taliban soldiers gouging the eyes out of prisoners they capture in the South or burning down schools that offer co-ed classes. Last week ABC News received a grisly video release. It pictured the Taliban's ruthless one-legged commander Mullah Dadullah beheading alleged spies for America.

Ahmed Rashid, author of the "Taliban," said the movement had gone through "many morphings," and argued that so-called moderates had defected or been purged by the current leadership now loyal to Osama bin Laden. "They are particularly brutal," Rashid said, "and they are doing al Qaeda's bidding."

This is a marked change from the past. Then, despite their bizarre edicts that forced women to wear burqas, and banned kite-flying and beard-trimming, at least they brought a measure of stability to this long-troubled country.

"In the early days of the Taliban, they brought security, and they got credit for that," said Mirajuddhin Pathan, the governor of Khost province. "Now they have nothing to offer, and the people hate them."

The bedraggled force so easily toppled in 2001 has resurged with new tactics and surprising stamina. Taliban units now attack in larger numbers -- sometimes with as many as 400 men, according to military experts and soldiers who have fought them.

They stand their ground longer, rather than engaging in the hit-and-run attacks that characterized the insurgency in recent years.

"The tactics of the Pakistan Taliban are developing similarities to the violence orchestrated in Iraq by insurgents and al Qaeda linked Sunni terrorists," said terrorism analyst MJ Gohel. "Afghanistan is becoming another killing field for the global jihad movement."

Many here in Afghanistan blame neighboring Pakistan for providing the Taliban sanctuary -- and even material support. A U.S. military document obtained by ABC News lists the top tier of the new Taliban leadership, indicating that all of them operate from the western Pakistani city of Quetta.

The U.S. military declined to discuss specifics of the document and said that the story was based on old information.

Among the men on the U.S. hit list: Mullah Berader, the man many believed would succeed the elusive Taliban leader Mullah Omar, were he captured or killed; and, there's Mullah Obaidullah, the man the U.S. military intelligence believes is running the guns and ammunition to the troops fighting inside Afghanistan.

Before the Taliban were made up of mostly ethnic Pashtuns from southern Afghanistan. Now, experts say, fighting units are made up of a mix of Afghans, Pakistanis, Arabs, Chechens and Uzbeks.

"They are not Afghan. They're not Pakistani," according to a senior Afghan official. "They are transnational terrorists, and they are serious radicals."

Pakistan hotly denies supporting the Taliban, pointing out that it has seen heavy losses. Pakistan has nearly 80,000 troops along the Afghan border. Experts agree that it may be possible that the Taliban are going it alone thanks to drug money.

It's impossible to know how much of Afghanistan's $3 billion opium trade ends up in terrorist coffers, but Helmand province -- a place where the Taliban have the deepest ties to the drug trade -- will produce about $1 billion of opium this year alone.

This is why the fighting going on in Afghanistan currently is so crucially important to the future stability of this region -- and to the world itself. If this conflict continues to fester, Afghan heroin may well fund the next terrorist attacks.

Karzai's call for different approach rings true - ISN Security Watch 06/27/2006 By Carmen Gentile

Afghan President Hamid Karzai last week lambasted Coalition forces for what he called their misguided approach to the "war on terror," and for good reason.

The Afghan who was virtually handpicked by the US to take the reins of his unruly country following the demise of the Taliban let his supporters know he felt a new approach was needed to fight an unconventional enemy and that the current course of action was "not acceptable."

"I strongly believe […] that we must engage strategically in disarming terrorism by stopping their sources of supply of money, training, equipment and motivation," Karzai told a news conference last week in the capital, Kabul.

Karzai then expressed his dismay at the deaths of some 600 Afghans in the last few weeks as the US, coalition, and Afghan forces banded together for a new offensive against insurgent targets across the country. Around fourteen US soldiers also have been killed since the operation began back in mid-May.

Though the operation dubbed Mountain Thrust collected numerous weapons and explosives and clearly dealt a blow to the Taliban, Karzai said the casualty count was too high for what was accomplished in the process.

"It is not acceptable for us that in all this fighting, Afghans are dying. In the last three to four weeks, 500 to 600 Afghans were killed. [Even] if they are Taliban, they are sons of this land," said the Afghan leader.

In his estimation, the US and others need to concentrate their efforts on identifying and squashing terror at its source. Karzai's spokesman, Khaleeq Ahmad, elaborated on the president's vision.

"We want to fight [terrorism] in a way that we fight the roots of it: where they get trained, where they get equipment, where they get money, where the recruitment centers are," said Ahmad.

That vision would force the US and other forces to completely revamp their approach to squashing the ongoing and seemingly growing insurgency in Afghanistan.

Daily military media reports from the region detail how international and Afghan forces hunt down insurgents and kill them where they plan their attacks and confiscate their arms and IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices). These reports inevitably always contain a quote from a member of the military brass about how their efforts there will not be deterred, no matter how many lives are lost.

"Regardless of how hard they try to kill Coalition and Afghan forces, we still believe the government has chosen the right path, the path of peace, freedom and prosperity," said Army Lieutenant Colonel Steven Gilbert, the Task Force Iron Grays commander, in a statement released on Sunday. "The enemies have chosen the wrong path: the path of evil, death and destruction."

While few would disagree that the US forces there lack courage and conviction in their effort to defeat the Taliban and other insurgents in Afghanistan, the call for a change of tactic from the Karzai camp cannot be ignored.

The real source of insurgency in Afghanistan is not in the training camps, rather the country's complete lack of tangible improvement in infrastructure and daily well being for its citizenry outside the capital since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001.

Most of the country languishes in abject poverty: a fact of life that allows Islamic militants to gain a foothold among the country's destitute by offering them an alternative to neglect. Meanwhile, the newly reconstituted government led by Karzai is perceived as weak and ineffectual to both friend and foe of the administration in Afghanistan.

Despite being the recipient of hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid over the last four-and-a-half years, the country's illegal production of poppy - from which heroin is produced - is flourishing and feeding the insurgency with the revenue it needs to buy more arms and attract more loyalists.

It also appears that the al-Qaida influence on the Taliban is real - no longer a rumor whispered among reporters on the ground and Afghan officials hoping their worst fears have not come true. In recent months, the number of suicide bombings and beheadings have risen, a sign that bin Laden's terror network is still very much a player there.

In order for US and coalition forces to defeat the insurgency in Afghanistan, leaders in Washington, London and elsewhere must address the conditions in which terror is allowed to flourish, as President Karzai has clearly pointed out.

Carmen Gentile is a senior international correspondent for ISN Security Watch. He has reported from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Bolivia for Security Watch, and Haiti, Venezuela, and elsewhere for Newsweek, The Boston Globe, The Washington Times, and others.

It's Time to Secure Afghanistan - Center for American Progress 06/28/2006

The House Armed Services Committee will meet tomorrow for a much needed hearing on security and stability in Afghanistan.

Since the United States invaded Afghanistan to topple the Taliban government four and a half years ago, Kabul has seen its first legislative elections in 30 years, created security forces, experienced economic growth, and improved access to education and health. And yet: Security in Afghanistan is currently deteriorating; the drug trade is thriving; the Taliban are resurging; reconstruction is faltering; and the government still has not established authority outside Kabul.

When operations began in Iraq, the Bush administration diverted its resources and attention away from Afghanistan. It's time for the United Stated to finish the work it started. The strategic redeployment plan released by the Center for American Progress last month calls for the United States to send 20,000 fresh troops to Afghanistan. The report asserts that Afghanistan has a greater need for these troops than Iraq for three reasons:

Unlike Iraq, Afghanistan has a permanent government in place and has arrived at a power-sharing agreement among its political leaders about the country's future.

Afghan security forces require greater assistance than Iraqi security forces. Iraq has approximately 250,000 personnel in its security forces, compared to only 80,000 security forces in Afghanistan.

The Afghan public favors the presence of foreign troops, unlike the Iraqi public. According to a poll of Afghan citizens conducted in November and December 2005, eight in 10 support U.S. military operations against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, and nearly 60 percent support expanding international peacekeeping operations in the country.

The United States should integrate these 20,000 troops with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to create a single, unified NATO command headed by an American three-star general. Together, the troops will be able to complete the three critical tasks of fighting the Taliban and Al Qaeda, increasing border security in southeastern Afghanistan, and supporting Afghan security force training.

Lacking sufficient resources and support for the United States, Afghanistan has been forced to push back its goal of having a fully constituted, professional, functional, and ethnically balanced 62,000-person police force by 2005 and a fully operational army of 70,000 troops by 2010. Without a fully functional army and police force, Afghanistan cannot maintain stability on its own. The United States must begin the process of returning to Afghanistan to help bring about the changes that it began.

[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.]