In this bulletin:

• Blair vows ongoing support to Afghanistan
• Blair says Afghanistan at heart of world security
• Blair, Musharraf trumpet efforts to combat terrorism
• Afghan peace also figures prominently at talks in Pakistan
• Afghan army to strike Taliban in winter
• Afghan religious scholar found dead in Pakistan tribal region
• Won't bow to Taliban, will continue work in Afghanistan: India
• Afghan president urges renewed commitment to reconstruction at Indian summit
• Afghan President Hamid Karzai awarded peace, development prize by India
• Mounting violence hampers Afghan rebuilding: finance minister
• Bad weather hampers aid to flood-hit western Afghanistan
• AIDS, heroin two-pronged problem for Afghanistan
• Statement by His Excellency Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Presented To Second Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan, New Delhi, India 18 - 19 November 2006
• Dr. Spanta met with Canadian Parliamentary Secretary
• Dr. Spanta met a number of Deputy Foreign Ministers in New Delhi
• Sharpen the focus of Afghan debate
• Clinton speaks on Afghanistan, and Canada listens
• Layton sticks by withdrawal call
• Fazlur Rahman calls for troops withdrawal from Afghanistan (The News Int – Pak)

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, left, gestures as Afghan President Hamid Karzai looks on during a joint press conference at the Presidential Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Nov. 20, 2006. Blair pledged his country's ongoing support to war-ravaged Afghanistan, saying the defeat of the Taliban was vital for local and international security. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sdaeq)

Blair vows ongoing support to Afghanistan

Kabul (AP 11.20.06) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair pledged his nation's commitment to fighting Afghan insurgents "for as long as it takes," telling British soldiers fighting the resurgent Taliban that success would help establish global security.

Blair told a joint news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the presidential palace in Kabul that British and NATO forces would likely remain in Afghanistan for years to come to prevent the Taliban's return to power.

"We came to Afghanistan because the sickness and the evil that was here came to us," Blair said, referring to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. "I don't believe there is an alternative but to fight this and to fight it for as long as it takes."

On his first trip to Afghanistan since 2002, Blair met with Karzai after visiting hundreds of troops at Britain's main southern base, Camp Bastion, in the restive southern Helmand province — a former Taliban stronghold and hub of the country's heroin trade.

"Here in this extraordinary desert is where the future of world security in the early 21st century is going to be played out," Blair said. Britain has around 6,000 soldiers deployed in the country.

Blair's arrival followed a two-day visit to Pakistan, where he and Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf agreed to a package of joint ventures to tackle extremism and to aid war-ravaged Afghanistan.

Musharraf said neighboring Afghanistan needed a huge influx of reconstruction aid, similar to the U.S. Marshall Plan that helped rebuild Europe after World War II.

A total of 41 British soldiers have died in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 — including 36 deaths since Britain's deployment to Helmand province in July as part of the NATO mission to subdue insurgents and allow the expansion of reconstruction.

"This is a fight of a different kind from anything we have faced as a country, certainly in the postwar years," Blair said in Helmand. "It is not the same as two major powers fighting each other. It's not like World War I or World War II."

After talking with Blair, Maj. Andy Plewes said his company of commandos — newly arrived on a six-month tour — were eager to begin ousting insurgents and building relations with local community leaders.

"They've trained back in Britain for it and are ready to get out into the villages, sit down for talks with tribal leaders and drink endless cups of green tea," Plewes said.

British Defense Secretary Des Browne said last month that operations in Afghanistan had cost Britain $1.6 billion since 2001.

Aid for the region has included a program of offering loans worth around $190 apiece to farmers and rural workers, aimed at encouraging them to establish new businesses.

However, hopes of denting Afghanistan's narcotics trade were undermined by a bumper opium harvest this past season — enough to make 610 tons of heroin, more than the world's addicts consume in a year.

Officials have said next year's crop — which is already planted across swaths of southern Afghanistan — is likely to be about the same size.

Blair says Afghanistan at heart of world security

by Phil Hazlewood November 20, 2006 - KABUL (AFP) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair put Afghanistan at the heart of the global "war on terror", telling British troops their desert battles here would decide the future of world security.

Blair flew into the dusty moonscape of southern Afghanistan in the cockpit of a Royal Air Force Hercules transport plane to chat about anti-Taliban operations with members of the NATO force at the Camp Bastion base.

"Here on this extraordinary piece of desert is where the future of world security in the early 21st century is going to be played out," Blair told several hundred troops in a speech before departing for Kabul.

Despite recent resistance from Taliban fighters in the south which has cost 36 British lives this year, he said they would overcome through their "determination, courage and absolute will."

"When you defeat them, you are defeating them not just on behalf of the people of Afghanistan but our country, Britain, and the wider world," he said at the base in Helmand province.

As troops in desert fatigues clamoured to have photographs taken with Blair, Sgt Chris Hunter from the Royal Marines told him: "I think a point that needs to be made back home is that the lads want to be here."

Blair was whisked to Kabul by the Hercules and then a US Air Force Black Hawk helicopter for talks with Hamid Karzai at his presidential palace, and recommitted Britain to the Afghan leader's reform and reconstruction programme.

But he increased the pressure on NATO members ahead of a summit in Latvia this month, urging allies to reengage with Afghanistan by acknowledging the progress made since the Taliban were ousted by US-led forces in late 2001.

The Taliban refused to hand over Osama bin Laden after the September 11 attacks on the United States.

"Now is the right time to bring into sharp focus the need to stay with the Afghans as they make their journey to progress, and rediscover in ourselves the belief and vision that took us here and that should keep us here until the job is done," he told a joint news conference with Karzai.

Asked whether NATO allies had lost focus because of the increased violence, Blair accepted that recent Taliban resistance had been stronger than expected over the summer but said Britain and the west were committed.

"We came to Afghanistan because it was obvious that the problem in Afghanistan had become a problem for the world. We have got to stay committed for our own security, not just for the sake of the Afghan people," he said.

Blair praised the work of Karzai's government over the last five years and contrasted his visit Monday with his previous trip to Afghanistan in January 2002 when he met officials in a disused Russian airbase hangar.

Karzai highlighted progress in the conflict-scarred country's economy and said he was sure the international community would "stay with us until we are firmly on our own feet."

The British commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force, General David Richards, accepted that Taliban activity had increased earlier this year but dismissed suggestions that the war here was not winnable.

"Today there is a different atmospheric about the place. We know the Taliban are concerned and we are on the rise," he said, adding they needed to "lock on to" the change and convince people of the merit of the international presence.

Blair's visit comes after a two-day trip to neighbouring Pakistan where his talks with President Pervez Musharraf focused heavily on countering Islamic extremism and solving Afghanistan's problems.

Pakistan's military leader called for massive investment in development in Afghanistan along the lines of the US Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after World War Two.

Britain has about 5,500 troops in Afghanistan -- the second-largest contingent in the 37-nation, 31,000-strong ISAF force set up to bring stability to the troubled country and aid reconstruction.

Blair, Musharraf trumpet efforts to combat terrorism
Afghan peace also figures prominently at talks in Pakistan

- Salman Masood, New York Times - Monday, November 20, 2006

11-20 - Islamabad, Pakistan -- Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain and President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan agreed Sunday to strengthen their nations' cooperation in counterterrorism and other fields, and they stressed the need for political and economic measures alongside the use of military force to bring peace in Afghanistan.

The two leaders met in the eastern city of Lahore during the second day of Blair's visit to Pakistan. At a news conference, Blair said relations between Pakistan and Britain were at "their highest point."

"We also discussed the work that we are doing together in counterterrorism, which again is improving and strengthening," Blair said.

Afghanistan figured prominently in the talks held by Blair and Musharraf. Pakistan's support and willingness to curb resurgent Taliban activity inside Afghanistan is essential and often emblematic of what Blair called the tremendous challenges that confront other countries in stabilizing Afghanistan.

Blair also said that a lasting resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was central to defeating extremism.

"This global extremism is an ideology that exploits grievances. So what we have to do is at the same time as we are taking on the ideology, we have to take away those elements of grievance," Blair said.

Musharraf brushed off criticism from Afghanistan and the West that Pakistan was not doing enough to curb cross-border infiltration by fighters linked to the Taliban, Afghanistan's ousted rulers.

Saying that his country was doing more than was expected and "suffered 600 dead," Musharraf said: "The Taliban problem is an Afghan problem. The solution lies in what you do in Afghanistan, not what you do in Pakistan. The battle has to be won on the Afghan side."

Musharraf said millions of dollars should be poured in for development in the southeastern part of Afghanistan, "which is under turmoil at the moment."

He also defended his government's policy of entering into peace agreements with local militants, sympathetic to the Taliban, in the rugged semiautonomous tribal regions that straddle Afghanistan. He suggested that this model should be replicated in Afghanistan with "those elements who want peace."

Blair said more work needed to be done. "In fairness, we should say that the cooperation with Pakistan in dealing over these issues has been transformed over these past few years," he said. "There is no doubt about that, at all. Of course, everyone always wants more to be done."

Britain has about 5,000 troops in Afghanistan, part of the 31,000 NATO-led forces. NATO officials repeatedly have complained that Taliban find haven in Pakistan after mounting attacks against British and NATO troops inside Afghanistan.

Blair's visit included an assistance package aimed at revamping the country's religious schools, often criticized for fomenting militancy, intolerance and extremism.

Blair's office said $10.5 billion in Afghan aid was pledged at a London donor's conference in January, but the problem was putting the infrastructure in place to spend the money.

Britain and Pakistan signed a long-term development partnership arrangement to reduce poverty and help Pakistan achieve U.N. goals for development. Under the agreement, the British government will provide about $900 million in the next three years through Britain's Department for International Development.

The two countries agreed to increase cooperation between their intelligence services to counter terrorism, illegal immigration and transnational organized crime.

Britain has offered support in countering terrorism, including forensic training, investigating the financing of terrorism and sharing crisis management expertise, a joint statement released by the Pakistani Foreign Office said.

Britain plans to deliver two MI-17 helicopters to Pakistan's anti-narcotics force in April for its anti-smuggling operation along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

During his visit, Blair also met with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and with moderate Islamic religious leaders and went to the Faisal Mosque.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Musharraf Calls for Afghanistan `Marshall Plan' to Beat Taliban

By Mark Deen - Nov. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said Afghanistan requires billions of dollars in development aid in a ``Marshall Plan'' designed to beat the Taliban insurgency and achieve stability.

``There is a requirement for a massive inflow of development aid, some kind of Marshall Plan,'' Musharraf said at a press conference in Lahore, Pakistan. He singled out the needs of the southeast of Afghanistan, where the insurgency is strongest.

The call for more aid came after meetings with U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, in which the two leaders discussed ways of boosting joint counter-terrorism efforts. Britain is seeking help to contain violence by Taliban rebels in Afghanistan, where 3,700 people have been killed this year.

On his second day in Pakistan, Blair said the U.K. is more than doubling its aid budget for Pakistan to 480 million pounds ($909 million) over three years, from 236 million pounds. The funds are intended mainly for schools.

Violence by Taliban-led insurgents in Afghanistan has surged this year, with increased use of suicide operations, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency said this week. The Taliban use Pakistan as a sanctuary to build forces, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies and other groups.

Britain has 6,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of a 30,000-strong force under the aegis of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Afghan army to strike Taliban in winter

Dubai (AP) - The U.S.-backed Afghan army will step up counter-Taliban offensives this winter, which could see heavy fighting during a period traditionally used by Afghan fighters for rest and resupply, a U.S. general said here Sunday.

U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Douglas Pritt, who oversees the U.S.-led effort to train the Afghan military, said Afghan forces have tripled the number of forward bases to more than 60 and plan to spend the winter harassing Taliban and gathering intelligence from combat outposts deep inside rebel strongholds.

"They're much better equipped for winter operations than the Taliban. I'm hoping for a lot of snow this winter," Pritt said during a visit to The Associated Press bureau in Dubai.

Pritt said most Afghan troops that have emerged from training still cannot operate independently, but he noted that five battalions of Afghan National Army troops, numbering 300 to 600 soldiers each, were nearly ready to mount offensives on their own.

But even those top battalions will continue to operate in tandem with U.S. and NATO troops, he said.

Afghanistan's winters normally bring months of rain and snow, turning dusty roads into impassable muck and rendering most warfare impossible. The country has traditionally seen winter breaks in its decades of conflict, where fighters return home to families or hunker down on bases until fighting resumes in spring.

Snowfall is already hampering Taliban supply lines, making it tougher for the rebels to resupply, Pritt said. The Afghan National Army, backed by U.S. and NATO airlifts, are less restricted by cold and mud.

Afghan troops are being readied for "extended patrols" in the combat zones of the east and south that border Pakistan. "We want to be in the right places," he said. "If the Taliban is trying to rearm, refit and wait out the winter, then we'll know they're there."

The Afghan National Army remains hamstrung by desertion rates of around 15 percent, Pritt said, little different from its rate in May. The previous year, the desertion rate peaked above 25 percent, according to U.S. military figures.

Afghan soldiers recently received a raise for their tiny salaries, from $70 to $100 a month, Pritt said, a decision that followed the revelation that AWOL soldiers could earn $70 a month as day laborers without facing combat.

The general said his goal was to bring the desertion rate below 10 percent, a figure that has already been reached in one Afghan corps.

U.S. and Afghan officials have said soldiers abscond for several reasons, including a reluctance to fight alongside foreigners against countrymen and a need to bring money to families in remote villages or help at harvest time.

The Afghan army's screening process has blocked the type of insurgent infiltrators that have hampered the Iraqi military. Pritt said only three Taliban have thus far been found in the ranks.

"They were trying to get information that was inappropriate for their job descriptions," he said.

The American force training Afghan troops — chiefly made up of U.S. Army National Guardsmen — is expected to rise from 2,900 now to around 3,600 by April, to comply with an Afghan government directive to increase recruiting to 2,000 Afghan soldiers per month, Pritt said.

Overall, he said 5,200 foreign trainers would be working with the Afghan army, which the government wants to increase from its current 35,000 troops to 50,000 or perhaps 70,000. "We believe this is the main effort in Afghanistan," Pritt said.

Afghan religious scholar found dead in Pakistan tribal region

An Afghan religious scholar was shot dead by unidentified men with a note saying he was an American spy in Pakistan's north tribal region, Pakistani news agency NNI reported on Sunday.

The residents said they found bullet-ridden body of the scholar in the Razmak area of North Waziristan region near the Afghan border, where Pakistani forces had fought a bloody war in recent months against the al-Qaeda linked suspects.

A note, found near the body, identified the slain man as Muhammad Hashim and said that he has been killed for spying for Americans in the region.

He was the friend of another religious scholar Maulvi Salahuddin, who was also killed some time ago on same charges.

The note warned that all those spying for Americans will face such fate. Official sources said that the slain man was an Afghan refugee, giving no more details.

Pakistan government and local Taliban had agreed in a peace agreement two months ago that there would be no target killing. However, at least four people have been killed on the charges of spying since the peace agreement has been signed.

Many al-Qaeda militants had taken shelter in Pakistan's tribal region after the United States and Afghan forces ousted the Taliban from power in Afghanistan in late 2001. Source: Xinhua

Won't bow to Taliban, will continue work in Afghanistan: India

New Delhi, Nov. 19 (PTI): Contending that the Taliban wanted it to withdraw from developmental works in Afghanistan, India today said it would "not succumb to pressures" of such groups and appropriate steps had been taken to ensure security of Indians engaged in reconstruction work there.

Afghan government also said proper security had been arranged for Indians and all other aid workers in the face of designs of terrorists to attack them to prevent development.

"The objective of these people (Taliban) is to see that India withdraws from developmental activities in Afghanistan. (But) we refuse to succumb to these pressures from Taliban," External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said at a joint press conference with Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta here.

He was asked about threats faced by Indians engaged in reconstruction work in Afghanistan. Two Indians -- an engineer working on a telecom project and a BRO driver working on a road project -- have already been killed after their abduction suspectedly by the Taliban.

"Our commitment to development of Afghanistan is firm," Mukherjee said, adding paramilitary forces had been provided to Indians engaged in developmental works in that country and security was being provided to them in cooperation with Afghan authorities.

Asked whether India would send its army for peace-keeping in Afghanistan, Mukherjee said no such request had been received and it was neither feasible in the near future.

Afghan president urges renewed commitment to reconstruction at Indian summit

NEW DELHI (AP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said extremism and terrorism are the twin challenges to peace in his country and the region and called for increased co-operation to tackle the scourges.

Karzai, addressing an international conference on Afghanistan on Saturday, said the tasks of reconstructing his country and restoring peace to the region remain largely unfinished.

"To those of our partners who may be pondering their continued involvement in Afghanistan, I say the job is not over and the stakes are still very high," Karzai told leaders from 19 countries who gathered in India's capital New Delhi for the two-day conference on Afghanistan.

Karzai said international military forces are still needed in Afghanistan and winning the war against extremism calls for countries to work together.

Fighting extremism needs collective effort, Karzai said, possibly in an indirect reference to neighbouring Pakistan, where the Afghan government said Taliban militants take refuge. At least 3,700 Afghans have been killed this year in attacks carried out by Taliban rebels.

The conference has brought together Afghanistan's neighbours, including Pakistan, Iran and China, and members of the G-8 group of industrialized countries.

"I hope the conference will bring to Afghanistan what we so badly need: assistance, investment and lasting stability," Karzai said. His plea for a greater financial commitment was echoed by many of the leaders at the meeting.

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told the conference despite Afghanistan's "remarkable transformation" over the last five years, the country still faces the challenges of poverty, unemployment and a lack of infrastructure.

Singh said increased violence in parts of southern and southeastern Afghanistan have not only undermined the country's security but are hindering development efforts.

The regional economic co-operation conference on Afghanistan, the second of its kind, is expected to focus on identifying projects that will benefit both Afghanistan and its neighbours. The first conference, hosted by Britain and Afghanistan, was held in the Afghan capital Kabul in December last year.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai awarded peace, development prize by India

NEW DELHI, Nov 19 (KUNA) -- Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai was Sunday presented the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for 2005 by Indian President A P J Abdul Kalam. Presenting the award at Delhi Sunday evening, Indian President Kalam said, "Definitely, India and Afghanistan can further cooperate in empowering the villages in education and healthcare and creating more employment potential. India is with you in your missions.'' Late Indira Gandhi was the former Prime Minister of India and her 89th birth anniversary was celebrated today. The award, named after Indira Gandhi, who was assassinated in 1984, is given for extraordinary accomplishments in peace and development.

"We are committed to the welfare and well-being of the people of Afghanistan. We will walk, hand in hand, helping the Afghan people build a New Afghanistan," Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was also present on the occasion, said. "An Afghanistan of peace, an Afghanistan of prosperity. An Afghanistan of plurality," he asserted. Dr. Manmohan Singh said, "Afghanistan has had many great leaders in its history. In that long lineage, President Karzai occupies a special and privileged place as a modernist, a liberal, and a democrat with a deep understanding of his nation's place in the modern world." (end) dr.

Mounting violence hampers Afghan rebuilding: finance minister

New Delhi (AFP) - Mounting violence has made rebuilding in insurgency-hit Afghanistan costly and delayed many projects, an Afghan minister said in an appeal for help to quell the menace.

"The resurgence of violence in Afghanistan certainly has a negative impact on development in Afghanistan," the country's finance minister, Anwarul Haq Ahadi, told reporters in New Delhi on Sunday at a regional conference on rebuilding the troubled nation.

"We would rather have development in an environment free of violence ... that will make development less costly for us," Ahadi said at the end of the second Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan.

The comments come amidst tension between Afghanistan and Pakistan over a resurgence of attacks by Taliban insurgents, who were ousted from power by a US-led invasion in 2001 for sheltering Al-Qaeda leaders responsible for the September 11 attacks on the US that year.

Kabul has accused Islamabad of not doing enough to stop Taliban fighters using neighbouring Pakistan as a sanctuary.

Violence in Afghanistan linked to a Taliban-led insurgency that has killed 3,700 people this year, four times more than in 2005, had diverted resources from reconstruction and development, a monitoring board of the regional cooperation group said.

The group noted that "peace and economic stability in the region is dependent in large measure on the progress in stabilising the security situation in southern Afghanistan."

Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters that the New Delhi conference was aimed at making "countries in the neighbourhood of Afghanistan ... aware of the stake they have in its prosperity and to provide them the opportunity."

Afghanistan and India have tried to expand trade links following the overthrow of the Taliban, but have been stymied because Pakistan has not granted New Delhi transit rights.

The Delhi conference was attended by representatives of Afghanistan's neighbours, including India and Pakistan. Representatives from Britain, Canada, Russia, the United States, the United Nations and the World Bank, among others, also attended.

Bad weather hampers aid to flood-hit western Afghanistan

November 19, 2006 - HERAT, Afghanistan (AFP) - Dozens of people were still missing and rough weather hampered aid deliveries after heavy floods killed nearly 80 people in western Afghanistan, officials have said.

Fresh floods in Farah province killed 17 people on Sunday and destroyed several houses in Purchaman district, provincial police chief Sayed Agha Saqeb told AFP Sunday.

There was no further information available about the Farah floods as roads to the remote villages on a mountainside were blocked due to heavy rains, Saqeb said.

The death toll from floods on Thursday in neighbouring Badghis province rose to 62 when guards across the border in Turkmenistan pulled six bodies from the Murghab river Sunday.

The bodies were given to Afghan border authorities and around 100 people were still missing from remote Badghis, said Habibullah Murghabi, the head of a government-appointed relief committee.

Afghan authorities helped by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and some aid organizations have been trying to reach the disaster-stricken area by air and ground to deliver aid, officials said.

But ISAF spokesman Major Luke Knittig said that the aid had not been delivered to the affected areas due to bad weather and other difficulties.

He said food, medicine and other aid packages were flown into nearby towns and were likely to be delivered to the victims by Sunday noon.

"It's not an easy operation," Knittig told AFP.

"We've delivered some 37 metric tonnes of humanitarian aid within 100 kilometers (62 miles) of the affected area. But the last 100 kilometers is difficult" because of a lack of refuelling and landing sites for the helicopters, he said.

Knittig said two ISAF helicopters had flown over the area to secure a landing site in the Murghab district badly hit by floods.

Murghabi also said that the bad weather had hampered delivery operations in the remote area.

"Due to bad weather the choppers can't fly to the area. We've got supplies in the province's center but we can't take them to the affected areas," he said.

Meanwhile, the Rural Rehabilitation and Development Ministry had sent out trucks of aid from the main western city of Herat that were due to arrive later Saturday "depending on the state of the roads."

But Murghabi said Sunday no trucks had reached the area, adding that most of the roads were under water.

AIDS, heroin two-pronged problem for Afghanistan

by Catherine Jouault - Sun Nov 19

KABUL (AFP) - With eight HIV positive cases in 2001 and 61 today, Afghanistan is worried a growing use of heroin will add the spread of AIDS to its long list of problems inherited from decades of war.

The Central Asian country is better known as the world's top producer of opium, the raw ingredient of heroin: about 92 percent of opium comes from Afghanistan's poppies, the United Nations says.

But the fall of the Taliban in 2001 has led to the return of refugees initiated into drug use in camps in neighbouring Pakistan and Iran.

A domestic market has developed, with heroin of good quality made in secret laboratories inside the country and costing relatively little -- at about 300 afghani (six dollars) a gramme compared to 50 afghani for bread.

Counternarcotics Minister Mohammad Zafar said the number of heroin users in Kabul jumped from 7,000 in 2003 to 14,000 last year.

"Forty to 50 percent of refugees use heroin and 20 to 30 percent hashish," he said, putting the total number of drug users in Afghanistan at about one million of its roughly 30 million inhabitants.

"There is a problem because production is always rising. The drug mafia, which could not be operating without protection at a high level, is everywhere and always wants to produce and sell more," Zafar said.

Drug money was also financing anti-government militants including the extremist Taliban, he said.

AIDS could follow the rising drug use, mainly because needles were being shared. Farid Zama, of the Nejat detox centre, said up to 10 people sometimes used a single syringe.

There were 61 confirmed cases of AIDS in Afghanistan today, of which 18 were women and 15 drug users, Health Minister Saifour Rehman said.

"There are between 1,500 and 2,000 suspected cases," he added, with the majority of them using drugs. The shared needles and also the time they spent with sex workers meant they were more likely to get HIV and AIDS, he said.

Rehman, also a doctor, worried about an explosion of the disease. Authorities were pushing the AIDS 'ABC': Abstinence, Be faithful and wear a Condom, he said. The B is the easiest to get across in this culturally conservative country where religious authorities have a strong influence.

Three nongovernment organisations and a public hospital are also trying to head off what could become a bigger problem for destitute Afghanistan.

The Nejat and Zendegi-e-Nawin detox centres and a section of the Kabul mental health hospital run programmes to help users kick their addiction. Together they have 40 beds for a course that lasts between 10 and 15 days.

The treatment is harsh: shaved heads for hygiene and so hair cannot be torn out in the throes of withdrawal; prison-style uniforms; and cold showers prescribed when the pain gets too much.

French nongovernment group Medecins Du Monde (Doctors of the World) has meanwhile been distributing injection kits since October to cut the risk of disease. The kits are handed out at known places of use and at a centre run by former or currents users.

Heroin substitutes like methadone are not authorised in Afghanistan. "With the absence of control that we have seen with the disintegration of the country, methadone could find its way out of the pharmacies and into the underground market," said Zafar.

Statement by His Excellency Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Presented To Second Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan, New Delhi, India 18 - 19 November 2006

Honourable Prime Minister Manmohan Singh;

Excellencies heads of delegations;

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me and the Afghan delegation to see many friends and partners of Afghanistan gathered in the historic city of Delhi.  On behalf of Afghanistan, I welcome our neighbours, countries of the region, member countries of the G8 and the various international and inter-governmental organizations for attending today’s conference.  It was almost a year ago in Kabul that we first came together to discuss the opportunity that Afghanistan’s re-emergence as a peaceful country presented for the strengthening of economic cooperation and integration in our region. 

I am grateful to my honourable friend, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for pushing the initiative forward by organizing this Conference. 

We the countries of this region are co-habitants of a shared geography and are linked by deep historical and cultural ties.  Together, we have great assets for economic development, from our hugely untapped natural resources to our people who are young, dynamic and eager to learn and prosper.  Together, we must utilize our assets to grow.  Afghanistan, lying at the heart of this region, is proud to be your partner in this collective effort to achieve regional prosperity.

Ladies and gentlemen,

From Kabul in December 2005 to Delhi today, we have come a considerable distance. 

Much has been achieved that bodes well for economic cooperation and partnership between Afghanistan and countries of the region.  Over this period, I have had the honour of visiting several countries who are represented here today, including China, India, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.  Each of these visits has opened a new chapter in Afghanistan’s endeavour to build bridges of economic cooperation.  

During the past year, Afghanistan’s membership of SAARC has been approved; we look forward to our full membership early next year.  We have continued to play an active role in regional organizations such as ECO, CAREC and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).  During the period since the first conference, Afghanistan has explored avenues of increased cooperation with its neighbours and regional partners in a number of specific areas, including improved border management, strengthening trade and transit agreements, new power purchase agreements, expanding opportunities for cross-border employment, and so on. 

We have continued to improve our infrastructure and legal framework to enhance Afghanistan’s potential as an economic asset to the future prosperity of the region.  We have continued to build our road networks in order to facilitate transit across the region and connect countries of Central Asia, through the quickest possible routes to the sea ports of Karachi and Gawadar in Pakistan and Chah Bahar and Bandar-e-Abbas in Iran.  We are resuming work on the long-aspired project of Afghanistan’s railways, beginning with the Dugharoon-Herat and the Chaman-Spin Boldak routes linking us to Iran and Pakistan respectively. 

Similarly, we have upgraded our customs and improved our tax and regulatory regimes to help cross border trade.  Our trade with the neighbouring countries has continued to grow by leaps and bounds, increasing from approximately 100 million dollars a year five years ago to around 2.5 billion dollars a year today – a 25 fold increase and still growing. 

Our trade with countries beyond the immediate region has also continued to show a significant upward trend. 

As an example of how Afghanistan’s location can be exploited to the region’s economic benefit, the trans-Afghan natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan (TAPI) has featured prominently in our projections.  I welcome India’s recent entry into this project as a positive impetus to move the project closer to realization. 

There are several other major regional projects in fields of power trading, energy, rail ways and so on, which, we believe, will shape future economic interdependence in the region. 

Ladies and gentlemen,

Economic integration in our region, where each and all of our nations would have a part to play, is a lofty but achievable vision.  The next step is to take careful stock of where we are, and to move our effort to a higher level by focusing on practical objectives. 

We in Afghanistan firmly believe in such a vision and we will work with you towards achieving it.  We will spare no effort to restore Afghanistan’s historical role as a land-bridge connecting the surrounding regions.  We also recognise that Afghanistan’s stability is an asset for the region, whereas an unstable Afghanistan will undoubtedly put the vision of a peaceful and prosperous region in jeopardy. 

Today there are a host of other factors – from the fragility of security, to inadequate physical infrastructure, to inconsistent policies – which play to the detriment of regional economic cooperation.  Many of us are plagued by poverty and environmental degradation; for some of us, trafficking in illegal drugs, corruption and red-tape are among significant obstacles to development and upholding the rule of law. 

Perhaps by far the most fearsome challenge to the region’s prosperity today is the menaces of extremism and terrorism which threaten our people’s lives and livelihoods.  Over the past five years, in our endeavour to rebuild Afghanistan into a healthy member of the community of nations, we have fought against extremism and terrorism in our region. 

In this context, I wish to highlight the presence of the international military forces in Afghanistan, which has been critical not only to the fight against terrorism and the rebuilding of security institutions in Afghanistan, but has also contributed to the security of the whole region.  To all of our international partners who have given much critical support to Afghanistan over the past five years and continue to do so today, I say today thank you for your valuable support. 

To those of our partners who may be pondering their continued involvement in Afghanistan, I say the job is not over and the stakes are still very high.  The security of the region and the world at large are not yet fully safeguarded.  The war we are collectively fighting against international terrorism cannot be won with hesitation and uncertainty.  To win this war, we need the enduring partnership of solid and unwavering allies. 

Ladies and gentlemen,

Today’s conference must serve, above all, as an impetus to define a vision that reflects the shared interests of all of us, and agree on working together towards achieving it. 

For our region to really succeed, we must embrace the new reality of an interdependent world; we must envision a new, shared future for our region, a future of peace and prosperity, and we must work together towards that vision. 

Today, we are here in Delhi to recommit ourselves to a stable, secure, democratic and prosperous Afghanistan, built on the principles of the rule of law, respect for human rights and friendly co-existence with the outside world – an Afghanistan that would be an important contributor to the economic integration and prosperity of the region.  With this commitment in mind, today's conference is a landmark event both for Afghanistan and the peoples of this region who share our vision of security, progress and prosperity.  Therefore, for the sake of the legitimate aspirations of our peoples, let us resolve to make our common vision a reality.

Thank you.

Dr. Spanta met with Canadian Parliamentary Secretary

Posted On: Nov 18, 2006

On his second day of visit to India, Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta met with the Canadian Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs – Deepak Obhrai at the Second Regional Economic Cooperation conference on Afghanistan.
They discussed issues of mutual interests and challenges facing Afghanistan. Afghan FM spoke about the two main sources of threat facing Afghanistan, foreign-sponsored terrorism and narcotics. The Canadian Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs praised the achievements of Afghan government besides the challenges and hurdles on the way of this government. He hoped that the continuation of international community’s commitment and improvement of national institutions will ease the way to further successes. Dr. Spanta thanked Canada’s constructive role in Afghanistan since the collapse of the Taliban regime.

Dr. Spanta met a number of Deputy Foreign Ministers in New Delhi

Posted On: Nov 19, 2006

The Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Dr Rangin Dadfar Spanta, met with the Italian Deputy Foreign Minister, Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister and Ms. Hina Rabbani, State Minister for Economic Affairs and Statistics of Pakistan in New Delhi yesterday.

During their meeting, the Italian Deputy Foreign Minister praised the achievements of the Afghan government besides the challenges and hurdles on the way of this government. Dr Spanta reiterated Afghanistan’s appreciation for contribution of Italian government in stabilizing and rebuilding of Afghanistan. Currently around 1,800 Italian soldiers are serving under the NATO and PRT team in Herat province.  

In his meeting with the Japanese deputy Foregin Minister, Nishida Tsuneo, Dr. Spanta thanked Japane's constructive role and generous commitment to Afghanistan's reconstruction since the collapse of the Taliban regime.

Afghan FM also received Pakistani's minister, Ms. Hina Rabbani and discussed with her issues of mutual interest and concern. During these meetings, Dr. Spanta expressed his hope for the continuation of the international community’s commitment to Afghanistan. He added, “Terrorism, narcotics and weak governmental institutions are the major challenges for government.”  

Sharpen the focus of Afghan debate

Nov. 20, 2006. 01:00 AM – Toronto Star - What should Canada's 2,500 troops in Afghanistan aim to do in the next two years? In the best scenario, they should work themselves out of a job.

And in order for that to happen, President Hamid Karzai must use Canada's military support to extend his writ over anarchic places such as Kandahar, where Taliban resistance persists. He must urgently build up his army and police. At the same time, people in Kandahar must see measurable economic gains, and a massive injection of aid, so they have cause to choose Karzai over the Taliban.

Time for all this to happen is running short. Public confidence in Canada is plummeting as casualties mount and as more Afghans become embittered by the glacial pace of political, military and economic progress. Today, Canadians are pessimistic. Tomorrow, public support may implode unless the Afghans get their act together.

That is why Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor stumped the country last week, citing "tremendous progress" and cheerleading a mission that will cost Canada $7 billion by 2009, and in which 42 Canadians have died.

In speeches in Toronto and other cities, O'Connor made a strong moral case for Canada being there, with the approval of the United Nations and the Afghan government. Canadians don't want to see Afghanistan slide back into Taliban-friendly anarchy, and Canada and our allies are improving Afghan lives in the 80 per cent of the nation that is relatively calm.

Most Afghans feel better off than they did when the Taliban was in control. Personal income has doubled in recent years. Millions of refugees have come home. Millions of children are back in school. Roads have been built, wells dug, water systems laid, power lines strung.

O'Connor noted all this, but his speeches lacked practical benchmarks by which Canadians might gauge the broader success or failure of our efforts in 2007 and 2008, when our current deployment starts to wind down. Ottawa, along with the UN and our allies, needs to bring sharper focus to our efforts by spelling out what we expect the Afghan government to accomplish over the coming two years. We need to know whether we are making gains or sinking into a quagmire.

How many troops can Karzai be expected to train, field and control in 2007? And 2008? What regions can they take ownership of? When?

What are Ottawa's concrete development goals? Where?

Is the United States prepared to redeploy troops from Iraq to Afghanistan? How many? When? Where?

What pressure is being brought on Pakistan to seal the border against insurgents bent on attacking our troops? Is there any prospect that Afghan troops, with allied support, will be able to seal the border from their side?

And will our North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies agree at the NATO summit later this month to carry their share of the load?

When Parliament resumes this week, the opposition parties should demand to know how the Conservatives intend to measure success and failure. Canada must be prepared to deliver generous aid for many years to come. But our military role in the coming years must be a finite and shrinking one, bolstered by NATO allies for now, and progressively shouldered by Afghanistan's own defence forces.

If that seems obvious, it isn't. Earlier this month a senior Afghan figure, Ashraf Ghani, argued that Canadian troops should be ready to stay indefinitely. "You cannot leave without securing victory," he said. And Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier has talked ominously of a 10-year mission. This does not look like working ourselves out of a job.

Canadian troops have been in Afghanistan for five years. They will not be there forever. Afghans must "secure the victory." And do it soon.

Clinton speaks on Afghanistan, and Canada listens

NORMAN SPECTOR – Oped Globe and Mail 11.20.06 - VICTORIA -- For an ex-president of the United States, Bill Clinton seems to be popping up an awful lot in our country these days, including here in British Columbia. Nor is he sparing smaller centres, such as Kelowna. While it's easy to be cynical toward the aging-rock-star whiff about his tour -- which, at $150,000 (U.S.) a speech, reportedly yields a not-too-shabby annual income of $7.5-million -- there's always value in hearing the wisdom and experience of a man twice democratically elected to the most powerful office in the world.

So popular is Mr. Clinton today that it's easy to forget he will go down in history as only the second U.S. president to have been impeached. Aside from the fact that he was not in the end convicted and removed from office, what's helped people forget the dismal end of his presidency is the deep unpopularity of his Republican successor.

It's Prime Minister Stephen Harper's misfortune that George W. Bush's unpopularity -- call it toxicity, if you will -- colours Canadians' perception of issues such as the softwood lumber agreement, not to speak of our mission in Afghanistan. You would have thought, therefore, that Mr. Harper -- frequently portrayed as a poodle of the U.S. President -- would have made more of Mr. Clinton's plea that Canada not leave Afghanistan before the job is done.

Mr. Clinton is a member of the Democratic Party, and his views may have come as a surprise to Canadians who conflate that war with the disastrous situation in Iraq, despite the fact that we are operating in Afghanistan under a United Nations mandate and as part of a NATO coalition. Nor, in contrast to the polemic over the absence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, has there been any serious dispute that Osama bin Laden was given safe harbour in Afghanistan by the Taliban, where he planned the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington.

Mr. Clinton's position on Canadian involvement in Afghanistan stands in stark contrast to that of Jack Layton's New Democratic Party, which voted at its last convention to withdraw Canadian troops immediately. As the former U.S. president explained to his Canadian audiences, this would have the effect of returning the country to Taliban rule, not an appealing prospect for anyone interested in human rights. It's hard to imagine any successful politician in the U.S. taking Mr. Layton's position; notably, even left-wing Democrats, including the new Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, have argued for greater U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. Indeed, even on Iraq, the Democratic Party is not pressing for immediate withdrawal.

In part, the difference between Canadian New Democrats and U.S. Democrats is attributable to the responsibilities that come with being a superpower and having strategic interests in every region of the world. The other part, of course, is that the Democratic Party hopes to win the 2008 presidential election. Mr. Layton's NDP, on the other hand, has never been in office in Canada and there is no sign on the horizon that it ever will be. So he's free to take pretty much any position that pops into his mind without undergoing serious media scrutiny, including a position on Afghanistan that encourages Taliban attacks on our soldiers as the surest way to turn public opinion in Canada against the mission and precipitate a quick pullout.

At the provincial level, of course, the NDP is a vastly different party, especially in British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan where it regularly forms government, as was the case once in Ontario, to the great surprise of the man who became premier, Bob Rae. These days, Mr. Rae is running for the federal Liberal leadership, and to listen to him explain why he left the NDP is as good a summary as you'll find of the differences between Canada's New Democrats and U.S. Democrats.

Interestingly, Mr. Rae has the potential to reshuffle the deck of Canadian politics should he win the Liberal leadership. According to a Decima poll released on the weekend, fully two of every five respondents who voted NDP in the last election say they would consider voting Liberal with him as leader. If that scenario were to eventuate, Canada would be within shooting distance of restoring a two-party system outside Quebec, which is the way the parliamentary system of government was designed to work, and the way it works here in British Columbia.

Layton sticks by withdrawal call
 
By Stéphane Massinon - The Daily News - DARTMOUTH - The federal leader of the New Democratic Party wants to continue debating the role of the military in Afghanistan and is sticking by his call to withdraw Canadian troops from the troubled country.

In an interview with The Daily News after an NDP auction/ fundraiser in Dartmouth yesterday, Layton said Canadians are asking themselves questions about the war.

"The reaction I've had, whether it's at my own legion or military families or the public at large, has been respectful and certainly mixed. People are grappling with it," said Layton.

"There's no question there's a lot of Canadians who believe, as we do, that this mission is now facing a very long-term, very uncertain future, and that perhaps a change in direction is the right way to go."

He said it's important to be constantly re-assessing the mission in Afghanistan to make sure the best options are taken. He said the mission is causing more violence, not less.

"At first, when we said there really should be a debate, Mr. Harper tried to say that if you even suggested a debate or discussion about the mission, that you weren't supporting our troops, and that it was somehow unpatriotic.

"This was very much a George-Bush type of put-down and I don't think people reacted well to that. Certainly, the military families I talked to didn't react well to that," said Layton.

Fazlur Rahman calls for troops withdrawal from Afghanistan (The News Int – Pak)

PESHAWAR: Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rahman Monday called for withdrawal of coalition forces from Afghanistan and allowing Talliban to be a part of mainstream politics for peace in the country.

He was speaking at a peace Jirga organized by Awami National Party in Peshawar.
He said all political parties should get united even they have ideological and political differences.

MMA parliamentary party meeting on December 6-7 would take a unanimous decision about resignations from the parliament seats, Fazlur Rahman said.

Other speakers in the Jirga called for seeking amicable solutions of all problems. They also expressed concern over situation in tribal areas.

[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.]