In this bulletin:

• Press Release, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
• Musharraf assures NATO commander amid Taliban row
• Nato chief holds Musharraf talks
• Karzai for jirga to crush Taleban
• Kabul explosion 'injures eleven'
• Afghan FM Spanta to Visit Ankara Next Tuesday
• Pakistan's shadowy secret service
• Karzai: Corruption in the whole system
• Ottawa fights Afghanistan battle on home front
• Too soon to balk on Afghan mission
• British hire anti-Taliban mercenaries
• Afghan energy through the eyes of Russian geologists
• Afghan bottling plant wins contract to supply water to Coalition troops
• Memorial Service Held for Deutsche Welle Journalists

Press Release, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

Kabul, October 9, 2006

Afghan foreign minister Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta at an official invitation from Mr. Abdullah Gull, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey to pay a visit to Turkey during 11 to 14 October, 2006.

In this trip the foreign minister will have meetings with Turkish president, Prime minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Speaker of Parliament and he is due to deliver a speech regarding the Afghanistan foreign policy and global issues at the Ankara University.

Afghan foreign minister will also attend the opening ceremony of private sector traders’ association in Istanbul.

Turkey has pledged 5 millions USD in Tokyo conference, 5 millions USD in Berlin conference and 100 millions in London conference to Afghanistan.

The main completed and ongoing projects by Turkey in Afghanistan are establishment of Afghan Turkish school, well digging , road repair and road construction in the north of the country, provision of equipments and facilities for a public hospital called Ata Turk in Kabul, rehabilitation of hospitals and clinics, donation of two million measles vaccines dosages, sending of 100 patients annually to Turkey with sicknesses that cannot be managed in Afghanistan, and several other projects in Agriculture, education, training and sports fields.

Meanwhile the Turkish Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) is based in Maidan Wardak and they will officially open their projects at the end of October 2006. It is worth mentioning that 618 Turkish troops under NATO are currently providing services in Maidan Wardak and so far, twice the commandment of NATO-led forces has been taken by Turkey in Afghanistan. And Turkish troops is due to assume this responsibility in the year 2007 for the third time.

Fourteen Afghan diplomats from MOFA and 20 officials form Counter Narcotics ministry are busy being trained in Turkey currently. Republic of Turkey has granted 70 scholarships to the Ministry of Higher Education in the current year.

Spokesman’s office,MOFA.

Press Release, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

Kabul, October 9, 2006

The Ministry of Foreign affairs of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan expresses its profound concern and disapproval of the North Korea's purported nuclear test.

The Ministry views the test as a provocative act and detrimental to not only peace and stability of the region, but also to global efforts to contain the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

The Afghan Foreign Minister urgently calls upon North Korea to return to multilateral talk to resolve their differences with the international community.

Spokesman’s office,MOFA.

Musharraf assures NATO commander amid Taliban row

Islamabad (AFP 10.10.06) - President Pervez Musharraf has assured NATO's commander in Afghanistan that his country fully backs the fight against the Taliban, amid claims the alliance wants more action from Islamabad.

British General David Richards, who commands 31,000 international troops from 37 countries in insurgency-hit Afghanistan, met Musharraf for an hour of talks on security and cooperation, officials here said on Tuesday.

Musharraf told Richards that Pakistan was cooperating with Afghanistan in the "fight against terrorism and extremism," besides hosting over 2.5 million Afghan refugees, a Pakistan military statement said.

Musharraf also defended a controversial peace deal signed with tribal elders and insurgents in the restive tribal area of North Waziristan, saying it "was aimed at checking the activities of terrorists and militant Taliban."

The statement said that Richards had praised Pakistan's efforts and the "excellent cooperation being extended in the fight against terrorism."

It quoted Richards as saying that "ISAF fully appreciates that a vast majority of problems of Afghanistan are emanating from within the country having deep roots due to the fact that the country had remained highly unstable for over two decades."

ISAF, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, assumed command of foreign troops in Afghanistan last Thursday, taking charge of the east of the country from the US-led coalition that toppled the Taliban five years ago.

NATO did not make any immediate comment following Richards' meeting with Musharraf at Army House, the Pakistani leader's official residence in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, which adjoins the capital.

Richards earlier denied a report in Britain's Sunday Times newspaper that he would confront Musharraf with evidence of the alleged support of Pakistan's intelligence agencies for the Islamist Taliban.

"That is not the reason for one moment that I came here," Richards told Pakistan's GEO television in an interview recorded before the meeting. "I come here to further develop our relationship with the Pakistan army."

The general praised Pakistan's actions but added that, like the rest of the world, it could still work harder. "I don't know of many countries that could possibly be doing more. Could it do more still? Yes, we all want to do more because we still have a problem," he said.

He also defended the North Waziristan deal, which drew criticism from Islamabad's allies in the US-declared "war on terror". "I think played rightly, with luck and good judgement I believe is there, this could set an example how we should deal with these problems," Richards told GEO.

NATO had signed a deal of its own with tribal elders in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, he said. Musharraf has had a long-running spat with Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai but the two had a joint meeting with US President George W. Bush last month which briefly cleared the air.

Militants are widely believed to move freely across the porous and rugged border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. But Pakistan says the 80,000 troops it has along the frontier prevent any major incursions.

NATO has assumed command of foreign forces from the US-led coalition that toppled the Taliban regime five years ago.

The Taliban insurgency has worsened dramatically in the past year, with insurgents killing scores of foreign and Afghan troops in mass attacks and also intensifying a vicious campaign of suicide and roadside bombings.

Nato chief holds Musharraf talks – BBC

Nato's commander in Afghanistan, General David Richards, has held talks with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on fighting terrorism. A Pakistani spokesman said talks focused on increasing co-operation.

The meeting came amid claims that Pakistan's spy agency, ISI, is helping the Taleban, which Pakistan denies. Gen Richards has warned that the majority of Afghans may start to support the Taleban unless their lives improve in the next six months.

Pakistani military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said discussions during the hour-long meeting covered ways of increasing co-operation between the two sides in fighting terrorism.

"He [Gen Richards] has come here to discuss Nato's expanding role in Afghanistan and security co-operation between the important partners in the war on terror," he told the AFP news agency.

Ahead of his meeting with the Pakistani President, Gen Richards reportedly told a television news channel that more could be done to fight terrorism. According to Reuters news agency, he told Geo television: "Yes, we all want to do more because we still have a problem.

"Lots of other people can do more as well - the people who I'm working with in Afghanistan and the international community."

Gen Richards assumed responsibility for foreign military operations across the whole of Afghanistan from the US-led coalition last week. Nato forces in the south are facing mounting casualties as they engage in fighting with a resurgent Taleban.

The allegations over ISI support for the Taleban resurfaced at the end of September. A leaked document prepared by an official in the Defence Academy, a think tank linked to the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), said the ISI indirectly backed terrorism by supporting religious parties in Pakistan.

The MoD says the views included in the paper are not those of the author, the think-tank or the British government. Gen Musharraf denied the allegations and said Pakistan was doing an "excellent job" in tracking down militants.

Tuesday's meeting comes after President Musharraf suggested during his recent US tour that a "counter-strategy" may be needed in Afghanistan - which was regarded as an attempt to accommodate the Taleban.

The BBC's Ilyas Khan in Karachi says this option has been favoured by the president since the government's agreement with the tribal militants in the North Waziristan area of Pakistan on 5 September.

Gen Musharraf has been publicly urging the Afghan government to replicate the agreement in the country's troubled south. However, the Afghan government and western diplomats are reported to be lukewarm towards the plan.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said he wants to hold a jirga (council) of Pashtun tribes from Pakistan and Afghanistan to end Taleban violence. Afghan officials have frequently accused Pakistan of not doing enough to stop cross-border incursions by militants, charges Pakistan denies.

In the latest violence, police in the eastern province of Hingarhar say several people including regional officials were killed in a bomb blast on Monday morning. On Sunday night, clashes were reported in Urzgan which according to local police left at least 50 Taleban insurgents dead.

Karzai for jirga to crush Taleban - By Ahmed Rashid, Kabul

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said he wants to hold a jirga (council) of Pashtun tribes from Pakistan and Afghanistan to end Taleban violence. The two countries disagree on how to fight the Taleban - mostly drawn from the Pashtun tribes- on their border.

Mr Karzai said he expected both he and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to attend the meeting by the year-end. Afghan ministers and officials are however concerned that such a meeting may be "manipulated" by Pakistan.

"I am thinking of a meeting between Afghan civil society, Afghan elders, tribal chiefs, clergy and Afghan spiritual leadership plus the intellectuals. From the Pakistan side I am hoping for the same thing," Mr Karzai told this correspondent in an exclusive interview.

"It should be a gathering of the people from one end of the Afghan border with Pakistan to the other end." Mr Karzai said the jirga would attempt to revive Pashtun civil society on both sides of the border in order to combat what he called the growing Talebanisation of the region.

"The traditional secular Pashtun leadership of Pakistan has been undermined systematically and violently," said Mr Karzai. "The killing of 150 Pashtun leaders in North Waziristan is a clear indication of that. This can only stop if we support civil society," he said.

The Afghan president said that if Pakistan was transparent about the jirga, it could bring peace between the two countries.

"A jirga means representative and those not representative cannot be there or called to attend. Nobody can fake a jirga in Afghanistan...and I hope there is similar transparency on the Pakistani side," Mr Karzai said.

Pakistan has long stated that it wants Afghanistan to recognise the Durand Line, the 2,640km (1610 miles)-long border between the two countries.

Afghans say the British-drawn, colonial era border line robs Afghanistan of Pashtun territory now inside Pakistan.

No Afghan government, including the Pashtun-dominated Taleban regime which was recognised by Pakistan, has felt strong enough to recognise the Durand Line.

Mr Karzai said a joint commission could be set up with United Nations help between the two countries, which would decide on who would be eligible to sit in the jirga and the modalities of the meeting among other things.

Mr Karzai said the jirga plan was suggested by him at last week's dinner meeting hosted by President George W Bush for him and Gen Musharraf. This correspondent learns that Gen Musharraf first hesitated at the suggestion.

But after Mr Bush said it was a good idea and the US government would support the idea, Gen Musharraf gave his tentative agreement. Mr Karzai would like to involve the international community in monitoring the jirga.

It is believed that most Western countries support the idea but are reluctant to become involved in what they describe as "complex tribal meetings", between two countries which are both allies of the West in the war on terror, but are also deeply antagonistic to each other.

However, many Pashtuns and non-Pashtun Afghans have expressed concerns about the jirga plan. They fear the meeting would allow Pakistan to infiltrate "Taleban ideas through the backdoor".

Several cabinet ministers interviewed by this correspondent said the meeting would be "manipulated by Islamabad for its own ends".

"What happens if the Pakistani nominees to the jirga declare jihad against Mr Karzai and the Americans," said one minister, who asked not be named.

Younis Qanooni, the speaker of the Afghan parliament, said it would be "more productive if parliamentary delegations between the two countries met more often rather than have the jirga".

During the interview, Mr Karzai said he felt anguish about the continuing attacks by the Taleban - some 4,000 people had died in Taleban-related violence this year.

Senior Nato and Afghan officials say that Taleban fighters were being actively helped by Pakistan, a charge Pakistan denies.

A Nato and Afghan army intelligence report after the two-week long Operation Medusa launched by Nato in Kandahar province in mid-September, in which they say 1,100 Taleban were killed, shows undeniable help to the Taleban from Pakistan, according to senior Nato and Afghan officials.

The report says the Taleban had collected one million rounds of ammunition in the Panjwai district of southern Kandahar province before the fighting.

The fighters had fired off some 2,000 rocket propelled grenades and 1,000 mortar shell during the battle, the report says.

The cost of Taleban ammunition stocks alone before the battle were estimated at $5m - such money and preparations would be impossible without outside support, the Nato and Afghan officials say.

Mr Karzai is hopeful that the jirga will improve relations between the two governments and more importantly the Pashtuns on both sides, which in turn will isolate the Taleban.

"No ethnic group or nation in the world is by its own nature radical," said Mr Karzai. "Extremism makes them suffer that's why governments must stop using this. Afghanistan's stability and peace and prosperity is in the interests of Pakistan."

Kabul explosion 'injures eleven' – BBC 10.10.06

At least 11 people, including a number of police officers, have been injured in an explosion in the Afghan capital, Kabul, say police. A bomb fixed to a bicycle exploded as a police van passed by, Kabul police official Alishah Paktiawal told the AFP news agency.

He said some civilians travelling in a taxi behind the bus were also hurt. Bomb blasts in Kabul are generally rare, although there have been a number of suicide bombings in recent months.

Mr Paktiawal said that "a remote-controlled bomb fixed on a bicycle on the roadside which targeted a ministry of interior police bus" caused the explosion.

The windows of the bus and neighbouring shops were shattered by the blast, a report said. Attacks blamed on the Taleban and their allies have risen sharply this year.

Afghan FM Spanta to Visit Ankara Next Tuesday
By Cihan News Agency Saturday, October 07, 2006 zaman.com

Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta is to pay a 3-day official visit to Turkey next week.

FM Spanta, who graduated from Ankara University's Faculty of Political Science, is scheduled to visit Turkish capital Ankara between Oct. 10 and 13. The visiting minister is expected to be received by Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul.

Turkish FM Gul is expected to pay a reciprocal visit to Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan, in November.

Pakistan's shadowy secret service - By Mahmud Ali - BBC News

Pakistan's directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, usually called the ISI, is accused of many vices. Critics say it runs "a state within a state", subverts elected governments, supports the Taleban and is even involved in drug smuggling.

Pakistan's government denies the allegations. Like many other military intelligence organisations, the shadowy ISI zealously guards its secrets and evidence against it is sketchy.

However, the agency is a central organ of Pakistan's military machine which has played a major - often dominant - role in the country's often turbulent politics.

Surveillance - The ISI was established in 1948 - as Pakistan engaged India in the first war over Kashmir - to be the top body co-ordinating the intelligence functions of its army, air force and navy.

In the 1950s, when Pakistan joined anti-communist alliances, its military services and the ISI received considerable Western support in training and equipment.

The ISI's attention was focused on India, considered Pakistan's arch-enemy. But when Ayub Khan, the army commander-in-chief, mounted the first successful coup in 1958, the ISI's domestic political activities expanded.

As a new state bringing together diverse ethnic groups within what some described as contrived borders, Pakistan faced separatist challenges - among Pashtuns, Balochis, Sindhis and Bengalis.

Much of the country's early history was shaped by politicians seeking regional autonomy and the central civilian and military bureaucracies trying to consolidate national unity.

The ISI not only mounted surveillance on parties and politicians, it often infiltrated, co-opted, cajoled or coerced them into supporting the army's centralising agenda.

Defeat and disgrace - The army ran the country from 1958 to 1971, when East Pakistan broke away with Indian and Soviet help to become Bangladesh. The ISI and the Pakistani military were thoroughly discredited and marginalised after the war.

But they gained fresh purpose in 1972 when Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the new civilian leader, launched a clandestine project to build nuclear weapons. A year later military operations were launched against nationalist militants in Balochistan province.

These two events helped rehabilitate the ISI and the military. After Bhutto was ousted by General Zia ul-Haq in 1977, the Balochistan operations were ended but the nuclear programme was expanded.

The Marxist revolution in Afghanistan in the same year threatened Pakistan by opening a second "strategic front" (the first being with India to the east). The ISI was restored to its past eminence.

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979 transformed the regional setting. President Carter and his national security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, built a Western-Muslim coalition with Britain, France, West Germany, China, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates playing key roles.

Revolutionary Iran offered some aid to anti-Soviet guerrillas in western Afghanistan. But all other foreign assistance to the mujahideen arrived via Pakistan, to be handled by the ISI whose Afghan Bureau co-ordinated all operational activities with the seven guerrilla militias.

This was done in such secrecy that the Pakistani military itself was kept in the dark. Just to get a sense of the scale of the operation - the CIA provided enough arms to equip a 240,000-man army, and the Saudis matched US funding dollar for dollar.

Other countries provided arms and money and Muslim countries also encouraged volunteers to join the jihad or holy war.

Foreign money helped to establish hundreds of madrassas (religious schools) in Pakistan's cities and frontier areas. These turned out thousands of Taleban (students) who joined the mujahideen in the anti-Soviet campaign.

The ISI managed this operation, handling tens of thousands of tons of ordnance every year and co-ordinating the action of several hundred thousand fighters in great secrecy.

Eventually, in 1988, the Soviet Union agreed to withdraw its forces by 1989, and did so. This was seen as a great victory for the mujahideen and their patrons in Pakistan and farther afield, and a trigger for the subsequent Soviet collapse.

This is why Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf feels it necessary to defend the ISI. He has pointed out that the West backed the mujahideen, which went on to engender groups like al-Qaeda and the Taleban in the post-Soviet violence which consumed Afghanistan and brought about the US-led "war on terror".

Following the attacks of 11 September, 2001, Gen Musharraf has sought to rid the military, including the ISI, of Islamists within its ranks - a hangover from the Zia era.

Elements in the military have been accused of complicity in failed attempts on his life. Pakistani government and ISI support for militant groups who left Afghanistan to fight Indian rule in Kashmir has been the cause of much friction with India.

India has repeatedly accused Pakistan, and especially the ISI, of involvement in Kashmir and in attacks elsewhere in India.

Karzai: Corruption in the whole system

President Hamid Karzai speaks out about Afghanistan's political instability and fledgling economy. October 9 2006: 9:23 AM EDT

(Fortune Magazine) -- With books about George Washington arrayed on a shelf behind him in his office in Kabul, Afghan President Hamid Karzai talked to Fortune recently about the nation-building challenges that still confront his country five years after the fall of the Taliban.

Where is Afghanistan failing most?

Our revenues are shameful. We'll be collecting something like $500 million this year. But we should be in a hurry to raise revenues much more and faster. There is corruption in the whole system, whether it's in the ministries, the NGOs, the donors' implementation of projects, in all spheres of the Afghan recovery.

You've been criticized for tolerating ministers who are technocratically weak but politically influential.

You have to carry the past in a way that will not hurt what you are building for the future - have a reasonable sense of inclusivity in order to protect the progress you want to achieve tomorrow. And we have done it.

But you have almost unanimous support in the international community. Couldn't you force your vision without accommodating these characters?

The international community did not stand with me on these issues. They said, 'No green on green' [no internal conflict among the anti-Taliban coalition]. So it isn't a blank check. Look at what we have, though. I am very proud. Four and a half million refugees have returned. Children are going back to school. Whatever was asked of us in the Bonn agreement, we have delivered on time: the constitution, the presidential elections, the parliamentary elections. And the economy has done marvelously. Things could have been better, but things could have been much worse too.

The new NATO forces say they will defeat the poppy barons. Why haven't you taken them out?

It's a problem that is deeply run into our society. This country's desperation in the last 30 years brought a serious dependence of our people on poppy cultivation. It's 30 percent of our economy. That's massive. Can you in one day, in one year, in two years, get rid of that? It needs dedicated work by the international community. We have very good agriculture. But you can't tell me, 'Well, grow pomegranates, grow grapes, grow cucumbers or watermelons, and I'm not going to buy it from you.' If the international community wants to help us get rid of narcotics, they must help us all around, buying our products.

The election is coming up in 2009. Are you running for President again?

I want to have this country stable and constitutionally strong. I want to leave this country with a stable environment of alternative leaders. And I don't think it is good to be running all the time. Let other people get a chance to run.

Ottawa fights Afghanistan battle on home front

Tuesday, October 10, 2006 - CanWest News Service

OTTAWA - Despite the rising body count in Afghanistan, the federal government is quietly ramping up efforts to boost the profile of its reconstruction work in an attempt to persuade a divided public that Canadian efforts are bringing positive results to the war-torn country.

Those endeavours include increasing the number of Canadian aid agencies working on the ground in Afghanistan, something the Canadian International Development Agency hopes to announce as early as this week, CanWest News Service has learned.

However, some vocal critics, including a Senate committee, are questioning the core tenet of Canada's development assistance program - partnering with the Afghan government to find "made-in-Afghanistan" solutions, and working through United Nations agencies and other large international organizations to disburse the $100 million per year that CIDA has committed to Afghanistan.

The Senate's national security and defence committee was particularly critical of CIDA in its most recent survey of Canadian foreign aid, the military and the ongoing Afghanistan mission. It chided the cabinet minister responsible for the agency, Josee Verner, for being unable to state how much is being spent on aid in the Kandahar region in south Afghanistan, the focus of Canada's involvement where about 2,500 troops are based.

"The committee also finds it unsatisfactory that Canadian aid seems to be distributed primarily through multilateral agencies and through the new government of Afghanistan, which in its infancy has developed a reputation for some degree of corruption," the Senate committee, comprising Conservatives and Liberals, said in its report.

A senior CIDA official, who briefed CanWest News prior to the release of the Senate's report last week, defended the government's approach and said there are stringent controls to oversee how Canada's money is spent in Afghanistan.

The CIDA official, who does not have the authority of his government employer to be quoted by name, said there are five people from his department working in Afghanistan - three with the provincial reconstruction team in Kandahar City and two with the majority of military forces at the main NATO base at Kandahar Air Field.

Those CIDA people work with the country directors and local staff of various organizations, the official said, stressing that although Afghans have a say in how the projects are developed, the money spent on them is closely audited and heavily invoiced to make sure it does not go astray.

There are "no leaps of faith" when it comes to doling out Canadian taxpayers' dollars, the official said. The World Bank, along with the United Nations Development Program, is the main agency through which Canadian aid dollars to Afghanistan are funnelled

"Our intent is to grow the involvement of Canadian NGOs within Afghanistan. I won't project on the amounts or numbers," the official said, noting there are "about eight" non-governmental organizations operating in Afghanistan. "They'll be more to come fairly soon," he said, but refused to provide details.

Canada doesn't break out the aid money it spends in Kandahar because it takes a "whole of Afghanistan" approach in funding reconstruction, he said. However, the official cited a few statistics that indicate development progress in the Kandahar region:

- 29 irrigation canals totalling more than 100 kilometres have been refurbished

- 14 kilometres of drainage projects to help reduce flooding

- 146 kilometres of new rural roads

- Four bridges built with more to come

- 50 kilometres of power lines erected

- 1,000 shallow wells dug, along with 21 deeper ones

Canadian aid dollars are making a difference in the more stable western region around Herat, and in the north, where million of dollars are being funnelled through international agencies into environmental, agricultural and economic-development initiatives.

"Much of the programs right across the country show what Kandahar can benefit from, once more secured," the official said.

The official highlighted Canada's $30-million contribution to the National Solidarity Program, which is administered in Afghanistan by the World Bank. The program, which was created by the Afghan government, "aims to reduce poverty through the empowerment of communities, improved governance and increased social, human and economic capital," according to CIDA's website.

Afghans themselves plan and select projects that are then funded and monitored by the international community.

"It's not how many schools or buildings Canada has built for Afghanistan. It's how much we've helped Afghans build for themselves. That's what leads to them buying into democracy and central government."

Meanwhile, top military officials are going out of their way to use the R-word in an attempt to take the focus off military combat.

As Gen. Rick Hillier, chief of the defence staff, said on his recent trip to Afghanistan: "We want to get into the reconstruction in a much greater manner, we want to help build the Afghan army much faster E but you can't do that without a good solid security base."

The Armed Forces have also dispatched Col. Mike Capstick, the former leader of its Strategic Advisory Team, based in Kabul, across Canada on a speaking tour to emphasize that reconstruction is taking place, and that three-quarters of the country is secure and Taliban-free despite the violent insurgency in the south around Kandahar. Ottawa Citizen

Too soon to balk on Afghan mission

Oct. 9, 2006. 01:00 AM RICHARD GWYN Toronto Star

OTTAWA Oct. 6, 2007—"The capital has only now begun to settle down after the surprise outcome of last spring's election which resulted in victory for Jack Layton and the formation of the country's first-ever New Democrat government.

"Prime Minister Layton moved with impressive speed to implement his principal election promise by announcing the withdrawal of Canadian forces from Afghanistan and the opening of talks with representatives of the Taliban.

"One well-known consequence has been the large-scale exodus of anti-Taliban Afghans. An estimated 3 million of them have reoccupied the old refugee camps in neighbouring Pakistan. Large numbers have declared they will shortly be moving to Canada as refugee claimants.

"Another consequence has been the closing of all girls' schools in the country and the restoration of earlier Taliban regulations such as the banning of kite-flying.

"Unanticipated has been the discovery that large numbers of so-called Taliban now taking part in the negotiations in Geneva are in fact not members of the Taliban at all.

"Rather, these are drug lords, that is, owners of large poppy holdings, who, it now appears, only allied themselves temporarily with the Taliban, for example by participating in the MEDUSA operation undertaken by Canadian troops in the fall of 2006.

"Here, the consequence is that Afghanistan, or more accurately large parts of it, have become a narco-state at the same time as other parts are now again an Islamic fundamentalist state.

"The vast profits earned from the production of opium have generated fears that the drug lords may seek to ensure that their activities are not interrupted by obtaining nuclear weapons, either from North Korea, which has established its technological capability by its successful bomb test, or, before long, from Iran. Some experts now believe ..."

Some of this is true. Or has a high likelihood of being so, even though an NDP election victory is admittedly comparatively unlikely.

About Afghanistan we have three choices. To stay. To go. To stick it out until it's clear that by staying we will be doing more harm than good — not, though, to ourselves as often seems to be the principal concern of critics, but to the Afghan people themselves.

The substantial majority of Canadians — 59 per cent in the latest poll — who agree with the statement, "we are dying for a cause we cannot win," may well be right. But far from necessarily so. The violence is concentrated in the poppy growing areas of Afghanistan's south. This is where the Canadian troops happen to be. Other NATO contingents, such as the Germans up in the north, have, as yet, encountered few problems.

What the drug lords and the Taliban hate equally is development, everything from education to roads to irrigation canals to jobs, to allowing women to contribute to society as teachers, nurses or social workers. This is what our soldiers are fighting for.

It isn't easy. Without security, development is impossible. Equally, without development, security is impossible, and the Taliban and the drug lords can at least promise that as soon as the foreign soldiers are driven out, no more bombs will explode.

Our soldiers are suffering in this fight. But not a scrap of evidence exists that the soldiers themselves believe the fight is lost, or is worthless. Indeed, army recruitment has never been higher.

By the time of the mythical news story at the top of this column — that's to say a year away — it will be possible to get a much clearer idea of whether "we cannot win," or whether we actually can achieve enough security for the Afghan people that they, with our help, can begin to develop themselves.

Far, far better if there were another way. But this is the way today's world is.

If we quit before it's clear we're doing more harm than good, at the very least we shouldn't pretend to ourselves we aren't turning away from the world for our own sakes.

Richard Gwyn 's column usually appears Tuesdays. gwynR@sympatico.ca.

British hire anti-Taliban mercenaries

Christina Lamb, Kabul – London Times 10.9.06

BRITISH forces holed up in isolated outposts of Helmand province in Afghanistan are to be withdrawn over the next two to three weeks and replaced by newly formed tribal police who will be recruited by paying a higher rate than the Taliban.

The move is the result of deals with war-weary locals and reverses the strategy of sending forces to establish “platoon houses” in the Taliban heartland where soldiers were left under siege and short of supplies because it was too dangerous for helicopters to fly in.

Troops in the four northern districts of Sangin, Musa Qala, Nawzad and Kajaki have engaged in the fiercest fighting since the Korean war, tying up more than half the mission’s available combat force. All 16 British soldiers killed in the conflict died in these areas.

“We were coming under as many as seven attacks a day,” said Captain Alex Mackenzie of the 3rd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, who spent a month in Sangin. “We were firing like mad just to survive. It was deconstruction rather than reconstruction.”

Lieutenant-General David Richards, commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, has long been critical of tying up troops in static positions, while the British government has grown increasingly concerned that it was affecting public support for the mission.

Since taking command of the British forces at the end of July, Richards has been looking for a way to pull them out without making it look like a victory for the Taliban.

“I am confident that in two to three weeks the securing of the districts will be achieved through a different means,” he said. “Most of the British troops will then be able to be redeployed to tasks which will facilitate rapid and visible reconstruction and development, which we’ve got to do this winter to prove we can not only fight but also deliver what people need.”

The districts will be guarded by new auxiliary police made up of local militiamen. They will initially receive $70 (£37) a month, although it is hoped that this will rise to $120 to compete with the $5 per fighting day believed to be paid by the Taliban. “These are the same people who two weeks ago would have been vulnerable to be recruited as Taliban fighters,” said Richards.

“It’s employment they want and we need to make sure we pay more than the Taliban.”

The withdrawal of the British troops will coincide with the departure of 3 Para, whose six-month deployment is coming to an end. The battalion will be replaced by Royal Marines from 3 Commando Brigade who started arriving last week.

Locals in these districts are fed up with the fighting that has led to the destruction of many homes, bazaars and a school. A delegation of more than 20 elders from Musa Qala met President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday evening and demanded to be allowed to look after their own security. “The British troops brought nothing but fighting,” they complained. They pledged that if allowed to appoint their own police chief and district chief, they would keep out the Taliban.

The other crucial factor has been Nato’s success last month in inflicting the heaviest defeat on the Taliban since their regime fell five years ago. The two-week Operation Medusa in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province left between 1,100 and 1,500 Taliban dead, many of whom were believed to be committed fighters rather than guns for hire.

“Militarily it was against the odds — it was only because the Taliban were silly enough to take us on in strength when we had superior firepower and because of very, very brave fighting on the part of Americans, Canadians, British and Dutch, as well as the Afghan national army,” said Richards.

The Taliban, emboldened by their successes in Helmand, had changed their strategy from hit-and-run tactics to a frontal attack, apparently intending to try to take the key city of Kandahar. They had taken advantage of a change of command of foreign troops in the south from American to Canadian and eventually Nato to move large amounts of equipment and men into the Panjwayi district southwest of the city. The area was a stronghold of the mujaheddin during the Russian occupation and contains secret tunnels and grape-drying houses amid orchards and vineyards alongside the Argandab River.

After initial setbacks, including the crash of a British Nimrod aircraft in which 14 servicemen died and an incident in which an American A10 bomber strafed Canadian forces, killing one and wounding 35, Nato forces turned the situation around. Wave after wave of Taliban arriving on pick-ups to join the fight were mown down. More than 100 are believed to have been captured and reports from Quetta in neighbouring Pakistan suggest that Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban leader, has instructed his men to return to their old guerrilla tactics.

The number of daily “contacts” between troops and insurgents has since dropped from a high of 24 in September to just two, although the lull in fighting may be partly because of Ramadan, the fasting month.

Richards believes that the victory has won his forces a six-month window during which the international community must make visible changes for the people of southern Afghanistan or risk losing everything.

“Fighting alone is not the solution,” he warned. “We’ve got to win over the 70% of people in southern Afghanistan who are good peasant stock and basically want security and the means to feed their families. If it’s only fighting they see ahead of them for the next five years, chances are that they will say well, we’d rather have the Taliban and all that comes with it.

“The means to persuade them is not just to show we can win, as we have done, but also that it’s all worth it, which means pretty visible and ready improvements.”

He added: “The military can’t do much more — it’s up to the government and development agencies. At the moment somehow it isn’t happening and we’re beginning to lose time.”

The military is locked in a debate with the Department for International Development (DFID) which has £20m to spend in Helmand but feels that the situation is too insecure for development and believes the focus should be on long-term projects.

Asked last week what reconstruction it had carried out in Helmand so far, a DFID representative could cite only the rebuilding of market stalls in two districts. The official added that the department did not want to draw attention to any improvements because that might make them targets.

The military want the DFID to hand over some of its funds to enable them to carry out work. “We have to prove to the population today that tomorrow is worth waiting for,” said Richards.

He said that in Helmand’s main town of Lashkar Gah last month, only one young man in a group of 20 he met had a job. “If there aren’t any jobs and the Taliban come along and say we’ll offer you $5 a day for taking pot-shots at the Brits then they will,” he said.

“That’s where we should be spending our money — creating jobs. And it really isn’t good enough just doing the long-term stuff.”

Karzai will chair a meeting on reconstruction this week, including ministers and foreign donors, in the hope of kickstarting programmes such as road building and irrigation.

“We’ve got six months to prove to the 70% that it’s all worth it, that we can not only deliver security but the things they really want,” Richards said. “If we do, I think things will be much better and we will have turned the curve. If we don’t, then my prognosis is that next year will be even worse than this year.”

Afghan energy through the eyes of Russian geologists

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political analyst Pyotr Goncharov) - Afghanistan is "quite likely" to possess substantial oil and gas reserves, Dr. Stephen J. Blank, Research Professor at the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army, says in his article Afghanistan's Energy Future and Its Consequences.

According to his "latest" data, perspective natural gas reserves in northern Afghanistan could range from 3.6 to 36.5 trillion cubic feet, and oil from 0.4 to 3.6 billion barrels. The professor believes these hydrocarbon treasures may provoke pipeline competition in the region between the United States and Russia.

The best place to assess the authenticity of Dr Blank's information is the All-Russia Research Institute for Geology of Foreign Countries, which can estimate the exploration of hydrocarbon reserves in northern Afghanistan, since Soviet geologists conducted a thorough study and assessment of reserves in the country's northern provinces through geophysical and contact means (exploratory drilling) for decades.

The institute has confirmed that seven gas and six oil deposits have so far been discovered in Afghanistan. All the fields are part of the Kara Kum oil and gas basin in northern Afghanistan.

Gas reserves in the seven discovered fields amount to 5.120 trillion cubic feet, including 4.230 trillion of C1 (proved) reserves. Excluding produced gas, the country's C1 reserves are estimated at 2.340 trillion cubic feet. Oil recoverables in the 6 operating fields are 0.91 billion barrels.

Stephen J. Blank himself doubts the authenticity of his data, especially the upper margin of his estimates. And these are relevant doubts. According to the All-Russia Research Institute for Geology of Foreign Countries, prospects for increasing proven hydrocarbon reserves in Afghanistan primarily depend on deep-hole drilling for 18 gas and nine oil prospects. The aggregate gas reserves on these prospects are assessed at just 5.429 trillion cubic feet, and the aggregate amount of oil recoverables is not significant either - 1.68 billion barrels.

Deep-hole drilling is not cheap, and requires hundreds of millions of dollars in investment. Precise conclusions can be drawn only after conducting such deep-hole drilling.

The Afghan Mining Ministry is aware of the statistics, since last November Russian geologists who attended the international exhibition Rebuild Afghanistan 2005, discussed the issue with the ministry's officials. I happened to interpret their conversation.

Now back to the U.S. expert's conclusions. Shall there be debates on the pipeline rivalry with Russia in Central Asia? It is true that provided the prospects for development and production of hydrocarbons in northern Afghanistan are good it will be necessary to find transportation routes across the country. Yet it will be expensive and dangerous to transport gas as it is from northern to southern areas of the republic across Afghan mountains. Gas export will be equally difficult.

The All-Russia Research Institute for Geology of Foreign Countries believes it will be easier to build thermal power plants in energy-rich northern Afghanistan and transport electricity from the north to the south, particularly since almost entire Afghanistan needs that. Energy will provide a boost for other industries. For example, there is a unique copper deposit, Ainak, south of Kabul. The deposit is ranked among the world's six largest and needs stable energy supplies for its development.

Afghan bottling plant wins contract to supply water to Coalition troops
By COMBINED FORCES COMMAND – AFGHANISTAN COALITION PRESS INFORMATION CENTER KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - Oct 9, 2006, 16:11

Blackanthem Military News, KABUL, Afghanistan – U. S. forces recently awarded Afghan Beverage Industries, a Kabul beverage bottling plant, a contract to provide bottled water to Coalition troops throughout Afghanistan.
           
This is the first contract for water to be awarded to a company within Afghanistan and marks a milestone in Coalition efforts to award military contracts to locally-owned and/or operated Afghan businesses under Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan’s “Afghan First” economic initiative.
           
At the initial market price per bottle of water, the contract is estimated to be worth over $600,000 U.S. dollars per month.
           
“This is a landmark event,” said Maj. David Van Bennekum, project officer for Afghan First. “This is the first time an Afghan-based company has met the stringent standards placed on vendors providing food goods to U.S. forces.”
           
The ABI plant, a subsidiary of a Dubai, U.A.E. company, employs over 300 Afghans in positions ranging from security to bottling production to sales and marketing.
           
ABI was subject to rigorous force protection requirements, as well as sanitary laboratory testing, dictated by U.S. Federal Regulations and Department of Defense policies.
           
“ABI passed its inspections with flying colors and now stands as an example of the potential for foreign investment in the infrastructure of this recovering country,” said Van Bennekum.
           
Prior to the contract award to ABI, the Coalition was importing 100 percent of its water and other food items from outside Afghanistan.
           
“At the start of Operation Enduring Freedom, it was absolutely imperative that we carefully monitor and protect our food supplies,” said Lt. Col. Robert Maurio, deputy director of logistics for Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan. “Of course, protection of our food sources is still a priority; however, we’re now making a conscience effort to embrace the private marketplace here while providing goods and services to U.S. forces as allowed by applicable laws and regulations.”
           
Since the inception of Afghan First in March 2006, contracts awarded by the Coalition to Afghans have increased, from 58 percent of the total number of contracts awarded in March to 86 percent in September.
           
“Purchasing goods locally not only improves the Afghan economy but also saves significant transportation costs for the Coalition,” said Van Bennekum.
           
An estimated $58 million is spent annually on shipments of bottled water into Afghanistan alone.  Factors such as temporary border closures through Pakistan and Uzbekistan, harsh weather conditions through mountain passes in the winter months, and security challenges can sometimes slow shipments of highly critical commodities such as food and water.
           
Afghan First was conceived and established by Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, commander of CFC-A.   The program, which requires U.S. forces to seek Afghan vendors as the first source for providing services, aims to stimulate the local economy and develop skill sets for local workers that can be used in the private marketplace.
           
“The program is much more than a contracting effort,” said Lt. Col. Frank Eubanks, director of logistics for CFC-A. “Rather, it focuses on educating Afghan businesses and their laborers who desire to contract with us while it assists them in reaching high standards.”
           
Base support functions are now largely serviced by Afghan citizens. Over 60 percent of the base support personnel at Camp Eggers, the home of CFC-Afghanistan, are Afghans. “The company, Kellogg Brown and Root, has developed training programs for local citizens teaching courses in carpentry, generator repair and food service, and they have embraced the Afghan First program with vigor,” Eubanks said.
             
“We’re focused on making decisions that truly invest in Afghan citizens’ futures and keeping the money inside Afghanistan,” stressed Van Bennekum.
           
To help the project, a working group of military, governmental and non-government organizations fostered the concept of the project. A Canadian-based NGO called “Peace Dividend Trust” promotes local businesses, helps Afghan workers develop skills and trades, and maintains a vendor database that contracting offices can access when searching for specific goods, products and services offered by Afghan businesses.
           
The NGO has been especially instrumental in matching Afghan companies with Coalition needs. So far, over 2,500 vendors have been listed on the website, www.procurementdirectory.af .
           
Peace Dividend Trust has also established a solid working relationship with the Afghan International Chamber of Commerce to aid in awarding contracts to locals, according to their website.
           
The project has the added support of the U.S. Embassy’s Afghan Reconstruction Group, United States Agency for International Development, the U.S. Army Afghan Engineering District and other organizations that provide expertise in several areas.
           
“We want the Afghan people to be self-sufficient and to be able to provide a solid life for their families.” said Van Bennekum.
           
Afghan Beverage Industries is one of four bottled water plants within Kabul. A fifth is under construction just outside Bagram Air Base.
           
“We’d like to be able to contract with each and every one of them,” said Van Bennekum. “Some of the companies are farther along than others in meeting the criteria to contract with the Coalition, however, all of them show a strong desire to achieve a contract.”
           
In some cases, the company owners are Afghan-Americans who have returned to their homeland to help their fellow countrymen and their society as a whole, said Van Bennekum.
           
ABI is equipped similar to any western bottling plant.  It is considered to be a “state of the art facility.” One of the special touches built into Afghan Beverage Industries is that the facility has a Mosque on site for its Afghan workers, said Van Bennekum.
           
The company has also met all equal opportunity requirements imposed by U.S. organizations like the DoD.  The managers have made a significant effort to employ Afghan women, said Van Bennekum.
           
It is currently estimated that Coalition forces will be purchasing close to 35,000 cases of water per week for Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, and Airmen throughout Afghanistan as part of the overall requirement to sustain the force.
           
Afghan Beverage Industries is already a thriving business within Kabul, and just recently sponsored a local 10K road race for which they provided all the water, company officials said.

Memorial Service Held for Deutsche Welle Journalists - DW

Following the murders of two Deutsche Welle journalists in Afghanistan over the weekend, colleagues commemorated Karen Fischer and Christian Struwe at its offices in Bonn and Berlin on Monday. Hundreds of fellow workers gathered to share a moment of silence to remember their fellow colleagues, who were shot dead in tents in Afghanistan on Saturday.

"Many colleagues knew Karen Fischer and Christian Struwe well and appreciated them as people," said Deutsche Welle spokesman Johannes Hoffmann.

"No one can really believe that they are no longer with us," he said. He added that Deutsche Welle wanted to provide its workers with the opportunity to say goodbye to Fischer and Struwe.

During the 20-minute commemoration service, Deutsche Welle's director general, Erik Bettermann, described Fischer's and Struwe's unique qualities both as people and as professional journalists. He called them "friendly and dedicated."

Memorial books were laid out in the DW's foyer and an intranet version has been established for colleagues to pay their respects in writing.

Fischer, 30, and Struwe, 38, who were in Afghanistan conducting private research for a documentary, were shot in the province of Baghlan early Saturday morning, according to a spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry, which handles police affairs.

The governor of Baghlan province, Said Ekramuddin Massumie, told the German news agency dpa on Sunday that five to six people had been identified as suspects and the authorities were "almost certain" that they were directly involved in the murders. They were the first foreign journalists to be killed in the country since 2001.

"The sound of the shooting was heard by some of the villagers, who ran toward that area," provincial police chief Mohammad Azim Hashami said. "They found a tent and they found the two journalists dead."

Fischer and Struwe had camped in Baghlan, about 150 kilometers (95 miles) northwest of Kabul, en route to the central province of Bamiyan, Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Zemari Bashary said.

"They were killed by unidentified people in their tent," he said, adding that authorities are currently investigating the situation.

Police were stumped for a motive, an interior ministry spokesman in the capital Kabul said. "Recently there were no security incidents in those areas," Bashary said. "I don't know what happened this time ... we are working on that."

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier condemned the journalists' deaths. "This heinous crime must be solved and the perpetrators brought before justice," he said while expressing his condolences to the victims' families, friends and colleagues.

DW's Erik Betterman called on Afghan authorities Sunday to clarify the circumstances surrounding the murder of the two journalists in northern Afghanistan.

Bettermann also called on Radio Television Afghanistan and the ISAF to cast some light on what happened. Earlier, Bettermann had also given his condolences to Fischer's and Struwe's families and praised their work in the Middle East.

Baghlan is relatively calm and has seen little of the Taliban-linked violence that is plaguing southern and eastern Afghanistan although unrest has increased there this year.

Unknown gunmen killed a Canadian carpenter in Baghlan in July. Mike Frastacky, 56, had been working for four years to build a school in the area. The circumstances behind his murder are still unclear.

Three foreign and one Afghan journalists were killed in a brutal attack in Afghanistan in November 2001 as they were approaching Kabul to do a story on the fall of the extremist Taliban regime in a US-led invasion.

Karen Fischer freelanced for the past three years for Deutsche Welle's English and German radio programs and focused her work on conflicts in the Middle East as well as the reconstruction of Afghanistan. She traveled to the area a number of times for Deutsche Welle, filing reports on a number of issues including the Afghan elections.

Christian Struwe helped set up and train journalists for Radio Television Afghanistan's international news department, a public project supported by the Deutsche Welle. The project was successfully transferred to RTA in August.

[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.]