In this bulletin:

• President Karzai Attends Eid Prayer
• Karzai urges world's Muslims to "hear Afghanistan's cry"
• Taliban chief promises victory
• Taliban threatens to attack Europe, step up Afghan raids
• NATO troops kill 38 insurgents in southern Afghanistan
• Afghan girl killed in NATO mortar test error
• Canada adds former Afghan PM's faction to list of terrorist groups
• Senator seeks change in Afghan drug policy
• Afghan Rebels Will Be Defeated by Strong Government, Jones Says
• Turkey’s PRT to assume mission in Wardak soon
• Dutch foreign minister urges stepped up reconstruction efforts in southern Afghanistan
• O'Connor rules out 're-rolling' in Afghan mission
• Canada Giving $26 Million For Afghan Rebuilding, Women
• Security concerns limit Verner's Afghan trip
• Feds vow to loosen Afghan aid restrictions - By CP
• Afghanistan needs food, Ottawa told - Kids 'starving' near Canadian base: Think-tank - Warns
• that new strategy required to win Kandahar
• NDP Calls on Government to Rethink Afghan Mission
• Military families speak out
• Germany remains committed to rebuilding Afghan police force
• Afghan chief's fury at failure to deliver aid – The Scotsman
• Returning soldiers tell of shock at ferocity of Taleban
• Afghan troops draw praise for bravery
• Army team save Afghan Buddha
• Pakistan Islamists slam Musharraf, US in Eid sermons
  

President Karzai Attends Eid Prayer

Arg, Kabul – H.E. Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, attended the Eid prayer held at the mosque in the presidential palace this morning and spoke to the media. The President congratulated Muslims around the world and Afghans everywhere on the auspicious occasion of Eid Al Fitr and wished them health and prosperity.

Speaking to the media the President said “The Afghan people have suffered tremendously in the past months, their children were killed and their schools and clinics were destroyed. The enemies of Afghanistan killed two innocent children in the province of Helmand and killed poor workers in the province of Kunar . I express my heartfelt sympathies to the families of the victims of terrorist attacks in the past months.”

The President also prayed for the soul of those brave army and police officers who were killed during the fight against terrorism and said “The people of Afghanistan will never forget their sacrifices and I am confident that their martyrdom will take Afghanistan to the place, its people desire.”

“The Afghan people will achieve their longtime desire for a peaceful, stable and prosperous Afghanistan, and the day will come in which no Afghan will mourn the death of his/her loved ones. The Afghan nation, like other nations in the world, will live in peace, and become a prosperous nation.”

“On this auspicious day, I urge Muslim countries around the world to listen to the voice of the Afghan nation, the voice of pain and suffering, and to come to their rescue by ridding this devout Muslim nation from the menace of terrorism. Everyday the enemies of Afghanistan kill our people and destroy our country.”  

Speaking about yesterday’s incident in Shindand district of Herat province the President said “I call on the people of Afghanistan , the people of Shindand in particular, to avoid resorting to violence and contain this incident.”

“The people of Shindand understand that fighting can only bring destruction, death and misery to them. I want to assure that the Government has taken action to contain the incident.”

The President in a presidential decree assigned a senior delegation to make an assessment of the situation, prevent the repetition of such incidents in the future, and ensure full security in Shindand district of Herat province.

The delegation is comprised of:

1. Mr. Aref Khan Noorzai, Deputy Head of Parliament

2. Mr. Muhammad Yosouf Pashtun, Minister of Urban Development

3. Mr. Mawlawi Mohi-uddin Balouch, Advisor Minister

4. Mr. Aziz Nadem, Member of Parliament

Addressing the opposition, the President said “I urge those opposition groups who are not linked to the enemies of Afghanistan and terrorist networks to stop destroying their country and killing their fellow Afghans and return to their normal life and live in peace among their countrymen.”

Karzai urges world's Muslims to "hear Afghanistan's cry"

Kabul (AFP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai, in a message to mark the start of the Eid al-Fitr festival, called on the world's Muslims to help his country rid itself of the Taliban insurgency.

Karzai also urged the rebels to stop "serving foreign interests" he said were behind the destruction of Afghanistan, which has suffered from violence blamed on the Taliban since they were driven from power in 2001.

"On this auspicious Eid day, we ask the Muslims of the world to listen to the Afghan cry, listen to the pain and suffering of the Afghan nation, to come to the help of the Afghan people and help us get rid of terrorism," Karzai said on Monday.

He was speaking to reporters after leading his cabinet in prayers in a mosque at the presidential compound to mark Eid al-Fitr, the three-day festival that follows the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

"In the past several months, the people of Afghanistan have faced a lot of suffering and pain," Karzai added. "Every day there are bomb explosions, assassinations of our ulema (Islamic scholars), the martyrdom of our teachers and sorrow of our families."

Karzai had a message for those behind the violence -- which began shortly after US-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001 and has peaked this year -- saying they should "free themselves from being slaves".

"I ask those who are in the service of aliens and enemies of Afghanistan and are carrying out deadly acts against their own land, people and children, to free themselves from that inauspicious grip," he said.

Afghans living abroad should "come to their own country along with their brothers and sisters and work for the reconstruction and welfare of Afghanistan," he added.

The insurgency in Afghanistan has cost about 3,000 lives this year. Most of the dead were militants but hundreds of civilians and government officials have also been killed, along with dozens of foreign troops.

Afghan authorities allege there is foreign involvement in the violence, especially from ultra-conservative Islamic circles in neighbouring Pakistan.

Taliban chief promises victory
by Sunday 22 October 2006 8:59 PM GMT A FP

The spiritual head of the Taliban has vowed to bring Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, before an Islamic tribunal.

The warning from Mullah Mohammad Omar came through an online Ramadan message, posted on Sunday to mark Eid el-Fitr, the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.

"It is the fifth consecutive year that Afghanistan, our dear country, is under Crusader colonisation," Mullah Omar said.

"But this time, we also congratulate you on the defeat and the flight of the Crusader.

"I also announce to you that [Karzai], the Crusaders' valet, and his colleagues are in the process of looking for a way to escape ... We are going to bring them before an Islamic tribunal," the Taliban leader wrote in Arabic.

"The Crusaders are leading people into error ... They are using all media means to promote their lies, spending $100 million.

"It is what the Russians did ... but I am assured that they will be defeated, just as the Russians and their allies were," the message said.

The Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. But its troops were ultimately forced to withdraw after a struggle with Islamic forces that took the lives of least 10,000 Soviet soldiers according to official figures.

On October 7, a man identifying himself as Abdul-Hai Mutmaen and speaking in the name of Mullah Omar said that the Taliban spiritual head was alive and in Afghanistan, where he is directing an insurrection against the government and western troops.

Taliban threatens to attack Europe, step up Afghan raids

Dubai (AFP) - The Taliban vowed to intensify raids against foreign troops in Afghanistan and also said it would attack civilians in Europe, in two separate threats made on television and the Internet.

Fugitive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar pledged to step up incursions against foreign forces in Afghanistan, in an Internet message marking the start of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr feast.

"The coming months will witness an intensification and better organization of the resistance against the crusaders (in Afghanistan)," Omar wrote in the message, the authenticity of which could not be independently confirmed.

Initially written in Pashtun, it was posted in Arabic, with parts translated into English, on the official website of the "Islamic emirate of Afghanistan."

"I ask the mujahedeen to intensify operations against the crusaders... I congratulate the mujahedeen in Iraq for their powerful resistance and urge them to continue on this path," Omar said.

Around 40,000 foreign troops, including more than 30,000 with a NATO-led force, are in Afghanistan to help root out remnants of the Taliban militia, which was ousted from power by a US-led invasion in late 2001.

The militants have stepped up their operations this year, fighting some of the heaviest battles with Afghan and foreign troops since they were driven from power.

Militants are also planning to launch deadly attacks on civilians in Europe in revenge for the 2001 invasion, a Taliban commander said on British television.

Mullah Mohammed Amin said on Sky News that resurgent militants had built up stockpiles of weapons and were bent on revenge against "the foreign invaders". The Taliban now wanted to export terror to the West, he said.

"It's acceptable to kill ordinary people in Europe because these are the people who have voted in the government," he said in an interview conducted in the Pakistani border region.

"The ordinary people of these countries are behind this -- so we will not spare them. We will kill them and laugh over them like they are killing us and laughing at us."

Amin said the Taliban had been inspired by tactics used by insurgents in Iraq, namely remote-controlled bombs, landmines and suicide bombers. "They are our best tactic," he said.

Fighters were sheltering in Pakistan and were also being helped by sympathetic local people, he told the British television channel. In his Internet message, Mullah Omar also vowed to bring Afghan President Hamid Karzai before an Islamic tribunal.

"I also announce to you that the Crusaders' valet (Karzai) and his colleagues are in the process of looking for a way to escape... We are going to bring them before an Islamic tribunal," the Taliban leader wrote.

A purported spokesman for Omar said on October 7 that the militant chief was alive and leading the anti-government insurgency from inside Afghanistan.

"Mullah Omar has been in Afghanistan and still is in Afghanistan and will remain here to lead the jihad (holy war) against the American troops," said a man claiming to be Taliban spokesman Abdul-Hai Mutmaen.

NATO troops kill 38 insurgents in southern Afghanistan

Kandahar (AFP10.25.06) - NATO soldiers killed 38 Taliban rebels in strikes against militants returning to infiltrate an area of southern Afghanistan that has seen previous heavy clashes, the force said.

Afghan authorities in the Zhari and Panjwayi districts of southern Kandahar province -- the birthplace of the fundamentalist Taliban movement -- confirmed there had been heavy bombardments late Tuesday.

"In two separate engagements we killed 38 insurgents yesterday through very careful targeting against specific groups of insurgents trying to infiltrate back into Zhari and Panjwayi," a spokesman for the NATO force told AFP.

"We had eyes on them and we knew what they were up to and took action," International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) spokesman Major Luke Knittig said on Wednesday.

The area, which is about 35 kilometres (19 miles) west of Kandahar city, was the focus of nearly two weeks of intense fighting last month as part of Operation Medusa, ISAF's largest anti-Taliban offensive.

NATO said afterwards that its soldiers and the Afghan troops involved in the operation had handed the Taliban their heaviest defeat since the hardliners were driven from power in late 2001. ISAF says it is now rebuilding the war damage and setting in place reconstruction projects designed to persuade locals to shun the Taliban.

"We are continuing projects and things that are already putting in place economic development on the ground in follow up to Operation Medusa and insurgents continue to attempt to infiltrate back," Knittig said. "We are trying to deal with that infiltration." Provincial authorities were sent to the area to assess the damage, officials said.

Afghan girl killed in NATO mortar test error

Jalalabad (AFP) - An Afghan girl was killed and two wounded when a mortar test-fired by NATO troops fell short of its target and hit a home in Afghanistan, military and police officials said.

Police in the eastern province of Kunar first said three children were killed in the incident on Monday but the interior ministry in Kabul later said only one had died.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the two wounded were seven-year-old girls. The dead child was also a young girl.

The girls were being treated at the main US base at Bagram, near the capital Kabul, a spokesman with the US-led coalition said.

The ISAF troops had been setting up mortars to fire into areas where they had previously come under attack, ISAF spokesman Major Luke Knittig said. The area in Pech district is a hotspot for attacks by Taliban insurgents.

In a test, one of a round of five mortars fell short of the target for technical reasons, Knittig said. "We extend our sympathies and we are taking every effort to ensure children involved get the best care," he said.

An inquiry had been launched into the incident and an ISAF team had already been into the area to visit the families involved, he said.

Afghanistan is crawling with guns and fighters as around 40,000 foreign troops work alongside the 35,000-man Afghan army to defeat Islamist insurgents like the Taliban, who favour suicide and roadside bombings.

Children are often caught up in the violence: two were killed in a suicide blast in the southern town of Lashkar Gah on Thursday last week along with a British soldier.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai urged NATO forces the same day to take more care to avoid civilian casualties after up to 20 people were reported killed in two bombing raids targeted at Taliban fighters earlier in the week.

The Taliban were in government for five years until 2001, when they were driven out by a coalition led by the United States which wanted the hardline regime to hand over Al-Qaeda leaders blamed for the 9/11 attacks.

Canada adds former Afghan PM's faction to list of terrorist groups

Ottawa (AFP) - Canada declared Hezb-i-Islami Gulbuddin, a radical faction led by former Afghan prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and responsible for the deaths of two Canadian soldiers, a terrorist group.

"Listing Hezb-i-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG), which has joined forces with Al Qaeda and the Taliban, is an important step in ensuring our safety and security in the global fight against terrorism," Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said in a statement.

HIG espouses "a violent anti-Western ideology whose objective is the overthrow of the administration of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the elimination of all-Western influence in Afghanistan and the creation of a fundamentalist state," he said.

The group has killed, tortured, kidnapped, attacked political targets, as well as targeted civilians, journalists, foreigners, and foreign aid workers, he said.

Any person or group on Canada's terrorist list may have its assets seized and forfeited here. As well, supporters may face up to 10 years imprisonment for knowingly participate in, contributing to, or facilitating the activities of a listed entity.

Hekmatyar was a leading guerrilla commander against the 1979-89 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and had good ties with Pakistani and US intelligence services at the time. He was briefly Afghanistan's prime minister in the early 1990s.

But he has since been declared a wanted terrorist by the United States for his attempts to destabilise the US-backed government in Afghanistan and for taking part in an insurgency led by the fundamentalist Taliban regime.

Hekmatyar has issued repeated calls for a jihad, or holy war, against foreign troops in Afghanistan.

Senator seeks change in Afghan drug policy

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- A U.S. House leader urged the Defense Department to change strategy against Afghan heroin production, saying the existing policy isn't working.

Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., said in a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld the poppy eradication program in Afghanistan is a failure, USA Today said Tuesday. Hyde urged Rumsfeld to help Drug Enforcement Administration agents seek out drug lords and heroin processing centers rather than focus on poppy farmers.

Officials said the poppy eradication effort eliminated about 37,807 acres so far this year, about 7 percent of the acreage cultivated, USA Today said.

In the previously unpublished Oct. 12 letter, Hyde said the drug situation has "increased violence and terrorism" against forces stationed in Afghanistan and is threatening to "totally corrupt" new Afghan policies and programs the United States supports, USA Today said. Others officials, including Rumsfeld, voiced similar concerns that drug money is fueling a resurgence of Taliban and al-Qaida forces in Afghanistan.

Rumsfeld has not responded to Hyde's letter, but a Defense Department spokeswoman said the department is treating the matter seriously, USA Today said.

Afghan Rebels Will Be Defeated by Strong Government, Jones Says

By Paul Tighe - Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government will help defeat an insurgency led by Taliban fighters by tackling corruption and the drugs trade, said General James Jones, the commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

``It's very important that the Karzai government be seen to be tough on corruption, tough on drugs,'' Jones said yesterday in Washington, according to a U.S. State Department transcript. ``The Taliban and the forces that are opposing the expansion of the Karzai government generally cannot sustain themselves'' in areas where there is good governance and security.

NATO ``answered once and for all'' any questions about its capacity to tackle the Taliban by undertaking Operation Medusa last month in southern Afghanistan and killing more than 1,000 fighters, said Jones, a U.S. Marine general, who is the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.

Taliban fighters increased their attacks this year to try to prevent international and Afghan forces moving into southern and eastern provinces. NATO has 31,000 soldiers in Afghanistan supporting efforts by Karzai's government to take control of all areas of the country. The Taliban were ousted from power in the U.S.-led war on terrorism in 2001.

The government should demonstrate to the Afghan people that it is going to effectively address the issues of corruption, drugs and creating a working judiciary, Jones said at the Foreign Press Center.

``It's not just a military problem,'' he said. ``The focus has to be on the right amount of reconstruction at the right place at the right time.''

Afghanistan's insurgency involves militias, criminal gangs and drug traffickers as well as the Taliban movement, which has its stronghold in the south, Jones said.

``We're ascribing to the Taliban a regional character that they simply just don't have,'' Jones said. Taliban fighters will probably return to their hit-and-run tactics after their defeat in Operation Medusa where they fought a ``near conventional'' battle, he said.

The alliance achieved ``psychological ascendancy'' over the Taliban after the operation, General David Richards, the commander of the NATO International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, said at the Pentagon Oct. 17.

The operations of drug cartels are generating revenue that fund the areas of violence in the country, Jones said.

Opium poppy fields under cultivation rose by 58 percent in 2006, to 165,000 hectares (407,715 acres), according to an estimate by the United Nations in September. About 92 percent of the world's opium is produced in Afghanistan, where it generates more than $3 billion a year for people involved in its cultivation and trafficking. The number of people working in the Afghan opium industry rose to 2.9 million from 2 million in 2005, according to the UN.

NATO forces need to improve mobility, command controls and intelligence, Jones said, adding the alliance is ``always looking for helicopters'' and ways to improve its ability to move its forces around.

Members of the NATO alliance must lift restrictions on how their soldiers are deployed in Afghanistan, Jones said earlier this month. The defense chiefs from the 26 member states will meet in Brussels next week, Jones said yesterday.

``Each chief of defense has been sent a letter with the restrictions that we would like to have removed from those forces,'' he said. There are about 50 measures that have an impact on NATO operations, he added, without elaborating.

Turkey’s PRT to assume mission in Wardak soon

Monday, October 23, 2006 - ANKARA - Turkish Daily News - A Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) that Turkey has decided to establish in Afghanistan's Wardak province is expected to officially begin its mission at a ceremony to be held in early November, diplomatic sources said.

  The establishment of a PRT is part of Turkey's ongoing efforts to assist in the transformation and restructuring of Afghanistan, which is still plagued by violence and poverty more than four years after the fall of the Taliban.

  There are already 24 PRTs in Afghanistan, and Turkey's team will be the 25th, diplomatic sources told the Anatolia news agency.

  The same sources underlined that the structure of PRTs varied from one country to another and that in Turkey's PRT, civilian elements were dominant “because we also consider this [PRT] to be an assistance mission for the Afghan people and the state.”

  The Turkish troops that will serve as part of the PRT will not be combatants as they will not be assigned any operational missions, the sources emphasized. Turkey's PRT will be in Afghanistan for a five-year term. 

  Turkey is a member of the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board (JCMB), which was established with a five-year agenda to assist in the restructuring and rebuilding of Afghanistan.

  Seven members of the 28-member board represent the Afghan government, while the remaining members represent the international community. The JCMB was established within the framework of the Afghanistan Compact, a document signed at an international conference on Afghanistan's future in London in late January. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül represented Turkey at the conference, which was attended by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and representatives from 70 nations as well as Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

  The Afghanistan Compact represents a framework for cooperation for the next five years. The agreement affirms the commitment of the Afghan government and the international community to work towards conditions in which the Afghan people can live in peace and security under the rule of law, with good governance and human rights protection for all, and can enjoy sustainable economic and social development. The compact follows the formal end of the Bonn Process in September 2005 with completion of the parliamentary and provincial elections and will establish an effective mechanism for coordinating Afghan and international efforts in the future.

Dutch foreign minister urges stepped up reconstruction efforts in southern Afghanistan

The Associated Press – 10.24.2006 - WASHINGTON  - Kick-starting reconstruction in southern Afghanistan should be a priority for NATO allies as well as strongly supporting the Afghan government's efforts to extend its authority to the region, Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot said Tuesday.

He also recommended that NATO create a facility capable of reducing the humanitarian impact of fighting in southern Afghanistan.

"Winning hearts and minds involves demonstrating that unlike the Taliban, NATO cares about improving people's lives and addressing the consequences of the fighting," he said in a speech at Georgetown University.

Bot held talks Monday with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and said they covered North Korea, Afghanistan and next month's NATO summit in Latvia among other topics.

In his speech, Bot said recent fighting in southern Afghanistan shows not the strength of the Taliban, but that people are again becoming disillusioned with the lack of effective governance by the provincial and central authorities in Kabul.

On the positive side, he said, President Hamid Karzai is the country's first democratically elected president, democracy is functioning and girls are back in school.

In the recent fighting, he said, Dutch artillery, planes and helicopters were actively involved, and Dutch forces have been engaged in tough clashes in Uruzgan province, "fighting shoulder to shoulder with American and Afghan troops."

"But however successful our military operations are in a traditional sense, ignoring the humanitarian consequences comes at a cost," he said. "NATO should learn how to reduce the humanitarian impact of such fighting quickly and effectively."

He said the Dutch in Uruzgan take this part of their work very seriously.
"Currently, over 150 small-scale reconstruction and peace-building projects have been launched in Uruzgan province and are being implemented jointly with local people," Bot said.

Turning to differences between the United States and its allies over interpreting international law with regard to terrorism suspects, he recommended exploring such options as drawing up an additional protocol to the Geneva Conventions on treatment of prisoners of war or a separate international convention or treaty on terrorism.

He said a Trans-Atlantic group of 10 to 12 international legal experts should be established to explore these possibilities. He said Rice had expressed interest in the idea, which he recently suggested to the Dutch Parliament.

"The question of whether we need to adapt international law to new realities is a legitimate one," he said.

In the meantime, all laws currently in place should be honored, Bot said, and "the principle that every prisoner has a right to fair trial should never be abandoned."

O'Connor rules out 're-rolling' in Afghan mission

ALEX DOBROTA – Globe and Mail OTTAWA -- Canada will not throw sailors or air-force members into ground combat in Afghanistan, Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor said yesterday.

"There is no intention of employing sailors, airmen or airwomen in infantry roles," Mr. O'Connor said during Question Period, responding to a question by New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton. "There is no intention of extending the time that people are in Afghanistan if they are in active operations."

Mr. O'Connor's statement marks a departure from the position held by his department Sunday, and from statements made by the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Rick Hillier, last week at the Senate's standing committee on national defence.

During that meeting, Mr. Hillier said he was considering reassigning members from different branches of the military to ground roles in Afghanistan, in order to avoid sending units to Kandahar more than once. The practice is known as "re-rolling" in military circles.

"We have to use, sir, all of the Canadian Forces to do the missions," Mr. Hillier told the Senate committee meeting this past Wednesday.

Canada has 2,300 troops in Afghanistan and has promised to maintain that presence until 2009. Forty-two Canadian soldiers have died there since 2002.

At the Senate meeting, Mr. Hillier spoke about re-rolling reservists and recruits who are still in training. But in a recent interview, Captain Richard Langlois, a spokesman for the Department of National Defence, said the Canadian Forces were considering using sailors in combat roles.

That plan was heavily criticized by military historians and other critics, who said it could lower troop morale and would take far too long to implement.

Canada Giving $26 Million For Afghan Rebuilding, Women

OTTAWA, October 23, 2006 -- Canada has announced plans to give $26 million to aid rebuilding and the economic develpment of women in Afghanistan.

International Cooperation Minister Josee Verner (EDS: WOMAN), who visited Afghanistan on Sunday (October 22), said in a statement that nearly half of the money is to beused to build schools and train 4,000 female school teachers for some 120,000 school children, most of them girls, in 11 Afghan provinces. The Canadian statement said another $4.4 million is to be used to help some 1,500 Afghan women grow and sell fruits and vegetables.

Security concerns limit Verner's Afghan trip

Updated Mon. Oct. 23 2006 - CTV.ca News Staff

The federal minister for development is wrapping up her surprise tour of Afghanistan in which she announced a number of multi-million-dollar aid projects. But security constraints and a national holiday meant Josee Verner was unable to actually see any of the ongoing projects that Canada is funding.

Canadian diplomats and aid organizers have been under tight, government-imposed travel restrictions since diplomat Glyn Berry was killed in a roadside bomb attack last January.

Verner, the international co-operation minister, had to restrict herself to meetings at the Kandahar airfield and secure army compounds.

She told Canada AM on Monday that in meetings with Afghan officials, including the ministers of women's affairs and education, she was able to glean enough information to know the aid money is being well spent.

"At the end, this is the people of Afghanistan (who)will tell me what they need. and I'm sure we'll continue to work together and we will get good results," she said.

Included in her announcements:

• $14.5 million on a girls' education initiative in Kabul.
• $10 million for ongoing construction projects in Afghanistan.
• $5 million towards micro-credit initiatives to help women establish their own businesses selling and growing fruits and vegetables.

The education project will be established by the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee and will involve the building of up to 4,000 community-based schools and the training of an equal number of female teachers.

Verner on Sunday had a photo opportunity in which she handed out bags to Afghan schoolchildren and watched them recite poetry and play music.

Her two-day stay, however, overlapped with Eid, the celebration that marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. As such, the country has virtually shut down, although Verner said Monday that this did not hamper her visit.

Verner's trip comes as questions swirl back home about the effectiveness of the reconstruction taking place in southern Afghanistan. Critics complain the mission has been all war and no aid.

"We have announced that we will have more soldiers by the end of the month," Verner told Canada AM, "but as well, we increased our people in our CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) teams here and we are in the process to hire seven Afghan people to help us . . . to make sure what we do here is also the priority of Afghan people. That's the way CIDA wants to work here."

The Senate National Defence and Security committee recently criticized CIDA for not being able to show evidence of progress -- something that experts increasingly say is the key to winning the hearts and minds of the Afghan people.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay said they're trying to free up any restrictions that stand in the way of development.

Ottawa has promised C$100 million a year to Afghanistan for 10 years ending in 2011. It's to be spent on everything from small loans for entrepreneurs -- many of them women -- to vaccinations, textbooks and de-mining programs.

Feds vow to loosen Afghan aid restrictions - By CP

OTTAWA -- Canadian diplomats and aid organizers in southern Afghanistan have been under tight, government-imposed travel restrictions ever since diplomat Glyn Berry was killed in a January bombing.

The constraints appear to be hampering reconstruction efforts. Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay has acknowledged the limits and is trying to get them eased.

"We are working as effectively and efficiently as possible to free up any restrictions that stand in the way of development, that stand in the way of the progress being made," MacKay said following a recent speech to diplomats.

"We're looking for every means of efficiency to do that, both in our department and CIDA and at National Defence."

The question of how much reconstruction is taking place in southern Afghanistan, and how effective those efforts have been, are among the main political lines of attack by opponents of the war.

Critics complain the mission has been all fighting and no aid. Last week, the Senate committee on security and defence heard how the army has been trolling Ottawa, attempting to get already-approved Canadian reconstruction money spent on projects that are sitting in limbo.

"We're making progress," MacKay insisted. "We're making a big difference in the lives of Afghan people."

Officials charged with delivering millions of dollars in Canadian aid are rarely allowed to venture beyond the heavily fortified compounds of the Kandahar airfield and the nearby provincial reconstruction team (PRT) base, which is located within Kandahar city.

Afghanistan needs food, Ottawa told - Kids 'starving' near Canadian base: Think-tank - Warns that new strategy required to win Kandahar

Oct. 25, 2006. BRUCE CAMPION-SMITH OTTAWA BUREAU Toronto Star

OTTAWA—Afghan children are "starving" in a refugee camp 15 minutes down the road from a Canadian military base and there's been no attempt to deliver emergency aid to help them, a frontline researcher says.

"I can't understand why no aid has been delivered," said Norine MacDonald, a Canadian lawyer who heads the Senlis Council, an international policy think-tank that aims to provide analysis, ideas and proposals on foreign policy, security, development and counter-narcotics strategies.

It is funded by the Network of European Foundations, a group of 11 trusts and charities, including the Children's Aid Foundation.

"It's a vicious circle — the military doesn't do aid and the aid (groups) can't get on the ground because of the security situation, so nothing happens. I just don't think that's acceptable," MacDonald said yesterday. "We just can't keep on saying we can't do anything."

MacDonald, who has spent the last year living in Kandahar, came to the nation's capital to warn that widespread starvation in southern Afghanistan is claiming lives, provoking unrest and helping fuel the insurgency.

While Canadian development officials boast about providing microfinance loans and rebuilding infrastructure, Kandahar is facing a "starvation crisis" on a scale usually found in Africa, MacDonald told a news conference.

"They're getting it fundamentally wrong and the Canadian military, the young men and women who are fighting there, are paying the first price and Afghans are paying the second," she said. "If we don't change our policies now, right now, this month, next month, dramatically, we will suffer more losses and we will lose southern Afghanistan."

In a report released yesterday, the council urged Canada to deliver an emergency package of food and aid. The organization called on Canada to take the lead in getting NATO to rethink its plan to win over local residents.

Saying that Canada needs to "adopt" Kandahar, she urged Ottawa to encourage Canadian citizens and organizations to become involved in helping Afghans.

"In Kandahar, Canada is failing the very community whose support is essential for the success of our troops, making, in fact, the work of our troops more dangerous," she said.

"A new hearts-and-minds strategy is needed to meet Afghan people's most basic needs and regain their support." MacDonald pointedly rejected the New Democrats' call to withdraw Canadian troops, saying that would offer a "gift" to Al Qaeda — a home for terrorism.

NDP Calls on Government to Rethink Afghan Mission
Tuesday, October 24, 2006

On the same day an international think tank urged Canada to maintain its mission in Afghanistan, the NDP renewed calls for Canada to bring the troops home.

NDP Leader Jack Layton used Question Period to point out media reports warning that many Afghans will starve to death this winter because they lack aid. Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the unstable security situation in southern Afghanistan is the reason why there is hardship in the region.

The Senlis Council said Tuesday Canadians should be deeply concerned about the return of the Taliban and al-Qaida to Afghanistan.

The international think tank says Canada should boost its commitment to Afghanistan and take the lead in developing new NATO strategies in the country such as legitimizing poppy production to meet Third World demands for painkillers.

Military families speak out - Say they are against Afghan mission

CanWest News Service - Monday, October 23, 2006

OTTAWA - Families of some Canadian soldiers say the escalating body count in Afghanistan, and lack of success the international community has had bringing security to the Afghan people, has convinced them the Harper government should pull Canadian troops out of the war-torn country.

This is believed to be the first time Canadian military families of those serving in Kandahar, or set to be deployed there, have publicly expressed their anti-war sentiments.

In exclusive interviews with CanWest News Service, parents and siblings say they are concerned about the dangerous fighting with the Taliban. They are also unsettled by the war-focused nature of the mission, and see no end goal that will define when, and under what conditions, Canadian troops will come home for good.

''I am completely opposed to my son being used as ground fodder for an undisclosed reason,'' says Chris Craig, from Victoria. ''I want to know why we're there. The arguments that have been thus far presented don't do it for me. They do not explain why my son and his friends should be maimed or killed in a far-away country.''

Craig's 28-year-old son, a corporal who has served in Kabul and is set to go to Afghanistan again in February, has attended the funerals of four fellow Canadian soldiers. He has been a pallbearer at two of them.

Similarly, the fighting in Afghanistan hit too close to home for the 22-year-old sister of a young soldier from Burlington, Ont., when his close friend, Pte. Josh Klukie, 23, stepped on a booby trap and was killed Sept. 29 in Kandahar's Panjwaii district.

''My eyes have been opened,'' says the young woman, who asked that she not be identified for fear it could cause problems for her brother. ''When my brother joined the military, he was a peacekeeper. Now he's killing off Taliban in Afghanistan and it's just opened my eyes and I don't agree with it.''

The families have come forward at a time when the mission is causing deep divisions in Canada.

A poll conducted by Ipsos Reid in late September found public backing for the war had rebounded after it fell during the summer months, with 57 per cent of Canadians in support of the use of combat troops in Afghanistan.

The survey suggested public support has an expiry date, with 51 per cent of respondents saying Canada should withdraw its troops when the current military commitment ends in 2009, regardless of the level of success achieved.

In recent months, the families of dead Canadian soldiers have tended to express support for the war.

Indeed, the most vocal segment of the Canadian population which includes much of the military community, as well as Prime Minister Stephen Harper have insisted Canada should not abandon its efforts in the country.

The other side, which includes the military families who have now come forward to express concern, has come to the conclusion that Canada's presence in Afghanistan and particularly in the more dangerous Kandahar province is misguided, is causing more problems than it resolves, and must come to an end.

Craig, 60, says there is an inner conflict that military families who feel the way she does are struggling to deal with: how to support the soldier and oppose the war.

''The guys my son knows feel totally empowered by their families. They also know their families want them out of there, so this is a really unusual thing happening in Canada. Families are speaking out against this and they're saying 'I love my son or daughter, I hope they're safe and I want it over,''' she says. ''How can you not be at odds?''

Paul Short, the father of a 25-year-old army medic who will be sent to Afghanistan next February, said he erected a flagpole on the lawn of his home in Bay Roberts, N.L., this summer and put up the Canadian flag.

''I'm looking out at this flag poll, this beautiful, proud flag poll with the Canadian flag on it flying half staff and I'm constantly reminded of the young people who are dying over there, and in my opinion, needlessly,'' he says.

''With regards to my son going in February, I'd trade places with him in a minute. I'd go over without any training just to take his place.''

He says he told his son several weeks ago, ''If you do not want to go, then don't go refuse to go and your parents will back you 100 per cent.'' ''He didn't answer me,'' Short says.

The dissenting military families came to light after a call last summer by New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton to pull Canadian troops out of the counter-insurgency mission in southern Afghanistan a position for which Layton has been pilloried on Parliament Hill.

''I have never voted for the NDP in my life. It's just that the Liberals made a mess of this a while back, then Stephen Harper picked up on it. I don't know what happened when Stephen Harper took over. It just went to hell in a handbag,'' Short says.

''It's all right for Stephen Harper to say that that's the price you pay when you go to war, but that affects so many lives. Just because that person's life ended it doesn't mean that everybody else is not suffering around them. Stephen Harper don't seem to realize that.''

Layton says military families have important concerns that have not been heard in the debate over Canada's role in Afghanistan. He says it is a ''nuanced'' position that needs to be heard.

''I think there is something particularly poignant about the opinions of these families, which isn't to diminish the view of military families who are taking a different perspective on it,'' he says. ''They're like Canadians except they have an even deeper connection that is as intimate as it gets.''

Military experts have echoed criticism of the mission, but they are quick to say it is a ''simplistic'' idea to pull Canadian troops from Afghanistan and risk creating a power vacuum that will be filled by Taliban militants.

However, right now Canadian troops spend about 90 per cent of their time engaged in combat and just 10 per cent on reconstruction and humanitarian efforts, while a winning formula should be the opposite, according to Walter Dorn, a professor of peacekeeping at the Royal Military College. Dorn teaches majors, generals and combat commanders who have served in Afghanistan.

''It seems to me that for every person that we kill, we create relatives and associates who increase the level of hatred and we're sowing the seeds for future attacks,'' he says in an interview from New York, where he is working with the United Nations. ''If you don't win the hearts and minds of the people, you'll lose.''

Germany remains committed to rebuilding Afghan police force

Germany would remain committed to rebuilding Afghanistan's police force, German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Monday in Berlin. Schaeuble made the remarks after meeting with his visiting Afghan counterpart Ahmad Zarar Moqbel.

The two signed an agreement renewing Germany's police commitment to Afghanistan, where there are 40 German police trainers in addition to about 2,500 troops serving with the NATO- led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

Under the agreement, Germany provides assistance in building up a police force throughout Afghanistan and continuing to supply equipment and training.

Schaeuble said the police role helped "strengthen the trust of the Afghan people in democratic state institutions and in so doing deprive terrorism of its main source of sustenance."

Germany has invested 70 million euros (87.5 million U.S. dollars) since 2002 in rebuilding Afghanistan's police force. Source: Xinhua

Afghan chief's fury at failure to deliver aid – The Scotsman

THE governor of the volatile Afghan province where British troops are fighting the Taliban has attacked the UK Government for failing to send millions of pounds of development aid.

Mohammed Daud, who runs Helmand province in the south of the country, says the cash was promised by the Department for International Development. But it

British forces were sent to pacify Helmand, with the then Defence Secretary John Reid hoping it could be done without a shot being fired.

But now UK forces, their Nato allies and Afghan troops have been involved in a series of fierce fire fights described by commanders as some of the worst since the Korean War.

Mr Daud said the money must be pumped in as there could be no security without development. However the Government has replied by saying the strategy is to bring security first and then work on development. So far 40 UK military personnel have died on operations in Afghanistan since 2001 - the majority in Helmand.

Returning soldiers tell of shock at ferocity of Taleban

The Scotsman - 10/24/2006 - SOLDIERS who have come face to face with the Taleban yesterday revealed their shock at the intensity of the onslaught they faced in Afghanistan.

About 100 soldiers from the 1st Battalion the Royal Irish Regiment were welcomed home to their base at Fort George, near Inverness, after a gruelling three-month tour of duty.

Lieutenant Paul Martin survived a Taleban mortar attack that left him seriously injured, with a piece of shrapnel lodged 1cm from his heart. The 29-year-old platoon commander was one of seven men hit while trading fire from a rooftop position known as the Alamo.

He said: "I was very, very lucky. But I didn't realise just how lucky until the surgeon in Birmingham showed me the X-ray."

Lt Martin said sometimes Taleban attacks could start at 4am and continue until 10:30pm. However, he said eventually the enemy's resistance began to fade: "They were well trained and were really after us. They kept coming and kept coming."

Ranger Michael Diamond, 20, had been in Musa Quala for just 30 minutes when he first came under fire, the first time he had seen action since joining the army.

He said: "We had an intense few weeks. There was a lot of fear, but our training came into play.

"I volunteered to go to Afghanistan, having seen six months in Iraq. But by comparison we had a quiet time there. Going from that to Afghanistan was a big shock. We never realised it was going to be that intense."

Afghan troops draw praise for bravery

By JASON STRAZIUSO (AP) - CAMP BERMEL, Afghanistan -- Minutes after U.S. Army engineers were ambushed in far eastern Afghanistan, the 25 Taliban attackers were running for their lives.

Though U.S. troops were based nearby, it was Afghan soldiers who raced to the scene last week, jumping from brown pickup trucks and charging up the mountain. Helicopter gunships also swooped in, and 22 Taliban were killed and three captured. One Afghan soldier died.

Marine trainers at Camp Bermel and their Army counterparts at nearby Camp Orgun-e say Afghan soldiers are brave and eager to fight, but add that progress is slow because of a generally low level of education, the language barrier, low pay and ethnic tensions among Afghans.

Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, and the Afghan defense minister, Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak, congratulated the soldiers during a weekend trip to Paktika province to assess the Afghan army's training and performance.

Eikenberry acknowledged "some real daunting problems" in creating a national army but said the troops have made great strides.

"I talked to the Marine lieutenant colonel who was with that Afghan National Army unit and he said he's never seen a more fearless group of soldiers go into enemy fire and simply overpower the enemy with their sheer tenacity," Eikenberry said.

A strong Afghan army is key to the West's strategy for eventually turning over the country's security to Afghan forces. With no national military just five years ago, Afghanistan has basically created an army from scratch and now fields some 36,000 soldiers.

Their performance is in stark contrast to the 100,000-member Iraqi army, which faces Sunni-Shiite divisions and whose ranks have been infiltrated by sectarian militias.

Seth Jones, an analyst with the RAND Corp. think tank, said Afghan troops generally perform better than those in Iraq, which has a bigger problem with soldiers abandoning their posts.

"Now that might not be saying a lot," he said. "But I do think that the Afghan security forces began from a better baseline compared to the Iraqi groups. The fact that you've had several decades of war in Afghanistan means everyone knows how to handle a weapon."

Wardak, the Afghan defense minister, agrees. "We're a fighting nation," he said, alluding to Afghans' long history of fighting invaders - and fighting among themselves. "We can fight as well as anyone. If we have the combat enablers (trainers), we will definitely be able to defend this border" with Pakistan.

There are 68 U.S. and NATO training teams working with Afghan forces. "The ANA (Afghan National Army soldiers) are vicious, looking at the way they attacked the hill," said Sgt. Joseph Fincher, 24, of Fort Worth, Texas, one of 17 Marines training Afghans at Camp Bermel, a stone's throw from the border with Pakistan. "I'm just excited the ANA is eager to do this. After seeing them in action there's no doubt they're fighting for their country."

One Afghan in the fight last week recalled with pride how his fellow soldiers led the attack.

"The ambushed Americans retreated and we rushed in. We were fighting ahead of the Americans," said Mohwad Ghrozi, a 25-year-old from Kunar province who said he saw eight wounded insurgents kill themselves with grenades.

Sgt. David Bowman, a National Guardsman from Portland, Ore., who is training soldiers at Camp Orgun-e, said progress "comes and goes"

"They're eager to fight the enemy," he said. "Sometimes it's to the point of negating the American actions because they're so eager. Sometimes it's like taking a bunch of 9-year-olds to Chuck E. Cheese's."

Capt. Mark Larson of Madison, Wis., said most Afghan soldiers are not literate. "You make progress, but it's frustrating," he said of the training. And though the new army is multiethnic, a point of pride with Eikenberry, that can cause problems.

A Pashtun soldier, for instance, might feel he is being picked on by a Tajik officer, and other Pashtuns will jump to the soldier's defense, a breakdown in discipline that wouldn't happen in the U.S. military.

Larson notes the ethnic divisions are hundreds of years old. "I'm not exactly sure how we're going to be able to overcome that."

Another problem is pay - Afghan soldiers make just $70 a month. "Sometimes you see the higher-ups take theirs and then some and leave crumbs for the soldiers," Larson said. "It's really bad for morale. I think until they get their pay situation figured out there's going to be problems."

Bowman sees some of the downsides as growing pains, and compares the birth of the Afghan army to that of the U.S. military. "It's taken us 230 years to get to where we are now, and we're still progressing, still improving," he said.

Army team save Afghan Buddha

Tuesday October 24, 2006 - New Zealand Army explosive experts have saved a 2000-year-old Buddha by destroying a 500kg bomb found at the base of the statue in Afghanistan.

The Army's provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) bomb experts were called in when workers found the large incendiary bomb at the foot of the 53-metre high statue in the Bamiyan province.

The statue was believed to have been carved into the mountains in the sixth to seventh centuries but survived a Taleban attack that destroyed many other statues.

The workers who found the bomb were part of an international team working on the restoration of two famous Buddhas destroyed by the Taleban. Edmund Melzl, a spokesman for the International Council on Monuments and Sites, said the workers first thought the bomb was a piece of tin.

In the latest issue of the Army News, he said as soon as they learned it was more than a harmless piece of tin, the NZ Army was called in.

Air Force armourer Jim Johns said the bomb's history was not known but it might have been dropped when the Russians were fighting the Mujahadeen, failing to go off.

"Then when the Taleban came in and were blowing up the Buddhas, it was probably placed alongside other ordnance, failed to go off and was buried under the rubble."

The bomb was pulled out from the base of the statue using a block and tackle and was destroyed in a controlled explosion. Mr Melzl said: "I am so happy with what has happened here.

"Thanks to the PRT, we can resume our work and no damage has been done to the Buddha which was our biggest fear." The bomb is one of the biggest destroyed by the PRT team in Afghanistan. (NZPA)

Pakistan Islamists slam Musharraf, US in Eid sermons

Islamabad (AFP) - President Pervez Musharraf led millions of Pakistanis in prayer on the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, amid calls by Islamic hardliners for his ousting and for the defeat of the United States.

Security was heavy from the capital Islamabad to the southern port city of Karachi as people flocked to mosques and open air services, with thousands of extra police guarding places of worship and commercial areas.

Musharraf and senior officials offered prayers at the giant Faisal Mosque in Islamabad, where he later mixed with the congregation, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan said on Wednesday.

In a message issued on the eve of Eid, Musharraf urged Pakistanis to counter terrorists and the "misleading propaganda of those possessing negative tendencies".

But leading Islamist politician Qazi Hussain Ahmad used his Eid sermon to thousands of people in the eastern city of Lahore to oppose American policies and Musharraf's support of the US since 2001.

"America and its allies will face defeat in Iraq and Afghanistan.... We will take back our land from American agents," Ahmad said at the Mansoora complex of his Jamaat-e-Islami fundamentalist party.

Ahmad also said an alleged US threat to bomb Pakistan "back to the Stone Age" unless it backed the invasion of Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001 attacks was itself "a threat amounting to terrorism".

Musharraf said in his memoirs published last month that former deputy US secretary of state Richard Armitage gave the warning to Pakistan's then-head of intelligence in September 2001. Armitage denies the claim.

Meanwhile the founder of Pakistan's Lashkar-e-Taiba Kashmiri militant group, Hafez Mohammad Saeed, called in a separate sermon for "holy war" against anyone who showed aggression towards Islam.

Saeed was freed last week from three months in detention. He made the comments to supporters at the Lahore headquarters of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the Islamic charity he set up after he abandoned Lashkar in 2002.

Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamaat-ud-Dawa are both on the US list of terrorist organisations but Pakistan has refused to ban the latter group.

Other Eid services were held across much of the country including in the capital of Pakistani Kashmir, Muzaffarabad, and in other areas hit by a devastating earthquake last year.

However Pakistan's conservative North West Frontier Province and in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan marked Eid two days earlier, on Monday, due to discord between senior clerics over the sighting of the new moon.

[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.]