Afghan President Hamid Karzai (R) speaks with Canadian Defence Minister Gordon O'Conner during a meeting in Kabul, August 31, 2006. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN)

In this bulletin:

• Taliban ferocity prompts Afghan rethink
• Official says Afghanistan not to be used as military base to attack Iran
• MPs criticize recent Afghan-Pakistan-US terror meeting
• Taliban attack town in south Afghanistan
• Afghan weekly criticizes US commander's dismissal of Pakistan threat
• U.S.: 'bad news' in Afghan drug war
• UNODC chief discusses fight against drugs in north Afghanistan
• Layton suggests talks with Taliban
• Layton wants Feb. withdrawal from Afghanistan
• With the Taliban?
• NDP illusions, government clichés and Afghan reality
• Pakistan wants nuclear bargain
• Afghan Representatives Visit Lincolnshire School - Members Of Afghanistan's Parliament Meet With, Answer Questions From Students – CBS
• Ministry rejects report of dismissal of Kabul security commander
• Russia's Technoproexport wins 32 mld order to rebuild Afghan hydroelectric plant
• Trans-Afghan project may be just a pipe dream
  West Wants to Reopen Dialogue with Uzbekistan: Diplomats

Taliban ferocity prompts Afghan rethink

Financial Times - September 1 2006

The Pentagon is contemplating a shift of strategy in Afghanistan to counter fiercer than expected opposition to the US and its allies from Taliban forces.

The intensity of the attacks mounted by a resurgent Taliban has surprised British and other forces as they have taken over - on behalf of Nato - responsibilities in the lawless south of the country, where the fundamentalist group is at its strongest.

A senior US defence official said yesterday that the US defence department had begun an assessment of developments in Afghanistan, particularly the apparent shift in Taliban strategy.

"My own preliminary judgment is that we are facing a different strategy than we have in the past and we are going to have to make some adjustments," he said. "We are going to have to see what the right mix of forces is."

The official said it might be necessary to characterise the Nato deployment as a counter-insurgency campaign rather than a reconstruction and stabilisation effort. However, any such change of emphasis could prove politically difficult for some Nato allies.

The sensitivity of some Nato governments to the mission they have undertaken in Afghanistan was highlighted in a new report from the US Congressional Research Service.

Citing officials from Nato governments, it said that Dutch commanders on the ground had insisted that no Dutch soldiers should be killed in combat.

In the Netherlands, which maintains 1,400 troops in the country, the defence ministry denied that commanders had issued such an ultimatum. "No such statement has ever been made," the ministry said. "We took up the responsibility for Uruzghan, which is in the heart of Taliban country, in full knowledge of the risks involved."

Officials from the UK, which has 4,500 troops in the southern province of Helmand, have acknowledged the difficulties the UK army was facing in the south. However, they have described the problemsas criminal as much asideological.

Official says Afghanistan not to be used as military base to attack Iran - Text of report by Afghan independent Ariana TV on 30 August

[Presenter] The presence of America in Afghanistan is not a threat for third countries. Speaking to Ariana TV, Defence Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi said that the Afghan defence minister in his recent visit to Iran assured Iranian officials that the Afghan territory would not be used for this purpose.

[Correspondent] Because of the recent arguments between Iran and America with regard to the [Iranian] uranium enrichment programme and the presence of 20,000 American soldiers in Afghanistan, the Iranian government fears the possibility of an American attack on Iran through Afghanistan.

In an exclusive interview with Ariana TV, the Defence Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi said that the defence minister, in his recent visit to Iran, said that Afghanistan's foreign policy was based on bilateral relations and it would never allow any country to use Afghanistan as a military base from which to attack other countries.

[Zahir Azimi] Afghanistan's foreign policy is based on bilateral ties. We will not allow anyone to use Afghanistan as a military base for attacking other countries. In addition, we have signed accords on this with the international community, and the US and UK governments in particular, and soon we will sign an accord with NATO. That Afghanistan is not a base from which third countries will be attacked is very clear.

According to Azimi, the defence minister discussed the fight against terrorism, bilateral ties and ensuring security on borders with key Iranian officials. Iran has also pledged cooperation in supporting the Afghan National Army.

Azimi also informed on the imminent visit of the ambassadors of Australia and Finland. He said that they had pledged that their countries would be committed to fighting Al-Qa'idah and the Taleban.

Finland has 100 soldiers in Afghanistan and has promised to help Afghanistan with 10m Euros in aid every year till 2010. There are 400 Australian soldiers in Afghanistan.

MPs criticize recent Afghan-Pakistan-US terror meeting - Text of report by Afghan independent Ariana TV on 30 August

[Presenter] A number of Afghan MPs have criticized the recent meeting held in Kabul attended by representatives of Pakistan and the USA. They say the meeting did not yield positive results and has had no impact on Afghanistan's security situation. The meeting was held to emphasize the need to increase border operations to prevent Taleban attacks.

[Correspondent] The meeting was attended by representatives of Pakistan, Afghanistan, the USA and the NATO commander. The meeting coincided with a worsening of the security situation in southern provinces. The meeting discussed mutual cooperation and the participants said more should be done to guard the borders and stop the Taleban entering Afghanistan. However, they gave no more details on this.

Meanwhile, MPs have criticized the meeting saying that it did not yield any results.

Welcoming the conference, however, Defence Ministry Spokesman Zaher Azimi said the results were positive.

[Zaher Azimi] Some things do not yield results, but are very important. There are Pakistani soldiers over the border and Afghan soldiers are on this side of the border. Sometimes there are arguments and tension between them. They need to negotiate. They need to know the places where mines are planted. This meeting proved very useful and it proved possible to clear the air during this 18th meeting.

Hamed, a Pakistani writer, told Ariana TV however that America took control of the meeting. Hence it will not benefit Afghanistan or Pakistan.

[Hamed in Urdu, Dari translation overlaid] Although the problems are between Afghanistan and Pakistan, the USA took control of the meeting so I do not think it will prove important. President Pervez Musharraf should come to Afghanistan to discuss these problems.

[Correspondent] Meanwhile, Azimi denies this and says that the three countries share common objectives, which are to fight terrorism.

Taliban attack town in south Afghanistan - By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer

Kabul - Taliban militants attacked a southern town Thursday in the latest violence to shake war-battered Afghanistan, sparking intense fighting with government troops that left two insurgents dead, the defense ministry said.

A NATO airstrike pushed back the militants, who used mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns in the attack on Naw Zad, in volatile Helmand province, said Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi. He said the fighting between the Taliban and Afghan army troops was "intense."

A Dutch F-16 fighter jet crashed in the Ghazni province in central Afghanistan, killing the pilot, military officials said. Hostile fire was ruled out because it was flying too high to have been shot down. The 29-year old pilot, the only person on board, was found dead at the crash site.

The Netherlands is a key contributor to a multinational force in charge of security operations in volatile southern Afghanistan.

In Zabul province, a suicide attacker plowed his explosives-filled car into a police convoy traveling on the main road, wounding three officers, said Jailan Khan, provincial police chief.

A purported Taliban regional commander, Mullah Nazir, claimed responsibility for the blast and said the bomber was an Afghan man from Khost province. His claim could not be independently verified.

NATO aircraft dropped six bombs on two Taliban positions in Helmand's Musa Qala district on Wednesday, but there were no reports of insurgent casualties, said Maj. Quentin Innis, a spokesman for the NATO-led force.

Helmand, particularly its three northern districts including Naw Zad, have seen some of the heaviest and most persistent fighting during this year's surge in violence in Afghanistan, the worst since the fall of the Taliban regime by U.S.-led forces in late 2001.

In the east, gunmen shot and killed a doctor as he left his home in the Zurmat district of the province of Paktia, said Matiullah Rahmani, the provincial deputy police chief. He blamed Taliban rebels.

Also in the province, militants launched a pre-dawn raid on a police post in Ahmad Khel district, wounding one policeman, before retreating. Rahmani said the militants left a trail of blood, suggesting they suffered one or two dead or wounded.

Before dawn Thursday, two rockets slammed into central Kabul, the capital. One landed in an upscale residential neighborhood, about 10 yards from the army chief of staff's house; the other landed in a park. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, witnesses and NATO said.

Kabul has been spared most of the violence that has wracked the south and east of the country, but occasional rocket attacks and roadside bombs have rattled it.

Afghan weekly criticizes US commander's dismissal of Pakistan threat - Kabul Weekly - 08/31/2006

The Afghan newspaper Kabul Weekly said Commander of the US Special Command Lt-Gen John Abizaid disappointed Afghans when he said on a recent visit to Pakistan that he believed Pakistan was not involved in causing security problems in Afghanistan. It said Afghanistan is convinced of Pakistan's involvement and pointed out that Pakistan has "deceived" the USA throughout history. The paper warned the anti-terror effort could be undermined if US and Afghan views on this continued to diverge. The following is text of article by Afghan newspaper Kabul Weekly on 30 August entitled "Gen Abizaid has disappointed Afghans":

Commander of the US Special Command [Lt-Gen John] Abizaid said at a meeting with Pakistani officials during a recent visit to Islamabad that he believed Pakistan was not involved in causing insecurity in Afghanistan.

His remarks demonstrate America's desire to back Pakistan while ignoring Afghanistan. Abizaid is the highest-ranking American official on the ground in the fight against terror. His remarks on Pakistan not being involved in causing insecurity in Afghanistan are controversial and do not bode well. His views differ from those of Afghan officials regarding the intensification of bloody fighting in Afghanistan. High-ranking Afghan officials and the public think that Pakistan interferes in Afghan affairs by supporting Taleban militants, who kill Afghan and foreign soldiers, particularly US soldiers.

The Afghan president, interior and defence ministers have repeatedly commented on this either directly or indirectly. Speaking in parliament, the head of Afghanistan's National Security Department also accused Pakistan of direct interference and causing insecurity in Afghanistan.

Consequently, we can see where the views of Afghanistan and the USA diverge regarding the main factors behind insecurity in Afghanistan. America blames the Taleban and Al-Qaidah, supported by Usamah Bin-Ladin, while Afghanistan blames Pakistan and its military intelligence department for the lack of security and inhuman killings in Afghanistan.

Abizaid might have released his comments to reduce tension between Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, history shows that Pakistan has cheated the US government in past decades. Pakistan's policy towards Afghanistan has always been wrong. During the jihad period, Pakistan cheated America by supporting radical Afghan parties, like Hezb-e Eslami, run by Hekmatyar. Hekmatyar used the money that he received from America through Pakistan for fighting in 1992. As a result, thousands of Afghans were killed and a major part of Kabul city was destroyed.

Hekmatyar is still fighting Afghan and foreign soldiers, particularly US soldiers. He uses the money left over from that US aid. The public believe that the remnants of Hekmatyar supporters are still regrouping in Konar and in the areas around Kabul. Most of the attacks launched in these regions are organized by Hekmatyar.

Pakistan changed US policy towards Afghanistan by forming the Taleban regime. It supported the Taleban and cheated America by saying the Taleban's presence was good for the security situation in Afghanistan. Therefore, the US government kept quiet about what the Taleban were doing. It only observed the situation and listened to the reports sent by Pakistan's intelligence department on behalf of the world's superpower.

The Taleban gave asylum to the enemies of the USA in Afghanistan and as a result of 9/11 in the USA, at least 3, 000 people were killed. This all happened because the US government was deceived by the Pakistani intelligence department.

No one in America knows Pakistan better than Zalmay Khalilzad, the former US ambassador to Afghanistan. It is said that Khalilzad was transferred because Pervez Musharraf complained to George Bush about him and as a result he was sent to Iraq before the end of his mission to Afghanistan.

Now Gen Abizaid might have said all this because of their failure to achieve their goals in the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan. He must have been affected by Pakistan's compliments.

Now the Afghan government should talk about the major elements behind the lack of security in Afghanistan with the Americans, who on behalf of the international coalition forces are fighting terrorism in Afghanistan. They need good results to defeat terrorism otherwise the problems caused by these two countries' divergent views on fighting the elements causing insecurity will cause more insecurity and create more problems.

It must be said that Abizaid disappointed Afghans with his comments because people believed that America would put pressure on Pakistan to take strong measures to stop its support for the impulsive actions of the Taleban.

Via BBC Reporting

U.S.: 'bad news' in Afghan drug war - The Associated Press 08/31/2006

WASHINGTON - The U.S.-backed strategy to fight Afghanistan's massive drug trade has been unsuccessful in stemming opium cultivation, which is expected to hit record levels this year, a senior U.S. official said Thursday.

"It's bad news and we need to improve it," said Thomas Schweich, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for international narcotics. "But we don't feel it's a hopeless situation, and we don't think the overall strategy is the wrong strategy."

Schweich spoke to reporters as Western officials in Afghanistan were forecasting a possible 40 percent increase this year in land under opium poppy cultivation, despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent in counternarcotics efforts.

Afghanistan produces more than 90 percent of the world's opium and heroin supply, and the drug trade has had a corrosive effect on President Hamid Karzai's struggling government.

"I'm not here to put a happy face on this situation. I'm not going to say anything is truly working," Schweich said. "What I'll say is that it's improving."

Schweich said recent improvements include a counternarcotics tribunal, better eradication of the crop, better distribution of funds for poppy farmers to find alternative jobs, and a public information campaign to warn people that they will be prosecuted and punished if they continue to produce drugs.

Schweich did not have specifics on how much opium production numbers would likely rise in an upcoming report by the U.N. anti-drug agency. But he said U.S. officials were prepared for a significant increase.

The high numbers, he said, were partly a reflection of a drug strategy that was only started in 2005. Money for farmers to pursue livelihoods other than poppy production were distributed in a "spotty manner," he said. There were also failures destroying the crop, and courts struggled to prosecute drug offenders.

A more credible threat of prosecution and better eradication of crops, Schweich said, would eventually help steer people away from planting.

UNODC chief discusses fight against drugs in north Afghanistan

Excerpt from report by Afghan Balkh Province television on 31 August

Antonio Maria Costa, the undersecretary general of the UN and the executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], paid a visit to Mazar-e Sharif today. Maria Costa and his entire delegation were received by high-ranking Balkh government officials at the airport in Mazar-e Sharif today. The UN delegation then went to Balkh government headquarters and held a meeting with the Balkh governor.

Balkh Governor Atta Mohammad Nur first welcomed the UN delegation and reported on the good security situation, the implementation of rule of law, accelerating the fight against drugs and preventing drug-dealing and trafficking. The governor said they had destroyed 5,800 hectares of poppy across the province in the current year meaning that Balkh Province now occupies first place among the Afghan provinces in this.

Speaking about the three-phase plan of the Balkh government to fight poppy, the Balkh governor said: Balkh should serve as an example to other provinces in the country in the fight against poppy.

The Balkh governor suggested that the UNODC should work in coordination with the Balkh government next year and help the government in this regard.

Afterwards, the UNODC executive director expressed his satisfaction with the security situation in the province, reconstruction projects, rule of law and the activities of the Balkh government and said to the governor: You are an active and innovative person. You have helped a lot in dissolving Army Corps No 7, implementing the orders of the central government, practising rule of law and ensuring better security and stability in the north. Speaking about the poppy eradication programme he said: Balkh is an exemplary province in the fight against poppy and this is a result of your efforts and good management.

Maria Costa mentioned the three-phase plan of the Balkh government regarding poppy eradication and praised it as a good plan for the fight against poppy in Afghanistan.

Later, Antonio Maria Costa and his delegation attended a grand assembly of chiefs of Balkh government departments, members of the Council of Elders, Provincial Council, Council of Experts and Education Support Council, farmers' representatives, district governors and national and international journalists. The assembly started with recitation of some verses from the Holy Koran.

First the governor spoke about the earlier meeting with Maria Costa regarding the fight against poppy, reconstruction and security in the north and asked farmers to put forward their suggestions regarding the poppy eradication programme in Afghanistan. [Passage omitted: thoughts of one speaker]

Antonio Maria Costa, speaking about the new administration of Afghanistan, the new elected government, and the constitution of Afghanistan said: Afghanistan is at the start of a reconstruction process. It is still a backward country and needs balanced development in all areas, particularly in terms of improving the administration. Expressing satisfaction with security in the province he said: Security is good and acceptable and that is thanks to good management and good administration.

He spoke about the fight against poppy and said: There is a balance between supply and demand. If the international demand for drugs is high, then we cannot stop supplying them. We have to pay attention to both sides in order to find a convincing way to fight poppy.

Farmers' representatives from various districts of Balkh put forward their suggestions and told the UN delegation about the problems facing farmers. The farmers' representatives asked for international aid and voiced their support for a national strategy to fight narcotics.

Layton suggests talks with Taliban - BILL CURRY - From Friday's Globe and Mail

OTTAWA — Canada should withdraw its troops from the current mission in southern Afghanistan and invite Taliban fighters to peace talks, NDP Leader Jack Layton said yesterday.

"We believe that a comprehensive peace process has to bring all combatants to the table. You don't accomplish peace if those who are fighting are not involved in the peace-based discussion," he said.

After listening to Canadians across the country this summer, Mr. Layton said, he has come to the conclusion that the current mission is too focused on fighting insurgents at the expense of development and diplomacy.

"Prime Minister [Stephen] Harper need only look at the experience in Iraq to conclude that ill-conceived and unbalanced missions do not create the conditions for long-term peace," the New Democratic Party Leader said.

Étienne Allard, a spokesman for Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor, said Mr. Layton is ignoring this spring's House of Commons vote that approved an extension of the mission to 2009.

"Canada will not go back on its word to its allies and people of Afghanistan to fight terrorism and help to develop and stabilize the region," he said.

"With such a statement from Mr. Layton, many Canadians are wondering if that would mean the Taliban would be back in power, children would not be allowed to go to school, people who want to live in a democracy would have to leave their country and women would not be entitled to a life of freedom."

After being overthrown by the United States in 2001, Taliban insurgents have waged a guerrilla war against foreign forces, including recent suicide bomb attacks that have killed Canadian troops. Under the Taliban's seven-year rule, girls were forbidden to attend school.

Liberal defence critic Ujjal Dosanjh also rejected the NDP call to withdraw troops, but agreed that talks with the Taliban could be helpful.

Mr. Layton announced his party's new position in Ottawa yesterday, exactly one week before more than 1,500 NDP delegates are to meet for a policy convention in Quebec, where support for the Afghan mission is lowest.

He said the withdrawal from the combat mission should begin as soon as possible and be completed by next February. Mr. Layton said the military mission in the south should be more like Canada's previous mission in the northern capital of Kabul, where there were fewer excursions to engage insurgents.

"That's the kind of approach we believe needs to be brought forward for the south and the only way to achieve that is to get a comprehensive peace process under way involving the parties," he said.

Reporters asked Mr. Layton whether he is calling for Canada to take part directly in negotiations with the Taliban.

He said "a collective desire to reduce violence and death could become a real motivation on all sides" to join peace talks.

An NDP official explained that the party is calling for all of the more than 2,000 troops currently engaged in Operation Athena in southern Afghanistan to return home to Canada as soon as possible. However, the roughly 50 soldiers based in the north as part of operations Archer and Argus would stay because their role is of a peacekeeping nature.

While visiting the troops in Afghanistan this week, Mr. O'Connor expressed frustration that the Canadian news media have focused more on death and battles than the troops' development work.

Mr. Dosanjh was among the three-quarters of Liberal MPs who joined the Bloc Québécois and the NDP this spring in a failed attempt to vote down the mission's extension. He noted that he has been criticizing the current mission as unfocused for weeks, but said it would be irresponsible to pull out.

"You have the right wing making the mistake of rushing us into an extension without due preparation and you have the left wing essentially saying 'Let's pull out without a plan,' and I think both are irresponsible," he said.

Mr. Dosanjh did not criticize Mr. Layton for wanting talks with the Taliban. He said Afghan President Hamid Karzai has recently urged foreign troops to treat insurgents as Afghan citizens and diminish the focus on killing.

"Whether or not it involves the Taliban fighters, I think we need to recognize that Mr. Karzai has said that whenever we're killing Taliban, they are Afghani, many of them," he said.

Layton wants Feb. withdrawal from Afghanistan

Updated Thu. Aug. 31 2006 - Canadian Press

OTTAWA -- NDP Leader Jack Layton says Canada should pull its troops out of Afghanistan by February because the mission has gone astray.

Sniping at both Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President George W. Bush, Layton said the Afghan mission has lost its direction.

It has no clear goals, no exit strategy and no criteria to judge success, he said at a news conference Thursday.

"This is not the right mission for Canada,'' he said. "There is no balance. In particular, it lacks a comprehensive rebuilding plan and commensurate development assistance.''

The focus in Afghanistan has changed from reconstruction to open war and Canada should have no part of it, he said. "Stephen Harper wants to take Canada in the wrong direction.''

Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay quickly brushed off Layton's proposal.

"Canada will not go back on its word to its allies and people of Afghanistan to fight terrorism and help to develop and stabilize the region,'' he said.

MacKay pointed out that the Commons voted last spring to extend the Afghan mission to 2009.

"It's unfortunate that Mr. Layton cannot accept the will of Parliament.''

The NDP voted against that motion, but it passed with support from a splintered Liberal party.

Paul Manson, a retired general and president of the Conference of Defence Associations Institute, said Layton's suggestion would be a "catastrophe.''

Manson said he sensed "partisan politics at work here.''

"A precipitous, unilateral pullout by Canada, in the short term, would reflect very badly on Canada, but more importantly it would have a very serious effect on the people of Afghanistan,'' he said.

Both NATO allies and the Afghan people and government would feel betrayed, Manson said.

Layton moved to stave off predictable attacks by insisting that his party supports Canadian troops and multilateral efforts to fight terrorism.

But he says Canada needs an independent foreign policy that stresses international development, peace-building and human rights.

"Why are we blindly following the defence policy prescriptions of the Bush administration?''

That course has cost dozens of lives and billions of dollars with no end in sight, he said.

"Canadians want a foreign policy rooted in fact, not fear,'' he said. "One that is uniquely independent, not ideologically imported. And one that leads the world into peace, not follows the U.S. into wars.''

He said Canada should be working for a "comprehensive peace process'' involving all parties to the fighting in Afghanistan.

Manson said there is nothing to suggest that the Taliban insurgents want to negotiate anything. "They simply want to return to power.''

The general said a general withdrawal by NATO would leave Afghans "once again facing the horrors they saw when the Taliban was in power.''

With the Taliban? - Editorial - Globe and Mail 9/1/06

Federal NDP Leader Jack Layton says Canada should pull its soldiers out of their Afghanistan combat mission by February. He reiterates his party's belief that Canadian forces are spending too much time fighting the Taliban rather than pursuing development, an argument that glosses over a crucial point. It is difficult to develop anything as long as the enemy stands ready to blow it up or thwart those doing the developing.

But Mr. Layton has diplomacy in mind. The key is to "get a comprehensive peace process under way involving the parties." Parties? Does that mean negotiating with the Taliban? Yes. Such a process "has to bring all combatants to the table."

And what does he imagine that the Taliban -- oppressors of girls and women, scourge of those it considers heretics, agents of suicide bombs in crowded marketplaces, destroyers of historic Buddhist carvings -- might seek at such a table? A cabinet post? A payment in return for respecting a multi-party government, not burning schools because girls attend them, not killing people it disagrees with and not providing a haven for al-Qaeda?

Mr. Layton's syntax was almost as tortured as his hopes were high. "Our belief is that in the context of a comprehensive approach involving all of the parties that there would be the possibility that a collective desire to reduce violence and death could become the real motivation on all sides if there were the fundamental building blocks of the reconstruction of the country and addressing the basic needs of its citizens."

If there were a realistic prospect that all sides shared this goal, Canadian soldiers would not be fighting in Afghanistan at this moment. If Mr. Layton wants to call for the withdrawal of Canadian troops, that is his prerogative. But he should have no illusions about what would follow.

NDP illusions, government clichés and Afghan reality

JEFFREY SIMPSON – op-ed From Friday's Globe and Mail

Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor spoke one truth during his visit to Canadian troops in Kandahar: The security situation is no better than a year ago.

A summer of fighting, car bombs and suicide attacks demonstrate that, despite Canada's best efforts, the situation has not improved. Reports in the U.S., British and French media, plus analyses from think tanks and Afghan academic experts, convey a rather different picture than found in much of the Canadian media, where rooting for the home team is understandable but sometimes misleading.

The drug economy is up in southeastern Afghanistan. Reconstruction projects are a fraction of what was anticipated. Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters flit back and forth across the Pakistani border. Yes, the number of Canadian (and British) "kills" of such fighters is up, but that doesn't count for much in this kind of war.

Canada is doing its best, but the question is whether best efforts are good enough. Inferentially, Mr. O'Connor's remarks suggest they are not.

Next year, he promised, will see an increase in reconstruction (non-military) money, an implicit recognition that this war cannot be "won" without civil society's support.

He did not promise more troops, but the need for more has to be debated. Next door, where the British are fighting in Helmand province (and where Canadians briefly fought, too), the intensity of the violence has NATO officials studying whether reinforcements from other countries might be required.

A complete pullout by February was recommended yesterday by the NDP's Jack Layton. For a leader whose convention next week will be designed to convince Canadians that the party is ready to govern, that declaration proved utterly the reverse.

Canada has an interest in the success of this NATO mission, because Afghanistan as a failed state would lapse into warlordism and Taliban rule. Canada is not there because, as Mr. Layton pretended, Afghanistan is George Bush's war.

The whole world saw the consequences of that kind of Taliban government -- for Afghans and for countries hit by the terrorists trained there. So if Mr. Layton really wants to do something about terror, as he insisted he did yesterday, perhaps he could explain how allowing the Taliban to return to Afghanistan would aid that fight.

Offering to beef up reconstruction in the absence of security is complete nonsense, the stuff of NDP rhetoric and of some idle speech-making by a few Liberal leadership candidates.

Having said that, Canadians lurch between the illusions of the NDP and the clichés of the Harper government and the accompanying "rally round our boys" media coverage, neither of which do justice to the enormity of Canada's challenges in this war.

Canada finds itself in a dangerous part of Afghanistan partly because the previous government dithered, thereby allowing other NATO countries to grab easier parts, and partly because a new chief of the armed forces, General Rick Hillier, wanted to prove to the military, the Canadian public and the Americans that it could fight.

A different government and another military leader might have chosen other options, but we have what we have. The best option is to understand the mission and do it, with much clearer eyes than before and, if necessary, different and greater deployment of resources.

The objective of the Afghan mission is limited but clear: prevent the Taliban from returning. The territory in dispute demands military and civilian assistance. The time frame as set by Parliament, and understood by our NATO allies, is two years. After that, we and our NATO allies take stock.

Any more grandiose objective will lead the country astray. We will not create Western-style parliamentary democracy there. We will not emancipate Afghan women, although we can help. We will not eradicate the poppy trade.

We will not change Afghan customs that have built up over the centuries. We will not cure their inherent suspicion of outsiders. We will not turn a post-medieval civilization into anything remotely resembling our definition of a modern society. We will not win any trophy-case victories. We might help nudge things in Afghanistan away from lapsing into internal disorder and extremist rule.

To achieve this straightforward, time-limited, modest objective -- which is really éviter le pire (to avoid the worst) -- will be hard enough. It would appear almost certain that even this limited objective's achievement might require more military and civilian resources.

Pakistan wants nuclear bargain - GRAEME SMITH - From Friday's Globe and Mail

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — Pakistan is expected to push Gordon O'Connor for help with obtaining Canadian nuclear power technology today, as the Defence Minister visits Islamabad for talks about the rising Taliban insurgency in southern Afghanistan.

Mr. O'Connor flew into Islamabad last night and enjoyed a late dinner at the upscale Serena Hotel with retired lieutenant-general Tariq Waseem Ghazi, Pakistan's Secretary of Defence.

The first evening of the three-day visit was spent talking about Afghanistan and regional security, according to a Pakistani source, but the Canadian delegation is likely to hear demands for nuclear assistance during today's scheduled meetings with Pakistani defence and intelligence officials.

Analysts say nuclear technology could be a key bargaining chip in Canada's increasingly urgent diplomatic efforts to win Islamabad's support for the war against the Taliban.

Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency has deep historical links with the Taliban movement, and some experts accuse the ISI of quietly fomenting the insurgency.

"Canada needs to build pressure on Pakistan to co-operate against the Taliban, and nuclear technology is one thing that Pakistan wants," said Hasan-Askari Rizvi, a political analyst in Lahore.

Canada was among the first countries to help Pakistan develop nuclear technology, when Atomic Energy of Canada supplied a Candu reactor for the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant, which opened in 1972.

Ottawa cut nuclear assistance to Islamabad just four years later, however, over concerns about failures to accept nonproliferation safeguards. The fears proved justified, as Pakistan became embroiled in a nuclear arms race with India.

Investigators also suspect the former head of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, of trading nuclear secrets with North Korea.

Embargoes have left Pakistan's civilian nuclear program in poor condition, with only two working nuclear plants and a record of low efficiency.

Despite using Chinese assistance in the continuing construction of a third nuclear power plant, Dr. Rizvi said Pakistan would prefer the technology of Western nuclear scientists.

Perhaps more important, Dr. Rizvi added, is Pakistan's desire to keep up with India. When U.S. President George W. Bush made a trip through New Delhi and Islamabad in February, he signed a civil nuclear co-operation deal in India with great fanfare. But he passed quickly through Pakistan without even the promise of similar treatment for his ally on counterterrorism.

The following month, nuclear issues were the only questions raised by Pakistani reporters when Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited Islamabad.

Mr. O'Connor's visit is a more low-profile affair than the Prime Minister's. The Defence Minister's schedule, passed to local reporters in Islamabad by the Pakistani government, lists appointments with Ashfaq Kiani, director-general of the ISI; Rao Sikander Iqbal, senior federal minister for defence; Habibullah Warraich, Minister for Defence Production; and General Ehsan ul-Haq, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. He will also do a little sightseeing.

Speaking to reporters at Kandahar airfield before he left Afghanistan yesterday, Mr. O'Connor expressed regret that his schedule doesn't include meetings with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf or Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

"The President's out of the country, and so is the Prime Minister," Mr. O'Connor said. "But you can't get everybody."

In fact, General Musharraf is widely believed to be in Pakistan until his upcoming visit to Afghanistan, which begins Sunday or Monday. It's not the first time that the Canadians have struggled to get the attention of Pakistan's leader -- about a month ago, Canadian diplomats tried and failed to arrange a meeting between Gen. Musharraf and Canadian defence attaché Lieutenant-Colonel Romas Blekaitis. With a report from Brian Laghi in Ottawa

Afghan Representatives Visit Lincolnshire School - Members Of Afghanistan's Parliament Meet With, Answer Questions From Students – CBS Mai Martinez Reporting

(CBS)LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill. Key members of Afghanistan's government met Thursday to discuss foreign policy and the challenges they face, but this wasn't a parliamentary proceeding.

CBS 2's Mai Martinez reports that members of the Afghan parliament went to Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire and gave students a first-hand view of Afghanistan.

The assembly was one of several stops on a two-week visit to the U.S. for the delegation, which includes eight members of Afghanistan's parliament.

"This group is going to see a U.S. high school,” said U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, (R-Ill.). “They are going to visit with a village board, they are going to see the Lake County government, and they are going to visit the Bahai Temple, a symbol of religious tolerance in our community."

Rep. Kirk hopes the visit will help the leaders see what they need to do to secure their country's democratic future. Members of the delegation say they appreciate the first-hand look at how a democratic nation works.

While at Stevenson, the delegation answered questions from students, including tough ones like when Afghanistan will be able to stand on its own.

The chairman of Afghanistan's defense committee said that could be a while because their army is not capable of securing the country against terrorism without the help of coalition forces.

"Without security, we will have nothing,” Defense Committee Chairman Noorulhaq Olomi said. “No school, no job, no life."
Students said they appreciated the honesty of the answers they received from the delegation.
"What I learned the most, and what the Afghani leaders emphasized the most, is how grateful they are and how much they need us over there still," said senior Adam Didech.
"In order to help them, we need to be there until they are able to support themselves," added senior Abby Phillips.
Members of the delegation say they learned a lot about democracy and compassion from the students at Stevenson
It's something they hope they can teach their own students, who after all, are the future of Afghanistan.

Ministry rejects report of dismissal of Kabul security commander

Text of report by Afghan independent Tolo TV on 30 August

[Presenter] According to a report by Cheragh daily published in Kabul, there is a possibility that the Kabul security commander might be transferred.

The report says that Amanollah Gozar, the commander of the Kabul Security Command, will be either dismissed or transferred due to illness. The report also introduces the person who may become the new security commander. However, the Interior Minister has rejected this as baseless.

[Reporter] The spokesman of the Afghan Interior Ministry, Mohammad Yusof Stanizai, rejected the report of the dismissal of the Kabul security commander, adding that his ministry is planning to carry out an assessment of the performance of the newly-appointed security commanders four months after their appointment.

He added that so far, the outcome of the assessment is unclear. According to another report, at the proposal of the Interior Ministry and upon approval of President Karzai, Abdol Samad Stanizai has been appointed governor of Farah Province.

The Interior Ministry spokesman added that more provincial governors would be either transferred or dismissed in line with the new administrative reforms programme introduced by the ministry.

Russia's Technoproexport wins 32 mld order to rebuild Afghan hydroelectric plant - AFX News Limited 08.31.2006, 04:32 PM

MOSCOW (AFX) - Russian state-owned company Technoproexport said it will rebuild a hydroelectric power station in Afghanistan that Soviet engineers from the same company had built three decades ago.

The deal worth 32 mln usd and signed with Afghanistan's energy ministry will see the rebuilding of the power station at Naghlu, east of Kabul, Technoproexport said in a statement.

Technoproexport said it had won a tender against competition from Chinese and Iranian companies. The project, due to be completed in 40 months, is financed by a World Bank loan to Afghanistan.

The Naghlu facility was built in 1978 by Technoproexport just before the Soviet invasion, company spokesman Alexei Saukh said.

Trans-Afghan project may be just a pipe dream - Asia Times 1 Sep 06

KABUL - Ambitious plans to revive the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) gas pipeline project could be wrecked by an upsurge of anti-government violence in Pakistan where this week thousands of people have joined supporters of a tribal leader to protest his killing by the military.

On Tuesday, explosions and gunfire were reported after more than 10,000 people attended memorial prayers for Nawab Akbar Bugti, who was fighting for greater autonomy for his gas-rich but underdeveloped province of Balochistan.

Bugti, a former governor of the province, was killed on August 26 when Pakistani government helicopter gunships and ground troops attacked his mountain cave hide-out.

With about 6 million people, Balochistan's population is almost half that of Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi. But in terms of mineral wealth it is the country's richest region. Islamabad has been planning a deep-sea port at Gwadar and a road link through Afghanistan to Central Asia from the province.

The TAP, which would carry natural gas from Turkmenistan to India through western Afghanistan, would pass through Balochistan. An alternative route through Pakistan's North West Frontier Province has been dogged by security concerns, which have been heightened by the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan's southern provinces.

Last week, news reports in Kabul said the 2,000km pipeline deal was in the final stages of approval with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the lead development partner, revising the framework agreement to include India in the project. Without the huge India market, the project, which is estimated to cost US$2-3 billion (one estimate pitches the final cost at $7 billion), may not be profitable.
Up to 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas could be piped annually from the Dauletabad fields in southeast Turkmenistan to consumers in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. The project will take about three years to implement after the countries involved take all key decisions.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the pipeline, which will pass through his war-ravaged country, could generate $100 million to $300 million per year in transit fees for his government and create thousands of jobs.

But domestic security concerns in Afghanistan and Pakistan could stymie recent progress on the two-decade-old plans to pipe natural gas from Central Asia to South Asia. Balochistan has been in ferment since 2004 when the struggle for greater national rights and financial resources and against the establishment of military camps in the province turned into an armed uprising led by a force of trained and semi-trained tribesmen known as the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).

While Bugti, the slain Baloch leader, was not part of this armed struggle, Pakistani authorities have maintained the he tacitly supported it. Pakistan's independent Human Rights Commission has documented widespread violations by security forces in Balochistan but Islamabad has maintained that they were required to secure domestic gas installations, which have often been targeted by Baloch rebels.

India is seeking to incorporate special clauses in the agreement to ensure that gas volumes contracted for would not be changed in the event that Pakistan required higher quantities than originally contracted for Gwadar port. This, and financial difficulties in the utility sector in India, could pose additional problems for the construction of the TAP line.

On December 9, 2003, the governments of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkmenistan signed a protocol on the pipeline. However, until early this year. when India's participation was publicized, little progress had been made. Last week, a top Indian official in Delhi confirmed the participation of a high-level team in the TAP meeting next month as a ”partner in the project”, according to Indian news reports.

With the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India natural gas pipeline bogged down, political commentators speculate that it may be strong opposition from the United States that has made India put the deal on the back-burner. New Delhi has given priority to the TAP project, which may be easier to implement.

However, Afghanistan's security remains a stumbling block to the pipeline. Fighting between remnants of the previous Taliban government and the US- and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force has only become fiercer in nine lawless southern provinces.

Without the foreign troops, Afghan security forces would not be able to provide security for the TAP, which will be an obvious target of rebel attacks. Kabul would need to assure its partners and investors that it could extend its legal and physical authority throughout the pipeline route before the project can take off.

Due to its location between the oil and natural gas reserves of the Caspian Basin and the Indian Ocean, Afghanistan has been a potential energy transit corridor. During the mid-1990s, US-based Unocal had pursued a possible natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan's Dauletabad-Donmez gas basin via Afghanistan to Pakistan, but pulled out after the US missile strikes against Afghanistan in August 1998.

West Wants to Reopen Dialogue with Uzbekistan: Diplomats - By REUTERS Published: August 31, 2006

TASHKENT (Reuters) - The West is seeking ways to re-engage in dialogue with Uzbekistan, a strategic Central Asian state which has been in international isolation after a bloody government crackdown last year, diplomats said.

Washington and Brussels suspended high-level contacts with Uzbekistan and accused it of using indiscriminate force to quash a revolt in the town of Andizhan in May 2005.

Since then the U.S. military has been evicted from an Uzbek base it had been using for operations in neighboring Afghanistan. Uzbekistan has moved closer toward Moscow which competes with the West for influence in the region.

Diplomats said the West is now changing its tactics toward the gas-producing Muslim country.

``The West is not what it was a year ago. Why? Because the West understands it's impossible to keep Uzbekistan in isolation for too long, and of course there are countries that have their own interests,'' said one Western diplomat.

``It's impossible for the U.S. to act without Uzbekistan in its war against terror because of Uzbekistan's strategic location,'' the diplomat said. ``It's been a year since the EU imposed its sanctions, and there has been no result.''

The trend toward re-engaging Uzbekistan was echoed by other foreign officials who spoke to Reuters but did not want their comments published.

Witnesses said hundreds of men, women and children died when troops opened fire on a crowd at Andizhan. The government said most of the dead were armed terrorists.

The European Union imposed restrictions on military sales to Uzbekistan and a visa ban on some top Uzbek officials after the Andizhan events. Washington has held no high-profile contacts with the country's leadership in the past year.

Uzbekistan, lying on top of vast but largely undeveloped gas reserves, is also the only Central Asian state to border all the other four ``stans'' of Central Asia -- Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

Moscow, keen to strengthen its position in former Soviet Central Asia, has defended President Islam Karimov's handling of the revolt in Andizhan.

Diplomats said re-engagement with Uzbekistan started with the July visit of Richard Boucher, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for the region. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit this week is also part of this trend, they said.

``An EU delegation was here the day before yesterday for talks with the Uzbeks,'' said the diplomat. ``Rapprochement is happening. And this trend will continue to develop over the next few months.''

[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.]