In this bulletin:

• UN call for freer hand to defeat Taliban
• UK appeals for NATO help in Afghanistan after more troops killed
• Afghan 'falling back to Taleban'
• Taliban: NATO inflating Afghanistan death toll
• Ex-Nato chief attacks countries ‘shirking’ war in Afghanistan
• Musharraf to visit Afghanistan: spokesperson
• Pakistan 'Taleban' in peace deal
• Commentary: Pakistan's schools for scandal
• Opium cultivation surges by 59% in Afghanistan
• Afghan National Security Coordination System being implemented
• Bloc wants urgent debate on foreign file
• Afghan war winnable, but at 'high cost'
• Achakzai for talks with Taliban
• Afghanistan success story loses luster
• UNHCR Return figures

UN call for freer hand to defeat Taliban

Financial Times - Published: September 4 2006

The senior UN envoy to Afghanistan has called for Nato troops to be given more operational freedom as top alliance leaders flew to Kabul to bolster the mission to stabilise the country.

The alliance, whose credibility is widely seen as hanging on its success in Afghanistan, is facing fierce opposition from resurgent Taliban fighters that has caused mounting casualties and alarmed some Nato governments.

At stake is the drive launched after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US to overturn the former Taliban regime, purge the country of Islamist militants and establish a stable, democratically-elected government.

Nato said the visit by its top civilian and military leaders had been long planned to demonstrate a commitment to the Afghan mission. But officials said it should help fight the perception that the alliance was losing its way there.

Tom Koenigs, the UN’s special representative for Afghanistan, said Nato needed more troops and fewer restrictions on their freedom of manoeuvre. In particular, he said there were “around 71 caveats”, which he argued were “too many and must be removed”.

Caveats limit the combat role of Germany’s 2,800 troops and restrict them to Kabul and the north of the country. Nato can deploy them elsewhere only “under exceptional circumstances and on a temporary basis”.

Mr Koenigs, a German, added that the country’s soldiers “must now accept having to go to the south”. Both the local police and military were currently “hopelessly overstretched”, he said. On Monday, the Netherlands confirmed that about 100 Dutch soldiers had been temporarily reassigned to the south to assist Canadian forces.

Mr Koenigs was scheduled to meet the Nato delegation, headed by Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, secretary general, and James Jones, the alliance’s top military commander, during its three-day trip to Afghanistan. On Monday, a Canadian soldier was killed by “friendly fire” from the US, while a British soldier died as a result of a suicide bomb attack in Kabul.

This followed the death of four Canadian soldiers in a weekend offensive against the Taliban and of 14 British personnel in the crash of a Nimrod aircraft on Saturday. Nato said more than 200 insurgents were killed in the weekend campaign, although the Taliban labelled such claims as “propaganda”.

In an interview with the Guardian newspaper on Monday, Gen Richard Dannatt, Britain’s chief of general staff, said the UK army could “just” cope with the demands made by its operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The alliance said it had begun thousands of infrastructure projects in the south of the country and was carrying out up to a thousand patrols a week.

Reporting by Daniel Dombey in Brussels, Stephen Fidler in London, Hugh Williamson in Berlin, Rachel Morarjee in Kabul and Ian Bickerton in Amsterdam

UK appeals for NATO help in Afghanistan after more troops killed

London, Sept 4, IRNA - Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells Monday appealed for urgent NATO help to support British-led military operations in Afghanistan following more troops being killed.

"I certainly would like to see many more troops and resources coming from other NATO members," Howells said. "The battles currently going on in Kandahar and Helmand in certainly require more resources," he said.

His call came as one more British soldiers was among five killed in a suicide attack in Kabul on Monday and after the UK lost 14 military personnel in a reconnaissance plane crash in Kandahar on Saturday.

"There are 36 others countries involved in Afghanistan at the moment and it is quite clear they need to put more resources than they are at the moment," the minister for Middle East affairs said during a visit to Afghanistan.

"It is quite clear in me that there is very fierce fight now going on in Khandahar and Helmand and that the matter is a very urgent one," he said in an interview with the BBC.

On Monday, Britain's new chief of general staffs, Sir Richard Dannatt also warned that the UK Army, which is also involved in Iraq and the Balkans, is fighting at the limit of their capacity.

"We are running hot, certainly running hot. Can we cope?" Dannatt said in his first interview with the Guardian newspaper. Howells denied that British troops were being overstretched and that military forces were not adequate for the job they were being asked to do in Afghanistan.

But he said a "big international effort" was required and admitted that the situation on the ground in Afghanistan had turned out "differently" than was originally predicted. "It has turned out to be a much more serious battle than was first envisaged there is no question about that," the Foreign Office minister said.

"This should be a job for everyone, not just for the British, Americans, Canadians and the Dutch," he said. Efforts were required "across Nato not just certain countries," he said.

Critics say that British troops went to southern Afghanistan to provide security for reconstruction but have been drawn into a full- scale war with the Taliban.

The latest death bring the total number of British servicemen killed to Afghanistan to 37, the overwhelming majority have died since the UK has increased its deployment to some 5,000 soldiers in recent months.

Afghan 'falling back to Taleban' – BBC

Afghanistan is falling back into the hands of the Taleban, a report by an international think-tank has claimed. The Senlis Council has blamed international forces for failing to achieve stability and security.

But the British Foreign Office has rejected the report, insisting progress has been made in the country. And Nato troops say they have "trapped" the Taleban, adding at least 50 rebels have been killed on the fourth day of an offensive in the country's south.

The Senlis Council, which provides advice on foreign policy, security and development, claims nothing has been done to address widespread poverty in Afghanistan.

Its report, Afghanistan Five Years Later: The Return of the Taleban, says that the Taleban have a strong psychological and de facto military control over half of the country.

"Nato is caught in a trap in a way. They are faced with a deteriorating situation, they cannot do the core job of helping reconstruction," Emmanuel Reinert, executive director of the Senlis Council, said.

But a spokesman for the British Foreign Office said progress had been made with the introduction of parliamentary and constitutional organisations. "We do not recognise the picture they are trying to paint, " he said.

Also in contrast to the report's claims, Nato forces say their offensive is working to corner the Taleban. "We are closing the circle on the Taleban, we have got the Taleban in a bit of a trap," Nato spokesman Major Quentin Innes told the Reuters news agency.

Nato forces have clashed with rebels in the Panjwayi district, about 35km (20 miles) west of Kandahar city. The offensive is part of Operation Medusa, which began over the weekend and is designed to flush out hundreds of Taleban fighters.

Meanwhile, the Secretary General of Nato, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, is currently visiting Afghanistan. He is assessing progress in efforts to stabilise the south and will meet Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday.

Taliban: NATO inflating Afghanistan death toll

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP)September 4, 2006 - The top Taliban military commander on Monday said that NATO's claims to have killed more than 200 insurgents over the weekend were propaganda and warned that his men would target journalists who reported "wrong information" given by the U.S.-led coalition or NATO.

"They are saying that they have killed 200 Taliban but they did not kill even 10 Taliban," said Mullah Dadullah, Taliban military commander for south and southeastern Afghanistan. "They are just destroying civilian homes and agricultural land. They are using the media to do propaganda against the Taliban."

Dadullah spoke to The Associated Press in a satellite phone call from an undisclosed location. The reporter has spoken to him in the past and recognized his voice.

"From today, I want to tell journalists that if in future they use wrong information from coalition forces or NATO we will target those journalists and media," Dadullah said. "We have the Islamic right to kill these journalists and media."

NATO reported Sunday that more than 200 Taliban fighters had died in the first two days of the joint NATO-Afghan operation in Panjwayi, a district near the southern city of Kandahar, and claimed it had disrupted the militia's command and control. The Afghan Defense Ministry reported 89 militants were killed and there were some civilian casualties.

The casualty counts could not be independently verified as reporters could not access the area of the battle, which was continuing Monday.

At least five Canadian soldiers have been killed in the fighting. The U.S. military has said warplanes involved in friendly fire incident that killed a Canadian soldier in Afghanistan and seriously wounded five others were U.S. A-10 Thunderbolts.

Dadullah said he was speaking from a mountain where he was accompanied by a large group of mujahedeen, or holy warriors, who were ready to make "every sacrifice."

Dadullah claimed that the Taliban had registered 500 Afghans ready to be used as suicide bombers against "the intruders who have occupied our Islamic country" and that Taliban from outlying districts had entered cities to launch attacks. He warned local people to stay away from NATO and coalition troops.

"Now we are going to change our tactics, using a new weapon we did not have in the past, to target U.S. and allied forces," Dadullah said without elaborating. "We will create a big problem for them."

He said Mullah Omar -- the fugitive leader of the Taliban regime ousted by U.S.-led forces in late 2001 -- was still the movement's supreme commander.

Taliban-led insurgents have stepped up attacks this year, leaving hundreds of militants, Afghan and foreign security forces and civilians dead, mostly in the south and east. The insecurity has shaken faith in the elected, U.S.-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

Dadullah, who lost a leg fighting for the Taliban during its rise to power in the mid-1990s, is regarded as the group's top military commander and is wanted by the U.S.-led coalition hunting Taliban and al Qaeda fighters.

A car bomb targeting a NATO convoy killed four Afghan civilians and one NATO soldier in Afghan capital on Monday, NATO and Afghan officials said. The explosion happened on the Kabul-Jalalabad road at 10:15 a.m. and wounded four NATO troops, said Maj. Toby Jackman.

Maj. Luke Knittig, another NATO spokesman, said one the wounded troops later died of his injuries. He said one of the other wounded was in serious condition. Two sustained light injuries. NATO did not give the soldiers' nationalities.

Meanwhile, suspected Taliban militants attacked a district headquarters in a southern Afghan town early Monday, sparking fighting that left 16 militants and three police dead, an official said.

A "big group" of militants launched the attack in Garmser, in Helmand province, at around 1 a.m., and retreated after four hours of fighting, said provincial police chief Ghulam Nadi Malakhel.

Both sides used assault rifles, heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades in the fighting, that damaged the headquarters compound, which is shared by the Garmser district administration and police.

Malakhel said the militants took away seven bodies of their comrades and 10 wounded, but left nine bodies behind, along with an array of weapons. He said a Taliban group commander, Mullah Sattar, was among the dead.

Ex-Nato chief attacks countries ‘shirking’ war in Afghanistan – The Herald 9/4/06

Former Nato secretary general Lord Robertson last night condemned the Nato countries which have shirked their responsibilities in Afghanistan.

Frustrated at their failure to follow through the decisions taken unanimously by Nato, he abandoned diplomatic niceties last night to warn them that the price to be paid for not stabilising Afghanistan would be further terrorism on their own doorsteps.

Speaking to The Herald, he said: "They took on the task of delivering stability to Afghanistan and having taken that decision they have collectively to see it through."

Lord Robertson's comments came on another black day for British forces in the Middle East. Two soldiers died in an attack on a patrol near the southern Iraqi city of Basra. Another was killed - and a second seriously injured - in a suicide bomb attack in the Afghan capital of Kabul. They were both from the 5th Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.

Lord Robertson, Nato secretary general from 1999 until 2003, pointed out that, of the two and a half million uniformed troops in Europe, only 2% are deployable to troublespots.

Citing "a partial catalogue of lamentable European hard power" the former defence secretary challenged Nato countries to increase their military investment, and to grasp the fact that "either we go to Afghanistan or Afghanistan comes to us."

"Do we settle for impotence when we cry out for influence? As Nato takes on the challenge of stabilisation and reconstruction in Afghanistan, tackles the horrors of the earthquake in Pakistan, goes to Africa to facilitate action on the genocide in Darfur, and even helps in training Iraqi troops - where on earth is European hardpower? Have we no shame in we can do so little to join our ambition to reality?" he asked.

Lord Robertson acknowledged that countries had to follow a tough road in the global battle but he argued that if it was not done now, it would be worse in the future.

He also denounced leaders who put their antipathy to George W Bush before their country's national interest. "In the world of globalisation the Middle East is our close backyard and it is an abdication of historic proportions to say to the US 'You broke it, so you fix it'.

"And it will be a cynical betrayal of our populations' interests, and lives, if certain countries do not help for fear that it might help the current US President," he argued.

Speaking in Kabul, Kim Howells, a foreign office minister, echoed Lord Robertson's sentiments. As he dismissed suggestions that the troops in Afghanistan were overstretched, he implicitly criticised the lack of input from Nato countries.

Speaking to BBC Radio Two, he said: "I've not heard that at all from our commanders, our generals out here, they seem very satisfied with the equipment they've got."

He added: "It's our job to make sure that everybody else is pulling their weight so that the British Army is not overstretched and our armed personnel are not being put unduly in a more dangerous position than the dangerous one they're in already."

The deaths of the British soldiers in Iraq yesterday takes the number of British service personnel who have been killed since the start of hostilities to 117. Of those, 88 died in action.

Musharraf to visit Afghanistan: spokesperson

Islamabad, Sept. 5 (Xinhua):- Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf will visit Afghanistan at the invitation of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam said on Monday.

Speaking at the week news briefing in Islamabad, the spokesperson said that the arrangements are being worked out and the visit would take place at the earliest. She did not give the date for the visit but reports said that the president is likely to visit Kabul on Sept. 6.

"The purpose of the visit is to further strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries," Aslam said. The spokesperson said that the Afghan government is not involved in destabilizing activities in Pakistan.

However, she said that Afghan territory is being used for such activities. "Pakistan and Afghanistan have long and complicated border and it is not easy to seal it. Pakistan authorities are very much aware of the problem and taking precautionary measures," Aslam said.

Pakistan 'Taleban' in peace deal – BBC

Pakistan has signed a deal with pro-Taleban militants on the Afghan border aimed at ending years of unrest. The North Waziristan accord calls on tribesmen to expel foreign militants and end cross-border attacks in return for a reduced military presence.

Tens of thousands of Pakistani troops are fighting foreign Islamic militants and their local supporters in the country's restive tribal belt. Hundreds of people have been killed in violence in North Waziristan this year.

The BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad says some observers believe the deal offers the government an exit from a military strategy that has largely failed.

Dozens of soldiers have been killed in North Waziristan over the past year and local support for the Taleban seems to have increased rather than decreased, she says.

Meanwhile, a major offensive by Nato-led forces in the Panjwayi district in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar is pushing Taleban fighters into a corner, Nato officials say.

Tuesday saw more artillery barrages and air strikes, although the fighting is less intensive than over the weekend when Nato says 200 militants were killed - a figure disputed by the Taleban, who say many of the casualties were civilians.

Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is in Afghanistan to assess progress in the alliance's mission to stabilise the south, and will meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday.

The agreement brokered by a grand council (jirga) of tribal elders in North Waziristan is the first of its kind since Pakistani troops went after Taleban and al-Qaeda elements on the Afghan border.

Senior army officers and militants hugged and congratulated each other after signing the agreement at a college football ground in Miranshah, the main town in the North Waziristan region.

Details of the deal signed by the two sides were given in a brief speech by local MP Haji Nek Zaman, a member of the council of elders which was authorised to negotiate on behalf of the Pakistani government.

Under the accord, the Pakistani military promises to end major operations in the area. It will pull most of its soldiers back to military camps, but will still operate border check-points.

Over the summer the military met other conditions, releasing a number of tribesmen in an apparent goodwill gesture to the militants and withdrawing soldiers from new check-posts.

Local Taleban supporters, in turn, have pledged not to harbour foreign militants, launch cross-border raids or attack Pakistani government troops or facilities.

Observers say meeting these conditions could be difficult, as the Taleban has support on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghan border. The agreement comes shortly ahead of a visit by President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan to Afghanistan.

Relations between Kabul and Islamabad have been strained in recent months because of differences in tackling what both refer to as cross-border terrorism. Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta said the peace deal in North Waziristan was not enough on its own.

"I believe this is a cardinal mistake to believe that Waziristan is the only centre of terrorist activity," he told the BBC. "I think it is [in] a lot of other places in our region and a lot of organisations and also madrassas [religious schools], that they are the centre of terrorist activity."

Commentary: Pakistan's schools for scandal

By ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE

WASHINGTON, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- The good news from Afghanistan is the 18,500-strong coalition, now under NATO command, is good at finding and killing Taliban and al-Qaida fighters. The bad news, according to a recently returned U.S. Army commander, is "as fast as the guerrillas are killed, they are replaced by new recruits -- from camps in Pakistan," whose existence the Pakistani government keeps denying. Last weekend, coalition forces killed 200 Taliban for a loss of 20 of their own. A Dutch F-16 fighter-bomber and a four-engined British Nimrod recon aircraft crashed killing all aboard.

Part-time beneficiaries of Afghanistan's record opium harvest that produces 95 percent of Europe's heroin consumption, Taliban fighters are now equipped with the best money can buy on the international arms black market. The annual poppy crop is now at an all-time record of 6,000 tons, an increase of 50 percent from last year. Since the liberation of Afghanistan in November 2001, the area under opium cultivation has grown by almost 60 percent to 400,000 acres. And this despite draconian eradication campaigns by Britain and the United States. Now well over half the country's GDP is derived from narcotics trafficking. Warlords and drug lords -- frequently one and the same -- are represented surreptitiously in President Hamid Karzai's central government, which also includes a minister for "counternarcotics."

Taliban's resurgency in southern Afghanistan has impacted five provinces where crop substitution was abandoned to the exigencies of counter-guerrilla operations. Taliban also encourages poppy farming for levied protection.

Some of the opium bounty greases the relays for Taliban to operate in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, which Pakistan also denies despite having lost at least 700 soldiers fighting Taliban and their al-Qaida allies in these same areas.

Pakistan first tipped British intelligence about the August plot to down the same day ten airliners flying from London to U.S. cities. Many of the British suspects arrested are of Pakistani origin. Almost 1,000 British Muslims are now under observation by MI5, Britain's internal intelligence service. The overwhelming majority are 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation Pakistani Brits. A quarter of Britain's 1.8 million Muslims, according to a recent opinion survey, are sympathetic to violent jihad (holy war), and a third of them would rather live under Sharia (Islamic) law than British law. British Home Secretary John Reed says Britain faces "the greatest danger since the Second World War."

For many would-be suicide bombers all roads seem to lead to Pakistan. What is it about Pakistan that still holds a special appeal among those who harbor virulently anti-Western feelings, especially among Pakistani offspring in Britain?

Taliban was originally a Pakistan-based student movement nurtured, if not instigated, by the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence agency, a combined FBI/CIA agency with a license to "terminate with maximum prejudice," rig elections, and recommend civilian candidates for posts in military governments. ISI assisted Taliban in its conquest of Afghanistan (1992-96). Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were the only three countries to recognize the Taliban regime that took the country back several centuries and gave sanctuary to Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida terrorist organization.

ISI's latest successful assignment was to locate Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, an aristocratic octogenarian tribal chief and leader of Baluchistan fourth insurgency in the past 70 years, this time to get a fair share of massive gas and mineral deposits. Government troops attacked the cave where this former cabinet minister was hunkered down. An artillery shell buried him alive. ISI is yet to locate Bin Laden, widely believed to be headquartered in Pakistan's FATA, protected by fiercely loyal tribes that are clearly disinterested in a $25 million U.S. reward.

The Aug. 26 blunder sparked violent protests and shut down most of the country in a general strike to protest Bugti's "assassination." Even retired generals called on President-Gen. Pervez Musharraf to take the army out of politics and return Pakistan to civilian rule.

Pakistan is frequently described as the most dangerous country in the world. One-third of 165 million Pakistanis survive below the local poverty line of $2 a day. Per capita income is $800. Half the population is still illiterate. Two of its four provinces -- that share a 1,400-mile border with Afghanistan -- are governed by politico-religious coalitions that are friendly to Taliban and admire Osama bin Laden. And Musharraf himself reckons one per cent, or 1.6 million people, are violence-prone extremists whose organizations are banned from time to time only to reopen a few blocks away with a new shingle.

But Pakistan is also a nuclear power with some 60 nuclear weapons and missiles to deliver them as far as Mumbai in India. And the country's most popular figure after founder-father Ali Jinnah is Dr. A. Q. Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, and the international racketeers who sold nuclear secrets to America's enemies -- North Korea, Iran and Libya.

Pakistan is also the country of some 12,000 madrassas, the free-board Koranic schools for boys whose single discipline is learning the holy book in Arabic by heart, heavily larded with hate messages for the United States, Israel and India. Before their teens, they are examined on the meaning of holy war and martyrdom. Thousands of foreign madrassa students from Muslim countries, as well as Britain, the United States, Canada and Australia, have been ordered out of the country. But local police, loyal to local mullahs, tell the foreigners they can stay.

Musharraf has talked frequently about madrassa reform, but five years after he switched alliances from the medieval Taliban to the United States, following President Bush's post 9/11 are-you-with-us-or-against-us phone call, little has been done. To survive, Musharraf concluded early in his so far seven years in the driver's seat he had to pander to the mullahs. And the mullahs tell government regulators to butt out. Nothing seems to shake their conviction President Bush's war on terror is a war on Islam.

Outside of the main cities, rape victims, who traditionally remain silent, have to produce at least four male "eyewitnesses," failing which they wind up on trial for the serious crime of fornication. A recent "reform": only three of the eyewitnesses are required to be Muslim males.

Opium cultivation surges by 59% in Afghanistan

By Rachel Morarjee in Kabul – Financial Times September 4 2006

Afghanistan’s opium cultivation surged by 59 per cent this year largely as a result of a Taliban-led insurgency that is pushing the southern part of the country to the verge of collapse, the United Nations drugs agency chief said at the weekend.

Antonio Maria Costa, head of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, said in Kabul that the record harvest of 6,100 tons was “staggering” and “very bad news”. The southern part of Afghanistan, where Nato took control from US-led troops on July 31, was “displaying the ominous hallmarks of incipient collapse, with large-scale drug cultivation and trafficking, insurgency and terrorism, crime and corruption”, Mr Costa said in a separate statement released by his office.

Afghanistan now produces 92 per cent of the world’s supply of opium used to make heroin, Mr Costa said. In Helmand, where most British troops are stationed, the area under opium cultivation soared by 162 per cent as a result of corruption and efforts by insurgents to encourage production. Militants, linked either to the Taliban or al-Qaeda, were providing protection to drug convoys travelling to Afghanistan’s borders and demanding money in exchange, Mr Costa added.

That money has been used to fuel the insurgency in which 22 British troops have died since the Nato handover alone. Afghanistan’s drugs trade now accounts for at least 35 per cent of the economy and is the largest source of employment, foreign investment and income generation.

Afghan National Security Coordination System being implemented - COMBINED FORCES COMMAND – AFGHANISTAN - COALITION PRESS INFORMATION CENTER
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - Sept. 5, 2006

KABUL , Afghanistan – The Afghan government is implementing a National Security Coordination System designed to develop and strengthen the capacity of the Afghan National Security Forces. This new system, supported by the international community, will help the ANSF better coordinate its security efforts.

The system’s structure will consist of a National Coordination Center , five Joint Regional Coordination Centers and 34 Joint Provincial Coordination Centers .  These centers will help the leadership of the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police have access to the same operational picture so they can better use security forces.

The current and planned Regional and Provincial ANP Headquarters will provide the foundation for these coordination centers with representation from other security stakeholders to include the ANA, ANP and National Directorate of Security .

There are currently 15 operational JPCCs, primarily in the southern and eastern regions, with the goal of standing up five more by the end of the year.  Two of those five centers, one in Panjshir and one in Bamiyan, recently received authorization to buy trailers to use as offices.

Additionally, efforts are ongoing to establish two of the five JRCCs, one in the South and one in the East, by year’s end.   The implementation of these coordination centers includes communications suite, office furniture and vehicles, and also a Coalition-led training seminar to facilitate the successful transfer from Coalition leadership to Afghan leadership.

The entire National Security Coordination System is scheduled to be fully operational by the end of 2008, providing a critical capability to the government of Afghanistan .  The resulting improved security coordination will significantly enhance regional stability.

Bloc wants urgent debate on foreign file

Quebeckers fear PM is following U.S. lead on Afghanistan and Israel, Duceppe says - STEVEN CHASE Globe and Mail 9/5/06

OTTAWA -- Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe is calling for an emergency debate on the direction Canada's foreign policy is taking -- including whether Ottawa should pull its troops from Afghanistan.

He said there's a growing feeling among Quebeckers that Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper is moving in lockstep with U.S. President George W. Bush on foreign policy, from Israel to Afghanistan.

"I think they have more and more the impression that Harper is taking the same alignment that Bush is taking, and they are firmly against that," Mr. Duceppe said in an interview as the death toll of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan reached 32.

The Bloc says the minority Conservative government's foreign-policy actions this summer -- such as strongly supporting Israel's military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon -- have broken with Canadian tradition.

In a letter notifying Commons Speaker Peter Milliken of the debate request, Bloc House Leader Michel Gauthier says the Tories have strayed from Canada's historical position "of mediation and balance" and from the "major values of the Québécois and Canadian populations, which are, I am convinced by it, resolutely peaceful."

Mr. Duceppe said Quebeckers are disturbed by how the Tories "blindly" backed Israel, and this is translating into fear about where the increasingly violent Afghan mission is heading.

The Bloc Leader wants an emergency debate in mid-September before Mr. Harper lays out Canada's foreign policy in a maiden speech at the United Nations on Sept. 20 -- a request that doesn't leave much time, because the House of Commons only resumes sitting Sept. 18.

He's the second opposition party leader to raise concerns about the combat. NDP Leader Jack Layton has called for Canada to pull troops from Afghanistan and invite the Taliban to peace talks.

So far the name of only one Quebec-based soldier who has died in the Afghan conflict has been released: Corporal Jason Patrick Warren, who was buried in August.

Mr. Duceppe warned that Quebeckers will oppose plans to make the Quebec-based 22nd Regiment -- also known as the Vandoos -- the main Canadian force in Afghanistan next year unless there's a broader discussion about the direction the mission is taking.

"If we don't have an open debate on that, they'll be against [it] -- I am sure of that -- because they don't have confidence in the foreign policy developed by the Tories and Stephen Harper."

Analysts say Quebec reaction to the mounting Canadian deaths in Afghanistan could end up denying Mr. Harper's Conservatives the majority government they seek in the next federal election, expected as soon as the spring of 2007.

The 125-seat Tory caucus is still 30 seats short of a majority in the House of Commons, and the Conservatives had been counting on enlarging support in Quebec as the main route to full control of Parliament. But polls show they've made no progress since the January federal election.

Allan Gregg, pollster and chairman of the Strategic Counsel, says the deployment of the Valcartier-based Vandoos as the main Canadian force in Afghanistan next year could pose a real threat to Tory fortunes in Quebec.

"There is no question that having the Vandoos go later -- if not ever -- is better than them going earlier and for sure," Mr. Gregg said. "When the body bags start coming [back] with the Fleur-de-lis on them, this is going to have that much more poignancy for Quebeckers."

Afghanistan has the potential to drive a wedge between Quebec voters and the right-wing Tories if increasing numbers of Quebec-based soldiers die there, he said.

"Quebeckers are far and away the least militaristic, far and away the most likely to say the price we're paying right now is too high -- and also far and away the most socially progressive and . . . the most anti-American," Mr. Gregg said.

Afghan war winnable, but at 'high cost' - Analysts say victory remains possible if Canadians can stomach the casualties - ESTANISLAO OZIEWICZ Globe and Mail (Canada) September 4, 2006

Canada can achieve its military, humanitarian and democratic goals in Afghanistan, but it's going to take much more time and will cost many more lives, military historians said yesterday.

"The goals are to create a stable government there that is not a base for terrorism. I think that is achievable over time but probably at a high cost," Jack Granatstein, a fellow of the Calgary-based Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute, said in an interview. "We're clearly in a bloody and miserable war and it's going to get worse. I think the ends are worth the costs, but that's very hard to say to the wife of one of the soldiers who got killed."

Dr. Granatstein and David Bercuson, director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary, said some Canadians have gone along with the enduring myth that their country's forces acted only as impartial peacekeepers in previous military excursions since the Second World War and suffered no casualties.

In fact, Prof. Bercuson said, Canada has a long history of using military force to gain political, diplomatic or economic advantage. He cited Canada's role in the Korean War and its efforts to keep Croatian army troops and Serb irregular forces from killing each other in the 1990s.

In the disputed Medak Pocket area along the Croatian-Bosnian border in 1993, soldiers from the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry fought Croatian forces "because they didn't want to see ethnic cleansing going on in the area, even though it was a violation of their UN mandate. They got their guns out and killed people."

Retired Colonel George Oehring, a Canadian commander in the immediate aftermath of the Medak Pocket incident, said in an interview yesterday that Canadian troops in the former Yugoslavia were there as peacekeepers but didn't forget they were soldiers first.

"They sharpened their war-making skills, there's no question about that. It was always felt that this thing could go bad. And the best way to ensure the survival of those soldiers was to make sure that they could deal with the worst possible thing that could go down, which was a war," he said.

Prof. Bercuson said Canada's efforts to root out the Taliban, support Afghanistan's democratically elected government and help rebuild infrastructure can still succeed.

"We're part of a larger NATO coalition, the firepower of the NATO-coalition is inestimably greater than the Taliban, the positioning of the coalition is better and the supplies are better. And the Taliban do not have wide popular support," he said. ". . . It's winnable, but with casualties. That's what happens when you're fighting an enemy with a will of his own and is motivated by fanaticism." He said the chances of success are greater because Canadian troops are not in Afghanistan as an occupying force.

"We're not trying to suppress or pacify an entire nation or even a section of it," he said. "We're not doing what the Soviets did, we're not trying to do what the British tried to do in the 19th century. The geopolitical context within which this war is being fought is very, very different."

He and Dr. Granatstein said that for the mission to succeed, special attention must be placed on ensuring that Pakistan does more to stop Taliban insurgents and supplies. "It's largely dependent on the extent to which Pakistan is going to help us fix the problem," Prof. Bercuson said.

The view was shared by analysts at the Brussels-based International Crisis Group. Pakistan "has been a two-faced ally in this war, arresting some al-Qaeda members yet allowing the Taliban to regroup and launch attacks from its territory," ICG vice-president Nick Grono wrote recently. He said NATO forces have to get whatever they need -- troops, equipment or support at home.

"The importance of the move south cannot be overstated. . . quite simply, without stabilizing the south, you will not stabilize Afghanistan."

Achakzai for talks with Taliban

ISLAMABAD, Sep 4 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Chief of Pakistan's Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) Mahmood Khan Achakzai has stressed the need for holding negotiations with Taliban to put an end to the insurgency in Afghanistan.

In an exclusive interview with Pajhwok's correspondent in Islamabad, the nationalist leader suggested Taliban were also the sons of this land and talks should be held with them to solve the dispute through a political process.

Hitting hard at Islamabad, Achakzai said Pakistan would face serious repercussions if continued with the policy of interference in the internal affairs of Afghanistan.

He said Pakistan's interference in Afghanistan in presence of major powers might face Islamabad with gargantuan problems in the future.

He asked the Pakistani authorities to use their influence and push the Taliban to hold talks with the Afghan government and the foreign forces to bring peace to the insurgency-wracked country.

Describing the condition of Pashtuns in Pakistan as miserable, Achakzai said the Constitution of Pakistan could not solve the problems of Pashtuns and Baloch.

Pashtun lands were barren despite have vast water resources while the Punjabis were getting advantage from it, said the PkMAP chief. He demanded of the Pakistani government to constitute a separate province for the Pashtuns living in NWFP and Balochistan.

Afghanistan success story loses luster - Taliban unnerves formerly secure sector - By Kim Barker Chicago Tribune September 4, 2006

MUQOR, Afghanistan -- This town was once a success story, where girls attended school and the Taliban had no sway. But on a recent night, enemy fighters surrounded the district headquarters, fired rockets and bullets at the few men guarding the place and kidnapped seven people. "Son of Bush," they shouted.

Three days later, U.S. Army Capt. Erik Schiemann looked at the damage, the smoke-blackened rooms, the bullet-pocked walls, the caved-in roof. He told the new police chief, away during the attack, that the government and the military had failed Muqor. The Taliban had won this battle.

"This is terrible," Schiemann told the police chief, Raz Mohammad. "They totally ruined the governor's quarters. They destroyed the old district center. If nothing else, they have a huge opportunity to brag."

Such victories are common in southern Afghanistan, a stronghold for the Taliban, anti-government insurgents and drug runners, where suicide bombings have become a daily event. But Muqor is in south-central Ghazni province. The provincial capital of Ghazni is about a two-hour drive from Kabul, the capital.

Over the last six months, security in Ghazni has deteriorated to the point that U.S. soldiers complain openly about the weak Ghazni governor, and Afghan police acknowledge they are scared. Ghazni province has turned into a symbol of the resurgent Taliban, waging its most successful offensive against international troops and the U.S.-backed government since being driven out almost five years ago.

"As soon as they get you, they will kill you," said Barialai, who like many Afghans uses only one name and works just outside the U.S. military base near the provincial capital, also named Ghazni. "There are so many of them here."

On Aug. 25, the Taliban attacked in Muqor, killing one police officer and kidnapping seven people--four contractors building the security wall around the district headquarters, two police officers and one man who worked at a cell phone tower. The four contractors were released after the Afghan company negotiated with the Taliban. The other three haven't been heard from.

The Taliban rarely lets government workers go free. On Monday, three nights after attacking Muqor, Taliban fighters kidnapped two Afghan soldiers in the Qara Bagh district of Ghazni. They used one kidnapped soldier's cell phone to call another soldier, forcing him to listen as the two kidnapped men were tortured to death.

On Tuesday, Zemarak, a police officer, described how a dozen Taliban fighters showed up the night before in Pashtoonabad village, near the U.S. military base and Ghazni city. They rode motorcycles and carried Kalashnikov assault rifles and rocket launchers, a brazen show of force. By the time police responded, the Taliban fighters were gone. "They have grown so much," Zemarak said.

The U.S. military now believes that Andar district, just south of Ghazni city, is the source of Taliban activity in five provinces. Taliban recruiters go from house to house demanding either a young man to fight or $100. The government is not in control here; the Taliban is.

This year the government banned all unlicensed motorcycles in Andar in an effort to stop the Taliban from using motorcycles. The Taliban responded by banning vehicles in Andar. Everyone stopped driving.

Andar tribal elders don't like to talk about the Taliban, likely because they fear retaliation. "During the night, the Taliban come," said Adam Khan, 65, standing outside the Ghazni governor's office. "We don't know who they are. We don't know where they are from. We don't know their names."

"Come on, you know even the names of the mothers of the Taliban," responded Fazel Ahmad, the head of Deyak district in the province. "I know the names of the Taliban. How do you not know?"

The fact that Ghazni is so close to Kabul shows how powerful the Taliban has become in certain pockets of Afghanistan, and how weak the government is. The problems illustrate the kind of compromises the Afghan government has made throughout the country, where nothing is what it seems on the surface.

Sher Alam Ebrahimi, the Ghazni governor, is an accused war criminal, but he's also a former military commander linked to a powerful warlord, now a member of parliament. There aren't enough professional police in Ghazni, so tribal militias are used to fight the Taliban, despite the fact that the government is trying to stop relying on these militias. And these militia fighters are often more successful than the regular police because of their hatred of the Taliban. But militia members are also sometimes corrupt.

The situation in Muqor shows just how compromise works in Afghanistan. Mohammad was named as district police chief two weeks ago--part of the country's attempts to make a more professional police force. He replaced Dawlat Khan, a tribal militia leader removed from earlier posts because of allegations of corruption.

Schiemann, the Army captain, is now pushing to have Khan reinstated as police chief. When the Taliban attacked Muqor, Mohammad was nowhere to be found. But Khan was there, fighting back, losing men. "He's embezzled money," Schiemann acknowledged. "But he fights the Taliban. What are we supposed to do?"

Ebrahimi, the governor for the last 15 months, put his head in his hands when asked about security in his province. He acknowledged that security has grown worse in Ghazni but he insisted that the government controls the whole province.

He blamed outsiders for supporting the Taliban and said Ghazni is hit hard because it is near the border with Pakistan. He also said offensives by international troops in the south and east of Afghanistan may have pushed the Taliban into Ghazni. "We do not have enough security forces here," he said. "We do not have enough police. That is our problem."

Others said Ebrahimi is a problem. Several U.S. soldiers said they believe Ebrahimi is corrupt. The United Nations mission has been opposed to Ebrahimi since his appointment because of charges of human-rights abuses. Ebrahimi will be replaced soon, sources said. But most likely, they said, he won't move far. Instead, he will be made the governor of another province.

terrorists and extremists who “exploit the name of religion” and said they are not people of “true faith.” Speaking to a group of Islamic community leaders at a suburban Chicago mosque, Khatami said a dialogue needs to be created between the secular and religious worlds.

UNHCR Return figures

[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.]