In this bulletin:

• Taliban cut road northeast of Afghan capital
• Expected Afghan Rebel Foray May Be Late, General Warns
• U.S. convoy kills Afghan boy
• ‘Taliban crossing border from Pakistan’
• U.S.: Iran-made weapons found in Taliban hands
• U.S. eyes Iran in Afghanistan
• Signs point to Iran's "unhealthy" Afghan role: U.S.
• Afghan government raids TV station over news clip -broadcaster
• TOLO TV RELEASE – 17 APRIL 2007
• STATEMENT ON YESTERDAY’S POLICE RAID ON TOLO TV, ATTRIBUTABLE TO THE UNAMA SPOKESMAN
• Rogue Afghan Attorney General, who is also a resident of Montreal, leads violent raid on popular TV station
• Wolesi Jirga approves annual budget
• Afghanistan sees 12 pct growth despite insurgency
• ‘Russia to write off $10.5b Afghan debt’
• Afghanistan debate heats up
• Canadians battle for Afghans' hearts and minds
• Afghanistan not Canada’s fight alone

Taliban cut road northeast of Afghan capital

KABUL, April 18 (Reuters) - Taliban fighters have cut off a road to the northeast of the Afghan capital and government forces were preparing on Wednesday to drive them out of the area, a provincial governor said.

The Taliban on Tuesday attacked police posts and a government headquarters in Tagab district of Kapisa province, 70 km (40 miles) from Kabul, in the heaviest fighting so close to the capital since U.S.-led troops defeated the Taliban in 2001.

"The Taliban have cut off the road. Both sides are aligning their forces for more fighting," Kapisa's provincial governor, Abdul Sattar Murad, told Reuters.

Murad said up to 300 Taliban were involved in the attacks to the north of the town of Sarobi, and about 50 km (30 miles) southeast of the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan at Bagram.

"We will use every means to drive them out," he said. U.S. aircraft had supported Afghan forces on Tuesday but there had been no U.S. air support on Wednesday, he said.

A U.S. military spokesman said Afghan forces had been involved in fighting in the area but said he had no information about U.S. involvement. "We're keeping a close eye on reports from U.S. forces in the area," the spokesman said.

Violence in Afghanistan surged last year to its worst level since the Taliban were ousted in 2001. Fighting eased over the winter, as it traditionally does in Afghanistan, but attacks have been picking up over recent weeks.

Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said the Taliban were well equipped, better trained and better funded than when they were toppled in 2001 because of outside support.

He did not name any country, but the Afghan government has long complained Taliban leaders operate and live in Pakistan and use it as a sanctuary for attacking Afghanistan.

Pakistan concedes militants do operate from its territory but says it does not support the Taliban.

"The reason for the deterioration of the situation largely has been because our enemies have been more active and have received enough training, have had their funding and equipping improved," Wardak told reporters after meeting visiting NATO ambassadors from Brussels.

He said this year was a critical time in terms of security. The Taliban have been vowing to launch a spring offensive backed by thousands of suicide bombers.

The fighting in Kapisa went on for about eight hours on Tuesday but died down as darkness fell. But the Taliban were still dug in in a valley and had seized a section of the road to Kapisa's provincial capital, Murad said.

NATO and U.S.-led forces have been mounting sweeps in the south over recent months to thwart the threatened Taliban spring offensive, but apart from an occasional clash, Kapisa had been peaceful.

Separately, Taliban guerrillas captured a government headquarters in Qarabagh district in Ghazni province, to the southwest of Kabul, on Tuesday night, travellers from the province said.

Taliban occasionally attack and hold government positions briefly and then withdraw when Afghan and foreign troops arrive to drive them out.

Expected Afghan Rebel Foray May Be Late, General Warns

By C. J. CHIVERS The New York Times Published: April 18, 2007

KABUL, Afghanistan, April 17 — An anticipated spring offensive by insurgents in Afghanistan has not materialized on a large scale, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan said Tuesday, but he warned that violence in the country could still reach the levels of last year and that poppy production would continue to increase.

The commander, Gen. Dan K. McNeill of the United States Army, also said he expected insurgents to shift tactics toward using more suicide bombings and improvised explosive devices. That prediction was consistent with recent events; several bombings have occurred in Afghanistan in the last week, aimed at the police and the United Nations.

Still, General McNeill’s remarks, after weeks of rising temperatures and skirmishes with the insurgents, reflected a sense among many Western military officers that the Taliban and their tribal allies had not conducted guerrilla operations on the scale the insurgents had predicted.

He suggested that insurgents had not been able to meet their expectations because of military operations by the International Security Assistance Force, the 36,000-member NATO-led force under his command.

For several weeks, thousands of its troops have been involved in a security operation called Operation Achilles in southern Afghanistan.

“We heard the much-ballyhooed spring offensive that the insurgents were going to make, and if there is an offensive — I am confident, I say and believe — we were first out of the block,” he said, in an interview at his headquarters here. “What we did in effect was launch a spoiling attack.”

But he cautioned against complacency, and left open the possibility that insurgent activity might increase after the poppy harvest, which is just beginning in several areas. It typically runs through late spring, depending on the region. Many Afghan men are involved in poppy cultivation and are not available to fight until after the harvest.

General McNeill spoke a day after another senior American officer, Maj. Gen. Robert E. Durbin, offered details of the planned infusion of money and equipment meant to make the indigenous forces more effective.

The United States spent about $2 billion from 2002 to 2006 on Afghanistan’s security forces, according to the unit General Durbin commands, the Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan, which equips and acts as mentors for the Afghan army and police. This fiscal year, the United States plans to spend $3.4 billion, part of the effort to contain and eventually defeat the insurgents.

General Durbin, an Army officer, said in an interview that if the latest budget proposals were approved, the United States would spend $5.9 billion next fiscal year.

In addition to expanding training, the money would arm Afghan forces as they have not been armed since the Taliban were chased from power in 2001. By late 2008, he said, Afghanistan’s forces would have more than 100 helicopters and 2,000 to 3,000 armored Humvees, vehicles like those used to protect American soldiers in Iraq from roadside bombs.

He said Afghan forces would have larger artillery pieces and “scores” of fixed-wing aircraft to bring intensified firepower against the insurgents, who operate in much of southern and eastern Afghanistan. “We have what I would call a very sound and effective program,” he said.

The two generals also said that the Afghan Army was performing well, but that the national police forces, which have had less money and training from international donors, needed more improvement.

Although General McNeill spoke with a degree of confidence about the initial spring campaign, he made clear that the insurgency remained potent and could be changing tactics. In recent days, for example, bombings have occurred in Kandahar, Khost and Kunduz.

He also spoke of difficulties beyond NATO’s immediate reach, including Taliban staging and training areas outside Afghanistan.

“Our strategy is not about killing insurgents,” he said. “It’s about defeating the insurgent strategy. It’s about separating the insurgents from the people. How effective can it be if there are sanctuaries for the insurgents that lie just out of reach of this country?”

He declined to cite any nation for permitting sanctuaries, but many insurgents travel freely in Pashtun areas of Pakistan. He also declined to predict when the insurgency would be defeated. But, in discussing counterinsurgency tactics generally, he uttered one word, “Patience.”

He swept aside the darker assessments of United States involvement in Afghanistan, saying that this year counterinsurgency efforts have had success.

“Those who tell me, ‘Too little, too late,’ I’m just simply not buying that, and especially if they try to denigrate the American effort here,” he said. “Because America has put much into the country, in the way of human capital as well as money, to help get this country back on its feet.”

U.S. convoy kills Afghan boy

KABUL (AP 4.18.07) - A U.S.-led coalition convoy hit a boy in Kabul and killed him, while Afghan and coalition forces arrested five suspected al-Qaida on Wednesday in eastern Afghanistan.

Acting on intelligence, the joint forces arrested the "al-Qaida associates" during a raid on a compound in the Chaparhar district of Nangarhar province, a coalition statement said, adding that no shots were fired and no serious injuries were reported.

On Tuesday in Kabul, a coalition convoy was passing through a bazaar when the boy stepped into the road from behind a large truck, a coalition statement said. The convoy stopped to provide first aid and the boy was evacuated for medical care, but died of his injuries, it said.

Also Tuesday, a powerful remote-controlled bomb destroyed a U.N. vehicle in southern Afghanistan's main city, killing four Nepalese guards and an Afghan driver, officials said.

The attack on a three-vehicle U.N. convoy in Kandahar was the bloodiest in Afghanistan for the world body since the hard-line Taliban militia's 2001 ouster, and illustrated how violence still impedes much-needed reconstruction.

The convoy was beside a canal when unidentified assailants detonated the charge. It hit a gray sport-utility vehicle, killing the four guards and their driver, police and the U.N. said.

An Associated Press reporter saw two charred bodies lying on the road nearby. The explosion blew off two of the car's doors and gouged a crater in the road.

While there was no immediate claim of responsibility, the attack came a day after a Human Rights Watch report accused Taliban militants of committing war crimes by targeting civilians.

The rights group said militants killed nearly 700 Afghan civilians in 2006 ? more than three times the civilian deaths attributed to U.S. and NATO forces, which have been criticized for using excessive force in civilian areas.

Violence in the south and east has created a vicious cycle for President Hamid Karzai and his international backers: Militants and criminals scare off aid agencies, fueling resentment against the government, especially among ethnic Pashtuns, from whom the Taliban draws its main support.

‘Taliban crossing border from Pakistan’

Daily Times, April 18, 2007 - KABUL: Taliban rebels are still crossing the border from Pakistan to attack targets in Afghanistan and the two key US allies must boost cooperation to stop them, an Afghan spokesman said on Tuesday. The comments come ahead of a planned meeting between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Pakistani counterpart Pervez Musharraf in Turkey late this month to resolve months of bad blood over the insurgency.

“Afghanistan’s problem is clear. Terrorists are crossing the border from the other side of the border and carry out sabotage operations. They’re active there,” Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s chief spokesman Karim Rahimi told a news conference. Afp

U.S.: Iran-made weapons found in Taliban hands

New York Times – 4.18.2007 By Michael. R. Gordon

Gen. Pace says it's not known whether Iranian government involved

WASHINGTON -- A shipment of Iranian-made weapons bound for the Taliban was recently captured by allied forces in Afghanistan, the Pentagon's top officer said Tuesday.

It was the first time that a senior American official had asserted that Iranian-made weapons were being supplied to the Taliban. But Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it was not clear if the Iranian government had authorized the shipment.

"We have intercepted weapons in Afghanistan headed for the Taliban that were made in Iran," Pace told reporters. "It's not as clear in Afghanistan which Iranian entity is responsible."

The shipment involved mortars and plastic explosives and was seized within the past month near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar. Markings on the plastic explosive material indicated that it was produced in Iran, Pace said.

American military commanders in Baghdad have repeatedly asserted that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has provided components for powerful roadside bombs and other weapons to militants in Iraq. Iran has denied those allegations.

Iran has played a complicated role in Afghanistan. When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, Iran was a bitter foe. When the Taliban-controlled forces seized the northern Afghan town of Mazar-e-Sharif in 1997, a group of Iranian diplomats there were executed.

Iran provided support to the Northern Alliance, which sought to overthrow the Taliban. It also cooperated with the United States in picking the current Afghan leader, President Hamid Karzai.

But as relations between Iran and the United States have become more confrontational, some intelligence reports have indicated that Iran's Revolutionary Guards might arm the Taliban in order to weaken and tie down the American military in Afghanistan.

Bush administration officials have repeatedly argued that Iran has been seeking to become the dominant power in the Middle East.

Some experts, however, assert that the Iranian strategy may be defensive.

"The overall Iranian role has been to work closely with us to bring Karzai into power," said Barnett Rubin, an expert on Afghanistan at New York University. "However, the Iranians believe the No. 1 threat is an American attack to overthrow their government. They may do anything it takes to make the United States and its allies uncomfortable there."

Asked how he thought the United States should respond to the purported Iranian support for militant groups opposed to American interests, Pace said it should take military actions against Iranian-sponsored networks.

"I think we should continue to be aggressive inside of Iraq, and aggressive inside of Afghanistan, in attacking any element that's attacking U.S. and coalition forces, regardless of where they come from," said Pace. He also said that the United States and other nations should use diplomacy with the Iranian government "to address Iranian interference."

While Pace did not say exactly when the Iranian-made arms in Afghanistan were seized or which forces captured the shipment, one American official said the episode occurred within the past week or so.

The Bush administration has charged that Iran has been supplying lethal support to Shiite militants in Iraq. Five Iranians who were captured in an American raid in January in the northern Iraqi town of Erbil are still in American custody. Iran has demanded their release, insisting that they are diplomats and not intelligence or military operatives.

U.S. eyes Iran in Afghanistan

By CONSTANT BRAND - Associated Press Wed Apr 18

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The U.S. will keep a close eye on Iran's involvement in Afghanistan following reports that Taliban insurgents used Iranian-made weapons against NATO forces, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday.

Richard Boucher, Assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, told reporters that Washington would like Iran to continue its previous "generally positive role" in reconstruction efforts in its eastern neighbor.

"Over, say, the last year or so there have been increasing concerns raised over Iran's behavior in Afghanistan," Boucher said. "Involvement that goes beyond the sort of cultural, commercial and educational, and starts going into reports of involvement in political areas or reports of contacts and arms supply to the Taliban," he said. "These are things we are watching very carefully."

U.S. military officials raised worries of a wider Iranian role in Afghanistan on Tuesday when Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in Washington that U.S. forces recently intercepted Iranian-made weapons intended for Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

U.S. officials caution however that any Iranian link, notably in providing weapons to Taliban fighters, remains cloudy. In Iraq, the United States have claimed they are certain arms are being supplied to insurgents by Iran's secretive Quds Force.

Pace said mortars, and plastic explosives which he said were made in Iran, were intercepted in the southern Kandahar province within the past month.

U.S. counterterrorism officials have said a handful of senior al-Qaida operatives who fled to Iran after the war in Afghanistan in 2001 may have developed a working relationship with a secretive military unit linked to Iran's religious hard-liners. Iran has rejected the charges.

Boucher, who was in Brussels to hold talks with European Union officials on Afghanistan and the wider central Asian region, reiterated appeals that NATO's European allies contribute troops to bolster NATO forces in the south and east of Afghanistan, which is facing the heaviest Taliban resistance.

Spain, Italy, Germany and France, members of both the EU and NATO, have refused to send more troops or to move existing forces in Afghanistan to help NATO's spring offensive against the Taliban.

He said the aim of this year's reconstruction efforts was to ensure the spread of government authority from Kabul to outlying regions, through road building, setting up schools, police stations and use of electricity.

"It's all about rebuilding the ability of the government to operate the ability of afghans to deliver security, governance and economic opportunity to its people," Boucher said.

The United States has around 27,000 troops in Afghanistan at present, and has offered $11.6 billion in new aid for the country.

The 27-nation EU in February proposed a $813 million package for Afghanistan, to focus on health, justice and rural development over the next four years, and EU nations agreed to set up a police training mission that could be deployed as early as May.

Signs point to Iran's "unhealthy" Afghan role: U.S.

By David Brunnstrom - Wed Apr 18 - BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Iran may be becoming involved in Afghanistan in an "unhealthy way," a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday, pointing to signs of Iranian arms supplies to the Taliban and other contacts.

The comments by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Richard Boucher came a day after America's top general said Iranian weapons headed for Taliban fighters had been intercepted in Afghanistan in the last month.

Tensions are high between Washington and Tehran. The United States and others accuse Iran of seeking nuclear weapons behind the cover of a nuclear energy program, a charge Tehran denies.

Boucher said Iran had played a positive role in the international process to establish a post-Taliban government in 2001 and in fighting the drugs trade from the country.

But he said there had been increasing concerns about Iran's behavior in Afghanistan in the past year.

"We have been seeing a series of indicators that Iran is maybe getting more involved in an unhealthy way in Afghanistan," Boucher told a news briefing in Brussels, where he had held talks with EU officials.

He said these included reports of involvement in "political areas" and of contacts and arms supplies to the Taliban.

Echoing comments by U.S. Gen. Peter Pace, he said: "We don't know exactly who is doing this and why but we know that these are Iranian-origin weapons that have shown up in the hands of the Taliban."

Asked to expand on evidence of Iranian interference, he said: "I don't want to overstate it. We have seen these things that I've noted; the weapons that General Pace talked about show up in Afghanistan; seen reports of political involvement from Iran, and these are things that we are watching very carefully."

Iran has yet to respond to Pace's accusations. It has dismissed U.S. accusations that it is fuelling the chaos in Iraq by providing weapons and training to Shi-ite militants.

Boucher did not respond when asked whether he thought it was unusual that Shi'ite Muslim Iran could be helping the Taliban, which adheres to the rival Sunni sect of Islam.

During the years that the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, Iran supported Afghan groups fighting the group, including the Northern Alliance which played a crucial role in toppling Taliban after the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

In 1998, Iran almost went to war with Afghanistan after the Taliban government killed 10 Iranian diplomats. Pace said Iranian-made mortars and C-4 explosives were intercepted in Kandahar by coalition forces. He did not provide further details, saying he knew only that the weapons were made in Iran and were on their way to the Taliban.

Afghan government raids TV station over news clip -broadcaster

KABUL, April 18 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's attorney-general, accused by critics of regularly breaking the law, has raided Tolo television, one of the country's most popular stations, over a news broadcast, Tolo said on Wednesday.

About 50 armed policemen raided Tolo's studio in an upmarket Kabul suburb on Tuesday night, assaulting staff and taking three senior journalists to the office of Attorney-General Abdul Jabar Sabet, Tolo said in a statement.

The attorney-general's office and the Interior Ministry, which oversees his operation, could not immediately be contacted for comment.

Dozens of journalists and lawmakers protested on Wednesday outside parliament against the raid, accusing President Hamid Karzai's government of smothering freedom of speech.

"Actually, the action and this order was 100 percent against the law, against the media law, against the constitution," Shukria Barakzai, an outspoken woman MP and former journalist, told Reuters at the rally.

"They really crossed the law. That's the reality. The enemies of the freedom of expression are not just those who are against this government."

The raid comes amid complaints, including by a group representing more than 100 aid agencies, that a new media law to be debated by parliament soon will restrict freedom of speech.

Tolo accused Sabet of breaking the law and said it had investigated his complaint and found it baseless.

"The attorney-general, Abdul Jabar Sabet, had complained of a news clip on the 6 p.m. Tolo TV news, which he claimed was inaccurate or misrepresented (his) comments at an earlier press conference," Tolo said.

"After investigating the complaint, Tolo TV management found the complaint to be invalid. The Tolo TV news clip broadcast was accurate and representative of what the attorney-general had said."

Sabet has personally led raids on Kabul guesthouses and restaurants in which witnesses say police abused staff, stole alcohol and other goods.

At least 14 Tajiks and Nepalis were held for days before being charged with selling alcohol. Under Afghanistan's constitution, suspects must be charged within 24 hours or released, lawyers say. All 14 remain in jail.

The raids were ostensibly a crackdown on illegal alcohol sales, but witnesses say police drank seized alcohol during the raids. Sabet and his office have not answered questions about the raids or the accusations.

In those raids, neither Sabet nor the police produced documents authorising their actions, witnesses said. Tolo also said it was given no valid order for Tuesday night's raid. "The police did not have any legal documentation," Tolo said.

Journalists covering the raid were also detained and their tapes confiscated, witnesses said, in what Barakzai and other members of parliament say was a breach of the media law.

"The manner in which Tolo TV were physically abused and detained was completely unacceptable and against the law," Tolo said.

"The physical transgression into Tolo TV offices is against the Constitution and the laws of Afghanistan. The taking of Tolo TV staff to the attorney-general's office was against the law."

The raids underline widespread criticism that the police, supposed to be a key weapon in the battle for security in the face of a mounting Taliban insurgency, are corrupt, badly trained and hold themselves above the laws they are charged to enforce.

Critics also point to parliamentarians accused of war crimes voting themselves an amnesty -- then giving thousands a free hot lunch to join a rally in their support -- and note some villagers take disputes to Taliban parallel courts because they do not trust the government system.

TOLO TV RELEASE – 17 APRIL 2007

Tonight at about 7pm Kabul time, more than 50 armed men from the 10 th District Police, under direct orders from the Attorney General, Abdul Jabar Sabet, surrounded the offices of Tolo TV in Wazir Akbar Khan in Kabul Afghanistan. The Police physically entered Tolo TV premises and violently attacked staff of Tolo TV, taking three staff members of Tolo TV with them. The Tolo TV staff members, were taken directly to the Attorney General’s Office and detained.

Earlier at about 6.20pm tonight, the Attorney General, Abdul Jabar Sabet, had complained of a news clip on the 6pm Tolo TV news, which he claimed was inaccurate or misrepresented the Attorney General’s comments at an earlier press conference today. After investigating the complaint, Tolo TV management found the complaint to be invalid. The Tolo TV news clip broadcast was accurate and representative of what the Attorney General had said at the press conference.

At the time that the District 10 Police came to Tolo TV offices, they sought the detention of Hamed Haidary, who was the journalist covering the news clip mentioned above, and the “person responsible” for Tolo TV. The Police did not have any legal documentation. When asked to produce such documentation, the Deputy Commander of District 10 Police, wrote on a piece of paper the following:

To the administration of Tolo TV

In accordance with the order of the Attorney General, the responsible person for Tolo TV, and Hamed Haidary, the reporter, are required to appear at the 10 th district Police Office.

Signed on behalf of the Commander of the 10 th Police District, Mohammad Qasim Aminzoi

The above document was handed to Tolo TV staff, but was not accepted by legal advisors to Tolo TV as it is not valid in Law. Under the Constitution of Afghanistan, Article 38 states as follows:

Residences shall be immune from trespassing. 

No one, including the state, shall have the right to enter a residence or search it without the owners permission or by order of an authoritative court, except in situations and methods delineated by law.

In case of an evident crime, the responsible official shall enter or search a residence without prior court order. The aforementioned official, shall, after entrance or completion of search, obtain a court order within the time limit set by law.

No arrest warrants, Court orders, or other legal or written documents were produced by the 10 th District Police (other than as noted above). They advised that the Attorney General had verbally ordered them to detain Tolo TV staff. When Tolo TV staff, including Tolo TV legal advisor, Mohammad Abdullah, Tolo TV Administration Manager, Siddiq Ahmadzada and Tolo TV Security Manager, Lal Mohammad, tried to reason with the Police they were physically assaulted and then dragged into Police vehicles. These three Tolo TV staff members were taken to the Attorney General’s office (not the 10th District Police Office), where they were held until public pressure forced the Attorney General to release the Tolo TV staff after about 1 hour. A number of other journalists, including 4 staff members of Associated Press who were covering the incident, were also detained without charge and allegedly assaulted and their footage allegedly confiscated.

It should also be noted that under the Media Laws of Afghanistan, all complaints about the media should, at first instance, be directed towards the Media Investigation Commission which is tasked with investigating such complaints. This Commission is then able to refer the matter to the Attorney General’s office if warranted. This procedure was not followed in this instance.

We hereby state as follows:

-      the actions of the District 10 Police and the Attorney General's office, including the Attorney General, Abdul Jabar Sabet, were a complete violation of the Constitution of Afghanistan

-      the manner in which Tolo TV were physically abused and detained was completely unacceptable and against the law

-      the physical transgression into Tolo TV offices is against the Constitution and the laws of Afghanistan

-      the taking of Tolo TV staff to the Attorney General’s office was against the law

-      the direct ordering of District Police by the Attorney General’s office is against the law

-      these actions of the Attorney General’s office and the District 10 Police are not only against the rights of media enshrined in the Constitution, but also against the principles of democracy and against the national interest of Afghanistan

 Further, we demand as follows:

- the immediate suspension from duty of all persons involved in this incident including the Attorney General, the Commander of the 10 th District of Police and the Deputy Commander of the 10 th District Police

- the creation of a commission who will be tasked with investigating this incident, to be comprised of members acceptable to the media

- the dismissal of all those found to have had any involvement in this incident which is against the laws of Afghanistan

- the prosecution to the full extent of the law of all of those found to have committed any crime

Further, Tolo TV Management would like to thank all of those people who have indicated their support for Tolo TV, including all other media organisations of Afghanistan and international organisations who have covered this event, human rights organisations, members of Parliament, unions representing journalists, the staff of Tolo TV, Lemar TV and Arman FM, all other organisations who have expressed their public support, and most of all the public of Afghanistan who have been unswerving in their support.

STATEMENT ON YESTERDAY’S POLICE RAID ON TOLO TV, ATTRIBUTABLE TO THE
UNAMA SPOKESMAN

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan is greatly
concerned by last night’s police actions against Tolo TV and the
accompanying manhandling and detaining of Tolo TV staff and other
reporters covering the events. Freedom of expression and of the press is
guaranteed under the Afghan Constitution and is in line with
Afghanistan’s obligations under international human rights law.
Complaints against the media must be dealt with in accordance with
established legal norms, not by unlawful physical intervention. UNAMA
calls upon the Government authorities to ensure this incident is
properly investigated and unlawful action against media outlets is
prevented in future.

Kabul, 18 April - 2007

Rogue Afghan Attorney General, who is also a resident of Montreal, leads violent raid on popular TV station

CALGARY, April 17 /CNW/ - Skyreporter.com Reveals Canada's Connection to Kabul Crisis. Five weeks after journalist Arthur Kent launched an investigative series of film reports on his new website, www.skyreporter.com, the shadowy figure at the centre of the anti-narcotics policing scandal at Kabul Airport, Afghanistan's Attorney General Abdul Jabar Sabet, has launched an unprecedented crackdown on the country's burgeoning news media.     Tuesday evening in Kabul, Sabet led a squad of police into the studios and offices of Tolo-TV, Afghanistan's leading private broadcaster and an important source of news for Afghans angered by years of corruption and ineptitude in the Western-sponsored government of Hamid Karzai.

Several reporters and editors were reportedly physically abused by Sabet's men. Three journalists were arrested. Sources indicate that the raid and arrests took place without proper warrants.     Since early March, Arthur Kent has forwarded questions to the office of Foreign Affairs Minister Peter Mackay regarding Sabet's status in Canada. Sabet gained entry during the Taliban era and settled in Montreal - despite his past connections with anti-Western extremist groups in Afghanistan, and having had an earlier application to enter the U.S. denied by American immigration authorities. Sabet returned to Kabul in 2003, and was nominated by Hamid Karzai last August as Attorney General.    

Says Kent: "From Foreign Affairs, from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and from the Prime Minister's office, the silence has been deafening. The last thing the Harper government seems to want to talk about is Abdul Jabar Sabet, of Montreal and Kabul.     "But now, with a media crackdown underway in Kabul, another question looms large: is this the kind of Afghan lawman and government that Canadian troops are fighting and dying for?"     The raid was launched shortly after Tolo TV's evening newscast had featured a recording of Sabet's statements earlier in the day to the Afghan Parliament. Sabet claims his speech was misrepresented.    

Kent's skyreporter website includes a film profile of Tolo TV, and a separate tribute to all Afghan journalists. Says Kent: "Afghanistan's vibrant and assertive new news media has been under increasing pressure by the Karzai government. But the spectre of paramilitary repression is unprecedented - at least for the current regime.     "It was the Taliban government that practiced draconian information control, branding television cameras 'instruments of Satan.' Now Sabet, along with President Karzai's information minister, apparently want to turn back the clock on freedom of speech."  

Wolesi Jirga approves annual budget

KABUL, Apr 16 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Wolesi Jirga or lower house of parliament on Monday approved the annual budget despite criticism from some parliamentarians.

The MPs, who raised objections to the budget, were demanding more allocations for provinces and an increase in stipend for families of the martyrs and disabled.

However, majority of the MPs were in favour of approval of the budget with an increase of 300 afghanis in salaries of the government employees and 100 afghanis increase in the stipend for families of martyrs and disabled.

The Ministry of Finance had earlier proposed 200 afghanis increase in salaries of the government employees and 50 afghanis in stipend for the families of martyrs and disabled.

Regarding the allocations for the provinces, second secretary at the lower house Mohammad Saleh Saljoqi said there was no room for any change because the budget was financed by different donor countries and NGOs.

Saljoqi said of the $34 million Saudi assistance, 24 million USD would be spent on education sector and the remaining $10 million on public health.

Afghanistan sees 12 pct growth despite insurgency

WASHINGTON, April 16 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's economy will grow by up to 12 percent this year despite the renewed insurgency by Taliban guerrillas against U.S.-backed government forces, the country's finance minister said on Monday.

Anwar ul-Haq Ahadi said President Hamid Karzai's Western-backed government was making progress in increasing revenues and attracting foreign investments, but he urged donors to continue aid flows to ensure the gains can be maintained.

"Our forecast for growth in this financial year is 11 to 12 percent. Last year it slowed to 8 percent because of drought," Ahadi told a conference at Washington's Brookings Institute.

Tax receipts would grow by 30 percent next year to over $715 million, he said, adding it was hoped foreign investment flows could match last year's $1 billion.

Karzai's government has struggled to reconstruct a country torn by three decades of conflict despite billions of dollars pumped in by donors. Per capita income is just $360 a year.

The economy's prospects are also being blighted by renewed insurgency-- the past year has been the bloodiest since the Taliban regime was ousted in 2001. Several hundred civilians, scores of Taliban, dozens of Afghan forces, and more than 30 U.S.-led troops have died in the fighting so far this year.

Some analysts say the root of the problem may lie in public disillusionment with foreign troops and failure to see billions of dollars in aid turned into proper reconstruction. Kabul has in the past blamed Pakistan for sheltering the insurgents.

"The insurgency is politically motivated. Without mentioning names, I can say it does have international support and support from drugs money." Ahadi said, adding he preferred not to comment on politics and foreign affairs.

"Clearly, the insurgency is impacting people's lives and economic activity, but the insurgents don't have popular support," he said, asking the international community to raise pressure on "other countries in the region to cooperate and perceive the situation as a threat to their own security."

Another source of conflict is opium; Afghanistan is the world's largest opium producer. The narcotics trade is worth $2.8 billion to Afghanistan or 27 percent of gross domestic product, though Ahadi said this is down from 35 percent to 40 percent a few years ago.

He acknowledged, however, it was an uphill task as poppy cultivation provides a livelihood to 2 million farmers in a country where unemployment is estimated as high as 40 percent.

"There is an alternative livelihood program but this is just $200 million and most of it goes on security," he said, adding that the amount needs to be stepped up.

Ahadi urged foreign donors to keep up aid flows and asked that more of this money be channeled through the state budget. He said also that too much of the aid money was being spent on security rather than economic development.

"There is still enormous need for international assistance in Afghanistan," he said. "Premature disengagement will lead to previous investments being wasted."

‘Russia to write off $10.5b Afghan debt’

WASHINGTON (Pazhwok news): Russia is expected to waive off $10.5 billion of the total of $11.2 billion Afghan debt, Finance Minister Anwarul Haq Ahady has said. "They (Russia) would hopefully written off $10.5 billion of the $11.2 billion of the debt," Ahady told reporters after addressing at the Brookings Institutions. "The remaining amount is subject to the HIBC programme, which would be completed in two to three years time," he said. Ahady said the agreement between the two countries was expected to be signed next month.

He said the agreement was almost ready, except for the differences between the

two countries on the language of the last two sentences of the last paragraph.

He, however, did not elaborate on the nature of differences. Ahady said his

government was expecting a lot more foreign direct investment in the coming

years. "Once we finish our infrastructure projects and improve the security

situation, then, I believe our liberal investment policy would attract a large

foreign investment." Telecommunications, construction and housing had received

quite a bit foreign investment, he said.

Given the large scale unemployment in the country, Ahady said, the government

was now considering taking up mega projects which would create employment in

thousands. Giving an example of one of such projects, being explored by his

ministry, was the potential of land reclamation in the north.

"There is one project that we can have 500,000 hectares of land and that would

be more than enough for more than 100,000 to 150,000 families to get jobs. The

Afghan government is thinking of taking up this project and when it is developed, we can privatise it," he said. On developmental assistance from Iran, he said, Afghanistan had decided not to borrow $250 million as debt offered by its neighbour. However, it has used almost entire of the $250 million as aid from Iran, he said.

Afghanistan debate heats up

Opposition demands answers on how long mission will last

Macleans.ca staff | Apr 17, 2007 - Opposition MPs are demanding that the government commit to its original deadline of February 2009 for the pull-out of Canadian troops in Afghanistan.

Their calls come after the government's purchase of 100 tanks, among other developments, has raised questions about the possible length of the deployment.

"Canadians deserve an answer," NDP Leader Jack Layton said. "How much longer will our troops be committed to Afghanistan? The Prime Minister needs to tell us."

Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor further added to the uncertainty last week when he said in an interview that Canadian troops may still be in Afghanistan in 2010. And the Defence Department has acknowledged its contigency plans for Afghanistan include

"There are too many different answers to the same basic question, which is how long we're going to be [in Afghanistan]," said Liberal deputy leader Michael Ignatieff. "When will this government begin to level with the Canadian people about its intentions in Afghanistan?"

O'Connor and Prime Minister Stephen Harper have repeatedly said the troops are only committed until 2009. Harper also said MPs would be informed of any changes to the length of the deployment.

"If the government wants to extend it further, it will seek the approval of Parliament to do that," he said.

During an interview on CTV's Question Period on Sunday, O'Connor said Canada's military involvement in Afghanistan could last as long as 10 to 15 years. NDP defense critic Dawn Black said O'Connor's statement should prompt an emergency debate in the House of Commons, but her request was denied by Speaker Peter Miliken.

The Liberals' defense critic, Denis Coderre, nonetheless said the issue of Afghanistan needs to be brought back to Parliament.

“We need to know what's going on,” Coderre said. “Why do we have to buy stuff for the Afghanistan mission, which we support [...] when that equipment will be ready only after February, 2009?" With files from Canadian Press

Canadians battle for Afghans' hearts and minds

Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - CanWest News Service

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A former Taliban-dominated area recently secured by the Canadian forces is in the midst of an internal reckoning - one almost certain to put the current approach to rebuilding in Afghanistan to the test.

Though Canadians have established a notable military presence in the western portion of Zhari district, about 40 kilometres west of Kandahar City, true stability is a long way off.

"Right now the whole thing is kind of teetering," said Maj. Steve Graham, the Canadian officer overseeing operations in the western area of Zhari.

"What we need is the majority of people in this area to stop supporting the Taliban and start supporting the government of Afghanistan," he explained, underscoring a fundamental theme of almost all Canadian operations in Afghanistan.

Military leaders have long stressed the need for NATO forces to provide security and development resources so the government of Afghanistan can build a nation that is strong enough and secure enough to stand on its own.

"This war is one in which we have to work with the Afghan people, develop with the Afghan people and allow them to provide for their security and their governance and their development," Col. Mike Cessford, deputy commander of Task Force Afghanistan, said at a recent press conference.

"We're going to work hard to assist the government of Afghanistan to establish a secure and stable region in this part of Afghanistan," he said, while adding that is a process that could take "generations."

In Zhari, Graham's squadron moved less than a month ago into the southwest area of the district, where the Taliban had long operated.

During the squadron's 10-day mission, Graham said, his troops confronted the Taliban in a direct head-to-head battle.

"They (the Taliban) elected to stand and fight and they lost very, very decisively," he said. "At the end of that operation there was nothing, everything stopped," he said, while noting he later heard key Taliban leaders were taken out in the fight.

Despite that immediate success, however, Graham said true stability goes well beyond military dominance in one or two decisive battles - a point brought home this past Wednesday when a Taliban IED cell re-entered Zhari district area and killed two of his men.

"We will not win this through military force. I am not going to win this by killing every Taliban," he said. "In any insurgency it is the people that decide who wins. The people who live in Zhari district will decide if it is going to be the government of Afghanistan or the Taliban."

Graham said it is those people who decide whether to give food and sanctuary to the Taliban, and who decide whether to alert the NATO forces when they see the Taliban plant bombs.

He also acknowledged the power of local persuasion goes well beyond Canadian influence, and instead lies mostly in the hands of the Afghan government leaders - a group he says needs to start showing the people of western Zhari what they stand to gain by changing sides.

"All they have to do is approve one or two little projects in my area, throw them a bone, dig a water well, fix a road, build a school, do something, just anything," he said.

"Right now they have no faith," he said of the people.

Afghanistan not Canada’s fight alone

By PAUL SCHNEIDEREIT - ARE the Taliban invincible?

That’s the sense one gets, listening to some of the critics of Canada’s Afghanistan mission. But it all depends on how you define the term.

If they mean, "Can the Taliban be forced to eventually cease all attacks on the Afghan government and its partners?" the answer is, of course, no. That doesn’t mean that an end to the fighting is impossible; it just reflects the reality that as long as there are Taliban zealots, even few in number, who fanatically pursue the violent overthrow of secular authority, some level of armed conflict is inevitable.

That doesn’t represent failure, however. No society in the world today is completely free of lawless elements. Virtually all states must maintain law enforcement and military arms to deal with those who refuse to abide by that society’s rules.

In other words, it’s likely that there will always be – or, at least, for the foreseeable future – those who sympathize with the Taliban’s beliefs and goals, and the Afghan state will have to deal with those unstable elements in its midst.

Right now, of course, Taliban forces represent far, far more than a minor law-enforcement problem. Hence the need and, in fact, duty – given the Taliban’s collaboration with terrorists who seek the destruction of Western interests and values – for NATO to assist the Afghan government in gaining and maintaining control of the country.

If those calling the Taliban invincible, however, mean they’re unbeatable in a pure military sense, the idea is absurd. The U.S., Canadian and other NATO troops on the ground are some of the best-trained, most lethal military forces in the world. In the few head-to-head confrontations with coalition troops that the Taliban have been foolish enough to undertake, the former rulers of Afghanistan have been consistently and badly mauled. The Taliban must constantly recruit to replace the many fighters killed or injured. Hence their use of non-conventional warfare, such as roadside explosive devices and suicide bombers.

The fact is the coalition’s ultimate success in Afghanistan depends more on their own will to succeed than on anything significant that can be done by the Taliban. And therein lies the problem.

In Canada, going right back to 9-11, our political leadership has not done a good job in publicly explaining – and consistently repeating that message – why and how our national interests demand that we confront terrorism firmly. Political differences with U.S. President George W. Bush have led too many Canadians to embrace a position on the war on terrorism that has more to do with not being with Dubya (with us or against us) than with common sense.

Even so, it’s true Canada’s government did step forward, from the beginning, to help shoulder the challenge in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of many of our NATO allies in Europe.

Among the problems with the Afghan mission today is the fact that Canadian troops are often stretched too thin to be as effective as a coalition military force could be in taking control of territory and allowing progress to be made with reconstruction, reconciliation and development.

For example, on Friday’s front page of The Globe and Mail was the story of one place won, and then lost. The area, known as Sangisar, is a cluster of villages about 40 kilometres west of the city of Kandahar where two Canadian soldiers were killed last week. Canadian troops built a forward base in the area, became popular with locals and helped establish electricity. But, needed elsewhere, the Canadian troops then left. Since the overstretched Afghan army didn’t have the men to replace them, as would have been preferable, rogue forces, wearing Afghan police uniforms, filled the vacuum, soon making life miserable for the local people. Small wonder, then, that some villagers cheered when the Taliban returned to throw out the uniformed, armed thugs.

If Afghanistan is important to the West, as it surely is, then it’s time for other NATO allies to step up and commit forces where they’re needed, in places like Sangisar, so that coalition gains are not subsequently frittered away, and local suspicions about our resolve aren’t unfortunately sown.

Other NATO countries in Afghanistan with more robust military capabilities than Canada’s have, in many cases, hobbled the troops they send with strict rules of engagement that interfere, rather than augment, the overall coalition commander’s options as he deals with the tactical and strategic situation. Even after restrictions were loosened by some coalition partners, others continue to give their troops marching orders that essentially make overall flexibility more difficult.

Many politicians in those countries worry, of course, about public opinion. They’re especially sensitive about negative reactions should their troops take casualties. Call it aimless conjecture, but I don’t doubt that there’s a link between those concerns and restrictions on troops in the field – if any were sent at all.

The Taliban and al-Qaida are well aware of the West’s hesitations and fears. They understand the power of negative media coverage and the potential rewards in nurturing the voices of those who would just pull out and leave Afghanistan to its fate. Whether they succeed, however, is not in their hands.

[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.]