In this bulletin:

• Bombs kill four in Afghanistan: police
• Three Taleban killed in Afghanistan
• Woman caught with bomb under burqa: Afghan official
• Karzai to visit Pakistan amid increased violence
• Spain's troops in Afghanistan as long as needed: minister
• Soldiers in Afghanistan Remember Family
• Rick Hillier: master strategist
• Canadians join Gurkhas in search-and-destroy mission
• More Quebec soldiers seek religion
• Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan get new hockey gear
• UK troops prepare for Christmas in Afghanistan
• Cross-border attacks down by 40pc, says Gates
• Analysis: Allies recommit to Afghanistan
• GIs in Afghanistan are thinking of kids, home this Christmas

Bombs kill four in Afghanistan: police

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) — Two bombs, one of them hidden under a dead body, exploded near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar and killed four people, police said.

Police blamed Taliban fighters for the blasts, which occurred Sunday.

The bomb under the body killed a policeman and a villager in the Panjwayi district west of Kandahar city, senior police officer Mohammad Omar said.

"When a police officer along with a civilian villager came to remove the body, it exploded and killed both," he said. "It was the work of the Taliban."

He could not say whose corpse was used to hide the bomb but villagers said it could have been that of a man killed by the Taliban in recent days for alleged spying.

The rebels have killed dozens of people, including children, on similar charges.

The other bomb blew up a civilian van north of Kandahar city and killed two civilian passengers, Omar said. Three other civilians were injured, he said.

The Taliban launched an insurgency soon after they were toppled from power in late 2001 for sheltering Al-Qaeda.

Three Taleban killed in Afghanistan

(AFP) 24 December 2007

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Afghan and US-led troops killed a Taleban commander who had allegedly kidnapped and killed seven people in the central province of Ghazni last week, police said Monday.

The troops were in Ghazni’s Gilan district Sunday to evacuate the bodies of the seven—three policemen, two soldiers and two civilian drivers—when Taleban attacked them, a provincial police chief said.

In a brief exchange of fire, three Taleban including a rebel commander known as Mullah Aleem were killed, Khan Mohammad Mujahed said.

‘Mullah Aleem was the Taleban commander who had kidnapped and later killed the seven. He himself along with two other Taleban fighters were killed yesterday,’ he said.

Police had recovered six of the men who were killed late Saturday and were searching for the last one, he said.

A Taleban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahed, told AFP on Sunday the men were shot dead after attempting to escape ‘from our jail.’

The seven were kidnapped on December 17 and 18 along the main road between Kabul and the southern city of Kandahar.

The Taleban captured 23 South Korean Christian aid workers in July along the same road in the same province. They killed two before releasing the rest, most of them after secret talks with the South Korean government.

The extremist Taleban were removed from power in a US-led invasion in late 2001 and are now waging an insurgency that has gained pace this year.

Woman caught with bomb under burqa: Afghan official

ASADABAD, Afghanistan (AFP) — Afghan intelligence agents said Monday they had detained a woman hiding a bomb-filled waistcoat of the type used in Taliban suicide attacks under her all-covering burqa.

The 55-year-old woman was followed from the eastern province of Kunar after a tip-off and arrested in the town of Jalalabad, an official in Kunar's intelligence department told AFP.

"She was carrying the suicide waistcoat for the Taliban. We had intelligence reports that she was working for the Taliban," said the official, who asked not to be identified by name.

The woman was being questioned "to find out more about her network," he said.

Most Afghan women still wear the burqa, which was mandatory under the 1996-2001 Taliban government, and cannot be searched by men at security checkposts.

The Taliban, the main Islamic militant group behind a bloody insurgency, have stepped up their attacks in recent years, notably their use of suicide bombings.

Hundreds of people, most of them civilians, have been killed in about 140 such attacks in Afghanistan this year alone.

In neighbouring Pakistan, also facing a wave of Taliban-linked unrest, a woman in a burqa blew herself up at an army checkpost in early December, killing only herself.

It was the country's first such attack involving a woman, police said.

Karzai to visit Pakistan amid increased violence

(DPA) 24 December 2007

KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai is to visit Pakistan amid increased violence in both countries which are close allies of the US in the fight against terrorism.

Karzai is to arrive Wednesday in Islamabad, where he will meet with his Pakistani counterpart Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Mohammed Mian Soomro, the foreign ministry said Monday.

Karzai, on his first visit to the neighbouring country after the state of emergency was lifted there, would discuss the fight against terrorism and other issues of mutual interest, the statement said.

Islamabad and Kabul have been at loggerheads over the cross-border infiltration of Taleban militants, who have waged a bloody insurgency against Afghan and international forces in the country since the fall of their government in late 2001.

Afghan officials have always claimed that leaders of Taleban and their Al Qaeda associates have safe havens in restive tribal areas of Pakistan, and have accused Islamabad of not doing enough to stop the Taleban infiltration into Afghanistan - a claim Pakistan vehemently denies.

There has been a sharp surge in Taleban-led violence both in Afghanistan and Pakistan this year, notably in the use of suicide attacks.

There have been more than 140 such attacks in Afghanistan this year, while Pakistani Taleban also carried out a spate of suicide bombings in key cities of Pakistan.

After a chilly relationship between Karzai and Musharraf for months, both met with US President Gorge W Bush in the White House in September 2006 and agreed to hold a joint peace Jirga, or assembly, in a bid to strengthen their relationships.

A Jirga involving the tribal leaders from both countries was held in Kabul from 9 to 12 August. Although attended by both presidents, it ended without any breakthrough. Participants decided to hold a similar one in Pakistan, the date for which has yet to be announced.

Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta, Advisor for National Security Council Zelmai Rasoul and Finance Minister Anwarulhaq Ahadi will accompany Karzai on his upcoming trip to Islamabad.

Spain's troops in Afghanistan as long as needed: minister

MADRID (AFP) — Spanish troops will remain in Afghanistan as long "as necessary," Spain's defence minister Jose Antonio Alonso said in an interview.

"The mission in Afghanistan is complicated because it's a difficult country," Alonso told Spain's Publico daily.

"We need to remain the time necessary so the country can manage its own security and development," he continued.

So to "set a deadline (on the mandate for western troops there) is today impossible," he added.

His comments echoed those of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Saturday. On a surprise visit to Afghanistan to visit some of the 900 Australian soldiers there, he made it clear that his country was there for the "long haul".

Spain has more than 700 soldiers in Afghanistan as part of a 60,000-strong, NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) stationed in the country.

But Alonso also urged the European Union, NATO -- and the 36 countries operating in Afghanistan -- to think about the mission there.

He contrasted the situation in Afghanistan with that of Iraq, where the 2003 war was launched without United Nations backing.

"In Iraq, what has followed the intervention has destabilised the country and the region, and in Afghanistan we are trying (to do) the opposite, to stabilise it."

In an interview published Friday, Afghan president Hamid Karzai said his country would need foreign troops for at least another decade to help rebuild its infrastructure and restore security.

As well as Rudd, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi both paid surprise visits to Afghanistan this weekend to meet their troops stationed there and hold talks with Karzai.

Soldiers in Afghanistan Remember Family

By JASON STRAZIUSO – 18 hours ago

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — As the choir of Army soldiers sang a spirited "Frosty the Snowman" under a light snowfall Sunday evening, Lt. Com. Lynne O'Neil bobbed in time and thought of her daughter, Anna.

"I know my 2 1/2-year-old daughter's favorite song this year is 'Frosty,'" O'Neil said. "My sister, who's now the acting mother, told me today that when she plays that song in the car that Anna always says 'again' at the end."

Nearby, Sgt. Maj. Rick Turner thought of his family's own caroling traditions. When asked what he was thinking about, he turned quiet.

"Home. Thinking about my home and family. It's my second Christmas away from home," he said. After listening to the carols for 20 minutes, he went off to find a phone.

"This will be my Christmas call to them because things are starting to get busy," said the 53-year-old from Goose Creek, S.C. "The (base's) phone lines will get busy, so I'll get mine out of the way today."

As Christmas approaches, overseas military bases try to bring a bit of the holiday to soldiers far from home. Cafeterias are decorated with Christmas trees. Crayoned Christmas cards from school kids hang on walls. And base choirs, like the one organized by Chaplain Iris Dickerson, sing carols to passing soldiers after dinner.

As part of the Christmas celebration at Camp Phoenix in Kabul, soldiers will have four days of services, including a gospel service, a Catholic Mass and a non-denominational service.

"We create an environment here that lets soldiers know they are part of a family," said Dickerson, 38, who has been a minister for five years at Cedar Grove Baptist Church in Chester, S.C. Like many at Camp Phoenix, Dickerson serves with her National Guard unit, the 218th Infantry Brigade based in Newberry, S.C.

"Other than being in a war zone, I want people to say 'I was in Afghanistan but I still felt at home,' especially at our services,'" Dickerson said.

Dickerson, the battalion's chaplain, organized two caroling sessions. On Sunday, 10 service members joined her on a crisp night outside the camp's cafeteria, where she led the group in holiday favorites like "Silent Night" and "Deck the Halls," the group's opening number.

The audience was thin at first, perhaps because of the wet snowfall. After "Deck the Halls" it let out a couple claps and a small cheer. At its peak, the crowd swelled to a dozen, many holding cups of coffee. Some shouted out the names of carols they wanted to hear. Nearby stood a 6-foot blowup Santa, glowing bright red.

Dickerson called out the next song: "Frosty! Frosty!"

The group, which hadn't practiced, was slightly off key. But soldiers shouted words of encouragement as they walk by. Whistles and cheers went up at the conclusion of "Frosty."

"Thank you!" Dickerson shouted back.

Though the group had planed on singing for 90 minutes, the night was so cold that they wrapped up after about 40. O'Neil, who is part of the Navy Postgraduate School, watched at least half the performance.

"I like the fact they're putting in the effort to stand out here in the cold and try to bring us some Christmas spirit," she said with a smile on her face. She was in a better mood than many of the other service members here.

"You have to make the best of every situation you're in. My No. 1 concern about coming over here was my daughter. My daughter is doing wonderfully. She is perfectly safe," said O'Neil, of Monterey, Calif. "My lot in life compared with the lot of most Afghans is very good, so I can't complain."

Rick Hillier: master strategist

Top soldier fully at controls of Afghan mission

Don Martin, National Post Published: Monday, December 24, 2007

Rod Macivor, CanWest News Service File Photo

OTTAWA -He grabs a pen, borrows a scrap of paper and starts drawing up a military blueprint for Canada's future in Afghanistan.

In three simple triangles, Chief of Defence Staff Rick Hillier gives a graphic outline of Canada's evolution from Kandahar combat mission to Afghan army training priority to national economic redevelopment effort.

As 2007 ends, Gen. Hillier says, Canadian soldiers are making the transition from a fighting fixation to replacing themselves on the battlefield with trained and upgraded Afghan forces.

It's a comforting theory because Gen. Hillier can see an end to the carnage that claimed another 29 Canadian soldiers this year, while dangling hope of a noble outcome.

It's also a safe bet this will resemble the key recommendations of a panel chaired by former Liberal deputy prime minister John Manley, now exploring Canada's role in this violent backwater on the other side of the world.

Gen. Hillier appeared before the Manley panel twice this year to lobby his vision of the mission continuing until he can assure the 73 families of dead soldiers their sacrifice was not in vain.

"Based on the discussions, I think they're going to come up with something realistic," Gen. Hillier predicts, which suggests the mission's continuation until at least 2011 is secure.

Even then, he warns military success in Afghanistan cannot be achieved under the government's proposed timetable.

"It's going to take a helluva long time to build a country that can have the potential to stand even remotely on its own solid legs," he says. "The political leaders with whom I work will decide what role Canada will play in that, but nobody is going to pretend the international mission in Afghanistan is going to be over any time in the near future. It's going to be required for a long time."

For standing up to a heavy-handed Conservative government, for being a public relations force of sheer personality behind a hard-to-sell mission, for setting up a fund to help military families who suffered the supreme loss and for consistently serving above and beyond the call of duty as Canada's top soldier, Gen. Hillier is my pick for Politician of the Year.

There's no plaque or prize, but it's a salute to Gen. Hillier's cagey understanding of the political system -- how to work through it, around it and, if necessary, over it.

This year Gen. Hillier has managed to lower the temperature of Afghan anxiety in Canada, rush new tanks and mine-detection vehicles into the operations theatre and survive a potential coup aimed at replacing him ahead of schedule.

That trial balloon, likely floated by the Defence Ministry to assess public reaction to punting Gen. Hillier in favour of a more pliable alternative, was proof of this general's political invincibility. The backlash was so intensely negative that Prime Minister Stephen Harper personally shot down the notion before it got off the ground.

Yet it was also a tribute to Gen. Hillier's political instincts that he deftly shrugged aside the speculation without uttering a combative word against his political masters in public.

"I've got a job to do. If I focus on anything else, I'd be letting my soldiers down," he told me an interview this week.

"I want to be chief of defence staff as long as I'm having a positive effect. The minute I sense somebody else can push that rock up the hill faster than me, it'll be time to go." He pauses and smiles slightly. "But I don't anticipate going anywhere in the shorter term."

Perhaps Gen. Hillier 's actions are deadlier than his words. When Gordon O'Connor was shuffled from defence minister into the no-profile revenue post last summer, partly due to strained relations with his top general, the required farewell salute was delayed for many weeks.

When the ceremony was finally held, Mr. O'Connor's podium was symbolically positioned within camera range of a garbage dumpster and Gen. Hillier arrived late. The message was hard to miss: When attacked, this Hillier takes no political prisoners.

Speaking of prisoners, Gen. Hillier does have a clear message to politicians fretting over the alleged bad treatment of detainees turned over to Afghan authorities by Canadian soldiers: Don't even think about making detainees the Canadian military's responsibility.

"What would that be saying to the Afghanistan government? We could conduct operations with them and manage violence together, but as soon as you capture somebody they're not going to be allowed to keep them," he says. "The most illogical thing of all would be to take away that expression of sovereignty and say they couldn't hold their own people as detainees."

Such is the candid style of a supreme commander who calls soldiers by their first names to make the point they're human beings, who personally visits with every family hit by a loss and who gets teary-eyed while watching the CBC series of fallen soldier stories.

"I speak for the soldiers," he says, when asked about his most important duty. "If I don't speak for them, nobody else really does. In fact, they have no recourse to somebody else, to put it in more negative terms."

And when Gen. Rick Hillier speaks, it's considered a smart military manoeuvre for the powers on Parliament Hill to surrender.

Canadians join Gurkhas in search-and-destroy mission

Allison Lampert, CanWest News Service Published: Monday, December 24, 2007

Steve Lewis/Reuters

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- Canadian soldiers joined the renowned Royal Gurkha Rifles Sunday in a battle to eliminate the source of rocket fire that targeted two Kandahar military outposts.

But when the coalition forces showed up, insurgents hiding out at a compound near the Pashmul district shied away from a fight. It's the third joint operation between the Gurkhas -- a highly-praised Nepalese infantry division of the British army -- Canadian soldiers and the Afghan National Army.

Around 6 a.m. on Sunday, coalition forces moved toward an insurgent compound, supported by booming rounds of artillery.

"We completely overwhelmed the position very quickly. My reading is that they [the insurgents] wanted to cut their losses," Major Will Kefford, officer commander of the Gurkhas, told CanWest News Service.

"I am pretty certain that we were being watched by the Taliban throughout the day [after the operation]."

Coalition forces spotted a number of Afghan males leaving the site, which contained a vast weapons cache: Chinese-made rockets, anti-tank mines and equipment to make improvised explosive devices. Several Canadian soldiers told CanWest the intent of the operation was to eliminate a flurry of rocket fire aimed at forward operating bases in the Zhari district.

"The intent was to disrupt the insurgent ability to do that in the area," Mjr. Kefford said.

Montreal Gazette

More Quebec soldiers seek religion

Allison Lampert, CanWest News Service Published: Monday, December 24, 2007

ZHARI DISTRICT, Afghanistan -- Crosses and Bibles are being removed from public institutions across Quebec--but in Afghanistan, they are in short supply.

Military chaplain Charles Deogratias said there has been growing demand among the Quebec soldiers here from the Royal 22nd Regiment in Valcartier, Que., for religious items. In the run-up to Christmas, demand for the camouflage Bibles designed for the Canadian forces has exceeded supply.

"I have to order more because I keep running out of them," said Rev. Deogratias, a Presbyterian military chaplain. "And the crosses. Everyone is asking for the crosses. They put it on their dog tags. Ask them and they'll show them to you. They'll tell you it is for their protection." It is a curious shift for the soldiers, who come from a province that is increasingly rejecting the role of religion in public life. Their embrace of spirituality reflects the impact this war -- the deaths, the near-deaths and the life-transforming injuries -- has had on their lives.

Three Canadian soldiers were injured on Saturday while checking the road for improvised explosive devices on the road to Arghandab, just north of Kandahar City.

The three soldiers, including one from Quebec and one from Newfoundland, were part of a convoy carrying a group of military engineers.

The three soldiers were airlifted to hospital at Kandahar Air Field where they were treated for non life-threatening injuries.

"This is not a question of 'I want to make more money to buy a house, or a boat,'" Rev. Deogratias said. "It is a question of life or death. They are living this. Therefore the need to seek beyond the now is getting deeper."

He recalled talking with a soldier about to go on a dangerous mission. The soldier carried his rifle, his body armour, a cross and the small Bible.

"He told me his ammunition is in order," Rev. Deogratias said. "His ammunition is the Bible and the cross. That is extraordinary.

"When someone begins to believe beyond the weapons, that means they're in touch with their faith."

The violence soldiers face in Afghanistan is making them reflect more on their mortality than in earlier missions, said Major Francois Caron, 34, who has served tours in Bosnia and Haiti.

Before Maj. Caron left for Afghanistan, his wife's uncle gave him a Ninja Turtle medallion that belonged to the uncle's late daughter. He also wears one of the silver crosses handed out by the military chaplains.

"In Haiti I never had that," Maj. Caron said. "In Bosnia I never had that. There is a huge difference here from earlier missions when we were patrolling as peacekeepers.

"I have seen people wearing crosses tell us they pray every night for the safety of the crew."

The vast majority of the soldiers from Valcartier are Roman Catholic. More than 90% have been baptized, but until now they did not identify themselves as religious, Rev. Deogratias said.

"They have never been to the door of a church. Maybe for funerals and for weddings."

The popular chaplain himself discovered religion during a time of turmoil. He and his family, refugees from Rwanda's civil war of 1959, were living in a camp in Tanzania.

"All we had was struggle. You turned left, you could be killed. You turned right you could be killed," he recalled. "If you lived another day, it was a good surprise."

One day, when Rev. Deogratias was seven years old, he fell ill with measles. An English missionary working in the refugee camp named Dr. Andrew came to see him.

Dr. Andrew gave Rev. Deogratias' mother some powdered milk and told her how to prepare it.

He then touched the boy's swollen stomach and said, "'Charles, you will be OK. You will be OK,'" Rev. Deogratias recalled.

"I have long forgotten the taste of the milk, but I have never forgotten the words of Dr. Andrew."

Rev. Deogratias remembered those words last month, on a cold winter night when more than a dozen Canadian soldiers were injured in a Taliban attack.

One was shot while talking on the phone with his four-year-old daughter.

Rev. Deogratias went to comfort them as the medical helicopter came to take them for treatment.

"They were bleeding and they were carrying them away to the chopper. The doctor was giving them morphine, and I told them, 'You will be OK, you will be OK.'"

Rev. Deogratias saw a few of the soldiers the other day while he was handing out Bibles. They had recovered from their injuries and they were back on the job. "Those words were how God revealed himself to me," he said.

"Now I have the privilege of recounting those words from Dr. Andrew to the soldiers here."

Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan get new hockey gear

CanWest News Service Monday, December 24, 2007

KANDAHAR AIR FIELD, Afghanistan -- Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan were checking out a very welcome Christmas gift from Canada Monday - $70,000 worth of new hockey equipment.

The Forzani Group in Calgary, owners of Sports Check and Sports Experts stores, has shipped 240 new NHL jerseys, 400 composite hockey sticks, 60 pairs of hockey gloves and 12 hockey nets as a Christmas gift to the soldiers.

Hockey is very big at Kandahar Airfield. There are 23 teams and three leagues at the airfield, said Jeremy Emond, a military engineer from Quebec.

"These are leagues organized by the players for the players," added Quebec military communications officer Martin Ouellet.

Montreal Gazette

UK troops prepare for Christmas in Afghanistan

By Tom Coughlan, in Camp Bastion, Helmand Last Updated: 6:47am GMT 24/12/2007

Christmas morning will start early for British soldiers facing the Taliban in the First World War-style trenches that criss-cross southern Afghanistan.

# MoD is failing troops, public say

About 7am at Garmser, the most southerly British frontline positions in Helmand province, the sandbagged fighting positions are likely to receive their first incoming fire of the day.
It is something of a ritual, for at this point the rising sun sits directly behind part of the Taliban lines a few hundred yards of desert away and the Taliban fighters can blaze away while the British gunners squint into the glare.

The British troops, a mixture of Royal Military Police, Royal Gurkha Rifles and members of the Household Cavalry, are not expecting any let up for Christmas.

"We'll be 'stood to' until they decide to have a go," said Sergeant Kraig Whalley, a 29-year-old Royal Military Policeman from Macclesfield, who will spend much of Christmas Day looking down the barrel of a heavy machinegun.

For the Royal Military Police contingent the only concession to the season will be three local chickens, procured for $7 (£3.50) apiece from a helpful Afghan policeman, and served roasted on a spit with tinned potatoes and baked beans.

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"We were thinking of challenging the Taliban to a game of football on Christmas Day, but I'm not sure they'd get the joke," said Sgt Whalley.

The trench systems around Forward Operating Base Delhi are a place of daily exchanges in static positions, which Sgt Whalley compares to the First World War, and the famous Christmas truce of 1914 in which British and German soldiers laid down their arms to play football.

Though he says that morale among the British troops is high, there are regular British casualties and for many of those serving in Helmand thoughts will inevitably turn to the 39 British soldiers who have died in the country this year, and to their families.

The last of them was Trooper Jack Sadler, a 21-year-old Territorial Army soldier from the Honourable Artillery Company, killed by a mine on Dec 4.

"Jack's death has made me a lot less naive," said Trooper Lorna Kelly, 30.

"There are only six of us from HAC in Helmand. To be honest I never thought it would happen to one of us. It has been very hard, though it's nothing compared to his family's suffering."

A highly paid investment banker for Credit Suisse in civilian life, Trooper Kelly is one of several soldiers from the City of London-based unit to give up a year of handsomely remunerated work in the Square Mile for training and deployment in Helmand.

At the main British base, the sprawling Camp Bastion, tinsel glinted in the desert sun and every effort was being made to put aside thoughts of war.

As well as church services in the camp chapel, the Church of St Michael and All Angels, which is really just a tent, there are preparations for a pantomime performance of Aladdin and a Christmas dinner with turkey in relays, at which, by tradition, officers will serve the troops.

The camp postal service contains the only people with reservations about a surge in parcels posted by the British public following calls from Army commanders to offer greater public support to British forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Yesterday 3,000 bags of mail arrived, many containing boxes simply addressed to "a soldier serving in Afghanistan".

There have been enough such parcels to give every one of the 7,200 men and women in theatre two each.

"It has exceeded all expectations and it shows people care," said Cpl Dave Arkel, 35, knee deep in parcels in the mailroom.

"But it's a lot of pressure on us."

Cross-border attacks down by 40pc, says Gates

WASHINGTON, Dec 23: US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has, for the first time, conceded that there has been a 40 per cent decrease in the number of Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters crossing into Afghanistan from Pakistan.

But this has led to an increase in Al Qaeda’s activities inside Pakistan, Mr Gates told a year-end news conference in Washington. “Al Qaeda right now seems to have turned its face toward Pakistan and attacks on the Pakistani government and Pakistani people,” he said.

Mr Gates said the United States is beginning a dialogue with the new army chief in Pakistan and has offered US assistance to help fight the terrorists inside his country. This assistance, he said, would involve both training and equipment.

Last month, the Pentagon asked Congress to provide $97 million in 2008 to build a training centre in the NWFP. This centre will provide counter-insurgency training to the Frontier Corps.

In 2007, the Pentagon received $52.6 million for this purpose.

Addressing the same news conference, Gen James Cartwright, vice-chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the US is ‘impressed’ with Gen Kayani.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN AFGHANISTAN
The Canadian Press December 24, 2007

Leaders of France, Australia and Italy travelled to Afghanistan over the weekend to meet with President Hamid Karzai and visit troops stationed in the conflict-ridden country.

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi arrived in Kabul yesterday to meet with Mr. Karzai and to visit Italian troops based in western Afghanistan, an official at the presidential palace said. Italy has about 2,400 troops in NATO's International Security Assistance Force, mostly in the western province of Herat. Mr. Prodi pledged Italy's long-term support for Afghanistan.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the first French president to visit Afghanistan, signalled that French troops would not pull out of the country any time soon. He told Mr. Karzai that France has a long-term political and military interest in Afghanistan, Mr. Karzai's office said in a statement.

Australia's new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, who was visiting some of the 900 Australian troops stationed in Uruzgan province, site of fierce battles this year, said he wanted to confirm Australia's commitment to Afghanistan. Mr. Rudd announced an aid package of $95-million (U.S.) for reconstruction, primarily in Uruzgan.

The Canadian military has agreed to donate 2,500 surplus C7 rifles to the Afghan National Army, along with ammunition and training. The decision, made quietly last week, is expected to bring the fledgling Afghan force in line with other NATO countries.

Building capacity among the ANA is the key to Canada's exit strategy from Afghanistan.

Abandoned in the village of Sangisar after a fierce battle a month ago, two tiny puppies have found a safe haven with Canadian troops at a remote base in the volatile Zhari district.

Dubbed Mira, short for Miracle, after barely missing a land mine while riding with rescuers in an armoured Nyala vehicle near the town of Howz-e-Madad, a spunky, white female pup is breathing new life into the Operational Mentoring Liaison Team's compound at Forward Operating Base Wilson. Another pup named Goulash has found a home with a group of infantrymen from Company B. Named for the least favoured meal rations that generally become the puppy's dinner, Goulash was discovered by an Afghan National Army soldier in Sangisar.

Sources: Associated Press,

Analysis: Allies recommit to Afghanistan

Published: Dec. 24, 2007 at 9:53 AM By CLAUDE SALHANI UPI Contributing Editor

WASHINGTON, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi and Australia's new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made unannounced visits to Afghanistan this weekend. They came to pledge their support in the war on terror and to reiterate their commitment to the NATO military initiative spearheaded by U.S. forces battling the Taliban.

Visits by presidents and prime ministers to their countries' troops serving in foreign lands, especially at the time of the year-end holidays, has become somewhat routine in recent years. However, there was nothing routine in these surprise visits. Indeed, they were intended to send many important messages to both the Islamists of the Taliban-al-Qaida alliance and to President Bush.

Sarkozy, whose country has about 1,900 troops serving with the multinational force in Afghanistan, said France would continue to help build Afghan security forces, in particular, by providing training for the Afghan army and police, and he did not rule out an increase of French troops to help the war effort. He said a decision would be made in the next few weeks.

"The war against terrorism, against fanaticism, that we cannot and will not lose," he said.

Rudd, who for security reasons arrived unexpectedly Saturday, as did Sarkozy, pledged an additional $110 million in aid over the next two years.

And on Sunday it was the turn of Prodi, who arrived in Kabul for talks with President Hamid Karzai and later met Italian troops in Herat. Italy has some 2,000 soldiers serving with the NATO force.

These visits come at a time when the Taliban-led insurgency has intensified its attacks against troops of the multinational force and suicide bombings are on the increase. Of particular importance -- and of important political symbolism -- is Sarkozy's visit. His visit is no doubt intended first to reassure Karzai of France's intentions of remaining in the NATO/U.S. coalition at this crucial time for Afghanistan, as it struggles to balance itself between remaining on the road to democracy and slipping back into the abyss of Taliban rule.

The second message is directed at the Taliban and al-Qaida and was made evident by the statements of the French president during his brief visit to Afghanistan.

And the third message comes in the form of the best Christmas gift Bush could ever wish for -- a renewed promise of support from two European allies and Australia. The triple pledge of support to the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan comes at an opportune moment, as two other contributors, Canada and the Netherlands, have announced their intention of pulling out as a result of public pressure back home.

Sarkozy's visit is of particular importance as it demonstrates France's continued alignment with Washington in the war against Islamist terrorism and contrasts Sarkozy's foreign policy vis-a-vis Washington compared with that of his predecessor, Jacques Chirac.

The visits also demonstrate that despite losses in human lives, the U.S. allies in the war against terrorism know they have no choice but to remain in the fight. More than 330 foreign soldiers have been killed in the past two years in Afghanistan as the Taliban has stepped up its offensive. Only last week Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar called on foreign forces to withdraw from Afghanistan.

Terrorism, however, is not the only worry in Afghanistan. In recent years there has been an alarming increase in the production of opium. This is rapidly becoming a growing concern in Europe and the United States, where the opium ends up as heroin and other derivatives.

Not only are the Islamists getting stronger and more daring in their attacks against U.S.-led coalition troops, but they are making -- excuse the unintended pun -- a killing with the profits from the sale of the illegal narcotic.

According to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, 92 percent of the world's heroin, obtained from opium poppies, comes from Afghanistan, which has regained its position as the world's largest opium-producing country. Production of opium, the main ingredient for heroin, grew from approximately 4,000 tons in 2005 to more than 6,000 tons in 2006, the U.N. report said.

This gives an added impetus to the war in Afghanistan, which is becoming more than a war on terrorism and fanaticism. The war in Afghanistan is now a war to stop the spread of terror as well as the narco-traffic providing the Taliban with an important source of revenue. As Sarkozy said Saturday, the world cannot afford to lose this war.

GIs in Afghanistan are thinking of kids, home this Christmas

Monday, December 24, 2007 Jason Straziuso Associated Press

Kabul, Afghanistan - As the choir of Army soldiers sang a spirited "Frosty the Snowman" under a light snowfall Sunday evening, Lt. Cmdr. Lynne O'Neil bobbed in time and thought of her daughter, Anna.

"I know my 2½-year-old daughter's favorite song this year is 'Frosty,' " O'Neil said. "My sister, who's now the acting mother, told me today that when she plays that song in the car that Anna always says 'again' at the end."

Nearby, Sgt. Maj. Rick Turner thought of his family's own caroling traditions. When asked what he was thinking about, he turned quiet.
"Home. Thinking about my home and family. It's my second Christmas away from home," he said. After listening to the carols for 20 minutes, he went off to find a phone. "This will be my Christmas call to them because things are starting to get busy," said the 53-year-old from Goose Creek, S.C.

As Christmas approaches, overseas military bases try to bring a bit of the holiday to soldiers far from home. Cafeterias are decorated with Christmas trees. Crayoned Christmas cards from school kids hang on walls. And base choirs, like the one organized by Chaplain Iris Dickerson, sing carols to passing soldiers after dinner.

As part of the Christmas celebration at Camp Phoenix in Kabul, soldiers will have four days of services, including a gospel service, a Catholic Mass and a nondenominational service.

"We create an environment here that lets soldiers know they are part of a family," said Dickerson, 38, who has been a minister for five years at Cedar Grove Baptist Church in Chester, S.C. Like many at Camp Phoenix, Dickerson serves with her National Guard unit, the 218th Infantry Brigade based in Newberry, S.C.

Dickerson, the battalion's chaplain, organized two caroling sessions. On Sunday, 10 service members joined her on a crisp night outside the camp's cafeteria, where she led the group in holiday favorites like "Silent Night" and "Deck the Halls."

At its peak, the crowd rose to a dozen, many holding cups of coffee. Some shouted out the names of carols they wanted to hear. Nearby stood a 6-foot blowup Santa, glowing bright red.

Dickerson called out the next song: "Frosty! Frosty!"

O'Neil watched at least half the performance with a smile on her face.

She was in a better mood than many of the other service members here.

"My lot in life compared with the lot of most Afghans is very good, so I can't complain."

[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.]