In this bulletin:

• Ulema council members shot dead in Kandahar
• Coalition Forces Appeal To Taliban To Leave Captured Afghan Town
• Afghans Flee Town Seized By Taliban
• U.S. general in Afghanistan seen tough on Taliban
• Bush seeks Afghan funds as Pentagon renews focus
• Germany ready to help in Afghan south
• Office of former Afghan king rejects media's health report
• UN official expresses concern over Afghanistan’s amnesty bill
• Afghan lawmakers denounce war crimes resolution, say it won't become law
• AFGHANISTAN: AMNESTY BILL COULD THREATEN FAITH IN DEMOCRACY
• Master plan to cater to the needs of growing population
• Canada Boosts Support for Successful Afghan Microfinance Program
• Canada backs plan to open Afghan version of Islamic school in Kandahar
• Poland's Sikorski quits over Afghanistan risks
  New five-star hotel in Kabul soon
• Heritage Foundation lauds Musharraf’s role
• Musharraf's Stale Promises

Ulema council members shot dead in Kandahar

KANDAHAR CITY, Feb 4 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Five people, two of them members of a local religious council, were killed on Sunday during the latest violence incidents in southern Afghanistan. 

Brig Gen Esmatullah Alizai, police chief of the southern Kandahar province, told Pajhwok Afghan News two unidentified armed motorcyclists opened fire on Mullah Sayed Imam, deputy head and a member of the provincial Ulema council around 6:30 pm. Both were killed in the shooting from running motorbike, said Alizai, adding that the attackers mangeed to escape after the incident.

In the southeastern province of Khost, officials said unidentified gunmen had murdered three civilians and injured another in Sabri district of this province. Spokesman for the Khost governor Salim Karwan he said two of the killed were members of the one family. The incident occurred Monday morning, he said, the assailants made good their escape in a car.

Coalition Forces Appeal To Taliban To Leave Captured Afghan Town

Coalition forces in Afghanistan have appealed to Taliban forces to pull out of the southern town of Musa Qala, which was seized by the militants last week in a surprise operation, officials in Kabul said Monday.

Aircraft dropped fliers urging the insurgents to leave the town to avoid civilian casualties if fighting breaks out, interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

A Taliban website said a withdrawal was possible after the fighters received guarantees that the foreign "invaders" would respect a deal reached in October that neither side would occupy Musa Qala. British and Dutch troops are stationed in the area.

Insurgents last Thursday moved into the district capital in Helmand province, lowered the Afghan government flag and fortified defences against any counter attack.

While foreign and Afghan forces refrained from retaliating, a precision air strike was launched Sunday against a car carrying Taliban, killing a senior commander, according to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

"By removing him, we have disrupted their command and control and made it more difficult for the insurgency to plan their next move," ISAF spokesman Colonel Tom Collins said in a statement.

"The strike was made by ISAF forces at the request of the Government of Afghanistan after the Taliban had threatened the local elders and their governing authority," he said. DPA

Afghans Flee Town Seized By Taliban

February 5, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Residents of Musa Qala -- a remote town in southern Afghanistan's Helmand Province -- are fleeing their homes today in anticipation of fighting between Taliban and NATO-led forces, RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan reported.

Reports say more than 500 families have fled to nearby districts of Helmand Province since a concentrated force of militants seized Musa Qala on February 1. The militants overwhelmed a weak Afghan police force in the town and disbanded the town's council of tribal elders.

NATO says it launched an air strike near Musa Qala on February 4 that killed Abdul Ghafour, a senior Taliban commander believed to have led last week's attack.

The Afghan National Army's commander for the region, General Rahmatullah Raufi, says Ghafour's death has weakened the militants. But he says scores of Taliban fighters are still thought to be in the area.

The attack on Musa Qala occurred in springlike conditions -- the first attack by a large group of Taliban fighters this year since warmer temperatures began.

U.S. general in Afghanistan seen tough on Taliban

By Terry Friel / February 5, 2007

KABUL (Reuters) - In the final hours of British General David Richards' command of NATO forces in Afghanistan, a much-vaunted and equally criticized truce with tribal elders fell apart as the Taliban overran a key southern town.

His U.S. replacement General Dan McNeill who took over the 33,000 NATO-led troops on Sunday as part of a regular command rotation is expected to place a heavier emphasis on fighting than peace deals, analysts say.

McNeill's command comes as the United States doubles its ground combat troops in Afghanistan in what is likely to be the decisive year in the battle for the country, after the bloodiest year since the Taliban government was ousted in 2001.

Some analysts say the Taliban retaking Musa Qala village in the opium heartland of Helmand province proved peace pacts could not work and only military power could best the rebels.

About 200 guerrillas overran the town on Thursday night, four months after British troops pulled out of weeks of bloody fighting when they struck a peace deal with tribal elders.

Analysts now say McNeill, regarded as tough but fair straight-talker, will abandon similar deals in the pipeline with other towns and hit back hard with the doubling of U.S ground troops that includes a rapid reaction force Richards asked for but was always refused by NATO and the United States.

"(Richards) is an exceptionally creative military thinker and had established very well thought-through concepts as regards to Afghanistan and counter-insurgency." Sean Kay, a security expert and professor of international relations at the Ohio Wesleyan University in the United States, told Reuters.

"But in the end, requests from generals to Brussels for more troops were not met through 2006. The Taliban came on stronger than ever previously, and NATO is now on the precipice of a failure so far as the current mission is defined. But this is certainly not the fault of General Richards and his staff.

"They didn't ever have the support necessary to carry this on successfully. This raises the point: If the top general with the best ideas to date can't achieve this or implement their concepts successfully, what more can we expect?"

Last year saw the worst fighting since U.S-led troops ousted the Taliban in 2001 for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden after September 11.

McNeill, a veteran of Iraq who has also served in Vietnam and South Korea, has complained the world's most powerful army has been under-funded and warns it no longer faces traditional enemies but a network of insurgents with new tactics and no regard for human dignity, the U.S. military has quoted him saying.

During his last tour in Afghanistan, he called for bold military action to bring peace.

Richards says 2006 was the crunch year for the Taliban, boosted by safe havens and training grounds in Pakistan, the former sponsor of the militants.

And NATO killed the Taliban's number three late last year and on Sunday killed the rebel's Musa Qala commander as part of an offensive to retake the village.

McNeill, one of 11 U.S. four-star generals, commanded U.S. troops here in 2002. His takeover speech on Sunday focused on building up the Afghan army and police, a strategy that has not worked here nor in Iraq, but offered no other vision.

"I have every confidence that my successor, with a big injection recently of additional, highly experienced combat troops ... will ... not only contain the insurgency but actually improve on it, to the point where people will see that genuine victory is possible, which will have a huge psychological effect on the people of Afghanistan," Richards said.

Bush seeks Afghan funds as Pentagon renews focus

WASHINGTON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - The Pentagon would spend $8.6 billion to train and equip Afghan forces in 2007 and 2008 under the Bush administration's budget plan released on Monday, reflecting a renewed focus on a war long overshadowed by Iraq.

President George W. Bush asked Congress for $5.9 billion in 2007 and $2.7 billion in 2008 to train and equip Afghan security forces. That is up from the Pentagon's fiscal 2006 request of $2.2 billion for Afghan security forces.

The request comes as U.S. and NATO forces try with additional troops and funding to stop a fierce Taliban resurgence more than five years after the U.S.-led invasion.

Last year was the bloodiest in Afghanistan since the hard-line Islamist government was toppled in 2001 and the Taliban has threatened a spring offensive of thousands of suicide bombers.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has repeatedly warned of the risk posed by rising violence in Afghanistan even as Washington focuses on the Iraq war.

"There's no reason to sit back and let the Taliban regroup and try and threaten the progress that's been made here," Gates said during a January visit to Afghanistan.

Gates will attend a NATO meeting in Spain later this week to discuss the war in Afghanistan. The United States has about 24,000 troops in Afghanistan. The NATO force, which includes U.S. troops, totals 33,000.

Bush also sought $3.8 billion in 2007 and $2 billion in 2008 for the training of Iraqi security forces so the U.S. military can more quickly hand over responsibility there, the Pentagon said on Monday.

In total, Bush is seeking $100 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars for the rest of fiscal year 2007, ending Sept. 30, and $145 billion for fiscal 2008. Another $50 billion in war costs were projected for 2009 in the president's proposal. The regular Pentagon budget request totaled $481.4 billion.

Germany ready to help in Afghan south

BERLIN, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Germany's defense minister says he would not rule out sending troops to southern Afghanistan, days before Berlin decides on troop deployment to the country.

On Wednesday, the German Cabinet is to decide whether to deploy six Tornado reconnaissance planes, plus 250 to 500 troops to southern Afghanistan after such a request came from NATO.

"We need better reconnaissance to counter terrorist attacks in a timely manner," Germany's Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

Germany, Jung added, "would naturally help, even in other regions" of Afghanistan, an obvious reference to controversial troop deployment to the volatile south.

Germany has some 2,750 soldiers stationed with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, but they are confined to stay in relatively peaceful northern Afghanistan. Germany in the past has come under fire from NATO officials for keeping their troops in the north while the death toll in the south is rising.

Observers say the German government is eager to prove to its allies that it wants to provide additional aid in Afghanistan. The deployment of reconnaissance planes is seen as a relatively safe way to do so, at least when it comes to human casualties.

While the Cabinet is expected to sign off on the mission, Germany's lawmakers in Parliament have already voiced their concerns over the Tornado deployment, fearing a higher German death toll and a shift from civil reconstruction efforts to increasingly military missions.

Office of former Afghan king rejects media's health report

Xinhua 02/04/2007 - The office of Afghan former king Mohammad Zahir Shah has rejected media reports about the ex- monarch's deteriorating health as baseless.
Some Afghan media reported Sunday that the former king, suffering from protracted illness, was in critical condition.

"Father of Nation (ex-monarch) enjoys sound health and wishes progress and prosperity for Afghan nation," daily Cheragh reported Monday quoting a statement released by the former king's office.

The 91-years-old former Afghan ruler, who lives in the Presidential Palace, is under constant supervision of doctors and often taken abroad for medical check up, the report said.

UN official expresses concern over Afghanistan’s amnesty bill

NEW YORK: United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said here that an Afghan amnesty bill passed recently could make past serious human rights violations go unpunished.

According to the bill, which was approved by the lower house of Afghan Parliament on Jan. 31, all those who fought in Afghanistan for different reasons in the past two and a half decades "should not be dealt with through legal and judicial channels."

The bill will undermine the process towards securing long term peace through re-establishing the rule of law in Afghanistan, said Arbour in a statement released by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.

"Those responsible for serious human rights violations must be brought to justice," she added.

Arbour also said Afghan President Hamid Karzai had publicly launched the Action Plan on Peace Reconciliation and Justice in December, 2006, with the objective of ending impunity and ensuring there will be no amnesty for war crimes, crimes against humanity and other gross human rights violations.

The High Commissioner called for Afghan government to vigorously continue implementing the Plan. "The voices of the victims must be heard and they have spoken out clearly for the culture of impunity in Afghanistan to end," Arbour said.

Afghan lawmakers denounce war crimes resolution, say it won't become law

The Associated Press - 02/05/2007 - KABUL - A group of Afghan lawmakers denounced on Monday a resolution passed by Afghanistan's lower house of parliament calling for amnesty for Afghans accused of war crimes during a quarter-century of fighting.

The group of nine lawmakers said the resolution, which was passed by a show of hands last week, had no chance of moving to the upper house and becoming law.

Lawmaker Shinkai Karukhail said the non-binding resolution was presented in a "tricky" way and that many lawmakers didn't know what they were voting on.

Kabir Rangabar said he and fellow lawmakers didn't get a chance to read the resolution before the hand vote was taken. The lawmakers said they are speaking on behalf of 20 members of parliament, representing the third-biggest political group in the lower house.

The amnesty resolution covered the mujahedeen leaders who led the resistance against the Soviet occupation of the 1980s and later turned their weapons on one another, plunging the country into civil war.

Lawmaker Sayed Mustafa Kazmi, who backed the resolution, said last week that it was aimed at fostering national unity. But rights activists have called for Afghanistan's factional leaders and warlords to be prosecuted for the massacres and torture they allegedly committed in their struggle for power, especially during the 1992-1996 civil war.

"I'm sure the people who lost their lives during the communist rule and during the civil war would not forgive (the warlords)," lawmaker Shinkai Karukhail said Monday.

The United Nations human rights chief on Friday criticized the resolution, saying it could lead to warlords who committed serious war crimes going unpunished.

"Experience has shown time and again that effective and durable national reconciliation must be based on respect for international human rights standards and the rule of law, and must not come at their expense," said Louise Arbour, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has published a report calling for Afghan officials _ including Vice President Karim Khalili and Army Chief of Staff Abdul Rashid Dostum _ to face trial before a special court.

Others who should be brought to trial include Taliban leader Mullah Omar and fugitive warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the rights group said.

In December, Karzai launched a plan to help the country come to terms with decades of human rights violations by documenting past abuses. U.N. officials said the plan called for people who committed the crimes to be held accountable, but the government has yet to spell out what that might mean.

AFGHANISTAN: AMNESTY BILL COULD THREATEN FAITH IN DEMOCRACY

Ron Synovitz: 2/04/07 - A EurasiaNet Partner Post from RFE/RL

The lower chamber of Afghanistan's parliament passed a bill on January 31 that would grant immunity to all Afghans involved in war crimes during the last quarter century. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) warns that the legislation -- if approved by the upper chamber of parliament and signed by President Hamid Karzai -- could mean failure for the process of national reconciliation.

The legislation comes despite calls by human rights groups for trials against alleged war criminals -- including some members of parliament and the government. Some observers argue that the legislation could make ordinary Afghans lose faith in democracy.

The bill passed by Afghanistan's Wolesi Jirga grants immunity to all Afghans involved in war crimes during the last 25 years.

RFE/RL Afghanistan analyst Amin Tarzi predicts that the upper chamber of parliament will quickly pass the bill in its current form. Tarzi also thinks President Karzai will support the legislation.

"I do not believe that President Karzai will veto this law passed by the lower house," Tarzi says. "Karzai's plan is to offer an olive branch to the Taliban. When you look at the wording of this, it is not only [about] the alleged crimes of the people who are in parliament or the jihadi leaders. This is actually part of a broader effort to bring in the Taliban or anybody who is an opponent of the government. It actually is forward-looking. But short-term forward-looking, at the expense of human rights and democracy."

Mohammad Mohaqeq is a former mujahedin leader who has himself been accused of war crimes and is one of the key legislators behind the amnesty declaration. He disagrees with critics who say the law means the end of any hope for reconciliation.

Mohaqeq, who placed third in the 2004 presidential race, tells RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan that the legislation was designed to bring peace and reconciliation to Afghan society.

"It mainly says that all of those who were involved in the 2 1/2 decades of war should be united together and join in the process of national reconciliation," Mohaqeq says.

Adrian Edwards, the chief spokesman for UNAMA, tells RFE/RL that the law could have the opposite effect -- because it does not allow for a truthful debate that includes the voice of war crime victims.

"It's crucially important that the victims are not forgotten in this debate," Edwards says. "It really is up to the individual to decide whether they can forgive or not. And in that sense, for the [Afghan] National Assembly or any other body to suggest that there should be some blanket forgiveness -- we don't think that's the right way to go. We need to hear the voices of the victims, too. And if this process [of national reconciliation] is going to be successful, their voices will have to be equally heard."

Tarzi agrees that the bill could stifle any truthful debate. "What is being forgotten right now is the vast majority of people on all sides who suffered. Afghans wanted some sort of a closure, saying, 'Mistakes were made. We are apologizing,'" Tarzi says. "And for the people who [committed such crimes], at least, to not be in positions of power. This legislation, in effect, basically exonerates -- and it disallows even criticism or discussion of anything that happened in the past 25 years. This is a broad mandate [lawmakers have] given to themselves, basically, because a lot of the parliamentarians are people who, at least in the view of the Afghans, are guilty of war crimes."

In a statement, UNAMA says international experience shows that "truth is vital to reconciliation." It notes that Karzai's government has fully endorsed an "Action Plan on Peace, Reconciliation and Justice" required under the internationally backed "Afghan Compact" of 2006. UNAMA also notes that the Afghan Constitution guarantees all citizens the right to freedom of expression -- and that people from all parts of Afghan society should be encouraged to join the debate about dealing with war crimes in the country's past.

Tarzi says that instead of blanket immunity for all war criminals, the best historical example for Afghan reconciliation is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission set up in South Africa to deal with the abuses of the Apartheid era.

"For any country that goes through a prolonged war, there is always a healing process needed," Tarzi says. "We have examples of international courts of justice. In the case of Afghanistan, the example that would have been best to be followed was the example of South Africa -- and basically, that was truth and reconciliation. The main issue was not to kill people and not to put more people in jail, but to acknowledge the mistakes of the past and have the people who [committed crimes] -- and least the ones who were [in positions of power] -- take responsibility. And try to do good things in society. But not [for such people to] be in the leadership role."

Critics and supporters alike say the bill could lead to an amnesty for fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and former Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar -- who now heads his own militant group.

That could complicate Kabul's relations with the international community. The Wolesi Jirga bill also dismisses allegations of war crimes published by Human Rights Watch (HRW) against some lawmakers. The bill rejects documentation by HRW researchers as "inaccurate reports" that are "based on malicious intentions."

Brad Adams, the Asia director of HRW, tells RFE/RL that the group's reports compile accurate facts known by all Afghans.

"Our reports have been based on the stories of Afghans," Adams says. "They've told us what happened to them. And they've told us who did it to them. And they named these people. So these are the facts. It's up to the government to make sure that people who were responsible for these crimes are held accountable. This is not something that one makes political deals about. Everybody in Afghanistan knows what happened -- things that had more or less been put to one side. And [the war criminals] were more or less hoping that everybody would forget. We've recorded people's stories and have made sure that the world didn't forget."

Adams and Tarzi warn that ordinary Afghans could become cynical about democracy if alleged war criminals in the parliament are able to declare a blanket immunity for themselves.

Master plan to cater to the needs of growing population

KABUL, Feb 4 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Municipality officials on Sunday said a new master plan would soon be implemented to cater to the needs of five million people in this central capital.

Gharzai Khwakhozhai, head of the civil services department of the Kabul municipality, told Pajhwok Afghan new in an exclusive interview that the new plan will be concentrated on preservation of historical sites, establishment of new residential areas, marketplaces and parking lots in the city.

He added the new master plan was under work and was to be finalized in three months by foreign and Afghan experts. It will deal with the deal with the city issues as to answer needs of five million populations.

Pointing at existing problems, such as filthy weather and environment, illegal construction, lack of canalization and sanitation as the main problems for Kabul city, Khwakhozhai added all these things would be tackled in the new plan.

They would consider canalizations, sanitations, schools and hospitals in the new residential schemes they would build in Kabul districts including Paghman, Bagrami and Deh-Sabz, he said.

Kabul municipality could not clear the city from dirt due to great number of population in the city, however, he hoped the new master plan would help reduce population and address-related problems. The problem of increasing number of vendors on the streets that has caused much problem to the traffic would also be solved through construction of new markets, he said.

Khwakhozhai noted that 2,400 buildings have been constructed illegally and without approval of the municipality in the city during the last four years. He said municipality has been too weak to prevent such construction schemes but he promised to prevent such illegal constructions in the coming.

However Khwakhozhai did not make it clear how much budget would be needed for implementation of the new master plan. He said the World Bank had promised assistance with municipality in this regard.

The previous master plan implemented 30 years back considered the capital to accommodate one and a half million people while around 4.5-million population is currently living in the city.

Canada Boosts Support for Successful Afghan Microfinance Program

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(CCNMatthews - Feb. 5, 2007) - The Honourable Josee Verner, Minister of International Cooperation and Minister for La Francophonie and Official Languages, today announced that Canada will allocate an additional $16 million to Afghanistan's national microcredit program, the Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA).

"Microfinance has proven to be a vital and effective tool in helping Afghans rebuild their lives and regain their self-sufficiency," said Minister Verner. "As the leading international donor for this program, Canada's New Government is ensuring the freedom of Afghans, especially women, to invest in the future and long-term growth of their country."

Minister Verner made the announcement at a breakfast hosted by the Board of Trade of Metropolitain Montreal, with fellow guests Amjad Arbab, Managing Director of MISFA, and Mary Coyle, the Director of the Coady International Institute at St. Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia, world-renowned as a centre of excellence in community-based development. Ms. Coyle sits as Canada's Representative on the Board of Directors for MISFA.

CIDA will provide $16 million to MISFA, which provides poor Afghans with access to loans and financial services that would otherwise be unavailable to them. Launched by the Government of Afghanistan in 2003, MISFA funds 13 microfinance institutions that, in turn, offer a range of income generation and enterprise development services, as well as consumer loans to the poor. Currently, the microcredit program is helping over 300,000 Afghans, almost three quarters of whom are women. During the last 12 months, the number of Afghans benefitting has almost doubled, with an average of over 10,000 additional Afghans accessing the program each month.

Last year, an interim performance review of MISFA and the Afghan microfinance sector was commissioned by the Afghan Government and international donors including Canada. Published in October 2006, the report concludes that MISFA's design and implementation should serve as a model for building the microfinance sector in other conflict affected countries.

Today's announcement is part of Canada's total contribution of nearly $1 billion over 10 years aimed at reconstruction, reducing poverty and strengthening Afghanistan's governance, all of which are key elements in stabilizing the country and the region.

Canada backs plan to open Afghan version of Islamic school in Kandahar

Monday, February 05, 2007 - KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - The Afghan government hopes to open a madrassa - a school of Islamic education - in Kandahar province this year with the active encouragement of Canadians.

The country's Education Ministry has drawn up an $890,000 pilot program for a 16-classroom school, with a dormitory for 300 students, to be located in the vicinity of the provincial capital.

Unlike madrassas in northern Pakistan seen by the West as breeding grounds for fire-breathing extremism, the Afghan model would be based on Hanafi, a less fundamentalist form of Islam.

The plan is outlined in a Jan. 7, 2007, position paper written by the ministry. A senior education official confirmed the pilot program but refused to be quoted because he was not authorized to speak on the topic.

Support for the idea was percolating at the ground level from the Canadian Civilian-Military Co-operation team - known as CIMIC - in Zhari district where NATO fought a bloody campaign last fall to root out Taliban insurgents.

"They see education as one of the keys to solving their problems around this area," said Sgt. John Courtney, one of two CIMIC members at Patrol Base Wilson west of Kandahar.

Madrassas are religious schools that can substitute for elementary and higher education in some communities.

Many of the hard-core Taliban commanders that Canadian troops faced on the battlefield last year were educated in Pakistan, in Saudi-financed madrassas that teach Wahhabism, a stern and rigid form of Islam.

With the absence of religious education in Afghanistan, many parents have been forced over the years to send their children to Pakistan. Some end up in fundamentalist madrassas where the curriculum is more about making war on infidels than on education.

With that in mind, Courtney and his partner, Sgt. Chris Augustine, suggested to the district shura - or council - that two madrassas be established, one in the Zhari district and the other in neighbouring Panjwaii. Both of these farming regions, which form an arid arc west of Kandahar, have long been pro-Taliban.

By establishing Islamic schools, "we can avoid sending a lot of these local kids to foreign countries where they are negatively influenced in terms of ways and teachings," said Courtney, a reservist from Kingston, Ont.

The district elders support the idea and "were a bit surprised we suggested it," he said.

The desire of Afghans to have their own religious education is something that even the Taliban recognize. A few weeks ago, the Taliban made the surprising announcement that they intended to open schools in regions they claim to control. The key to making madrassas non-threatening is in the curriculum.

Ministry officials intend to travel to Jordan later this year to see what the Jordanians are doing right that can be drafted into what would be taught at the new school in Kandahar, the senior Afghan education official said.

Canada supports education in Afghanistan and by extension this endeavour, said Gavin Buchan, the political director of the Canadian provincial reconstruction team in Kandahar. It is not something western countries should fear, he said.

The Afghans "have a right to have a religious education component in their school system, in much the same way as we would have done with Catholic school systems in Newfoundland when I was growing up," said Buchan.

He has confidence that the country's Hanafi Islamic tradition, which is more liberal and generally more open to new ideas, will exclude intolerant militant teachings and would be open to a great deal of public scrutiny. "I think the government would maintain a very close oversight of schools like that," he said.

"And when you talk to the Afghan government, they do say they would like Afghans who wish to study Islam in depth to be brought up in that tradition in their own country, rather than go to Pakistan where they might be exposed to extremist teachings."

Throughout the 1980s and much of the '90s, Saudi wealth and charities fuelled an explosive growth of madrassas throughout the Islamic world. Students of different ages, some as young nine, are taught to read and then take religious studies.

Some madrassas, particularly those near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, preach fundamentalist doctrines. Many of their students are poor and have few other options for education. They became easy recruits for the extremist Taliban movement. President Hamid Karzai's government, supported by donor countries, will be competing against these well-financed Saudi schools.

Poland's Sikorski quits over Afghanistan risks
By DPA Feb 5, 2007

Warsaw - Poland's Defence Minister Radoslaw Sikorski quit Monday over what he termed 'difficulties' in reducing the risk for 1,000 Polish troops soon to be deployed in a dangerous NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan.

Sikorski, said he quit because he 'lacked the instruments' to minimize the grave risks the troops would faced in what he called Poland's 'most dangerous mission since WWII.'

According to an unconfirmed Monday report in Poland's Dziennik daily, the 44-year old had been unhappy with Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski's choice of long-time fellow Law and Justice (PiS) party member Antoni Macierewicz as head of Poland's military counter- intelligence services.

Macierewicz has been roundly criticized for doing a sloppy job of reforming Poland's military spy agency. The move was taken by the Kaczynski government in a bid to update and 'de-communise' the organization, which had not been overhauled since the 1989 fall of communism.

Analysts in Warsaw suggested Sikorski had quit over difficulties in obtaining accurate intelligence from Afghanistan while preparing the troop deployment.

Sikorski's resignation also comes as Poland is preparing to open controversial talks with the United States on the possible stationing of US anti-missile bases on Polish soil.

It remained unclear Monday who Kaczynski would name to replace Sikorski, widely seen as a highly competent minister of defence. Having worked in conservative think-tanks in Washington DC between 2002-05, Sikorski is regarded as having good contacts at the White House.

He began his career as a Solidarity student activist in communist Poland, which led him into exile as a political refugee and into studies at Oxford University in Britain in the early 1980s.

Sikorski is well aware of the risks troops face on the ground in Afghanistan as he reported on the Soviet invasion of that country during the latter part of the 1980s.

One thousand Polish troops are due to be deployed in coming weeks as part of the 30,000-troop UN-mandated NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.

New five-star hotel in Kabul soon

NEW YORK, Feb 2 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Nearly four years after signing of a memorandum of understanding, a five star luxurious hotel in the Capital Kabul, funded by the U.S, now appears, would soon be a reality. But, not before a substantial increase in its construction cost from $39 to $ 60 million and changes in its construction and management companies.

Scheduled to be up and running in early 2005, it would have been the first five star hotel in Kabul. But not now, as one has already come up. At its recent meeting, the board of directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation gave its consent to fund $60 million for the construction of a 209-room five-star hotel in Afghanistans capital Kabul.

An agency of the US government established in 1971 to help American businesses invest overseas, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation or OPIC had signed a memorandum of understanding on Feb 27, 2003 with the then Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah to fund $35 million for the construction of this hotel in Kabul. The rest of $4 million was to be funded by others.

As per the MoU, the 200-room deluxe hotel to be constructed by the Afghan Reconstruction Company and three Turkish construction companies Tepe Group, Yuksel and Limak -- was to be called the Hyatt Regency Kabul. But things have changed now.

The hotel, which is now being billed as a major foreign exchange earner for Afghanistan when operational, would now be constructed by the General Systems International (GSI), a Delaware-based company. The hotel would now be managed by Marriott International, which runs a chain of hotels world over. It would now have 209 rooms.

A statement issued by the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) after the board of directors approved $60 million for the project, said the hotel would generate permanent employment opportunities for 270 Afghans and the Marriott would implement a training program for all the hotel employees.

However, documents available with the Pajhwok Afghan News indicate that as per initial MoU, the hotel to be constructed as an estimated cost of $39 million was expected to give permanent employment to about 300 Afghans. Of these $35 million was to be funded by the OPIC.

Construction of this hotel will provide significant support for Afghanistans economic growth, not least by helping Kabul to modernize accommodations and meeting facilities for the foreign investors engaged in that effort, said OPIC President and CEO Robert Mosbacher, Jr in a statement after the board of directors approved the project.

It will also introduce Marriotts world-class management practices to Afghanistans hotel industry. He said the project sends a message of confidence in Afghanistans future development to other prospective investors. It is our expectation that it will catalyze further foreign direct investment in the country, he said.

Heritage Foundation lauds Musharraf’s role – Daily Times (Pak)

WASHINGTON: The Heritage Foundation, the flagship conservative think tank in the capital, has said that the Pakistan–Afghanistan border area is one of the most dangerous terrorist safe havens in the world and while President Musharraf’s assistance has been laudable, also worrisome is the continued presence of Taliban and Al Qaeda terrorists in the region and the growing belief in Washington that the Pakistan government could do more to crack down on these elements which are straining US-Pakistan ties.

The paper, relating to the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, was authored jointly by James Jay Carafano, Baker Spring, James Sherk, Brian Walsh, Helle Dale and Lisa Curtis.

The six experts write that in apprehending key Al Qaeda leaders President Musharraf has contributed to a strong US–Pakistan partnership since the 9/11 attacks.

While the Karzai government and coalition forces are responsible for meeting the Taliban challenge in Afghanistan, the international community relies on Pakistan to deal with Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders on its territory. It is politically risky for Gen Musharraf to crack down on the Taliban, who received assistance from the Pakistani security services in the mid-1990s to influence events in Afghanistan and who still have close ties to Pakistani intelligence officers and the mainline religious parties, the six experts maintain.

It is tempting to support US House of Representatives bill to condition military assistance to Pakistan on Islamabad’s “making all possible efforts to prevent Taliban from operating in areas under its sovereign control”, they say, but the bill “creates more problems than it solves. In the past, the US has found that simply cutting off, or even threatening to cut off, assistance to Pakistan does not further US foreign policy objectives…. Furthermore, the threat to cut off aid could undermine the government and make it more vulnerable to radical influences.”

“Congress should recognise that a more effective strategy to coax greater cooperation from the Pakistanis is to convince them that the US will remain committed to stabilising Afghanistan and to countering the Taliban until the job is completed.” Washington should continue to pursue the development of cross-border tribal jirga assemblies and greater economic and trade links between Pakistan and Afghanistan so that each develops a vested interest in the other’s stability, the six experts propose.

Musharraf's Stale Promises

The Washington Post 02/05/2007 By Jackson Diehl

In the months after Sept. 11, 2001, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was a new and shaky U.S. ally. He decided to side with the Bush administration against al-Qaeda, but there were persistent reports that elements of his army still supported the Afghan Taliban. He was an autocratic ruler who had seized power in a military coup against a democratic government, but in a televised speech to his nation in January 2002, he promised to turn Pakistan into a tolerant, "moderate Muslim" society. Largely because it had little choice, the Bush administration decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Five years later, little in Pakistan has changed. Musharraf is still promising a moderate and tolerant regime -- but there are still reports that his army is quietly helping the Taliban. He's also still promising democracy -- but just as in 2002, he's preparing to rig Pakistan's upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections to ensure that his term is extended and his power unchallenged.

What has changed is the response of the Bush administration. Five years ago it portrayed itself as giving Musharraf a chance to perform. Now it defends and apologizes for the general, despite his chronic failure to deliver.

The most recent example of this came 10 days ago, during a visit to the country by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State John Gastright. Islamabad was in an uproar over the news that Musharraf intends to seek a new five-year term next fall in a way that most of the country's civilian politicians consider undemocratic and unconstitutional. The other subject of conversation was legislation passed by the Democratic-controlled U.S. House during its "100 hours" blitz. It would condition future aid to the Pakistani military on Bush's certification that Pakistan "is making all possible efforts to prevent the Taliban from operating in areas under its sovereign control."

The House measure, backed by the new Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, California's Tom Lantos, was a logical response to recent reports by U.S. commanders that the Taliban leadership is based in Pakistan and that cross-border movements of insurgents are increasing. But Gastright rushed to assure Musharraf's government that the administration opposed it. "The president can certify that," Gastright said of the Taliban metric without explaining the basis for his confidence. "The issue is, he shouldn't have to."

Gastright went on to endorse what he said were steps by Musharraf to promote press and political freedom ahead of the elections: "That's an impressive track record," the Associated Press quoted him as saying. Then he said the administration was pleased with Musharraf's handling of the greatest criminal proliferator of nuclear weapons in history, A.Q. Khan, who was quickly pardoned in 2004 and then shielded from U.S. or U.N. interrogation. Musharraf had "a superb record addressing the legacy of the A.Q. Khan network," Gastright said.

It's at this point in a column like this that administration officials pop up to point out that the relationship with Musharraf is "complicated," that he has the right intentions and that he needs to be supported as well as urged to do more. Whatever his performance or lack of it, the argument goes, Musharraf is better than the alternatives in Pakistan, which include Islamic extremists and anti-Western generals. It's the same argument that's used to defend continued U.S. pandering to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

In Musharraf's case it's particularly perverse. That's because the second most popular leader in Pakistan behind Musharraf, according to polling by the International Republican Institute, is not an Islamist but former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, the leader of the moderate and pro-Western Pakistan People's Party. Bhutto and her party have made it clear that they would be willing to accept Musharraf in exchange for fair parliamentary elections and an end to criminal charges that keep Bhutto in exile. The PPP and the Muslim League party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif have formed the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy; they are the obvious partners for a government that genuinely aims to modernize the country and marginalize Islamic extremism.

Only Musharraf refuses to deal with them. His supporters say he intends to extend his mandate by staging a presidential vote by the existing parliament and provincial assemblies -- which make up Pakistan's equivalent of the electoral college -- though they were elected in the rigged balloting of 2002 and their terms expire on the same day as the president's. For that maneuver he won't need Bhutto or Sharif or their parties -- and so he won't have to meet their demands for fair parliamentary elections.

In private, the Bush administration has been urging Musharraf for some time to come to terms with Pakistan's moderate democrats. And they've been asking him for years to stop allowing sanctuary for the Taliban. He's not responding. So what's wrong with congressional conditions? They might just produce what's been missing from Musharraf the past five years: results.

[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.]