In this bulletin:

• U.S. defense chief, in Pakistan, offers support on policing Afghan border
• US won't abandon Afghanistan again: Gates
• 700 foreign fighters in south Afghanistan, governor says; town still under Taliban control
• EU foreign ministers approve plans to set up Afghan police training mission
• Karzai bids for peace in furore with London
• US soldier killed in Balkh
• Afghanistan vows more action on drugs
• US' law makers for use of micro-herbicide on poppy plants
• Ministry to spend $4.2m on labs, pesticides
• Pakistani "spies" handed over to officials at Torkham
• Surprising Partners Among Tehran's Layer of Alliances
• Afghanistan attaches importance to relations with Iran: envoy
  Calls for Afghan cooperation with its neighbors (PakTribune)
• Canadian Forces probe wounding of Afghan soldier
• Send more money, personnel to Afghanistan, says Senate report
• Ex-police chief house attacked in Kabul
• 293 Afghan detainees to be released today: diplomat
• Factors behind Taliban resurgence
• Taleban remain united, talks only way to save Afghanistan: Ex-FM

U.S. defense chief, in Pakistan, offers support on policing Afghan border

By Thom Shanker – Int. Herald Tribune - Monday, February 12, 2007

Islamabad: Defense Secretary Robert Gates made an unannounced trip to Pakistan on Monday for talks with one of America's most complicated partners. He offered strong words of support for the government, even as he urged it to do more to halt the flow of Taliban fighters into Afghanistan.

Gates volunteered the help of the United States in easing a war of words between Afghanistan and Pakistan over border areas inside Pakistan that are being used as safe havens for Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters.

After meeting with President Pervez Musharraf, Gates told reporters he was flying back to Washington reassured that Pakistan would work more strenuously to halt insurgents from crossing the border to attack U.S., NATO and Afghan troops.

"If we weren't concerned about what was happening along the border, I wouldn't be here," Gates said. Gates flew to Islamabad for a one- hour meeting with Musharraf in Rawalpindi. He had spent the weekend in Munich at a security conference.

Senior American officials said the effort emphasized Washington's support for an oft-criticized ally who assists the Bush administration's counterterrorism efforts but has been unable to halt Islamic radicals from using the country as a base.

Gates and Musharraf discussed plans by NATO and Afghan forces to launch a spring offensive against the Taliban, which normally mounts a fresh round of attacks with the first thaw. Asked about reports that American troops in Afghanistan had been shelling Taliban positions across the border in Pakistan, Gates did not respond specifically, but said, "Our operations are coordinated with the Pakistanis."

A former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Gates said he first visited Pakistan 20 years ago in an effort to support anti-Soviet guerrillas in Afghanistan. After the Soviet forces were routed, Gates said, the United States erred by neglecting the region, allowing extremists to take over. The result, he said, was the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, planned by Al Qaeda leaders under Taliban protection in Afghanistan.

"We will not make that mistake again," Gates said. "We are here for the long haul."

Gates said the Pakistani president acknowledged difficulties in enforcing a peace deal reached late last year with tribal militia in North Waziristan, a semiautonomous tribal area straddling the border with Afghanistan. Musharraf has said the pact has been a partial success and was being enforced more successfully now, but critics say the truce allowed the Taliban to consolidate forces, rest and retrain.

Pakistani officials have argued that the responsibility for securing the border should be shared with the United States, NATO and Afghan forces across the frontier. But the cross-border movements by insurgent fighters have prompted accusations back and forth over who bears culpability for allowing the Taliban to have revived.

The discussions between American and Pakistani officials are expected to continue over coming weeks, as a range of senior Bush administration and military officials are expected to make quiet trips to Pakistan.

American officials who specialize in Pakistan say the nation's problems in tackling extremists along the border, both Taliban and home-grown, stem from both politics and capability.

Should Musharraf move aggressively to quash Islamic radicals in his nation, he risks fomenting internal unrest, which could be a serious matter in a nation with nuclear weapons. Washington understands these risks, these officials said. At the same time, they said, Pakistan's security services have divided loyalties, and even some disciplined units lack adequate equipment and training.

Afghan fighting flares up - Gun battles and ambushes in southern Afghanistan have left at least six Taliban fighters and five Afghan policemen dead, while the U.S.-led coalition said Monday that several other Taliban fighters died during an assault targeting a senior Taliban leader, The Associated Press reported from Kabul.

In Uruzgan Province, NATO forces and Afghan police officers and soldiers battled suspected Taliban militants for five hours near the town of Tirin Kot late Sunday, said Qayum Qayumi, the provincial governor's spokesman.

Six Taliban fighters and three policemen were killed, while another 12 suspected Taliban were arrested and several guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers were recovered, he said.

Two policemen died and a third was wounded in neighboring Zabul Province when suspected Taliban militants ambushed a police vehicle Sunday night, said Ghulam Jalali, a highway police commander. One policeman and one Taliban fighter were wounded in a gun battle, he said.

US won't abandon Afghanistan again: Gates

Kristin Roberts (Reuters) Rawalpindi, February 12, 2007

United States Defence Secretary Robert Gates, in Pakistan for talks on how to defeat the Taliban, said on Monday the United States would not repeat the mistake of letting extremists take control of Afghanistan.

Gates met with President Pervez Musharraf following four days of meetings in Spain and Germany focused mainly on the war in Afghanistan.

Gates said the United States had absorbed the lessons of the 1980s and 1990s, when the United States left Afghanistan to descend into chaos after covertly supporting an Islamic jihad, or holy war, to end Soviet occupation of the country.

"After the Soviets left, the United States made a mistake. We neglected Afghanistan and extremism took control of that country," Gates told a news conference at the Chaklala military air base in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.

"The United States paid a price for that on September 11, 2001," Gates said, referring to attacks on the United States by Al-Qaeda, whose leader was harboured by the Taliban. "We won't make that mistake again."

Gates' visit came as Musharraf faced mounting pressure to halt the flow of Taliban fighters across the border with Afghanistan.

Last year was Afghanistan's bloodiest since the US-led invasion in 2001 and the Taliban has promised a spring offensive of thousands of suicide bombers. Pakistan has been important in the resurgence of the Taliban, which has used border areas as safe havens and recruited from Afghan refugee camps.

US military officials also say the Afghan insurgency's command operations came from the Pakistani side of the border and that training, financing, indoctrination, regeneration and other support activities were taking place there.

"We can't be successful unless Pakistan is part of the equation in eliminating this insurgency," said one NATO official ahead of Gates' trip.

While Islamabad agrees the refugee camps on its side of the border have become robust recruiting grounds for the Taliban, Pakistani officials reject blame for the rising violence in Afghanistan.

Musharraf has refused to take sole responsibility for the border and said the Taliban is Afghanistan's problem. Pakistan's foreign minister called on Saturday for more help and less rhetoric from the United States to stop the flow of Taliban militants.

"Simply making a rhetorical appeal — stop extremism — if it were that simple it would have been resolved long ago in Palestine, in Lebanon and Iraq and in Afghanistan.

Obviously it's more complicated," Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri told the agency at a security meeting in Munich on Saturday.

700 foreign fighters in south Afghanistan, governor says; town still under Taliban control

The Associated Press - Sunday, February 11, 2007

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - An estimated 700 foreign fighters are operating in a key southern Afghan province where Taliban fighters took control of a town earlier this month, the provincial governor said Sunday.

The foreign fighters — from Chechnya, Uzbekistan and Pakistan — are operating in three volatile areas of Helmand province, including Musa Qala, which fighters overran and have controlled since Feb. 1, Gov. Asadullah Wafa said.

He said the government was conducting negotiations with tribal elders to resolve the dispute.

"We are trying our best to solve this issue in a peaceful way," Wafa told The Associated Press. "We don't want innocent people to die in the fighting. If the negotiations with the elders fail, then the government will conduct an operation against the Taliban."

Wafa said some 1,500 families had fled Musa Qala out of fear of coming clashes. Lt. Col. Angela Billings, a spokeswoman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, said the Afghan government was leading the negotiations in Musa Qala and that didn't know how long they would take. She said NATO is "always postured" for potential military action.

"We're here as a military force and we'll strike when the situation warrants it," she said. Billings said foreign fighters are operating in Helmand but that the estimate of 700 sounded high.

Wafa said the clerics' council in Musa Qala issued a fatwa, or religious edict, forbidding "jihad" and suicide attacks because the international community was in Afghanistan at the invitation of the government.

A Taliban commander in the Helmand region, Mullah Qassim, said Musa Qala and the areas of Kajaki and Sangin in Helmand were under Taliban control. "There are thousands of Taliban there," he said by satellite phone from an unknown location. "If NATO and the government launch an attack, we are ready."

Wali Mohammad, a resident of Musa Qala, said NATO forces had moved into an area about 90 minutes away by vehicle three or four days earlier. He said that two days ago the forces exchanged gunfire with Taliban militants.

Billings said she had no immediate information on troop movement near Musa Qala. Mohammad said a lot of villagers had fled to other areas of Helmand. The town bazaar remained closed.

"We have to find a solution," he said. "Either they start the operation against the Taliban or they make a peace deal."

From June until September Musa Qala witnessed intense battles between Taliban fighters and British troops based in the fortified center. The fighting caused widespread damage to the surrounding town of around 10,000 inhabitants, most of whom fled.

British forces left Musa Qala in October after a peace agreement was signed between elders and the Helmand governor, with the support of British forces. According to the deal, security was turned over to local leaders, while NATO and Taliban forces were prevented from entering the town.

Taliban militants overran it on Feb. 1, destroying the government compound. Fighters claimed an airstrike last month that killed a Taliban leader broke the accord.

Wafa, who was appointed Helmand governor only recently, said he had never been happy with the peace deal because it allowed the government no influence in Musa Qala. He said he recently asked tribal elders to give the taxes they were collecting to the provincial government and had appointed a new district police chief. He said the Taliban attack was in response to those changes.

EU foreign ministers approve plans to set up Afghan police training mission

The Associated Press - Monday, February 12, 2007

Brussels: European Union foreign ministers approved plans on Monday to set up a 230-strong police training mission in Afghanistan. The operation could be deployed as early as May, officials said, after planning is completed and a commander appointed.

The EU ministers said in a statement the mission aims to build up "an Afghan police force in local ownership, that respects human rights and operates within the framework of the rule of law."

EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said Afghanistan's problems "cannot be solved without a stronger government and respect for the rule of law."

She said the key challenges facing both Western donors and the Afghan government remained extending its authority into the provinces "and to stamp out narcotics production that destabilize the country politically and economically."

The EU force is meant to bolster NATO troops in Afghanistan in stabilizing the country and spreading the rule of law. The United States is also stepping up training for the Afghan security forces.

Under the EU plan 160 police officers and up to 70 additional legal and judicial experts will be deployed in Afghanistan. The mission will be based in Kabul but will also have officers in five regional commands.

Officials said while the force is not large, it is focused on mentoring top officers and commanders in such areas as criminal investigations, border policing and in the training and education of police recruits.

Ferrero-Waldner said the EU was giving special focus to boosting Afghan justice institutions, notably the supreme court, the Attorney General's office and the ministry of justice, which she said are all "in urgent need of reform."

She said the country's judicial system was operating with staff who had insufficient training, and were badly paid, opening them up to possible corruption.

The mission is to cost the EU €40 million (US$52 million) this year, however it is unclear how long the mission will last. It is expected a current 40-strong German police training mission in Kabul will be merged with the EU mission, officials said.

Besides police training, legal experts will also be sent to help with the selection and training of judges and to set up courts across the country.

The mission comes as international donors step up aid to Afghanistan amid renewed concern that reconstruction efforts are faltering in the wake of Taliban offensives.

The EU's Commission earlier this month proposed a new €600 million (US$780 million) package for Afghanistan to focus on health, justice and rural development over the next four years.

Karzai bids for peace in furore with London

Christina Lamb, Kabul, February 11, 2007 Sunday Times

THE Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, will meet Tony Blair in London this week in an attempt to repair relations with Britain which one diplomat described as “in total tatters”.

The row has meant British officials have been unable to get meetings in the president’s office even though the UK is Afghanistan’s second biggest aid donor, spending £250m a year, as well as having 5,500 troops engaged in heavy fighting in the south.

Some of Karzai’s closest advisers have accused Britain of conspiring with Pakistan to hand over southern Afghanistan. The deputy head of mission at the British embassy was in such a heated argument with the president that it was feared he would be expelled. Karzai’s chief of staff, Jawed Ludin, was forced to resign after his attempts to defend Britain led to accusations that he was a British spy.

The row centres on the continued violence in Helmand province, where British troops are based, and London’s refusal to acknowledge publicly Pakistan’s role in supporting the Taliban. Karzai accuses Britain of “compromising” with Islamabad because of its need for cooperation from Pakistan’s security services to infiltrate terrorist groups involving British Muslims.

“I understand that Britain has a long friendship with Pakistan and that its relationship with Pakistan is different from that of other countries because of its domestic concerns,” Karzai told The Sunday Times. “But that compromise will not bring an end to terrorism in Britain.

“It’s from this part of the world [Pakistan] that training takes place, and inspiration and motivation. So for British security, simply foiling incidents in London is not the only way,” he added.

“The important thing is to find the source of it. Otherwise you’ll continue to suffer as you have with the London bombs. By ignoring what is happening in Pakistan, you can never defeat terrorism.”

One of his national security advisers accused Britain of turning a blind eye to Pakistani infiltration of southern Afghanistan as revenge for its defeats in the first and second Anglo-Afghan Wars in the 19th century. US officials confirm that Pakistan has moved border posts at least a mile into Afghan territory.

“Quite frankly, we find all this offensive,” said a British official. “Not only are we the second biggest donor here, but we have lost 42 men in the past year.” The row first erupted in October over an agreement by which British troops withdrew from the key Helmand town of Musa Qala after tribal elders promised to keep out the Taliban. The truce followed months of fighting in which eight British soldiers were killed.

Karzai was furious about the deal, which was also criticised by the Americans. It came just after Pakistan agreed to withdraw its forces from town centres in the tribal area of North Waziristan where many Al-Qaeda members are believed to be hiding.

“I was very upset,” Karzai said. “People suspected there was a deal being made and deal-making is what Afghans hate.”

British officials counter that Karzai had forced them into what they call “the tethered goat policy” of putting troops into platoon houses in towns in northern Helmand where they were besieged. “He kept insisting our forces went into towns like Musa Qala to defend them when we did not have enough troops,” said one.

There were further differences when Karzai began criticising Nato bombing, saying mistakes were being made and too many lives taken. Whitehall was then outraged in December when Karzai sacked the British-backed governor of Helmand, Engineer Mohammad Daoud.

The relationship broke down at the start of this year when the United States accused Pakistan of allowing Taliban to operate from its soil. This has left Britain isolated.

Before US General Dan McNeill took over command of Nato forces in Afghanistan from the British last Sunday, he flew to Islamabad to show President Pervez Musharraf video footage of armed men crossing the border into Afghanistan in front of Pakistani border guards.

“I very much support the American stand,” said Karzai. “It always helps to speak the truth. Unless we do that we won’t find a solution.

“Afghanistan suffered for many years precisely because some countries, particularly during the war against the Soviets, looked at Afghanistan through the perspective of Pakistan. Afghanistan itself didn’t matter. Afghans were cannon fodder in the fight against the Soviets and when the Soviets left we were abandoned completely to the designs of our neigh-bours. We all saw the consequences of that policy — the destruction of the Twin Towers.

“We hope that Britain will look at Afghanistan as Afghanistan and not make the same mistake of looking from the perspective of other countries. If they can do that we’ll be great friends.” So concerned is Whitehall that it has decided to beef up the embassy in Kabul by sending one of its top ambassadors, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, currently in Saudi Arabia. The embassy will be reinforced, with 12 extra diplomats in Kabul and five in Helmand.

Karzai will meet Blair and then Prince Charles on Wednesday before flying on to Rome for a conference. “I believe Mr Blair is a good friend of Afghanistan and I will talk to him about all these issues,” he said.

But referring to Britain’s three wars with Afghanistan, he continued: “Britain is a very old country and has a lot of experience in this part of the world. Britain and Afghanistan have a particular history and I hope our judgments are not being blurred by that.”

US soldier killed in Balkh

KABUL, Feb 11 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A US soldier was killed in the northern province of Balkh, said a press release issued here on Sunday.

"A US service member died of a gunshot wound today in Balkh province, Afghanistan," said the statement. Further details were not given by the military. Name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of the next of kin. The incident was under investigation by military authorities, it added.

The US soldiers are mostly stationed in the southern and southeastern provinces as part of the NATO forces and in the eastern parts under the command of the coalition troops. This is the first casualty suffered by the US forces in Afghanistan so far this year.

Afghanistan vows more action on drugs

Kabul (AFP) - Afghanistan, the world's leading opium producer, vowed to take "strong action" against the drug and said it had made a start by destroying thousands of hectares (acres) of poppy fields this year.

Around 1,500 drug traffickers had been arrested since May 2005 when Afghanistan's first-ever drugs court was opened, Deputy Interior Minister General Mohammad Daud Daud said at the opening of a new court building.

The court has investigated 740 cases and convicted 326 people for offences such as selling or transporting opium and heroin, officials said. "The government is serious and we will take strong action," Daud said on Monday. "There will be significant reduction."

"We have made very important progress. At the beginning of 2006 we had not yet started the (eradication) campaign but this year 4,250 hectares (10,500 acres) of poppy lands have been already destroyed," he said.

However a September 2006 report by Daud's ministry and the United Nations showed that about 14 percent of the roughly 15,000 hectares of poppy fields eradicated last year had already been destroyed in the first two months.

About 165,000 hectares of opium were cultivated last year, a 59 percent jump on the previous year and a record high, the report showed, despite British- and US-funded programmes costing millions of dollars. Afghanistan now produces more than 90 percent of the world's opium.

Critics say the government is not doing enough to fight its opium trade, which supplies Europe, the Middle East and Asia with heroin and supports a Taliban insurgency that is fiercest in the main drug production areas.

The chief of investigations in the drugs court said it was aiming for the top levels of the drugs trade. "We are continually building intelligence and prosecuting crimes, which will enable us to bring down the highest echelons of the drug trafficking networks," Noor Mohammed said.

US' law makers for use of micro-herbicide on poppy plants

NEW YORK, Feb 10 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Expressing concern over the increase in poppy cultivation in the country over the previous two years, several US law makers believe use of micro-herbicide is the only solution to the problem, which they argue is providing finances for terrorism.

As part of the global fight against the increasing menace of drugs around the world, micro-herbicide was developed in a laboratory in Uzbekistan a few years back. Scientists from several countries joined the effort to prepare the micro-herbicide.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC), micro-herbicide is a natural pathogen of opium plant. It can be used very effectively against only the opium plant by poisoning the ground. However, this poisoning remains ineffective for other plants, says scientists associated with the research.

Antonio Maria Costa of the UNODC had told the Congressional in 2006 that while the micro-herbicide had no adverse impact on fertility of the soil and other plants in the first year, its long term effect was still not proven.

It is probably for this reason the long term impact of micro-herbicide on fertility of the soil is not fully known that the Afghanistan government has so far disapproved its use.

Despite allocating $12 million for its research, the United States, too, is reluctant to favour its use. "Are you going to spend that $12 million to find out if micro-herbicides are a possible tool against the opium production in Afghanistan," asked Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher at a Congressional hearing this week while addressing the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

However, Rice said: "I'll get back to you on the specifics about micro-herbicides and what we are doing in terms of research. I will say that there are always questions about what one can do in the use of certain kinds of herbicides worldwide in terms of crop, even illicit crop. And there are environmental issues that have to be examined."

Rohrabacher expressed the fear that the amount was not being used for this particular research because of some fanatic opposition to it.

Taleban remain united, talks only way to save Afghanistan: Ex-FM

REUTERS / February 11, 2007 - KABUL • The Taleban remain a united force and President Hamid Karzai must start wide-ranging talks to save Afghanistan from more bloodshed, the group’s former foreign minister said yesterday.

“I think that the Taleban to a large extent is the only group that has remained united before and after its fall,” former Taleban foreign minister Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil said.

“If we look back to past years, evidence shows that they have expanded and increased their operations and there is the possibility of that once again,” he said in Kabul.

More than 4,000 people, including about 170 foreign troops and 1,000 civilians died in fighting last year, the bloodiest year since US-led troops ousted the Taleban’s strict Islamist government in 2001.

Nato, the United States, Afghan authorities and the Taleban say the guerrillas will launch a major offensive when spring comes in a few months, although no one seriously believes the guerrillas can regain power.

But they are gaining support in rural areas where the failure to create a non-drugs economy has left no jobs and fighting for the Taleban pays more than working for the police.

Muttawakil surrendered to the US-led forces after the overthrow of the Taleban and was released from custody in 2003. He refused a job offered with the government, but stood for the 2005 parliamentary elections. He did not win a seat.

The 37 year-old bespectacled, black-bearded Muttawakil lives with his family in a rented house under the protection of the government in Kabul. He spends most of his time reading books, mostly in Arabic and Pashto.

He has met Karzai several times. He is the only high ranking Taleban leader to have surrendered since the Taleban’s fall.

Karzai’s reconciliation efforts to bring what he calls moderate Taleban into the mainstream has so far failed, as has the president’s efforts to invite senior leaders for talks.

Muttawakil was optimistic about recent peace overtures to the Taleban at a summit of tribal chiefs in Kabul.

He said the calls days after Karzai renewed an offer of negotiations with various guerrilla forces — would bolster Karzai’s position, but added the president must build up trust.

He said talks should include the Taleban leaders and former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar who leads a separate guerrilla force against the government and foreign troops.

“Talks should start without any exception ... an intra-Afghan dialogue is needed. Talks will bear fruit with those who cause problems,” Muttawakil said referring to Taleban’s wanted leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar and Hekmatyar.

“As the elected president, Karzai needs to take the initiative himself and rescue Afghans from this situation.”

“The government needs to show a gesture of goodwill and for that the prisoners should be released,” he said, referring to the hundreds of Taleban suspects held by Afghan and US authorities in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay.

The United States wants to refocus its Afghanistan effort on the local army and police, but there are serious questions about a strategy that has also run into problems of desertions, sectarianism and graft in Iraq.

A much-heralded US handover of weapons, vehicles and other materiel in Kabul last week — the biggest ever with 12,000 guns and hundreds of vehicles — was as telling for what was held back as for what was given.

Pakistani "spies" handed over to officials at Torkham

ISLAMABAD, Feb 10 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Two Pakistani nationals arrested on charges of espionage last year, have been handed over to Pakistani authorities at the Torkham border crossing.

Gulsim Khan, a Pakistani official, told Pajhwok Afghan News the two people were handed over to them on Friday. He said they had been sent to Islamabad, capital of that country, for further investigations.

Zarshid Afridi, another Pakistani official at Torkham, said the two people, Khurshid, son of Said Mohammad, resident of Mansehra, and Khalil, son of Ghous Mohammad, resident of Lahore, were arrested by Afghan officials on espionage charges last year.

He said they had crossed the border in search of job. They had nothing to do with spying. He added the two would be questioned to ascertain the reason for their entering Afghanistan.

With the recent diplomatic stand-off between Afghanistan and Pakistan, authorities on both sides of the 2,640-kilometre border had started scrutiny of citizens illegally cross into each other's countries.

Surprising Partners Among Tehran's Layer of Alliances

The Guardian - 02/10/2007 - When Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, vowed this week to hit back at American interests around the world if Iran was attacked, it was no empty threat.

More than at any time in the life of the Islamic republic, Iran is positioned to inflict significant pain on the US and its allies in many places at the same time.

US stumbling in the Middle East has strengthened and emboldened Iran. On top of an array of patron-client relationships with powerful Shia groups, like Hizbullah in Lebanon, the Badr brigades and the Mahdi army in Iraq, Tehran has built a new layer of alliances with some more surprising partners among the Sunni jihadists. It has forged a relationship with Hamas in Gaza, and even appears to have developed links with the Taliban.

In the wake of anecdotal accounts of would-be Iranian jihadists turning up in Afghanistan, western intelligence sources believe official contacts have been made between the erstwhile enemies. Iranian intelligence is thought to be providing some money and training to the Taliban and giving safe passage for jihadists travelling from the Iraqi to the Afghan front.

Seth Jones, a terrorism expert at the Rand Corporation thinktank, who has just returned from Afghanistan, said: "There are indications the Iranians have opened contacts with insurgent groups, including the Quetta Shura (the Taliban command council for southern Afghanistan)".

He said there was so far no evidence Iran had supplied what the Taliban need most, modern surface-to-air missiles. He also stressed that Iranian backing for the Taliban was barely significant compared to the support it enjoyed in Pakistan, while Tehran enjoyed strong relations with the Karzai government in Kabul. "What Iran in my view is doing is pursuing a hedging strategy," he said. "The Iranian government would prefer to keep a close relationship with the Afghan government, but also wants to protect itself from a strike from the US or Israel." Iran could make life more difficult for the US, Britain and their allies in southern Afghanistan. "If the Taliban got surface-to-air missiles, it would really change things in Afghanistan."

What was unfolding in Afghanistan was part of a broader contest, in which both sides were seeking a more lethal grip on their opponent as insurance against attack. "There is a struggle for influence between US and Iran right across south-west Asia, in which main theatres of operation are Lebanon, Afghanistan and Iraq," said Afshin Molavi, an Iranian specialist at the International Crisis Group (ICG). In that struggle, Iran national interests rise above sectarian or ideological affiliation.

Meanwhile, the long-standing relationship with Hizbullah offers Iran the potential to threaten US interests much further afield. Tehran helped set up the Shia militia after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, and it has since developed a global presence stretching as far as Lebanese communities in Latin America. In the event of an attack on Iran, it could offer Tehran a potent network for reprisals.

But Iran's capacity to hit back is limited to the readiness of its clients and partners to take on the US. In recent years, Hizbullah has opted to focus on its role in Lebanon and its conflict with Israel. "The Mahdi army and Moqtada al-Sadr are willing to take money from Iranians, but he is an Iraqi nationalist with no pro-Iranian proclivities," said Joost Hiltermann, a Jordan-based analyst for the ICG.

Furthermore, Tehran must calibrate any retaliation to avoid bringing the region down on its head. It may support the Taliban, but does not want to see the Sunni extremist movement back in power on its eastern border.

Afghanistan attaches importance to relations with Iran: envoy

TEHRAN (FNA) -- Afghanistan's outgoing ambassador to the Islamic Republic described Iran as an important neighbor of his country, and stressed that Kabul views its relations with Tehran as a significant opportunity.

According to a statement released by the Foreign Ministry's Information and Press Bureau, Mohammad Omar Dawood Zi made the remarks in a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki here in Tehran on Saturday.

During the meeting, Mottaki noted the two countries' good ties, and stressed the need for the further expansion of relations between Iran and Afghanistan, saying that Tehran has arranged a meeting for the next month to study the pace and rate of the implementation of the agreements made by the two countries during the past joint economic commission meetings of the Iranian and Afghan officials.

He also said that during the prospect meet, the two sides would explore avenues for expanding economic cooperation, given the high potentials that exist in both countries.

For his part, Afghanistan's outgoing ambassador to Tehran conveyed a message from his country's foreign minister to Mottaki, and said that Kabul views its ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran as a significant opportunity.

"Considering Afghanistan's deep enthusiasm for cooperation with Iran, we are striving to take giant strides to develop and deepen ties with the Islamic Republic and meantime enjoy the valuable experiences of Iran," the diplomat concluded.

Calls for Afghan cooperation with its neighbors (PakTribune)

BRUSSELS: Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht has expressed optimism that the fight against drugs in Afghanistan can be won. "It cannot be that we are stabilising Afghanistan for drug production to flourish.

The fight against drugs in Pakistan and Turkey has shown that this is a war that can be won," Gucht told a conference on Afghanistan in Brussels.

Noting that relations between Kabul and Islamabad are strained, De Gucht called for better cooperation between the two Muslim countries. Afghanistan also needs to improve cooperation with its neighbors Iran, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, said the Belgian foreign minister, noting that a major part of narcotic traffic makes its way through these three countries.

He said that NATO's ISAF mission in Afghanistan cannot and should not stay for decades. "Together we will have to work for an exit strategy for ISAF," he said.

The two-day conference was entitled "Security and Development: the Case of Afghanistan," and included ministers, officials and security experts from Europe and Afghanistan.

Hedayat Amin Arsala, senior minister in the Afghan government, said Afghanistan during the last five years had made substantial progress and improvements. However, he said that Afghanistan still faces numerous problems such as terrorism, drugs and extreme poverty.

""These three things are interlinked and, therefore, our approach has to be an interlinked approach. We have to tackle all the three things at the same time," he said. "Drug trafficking is one of the biggest enemies of Afghanistan because those who are involved in drug trafficking do not want stability in Afghanistan."

Meanwhile, Belgian Minister of Development Cooperation Armand De Decker warned that if international actions fail to improve the living conditions of the Afghan people "there will be a high risk that the people will reject the presence of international forces and will turn in despair towards the Taliban, whose downfall has been hailed as a liberation."

The conference was organised in cooperation with the Egmont Institute, which is Belgium's Royal Institute of International Relations

Canadian Forces probe wounding of Afghan soldier

Last Updated: Monday, February 12, 2007 - CBC News

The Canadian Forces are investigating an incident in which one of their own shot and wounded an Afghan soldier Monday morning.

The shooting occurred when a Canadian convoy and a group of Afghan military vehicles crossed paths along a highway in Kandahar at about 7 a.m., the Canadian military said.

A Canadian vehicle had broken down and troops had set up a defensive perimeter around it. While repairs were being done, an Afghan National Army convoy approached.

"At that time, for whatever reason, it appears shots were fired by the Canadians at the ANA convoy," said Lt.-Cmdr. Kris Phillips.

The lead vehicle in the Afghan convoy apparently approached too closely, Phillips said, and may not have heeded signals to stop, prompting a Canadian soldier to open fire using a mounted machine gun.

"The vehicle was hit and the driver of that vehicle was injured," said Phillips, a spokesman for the International Security Force in Afghanistan.

Phillips said the driver was taken to hospital and reports from the Afghan army suggest he was not seriously wounded by the burst of fire, but suffered injuries to his arm. Angry responses came from the Afghan soldiers, but "cooler heads prevailed" after interpreters helped the soldiers communicate, Phillips said.

Canadian troops are in the process of rotating troops through Afghanistan. Whether this was a case of a new soldier overreacting will be part of a Canadian Forces investigation into the matter, Phillips said.

The shooting incident comes as the Senate defence committee is set to present a harsh report on Monday that includes an 11-point strategy on how to improve Canada's mission in Afghanistan.

Send more money, personnel to Afghanistan, says Senate report

Monday, February 12, 2007 - CBC News - Canada must send more personnel to Afghanistan and increase development funding, says a Senate defence committee report to be published Monday. The report will recommend Canada send additional police and military trainers to Kandahar to help boost the country's fledgling army and police force.

It recommends Ottawa provide millions more in development aid for the military until aid groups can set up in the wartorn region. The defence committee report also criticizes NATO countries for failing to provide enough military support to Canadian troops, who, along with the Americans, British and Dutch, are working in the volatile southern region.

Canadian and NATO leaders have repeatedly called on member countries to send more troops to the country to help battle Taliban militants and their supporters.

Members of the Senate defence committee visited the more than 2,000 Canadian soldiers serving in the Kandahar region last December. Since the mission started in 2002, 44 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed in Afghanistan.

Ex-police chief house attacked in Kabul

Pajhwok News - 02/09/2007 By Habib Rahman Ibrahimi

KABUL - A group of armed men stormed the house of a former police chief in Kabul, but the attacker fled after resistence from security guards and there were no casualties in exchange of fire.

A well-placed source in the Kabul police told Pajhwok Afghan News a group of armed men, disguised as police personnel, attacked the house of Baba Jan in the northwest of the city. The gunmen attempted to sneak into the building but their attempt was thwarted by the security guards and there was exchange of fire between the two sides. No one was killed or injured in the incident that happened around 7:30pm last evening, said the source. When asked about motive behind the assault, the official said there might be some old enmity. Chief of the crime branch of the Kabul police Alishah Paktiawal, however, said the house belonged to Baba Jan's brother. He added the armed men escaped as local police arrived on the site. Paktiwal said search was on to arrest the culprits.

Baba Jan stayed was chief of the Kabul police during 2003-4 and was one of the powerful commanders of the then Northern Alliance before the collapse of the Taliban regime in Kabul.

293 Afghan detainees to be released today: diplomat

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has decided to release around 293 Afghan pilgrims who had been arrested on charges of travelling to Saudi Arabia on fake Pakistani passports, said Afghan Consul General in Karachi Muktader Feruz Anfar on Sunday.

“I have received a written order from Pakistan's Interior Ministry that the first group of detained Afghan pilgrims will be freed on Monday,” Anfar told NNI.

He said a total of 96 women and 197 men would be handed over to Afghan authorities at 9am on Monday, and would later be deported to Afghanistan via the Chaman border crossing. A group of 23 Afghan nationals who were detained under the Foreigners Act would also be freed on Monday, he added.

Anfar said that more than 600 Afghan ‘hujjaj’ had been arrested in recent weeks on charges of performing hajj on fake Pakistani passports. Efforts are underway for the release of the remaining Afghan pilgrims, he added. nni

Factors behind Taliban resurgence (PakTribune)

KABUL: The Taliban recently said it would launch a spring offensive against foreign and government troops in Afghanistan and 2,000 suicide bombers were ready to make this year the bloodiest one for foreign soldiers.

Moreover, due to rising Taliban-linked insurgency, Afghanistan plunged into the worst spate of bloodshed in 2006 after the Taliban regime collapsed late 2001 as 4,000 persons were killed. The number was nearly three times bigger than in 2005.

Obviously the Taliban is showing a strong trend of resurgence. Analysts say several factors including geographic elements, enough fund and local support are behind the Taliban's revival.

The first geographic factor benefiting the Taliban is the numerous mountains in southern and eastern Afghanistan, which are hotbeds of Taliban militants. The militants hide and move in mountains and frequently ambush foreign and government troops. This guerrilla-style maneuver makes foreign troops, despite their weapons superiority, hard to deal with and eradicate the militants.

The second geographic factor is the porous Afghan-Pakistani border. Many Taliban militants cross the 2,400-km border back and forth, making it difficult for Afghan and the 48,000-strong foreign troop to hunt down them, as the soldiers can't overrun the border.

Even Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf accepted early this month that the Taliban keeps on coming to Pakistan to get support and recruit people. He said some Pakistani soldiers turned a blind eye toward Taliban fighters during their cross-border movement.

Taliban insurgence is also related to the rocketing opium industry in this country, which provides enough fund for militants. Afghanistan produced a record 6,100 tons of opium in 2006, which accounted for 92 percent of the world's supply. Afghan officials say much income from drug-smuggling has flown into the hands of the Taliban, who provides protection for farmers planting poppy and those trafficking opium.

In this way, the Taliban can charge them a huge sum of fund, which would be used to buy weapons and ammunition as well as pay its fighters. The monthly salary for one Taliban militant is about 300 U.S. dollars, while an Afghan soldier can only get some 100 dollars. This has allured many persons, especially the poor, to join the Taliban.

"Poverty is a real and extreme threat to the country: there is evidence that poverty is driving support for the Taliban," a well- known Afghan scholar Musa Khan Jalalzai wrote in a recent article published by local Outlook newspaper.

What's more, as many Taliban rebels are from local communities in southern and eastern Afghanistan, they have enjoyed certain support from locals. Militants may hide in some civilian compounds, get intelligence and information from some locals, and even acquire food and water from them. So it is really difficult for Afghan and foreign troops to discern, trace, capture and fight the militants.

At the end of the U.S.-led Afghan War to oust the Taliban regime late 2001, many Taliban militants fled into mountains or into Pakistan, storing up lots of resources, materials and fighters for future fighting.

Observers say the Taliban has been re-gathering strength calmly over the past few years, not attracting much attention from foreign troops.

It is hard to say exactly how many fighters the Taliban owns now. Some Afghan and NATO officers say there are thousands of Taliban insurgents, while the Taliban claims it has numerous fighters.

However, Afghan security forces are still rather weak before the rising insurgence and violence. It is a daunting task for the fledgling 40,000-strong Afghan national army and the 60,000-strong police to protect the long border and to hunt down militants.

The Afghan police apparently face more troubles. "In addition to a lack of training and questionable loyalty, the Afghan police suffer from a lack of uniforms, inadequate equipment and transportation, dilapidated facilities and little or no pay," the Afghan scholar Jalalzai wrote in another recent article.

The Taliban said it would launch a bloody spring offensive after snow on mountains melts and it becomes warmer, which makes it easier for militants to move.

However, foreign and Afghan troops have vowed to carry out a pre-emptive spring offensive this year against Taliban militants and deal a huge blow to them.

Analysts say no matter which side would launch a spring offensive, it seems that Afghanistan probably would witness a bloody and volatile spring.

Ministry to spend $4.2m on labs, pesticides

KABUL, Feb 10 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation will spend $4.2 million on establishment of agriculture laboratories and provision of quality medicines for crops across the country.

Addressing a seven-day workshop to discuss the problems faced by agri sector, Deputy Minister for Agriculture and Irrigation Ghulam Mustafa Jawad said the amount would be allocated from the budget of the ministry.

He said crops standing on hundreds acres of land destroyed due to various diseases every year, which is a major source of concern for the ministry.

Jawad said the country was lacking proper system to check the seeds being imported and keep them safe from various diseases. This was why, farmers lost big part of their produce every year, he observed.

He said non-availability of quality pesticides in the market, lack of awareness among farmers and deficiency of agri labs to timely diagnose the germs attacking the crop were the problems to be tackled in the future.

Besides provision of other facilities to farmers, the ministry was planning to upgrade the capacity building of the concerned staff by holding workshops and arranging other programmes, said the deputy minister. Officials of agriculture departments from 34 provinces attended the workshop.

[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.]