In this bulletin:

• Cheney Unhurt After Bombing in Afghanistan
• Cheney Warns Pakistan to Act Against Terrorists
• Pakistan urges Afghan gov´t and its allies to negotiate with Taliban
• British FM meets Pakistani governor behind Taliban deal
• UK urges Pakistani effort on Afghan border
• Town’s Elders Plead for Help With Taliban
• New Taliban group named after Tora Bora
• Afghan delegation likely to visit Pakistan
• Afghan FM meets his Turkish Counterpart
• Two Afghan Officials Detained For 'Links' With Taliban
• Canada Announces Aid for Afghanistan
• Prime Minister Stephen Harper announces additional funding for aid in Afghanistan
• With $200M funding boost set for today, general defends pace of reconstruction
• Canadian troops mistakenly kill another Afghan civilian
• New probe into treatment of Afghan detainees
• Calgary aids Afghan kids
• Slow progress for Afghan mission
• Afghan women deputies warn of growing disenchantment among Afghan people
• Thousands of birds vaccinated in Afghanistan
• Hepatitis E detected in Afghanistan
• Master plan for Kabul this year
• Pistachio Forests Cover 450,000 Hectares of Land In Afghanistan

Cheney Unhurt After Bombing in Afghanistan

By ABDUL WAHEED WAFA – NY Times

KABUL, Afghanistan, Feb. 27 — A suicide bomber blew himself up this morning outside the main gate of the United States military base at Bagram while Vice President Dick Cheney was inside the base. Mr. Cheney was not hurt in the attack.

The explosion killed and wounded a number of American and allied soldiers,Afghan and Pakistani truck drivers and laborers waiting for access at the gate. There were conflicting reports of the number of casualties and deaths.

The incident took place at the outermost security gate of the sprawling base, far from where Mr. Cheney was staying at the time. A few hours after the attack, Mr. Cheney traveled to Kabul to meet with President Hamid Karzai, and later left Afghanistan to fly to Oman. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing and said Mr. Cheney was the target of the attack, news agencies reported. Qari Yousef Ahmadi, who claimed to be a Taliban spokesman, told the Associated Press: “We knew that Dick Cheney would be staying inside the base.” He said the bombing was carried out by Mullah Abdul Rahim.

The claim could not immediately be verified. The attack took place in a region of Afghanistan where the Taliban is thought to have very little support, and suicide bombings have been uncommon there. Such bombings, especially against high-security targets like the air base, usually involve substantial planning and preparation, and would be difficult to improvise quickly. Mr. Cheney’s presence on the base today was not scheduled and could not have been known before Monday night.

Speaking to reporters traveling him aboard Air Force Two on the way to Muscat, the capital of Oman, Mr. Cheney said that he was in his quarters at the airbase when the explosion took place. “I heard a loud boom,” he said, according to a pool report. “The Secret Service came in and told me there had been an attack on the main gate.”

Mr. Cheney was moved “for a brief period of time” to a bomb shelter at the base, he said, but then returned to his room. He said he had never felt that he was in any danger.

An initial report from the American military in Afghanistan said that four people died in the explosion, including the suicide bomber, and NATO said that three people were killed, including an American soldier and a coalition soldier.

But an Afghan guard at the base said that he counted as many as 15 dead at the scene, including three American soldiers, and that 12 others were wounded. Later news agency reports put the death toll as high as 23.

Mr. Cheney made an unscheduled overnight stay at the Bagram air base, located north of Kabul, after his 18-minute flight to the capital was grounded by heavy snow on Monday evening and he was unable to make a planned meeting with President Hamid Karzai. When Mr. Cheney reached Kabul early this afternoon, the two leaders met for about two hours at the presidential palace.

Told by reporters about the Taliban claim of responsibility for the attack, Mr. Cheney said: “I think they clearly try to find ways to question the authority of the central government. Striking at Bagram with a suicide bomber, I suppose, is one way to do that. But it shouldn’t affect our behavior at all.”

A senior American official traveling with the vice president told reporters that Mr. Cheney reassured Mr. Karzai about America’s commitment to the region, and that Mr. Karzai was “upbeat” about the money and troops that the United States was providing to help Afghanistan.

The American military report said that about 23 people were injured in the bombing attack at Bagram and were being treated in the base hospital. The extent of their injuries was not known.

Reuters reported that those killed in the attack included an American soldier, a South Korean soldier who was part of the American-led coalition, and a contract employee of the United States whose nationality was not known.

The Associated Press reported that the South Korean defense ministry confirmed the death of one of its soldiers stationed at Bagram, Yoon Jang-ho. South Korea has about 200 army engineers and medics at the base, the A.P. reported.

Mr. Cheney’s trip to several nations in the region had been shrouded in unusual secrecy. News organizations that were aware of Mr. Cheney’s travels were asked to withhold any mention of the trip until he had left Pakistan. This appeared to reflect growing concern about the strength of Al Qaeda and Taliban forces in the region, and continuing questions about the loyalties of the Pakistani intelligence services.

In Pakistan Mr. Cheney delivered a stiff private message to President Pervez Musharraf that his government had not made adequate efforts to combat Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Cheney Warns Pakistan to Act Against Terrorists

By DAVID E. SANGER – NY Times - WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 — Just hours after Vice President Dick Cheney delivered a stiff private message to President Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan, the Pakistani government lashed out Monday with a series of statements insisting that “Pakistan does not accept dictation from any side or any source.”

The unusual outburst, later toned down, revealed the depth of tensions between General Musharraf and Washington over what administration officials say have been inadequate efforts by Pakistan in combating Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

By the time of the Pakistani response, Mr. Cheney had left Pakistan to make a second secret trip, this time across the border to Afghanistan, where a meeting with President Hamid Karzai was suddenly delayed. American officials said a snowstorm prevented helicopter flights between Kabul and Bagram Air Base, where Mr. Cheney had landed, and neither leader seemed inclined to take a risky drive to meet the other.

[On Tuesday, a blast near the gates of the main American base in Afghanistan killed several people, a witness said, according to Reuters. Mr. Cheney stayed at the base overnight after the talks with Mr. Karzai were delayed and was not reported to be in danger.]

Mr. Cheney’s trip to Pakistan was shrouded in unusual secrecy. In trips to Pakistan last year, President Bush and Secretary State Condoleezza Rice announced their plans days in advance, and reporters filed articles on their visits as soon as they landed. But Mr. Cheney’s traveling press pool was sworn to secrecy, and allowed to report only the barest details just before he left.

News organizations that knew of Mr. Cheney’s travels, including The New York Times, were asked to withhold any mention of the trip until he had left Pakistan. That appeared to be a reflection of growing concern about the strength of Qaeda and Taliban forces in the area, and continuing questions about the loyalties of Mr. Musharraf’s own intelligence services.

The White House would say little on Monday about the message Mr. Cheney was sent to deliver, though it did not deny reports that it included a tough warning that American aid to Pakistan could be in jeopardy. Democrats have threatened to link aid to Pakistan to its effectiveness in combating both Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Pakistan’s response, delivered by a Foreign Ministry spokesman, expressed concern about “proposed discriminatory legislation” in Congress to curb the aid.

The sensitivities of Mr. Cheney’s trip were particularly evident as the White House spokesman, Tony Snow, parried detailed questions about the vice president’s message to Pakistan, a country that Mr. Bush has hailed as a close American ally.

Referring to Mr. Cheney, Mr. Snow said that “the precise nature of his comments and the tenor of comments to the president would be the sort of things that would be confidential,” He reaffirmed Mr. Bush’s confidence that General Musharraf was committed to fighting terrorism.

When asked about comments by senior administration officials who fear that General Musharraf’s peace plan with tribal leaders in the area bordering Afghanistan has allowed Qaeda and Taliban forces to move with more impunity in that region, Mr. Snow said: “We’re often asked to give out report cards on other heads of state. I’m not going to play.”

Mr. Cheney’s trip was one of a series to Pakistan by senior members of the administration, part of what administration officials have said is a plan by the Bush administration to keep the pressure on General Musharraf. To some outside analysts, that is a sign of increasing concern that American efforts to coax along the sometimes prickly Pakistani leader has hit its limits.

“There is a growing consensus that our Pakistan policy is not working,” said Derek Chollet, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington who estimates that over the past five years the United States has sent $10 billion in aid to Pakistan — and perhaps as much in covert funds.

Mr. Musharraf alluded to those payments in his recently published memoir, in which he wrote, “Those who habitually accuse us of ‘not doing enough’ in the war on terror should simply ask the C.I.A. how much prize money it has paid to the government of Pakistan.” When asked about that assertion, C.I.A. officials have declined to answer.

Mr. Cheney’s trip to Pakistan and then to Afghanistan appeared to be part of an effort to resolve a continuing dispute between the two countries over who is more responsible for the failure to stop cross-border attacks. Mr. Musharraf and Mr. Karzai have made no secret of their mutual dislike. President Bush held a dinner with the two men in Washington last fall, in hopes of encouraging them to work together. As soon as the two leaders returned to their respective capitals, however, the sniping resumed.

A particular source of concern is Mr. Musharraf’s peace accord giving tribal leaders greater sovereignty — a deal that he has assured Mr. Bush would not diminish Pakistan’s commitment to fighting extremists. Mr. Bush noted in September that Mr. Musharraf had looked him “in the eye” and said, “There won’t be a Taliban and won’t be Al Qaeda.” Now, American officials contend those groups have gained ground.

Mr. Cheney traveled with the deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Stephen R. Kappes, an indication that the conversation probably included discussion of American intelligence agency contentions that Qaeda camps have been reconstituted along the border with Afghanistan.

Speaking in Islamabad on Monday, Pakistani officials acknowledged that Mr. Cheney had expressed concern about the regrouping of Al Qaeda in the tribal areas and that he had called for concerted efforts in countering the threat. Then, at a news briefing, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry protested the “dictation” that the country was being offered, a clear reference to Mr. Cheney’s visit. Later in the day the ministry toned down its comments, saying that Mr. Cheney had “shared U.S. concerns and assessments in the context of intelligence and security cooperation.”

American officials did not explain the extraordinary secrecy surrounding Mr. Cheney’s visit to Pakistan, a country the administration has cast as a stable nation moving gradually toward democracy. Mr. Cheney’s aides told The Times and other news organizations that the Secret Service had imposed the requirement that there be no mention of his trip until he had left Pakistan.

Mark Silva of the Chicago Tribune, who is traveling as the sole newspaper “pool” reporter with Mr. Cheney, reported in an e-mail message, “These all were explained as security measures for the protection of the vice president.”

Such caution is not unprecedented. In 2000, President Clinton flew into Islamabad on an unmarked Air Force plane rather than on Air Force One. President Bush’s trip last year was marked with siege-like security and unusual maneuvers during takeoff.

Pakistan urges Afghan gov´t and its allies to negotiate with Taliban

Source: CCTV.com | 02-26-2007 10:17

In Pakistan, The governor of Baluchistan province says the Afghan government and its Western allies should negotiate with the Taliban. Baluchistan is the biggest and also the poorest of Pakistan's four provinces.

The Afghan government says most militants fighting in the insurgency come from sanctuaries inside Pakistan. Officials single out Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan, as a base for Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.

Ovais Ahmad Ghani, governor of Baluchistan, said, "There is no organized Taliban activity or any other militant activity in Baluchistan which relates to Afghanistan." The governor warns that radical groups would only gain more strength if fighting is not stopped in Afghanistan, and it can only be stopped through negotiation.

Ovais Ahmad Ghani, said, "We must come up with new ideas. There is no pure military solution to it. There has to be a political solution. They have to talk to the people. Whatever elements there are -- the insurgency, or the militants, etc. -- they are part of Afghan society. You can't slaughter all of them."

Fighting in Afghanistan over the past year has been the worst since the hard-line Islamist Taliban was toppled by the US-led forces in 2001. Over 4,000 people have perished a quarter of them civilians in areas close to the Pakistani border.

British FM meets Pakistani governor behind Taliban deal

Peshawar (AFP) - British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett held talks Tuesday with a Pakistan provincial governor who engineered a controversial peace deal with militants.

Beckett met with Ali Muhammad Jan Aurakzai, the governor of North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan, at his residence in the provincial capital Peshawar, a government statement said.

"Margaret Beckett appreciated the role of Pakistan in the fight against terrorism and hoped that these efforts would continue until the achievement of the objectives," the statement said.

"She also resolved that the British government would continue to provide generous assistance for the uplift of tribal areas." Former army general Aurakzai in September engineered a peace deal with militants in North Waziristan, evoking suspicions from Kabul and the commanders of international forces battling the Taliban in Afghanistan.

He caused further controversy earlier this month when he warned the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan was turning into a "liberation war" and renewed a call for Kabul to open dialogue with the insurgents.

The statement said he and Beckett discussed issues "especially relating to law and order in FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas), with particular reference to Waziristan."

Aurakzai also informed her about Pakistan's steps to increase security on the border and moves to fence a small part of the rugged frontier with Afghanistan -- a plan that has also angered Kabul. He "expressed the hope that stringent measures would also be taken from the Afghanistan side". Earlier, Beckett ruled out negotiations with the Taliban.

"I have no inclination to hold dialogue with people with such aims, goals and such intentions," she said when asked after a speech at a diplomats' college in Islamabad if Britain was ready to hold talks with the insurgents.

In the speech, Beckett also warned that a failed Iraq would pose as much of a risk to global security as Afghanistan under the Taliban, when it sheltered Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network.

"The consequences of a failure in Iraq now are every bit as stark as the failure in Afghanistan in the last decade," she said, adding Iraq risked becoming "an ungoverned and lawless state in the heart of the most volatile region in the world -- the Middle East."

UK urges Pakistani effort on Afghan border (Daily Times – Pak.)

ISLAMABAD: Britain wants to strengthen cooperation with Pakistan to help it secure its Afghan border and stop Taliban insurgents launching attacks into Afghanistan, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said on Monday. Beckett said she had briefed President Pervez Musharraf on a statement in London due later on Monday in which Britain is expected to announce an increase in its troops in Afghanistan.

“I have also taken the opportunity to recognise the steps Pakistan has taken against the Taliban to secure the border with Afghanistan and explore what further cooperation between us could strengthen those steps,” Beckett told reporters. Asked if she thought Pakistan was doing enough, Beckett said: “It is true of all us that we have not yet been able to do enough to stem some of these threats.”

“Of course, we all would like to see people who are terrorists not able to rest in safe havens,” she said. Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri Kasuri said securing the border was a shared responsibility, adding Afghanistan should do more to stop Taliban crossing into Pakistan. Beckett later also met with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. reuters

Town’s Elders Plead for Help With Taliban

The New York Times / Published: February 26, 2007 - By ABDUL WAHEED WAFA and CARLOTTA GALL

KABUL, Afghanistan, Feb. 24 — Taliban fighters who seized control of a remote town in southern Afghanistan three weeks ago have started a campaign of arrests and reprisals against tribal elders and townspeople, according to tribal elders. The elders called on NATO forces and the government to move against the insurgents, even if it means bombing the town.

Five elders from the town, Musa Qala, including a member of its tribal council, traveled to Kabul this week to plead for help, expressing bitterness that neither Afghan forces nor NATO troops responded when Taliban forces overran the town on Feb. 2.

In October, in a controversial deal brokered by the town’s 50-member tribal council, both British NATO troops and the Taliban withdrew, and the town enjoyed three months of calm. But the Taliban remained at large in the district, and when NATO forces killed eight of their members in an airstrike last month, their leader seized control of the town, putting elders who did not flee under house arrest and issuing death threats.

Hundreds of families fled, anticipating NATO bombing. NATO airstrikes have continued in the region and have killed several local insurgent leaders, but the elders said that had made the situation harder for the townspeople. “Mullah Ghafoor was killed in an airstrike, and the Taliban started to blame the elders and people for spying for NATO troops,” said the main spokesman for the group that came to Kabul, identifying one insurgent leader. Another leader, Mullah Manan, was killed, and the house where his body was taken was bombed, he said.

“Since Tuesday the Taliban started to arrest people and elders and charge them with helping the government,” he said. Ten people had been arrested, including an elder who had served as police chief, and one man was hurt and may have died, the elders said. The spokesman and an elder interviewed by telephone said that a Taliban leadership council in Quetta, Pakistan, was ordering the arrests and issuing the death threats.

The elders who spoke asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals from the Taliban. Two said they had received death threats from the Taliban and had fled their homes. Other members of the tribal council were in hiding, they said.

One elder said the Taliban had told him by telephone that they were under strong pressure from Pakistan to seize control of the town and now to go further. “One of the Taliban told me on the telephone, ‘Hajji Sahib, I am respecting you like my father, but we are ordered to kill you,’ ” he said.

One landowner from Kajaki, a neighboring district, said the Taliban had executed 13 people from their own ranks and arrested three more. About 1,000 Taliban are in Musa Qala’s broader district, also called Musa Qala, the elders said. The Taliban have boasted that they control 10,000 fighters in the region.

“We want the government to take back Musa Qala,” said one elder who helped broker the October deal. “People are ready to help NATO and the government, but we don’t know what we are waiting for.”

Asadullah Wafa, the governor of Musa Qala’s province, Helmand, was at the NATO airbase at Kandahar discussing the situation with NATO commanders. He said that he was not aware that the Taliban had begun making arrests but that the government and NATO were poised to act. “We have a comprehensive plan to resolve the issue of Musa Qala, and it will be solved very soon,” he said by telephone.

New Taliban group named after Tora Bora

By Rahimullah Yusufzai - The News International (Pakistan) February 26, 2007

PESHAWAR: A new Taliban group named after Tora Bora has been set up by the son of late Afghan Mujahideen leader Maulvi Yunis Khalis to organise resistance to US-led foreign forces primarily in eastern Afghanistan.

Qari Sajjad, a spokesman for the new Taliban group, told The News that their fighters were active in the eastern Nangarhar province and other parts of Afghanistan. He explained that the group was named Tora Bora because it had old bases in the Tora Bora mountain range dating from the days of the Afghan “Jihad.”

Tora Bora became known worldwide when the US warplanes bombed it for several days in December 2001 to kill Osama bin Laden, who was believed to be trapped there, and his al-Qaeda fighters. Most of the Afghan fighters hired by the US military to lay siege to Tora Bora were once members of Maulvi Khalis’s Hezb-i-Islami.

Speaking from an undisclosed location, he said Maulvi Khalis’ eldest son Anwarul Haq Mujahid was head of the Tora Bora Nizami Mahaz, or Tora Bora Military Front. He reminded that Mujahid was a former Taliban military commander and was presently leader of Hezb-i-Islami (Khalis), which barely exists after becoming faction-ridden and weak.

Mujahid had gone underground after the fall of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Later, he prevailed upon his ailing father to join hands with the Taliban and declare “Jihad” against the foreign forces in the country.

He was able to hide his father until his death but was unable to attend his funeral in a village near Jalalabad. A bomb explosion had taken place during the funeral killing several people and the Taliban, who apparently wanted to kill the Governor of Nangarhar, Gul Agha Sherzoi, and other top government officials, were blamed for the attack.

Afghan delegation likely to visit Pakistan – The News Int. (Pak)

ISLAMABAD: An Afghan delegation of the preparatory commission is likely to visit Pakistan soon ahead of a regional peace Jirga. According to Radio Kabul, the visit to Pakistan follows an invitation from a similar commission in Pakistan.

Earlier, the Afghan government had sent a letter to Pakistan suggesting a joint meeting of the two commissions before the finalisation of the framework for the regional peace Jirga. Since, the Pakistani invitation was considered to be a positive step, it was hoped that further progress would be accelerated for the formation of a joint regional peace Jirga.

Reacting to Pakistan’s invitation, the members of the preparatory commission of Afghanistan termed it a positive step and hoped that the meeting of the two commissions would yield positive results and remove bottlenecks, if any, in the way of finalisation of the regional peace Jirga. Reiterating the importance of the Jirga the members said it was the only appropriate way to resolve all outstanding problems between the two sides.

Afghan FM meets his Turkish Counterpart

Posted On MoFA site: Feb 26, 2007 - Afghanistan’s minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Spanta met visiting Turkish Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister HE Abullah Gul and discussed with him the issues of mutual interest and concern. Referring to the background of the two countries’ relations, which dates back to the reign of King Amanullah Khan and Kemal Ataturk Dr. Spanta thanked the Turkish Government for their generous support to Afghanistan in recent years, in particular since the collapse of the Taliban’s regime. He expressed his wish to see further expansion of the two countries’ relations in all fronts.

On his part, the Turkish deputy prime minister and Foreign Minister reiterated Turkish’s long-term commitment to the process of reconstruction of Afghanistan. He also announced Turkey will increase its troop number to over 1000 by April this year and also the reconstruction of new hospital in Kabul. The two ministers also took part in a joint press conference at the Ministry.  

Two Afghan Officials Detained For 'Links' With Taliban

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty - February 26, 2007 -- Afghan authorities say they have detained a district administrator and his police commander for alleged "links" with the Taliban.

An Interior Ministry spokesman, Zemarai Bashary, says Mohammmad Ismail and Haikal Khan were detained after militants seized the Bakwa district in the western province of Farah in mid-February. The town of Bakwa has been recaptured by Afghan and NATO troops but the surrounding areas remain volatile.

Canada Announces Aid for Afghanistan

Monday February 26, 2007 - By ROB GILLIES - Associated Press Writer

TORONTO (AP) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a new $172 million reconstruction aid package for Afghanistan on Monday, heeding calls by opposition lawmakers for Canada to focus more on development projects in the country.

The opposition has criticized Harper's Conservative government for putting too much emphasis on fighting Taliban insurgents at the expense of reconstruction. Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion said Canada has spent nine times more on its military efforts in Afghanistan than it has on humanitarian aid.

Harper said the government initially focused on security because it was the first time NATO forces had attempted to truly stabilize the former Taliban stronghold in the south.

``We're now in a position because of the success of the security to make additional commitments on reconstruction and development,'' Harper said. ``These are hard won gains by the military.'' Harper said now is the time to ``redouble their efforts'' to rebuild Afghanistan.

The new funding, to be disbursed this year and next, will go toward five different areas: governance and development, counter-narcotics, policing, de-mining and road construction. The funding is in addition to $860 million Canada has already pledged for reconstruction.

Omar Samad, Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada, expressed gratitude for Ottawa's continued assistance and noted that other countries have increased aid, as well.

``It comes at a very critical time for Afghanistan,'' Samad said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. ``It's a realization that we have not done as well in the area of development as we would have liked to in the past five years, and now is the time to correct the course.''

Harper's announcement comes as Canada marks its one-year anniversary of its mission in southern Kandahar province. There are some 2,500 Canadian soldiers fighting alongside Afghan, American and other NATO forces trying to weed out Taliban fighters in the region. Canada has suffered 44 fatalities in Afghanistan - 36 of them last year.

Britain’s defense Secretary on Monday announced the deployment of 1,400 extra troops to Afghanistan to tackle a threatened Taliban spring offensive.

The deployment will bring British troop levels in Afghanistan to around 7,700 until 2009, meaning Britain will have more forces based there than in Iraq for the first time since the 2003 Iraq invasion.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announces additional funding for aid in Afghanistan

Remarks by Prime Minister Harper on February 26, 2007 - Ottawa, Ontario

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

Minister Verner,

Ambassador Samad,

Colleagues,

Members of the Afghan-Canadian community,

Thank you all for being here.

And a special welcome to Chris Alexander and James Appathurai, who were just introduced. They will both be making a number of appearances in the media and before parliamentary committees in the coming days. I urge Canadians to listen closely.

These gentlemen know Afghanistan, its people, and their challenges, and they understand what ’s at stake for the region and the world.

As Chris Alexander noted a few months ago, “ Afghanista n is a long way from home, but the issues we are addressing here building democracy, reducing poverty, fighting terrorism, celebrating pluralism matter for the entire world.”

Canada ’s New Government fully agrees. Canada ’s involvement and sacrifices in Afghanistan serve our national interests and values on several levels. It ’s not just about foreign aid, though that’s part of it.

It ’s not just about doing our duty with the United Nations and our NATO allies, though that too is part of it. And it ’s n ot just about living up to our beliefs in freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law, though that most certainly is part of it too.

But as Chris Alexander has frequently pointed out, global security hinges on success in Afghanistan. If we fail in Afghanistan, if that country relapses into anarchy and once again becomes a haven for extremists and terrorists, the world will be manifestly more dangerous.

Afghanistan is the front line of the international security challenge of the modern, post-Cold War world. We must build a successful alternative there in order to defeat extremism and terrorism everywhere.

Obviously, a secure, democratic, economically viable Afghanistan isn’ t going to materialize tomorrow, but through a concerted, multi-lateral, multi-faceted effort, it is achievable.

We will continue to support the brave men and women of the Canadian forces in their valiant efforts to secure and stabilize the volatile southern region.

Thanks to their efforts, the fragile peace that reigns over most of the country has been extended to large parts of Kandahar province.

Now it ’s time to consolidate those security gains on the ground and use them to advance reconstruction, because the long-suffering Afghan people desperately need hope for a better future for their families and communities.

That’ s what our announcement is about today. Last May, we obtained parliamentary approval for an additional $310 million for aid and development in Afghanistan, bringing the total to $1 billion through 2011.

Today our government is deepening Canada ’s commitment to Afghanistan with a major infusion of new trust funds to accelerate the reconstruction and development process.

The majority of these funds will support proven Afghan national programs which:

· promote rural development and encourage community involvement in project selection and design;

· pay salaries of teachers, health workers and police to ensure that basic government services are provided; and

· provide micro-credit to help the Afghan people start small businesses to support their families and build their communities.

Today ’s initiative will also nurture economic growth through the construction of a major road to facilitate cross-border trade.

In addition, the new funding will:

· further advance demining efforts; and

· help build Afghanistan ’s counter-narcotics infrastructure.

Through today’ s announcement, our government is consolidating and enhancing the security gains Canada and our allies have made in Afghanistan.

Those gains will be outlined in a progress report authored by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, National Defence, and International Cooperation, which will be tabled in the House this afternoon by Minister MacKay.

The report fulfills a commitment we made last spring – when the House voted to extend the mission - to keep Canadians fully informed. It provides a complete picture of what we ’ve accomplished so far and the challenges that lie ahead.

We believe Canadians will agree that now is the time for our soldiers, aid workers, civilian police and diplomats to redouble their efforts, to help rebuild the physical, economic, social and governmental infrastructure that will put Afghanistan on the road to lasting peace and prosperity.

This part of the mission is no less difficult and no less important than the security aspect, and its success is no less critical to the long-term recovery of Afghanistan and the stability of the world.

As I said in my speech to the UN General Assembly last fall, Canada and the UN are acting as one in Afghanistan. The UN’ s challenge is our challenge.

With Chris Alexander, a fellow Canadian, providing leadership on the ground, with our troops continuing to expand the secure areas in the Kandahar region, and with our deeper commitment of aid for reconstruction and development, I believe we all have very good reason to be optimistic that progress will continue in the coming year.

Thank you.

With $200M funding boost set for today, general defends pace of reconstruction

Feb 26, 2007 - Murray Brewster CANADIAN PRESS

TERIN KOWT, Afghanistan–The Australian combat engineers call them backyard blitzes. Think of the popular U.S. television show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, except with guns, armoured cars and blokes with Aussie accents.

One of the approaches the Australians take to reconstruction is to roll into the many villages sprinkled through the mountainous folds of Oruzgan province, north of Kandahar, and ask the elders of each community what they need done.

"We're not here to make promises," Lt.-Col. Mick Ryan said in a recent presentation to Canadian journalists. "We're here to build things."

With Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government poised to pour about $200 million more into Canadian reconstruction in southern Afghanistan, the question of how and where the money will be spent is crucial.

As Canada marks the first anniversary this week of its mission in Kandahar, government sources say Harper will make the funding announcement today at an event on Parliament Hill.

Ottawa already puts $100 million per year into war-ravaged Afghanistan through civilian agencies, but much of it goes towards long-term good governance and economic initiatives, such as micro-credit financing for Afghans to start their own businesses.

Infrastructure investment has amounted to between $6 million and $8 million per year, according to a fact sheet provided by the Prime Minister's office.

The Canadian military by itself only has a small pot of reconstruction money to spend and in the last five months the majority of it has gone into constructing a 4.5-kilometre road through what was the former Taliban stronghold of Panjwaii.

If you ask Afghans, especially those in regions torn apart by fighting, what they consider to be the priority, they will tell you infrastructure.

"I would like to see them build schools and clinics," Bismalah, a farmer whose land outside Kandahar was overrun with fighting last fall, said last week. "They are broken and destroyed."

Canadians have paid for the digging of more than 1,000 wells to help restore irrigation canals and reservoirs. Improvements have been made to roads, dozens of schools and four bridges, according to the handout from the Prime Minister's Office.

But much of this has taken place slowly because after asking village elders what they need, the Canadians contract the work out to Afghans.

"What we're trying to do is put an Afghan face on everything we do so that as we go and do that reconstruction we are helping the Afghan businesses, helping build trades," said Brig.-Gen. Tim Grant, commander of Canadian troops in the country. "We're making this an institution that can stand on its own two feet."

By contrast, in Oruzgan, 400 soldiers belonging to Australia's 1st Combat Engineer Regiment have in their short time on the ground taken a more direct, aggressive approach.

"We go in and talk to the mullah and say `What would you like?' and do the job there and then," said Ryan. "We take our engineers in. We have armoured trucks full of construction stores and prefabricated items. The first thing we'll do is renovate the village mosque, put in new windows, new doors. We put carpet in there."

Next, they move on to village water supplies. They are currently doing an inventory of the needs of a dozen villages surrounding the provincial capital.

Grant said he much prefers the way Canadians have handled redevelopment. "It's too easy to go in and do it yourself," he said. "For us to go in and drill a well, refurbish a school, that doesn't help the economy of Afghanistan. If you do everything on our own, the country will be no better off at the end of the day."

Canadian troops mistakenly kill another Afghan civilian

Last Updated: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 - CBC News

Canadian soldiers killed an Afghan civilian Tuesday morning, the fifth accidental shooting of an Afghan by Canadian gunfire this month. The shooting occurred as a white Toyota approached Canadian troops who had stopped on a Kandahar road to form a security cordon around a broken-down armoured vehicle.

Maj. Dale MacEachern, a spokesman for the Canadian Forces, said the group of Canadians signalled for the approaching vehicle to stop, but troops opened fire when the civilian driver proceeded.

MacEachern said the vehicle drove past one checkpoint manned by Afghan National Police, then accelerated toward Canadian vehicles. The Afghan driver was killed and a passenger was wounded.

Mistaken civilian shootings over the past year, including several within past few weeks, have increased tensions between Canadian troops and the Afghans, from whom Canadians are trying to win trust in the region.

The Canadian Forces last week sent a message to troops to use more restraint before opening fire to avoid accidentally killing civilians. On Feb. 18, Canadian soldiers accidentally killed an Afghan civilian and a member of the Afghan national police following an attack on a Canadian convoy.

Troops killed an Afghan police officer and also shot and killed a civilian who approached Canadian Forces soldiers while they were engaged in a gunbattle with insurgents. The Canadian Forces said the Afghan did not heed repeated warnings to move away.

A week earlier, Canadian troops shot and killed a civilian and wounded an Afghan police officer in separate incidents in the same day. The military is conducting investigations into all of those cases.

More than 2,000 Canadian soldiers are serving in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar region. Since the mission started in 2002, 44 Canadian soldiers and one Canadian diplomat have been killed.

New probe into treatment of Afghan detainees
CanWest News Service - Tuesday, February 27, 2007

OTTAWA -- The chief of the Military Police Complaints Commission has opened a investigation into a complaint about the alleged actions of Canadian military police in Afghanistan

Commission chair Peter Tinsley announced Monday a new "public-interest investigation" into a complaint that "on at least 18 occasions" Canadian military police had transferred detainees to Afghan authorities "notwithstanding alleged evidence that there was a likelihood they would be tortured."

Tinsley said he was responding to a joint complaint last week from Amnesty International Canada and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association. It marks the second time this month the commission has opted to investigate the behaviour of soldiers on the Afghan mission.

The initial investigation involves allegations Canadian soldiers may have violated the rules of war when they arrested three Afghan detainees last April near Kandahar.

That inquiry was launched in the wake of a complaint by Amir Attaran, a University of Ottawa law professor, based on documents he obtained under Access to Information legislation, that Canadian troops might have abused the three men.

Tinsley said he was keeping the two investigations separate for now. The latest complaint, the subject of an eight-page letter to Tinsley, asked the commission to look into 18 prisoner transfers by "unidentified members of the military police" between April and June of last year.

"The complainants allege knowledge or wilful blindness on the part of the implicated military police personnel with respect to information about the subsequent treatment, including torture of detainees by certain Afghan authorities," Tinsley wrote in a letter advising Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor, Hillier and other military officials of his decision and seeking their co-operation.

Tinsley left open the option of holding public hearings into the latest complaint. "If our investigation uncovers evidence such that a public hearing would be warranted, or if the additional powers of a hearing are required to obtain relevant evidence, then I will exercise my authority to convene one," Tinsley said in a separate written statement.

Calgary aids Afghan kids

By BILL KAUFMANN, CALGARY SUN

Lack of aid projects and children traumatized by bombing stunned a Calgary charitable worker delivering educational supplies to a school and orphanage in Kabul, Afghanistan. Ashid Bahl said he discovered children haunted by air attacks.

"A lot of them are going deaf because of the bombings -- a lot of them saw their moms and dads die in front of them," said Bahl, president of Alberta's For the Love of Children Society, which is sending medicine and winter clothing to Afghan children whose families can't afford them.

Slow progress for Afghan mission

By Alastair Leithead, in Helmand - BBC News

The troops were laid flat along the ridge line, their machine guns resting on sandbags as they surveyed the open ground and the village beyond through their sights.

Two men were walking slowly away from a compound in the foreground, but the radio suddenly screamed they were armed - then the firing started.

They had stumbled on a British position. They fell to the ground - one with a machine gun was killed, the other, with a rocket-propelled grenade, took cover in a ditch and the waiting game began.

Shots were fired to try to force the suspected Taleban fighter out who was trapped in open ground and after 15 minutes of watching, the British forces began to close in.

Corporal Adam Dennis from 42 Commando was one of the four Royal Marines who went out on foot to find him. "As we started the assault, silently the one remaining enemy stood up with a rocket propelled grenade and much to my shock fired at us," he said.

"Fortunately we put a lot of fire down and he aimed it short, and it landed 30 metres in front of us. "As we then began to assault the position again I felt a pain in my leg. A round went through my trouser, grazed my leg and came out the other side, so a very lucky escape."

At that point other Taleban fighters started to attack from positions in the village compounds. Seeing the flash from their guns, the Commandos we were with on the hill began to fire.

There was a whizz of bullets flying over our heads. They were shooting at the hill and the order was made to launch a Javelin missile, a long range anti-tank rocket.

With a click and ping it was fired, and the rocket seemed to hover as it left the launcher before starting on its upward path and then straight down onto the compound where the firing was seen.

There was a huge plume of smoke and a second or so later came the sound of the explosion. "That was spot on," a marine looking through a sight shouted at the gunner.

Other vehicle-mounted machine guns and grenade launchers joined the battle as the men on the ground pulled back. More Javelins were fired, and mortars and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

On the horizon what looked like a family with women and children fled to safety on foot as the high-powered bullets peppered the area. Only when a jet buzzed overhead did the fighting stop.

This kind of battle happens every day in Helmand province - clashes with a guerrilla army that is often almost invisible.

In their review of the fight the British commanders estimated three Taleban fighters had been killed, perhaps more, but little ground was gained, little real advantage taken by either side; a lot of risks taken and ammunition used.

The British forces are here in Kajaki to protect a dam, a strategically important area for both sides and a front line with Taleban fighters for months.

In the past few weeks they have been pushing the insurgents back, in all three kilometres. They now hold the high mountain ridge and in regular patrols move forward and then back trying to gain and keep ground.

Whereas last year the British forces were surprised by the strength of the Taleban, this year they know what to expect. They have more troops, and even more resources are now on the way.

But this was never supposed to be a war. The mission is about bringing security to allow development to happen and for the government to take control.

Fighting every day from village to village is not achieving that aim quickly. With more insurgents expected to take up arms as the winter moves into spring, even more challenging times lie ahead.

Battles seem to fizzle out rather than be lost or won. It is the politics and the people who are more likely to decide the future of Afghanistan rather than the soldiers and marines.

Afghan women deputies warn of growing disenchantment among Afghan people

Brussels – IRNA – A group of Afghan women parliamentarians and representatives of various ministries appealed Monday to the European Union and the international community for economic, educational and security support warning that the security situation is deteriorating and people are getting disenchanted.

"Security situation has deteriorated. It is making everybody worried. Most people have lost trust in the government because of corruption," Shukria Paikan Ahmadi, a deputy from Kunduz, told a press conference in the European Parliament in Brussels Monday afternoon.

She called on the EU and NATO to do "whatever they can to bring security and peace in Afghanistan." Fatima Nazri, a deputy from Kabul, said poverty is the main cause of the Worsening situation in her Muslim country .

"People have started going back to Iran and Pakistan because of unemployment.The EU should help us with financial resources," she said.

Jamila Aman, who works in Afghanistan's foreign ministry, said women's education has been the real victim during the wars and conflicts since the last 30 years in the country..

"Quality of high education has been affected very badly. Women should be sent abroad for higher education," said Aman and urged EU assistance for education and schools in her country.

She also called on the Afghan government to send more female diplomats abroad, noting that only two Afghan ambassadors were women. The three are a group of 13 Afghan women deputies and representatives of ministries and women's group on a weeklong visit to Brussels to meet Members of the European Parliament and also participate in a conference in NATO.

Their visit to Belgium has been organised by the US-based organization "The Initiative for Inclusive Security (IIS)." Swanee Hunt, founder of IIS, said her organisation advocates the full participation of women in peace processes.

The Afghan women's group met Monday the EP's Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality.

Thousands of birds vaccinated in Afghanistan

Mon Feb 26, KABUL (AFP) - Around 4,000 chickens a day are being vaccinated in Afghanistan after outbreaks of the H5N1 virus but the slaughtering of birds is being slowed by local resistance.

Teams started working in the eastern city of Jalalabad and in Kunar province at the weekend after confirmed cases of the virus, which has killed 167 people worldwide since 2003.

Suspected poultry was being quarantined and contaminated areas were being disinfected, UN spokesman Adrian Edwards said. "At this time the situation is under control," he said.

The slaughtering of birds was facing resistance among local people, agriculture department director Aziz Usmani said. "People are not always willing to allow their birds to be culled," he said.

Officials say Afghanistan is at high risk of H5N1 spreading to humans because most families keep birds at home. Scientists fear a global pandemic if the virus mutates and becomes easily transmissible between humans.

Hepatitis E detected in Afghanistan

KABUL, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Health authorities have detected the outbreak of Hepatitis E in Afghanistan's eastern Laghman province, spokesman of UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) said Monday.

An outbreak of 33 cases of viral hepatitis E has been identified in Farashghan village of Dawlatshah district of Laghman province, Adrian Edwards told newsmen at a weekly press briefing. Seventeen cases of the epidemic were detected in December and 16 others were identified in January respectively, he added.

Hepatitis E is an acute illness of fever and jaundice caused by contaminated water, the spokesman added. Only 40 percent of Afghans have access to safe drinking water.

The UN Children's Fund has donated materials to conduct a health education campaign to inform the villagers how to prevent the disease though home treatment of water and sanitation measures.

Master plan for Kabul this year

KABUL, Feb 27 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The new master plan for this capital city would be ready by the end of year 2007. In his testimony before the parliamentary commission on audit and supervision of law, mayor of Kabul city Rohullah Aman said the proposed plan was being prepared keeping in mind the coming 30 years requirements of the dwellers.

He said preparation of the plan required a thorough study of its all aspects, including the provision of electricity, water supply and sewerage system and constructions of roads and streets.

Abdul Kabir Ranjbar, MP and head of the commission, asked for early completion of work on the master plan. He said they would not accept dilly-dallying on the new plan.

Referring to earlier programmes of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, Ranjbar said the ministry officials had wasted four years but nothing concrete was done in this regard.

The mayor also informed about the World Bank assistance in preparation of the master plan. He said the revenues of Kabul municipality had reached 1.4 billion afghanis this year.

He said the municipality needed $55 million, while its existing budget was only 4.5 million dollars. "We need 26 million US dollars for completion of road projects, but the Finance Ministry was not willing to release that much amount."

Pistachio Forests Cover 450,000 Hectares of Land In Afghanistan

Date : Feb 27, 2007 - Minister for agriculture Obidullah Ramin has said that 450,0000 hectares of pistachio forests exists in the country,. Some 91.000 hectares of pistachio forests, he added is located in Bvadghis province while the remaining area in eight of the country’s 34 provinces.

The government, he added had allocated 1 billion US dollars for the rehabilitation of the pistachio forests in Badghis and other parts of the country. A large part of pistachio forests had been damaged or destroyed during the past nearly three decades of war across the country.

[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.]