In this bulletin:

• US frustration over al-Qaeda 'resurgence'
• Pentagon chief plans Afghan visit to boost Karzai
• U.S. Gen.: Insurgent chief in Pakistan
• Insurgents Killed in Afghan Fighting Reportedly Are Sent Back to Pakistan
• Taleban in Pakistan commend dead
• Suicide bomber targets foreigners in Logar
• Afghanistan: Local Taliban Defeat Raises Hopes For Dam Project
• Canadian soldier injured in Afghanistan
• Canada hopes U.S. won't shift troops from Afghanistan
• Winning hearts and minds, in Afghanistan and Canada
• Afghan refugees return to shattered homes, wait for $10 million in Canadian aid
• NATO Welcomes Possible Dispatch Of German Tornadoes To Afghanistan
• China donates unmilitary items to Afghan army
• British soldier not Iran spy but "a patriot": lawyer
• Hillary pushing for troop surge in Afghanistan
• Pakistan-Afghanistan Border Fence: Who's Fooling Whom?

US frustration over al-Qaeda 'resurgence' - By Gordon Corera
Security correspondent, BBC News

John Negroponte's assertion that al-Qaeda is able to cultivate stronger operational relationships "from their leaders' secure hide-out in Pakistan" represents an unusually frank and direct assessment of al Qaeda's strength and position.

The director of national intelligence's assessment closely reflects a growing body of opinion within the intelligence community which has been developing for some time, but what is most surprising is his willingness to speak on the record and publicly, a move which has already caused some diplomatic fallout.

After the 11 September attacks and the subsequent removal of the Taleban, al-Qaeda's leadership and command structure in Afghanistan was disrupted and dispersed.

Some of the leaders moved to the tribal areas on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. They found it harder to communicate and direct operations.

Islamabad surprised - The notion emerged that al-Qaeda had become more of an ideology rather than a formal organisation and that the role of its leadership was to inspire rather than direct jihadists around the world.

Events such as the Madrid bombings of 2004 seemed to back up the idea that the primary threat came from home-grown jihadists who did not necessarily have direct operational contact with the al-Qaeda leadership on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

But that view has increasingly been challenged, according to intelligence and security officials in a number of countries.

Instead a more complex model has emerged which still has a place for entirely home-grown groups but where a resurgent al-Qaeda leadership has also regrouped and is now able to once again offer local jihadists training and direction.

One interesting aspect is the way in which Mr Negroponte refers to al Qaeda's "leadership" but does not refer once to Osama Bin Laden, nor to the hunt for him specifically and what progress it is (or is not) making.

His comments clearly came as a surprise in Islamabad. "It doesn't help," one Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.

Taleban sympathy - President Pervez Musharraf's government has consistently pointed to its co-operation with the US in detaining or killing a number of foreign militants linked to al-Qaeda.

It also emphasises that it has been willing to bear major losses by sending troops into the tribal areas of the country, a place which no government, back to colonial days, has ever managed to effectively control.

More than 700 soldiers have died fighting there, a testament to Pakistan's commitment, the government says.

The US is well aware that there is a segment of the Pakistani population which deeply despises President Musharraf's co-operation with the US and which is sympathetic to the Taleban and even al-Qaeda.

Recognising that Pakistan's leader therefore has to play a careful game in terms of his own domestic public opinion, Washington normally refrains from overt criticism, which is what makes John Negroponte's candid remarks so interesting.

They may well reflect growing US frustration at Pakistan's role. Some signs of tensions between the countries have been emerging for some time, not least over events such as the strikes against targets in Bajur in January 2006 and a religious school in October of that year which Pakistan claimed was carried out by its forces but which most people believe were carried out by the US.

However, a number of other developments also explain why Washington may be becoming more vocal. Less noticed but equally striking was testimony from Lt Gen Michael D Maples, the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, who appeared alongside John Negroponte before Congress.

He said al-Qaeda has "improved its ability to facilitate, support and direct its objectives". He also talked of "continued Taleban reliance on safe havens in Pakistan". He expressed concern over Pakistan's policy towards its tribal areas.

Al-Qaeda control - In September, the Pakistani government came to an agreement with the tribes of North Waziristan but according to Lt Gen Maples the "tribes have not abided by most terms of the agreement. Al-Qaeda's network may exploit the agreement for increased freedom of movement and operation".

There has been growing concern that the deal has not led to the crackdown on foreign fighters that was supposed to occur but instead provided them with increased freedom.

Rather than driving foreign fighters out, it has provided them with a base in which to operate and build alliances, allowing al-Qaeda to strengthen and restore some of its capability. Militants are believed to be exercising growing control over local communities.

And in turn, the Taleban has also been provided with a base meaning that violence in Afghanistan has increased, not decreased as promised, according to both the Afghan government and Nato officials.

The number of suicide bombings - once unheard of in Afghanistan - has also been increasing rapidly.

Critics argue that Pakistan is happy to attack foreign fighters but less keen on dealing with domestic militant groups with ties to al-Qaeda and those who support the Taleban, believing they remain "strategic assets" to be deployed in either Afghanistan or Kashmir.

Pakistan maintains that al-Qaeda's leadership is operating on the Afghan side of the border.

In reality, the very notion of a border is largely meaningless since local Pashtun tribes have never recognised its existence and move freely back and forth.

Pakistan has talked of building a fence and even mining parts of the border, a move which Afghanistan has criticised. Tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been escalating significantly in recent months which has become a matter of concern for the US.

John Negroponte may be moving on from running the US intelligence bureaucracy to dealing with diplomacy, as the number two at the State Department, but he is likely to find that Pakistan remains near the top of his in-box.

Pentagon chief plans Afghan visit to boost Karzai

Reuters - Friday, January 12, 2007 - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Friday said he would visit Afghanistan in the next few days, seeking ways to boost President Hamid Karzai's government and stop resurgent Taliban militants.

The Taliban re-emerged as a serious threat in Afghanistan last year, with its hardline Islamist militants fighting deadly battles with NATO-led forces in the south of the country.

"I'm going back out to the region myself in a few days and I'm starting in Afghanistan," Gates told the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, responding to a question about the U.S. military's ability to meet its global commitments.

The visit will be Gates' first trip to Afghanistan since taking over from Donald Rumsfeld last month as Pentagon chief. "One of the things I'm focused on is what will it take to reverse the trendline in Afghanistan and to strengthen the Karzai government," Gates said.

More than 4,000 people were killed in violence in Afghanistan last year. It was the bloodiest year since 2001 when U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban government, which they accused of harboring September 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden.

"We mustn't let this one slip out of our attention and, where we have had a victory, put it at risk," Gates said.

U.S. Gen.: Insurgent chief in Pakistan

Bagram (AP) - An Afghan insurgent leader operating from inside Pakistan sent some 200 ill-equipped fighters, some wearing plastic bags on their feet, into Afghanistan where most were killed in a major battle this week, a top U.S. general said Saturday.

Maj. Gen. Benjamin Freakley said that Jalaluddin Haqqani recruited and sent unemployed and untrained men to fight in Afghanistan.

U.S. forces killed about 130 fighters moving in two groups in the eastern province of Paktika late Wednesday and early Thursday, one of the largest winter battles in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

"There's Taliban leaders in Pakistan," Freakley said. "We know that this group ... were from Jalaluddin Haqqani and we believe, though we don't know exactly where, that Jalaluddin Haqqani is operating from inside Pakistan and sending men to fight in Afghanistan."

Western and Afghan officials accuse Pakistan of not doing enough to stop Taliban fighters using Pakistani soil as a training ground from crossing the border into Afghanistan. Pakistan says it does all it can to stop the fighters.

No officials in Pakistan could immediately be reached for comment. Freakley said that one of the enemies in the Afghan-Pakistan border area is unemployment.

"It is clear to me that some of these men were just either collected in a poor part of a village or perhaps from a madrassa or perhaps from a refugee camp and told to come fight," he said. "The message to the enemies of Afghanistan and the enemies of world peace would be that you can come at us with two people, 20 people, 200 people, 2,000 people, you'll be defeated and your young men will needlessly be killed."

Freakley said it was likely the insurgent fighters meant to attack a new military outpost near the village of Marghah that has affected insurgent infiltration routes.

In southern Afghanistan, meanwhile, NATO troops fought insurgents Saturday in a battle that left one Western soldier dead — NATO's first fatality of the year.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force said the soldier died during an operation and that air support was used against insurgent positions. NATO refused to release any other details until the next of kin were notified.

Taliban militants stepped up attacks last year, and insurgent-related violence killed some 4,000 people in the bloodiest year since the U.S.-led coalition ousted the Taliban in late 2001.

Insurgents Killed in Afghan Fighting Reportedly Are Sent Back to Pakistan

By Pamela Constable - Washington Post Saturday, January 13, 2007

KABUL, Jan. 12 -- The bodies of two dozen Islamic insurgents killed in a clash with NATO and Afghan army forces near the border with Pakistan were sent back Friday to Pakistan, where Taliban leaders asked that they be given funerals as "martyrs," according to news reports here.

The reports appeared to bolster Afghan and U.S. assertions, repeatedly denied by Pakistani officials, that Pakistan's tribal regions along the border with Afghanistan have provided a haven for Islamic militia groups seeking to destabilize the Western-backed government of Afghanistan.

The funeral preparations were reported to take place in villages in Pakistan's North Waziristan region, where Pakistani officials brokered a truce in September that they said was aimed at curbing Islamic extremist activities in the area. Afghan and NATO officials have said cross-border insurgent infiltration has actually increased since then.

Also Friday, Afghan police reported that a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle into two others on a highway south of Kabul. The two-vehicle convoy was carrying foreign police advisers, according to Associated Press reports. One adviser and an Afghan civilian were injured, the news agency reported.

In Washington, the U.S. national intelligence director, John D. Negroponte, said at a Senate hearing Thursday that Pakistani tribal areas were functioning as a haven for terrorists and that Pakistani officials needed to do more to control them.

In response, officials from Pakistan's Foreign and Interior ministries denied their country was offering shelter to extremists. A Pakistani military spokesman said that the country's army forces had fired on trucks carrying Islamic insurgents toward the Afghan border and that Pakistan was "keen to stop" such cross-border infiltration.

The bodies of fighters sent back to Pakistan included both Pakistanis and Afghans, according to news reports. They were said to be casualties of a major clash Wednesday between NATO and Afghan troops and Islamic insurgents in Afghanistan's Paktika province. NATO said 150 insurgents had been killed, while Afghan officers put the figure at 80.

Taleban in Pakistan commend dead

M Ilyas Khan BBC News, Karachi Friday, 12 January 2007 - More than 170 Taleban fighters from Pakistan's South Waziristan district have been killed in Afghanistan since 2005, BBC News has learned. Families of the dead fighters were recently awarded certificates of commendation by the Taleban.

The Pakistani army has signed deals with pro-Taleban leaders in this area aimed at stopping cross-border raids. But critics say the deals have given the Taleban safe havens from which to launch attacks.

The ceremony of commendation was held on 28 December in the village of Spinki Raghzai, eyewitnesses said. It was presided over by Baitullah Mahsud, a pro-Taleban commander who signed one of the peace deals with the Pakistani army.

The witnesses said the families of 175 militants killed in Afghanistan since February 2005 were handed certificates by Mr Mahsud. Of these, 50 militants belonged to his own Mahsud tribe while the rest were Ahmedzai Wazir tribesmen from the Wana region of the district.

Some members of Pakistan's parliament, who hail from South Waziristan, also attended the ceremony. Maulana Abdul Malik, national assembly member from the Wana area, and Senator Maulvi Saleh Shah Qureshi confirmed to the BBC that they attended the ceremony.

However, they said that they were only guests and had no role in organising the event. The Pakistan army lost hundreds of troops in battles with pro-Taleban militants in South Waziristan before signing peace deals with the militant leaders.

Since then, the local administration and the army have claimed that militancy has decreased and peace has returned to the region. Many analysts, however, disagree and believe that the accords have given a free rein to the Taleban.

Suicide bomber targets foreigners in Logar

Zubair Babakarkhail - KABUL, Jan 12 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Only the bomber was killed and a foreign national wounded in a suicide attack in the Mohammad Agha district of the central Logar province Friday afternoon.

The attack was carried out at a civilian vehicle carrying foreigners in an area between the villages of Said Abad and Safaid Sang on the Kabul Logar Highway.

An official of the ISAF press office, who wished not to be named, told Pajhwok Afghan News target of the attack was a vehicle carrying US nationals. He said driver of the vehicle was wounded while the other three people remained unhurt.

Police chief of the province General Mustafa said the bomber struck his explosive-packed car against the vehicle carrying the foreigners. The officer added the four people were shifted to Kabul after the attack. However, he would not say about their health condition.

Contacted for comments, Interior Ministry spokesman Zmaray Bashari said two foreigners and a local resident were injured in the explosion. No one has so far claimed responsibility for the suicide blast, which was the third during the current year.

Meanwhile, Qari Hayatullah, calling himself a Taliban commander in Logar, told Pajhwok Afghan News over the telephone that 14 US soldiers had been killed and their three vehicles were destroyed in the attack.

He said the attack was carried out by a young man named Frouq, resident of the northern Takhar province. Claim of the purported commander could not be confirmed from any independent source.

Afghanistan: Local Taliban Defeat Raises Hopes For Dam Project

By Ron Synovitz - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

January 12, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- NATO forces in Afghanistan say the destruction of a Taliban camp in Helmand Province has cleared the way for repairs on a major hydroelectric dam. Work was halted in 2006 due to resurgent Taliban violence, but engineers from USAID now hope to upgrade the Kajaki Dam and its electrical transmission lines to provide a reliable source of power for nearly 2 million people in southern Afghanistan.

The British military operation targeting Taliban fighters in the northern part of Helmand Province began on January 1.

After about a week, NATO officials announced that they had killed a local commander of insurgents who have been stalling a multimillion-dollar repair project on Kajaki Dam's electricity-producing turbines, which lies near the source of the Helmand River.

NATO-ISAF spokesman Dominic Whyte tells RFE/RL the alliance is confident that it can keep the area safe for construction workers and engineers who must live in a campsite near the dam.

"The Kajaki Dam is a critical part of the infrastructure necessary for the redevelopment of Afghanistan," Whyte says. "ISAF forces operating in the area are patrolling to ensure the security of the wider area itself so that the necessary reconstruction work can take place. We do have troop locations -- forward operating bases. We also employ mobile patrols."

James Franckiewicz, director of USAID's Office of Infrastructure, Engineering, and Energy in Afghanistan, tells RFE/RL that Taliban fighters managed to stop all work at the dam site for more than half a year.

"We've been on hold for about six or seven months right now," Franckiewicz says. "We had a subcontractor that was due to go into Kajaki at the site to start working in May [2006]; they were unable to get access. In fact, they demobilized everyone aside from the security people back in the summer of 2006."

Franckiewicz explains that the halt of reconstruction work was a direct result of resurgent Taliban violence in Helmand Province.

"The insurgency around the camp spiked last summer [2006] and got much worse," Franckiewicz says. "A lot of the workers deserted out of the site after the increased violence. They started receiving mortar rounds fairly regularly. And one of the conditions that USAID had put out is that the coalition had to stabilize the area -- a perimeter about three to five kilometers around our campsite -- in order to stop the incoming mortar rounds. The military has been focusing on this area for a while and those mortar rounds pretty much died away during the last couple of months."

There are three key parts to USAID's reconstruction project at Kajaki that Franckiewicz hopes will be completed by the summer of 2009 -- the upgrade of electricity-generating equipment, the installation of new power-transmission lines, and the construction of a road linking the Kajaki Dam site to Afghanistan's main ring road.

He says he expects workers back at the dam in February to start repairing damage to one of Kajaki's existing two turbines. The workers also plan to install a new, third turbine -- which already is being shipped to Afghanistan.

When work on the turbines is finished, Kajaki's electricity-generating capacity will be more than double its current level. But servicing the infrastructure, and carrying all of that electricity to the nearby cities of Lashkar-Gah and Kandahar, is impossible on roads and transmission lines destroyed by decades of war.

"The existing transmission line is in poor shape -- and we're going to be rehabilitating the transmission line," Franckiewicz says. "There is about 190 kilometers of transmission line that we are going to build down there. And we're going to build about 90 kilometers of access road from the main regional ring road up to Kajaki Dam site. The upgrade of the hydro-electric plant and the transmission line will give a reliable electricity supply for both Lashkar-Gah and Kandahar and a few villages that will be services along the transmission line."

Franckiewicz says building the new transmission line will take longer than upgrading the dam's hydroelectric stations.

"We're assuming as long as the security situation stabilizing and that we get cooperation from the coalition forces, we're going to have the contractors mobilized in February and we're going to finish the hydroelectric in 2007 -- by the end of this year," Franckiewicz says. "I would guess [it will be] around the summer of 2009 before the transmission line and road construction is completed."

If all goes according to plan, the project will affect the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Afghanistan's volatile southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar.

"What we have as total beneficiaries in this area that will benefit from the Kajaki upgrade is 1.7 million inhabitants," Franckiewicz says. "And we figure, just on the basis of approximately eight people per household, that there [are] about 200,000 households. I would assume you're probably looking at somewhere from 30 to 50 percent of the people with their lightbulb power on in their residence. That's what is available now. And what we're looking at as possible, when we get this thing up and running, we assume that all of the households, businesses, and government are going to be able to have power for their basic needs."

NATO-ISAF spokesman Whyte admits that it will be more difficult for NATO forces to protect the power transmission lines from Taliban attacks than it is to project the dam site itself.

But Whyte says he hopes the benefits of an improved Kajaki Dam convince ordinary Afghans that it is in their best interest to cooperate with Afghan and NATO security forces who protect the system.

Canadian soldier injured in Afghanistan
CanWest News Service - Thursday, January 11, 2007

GHUNDEY GHAR STRONG POINT, Afghanistan - Atop a dusty mountain that juts out of a fertile plain deep inside Taliban country in southern Afghanistan, a special Canadian surveillance and patrol squadron is sweeping away Taliban insurgents in their former stronghold.

It’s dangerous work and they suffered their most recent casualty Thursday when a night patrol member stepped on an improvised explosive device.

Master Cpl. Jody Mitic from 1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment, suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries and is in stable condition in the medical facility at Kandahar airfield.

Canada hopes U.S. won't shift troops from Afghanistan

Canadian Press - Halifax — Canada's defence minister is hoping the United States won't shift combat troops from Afghanistan to boost its war in Iraq, although America's top military official says it has no intention of doing so.

Gordon O'Connor said Friday that the possibility of fewer troops in Afghanistan was the main question he had regarding U.S. president George W. Bush's plan to boost forces in Iraq by 21,500 troops.

"I don't know if there will be any impact," he said after a speech to the Halifax Chamber of Commerce. "My hope is they won't draw any troops away from Afghanistan to reinforce Iraq.... That's the only thing I'd think about." However, the chair of the U.S. joint chiefs of staff said Friday there's no plan to reduce its military presence in Afghanistan.

U.S. General Peter Pace, speaking at the Senate armed services committee, said the units going into Iraq "were already in the pipeline and they will be moved forward in the pipeline in a couple of months."

He said there are about 22,500 troops in Afghanistan right now and that won't change, adding: "We will be able to maintain that." Gen. Pace also testified that if it's necessary, the U.S. military could draw from the National Guard and reserves to send more troops to Afghanistan.

Steven Staples, a defence analyst with the Rideau Institute in Ottawa, said he thinks Mr. O'Connor has cause to be concerned about the American focus on battling the insurgency in Iraq.

He noted that since the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, the U.S. administration has shifted focus away from Afghanistan, where it orchestrated the overthrow of the Taliban government in 2001.

"That shift in focus is precisely why the insurgency was able to regain a foothold in the country, and that's why Canada was encouraged to send a much more robust troop presence to southern Afghanistan," Mr. Staples said in an interview.

"Already he (O'Connor) can't convince NATO to send more troops to southern Afghanistan and here's the U.S. shifting focus, potentially leaving Canada holding the bag."

In the U.S., there's been no indicator from the defence secretary or the president that troop commitments in Afghanistan would be affected by boosting the Iraq deployment.

However, a number of politicians have said they're concerned that the U.S. isn't sending more troops to combat an expected increased in the Taliban insurgency this spring.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and two other U.S. legislators head to Iraq this weekend as Congress debates Bush's plan.

Ms. Clinton, a Democrat from New York who is considering a run for president, told the Associated Press that she wants to see more troops in Afghanistan, where U.S. forces "seem to be on autopilot."

"I wish we were discussing additional troops for Afghanistan. We are hearing increasingly troubled reports out of Afghanistan and we will be searching for accurate information about the true state of affairs," she said.

The Baltimore Sun reported this week that Taliban forces are poised for a major offensive against U.S. troops and undermanned NATO forces. The newspaper said this has prompted U.S. commanders to issue an urgent appeal for a new Marine Corps battalion to reinforce the American positions.

Winning hearts and minds, in Afghanistan and Canada

Spreading the word at home is commander's latest mission, ESTANISLAO OZIEWICZ writes - ESTANISLAO OZIEWICZ

After nine months commanding NATO forces in battled-scarred southern Afghanistan, Brigadier-General David Fraser is back home selling the Canadian mission -- with gusto.

When the veteran infantry officer wasn't directing the fierce fight against Taliban insurgents, he was engaging the hearts and minds of Afghans. Now, he's talking to any Canadian who will listen about what he maintains is a vital role in Afghanistan.

In his media and lecture circuit, the main message, carefully scripted by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government, is that Canadian troops are turning back the Taliban and helping to rebuild a shattered and destitute country.

"It's a little of both," Gen. Fraser said in an interview when asked whether spreading the word was his idea or that of his political and military masters in Ottawa.

"This is a great Canadian story that has to be told. This is about Canada helping those less fortunate than us, helping those in Afghanistan build a nation. Canada is owed a progress report, what it is we're doing over there."

Gen. Fraser, who was a key figure in developing a program to "embed" reporters and photographers with Canadian combat troops, said he has done his own poll about whether Canadian soldiers ought to remain in Afghanistan, notwithstanding last year's long list of casualties and the prospect of more to come.

"In 26 years, I've learned soldiers don't lie. If soldiers like something or don't like something, they will tell you. Well, the soldiers I've talked to all believe in what they're doing over there.

"The families of our soldiers believe in what we're doing over there. . . . The families of our fallen comrades, they are all telling me the same thing: Our sons and daughters, our husbands and wives, our boyfriends and girlfriends, they all believe in what they're doing."

Gen. Fraser likes to relate an anecdote illustrating the progress made in Afghanistan, thanks, in part, to Canadian efforts. He said that when he arrived in Kandahar, he met the provincial governor, Assadullah Khalid, whose chief instrument of governing apparently was a handgun.

"If there was an issue, he would run downtown with a pistol to solve it," Gen. Fraser said. "Can you imagine the premier of Ontario solving the Hells Angels problem or some other criminal activity by running out with a shotgun or a pistol?

"We didn't hire him or elect him to do that. Eight months after mentoring Assadullah, he now picks up a pen or picks up a cellphone and he calls somebody or writes a letter to provide guidance. That's progress."

Gen. Fraser reeled off the kilometres of roads rebuilt, canals constructed and local councils that have been reconstituted.

With Canada's help, he said, Afghanistan has gone from being the second-poorest country in the world to the fifth. And yet, he cautioned, "it's going to take years to put this country back together again."

One of Afghanistan's most intractable and troubling problems is the country's opium industry. According to some estimates, opium production grew 49 per cent last year to 6,700 tonnes, most of it in the south.

Eradication has long been the choice of the United States, which, along with Britain, leads the Afghan initiative to counter narcotics. Washington even wants to spray herbicide on poppy fields, a plan that the Afghan government is considering.

Opponents of strong-arm eradication methods argue that it serves only to alienate impoverished farmers and would place Canadian troops in more danger.

While Gen. Fraser believes that opium is a scourge whose trade lines the pockets of drug barons and the Taliban, another approach should be considered, one that he has proposed to key allied envoys and his own superiors.

Plowing up poppy farmers' fields merely disenfranchises Afghans, he said. "The first time the Afghan people see their government in action has been when the Afghan eradication force shows up to plow in their fields." There's another way to control the crop, he said.

"We have the Wheat Board in Canada and farm subsidies. Why don't we do something similar in Afghanistan that we do all around the world: subsidize the farmers to grow legitimate crops, be it nuts -- which Afghanistan is good for -- grapes, corn or millet.

"You get $10 an acre for growing poppy. We'll give you $8 to grow wheat. There are markets for wheat, it's legitimate, you can build on it and the economy benefits from it, not the Taliban."

Afghan refugees return to shattered homes, wait for $10 million in Canadian aid - Canadian Press - Friday, January 12, 2007

ZANGABAD, Afghanistan (CP) - Mohammed Naeem sat crossed-legged on the sun-baked mud slab that is his front yard on Friday and spoke for many of his neighbours about his expectations now that Canadian troops have declared it safe for him to return to his farm in southern Afghanistan.

"We are expecting them to help," said the 37-year-old farmer, whose deeply lined face and worn expression made him look twice his age. "Until now we haven't seen anything, but they promised," Naeem said impatiently. "That's why I'm shouting."

Throughout the last couple of days, whether by pickup truck, donkey cart, farm tractor, motorcycle, or even by foot, more than 400 families displaced by fierce fighting in the Panjwaii district last fall have begun to trickle back into their shattered, desolate communities.

Kandahar's governor announced last week that people displaced by fighting during the Canadian-led Operation Medusa could begin returning home.

Most started to arrive Thursday and Friday with their meagre possessions and even livestock strapped to the backs or roofs of their vehicles. Many, who've been away for several weeks, arrived to find their homes levelled by artillery fire or holed by tank shot.

After the Taliban were driven out of the town of Panjwaii last fall, hundreds of militants fled south towards Pakistan through the tiny hamlets of Zangabar, Sperwan and Musa Kala, where they were intercepted by NATO special forces and Afghan army units. The result was some of the bloodiest fighting and heaviest civilian casualties of the campaign.

The Canadian provincial reconstruction team, based 40 kilometres away in Kandahar City, has promised relief and help in rebuilding this tiny dust-caked village.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government recently committed $10 million in food aid and material supplies to help refugees, most of whom were affected by Operation Medusa. USAID, an American agency, has promised shelter supplies and the Canadian army has put forward two sea containers of reconstruction material, including paint, buckets and wheelbarrows.

To date, the only thing that has been delivered are the sea containers of building supplies.

Refugees, some staying with relatives whose houses are still intact, have gathered along the roadside for the last two days, waiting for some kind of news on basic necessities.

"We didn't receive any food items," Abdul Hai, a village elder, said through a translator.

"What we're looking for nowadays is tents and food items. Most of our homes are damaged and destroyed, so we're looking for tents, which are very important, especially for women because they can't sit with the other people."

At this point in time, Hai said people are not unhappy, describing the assistance they've received as "satisfactory, but we need more." The Afghan government has provided cash payments for transportation so people can get back to their property.

But getting food and shelter into the hands of hungry and cold people is waiting for appointed village elders to compile lists of families in the area. Afghan authorities have been given the authority to decide who gets aid.

"When we get the list we will continue to supply the items," said Col. Mohammed Rasul. Naeem, whose 60 relatives, including seven brothers, are crammed into his mud-walled compound, viewed the assurances with a measure of cynicism.

"We are still looking when they are going to provide assistance and where," he said, also through a translator after reclaiming his looted house almost a week ago.

"Until now we haven't seen anything they promised. Our elders, who are selected by government; they usually embezzle the money and take the item whatever is distributed, illegally."

Canadian military commanders say there's only so much they can do, given that NATO has been invited into the country.

"It's better to have the elders handle this rather than have guys in uniforms giving handouts," said Capt. Dave Muralt, a spokesman for the provincial reconstruction team.

Even with the concerns, all of the villagers who agreed to speak said they were happy to be home and glad to be rid of the Taliban, including Abdul Kaim, 65, who resented having the war brought to his straw-covered doorstep.

"Mostly civilians were affected by the bombardment," Kaim said shortly after unloading four sheep, three chickens, a rooster and other household essentials from a borrowed pickup truck.

"The Taliban were just like devils. They stay hiding at one (civilian) home for an hour and then just go to another."

In background briefings, Canadian military commanders insist that conditions throughout the former battlefield are improving for civilians.

Their optimism is reflected in the relatively peaceful vibe coming from communities throughout the Arghandab River valley. Once boarded up shops in Panjwaii have reopened, selling fruit, vegetables and other goods.

Sheep and camel can be seen in fields, where some farmers have begun readying the hard ground for another growing season.

NATO Welcomes Possible Dispatch Of German Tornadoes To Afghanistan

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on Friday welcomed reports of a possible deployment of German Tornado reconnaissance aircraft in Afghanistan, saying the move would boost the Alliance's operation against insurgents in the country.

Asked to respond to reports that Berlin was poised to send such aircraft to Afghanistan, Scheffer told reporters he had no official confirmation of such a decision.

However, such a move would be "highly welcome," said the NATO chief.

"If the German government would announce or has announced the deployment of tornado aircraft in a reconnaissance role to Afghanistan, I would highly welcome such a decision," Scheffer said.

Germany was a "very important player" in Afghanistan, said Scheffer, adding: "I think those Tornadoes would be able to play an important role" in NATO operations.

Scheffer was reacting to reports that Berlin was in the process of approving the deployment of six Tornado aircraft in southern Afghanistan. The German government has said no such decision has been taken as yet.

Berlin is under intense pressure from other NATO nations, including the United States, to send troops to boost NATO's increasingly difficult military operation in volatile southern Afghanistan.

The German government has, however, said its troops will remain in the relatively calmer north of the country.

China donates unmilitary items to Afghan army

KABUL, Jan 11, 2007 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- China donated unmilitary items worth 2 million U.S. dollars to Afghanistan National Army (ANA) on Thursday.

The stuffs include 10 trucks, 12 Jeeps, 17 cars, 100 computers, 30 photocopy machines, 100 printers, 100 air conditioners, 140 TV sets and a large numbers of electric fans, refrigerators, diesel generator, shoes, tents, engineering axes and engineering shovels.

At a ceremony attended by Afghan, Chinese and U.S. officials and soldiers in Afghan Defense Ministry, Liu Jian, the Chinese ambassador to Afghanistan, said that the Chinese government has consistently supported Afghanistan's post-war reconstruction and provided assistance in its power.

"For six days ,the air force of the People's Liberation Army have been transporting the 200 ton goods from China to Afghanistan. China attaches great importance to helping Afghanistan in its postwar reconstruction process, "he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Afghanistan's Deputy Defense Minister Baz Mohammad Jawhari expressed his gratitude to China for its continued assistance.

"China always supports Afghanistan and particularly today's assistance would strengthen and boost Afghan National Army's capability," Jawhari added. China has contributed more than 150 million U.S. dollars in the reconstruction process of the war-battered Afghanistan over the past five years.

British soldier not Iran spy but "a patriot": lawyer

January 12, 2007 - LONDON (Reuters) - A British soldier, accused of spying for Iran whilst working as an interpreter for NATO's commander in Afghanistan, is a "patriot," his lawyer told a London court on Friday.

Corporal Daniel James, 44, who was a translator for NATO's General David Richards after being sent to Afghanistan in March last year, is accused of breaching Britain's Official Secrets Act by passing on secrets to an "enemy," Iran.

James, who has an Iranian mother and became a British citizen in the mid-1980s, appeared on Friday for a preliminary hearing at the Old Bailey court via videolink from a prison in southwest London.

Dressed in a red T-shirt, he spoke only to confirm his name and that he could hear the proceedings. But his lawyer Paul Raudnitz told the court: "He is a British patriot. There is no division of loyalties at all."

Raudnitz said James's role was to translate speeches for the British general, who commands some 30,000 NATO troops fighting a resurgent Taliban, to locals in southern Afghanistan.

"Part of his defense to this charge was that he was never party to any information or any confidentiality or anything secret in nature in his position," the lawyer said.

Some of the hearing was conducted in secret because of national security considerations but discussions over bail, which James was refused, were unusually held in open court on the request of the defendant.

Prosecutor Mari Reid said British officials feared Iranian spies could help him flee the country if he were granted bail. "The crown's position is that given the nature and the gravity of the offence and the circumstances... he is an asset to his masters," she said.

She said he would also be "of interest" to other unnamed countries, adding he had three overseas properties and money stored in dollar bank accounts. The United States accuses Iran of being the world's top sponsor of terrorism and of aiding the remnants of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Shi'ite Muslim Iran supported opposition mujahideen against the Taliban until the radical Sunni government was overthrown by U.S.-led forces in 2001. Some analysts say it may now be backing the Taliban to keep Western forces bogged down in Afghanistan.

James faces a charge that "for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or the interest of the state, communicated to another person information calculated to be, or that might be, or is intended to be directly or indirectly useful to the enemy."

He is the first person to be charged with spying under Britain's Official Secrets Act since an MI5 officer was jailed for 23 years in 1984 for passing secrets to the Soviet Union.

Judge Justice David Calvert-Smith said James, who joined the army as a reservist in 1987 and suffered two strokes in 2005, would appear for a hearing on June 15 to enter a plea.

A trial, likely to last about three months, should take place in January 2008, or earlier, the judge said.

Hillary pushing for troop surge in Afghanistan

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton presses to add troops in Afghanistan, which she'll visit, along with Iraq over the weekend. BY GLENN THRUSH - Newsday Washington Bureau

January 12, 2007, WASHINGTON -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is heading to Iraq and Afghanistan this weekend -- and calling for a troop "surge" in Afghanistan even though she opposes a similar measure in Iraq.

Clinton's surprise trip isn't surprising politically. As the top Democratic contender in 2008 who voted for the war -- and hasn't recanted -- Clinton needed to emphasize her foreign policy strengths: gravitas, affection for the troops and on-the-ground experience in a war zone.

On Wednesday, as President George W. Bush delivered his address on his plan for a 21,500-troop increases in Iraq, Clinton was about the only serious contender in either party to turn down an invitation to dissect the speech on TV.

Clinton landed in Kuwait on Friday night with Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Indiana) and upstate Rep. John McHugh and will meet Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Shia cleric Ayatollah Abd Al-Aziz Al-Hakim in Baghdad Saturday.

She also plans a Saturday sit-down with Lt. Gen. Martin Dempsey, who is training Iraqi security forces; a visit to the New York-based Army 10th Mountain Division; and a meeting with a delegation of Iraqi women.

Before leaving, Clinton, who voted to authorize the Oct. 2002 Iraq invasion, cautioned against paying too much attention to Iraq at the expense of the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

"I wish we were discussing additional troops for Afghanistan. We are hearing increasingly troubling reports out of Afghanistan and we will be searching for accurate information about the true state of affairs both militarily and politically," she told the Associated Press.

She'lll spend Sunday in Afghanistan. On Monday, she heads home, with a stopover in two German military hospitals to visit wounded American troops before returning to the U.S., aides said.

Clinton's third trip to Iraq comes as she faces pressure from her party's left wing to renounce her vote.

Her first trip to the country was in November 2003; her last was in February 2005, when she traveled with Arizona Sen. John McCain, one of the GOP's 2008 presidential frontrunners.

Pakistan-Afghanistan Border Fence: Who's Fooling Whom ?

Global Politician, NY - 01/12/2007 By Abid Mustafa

To assuage international concerns over cross border filtration into Afghanistan, the Pakistani government has announced a series of measures. These include selectively fencing the 2,430km border, laying down mines and introducing biometric identity checks on the Pakistani side of the border. This is in addition to the 80,000 Pakistani troops manning the border. If this was not enough- Pakistan has also proposed to convene a tribal Jirga in an attempt to stymie the flow of militants into Afghanistan. In the near future, Pakistan also plans to repatriate 2 million or so Afghan refugees back to Afghanistan.

Rather than welcoming such measures the government in Kabul has fervently reprimanded Islamabad and continues to blame Pakistan for providing sanctuary to Taliban and other Pushtoon fighters. Meanwhile, the US is staying clear of taking sides in the dispute and maintains that the matter must be resolved bilaterally between the two countries." I'm not going to get into disputes between states, both of whom are allies... It is clear that the issue of border crossings is one of shared interest and concern," said White House Press Secretary Tony Snow. The only clarity the Bush administration has offered is that it concurs with media reports that Taliban fighters are using Pakistan to re-organise and launch attacks against coalition troops operating in Afghanistan. So what is going on?

It is obvious that the measures spelt out by Pakistan will only succeed if Musharraf is prepared to stem the tide of Pushtoon fighters crossing into Afghanistan. Partial fencing of the border will not stop those determined to get across. Neither will mining, as sign posts and maps can be used to navigate around such hot spots. Moreover, mines are likely to maim and kill civilians than deter militants. Biometric checks are only good as the intelligence on the ground. Besides, it will take months to implement these measures effectively-by then the present government in Kabul may not be around.

Hence the stigma of Pakistan abetting Taliban fighters will remain unless Islamabad chooses to terminate their activities. But Pakistan's unwillingness to withdraw support to the Taliban and other Pushtoon fighters is being fuelled by the US which continues to support Pakistan's policy of embracing Taliban militants. Despite the growing international pressure, especially from NATO members, the Whitehouse has hitherto refused to apportion blame at Musharraf's government for incubating militants on its soil.

It is also apparent that the US is quietly supporting Pakistan's efforts to make the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan permanent and this explains much of the hostility of the Kabul government towards the measures. The Afghans still dispute the Durand Line which was invented by the British in 1893 to divide Afghanistan from British India. Afghans consider the agreement illegal and regard Peshawar and Quetta part of Afghanistan.

America's current plan is to buy precious time for the Taliban to take leadership over the Pushtoon resistance and then execute a major offensive against Kabul in the Spring of this year. Thereafter, the US will convene an international conference to construct a new government in Kabul-one that enjoys the support of the Pushtoons; resolve the border issue between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and integrate the tribal belt into the civil polity of Pakistan. Aspects of this plan have been put forward by Martin Inderfurth a former Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs and Dennis Kux a former US ambassador to Pakistan. On 5/12/06 in an article published in the Baltimore Sun, the two advocate that Afghanistan should override the Jirga decision of 1948 and accept the Durand Line as the defacto border, and that Pakistan should undertake reforms with the assistance of the World Bank to integrate the tribal region.

But if somehow the Pakistan's establishment believes that America is going to safeguard Pakistan's integrity then they are gravely mistaken. American policy makers have already discussed several plans which elaborate on how Pakistan should be divided along sectarian lines. One plan proposes to reduce Pakistan to Punjab and Sindh and its security and economy integrated with India. Musharraf often talks about sectarian violence and blames Islamists or outside powers for fomenting it. Yet it is his pro-American policies that are laying the seeds of an even bigger sectarian disaster- the dismemberment of Pakistan.

Abid Mustafa is a political analyst who specialises in affairs of Islamic countries and organizations. He writes regularly for Global Politician.

[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.]