In this bulletin:

• Gunmen kill two schoolgirls in Afghanistan
• U.S. troops mistakenly kill 7 Afghan police, officials say
• Canadian soldier killed by roadside bomb in Afghanistan
• Sophisticated bomb found in Kabul ‎
• General: Iran aids Karzai, maybe Taliban
• Afghan Lawmakers Still Insist On Minister's Removal
• Harper and Dutch PM discuss Afghan mission
• Canada monitors probe into detainees' treatment
• Vast majority wants Afghan mission to end on schedule: poll
• From 1944 to Kandahar‎
• Letter sent to Quebec soldiers says Afghan deployment tantamount to war ‎crime
• NATO pins Afghan hopes on a single road
• Japan unveils aid worth 18.65 mil. yen for Afghanistan ‎
• Afghan civilians push enemy insurgents from their districts
• Planned Pak-Afghan jirga in Kabul: ‘Govt must send true representatives ‎in delegation’‎
• Afghanistan: Child Laborers Miss School, Face Spiral Of Poverty
• Afghan Firebrand Gets Burned ‎
• Kabul Beauty School Book – How Close to Reality?‎
• As Kandahar rebuilds, the clock is ticking

Gunmen kill two schoolgirls in Afghanistan

KABUL, June 12 (Reuters) - Gunmen riding on a motorbike fired at girls outside a school in Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing two and wounding six, authorities said. The attack took place in Logar province, south of the capital, Kabul, at the end of the school day. The attackers fled, they said.

"Those who carried out this cowardly attack are the enemies of the country," Education Minister Hanif Atmar told reporters. The Afghan government uses the term "enemies of Afghanistan" to describe Taliban guerrillas and their al Qaeda allies.

During their rule, the Taliban barred girls from education and women from most work outside the home. Ousted from power in 2001, the Taliban have been blamed for burning many schools and killing several teachers. They have also warned people against sending their girls to school.

About 200,000 school-aged children cannot go to school in southern and eastern areas where the Taliban are most active.

Atmar said authorities were worried about more attacks on girls' schools.

Although women and girls have been able to go to school and get jobs since the Taliban were ousted, women still face threats, either from family members or

from some factional forces, even in areas where the Taliban have no influence.

This month, two women journalists, one an outspoken critic of some factional commanders, were killed by gunmen.

Last month, the country's lower house of parliament sacked a woman lawmaker, another critic of factional forces, after she said the house was worse than a stable.

U.S. troops mistakenly kill 7 Afghan police, officials say

Last Updated: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 - The Associated Press

U.S. forces mistakenly killed seven Afghan police officers and wounded four others in an incident early Tuesday in eastern Afghanistan, according to Afghan officials.

Police manning a remote checkpoint in Nangarhar province said an American convoy backed by helicopters approached and opened fire despite protests and calls for them to stop.

"I thought they were Taliban, and we shouted at them to stop, but they came closer and they opened fire," said Khan Mohammad, one of the policemen at the post.

 "I'm very angry. We are here to protect the Afghan government and help serve the Afghan government, but the Americans have come to kill us."

The commander at the police post, Esanullah, who goes by one name, said a U.S. helicopter fired rockets, killing seven policemen and wounding four. "I think there was a misunderstanding — the helicopter opened fire at the police post," said Khan.

A spokeswoman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force said she had no information that U.S. forces that fall under ISAF's command were involved. A spokesman for the separate U.S.-led coalition said he was looking into the report. There were conflicting reports over how the fighting started.

Zurmai Khan, the Khogyani district chief, said fighting started just before midnight Monday between Taliban militants and Afghan police, and two hours into the battle U.S. forces arrived and opened fire on the police.

However, Esanullah and Noragha Zowak, spokesman for the Nangarhar governor, said no Taliban were involved in the incident. Zurmai Khan labeled the incident a "misunderstanding."

"Unfortunately the Americans and the Afghans, the two sides didn't know it was the other," said Zowak.

Canadian soldier killed by roadside bomb in Afghanistan

Last Updated: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 - The Associated Press

A Canadian soldier was killed and two others wounded in a roadside bombing attack in Afghanistan about 40 kilometres north of Kandahar on Monday.

Trooper Darryl Caswell, 25, who is with the Royal Canadian Dragoons based at Petawawa, Ont., died when the bomb went off at 6:25 p.m local time near the vehicle he was travelling in.

Trooper Darryl Caswell was killed in a roadside bombing attack in Afghanistan
(Courtesy of DND)

"Every loss of a soldier is a significant one. This is another tough one," said Col. Mike Cessford, deputy commander of Canadian Forces in Afghanistan, early Tuesday morning.

"Trooper Caswell — young Canadian, great Canadian, died serving Canada and the people of Afghanistan. We'll be thinking of him." Cessford, himself part of the Dragoons, called Caswell a "great kid."

The two other soldiers suffered non-life threatening injuries from the blast and were taken by helicopter to the hospital at Kandahar Airfield for further treatment. They are expected to return to duty soon, the Department of National Defence said in a statement.

Caswell was part of a Combat Logistics Patrol (CLP) convoy, conducting a resupply mission for Canadian troops involved in a joint Afghan-coalition operation in the area when the blast occurred, the Defence Department said.

He was deployed with the Reconnaissance Squadron as part of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment battle group.

The convoy was headed to Kharkriz, a northwestern district of Kandahar province, where Canadian forces were working alongside the Afghan National Army in Operation Adalat. The mission is a push against insurgents in the northern reaches of Canada's command.

"This is a difficult security area," Cessford said. "It is, in fact, outside our normal development zone." Canadian security and development efforts have generally been focused in the southern part of the province.

"It's a more difficult area with larger concentrations of enemy forces, of Taliban forces, than we have seen immediately around Kandahar City," Cessford said. Caswell is the 57th Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan since 2002.

The last soldier to be killed, combat photographer Master Cpl. Darrell Priede, died on May 30 along with five Americans and a Briton when the CH-47 Chinook helicopter they were flying in crashed in southern Afghanistan.

Canada has more than 2,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, mostly serving in the volatile southern region of the country.

Sophisticated bomb found in Kabul

By Alastair Leithead BBC News, Helmand

A hi-tech bomb, similar to the ones used by militants in Iraq, has been found in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

Afghan intelligence sources say the bomb can penetrate heavily armoured vehicles and was set up by a road to target a high-level government convoy.

There is increasing evidence that sophisticated explosives technology is crossing into Afghanistan from Iraq. Police and government officials say they believe Iran is the source of these so-called "shaped charges".

They have been used widely in Iraq and now it seems they are on the streets of Afghanistan. These "shaped charges" are designed to explode in a specific direction, to concentrate the force into one point, and their discovery in Kabul is a worrying development for security forces.

A source from the Afghan intelligence agency said the bomb had been planted by a busy roadside in the centre of the capital but had been discovered before it was detonated. He said the intended target was mostly likely a high-level government convoy.

Hi-tech charges have been found in Afghanistan close to the Iranian border before and senior police and government officials have told the BBC that Iran's security agencies are involved with supplying the Taleban insurgency with money, weapons and explosives.

In April, in the southern Helmand province, weapons of Iranian origin were found but there was no direct link to the government. The Iranian ambassador to Kabul strongly denies any involvement.

General: Iran aids Karzai, maybe Taliban

By JASON STRAZIUSO and JOHN DANISZEWSKI, Associated Press Writer 6.11.07 - Iran gives political and material support to President Hamid Karzai's Western-backed government, but it also may be aiding the Taliban as a way of hedging its bets in neighboring Afghanistan, NATO's top general here said Monday.

In an interview with The Associated Press, U.S. Army Gen. Dan McNeill said Taliban fighters are showing signs of better training, using combat techniques comparable to "an advanced Western military" in ambushes of U.S. Special Forces soldiers.

Iran's possible role in aiding insurgents in Iraq has long been hotly debated, and last month some Western and Persian Gulf governments charged that the Islamic government in Tehran is secretly bolstering Taliban fighters.

"In Afghanistan it is clear that the Taliban is receiving support, including arms from ... elements of the Iranian regime," British Prime Minister Tony Blair wrote in the May 31 edition of the Economist.

Iran, which is also in a dispute with the West over its nuclear program, denies the Taliban accusation, calling it part of a broad anti-Iranian campaign. Tehran says it makes no sense that a Shiite-led government like itself would help the fundamentalist Sunni movement of the Taliban.

McNeill, the commander of 36,000 soldiers in NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, said indications on the ground cut both ways. There is "ample evidence" Iran is helping Karzai's administration, particularly with road construction and electricity in western Afghanistan, he told the AP.

But he added that he wouldn't doubt Iran may also help the Taliban and other political opponents of Karzai. "So what does that add up to? It makes me think of a major American corporation that will give political campaign money to three or four different candidates for president of the United States," he said. "Somebody is going to come out on top. This corporation wants to be aligned with whoever comes out on top."

McNeill, a 60-year-old, four-star general from North Carolina who has fought in most American conflicts since Vietnam, said he had no hard evidence the Iranian government has helped the Taliban. He said munitions, particularly mortar rounds found on Afghan battlefields, "clearly were made in Iran," but said that does not prove the Iranian government is formally involved.

"If I had the information, I would have no reservation about saying it," he said. In a separate interview Monday, the Iranian ambassador to Afghanistan rejected the accusation that his government aids the Taliban.

"This is not correct," Mohammad R. Bahrami told the AP at his embassy. "The return of extremism in Afghanistan will affect not only Afghanistan and the region, but the entire world."

Bahrami claimed the U.S. and Britain are making the accusation as an excuse to "justify their failures" in Afghanistan, such as the increasing opium poppy production and the resurgence of the Taliban.

Insurgents have stepped up the pace of suicide and roadside bombings from last year, which saw the most violence since the Taliban was toppled in late 2001. More than 2,200 people, many of them insurgents, have died in fighting this year, according to an AP count based on U.S., NATO and Afghan reports.

McNeill said NATO forces under his command pursued a successful offensive this spring against insurgents, but he acknowledged Taliban militants are showing signs of improved training.

For instance, they have advanced on U.S. Special Forces in recent months after staging ambushes in tight terrain between high ground and a river, a complex military maneuver that McNeill termed "surprising."

"We have now seen them shoot and maneuver a couple times in ways we haven't seen before. Where that's coming from I'm not exactly certain," he said. "But they have used some versions of fire and maneuver that makes one think of an advanced Western military."

There also has been speculation Taliban fighters are adopting tactics used by insurgents in Iraq, and McNeill said he wouldn't rule out that they are coordinating their efforts. But he stressed he didn't have any information to state conclusively that is happening.

NATO forces gained a major victory in Afghanistan last month with the killing of Mullah Dadullah, who was deemed the top Taliban commander.

McNeill said Dadullah had attained "iconic" status among some Afghans, but his reputation had begun to wane after the distribution of videos showing his participation in beheadings of enemies and his encouraging a 12-year-old boy inside Pakistan to behead an alleged spy.

While withholding details about how Dadullah was tracked down, McNeill said it was the "ego" of the Taliban commander that led to his death.

"It was my view that any of these Taliban leaders, especially Dadullah, if they ever left their sanctuaries, especially if they came into Afghanistan, that their egos would be their undoing. In Dadullah's case that was a large part of it," McNeill said, alluding to the belief that Dadullah and other insurgents have operated from bases in Pakistan's tribal region.

McNeill said NATO forces have slightly reduced the number of insurgents flowing into Afghanistan from Pakistan, but he gave no details. "We have stemmed it a tad. Have we stemmed it greatly? I'm not in a position to say that's the case," he said. "Do I continue to be worried about what's coming over the border? The answer is yes."

McNeill painted an optimistic picture of the development of the Afghan National Army, now approaching the fifth anniversary since its first battalions were trained.

The Afghan army has made "tremendous strides" and is taking the lead in a new operation in Ghazni province, he said. Recruitment is up from 600 soldiers a month last year to more than 2,000 a month this year, McNeill said.

"When I see how they are moving and shooting on the battlefield today, I realize how far they have come and how more advanced they are," he said.

"That does not mean game over, time for us to go home. But I think that quite possibly the fighting season next year, maybe some fighting units will be operating independently."

The pylons get smaller and smaller as they disappear in a long, straight line, across the wide-open, windswept desert, through the heat haze and over the horizon to Iran.

In the electricity sub-station just outside of Herat, western Afghanistan, there's the loud hum of power - Iranian power. More electricity reaches Herat than the city can use, but the industrial park just across the road from the Nato military base is putting it to good use.

Small plastic bottles of fizzy orange juice shuffle along the conveyor belt to be labelled and packed - the building is noticeably Iranian in design and the markings on the machinery show exactly which country helped these Afghan businessmen.

The camels grazing outside cautiously cross the fast, straight, asphalt road - one of the best roads in Afghanistan stretching the 120km to the border. Soon a railway line will link Afghanistan to Europe, or so boasts the Iranian government.

"We are one of the major donors in Afghanistan," said Mohammad Bahrami, Iranian ambassador to Kabul. "We believe all of the international communities are in the same boat. We have the same destiny in Afghanistan."

Iran has always had close ties with western Afghanistan, and millions of dollars have been spent providing arguably the best infrastructure of any city in the country. But in the murky world of global politics is the shared destiny he speaks of more about control and influence than charity?

The border policemen cover their faces and cling on to their weapons as the shiny, new, bright-green pickup trucks bump their way along the border patrol route, throwing up choking dust into the back.

The frontier runs for hundreds of kilometres and here, near the border post, both sides eye each other suspiciously from old mud forts and new wooden observation posts. The Afghans' vehicles were bought by the Americans, and US bases are springing up along the border.

Given the fragile international relations between the US and Iran, there is a much bigger political reason to fight for influence in Afghanistan.

Afghan opium is smuggled between the gaps between observation towers to fuel Iran's four million addicts, and there's increasing concern about what is now travelling in the opposite direction.

"The intelligence reports that we get from our agents in Iran say some weapons come into Afghanistan," said Rahmatullah Safi, the border commander for western Afghanistan.

"The weapons which the enemies use these days such as Kalashnikov, rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine guns, hand grenades, explosives - they are not coming from the sky, these definitely are coming from across the border.

"Pakistan is kind of doing it openly but Iran is doing it behind the curtain in a secret way, helping the Taleban or the other opposition of the Afghan government."

Every week there is more evidence that the high-powered, hi-tech bombs being used to deadly effect in Iraq are now arriving in Afghanistan.

The commander of Nato's International Security Assistance Force for western Afghanistan (Isaf), Brigadier General Antonio Satta, discovered one cache: "We examined the charges, and unfortunately it is one of the first that is found in Afghanistan. So there are some concerns about it, but hopefully it's an isolated case".

"In Iraq the insurgency developed and they got more and more sophisticated. I believe we are seeing the same thing in Afghanistan, but fortunately they are still quite a long way behind Iraq."

Intelligence sources say Iranian agencies, but not necessarily the government, are talking to the Taleban and that weapons are on the move. Right now, nowhere in Afghanistan appears to be safe from the insurgency.

Roadside and suicide bombs have been killing soldiers and policemen from the Afghan and international security services, as well as civilians in every corner of the country from Kandahar to Kunduz, Badakhshan to Herat.

The British ambassador for the last year, Stephen Evans, has just left Afghanistan, but he had to deal with at least one case in Helmand.

"I think it was 11 April that a Taleban convoy was intercepted in southern Afghanistan and there was ammunition and explosives of Iranian origin," he said. "Who supplied them, and why, and under what circumstances not yet clear."

Britain already blames Iran for: "backing, financing, arming and supporting terrorism in Iraq," and it suspects the same thing could happen in Afghanistan.

But the Iranian ambassador dismisses the allegations of supplying weapons: "Strongly denied. Strongly denied and we are ready to make that clear," he says.

Beautiful, ancient Herat with its huge citadel towering over the old city and its famous mud brick minarets has a multi-layered history of foreign powers using Afghanistan to expand their empires - to achieve their own global ambitions.

Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan came here. The British fought Persia here in the 1850s when the Great Game with Russia was at its height.

Rory Stewart, a former diplomat now living in Afghanistan, believes little has changed: "Both here, and in Iraq, the Iranian government's objectives are probably simply to destabilise the situation and deter the US-led coalition from attempting anything against Iran," he said.

"They play very, very long strategic games, and do a lot of very traditional interference in neighbouring countries in order to try to defend their own national interests."

Everyone, of course, is at it - even British, European and American forces are here to protect themselves from terrorism at home - it's another bigger battle being fought in Afghanistan. And when diplomatic games are played in other lands, it's the people who suffer - it's their lives which are caught up in someone else's war.

Afghan Lawmakers Still Insist On Minister's Removal

via Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

June 11, 2007 -- Members of Afghanistan's lower house of parliament are continuing to demand the dismissal of Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta.

Parliament censured Spanta last month for failing to stop the expulsion of Afghan refugees from Iran. President Hamid Karzai referred the matter to the Supreme Court.

Harper and Dutch PM discuss Afghan mission

Monday, June 11, 2007 - CanWest News Service

OTTAWA -- The NATO mission in Afghanistan was a main topic of conversation between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Dutch counterpart at a meeting on Parliament Hill Monday morning.

At a news conference following the meeting, the two leaders spoke about how much they have in common and how co-operation in Afghanistan is an example of the deep bond between Canada and The Netherlands.

"The Netherlands is one of our principle partners in the south where we are working together to help the government and people of Afghanistan build a secure and prosperous future," Harper said.

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said the international community has a long-term responsibility to Afghanistan. "We cannot allow it to become a failed state again," he said.

Balkenende, who has led his country since 2002, will also be meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay and Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor where Afghanistan will be discussed, Harper said.

On Tuesday, Balkenende will be in Alberta to meet with the Premier Ed Stelmach and the mayor of Edmonton. He will also visit the tar sands.

Most Dutch troops in Afghanistan are working in Uruzgan province on a reconstruction mission but have also participated in NATO offensives against the Taliban. They have suffered few casualties, however, losing their first soldier in combat in April. Three others died in aviation accidents, one in a car crash and another in an apparent suicide.

Balkenende said he admires Canada for its work in Afghanistan and he said he expressed his condolences to Harper over the 56 soldiers Canada has lost there.

"Your grief touches us too," Balkenende said. "Your soldiers are part of a noble endeavour to bring peace and prosperity to the Afghan people...We are proud to be Canada's partner in this difficult but very important mission."

Like in Canada, the NATO mission in Afghanistan has been a divisive political issue in The Netherlands. The Dutch government has committed to keeping about 2,000 troops in Uruzgan until at least August 2008. This summer it will decide if it will extend its commitment beyond that, and Balkenende said he will consult with Canada in making that decision.

The prime ministers said they also discussed the need for other NATO members to do more in Afghanistan, for the United Nations to get involved and to increase the Afghan army and police presence.

Harper described their talk as "open and frank" and Balkenende said it was a "useful" meeting.

Canada monitors probe into detainees' treatment

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN (Jun 12, 2007) - Canada's top diplomat in Afghanistan said yesterday he will keep a close watch on the progress of an Afghan investigation into new allegations that detainees captured by Canadians and handed over to Afghan authorities have been tortured.

Canadian Ambassador Arif Lalani said a credible investigation will take time but he will be speaking with the Afghan government regularly to check on progress.

"We've moved very quickly. I expect the Afghan government to move equally quickly," Lalani said during a briefing with Canadian reporters in Kandahar. The fresh allegations surfaced during a visit by Canadian authorities to Afghan prisons as part of a new agreement signed May 3.

Coming in the wake of reports that as many as 30 people captured by Canadians were being abused by their Afghan captors, the agreement allows Canadian officials and international human rights workers to check regularly on the well-being of prisoners.

Lalani said he raised the new allegations with Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government immediately. "The process is working; the process is supposed to allow us to monitor and deal with the results," he said.

"We have monitored and now we are dealing with the results." He said charges could be laid if the allegations are substantiated. Lalani acknowledged he's also keeping an eye on a Canadian detained by the Afghans.

University of Calgary student Sohail Qureshi was arrested in Kabul last month, suspected of being a suicide bomber. "I've personally been watching that file," he said, adding consular officials have had access to Qureshi, who remains in custody.

He said he couldn't reveal anything more due to privacy concerns. Lalani's signature on the prisoner-detainee agreement marked one of his first tasks as Canada's ambassador since he was appointed to the post in late April.

He met with local and Canadian reporters yesterday to give his assessment of Canada's work on the ground after 30 days in his job. Lalani said Canada is one of the leaders in Afghanistan because of the military and development assistance being provided.

Vast majority wants Afghan mission to end on schedule: poll

BRUCE CHEADLE - Canadian Press June 11, 2007Globe and Mail

Ottawa — The vast majority of Canadians want this country's military mission in Afghanistan to end as scheduled in 2009, according to a new poll.

The survey by Decima Research, released Monday to The Canadian Press, found that two-thirds of respondents want Canadian troops to come home when the current mandate from Parliament expires in February 2009.

Only 26 per cent of respondents believed the military mission should be extended “if that is necessary to complete our goals there.”

The results of the poll, conducted May 31 to June 4, were released as Prime Minister Stephen Harper discussed an extension to the mission with his Dutch counterpart in Ottawa.

Mr. Harper has repeatedly hinted that Canadian troops may have to stay on in Afghanistan's troubled southern provinces beyond February 2009 in order to ensure stability.

“You know that we can't set arbitrary deadlines and simply wish for the best,” he said last month during a visit with the troops in Kandahar.

Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime Minister of the Netherlands, faces a similar debate, with Dutch troops mandated to work alongside the Canadians only until August 2008.

After meeting with Mr. Harper, Mr. Balkenende told a news conference on Parliament Hill that he will inform NATO by this August what his country intends to do.

“We will of course consult closely with Canada on this,” said the Dutch Prime Minister. “That was one of the reasons for my visit today.”

Neither Mr. Balkenende nor Mr. Harper tipped his hand on an extension, but Mr. Harper said the two leaders discussed the matter at length and share “similar considerations, a similar evaluation of the situation, similar concerns.”

“I obviously will not pressure the Prime Minister in public,” said Mr. Harper. “But just to say that we have valued tremendously the co-operation with the Netherlands in southern Afghanistan.”

Mr. Harper's hints appear to run counter to a Canadian sentiment that Decima CEO Bruce Anderson said runs strongly across every region, both genders, all age and income groups and among both urban and rural residents.

“Even Conservative party voters are at best split,” said the pollster, noting self-identified Conservative supporters in the survey were divided 48-47 in favour of extending the mission.

That's not to say Canadians feel the mission is a wasted effort. In the telephone survey of more than 1,000 respondents, Decima asked whether “sufficient progress” is being made in three separate areas that are frequently used to defend the military mission.

A healthy plurality of respondents felt the mission was helping to rebuild Afghanistan for its people and fostering democracy. But respondents were more skeptical about the mission's goal of reducing the threat of global terrorism, with more people saying there's been insufficient progress than sufficient progress.

Mr. Anderson noted that not one of the three rationales received more than 50 per cent support as making sufficient progress. “In each case we found that there wasn't really an overwhelming consensus,” said the pollster.

“Given the size of the commitment, given the number of casualties that Canadians have experienced, this represents a problem, obviously.”

One diplomat and 56 Canadian soldiers have died in Afghanistan, and the mission has cost the country billions of dollars. Respondents in the Decima survey were twice as likely (62-29) to say the number of casualties is unacceptably high.

Conservative voters, said Mr. Anderson, were the only subgroup in the poll in which a majority, 52 per cent, felt the number of casualties has been acceptable.

Yet Mr. Anderson says the broad sentiment does not appear to be for an immediate military withdrawal, and Canadian reticence about an extension could change as the deadline approaches and the consequences of leaving become clearer.

The Dutch people face that decision this summer, but Canadians can delay it for several more months. “Right now that deadline seems like it's some distance off into the future,” said Mr. Anderson.

“What people are really saying, I think, through this poll is we're uncomfortable with a completely open-ended commitment.” The poll's national results are considered accurate to within plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

From 1944 to Kandahar

The Netherlands and Canada walk a common path, the Dutch Prime Minister says

JAN PETER BALKENENDE - Special to Globe and Mail - June 12, 2007

After landing in Normandy in the autumn of 1944, Canadian soldiers arrived in my country. Their song sent shivers down my spine:

There's a long, long trail a-winding
Into the land of my dreams.

Our collective memory in the Netherlands is that we were liberated by the Canadians. Of course, other Allied forces also played a vital role, but the Canadians have a special place in our hearts, even today.

Canada and the Netherlands have had strong ties for a long time, and we are working hard to nourish this relationship. But will these ties be just as close in the future? As free countries with medium-sized populations, what are our roles on the global stage? Can we make a difference? I get the feeling we can help each other find answers to these questions, because we have a lot in common. We are idealists, but we have our feet planted firmly on the ground. I see a relationship with Canada in which we work together and learn from each other.

The theme of social cohesion and cultural diversity illustrates this perfectly. Canada has always welcomed large numbers of newcomers, including Dutch. As a country of immigrants, Canada has a rich and interesting tradition in which newcomers are given the space to be themselves, but expected to give something in return. It's a two-way deal.

Your approach holds many lessons for us. The Netherlands is also a country of many cultures. Nearly half the residents of its two largest cities, Amsterdam and Rotterdam, are newcomers. For a long time, integration was not adequately addressed in the Netherlands, but for the past five years, the problems of a multicultural society have been high on the agenda. It is my conviction that diversity gives a country strength and creativity, but there must be a foundation of shared values. Without this foundation, society would fall apart. There is one tradition the Netherlands has already copied from Canada: the citizenship ceremony, intended to allow newcomers to express inclusion and pride.

There is another pressing question that requires our joint effort: How will we limit climate change, while securing our energy supply? This question has my particular concern, because more than half my country lies below sea level. But a lot is at stake in Canada, too.

Sustainability is one of the pillars of my government's national and international policy – not the icing on the cake, but the crucial ingredient. The Netherlands aims to reduce energy consumption by 2 per cent a year. As for greenhouse-gas emissions, we are aiming for a reduction of 30 per cent in 2020 compared to 1990 levels. We would prefer to achieve these goals in a united effort with our European partners. Europe is also prepared to go for 30 per cent if other major energy-consuming countries join in.

These are ambitious targets. But the situation demands it. Instead of waiting for others to make a move, we can take the lead. In energy efficiency. Innovation. Smart technologies. The winners of tomorrow will not be the largest polluters, but those with the knowledge to make their societies cleaner. The Netherlands is determined to be a front-runner.

In view of Canada's energy needs and global energy security, it is only natural that it's exploiting its oil reserves. But, as our two countries agree, the challenge is to minimize or offset the damage to the environment. The Netherlands has a lot of expertise in this field. We know a lot about water management, soil remediation and soil management, new methods for underground carbon storage, and more. And we would be happy to share our know-how.

A third theme that illustrates our relationship is security and stability. In my opinion, the most impressive Canadian invention of the past 50 years is not a thing but an idea, the concept of the Three D's: defence, diplomacy and development.

In today's world, weapons alone cannot guarantee security. Security and stability can only be achieved through a broader approach. This vision also underlies Dutch policy.

After having been partners in several United Nations peace missions, we are now working together in Afghanistan – about 1,800 Dutch men and women are stationed in Uruzgan, Kandahar and Kabul. I have deep respect for the spirit and determination with which the Canadian forces in Kandahar and elsewhere are doing their work. The grief of the Canadian families who have lost loved ones in Afghanistan touches me and my countrymen as well.

Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world. Transforming a devastated country into a prosperous, democratic one is not something that can be done overnight. For every two steps forward, we are often forced to take one step back. But the hopeful signs keep us going.

Afghanistan has one of the freest societies in its region. It has an independent press and functioning democratic institutions. Five million Afghan children have returned to school. Sixty-five thousand land mines have been cleared. More than 1,000 wells have been drilled. And there are 400 “cash for work” projects in Uruzgan.

We know the North Atlantic Treaty Organization can't manage on its own in Afghanistan. The European Union, the UN and international development organizations must make a heavier footprint. We are pleased that the EU is starting a police mission in Afghanistan this week, in which Canada will also be participating. The next step should be more UN offices and programs in the south of the country. After all, the International Security Assistance Force was mandated by the UN. The Afghan government should also send more troops and police units to the south. It needs to create a stronger presence there and introduce better governance. This a crucial component of our transfer strategy.

There is no doubt that reconstruction will require the long-term involvement of the international community. Afghans deserve to live in peace and security. And we all stand to benefit from a stable, friendly Afghanistan. The international community cannot abandon this country.

Canada and the Netherlands are not leaders in terms of population size, but I am convinced that we do make a difference. Our influence is derived from our ability to see things from other people's perspective. From our innovative approaches. From our willingness to devise solutions and carry them out. We do all this because we are responsible, and because we believe in the values that unite us: freedom, human rights, respect for our planet and all its natural resources.

It is this shared conviction that causes us to link up again and again in the international arena. Let's keep working together. Let's keep learning from each other. In the areas of social cohesion, sustainability, and stability and security, two can achieve more than one.

Our goals may seem to lie on a distant horizon. But we must keep in mind the song the Canadian soldiers sang in 1944:

There's a long, long trail a-winding
Into the land of my dreams.

Jan Peter Balkenende is Prime Minister of the Netherlands.

Letter sent to Quebec soldiers says Afghan deployment tantamount to war crime

Canadian Press - Tuesday, June 12, 2007 - MONTREAL (CP) - Some of the Quebec soldiers facing deployment to Afghanistan later this year will be waking up this week to find opposition to the war right on their doorsteps.

The first of about 3,000 letters mailed by antiwar protesters are expected to start showing up in neighbourhoods around the military base in Valcartier, Que., home to the Royal 22nd Regiment. More than 2,000 Van Doos, as they're known, are scheduled to depart for Afghanistan beginning in August.

"You can refuse to participate in this war," says the missive, mailed last week by four Quebec-based antiwar groups. "Your deployment in Afghanistan means complicity with the civilian deaths and other activities... that are tantamount to war crimes."

It cites the potential for the torture of prisoners transferred by Canadian troops to their Afghan counterparts.

The letter blames media for marginalizing the "Afghani resistance" to foreign occupation as the work of the Taliban, and tells soldiers they will become "cannon fodder" in the war-torn region.

The 2,000-odd soldiers from Valcartier who head to Kandahar will join a small contingent who have been there since December. Capt. Mathieu Dufour, spokesman for the base, said Monday he hadn't heard from anyone who had received a letter.

Aside from that, Dufour said, the military will not be comment any further on what he called a "political movement."

"They can do whatever they think they have to do," he said. "This is a democracy." As the Canadian death toll in Afghanistan has grown, so has debate about the war.

A Decima Research poll released exclusively to The Canadian Press on Monday found 67 per cent of Canadians surveyed wanted the mission to end as scheduled in 2009, rather than be extended.

In Quebec, where opposition has consistently been the highest, 72 per cent said Canada should withdraw troops by February 2009.

Sophie Schoen, a spokeswoman for the antiwar groups, said the letters are a direct appeal to soldiers, who she said are increasingly questioning Canada's role in Afghanistan.

"What we're saying is if you're ready to not go, we're ready to support you in that and to fight with you," Schoen said. The groups have set up a phone line and an e-mail address for soldiers disillusioned with the war.

War objectors have become a regular occurrence in the United States, where, according to a report published Monday, 11,000 soldiers have gone absent without leave since the start of the Iraq war.

In Canada, the Department of National Defence said that is not the case. "As far as we know we have had zero people refuse to go (to Afghanistan), we have had zero deserters," said Cmdr. Denise LaViolette.

Two years ago, a military reservist said he was threatened with court martial and jail time for refusing to participate in a training exercise. Francisco Juarez said the training would eventually have seen him in Afghanistan.

In the end, Juarez, a former navy seaman who transferred to the reserves, was fined $500 and discharged without honour. Reservists, like Juarez, have to volunteer to go to Afghanistan but deployment orders are mandatory for full-time members of the military.

LaViolette said soldiers have been excused from service overseas for medical or personal reasons. But "simply not wanting to deploy is not a reason," she said. Canada currently has 2,500 soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan. Since the war began in 2002, approximately 14,900 troops have served.

NATO pins Afghan hopes on a single road

June 11, 2007 - SANGIN, Afghanistan (Reuters) - NATO is pinning its hopes to restore peace in Afghanistan on a single road.

At the bottom of the Sangin Valley road is the highway that links southern Afghanistan to Kabul. At the top is the Kajaki Dam, by far the biggest aid project the West envisions for the country.

In between are 180 km (110 miles) of rutted, pitted mountain track, winding past opium fields and through bazaars along the banks of the Helmand River.

Contractors say they are ready to start within weeks on a $150 million (76.2 million pound) project to renovate the dam, providing power to millions of Afghans and proving once and for all that the international community can provide the sort of benefits the guerrillas will never deliver.

But to build it, they will need to drive two 12-tonne transformers and a 26-tonne turbine up into the mountains. And that means they first need to rebuild the road.

Winning control of the valley so the dam can be rebuilt has become the prime goal of NATO forces in southern Afghanistan.

"It has been the main focus of our military objectives in the last two months: clearing the upper Sangin valley in order for governance and stability to develop and for the road and dam to be completed," said Lieutenant-Colonel Charlie Mayo, spokesman for NATO forces in Helmand province.

Thousands of U.S. and British-led NATO troops have mounted a series of assaults on the valley, and NATO now says it is ready to proceed. The road goes through territory that until a few weeks ago was completely controlled by Taliban guerrillas.

For the past year, the main bazaar town along the way, Sangin, was perhaps the fiercest battlefield of the war, with British troops fighting sometimes to nearly their last round of ammunition to hold a single compound.

The latest operations seem to have been a success. In the past weeks, once-deserted market stalls have reopened. Now, says the newly installed district chief, the locals are ready to help start rebuilding the road.

"All the elders have promised us that they will provide workers," District Chief Haji Issatullah said over glasses of sweet tea on a carpet in his new compound, a sandbagged municipal building inside the perimeter guarded by a company of British infantrymen.

The area is still far from wholly quiet. One British soldier was killed and four were wounded in an ambush on Saturday.

The Taliban are now in complete control of Musa Qala, a connected mountain valley which British troops abandoned last year. But Issatullah insisted Taliban attacks would not stop the road.

"The road will provide jobs, and then people will be able to use the road itself," he said. "The Taliban might try to attack, but I don't think they will be able to stop the roadwork."

The next few months will be make-or-break for a project that could come to define the West's efforts to penetrate the Taliban heartland.

Stu Willcuts, who runs the dam project for Louis Berger, an engineering firm hired by the U.S. government, says the road itself will generate up to 2,500 jobs, with another 400 or more hired to restore the dam and replace cables through the entire valley.

He now has promises from elders leading two tribes that each control six km stretches of road near Sangin to help build it. "I've got 12 km. They say: hire our boys," he told Reuters. "It just takes a lot of hard work, a lot of meetings, a lot of drinking tea."

He recites the names of tribes along the route, some of which are sceptical, some of which are murderously hostile. The hope is that when tribes allied to the Taliban see other groups getting a new road, they will want one too and lay down their arms.

The dam and the road were first built by the Americans 30 years ago. Willcuts hopes to attract local engineers who still remember that original project. "You can't be a pessimist," he says.

Japan unveils aid worth 18.65 mil. yen for Afghanistan

June 11, 2007 - (Kyodo) _ The Japanese government said Monday it will provide grant aid worth 18.65 million yen to nongovernmental organizations in Afghanistan for literacy education and job training.

The aid is the first project in line with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's pledge during his trip to Europe in January to work with NATO on assistance for Afghanistan.

The money will be allotted to employment of teachers and purchase of textbooks, blackboards and stoves, government officials said.

Abe had expressed his intention to work with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on aid for Afghanistan, namely strengthening cooperation with NATO's provincial reconstruction teams, increasing support for security maintenance and helping to beef up the Afghan government's border control capabilities.

Afghan civilians push enemy insurgents from their districts

By COMBINED JOINT TASK FORCE- 82 - Jun 10, 2007 - 6:26:40 PM

Blackanthem Military News, BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – More than several hundred Afghans and village elders from the Ali Khail (Jaji) and Laja Ahmad Khail districts of Paktya province forced enemy insurgents out of their villages June 4. 

The Afghan villagers were angered over the enemy insurgent presence in their area and informed Afghan National Police and Coalition forces. Taking matters into their own hands, Afghan civilians confronted the insurgents and took their weapons.  They also told the enemy insurgents they were no longer welcome in their districts. 

Afghan residents near Chamkani also stopped enemy insurgents from bringing fighters, suicide bombers and material from Pakistan through the area. Two weeks ago, Chamkani ANP members intercepted two suicide bombers after receiving information from the local populace. As a result, one suicide bomber was not able to harm anyone and blew himself up. During that same time period, Afghan civilians came to the aid of two Afghan Border Control Points and repelled enemy forces as they attempted to overrun the positions. 

Two days ago, in neighboring Paktika province, local tribal members near Shkin pursued enemy insurgents near the Pakistan border after the insurgents killed two civilians and injured several others during an enemy direct fire attack on the local bazaar. 

In Khowst province, the local populace have pledged their support to serve and protect the region from anti-government forces and assist the local legitimate government. Additionally, Afghan civilians have expressed their support to assist local checkpoints in the Zambar region.

Over the past three weeks, Afghan National Security Forces have made great strides in providing security and stability in Eastern Afghanistan with the support and assistance of the local Afghan populace. 

“Afghan civilians living in Paktya, Paktika and Khowst have decided to not allow enemy insurgents to seek refuge in their villages anymore,” said Army Maj. Chris Belcher, a Combined Joint Task Force- 82 spokesperson.  “There is no limit to what the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Security Forces can accomplish with the support of the Afghan populace.” 

Planned Pak-Afghan jirga in Kabul: ‘Govt must send true representatives in delegation’

Daily Times - FATA Reforms’ Forum (FRF) demanded on Monday the government include ‘true’ representatives of the tribal people in Pak-Afghan peace jirga taking place in August, who had the influence in tribal areas to implement the jirga’s decisions.

The FRF also announced its support for FATA Grand Alliance that will hold tribal loya jirga on June 14 in Peshawar.

“The jirga, which will take place in Kabul this year, will be meaningless if people representing Pakistan are not influential and cannot implement the jirga decisions in tribal areas on this side of the border,” FRF President Engineer Zaman Khan Dawar said while addressing a news conference along with Senior Vice President Iqbal Khyberwal, General Secretary Barkat Ali Afridi and others.

Dawar said FATA reforms committee, which was formed in 2000 and converted into FATA Reforms Forum in 2006, had prepared a reform document. He said President Pervez Musharraf approved FATA reforms at an important meeting on January 23, 2002. “However, these reforms could not be implemented due to the prevailing international situation and law and order problems in tribal areas,” said the tribal leader. Dawar said the 9/11 incidents completely changed the situation on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border.

The FRF leaders said various tribal organisations, ulema, senators, members of the National Assembly, agency councillors, scholars, intellectuals, students, journalists, lawyers and FATA chamber of commerce representatives had formed Grand FATA Alliance to design a joint strategy to solve the tribal people’s problems.

They announced support for the jirga and urged tribesmen to attend the loya jirga in large numbers. The FRF leaders said the proposed loya jirga was the first step towards identifying problems of tribesmen and suggesting their solution. They said the jirga would focus on two issues, security and the political future of tribesmen.

The FRF also said it supported Senator Hamidullah and Advocate Karim Mehsud in their efforts for the welfare of tribal people.

Meanwhile, tribal elders and representatives of various organisations in Mohmand Agency had announced their support for the June 14 jirga, which will be organised by the FATA Grand Alliance in Peshawar.

At a press conference held at the Ghalanai Press Club, they urged tribal people in the agency to attend the loya jirga to make it a success.

Afghanistan: Child Laborers Miss School, Face Spiral Of Poverty

By Ron Synovitz - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

June 11, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Hasib is a 12-year-old Afghan boy who spends his days working at a bicycle repair shop in Kabul. He says he considers himself lucky because he is learning a trade that he will have for life. But since he started the job at the age of nine, he has had to quit school. And he does not know how to read or write.

"I'm fixing this bicycle, so I've just unscrewed these handlebars," Hasib tells RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan. "I've been working here for the past three years. I had to learn how to do this work. My hands would get hurt very badly at first, until I learned how to do it. I got burned until I learned how. I had to work a lot to learn and become someone."

Like many Afghan children who must work to help their families survive, Hasib says he hopes he will be able to go to school in the future.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) says economic difficulties in Afghanistan force one in three school-age children to work in order to help their families survive. As a result, many are missing out on a basic education.

School enrollments are up dramatically in Afghanistan since the fundamentalist Taliban regime was ousted in late 2001, but Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission warns that the prevalence of child labor is creating a generation of illiterate Afghans and that many will be trapped in a spiral of poverty.

Roshan Khadivi, a spokeswoman for UNICEF in Afghanistan, tells RFE/RL that Hasib's story is not unusual. She says many Afghan children are being caught in an inescapable spiral of poverty because they are missing out on an education. Khadivi says the issue of child labor in Afghanistan is a complicated one that cannot be separated from the country's economic and security challenges.

"Afghanistan has one of the highest proportions of school-age children -- age seven to 12 -- in the world," Khadivi says. "So despite successes, you obviously have a lot of remote areas in Afghanistan where children do not have access to school. A lot of them have to work to support their families. Also, a lot of these children who go to school face another challenge of staying in school. Because of the economic hardships facing them and their families, some of them are forced to drop out."

UNICEF is trying to help impoverished Afghan children get an education. Khadivi says that for children who are forced by poverty to become laborers, the first step is simply to get into a school where they can learn to read and write.

"We are still dealing with a large number of children who are not going to school," Khadivi says. "A lot of them do not have any sort of skills. Some of them obviously were involved in the conflict; they were child soldiers. And now we are trying to reintegrate them. So the problem is huge. But steps are being taken forward. Some of these kids who are former child soldiers are being reintegrated into society through learning how to read and write, through classes where they are learning to do some carpentry work, or also learning other skills. So their drive is there. But the security [conditions] -- and also the economic hardships -- make it difficult for all families to really be involved."

Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission agrees. It calls the situation for child laborers in Afghanistan a grave concern.

The commission says a large number of Afghan children are subjected to the worst forms of labor -- and that the high number of children employed in vehicle repairs and metal workshops represents Afghanistan's harsh reality.

The commission says Afghanistan's next generation is seriously threatened by the trend, which is manifesting itself through an increasing number of street children, groups of children used by adults for begging, and an "inconceivable" number of children exploited in activities ranging from carpet-weaving to the narcotics trade.

Thirteen-year-old Wahidullah says the hours he spends making teapots and water containers at a metal shop in Kabul only leave him time for a few hours of school each day.

"I am working in this metal shop," Wahidullah says. "I get a monthly wage of 1,000 afghanis (about $20). I come to the shop early in the morning and work here until 9:00 a.m., then I go to school. After having lunch at home, I return to the shop. My father is ill. He can't work, and I have to work. My older brother also is ill. My uncle, who was living with us, used to help us a bit; but not anymore because he has moved to another place. There are 11 people in my family. I am 13 years old."

The Afghanistan Evaluation and Research Unit (AERU), an independent research group, says its research shows that most Afghan parents want an education for both their sons and daughters. But it concludes that Afghan families often are constrained by poverty. And in provincial regions, it says social pressures frequently prevent parents from sending young daughters to school. Instead, many children are sent on the streets to help their families survive.

Ten-year-old Amanullah is among them. He spends his days collecting small pieces of wood and blackish seeds that he burns inside a tin can. Walking the streets as an "espandi," Amanullah waves the tin can at passersby in the belief that the smoke will protect them from curses and bring them good luck. In return, some people give Amanullah small amounts of money.

"I make 50 afghanis a day (about $1) and take some bread home," Amanullah says. "I live under a tent along with my father, mother, five sisters, and five brothers. As the eldest son, I do the routine. My father does not have a job. He is capable of doing work. But when he goes to the city seeking a job, people tell him that he is too old to be employed."

Amanullah's younger brothers also work in the streets, begging and selling bottled water, rather than going to school. All say their dream is to someday be able to go to school.

In November, the London-based Oxfam International charity reported that some 7 million Afghan children -- more than half of the country's young people -- do not go to school.

In the same report, titled "Free, Quality Education For Every Afghan Child", Oxfam notes a fivefold increase in school enrollments across Afghanistan since 2001. That means about 5 million Afghan children are now getting an education. But Oxfam warns that "poverty, crippling fees, and huge distances to the nearest schools" prevent many parents from sending their children to get an education.

(RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent Safia Hasass contributed to this story from Kabul)

Afghan Firebrand Gets Burned

The young parliamentarian is unrepentant after her suspension for insulting her colleagues, and vows to continue her struggle.

Institute for War & Peace Reporting - By Wahidullah Amani in Kabul Afghanistan (ARR No. 256, 11-June-07)

“I will never apologise!” said Malalai Joya, bitter and defiant over her suspension from Afghanistan’s parliament.

For almost three weeks, the young legislator has been on the run, unable to show her face, meet openly with journalists or disclose her location, for fear of reprisals. She spoke to IWPR by telephone.

An interview Joya gave to Tolo TV, in which she compared some of her colleagues to barnyard animals, riled lawmakers to such an extent that they voted to suspend her from parliament, although legal scholars say the decision has no basis in the law.

“A stable is better,” she said, in a video clip that was shown repeatedly in parliament on May 21. “At least there you have a donkey that can carry a load and a cow that gives milk.”

The remarks inflamed many members of parliament who already had a long and hostile relationship with Joya. She has often spoken out about the “warlords” who tore her country apart.

In May, 2006, she was pelted with water bottles and threatened with death after she called some of the mujahedin “criminals.” Joya claims that her latest remarks to Tolo TV were misinterpreted.

“I was misquoted,” she told IWPR. “I made a distinction between members of parliament. We have two types of parliamentarians – those who are the real representatives of the people, although they are very few in number; and the majority, who are criminals and who came to the parliament by the use of force.”

Joya said that she had named some of the “criminals” in her remarks, but the references were “censored” out by Tolo. Her suspension, she insists, is a plot by her political enemies, of whom there are many.

“It is absolutely a political conspiracy,” she said. “I was not even allowed to speak in the lower house before they suspended me.” Joya’s colleagues in parliament are in no mood for conciliation.

“Malalai Joya has offended the whole Afghan nation,” said parliamentarian Haji Mullah Tarakhil, defending the decision to suspend her.

“If we say that parliamentarians are animals and parliament is a barn, that is abuse,” said Ahmad Bihzaad, another legislator. “Even if she only named one parliamentarian, it is clearly an insult.

“Those who sit in parliament are the elected representatives of the people, and should not be insulted.”

But legal experts say parliament has no right to suspend one of its members. Joya is an elected representative in her own right, they say, and as such can only be judged by the courts.

“Parliament does not have the right to suspend or cancel a deputy’s membership,” said Nasrullah Stanekzai, a lecturer in law at Kabul University. “According to Article 120 of the Constitution, Malalai would have to be sued in a court of law. The lower house’s action is in breach of the law.”

Bihzaad disputes this legal opinion, saying that the legislature’s code of conduct give it the authority to act against members.

“If a member of parliament acts in such a way as to cause chaos in the lower house, then we can discuss his or her suspension,” he insisted. “There is an article in the internal [operating] principles of the lower house stating that the house can stop a member from attending for more than one day. It does not, however, specify a time limit.”

But Stanekzai is adamant that the law does not give the parliament such authority.

“Article 70 of the Code of Conduct of the lower house of parliament states that if a member violates the internal rules, then he or she must be notified by the administrative board of the house. The parliament does not have the authority to punish one of its members. That is the exclusive right of the courts,” he said.

Stanekzai does not dispute that Joya committed an offense.

“If Malalai called someone an animal, it is a violation of human dignity, which is a crime in itself” he said.

Following Joya’s suspension, her supporters staged rallies in her support in Farah, Nangahar, Baghlan and Kabul. In addition to demanding that the United Nations take action to restore Joya to her former position, they are asking that “warlords” be put on trial for crimes against humanity.

It was her tirade against the mujahedin that first launched Malalai Joya to international prominence in December, 2003, during the Constitutional Loya Jirga. Her question to the assembly, “Why have you again selected as committee chairmen those criminals who have brought such disasters to the Afghan people?” prompted angry outbursts from delegates, who demanded her removal from the hall.

In the three and a half years since that outburst, Joya has traveled the world with her speeches against the former mujahedin fighters, and has become arguably the most famous woman in Afghanistan.

She has also become a parliamentarian, winning a seat easily in Farah province in September 2005 election.

But many of those whom she criticised in 2003 also entered parliament, some gaining very prominent positions, And they have shown no signs of forgiving or forgetting the former slights.

Even some of Joya’s female colleagues condemn her for her latest remarks, and call on her to make amends.

“Joya has offended the parliament,” said Norzia Atmar, a female member of parliament. “If she really wants to serve the people of Afghanistan and be the envoy of the people, we respect her and her ideas. If she apologises, she can come back to work.”

But Malalai Joya is unrepentant. “If animals had a tongues with which to speak, they could sue me for comparing them to these parliamentarians,” she said. “Then I would apologise – but to the animals!”

Wahidullah Amani is an IWPR staff reporter in Kabul

Kabul Beauty School Book – How Close to Reality?

By George Dwyer – VOA Washington 11 June 2007

A new book set in Afghanistan and based on a true story is selling so well in the United States that Hollywood now wants bring it to the big screen. But as VOA's George Dwyer reports, some of the participants in the story are now claiming many of the book's assertions are inaccurate or incomplete.

''Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil" is the story of an American woman, Deborah Rodriquez, who traveled to Afghanistan in 2003 to help establish a training academy for beauticians.

Rodriquez appeared in the 2004 film "The Beauty Academy of Kabul" directed by documentary artist Liz Mermin.

"I thought she was going to get us all killed,” says Mermin. “She's there, she's big, she's loud, she's cracking jokes that are in some questionable taste, when you're surrounded by all these men, and yet, watching her negotiate Kabul was kind of fascinating."

But others involved with the project say Rodriguez's role is overstated in the film, and that her book claims far too much credit as well.

Sheila McGurk is a salon owner in Alexandria, Virginia. She was an instructor for the first class at the Kabul school. "I was brought in to evaluate the students and prepare them for graduation," says McGurk.

After that first class of 20 women graduated, McGurk and others involved returned to the U.S. to raise funds for a planned expansion.

"So after the film came out we had just returned and we were really antsy [eager] to get back. We returned, leaving Debby Rodriguez in Kabul to ‘look after the store’ so to speak," adds McGurk.

But McGurk claims Rodriguez allowed the original school to shut down and then started a salon of her own. It is a claim Rodriguez disputes, although she declined to comment for this report.

VOA-TV recently visited Rodriguez's salon in Kabul and spoke to some of the women who work there. Controversy aside, there's little doubt they still think about the American women who came to help them.

For her part, Sheila McGurk says she just wants to keep attention focused on the graduates of the Kabul Beauty School.

"I want people to remember those women, and how courageous they were," says McGurk. "There is not a day that goes by that I do not think of those women – not a day. And I want them to know that we did not desert them, and that we are still thinking about them."

As Kandahar rebuilds, the clock is ticking

MURRAY CAMPBELL - From Monday's Globe and Mail, June 11, 2007‎

A coalition struggling for order is racing against Taliban who are ‎determined to throw it off track – and the 2009 finish line is nearing ‎

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — The road is mostly used by donkey carts, and so it is ‎no surprise when the Canadian military vehicle clips a wall at a particularly narrow point.‎

The mud walls that Afghans have been throwing up for millennia are incredibly strong, ‎but this one couldn't withstand the impact from the 17,000-kilogram LAV-3 armoured ‎vehicle. There are shards of dried mud everywhere.‎

Captain Bob Wheeler, an ebullient Newfoundlander in charge of the convoy, takes note ‎of the damage and, later in the day, on the return journey from a remote village on the ‎edge of the Registan desert, he tracks down the landowner.‎

He apologizes. The Afghan says not to worry, that U.S. soldiers had knocked down the ‎same portion of the wall twice in recent years.‎

But then Capt. Wheeler does something extraordinary. He reaches into a zippered wallet ‎and pulls out a few Afghan bank notes - the equivalent of about $3 - and offers them as ‎reparation.‎

The landowner signs a receipt and shakes Capt. Wheeler's hand. He is still smiling as the ‎Canadians clamber back into their LAV. One heart, one mind is won.‎

If it were that easy in the rest of this desperately poor land, the troops from Canada and ‎the other 36 countries involved in the International Security Assistance Force could be ‎out of here in a flash. But it isn't that easy, of course, and the signs are everywhere at the ‎Kandahar Air Field that things are becoming, if not permanent, then a little less ‎impermanent.‎

Just off the runways and adjacent to the building that everybody calls Taliban's Last ‎Stand, crews are building a steel-girdered building. A few hundred metres farther on, ‎cement is being poured for new kitchen facilities. ‎

Not far away, the Canada House gathering spot has got new widescreen televisions and a ‎whole bunch of new lounge chairs from Ikea in Dubai. Across the gravel road, the ‎gymnasium is stocked with treadmills and LifeCycle machines. And there are plans to get ‎hundreds of Canadian soldiers and civilians out of their tents and into prefabricated ‎housing units by next summer.‎

Some of this activity is understandable, since it's likely that the air field will continue to ‎be a strategic U.S. base for a long time. But NATO's commitment in Afghanistan expires ‎in May, 2009, and Canada has committed its troops only until February, 2009. Does it ‎mean that the 30,000 ISAF - and 2,300 Canadian - troops will be staying put past those ‎deadlines?‎

Certainly, Afghanistan would like that. The country's Minister of Rural Rehabilitation ‎and Development, Mohammad Ehsan Zia, told Canadian reporters last week that it takes ‎time to rebuild a country destroyed by two decades of war, and that the international ‎community would be leaving when the job is only half-done.‎

But time is short and, as history shows, the odds of prevailing in a war of ‎counterinsurgency are long. ISAF's goals are clear. It has to provide Afghanistan with the ‎security it needs to reconstruct its shattered infrastructure and to build some democratic ‎institutions. If this is accomplished, the theory goes, ordinary Afghans will be won over ‎and the new government will gain a legitimacy that will inevitably choke off the Taliban.‎

The goal of the Taliban is much simpler. They don't have to defeat the ISAF forces. They ‎simply have to inflict enough casualties so that political support for the mission among ‎ISAF nations erodes. The Taliban think in terms of decades. The coalition countries think ‎in terms of months. And the clock is ticking.‎

Right now, it's a race - between the coalition's ability to build the capacity for ‎Afghanistan to stand on its own two feet and the ability of the Taliban to influence ‎Canadian public and political opinion with attacks designed to inflict casualties among ‎Canadians. The finish line is 2009.‎

‎"It's a test of will," said Sean Maloney, a military historian at the Royal Military College ‎in Kingston, Ont.‎

He has visited Afghanistan for the past five summers and is encouraged by the progress ‎the country has made in security and economic development. But he acknowledged that ‎it's an open question how things will unfold by 2009 when the government of the day has ‎to make the call.‎

Prime Minister Stephen Harper signalled which way he was leaning with his comments ‎last month when he visited KAF. "We can't set arbitrary deadlines and hope for the best," ‎he told soldiers. "We can't just put down our weapons and hope for peace." ‎

The brains behind Canada's mission are optimistic. Its commander, Brigadier-General ‎Tim Grant, says Taliban activities have been disrupted in the districts of Panjwaii and ‎Zhari in which Canadian soldiers have been operating. "Wherever they go, and we're ‎tracking them in numbers, we will move to disrupt them in those locations," he said.‎

The so-called hearts and minds part of the mission, aimed at promoting democratic ‎governance and rebuilding the Afghan economy, was set back by the death in early 2006 ‎of Canadian diplomat Glyn Berry. ‎

But there's been a torrent of announcements of aid projects recently, and there's enough ‎calm in Panjwaii that some 30,000 people who fled last fall's fighting have moved back. ‎There are even signs that the trouble-plagued national police force is being fixed. ‎

There is a concerted effort by Canadian officials to emphasize the positive. Briefings on ‎skirmishes with the Taliban used to be common, but reporters now get official reports ‎only if there are Canadian casualties. Indeed, it's hard to find any dissenting voices. ‎Ordinary soldiers are reluctant to talk of anything beyond their "arc" - their immediate ‎task - and officers toe the party line.‎

Corporal Randy Dalgir recalls that the local residents were withdrawn when his Royal ‎Canadian Dragoons reconnaissance squadron first came to Spin Boldak on the Pakistani ‎border in early May. He contrasts that with a recent experience where a man tried to ‎show the Canadians a new back route. The soldiers feared a trap - perhaps the road was ‎laced with land mines - but the man eased their worries by running ahead of their vehicle.‎

‎"We see a difference, not over a day, but over weeks," concurred Cpl. Julie Isabelle.‎

One of the most powerful men in Kandahar provincial politics, Haji Agha Lallai, agrees ‎that the security situation is better and that economic prospects are improving. "This year ‎is much better than last year," he said in an interview.‎

Rick Corsino, country director of the World Food Program, defends the aid effort against ‎criticism by some non-government agencies that it's been a failure. He said, for example, ‎that food supplies in Kandahar province have doubled, but he acknowledged that there ‎are more attacks on WFP vehicles.‎

‎"In balance, things are getting worse in some ways, getting better in other ways," Mr. ‎Corsino said. "I can't say what the balance nets out to be."‎

From Capt. Wheeler's vantage point, however, things are looking good. He's at another ‎village near the desert looking at a well being dug for Afghan refugees returning from ‎Pakistan. Suddenly a young boy darts toward him and kisses his hand.‎

‎"Pretty near fuckin' broke my heart," he said.‎

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