In this bulletin:

• Pakistani Police Deny Reports Of Taliban Leader's Arrest
• Taliban rejects reports of Obaidullah arrest
• US Links Pakistan Agreement With Tribal Leaders to Upsurge in Afghan Attacks
• Beckett voices hopes on Taleban – BBC
• British FM visits Afghanistan's Helmand
• Afghan envoy praises Musharraf
• Afghan Report
• Iran expands railway access to Afghanistan
• AFGHANISTAN-IRAN: Afghan refugees given repatriation extension
• Afghan opium 'hits record output
• Pakistan remains the transit route for Afghan opium to world markets
• Opium trade undermines Afghan democracy, U.S. says
• Market Afghan opium worldwide, expert says
• Negotiation with Taliban best chance for Afghanistan peace: study
• Canada loses track of Afghan detainees
• Shifting Afghan gears
• Corruption, ignorance may thwart plan to help rural Afghan communities: expert
• Editorial: Afghan Scenario

Pakistani Police Deny Reports Of Taliban Leader's Arrest

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty - March 2, 2007 -- A police official in Pakistan's southwestern city of Quetta is denying reports that a high-ranking Taliban leader has been captured there in recent days, RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan reported.

Quetta deputy police chief Azhar Rashid told RFE/RL today that reports about the arrest of Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, the former defense minister of Afghanistan's Taliban regime, are erroneous.

Rashid confirmed that nine Afghans, all suspected militants, have been arrested in Quetta in recent days. But he said none are senior Taliban leaders or commanders with ties to Al Qaeda.

AP and Reuters today both quoted an unnamed Pakistani intelligence official as saying that Mullah Obaidullah was arrested in Quetta during the past week. News agencies have pointed out that intelligence services are more likely than the police force to be involved in the handling of a senior Taliban suspect.

Also today, three people were killed and at least seven wounded, including a local judge, when a roadside bomb exploded in the eastern Pakistani city of Multan. The three people slain were guards for the judge, whose court often hears cases against militants and suspected terrorists.

Pakistan has seen a series of bombings in recent weeks, and is under international pressure to step up efforts against Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants operating in its border regions.

Taliban rejects reports of Obaidullah arrest

KANDAHAR CITY, Mar 2 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Taliban on Friday rejected as baseless reports of arrest of their defence minister and a key aide to Mullah Omar.

Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, who often speaks for the Taliban, said the former defence minister Mullah Obaidullah was a free man living currently in Afghanistan and not in Pakistan, where he was reported to have been captured.

I have contacted him and he is free and in good health, said Ahmadi, terming reports of his arrest as absolutely false.

Mullah Obaidullah is considered to be an important military leader for the Taliban movement. He is a member of the 10-strong leadership council of the group.

Pakistani media quoted anonymous officials there as saying that Obaidullah was among the five senior Taliban officials arrested in Quetta city of Balochistan province on Monday.

Ahmadi, talking to Pajhwok Afghan News by phone from an undisclosed location, said those detained in Quetta were ordinary Afghans and that none of them was a Taliban member.

US Links Pakistan Agreement With Tribal Leaders to Upsurge in Afghan Attacks

By David Gollust - State Department 01 March 2007

Senior U.S. defense officials said Thursday Pakistan's agreement last year with tribal leaders along the Afghan border has led to an increase in cross-border attacks, and that Pakistan needs to do more to address the problem.  VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.

Speaking to the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Eric Edelman, said the agreement to give tribal leaders responsibility for controlling the border area has not worked.  He said the United States has made its concerns clear to the Pakistani government.

"There has been an almost immediate and steady increase of cross-border infiltration and attacks immediately after the agreement was reached," he said.  "We've expressed, over a period of time, directly to President Musharraf and to others our skepticism and reservations about the agreement."

Edelman noted recent visits to Islamabad by Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

At the same hearing, the chief of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Lieutenant General Douglas Lute, said the safety provided in the Pakistani border areas is a key to the Taleban's recent resurgence, and to its plans for the future.

"The relative sanctuary for especially Taleban senior leadership in Pakistan today in the border regions of Pakistan is a major factor in the ability of the Taliban to be resurgent and probably quite active militarily this spring in Afghanistan," he said.  "There's no question that that sanctuary exists, and that it's a major asset for the Taleban."

The defense officials said Pakistan's government and military have been trying to get control of the remote and rugged border region.  They also noted that no Pakistani government or outside force has ever fully controlled that area, or its independently minded tribes.

The committee chairman, Senator Carl Levin, was not satisfied, and said Pakistan has not even recognized that its agreement with tribal leaders has failed. "We ought to press Pakistan for at least an acknowledgment that the deal that they made has not worked out.  In fact, quite the opposite," he said.

The committee's former chairman, now senior Republican Party member John Warner, offered some defense of the Pakistani government of President Pervez Musharraf.

"I think under the leadership of Musharraf they're doing the best they can, but the realities are there's a fragility in the political system in Pakistan," he explained. Senator Warner said the situation would be much worse for the United States and its allies if Islamists came to power in Pakistan.

Senators also asked the defense officials about Iran's role in Afghanistan.  The Under Secretary for Policy, Eric Edelman, noted that Iran has diplomatic relations with the new Afghan government, and has been helpful on some issues.  But he also said Iran maintains ties with some of the government's opponents and has its own goals for Afghanistan.

"They [Iran] would like to see us out and an Afghan government more beholden to them and more subject to their influence," he added.

The defense department has accused Iranian operatives of helping insurgents in Iraq, and providing them with high-technology explosives.  But the officials said Thursday they have no such claim to make regarding Iranian activity in Afghanistan.

Beckett voices hopes on Taleban – BBC

Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett has said on a visit to Afghanistan that she hopes moderate members of the Taleban can be drawn away from the extremists.

She told the BBC that the Taleban threatened some ordinary Afghans, drawing them into their fold. With time, Britain hoped such people could be separated from the destructive ones, said Mrs Beckett.

She made her comments during a visit to the southern province of Helmand, where she met British soldiers. The foreign secretary also met Afghan politicians and civilian officials involved in reconstruction.

BBC Correspondent Charles Haviland travelled with Mrs Beckett to the provincial capital Lashkar Gah. He said officials working on Helmand's development agreed with Mrs Beckett's assessment and said that they felt that given alternative livelihoods, men the Taleban paid to fight for them would turn elsewhere.

Mrs Beckett was told about the scale of the province's problems. If Helmand were an independent country it would be the world's second-biggest opium producing state. Poppy culture in Helmand rose by 160% last year

The Afghan government has little influence in the province, but the mainly-British provincial reconstruction team was trying to change that, Mrs Beckett was told.

The reconstruction team was trying to target the main traffickers and refining laboratories. Mrs Beckett said: "Real progress is being made in building up the capacity of local institutions and driving forward development projects that are so important to improving the lives of the local people."

British FM visits Afghanistan's Helmand

Kabul (AFP) - British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett Thursday visited the southern Afghan province of Helmand where thousands of British troops are deployed to fight the Taliban, a statement said.

Beckett met local legislators and British forces operating in the provincial capital Lashkargah under the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the British foreign office said in a statement.

She paid tribute to the hard work of civilian and military staff operating in "demanding circumstances", it said.

"Real progress is being made in building up the capacity of local institutions and driving forward development projects that are so important to improving the lives of the local people," it quoted her as saying.

Britain on Monday pledged an extra 1,400 troops for Afghanistan, taking the number of British soldiers in ISAF to 7,700. Most of them are based in Helmand.

Beckett on Wednesday met Afghan President Hamid Karzai and her counterpart Rangeen Dadfar Spanta in Kabul, where she said that Britain, Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan must all do more against the Taliban.

The ousted Islamic regime is leading an intense insurgency in southern and eastern Afghanistan. Britain is the second-largest aid donor to Afghanistan and has spent two billion dollars here since 2001, when the hardline Taliban government was toppled.

Afghan envoy praises Musharraf

WASHINGTON: Said T Jawad, Afghan ambassador to the United States, has said “We appreciate what President Musharraf is doing, and we think that unless we have the full and sincere cooperation of Pakistan, we will not have a stable Afghanistan, a secure region, and a safe world.”

In an interview published here, asked about engagement with Pakistan, considering that the two countries share a long border, he said, “It is a big border, but the border is not where the problem is. We have the same kind of border with Iran, with Central Asian countries, with China. And we have a very small capability of defending along all our borders. So the problem is not so much the border but the existence and operation of the centres where the terrorists are acquiring training, financial support, ideological backing, and logistical support.”

To a question about an Afghan diplomat referring to the “triangle” constituted by the Taliban, Al Qaeda and Pakistani intelligence, Jawad answered, “The military in Pakistan is a strong institution. They are a very capable institution. So we would like the military to truly deliver and be more cooperative in this fight. I don’t want to comment on the internal mechanism of how the military or the intelligence agencies operate in Pakistan.”

The Afghan envoy stressed the importance of the international community and the United States investing in building the capacity of the Afghan government to hold areas cleared of the presence of terrorists, and to make sure there is no frustration among ordinary Afghan citizens, because in the last five years, only 6 percent of Afghans have found access to electricity. The people are demanding an improvement in their daily lives, in the form of better security, more roads, energy, schools, and health clinics.

He disclosed that only 5 percent of the funds received from abroad have been given to the Afghan government. Twelve percent of the funds have been given to the reconstruction trust fund established for Afghanistan from which money can be withdrawn only under certain conditions. The remaining 82 or 83 percent of the assistance has been spent outside the budget and control of the Afghan government. The government and the parliament have not been given the financial resources to address the needs of the Afghan people, he stressed. The interview was released by the Council on Foreign Relations. khalid hasan

Afghan Report – RFE/RL 2.28.07

Deadline Extended For Afghan Repatriation - The government of Pakistan has granted a six-week repatriation period for Afghan refugees currently residing in Pakistan, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported on February 27. Afghans who did not register with the Pakistani government will be able to return to Afghanistan with UN financial assistance from March 1 to April 15. UN spokesman Adrian Edwards has called insecurity and unemployment the main barriers to repatriation of Afghan refugees from neighboring countries, Bakhtar News Agency reported on February 27. The 12th tripartite meeting between Afghanistan, Iran, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) began on February 27. The UNHCR estimated that 4.8 million Afghans have returned to the country since 2002, but that 3.5 million Afghan refugees remain in Iran and Pakistan alone. A UN report concludes that 1.4 million Afghan refugees have returned from Iran since 2002, with 920,000 registered refugees still living there. UN aid is available for Afghan citizens who voluntarily return, and those who do not return by April 15 will be subject to the laws of their new host country. CJ

UN Announces Plan For Improved Afghan Border Security - The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) recently proposed a plan to improve security along Afghanistan's borders with Iran and Pakistan, IRNA reported on February 27. UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa outlined the plan to Pakistan's ministers of the interior and counternarcotics during a recent visit to Islamabad, indicating that "drug traffickers cooperate better than the regional governments." Costa stressed that Afghanistan's neighbors "have a vested interest in stopping the flow of drugs," and he noted that Iran has taken important steps to prevent drug trafficking. The security plan calls for patrols on both sides of Afghanistan's border, joint training exercises between security forces, the creation of border liaison offices, and improved radio-communication systems. The plan stresses the need for improved freight-container security and efforts to intercept the transporation of chemicals used in the production of heroin. Costa emphasized the importance of better information sharing among states, saying that "this is a regional problem that requires a regional solution with the support of all those who have a stake in controlling drugs and preventing instability." Afghan, Pakistani, and Iranian representatives have been invited to further discuss the plan at a meeting on March 1. CJ

Disarmament Efforts Proceed Slowly In Afghan North - Private militias in the relatively quiet northern regions of Afghanistan continue to arm themselves despite continued government efforts at disarmament, AP reported on February 27. Residents there reportedly cite the need to protect themselves due to widespread criminal activity and a general distrust of police. International organizations have sought since the ouster of the Taliban regime to promote disarmament of militias in northern Afghanistan, many of whose members are from the United Front (aka Northern Alliance). Recent UN-Afghan efforts to continue disarming those groups has faltered, with an estimated 2,000 illegal armed groups still active across the country. Western officials say arms dealers are purchasing weapons in the north and smuggling them to the south, where Taliban insurgents are most active. CJ

Iran expands railway access to Afghanistan

PRESS TV (Iran) / March 2, 2007 - Iran has inaugurated a project to expand its rail link toward Afghanistan as part of a wider plan to provide regional as well as European train access to its eastern neighbor.

The project, named 'the Eastern Civilization Railways', has connected Khaf, northeast of Iran, to another local station in Torbat Heidariyeh which is projected to be linked at about 120 kilometers to the Afghan train network coming from Heart.

It will provide access for Afghanistan to connect to the Persian Gulf, Turkmenistan and also Europe through the Iranian rail grid.

The 'Eastern Civilization Railways' is expected to be used for the transport of passengers as well as minerals between the two countries. It is also expected to revive the ancient Silk Road which was once a main economic route connecting several eastern nations to the West.

AFGHANISTAN-IRAN: Afghan refugees given repatriation extension

DUBAI, 28 February 2007 (IRIN) - A voluntary repatriation programme for thousands of Afghan refugees to return to their home country from Iran has been extended for another year following a meeting by the governments of Iran and Afghanistan and the United Nations refugees agency on Tuesday.

An accord has been extended until 19 March 2008, officials at the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Tehran told IRIN on Wednesday. The current Tripartite Agreement between Iran, Afghanistan and UNHCR, which has been governing the repatriation process, expires on 20 March 2007.

Hosting around 915,000 Afghan refugees and 54,000 Iraqi refugees, Iran has the second largest refugee population in the world after Pakistan. While the repatriation drive has been extended for another year, most Afghans in Iran are reluctant to return.

"Many Afghans have become rooted here [in Iran] and have been here for over 20 years," Dina Faramarzi, a spokeswoman for UNHCR Iran, told IRIN from Tehran. "They are worried about their future," Faramarzi said. "Many Afghans who I've spoken to say they will stay in Iran as long as they can."

UNCHR began its Afghan voluntary repatriation programme in 2002 following the ousting of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. More than 1.6 million Afghans have returned from Iran since April 2002, but the pace reduced significantly in 2006, with only around 5,000 returning.

The Iranian government has long been insisting that all Afghans should repatriate, arguing that the Taliban regime had been removed and the circumstances that forced the refugees to flee their country were no longer there.

Many of those who have already returned have told their relatives remaining in Iran about insecurity and poor living conditions in Afghanistan, the UNHCR official added.

"Most of them [Afghans] are worried that when they go back there will be no security, no health facilities, no accommodation for them. They don't know what their future in Afghanistan will be," Faramarzi said.

Unlike in Pakistan, where Afghans mostly live in refugee camps, the majority of refugees in Iran are concentrated in urban areas dispersed throughout the country, with less than 5 percent living in camps. They have shelter and income opportunities. Their children go to Iranian schools and have access to health care.

Almost half of all Afghans in Iran are ethnic Hazaras, followed by Tajiks accounting for some 30 percent, UNHCR estimates. Both ethnic groups speak Dari, a Persian dialect spoken in Afghanistan, and the Hazaras are predominantly Shia - factors making their stay in Shia Iran easier, aid workers say. Tehran province hosts the largest proportion of Iran’s Afghan population - around 35 percent.

"We are hoping that the Afghan government and the Iranian government will find long-term solutions for the remaining Afghans," Faramarzi said.

At the 11th Tripartite Commission Meeting, held on 9 October 2006 in Geneva, the parties agreed that the days of mass return were over and innovative approaches were necessary to sustain the return momentum.

Coinciding with that, an agreement on joint projects was signed between the Iranian interior ministry and UNHCR. The projects are aimed at providing vocational training and educational and medical assistance to Afghan refugees in Iran.

"The idea is to teach Afghan refugees some skills that will enable them to generate income or be self-employed when they go back," Faramarzi said.

There have been reports of refugees who had repatriated to Afghanistan and then returned to Iran as labour migrants in search of jobs.

"Many of my friends who returned from Iran went back there to find work and provide for their families here in Afghanistan. Life is difficult here and there is not enough work, so you don't have any other choice than to go to Iran. It is as simple as that," Mohammad, an Afghan returnee in his 20s, told IRIN in Kabul.

According to UNHCR, there is a significant movement of people between Iran and Afghanistan, with most of those crossing the border being seasonal migrant workers.

Afghan opium 'hits record output

By Jonathan Beale - BBC News, Washington

Opium production in Afghanistan reached record levels last year, the United States has said. The US State Department's annual report on narcotics also said the flourishing drugs trade was undermining the fight against the Taleban.

It warned of a possible increase in heroin overdoses in Europe and the Middle East as a result. Poppy production rose 25% in 2006, a figure US Assistant Secretary of State Ann Patterson described as alarming.

Four years after the US and its British allies began combating poppy production, Afghanistan still accounts for 90% of the world's opium trade.

The US has recently given the Afghan government more than $10bn in assistance, but most of that money will be spent in security rather than encouraging alternative sources of income.

The report also criticised South America's left-wing leaders such as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Bolivia's Evo Morales, for failing to do enough to fight the drugs trade.

Pakistan remains the transit route for Afghan opium to world markets

Malaysia Sun - Friday 2nd March, 2007   (ANI)

Washington, Mar 2 : Pakistan is the main transit route for the Afghan opium to the world markets. This has been disclosed by the US State Department's 2006 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report issued her last evening.

It said that the production and trafficking of opium and its derivatives continue to be a major challenge to Afghanistan's political and economic development and threatens regional stability.

"To a very significant extent, when it comes to opiates, Pakistan is part of the massive Afghan opium production/refining system," the Daily Times quoted the report as saying.

It said that most of the processed opium was trafficked through Pakistan and that Pakistani traffickers in the "remote and lawless" Balochistan and North West Frontier provinces provide financing to Afghan poppy farmers and supply a conduit for the refined opiates en route to Turkey, Iran, Russia and Eastern Europe.

Efforts to strengthen law enforcement in Afghanistan simply might shift the bulk of the trafficking operations across the porous border into Pakistan. In response to this threat, the Pakistan government has increased its personnel in the Anti-Narcotics Force and the Balochistan Frontier Corps, reported the Daily Times.

Besides, Pakistan has also forged agreements with the Afghan government to share operational and long-term intelligence regarding drug trafficking activities along their common border and participate in a "hammer and anvil" military operation in co-ordination with the Afghan army.

The US State Department report further said that despite a 48 percent decrease in hectares under poppy cultivation from 2004 to 2005, Afghanistan still produces nearly 90 percent of the world's opium poppy supply. Much of the crop is refined into heroin and morphine at drug labs inside the country. The report estimates that at 2.8 billion dollars, the opium trade accounts for one-third of Afghanistan's GDP.

"Afghanistan's huge drug trade severely impacts efforts to rebuild the economy, develop a strong democratic government based on the rule of law, and threatens regional stability," said the report and indicated that much of Afghanistan's processed opium is trafficked through Pakistan.

Opium trade undermines Afghan democracy, U.S. says

By Arshad Mohammed Reuters Thursday, March 1, 2007

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States estimated on Thursday that Afghanistan's opium production hit a record high last year and said the narcotics trade is undermining democracy and security in the Southwest Asian U.S. ally.

In its annual "International Narcotics Control Strategy Report" on worldwide efforts to combat narcotics, the State Department criticized Venezuela and Bolivia, saying anti-drug work was faltering in both nations.

The two volume, 1,045-page report praised Colombia, the world's largest cocaine supplier, for its "political will and tenacity" in fighting illegal drugs as well as Mexico, which is the main corridor for drugs flowing into the United States.

But it suggested far more needs to be done in many other countries, including Bolivia, Haiti, Venezuela and Afghanistan, which has been a key ally of the United States since U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban regime in 2001.

The report said there is strong evidence that the drug trade helps fund and arm the Taliban, which sheltered al Qaeda before the September 11 attacks and which has launched a deadly insurgency against U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan.

"Drug profits now support elements of the Taliban and fund attacks on U.S. and NATO forces. While counternarcotics efforts intensified last year, results to date are insufficient. More must be done," Assistant Secretary of State Anne Patterson told reporters.

The report estimated 172,600 hectares (426,500 acres) were under poppy cultivation in Afghanistan in 2006, up from 107,400 hectares (265,400 acres) in 2005.

While that figure was below the record 206,700 hectares (510,800 acres) in 2004, the resulting opium production has hit a record of 5,644 tons because of improved crop yields, it said.

"The resurgence of Afghan opium cultivation has increased the flow of heroin to Europe, Russia and the Middle East, which undermines those societies and the consolidation of democracy and security in Afghanistan," the report said.

The report is separate from the annual U.S. announcement of which countries have "failed demonstrably" to live up to international commitments to combat drugs, a step that can halt U.S. aid beyond counternarcotics and humanitarian funds.

Venezuela, led by leftist President Hugo Chavez, was placed on the list last year. The U.S. government is debating whether to add Bolivia, where President Evo Morales, a Chavez ally, has argued for greater legal cultivation of coca.

"Political will in Venezuela and Bolivia faltered last year," Patterson said. "Venezuela's permissive and corrupt environment led to more trafficking, fewer seizures and an increase in suspected drug flights over the past 12 months."

The report said the success of the Colombian government had triggered a shift of trafficking into neighboring countries like Venezuela.

It said Haiti, a major transit country for drugs from South America saw a surge in smuggling of cocaine out of Venezuela.

Asked if Bolivia was edging closer to the "failed demonstrably" standard, Patterson said: "We're certainly concerned about what appears to be a tendency of their government to increase the area under cultivation ... to basically make it legal to have small plots."

Patterson said the United States had not seen evidence of North Korean government involvement in narcotics in recent years but noted it has limited information about the country.

Market Afghan opium worldwide, expert says

Canadian report urges wheat board-style agency as best way to fight terrorism
Friday, March 02, 2007

An international marketing board for opium, similar to Canada's bodies for wheat and dairy products, would better fight terrorism and the booming drug trade in Afghanistan than current poppy eradication programs, a former NATO ambassador says.

Destroying poppy crops, a major plank of American and British anti-drug policy, only drives farmers closer to the Taliban, said Gordon Smith, Canada's NATO ambassador between 1985 and 1990.

He's the lead author of a report released yesterday that urges the continuation of Canada's military presence beyond the current 2009 deadline, but also says current NATO policies need adjustment, including the possibility of negotiating with the Taliban.

His study, prepared for the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute, urged the creation of an international clearing house to purchase opium crops and prevent money from entering the hands of Taliban insurgents or traffickers.

Afghanistan is the largest heroin-producing and trafficking country, producing more than 90 per cent of the world's opium poppy supply in 2006. That's 172,000 hectares, according to estimates -- a 61-per-cent jump from the previous year. Opium exports account for one-third of the country's combined licit and illicit GDP, according to the United Nations.

"In a perfect world, nobody would be allowed to grow poppies and all would be well," Mr. Smith said yesterday. "It would never be leak-proof. It's not a frightfully good option, but it's better than any others that anyone else has come forward with."

Fair opium prices and central regulation by the Afghan government and foreign states would also help alleviate international morphine shortages, said Mr. Smith, a former deputy minister of foreign affairs and now the executive director of the University of Victoria's Centre for Global Studies.

Poppy cultivation remains the only lucrative career choice for many impoverished Afghans, living under the burden of three continuous decades of civil war.

But strong links exist between Afghanistan's burgeoning narco-economy and the Taliban insurgence against NATO and Afghan forces, according to a U.S. State Department report also released yesterday.

"Traffickers provide weapons, funding, and personnel to the Taliban in exchange for the production of drug trade routes, poppy fields, and members of their organizations," the report said.

Barnett Rubin, a former UN adviser on Afghanistan, argued in 2003 that the marketing board concept would represent disaster for small Afghan farmers, keeping prices low, as with African coffee, tea, and cocoa boards. An auction house in Kabul, with sales taxed by the central government, represented a better idea, said Mr. Rubin, a New York University professor.

Mr. Smith said yesterday that his group had no specific plan to implement an opium marketing board. But he's not the first to suggest the idea.

Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf told a British magazine interviewer recently that western governments should buy up the Afghan poppy crop. John Ralston Saul, the Canadian author and philosopher, also raised the marketing board idea last summer, based on visits to Afghanistan with his wife, former governor general Adrienne Clarkson. And the Senlis Council, a British-based think-tank, proposed a poppy licensing system for Afghanistan last year, pointing to U.S. agreements with Turkey aimed at reducing that country's massive heroin output during the early 1970s.

Mr. Smith said his report set out to find a common ground between opponents of the Afghan mission who want withdrawal, and those who believe Canada's policies should remain unchanged.

Among their recommendations are more discretionary development spending for Canadian military units moving through dangerous regions, cajoling Pakistan to encourage moderate Taliban elements to participate in the political process, and battling corruption within the Afghan national army and police force.

A political solution within Afghanistan is the only effective exit strategy, he said. This could potentially include back channel negotiations with the Taliban, designed at encouraging Pashtun tribes to take part in the country's governance. Or inviting India, Pakistan's central geopolitical rival, to take a greater role in rebuilding efforts.

"These are issues that should be discussed at a strategic level," Mr. Smith said.The report also criticized Canada's allies in continental Europe for failing to appreciate the gravity of Afghanistan's teetering status within their own national interests.

"(They) have to take this as something in their own interest and be prepared to contribute troops on the ground in the difficult areas," Mr. Smith said. "If NATO can't get it's own act together, NATO will fail."

Negotiation with Taliban best chance for Afghanistan peace: study

Thu Mar 1, OTTAWA (AFP) - Western governments must negotiate with the Taliban to end their guerrilla war against NATO forces in Afghanistan and allow a peaceful state to emerge, said a Canadian report released Thursday.

The study by a small team of Afghanistan geopolitical experts from across Canada said negotiations with the Taliban are not guaranteed to succeed, but "failure to negotiate will almost certainly cede the field to them."

"I think it's the best chance for success and the least bad option," said lead author Gordon Smith (news, bio, voting record), a former Canadian ambassador to NATO and now director of the Centre for Global Studies at the University of Victoria.

"Negotiating with the Taliban would be very difficult and very distasteful. These are not people I would want around my dining table. But I don't see any alternative. We need some form of political resolution," he told AFP.

Canada has deployed 2,500 troops in the volatile Kandahar region of southern Afghanistan, hunting down Taliban militants. Since 2002, 44 Canadian soldiers and one senior diplomat have died in attacks or roadside explosions. Ottawa has already refused to negotiate with the Taliban.

But Smith's team said: "We do not believe that the Taliban can be defeated or eliminated as a political entity in any meaningful time frame by Western armies using military measures, and certainly not with the relatively small increases in force strength that are currently planned."

As well, reconstruction efforts aimed at winning the support of local Pashtuns tribes against the Taliban have been stalled by insecurity in several parts of the war-torn country.

"A massive troop surge is not going to happen and relying solely on development assistance is naive," Smith told AFP.

The Taliban may not be universally accepted as a legitimate force, he noted, but most Pashtuns now believe the Taliban will remain long after NATO forces withdraw from Afghanistan.

The best hope for peace is for "back channel negotiations" with the Taliban leadership and local tribal leaders to draw the Taliban into greater participation in central and provincial governments, the study said.

Canada loses track of Afghan detainees

Military investigators unable to locate three men allegedly abused by troops

PAUL KORING – Globe and Mail

WASHINGTON -- The three detainees at the heart of multiple probes into allegations of abuse by Canadian soldiers have disappeared while in Afghan custody, a seemingly grave breach of the Canada-Afghan pact on detainee treatment, The Globe and Mail has learned.

That poses significant challenges for the criminal probe and raises new doubts about government assurances that all detainees are properly treated and accounted for.

Major Robert Bell, senior operations officer for the Canadian National Investigation Service, said in a brief telephone interview that NIS investigators have been unable to determine what happened to the three men, but said they are still working on the case.

When asked to confirm information that Military Police have been unable to find the three men Canadian troops handed over to Afghan National Police on April 8, 2006, Major Bell said: "No we haven't."

For almost a month, the NIS criminal investigation has been trying to locate the three prisoners as part of its investigation into allegations that detainees were physically abused by Canadian soldiers before being handed over.

Possible explanations for their disappearance run the gamut from inept prison record-keeping by Afghan guards to undocumented release -- commonplace in Afghanistan and often accompanied by payment of bribes -- to torture or even killing, a fate repeatedly documented by numerous human-rights groups.

Unlike the Dutch, British and Danish detainee-transfer agreements, Canada has no right of follow-up to make sure detainees it hands over are humanely treated or -- of equal concern -- set free to rejoin Taliban units.

"We need that sort of provision in our agreement to ensure that detainees are not transferred to be tortured or killed," NDP defence critic Dawn Black said yesterday. "Obviously, whatever the Red Cross does or doesn't do hasn't been good enough because these men can't be found."

Alex Neve, secretary-general of Amnesty International Canada, said "an essential element in protecting the rights of prisoners is good record-keeping so they can be located."

The fact that detainees can't apparently be accounted for "is very troubling because it means we cannot ascertain their fate," Mr. Neve added.

"It does illuminate the shortcomings of the original agreement," said Joel Bakan, a constitutional law expert and University of British Columbia professor. "It would be ludicrous if there were a loophole that . . . allowed for extrajudicial execution."

The December, 2005 deal signed by General Rick Hillier, Chief of the Defence Staff, stipulates that detainees won't face capital punishment after Canadian troops hand them over to Afghan authorities. Among other things, it requires that "accurate written records accounting for all detainees" be kept by both Canada and Afghanistan.

"Nothing in the agreement prevents Canada from determining the fate of prisoners so there is no need to make any change in the agreement," Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor said last spring when it was being compared to the Dutch model.

Mr. O'Connor has said repeatedly that a provision in the agreement makes the International Committee of the Red Cross responsible for ensuring that detainees are humanely treated and properly accounted for. "If there is something wrong with their treatment, the Red Cross or Red Crescent would inform us and we would take action," the minister said.

Yet nothing in the actual agreement seems to oblige the ICRC to report back to Canada, even if ICRC monitors were aware that detainees were going missing -- or worse -- in Afghan hands.

The ICRC didn't respond to The Globe's efforts to contact it, but the tight-lipped Swiss-based committee doesn't, as a matter of policy, make public statements about how individual countries treat detainees.

Marc Raider, the Defence Department civilian designated as spokesman on detainee policy issues, said the reason the ICRC was named in the handover deal was so Canada "could have a measure of assurance that they [detainees] would be treated in accordance with Geneva," referring to the Geneva Conventions that safeguard the rights of prisoners of war.

Although successive Canadian governments insist that battlefield captives in Afghanistan aren't entitled to Geneva protections -- because, among other things, they don't wear uniforms nor fight for a recognized state -- they have nonetheless said they were committed to providing treatment equal to Geneva requirements and insuring that the Afghan authorities do the same after detainees are handed over.

Mr. Raider was unable to say whether the ICRC would report to Canada if it found problems with Afghan treatment of detainees originally captured by Canadian troops.

Nor is it clear whether Mr. O'Conner was ever told by the ICRC that it couldn't account for detainees turned over to Afghan police. Last month he told the Commons, "I can assure this House that at no time was I aware of any abuse of prisoners."

His spokeswoman, Isabelle Bouchard, didn't immediately respond yesterday to queries asking whether the inability to find the detainees pointed to deficiencies in the Canada-Afghanistan agreement.

Ms. Bouchard did, however, send an e-mail to say the "NIS is in the process of locating witnesses including the three detainees and these things take time." She suggested "you wait for the reports to be released."

However, all of the probes -- including the NIS criminal investigation and the board of inquiry ordered by Gen. Hillier to examine detainee handling -- were launched after The Globe published the allegations of abuse. Prior to that, Canadian Forces spokespeople had insisted that "appropriate force" was used on the detainees and no investigations were needed.

The independent Military Police Complaints Commission has also launched two "public interest" probes. One involves the allegations of abuse against the three Afghan men captured last April. The other deals with the broader issue of whether the policy of turning detainees over to Afghan authorities violates international law and the Canadian Charter of Rights because military police know -- or should know -- that Afghan police are widely known to torture and abuse prisoners.

Shifting Afghan gears

Toronto Star - February 27, 2007

As Canada's bid to help Afghanistan rolls into a sixth year with only mixed success, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government is still struggling to strike the right balance of military action, diplomacy and reconstruction aid.

Prodded by Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion, who last week urged a withdrawal of combat troops from Kandahar in 2009 and more aid for the region, Harper yesterday acted on two fronts, stepping up aid and sounding a tough diplomatic note.

Canada will double aid to $200 million this year and next, reflecting the public's wish to help rebuild the shattered country, not just have our 2,500 troops fight the terrorist-friendly Taliban there. This is a welcome, if modest, shift in gears.

The money will pay salaries for police, teachers and health workers. In addition, it will fund microcredit programs, road building and mine clearing, and will seek to reduce the heroin trade.

Whether it will buy much goodwill in Kandahar for our beleaguered troops is open to question. Few Afghans will see a "Made-in-Canada" stamp on this aid because it will flow through international agencies.

Even so, it is in Canada's best tradition to increase aid to President Hamid Karzai's regime, and ease out from military combat duty as conditions permit.

The bleak, and thin, "progress report" tabled in Parliament yesterday by the Conservative government on Canada's "difficult and dangerous" mission to deliver security and foster development underscores how much remains to be done.

On the diplomatic front, Harper yesterday toughened Ottawa's stand by demanding "better efforts" from Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to prevent Taliban leaders from operating from sanctuaries in his country. That message cannot be stressed too much.

On the third big issue – Canada's combat role – Harper argued yesterday that it is too early to consider withdrawing our troops in 2009. However, he did not go out of his way to ridicule the idea. That, too, will strike a sensible chord with those Canadians who fear getting bogged down in an endless war.

This recalibration by Harper of Canadian policy comes amid speculation of a federal election in May or June. But it also reflects similar reappraisals by our key allies.

U.S. President George Bush, too, is doubling aid to $5 billion (U.S.) this year and next. And the Americans and British are lobbying Musharraf to crack down on Taliban leaders.

As well, Washington and London plan to send 5,000 more soldiers, even as they draw down forces in Iraq. There will soon be 50,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, though it is impossible to say for how long.

For Canadians, that will be good news if it lets us refocus our effort on development, once the Kandahar operation winds down in 2009.

Even with the new aid Ottawa's military costs in Afghanistan are expected to reach $3 billion or more by 2009, while our total aid is projected to be $1.2 billion by 2011.

This 3:1 imbalance leaves Dion and others insisting that Ottawa not lose sight of peacekeeping and development, as we buy the Karzai regime precious time to get its act together.

While Karzai can count on robust foreign military support for the time being, Afghans do not want foreign troops on their soil indefinitely.

The Kabul government must show real progress this year and in 2008, extending its control across the country, rebuilding the police and army, thwarting the insurgency and getting on with reconstruction.

Corruption, ignorance may thwart plan to help rural Afghan communities: expert

The Canadian Press - Thursday, March 01, 2007

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Corruption and ignorance could undermine a United Nation’s plan to help people in rural Afghanistan by paving 900 kilometres of chewed up dirt roads, warns a Canadian who headed the project.

Stephen Appleton said he is proud of the international crews who have toiled and in some cases risked their lives to bolster remote communities by linking them to the main highway system.

But he is worried the US$366-million effort could crumble away if the Afghan government and international aid agencies fail to win over people in the communities, who are to be ultimately responsible for maintaining the roads.

“I have great concern about the future; I see no traction or sustainability with the reconstruction underway,” said Appleton, an engineer and retired Canadian Forces colonel who is returning home to Calgary after completing his two-year contract.

“I see a level of ignorance amongst donors that reveals a complete lack of understanding Afghan people,” he said. “I also see a government structure that is thoroughly distrusted by the people, and corrupt.”

The problems have included road construction companies that disappear along with the money they’ve been given under a cash-based contract system, he said.

International aid agencies have little understanding of the challenges faced by people in rural areas and are reluctant to get out into the field to see the conditions for themselves, he said.

Another challenge is the United Nations itself. There is “a growing bureaucracy within the UN that UN systems must be followed and adhered to despite the reality that we are still in a war zone with corruption, war-type inflation rates, and a dearth of private sector knowledge,” Appleton told The Canadian Press.

“This UN system is slow, controlled by non-field types, and more concerned on CYA (cover-your-ass) issues than delivering meaningful products to the field.”

The roads project is much more than putting asphalt on rutted goat tracks, he said. The roads are a catalyst for economic development and social change.

The idea is for the improved roads to open up remote communities to allow farmers and merchants to transport their goods to bigger markets.

The roads also make it easier to build needed schools and hospitals, improve irrigation and to even to foster the rights of girls and women.

The UN roads team has won over some communities, but only after years of constant effort, he said. “The roads program is key to community development in the holistic sense,” Appleton said.

“The communities must develop ownership of the reconstruction works; without ownership, the works will fail in a very short time.”

Much of the roads project has been funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. USAID officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Adrian Edwards, spokesman for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, said the UN is working with the Afghan government to develop a system of checks and balances to thwart corruption.

But making progress isn’t easy when the country is undergoing massive redevelopment. “The issue of corruption is something the UN and the Afghan government discuss openly with each other,” Edwards said from Kabul. “Addressing it has to be a priority.”

Appleton said the high point of his tour in Afghanistan was the planning of a road paving strategy for USAID that is to show the world that the Kandahar region is ready for more reconstruction projects despite the Taliban.

The United States announced the program to help dispel the perception that the South has been left out of redevelopment while other areas in the North are flourishing, he said.

The UN secondary and district roads unit was given the project last July, came up with a cost estimate in August and began work in November, something USAID did not believe was possible.

Part of the project involves linking district centres in Kandahar and Zabul provinces with Kandahar city.

“This road work is part of the larger theme to demonstrate to the national and international community that despite perceived setbacks from the Taliban, the reconstruction effort will continue with great effort in the South,” he said.

“This new focus will demand more security, faster processes, better contractors, and tragically, more casualties.”

Editorial: Afghan Scenario

2 March 2007 — Arab News

THE news from Afghanistan appears anything but encouraging: Taleban forces have managed to carry out a suicide attack at the gates of Bagram airbase while US Vice President Dick Cheney was there, a major Taleban spring offensive is expected, disarmament efforts are all but stalled and the UK feels constrained to send 1,400 extra troops to confront the situation but far less than NATO says is necessary. The overall image created is that Afghanistan is slipping back into civil war and that NATO forces are unable or, worse, unwilling to prevent the Taleban and Al-Qaeda from rebuilding their strength.

But that is not exactly the real picture. That little word “appears” in the opening sentence is all-important. It is inevitable that in Afghanistan, as elsewhere, that bad news rather than good news makes the headlines — an attack on Bagram airbase rather than the 4.8 million Afghan refugees who have returned from Pakistan and Iran since 2002; the attempt by some Italian political parties to force a withdrawal of Italy’s 1,900 troops instead of the billions in aid for reconstruction. Did anyone, for example, hear about Canada’s pledge last week to up its Afghan aid program to over $1 billion? Almost certainly not.

Because bad news is all the more startling, it will be the same today. It will be the stories of yesterday’s roadside bomb which killed three civilians that the world hears reads about, or the interview with the Taleban’s top military commander warning that he has a suicide army waiting to take on the NATO forces in spring that people see on television. These stories should be given prominence. But that does not mean that Afghanistan is all doom and gloom. All the evidence is to the contrary. Romano Prodi, reconfirmed by Parliament as Italy’s prime minister, has pledged that Italian troops will stay; Australia and Denmark are looking to follow the UK move and increasing their contingents in order to contain any rise in violence.

It is a very different picture to the one in Iraq, all the more so because the Taleban do not have a significant support base or the means to launch attacks on the levels of the Iraqi insurgents. All the indications are that the Afghans — all the Afghans, Pashtuns included — do not want them back. What they saw of them they do not like. They do not like foreign troops in their country either; but if those troops can bring peace and propensity, most are willing to tolerate them for the short term. But things could still go badly wrong in a country where people put tribal loyalties way ahead of national ones. Indiscriminate air attacks on their villages have raised Pashtun resentment of NATO forces. It would be folly to so push them into the Taleban’s embrace.

[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.]