In this bulletin:

• Afghan, Iranian Security Forces Clash On Border
• Afghan government condemns murder of German
• Afghan Police Arrest Over Killing Of German Aid Worker
• Two killed in roadside bomb in Afghan south
• AFGHANISTAN: 'Taliban Video Message' Demands Italian Troop Pull-Out
• Italy's Prodi Says Afghanistan Policy Unchanged, Rebuffs Blair
• German Parliament Approves Planes for Afghanistan
• US sends spies into Pakistan to kill bin Laden
• Afghan warlord denies reported split with Taliban
• Gov. Gen. singles out women during surprise visit to Afghanis
• Afghan Economy to Quicken, IMF Says, Reducing Opium Dependence
• Afghan copper lode a key to renewal?
• Statement by the Minister of National Defence
• O'Connor acknowledges error on detainees
• Afghan detainees: Treat 'em right
• Afghanistan: Forgetting the Lessons of History
• Afghan Official a Convicted Trafficker
• Afghan Activists Committed to Improving Women's Conditions

Afghan, Iranian Security Forces Clash On Border

March 9, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Officials in Kabul say a clash between Afghan and Iranian border guards in western Afghanistan has left one Afghan and at least one Iranian dead, RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan reported.

The chief of border police for western Afghanistan, Mohammad Dauod Ahmad, said the gun battle in Nimroz Province on March 8 began when Iranian security officers crossed about 100 meters into Afghan territory.

Nimroz Province Governor Ghulam Dastagir Azad told RFE/RL that Iran is attempting to interfere in Afghan affairs:

"The clashes happened last night between the forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran and our border police," Azad said. "One of our police officers was martyred and one was injured. A member of Iran's police also was killed and one was injured."

Nimroz borders Iran's southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan -- a drug-trafficking region where militants in recent weeks have carried out bomb attacks against troops from Iran's Republican Guard.

Afghan government condemns murder of German

KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday "strongly condemned" the murder of a German aid worker by unknown assailants in the north of the country a day earlier.

"We the Afghan people appreciate all foreign nationals who are in Afghanistan helping in the reconstruction of the country," presidential spokesman Karim Rahimi told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The German was shot dead in an attack Thursday in Sar-e-Pul province in the north of the country, which while being far from the main clashes with the Taliban is home to numerous criminal gangs.

Afghan authorities cited criminal elements rather than a terrorist motive in the killing of the man, who worked for an organization called German Agro Action which builds schools, hospitals and bridges.

The victim was on a short assignment, travelling in one of two vehicles with local engineers to inspect construction sites. Gunmen who stopped them berated the Afghan staff and released them before executing the foreigner.

He was the first German relief worker to be killed in Afghanistan since the Taliban were ousted from power by US-backed forces in late 2001. Around 100 additional police were sent to the area to assist the investigation into the incident.

Afghan Police Arrest Over Killing Of German Aid Worker

SAR-E PUL, Afghanistan; March 9, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Afghan police say they have arrested six people in connection with the killing of a German aid worker in the northern province of Sar-e Pul.

The victim, who worked for the aid group German Agro Action, was shot dead on Thursday (March 8) while traveling to inspect construction sites.

Sar-e Pul's provincial governor, Sayed Eqbal Munib, told RFE/RL today the attack appeared to be a "terrorist act" rather than a robbery. He said authorities were investigating possible links between the killers and the Taliban.

"It was a harrowing incident. Our police are still in the region and they have besieged it. They have transferred five to six people [of those arrested] to the security office and they are being investigated."

The area is far from the southern regions of Afghanistan where NATO-led forces are fighting Taliban militants. But it is home to numerous criminal gangs.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai today condemned the killing, saying Afghans appreciated all foreigners who help with the country's reconstruction.

Two killed in roadside bomb in Afghan south

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, March 9 (Reuters) - A remote-controlled roadside bomb killed two civilians and wounded six people, including an ex-mujahideen commander, in southern Afghanistan on Friday, a witness said.

The bomb was planted at a bridge in Arghandab district in Kandahar province and was believed to be aimed at Mullah Naqibullah, a commander in the Afghan mujahideen government that preceded Taliban rule in 1990s.

The bomb hit Naqibullah's vehicle as he was passing the bridge with his family and guards.

"Naqibullah, his two sons, a grandson and two guards were wounded and they have been hospitalised," a Reuters correspondent at the scene said.

Southern and eastern regions of Afghanistan, near the Pakistan border, have remained strongholds of the Taliban militants. Last year was the deadliest the country has seen since the Taliban were ousted from power by the U.S.-led forces in late 2001. More than 4,000 people died in fighting last year, including about 1,000 civilians. Suicide bombings jumped to 139 from 21.

Fighting is expected to be heavy in 2007 as Taliban warn they have thousands of suicide bombers ready for action. NATO and Afghan troops this week launched their biggest operation so far to pre-empt Taliban's spring offensive.

AFGHANISTAN: 'Taliban Video Message' Demands Italian Troop Pull-Out

Kabul, 9 March (AKI) - Italian government officials in Afghistan are assessing the credibility of a video purportedly released by the Taliban which calls for the withdrawal of Italy's troops in Afghanistan and end to NATO bombardments in exchange for the release of an Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo, Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported Friday. Mastrogiacomo - believed to have been seized by Taliban on Monday with two Afghans - does not appear in the video, which shows what appears to be an Afghan man making the demands in the Pashto language which is widely spoken in southern Afghanistan.

Taliban leader Mullah Dadullah in a taped message delivered to AFP news agency on Tuesday claimed Mastrogiacomo, a correspondent for Rome based La Repubblica, has confessed he is a spy working for the British. The Taliban have said they will try Mastrogiacomo under Islamic (Shariah law).

Mastrogiacomo is allegedly being held by Taliban fighters together with two Afghan hostages, Ajmal and Ghulam Haidar. La Repubblica said on Tuesday it had lost contact with Mastrogiacomo while he was on an assignment in Kandahar in the volatile southern province of Helmand.

The alleged kidnapping comes just as NATO and Afghan forces launch a major offensive against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. Italy has 1,900 troops are deployed in Afghanistan as part of the NATO contingent which is providing support to government troops fighting the Taliban.

Italy's Prodi Says Afghanistan Policy Unchanged, Rebuffs Blair

By Flavia Krause-Jackson - March 9 (Bloomberg) -- Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said the country's policy on Afghanistan ``stays unchanged,'' rebuffing a U.K. request to boost the number of troops.

``Nothing has changed,'' Prodi told reporters in Brussels last night after a meeting with European Union counterparts. U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair had gone into the summit asking ``our NATO countries to do even more.''

Italy's lower house passed a motion yesterday to keep funding for 2,000 troops to stay in Afghanistan. Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said after the vote that the number of soldiers stationed there would stay the same.

The measure approves more than 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) in spending in 2007 on Italy's missions abroad, including Afghanistan, Lebanon and Sudan. Italy's Afghan contingent is stationed in Kabul and Herat.

Prodi's government nearly collapsed on Feb. 21 after some of his allies refused to back the Afghan mission. The Senate, where Prodi has a one-vote majority, must approve the legislation by the end of the month.

Moreover, tensions surrounding the vote increased this week after an Italian journalist working for la Repubblica newspaper was kidnapped by the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.

German Parliament Approves Planes for Afghanistan - Spiegel

The German parliament on Friday voted to send a handful of reconnaissance jets to Afghanistan. But not everybody is happy with the decision. As expected, Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, voted on Friday to send six to eight Tornado reconnaissance jets to support NATO troops in Afghanistan.

Unexpectedly, the opposition made a strong showing. The final tally was 405 votes in favor, 157 against and 11 abstentions. But given that Chancellor Angela Merkel's government pairs the country's two biggest parties, with a total of 447 seats in parliament, the result sends a clear message. The nay vote was the largest ever for a foreign military engagement.

After the vote, two parliamentarians from Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) announced they would appeal the decision to the federal constitutional court.

The planes will be stationed at the German base at Masar-i-Scharif in northern Afghanistan. Germany will also be sending an additional 500 support personnel in a mission that has been authorized until the next time the Afghanistan mission comes up for review on October 13, 2007. The Tornado mission will cost an additional €35 million.

The plenum debate was overshadowed by the murder on Thursday of a German aid worker. Sixty-five-year-old Dieter Rübling, an engineer in Afghanistan on a three month development project, was robbed and then shot by gunmen in Sar-e-Pul province.

While the Tornado planes -- also used by the British Royal Air Force in Iraq -- are able to carry laser-guided bombs and air-to-air missiles, the mandate explicitly precludes German participation in combat missions. The opposition fears that German soldiers will be involved in the increasingly heavy fighting in southern Afghanistan, where the US-led anti-terror mission Operation Enduring Freedom is battling the Taliban with NATO support. Because the Tornados will be relaying coordinates for potential bombing targets, many are worried that Germany could become complicit in attacks that result in civilian deaths.

CDU foreign policy spokesman Eckard von Klaeden referred to the mission as a "big push" and "flagship initiative", but warned that Germany would not get involved in a prolonged engagement in the south and east of the country.

Germany currently has around 3,000 soldiers stationed with the NATO mission in Afghanistan -- known as ISAF -- but they are confined to the relatively peaceful region of northern Afghanistan. Germany has led the Provincial Reconstruction Teams in the north, and has been very successful in building up infrastructure, schools and other municipal institutions.

Nevertheless, Germany has in the past come under fire from NATO officials for not helping out in the increasingly bloody fight in southern Afghanistan. Given the expected Taliban "spring offensive," the Tornados are a much-needed support for the US, Canadian, Dutch and other soldiers fighting in the south.

US sends spies into Pakistan to kill bin Laden

The Telegraph (UK) / March 9, 2007 - By Toby Harnden in Washington and Thomas Coghlan in Helmand

America is stepping up its hunt for Osama bin Laden by dispatching additional CIA operatives and paramilitary officers to Pakistan to kill or capture the al-Qa'eda leader.

US officials said that the mission is intended to intensify the pressure on the terrorist leader, who turns 50 tomorrow, and perhaps force him into making a mistake. He is widely believed to be hiding in the region bordering Afghanistan.

Satellite photographs and details of communications intercepts were given to President Musharraf of Pakistan last week by Stephen Kappes, deputy director of the CIA, as part of a strategy to persuade him to give US intelligence agencies more assistance.

Mr Kappes, a Middle East specialist who has served in Pakistan, travelled to Islamabad to brief Gen Musharraf along with Vice President Dick Cheney. His detailed presentation showed evidence of al-Qa'eda building its strength on Pakistani soil.

"Reports that the trail has gone stone cold are not correct," an American official said afterwards. "We are very much increasing our efforts there."

Mr Kappes also met members of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) and operatives from the CIA's Islamabad station to discuss co-ordinating efforts to track bin Laden.

The decision to send such a senior intelligence officer to brief Mr Musharraf is an indication of the Bush administration's increasing concern about the borderlands between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Last week, Adml Mike McConnell, the new US Director of National Intelligence, told a Senate committee that bin Laden, who turns 50 tomorrow, is in Pakistan and actively re-establishing al-Qa'eda training camps there.

It was the most specific information about bin Laden given by a US official for several years and prompted speculation that surveillance photographs of the al-Qa'eda leader or his deputy might have been obtained.

Adml McConnell said of the Pakistani tribal area that "to the best of our knowledge the senior leadership, Number One and Number Two, are there, and they are attempting to re-establish and rebuild and to establish training camps."

Intelligence officials have indicated that bin Laden has previously chosen March to switch locations, moving to hiding places in the mountains once the snow cover begins to melt. He is likely to be at his most vulnerable when on the move.

Adml McConnell said he would focus with "great intensity" on al-Qa'eda in Pakistan. "There are a number of plans and activities that have been shut down or disrupted. And the intent on our part is to do that more and better, and hopefully at some point either killing or capturing the senior leadership."

News of the operation came as a British soldier was killed in a grenade attack on his base in southern Afghanistan - the 52nd to die in service in the country since the US-led invasion in 2001.

The Ministry of Defence said that the serviceman, from 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, died from his wounds after being airlifted from the town of Sangeen to the military hospital at Camp Bastion, the main British base in Helmand province. His next of kin were notified but he is yet to be named by the MoD.

Bin Laden has evaded capture and assassination ever since President Bill Clinton signed a secret order authorising the CIA to kill him.

While President George W. Bush said after the September 11 attacks that bin Laden was wanted "dead or alive", US military and intelligence might have failed to carry out the order more than five years after the terrorist leader fled for his life after the invasion of Afghanistan and the collapse of his Taliban allies.

Now the Bush administration is redoubling its efforts. "Reports that the trail has gone stone cold are not correct," an American official said.

Afghan warlord denies reported split with Taliban
Mar 9, 2007

By DPA, [RxPG] Islamabad, March 9 - Fugitive Afghan warlord and former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has denied western media reports that he has severed ties with the Taliban and is ready to talk with Afghanistan's embattled President Hamid Karzai, a Pakistani newspaper said Friday.

Despite a lull in contacts with Taliban forces fighting foreign troops in Afghanistan, Hekmatyar remained committed to the jihad and was not offering unconditional talks with Karzai as reported, a spokesman for the renegade told The News daily.

A Western news agency Thursday broadcast an interview with Hekmatyar filmed in an undisclosed location.

In edited remarks, he said that partly because of finances his Hezb-I-Islami party had scaled down its operations against US-led forces and no longer sought a joint struggle with the Taliban.

Analysts described it as a victory for Karzai, who is increasingly seen as unable to exert his authority far outside Kabul.

But the warlord's spokesman, Haroon Zarghoon, rejected 'distortions' in the broadcast and said Hekmatyar had neither changed his political stance nor closed all channels of communication with the Taliban.

Hekmatyar's view of Karzai as a foreign puppet was unaltered and ties with the Taliban could be revived under a new agreement to jointly wage a jihad in Afghanistan, he said.

Earlier offers to pool resources with the Taliban had brought no results so there had been no more recent attempts to communicate, he said.

Hekmatyar served as Afghan prime minister during the civil war that destroyed much of Kabul in the 1990s. He is listed as a terrorist by US agencies, which have tried to capture and kill him on several occasions.

While he may be sheltering in the tribal areas straddling Pakistan's mountain border with Afghanistan, his exact whereabouts since he returned from exile in Iran in 2002 are unknown.

Gov. Gen. singles out women during surprise visit to Afghanistan
Friday, March 09, 2007 - CanWest News Service

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - It was all about the timing. When Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean finally got permission from government officials to travel to this war-ravaged country she didn't want to come on just any old day. She specifically wanted to come March 8 - International Women's Day.

And, in a nation that is notoriously misogynistic, she made a point meeting several of the country's few leading women. Some arrived in the full burka, but simply the fact they arrived at all is a sign of progress in a country where women's rights are trapped in the middle ages.

"The women of Afghanistan may face the most unbearable conditions, but they never stop fighting for survival," said Jean. "Of course, we, the rest of the women around the world, took too long to hear the cries of our Afghan sisters, but I am here to tell them that they are no longer alone. And neither are the people of Afghanistan."

It was a message embraced not just by women's groups but by women soldiers who are serving here. Sgt. Nadine Arena from Ottawa thought Jean's decision to visit Afghanistan on a day designated to celebrate women was profound.

"This is one of the reasons why we are here," said Arena. "To help the women get equal rights and we're hoping, at the end of it all, this is actually what comes out of it."

Jean had wanted to visit Afghanistan for some time, but government officials deemed the trip too dangerous. Indeed, because security remains such a precarious issue, she arrived secretly in Kabul on Thursday morning where she met with President Hamid Karzai. After meeting the burka-clad women's group, she took a covert flight to Kandahar Airfield, home to most of Canada's 2,500 soldiers in Afghanistan.

Within minutes of her arrival, the base was abuzz with news the Commander in Chief was visiting. By the time she arrived at the soldiers' main recreational centre, which looks from the outside like a small-town curling rink and is dubbed Canada House, hundreds of delighted troops had crammed inside.

She praised them for trying to improve the lives of Afghans and for the risks they take every day.

"We need to put a human face on Afghanistan," she said in an informal speech. "And the more we do that, the more people will understand the value of your mission here and how important it is, every action that you're taking here at great risk."

And then, to continue with the day's theme, she called all female soldiers to the front of the room and jokingly told the men to get down on their knees and thank women for the work they do. "Gentlemen, I think we need to pay tribute to the women in uniform here tonight," she said to laughter and applause.

The Governor General's trip is proving to be a big morale boost to soldiers who crowded around her for a chance to chat and pose for a photograph. Jean will visit more Canadian soldiers today. Specific details of her itinerary are not being announced in advance for security reasons.

On Thursday, Canadian convoys came under attack in two separate incidents involving car bombs in Kandahar province. No Canadians were hurt but one Afghan civilian was wounded.

Afghan Economy to Quicken, IMF Says, Reducing Opium Dependence

By Michael Dwyer - March 9 (Bloomberg) -- Afghanistan's economic growth will accelerate over the next two years, according to the International Monetary Fund, with increased production of wheat and fruit helping reduce the economy's opium dependence.

``Growth is expected to accelerate in 2006-07, with even stronger growth likely in 2007-08 owing to a rebound in the agricultural sector,'' Murilo Portugal, IMF deputy managing director, said in a statement on the Washington-based lender's Web site. The pace of expansion had previously been expected to slow to 12 percent this fiscal year from 14 percent in 2005-06.

Better wheat harvests and higher yields from Afghanistan's orchards may help President Hamid Karzai wean the nation from its reliance on opium, which now accounts for about a third of the economy, compared with more than 60 percent five years ago. Still, Afghanistan's production of the illicit drug, the base ingredient for heroin, jumped more than 50 percent last year.

``The drug economy is booming,'' Barnett R. Rubin, a senior fellow at New York University's Center on International Cooperation, wrote in the January-February edition of Foreign Affairs. ``The weakness of the state and the lack of security for licit economic activity has encouraged this boom.''

Opium poppy production has skyrocketed since a U.S.-led invasion ousted the Taliban regime in 2001. Afghanistan produces about 90 percent of the world's supply of the drug.

Afghanistan produced a record 5,644 metric tons of opium in 2006, from 4,475 metric tons in 2005, the U.S. State Department said in a report this month.

Areas under poppy cultivation increased 61 percent in 2006 to 172,000 hectares (424,840 acres) from 107,400 the previous year, according to the report. It estimates the country's illicit opium was worth $3.1 billion last year.

``It's a lot of money,'' U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher told a House of Representatives foreign affairs sub-committee in Washington yesterday. ``The overall Afghan economy last year was about $9 billion and the value of the drug trade was 35 percent.''

Afghanistan's non-drug economy, which the IMF estimates has grown at an annual average pace of about 16 percent over the past five years, is benefiting from foreign aid even as Karzai's government grapples with efforts to stamp out the opium trade.

``What we've seen in Afghanistan is the regular economy has been growing a lot faster than the economy of opium production,'' Boucher said. ``We're trying to get Afghanistan to the point where it can develop an economy, it can develop a country without the corrosive and corrupting influence of the drug trade.''

Karzai's government relies on foreign aid for more than half its budget. President George W. Bush last month asked Congress for an additional $698 million in 2007 to build roads, provide food aid and rebuild Afghanistan. The European Commission has offered 600 million euros ($790 million) over the next four years.

``We spent $2.5 billion to $3 billion a year over the last five years,'' Boucher said, in reference to U.S. aid to Afghanistan. ``We think this big push is needed to extend the effort more generally.''

Projects aimed at eradicating the drug trade can still sometimes be counter-productive, according to analysts, as they tend to encourage corruption.

``Efforts to combat opium production in Afghanistan have been marred by corruption and have inadvertently helped to consolidate the drugs trade in the hands of fewer, more powerful players,'' the World Bank said in a November, 2006, report.

Counter-narcotics campaigns like the ones conducted by Karzai's government and international aid donors provide leverage for corrupt officials to extract ``enormous bribes'' from drug traffickers, Rubin said.

``Police chief posts in poppy-growing districts are sold to the highest bidder: As much as $100,000 is paid for a six-month appointment to a position with a monthly salary of $60,'' said Rubin, author of the book, ``The Fragmentation of Afghanistan.''

Afghan policymakers recognize the need ``to address governance concerns and speed up the pace of reforms,'' the IMF's Portugal said.

Afghan copper lode a key to renewal?

Where miners blaze a trail, other businesses may follow - ANDY HOFFMAN - From Friday's Globe and Mail

TORONTO — Were it anywhere else in the world, its mineral riches would surely have been tapped long ago, yet millions of tonnes of copper in the Aynak deposit sit untouched.

The wealth underground has been shielded from exploitation by activity on the surface: foreign invasion, civil war, terrorism, occupation. Aynak is in Afghanistan, a place known more for land mines than copper mines.

But the Afghan government is now trying to change all that, launching an ambitious campaign to woo foreign mining companies, despite the violence that persists in much of the country.

Kabul's first major initiative is to sell off the Aynak copper deposit and the auction is garnering plenty of interest — particularly for a site that used to be an al-Qaeda training camp.

Even though Canadian and allied forces face attacks from insurgents, some of the biggest mining companies in the world are queuing up for the chance to spend the estimated $1.8-billion (U.S.) it will cost to buy, develop and operate the Aynak project, which is in a relatively calm region 30 kilometres south of the Afghan capital of Kabul.

With metal prices soaring on demand from China, and new deposits scarce, miners these days are even willing to take on the risks that come with operating close to a combat zone.

While corporations are looking for new sources of profit, the Afghan government hopes that mining will serve as a key pillar in the war-ravaged country's reconstruction and revival.

“To develop this industry will create jobs for thousands of Afghans. Not only will it benefit Afghan workers, but also the national security of Afghanistan. It will bring a tremendous amount of income to the government of Afghanistan for years to come,” Ibrahim Adel, Afghanistan's Minister of Mines, said in an interview in Toronto.

Nine foreign mining companies have been granted permission to participate in the bidding process. They include India's Hindalco Industries Ltd., Arizona copper giant Phelps Dodge Corp. and Hunter Dickinson Inc. of Vancouver. At the end of March they are all expected to send representatives to Afghanistan to inspect the deposit.

“It's a very challenging environment, but it would be economic from our perspective. You don't get involved in these types of activities unless you've got a potential win on your hands. It's a world-class copper deposit,” said Bob Schafer, vice-president of business development at Hunter Dickinson, a privately held company that operates a stable of publicly traded mining firms.

When the bids are submitted in mid-May, Hunter Dickinson's proposal is expected to include significant capital investment in training and social spending. “We perceive this to be more than just a copper mining opportunity,” Mr. Schafer said. “We think it is very much in line with the concepts of corporate social responsibility and sustainability. This is as an integrated plan that will transition the Afghan economy from a wartime economy into a normalized economy.”

Mr. Adel was in Toronto this week for the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference, one of the biggest mining forums in the world. His task was to sell the merits of Afghanistan as a mining destination and he spent most of his time in meetings with international mining executives.

“The overall picture has been very positive. Obviously, companies are interested in going to Afghanistan to make money. They see that as an opportunity. Surely, there are concerns about security, but it is just an opportunity cost — the question of making so much money in Afghanistan and then weighing that against the security issues,” the minister said.

Several parts of Afghanistan are believed to be rich in metals and minerals, but Mr. Adel said only about 5 per cent of the potential deposits have even been explored.

There is no large-scale commercial mining in Afghanistan, but the minister is hoping Aynak will spur a wave of foreign investment. Soviet geologists conducted drilling in the area during the occupation of the 1970s and 1980s and it is believed to contain about 240 million tonnes of ore at a copper grade of more than 2 per cent. Copper prices traded as high as $6,330 (U.S.) a tonne yesterday on the London Metal Exchange. At around $2.80 a pound, the metal has managed to stay well above its historical average price of about $1 a pound for several years. Prices peaked above $4 a pound last May.

“We are aware the prices are going up. That helps us because we definitely need more income for Afghanistan to sustain itself,” Mr. Adel said.

However, no one is really sure how much copper Aynak may contain. Much of the Soviet survey has been lost or proven unreliable. When the mine site was used as an al-Qaeda camp in the 1990s, wooden boxes that held core rock samples were reportedly broken up for firewood. Now it is unclear which samples are from which drill holes.

All nine companies, including firms from China, Russia, Kazakhstan and Australia, will be visiting the site this month to inspect it. The Mines Ministry hopes to award an operating licence by August. If the mine becomes operational, the Afghan government will receive a royalty of at least 5 per cent from copper sales, as well as corporate income tax of 20 per cent.

The minister is betting the trailblazing mining sector will pave the way for other business development in Afghanistan. “It's an excellent door opener. We definitely believe that. After mining, other investors in other sectors and industries soon will follow,” he said.

After all, he said, there is a long history of mining in Afghanistan. “About 2,000 years ago, the residents of ancient Afghanistan were using copper to make weapons and instruments of war.”

Statement by the Minister of National Defence

March 8, 2007 - OTTAWA - I would like to respond to the article in the Globe & Mail of March 8 entitled “Red Cross contradicts Ottawa on detainees”

At the outset, I would like to clarify one point. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has indeed carried out several visits to detainees in temporary Canadian custody in Kandahar. This is consistent with Canada's commitment to cooperate with the ICRC in fulfilling its mandated responsibilities under international humanitarian law to monitor conditions of detention.

On December 18, 2005, the previous Liberal government signed an arrangement with the Government of Afghanistan regarding the transfer of detainees from the Canadian Forces to the Afghan authorities. As per this arrangement, we continue to transfer all persons detained by the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan to Afghan authorities, and to notify the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The article makes reference to comments that I made in the House of Commons last May. It was my understanding that the ICRC could share information concerning detainee treatment with Canada. I have recently learned that they would in fact provide this information to the detaining nation, in this case Afghanistan.

That said, Canadian officials maintain an open and constructive dialogue regarding detainee issues in Afghanistan with the ICRC, in Ottawa, Geneva and in the field. Canada strongly supports the role of the ICRC, one of its most valued partners, in the promotion of international humanitarian law and in its mandate regarding the protection of detainees. ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger, during his visit to Canada in September 2006, underscored this fact when he expressed his appreciation for the excellent cooperation between the ICRC and Canada.

With respect to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), while there is no requirement mandating additional notification under international law, Canada has chosen to enter into an arrangement in support of the AIHRC's constitutional mandate to monitor the overall situation of human rights in Afghanistan.

This will also provide an additional avenue for Afghans to obtain information on the whereabouts of their relatives, if they are believed to have been detained. The AIHRC is appreciative of this measure.

Gordon O’Connor
The Minister of National Defence

O'Connor acknowledges error on detainees

Contrary to Defence Minister's assurances, ICRC won't share information with Canada - ALEX DOBROTA - With reports from Campbell Clark and staff

OTTAWA -- In an about-face from earlier comments, Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor acknowledged yesterday that the International Committee of the Red Cross does not inform Canada of the treatment of detainees captured by Canadian troops and transferred to Afghan authorities.

"It was my understanding that the ICRC could share information concerning detainee treatment with Canada," Mr. O'Connor said in a terse statement. "I have recently learned that they would, in fact, provide this information to the detaining nation, in this case Afghanistan."

Those comments contradict several assurances Mr. O'Connor made in the House of Commons. In May, he told MPs that the Red Cross would report any detainee abuse to Canadian authorities.

The statement confirms critics' arguments that Canada doesn't know, and cannot find out, the fate of prisoners it hands over to Afghan security forces, who have a notorious record of abuse, torture and corruption. Mr. O'Connor was first contradicted by Simon Schorno, a spokesman for the ICRC, who told The Globe and Mail that the Red Cross does not monitor the Canada-Afghanistan agreement on detainee transfer.

(Mr. Schorno contacted The Globe yesterday to make a minor clarification in information he had previously provided. "While the ICRC has no formal agreement with the Canadian government to visit persons detained by Canada in Afghanistan, it has, in fact, carried out ad hoc visits to individuals in the temporary custody of Canadian forces in Afghanistan before those individuals were either released or transferred to the custody of Afghan authorities," he said.)

In Ottawa yesterday, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion listed the detainees as one of the subjects Prime Minister Stephen Harper is avoiding, charging that the Conservatives are smearing opponents to distract from such tricky questions.

"Now we learn that the Red Cross in not even aware that they need to take care of the detainees that we give to the Afghans," Mr. Dion said. "There are a lot of questions that he should answer instead to try to smear the reputation of opponents."

The Prime Minister's Office referred questions on the issue to Mr. O'Connor's office. After multiple calls and e-mails, ministerial spokeswoman Isabelle Bouchard issued the e-mail statement, but refused to answer questions on what Mr. O'Connor knew and when.

NATO's fighting allies in Afghanistan have taken widely varying approaches to safeguarding their prisoners and complying with their Geneva obligations.

The British, Dutch and Danes all insisted on ironclad guarantees to allow for follow-up visits to Afghan prisons so they can make sure the captives they have handed over aren't tortured, killed or, equally problematic from an operations point of view, freed to return to the battlefield.

Mr. O'Connor said last week that many detainees are bribed out of Afghan prisons. "It's quite a revolving-door system," he said.

The more than 20,000 U.S. troops, both those under North Atlantic Treaty Organization command and those, mostly special forces, that remain under U.S. command, maintain their own prisoner camps. There is a major detention centre at Bagram, the air base near Kabul, which is the locus of all U.S. operations.

The ICRC makes regular visits to U.S. camps operated in Afghanistan (as it does to the Guantanamo Bay prison on a U.S. naval base in Cuba). The United States also hands over some prisoners to Afghan authorities, although it remains unclear whether the Americans have specific follow-up inspections.

Canada makes no provision for its own follow-up monitoring to ensure its captives don't disappear -- or worse -- once they are transferred to Afghanistan's notorious prisons.

A comparison of the British, Dutch and Canadian agreements starkly illustrates a fundamentally different approach to safeguarding prisoners.

The British agreement stipulates that "U.K. personnel, including representatives of the British embassy, members of the U.K. Armed Forces and others as accepted between the participants, will have full access to any persons transferred by the U.K. Armed Forces to Afghan authorities whilst such persons are in custody."

Similar clauses are written into the Dutch and Danish agreements, although the latter hasn't been made public. Canadian human-rights groups have pushed for the Conservative government to reopen the pact and upgrade it so it includes the follow-up provisions and other safeguards.

Afghan detainees: Treat 'em right

We can train the police over there or we can ship the enemy back here, says law professor AMIR ATTARAN - fom Friday's Globe and Mail

In December of 2005, General Rick Hillier, Chief of the Defence Staff, signed a covert agreement to transfer war detainees to Afghanistan's domestic and secret police forces. The agreement has since leaked into the open. Human-rights advocates deplore detainee transfers because of Afghanistan's cruel treatment, and Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor praises detainee transfers because they "help strengthen [Afghan] capacity and good governance." No fewer than five lawsuits and investigations are now sorting out the difference.

But as time passes, it grows undeniable that transferring detainees to Afghanistan is a source of shame. Even the Afghan government's own human-rights watchdog concedes that torture is "a routine part of police procedures." The techniques, according to the U.S. State Department, include "pulling out fingernails and toenails, burning with hot oil, beatings, sexual humiliation and sodomy." Thus, when Canadian soldiers follow standing orders and transfer men to self-confessed torturers, they could be, through no fault of their own, aiding and abetting that offence -- which makes them prosecutable for war crimes. Willful blindness has trumped caution and responsibility.

This was seen vividly last summer when a television crew filmed Canadian soldiers about to transfer a detainee -- until Afghan authorities declared they would murder him on the spot. There was anxiety, an awkward delay, and the cameras left. Canadian military police then handed the man over.

Willful blindness also explains why military investigators cannot locate three men Canadians transferred to the Afghans last year. Possibly they were extrajudicially murdered. Possibly they are being interrogated under torture. Or possibly they are out shooting at Canadian soldiers because, Mr. O'Connor admitted this week, Afghan prisons are "a revolving door" that can be exited by paying a fine. The only certainty is that the men are not jailed humanely in a secure location -- which is what the Canadian military and government promised would be the case.

Thus, the detainee transfer policy has failed extravagantly, imperilling not only Afghans' human rights but also Canadian soldiers' lives. What alternatives does Canada's government have?

Politically, there is no option. Maintaining a head-in-the-sand posture is foolish, since it is inevitable that a transferred detainee will exit the "revolving door" to take up fighting Canadians again. Or a detainee could be discovered tortured or killed by Afghan or American hands. The latter scandal will sting terribly because, unlike Somalia, its proximate cause will not be soldiers breaching orders but soldiers obeying Gen. Hillier's orders assiduously. Unlike in Britain and the Netherlands, where defence ministers negotiated or signed detainee agreements, Gen. Hillier seized the pen personally. Firing the general now would give useful distance, and thereby help safeguard the Canadian Forces' reputation. The alternative -- keeping him on, under a Rumsfeldian cloud -- would be unwise.

Practically, there are two options. The first is obvious: Build a prison in Afghanistan to hold our detainees and teach the Afghan police how to detain and interrogate humanely. The Canadian International Development Agency could provide funding, and the RCMP and Correctional Service Canada could furnish the staff to work alongside a mostly Afghan prison and human-rights corps. Extra money and staff could come from those NATO allies who are loath to contribute combat forces. Such a project is splendid international development, for it meets a real need of Afghanistan's nascent police and justice systems, and leaves something lasting behind.

The second option is controversial: Transport our detainees from Afghanistan to prisoner-of-war camps in Canada. This sounds awful, but that is a shrill and unhistorical analysis. Starting in June of 1940, Canada transported about 40,000 German and Italian enemy combatants to this country and held them in camps in Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. Those enemies were treated humanely. They were fed even as Canadians suffered under food rationing. They were given democracy classes, so they could spread those ideas in their fascist homelands. When the war ended, they went home; some returned as immigrants. All of this was expensive, but Mackenzie King decided Canada should uphold the Geneva Conventions -- and we did.

Not only would this option show Canada at our humanitarian best, but it poses vital questions. If Mackenzie King could imprison 40,000 European enemies without devastating Canada's war effort, then how can it be seriously contended that Stephen Harper cannot now imprison roughly 40 Afghan enemies (the number detained by the Canadian Forces from 2002 through mid-2006)? Mr. O'Connor says the Canadian Forces will always follow the Geneva Conventions. If that's so, why does the military fail to provide Geneva protections to 0.1 per cent of detainees, compared to the Second World War historical norm?

The heart-rending answer to these questions appears to be race. Canada's inability to treat European and Afghan enemies on equal terms indicates that our military and foreign-policy establishment may still be dominated by a Eurocentric ethos. The current detainee policy suggests a subterranean racism that lags decades behind Canada's contemporary reality as a multicultural state.

Thus, the detainee policy must change, not because it violates Afghans but because it violates who we are. Workable options exist; our military history incontestably proves that. The "problem" of detainees may actually be a missed opportunity to develop Afghanistan's police and judicial systems. None of the principals in government or the military have been prudent enough to view it that way, and their ham-handed conduct is sullying Canada's stellar, precious reputation for human rights.

Amir Attaran, a lawyer and biologist, holds the Canada Research Chair in Law, Population Health and Global Development Policy at the University of Ottawa.

Afghanistan: Forgetting the Lessons of History

Terrorism Focus - 6 March 2007 By Michael Scheuer

Afghanistan is again being lost to the West. The insurgency may drag on for
many months or several years, but the tide has turned. Like Alexander's
Greeks, the British and the Soviets before the U.S.-led coalition, inferior
Afghan insurgents have forced far superior Western military forces onto a
path that leads toward evacuation. What has caused this scenario to occur
repeatedly throughout history?

In the most general sense, the defeat of Western forces in Afghanistan
occurs repeatedly because the West has not developed an appreciation for
the Afghans' toughness, patience, resourcefulness and pride in their
history. Although foreign forces in Afghanistan are always more modern and
better armed and trained, they are continuously ground down by the same
kinds of small-scale but unrelenting hit-and-run attacks and ambushes, as
well as by the country's impenetrable topography that allows the Afghans to
retreat, hide and attack another day. The new twist to this pattern faced
by the Soviets and the U.S.-led coalition is the safehaven the Afghans have
found in Pakistan. This is the basic answer to why history has found so
many defeated foreign armies littering what Kipling called Afghanistan's
plains.

The latest episode in this historical tradition has several distinguishing
characteristics. First, Western forces—while better armed and
technologically superior—are far too few in number. Today's Western force
totals about 40,000 men. After subtracting support troops and NATO
contingents that are restricted to non-combat, reconstruction
roles—building schools, digging wells, repairing irrigation systems—the
actual combat force that can be fielded on any given day is far smaller,
and yet has the task of controlling a country the size of Texas that is
home to the highest mountains on earth.

Second, the West underestimated the strength of the Taliban and its
acceptability to the Afghan people. When invading in 2001, the West's main
targets were Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Mullah Omar and their
senior lieutenants, and because the operation specifically targeted a group
of top leaders, the Afghanistan-Pakistan border was not sealed and so not
only did the pursued troika escape, but so did most of their foot soldiers.
Those escapees are now returning in large numbers, and are better armed,
trained and organized than upon their exit. It seems likely, in fact, that
the force being fielded by the Taliban and its allies—al-Qaeda, Gulbuddin
Hekmatyar, Jalaluddin Haqqani, among others—is at least equal in number to
the coalition (al-Jazeera TV, March 2). Furthermore, the membership of
force is not just a few Taliban remnants and otherwise mostly new recruits;
rather, they are the veteran fighters that the coalition failed to kill in
2001 and early 2002. The Taliban forces are not new; they are the seasoned,
experienced mujahideen who are—like Nixon in 1972—tanned, rested and ready
to wage the jihad.

Western leaders in Afghanistan are also finding that many Afghans are not
unhappy to see the Taliban returning. Much of the reason lies in the fact
that the U.S.-led coalition put the cart before the horse. Before the 2001
invasion, the Taliban regime was far from loved, but it was appreciated for
the law-and-order regime it harshly enforced across most of Afghanistan.
Although women had to stay home, few girls could go to school and the odd
limb was chopped off for petty offenses, most rural Afghans could count on
having security for themselves, their families and their farms and/or
businesses. The coalition's victory shattered the Taliban's law-and-order
regime and instead of immediately installing a replacement—for which there
were not enough troops in any event—coalition leaders moved on to
elections, implementing women's rights and creating a parliament, while the
bulk of rural Afghanistan returned to the anarchy of banditry and
warlordism that prevailed before the first Taliban era (Kabul Weekly, May
31, 2006). Making matters worse was the fact that many of the actions the
coalition did successfully undertake—especially elections and women's
rights—added to the misery of rural Afghans by appearing to be attacks on
millennia-old social, tribal and religious mores (Eqtedar Weekly, June 3,
2006). Faced with the reality of being in the thrall of Afghan criminals,
and perceiving their culture to be under attack, it is not surprising that
the Taliban is finding at least a tepid welcome home.

The third problem for the coalition is the amount of time it has spent in
Afghanistan. Now in the sixth year of occupation, Western leaders are
confronted not only by a stronger-than-2001 enemy, but also by the
resurgent insularity and anti-foreign inclinations of the Afghan people.
While not precisely xenophobic, the Afghans are historically hospitable and
protective to a fault of visiting foreigners whom they have
welcomed—witness their treatment of bin Laden—but have precious little
tolerance for foreigners who, by intention or default, seek to rule them.
Today, the Afghans perceive themselves to be doubly ruled, and doubly badly
ruled, by foreigners: the U.S.-led coalition and the pro-Western, nominally
Islamic, detribalized and corruption-ridden government of Hamid Karzai
(Rah-e Nejat, February 27). This perception of a "foreign yoke," along with
spreading warfare, little reconstruction and endemic banditry, has created
a fertile nationalistic environment for the Taliban and its allies to
exploit.

Finally, the U.S.-led coalition now faces the full brunt of a new era that
was started by the prolonged and brutal Soviet occupation and its
consequent jihad. Long on the periphery of Islam—almost a
backwater—Afghanistan became part of the Muslim world's consciousness
during the Afghan-Soviet war. The war focused Muslims and especially Arab
Muslims on the plight of their Afghan brethren and prompted them to send
large amounts of money and arms, as well as fighters to support the
mujahideen. The Afghans repaid this assistance by defeating the Red Army,
thereby giving the Islamic world its first victory over "infidel" Western
forces in several hundred years. The Afghans' victory was the turning
point, and the totem for the maturing of a well-defined worldwide Islamist
militant movement.

Today, many non-Afghan Muslims again perceive that the Afghans are being
occupied and tortured by another infidel entity, the U.S.-led coalition.
This is especially the case because the Afghan war is occurring in tandem
with the Iraq war, which broadens the sense that all of Islam is under
infidel attack. As a result, the flow from abroad of funds, arms and
fighters to the Afghan insurgents—while probably not as large as the flow
to the Iraqi resistance—is substantial, and can be seen in the improving
combat performance of the Taliban-led forces confronting coalition forces.
Also suggesting this connection are the successful efforts to share
expertise across the two theaters, with Iraq war skills in suicide attacks
and Improvised Explosive Devices being brought to bear in Afghanistan,
while the Afghans' well-honed skills in attacking helicopters are emerging
as part of the Iraqi insurgents' tool kit.

The future for the West in Afghanistan is bleak, and it is made more
discouraging by the fact that much of the West's defeat will be
self-inflicted because it did not adequately study the lessons of history.
"Efforts to occupy and rule [Afghanistan] usually ended in disaster," wrote
the eminent British historian Sir John Keegan in the Daily Telegraph in
September 2001. "But straightforward punitive expeditions…were successful
on more than one occasion. It should be remembered that, in 1878, the
British did succeed in bringing the Afghans to heel [with a punitive
expedition]. Lord Roberts' march from 'Kabul to Kandahar' was one of
Victoria's most celebrated wars. The Russians, moreover, foolishly did not
try to punish rogue Afghans, as Roberts did, but to rule the country. Since
Afghanistan is ungovernable, the failure of their efforts was
predictable…America should not seek to change the regime, but simply to
find and kill the terrorists. It should do so without pity."

Afghan Official a Convicted Trafficker

Friday March 9, 2007 - By MATTHEW PENNINGTON Associated Press Writer

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - When the deal went down in Las Vegas, the seller was introduced only as ``Mr. E.'' In a room at Caesars Palace hotel, Mr. E exchanged a pound-and-a-half bag of heroin for $65,000 cash - unaware that the buyer was an undercover detective. The sting landed him in Nevada state prison for nearly four years.

Twenty years later and Mr. E, whose real name is Izzatullah Wasifi, has a new job. He is the government of Afghanistan's anti-corruption chief. Wasifi leads a staff of 84 people charged with rooting out the endemic graft that is fueled in part by the country's position as the world's largest producer of opium poppy, the raw ingredient of heroin.

President Hamid Karzai's office won't say if he knew about the drug conviction when Wasifi was appointed two months ago as general-director of the General Independent Administration of Anti-Corruption and Bribery. Wasifi, a childhood friend of Karzai, is the son of a prominent Afghan nationalist leader.

An Associated Press review of criminal records in Nevada and California revealed that the 48-year-old Wasifi was arrested at Caesars Palace on July 15, 1987, for selling 650 grams (23 ounces) of heroin. Prosecutors said the drugs were worth $2 million on the street.

Wasifi served three years and eight months in prison before winning parole. In an interview in his modest office at the anti-corruption bureau in Kabul, Wasifi confirmed to AP that he had been imprisoned in Nevada for a drug offense, although his account of events differed from the court records of his case.

He said he was arrested on the third day of his honeymoon. His then-wife, named in court records as Fereshteh Behbahani, bought cocaine for her own use in a bar of a Las Vegas hotel and brought it to their room where they were arrested, he said.

``My wife made an error,'' said Wasifi, looking dapper in a navy suit and waistcoat. ``A lot of people go to Las Vegas for fun and for snuff,'' he continued, pointing to his nostril and sniffing. ``This thing happened.''

In Los Angeles, Wasifi's ex-wife Behbahani, 50, who was sentenced to three years probation for conspiring to traffic drugs with Wasifi, declined to be interviewed by an AP reporter.

``My mother says they are all political lies. This incident happened a long time ago and she has moved on. We are a very private family,'' her son Tony said.

Wasifi is the son of Azizullah Wasifi, a former agriculture minister and aide to former Afghan King Mohammed Zaher Shah. Wasifi said he grew up in Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan, with Karzai and has known the 49-year-old president since childhood. Both men studied in India at the same time - Wasifi earning a bachelors degree at Punjab Agricultural University.

Wasifi's family went into exile after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, first in Pakistan, then in the United States.

According to Wasifi, Karzai's elder brother, Qayyum, now an Afghan lawmaker, gave Wasifi his first job after he moved to the U.S. in 1983, working as a waiter at a hotel restaurant he ran in Maryland. Wasifi later ran a restaurant himself in Los Angeles. He and his brother Bashir had a franchise of Ameci Pizza & Pasta between 1994-1999, company president Nick Andrisano confirmed.

Wasifi remained politically active in the expatriate community during exile, as his father sought to bring different Afghan factions together under the leadership of the aging king. He returned to Afghanistan in 2001 after the U.S.-led ouster of the hard-line Taliban regime.

Wasifi is adamant his drug conviction in the United States should not affect his ability to serve in government in Afghanistan, and compares his situation to President Bush, who was once arrested in 1976 for drunk driving.

``Everybody through their lifetime has done something, fallen somewhere or done some mistake,'' said Wasifi, who wears a neat beard and mustache and gold-rimmed reading spectacles. ``That's the only thing I can say about it.''

He pointed to his record as governor of western Farah province, where opium production dropped 25 percent during his 14-month tenure before he took his current position. Counternarcotics officials said the drop was mostly due to drought, but also due to poppy eradication campaigns led by Wasifi.

Afghanistan produces more than 90 percent of the world's opium. The drop in Farah bucked an alarming nationwide trend that saw poppy cultivation rise 59 percent between 2005 and 2006 to an all-time time high - producing enough for about 670 tons of heroin. U.N. officials warn that this year could see a record crop.

Officials who worked with Wasifi in Farah mostly commended his work. They said he promoted development, persuaded Iran to open a border crossing to increase trade and also got on well with U.S. forces who ran a provincial reconstruction base in the Afghan province.

``Roads were built during his time. He built clinics and schools. Most of the time he consulted with Farah elders to hear what they had to say. He was from Kandahar, but he would not discriminate,'' said Shah Mohammad Noor, the head of official archives in Farah.

In his new job, Wasifi is charged with tackling bribery and administrative corruption rather than pursuing counternarcotics cases. He is vowing to tackle graft ``from the top down'' and wants to place anti-graft investigators to monitor every ministry.

But allegations of corruption and immorality have swirled around Wasifi too. Such accusations are common in Afghan officialdom, where graft is endemic and many police and administrators profit from the $3 billion narcotics trade.

He categorically denies any involvement. Anti-narcotics officials in Afghanistan, speaking on condition of anonymity, say there is no evidence to prove that Wasifi is still involved in Afghanistan's booming heroin trade.

Nafaz Gul, a female lawmaker from Farah, also accused him of un-Islamic behavior, such as drinking alcohol. She said Wasifi was replaced as governor after locals last August staged a protest over deteriorating security in the province.

Those allegations pale next to accusations leveled at Afghan faction leaders suspected of war crimes during years of civil conflict. But Wasifi's record as a convicted felon stands out in a country just starting to re-establish its justice system.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department report that was submitted as evidence at his trial describes how an undercover police detective, posing as a drug dealer, met Wasifi in a bar of the Caesars Palace on the evening of July 15, 1987 - Wasifi's 29th birthday.

A confidential police informant introduced Wasifi as ``Mr. E.'' The three went together to a room in the hotel, where Wasifi produced 650 grams of brown ``Persian'' heroin packed in a gray plastic bag from behind one of the pillows on the bed. He offered to sell it for $65,000. When the detective later handed over the money, Wasifi said he was getting 13.2 pounds of heroin within the next 20 days from Afghanistan.

As Wasifi left after the transaction, he was arrested. His wife, Behbahani, who appeared to be acting as a lookout in the hallway, was also nabbed, the police report said.

Court records show Wasifi pleaded guilty to trafficking in a controlled substance and was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Aug. 10, 1988. That was reduced to six years after he got a new lawyer and appealed, on Nov. 4, 1991, saying he was duped by ineffective counsel into pleading to a no-parole sentence.

He was freed by the end of 1991 - in line with state policies which allow for release after about two-thirds of time served. He was also fined $50,000.

According to Wasifi's written plea at his appeal, police had wanted him to work undercover for them, and they freed the couple without any type of bond after their initial arrest.

But Wasifi could not find more drug dealers for police to arrest. He was unable to locate his original heroin supplier and ``did not know anyone in the drug underworld,'' the plea said.

The couple were rearrested on a charge of unlawful flight in March 1988 at their Los Angeles home and then tried for drug trafficking. According to Wasifi's plea, they had not attempted to flee and were unaware that they had been indicted in September 1987, 163 days after their original arrest in Las Vegas.

Karzai spokesman Khaleeq Ahmed said he could not immediately comment on whether or not the president had been aware of Wasifi's record when he appointed him.

But Western diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, say Wasifi's criminal record is known to U.N. officials and international donors and that Karzai is under pressure to replace him. They have not gone public with their concerns in expectation that Karzai will take action, the diplomats said.

Wasifi, in the AP interview, warned that publicizing his drug conviction would only ``sharpen the knives'' of corrupt critics in government who wanted him out because of his threats to expose them.

``How many people do we see in this country who are killers, the biggest drug traffickers? They are ruining this administration, this regime,'' he said. ``What about them?''

Associated Press writers Ken Ritter in Las Vegas, Andrew Glazer in Los Angeles and Brendan Riley in Carson City, Nev., as well as Fisnik Abrashi and Amir Shah in Kabul contributed to this report.

Afghan Activists Committed to Improving Women's Conditions

Women honored for work to improve women's rights, education in Afghanistan - By Michelle Austein - USINFO Staff Writer

Washington -- Improving conditions for women in Afghanistan requires a long-term commitment, two Afghan activists said March 7.

Mary Akrami and Aziza Siddiqui, recognized by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for their efforts to promote women's rights in Afghanistan, told USINFO that Afghanistan needs long-term support from the international community.

Her nation suffered greatly during wars and Taliban rule, and it is a difficult struggle to rebuild, Akrami said. In this struggle, she said, "we don't want to be alone."

Akrami and Siddiqui were two of 10 women receiving the International Women of Courage Award from Rice. It is the first time the award has been given.

In celebration of International Women’s Day 2007, Rice paid tribute to these women for their commitment to promoting women’s rights. The award recognizes women around the globe who have shown exceptional courage and leadership. (See related article.)

The women, who both had been refugees in Pakistan, returned to Afghanistan because the country needed them to help rebuild, Siddiqui said. Despite threats made against them, they continue to work to protect women, teach decision-making skills and promote education.

Akrami is the director of the Afghan Women Skills Development Center, which is the first women's shelter in Kabul, Afghanistan. She saw a need for such a shelter when a woman was arrested after being accused of disrespecting her father-in-law. The woman was found innocent, but was afraid to leave the jail for fear of how her family and society would react to the incident. Akrami realized that others like this woman needed a safe place to go.

Today the shelter takes in runaways and women released from prison who do not feel safe returning home. The shelter's staff provides legal advice, literacy classes, psychological counseling and basic skills training.

Siddiqui is the women's rights coordinator with Action Aid, an Afghan nongovernmental organization. She often meets with women in rural areas, where there is less access to education. Siddiqui organizes training sessions on decision-making and currently is teaching women in Afghanistan's Northern Provinces about their rights.

Women in rural Afghanistan do not have access to the educational and other facilities found in Kabul, because generally organizations have been working only in the cities, according to Siddiqui. To really understand the basic problems facing Afghan women, she said, it is important to speak to the women in rural communities and see what issues they regularly address.

Under Taliban rule and as refugees, women were not educated, Siddiqui said. But today "we have resources, we have a lot of funding from the international community -- but still we need to do lot for our education system," she said. For example, she explained, even though there might be a school building, there might not be chairs for the students. Much improvement is needed, she said, and that improvement is important because better education will help rebuild the country.

Akrami said she felt that the award she received was honoring all women of Afghanistan. She said it gave her the courage to keep doing the best she can for the women of her country.

Siddiqui agreed with her colleague. "It is not just that I am receiving this award," she said. "It goes to all those Afghan women struggling for women's rights in Afghanistan in a very critical situation. I am proud that we have women activists working for Afghan women in Afghanistan."

[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.]