In this bulletin:

• Afghan senator assassinated in Kabul
• Afghan, coalition forces kill 13, including 2 women in Kandahar
• Afghans Say U.S. Bombing Killed 42 Civilians
• Bomb Hits Afghan Army Bus; 1 Dead
• Militants behead ‘US spy’ in N Waziristan
• Afghan, U.S. military detain 4 suspected terrorists
• ‘No Pakistanis killed in Afghanistan’
• NATO Afghanistan Chief Says Taliban Is Waning
• Afghanistan to Recruit More Police to Counter Taliban
• JCMB finds Afghanistan Compact on track
• 17 uplift projects to be executed in seven provinces
• 84 percent of Afghan refugees in Pakistan don't plan to return home, report says
• Some abuse `possible,' envoy says
• Soldiers upset over Afghan abuse allegations: Hillier
• Canada has new Afghan detainee deal, court told
• Court to hear transfer-injunction arguments
• Human rights groups in court on detainee issue
• Former Liberal government approved controversial Afghan detainee deal, records show
• Stockwell Day's Afghan comment helps bolster human rights groups
• Getting the facts straight on the prisoners in Afghanistan
• Canadian soldiers walk fine line on Afghanistan’s poppy crops
• UN-BACKED BODY SAYS RECONSTRUCTION PLAN FOR AFGHANISTAN ON TRACK
• Afghan Refugees Live Precariously in Germany - DW
• Afghan TV Station Clashes With Prosecutor

Afghan senator assassinated in Kabul

KABUL: A conservative Afghan senator who was prime minister for a few weeks in
1992 was assassinated outside his home in Kabul late on Wednesday, police said.
Abdul Sabur Farid Kuhestani, aged in his mid-fifties, was shot dead by unknown
assailants who had set up an ambush for him, the head of the city’s criminal
investigation department, Alishah Paktiawal, told AFP.

Witnesses heard three shots fired at the prominent parliamentarian as he left his home to go to a mosque, the Pahjwak Afghan News agency reported.

Kuhestani was prime minister for just over a month from July 1992 in the chaos
of the civil war that erupted between the commanders of groups that had forced
the withdrawal of the Soviet army in a 10-year resistance struggle.

He was a member of the radical Islamist Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan party led by
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who succeeded him as prime minister. Hekmatyar’s anti-
Western party is among the groups, which include the Taliban, involved in an
insurgency against the government of President Hamid Karzai. The motive for the senator’s killing was not clear.

In January this year another parliamentarian, Mawlawi Islam Mohammadi, was
shot dead as he left his house in Kabul to walk to a local mosque.

Mohammadi had been Taliban governor of Bamiyan province when the Islamists
blew up two 1,500-year-old statues of Buddha months before the Taliban
government was toppled by a US-led coalition in late 2001. afp

Afghan, coalition forces kill 13, including 2 women in Kandahar

Wednesday, May 02, 2007 - KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghan and international forces killed 13 people during a clash in southern Kandahar province with suspected Taliban militants riding in three vehicles with women and children, the provincial governor said Wednesday.

After the joint forces surrounded the vehicles Tuesday night, the Taliban opened fire, and the ensuing clash left 13 people dead, including two women, said Kandahar Gov. Asadullah Khalid. Twelve people were wounded.

"We don't know how many civilians or insurgents have been killed or wounded. We are investigating," Khalid said. An earlier statement from the U.S.-led coalition said five male insurgents were killed in the incident in Maruf district and three escaped. It did not give details of civilian casualties.

Afghans Say U.S. Bombing Killed 42 Civilians

By ABDUL WAHEED WAFA and CARLOTTA GALL NY Times - KABUL, Afghanistan, May 2 — Aerial bombing of a valley in western Afghanistan several days ago by the American military killed at least 42 civilians, including women and children, and wounded 50 more, an Afghan government investigation found Wednesday. A provincial council member who visited the site independently put the figure at 50 civilians killed.

President Hamid Karzai said at a news conference in Kabul that the Afghan people could no longer tolerate such casualties. “Five years on, it is very difficult for us to continue accepting civilian casualties,” he said. “It is becoming heavy for us; it is not understandable anymore.”
There have been several episodes recently in which civilians have been killed and foreign forces have been accused of indiscriminate or excessive force. That has prompted Afghan officials to warn that the good will of the Afghan people toward the government and the foreign military presence is wearing thin.

The government delegation reported that three villages were bombed last week in the Zerkoh Valley, 30 miles south of the western city of Herat, and 100 houses were destroyed and 1,600 people were now homeless, Farzana Ahmadi, a spokeswoman for the governor of Herat Province, said by telephone.

“The report says that some women and children were drowned in the river, and it was maybe in the heat of the moment that the children and people wanted to escape and jumped into the water,” she said. “This all happened just because of a lack of coordination between international forces and our forces.”

A provincial council member from Herat, Naik Muhammad Eshaq, who went to the area independently, said he had visited the three bombing sites and produced a list of 50 people who had died, including infants and other children under age 10. People were still digging bodies out of the rubble of their mud-walled homes on Tuesday afternoon, he said.

American Special Operations forces conducted raids in the area on Friday and Sunday, and on both occasions they called in airstrikes when they encountered armed resistance, the military said. It said in a statement that it had killed 136 Taliban fighters, including some who were trying to flee across the river.

In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Col. Jeremy Martin, said, “We’re aware of the allegations, but we don’t have any information through operational channels to confirm the latest incident.” He added, “We take all measures possible to limit civilian casualties.”

Villagers held protests over the bombing in the nearby district town of Shindand on Monday and set fire to government offices. Ms. Ahmadi, the Herat spokeswoman, said all 42 dead counted by the government delegation were civilians. She said the government was continuing its investigation to see if enemy fighters had also been killed.

Mr. Eshaq, the council member, said villagers were adamant that there had been no Taliban fighters in the area. “I could not find any military men,” he said. Mr. Karzai accused American and NATO forces of failing to coordinate with the Afghan authorities.

“I have worked personally in the past four years, almost on a monthly and weekly basis, with the international community to bring some sort of coordination and cooperation to such raids on homes and on villages,” he said. “Unfortunately that cooperation and coordination, as we tried it, has not given us the results that we want, so we are not happy about that and we can no longer accept the civilian casualties the way they are occurring.

“We are very sorry when the international coalition force and NATO soldiers lose their lives or are injured,” he said. “It pains us. But Afghans are human beings, too.” Abdul Waheed Wafa reported from Kabul, and Carlotta Gall from Islamabad, Pakistan. David S. Cloud contributed reporting from Washington.

Bomb Hits Afghan Army Bus; 1 Dead

By AMIR SHAH - The Associated Press, May 3, 2007 - KABUL, Afghanistan -- A remote-control bomb hit an Afghan army bus in Kabul on Thursday, killing the driver and wounding 29 people, including 22 soldiers, officials said.
The bomb was placed in a cart on the side of the road and exploded when the bus passed by, said Ali Riza, an Afghan National Army officer at the scene. The driver of the bus was killed and 22 soldiers were wounded, said Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, a defense ministry spokesman.

Seven civilians also were wounded, said Ali Shah Paktiawal, the Kabul police director of criminal investigation. He said the army was the target. Sardar Mohammad, an eyewitness, said that the explosion sent the bus crashing into a wall.

The front of the bus was badly damaged, while windows of nearby houses and shops were shattered. The powerful blast also knocked out electricity in the neighborhood.

Insurgents regularly target members of fledgling Afghan security forces in their drive to undermine the government of President Hamid Karzai. According to an Associated Press tally, more than 180 members of Afghanistan's security forces have been killed by insurgents so far in 2007.

Militants behead ‘US spy’ in N Waziristan

MIRANSHAH: Suspected pro-Taliban militants beheaded an Afghan refugee in a
remote Pakistan border town on charges of spying for US troops in Afghanistan, a security official said on Wednesday. Militants slaughtered Shamsuddin Afghani

and dumped his body near a military checkpost at Goorwak village in North
Waziristan, the security official said. A note left near the body said “this is the fate of American spy,” the official said, requesting anonymity. Troops at a nearby post found the body along with the severed head and handed it over to the villagers, who identified the man as an Afghan refugee, he added. Afp

Afghan, U.S. military detain 4 suspected terrorists
KABUL: Afghan and the U.S.-led coalition forces have captured four suspected terrorists in the eastern Khowst province, a press release of the U.S. military said Wednesday.

"Afghan National Police and Coalition forces detained three well-known improvised explosive device (IED) facilitators while conducting a combat operation to interdict a Taliban IED cell located 20 km northwest of the city of Khowst in Sabari district, Khowst province," the press release said. These suspected insurgents were arrested on April 30, it added.

However, the release did not identify their nationalities. The detained individuals are believed to be mid-level Taliban leaders who were involved in Taliban fighter recruiting, financing,and the masterminds behind the IED cell in the Sabari district, the release said. In another operation, the Afghan and Coalition forces detained one adult male after a raid on a house in the Tani district of the Khowst Province early Wednesday morning, the press release further contended. Militancy and conflicts have claimed the lives of more than 1,100 people since the beginning of this year in Afghanistan.

‘No Pakistanis killed in Afghanistan’

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani official rejected on Wednesday an Afghan army general’s
claim that Pakistanis were killed along with Taliban in an anti-militant operation in southern Afghanistan.

Afghan General Moheydin Ghori said on Tuesday that up to 56 fighters were killed on Monday, including “lots of Pakistanis,” in a NATO-led sweep through a Taliban stronghold in the southern province of Helmand.

A military spokesman in Islamabad, however, said the NATO-led International
Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan and Afghan officials, after being contacted by Pakistani officials, had “denied that they made any such claim in the press about killing Pakistanis in the operation”. ISAF has said that “a significant number of insurgents” were killed in the operation in Helmand’s Sangin Valley. afp

NATO Afghanistan Chief Says Taliban Is Waning
By Anna Mulrine - Posted 5/1/07

The head of NATO's southern command in Afghanistan told Pentagon reporters that the influence of Taliban extremists in the region has diminished and that some 10,000 Afghan families have returned to their homes as the operations of the 11,500 NATO troops in the region continue.

But "bringing increased stability can sometimes only be achieved through kinetic operations," added Dutch Maj. Gen. Ton Van Loon, NATO's commander for the region that includes the volatile Helmand and Kandahar provinces. And "Taliban extremists are too fanatic for compromises." He said, in a briefing late Monday, that adding more unmanned aerial vehicle capability would be "welcome." Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance "is clearly one of the areas that NATO can develop more of so we can actually have more ISR platforms in the air providing us with better situational awareness," Van Loon said. While poppy production in the Helmand province continues unabated, with clear overlap between organized crime in the narcobusiness and the Taliban, Van Loon added that tackling trafficking "cannot be something" that NATO forces do.

"It needs to be the government of Afghanistan in the lead and supported with real alternatives for the farmers," he said. But he added that NATO must "help them to try and make sure that they will receive an alternative–that they are not just deprived of the only income source they have with no alternatives."

On reports that weapons from Iran have been found in Afghanistan, Van Loon said that "we, of course, received the information that this might be the case." But, he added, "we cannot deny or confirm it. We know that there are some high-end weapons like the AGS-17 [automatic grenade launcher], which has shown up in Helmand. Whether this weapon has been brought into Iran for us is very hard to actually be very firm about."

Afghanistan to Recruit More Police to Counter Taliban

By Ed Johnson - May 2 (Bloomberg) -- Afghanistan will recruit about 19,000 more police officers to help tackle the Taliban insurgency, the international body tasked with overseeing the country's reconstruction said in a statement.

``There have been some unexpected challenges from insecurity in the south and southeast of the country,'' said Ishaq Nadiri, senior economic adviser to President Hamid Karzai and co-chairman of the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board.

The number of Afghan National Police will be increased to 82,000, the board said in a statement yesterday after meeting in the Afghan capital, Kabul. The police force currently stands at about 63,000 officers, according to the U.S. Defense Department.

The Taliban have stepped up attacks over the past year in the south and east in an attempt to destabilize Karzai's government. The rebels have about 3,000 fighters, Major General David Rodriguez, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said earlier this month, compared with about 37,000 NATO personnel, 10,000 U.S. soldiers carrying out anti-terrorism operations and 35,000 trained and equipped soldiers in the Afghan National Army.

More than 2,000 North Atlantic Treaty Organization soldiers and Afghan personnel began Operation Silicon two days ago aimed at driving Taliban fighters from Sangin Valley in southern Helmand province. The U.K.-led offensive is part of an attempt, codenamed Operation Achilles, that began in March to defeat insurgents in the province. Helmand is the center of the country's opium production.
were killed on the first day of the Sangin Valley operation and one British soldier was wounded, Associated Press reported yesterday, citing U.K. Major Dominic Biddick.

Afghan and coalition forces killed five insurgents late yesterday as they tried to drive through a security checkpoint 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Qalat in southern Kandahar province, the U.S. military said in an e-mailed statement today. Three insurgents escaped during the gunfight.
The JCMB reviews progress made under the so-called Afghanistan Compact, agreed at a conference in London last year, which set out a five-year timeframe for improving security, governance, rule of law, human rights and economic and social development in the country.

Since the board first met a year ago, school enrolment has increased by an estimated 12 percent to 5.4 million students, 35 percent of them girls and 82 percent of Afghans have access to basic health services, according to the statement.

``More roads have been built, troop sizes are up and in most areas forward momentum is being maintained,'' said Tom Koenigs, co-chairman of the board and United Nations Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon's special representative for Afghanistan. The board called on Karzai's government to draft a national anti-corruption strategy by October and start planning for the 2009 elections.

JCMB finds Afghanistan Compact on track

KABUL, May 1 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board (JCMB) - a central mechanism for coordination between the Afghan government and the global fraternity - met here on Tuesday to discuss progress on implementation of the Afghanistan Compact.

Adopted at the London conference in January 2006, the fiver-year Afghanistan Compact succeeds the Bonn Agreement and lays out a framework for international engagement with the Central Asian country through a series of benchmarks for consolidating peace, strengthening institutional and human capacities and pursuing political, economic and social development.

Meeting a year after its inaugural session of April 30, 2006, the JCMB found the Compact on track with momentum on both early and longer-term benchmarks. However, the participants also noted the need for accelerating work on turning initial outputs into meaningful changes for the Afghans.

In a statement released after the meeting, the JCMB said the ceiling for the number of Afghanistan National Police officers had been temporarily increased to 82,000, and improved coordination on energy issues was beginning to show positive results.

Political commitment remained firm and the government and its partners made progress in developing sectoral strategies needed for attaining Compact benchmarks and finalizing the Afghan National Development Strategy by mid-2008, it added.

Last year was successful, a problem-solving mechanism for Compact implementation and monitoring was established, and significant progress has been made in key sectors," said Professor Ishaq Nadiri, JCMB co-chair and senior economic adviser to President Karzai.

However, he hastened to point out, there had been some unexpected challenges from insecurity in the south and southeast of the country. We are glad that there is progress to report, but we must focus more energy on implementation to ensure that this progress soon becomes more evident on the ground.

In healthcare, in education, in community projects, in microfinance, in government revenue collection, in the modernization of the Afghan National Army - in each of these areas and many others, we are moving forward, said Tom Koenigs, JCMB co-chair and special representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan.

But now, as the Afghanistan Compact enters its second year, we must look beyond this room and devote our attention to ensuring that the JCMB and its associated consultative mechanisms produce even more tangible outputs and visible action, he stressed.

Recommendations for strengthening the Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups programme will meanwhile be presented to the next JCMB meeting. Within the next five months the electoral cycle will need to be simplified.

By October 2007, the government is required to draft a national anti-corruption strategy. The JCMB also called for Government efforts to implement the work plan on transitional justice, launched on December 10 last year.

17 uplift projects to be executed in seven provinces

KABUL, May 1 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Minister for Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) Mohammad Ehsan Zia Tuesday signed agreements on 17 development projects with private construction companies.

The projects include the construction of two clinics, seven schools, four new roads, asphalting of two others, a water reservoir and a protection wall in seven provinces - Badghis, Faryab, Farah, Bamyan, Baghlan, Balkh and Badakhshan.

Ehsan Zia said: "The immediate benefit of the projects is that they will create 5,310 working days for hundreds of individuals and their families from six months to two years."

In the longer term, the minister added, thousands of people - some for the first time - would have access to health, education and clean-drinking water facilities. Most importantly, he continued, they would be able to bring their produce and goods to the markets without any hitch or hiccup.

According to a press statement issued by the ministry, seven of the plans will be implemented in Faryab, four in Badghis and the rest in five other provinces.
The total value of the projects - financed through the Counter-Narcotics Trust Fund (CNTF) and MRRDs National Area-Based Development Programme (NABDP) - is estimated at $6,253,608.

84 percent of Afghan refugees in Pakistan don't plan to return home, report says

The Associated Press - Thursday, May 3, 2007 - ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: A vast majority of the 2 million-plus Afghan refugees in Pakistan do not intend to return home, mostly because of security fears, but Pakistan still plans to repatriate them all within three years, officials said Thursday.
The government is pushing for the refugees to go back to Afghanistan largely in response to international criticism over cross-border attacks by Taliban militants who Pakistan says often shelter in refugee camps.

But the escalating conflict in Afghanistan, where about 1,300 people have died in insurgency-related violence this year, and the lack of land and services for returnees, has raised doubts about whether the plans are feasible.

A report issued Thursday on a recent U.N.-supported registration of Afghan refugees found that 84 percent do not intend to return. Of those, 41 percent cited insecurity as the primary reason — double the figure recorded during a refugee census in 2005.

Three-quarters of the registered refugees arrived in Pakistan during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. Most are ethnic Pashtuns originating from Afghan border provinces, and 90 percent of the refugees say they have no land there.

Nevertheless, Sajid Hussain Chatta, a top official at the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions, said the government was sticking to its target for all the refugees to be repatriated on a voluntary basis by 2009.

"We have no reasons to believe that we will shift our policy," Chatta told a news conference after the report's release. "We hope the situation in Afghanistan will improve."

He said 200,000 had already gone back during 2007 and it was planned for 600,000 more to return by year's end, although those plans were still being discussed with officials of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

Four camps — housing more than 220,000 refugees — would close by September, he said. One of the first camps slated to close, Pir Alizai in southwestern Baluchistan province, houses about 36,000 people, many of them holding Pakistani ID cards. Officials have described it as a hub for militants and drug traffickers.

Some 2.1 million refugees joined the 15-week registration process, which entitles them to stay in Pakistan until December 2009. Of the 300,000 who did not sign up, 200,000 have since gone back to Afghanistan. Those remaining face deportation.

Guenet Guebre-Christos, the UNCHR representative in Pakistan, said repatriation should be gradual and take into account the "absorption capacity" of Afghanistan.

"It has to be voluntary. The people have to decide for themselves if the situation is conducive for them to return," she said. More than three million Afghans have chosen to return home from Pakistan with assistance from UNHCR since U.S.-led forces toppled the hard-line Taliban regime at the end of 2001, but tens of thousands have also come the other way, settling in Pakistan.

Some abuse `possible,' envoy says

Kabul ready to act if there's credible case of human rights violations: Ambassador

May 03, 2007, Bruce Campion-Smith, OTTAWA BUREAU - TORONTO STAR, TheStar.com - News - OTTAWA–An Afghan diplomat concedes some abuse may occur in his country's jails and says his government is launching a "high-level" investigation into recent reports of torture that have caused a political firestorm in Canada.

"It is possible that at one point or another some people under certain circumstances may have been mistreated. But to claim at this stage that these allegations are true or false, without due process and a professional investigation, is premature," Omar Samad, Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada, said in an interview yesterday.

Samad said Afghan authorities were convening an "independent" body that will include non-government bodies to examine the recent reports of abuse and torture in detention facilities in Kandahar.

"If there is a credible case of human rights violations, we have announced that we are not only going to investigate, seek help if need be, open all our doors to any monitors under a new arrangement – but also take corrective action and even enforce our laws on those who have committed violations," he said.

The ambassador also said there's no evidence so far that prisoners captured by Canadian troops suffered abuse after being transferred into the custody of Afghan authorities. "There is no proof that any of those prisoners who claim and allege to have been mistreated were either turned over by Canadian forces or have even been mistreated," he said.

Questions about the treatment of prisoners in Afghan jails have sparked a political storm on Parliament Hill over the past week, and even a demand that Canada's military stop all transfers of prisoners.

In the wake of that furor, Canadian officials struck a new deal with local prison officials in Kandahar to gain access to their facilities for follow-up visits with prisoners. Under the terms of the 2005 agreement Canada signed with Afghanistan for prisoner transfers, "there has not been any monitoring taking place until now," Samad said.

"We are right now looking at the best mechanism that would ensure not only access but adequate monitoring and follow-up," Samad said in Ottawa.But the diplomat also made clear that Afghanistan doesn't favour the solution endorsed by human rights advocates – a detention facility built and operated by NATO allies.

"We're not in the business of building extra-territorial prison facilities in Afghanistan, such as Guantanamo-type places, run by a foreign power," Samad said, referring to the U.S. prison camp in Cuba. "Afghanistan has its own institutions and will manage its own institutions but will, if need be, seek assistance," he said.

In a wide-ranging interview, Samad acknowledged Afghanistan's troubled history as he laid out the challenges of overhauling government institutions, including the justice system, undermined by years of conflict.

"We know what kind of background some of these torture and mistreatment issues have had in Afghanistan in the past 30 years. And no one claims that we now have a clean slate," Samad said.
"A country with that kind of a history and still dealing with dangerous and deadly elements in its midst is trying to reform itself and it's going to take time and effort, patience and commitment by all parties."

As Afghanistan's man in Canada since late 2004, Samad said he's been "continuously" seeking Ottawa's help in rebuilding Afghan institutions, including law enforcement. And for much of that time, he says his requests got a cold shoulder.

"It has not been an easy process," Samad said. "Certain issues that to us were a priority, which we know have far-reaching consequences of nation and state building, were ignored or were shunned."
Only in recent months has the federal government been more "engaged" and ready to tackle what Afghanistan sees as its own priorities, he said. "That includes law enforcement, training and we're still looking at other ways to improve all of this.

"Afghanistan cannot and will not become a functioning modern country without people who can run it and do so within legal bounds knowing their responsibilities to the Afghan constitution and international law."

Meanwhile, Amnesty International and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association were scheduled to go before a federal judge this morning seeking an injunction to ban the transfer of prisoners to Afghan officials. The two groups filed a court action in February charging that Canada's existing transfer agreement does not ensure detainees will not be tortured by Afghan forces.

But federal lawyers will argue there's no evidence of abuse and that the courts have no role in judging military decisions. The federal court could rule on the injunction today.

Soldiers upset over Afghan abuse allegations: Hillier

Last Updated: Wednesday, May 2, 2007 - CBC News - Some Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan are angry that allegations about abuse of detainees are deflecting attention away from their mission, Canada's chief of defence staff said Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters in the southern Afghanistan city of Kandahar, Gen. Rick Hillier said he had been talking to soldiers in the previous few hours who were upset that the allegations have taken the focus — especially back in Canada — away from all the positive things that they feel they're accomplishing.
"And let me just come out and say very frankly here, I met a variety of soldiers who are pissed off," Hillier said.

"They're angry that these allegations have detracted from the overall mission here … on the enormous amount of good that's being done, on the incredible things that are happening here in Kandahar province and around the rest of Afghanistan, and the additional security and the stability and the hope for a future that we are bringing to millions of Afghans," he said.

Asked whether he felt the same way, Hillier replied: "I never get pissed off. We have business to do. You heard what my focus is. That's looking after Canada's sons and daughters as they do the job here, and that's what I remain focused on."

For weeks, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his government have been weathering a controversy over allegations that detainees faced abuses and torture after being transferred from the Canadian military's custody to Afghan security forces.

International agencies and media reports have reported cases of Afghan detainees who said they were beaten, starved, frozen and choked after they were handed over, in particular, to Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security, an intelligence police force.

On Wednesday, Hillier said he had also spoken with the governor of Kandahar, who expressed his frustration that the allegations about his country and his government were being accepted as straight facts in Canada.

The governor also felt the allegations were taking the focus off the good being done by national and international troops in the NATO-led mission, Hillier said.

"Our soldiers, we believe, handle the detainees with the utmost professionalism according to the rules that we give them. They're trained in those rules of engagement," Hillier said. "The rules … on how you handle detainees are reviewed constantly through the chain of command. We think they're very well prepared to handle them."

Hillier said Harper's government has responded to the allegations and is dealing with the Afghan government, which has promised to investigate the allegations.

During question period in Ottawa on Wednesday, opposition MPs again accused the Harper government of misleading Canadians over the detainee affair and reiterated earlier demands for Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor's resignation.

But Helena Guergis, the secretary of state for foreign affairs and international trade, countered by saying the opposition parties were "siding with Taliban accusations" instead of supporting Canadian troops.

Opposition MPs have been on the attack over an agreement covering the transfer of detainees from Canadian to Afghan forces that Hillier signed in 2005. The agreement didn't outline any followup role for Canada once the prisoners are handed over.

There have been allegations that the Department of Foreign Affairs was pushed to the sidelines by National Defence during the process of signing the agreement.

NDP Leader Jack Layton asked the prime minister Wednesday if Hillier still had "carte blanche" to sign such agreements on behalf of Canada. "It is my understanding that Gen. Hillier would have required the approval of the Liberal cabinet ministers of the day," Harper responded.

Hillier also told reporters that the year-long inquiry into the death of Pte. Robert Costall was nearing a conclusion, with results expected to be made public within a month.

Costall died during a firefight at a coalition outpost outside Kandahar on March 29, 2006. Eight Afghan soldiers and one U.S. soldier were also killed and three Canadians were wounded. Investigators have been trying to determine whether Costall's death stemmed from friendly fire, negligence or an accident.

Hillier said he was a bit frustrated that the inquiry had taken a year, "but more importantly we want to get it right and I think we in the very near future will do exactly that."

"I would say the period of time that it took us to do that, it reflects the huge complexity of that night, having American forces, Canadian forces, Afghan forces, Afghan police in addition to Afghan army, and the Taliban all engaged during hours of darkness in a very complex and complicated piece of ground," he said.

Hillier said the military wanted to move very carefully, in collaboration with the U.S. army, to ensure that they learned from one another and shared all the facts in an effort to assemble a clear picture of what happened.

Hillier arrived at the Kandahar base on Wednesday morning on a plane that also carried 19 former NHL players and the Stanley Cup, in a visit that coincided with the NHL playoffs and was aimed at showing support for the Canadian troops.

Canada has new Afghan detainee deal, court told

Last Updated: Thursday, May 3, 2007 , CBC News
A Federal Court hearing into the handling of Afghan detainees was suspended on Thursday after government lawyers said Canada has signed a new agreement with Afghan officials.
The new deal is said to allow Canadians greater access to prisoners they have handed over to Afghan authorities.

Amnesty International in Canada had applied for an injunction to stop the Canadian Forces from passing any more detainees into Afghan custody, but proceedings were stopped temporarily until further details of the agreement are released.

The human rights group has said that the detainees are at grave risk of being tortured when handed over.

Lawyers for the federal government filed an affidavit on Thursday morning before court proceedings began. Details of the agreement were expected to be released later Thursday morning.

Amnesty had challenged the detainee transfer agreement between the Canadian Forces and Afghan authorities, saying it wanted the welfare of the detainees assured before more were handed over. It also wanted the court to consider whether the transfers contravene the Geneva Convention and other international laws

Court to hear transfer-injunction arguments

PAUL KORING - From Thursday's Globe and Mail May 3, 2007
OTTAWA — The battle over whether prisoners turned over by Canada to Afghan security forces face torture and abuse moves to federal court Thursday where rights groups will seek an injunction ordering an immediate halt to further transfers until the case can be fully heard.
The government is fighting back, firing a legal barrage urging the court to reject the claim by Amnesty International Canadian and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association that the transfers "expose detainees to a substantial risk of torture."

Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor, Chief of Defence Staff General Rick Hillier and the Attorney-General want the motion tossed out. The torture claims, they say, are unproven, based on hearsay.
"Articles in The Globe and Mail should not be admissible evidence," the government argues in a 32-page brief. That's only one of a host of arguments the government will put to the court opposing the injunction

Among the others: Halting transfers could cause more Canadian casualties; Canadian troops aren't trained or equipped to run a prison camp; building one would require showers and a place to pray; neither Amnesty nor the BCCLA can claim to speak for anonymous detainees and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms doesn't protect unknown foreigners halfway around the world.
Perhaps the most powerful arguments are that granting an injunction would interfere with the government's ability to wage war and that the courts should not allow themselves to be used by interest groups to challenge government policy.
Today's day-long hearing could be the first step in a long legal process that might end only when the Supreme Court decides the extent to which the Charter of Rights marches with Canadian forces fighting abroad.

Or it could amount to the firing of a legal blank, with the court rejecting the efforts of rights groups to assert Charter rights on behalf of unknown detainees facing uncertain fates in a faraway place.
Canadian Forces have two separate procedures for handling detainees captured during operations in Afghanistan, including one process that does not involve any oversight by human rights groups, CBC News reported yesterday.

Military documents show that Canadian troops are authorized to hand some detainees directly to Afghan authorities on the battlefield, rather than take them prisoner.

The battlefield transfers appear to circumvent a complicated set of rules that require Canadian soldiers to notify human-rights monitors when they detain Afghan militants, CBC reported.

The documents state that Canadian soldiers are allowed to decide if they want to detain a militant. If commanders think the militant has intelligence value, they can decide to take him prisoner.

If not, according to the documents, Afghan Security Forces officially make the capture. The military documents were part of an affidavit filed before a federal court by Amnesty International for a case to be heard yesterday.

"The Charter does not apply" the government contends. "The conduct at issue takes place outside Canada ... it involves unidentified individuals who ... have no connection to Canada."

The government argues that the controversy regarding allegations of torture is "being addressed as a matter of high policy by the government" and that the "the court should not employ the blunt instrument of an injunction to compromise the ability of the Canadian Forces or limit the options available to the government."

While no details are revealed about the still-secret number of detainees transferred - first to U.S. prisons and since December, 2005, to Afghan security forces - the government brief discloses for the first time the size of Canada's detainee transit camp at Kandahar air base. "It contains 16 cots in four tents, its maximum capacity is actually eight to 10 persons," says the brief, adding it is unsuitable for long-term use.

A prison camp would require "more durable structures, an ablutions area, messing facilities, provision for special religious activity and an area to exercise, none of which exist" in the transit facility.

Human rights groups in court on detainee issue

Updated Thu. May. 3 2007 - CTV.ca News Staff

Amnesty International and the B.C. Civil Liberties Union will be in court today asking a federal judge to grant an injunction that would halt the transfer of Afghan detainees from Canadian custody to local authorities.

The Conservative government has been on the defensive after allegations surfaced that detainees were tortured after being released from Canadian care. Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier signed the prisoner handover agreement back in 2005.

However, the deal has been criticized because it has no clause that allows Canada to follow up on the treatment of detainees handed over to the Afghan government.
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day may have inadvertently helped the case of the human rights groups after he acknowledged Monday that Canadian correctional officers heard allegations of torture by Afghan officials.

That comment appears to contradict one of the principal arguments federal lawyers are expected to make in court Thursday.

In their draft written response to the court action, Justice Department lawyers say the abuse claims are based on "broad hearsay" statements in newspaper articles that have not been probed or verified.
"Canadian officials have not received any notification of mistreatment or torture of detainees transferred from Canada to Afghan authorities,'' said the submission filed with the Federal Court on May 1 and obtained by The Canadian Press.

On Monday, Day told reporters that corrections officers had "talked to detainees about the possibility, if they were tortured or not. They've actually had a couple incidents where detainees said they were.''
However, Day was quick to say that the allegations had not been verified and that he was unable to confirm if they had been investigated by Canadian or Afghan officials.

Day was also unable to say if the prisoners in question had been apprehended by Canadian, Afghan or NATO forces. Responding to Day's statement, Amnesty International spokesman John Tackaberry said their case has been strengthened. "He bolstered the case that there has been a problem with torture in Afghan prisons,'' said Tackaberry.

Other arguments that government lawyers plan to raise include: Halting transfers could cause more Canadian casualties; Canadian troops aren't trained or equipped to run a prison camp; building one would require showers and a place to pray; neither Amnesty nor the BCCLA can claim to speak for anonymous detainees and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms doesn't protect unknown foreigners halfway around the world, according to The Globe and Mail.

Among the most powerful arguments is one that an injunction would interfere with the government's ability to wage war and that the courts should not allow themselves to become a conduit for interest groups to challenge government policy, The Globe reported.

If successful, the human rights groups could face a legal battle that may end up before the Supreme Court.
"This is a country that emerged from 30 years of brutality," NATO press secretary James Appathurai told CTV's Canada AM on Thursday. "They now have to build a system from nothing -- they need a prison system, they need a justice system."
"When we look at these allegations we have to keep it in context, without making excuses, but at least understanding the context."

With files from The Canadian Press

Former Liberal government approved controversial Afghan detainee deal, records show - Andrew Mayeda and Mike Blanchfield - CanWest News Service, Wednesday, May 02, 2007

OTTAWA — Former prime minister Paul Martin gave approval almost two years ago to then-defence minister Bill Graham to negotiate a detainee transfer agreement with the Afghanistan government, government documents obtained by CanWest News Service show.

The revelation, contained in cabinet correspondence and Defence Department briefing notes, comes as the Harper government continues to face heavy criticism over allegations that Afghan detainees were abused after being transferred to Afghan authorities.

The documents show that Martin, now an ordinary Liberal MP_who has yet to speak publicly on the controversy, was briefed on the outlines of the agreement more than six months before it was signed.
In a May 27, 2005 letter from Graham to Martin, the former prime minister was told that Canada planned to negotiate an agreement with the Afghan government that would spell out “explicit undertakings” on how the detainees would be treated.

The same day as the letter, Graham “authorized the Canadian Forces to seek arrangements with relevant authorities on the transfer of detainees,” according to a Defence Department briefing note. “The Prime Minister concurred with this approach on 10 June 2005,” the note states.

The documents appear to undermine an increasingly popular view in Ottawa’s corridors of power that says Gen. Rick Hillier, the chief of the defence staff, acted without proper government authority when he signed the detainee deal on behalf of the Canadian government in Kabul on Dec. 18, 2005.

The papers also shed new light on how the former Liberal government crafted a deal that has become Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s biggest political headache since taking power, sparking daily calls for the resignation of Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor.

Graham’s May 2005 letter states that the government wanted an agreement under which Afghan detainees transferred by Canada would “be afforded treatment consistent with the standards set out in the Third Geneva Convention, regardless of the legal status of those detainees.”

The letter also says that Canadians would pass information on detainees to the International Committee of the Red Cross, “which has the mandate and resources to track Prisoners of War and detainees captured during armed conflict.” However, it does not clarify whether the ICRC would report back to Canada on the condition of the detainees.

O’Connor recently apologized for incorrectly telling Parliament that the ICRC was reporting back to Canada.

On May 31, 2005, Graham and Hillier met Afghanistan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah to discuss the possibility of a bilateral “framework agreement,” according to the briefing note. In a July 28 letter, Hillier asked Graham for authority to work toward the negotiation of a bilateral agreement on the treatment of detainees. Graham signed off on the plan.

In the House of Commons Wednesday, the Conservative government faced continued criticism that it has exposed prisoners to torture in Afghan prisons after they were transferred there by the Canadian military personnel.

Harper insisted that Hillier could not have signed a bilateral agreement on the treatment of detainees without approval from the ministers of the day.

Meanwhile in Kandahar, Hillier admitted that the agreement may not have been enough to stop the torture of Afghan captives. But he insisted that signing the accord had not been a mistake because it allowed Canada to move forward with its mission.

“Truly, at the time we felt that was the right thing to do,” Hillier said, adding:_“Obviously, we would reassess that as allegations come out that perhaps that was not sufficient.”

Hillier also said that many Canadian soldiers are angry that the detainee controversy is overshadowing the good work they feel they are doing in the country.

For his part, Kandahar governor Asadullah Khalid continued to deny allegations of detainee torture, which he denounced as “enemy propaganda.” He added that his government hopes to release the details of its investigation into the matter very soon.

Unlike similar agreements reached by the Dutch and British governments, the original Canadian deal with the Afghan authorities did not contain a guarantee that Canadian officials could follow up on transferred detainees. The government has since negotiated a new agreement under which Canadian officials will have access to detainees after they are transferred.

In Ottawa, meanwhile, Amnesty International Canada and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association will ask the Federal Court of Canada today to temporarily block the Canadian Forces from transferring prisoners to the Afghan government on the grounds that the practice violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Canada’s international obligations under the Geneva Convention.

“There is a serious issue to be tried as to whether the detainees transferred into Afghan custody are subject to a substantial risk of torture or other forms of cruel, degrading or inhuman treatment,” says the notice of motion filed in the court by lawyers for the two organizations.

The motion argues there are “no territorial limits” to the charter and that its reach extends “to government agents acting in foreign countries.” Justice Department lawyers acting for the military and the government filed notice with the court to oppose the action.

In their court filings, the Amnesty and civil liberties associations argue the Forces should build their own detention facility in Afghanistan, rather than relying on the Afghan government to warehouse prisoners in jails that have prompted numerous reports of torture from groups such as the U.S. State Department, Canada’s own Foreign Affairs Department and the United Nations human rights commissioner.

The motion goes on to say that the military has “had years to make arrangements for interning detainees safely ...” The court documents indicate that between 2002 and 2006, the Forces detained 40 people in Afghanistan. With files from Jonathan Fowlie, CanWest News Service

Stockwell Day's Afghan comment helps bolster human rights groups

Canadian Press - Thursday, May 03, 2007 - stop the Canadian military's handover of Afghan detainees may have been given some unexpected ammunition by Stockwell Day.
The public safety minister's acknowledgment that Canadian correctional officers heard allegations of torture by Afghan officials appears to contradict one of the principal arguments federal lawyers will make in court Thursday.

A federal judge will be asked to grant an injunction, halting the transfer of captured Taliban fighters from the Canadian army to Afghan authorities.

The case comes as the Conservative government reels under the allegations of torture and abuse, which on Wednesday included accusations that Prime Minister Stephen Harper misled the Commons in his defence of Day's comments.

In their draft written response to the court action by Amnesty International and the B.C. Civil Liberties Union, Justice Department lawyers contend that claims of abuse within the Afghan prison system are based on "broad hearsay" statements in newspaper articles that have not been investigated or verified.

"Canadian officials have not received any notification of mistreatment or torture of detainees transferred from Canada to Afghan authorities," said the submission filed with the Federal Court on May 1 and obtained by The Canadian Press.

On Monday, Day told reporters that corrections officers had "talked to detainees about the possibility, if they were tortured or not. They've actually had a couple incidents where detainees said they were."'
But he was quick to point out the allegations had not been verified and was unable to say whether they had been investigated by Canadian or Afghan authorities. Day was also unable to say whether the prisoners in question had been captured by Canadian, Afghan or NATO forces.
The assertion, contradicting earlier statements from the Conservative government, strengthens the case of human rights groups, a spokesman for Amnesty International said Wednesday.
"He bolstered the case that there has been a problem with torture in Afghan prisons," said spokesman John Tackaberry. But a spokeswoman for Day, Melisa LeClerc, said the minister does not believe he has given a boost to the proponents of the injuction.

"Not at all; quite the contrary," she said. If Day has undercut the government's case, it would be the latest in a series of missteps involving the abuse claims.

Since allegations surfaced that at least 30 detainees, captured by Canadians and turned over to Afghan authorities, might have been abused, the Conservatives have offered confusing and contradictory explanations.
Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor last Wednesday told a Commons committee that a deal has been struck to allow Canadian authorities access to captured prisoners. He was contradicted the next day by Harper and Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada, who both said the arrangement was still being negotiated.

Opposition parties were outraged that the oral report from corrections officers - obtained by Day last week - was not clearly laid before the Commons.

But both Day and Harper insist the Commons was informed, when on April 26, in response to a question, Day said: "Two of the individuals talked with them about their treatment there and our officers raised the issue of them being in leg irons; we don't think they should be in leg irons."
Harper rose in question period on Tuesday to defend Day, waving a written transcript of the minister's statement, though he didn't quote from it. "The prime minister once again misled the house," Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said.

"He claimed the minister of public safety informed this house on April 26 of torture allegations received by Corrections Canada. That never happened."

International law experts have said Canada or NATO should take over responsibility for detainees, but the written brief filed by Justice Department lawyers at Federal Court said that's not possible.

"The (Canadian Force) does not have the infrastructure, training or personnel to maintain a detention facility in Afghanistan," said the document. It warned that holding prisoners at the temporary facility, located at Kandahar Airfield, would give captured Taliban fighters the opportunity to plan escapes.

Getting the facts straight on the prisoners in Afghanistan

By Stockwell Day is the member of Parliament for Okanagan Coqu - May 02 2007
There has been lots of fuming and frenzy in Ottawa this week on the topic of prisoners in Afghanistan. Let me give you some basic facts without the ‘spin from the Hill.’

1. In the process of pushing back the terrorist (Taliban) insurgency which threatens to destroy progress (and innocent lives) in Afghanistan, our soldiers capture Taliban terrorists who surrender when they realize they are losing. Other suspected criminals and wrongdoers are also arrested by Afghani forces.

2. There are over 30 provinces in Afghanistan; Canada is deployed mainly, but not only, in Kandahar.
3. Earlier this year Correction Service of Canada (federal prisons) sent two officers to Kandahar.

4. Their mandate is to help train the new Afghan corrections officers in the proper care of prisoners and to recommend improvements in the prisons and detention facilities. Though they are not there as UN monitors, they are able to see and talk to prisoners about their treatment in jail.

5. Though torture may have happened they cannot find evidence of it in observing the prisoners and terror suspects.

6. Complicating the question of torture, Taliban and Al-Qaeda terrorists are trained and commanded to lie if they are captured. They are told to loudly complain at every opportunity to media and others that they have been tortured, even if they have not been.

7. Since February my corrections officers have made 17 visits into the three facilities in Kandahar.
8. All of our officials have clearly been informed that they may have access to all detention facilities in Kandahar.

9. It is not our responsibility to build a prison in Canada to house suspected Taliban killers. That idea was suggested at one point by Liberal head Stephan Dion. After all, that is exactly what the Americans were criticized for when they sent terrorists captured in the Middle East to the American prison in the U.S. territory of Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

10. There is much to be done to improve the conditions in Afghani jails, but our officials are reporting step-by-step progress.

11. Though I reported a number of times (including in the pages of this newspaper) the good work being done by our corrections officers and RCMP in Afghanistan, neither the national media nor the official opposition have shown interest or asked questions about that.

12. The mission in Afghanistan is an official United Nations mission using a co-operative of more than 35 nations with troops and development officers working side by side with Afghanis and with the plea for help from the Afghan government.

Canadian soldiers walk fine line on Afghanistan’s poppy crops
The Canadian Press - Tuesday, May 01, 2007

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Nearly a century since the humble poppy first blossomed as an enduring symbol of military sacrifice, Canada’s soldiers find themselves shoulder-deep in flowers of a very different colour, striking a delicate diplomatic balance between policy and practicality.

The opium poppies that blanket Afghanistan in spring are far different and a great deal more treacherous than the red Remembrance Day variety that bloom on city streets in November.

As Canadian soldiers patrol the vibrant pink opium fields of southern Afghanistan, they walk a narrow bridge of neutral territory that divides the Afghan government’s U.S.-backed program to rid the country of poppies from the interests of dirt-poor growers whose help keeps coalition soldiers alive.

“We walk through fields all the time; every time we were patrolling through the towns, we’d walk through all kinds of (opium) poppy fields, everywhere,” said Maj. Steve Graham, a squadron commander with the Royal Canadian Dragoons, just back from two months in the volatile Zhari district west of Kandahar.

Graham and his soldiers took pains to distance themselves from the poppy-eradication teams of President Hamid Karzai, even as they worked alongside members of the Afghan National Police - the same agency that provides security for the crews tasked with destroying the crops.

“Our line is we have nothing to do with poppy eradication,” Graham said Tuesday in an interview. “But even though we want nothing to do with it and we stay away from it, it can’t help but have an impact on us.”

For Graham, it’s simple self-preservation. Local farmers who depend on the poppy crop for their livelihood are a critical source of invaluable intelligence, such as the movements of local Taliban insurgents and where improvised explosive devices - or IEDs - are planted.

“They were telling me where the IEDs were, they were telling me when guys were moving through there that they didn’t recognize, and they were pointing out a lot of good information for us,” Graham said. “Anything that damages that relationship is detrimental to what we’re doing, and there’s no doubt that poppy eradication damages that relationship.”

It gets even stickier when poppy-eradication teams come under attack from the Taliban. No less an authority than Brig.-Gen. Tim Grant, the commander of Canadian forces in Afghanistan, decides whether to intervene if a request for help comes in, Graham said.

For the Canadian government and NATO, the equilibrium is more subtle. Though Canadian soldiers play no role in poppy eradication, Canada supports the program as one of the pillars of the Afghan national drug-control strategy, said Gavin Buchan, the political director of the provincial reconstruction base in Kandahar.

Other pillars of the strategy include programs to encourage farmers to grow different commodity crops, developing alternative sources of income for locals, treatment for opium addicts and improved interdiction and law enforcement.
Perhaps the most compelling anti-poppy message is written on the faces of the local Afghans who are addicted to the drugs that make the flower so valuable and controversial.

Khan Mohammad, sitting crouched over his pipe in a Kandahar street, said he discovered opium 10 years ago when a friend introduced him to it, and hasn’t been able to stop using it since.
“Slowly and gradually my condition was getting worse day by day,” said Mohammad, whose wife kicked him out of the house. He hasn’t seen his six children in years.

“I miss my children a lot. And I feel hopelessness and helplessness,” he said. “While begging, I earn some money and I buy (drugs). I don’t have any future; I am just waiting for my death to get rid of this life.”

Messages like Mohammad’s might ultimately prove to be the most powerful weapon in Afghanistan’s nascent war on drugs, said Buchan. “The key point of it is to explain to the farmers why it is they should not grow poppies,” he said. “They understand that it destroys the lives of those who use (opium), oftentimes including those in their own community.”

Last week, NATO withdrew a radio ad paid for by the International Security Assistance Force that said coalition soldiers would not destroy opium fields. The ad aired in Helmand province, the largest opium-producing region in the world. It was pulled after complaints from Afghanistan’s Ministry for Counter Narcotics that it condoned the cultivation of the illicit crop.

One farmer in Kandahar, who gave his name only as Abdullah, said he earns about US$3,330 each season from just two hectares of land which produces 45 kilograms of poppies a year. With wheat, Abdullah said he would earn only US$1,000 during the same six-month season.

“I can feed my family very well by poppy cultivation, not by cultivating wheat or other vegetables - and several other families are being fed while working in our field in harvesting season,” he said. “It is the first and last way where people can earn a lot of money.”

Canada’s approach to the poppy problem involves helping local farmers develop alternative crop options, including a concerted effort to repair and improve irrigation systems.

Poppies are prevalent, at least in part, because they’re not as dependent on water as other crops, making them easier to grow in Afghanistan’s arid plains, Buchan said. “There’s really great potential in Kandahar; it’s a place that gets sunshine nine months of the year,” he said.

“You can pretty much grow anything as long as you’ve got the water. If you can improve their access to water, that makes it more viable to rely on commodity crops.”

UN-BACKED BODY SAYS RECONSTRUCTION PLAN FOR AFGHANISTAN ON TRACK

Press Release - UN News Center - May 1 2007 - The high-level United Nations-backed body tasked with overseeing the Afghanistan Compact, a five-year reconstruction blueprint for the war-ravaged country, said today that since its inaugural meeting last year, the implementation of the plan - which aims to bolster security, economic development and counter-narcotics efforts - is on track.

However, the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board (JCMB) also noted that while the Compact is capitalizing on momentum to meet both short and long-term goals, it is necessary to translate these efforts into meaningful changes for a majority of Afghans.

"Last year was successful," said Ishaq Nadiri, JDMB co-chair, professor and senior economic adviser to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, referring to the problem-solving mechanism established and implemented. "We are glad that there is progress to report, but we must focus more energy on implementation to ensure that this progress soon becomes more evident on the ground."

He added that the Compact's success was challenged unexpectedly by the unstable security situation in the south and south-east of the country.

Meeting at the Afghan capital Kabul, the body welcomed increased commitments to meet the country's most pressing needs. The number of Afghanistan National Police officers has been raised temporarily to 82,000, and enhanced coordination on energy issues has yielded beneficial results. In addition, the Government and its partners have made progress in attaining the benchmarks of the Compact, which was adopted last January.

In terms of short-term targets, successes include the functionality of the National Assembly, the start of Government discussions with its partners on investment in natural resource harvesting and the coming into effect of four key laws regarding investment and the private sector.

Regarding longer-term benchmarks, the JCMB reported that school enrolment has surged 12 per cent to 5.4 million students, of whom 35 per cent are girls. Over 80 per cent of Afghans now have access to basic health services, while 132 million square metres of land has been cleared of mines since last March.

"In healthcare, in education, in community projects, in microfinance, in government revenue collection, in the modernization of the Afghan National Army - in each of these areas and many others we are moving forward," said Tom Koenigs, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan and JCMB co-chair.

"But now, as the Afghanistan Compact enters its second year, we must look beyond this room and devote our attention to ensuring that the JCMB and its associated consultative mechanisms produce even more tangible outputs and visible action."

In another development, the head of the UN World Health Organization met with President Karzai to discuss how to stamp out polio, once and for all in Afghanistan, which is one of the four remaining countries yet to eradicate polio.

WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan met with President Karzai at the Arg, or Presidential Palace, in Kabul yesterday to discuss the next steps to stop the spread of the disease, including how to reach migrant, nomadic and displaced children so they can receive the vaccine.

"Afghanistan can win the polio race," President Karzai told Dr. Cho. "As we rebuild our country, we will ensure that no Afghan child will ever again be paralyzed by this terrible disease."

Afghanistan, which recently vaccinated over 7 million children against the disease, is the only country among those still affected by polio to not have reported any cases since last November.

Dr. Chan's visit is the first leg of a two-part journey to Afghanistan and Pakistan to encourage joint efforts to curtail polio transmission, which straddles the long and porous border between the countries, which are considered a single "block of transmission."

She also conferred with President Karzai on synchronizing plans with Pakistan to curb transmission of polio. Although Afghanistan has been polio-free so far this year, Pakistan has reported cases which are genetically related to the virus detected in Afghanistan last year.

During her stop in Afghanistan, Dr. Chan met with NATO and the International Security Assistance Force to investigate ways of negotiating pauses in the fighting to allow medical workers to vaccinate children, since the security situation in the southern region of the country and in areas bordering Pakistan makes it hazardous for health professionals to operate.

"Days of Tranquillity and a sense of security for health workers are indispensable for Afghanistan to protect its children from polio and to lead the world towards the complete eradication of this disease," Dr. Chan said.

Last year, the country reported 31 cases of polio, up from just nine in 2005, and most of the new cases were in the Southern Region. Afghanistan still needs almost $20 million to meet its immunization needs for 2007 and 2008.

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative, a worldwide effort spearheaded by WHO, the UN Children's Fund, Rotary International and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was launched in 1988 when over 125 countries were impacted by polio.

Afghan Refugees Live Precariously in Germany - DW

Afghan refugees came to Germany to escape the chaos of war back home, but after reaching the country they live with the fear of deportation. For some, the thought of being sent back is more intimidating than suicide.

There are currently up to 180,000 illegal immigrants living in Germany, according to government statistics. They arrived in the country with nothing, least of all a visa or legal residence permit, were placed in community housing projects and given "tolerated" status by the government, which maintained the right to deport them at any time.

Some 30,000 foreigners officially sought asylum in Germany in 2005, the most recent year for which official records exist. Many of them were Afghans, chased out of their country either by the repressive Taliban regime or the US-led war that overthrew it.

Once in Germany, some would rather die than return to the turmoil of their home country, according to Bernd Mesovic of Pro Asyl, a refugee lobby group.

"During one deportation attempt, a 35-year-old Afghan refugee once jumped from the stairs leading up to the plane and broke both of his legs," he said, adding that, while being treated for the injuries, the man told doctors he would kill himself if authorities tried to deport him again.

Traumatized by events in Afghanistan, many refugees are afraid of being forced to return. Mohammed Ali, an Afghan asylum-seeker in Hamburg, said he "experienced a great deal of suffering (in Afghanistan)."

"We had very many problems there, political as well as family-related," he said.
Ali is a newcomer in Hamburg, but deportation is a possibility regardless of the amount of time a person has spent in Germany, a fact that can be especially problematic for the children with "tolerated" immigration status. After attending German schools, training for a job or working for a German company, they can find themselves being sent "home" to a country they have only seen on TV.

This needs to change, said Sybille Laurischk, the free-market liberal FDP party's delegate for migration affairs. "A considerably more liberal clause is needed in the law, so that (these youths) can finish their vocational training, which would give them opportunities to get along better in their home countries," she said.

In mid-March, Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government of Social Democrats and Christian conservatives enacted a new law for these 180,000 "tolerated foreigners." The new law would grant them the right to stay in Germany if they find work by the end of 2009.

Under pressure from the state governments in Bavaria and Lower Saxony, a compromise was reached that does not require the states to extend full social services to refugees, prompting Pro Asyl's Mesovic to describe the law as "merciless" towards elderly and disabled immigrants.

Others voiced support for the law, saying it gives asylum seekers a "outlook for the future," in the words of German Commissioner for Integration Maria Böhmer. The compromise granting illegal immigrants the bare minimum of social services merely writes into law what has been a long-standing practice, Böhmer added.

Paymana Haydar's family fled Afghanistan in 1989, and has been living in Germany ever since. "We wanted a happy life," Haydar said. "My parents wanted us to go to school here and to live in peace and quiet, like the other children of this world. They wanted to keep us away from war and chaos."

Although there are hundreds of immigrant families like the Haydars in Germany, their chances of their becoming German citizens are slim. Laurischk said the way Germany deals with immigrants needs to be fundamentally changed.

"In our opinion, immigration cannot be controlled through asylum requests," she said. "We have introduced a motion in the Bundestag that would also define certain occupation groups as interesting for immigration. However, we are still considerably far away from that."

Mesovic said Germany's immigration policy doesn't do enough to help asylum seekers and ends up putting the burden on neighboring countries, where most refugees look for safety.

"I get the impression that Germany is distancing itself more and more from international refugee rights -- in favor of a practice that says, 'The people should stay in their regions, then we are willing to help out to some extent, but few should find asylum here in Germany and the EU.'" Homira Heidary / DW staff (ab)

Afghan TV Station Clashes With Prosecutor

Wahidullah Amani, Afghan Recovery Report, Institute for War and Peace Reporting, May 2, 2007 - A conflict between Afghanistan's chief prosecutor and Tolo TV, the country's most popular television station, has raised fears that media freedom is being eroded.

After journalists from the station were detained and hauled off to the prosecutor's office, it is Tolo TV that is being forced to apologize, under threat of prosecution.

The latest clash between the media and the government has provoked public outrage—but this is directed more against Tolo than at the authorities. This has some observers wondering whether democracy is developing just a bit too quickly for the average person in Afghanistan.

It started with a television broadcast on the evening of April 17, when Prosecutor General Abdul Jabar Sabet was shown giving a speech to parliament in which he lambasted the country's judiciary. The clip selected was, according to Sabet, misleading and distorted the true sense of what he was saying.
He settled on a fairly radical solution, sending armed men to escort the news editor and two other staff members of Tolo TV to his office.

What happened next is unclear. Some reports said the journalists were beaten, and they were shown on television looking disheveled after their encounter with the police and attorney general. Reporters say that some had bruises on their arms and backs.

But before they were released, they all signed statements saying that they had no complaints against the police or the prosecutor.

The television then began its own campaign against Sabet. It showed numerous reports that highlighted unflattering incidents from his biography, including his past as an associate of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the rogue warrior now labeled a terrorist by the United States government. It also alleged that Sabet had received land and a house from the government.

Sabet appealed to the media commission, a government body headed by Information and Culture Minister Karim Khuram. The commission's decision, delivered on April 22, was that Tolo should apologize for its behavior, while Sabet was not to be punished for his actions.

Several demonstrations occurred throughout the country, some supporting Sabet and others Tolo TV. The television station has so far refused to issue an apology, saying that all of its broadcasts were within the bounds of journalistic standards and ethics.

"We have documents that support our reporting," said Mohammad Abdullah, legal advisor to Tolo TV. "We sent these documents to the Supreme Court and the media commission."
Tolo, which was begun with assistance from the United States in 2004 by the Afghan-Australian Mohseni brothers, has been at the cutting edge since its inception.

Its news programs are widely valued for their accuracy and comprehensive coverage. The station also serves up a blend of Bollywood films, music videos, and satire, along with the tremendously popular "Afghan Star" modeled on "American Idol."

But it has offended many who feel that it violates Afghan cultural values. The parliament, made up of staunchly conservative elements, has repeatedly sought to place sanctions on the station for its "un-Islamic" programming.

Now Tolo is under attack from those who think that it has taken sides in a growing political debate that pits the Pashtun majority against the members of the former "Northern Alliance"—a collection of fighters who battled the Soviet occupation, then went on to wage a bloody civil war among themselves until they were chased out of much of the country by the Taliban in the mid-90's.
The scars from those years run deep, and many Pashtuns feel that they are being unfairly pilloried by media dominated by members of other ethnic groups. Mohammad Abdullah, legal advisor to Tolo TV, denies the accusation that the station is partisan.

"It is absolutely untrue that we are taking sides," he said. "We are very careful about balance, accuracy, and fairness in our news. And we do not pick on one group—everyone complains about Tolo."

Many have said that Tolo crosses the boundaries of what is acceptable in Afghanistan. "Tolo is not broadcasting in accordance with our culture," said political analyst Fazel Rahman Oria. Nor is there a shortage of ordinary people who dislike Tolo's irreverent attitude.

"Tolo is against Islam," said Mohammad Rahim, 35, a Kabul resident. "The prosecutor did a very good thing. Tolo is always insulting famous people. It goes completely against our culture. When I wake up at 4:30 in the morning and turn on the television, I want to hear a reading of the Koran or other religious programs. But Tolo is dancing at that time."

Another Kabul resident, Rahmin Karimyar, agreed. "If Tolo had no mistake with the news, why were they afraid to go to the prosecutor general's office?" he said. "Most of Tolo's programs are against the government, against the regime. It's okay that we have freedom of speech, but that does not mean that you can say anything you want."

Despite such grumblings, Tolo has quickly become the most watched station in the country, according to numerous polls.

This popularity has made it an attractive vehicle for those with a message, according to Oria. He believes political factions such as the recently created Jabhe-Motahed-e-Milli (National Unity Front) are trying to use Tolo as a wedge against the government.
"Tolo is being manipulated by Jabhe-Milli," he said. "They want to remove Sabet because he may make trouble for them. Tolo is the best way for them to do that."
Oria believes Tolo has targeted Sabet unfairly, saying, "They abandoned journalistic principles and started attacking Sabet from the moment he began his work."
But Oria also condemned Sabet's use of force against Tolo, even though he was provoked. "Sending police to Tolo and arresting them was also against the law," he said. "Sabet should use only legal methods."

The case has highlighted concerns that media freedom is slowly being chipped away in Afghanistan. A new law being debated in parliament may increase government controls over journalists.
"The law is generally good, but it does contain some dangerous things," said Rahimullah Samander, head of the Committee to Protect Afghan Journalists. "In particular, Article 33 states that the media must be careful to respect Afghan nationality, they cannot use swear words, they cannot insult people, libel them, and so on. But there are no definitions for these things."

If passed, the bill would also place limitations on private television stations. Programming could be censored, and they would be required to include Islamic programming in their daily schedules.

"We are worried because the fundamentalists, the mujahideen, are the majority in the parliament," said Samander. "They do not want freedom of the press, and they do not want the press to publish anything negative about their activities, about what they did in the past and are still doing. They just want the press to be under their control."

Samander said that with journalists under attack in parliament, in the government, and, increasingly, from the revived Taliban, media outlets are beginning to seek protection elsewhere—leading to bias.
"I am worried about journalism in Afghanistan," he said. "Most publications and media organizations are now starting to work for specific sides. They are losing their objectivity, and if things continue this way Afghanistan's media will lose the trust of the people and of the international community."
Journalists face a growing array of problems, he said, foremost among them interference from armed groups. "Everywhere is controlled by the gun," said Samander. "But the government's reaction to journalists is also very bad. They do not know what journalists are—for them, journalists are spies."
Nor do the soldiers of the international forces deployed in Afghanistan respect the media. "The Coalition forces and NATO make problems," he said. "Many times they have taken cameras and recorders, and only given them back after erasing everything."

The number of abuses against journalists is growing yearly, he added. "In 2004, we had 34 cases of violations against journalists," he said. "In 2005, the number grew to 50. So far in 2007, we have already had 20. These included killings, beatings, arrests, and warnings."

Oria agrees that Afghan journalists face a host of problems. "Afghan journalists are sleeping on a bed of thorns," he said. "Passing the new law will just increase the number of thorns."
But for many ordinary Afghans, the doings of the government and the media are of little concern. "Don't ask me about Sabet and Tolo," said Kabul resident Zare, 75. "I haven't had my lunch yet. Can they give me lunch?

"Whatever they're doing is up to them. I have to have a job and find food for my family. What Tolo and the prosecutor general get up to is not my business."
This article originally appeared in the Afghan Recovery Report, produced by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, www.iwpr.net.

[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.]