In this bulletin:

• Suicide attack kills two children in Afghanistan
• Canada pledges $60M to Afghan education
• Afghan minister pleads for continued assistance
• On World Teachers’ Day, UNICEF supports teacher training in Afghanistan
• Schools, youth a part of future success
• Canadians fire at two Afghan vehicles in separate incidents
• East Afghan Clashes Claim Civilian Lives
• Germany's Fischer calls for bigger European role in Afghanistan
• Loss of a USDA Employee in Afghanistan
• 'Afghanistan may be lost forever'
• What Afghanistan needs is a troop surge
• Make the case for Afghanistan
• Taliban poised for a big push
• Afghan pop star in schools drive
• A famed Afghan singer to visit her homeland after 20 years

Suicide attack kills two children in Afghanistan
October 5, 2007

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - Two botched suicide attacks in Afghanistan on Friday killed two children and injured four other civilians, officials said.

An attacker accidentally set off his explosives before reaching his intended target of an Afghan military compound in Sangin district in southern Helmand province, police said.

"He mistakenly detonated as he was getting ready just outside the army compound killing two children," district police chief Mohammad Wali told AFP.

In a second incident, in eastern Kunar province, a suicide attacker fell to the ground while he was being chased by police, triggering his explosives, an official said.

Four nearby civilians were wounded in the blast, provincial spokesman Zarghun Shah Khaliqyar told AFP.

The attacker had been walking towards a joint Afghan and foreign forces base in Nari district of the province. After ignoring orders to stop, he threw a hand grenade at police who fired shots and chased him down, Khaliqyar said.

"After he threw the grenade at police and started running, police shot him. The grenade explosion and gun shots made people hide in shops and other places, that is why the suicide blast did not cause heavy casualties," Khaliqyar said.

The Taliban have vowed to step up their suicide attacks over the holy month of Ramadan which started three weeks ago.

There have been more than 100 suicide attacks this year mainly targeting US and NATO-led forces as well as the Afghan police and army.

The extremist Taliban was ousted from power in late 2001 for sheltering Al-Qaeda and are waging a bloody insurgency that targets mainly Afghan and international soldiers, although civilians have also been killed.

Canada pledges $60M to Afghan education

Sarah Boesveld The Ottawa Citizen Friday, October 05, 2007

Canada pledged $60 million over four years to education development in Afghanistan yesterday, but critics have raised questions on whether the money will be properly tracked.

The millions will go to Afghanistan's Education Quality Improvement Project, one of nine programs managed by the World Bank's Afghanistan Redevelopment Trust Fund. It will buy textbooks, fund teacher training and help build schools, Afghan Education Minister Mohammed Haneef Atmar said.

But the Senlis Council, an international think-tank that tracks government distribution of humanitarian aid, recently found CIDA hasn't put its money where its mouth is nor have its commitments been clearly tracked.

Senlis followed $39 million CIDA transferred to Kandahar last year to see where it was spent. In August, Senlis officials visited the site of a hospital maternity unit CIDA said was to receive $35,000 through UNICEF. When Senlis arrived, they found nothing, not even a tent.

This is just one example of CIDA's untraceable tracks, said Senlis president Norine MacDonald.

"We have not seen even a minimal level of effectiveness in CIDA projects in Southern Afghanistan, so we would hope, of course, that they would do a better job on this project," she said.

When reached yesterday, CIDA spokesmen said the World Bank's trust fund is audited by PriceWaterHouseCoopers, which routinely reports to the World Bank, though it wasn't specify how often.

It was not confirmed who specifically will ensure Canada's $60 million will be spent on books and school building. Nor was it specified how often CIDA contacts its organizations to track its finances.

This isn't good enough, says Almas Bawar, director of Canada's Senlis chapter.

"There's no clarity in where they're heading and what they're doing. They give money, but they're not sure where it's going," he said. And while Ms. MacDonald admits education funding will help Afghan redevelop, she said CIDA still has much to be accountable for.

"There's no way anybody could criticize the government for supporting education in Afghanistan," she said. "But that doesn't let them off the hook from the absolute necessity of doing food aid and medical assistance."

According to Senlis, CIDA has spent 10 times more on the military than on development aid.

Though Mr. Atmar said he is grateful for the funding, he said four years of funding just isn't enough.

"Education needs at least a 10-year commitment. CIDA, if you're going to be our friend, be our friend at least for 10 years," he said.

Mr. Atmar will end his four-day trip to Canada today. He said he came not only to champion Canada's support for Afghan education, but to say thank you.

"The first reason (for visiting) was to thank Canadians on behalf of our people and government, and at the same time say they are making a difference in Afghanistan," he said. "We are very grateful."

Afghan minister pleads for continued assistance

OMAR EL AKKAD October 5, 2007

Afghanistan's Minister of Education arrived in Toronto yesterday to make an impassioned plea for Canadians to continue supporting his country's fledgling social programs.

Mohammed Haneef Atmar presented his audience with an ambitious plan to revolutionize Afghanistan's small but growing educational system, firmly tying the system's future - as well as the security of his nation - to the fortunes of Afghanistan's women.

"Children of an educated mother would never become terrorists," he said. "At least not in our context."

In a frank half-hour speech, Mr. Atmar described the country's madrassas, or Islamic religious schools, as the biggest threat to educating girls in Afghanistan. However, he proposed reforming and integrating such schools, rather than excluding them from Afghanistan's new education system.

"The old policy of exclusion is what led to this disaster," he said.

Mr. Atmar's visit to drum up support for his government's programs comes at a time when Canadian attention is largely focused on the military side of this country's involvement in Afghanistan, something the minister was quick to praise as vital to his nation's security.

"This is something we deeply appreciate," Mr. Atmar told an audience during a speech at Toronto's Westin Harbour Castle hotel. "It will be written in golden scripts in our history books."

But Mr. Atmar was also quick to point out that war rages in only six of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, and that a solid educational infrastructure is vital if the country is ever to become independently functional.

With just over a year on the job, Mr. Atmar is charged with reforming a part of Afghan society that was decimated under Taliban rule. Yesterday afternoon, he presented his Toronto audience with a slew of statistics, initiatives and challenges that outline his mandate.

Mr. Atmar's appearance in Toronto was organized by Unicef Canada, whose president and CEO, Nigel Fisher, also spoke, describing Mr. Atmar as "a man, to say the least, with a difficult job." The meeting was moderated by Raymond Théberge, director general of the Canadian Council of Ministers of Education.

Both Mr. Fisher and Mr. Atmar repeatedly stressed that while the Afghan education system has a long way to go, it is far better than it was after two decades of war followed by six years of Taliban control.

Six years ago, there were fewer than one million Afghan children in school, Mr. Atmar said, and most of those were learning in secret. Today, six million children are in school - two million of them girls. Where there once were virtually no female teachers in the country under the Taliban's strict interpretation of Islamic law, there are now 40,000.

However, the shortage of female teachers is still the biggest obstacle to getting more girls in school, Mr. Atmar added. In primary school, he said, there are roughly two boys for every girl. In secondary school, that ratio rises to four boys for every girl. As Afghan girls grow older, he said, their families prefer they be taught by women. But because more girls are being taken out of school at the secondary level, fewer of them end up becoming teachers.

"That creates a vicious circle that needs to be broken," Mr. Atmar said.

After his speech, Mr. Atmar took a number of questions from audience members, including Afghan Canadians. One audience member asked whether his plan to have individual parent councils take full responsibility for their own schools could lead to ethnic discrimination among Afghanistan's various tribes. Mr. Atmar replied that he saw more of such discrimination among Afghan politicians than he did among local population.

"If we get rid of the politicians," he said, "this country would be much better."

On World Teachers’ Day, UNICEF supports teacher training in Afghanistan
KABUL, 5 October 2007 - To address the shortage of qualified teachers in Afghanistan, UNICEF is supporting the Ministry of Education in training 80 master trainers and 16,000 female teachers from 11 provinces with courses in pedagogical skills, teaching methodologies, classroom management, lesson planning and child development.

Since 2004, UNICEF has supported the Ministry of Education in establishing nine teacher training colleges across the country. These colleges are designed to help redress years of underinvestment in teacher training which has led to a marked decline in the number of teachers and in teaching standards.

In 2006, UNICEF and partners supported the training of 40,000 teachers on pedagogy through a joint teachers’ education programme. Also, 57,766 teachers of primary grades were oriented on new textbooks for grades two and five, with UNICEF support.

“When I started teaching, I only had a 12th grade education and I knew nothing about the profession,” said Toorpaikai Roshngar, a second grade teacher who has taken part in five training sessions on textbook orientation, child development, classroom management skills and child-friendly teaching.

UNICEF and partners are also supporting the Government of Afghanistan in developing two-year training curriculum, syllabi and instructional materials for pre-service training of teachers as well as a comprehensive teacher-training system in primary education, including strategies for enlarging the pool of female teachers.

“The drive to increase the number of female teachers and improve standards of teaching is an important step in ensuring that girls continue to return to the classroom, and to reduce the risk of drop-out amongst pupils already enrolled,” said Catherine Mbengue, UNICEF Representative in Afghanistan.

Female teachers were barred from practising their profession during the Taliban rule. Since 2002 UNICEF has been working to train female teachers for formal and community-based schools around the country.

Schools, youth a part of future success

David Ramsay The Leader-Post Friday, October 05, 2007

KANDAHAR PROVINCE -- It has taken more than half a day, along with the help of dozens of soldiers and some very sophisticated and expensive military hardware, to travel to a small school northwest of Kandahar City from Kandahar Air Field.

The trip takes six Canadian journalists visiting Afghanistan this week as guests of the Department of National Defence about one hour to complete. We spend the first part of the day in briefings, learning about security threats and how to respond in case of an attack.

We are then transported in a convoy of LAV-3 armoured vehicles, each manned by at least four soldiers, most of whom are equipped with massive firepower.

They are there to protect us in one of the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan.

The trip is uneventful in an area where suicide bombs and improvised explosive devices remain a constant fear.

The only incoming objects faced by the soldiers in our convoy this day are rocks thrown by Afghani children.

For us, the worst part is the dust. It is like a mist and covers everything in the close confines of the LAVs. Picture a hot, dry and windy day in Saskatchewan when there seems to be more soil in the air than in the fields. That would be a good day in this part of Afghanistan.

But in many respects, our trip is much easier than the one made daily by the more than 500 students who attend a modest school in a small village near Kandahar City. The Baba Wali Sahbb school, the only one in the area not damaged by the Taliban, is an example of how a very small amount of money can pay big dividends.

The key to the school's success: A non-descript concrete wall, built with Canadian money and designed by Canadian soldiers with the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team, at the bargain-basement price of $24,000. The team is helping to rebuild Kandahar province, taking on a variety of projects, large and small, including the construction of much-needed police stations.

When the wall at the school was completed earlier this year, attendance took a big jump. Many parents had been refusing to send their children, worried about their safety in an area where the Taliban's influence is still felt. Better to have them alive, well and uneducated at home than in danger at a school that doesn't provide any level of security or privacy.

Villagers had requested a wall for two reasons: To make the building a little safer for students and teachers alike, and to keep the students, especially the 70 girls, out of sight, and hopefully, out of mind of Taliban supporters.

But even with the wall in place, the school -- like Afghanistan itself -- is a work in progress. Paint peels from the walls, and there is nothing in the classrooms but old desks and small chalkboards. There are too few teachers, too many kids for too few classrooms (as many as 70 are scrammed into each room), and an uneven gender balance.

Niaknazar Band, the school's caretaker, says because of lingering cultural and tribal traditions, only about one-sixth of the students are girls and the oldest is no more than 10 years old. He adds many more students could be attending, estimating there are about 1,000 children within walking distance of the school.

As we walk around the grounds, we are followed by a throng of Afghani students. Like the children we saw earlier in the week in Kabul, they are very friendly and seem to genuinely like Canadians. Their day is made when soldiers begin handing out dozens of colourful hand-made cards created by students in Canada.

On many occasions during our trip, we are reminded that Afghanistan's future rests with its children. How they will turn out will depend very much on whether they have an opportunity to attend school.

By building a wall, a major barrier to a better future has been reduced for the students at a small school near Kandahar City.

- David Ramsay is the Leader-Post's Deputy Editor (nights)

Canadians fire at two Afghan vehicles in separate incidents

Matthew Fisher CanWest News Service Friday, October 05, 2007

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- A Canadian convoy was involved in two shooting incidents late Thursday as it drove to and from a Canadian base in Kandahar City and the airfield that is home to most of Canada's troops in Afghanistan.

The convoy, which was part of Canada's Provincial Reconstruction Team, first shot at an Afghan truck that had driven too close, a military spokesman said. There were no casualties.

On the return journey, the same convoy shot at a second vehicle that also drove too close, wounding an unknown number of Afghan civilians.

The shootings, which the military described as "escalation of force" incidents, highlighted the confusing and dangerous world that the Canadians enter whenever they leave their heavily fortified bases and take to the roads of Afghanistan where suicide bombers and buried improvised explosive devices often await them. More than 40 of the 71 Canadians who had died in Afghanistan have been killed in such attacks.

The first vehicle that was hit belonged to their allies in the Afghan National Police. The second vehicle belonged to Compass, a private company that provides security for a number of countries with troops and civilians living and working at the Kandahar Airfield.

Seven Afghans later turned up at the main gate to the Kandahar Airfield saying they had been wounded in the second shooting. Four of the seven were admitted to NATO's multi-national hospital for treatment. Three were quickly released. The fourth patient's condition was listed as stable.

Both incidents were being investigated by military police, including how many Afghans had been injured, said Capt. Josee Bilodeau.

"We are to review all our measures to make sure that such sad incidents do not happen again," she said.

The Canadian convoy was escorting vehicles from NATO's International Security and Assistance Force. They were returning from Helmand province, which is the responsibility of British troops. Canada has responsibility for Kandahar Province.

Earlier this week, another Canadian convoy based at Kandahar Airfield shot at a motorcycle, killing the driver and wounding his brother, a 12-year-old boy. The boy, who was struck in the head by a bullet, is in stable condition in an induced coma after surgery at the NATO hospital.

That incident also remains under investigation by military police.

East Afghan Clashes Claim Civilian Lives

By FISNIK ABRASHI

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S.-led coalition and Afghan troops clashed with insurgents during a raid in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, and civilians as well as militants were killed. In the country's volatile south, separate explosions apparently targeting NATO forces killed two children and a British soldier.

The joint force came under attack during a raid on compounds suspected of housing militants in Waza Khwa district, in Paktika province. In the ensuing battle, several Taliban fighters, but also civilians — including a woman and a child — were killed, a coalition statement said.

The military said it investigate the deaths, while blaming militants for using civilians as cover. Initially, the coalition had said there were no civilians killed and wounded in the clash, one of the latest in soaring violence in the country.

It was not immediately clear exactly how many people were killed.

Spokesman Maj. Chris Belcher said in the statement that Taliban fighters opened fire and threw grenades at the coalition and Afghan forces.

"Afghan and coalition forces countered the attack with a combination of small-arms fire and precision munitions strikes effectively neutralizing the threat to the team," he said.

The building housing the militants was destroyed and several coalition soldiers were wounded in the fighting, the statement said.

"During the follow-on assessment, coalition forces found several adult males, an adult female, and one child dead and two children wounded in the building housing the militants, who were engaging the combined force," the statement said.

In the restive south, a suicide bomber approaching NATO and Afghan forces blew himself up prematurely in Helmand province's Sangin district on Friday, killing two children, said district police chief Wali Mohammad.

There were no casualties among Afghan or NATO forces in that explosion, but a British soldier was killed in a separate blast Thursday about 19 miles west of Kandahar city, the British Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

Britain has some 7,000 troops in Afghanistan, where they are engaged in fierce, and increasingly bloody, fighting against the resurgent Taliban militants, mostly in the province of Helmand.

Eighty-two British personnel, including 57 soldiers, have been killed in Afghanistan since operations began there in November 2001.

Violence in Afghanistan has reached new highs this year, with nearly 5,100 people killed in suicide bombings, gun battles, airstrikes, and roadside bombs around the country through the first nine months of the year, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Afghan, U.S. and NATO officials.

Germany's Fischer calls for bigger European role in Afghanistan

BERLIN (AFP) — Former German foreign minister Joschka Fischer urged Europe to boost its backing for Afghanistan and chided his Greens party for its flagging support for the mission in the war-torn country.

Fischer told a news conference for the launch of his political memoirs, "The Red-Green Years: German Foreign Policy -- From Kosovo to September 11," that it had pained him to see his own party break with what he called one of the key decisions of his seven years in office.

"I believe more needs to be done in Afghanistan -- everything that is possible. That is not intended as criticism of my party -- it has to decide for itself -- but it is my personal view," said Fischer, who had threatened to resign in 2001 if his party did not support the deployment in an international peacekeeping force.

The Greens, a party with pacifist roots, voted at a stormy conference last month against the continued deployment of 3,000 German troops and Tornado surveillance planes in Afghanistan ahead of parliamentary votes on extending the mandates.

Fischer was the first foreign minister worldwide from a Green party and is considered here one of the most talented politicians of his generation.

He said he deeply regretted the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, which he vehemently opposed, saying it had drawn desperately needed reconstruction funds and diplomatic attention away from Afghanistan.

Fischer said the effort to stabilise the country would fall increasingly to the Europeans.

"We will remain linked to this crisis region whether we like it or not, particularly because of our strong Muslim minority," he said.

Fischer's 444-page tome covers the time from his taking office in 1998 to the September 11 attacks on New York in 2001, which he called a "historic turning point."

He retired from politics after the 2005 election that brought conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel to power in a "grand coalition" with former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats.

Fischer, 59, recently returned from a stint as a lecturer at prominent US university Princeton and speculation is rife about a possible future job in the European Union or the United Nations.

The sharp-tongued orator's unlikely rise from a radical activist in the 1970s to the country's top diplomat has long fascinated Germans and is expected to drive book sales.

He is already planning a second volume of his memoirs.

Fischer expressed some sympathy for Germans' squeamishness over the country's deployment in Afghanistan, saying it was a lesson they had drawn from their bloody history.

"It think it is good that there is a fundamental skepticism on military missions," he said. "That is something I appreciate about Germany and that I often mention when I travel."

He said Merkel needed to do more to convince Germans of the Afghanistan engagement's importance but for himself ruled out a return to political life.

Germany has resisted pressure within NATO to send any of its troops to volatile southern Afghanistan where US-led forces are fighting insurgents.

Berlin has kept its contingent in the relatively calmer north and opted to focus on training security forces and rebuilding infrastructure.

Public support for the mission is waning, with 52 percent saying in a recent poll that Germany should withdraw its troops.

Fischer, who was also vice chancellor in the so-called Red-Green coalition, acknowledged differences with his former boss Schroeder, particularly over human rights in Russia and China and arms exports to Turkey. But he said he thought history would judge Schroeder kindly.

Loss of a USDA Employee in Afghanistan

Author: Acting Secretary Chuck Conner Published on Oct 5, 2007, 07:07

Statement by Acting Secretary Chuck Conner regarding the loss of a USDA employee in Afghanistan.

"It is with much sadness that I confirm the death of Steven Thomas (Tom) Stefani, a USDA Forest Service employee on voluntary assignment with the USDA Foreign Agriculture Service in Afghanistan. He was serving on a Provincial Reconstruction Team as an agricultural advisor when he lost his life yesterday in an explosion that impacted his convoy near Ghazni.

"In Afghanistan, Tom was developing and implementing projects to help the people of the Ghazni Province. He worked directly with Ghazni's Director of Agriculture to create a reconstruction plan that included a poultry rearing facility and other agricultural advancements. Last month, Tom proudly reported that construction had begun on a cold storage facility for farmers to store their commodities, which would enable them to preserve and sell the products. He had also worked on a project to improve grape production and management practices. Tom's contributions will have a real and lasting impact on the people and agricultural economy of Afghanistan.

"For USDA, Tom was a respected Rangeland Management Specialist on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Nevada. As a rangeland management specialist he worked with permit applicants to balance livestock needs with those of rangelands. He developed grazing strategies to help achieve this balance. Tom was a problem-solver and a tremendous ambassador for the department and the U.S. government.

"The fact that Tom recently requested an extension of his service time in Afghanistan speaks to his courage and commitment to protecting our freedom and creating a better life for a deserving people. I extend my deepest condolences to Tom's parents, brothers and friends. They should be very proud of all that Tom accomplished, both here at home and abroad.

"I call on all Americans to reflect on the great sacrifices being made by many brave men and women, including those in uniform and civilian volunteers, to protect our freedom."

BACKGROUND:

USDA Agricultural advisors volunteer to serve 6 to 9 month assignments in Afghanistan or Iraq. They help to enable the Afghan and Iraqi governments to support and provide reconstruction services to the agricultural sector.

Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) are military units of 50-100 personnel with 2-3 civilian advisors. Since 2003, USDA has detailed 37 volunteer agricultural advisors from 9 USDA agencies on long-term PRT assignments. As of October 5, 2007, USDA has 8 agricultural advisors in Afghanistan and Iraq and 18 additional advisors scheduled to be detailed by November 2007.

Prior to deployment, these volunteer advisors participate in a rigorous 2 week military/civilian training program at Fort Bragg, NC. This training includes area studies, security awareness, and risk assessment.

'Afghanistan may be lost forever'

Washington, Oct 5 (ANI): A US congressional panel was warned that the Bush Administration's Afghan policy had totally failed and Afghanistan was on its way to be lost forever.

At a panel hearing of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Republican congressman D. Rohrabacher also blamed the Clinton Administration, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia for creating the Taliban.

"Let me repeat that the Clinton Administration, along with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, created the Taliban," he said.

"And during the 1990s, the Clinton Administration stuck with that deal and tried -- and undermined every effort for those of us who were opposed to the Taliban."

Rohrabacher also blamed the ISI and other Pakistani officials for engaging in the drug trade, and claimed that the ISI has been up to their necks in the drug trade for 20 or 30 years now.

The panel's chairman, Congressman David Ackerman, painted a very bleak picture of the situation in Afghanistan, the Dawn reported.

"There is no security in much of the country. The central government's grip does not extend much beyond the environs of Kabul. In the provinces, there is no functioning local government, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime projects that 2007 will be another record year for opium production in Afghanistan," he noted.

What Afghanistan needs is a troop surge

By General Petraeus 10/5/07 8:33 AM EST | Baghdad

My advisors tell me that our old foe “Al Qaeda” is making a comeback in Afghanistan. You may remember Afghanistan as the place John Rambo defeated the Russians; a desolate place of dust and wind. I know it as the home of the most feared “Al Qaeda” operative of them all: Osama Bin Ladin. If the enemy is trying to make a comeback in the East and South, there’s only one thing we can do to counter them. I think you know where I’m going with this.

That’s right, a massive “Troop Surge.” This one at the border of Pakistan. We push thousands of troops up to the border, to control the inflow of miscreants, and make it safe for Afghanistan’s fledgling government to develop. If you’d like better numbers, you’ll have to wait for my staff to finish projecting, but just off the top of my head, I’d say 20,000 or 30,000 troops would be able to effectively seal the border, from the Khyber Pass to the deserts south of Kandahar.

I’m not seeing many negatives here, and one overwhelming positive is that the troops we’d be using for the surge in Afghanistan would be coming from Iraq. That’s right—instead of another grueling deployment to some horrible, accursed city-graveyard swarming with hate-filled insurgents, three or four lucky units could instead expect to be deployed to a place you hear so little about it *must* be a worthy cause. Afghanistan!

Make the case for Afghanistan
J.L. Granatstein Citizen Special Friday, October 05, 2007

Because public opinion has soured on our mission in Afghanistan, the opposition parties could waste the efforts of our soldiers. It's up to Harper now.

Paul Martin's Liberals put us into a combat and development role in Afghanistan, the decision shaped by then-defence minister Bill Graham and Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier. Everyone in government knew there would be killing and Canadian casualties and, to his credit, Mr. Graham made speeches in 2005 telling Canadians precisely that. So too did Gen. Hillier.

The Harper Conservative government then made the war its own when it came to power in January 2006 and soon extended Canada's commitment in Kandahar two years more to February 2009. Moreover, it did so with the support of a vote in Parliament, a move almost unprecedented in a country that since 1945 has almost always sent its troops overseas without the benefit of approval from the House of Commons.

But now as the feared casualties continue to mount, the media are divided and public opinion shaky on what Canada should do. Get out? Continue to fight the Taliban? Concentrate more on development?

Polls done by the big survey companies continue to show Quebec opinion least supportive of the mission and even more so after recent casualties in the Royal 22nd Regiment battle group now carrying the load in Kandahar. Opinion across the rest of the country seems to be holding relatively steady, the polls say. But a self-selected and very large Internet poll in the Globe and Mail on Labour Day was striking: 85 per cent (or 22,673 individuals who registered their view) said that Canada should not extend its Afghan mission past February 2009. Only six per cent believed that Canadian troops should remain until the Taliban were defeated, while nine per cent believed that a decision should be put off until nearer the February 2009 date. That last option is all but impossible given Canada's responsibility to notify NATO of its plans so that some other nation's troops (if they can be found) can take over in Kandahar.

Now, it may be that the vast majority of those calling for Canada to get out of Kandahar in 2009 have been affected by signs that the Harper government itself is looking for a way out of the commitment or, at the most, a change to a different role in a safer part of the country. There needs to be a consensus among the political parties on the Canadian role, the prime minister said, sounding only slightly different than Mackenzie King's dictum of the 1930s, "Parliament will decide."

But consensus looks difficult to achieve. NDP leader Jack Layton wants to pull out now, never mind in 2009 and never mind concerns over abandoning the Afghans. (His successful candidate in the Sept. 17 Outremont by-election even slanderously called the United Nations-authorized mission Harper's "war of aggression," arguably the vilest comment of the political season.) The Bloc Québécois, hitherto a supporter of the Canadian role, wants it to end in 2009. The Liberals, who, it needs to be repeated again and again, first put us into Kandahar, say they too want the mission to end in 2009 but leader Stéphane Dion suggests he might not vote non-confidence in the government on this issue.

Nothing much is clear from the parties' professed positions except a distaste for Canadian casualties suffered in an "American" war. Certainly there's nothing to give solace to those who believe that Afghanistan is a crucial test for Canada and NATO, although the Harper government's by-election win in Roberval may indicate that Québécois are willing to vote bleu notwithstanding the war.

Still, there is not much comfort in the opinion soundings. To me, the Labour Day poll is the key one, far more so than the balanced hedging in most national opinion polls with their small samples. A conservative national newspaper asks its readers, usually believed to be opinion-makers, a simple and direct question on-line, and more than 22,000 reply: Get out of Afghanistan in February 2009. Enough, they're saying, no more killed soldiers.

In my view, this is a shortsighted position that neglects the impact a pull-out will have on Canada's standing with our NATO friends and the potentially devastating impact it could have on the ground in Kandahar. It is the wrong position, but it certainly seems to be where opinion is driving the government.

Why? Because Canadians still haven't grasped why Canada is involved. What must be said is that the Harper government has singularly failed to "sell" the Afghan war it made its own. Ministers have not tried to explain why we are there or the differences Canada has made -- and can make -- to the lives of Afghans.

The prime minister and his key francophone colleagues have not gone into Quebec to try to bolster support for the mission in a traditionally anti-military society. It's no wonder the polls there are so defeatist. Only in September did the first regular briefings of the media begin in Ottawa; only this month did the new foreign affairs minister speak in Montreal on the war.

If the prime minister wants to preserve his and his government's credibility and a shred or two of Canada's honour, if he wants to keep alive the idea that Canada isn't getting ready to cut and run, he needs to mount a major political and media campaign on the reasons for Canada's presence and role in Afghanistan. Now. Today. Right away.

J.L. Granatstein writes on behalf of the Council for Canadian Security in the 21st Century (www.ccs21.org).

Taliban poised for a big push

By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online / October 5, 2007

KARACHI - Following the success of their 2006 spring offensive, the Taliban were expected to make even further gains in Afghanistan this year. It never happened, due to strong pre-emptive action by Western coalition forces in Afghanistan and Pakistani military action against Taliban bases in the Pakistani tribal areas.

However, plans for a mass uprising on the back of renewed insurgency activity are far from shelved, and could be implemented with vigor at the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan next week, with tens of thousands of freshly trained men pouring into Afghanistan.

The key lies in Pakistan's tribal areas, from where the Taliban draw recruits, have training camps and run their logistics.

The Pakistani Taliban and Islamabad signed peace agreements in February 2005 and September 2006, under the terms of which the Pakistani Army cut back its troop levels in the tribal areas in return for militants stopping their attacks on the Pakistani Army and forces in Afghanistan.

In July the Taliban abandoned the treaties following the storming of the radical Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Islamabad by government troops. The mosque was an outspoken supporter of the Taliban movement and many militants used it as a sanctuary.

Since then, the Pakistani military has re-engaged militants in the tribal areas, severely choking their supply arteries.

In the past 10 days, however, militants have launched at least nine carefully planned operations against security positions in both North Waziristan and South Waziristan, and in towns in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), including Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan, and in the Swat Valley.

As a result, all security operations against the Taliban and their al-Qaeda colleagues in the tribal areas have stopped, and by all accounts the army is running scared. It is estimated that Pakistan has 100,000 troops and 1,000 military posts along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

From the military's perspective, the situation is exacerbated by a political hiatus in Islamabad. President General Pervez Musharraf stands for re-election in Saturday's presidential polls, after which he is expected to step down as military head and prepare over the next few months for a civilian consensus government, most likely with former premier Benazir Bhutto. No new plans to tackle the problems in the tribal areas can be expected until this situation is settled.

The Taliban and their supporters now have the breathing space to replenish stocks and prepare for their new push into Afghanistan. It is envisaged that at least 20,000 fully trained fresh men from at least 16 entry points along the Durand Line that separates Pakistan and Afghanistan will be sent into Afghanistan.

According to people who spoke to Asia Times Online and who are familiar with the planning, the main points will be Noshki (in Balochistan province), Ghulam Khan (North Waziristan), Angur Ada (South Waziristan), Shawal (North Waziristan), and Chitral and Bajuar agencies.

The new forces will go to the front lines in Afghanistan in the southeastern provinces of Ghazni, Khost, Gardez, Paktia and Paktika, and many of them will be trained suicide bombers.

The action has already picked up in Ghazni. On Wednesday, hundreds of Taliban occupied the remote district of Ajristan, killing at least two policemen and forcing the rest to flee. The Taliban have occupied numerous other remote areas. Wednesday's attack came a day after a suicide attack on a police bus in the capital, Kabul, killed 13 people.

The strategy to attack the Pakistani Army is being orchestrated by a cabal of former army officers who have joined up with the militants in Waziristan. (See Military brains plot Pakistan's downfall Asia Times Online, September 26). They draw inspiration from the guerrilla strategy used by Vietnamese General Vo Nguyen Giap against the French and the Americans. Given the backoff by the Pakistani military, their plans are working, at least for now.

From the daring attacks on Frontier Constabulary forts in Bannu in NWFP, where fresh hostages were taken, to suicide attacks on military and paramilitary convoys in the Swat Valley, the militants' intelligence network is doing its job.

In all cases, the targets have been accurately pinpointed, and the operations carried out according to plan. The attacks have swiftly reached into the Swat Valley and send a clear message to the commanders in their barracks in Peshawar to pull back their troops or face the music.

Indeed, the latest offensive against the army has sent shockwaves through military headquarters in Rawalpindi, and it is even feared that they could spread to big cities such as Karachi, Lahore and the capital Islamabad.

Pakistani officials have admitted to more than 1,000 of the country's forces being killed in the tribal areas. Large-scale kidnappings also have a demoralizing effect on troops. To date, more than 500 troops have been abducted in different operations, the most recent being the capture of 22 in Bannu. Some of them have been swapped for Taliban prisoners, while some are still in captivity.

This week, while in the United States pleading for more time in taming the tribal areas, Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Riaz Muhammad Khan acknowledged his country had an "image problem".

Clearly it's more than just image. Pakistan's reaction - or inaction - in the tribal areas will have a direct bearing on the Taliban's offensive in Afghanistan, and the longer its troops are on the defensive, the better the chances of the Taliban.

Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief.

Q&A: Peering beyond the burqa to support Afghan women

Source: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

QUETTA, Pakistan, October 5 (UNHCR) – Lynda Lim has worked with refugees in her native Malaysia. Currently a community services officer with UNHCR in the city of Quetta in south-west Pakistan's Balochistan province, the UN Volunteer braves late-night blasts and bumpy rides to address women's issues in conservative Afghan communities. She spoke recently to UNHCR Senior Public Information Assistant Babar Baloch. Excerpts from the interview:

Has your field experience prepared you for Quetta?

Quetta is very different from my previous field experiences. Before I came, I was told about the very conservative atmosphere where women have to be appropriately dressed and covered; to be prepared for limited mobility due to the cultural and security situation. But I did not expect it to be as conservative as this. Being a woman, I find it strange when handshakes with local men are not permitted. I should not be seen walking on streets alone and must be accompanied by a man. Another shock is the sporadic bomb blasts that constantly awaken me in the middle of the night.

Describe your typical working day.

As a community services officer, my role is to address the broad protection needs of and risks faced by Afghans, focusing on the female-headed households and children who lack community support, and ensuring that their rights to basic medical services, education, water and food are adequately addressed.

The refugee camps are between two and seven hours' drive from the Quetta office on bumpy and dusty roads. My first stop when I get to a camp is the Basic Health Unit (BHU). I talk to the doctors to find out about the services, medicines and the trends in diseases. The BHU also functions like a community centre where one can access information about all the happenings in the camp.

Most Afghan women do not have the freedom to walk around the camp as it is inappropriate for them to be seen in public. They face multiple burdens and gender discrimination, and have limited access to information and discussion of these issues. Most girls are not allowed to attend school. The BHU is one of the very few places they are allowed to visit. As a woman, I have the added advantage of having direct access to them, though it takes them a while to open up. We also try to sensitize refugee men, particularly the male community leaders, by helping them to see and understand the importance of sending their girls to schools, and to recognize and respect the rights and value of every woman.

What are some of your main achievements and continuing challenges?

Working among refugees gives me a day-to-day sense of achievement. But I realize there are constraints on how much we can help them. Issues like sexual and gender-based violence are taboo in the Afghan refugee community. Speaking about their trauma puts victims at a greater risk. Many survivors do not report their cases as they may be seen by the community as bringing disgrace to their family. Therefore, it is important for us to make sure our intervention does not re-traumatize the survivor though insensitive assistance.

I worked with UNHCR's partners to reactivate a mechanism for reporting and responding to such cases in Balochistan's camps. There have been small victories – for instance, there was a woman who was badly abused by her husband. There was no way out for her, but even then it took all her courage to report it to UNHCR partners who were responsible for providing help. She finally got a divorce and now lives peacefully with her relatives. We've crossed some barriers, but there is still a long way to go and we have to keep developing capacities and raising awareness among the communities.

Reduced funding is another challenge, especially when working in a protracted refugee setting. Resources are spread thin in our programme and we have to find ways to spend our limited resources on many pressing needs of the refugees.

Nonetheless, I like the complexities of UNHCR's work – in prevention, protection, relief and to some extent, development. But there are costs, as we are always at the forefront of humanitarian crises and often face security constraints.

What have you learnt from the refugees?

It's impossible to be untouched by the strength and resilience of Afghan women against all odds. I am taken by a handful of Afghan women whom I have encountered, who live from hand to mouth but even then have a strong sense of hope. I am also impressed by the strong community support among Afghan refugees. It is amazing to see the support to widows, divorcees, orphans, elderly, physically and mentally challenged people in camps. One would think that displacement would severely affect communal bonds, but what I observe among the Afghan refugees is just the opposite.

I've also seen for myself that refugees are capable people who contribute to the host community through business and production. It is misleading to perceive them as passive recipients of humanitarian aid.

What do you see as the way out for Afghans in Pakistan?

There is no quick and easy solution. To me, the central issue is to identify the different categories of Afghans within the 2 million who have registered recently. For those who do not have any protection concerns to return to Afghanistan, gradual and voluntary repatriation can be an option after a careful assessment of the situation, to ensure that conditions of safety and dignity can be met. For those who face obstacles to return after 2009 [when the Pakistan government's Proof of Registration card expires], UNHCR must work with the two governments and international community to find other durable solutions.

Afghan pop star in schools drive

BBC News / Thursday, 4 October 2007

One of Afghanistan's most famous popular singers, Farhad Darya, has launched a project to encourage poorer children to attend school.

Mr Darya has set up a fund to help around 2,000 Afghan families, whose children have to work.

He said that he intended to put around $50,000 into the fund himself, and to travel abroad to raise more money.

The aid agency, Oxfam, has estimated that around half of Afghanistan's children do not go to school.

However, attendance is still much higher than it was when the country was ruled by the Taleban.

A famed Afghan singer to visit her homeland after 20 years

Jonathan Curiel San Francisco Chronicle Thursday, October 4, 2007

She was one of Afghanistan's most popular female singers in the 1960s and '70s, that nation's equivalent of Barbra Streisand or Ella Fitzgerald. Farida Mahwash led a privileged life in her country until 1989, when she fled its civil war and became a refugee.

Eventually she settled in Fremont, joining thousands of other Afghans who have found a welcoming environment there. Mahwash still sings the love songs and traditional music that marked her career in Afghanistan, and she never quit longing to return to the land that nurtured her for 40 years.

Today, Mahwash will realize that dream. She has been invited to give a series of benefit concerts, and will step foot in Afghanistan for the first time in almost two decades. She's excited, nervous, happy and sad - sad at how many years have passed, and at how her native country is still trying to recover from decades of war and upheaval.

"I'm trying not to get emotional, because I'm very excited to go to see my country," Mahwash said at her Fremont home before flying to Afghanistan. "Every time I think about my country, I'm just blocking my throat and I can't sing - I want to cry."

Mahwash remains an exalted figure in her homeland, particularly among older Afghans who remember her songs that were constantly played on the radio.

In music shops around the capital, and in Afghan communities in the United States and Europe, her CDs are still popular sellers. Mahwash is the only Afghan woman to attain the title of "Ustad" - an honorific, meaning "master," that Afghanistan's culture ministry gave to her in 1977.

At age 60, Mahwash retains her youthful looks and her golden voice, which is sampled by young Afghan singers on dance-oriented recordings meant to appeal to a modern generation.

Mahwash left Afghanistan because the mujahedeen threatening the government of then-President Mohammad Najibullah seemed on the verge of taking over Kabul, where Mahwash lived. The mujahedeen targeted Mahwash because she was a prominent female singer and because she was associated with the government-controlled Radio Afghanistan, said John Baily, a music professor at the University of London and an expert on Afghan music.

Kabul's government also targeted Mahwash's family. In the days before she fled, Afghan authorities arrested her husband, Farouk, after he refused to "join them," and kept him jailed for two days, Mahwash said.

After she fled to Pakistan, Najibullah's regime said she had abandoned her country and that the country's secret police would hunt her down and harm her, Baily said.

"Her life was definitely in danger," Baily said.

Mahwash returns to Afghanistan with her husband and one of her five daughters. She's unsure how Afghans will react to their visit, but she hopes they will welcome her family with the same love she maintains for her homeland.

"I will go to cities like Kabul and Herat and Mazar-i-Sharif that accept me as a singer," Mahwash said, speaking through an interpreter in Afghan language of Dari. "I'll have programs there and collect money, and give this money to charity and people who don't have houses and who are in need. ... I will try to be safe and visit places that I feel safe."

Afghanistan has changed dramatically since Mahwash lived there. When she was in her musical prime, Kabul was a Westernizing city where some women wore skirts and many Afghans listened to Elvis Presley and other American artists.

When the Taliban took over in 1996, they instituted a harsh version of Islam that banned all music and forced all women to wear the burqa. Mahwash's return to Afghanistan coincides with the sixth anniversary of the U.S.-led bombings that removed the Taliban from power.

Mahwash says she was unaware of the anniversary date. She says her visit is timed to be at the end of Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month.

At her Fremont home, Mahwash follows the prohibition to eat food during the day. Her house is replete with mementos of her country, including Afghan carpets, a photograph of the cliff-carved Bamiyan Buddhas, which the Taliban destroyed in 2001, and photos of Afghan musicians with whom she has performed.

Tears roll down Mahwash's cheeks when she remembers her mother, a teacher of the Quran who is buried in Pakistan; the details of her old life in Afghanistan; and the day in 1989 when, hurrying to leave the country, she sold the family's five-story house in the center of Kabul for the U.S. equivalent of $5,000.

"I sold everything - my house, my car, everything," Mahwash said.

When the subject changes to her music and her life in America, Mahwash smiles again. Mahwash, who has sisters and cousins living around Fremont, says that "in the worst time, the United States helped me - this is my second country." She has performed around the Bay Area, including at UC Berkeley and Stanford, and in June gave a concert at the United Nations.

In many ways, Mahwash is fortunate to be alive and still performing at such a high artistic level. When she was in Pakistan, a U.N. official discovered her amid the hundreds of thousands of other Afghan refugees and helped arranged asylum for her in the United States.

Baily, who has studied Mahwash's music and visited her in Fremont, says she is one of Afghanistan's living treasures. In an increasingly globalized world where the Internet allows people to connect with each other from disparate parts of the globe, Mahwash can release new albums that are picked up almost instantly in Kabul.

In that way, the distance between Kabul and Fremont is shorter than it's ever been. Mahwash's visit to her homeland is a chance to bridge that distance as much as possible.

"My dear Afghanistan," she says. "My dear country. ... I love my people."

[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.]