In this bulletin:

• Kabul Denies Reports Of Taliban Prisoner Swap For German Hostage
• Police handed us to Taliban, says Afghan freed with German
• Iran urged to halt refugee return
• Afghanistan shuts security firms
• US Marines propose moving force from Iraq to Afghanistan
• Commander Says NATO Should Fight Afghan Drug Trade
• 50 foreign militants said killed in Pakistan clashes
• Afghan ambassador defends executions
• Canadian military mentors celebrate Afghan army victory in Zhari district
• Canadian soldier threatened with execution by angry Afghan troops: documents
• Afghan Education Aid Announcement Makes Canada Largest Donor in Sector, Officials Say
• PM's Afghan stand bad for NATO: Dion
• Acclaimed author urges Canada to rethink 'dishonest' approach in Afghanistan
• Security worries, reprisal fears threaten Afghan food aid
• Dangerous liaisons

Kabul Denies Reports Of Taliban Prisoner Swap For German Hostage

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty - October 11, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Afghanistan's central government today is denying reports that it traded Taliban prisoners for a German hostage who was freed on October 10 after being held by Taliban kidnappers for more than two months.

International media reported that Taliban kidnappers freed German engineer Rudolf Blechschmidt and four of his Afghan colleagues in exchange for the release of five Taliban prisoners by the government in Kabul.

The source of those reports was Mohammed Naeem, a local administrative chief in the Jaghato district of Wardak Province.

Some media referred to Naeem only as "an Afghan official." And rather than identifying Naeem as a local administrator from a remote area to the southwest of Kabul, others wrongly portrayed his comments as a statement by the Afghan central government.

On October 10, RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan asked the spokesman of the Afghan Interior Ministry, Zmarai Bashari, to clarify whether there had been a swap for Taliban prisoners. Bashari told Radio Free Afghanistan that he had no information and was unable to either confirm or deny the reports.

Later, after officials in Kabul were inundated with questions from journalists about the reported prisoner exchange, Naeem retracted his earlier comments. He said no Taliban had been released, but he said five imprisoned criminals had been freed -- including the father of the Taliban commander who had abducted the German and Afghans.

Today, Bashari faced a swarm of reporters at a Kabul press conference asking what kind of deal -- if any -- had been reached to obtain the release of the hostages.

"The release occurred as a result of cooperation of elders and efforts of security forces," Bashari said. "I reject reports about any deals in this case, and we do not have any information about a deal that led to their freedom."

Blechschmidt was one of two German engineers abducted along with six Afghan colleagues in July while visiting a construction site. One of the Afghan captives apparently escaped, while the other German hostage, a 44-year-old, reportedly was shot by his abductors a few days after being kidnapped.

The Italian and Afghan governments were heavily criticized in March when five imprisoned Taliban were freed in exchange for a kidnapped Italian journalist, Daniele Mastrogiacomo. At the time, Afghan President Hamid Karzai vowed to never again trade Taliban prisoners for hostages.

Since then, there has been a series of high-profile abductions by Taliban militants and criminal gangs in Afghanistan. Unconfirmed reports of ransom payments and prisoner releases appear to have encouraged more kidnappings in recent months despite official denials. Kabul has insisted that no ransom was paid and no prisoners were exchanged for a group of South Korean hostages seized by the Taliban in July.

Police handed us to Taliban, says Afghan freed with German

KABUL (AFP) — An Afghan man freed with a German engineer after a three-month hostage ordeal on Thursday accused the group's police escort of handing them over to their Taliban kidnappers.

The Afghan, who did not want his identity revealed for fear of retaliation from his captors, told AFP a day after their release that he also saw a second German hostage shot dead after they were seized on July 18.

The man said he feared he would suffer the same fate after the group from two construction companies were seized in Wardak province near Kabul.

He also revealed that a total of five Afghans had been released with the German, not four as originally stated by a district governor on Wednesday.

The surviving German, 62-year-old Rudolf Blechschmidt, flew out of Afghanistan early Thursday after he and the others were released by the extremists in exchange for five Taliban prisoners.

The group had travelled to a dam in Wardak called Band-i-Sultan where they had been contracted to repair the dam wall, the man said.

They had been escorted by local police who had been communicating with someone by telephone during the trip, saying when they would get there.

They were captured 10 minutes after their arrival, he said. "Before we started doing anything, we saw the Taliban walking towards us.

"I told the police, 'The Taliban are coming.' But they did not do anything. I took a rifle but one of the policemen slapped me and said, 'There are more than 50 to 100 Taliban here. Why do you do that'?"

But their abductors only numbered a few and the group -- two Germans and six Afghans -- were bundled off as police stood by.

"The police of our own country handed us over to the Taliban," the man said. "When the police of my own country trades me and deals with the Taliban, how can one trust anyone?"

He said their abductors were prepared to start killing the Afghan hostages when they received word that the father of one of the ringleaders had been picked up by intelligence police.

The father was one of four men eventually released from custody in exchange for the hostages, he said.

However Jaghato district governor Mohammad Naeem said Wednesday five Taliban were freed for the group, which a Taliban spokesman confirmed. The interior ministry said however it did not know of any prisoners being released.

The freed hostage said that during his time in captivity, the group was moved around often, never spending more than a few nights in one place.

They were made to carry their captors' weapons and saw them rig up a car bomb.

A few days into their ordeal, one of the Germans who struggled to keep up with the rest of the group was shot dead by a Pakistani Taliban whom the captives called Mullah Grenade because he was short and stout.

"The mountains were very hard to climb and he was always last and asking, 'Please go slowly'," the freed hostage said.

"Mullah Grenade kicked him in the chest, and said, 'Why do you always complain?' And then he shot him'."

In the next weeks, the Taliban allowed another of the Afghans to "escape" after apparently receiving money for him from his family, he said.

Late last month, a deal was reached in which the group was to be freed for a sum of money -- around 600,000 dollars.

They were in International Committee of the Red Cross vehicles, ready to go, when Afghan intelligence officers arrested two men who had received the cash from a German official, he said. The deal was off. "We lost hope in life any more," he said.

Four ICRC workers were captured on their way back in Kabul the same day. They were freed after three nights when Taliban said they had been seized "by mistake."

The two men who were arrested by the intelligence officers were also among those released for the hostages, the freed man said. He said such an extraordinary ordeal made him despair of his future in Afghanistan.

"When my own country's police sells me to someone else, when another Afghan wants to puts a knife to my throat, why? What can I expect from this?" he asked.

Iran urged to halt refugee return

BBC News / Thursday, 11 October 2007 - Afghanistan's parliament has written to Iran calling for a delay in the deportation of thousands of Afghan refugees until after the winter.

In an open letter, the MPs have urged the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to intervene. Iran says there are hundreds of thousands of Afghans who are in the country illegally, alongside huge numbers of registered Afghan refugees.

Tens of thousands have already been repatriated since 21 April. Teheran says there are plans to return many more. In the letter, carried by Afghanistan's state media, the MPs have urged Mr Ahmadinejad to stop the deportations until the end of the harsh winter.

The UN has warned that Afghanistan does not have the resources to cope with such an influx and has called for an end to forcible repatriation.

There are about 920,000 registered Afghan refugees in Iran, which took in hundreds of thousands of Afghans during the country's years of war. It has been deporting refugees for some time, but correspondents say that never have so many been moved in so short a space of time.

Afghanistan shuts security firms

October 11, 2007 - KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Afghan authorities this week shut down two private security companies and said more than 10 others -- some suspected of murder and robbery -- would soon be closed, Afghan and Western officials said Thursday.

Authorities on Tuesday shut down the Afghan-run security companies Watan and Caps, where 82 illegal weapons were found during the two raids in Kabul, police Gen. Ali Shah Paktiawal said.

A Western security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said some major Western companies were on the list of at least 10 others tapped for closure. He would not identify them.

The crackdown echoes efforts by authorities in Iraq to rein in private security contractors often accused of acting with impunity. Blackwater USA guards protecting a U.S. Embassy convoy in Baghdad are accused of killing 17 Iraqi civilians in a September 16 shooting, an incident that enraged the Iraqi government, which is demanding millions in compensation for the victims and the removal of Blackwater in six months.

The incident in Iraq has focused attention on the nebulous rules governing private guards and added to the Bush administration's problems in managing the war in Iraq.

Dozens of security companies also operate in Afghanistan, some of them well-known U.S. firms such as Blackwater and Dyncorps, but also many others who may not be known even to the Afghan government.

The Afghan government's main complaints against the companies are lack of accountability, intimidation of citizens, disrespect of local security forces, and companies that do not cooperate with authorities, according to a set of draft rules being debated by the Afghan government and obtained by The Associated Press.

Up to 10,000 private security guards are estimated to operate in the capital of Kabul alone, but the Interior Ministry -- which is responsible for the Afghan police and domestic security -- has little idea who some of the guards are, said the Western official.

Paktiawal said more than 10 companies would be targeted for closure in raids police planned to carry out next week.

"There are some companies whose work permits have expired, and there are some companies who have illegal weapons with them," Paktiawal said. "We do not want such private security companies to be active in Afghanistan. It doesn't matter if they are national or international."

The Interior Ministry said 59 Afghan and international security companies have registered with them, although the Western official said as many as 25 other security companies could be operating in the country.

Some of the 59 companies are suspected of involvement in criminal activity such as killing and robbery, and the police were investigating these cases as well, Paktiawal said. He could not provide the breakdown of how many of these companies are Afghan and how many foreign.

The rules seen by the AP say the main problem faced by the government is the absence of "checks and balances" over the work of private security companies, known as PSCs.

"In a compromise with the large international community, and its legitimate and high demand for security protection, the (government of Afghanistan) has allowed for limited PSC operations and activities," the draft said.

"However, increasingly, the absence of targeted regulation ... in parallel with unstable security environment has generated an unfortunate and nearly anarchical PSC market with a long series of security problems and criminal activities."

Faced with growing Taliban insurgency, "it is a matter of urgency to regulate and monitor the activities of PSCs in a coordinated and precise manner and through a set of clear mechanisms," the draft said

US Marines propose moving force from Iraq to Afghanistan

The US Marine Corps wants to withdraw its entire force from Iraq to focus its combat efforts on Afghanistan.

The proposal made last week to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates would sharply change the structure of US forces in Afghanistan while leaving the US-led fight in Iraq in the hands of the army, the New York Times reported Thursday citing senior military and Pentagon officials.

The move would entail removing all 25,000 marines from the 160,000-strong US force currently in Iraq, and transfering them to Afghanistan, where there are currently no marines among the 26,000 US troops.

The plan "would make marines the dominant American force in Afghanistan," the Times said.

But the most important counter-terror mission in Afghanistan, including the search for Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, would remain in the hands of the joint special operations task force currently in place.

Commander Says NATO Should Fight Afghan Drug Trade

By Al Pessin – Pentagon 10 October 2007

The top NATO commander says the alliance should do more to fight the drug trade in Afghanistan, where it has had primary responsibility for security issues for nearly a year. VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon, where General Bantz Craddock spoke on Wednesday.

General Craddock called for NATO to do more to fight Afghanistan's drug industry, while acknowledging that the alliance continues to have trouble getting its members to provide forces and equipment for its security and training missions.

"While this is not a primary role or responsibility for NATO and its forces, we must find ways to impact all of the pillars that support this narco-terrorism problem," he said.

The general says NATO already helps the Afghan authorities fight drug traffickers by sharing intelligence and providing logistical support and emergency rapid response forces when needed. But he says the focus must move from eradicating the poppy crop, which he says mainly hurts poor farmers, to attacking the trafficking networks, and NATO should play a larger role.

"For long-term success, we must address all the areas that contribute to this complex problem," he said. "And that's not only the eradication, but it's the laboratories that process it, it's the traffickers that move it and it's the kingpins, if you will, the leadership of those cells and operational linkages that benefit the most from the money that's being made."

At the same time, General Craddock called on NATO countries to fulfill commitments to provide trainers for the Afghan army and urgently needed capabilities, including airlift. He says his top priority in Afghanistan is training the army, which he says has made significant improvements and must become the "face" of the security effort.

The general says this means sustaining NATO's commitment to Afghanistan and convincing the Afghan people that the Taleban will never return to power. He says NATO must also continue to work with Pakistan to reduce the insurgents' access to safe havens across the border.

50 foreign militants said killed in Pakistan clashes

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (AFP) — Pakistan's army said Thursday 50 foreign militants including Arabs were among 200 rebels killed in fierce clashes near the Afghan border, indicating the involvement of Al-Qaeda.

Tribesmen revealed that "foreigners" were among the dead during a meeting in the troubled tribal zone of North Waziristan aimed at brokering a formal end to days of intense fighting, the military said.

The clashes were the culmination of three months of violence sparked by a government raid on an Al-Qaeda-linked mosque in Islamabad in July and the collapse of a controversial peace deal in North Waziristan.

Of the dead foreign rebels "25 have been recognised as Uzbek and the remaining 25 are from Tajikistan, Afghanistan and of Arab descent," a military statement said, citing the tribesmen.

"This is one of the heaviest tolls suffered by the foreigners," a security official said separately, using the official Pakistani jargon for rebels linked to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network.

Residents say many of the dead were civilians, while the army says that 47 Pakistani troops have also died in the fighting that erupted on Sunday. There was no way to independently verify any of the claims.

Hundreds of foreign militants loyal to Bin Laden fled across the border from Afghanistan after US-led forces ousted that country's hardline Taliban regime in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

Others, especially Uzbeks, had settled in the tribal belt since the "jihad" to drive Soviet troops out of Afghanistan in the 1980s and had subsequently allied themselves with Bin Laden and the Taliban.

Efforts to broker a formal ceasefire after this week's clashes came under threat on Thursday when the army said two roadside bombs targeting military convoys had exploded in North Waziristan.

"Since there is no ceasefire, whenever militants do something, we will take action," chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said.

Fundamentalist MP and top negotiator Nek Zaman said before heading to peace talks with the local administration that "we hope that both sides will agree to ceasefire and roads will be opened."

But so far there was no "breakthrough" in the talks, said a tribal elder close to members of the jirga, or tribal peace committee, although the army had opened some key roads.

An informal ceasefire began on Wednesday to allow tribesmen to bury some 50 people killed in an airstrike the previous day in the historic village of Ippi.

Thousands of people have fled Ippi and the nearby town of Mir Ali, which has been identified by US ally President Pervez Musharraf as an Al-Qaeda haunt.

The army said elders from two villages near Mir Ali had sought army protection "because militants use their compounds, which are ultimately targeted by retaliating security forces... and inflicting collateral damage on civilians."

The clashes have followed a pattern repeated over the past few years in the rugged tribal zone, whereby Pakistani forces strike at militants for several days after members of the security forces are attacked.

Security sources said there was particular anger this time because the bodies of some soldiers had been found with their throats slit or had been burned.

Meanwhile there was fresh violence in fully government-controlled areas of northwest Pakistan, raising fresh concern that the extremists are spreading their influence from the semi-autonomous tribal regions.

Suspected militants blew up six music shops in North West Frontier Province while a policeman was killed in a resulting firefight, officials said. Militants also bombed a hair salon, blowing off a barber's hands.

Barbers are sometimes targeted by militants who consider shaving beards un-Islamic. Under the Taliban music was banned in Afghanistan and men were required to grow beards.

Afghan ambassador defends executions

ALAN FREEMAN - From Thursday's Globe and Mail October 11

OTTAWA — Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada says his government's decision to resume executions is a reaction to growing criminality in the country and not a sign of a return to the Islamic fundamentalism of the former Taliban regime.

“This is not a society run by hard-core religious fanatics whose word is higher than any other law,” Omar Samad said in an interview. “This is a society where people have all the freedoms that they didn't have six years before.”

On Sunday, the government of President Hamid Karzai lifted a moratorium on the death penalty and allowed the firing-squad execution of 15 convicted criminals, sparking an outcry from civil-rights advocates and the United Nations.

Mr. Samad insisted Afghanistan is a profoundly different place than it was under the Taliban, but said the Afghan public expects the government to abide by its own constitution, which allows for capital punishment.

“We have public opinion that is very much concerned about security and criminality and they expect the Afghan government to deliver on both counts,” Mr. Samad said. “And public opinion is very strong in this regard.

“Afghans are looking for a more peaceful and a more just and fair society and they hold the elected government of Afghanistan responsible,” the ambassador said. “The goal is not only to provide justice but also to be a deterrent to others who may resort to such actions.”

Public executions were common under the Taliban, which was overthrown by the Northern Alliance in 2001, backed by a massive U.S. bombing campaign. But Mr. Samad, who became his nation's envoy to Canada three years ago, said there's no comparison between the Taliban and the Karzai government.

“There was no due process under the Taliban. The difference with the Taliban is that they could have taken anybody off the street and accuse them of anything and without any due process, execute them.

“Now there is due process. There is a process in place where individuals have a right to defend themselves and the right to appeal and have the right to [go to] the supreme court.”

He said that even after the 15 defendants had gone through the appeal system, Mr. Karzai added two additional steps in the process. First he set up a special commission of legal experts to review the cases. When that group reaffirmed the convictions, the President himself chaired a separate review along with the Attorney-General and the head of the supreme court.

“The President personally is not a man who easily decides to take the life of another human being,” Mr. Samad said, “even if that human being is a bad person.”

Mr. Samad became noticeably ill at ease when asked about whether the death penalty would apply in cases involving adultery and refused to comment on the record.

The ambassador said Canadians should not be concerned that any of those executed were detainees handed over by Canadian troops to Afghan authorities.

Canadian Defence Minister Peter MacKay insisted there is no connection between Canada and the executions, pointing to the detainee agreement between Ottawa and Kabul. “We have always made it clear in the agreement, both the old one and the new one, that there are to be no executions,” Mr. MacKay told The Globe and Mail.

He indicated the question of capital punishment is for the Afghans to decide. “We've been very clear as a country where we stand on the issue of capital punishment. … This is a policy decision for Afghanistan.”

Canadian military mentors celebrate Afghan army victory in Zhari district

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Canadian soldiers mentoring the Afghan National Army celebrated a victory Wednesday, after watching their Afghan counterparts carry out a successful anti-insurgency operation.

It's a significant step for the fledgling force and for the Canadians whose eventual exit from this war-torn land, in theory, depends on the Afghan army's ability to take on the responsibility for security.

"It's definitely very important," said Maj. Sylvain Gagnon, plans officer for the Canadian Operational Mentor Liaison Teams, which are working with the Afghan army.

"Every step we take toward having them take responsibility of the operation area is a big success for us. Maybe this one operation is not significant for the Canadians back home but every operation that they go forward and plan and execute on their own is a big success."

Based on intelligence gathered by the Canadians, a company of Afghan infantry crept into the bazaar area of Howz-e-Madad, a village located near a Canadian strongpoint in the dangerous Zhari district west of Kandahar city, around 8 a.m. Wednesday. They were looking for suspected insurgent weapons caches.

By noon the Afghan soldiers had swept through 22 buildings, uncovering weapons and ammunition as well as electronic devices meant for building deadly roadside bombs.

"We have seized... two weapons caches with ammo and some electronic components used to build IEDs," Gagnon said. "We've also re-established the freedom of movement along Highway 1 in that area."

There were no arrests. It's the first significant operation planned and led by Afghan soldiers during the current rotation, and that is not insignificant.

Like the Afghan National Police today, at one time the Afghan army was mostly feared by the local population. Untrained, under-staffed, corrupt and out-gunned by the Taliban, they were of little help to NATO efforts, if not an outright hindrance.

Wednesday's mission in Howz-e-Madad was "a significant operation and it was very successful," Gagnon said. There was feedback from the Canadian mentors and backup available, but the ANA conducted this operation, he said.

This group has been in the mentoring program since it began, first under another country and with the Canadians since last May.

Gagnon said he expects to see continued improvements over the next few months. There will have to be.

Canadian forces hope to hand over security in the dangerous Zhari and Panjwaii districts to Afghan national security forces by the end of the year.

"If we have done that, and our plan is successful, then we can use most of our security assets, the battle group troops, to move into other areas of the country," said Maj. Eric Landry, chief plans officer for Canada's Joint Task Force Afghanistan.

"Right now what we're doing, is we're doing reconnaissance in other districts away from Zhari and Panjwaii to figure out where we will extend."

The last time Afghan security forces were left on their own in Zhari and Panjwaii, during the change over of Canadian troops last summer, it did not go well.

Army and police were quickly overrun by Taliban and the two districts hard-fought and hard-won by Canadians in Operation Medusa last autumn were lost. Canadian troops have had to re-establish control this fall.

But the soldiers working with the Afghan army are optimistic.

"We're getting there, we're getting there," Gagnon said. "It's small steps. The ANA is still a young army, as per our standards."

Canadian soldier threatened with execution by angry Afghan troops: documents

OTTAWA - A Canadian soldier was threatened with summary execution by enraged Afghan National Army troops last winter after being involved in a friendly-fire shooting, military police records show.

The sun had just peeked above an unusually hazy horizon the morning of Feb. 12, 2007, when the gunner on an RG-31 Nyala truck mistakenly opened fire on an Afghan Army pickup truck on a desert road east of Kandahar.

An Afghan platoon commander, 23-year-old Lt. Abdul Hadi, the driver of the vehicle, was badly wounded in the arm and hand. He had missed repeated warning signs that he stop as his truck came on a broken down Canadian logistics convoy.

Within minutes of the shooting a tense standoff developed, as the Afghans demanded the hapless gunner be handed over to them.

From his seat in the heavily armoured truck the soldier who had pulled the trigger "observed one ANA soldier slide his finger across his throat, insinuating he was going to kill him," says a summary report prepared by the Canadian Forces National Investigative Service.

The report was obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act. After their light truck had been sprayed with 7.62-millimetre machine-gun fire - hitting the truck at least 21 times - Afghan troops "immediately exited their vehicle, took up firing positions."

Within minutes they were reinforced by a second group of soldiers who aimed their weapons directly at Canadian troops.

"ANA soldiers were very mad and threatened to kill them all if they didn't hand over the gunner who had fired on them," said a witness statement taken by police in the days after the incident.

"The interpreter translated that the shooting was a mistake to the ANA soldiers. The ANA replied that if Canadians didn't recognize the ANA, then the ANA wouldn't recognize the Canadians."

One of the Canadians who was part of the security cordon around the convoy's broken truck initially tried to calm the Afghans.

"One ANA soldier pointed an AK-47 directly in his face and was told by the interpreter that the ANA was going to kill him."

Another Canadian soldier walked back to the open rear hatch of the Nyala and informed those inside that "the ANA wanted the gunner dead."

The Afghans had the Canadians encircled and promised to let the rest of the convoy go as long as the shooter was handed over.

One of the Canadians standing toe-to-toe with the Afghans told military police it felt like the standoff "went on forever."

Nerves were rattled further when the assault rifle belonging to an Afghan soldier, who jumped out of a truck, accidentally discharged, almost blowing off the foot of another soldier.

The Canadians were convinced the Afghans were "about to engage them" and saw the arrival of second group of soldiers as preparation to repel an anticipated Canadian "counterattack," one witness statement said.

"The ANA continually threatened to kill them and kept requesting the gunner and the gunner's name."

The convoy's second-in-command refused the repeated demands while the gunner, who was on his second mission outside the wire, sat quietly in his seat.

The standoff lasted for almost an hour, police records show, and was resolved when one of the Canadians persuaded the angry Afghans that the matter should be handled by superior officers.

The wounded officer was evacuated to a nearby Afghan army camp, then a civilian hospital and finally to the coalition medical facility at Kandahar Airfield. He made a full recovery.

In an interview with The Canadian Press days after the incident, a senior Afghan Army commander in Kandahar demanded that the gunner face some form of military justice. Lt.-Gen. Rahmatullah Raoufi said he understood the mistakes that led up to the incident, but said the soldier must be held accountable.

"The incident was a mistake," Raoufi, the commander of all Afghan forces in the south, said through a translator. "(But) the Canadian who shot our man must be punished according to Canadian army law."

Capt. Cindy Tessier, a military spokeswoman, said investigators have decided not to charge the unidentified soldier. The decision was made even though the soldier conceded in his interview with investigators that he acted on his own.

"He stated he was never ordered by anyone to engage the vehicle and took it upon himself to escalate" the rules of engagement," says a Feb. 26, 2007, summary of the investigation.

In talking to investigators, one of the soldier's buddies stuck up for him, saying the Afghan truck came up too fast and there was no time to inform anyone. The fact the sun was just cresting over the hill behind the pickup truck was another factor, according to witness statements.

There have been a number of accidental shootings involving Canadian troops that have resulted in at least seven fatalities.

Six days after the February standoff with the Afghan Army, Canadian troops who had just exited an ambush mistakenly shot and killed an Afghan National Police officer guarding the governor's palace as well as a homeless man.

The incidents, including a recent one on Oct. 2 that saw one man killed and a child injured, have become a growing source of anger for the Afghans. Last month residents in the Zhari district, outside of Kandahar, held demonstration against international troops, including Canada.

Afghan Education Aid Announcement Makes Canada Largest Donor in Sector, Officials Say

Embassy, October 10th, 2007, NEWS STORY

Afghanistan's education minister makes the rounds, thanking Canadians for their contributions and defending the Afghan Reconstruction Trust Fund.

By Jeff Davis - Canada has targeted $60 million of its $1 billion aid commitment towards improving Afghanistan's schools and teachers, making it the largest contributor to the war-torn country's education system, officials said last week.

The funds will go to support Afghanistan's Education Quality Improvement Project and will be delivered through the Afghan Reconstruction Trust Fund, a mechanism that has drawn criticism in the past for lax accountability and transparency.

However, Afghanistan's minister of education, Haneef Atmar, who was in Montreal to make the announcement with International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda on Oct. 4, defends the ARTF and said Canada's contribution will go a long way.

"This fund has a system for audit monitoring and reporting, and if there is any expenditure made which is not in line with the agreed principles and rules of the game, that fund will never compensate the government of Afghanistan," Mr. Atmar said.

"We like this system in place because it increases donor confidence. It enables the government of Afghanistan to spend effectively and accountably."

The ATRF, which was set up in 2002, pools the official development assistance funding from 24 international donors. According to the World Bank, which administers the fund, "the Fund has emerged as one of the main instruments for financing the country's recurrent budget deficit."

With this donation, Afghan Ambassador to Canada Omar Samad said, "Canada has now become the largest donor of its kind in supporting one of the key pillars that is a guarantor of a stable future for my country."

Before this announcement, Mr. Atmar said, Canada was not a large donor to Afghanistan's education programs, even though Canadian officials have repeatedly trumpeted the six million children who are attending schools in the country–two million of which are girls–as one of the most visible signs of progress.

Despite the massive influx of new students, the Afghan education system in continues to face many challenges.

According to Afghan Ministry of Education documents, only 22 per cent of teachers currently employed meet the minimum qualifications for teaching, and only half of the school-aged population is enrolled. There are also serious infrastructure deficiencies, the ministry says, with more than 5,000 schools lacking buildings to teach in. The ministry also estimates that 11 million Afghans are illiterate.

Speaking in Montreal after the announcement, Mr. Atmar said the money donated by Canada will enable Afghans to build more than a thousand schools in all provinces, train and pay several thousand teachers, and support the development and printing of new secondary school textbooks based on the new curriculum adopted in the country.

The Afghan education budget includes a relatively small amount of money dedicated to "Islamic education." This public religious education is to address the problem of radical madrassas, or religious schools, in the country. According to ministry literature, "the lack of access to broad-based Islamic education has led to children being sent to study in unregulated madrassas that propagate hatred and violence."

Security is also a concern as schools are increasingly targets in the ongoing conflict. In the past 18 months, ministry documents say, 243 schools were burned and over 100 killings have occurred.

"Whether in terms of security, governance, prosperity, economic growth, and a stable and effective institution of democracy, all this will depend on the national human capital," Mr. Atmar said.

This crucial human capital, he added, "cannot be created but through an effective, quality and value-based education system."

Mr. Atmar appeared on a number of television news shows last week stating his country's appreciation of Canada's efforts in Afghanistan. He said he came to thank the Canadian people, the Canadian government and the Canadian taxpayers.

"Thank you all those families who have sent their beloved ones to Afghanistan in uniform to protect our people, our nation and to enable our kids to go to school. Our prayers and condolences go to all of those families who have lost their beloved ones in Afghanistan. We so thankful and grateful for that ultimate sacrifice they've made," Mr. Atmar told Embassy.

As for the possibility of a 2009 withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan, Mr. Atmar encouraged Canada to stay the course.

"People who think that the kind of challenge that we face in Afghanistan is fixable in four to five years should think again. This is going to be a long term issue." Nevertheless, he said, "there shouldn't be any doubt that we will succeed in this."

PM's Afghan stand bad for NATO: Dion

Extension of Canada's combat role would weaken the alliance, Liberal leader warns - The Edmonton Journal , Thursday, October 11, 2007

EDMONTON - Canadian troops can pull out of Afghanistan in 2009 with no dishonour and without abandoning the Afghan people, says Liberal Leader Stephane Dion.

The future of the mission is one of the issues that could convince the Liberals to support a non-confidence motion after the new session of Parliament starts Oct. 16 with the speech from the throne.

Recently, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canada has a moral responsibility to stay in Afghanistan after the current mission ends in early 2009, and not leave the country "cold turkey."

But Dion said the choices are not so simple. "My problem is that the prime minister did not raise the issue of replacement but the choice of leaving with dishonour or staying alone," Dion told The Journal editorial board during a visit to Edmonton Wednesday.

It will be time for Canada to end its military mission and other NATO allies to step in, he said."I think we can't succeed in Afghanistan if NATO is not working," he said. "It can't be the burden of a few countries if you have a coalition of 27 countries."

Dion said that every month Canada delays is a mistake that makes it more difficult for NATO to find a replacement for the Canadian mission.

Extending the mission indefinitely also threatens future NATO missions because other members will hesitate to participate if they see a country accepts a two-year mission and ends up staying forever, he said.

Canada wouldn't pull out of Afghanistan totally, but would remain to train local troops, police and justice officials, and perform other non-combat duties that would need to be done, he said.

With Liberal fortunes hit by three byelection losses in Quebec and internal problems, including Wednesday's resignation of national party director Jamie Carroll, Dion is not in a hurry for an election.

If the Liberals consider the throne speech to be reasonable on issues such as Afghanistan and the environment, the party won't move to bring down the Tory government, but Dion said he is waiting to read the speech before deciding on the next move.

He also said Canadians have no desire to go to the polls again, especially with two provincial elections this week.

Dion was in Edmonton to meet with local Liberal candidates, attend a town-hall meeting and address the chamber of commerce, a luncheon speech that managed to attract only 120 people, many of them party faithful.

Alberta historically has been a hard sell for the Liberals, who currently hold none of the province's 28 seats, but Dion managed to raise a chuckle from the lunchtime crowd when he referred to the province as the "Liberal heartland of Canada."

Dion said he's confident he can sell Albertans on his party's greenhouse-gas-busting carbon budget program, although it proposes hard caps on carbon emissions in line with Kyoto targets while Alberta's version deals with the intensity of emissions out of fear that hard caps would stifle the expansion of the energy sector.

This summer, Premier Ed Stelmach had a warning for Ottawa when the issue of a hard cap was raised: "Don't mess with Alberta."

"I think it will be very possible to work in good partnership with everyone," Dion said, adding that it doesn't make sense to have 10 provincial versions of a carbon market. "Albertans will be involved in the carbon market and this will be good for Alberta."

Acclaimed author urges Canada to rethink 'dishonest' approach in Afghanistan

The Canadian Press - 10/11/2007 By Sue Bailey

OTTAWA - NATO has bitten off far more than it can chew in Afghanistan while expounding a "strange, dishonest rhetoric" that overstates progress as much as it builds false hope, says former British diplomat and best-selling author Rory Stewart.

Canada should help lead a major refocus on parts of the country, namely in the north, that actually support democratic reform and development, he says.

"NATO has set itself up for failure by taking on far more than it could possibly achieve," he said Wednesday during a visit to Ottawa.

"Canada's great challenge is to identify three or four things that could realistically be done with the kind of resources, commitment and will that we have. And to make sure we achieve them in a way that leaves Canadian people feeling proud, NATO feeling that it's done something and, most important of all, the Afghans feeling that they've gotten something out of this intervention."

Those three or four things may include efforts to improve education and infrastructure in Kabul and other relatively peaceful zones where such development is welcome, Stewart says.

Military action could be channelled to keep insurgents from controlling major cities, he suggests, while special forces could be used to monitor religious schools that double as training cells for terrorists.

That would leave huge swaths of the South without the kind of development many Afghans want, he concedes. "You can only do what you can do."

Citizens who want greater freedoms and services may eventually gravitate toward centres where they've been allowed to flourish, he says.

Stewart, 34, now lives in Kabul after increasingly harrowing diplomatic stints in Indonesia, Montenegro and finally Iraq. The Oxford-educated former British army officer set off in 2001 on a 10,000-kilometre walk across Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal. The dangerous, epic journey started in the months just after the Taliban fell and was the basis for his acclaimed memoir The Places in Between.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper stressed during a news conference Wednesday that Canada accepted a mission to protect "the poor people" in the volatile southern region of Kandahar.

"We took the responsibility as a country. I think that we should see that responsibility through to the best of our ability. "We think we have a moral responsibility there. It's not a matter of just playing to the polls."

In a thinly veiled shot at Liberal Leader Stephane Dion, Harper said it would be unwise for anyone aspiring to be prime minister "to play to short-term or uninformed political sentiment on issues that are so critical."

Stewart says Afghans - like everyone else - want basic freedoms and a say in who governs them.

But many will never support a central government or free market, especially in the insurgent south where centuries-old tribal codes still shape an Islamic society that deeply mistrusts strangers, let alone foreigners.

Harper wants to extend Canada's combat role past February 2009, but faces three opposition parties that have vowed to fight it. The matter could be intensely debated this fall against the political backdrop of a potential election.

From politicians to military leaders and diplomatic brass, the mantra on Afghanistan has been to hold the course. Progress is being made. Failure means capitulating to the extremist anti-West forces that helped incubate 9-11.

Stewart says few people are willing to take the flak that goes with pointing out that proponents of the current Afghan mission are hopelessly optimistic in their belief that enough cash and goodwill can turn a fundamentally Islamic state into a Western-style democracy.

Besides, Afghanistan does not hold the anti-terrorism key, he adds. Another 9-11 could be planned in an apartment pretty much anywhere in the world. "What on Earth are we doing in terms of state building?" he said.

"Having fooled ourselves that all you need is more money and more troops ... let's try to redefine the problem and find a more honest, realistic objective."

Stewart is pushing for much more open discussion on a topic that makes scapegoats of naysayers.

"If you point out that our state-building enterprise is not working, people will quite quickly accuse you of being a reactionary or even a racist. They will try to suggest that if you raise problems, you're being denigrating towards Afghans, that you're not respecting the sacrifice of the troops.

"Anybody engaged in this debate comes under a lot of pressure from the military, from diplomats and from the Afghan government itself to try to suggest that everything is going well when it's not."

Security worries, reprisal fears threaten Afghan food aid

Agencies, convoys under increased attack - National Post
Thursday, October 11, 2007

The security situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating markedly, making it harder to deliver food shipments around the country and causing some Afghans to refuse food aid for fear of Taliban reprisals, says the head of the World Food Program's operations in Afghanistan.

Rick Corsino, an American with a master's degree in development economics from the University of Toronto, says the number of attacks targeting international aid agencies and food convoys is up and it has become difficult to operate in large sections of the country.

Roughly one third of the country is out of bounds because of armed attacks by insurgents or common criminals, he says.

"From our perspective, we have a very straightforward and rather simplistic mandate compared to some of the other agencies," he says. "We simply get food to people that need food.

"But there is certainly a growing insecurity in the country that is impeding our operations and impeding the ability of our staff to move around. If we look back to the beginning of 2006, we see an erosion of security in great parts of the country."

Areas of southern Afghanistan, like Kandahar, where Canada has 2,500 soldiers in a NATO-led force, have remained little changed over the last year, Mr. Corsino says, while southeastern areas of the country, closer to Kabul, have witnessed a significant deterioration in security.

The World Food Program expects to deliver 225,000 tonnes of food in Afghanistan this year, feeding 3.5 million people. But those deliveries have become more dangerous as attacks by criminals and insurgents opposed to foreign intervention in Afghanistan have increased.

WFP convoys carry shipments of wheat, beans, fortified biscuits and cooking oil to all 34 provinces in Afghanistan. But threats to UN staff have become so severe that the World Food Program frequently has to hire local drivers to make the deliveries through second or third parties.

"I've worked in probably 20 different countries in one form or another and I've never seen anything like this," Mr. Corsino says. "It's a threat to our staff, to our assets, our food."

"For the very first time anywhere, I've seen beneficiaries who are refusing to accept food because they believe that being found with it will put them at risk," he adds, explaining that Taliban insurgents might punish any recipients of foreign aid.

"Simply having food with the markings of donors makes them feel they can't take it," he says.

Still, the World Food Program is making headway in at least 24 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces and is having particular success with programs that encourage families to work on public works projects such as roads and irrigation ditches in exchange for badly needed food rations.

Another scheme provides 1.4 million Afghan school children with fortified biscuits each day they attend school, while others encourage families to send their daughters to school by giving female students a one-litre can of cooking oil to take home at the end of each month they spend in class.

Dangerous liaisons

Amit Baruah, Hindustan Times, New Delhi, October 11, 2007

Pakistan’s ‘war against terrorism’ escalated to a new level on Tuesday, when air force jets bombed Epi village in North Waziristan, close to the Afghan border, killing at least 50 persons. Both civilians and militants were killed in the bazaar bombing, a little after iftaar.

Islamabad’s use of firepower from the skies appears to be a direct reaction to the slaughter of 45 Pakistani soldiers in this tribal belt that shares a border with Afghanistan. The belated attempt to send a signal to al-Qaeda-led terrorists in the area, is at an enormous cost to civilian life. The scale of the fighting can be gauged from the fact that as many as 250 persons, including 45 soldiers, have died in the last four days. It’s throwing an open challenge to the Pakistani State, which, at best, is weak in this federally administered tribal area.

Seen together with what is happening on the other side of the border, the entire belt along the Afghanistan-Pakistan boundary now is a bloody battleground, the States against Al-Qaeda and its allies, which include a number of foreign fighters. It’s now pretty clear that the entire border region has become a seamless operating area for al-Qaeda, possibly even a safe haven for some of its top leadership. Islamabad’s use of firepower from the skies appears to be a direct reaction to the slaughter of 45 Pakistani soldiers in this tribal belt that shares a border with Afghanistan.

The leadership in Afghanistan and Pakistan have failed to take on the terrorists. Today, the Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants pose a robust challenge to both Kabul and Islamabad. In the meantime, the battle for political survival waged by General Pervez Musharraf, his ‘dealings’ with former PM Benazir Bhutto and legal wrangles have shifted attention away from Pakistan’s inability to cleanse its polity of Islamists. The air strikes could also be a message to the West that Pakistan is ‘serious’ about the terrorists operating on its soil, that General Musharraf remains committed to his ideas of “enlightened moderation”.

“In spite of the constant increase in troop level (close to the Afghan border) — from an initial 50,000 to nearly 100,000 now — the Taliban have not been weakened and are showing renewed vigour. The ‘deals’ said to have been negotiated with them have failed to produce results. The most serious development is that some of the security personnel seem to be succumbing to propaganda, or perhaps just criticism, that they are killing fellow Pakistanis,” the Dawn said in an editorial on Wednesday.

And, what is the situation in North Waziristan and South Waziristan, both run directly from Islamabad and both dominated by Pakhtun tribes? “They are probably the most neglected Pakistanis. Waziristan has one hospital bed per 6,000 inhabitants, and a literacy rate of around 10 per cent. More than 80 per cent of males are educated in madrasas and girls not at all,” the Economist wrote in April.

The point made in the Dawn editorial about Pakistani security forces succumbing to propaganda that they are killing fellow Pakistanis is serious. The Pakistani establishment has a long history of supporting Islamist militants: first in Afghanistan and then in Kashmir. There have been reports of a large number of missing ‘security personnel’ in North Waziristan. If, as is possible, some of these are instances of desertion, then there are clear discipline issues within the Pakistan army.

This is a matter of concern for India also. Wisely, New Delhi has avoided any comment on Pakistan’s internal situations, but the suicide attack on a Special Services Group (SSG) mess following the SSG operation in July against the Lal Masjid clerics in Islamabad has not been lost.

Following the Lal Masjid operation, Al-Qaeda’s Ayman Al-Zawahiri gave a clarion call to target General Musharraf and the Pakistani State, holding them squarely responsible for what happened. An al-Qaeda propaganda video shows a suicide bomber  preparing for his car bomb attack, mouthing all kinds of propaganda of ‘heavenly bliss’ while targeting Musharraf and Pakistan. Along with Afghanistan and Iraq, Pakistan is the new full-blown frontier for al-Qaeda, the Taliban and their affiliates. No surprise, given the history of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Directorate and the CIA running the Afghan jehad in the 1980s.

Political change and transition is on in Pakistan, with Ashfaq Kiyani all set to take charge as Army Chief and General Musharraf readying to hang up his uniform. At the same time, Benazir Bhutto is preparing to return home, hoping to become prime minister for a third time. Any leadership that takes charge in Islamabad — presumably a new ‘troika’ of Army Chief, President and Prime Minister will have to take on the job of reversing decades of support/tolerance for Islamist forces. There’s a fourth element and that’s the assertive judiciary under Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.

The inexplicable decision of Pakistan’s Supreme Court to order the reopening of Lal Masjid sends out a signal to extremist forces in a country founded in the name of religion. Are Ashfaq Kiyani, Pervez Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto up to the task of dealing with extremists? We don’t know yet.

[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.]