In this bulletin:

• Foreign Fighters of Harsher Bent Bolster Taliban
• 'Taliban Surrounded' in Kandahar Fight
• Canadians in major battle outside Kandahar
• Taliban Fighters Move in Near Kandahar for First Time Since 2001
• Afghan and foreign troops kill 20 insurgents
• Afghan gov't reopens 50 schools in militancy-plagued areas
• Drugs, graft, insecurity threaten Afghan progress
• Afghan drugs meeting opens
• Coalition prods Japan to stay in 'war on terror'
• Afghanistan leader talks in Albany
• Iran, Afghanistan sign housing MoU
• Canada brushes off allegations of Afghan torture
• Prime Minister Harper lends support to fundraiser for Valcartier military families
• Rick Hillier is revered by troops in Afghanistan, which predictably -- and unfairly -- makes him the target of a shooting gallery at home
• Targeting hearts and minds: Canadians woo undecided among Afghan public
• Many Pakistanis Against Military Operations Along Afghan Border
• Afghan farmers receive certified seed for the first time
• First wheat catalogue in the making
• Seed producers meet in Kabul to plan new cropping season

Foreign Fighters of Harsher Bent Bolster Taliban

By DAVID ROHDE, The New York Times Published: October 30, 2007

GARDEZ, Afghanistan — Afghan police officers working a highway checkpoint near here noticed something odd recently about a passenger in a red pickup truck. Though covered head to toe in a burqa, the traditional veil worn by Afghan women, she was unusually tall. When the police asked her questions, she refused to answer.

When the veil was eventually removed, the police found not a woman at all, but Andre Vladimirovich Bataloff, a 27-year-old man from Siberia with a flowing red beard, pasty skin and piercing blue eyes. Inside the truck was 1,000 pounds of explosives.

Afghan and American officials say the Siberian intended to be a suicide bomber, one of several hundred foreign militants who have gravitated to the region to fight alongside the Taliban this year, the largest influx since 2001.

The foreign fighters are not only bolstering the ranks of the insurgency. They are more violent, uncontrollable and extreme than even their locally bred allies, officials on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border warn.

They are also helping to change the face of the Taliban from a movement of hard-line Afghan religious students into a loose network that now includes a growing number of foreign militants as well as disgruntled Afghans and drug traffickers.

Foreign fighters are coming from Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Chechnya, various Arab countries and perhaps also Turkey and western China, Afghan and American officials say.

Their growing numbers point to the worsening problem of lawlessness in Pakistan’s tribal areas, which they use as a base to train alongside militants from Al Qaeda who have carried out terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Europe, according to Western diplomats.

“We’ve seen an unprecedented level of reports of foreign-fighter involvement,” said Maj. Gen. Bernard S. Champoux, deputy commander for security of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. “They’ll threaten people if they don’t provide meals and support.”

In interviews in southern and eastern Afghanistan, local officials and village elders also reported having seen more foreigners fighting alongside the Taliban than in any year since the American-led invasion in 2001.

In Afghanistan, the foreigners serve as mid-level commanders, and train and finance local fighters, according to Western analysts. In Pakistan’s tribal areas, they train suicide bombers, create roadside-bomb factories and have vastly increased the number of high-quality Taliban fund-raising and recruiting videos posted online.

Gauging the exact number of Taliban and foreign fighters in Afghanistan is difficult, Western officials and analysts say. At any given time, the Taliban can field up to 10,000 fighters, they said, but only 2,000 to 3,000 are highly motivated, full-time insurgents.

The rest are part-time fighters, young Afghan men who have been alienated by government corruption, who are angry at civilian deaths caused by American bombing raids, or who are simply in search of cash, they said. Five to 10 percent of full-time insurgents — roughly 100 to 300 combatants — are believed to be foreigners.

Western diplomats say recent offers from the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, to negotiate with the Taliban are an effort to split local Taliban moderates and Afghans who might be brought back into the fold from the foreign extremists.

But that effort may face an increasing challenge as foreigners replace dozens of midlevel and senior Taliban who, Western officials say, have been killed by NATO and American forces.

At the same time, Western officials said the reliance on foreigners showed that the Taliban are running out of midlevel Afghan commanders. “That’s a sure-fire sign of desperation,” General Champoux said.

Seth Jones, an analyst with the Rand Corporation, was less sanguine, however, calling the arrival of more foreigners a dangerous development. The tactics the foreigners have introduced, he said, are increasing Afghan and Western casualty rates.

“They play an incredibly important part in the insurgency,” Mr. Jones said. “They act as a force multiplier in improving their ability to kill Afghan and NATO forces.”

Western officials said the foreigners are also increasingly financing younger Taliban leaders in Pakistan’s tribal areas who have closer ties to Al Qaeda, like Sirajuddin Haqqani and Anwar ul-Haq Mujahed. The influence of older, more traditional Taliban leaders based in Quetta, Pakistan, is diminishing.

“We see more and more resources going to their fellow travelers,” said Christopher Alexander, the deputy special representative for the United Nations in Afghanistan. “The new Taliban commanders are younger and younger.”

In the southern provinces of Oruzgan, Kandahar and Helmand, Afghan villagers recently described two distinct groups of Taliban fighters. They said “local Taliban” allowed some development projects. But “foreign Taliban” — usually from Pakistan — threatened to kill anyone who cooperated with the Afghan government or foreign aid groups.

Hanif Atmar, the Afghan education minister, said threats from foreign Taliban have closed 40 percent of the schools in southern Afghanistan. He said many local Taliban oppose the practice, but foreign Taliban use brutality and cash to their benefit.

“That makes our situation terribly complicated,” Mr. Atmar said. “Because they bring resources with them, their agenda takes precedence.”

Large groups of Pakistani militants operate in southern Afghanistan, according to Afghan officials. In the east, more Arab and Uzbek fighters are present.

Mr. Bataloff, the Russian arrested in a burqa, insists he is a religious student who traveled to Pakistan last year to learn more about his new faith. In an hourlong interview in an Afghan jail in Kabul, he said his interest in Islam blossomed three years ago when he was living in Siberia.

“First, I heard from TV, radio and newspapers about Islam,” he said in Russian. “I found Islam had a lot of good things, especially that Islam respects all prophets, including Jesus.”

But he declined to describe many details of his trip and grew angry when asked about his personal background. “Homicide and suicide is not allowed in any religion,” he said, when asked about the allegations against him. “Why are you asking me these questions?”

Mr. Bataloff said he grew up in Siberia, but would not identify his hometown or region. He said he could not remember the names of the Pakistanis he met or the two Afghan men who drove the pickup truck.

He said he decided to go to a predominantly Muslim country last fall to study Islam and learn about “the morals, the customs, the ethics and the literature.” He flew alone from Russia to Iran, he said, and met a Russian-speaking “guide” in the airport.

After spending 10 days in Iran, he crossed into Pakistan and traveled to North Waziristan, a remote tribal area that is a longtime Taliban and Qaeda stronghold. There, he spent a year living and studying in a small mosque in Mir Ali.

Pakistani security officials say the Islamic Jihad Union, a terrorist group led by militants from Uzbekistan, operates a training camp in Mir Ali.

[In mid-October, in some of the heaviest fighting in four years, the Pakistani military said 50 foreign fighters were among 200 militants reported killed in three days of clashes around Mir Ali. The dead foreigners were said to include mostly Uzbeks and Tajiks, as well as some Arabs, the army said.]

Some of the suspects arrested in a failed bombing plot in Germany in September received training in the tribal areas, according to German officials. Several men involved in the July 2005 London transit bombings and a failed August 2006 London airliner plot did as well.

Mr. Bataloff said he met no foreign militants in his 10 months in the tribal areas. But American military officials said he had told interrogators that he had attended a terrorist training camp in North Waziristan. He said local militants forced him to go to the camp and taught him how to fire an AK-47 assault rifle, the officials said.

“I didn’t have any specific teacher,” he said, when asked about Pakistanis he met there. “There were local people who knew the Koran.”

A second foreign prisoner produced by Afghan officials identified himself as Muhammad Kuzeubaev, a 23-year-old from Temirtau, Kazakhstan. Afghan officials said he was a bombmaker arrested in September in Badakhshan Province in northern Afghanistan.

In an interview, Mr. Kuzeubaev, who also spoke fluent Russian, said he was visiting Afghanistan as a tourist. “I was close to the border,” he said. “I thought I would go explore the country.”

In Badakhshan, he said, two Afghan men abducted him and demanded he join Al Qaeda. He agreed to do so fearing he would be killed, he said. That night, the men showed him parts of a suicide vest and promised to take him to Pakistan for training.

“They showed me the explosives, the vest and grenade,” said Mr. Kuzeubaev. “The next day, they brought some kind of weapons.”

Two days later, Afghan police officers surrounded the house and arrested him, he said. Afghan interrogators beat him, chained him to a wall and prevented him from sleeping for four days, he said.

“They are saying, ‘You are the man who was making the vests,’ ” said Mr. Kuzeubaev. “But the ammunition and other explosives were not mine.”

'Taliban Surrounded' in Kandahar Fight

By NOOR KHAN – ARGHANDAB, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan, U.S. and Canadian troops have surrounded a pocket of some 250 Taliban fighters who have commandeered people's homes in villages just outside Afghanistan's major southern city, officials said Wednesday.

Hundreds of Afghans — their cars and tractors piled high with personal possessions — were fleeing the battleground about 15 miles north of Kandahar city.

The provincial police chief said the combined forces have killed some 50 Taliban in three days of fighting. Three police and one Afghan soldier have also died, Sayed Agha Saqib said.

"The people are fleeing because the Taliban are taking over civilian homes," Saqib said. "There have been no airstrikes. We are trying our best to attack those areas where there are no civilians, only Taliban."

Saqib said 16 suspected Taliban have been arrested during the operation.

The fighters moved into the Arghandab district of Kandahar province this week, about two weeks after the death of a powerful tribal leader, Mullah Naqib, who had kept the Taliban militants out of his region.

"He was a good influence for his tribe. He was supporting the government," Saqib said. "After he died the Taliban were thinking they would go to Arghandab and cause trouble for Kandahar city. But now they're surrounded and they're in big trouble. We are capturing and killing them and I don't think it will cause any problem for Kandahar."

Still, hundreds of Afghan villagers were fleeing the area in the middle of harvest season, leaving pomegranate crops at a prime picking time.

Haji Karimullah Khan piled his three children into the front seat of a pickup truck and put three female relatives in the back beside household goods and clothes. He was driving to Kandahar city to stay with relatives.

"The Taliban came into our village and they told us to leave," Khan said. "We just packed up our necessities and left. Our pomegranate orchard and home we left behind."

Violence in Afghanistan this year is the deadliest since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban militant movement from power in the country. More than 5,300 people have died this year due to insurgency-related violence, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Afghan and Western officials.

Canadians in major battle outside Kandahar

BILL GRAVELAND - Canadian Press October 31, 2007

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Canadian troops along with U.S. and Afghan forces have confronted a show of force by the Taliban in a major battle just outside Kandahar city, military authorities said Wednesday.

Intense fighting have reportedly left 50 Taliban dead and 50 more wounded after the Afghan National Police and NATO soldiers surrounded two villages in the Arghandab district, about 25 kilometres north of Kandahar city.

The Taliban were believed to have massed about 300 fighters in the area, hoping to take advantage of a leadership vacuum in the district which sits on a rebel infiltration route.

"The Arghandab district is very close to Kandahar city," said Maj. Eric Landry, chief of planning for the Canadian military contingent in Afghanistan as part of NATO's International Security Assistance Forces, or ISAF.

"This might be a vital ground for the insurgents. It is also a vital ground for us so we want to make sure this district is secure for the population, but also that we have freedom of movement in this district."

Mullah Naqib, a Kandahar strongman who died of a heart attack earlier this month, had been a supporter of Canada's military presence in Afghanistan, warning against a pullout of Canadian troops when their current mission expires in February, 2009.

"He kept the district very secure and very unpermissive to the insurgents. Since his death, his son has replaced him. He's also very pro-government and pro-ISAF," said Landry.

"The fact that Mullah Naqib is dead led the insurgents to believe that they would get more freedom of movement in the Arghandab district, but it's not the case."

"The Taliban are hiding in the houses," said Provincial Police Chief Sayed Afgha Saqib. "We will try and capture them alive."

One Afghan soldier and three police officers had so far been killed in the fighting, he said. He said no air support was called in and he doesn't believe there were any civilian casualties.

Landry told reporters the biggest movement of Taliban troops happened last year during Operation Medusa, in which Canadian troops and coalition forces fought fierce battles with the insurgents.

The latest battle is "one of the most organized attacks" by the Taliban in recent months, Landry said. Despite their numbers, however, the Taliban have not been an effective fighting force this time, he said.

"We have groups of 10 to 15 insurgents in different places. They're trying to do co-ordinated attacks but the fact is they are in small numbers and very divided. Presently, they're very ineffective," he said.

"The numbers are there but we are affecting their morale as we speak and we are definitely affecting their freedom of movement."

An insurgent spokesman refused to confirm the Taliban's losses but said the cost to the coalition side were greater than reported.

"A third of the Arghandab is still under our control," said Taliban spokesman Qari Yousaf Ahamdi. "We have killed seven police and burned three police vehicles."

A NATO official disputed that claim. Wing Commander Antony McCord, a NATO spokesman who gave a briefing to reporters in Kandahar city, said Arghandab was "completely under our control."

News of an impending battle had spread through the villages in the Arghandab region earlier. A long line of residents made their way south, seeking refuge in Kandahar city until the all-clear is sounded.

"I saw several Taliban coming to our district. I became scared and confused and I understood that sooner or later an operation would be done in Arghandab," said Adbul Ahad, 32, a farmer.

"I have my family towards Kandahar city. I have rented a house for my family and everything we had was left behind." "I am thankful to Allah that our lives are safe," he added.

"The Taliban shouldn't have arrived here. It was one of the safest districts but it's not safe any more."

Taliban Fighters Move in Near Kandahar for First Time Since 2001

By TAIMOOR SHAH – NYTimes - KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Oct. 30 — Several hundred Taliban fighters have moved into a strategic area just outside the southern city of Kandahar in recent days and clashed with Afghan and NATO forces, according to Canadian and Afghan officials.

The fighting, which began Tuesday, is the first time large numbers of Taliban have been able to enter the area just north of the city since 2001. Control of the area, known as the Arghandab district, would allow the Taliban to directly threaten Kandahar, southern Afghanistan’s largest city.

Whether the Taliban were looking to establish permanent control over the area or were simply carrying out raids was unclear on Tuesday night. But Canadian military officials said Afghan and NATO forces had begun a “large operation” to drive out the Taliban.

Reports of casualties could not be immediately confirmed. The provincial police chief said 20 Taliban had been killed; the Taliban said they killed two foreign and three Afghan soldiers. Each side denied the other’s claims. “We’re conducting operations in and around Arghandab in response to increased Taliban fighter numbers,” said Lt. Commander Pierre Babinsky. “We dedicated a lot of resources to this.”

Residents said hundreds of people were fleeing the district because of fears of a major battle. Cars and trucks loaded with families from the area have streamed into Kandahar over the last two days, sparking fear among city residents.

“The people are leaving the village because they are afraid of fighting and bombardment,” said Agha Muhammad, a 43-year-old farmer who fled Arghandab on Tuesday. “Today, many families have left their houses.”

Sarah Chayes, an American journalist and aid worker who has lived in Kandahar since 2001, said a powerful pro-government leader in the district, Mullah Naqibullah, died of a heart attack two weeks ago. Over the last several years, Mullah Naqibullah survived multiple attempts by the Taliban to kill him, she said, and was “the bulwark” that blocked the hard-line Islamic group from entering Kandahar from the north.

But in a sign of the weakness of President Hamid Karzai’s government in the area, joyous Taliban fighters seized control of Mullah Naqibullah’s home village in Arghandab within two weeks of his death.

“That two weeks later they were in there on roofs dancing — and inside his house — is devastating psychologically,” Ms. Chayes said. “It’s like a psychological operation on the part of the Taliban, and I think it’s a very effective one.”

David Rohde contributed reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan.

Afghan and foreign troops kill 20 insurgents

Tue Oct 30, HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghan and foreign forces killed more than 20 Taliban insurgents and wounded 20 in western Afghanistan on Tuesday, an Afghan provincial official said.

Afghan troops and their Western allies are engaged in daily battles with Taliban rebels who have revived their insurgency in the last two years, but have largely switched tactics to suicide and roadside bombings after heavy battlefield defeats.

The latest fighting broke out in the Gulistan district of Farah province when militants stormed the district centre, a police official said.

"Six civilians and one Afghan policeman were killed and two other Afghan soldiers were wounded during the firefight," said Ikramuddin Yawar, police commander for western Afghanistan.

"The fighting is still going on. NATO forces are supporting us from ground and air," he told Reuters.

Taliban militants have briefly taken over a number of district centers this year, overrunning isolated police outposts before withdrawing when Afghan army and foreign forces arrive.

Elsewhere, a roadside bomb killed an Afghan district intelligence chief, his driver and two bodyguards in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, a provincial official said.

"The remote-controlled explosive hit the vehicle carrying the intelligence chief and his two bodyguards in the Qarghayo district of Laghman province this morning," said Nezamuddin, the provincial governor's spokesman who has only one name.

All four people in the car were killed, he said. "We are still investigating the incident and no one has been detained," the spokesman said.

Meanwhile a soldier from the U.S.-led coalition was killed during an operation in the southern province of Kandahar on Tuesday, the U.S. military said in a statement.

Three Taliban insurgents were killed in a large operation by Afghan and NATO-led forces in the south-central province of Uruzgan on Monday, the Afghan Defence Ministry said on Tuesday.

Some 50 militants were killed or wounded in the same operation on Sunday, the ministry said. Dutch and Australian troops form the bulk of NATO forces in Uruzgan.

Violence has surged in Afghanistan in the last two years, the bloodiest period since U.S.-led and Afghan forces ousted the Taliban from power in 2001.

Afghan gov't reopens 50 schools in militancy-plagued areas

Xinhua, 10/30/2007 -Out of 400 schools which had been shut down due to Taliban-related insurgency in Afghanistan's southern region, some 50 have been reopened, the country's Minister for Education Mohammad Hanif Atmar said Tuesday.

"With the support of local communities and security organs we have been able to reopen 50 schools out of around 400 schools so far this year," Atmar told a press briefing here.

Some 400 schools had been closed down due to Taliban-led militancy and conflicts in Afghanistan's southern and the southeastern provinces over the past three years.

The forcible closure of the educational centers, according to Afghan officials, has deprived over 250,000 students from schooling and education in the regions.

Taliban insurgents who have been fighting the Afghan government for the past three years often set on fire schools and target both the students and teachers to destabilize security.

Over six million Afghan children go to school in the post-Taliban nation today. During Taliban regime, which collapsed in late 2001, the number of school children were less than half a million.

Drugs, graft, insecurity threaten Afghan progress

By Jon Hemming - Tue Oct 30, KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan has made achievements in delivering development to its people, but needs to do more to tackle worsening insecurity, drug production and corruption which threaten further progress, the World Bank said on Tuesday.

After nearly three decades of war, Afghanistan's economy is largely propped up by international donations as the government attempts to deal with the revived Taliban insurgency, widespread corruption and record-breaking opium production.

These three main problems form a vicious circle whereby drug production funds the insurgency and encourages official corruption, which both allow more drugs to be produced.

"I am again deeply impressed by how far Afghanistan has come in delivering development benefits for its people," said World Bank Managing Director Graeme Wheeler.

"More girls are at school than at any time in Afghanistan's history, child mortality has been reduced substantially, and the government's national community development program is bringing development to over 18,000 communities," he said.

"I am concerned, however, that increased insecurity, drug production, and corruption are putting at risk further advances in state-building and other areas critical for growth and employment generation," he said in a statement.

In the past year, the number of security incidents is up 24 percent, opium production has risen by 34 percent and Afghanistan had slipped to 172 out of 180 countries in Transparency International's corruption perception index, Wheeler said.

"Tackling the challenges of widespread poverty, rebuilding institutions destroyed by two decades of war, and overcoming problems of security, narcotics, and corruption will require intensified efforts by Afghanistan and its partners for many years," the statement said.

With international military forces partially engaged in reconstruction efforts and more than 100 aid and non-governmental organizations with an annual budget of more than $100 million, Afghanistan has suffered from a lack coordination between donors.

This has meant that some projects overlap, have been ill-conceived, or were not coordinated with the Afghan government which has lacked funds or manpower to staff schools and health clinics, for example, once they have been built.

The World Bank has instead encouraged donors to channel funds to the government through an externally audited reconstruction trust fund it administers, arguing that strengthens state institutions.

"An assessment of Afghanistan's public financial management system based on international standards has been positive," the World Bank said. "Accordingly, donors, including the World Bank, have increased their support channeled through Afghanistan's national budget."

But many donors, including the biggest of all, the United States' economic and development agency, USAID, have remained outside the system.

Afghan drugs meeting opens

AFP – Kabul - An international anti-drugs conference opened in Afghanistan today with an appeal for regional co-operation in the battle against the production and trafficking of opium in Central Asia.

Government experts from 55 countries are meeting for two days in Kabul for the third conference of the "Paris Pact", a group set up to counter the trade in Afghan opiates.

Afghanistan is almost the world’s exclusive supplier of heroin, which is derived from opium. Afghan opium production rose more than a third to a record high in 2007, the United Nations (UN) says.

But delegates at the conference said there had been an important anti-drugs agreement this year between Afghanistan and its neighbours Pakistan and Iran.

The agreement "promises to be a very valuable initiative," said Vincent McLean, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime representative in Pakistan.

The group will also focus on ways of boosting co-operation with Central Asian states to the north of Afghanistan and with China, which shares a mountainous border with Afghanistan and is becoming a destination for heroin.

The first Paris Pact meeting was held in May 2003 in Paris and the second in June 2006 in Moscow. There have also been regular talks between the participating countries and international organisations.

Coalition prods Japan to stay in 'war on terror'

TOKYO (AFP) — Coalition countries involved in the US-led "war on terror" urged Japan on Wednesday to continue its naval support mission which is set to be halted this week due to opposition objections.

Eager to show its continuing role in the "war on terror," Japan said it was considering boosting economic aid to Pakistan, a frontline ally for the US in its military operations in Afghanistan.

The refuelling mission in the Indian Ocean is set to end at midnight Thursday after Japanese opposition parties, which control the upper house of parliament, refused to back a government-sponsored bill to extend it.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda was due to meet again Friday with Ichiro Ozawa, head of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, after they failed to narrow their differences on the naval mission when then met on Tuesday.

US ambassador Thomas Schieffer led diplomats from other coalition countries, including Afghanistan, Britain and Pakistan, in a meeting at the Canadian embassy with about 70 ruling and opposition members of the parliament, or Diet.

"I hope that after whatever debate goes on in the Diet that Mr. Ozawa will accept the fact that this is an international undertaking and I hope that he will support it in the end," Schieffer told reporters.

"We tried to answer whatever questions we could and provide as much information as we could, to emphasise how important Japan's contribution is to what we are doing in that part of the world," he said.

Fukuda's predecessor Shinzo Abe abruptly resigned last month, in part due to his failure to extend the mission, which started shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York.

Fukuda argues that Japan, which has been officially pacifist since its defeat in World War II, must play a greater role in global security as it is the world's second largest economy.

"The prime minister has a sense of crisis about Japan's position in the international community and I believe Mr. Ozawa can relate to it," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura, the top government spokesman.

But the US Defence Department said Tuesday that the coalition would be able to find alternative sources of fuel if Japan suspends its support.

"We still hope that they will continue to support the mission through their refuelling efforts," said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell.

"But if they ultimately choose not to, we will certainly come up with alternative means of making sure that our men and women have the fuel they need to go about their missions," he said.

Pakistan, a US ally despite domestic opposition, has enjoyed free water and oil for its ships from Japan in return for its membership of the coalition.

Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura has proposed discussions on an increase in the aid given to Pakistan "in the hope that the country will develop as a modern Islamic nation," a foreign ministry official said.

But the official said: "It is not that we would expand aid just because we are ending the refuelling activities."

Komura said Japan must not reduce its presence in the international fight against terrorism.

"It (the end of the refuelling mission) can be taken to mean that Japan has turned passive in the fight against terror," Komura told a special anti-terrorism committee in the lower house.

"It is inevitable to give an impact on how other countries view Japan," he said.

The Japanese rift comes amid growing opposition to the "war on terror" across countries that are part of the coalition battling an insurgency in Afghanistan waged by remnants of the hardline Taliban regime ousted in 2001.

Japan stopped all aid for both India and Pakistan after their nuclear tests in 1998 but resumed it after the launch of the "war on terror."

Afghanistan leader talks in Albany

Parliament president says his country still needs America's help

DAN HIGGINS , Albany Times Union, Tuesday, October 30, 2007

ALBANY -- Afghanistan's democracy is in its infancy, and infants need to be protected -- not abandoned, one of the nation's legislative leaders said in Albany Monday.

That was the message of Yunus Qanooni, the president of Afghanistan's parliament, during a talk at the University at Albany's University Hall Monday afternoon.

He said U.S. should not withdraw troops from his country until Afghan security and defense forces can support themselves. He conceded he did not know how long this would take, but that leaving too early would doom a budding democracy.

Qanooni spoke to a packed room of about 150 people. He was the guest of Albany's Rockefeller College of Public Affairs.

"We need to create a culture of democracy," in Afghanistan, Qanooni said, through a translator. Right now, ethnicity and tribal affiliation still plays too large a role in determining someone's political success or failure.

"The idea and thought of accepting each other does not exist across the board," he said.

Qanooni, who has served as Afghanistan's education minister and interior minister since 2001, is now the speaker of the country's lower house and leader of the New Afghanistan political party.

In 2004, he entered Afghanistan's presidential race six weeks before voting and came in second to Hamid Karzai.

He told his audience in Albany that Afghans will always be grateful for the sacrifices Americans have made to oust the Taliban and to help rebuild the country after the 2001 American invasion.

He thanked Americans for sending soldiers "who gave the ultimate sacrifice, along with Afghan soldiers," in the name of democracy.

He also praised civilians whose tax dollars are being spent by the billions on military and humanitarian aid for his country.

"This will not be forgotten," he said.

Iran, Afghanistan sign housing MoU

Press TV (Iran) - Tue, 30 Oct 2007 10:47:31

Iran's minister of housing and urban development and Afghanistan's minister of rural development have signed an MoU for cooperation.

Mohammad Saeedi-Kia and the visiting Afghan minister, Mohammad-Ehsan Zia, signed the memorandum of understanding that consists of eight articles in Tehran on Monday.

In the MoU, Iran's Ministry of Housing and Urban Development has agreed to provide technical training courses in Afghanistan in the field of housing, rural development and reconstruction.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Housing Foundation is also to offer training courses in Afghanistan, send a group of Iranian engineers to the neighboring state as consultants, and help in the reconstruction of two model Afghan villages with a socio-economic approach. However, it will be up to the Afghan side to choose the villages and provide finance for the project.

Furthermore, the foundation has agreed to help Afghanistan devise a general plan for the country's rural development and reconstruction.

In the MOU, valid for three years but renewable, the Afghan government has pledged to set the groundwork for the foundation and its affiliated companies to bid for the country's development projects.

Canada brushes off allegations of Afghan torture

Mon Oct 29, 2007 - By David Ljunggren

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada brushed off allegations on Monday that Taliban members captured by Canadian troops and handed over to Afghan authorities had been tortured, saying the militants often made false claims of mistreatment.

Canada's minority Conservative government, which ran into serious trouble when faced with similar accusations earlier in the year, signed a deal with Kabul in May allowing Canadian officials unlimited access to prisoners. Ottawa said the deal would combat torture.

But the French-language daily La Presse said on Monday it had found three prisoners who alleged inmates had been beaten with bricks and cables, given electric shocks, deprived of sleep and had their nails torn out.

"We do expect these kind of allegations from the Taliban. It is their standard operating procedure to engage in these kinds of accusations. I'd caution ... against taking them as the word of the truth," government minister Peter Van Loan told Parliament.

Opposition politicians said there were serious doubts as to whether the May deal could protect prisoners.

"We now have headlines in the paper that suggest Canada is facilitating a process of torture. This is extremely serious. It's also serious under international law," said Jack Layton, leader of the left-leaning New Democratic Party.

Human rights experts, speaking earlier this year, said Canadian soldiers could be guilty of war crimes because they transferred the detainees at a time when Ottawa was aware that Afghan authorities regularly tortured prisoners.

International conventions prohibit a country from handing over prisoners if there is reason to suspect abuse.

The three suspected Taliban members said they had been captured by Canadian troops, given a document that said torture was no longer used in Afghanistan and then transferred to the Afghan secret police.

"The people from the secret service tore it (the document) up and threw it in my face. They tortured me for 20 hours. I protested and said the Canadians had promised that nothing would happen to me," La Presse quoted one of the three men as saying.

"They replied: 'We're not in Canada, we're at home. The Canadians are dogs!'" he said.

La Presse said it had conducted the interviews in Sarpoza prison in the southern city of Kandahar, where Canada's 2,500-strong military mission is based.

Prime Minister Harper lends support to fundraiser for Valcartier military families

27 October 2007 - CFB VALCARTIER

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today attended a fundraising event for military families at CFB Valcartier, home base of the Royal 22nd Regiment that now leads the Canadian mission in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The fourth annual Criée d'automne includes a dinner, silent auction and raffle that raises funds for the Valcartier Military Family Resources Center.

Speaking at the dinner, Prime Minister Harper called the families of soldiers serving in Afghanistan “the unsung heroes of Canada’s mission. The strength of the support back home is one of the main reasons our troops are world-renowned for their skill, courage and professionalism.”

The Prime Minister, who was joined at the event by the Honourable Josee Verner, Minister of Canadian Heritage, donated an autographed hockey stick and puck for the auction.

“Quebeckers can be very proud of the women and men of the Royal 22nd who are writing another glorious page in the history of their regiment,” Prime Minister Harper said. “I’ve talked to soldiers deployed overseas and I can tell you they all feel better over there, knowing their families are being taken care of back here by organizations like Military Family Resources Center. The Canadian Forces really are a family, and a family takes care of its own.”

Rick Hillier is revered by troops in Afghanistan, which predictably -- and unfairly -- makes him the target of a shooting gallery at home

By PETER WORTHINGTON, TORONTO SUN
No question about it: They are out to "get" Rick Hillier, the general who has revived Canada's army as a fighting force. Who are "they?"

Well, some are politicians (not all of them in opposition ranks), some are anti-military peace-at-any-pricers, some (these are among the most dangerous) are insiders at DND, and some are unwitting media types who mindlessly regurgitate what they are told.

The "why" is more difficult to explain.

Why would anyone want Hillier removed or replaced as chief of defence staff (CDS) when his leadership has effectively raised morale and made the army more like it was when Canadian troops fought in world wars?

Our military's role and effectiveness in Afghanistan have boosted Canada's reputation and status in the world. It has done Canada and Canadians proud.

Credit for this isn't all Hillier's, but irrefutably he's the face of our "new" army and he relishes the spotlight -- which in a way is part of his trouble.

Under the last Liberal government of Paul Martin, Canada opted to change its role in Afghanistan from mostly security and constabulary work in Kabul, to a peacemaking and fighting role in Kandahar -- while still maintaining its tradition of reconstruction and assisting the civilian population. Not an easy task, but one Canada has always done well.

TOO VALUABLE

Stephen Harper's Conservatives have used the military (and Hillier) to their advantage as well as Canada's -- par for the political course. Some feel after three years of Hillier as CDS, it's time for a new one. Others argue he's too valuable to lose, and there's no time limit for the job.

Some points:

- Real or imagined differences between Hillier and former defence minister Gordon O'Connor led to O'Connor being replaced by Peter MacKay, who, unlike O'Connor, knows zilch about the military. As an Armoured Corps brigadier-general in his former life, O'Connor had commanded Hillier, and some believe friction developed between the two. True or not, Harper bounced O'Connor, Hillier stayed.

- The media has churned up controversy over the recent Throne Speech and the PM's suggestion that Canada's military role in Afghanistan should continue past the 2009 deadline to 2011, while Hillier insists the Afghan National Army and police won't be fully trained for at least a decade.

DND RESENTMENT

These two views aren't incompatible. The date for withdrawal is a political decision not necessarily connected to the military situation. As a soldier, Hillier's estimate of the time needed to adequately train an army is more realistic than a civilian's, even if the civilian is PM.

- More significant is what seems a growing concern about Hillier inside DND, which has always been a nest of intrigue. DND bureaucrats resent military commanders who are comfortable with publicity and not shy about speaking their mind -- witness resentment toward Maj.-Gen. Lewis MacKenzie when he returned as something of a folk hero from commanding UN troops in Sarajevo.

To many, MacKenzie was a soldier of the Hillier mold who would have been an ideal CDS of a "fighting" army. But he was ahead of his time, and lesser rivals nibbled him into retirement where he now makes sensible observations about things military, and is highly respected by our allies.

- Quiet accusations are made that Hillier has effected something of a coup inside DND by placing Armoured colleagues into senior administrative posts. "The black hats (the armoured beret) in control are Hillier's men," said one, forgetting that the Patricias and Vandoos previously held sway.

- As CDS, Hillier is responsible for all of Canada's military -- but critics say he's obsessed with the army in Afghanistan and neglects navy and air force needs. Also, they say, he ignores northern security and sovereignty. Until Hillier, the navy and air force were more effective military lobbyists than army types. Still, sharpened knives are poised in Ottawa if Hillier stumbles.

- Another concern that reflects on Hillier is a feeling within the army that only those who've been shot at in Afghanistan are "real" soldiers, with non-combatants second-class. There's even a move that soldiers who serve "outside the wire," or in combat situations, get a special medal, different from the service medal for the majority in Afghanistan in less dangerous jobs. Already a "wound medal" is in the works -- a Canadian version of the U.S. Purple Heart for being wounded.

If this happens, it'll cause resentment and something of a chasm among soldiers, and will reflect on the guy at the top -- Hillier, whose background is combat arms and who obviously relishes visiting Afghanistan. Also there's evidence that those who've served in Afghanistan tend to regard those who haven't as somehow second-class, or inferior. Not a healthy sign.

- Hillier's greatest political vulnerability may be his popularity among the troops. Rarely (if ever) has a Canadian CDS been venerated among the rank-and-file as Hillier is. At a time when the country pays homage to its soldiers, Hillier's rock-star popularity represents political clout -- if he chose to exercise it, which he hasn't ... so far.

WATER TORTURE

In democracies, politicians are uneasy when military people become too popular, and are therefore potentially powerful -- witness Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who was fired by less-popular U.S. President Harry Truman. Dwight Eisenhower's popularity as a soldier won him the U.S. presidency -- likewise Ulysses S. Grant. (When Lord Nelson was killed at the battle of Trafalgar, British politicians sighed with relief).

- Maclean's magazine cast a first stone at the reputation of Rick Hillier, as if signaling the media that it was safe to go after him. The Globe and Mail seems eager to test if Hillier may have clay feet, if not a glass jaw. The media's version of water torture is dropping hints, veiled criticisms, cautious innuendo, until vague perceptions become hard facts.

This seems underway right now -- creating doubts abut Hillier.

While some concern is understandable and may even be valid, reality is that the Canadian army under Hillier is the best it has been since bygone days when it actually went to war. Morale is high, the country well-served; let's not jeopardize what is working well by undermining our top soldier.

Targeting hearts and minds: Canadians woo undecided among Afghan public

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - There's a behind-the-scenes battle going on in Afghanistan that has nothing to do with tanks, guns, suicide bombers and improvised explosive devices - at least not on the surface.

But In this country where a nod from an influential cleric or village elder can turn an enemy into an ally, the stakes are high in the battle for the hearts and minds of the Afghan people.

Much of the work of the Canadian Forces in this struggle for popular support is done behind the scenes, and "targeting officers" play a pivotal role.

"What we do is look at all potential people we want to influence," said Capt. Patrick Hannan of Sorel, Que., a targeting officer for the Canadian Forces in Kandahar.

"Targeting doesn't mean always to destroy things or to kill people, like we do with the Taliban," he explained.

"The most complicated part of it is to identify people we want to influence and changing the behaviours in a village we want to be more pro-government."

"What I do is I propose to the general what effect and what means can be selected to achieve that effect."

The non-lethal targeting is done with the use of Afghan advisers as well as information garnered from soldiers out on psychological operations, local media, tribal councils known as shuras, and the engagement of local leaders.

The problem, Hannan said, is just how many members of the Afghan public are in the undecided camp. As in the case of some elections, the undecided make up the vast majority of the "hearts and minds" that remain to be captured.

"The Taliban and us are fighting to get the support of 80 per cent of the population," Hannan said.

"I would say there's 10 per cent hard-core Taliban and whatever you do and tell them, they will never change their mind. Some 10 per cent are hard-core loyal to the government and whatever the Taliban do - they'll stay loyal.

"The rest, they just want to have a secure environment and jobs."

Although Hannan believes that many Afghans look favourably on Canada and other coalition forces, the fact is that after almost 10 years of Russian occupation followed by seven years of civil war, public opinion tends to be fickle.

"They'll go on the side that will bring security," he said.

"So if you dominate an area, they'll support you. If you leave the area and the Taliban come in, they don't want to get beaten, hanged or intimidated. They'll just go on the Taliban side."

"Personally, what I see is people don't want to go back to the old regime where they have no freedom."

A new front may be opening up in this effort to gain public support.

It is expected that there will be a battle over influence in the Arghandab district, which sits between Kandahar city and districts to the north. The location puts the district on an infiltration path for the Taliban into the city.

Mullah Naqib, the Kandahar strongman who ruled the Arghandab district, died of a heart attack earlier this month.

He had been a supporter of Canada's military presence in Afghanistan, warning against a pullout of Canadian troops when their current mission expires in February, 2009.

His death raises doubts about security on the city's northern flank. Canadian troops are currently focused on the river valley that leads to Kandahar from the southwest.

A tribal council will determine his replacement but the process could take months.

Many Pakistanis Against Military Operations Along Afghan Border

By Barry Newhouse – Islamabad 31 October 2007

An opinion survey in Pakistan indicates most people do not support military operations against Al Qaida and Taliban groups in the country's tribal areas. VOA's Barry Newhouse reports from Islamabad.

Pakistan's tribal areas near the Afghan border are considered a critical base for al Qaida militants and Taliban forces fighting in Afghanistan. The remote region has significant autonomy, operating under a different legal and political system than the rest of Pakistan.

For the past several years, Pakistan has tried to contain the militants in the region. But a recent opinion poll of Pakistanis in urban areas shows only 44 percent support sending the military to the region to capture al Qaida fighters.

Thirty-six percent of the people surveyed opposed military intervention. The response was similar when people were asked if the military should pursue Taliban fighters from Afghanistan.

Political analyst Hassan Askari is not surprised. He says that although the Pakistani government supports the U.S. war against terrorism, the public largely does not.

"That is the basic failure," he said. "The government has not been able to convince the people that the war on terrorism serves their interests."

The poll, by WorldPublicOpinion.Org in Washington, also shows that 80 percent of those surveyed strongly oppose allowing U.S. or other foreign troops into the tribal areas to pursue al Qaida fighters.

Pakistan is a leading ally in the U.S.-led effort to fight terrorism. Pakistan has experienced a surge in suicide bombings this year with more than 100 attacks, spreading from tribal areas to the cities.

President Pervez Musharraf and other political leaders say that cracking down on militants in the tribal regions is necessary to stop the region's escalating violence.

But Islamic opposition parties argue that those crackdowns have angered many people and sparked retaliatory attacks. Askari says Islamic parties think that stopping the military operations will halt the suicide attacks.

"The Islamic parties are basically arguing that, it is in fact because the Pakistani government is pursuing an American agenda," he said. "If they stop pursuing the American agenda this problem would be solved."

The poll also reported widespread sympathy for some goals of the Islamic opposition parties. The results indicated some 60 percent of Pakistanis believe Sharia, or Islamic law, should play a larger role in Pakistan's legal system than it does now.

Afghan farmers receive certified seed for the first time

Press Release - Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Kabul, 29 October 2007. Farmers across Afghanistan are for the first time receiving certified seed of international quality standards to sow their wheat crop this autumn season. About 8,000 metric tones of these new certified seeds of 22 improved wheat varieties for both irrigated and rainfed conditions are being supplied by implementing partners (e.g. Seed Enterprises) of the FAO Variety and Seed Industry Development Project. The project is implemented in close collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) and supported by € 10 million funding from the European Union for 5 years.

These high quality seeds have been produced according to certification standards of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and tested for purity, germination capacity and health status using rules and regulations of the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA). Such quality seeds will deliver farmers of much higher yields and better crop performance, which would result in greater food security for the nation and contribute to food self-sufficiency and reduction in hunger.

The contribution of quality seeds to high crop productivity is well known. This year, Afghanistan is enjoying a good cereal harvest that has helped in reducing the import requirement of wheat significantly. Part of this success is attributed to the provision of high-yielding, disease-tolerant wheat seed by the project. Varieties which FAO has helped release now cover over 50 percent of wheat-growing areas in the country and are accounting for improved crop yields nationwide.

First wheat catalogue in the making

Press Release - Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Kabul, 29 October 2007. Although several improved wheat varieties are cultivated by farmers across Afghanistan there is yet no catalogue of registered varieties which are recommended for use in the country. Such a catalogue is highly necessary because it will provide detailed structural description as well as information on the merits of each existing variety in terms of their value for cultivation and commercial use. Important characteristics will include yield potential, resistance to diseases and pests, tolerance to frost damage, water use efficiency, response to fertilizer, quality of flour for bread making, etc. Information contained in the catalogue would therefore enable producers and farmers to choose between particular varieties to meet their desired needs and specific farming conditions.

Varieties that will be released and included in the wheat catalogue must undergo some field level scientific tests which will prove that such varieties are Distinct, Uniform and Stable, commonly referred to as DUS tests. A training course has just ended in Kabul to equip 38 Afghan technicians with the knowledge and skills they need to establish and record data in the first DUS trials to be established in Kabul, Nangahar, Balkh and Herat provinces this year and involving 32 existing wheat varieties and promising ones. This training was provided by FAO under the aegis of the European Union funded Variety and Seed Industry Development Project in collaboration with specialists from the Seed Section of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). Participants for the training course were selected from the Agricultural Research Institute of Afghanistan (ARIA) and FAO.

The official release of any new varieties in the future will be based on information obtained in the DUS trials in combination with information from other separate ongoing nationwide tests of the same varieties for cultivation value and use, otherwise referred to as Value for Cultivation and Use (VCU) trials. The VCU trials have been going on for several years and this season will involve sites in Kabul, Nangahar, Bamyan, Baghlan, Balkh, Kunduz, Herat, Takhar and Helmand provinces. All released varieties with their respective structural descriptions and agronomic characteristics will be published in the variety catalogue, which will be available in English and the major Afghan languages. The catalogue will be revised periodically as new varieties become available and obsolete ones are removed from the catalogue.

The creation of a national variety catalogue is another step towards the development of an organized seed industry in Afghanistan and is part of the process of preparing the seed industry for the Seed Law, which is expected to come into force in the near future.

Seed producers meet in Kabul to plan new cropping season

Press Release - Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Kabul, 29 October 2007. A participatory workshop held on 20 October 2007 at the FAO Conference room in Kabul, where up to 60 seed producers from all over Afghanistan gather to finalize production planning for the 2007/08 cropping season. Participants were drawn from private enterprises, NGOs as well as government stations involved in agricultural research and seed multiplication. The workshop was organized by the Variety and Seed Industry Development Project, which is being implemented collaboratively by FAO and the Ministry of Agriculture with funding from the European Union to the value of euro 10 million for 5 years.

Recent developments taking place in the Afghanistan seed sector are in accordance with the National Seeds Policy that was adopted in 2005. This policy specifies that seed producers must be registered with the National Seed Board and use early generation foundation seed to sow their seed crops. Furthermore, the next generation of seed they sell to farmers has to be officially certified according to international quality standards, which are tested and verified in the field and in laboratories using approved seed testing methods. This certification system guarantees that farmers receive the best quality seed for planting their crops and protects them from unscrupulous producers that may wish to sell poor quality seed.

The purpose of the workshop was to give the producers an opportunity to freely select the type of crop varieties and corresponding amounts of foundation seed they desire, and the quantities of certified seeds they would like to produce and sell next year. To help the producers in making informed decisions, FAO provided real time market survey data and results on variety preference and seed demand at province and district levels nationwide to ensure that both supply and demand sides of seed production match as closely as possible in order to meet the actual needs of farmers.

Outputs from four working groups at the workshop were assimilated into a master production plan for the new season, which will serve as a reference and guide especially for the seed producers, quality control officers and marketing agents. With a total of 335 tonnes foundation seed of 22 improved varieties shared amongst the producers, it is expected that up to 9,000 tonnes of certified wheat seed will be made available for sale to Afghan farmers in 2008. This will be sufficient to cover 72,000 hectares of land for commercial wheat production.

[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.]