In this bulletin:

• Fifty more Taliban said killed in new Afghan clashes
• Chinese weapons 'reaching the Taliban'
• Afghanistan plays down Chinese arms concerns
• Taliban links to Pakistan blasts probed
• Germany eyes long-term role in Afghanistan: document
• Merkel Says German Afghanistan Aid Will Be Increased (Update1)
• Conservatives ramp up public relations offensive over Afghan mission
• Ambassador optimistic about Canada's work in Afghanistan
• Canada sending more police trainers to Afghanistan
• Dutch Decision on Afghanistan Mission Affects Canada's Actions
• Invisible Afghan casualties
• Afghan Party Not Political: Ambassador
• How about extending a bipartisan hand?
• Top military cop cleared in secret investigation into Afghan detainees
• 3 Terror Suspects Arrested in Germany
• Pakistanis support moderation and tolerance: State Dept
• Pakistan must withdraw from war on terror: NWFP CM

Fifty more Taliban said killed in new Afghan clashes

KABUL (AFP) — More than 50 insurgents were killed in fresh fighting between Taliban-led rebels and soldiers from Afghan and international forces, the US-led coalition and police said Wednesday.

Troops pounded suspected militants in the central province of Ghazni in battles that ended early Wednesday, the coalition said, adding that "several militants" were killed.

Ghazni province police chief Alishah Ahamdzai said around 30 Taliban fighters had died. There was no way to independently confirm the death toll.

It was the second major operation in Ghazni since Taliban fighters believed based there released last week 19 South Korean hostages they had held for six weeks.

Sixteen fighters, including a commander involved in the kidnapping, were reported killed there early Tuesday.

Separately nearly two dozen more militants were killed in clashes on Tuesday in the southern province of Kandahar, the coalition announced in another statement.

Chinese weapons 'reaching the Taliban'

Telegraph, UK, 09/04/2007 By Stephen Adams - "Unnamed US officials have recently been quoted as saying that China has been selling arms to Iran which Iran is then passing on to insurgent groups in Afghanistan and Iraq."

Chinese weapons are ending up in the hands of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, British officials have complained to their counterparts in Beijing.

Concerns over lax export arrangements have been aired after Afghan officials revealed more and more sophisticated Chinese-made weapons are being found in the country.

These include surface-to-air missiles, anti-aircraft guns, landmines, rocket-propelled grenades and parts to make roadside bombs, members of the Afghan administration have told the BBC.

“Chinese HN-5 anti-aircraft missiles are with the Taliban, we know this... and we are worried where do the Taliban get them, some of these weapons have been made recently in Chinese factories,” a 'senior Afghan official’ said.

The Foreign Office confirmed to The Daily Telegraph this morning that it was pressing the Chinese on the issue “at a senior level”. Local reports suggest Taliban fighters have begun boasting about their new hi-tech weaponry.

Another Afghan official reported: "Serial numbers and other information from most of the Chinese weapons have been removed in most cases and it's almost impossible for us to find out where they come from."

Intelligence officials in the landlocked south west Asian country are believed to think that Taliban fighters are getting their weapons from arms smugglers who bring them in from Iran.

The BBC reported: “Unnamed US officials have recently been quoted as saying that China has been selling arms to Iran which Iran is then passing on to insurgent groups in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

A Foreign Office spokesman confirmed the matter had been raised with the Chinese. The spokesman said: “We have been pushing the Chinese hard on the standards for arms exports.

"We have raised this with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at a senior level earlier this year, making clear the serious need that Chinese produced arms do not end up in the hands of undesirable groups, which include the Taliban."

Afghanistan plays down Chinese arms concerns

AFP, 09/04/2007 -KABUL - Afghanistan's government played down Tuesday reported concerns about Chinese weapons finding their way to Taliban rebels waging a growing insurgency.

The defense ministry said it did not have evidence of Chinese arms supplied to the Taliban, an Islamist militia supported by the Al Qaeda network.

The president's office added that if such weapons were in Afghanistan, they were likely coming via groups "known" to support the rebels - a reference to those in neighboring Pakistan said to aid the insurgents.

The British Broadcasting Corporation reported Tuesday that Britain had privately complained to Beijing that Chinese-made weapons were being used by the Taliban in Afghanistan, where nearly 7,000 British troops are aiding the fight against the insurgents.

The broadcaster said it had been told that, on several occasions, Chinese arms have been recovered after attacks on British and American troops by Afghan insurgents. It did not name its sources.

The Afghan defense ministry did not agree, spokesman Mohammad Zahir Azimi said. "We're not aware of any Chinese weapons," Azimi stated.

President Hamid Karzai's senior spokesman told a media briefing, later, that he had no information about how Chinese weapons were entering Afghanistan.

Nonetheless, "here are people in our neighborhood who are supporting and providing not only Chinese, but all types of weapons for the enemies of Afghanistan," the spokesman Homayun Hamidzada said.

He did not identify any group in particular, but Afghan officials regularly say that extremist elements in neighboring Pakistan, including in the government, are supporting the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.

"We all know who is supporting terrorists and Taliban in Afghanistan, in the region, and in our neighborhood," Hamidzada said.

A spokesman for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led International Security Assistance Force, which has deployed tens of thousands of troops in the war-torn country, said weapons manufactured in many nations wind up in battlefields across the world.

"I don't know if you can draw any conclusion from that," Major Charles Anthony said. The United States and Britain have also alleged that weapons from Iran - Afghanistan's western neighbor - are going to the Taliban.

Tehran has denied involvement, and Afghan officials have publicly said there is no proof to back the allegations. However, privately, some Afghan officials have said they are concerned about an inflow of Iranian-made weapons.

Taliban links to Pakistan blasts probed

Islamabad (AFP) - Pakistan on Wednesday probed suspected links between pro-Taliban militants and the twin suicide blasts that killed 31 people and heightened the crisis facing President Pervez Musharraf.

The bombings on Tuesday in Rawalpindi, a city near Islamabad where the army is based, added to insecurity in the country as military ruler Musharraf seeks re-election as president in the face of mounting opposition.

One bomber blew himself up on a bus carrying defence ministry workers and another struck on a route used by army officers to travel to the military headquarters in the sprawling but heavily-secured city.

Interior ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema said there were suspected links to pro-Taliban militants backed by Al-Qaeda who are fighting military operations in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

Investigators are focusing on Baitullah Mehsud, one of the most senior militant commanders in the region, who is based in the semi-autonomous district of South Waziristan, he said, an area largely contemptuous of Musharraf's rule.

"No one has claimed responsibility but the previous several attacks were linked to Baitullah Mehsud," Cheema told AFP. "The investigations are continuing."

Officials have previously connected Mehsud with the radical clerics who ran the Red Mosque in Islamabad, which government forces besieged and stormed in July in an operation that cost more than 100 lives.

Mehsud has reportedly claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on military and government targets since then, including what he claims is the abduction of around 150 soldiers in South Waziristan last week. The army insists the soldiers are stranded in the area due to a tribal dispute.

Security sources have said the two attackers who struck on Tuesday may have been the remaining members of team of seven bombers, some allegedly sent by Mehsud, who infiltrated Islamabad and Rawalpindi for Pakistan's independence day celebrations in August.

Five of them have been arrested in recent weeks "but there is a fear that the two others may have carried out the latest attacks," a security official said on condition of anonymity.

Security officials said the death toll had risen to 31 after six people wounded in the blasts died in hospital overnight, a senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Pakistan has been wracked by Islamist violence since the Red Mosque siege, posing further problems for the embattled Musharraf as Washington leans on him to do more to combat the Taliban and Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network.

US officials have warned of possible unilateral strikes on Pakistan's tribal zone, saying that Al-Qaeda is using it to plot international attacks and the Taliban hiding there before launching attacks in Afghanistan.

Mehsud is one of several key Taliban commanders based in the region. He has been bitterly fighting Pakistani military operations against militants who fled there from Afghanistan after the post-9/11 fall of the Taliban.

The turmoil has left Musharraf increasingly isolated at home, as he pushes for a power-sharing deal with ex-premier Benazir Bhutto to end a political crisis sparked by his suspension of Pakistan's chief justice earlier this year.

Talks between the two sides in Dubai on Tuesday made progress, with hopes that they can overcome differences over Bhutto's demands including that Musharraf should quit the army and give up some powers, officials said.

Musharraf wants to stand for another five-year term as president-in-uniform this month or next, ahead of general elections expected by early this year, but he faces likely legal and political challenges.

Another former prime minister and the man Musharraf toppled in 1999, Nawaz Sharif, has also vowed to return home on September 10 to oppose the country's military ruler.

Germany eyes long-term role in Afghanistan: document

BERLIN (AFP) — Germany believes its troops should remain in Afghanistan until the country can take care of its own security needs, according to an internal government document obtained by AFP.

The document was prepared by the defence, foreign, interior and overseas development ministries for the cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of a vote in the German parliament in October.

The parliament is expected to approve a renewal of the mandatefed intense pressure from its NATO partners to send troops to southern Afghanistan where the fighting is most heaviest.

Most German troops are serving within the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) force in the relatively peaceful north of the country and help to train the Afghan police force.

Germany has also sent Tornado reconnaissance planes to help US-led forces hunting the Taliban.

In the five years since it deployed in Afghanistan after the Taliban regime was ousted, Germany has lost 25 soldiers, three police officers and four civilians.

A 62-year-old German engineer has been held hostage in Afghanistan for seven weeks. Another German he was captured with was shot dead by their captors. A German woman hostage seized in a separate case was rescued within days of her capture.

Merkel Says German Afghanistan Aid Will Be Increased (Update1)

By Andreas Cremer - Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Germany will increase efforts to help rebuild Afghanistan, Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a speech that failed to address concerns in her ruling coalition on future military commitments to fighting Taliban insurgents.

The Cabinet, meeting in Berlin tomorrow, will discuss ``how to improve civil reconstruction and coordinate differing approaches more effectively,'' Merkel told a congress today of her Christian Democratic Union party in Hanau, near Frankfurt.

The so-called Afghanistan Concept, which is to be approved by Merkel's 16-member Cabinet of Christian and Social Democrat ministers, pledges to raise financial support for the Afghan civil rebuilding program to 125 million euros ($170 million) next year from 100 million euros, a Defense Ministry spokesman said on condition he not be identified.

Germany's ruling coalition parties, while united in backing more reconstruction aid, are split over a possible reduction in the more than 3,000 German military personnel stationed in Afghanistan, most of whom serve as part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's forces. Lawmakers facing falling public support for the mission because of growing number of civilian abductions and terror attacks, have to vote in October and November on extending troop mandates.

Social Democrats including Deputy Foreign Minister Gernot Erler have said the government should consider dispatching more staff to train Afghan police and additional troops to protect the trainers. Yet Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung, a Christian Democrat, wants to trim the commitment of troops to the U.S.-led anti-terrorism mission Operation Enduring Freedom.

Germany's Free Democrats, the largest of three opposition parties in the lower house of parliament, or Bundestag, called on Merkel today to clarify her government's military course in Afghanistan. Party leader Guido Westerwelle urged Merkel to solve the ``strategic dispute'' next week, when the Bundestag resumes business after a two-month summer recess.

Merkel, in her speech, said that without military force, ``we won't succeed with the rebuilding and will be unable to ensure the safety of Germany, Europe and the free world.''

According to the 20-page Afghanistan paper drawn up by ministers from the ruling parties, Germany's military presence can be ended once the war-torn country's troops assume full control of security matters, the spokesman said. Afghanistan's stabilization and consolidation are part of Germany's vital interests, he said, quoting from the document.

Conservatives ramp up public relations offensive over Afghan mission

OTTAWA (CP) — The Conservative government rolled out Canada's ambassador to Afghanistan and senior officials Tuesday as part of a renewed effort to shore up flagging support for the Afghan mission.

Arif Lalani insisted progress is being made toward building a civil society, and said security is improving in southern Afghanistan while acknowledging Canadian troops are fighting to retake ground they fought and died for last year.

"There is always a back and forth in war," the ambassador said in a conference call during a briefing at the Foreign Affairs Department.

"What we need to focus on is the net result. If you look in Kandahar, and if you look throughout the rest of the country in Afghanistan, there is actually more security, more Afghan National Army working with us, more Afghan National Police, more people at work than ever before in recent history, more kids in school.

"In short there's more economic development and security now than we had previous. You shouldn't just take a snapshot in time."

The briefing included officials from the Canadian army, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), a senior Foreign Affairs official, as well as Lalani, who was appointed to the post in Kabul four months ago.

It's part of a wider government strategy that recently saw both Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier, Defence Minister Peter MacKay and a senior Canadian general play up what they said are the successes of the mission.

With the Bloc Quebecois and other opposition parties threatening to bring down the minority Conservative government over the Afghan mission, Lalani said he was disappointed at the way the war was being portrayed at home.

"Whether the progress is reported or not, the fact is progress is being made and the people here see it every day," said the career diplomat. "What frustrates me is I wish that Canadians would be able to see the full story in the media reporting."

Blaming the news media for the reluctance of Canadians to embrace the mission has become a routine complaint for both the Conservatives and the military. While the army has been relatively open by embedding journalists with combat troops, other government departments - responsible for civilian aid - have for most of the mission been inaccessible, often refusing interviews and redirecting questions to senior officials in Ottawa.

Following the roadside bombing death of Glyn Berry, the political director of Canada's provincial reconstruction base in Kandahar, the reconstruction side of the country's mission virtually ground to halt. Progress on development in the dirt-poor region only started to become apparent last winter.

A development official, who spoke on background only, highlighted a planned distribution of food aid to Afghans in the coming days, saying he hopes the media will take note of the events, one of which will take place "within 500 metres of Kandahar Airfield."

The delivery of parcels, apparently part of $4.9 million in emergency food aid announced last year, comes after repeated criticism from a Europe-based think-tank. The Senlis Council has complained that refugees, driven from their homes by fighting and living in camps, are starving.

A spokeswoman for CIDA said the food would be delivered under the banner of the United Nations World Food Program, but declined to say where the aid was going for fear of Taliban reprisals.

Edward McCormick, a Canadian working for the Senlis Council in Kandahar, said the agency has seen "no evidence" of CIDA's prior aid efforts.

Senior government officials also said Canada will be sending 22 more civilian police officers to help the European Union train the Afghan National Police, who've been persistent targets of Taliban militants. The agreement with Germany was struck at this summer's G8 meeting.

The Germans, who've been reluctant to send combat troops to confront militants in the south, were made responsible for training the fledging Afghan police forces, but the program was recently described by U.S. officials as a disaster.

Ambassador optimistic about Canada's work in Afghanistan

ALAN FREEMAN - Globe and Mail Update, September 4, 2007

OTTAWA — Seventy hand-pumps, 1,000 wells, 100 reservoirs, 650 kilometres of rehabilitated roads. These were just some of the accomplishments Canadian officials listed Tuesday as they briefed journalists on Canada's mission in Afghanistan.

In the first of what are promised to become monthly technical briefings on the Afghan mission, Canada's Ambassador to Afghanistan, Arif Lalani, and three senior officials who would not be named, painted a uniformly optimistic picture of the military and development situation in the country.

“There's been tremendous progress here,” said Mr. Lalani, adding that governance, security, policing and economic development have all improved. “I'm quite confident that we're going to continue to make progress.”

Only when journalists asked about reports that the Taliban have effectively taken back half of the strategic territory in the Panjwai and Zhari districts that Canadian and other NATO troops seized a year ago did the officials concede that everything may not be going to plan.

One official admitted that while the Afghan National Army is improving, “when we look at the national police, there is still work to be done.” He added that the situation can be difficult in isolated locations, and that it is important to make sure that checkpoints are maintained and supported.

In fact, reports from the front say checkpoints that Canadian forces once manned have been abandoned after being passed to the Afghan police.

Mr. Lalani dismissed concerns about the loss of territory, saying, “There is always a back and forth.” Another official responded that “progress is always measured in time.”

Yet another official said it is recognized that the national police are behind the Afghan army in terms of progress.

Mr. Lalani said that what was important is that security has improved, more Afghan police are on the job and more children are in school.

The briefing for journalists was accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation that included plenty of uplifting statistics. Access to medical services in the country was up by 83 per cent and infant mortality had declined by 22 per cent. More than 5,000 women in Kandahar were receiving literacy training and over 200,000 people in the province have received emergency food aid.

The officials pointed to a series of recent accomplishments in the area of development including the construction or rehabilitation between March and June of more than 100 reservoirs, installation of 70 hand pumps, 1,000 wells, 100 irrigation canals and 650 kilometres of roads.

Some of the statistics were less impressive after a second look. For example, the presentation boasted that 420,000 square metres of land had been cleared of mines in Kandahar since March, 2005. That's less than one-half of a square kilometre cleared after 21/2 years of effort.

Mr. Lalani also provided a detailed list of the number of meetings he has had with Afghan and other officials in recent days, and praised his diplomats for working 16 hours a day, seven days a week, saying he had to lean on them to take a break.

Canada sending more police trainers to Afghanistan

OTTAWA (CP) — Canada's ambassador to Afghanistan and senior government officials have offered a barrage of statistics about the military mission there, hoping to shore up flagging support at home.

Arif Lalani said progress is being made toward building a civil society, and said security is improving in Kandahar province, as well as elsewhere throughout southern Afghanistan.

Speaking at a technical briefing in Ottawa via conference call, Lalani brushed aside reports that Canadian troops are battling to retake ground they fought for last year, saying there is always back and forth in a war.

Senior government officials say Canada will be sending 22 more civilian police officers to help train the Afghan National Police, who've been persistent targets of Taliban militants.

A development official highlighted a planned distribution of food aid to Afghans in the coming days, saying he hopes the media will take note of the event, which will take place within 500 metres of Kandahar Airfield.

But the official could not say whether the food is going to refugees or to the Afghan National Army camp, which is within 500 metres of NATO's principal southern base.

Dutch Decision on Afghanistan Mission Affects Canada's Actions

By Chantal Hébert- Embassy, September 5th, 2007- OPED

Any day now, the government of the Netherlands is expected to chart the future of its deployment in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan. One way or another, the decision will add fuel to the raging fire of the debate on Canada's own role in the region.

If the Dutch pull out of the province at the end of their tour, they stand to trigger a domino effect that would almost certainly see Canada follow suit in early 2009. In the absence of volunteer countries to step into the breach, the mission as it is currently configured by NATO would have to be put back on the drawing board. But if the Dutch opt to extend their stay, the burden of rocking the NATO boat by bailing out stands to fall squarely on Canadian shoulders.

The Netherlands' rotation in southern Afghanistan is slated to end in 12 months, but the country is under intense NATO pressure to sign up for another tour.

There, as in Canada, the external pressures to extend the mission are on a collision course with public opinion. A majority in the Netherlands is dubious as to the merit of the deployment and hostile to its extension.

The advent this week of a 10th Dutch casualty in Afghanistan prompted headlines that have become familiar in Canada. One newspaper wondered how many deaths the Dutch public would tolerate before it lost all faith in the deployment. Government officials scrambled to state that there would be no premature end to the mission.

Like Paul Martin's former Liberal government, the Dutch government stressed the reconstruction aspects of the mission when it first signed its troops up for their current duties in 2006.

Ten casualties later, there are those who feel the case was deliberately misstated.

A Radio Netherlands program broadcast last month pointedly asked whether the Dutch had been "hoodwinked" into a combat role in Afghanistan. That report and the range of views it presented could just as easily have been assembled in Canada.

When Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende visited Ottawa in June, the Dutch journalists on hand were almost exclusively concerned with the Afghan issue. With his Canadian colleague watching, Balkenende fended off their questions by repeating that he would propose a follow-up plan to his parliament by the end of the summer.

It was shortly after that visit that Prime Minister Stephen Harper took to stressing that he would be guided by a parliamentary consensus in deciding the future of the Canadian deployment beyond February 2009.

Like the Harper government, the Dutch leadership sounds like it is leaning toward extending the deployment, possibly phasing out the country's presence over time rather than picking up stakes and leaving next summer.

The Dutch and Canadian debates are carbon copies of each other in many ways but one.

In contrast with Canada's Conservative government, the Dutch political leadership has been careful not to isolate itself in its pursuit of a high-risk military mission.

In February 2006, 125 of the 150 members of the Dutch Parliament–where 10 parties hold seats–endorsed the deployment, a consensual outcome that stands in stark contrast with the narrow, divisive Canadian vote on the same matter last year.

As a result, the Dutch mission in Afghanistan, while it clearly is a lightning rod with the public, has not emerged as the wedge issue that it is here.

Chantal Hébert's national affairs column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the Toronto Star.

editor@embassymag.ca

Invisible Afghan casualties

Toronto Star, 09/04/2007 By Linda McQuaig

It's often noted that each death of a Canadian soldier in Afghanistan erodes public support for the war. What is infrequently noted is the way, with each death, the Canadian media seems to ratchet up its support for the war.

On one level, the media's approach seems understandable. Canadians are deeply moved by these deaths, and the media accurately records this grief.

But something else happens in the process. There's an almost irresistible inclination to suggest that the death hasn't been in vain.

Late last month, Canadian soldiers Mario Mercier and Christian Duchesne were killed in Afghanistan. Both men were fathers of three children, making their deaths particularly heartbreaking.

The only possible comfort is the notion the men died for a worthy cause. To suggest otherwise seems to dishonour them.

The agony of each death can only be tolerated if it's deemed to be for a cause worthy enough to send more soldiers to their deaths.

The problem is that each killing then provides fresh momentum for continuing the war.

In order to honour the dead, the war is elevated to a noble cause; criticism of the war is discouraged.

This partly explains how the U.S. stayed in Vietnam until some 57,000 American soldiers were killed.

A similar process is underway in Iraq.

One way to prevent this pro-war momentum from setting in here would be for us to demand that the casualties we inflict on Afghans also be treated with some attention and respect.

Instead, our government and media celebrate the number of "Taliban" we kill, without any understanding of who these individuals are and whether they are simply local villagers fighting – as Afghans have done throughout their history – to resist foreign armies. Whether we admit it or not, we are a part of a foreign army over there.

More surprising is the disrespectful way our government and media treat even Afghan civilian casualties.

There's been minimal coverage here of the repeated pleas from Afghans – including President Hamid Karzai – for an end to the U.S. and NATO bombings that have killed countless Afghan civilians. (And they are literally countless; we don't bother counting them.)

As part of the NATO force over there, Canada is surely complicit in these war deaths.

Yet our media tend to make short shrift of them, even raising doubts about whether they really take place. Last week, the CBC reported that Afghan elders "alleged" that up to 18 civilians were killed by coalition troops in Helmand province.

The CBC quoted a NATO spokesperson who charged that the civilian casualties were being deliberately exaggerated by the Taliban for propaganda purposes.

But how do we know NATO isn't playing down the casualties for propaganda purposes? How does NATO even know who's being killed in its bombing raids?

Incidentally, that same day the New York Times reported that in a telephone interview, Afghan elder Hajji Agha Muhammad said the air strikes had killed 12 civilians, including six children ages 3 to 6 (and injured an additional 12).

Surely, this is not a story to be passed over quickly – as the CBC did – with a brisk denial from NATO. If true – and why should we assume that "Afghan elders" are lying? – it is a story of immense importance, and not only because it raises questions about the prospects of us ever winning popular support in Afghanistan.

More importantly, it raises questions about whether what we're doing over there is really all that noble – or even justifiable.

Afghan Party Not Political: Ambassador

But the NDP's Defence critic and a military expert don't believe it is coincidence that the embassy is holding a celebration as the Conservatives soften their commitment.

By Lee Berthiaume - Embassy, September 5th, 2007, NEWS STORY

The Afghan Embassy will be holding its first large-scale national day celebration in Canada tomorrow, though Ambassador Omar Samad says the decision to do so has nothing to do with the Conservatives' softening on Canada's mission after February 2009.

Others, however, believe the event's timing is no coincidence and has everything to do with political networking and convincing Liberal and Conservative politicians of the missions' value.

On Aug. 19, 1919, Afghanistan declared independence from the United Kingdom, which was followed by a long period of stability until King Zahir Shah was ousted from power in a bloodless coup in 1973.

Mr. Samad said August 19 is the most important of Afghan's several national days.

Since the Afghan embassy in Ottawa was established in 2002, the mission has celebrated August 19 with a flag-raising event attended by a small number of Afghan community members, Mr. Samad said.

"This is a young embassy," he explained of the lack of large-scale celebrations in the past. "We have not had the opportunity to celebrate it in a larger sense, in a more festive way, in the past few years."

The celebration will be held from noon to 2 p.m. at the Cartier Drill Hall.

A special guest of honour will be in attendance, Mr. Samad said, refusing to reveal more, while he hinted that Canadians who have died in the country will be remembered. To date, 70 Canadians soldiers and one diplomat have been killed in Afghanistan.

Mr. Samad denied the decision to hold the event at the drill hall there was an allusion to Canada's military involvement in Afghanistan.

"It could be a drill hall, it could be a war museum, it could be an art gallery, it could be any venue," he said. "But we felt this was an appropriate place for us."

Mr. Samad said the embassy decided to postpone the celebration until Sept. 6 because of the great number of people, including government officials and members of Ottawa's diplomatic corps, who were on vacation in August. Two other foreign missions, whose national days are likewise in August, are also hosting receptions on Sept. 6.

As many as 300 people, including politicians and government officials–as is usual with such parties–have been invited to attend, as have members of the local Afghan community, Mr. Samad said.

"It's an occasion for me to thank Canada for all its efforts in terms of security, in terms of reconstruction and development, and to make the point that we look forward to a long-term engagement in Afghanistan until we are able to take care of our own affairs," he said.

"It also allows today's officials and government and non-government circles involved in Afghanistan to mingle, to meet, to get acquainted, to share ideas and thoughts and maybe even strike co-operation."

But Canada's role in Afghanistan, and especially its military presence in the volatile Kandahar region, where Canadian soldiers have been actively fighting Taliban members and other insurgents, has come under question.

The Conservatives, staunch supporters of the mission since coming to power last year, have softened their stance on continued involvement in Afghanistan in recent months in light of growing opposition in the country.

Responding to a question about progress in Afghanistan, Mr. Samad said: "It will take time, it will take more effort. It definitely does not call for a pullout or withdrawal."

But he denied the national day celebration is intended to shore up political support for the mission by appealing to Canadian politicians and officials.

"It has nothing to do with internal Canadian political dynamics," he said. "This is an Afghan event. Such events cannot impact the debate or politics. They are mostly an occasion for celebration and socializing."

Mr. Samad refused to say how much dialogue the embassy or Afghan government has had with the opposition parties.

"The question should be posed in the other direction: How much interest do other political parties really have in having a dialogue with Afghans and also an interest in visiting Afghanistan?"

However, Mr. Samad said: "I fully believe in having a solid understanding and educated knowledge of an issue such as Afghanistan. Anything that can help bring that about, including meetings and talks with Afghans who do not have a particular bias, can be helpful."

In a technical briefing yesterday, Canadian Ambassador to Afghanistan Arif Lalani said the Afghan government is aware of the pending Parliamentary vote, but did not say what kind of reaction this is having in the country.

Officials from Liberal leader Stéphane Dion's office and that of Liberal Defence critic Denis Coderre did not respond to queries about the extent of contact the party has had with the embassy.

NDP Defence critic Dawn Black said she has met with Mr. Samad several times, but that the last time she discussed the mission at any length with the ambassador was when she and NDP Foreign Affairs critic Alexa McDonough met him in early 2006.

"There has been contact, and I think frank discussion," she said, adding the party hasn't had any contact with many missions.

Ms. Black said she had no doubts tomorrow's national day celebration is an attempt to showcase the importance of Canada's role in Kandahar and bolster support for the mission.

"The timing I don't think is a coincidence," she said. "I think it is an effort on their part to shore up support for continuing Canadian involvement in Afghanistan."

David Bercuson, director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary, agreed.

"Of course it's not a coincidence," he said of the softening stance and the decision to hold the event. "The Afghan government is making an effort to explain to Canadians and Canadian political leaders of all parties how important it feels Canada's presence in the Kandahar region is right now."

Mr. Bercuson said the Afghan government needs to do even more outreach to the country's political parties, or at least the Liberals, where swaying opinion is possible. The Afghan government should be following up with an invitation to Liberal leader Stéphane Dion to visit the country.

"Some of the things that have been said here in this country by Stéphane Dion over the past eight or nine months are so ill-informed that you really wonder where the guy is getting his information and should he not have gone over there, should he not have been invited."

Bloc Québécois Defence critic Claude Bachand said he has had several meetings with Mr. Samad and would have attended the celebration if he hadn't had prior commitments.

"But I don't see there being a link," Mr. Bachand said of the connection between the debate in Canada over the mission and the decision to hold a national day party.

lee@embassymag.ca - http://www.embassymag.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=/2007/september/5/afganparty/

How about extending a bipartisan hand?

If Mr. Dion is still open to argument, here's why withdrawing in 2009 will damage the national interest

DAVID BERCUSON - Director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary, September 5, 2007 at 7:53 AM EDT

Some time in the next few months, Parliament will almost certainly debate and vote on a motion to extend Canada's current mission in Afghanistan. In fact, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion has vowed to force a snap vote on the mission at the first available opportunity. Meantime, the government has replied with less than clarity, as it has done so often these days. The Tories and the Liberals are playing partisan politics with one of the most serious issues the country has faced in decades.

Despite the Liberal Leader's increasingly shrill rhetoric against mission extension, withdrawal in February of 2009 will severely damage Canada's national interest. Mr. Dion - and the Tories - ought to make a serious effort at finding a bipartisan way of extending the mission. That can only happen if both parties take a serious look at how they have approached the issue thus far.

Supporters of the mission, including some prominent Conservatives, have labelled the mission as Canada's contribution to a "world war" against Islamic extremism.

That is a mistake. It has sowed untold confusion among Canadians who - if they know anything about history at all - know what a world war is. Afghanistan is not Normandy or Vimy Ridge. It is very important the Taliban do not regain control of Afghanistan and make it a safe haven for al-Qaeda, but the Taliban do not pose an existential threat to Canada's existence. If mission supporters dial down the rhetoric, the atmosphere surrounding this debate might get clearer and less poisonous.

The government might even gain some traction if Stéphane Dion were shown more respect. He demonstrated both his political courage and his commitment to Canada beyond any doubt when he engineered the Clarity Act after the 1995 Quebec referendum.

Mr. Dion might have deep philosophical reasons for opposing mission extension - he certainly acts as if he does - but he might not. He is, after all, the leader of the same party that produced the 2005 International Policy Statement (IPS), which took Canada into Kandahar, introduced the concept of the 3 Ds (development, defence, and diplomacy) and pledged to restore Canada's place in the world by, in part, rebuilding the military. The IPS is the blueprint for much of what the Tories have done.

Mr. Dion should think about how an election over this mission will damage the very national unity he himself holds so dear. It may ultimately shatter the Liberal Party as the conscription election of 1917 did.

Mr. Dion should also give Stephen Harper some credit for breaking a significant precedent when he sought a Commons vote on mission extension in May, 2006. That was the first binding vote on a Canadian troop deployment by Parliament since 1939.

If Stéphane Dion is so intellectually stiff as to go ahead with his threat no matter what, then only his own caucus can stop him, which is highly doubtful. But if he is still open to argument, he ought to consider some very cogent facts:

First, victory over the Taliban will not be possible without more help from Pakistan, but that help may be just around the corner. The rapidly evolving political situation gives new hope that Pakistani acquiescence to Taliban activities may be coming to an end. If President Pervez Musharraf and the exiled Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister, arrive at an agreement that sees him leaving the military and Ms. Bhutto returning to office, secularism will be greatly strengthened. If so, action to curtail Taliban activities may be close and we must surely wait to see how that situation unfolds before we decide what to do.

Second, Canada cannot stay in Afghanistan indefinitely, but given two Liberal government decisions to intervene militarily in Afghanistan and a third to send Canadian forces to fight the Taliban in Kandahar in 2005, we have a strong moral obligation to stay until the Afghan National Army is large enough, well-enough trained and well-enough equipped to secure the country. Pulling out now gives the ANA no chance whatsoever to evolve into such a force.

Third, in putting Canada back into Kandahar in 2005, the Liberals placed Canadian soldiers into the "thin red line" that must hold fast if there is any chance of ultimate victory over the Taliban. To pull them out now would make a mockery of Liberal policy decisions by the very government Mr. Dion was a member of.

Finally, although many Canadians disagree with the mission, majorities are often wrong. Canada is a representative democracy and the Liberals know as well as the Tories that sometimes things need doing that a majority of Canadians won't agree with. A large majority of Canadians were in favour of capital punishment when it was abolished back in the 1970s. The majority was wrong, Parliament was right.

What we need most now is a mature debate on the issues. There's no hope of maturity from the Bloc Québécois or the NDP, but it is surely not too much to expect that the man who puts himself forward as a potential prime minister of Canada treat this very serious issue with the respect it deserves. Up to now, he has not.

David Bercuson is also director

of programs for the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute

Top military cop cleared in secret investigation into Afghan detainees

OTTAWA (CP) — Canada's top military cop was cleared Tuesday of potential criminal wrongdoing in the ongoing legal controversy involving Afghan detainees.

The Canadian army says there's no evidence to support a prosecution of naval Capt. Steve Moore, the provost marshal.

The conclusion was reached following an investigation by two senior RCMP officers, who'd been called in by the military after allegations of abuse of Taliban prisoners surfaced last winter.

A spokeswoman for the National Investigative Service - a branch of the Canadian Forces - characterized the investigation, which to this point had remained a secret, as procedural.

"The provost marshal himself is in the direct chain of command and the allegations had a potential criminal angle," said Capt. Cindi Tessier.

The decision to conclude the investigation comes as human rights lawyers are set to appear in court Wednesday for another round in the legal battle over detainees.

Concern that prisoners captured by Canadians and handed over to Afghan authorities faced possible abuse and even torture, has spawned a dizzying array of investigations and court actions.

Tessier said that a separate national investigative probe is still underway into whether individual military police officers in Afghanistan could be held accountable if abuse has taken place.

Amnesty International Canada and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association complained last February to the Military Police Complaints Commission, accusing military cops of exhibiting "a wilful blindness to the consequences of transferring detainees and that they may have aided or abetted the torture of detainees."

The agency is still investigating that accusation, said Stan Blythe, chief of staff to the commissioner. "We were aware the (military) police were looking at the possible criminal side of this and have received a copy of their investigation," he said.

"We're aware of it and will make use of the information they've discovered, but it doesn't close the investigation for us."

To date, Canadian authorities in Kandahar have received six complaints from Afghans who say they were abused after being handed over to local authorities. Amir Attaran, the University of Ottawa law professor who's been pushing the issue of detainee rights, was mystified at how RCMP investigators could clear the provost marshal when Defence Minister Peter MacKay acknowledged the alleged cases of abuse last spring, when he was foreign affairs minister.

"Peter MacKay has said Canadian investigators have heard, quote, serious allegations of torture; he called them serious, that was his word," said Attaran. "How can he call them serious when his own staff now says there's no evidence?"

Both Amnesty and the civil liberties association have launched a court challenge, trying to stop the transfer of prisoners to Afghan jails, but that action has been bogged down in a quagmire of legal wrangling.

The case had been set to go before a Federal Court judge last spring, when the Conservative government announced it had reached a new understanding with the Afghans, giving Canadian authorities better access to detainees. The challenge was put on hold until the human rights groups could review the deal. A further snag developed in early July when officials at National Defence denied an application for documents filed by Amnesty lawyers.

The records were deemed too sensitive to be released and when human rights lawyers challenged it, the government invoked an unusual section of the Canada Evidence Act, which dropped a cloak of secrecy around the entire challenge.

Paul Champ, a lawyer for Amnesty, said in addition to fighting for the Afghan documents, his group has launched a charter challenge, hoping to quash the government's power to force secret hearings on court applications.

"The government secrecy privilege is an exceptional power that should only be used sparingly in a democracy," he said.

"Holding hearings in secret doesn't allow for oversight by the justice system, the media and the public."

The Canadian Association of Journalists has signalled its intention to intervene in the charter case, supporting Amnesty's application as it relates to the Evidence Act.

3 Terror Suspects Arrested in Germany
By DAVID McHUGH 09.05.07

BERLIN - Three men were arrested on suspicion of planning attacks on the U.S. military base in Ramstein and Frankfurt's international airport, the German defense minister said Wednesday.

"There was an imminent threat," Franz Josef Jung told Germany's ARD broadcaster. He declined to elaborate, but the Sudwestrundfunk public broadcaster said two of the suspects had German citizenship while the third was Pakistani. It also said the men were arrested Tuesday evening and were close to carrying out the attacks.

Thousands of U.S. servicemen and women are stationed with their families in Germany, which hosts key installations including the Ramstein Air Base, Landstuhl Regional Medical Center and Grafenwoehr training center in Bavaria.

The Ramstein base is in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate and serves as a major transport hub for the U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Frankfurt's international airport is continental Europe's busiest. German and U.S. officials have warned of the possibility of a terrorist attack, and security measures have been raised, they said.

Germany has not experienced a major terrorist attack in recent years, but worries have risen since July 2006, when two suitcase bombs planted on passenger trains malfunctioned. Several suspects are on trial in Lebanon, and a Lebanese man has been charged in Germany. Additionally, the leaders of the Sept. 11 terror attacks were based for a time in Hamburg.

German federal police in March said Germany faces an increased threat of terrorism because its military takes part in missions in Afghanistan and elsewhere. German troops do not serve in Iraq, but German ships carry out anti-terrorist patrols off the Horn of Africa and German reconnaissance jets were recently sent to Afghanistan, where ground troops are stationed in the north of the country.

The Germany report came after Denmark's intelligence agency announced Tuesday that authorities had arrested eight men with alleged links to leading senior al-Qaida terrorists, thwarting a bomb plot.

Denmark was the focus of Muslim anger and deadly protests last year after a newspaper printed 12 cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. But Jakob Scharf, head of the PET intelligence service, said the foiled terror plot was not connected to the prophet cartoons or Denmark's involvement in the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.The suspects - six Danish citizens and two foreigners with residence permits - had been under surveillance for some time when they were arrested.

"With the arrests, we have prevented a terror attack," Scharf told reporters in Copenhagen. He did not identify the target.

The suspects, aged 19 to 29, were not identified but Scharf described them as "militant Islamists with connections to leading al-Qaida persons." All eight were arrested without incident in raids on 11 locations in and around Copenhagen, including the Ishoej suburb and the Noerrebro district of the capital, authorities said.The suspects are of Afghan, Pakistani, Somali and Turkish origin, Scharf told reporters. He said Danish investigators had worked with "several foreign cooperation partners" before making the arrests.

Pakistanis support moderation and tolerance: State Dept

By Khalid Hasan – Daily Times

WASHINGTON: The US State Department said on Tuesday that it was clear that Pakistan under President Musharraf had made a clear choice to stand with the forces of tolerance and moderation against extremism, and there was a broad political consensus in Pakistan to support a moderate vision of Pakistan’s future.

Deputy spokesman Tom Casey said the moderate version of Pakistan’s future was one that allowed for economic development, education for all its children, and the ability of the people to express themselves through democratic elections. He said regardless of what the extremists’ intentions were, it was going to have an impact on Pakistan’s broader goals in terms of its own development, and that applied to President Musharraf as well as other political leaders in the country.

Asked to comment on a report quoting the prime minister that Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif may not be allowed to take part in the elections, Casey replied that the US certainly wanted to continue to work with the Pakistan government to confront extremism and to be able to help Pakistan develop its own democracy and help it move forward with President Musharraf’s stated intentions. The US expected to see Pakistan holding elections that are “free, fair and transparent, and that allow the Pakistani people to have a choice among all the various legitimate political factions in that country.” He did not want to comment on the Supreme Court decisions regarding the two prime ministers in exile, saying that “these again are decisions that need to be made within the context of Pakistani law and Pakistan’s political system.”

Casey condemned the Rawalpindi suicide bombings, saying “there’s no justification, political or otherwise, for attacking civilians, for endangering human life.” He said it is most appropriate for Pakistani institutions dealing with this issue to do so. He added, “What we want to see, though, is that all of the legitimate political parties, all of the legitimate political actors in that country have an opportunity to be able to express themselves, that Pakistani people, when it comes time to vote, do have a real choice among legitimate political parties that do not espouse violence, that do not support extremism and that are willing to help achieve what President Musharraf has said his stated goal is, which is a moderate, Islamic Pakistan that is a good partner for the international community, not only in terms of counterterrorism but in terms of the full range of other issues, including the economic development of the country, which is so critical to addressing the needs of everyone there.” He did not offer a comment on deputy secretary of state John Negraponte’s forthcoming visit to Pakistan.

Pakistan must withdraw from war on terror: NWFP CM

PESHAWAR: NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani has called for Pakistan’s withdrawal from the war on terror for “the good of the people and the country”.
He said segregation of society into extremists and moderates would pave the way for martial law.

Durrani told a delegation of senators who called on him at Frontier House that the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) supported the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution in the larger national interest, adding that some people wanted to bring an eighteenth amendment to secure their “loot” deposited in foreign accounts and get rid of cases pending against them. Acknowledging tribal people as “patriots”, he said their patriotism was evident from their participation in the wars of 1948, 1965 and 1971.

The people in the tribal area were aware that foreigners were behind the chaos that was created in the area because of the country’s “wrong foreign policy”, he said, adding that these foreigners were also against Chinese engineers working in the province. He also told the senators of the evidence against “foreign agents” who were caught red handed recently.

About minorities’ rights in the province, he said the MMA government was serving them well, adding that he had laid the foundation stone for a church in the Peshawar University.

Minority members of the NWFP Assembly were given Rs 1 million worth of development funds in the past, the CM said, but the MMA government had provided Rs 10 million each to all provincial assembly members, including minority members. On the other hand, he said, no opposition parliamentarians in the National Assembly (NA), including Opposition Leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman, were given development funds.

He said if the MMA were to form government it would not harm world peace by adopting a hardline approach towards the use of nukes.

Separately, in a lunch hosted in honour of the police officers who recovered an abducted industrialist, the CM praised the NWFP police for safely recovering Dr Saeed Khan and arresting the kidnappers within 28 hours of the abduction. He said work on the Northern Bypass would start within 15 days, adding that the bypass would connect Charsada Road with Ring Road.

The MMA’s democratic approach was evident from the NWFP advocate general’s stance in the Sharif brothers return case in the Supreme Court.

He said the MMA government had prepared an industrial-friendly policy according to industrialists’ recommendations. The MMA government had conducted the first-ever industrial conference in the 55-year-old history of the province, he said. online

[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.]