In this bulletin:

• Afghanistan's Karzai urges Taliban to negotiate
• Taliban says 'ready for talks' with Afghan govt
• 28 dead in Afghan suicide blast
• Bin Laden not hiding in Afghanistan - Afghan Foreign Minister
• Six years on, terrorism a daily threat: Afghanistan
• Afghanistan 'not base for invading Iran'
• Dutch Prime Minister Visits Troops In Afghanistan, Meets With Karzai
• Canadian troops reclaim Afghan territory in major combat operation
• Debate goals in Kandahar, not timeline, Harper tells opposition
• MacKay and Afghanistan ambassador say NATO must succeed or risk 9/11 repeat
• Afghanistan 'not base for invading Iran'
• Iran warns over 'US weak points' in Iraq, Afghanistan
• Our MPs are failing our troops
• A real Afghanistan debate
• AFGHANISTAN: Rights watchdog appeals to president
• Pakistan's military kitted for new power
• Enemies Reunite at Guantanamo
• Bomb damages Buddhist relic in Pakistan
• 40% fire extinguished at Dara-i-Souf coal mine: Governor

Afghanistan's Karzai urges Taliban to negotiate

Tuesday, September 11, 2007 - KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai urged his Islamist Taliban foes to negotiate peace on Tuesday, the sixth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

The Taliban have said they will only talk to the government once there are no more foreign troops in Afghanistan -- a non-starter given the 50,000 foreign troops Karzai wants to stay put for now.

"For the security and prosperity of the Afghan people, in order to be freed from al Qaeda and terrorists and their inhuman actions, we are ready for any type of discussion and negotiations," Karzai told a joint news conference with visiting Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende.

More than 7,000 people have been killed during the past 19 months in Afghanistan, the bloodiest period since the Taliban's U.S.-led overthrow in 2001, after the group refused to hand over al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Karzai has repeatedly called for talks with the Taliban. "Our sole objective is to bring peace and security for the Afghan people. We will do our best and will talk with everybody," Karzai added.

Taliban says 'ready for talks' with Afghan govt

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) — The Taliban said Monday it was ready for talks with the Afghan government after President Hamid Karzai offered negotiations in a bid to end the rebels' nearly six-year bloody insurgency.

Karzai made the offer on Sunday, with the insurgency spiralling to its highest level this year, saying peace could not be achieved without dialogue.

"For the sake of national interests ... we are fully ready for talks with the government," senior Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP.

"Whenever the government formally asks for negotiations, we are ready," he said. The movement had a "limited" number of conditions for a meeting, he added without elaborating.

Ahmadi said the Taliban could hold talks with the Afghan government as they had with South Korean officials over 21 hostages whom the hardliners freed last month after several meetings.

"As we did hold negotiations with the South Korean government, we can hold talks at an even higher level with the government," he said by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Seoul was criticised for negotiating with "terrorists" to free the aid workers captured mid-July. Two were executed when the Afghan government refused a demand to free Taliban prisoners.

Ahmadi said it was not clear if Karzai's offer was genuine. "Our understanding is the government, which terms the Taliban as terrorists, would not ask for negotiations," he said.

Karzai has regularly offered talks with the Taliban, which was in government between 1996 and 2001, and there have been rumours that contact has already been made.

He denied Sunday that "formal negotiations" were under way with the militants but said he was ready to start such dialogue if he could find the "address for the Taliban."

Ahmadi said: "If they want our address -- we're among the people. If they're honest for talks, we're ready for it."

Asked for a reaction to the Taliban Monday, Karzai's spokesman Homayun Hamidzada said the "government's doors are open to anyone who agrees to obey the constitution and other laws of the country to join peace."

Karzai also said Sunday the radical Hizb-i-Islami faction of former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, which is fighting the government and its allies separately from the Taliban, was welcome to join a peace process.

But Hekmatyar's spokesman, Mohammad Haroon Zarghoon, told AFP Monday the faction's position remained that it would only meet the government if the tens of thousands of international troops in Afghanistan pulled out.

Karzai's previous suggestions of negotiations have not included the leaders of the intensifying uprising and he and his spokesman did not say if the new offer extended to Hekmatyar or Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.

Both are wanted by the United States. Karzai set up a reconciliation commission in 2005 in the hope of persuading rebels to put down their weapons. Officials say around 2,000 low-level Taliban and other militants have signed up.

The Taliban has in the past two years redoubled its insurgency, which it launched after being removed from government in 2001 for not handing over its Al-Qaeda allies after the September 11 attacks on the United States.

The militants, backed by Al-Qaeda, carry out almost daily attacks, with 100 suicide bombings already this year that have killed 183 Afghans and 10 international soldiers, accirding to the United Nations.

There has been a succession of major battles in the south with the international forces backing Karzai's government admitting to facing some of their most intense military action in decades.

28 dead in Afghan suicide blast
TheStar.com - September 10, 2007 Noor Khan Associated Press

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – A suicide bomber on a motorbike blew himself up in a crowded square in southern Afghanistan just before evening prayers on Monday, and preliminary reports said up to 28 people were killed, officials said.

The explosion went off in the town of Gereshk in Helmand province, the world's largest poppy-growing region and site of the country's worst violence this year.

Gereshk district chief Abdul Manaf Khan said about 28 people were killed, saying 13 police had died and about 15 civilians. Dr. Tahir Khan said 23 people were killed and 59 wounded.

The blast came just before evening prayers in this Muslim country, near a taxi stand, Khan said.

Taliban militants have set off a record number of suicide blasts this year – more than 100 through the end of August – but few are as deadly as the Helmand attack. The Taliban typically target international and Afghan military and police forces.

Earlier in the day, a spokesman for the military group said the Taliban would consider negotiating with the Afghan government, but complained that no direct offer has been made by President Hamid Karzai's administration.

"If Karzai and his government ask directly for negotiations, the Taliban would consider that offer," Qari Yousef Ahmadi said by phone from an unknown location.

Ahmadi's comments come a day after Karzai reiterated an offer to negotiate with the hard-line fundamentalists, but added, the fighters "don't have an address" or a telephone number. "Who do we talk to?''

Ahmadi, however, said the militants were easy to contact if government officials wanted to talk. He noted that South Korean officials flew into the country and quickly contacted the Taliban for negotiations over the fate of South Korean hostages last month.

"Whenever the Afghan government wants to hold negotiations, the Taliban is in Afghanistan," he said.

Bin Laden not hiding in Afghanistan - Afghan Foreign Minister

By Simon Gardner, Tuesday, September 11, 2007 - KABUL (Reuters) - Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is not hiding in Afghanistan, the insurgency-racked country's foreign minister said on Tuesday, the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

"I know that he is not in Afghanistan, but I don't have information where he is," Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta told Reuters in an interview.

"Our intelligence information and activities of al Qaeda ... and also the information of Afghans in the anti-terror war all give ... information that he is not in Afghanistan," he said.

The Taliban, the country's former rulers, sheltered bin Laden and his al Qaeda network prior to their overthrow in late 2001.

U.S.-led forces have been searching for bin Laden since they toppled the Taliban government after it refused to hand him over. U.S. officials believe the world's most wanted man is hiding in the mountainous, inaccessible area straddling the Afghan-Pakistani border.

"(Given) the enmity between him and the Afghan population ... because he was the main creator of a terrorist and dictatorship regime against the population of Afghanistan, it is impossible that he can find support among the civilians of Afghanistan," Spanta added.

"That is the main reason that I believe that he is not here," he added, saying bin Laden's capture was "not important" compared to the wider goal of destroying the international terrorist network active in the region.

Spanta's comments came ahead of reports that bin Laden had released a new videotape on Tuesday, the second in a week to coincide with the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks he masterminded.

Six years on, terrorism a daily threat: Afghanistan

by Sardar Ahmad, Tuesday, September 11, 2007

KABUL (AFP) - Terrorism is a daily threat in Afghanistan six years after the 9/11 attacks that led the United States to topple the Taliban, the government said Tuesday on the anniversary of the Al-Qaeda attacks.

Despite achievements there are significant threats, presidential spokesman Homayun Hamidzada told reporters, citing in particular a suicide bombing in the southern province of Helmand on Monday that killed 29 people.

It was one of the deadliest since 2001 when the Taliban launched an insurgency after being toppled from government in a US-led invasion launched after the hardliners did not hand over Al-Qaeda leaders following 9/11.

Another suicide bombing in the same province on Tuesday tore through a convoy delivering supplies to NATO troops. Two Afghan civilian drivers were killed and eight people wounded, the interior ministry said.

"Since then (9/11), we have had significant achievements but the threat from terrorism still remains," Hamidzada told a regular weekly news briefing in the capital, Kabul. "We still face terrorism on a daily basis," he said.

Attacks like the one Monday in Helmand's Gereshk town "show if terrorism is not addressed, if it is not dried up at its roots, it'll threaten peace and stability in the country and the region," he said.

President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday condemned the attack saying the aim was to thwart development in Helmand, the main producer of Afghanistan's illegal opium which makes up 93 percent of world supply.

In a statement, he said "terrorists and drug smugglers, working with each other, attack police and innocent children so the government can't achieve its development projects in Helmand."

UN and other officials say that the Al-Qaeda-linked Taliban insurgency is in part funded by profits from the drugs trade.

The presidential spokesman also referred to a new UN report that cited an unidentified Taliban commander saying 80 percent of the men who carried out suicide attacks in Afghanistan had been trained or equipped in Pakistan.

"Once again, here we see where the roots of terror are based," Hamidzada said.

Many Afghan and some Western officials insist the Taliban and Al-Qaeda leaders are in Pakistan and from there organise the uprising against the government and attacks on its Western allies.

Islamabad says it is doing what it can to fight extremism within its borders.

Taliban and Al-Qaeda leaders are believed to have fled into Pakistan after a US-led coalition unleashed the invasion on October 7, 2001.

The extremist Taliban vowed in a statement Tuesday to launch a new wave of attacks on government and Western military targets throughout the Muslim holy month of Ramadan due to start on Thursday.

An operation code-named "Nasrat", which means victory in Arabic, would include suicide bombings, roadside explosions and other attacks "throughout the country," the statement read to AFP by Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said.

The threat comes a day after Ahmadi said his group was ready for peace talks offered by Karzai's government.

Hamidzada reiterated the offer Tuesday, adding that the government would not arrest any of the Taliban negotiators.

Insurgency-linked unrest has spiralled this year to claim more than 5,000 lives, according to an AFP count based on reports, with the violence focused in southern and eastern areas adjoining Pakistan. Nearly 4,000 of the dead are militants themselves.

Afghanistan 'not base for invading Iran'
Tue, 11 Sep 2007 19:05:15

Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta has said Kabul will not allow its territories to be used for any actions against Iran.

In an interview with Mehr news agency, Spanta reiterated that the Afghan government would not allow Iran's enemies to conduct any actions against the country through the Iran-Afghanistan border.

He further expressed support for Iran's peaceful nuclear program adding, "Our policy in this regard is clear. We call for Iran's nuclear issue to be resolved through constructive talks. We strongly oppose any exertion of pressure on Iran. "

He also appreciated Iran's contribution to the reconstruction of Afghanistan in recent years.

Dutch Prime Minister Visits Troops In Afghanistan, Meets With Karzai

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty - AMSTERDAM, September 11, 2007 -- Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende has made a surprise visit to Dutch troops in Afghanistan. Balkenende was to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai later today. The Dutch government has to decide soon whether to extend its Afghan mission when the two-year mandate of its 2,000-strong force ends in August 2008. Ten Dutch soldiers have died so far in Afghanistan.

Canadian troops reclaim Afghan territory in major combat operation
CanWest News Service , Monday, September 10, 2007

Canadian Forces have emerged virtually unscathed from a major combat operation this weekend that reclaimed the western part of the volatile Zhari district of Kandahar province, military officials said Sunday.

But the military conceded that the operation, which mobilized most of Canada's fighting forces, has merely re-established a presence in territory that the Canadians occupied at the same time last year.

Two Canadian soldiers were lightly injured when a nearby Leopard C-2 tank rolled over a mine. The soldiers were walking close to the tank and were hurt by the shrapnel and debris from the explosion.

They were evacuated to Kandahar Airfield for treatment, but are expected to be released soon, said Major Eric Laforest, director of operations for Canada's battle group.

Roughly 600 Canadian soldiers - the bulk of Canada's battle group -- as well as 100 Afghan soldiers and police were deployed in support of Operation Khar Khowhai -- Keeping Goodwill.

Canadian tanks, armoured vehicles and heavy artillery units rolled out before dawn on Saturday morning to launch the operation.

Canadian Forces were hoping to recover terrain they seized in heavy fighting last fall and subsequently handed over to the Afghan National Police (ANP), which was unable to hold off the Taliban.

Laforest said the operation reclaimed a roughly 20-square-kilometre "box" of territory in the west of the district. The goal was to create "elbow room" for the ANP and Afghan National Army to provide ongoing security, he added.

But Laforest also hinted that Canadian troops could be required to stay in the area for some time.

"We were there about a year ago, we're there now, and we'll be there as long as the Afghan government wants us to operate ... You know what, that is modern warfare. There's no straight line, right?"

As part of the operation, Afghan soldiers led house-to-house searches of villages in the area.

"We did find some indicators that there had been some fighting in the past and that the insurgents were taking advantage of the civilian population to hide," said Laforest.

Around this time last year, Canadian troops were in the thick of Operation Medusa, the biggest and bloodiest operation that Canada has fought in Afghanistan.

Canadian Forces fought head to head with hundreds of Taliban insurgents who had massed about 20 kilometres southwest of Kandahar City in Panjwai District. Five Canadian soldiers were killed and dozens wounded in the offensive.

The operation and a series of smaller ones that followed were supposed to have secured Panjwai and parts of neighbouring Zhari to the north. This time, however, it appears that many of the Taliban militants decided to melt back into the civilian population rather than fight.

"Our operation was well designed in the sense that we actually flooded the area and most of them just basically dropped their weapons and ran away," said Laforest.

Canadian Forces encountered a number of improvised explosive devices during the operation, but did not suffer significant casualties. A LAV-III armoured vehicle struck an improvised explosive device on Sunday, but none of the soldiers in the vehicle were injured, said Laforest.

Canada has about 2,300 troops stationed in Afghanistan in support of the NATO-led coalition that is trying to secure and rebuild the war-torn country. Seventy Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed in Afghanistan since 2002.

Debate goals in Kandahar, not timeline, Harper tells opposition

GLORIA GALLOWAY – Globe and Mail, With a report from Canadian Press

September 11, 2007 - CANBERRA -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper fired another salvo today at the opposition's unwillingness to continue the current mission in Afghanistan past the expiry date.

In Canberra, where he had a one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister John Howard, the roles the two countries are playing to help the Afghan people were on the table.

The Australians are performing a reconstruction mission in Uruzghan province, which is under the protection of the Dutch, and they are fearful about what could happen if the Dutch pull out when their mission ends next year. The province is on the northern border of Kandahar.

Mr. Harper said Canada has no plans to take over that province once the Dutch leave. But both Mr. Howard and Mr. Harper said the two countries can work on joint projects in Afghanistan, and announced today that they would spend an additional $10-million on shared initiatives.

As for the possibility that Canada could withdraw its troops, Mr. Harper said he hoped that in the next year and a half the debate in Canada would turn from when Canadians will leave to what their objectives should be.

"I don't see the United Nations telling Canada to leave on a certain day ... ," Mr. Harper said.

Meanwhile yesterday, Defence Minister Peter MacKay and Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada cautioned that the world risks more attacks if peace and stability aren't restored in Afghanistan.

Mr. MacKay and Ambassador Omar Samad said the price of failure is too high for countries like Canada to consider abandoning Afghanistan before it is ready to defend itself against the forces of terrorism.

"Let's not forget that on 9/11, terrorism came to our shores on this continent," Mr. MacKay said after a private address in St. Andrews, N.B., to a meeting of ambassadors to Canada.

Mr. Samad said Canadians only have to remember what Afghanistan was like when it was abandoned and forgotten by the world in the 1990s.

"It fell into the hands of international terrorists, drug dealers, warlords and al-Qaeda," he said. "Do we want Afghanistan to revert and once again become a failed state and become a threat ... to the world at large?"

MacKay and Afghanistan ambassador say NATO must succeed or risk 9/11 repeat

ST. ANDREWS, N.B. (CP) — On the eve of the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Defence Minister Peter MacKay and Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada cautioned Monday that the world risks more attacks if peace and stability aren't restored in Afghanistan.

MacKay and Ambassador Omar Samad said the price of failure is too high for nations like Canada to consider abandoning Afghanistan before it is ready to defend itself against the forces of terrorism.

"Let's not forget that on 9/11, terrorism came to our shores on this continent," MacKay said following a private address in this New Brunswick resort town to a meeting of ambassadors to Canada.

"So we have to be vigilant and very responsible in continuing to play a role" in Afghanistan.

Samad said Canadians only have to remember what Afghanistan was like when it was abandoned and forgotten by the world in the 1990s.

"It fell into the hands of international terrorists, drug dealers, warlords and al-Qaida," he said. "Do we want Afghanistan to revert and once again become a failed state and become a threat not only to its own people, but to the region and to the world at large?"

MacKay said Canada's military mission to Afghanistan is scheduled to end in February 2009.

But he said Canada's role in Afghanistan is diverse and he predicted its involvement in the rebuilding and redevelopment of the war-torn country will continue for a "very long time."

"That's the exit strategy," MacKay said.

"When the Afghanistan government can take care of its own interests, then we can come home. That doesn't happen quickly, but we have made enormous progress in a relatively short time."

MacKay has said a vote will be taken in Parliament if there is to be any extension of the military mission and he expects this discussion will take place in the House of Commons this fall.

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has said he will introduce a motion in the Commons setting February 2009 as a firm end to Canada's combat role in Afghanistan.

However, the Liberals also have indicated a vote would not be needed if the Conservative government would now tell NATO and the government of Afghanistan that the combat mission in Kandahar will end on that date.

MacKay said there are mixed signals coming from the opposition when it comes to the Afghanistan debate, adding there is a "clear split" in the Liberal party on the issue.

MacKay would not say whether he believes Canada and North America as a whole are safer today as a result of the war on terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq.

He said the size and scope of the threat is hard to gauge, but he said Canada's military involvement in Afghanistan has enhanced its international reputation as a defender of freeedom and democracy.

"It's a volatile world and we have a very important role to play, as we have in previous conflicts," he said.

Samad said he believes the world is safer today from terrorist attacks. "But there are lessons to be drawn from what happened six years ago, most of which center on Afghanistan. Remember, 9/11 didn't happen in a vacuum."

Afghanistan 'not base for invading Iran'

Press TV (Iran) / Tuesday, September 11, 2007 - Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta has said Kabul will not allow its territories to be used for any actions against Iran.

In an interview with Mehr news agency, Spanta reiterated that the Afghan government would not allow Iran's enemies to conduct any actions against the country through the Iran-Afghanistan border.

He further expressed support for Iran's peaceful nuclear program adding, "Our policy in this regard is clear. We call for Iran's nuclear issue to be resolved through constructive talks. We strongly oppose any exertion of pressure on Iran. "

He also appreciated Iran's contribution to the reconstruction of Afghanistan in recent years.

Iran warns over 'US weak points' in Iraq, Afghanistan

by Farhad Pouladi - Tue Sep 11, TEHRAN (AFP) - The new head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned the United States Tuesday that Tehran has identified its "weak points" in Iraq and Afghanistan and would launch a crushing response to any attack.

The comments by Mohammad Ali Jaafari, appointed head of the elite force by the supreme leader just 10 days ago, come amid mounting tensions between Tehran and Washington over Iran's controversial nuclear drive and its role in Iraq.

"The Revolutionary Guards have identified all the weak points of the enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan and based on this have consolidated the defensive capabilities of the country," General Jaafari said.

"And if the enemy wants to take any impudent action the Islamic republic will for sure give a decisive and teeth-breaking response," he said, according to state broadcasting.

Jaafari did not explicitly say that Iran would strike the US "weak points" if attacked but Tehran has always warned of a tough response to any aggression while insisting it would never initiate an attack.

General Rahim Yahya Safavi, Jaafari's predecessor and now special military advisor to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had warned last week that the United States did not appreciate how at risk its troops were.

"It can not evaluate the vulnerability of its 200,000 troops in the region since we have accurately identified all of their camps," said Safavi.

The tensions over the Iranian nuclear programme -- which the United States alleges is aimed at making nuclear weapons -- have been compounded by US accusations that Iran is behind attacks on US troops in Iraq.

The top US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, said on Monday that Iran was fighting a "proxy war" in Iraq through the covert operations unit of the Revolutionary Guards -- the Quds force

"It is increasingly apparent to both coalition and Iraqi leaders that Iran, through the use of the Quds force, seeks to turn the Iraqi special groups into a Hezbollah-like force to serve its interests and fight a proxy war against the Iraqi state and coalition forces in Iraq," Petraeus said.

Washington has never ruled out taking military action against Tehran and the war of words has intensified in recent weeks with President George W. Bush warning that Iran's atomic programme could lead to a "nuclear holocaust."

Tehran has an array of medium range missiles and claims that its longer-range Shahab-3 missile has a reach of 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) which would put Israel and US bases on the Arabian Peninsula within reach.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has dismissed the chance of any US attack against Iran but influential former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has warned of the dangers still posed by the United States.

Iran vehemently denies seeking nuclear weapons and also rejects charges it is interfering in Iraq, saying it fully supports the Baghdad government's drive to restore security in the war-torn country.

Our MPs are failing our troops

Posted By Den Tandt, Michael - Canadian soldiers are doing an exceptional job in Afghanistan - the job they were asked to do. But this country's political leadership, across the spectrum, is failing them.

Last weekend, using Defence Minister Peter MacKay as his proxy, Prime Minister Stephen Harper bugled the retreat. Canada, MacKay told CTV, has told its NATO allies that our deployment in Kandahar will end in February of 2009.

There will still be a Canadian presence, MacKay was careful to say but the mission will change. Decoded, that means we can expect a dramatic troop reduction. And our soldiers will be moved to a far safer part of the country than Kandahar. We couldn't convince the Italians or the Germans to join us in the volatile south, so perhaps we'll join them in the relatively quiet north and west.

It has all the hallmarks of one of Harper's signature tactical retreats. This has become a pattern with him.

He takes a stand on a given issue, one he claims is based on principle. It might be media access to repatriation ceremonies of fallen Canadian soldiers. It might be our detainee-transfer agreement with the Afghans. It might be the question of whether we should be in Kandahar at all. Or it might be the very basic issue of whether Canada is one nation in which everyone is equal, regardless of race or ethnic origin.

In each case, Harper stakes out an early position firmly. He is the anti- Paul-Martin, after all. He makes his case forcefully and without fuss, then disappears back into the Langevin Block, there to tug on the invisible but unbreakable strings that keep his ministers' limbs in motion. A strong leader.

But then something uncanny happens. Harper begins to take heat. Family members of fallen soldiers demand openness and a public acknowledgment of their sacrifice. A national newspaper finds that Afghan detainees are being tortured after they leave Canadian custody. A Liberal leadership candidate makes waves in Quebec with a plea that the province be recognized as a nation within Canada.

Harper stubbornly resists any and all calls for a course correction, for exactly as long as he thinks he can win the day.

But the moment events pass that point, the tactical brain overrides all other considerations. Repatriation ceremonies are suddenly open to all. The detainee agreement is re-written. Quebec is declared a nation.

There's no fanfare and no handwringing and, if you blink, you may miss the reversal altogether. But from one day to the next, Canada changes from a country that doesn't cut and run, to one carefully folding its tents. The Taliban, whose lazerlike focus on a return to power has never wavered, must be chortling in their caves.

On Afghanistan at least, Harper is not alone in fumbling the ball. He's had ample help from the folks across the aisle.

New Democratic Leader Jack Layton advocates peace talks with people who would as soon chop off his head as look at him. Layton's core left-wing values the protection of the innocent, of women, the right to freedom of association and conscience and thought, the right to vote are the very ideals at stake in Afghanistan. But Layton would prefer to simply have these values, while never fighting for them. Nice.

The Liberals? They conceived, planned and launched this mission under former Prime Minister Paul Martin. They warned us that it would be dangerous, and that there would be casualties. Many among them, most notably Michael Ignatieff and Bill Graham, were strong and vocal early supporters. Others, such as Ujjal Dosanjh, were always critics. But the Martin-inspired notion of the responsibility to protect held sway.

All that changed when the party fell from power. Senior Liberals began purveying the notion that, under Harper, the mission had become more warlike and less focused on development. Anyone familiar with the deployment and its planning knows this is nonsense. Senior Liberals know it's nonsense. No matter: It's just politics, right?

Wrong. It isn't just politics. Some 2,500 young Canadian men and women are risking life and limb in Kandahar even now. Thousands more have already gone and returned. Seventy soldiers and one diplomat have gone and not returned. Between now and February, 2009, thousands more will go. Some of them will not return. Surely they deserve to have the country, and its leadership, united behind them. It's unreasonable to suggest that Canada must keep more than 2,000 troops in Kandahar in perpetuity. There should be a rotation of the most onerous aspects of the Afghan reconstruction, across the various countries in NATO. If the Europeans refuse to help then the Americans will have to. All indications are that they will be out of Iraq by early 2009, with troops to redeploy elsewhere. A draw-down by Canada in Kandahar, therefore, will not necessarily mean the end or the failure of the Afghan effort.

But surely there's a better way to go about arranging a troop rotation than telling the world, and your enemies, that you're pulling out in a year? And surely there's a better way for politicians to behave, once the troops are in harm's way, than to make a public spectacle of their divisions?

Canadian soldiers did not ask to go to Kandahar, they were put there and kept there by the will of Parliament. All 308 MPs, from all parties, are therefore collectively responsible for their welfare.

It's a shame that so many of them, most notably the Prime Minister, seem to have forgotten that.

A real Afghanistan debate

Scott Gilmore, Citizen Special Monday, September 10, 2007

The Canadian mission in Afghanistan is our largest military enterprise since the Korean War; Canada's largest aid program in history; and Ottawa's most pressing foreign policy issue in decades. And yet, belying this significance, the debate swirling around the subject barely rises to the quality of a sandbox spat.

Instead of Macdonald and Laurier crossing swords with wit and wisdom, we have Bart and Lisa throwing sand.

Friday's op-ed by Tom Quiggin on this page ("Aid can do more harm than good") is an excellent example of what is wrong with this national debate, and it is unfortunately not the only example.

Those both for and against the mission are exceptionally gifted at avoiding the central questions: Is Afghanistan important to Canada? Are we doing any good? Is this good worth the price?

Instead, the commentators and politicians rush right past these critical signposts and dive into the brambles of minutiae. In Mr. Quiggin's case, he is wondering about the Afghan labour markets, proclaiming that the aid projects are distorting wages.

The oft-quoted Senlis Council is scurrying around in the opium fields, demanding legalization. Jack Layton marches off in another direction, resolutely arm in arm with conspiracy theorists, anarchists, and old time nationalists, shouting down American imperialism and claiming Canadian troops are just doing President George W. Bush's dirty work.

Everyone with even the most tenuous claim to being informed is weighing in. Cosseted academics who have never been to Central Asia are labelled "Afghan experts."

MPs who were once flown to Afghanistan, but never left the Kandahar airfield, proudly display their flak-jacketed photos on their websites. Former diplomats who spent their distinguished careers in Europe hold forth on network news with strong telegenic opinions regarding Pashtun and Dari dynamics.

Very few of them have actually spent any real time in Afghanistan, almost none of them have any scrutable data to back their positions.

Returning to Mr. Quiggin, for example, he offers that "well informed sources" suggest that only 20 per cent of the aid money is being used effectively. Is there a quantitative study on aid effectiveness by a reputable organization that shows 80 cents on every dollar is being wasted? Not that I'm aware of.

Mr. Quiggin confidently claims that the aid is doing more harm than good. In other words, Afghanistan would be in better shape now if we had not helped Afghans remove landmines, build schools, re-open hospitals, or distribute medicine.

It seems highly unlikely, but he may be right. The parents of the 40,000 Afghan babies that did not die this year due to the recent drop in the infant mortality rate may choose to disagree with Mr. Quiggin. The additional five million Afghan children who are now going to school may also raise a skeptical eyebrow.

But I am a more cautious sort. I would like some actual data before I am willing to hold forth with Mr. Quiggin's conviction.

And where is the government in the midst of this dysfunctional debate? That is not a rhetorical question. I honestly do not know.

On CBC radio, ministers can never be found to respond to opposition attacks. The very people who are on the ground and can provide some of the badly needed answers are also nowhere to be seen. The Prime Minister's Office has strictly forbidden aid workers and diplomats from speaking to the press. The Conservative contribution to the question of whether Canada should or should not be in Afghanistan is limited largely to the few anodyne press releases that trickle out when no one is looking.

Whether you believe we should be there or not, we all seem to agree that Afghanistan is a critical issue for Canada. The price in Canadian lives and money is already a steep one. Therefore we need a genuine informed debate. Canadian citizens, and our leaders, need real answers.

Is Afghanistan important to Canada? Are we doing good? Is it worth it? Three simple questions. I invite Stphane Dion, Stephen Harper, and even Mr. Quiggin to try answering them.

Scott Gilmore has spent time in Afghanistan and several other conflict zones, both as a diplomat and a development worker. He is currently the executive director of Peace Dividend Trust, a non-profit

foundation dedicated to make peace operations more efficient, effective, and equitable

AFGHANISTAN: Rights watchdog appeals to president

KABUL, 11 September 2007 (IRIN) - Afghanistan's leading human rights watchdog has called on Afghan President Hamid Karzai to use his constitutional authority to protect the body's independence after a majority of MPs in the lower house voted to restrict its autonomy.

The powerful Wolesi Jirga (lower house) of the country's bicameral national assembly - dominated by warlords and former militia leaders - has voted in favour of parliament having the final say on the appointment of all nine commissioners of Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), including its chairperson.

So far only the lower house has voted on this. All bills need bicameral approval and presidential assent before becoming law.

Rights activists say the move is aimed at curtailing the freedom of Afghanistan's national human rights institution, which was set up to monitor, investigate and report current and past human rights violations in the country.

The rights watchdog is described as "independent" in Article 58 of Afghanistan constitution.

"We want the president to ensure the implementation of constitutional principles and protect the independence of the human rights commission," Mohammad Farid Hamidi, a member of the AIHRC, told IRIN.

Afghanistan would be breaching its national and international commitments with regard to human rights and other democratic values should MPs in the Wolesi Jirga get their way, Hamidi said.

Controversial individual MPs have reportedly labelled the watchdog "a stooge in the hands of foreigners" and have condemned its efforts to investigate past human rights violations in the country.

The MPs who voted for the subordination of the AIHRC to parliament accuse the watchdog of political and ethnic bias.

"The human rights commission has repeatedly deviated from its mandate by siding with favoured sectarian and political groups," said Amanullah Paiman, an MP.

"Anybody who is working for human rights in one of a number of sensitive areas, whether that is women's rights or anything that touches on corruption or on transitional justice, is likely to be threatened," said Andrew Anderson, deputy director of Frontline Defenders, a Dublin-based organisation dealing with the protection of human rights activists around the world.

Immediately after the Taliban regime was toppled by a US-led coalition in October 2001, Afghan militia leaders, who had fought against the Taliban and called themselves Mujahedin, were invited to form a new government for Afghanistan.

Almost six years on Mujahedin leaders still dominate decision-making in the country and have consistently blocked reform efforts, say analysts.

In an effort to shed light on numerous crimes in Afghanistan since the Soviet invasion in 1979, the AIHRC, backed by the UN, approved an action plan for the implementation of transitional justice in the country in December 2005.

The action plan, however, lacks political commitment from the Afghan government and is yet to see any meaningful progress, say rights defenders.

There cannot be good prospects for enduring peace and progress in Afghanistan without justice, Anderson told IRIN.

Pakistan's military kitted for new power

By Syed Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times Online / Tuesday, September 11, 2007

KARACHI - Pakistan has established itself over the past six years as the strongest link in the West's chain of influence in South and Central Asian countries whose internal stability is linked to progress toward Western goals in the region, especially in the US-led "war on terror".

Pakistan's military establishment has used this for both its de facto and de jure rule and for its broader strategic regional goals. Therefore, when US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte

arrives in Pakistan on Wednesday, after visiting Afghanistan, he will finalize a blueprint for a fresh and aggressive two-pronged US approach to defeat radical Islamists in Afghanistan and to nurture a new popular political leadership in Pakistan.

The major contractor of US policy in Pakistan will remain the military, which, under President General Pervez Musharraf, aims for a smooth political transition of power from civilian-military rule to complete civilian rule.

Amid much publicity, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif arrived in Pakistan on Monday after seven years in exile, only to be deported within a few hours. Lebanese leader Saad Hariri and Saudi Prince Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz were in Islamabad to persuade Sharif to return to exile in Saudi Arabia to avoid muddying the region's political waters.

The Supreme Court's decision to allow Sharif - ousted in a coup by Musharraf in 1999 - to return to Pakistan came at a time when Washington and Islamabad were putting the final touches to the formation of a consensus government between Musharraf and another former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto. Under this arrangement, Musharraf is likely to be re-elected as president, after which he will shed his uniform and position as army chief of staff and share power with Bhutto. The aim is to bring more stability to Pakistan, as Musharraf currently faces widespread popular opposition.

The real battle in the "war on terror" can then begin. Negroponte is expected to spell out Washington's aims in very clear terms to Pakistani authorities. He will provide precise targets for Pakistan to tackle, such as al-Qaeda and Taliban bases in Pakistan, and if Islamabad fails to act within a given timetable, North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led forces from across the border in Afghanistan will take matters into their own hands.

Over the years, Pakistan has tried to deal with the problem of militants in the tribal areas, with both the iron fist and the velvet glove. The problem remains, though, and in the latest show of force, militants this month captured more than 400 Pakistani troops and security officials in the North Waziristan tribal area.

After news leaked last week of a new video by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) informed Pakistan about the presence of a new militant base in the valleys of the Shawal, a remote, inhospitable region that spans the Pakistani-Afghan border.

The CIA suggested that the tape might have been shot in the Shawal, and that high-value targets such as bin Laden's deputy, Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri, and Tahir Yaldeshiv, leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, might be in the area.

In response, Pakistan sent troops to the Shawal on Saturday, but they immediately came under fire in the mountainous terrain. Though a spokesman for the Pakistan Armed Forces, Major-General Waheed Arshad, denied the claim, independent Asia Times Online sources confirmed that 35 troops died during the Shawal operation, which failed.

However, Pakistan will continue to mount operations on targets given by the Americans, and this process will speed up after Negroponte's visit. At the same time, the US and Pakistan will continue their strategic dialogue process and share notes on developments.

In this regard, Washington has broadened its contacts to include the Pakistan Army, as the military is a key player in the country and any breakdown of Musharraf's military-backed government would be a severe loss to the army. It has therefore been included in the negotiations with Bhutto.

The political endgame is expected this month, with Musharraf announcing that Parliament will re-elect him as president, in uniform, and at the same time he will announce a date this year to change into civilian clothes. A new chief of army staff will also be named.

Washington is absolutely right in including the army in its plans, despite the popular political face of Bhutto, as militants will remain a threat across the country. In fact, Bhutto will need the army to protect her and the government's security. In such a "protected" atmosphere, Bhutto, Washington's ace card, will be beholden to General Headquarters Rawalpindi and its regional games. All the same, the army will stay behind the scenes as far as politics is concerned, but it will be the only channel through which Washington will deal.

The next few weeks will clearly be of immense importance for Pakistan, which is why the military was relatively calm over the seizure of hundreds of its troops, which normally would be a major affront. (Most of the captives were released on Monday morning.)

Once a smooth transition of government is completed, the demands of the militants for a complete withdrawal of Pakistani forces from the tribal areas will be met and a ceasefire agreement between the security forces and the Taliban is likely by November.

At the moment, talks between the Taliban and coalition forces in Afghanistan are stalled because of Pakistan's internal situation. However, Taliban sources signal that ceasefire agreements are expected by the winter in southwestern Afghanistan, after which talks for a political settlement will start. In the coming few months, as the changes in Pakistan take place, no major offensives are anticipated in Afghanistan, beyond unplanned skirmishes.

Coalition headquarters in Kabul are fully aware of the Taliban's strength, which will be further boosted once the Pakistani military is withdrawn from the tribal areas, as the Taliban will be able to consolidate their bases there to support operations in Afghanistan.

Pakistan will be in a position to build new bridges between the military and the Taliban, which will guarantee a new Pakistani-sponsored "easy to talk to" Taliban leadership, which will push for a political settlement in Afghanistan.

The dynamics in the "war on terror" will be changed toward peaceful resolution or, if that fails, the whole process will give the Pakistan-backed Taliban enough breathing space for a major offensive next year.

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

Enemies Reunite at Guantanamo

By MICHAEL MELIA, Tuesday, September 11, 2007

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — For some men trying to get out of Guantanamo, the biggest obstacle can be another detainee.

Prisoners often confront allegations leveled by other detainees as they appear before U.S. military panels that review their cases and decide whether they can be released, according to transcripts obtained by The Associated Press.

Detainees have accused each other of storing anti-tank mines for the Taliban, plotting a bomb attack on Afghan President Hamid Karzai and guiding Arab fighters into Afghanistan through Iran.

Such allegations often provoked frustrated outbursts at the review hearings, where classified material is withheld from detainees. Attorneys for detainees, and even a military officer who participated in a review panel at Guantanamo, have said that the United States has relied on vague or incomplete evidence that would not hold up in a civilian courtroom.

Some prisoners say that enemies within the prison have lied to gain favor with interrogators or settle scores.

"Because of him, I am here today," a 37-year-old Afghan, Aminullah Baryalai Tukhi said at one hearing. "Who he is, I don't know. Which organization he belongs to, I don't know."

The accusations, contained in transcripts obtained by the AP through the Freedom of Information Act, illustrate the difficulty detainees face in refuting cases against them at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.

Afghan detainee Bostan Karim was told by a board member that his former business partner, also held at Guantanamo, accused him of storing mines and plotting attacks against U.S. forces. Karim said the man incriminated him out of anger related to a long-running feud over money.

"I asked the interrogators to have him face me," said Karim, who added that man hid from him at Guantanamo and asked to be transferred to another camp. "Even if we go back home, I will not let it go."

Most of the roughly 340 prisoners at Guantanamo occupy modern, maximum-security prisons where they communicate mainly by shouting through slots in their cell doors. But some in an older section can speak easily through a steel mesh wall and several dozen live in a communal area for the most "compliant" detainees.

One man insisted that another detainee had disavowed any claims against him when they crossed paths inside the detention center on a U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba.

"I told him 'I did not have any connection with you' and he told me no he did not," said Chaman Gul, accused of planning to bomb a ceremony to open a radio station in Afghanistan. "If he has an allegation he should tell me straight. He came here and he was shy."

Gul attributed any claims against him to political rivalries in Afghanistan. But a board member expressed skepticism, telling Gul "there are many of your own people who have told stories about you."

Several others have found familiar faces at Guantanamo — some bitter enemies, others friends or even brothers — among the hundreds of men scooped up in the war on terrorism and taken to Cuba on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.

Abdul Matin, a teacher from Afghanistan accused of spying for the Taliban, recognized a man he said had beaten him for five consecutive days inside a Taliban prison years earlier.

"As soon as I heard about him being here, I called the interrogators and told them that I was a witness against him," said Matin, who encouraged the military to focus on other, guilty detainees.

"I am challenging you to look at the other prisoners, and my case is very clean," he said.

Among those reunited with family members was Abd Al Razzaq Abdallah Ibrahim Al Tamini, a 23-year-old Saudi who told his military review panel that he had spoken with his brother, who was imprisoned with him in Cuba after they both traveled to Afghanistan on a holy war.

Moazamm Begg, a British citizen who was held at Guantanamo for more than two years, has said that a guard helped him communicate with at least one British resident at the camp by carrying a greeting between them.

Another inmate said he developed enemies among Taliban supporters as word spread that he had worked in the government of Karzai's Western-backed government.

"Three times (they) have broken my head, they have beaten me and nobody talks to me because most of them are Talibans here and they know that I am against them," said Ahktiar Mohammad.

Mohammad, who is suspected of helping to plan an attack on a government official, said he wanted to move to another section of the prison camp.

"In Camp Four I have some friends," he said.

Bomb damages Buddhist relic in Pakistan

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — A bomb detonated by pro-Taliban militants Tuesday damaged a rock engraved with images of Buddha in northwest Pakistan that attracts thousands of tourists a year, police said.

The incident recalled the internationally condemned destruction of the huge Bamiyan Buddhas in neighbouring Afghanistan by the hardline Taliban regime in 2001.

Shrapnel from the blast in the town of Malam Jabba in Pakistan's Swat district hit the rock but did not damage the Buddhist images, local police chief Mohammad Iqbal told AFP.

The region -- known for its Buddhist heritage and archaeological sites -- attracts tourists, mainly from Buddhist countries, despite security fears.

It is also a stronghold of a radical group linked to Afghanistan's Taliban militia that carried out several attacks on security forces earlier this year following the bloody siege of the pro-Taliban Red Mosque in Islamabad.

"It appears to be the work of local militants who condemn these relics as being un-Islamic," Iqbal said. "It looks more like a symbolic attack to embarrass the government of Pakistan internationally."

The Taliban incurred the wrath of the world community when they rocketed the ancient Buddha statues in the central Afghan valley of Bamiyan months before US-led forces toppled their regime in late 2001.

40% fire extinguished at Dara-i-Souf coal mine: Governor

AIBAK, Sep 9 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The fire that had erupted at a coal mine in Dara-i-Souf district of the northern Samangan province 28 years ago had been controlled up to some extent, provincial Governor Abdul Haq Shafaq said on Sunday.

Forty percent of the fire had been extinguished with the help of experts who were still busy to control the natural resources from being devoured by the inferno, said the governor while briefing the Minister for Mines Muhammad Ibrahim Adil.

He said efforts were kicked off three years back to control the blaze which had so far devoured over one million tons of coal. The governor said for the first time in 1966, people of the area had informed the government about the Dara-i-Souf coal mine.

He critices the then government for neglecting the fire when it was brought into its notice for the first time 28 years ago.

Eng. Nazar Muhammad, in charge of Dara-i-Souf coal mine, said a survey conducted by the then USSR in 1967 had revealed that the Dara-i-Souf mine contained over 150 million tons of coal.

The governor said the minister had pledged to assist the provincial government to completely extinguish the fire. He said despite fire, coal was being extracted from the mine though safe routes.

The governor said revenues from the mine had mounted to 100 million afghanis per year over the previous three years. Earlier, the figure was five million afghanis a year.

[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.]