In this bulletin:

• UN Security Council extends Afghan force mandate
• President Karzai's message on Int'l Peace Day
• Afghan Government and people want talks with Taliban, UN envoy says
• Leveling With Pakistan on Afghanistan
• Taliban behead two former Afghan policemen
• Afghan forces kill two Taliban commanders-ministry
• Afghan police investigate reports two Italians kidnapped
• Czech police leave for Afghan mission
• McHale: Afghans need logistical aid
• Language barrier hampers Afghan army training
• The Poppy Problem
• National Army Short Of Everything But Spirit
• Dion launches foreign-policy attack
• Still seeking clarity on Afghanistan
• Bloc leader sets demands for continued support of Harper
• Flour up, rice, fuel prices down in Kabul

UN Security Council extends Afghan force mandate

Saturday, 22 September 2007

The United Nations Security Council has voted 14-0 to extend the mandate of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan 12 months.

The resolution says the Security Council agreed to, "extend the authorization of the International Security Assistance Force, as defined in resolutions 1386 (2001) and 1510 (2003), for a period of twelve months beyond 13 October 2007."

Although Russia has veto power on the Security Council, but it abstained during the 14-0 vote on September 19th.

Russian Ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, told RIA Novosti Russia abstained because of what he called, "the unexpected inclusion in the document of a sentence expressing appreciation to NATO .... "including its maritime interdiction component." "

Part of Resolution 1776 (2007) reads, "Expressing its appreciation for the leadership provided by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and for the contributions of many nations to ISAF and to the OEF coalition, including its maritime interdiction component."

Media reports indicate this section of the resolution provides support to Japan in a domestic dispute in that country over refueling of U.S. and other ships in the Indian Ocean. Japanese government spokesperson, Kaoru Yosano, told Reuters the resolution was welcome, adding, "It is very important that Japan's refueling activity was evaluated highly by the United Nations and members of the U.N. Security Council."

"A decision was made to give priority to domestic considerations of some members of the United Nations," Churkin told Agence France Presse. "The unity of the Security Council has been sacrificed to undue haste."

Even before the Security Council vote, Japanese officials hoped the resolution would clear the way to extend a naval mission assisting U.S.-led Afghanistan military operations, showing support for Washington and averting a conflict in the Japanese in parliament as a new government begins its mandate there.

The leader of Japan's main opposition Democratic Party, Ichiro Ozawa, has opposed extending Japan's mission to refuel coalition ships in the Indian Ocean, in part because he says the activities lack a direct U.N. imprimatur.

One think tank, the Jamestown Foundation, says Russia's abstension is a warning that it is prepared to challenge U.S. and NATO interests and hinder their policies almost anywhere in Eurasia as much as possible.

Although expressing concerns about the resolution, and calling for future decisions on the issue to be made "by consensus", China supported the resolution.

The resolution extends the ISAF mission mandate under Chapter VII of the UN Charter until October 13, 2008.

Expressing its concern about all civilian casualties, the resolution, condemns "in the strongest terms all attacks, including Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attacks, suicide attacks and abductions, targeting civilians and Afghan and international forces and their deleterious effect on the stabilization, reconstruction and development efforts in Afghanistan," as well as "the use by the Taliban and other extremist groups of civilians as human shields."

The resolution also calls for ISAF coalition members to, "sustain their efforts to train and empower the National Police and other Afghan forces."

ISAF currently has approximately 39,000 troops deployed in Afghanistan. Its mission, as stated on the ISAF web page, is to, "conduct military operations in the assigned area of operations to assist the Government of Afghanistan in the establishment and maintenance of a safe and secure environment with full engagement of Afghan National Security Forces, in order to extend government authority and influence, thereby facilitating Afghanistan’s reconstruction and contributing to regional stability."

President Karzai's message on Int'l Peace Day

KABUL, Sept 21 (Pajhwok Afghan News): President Hamid Karzai has expressed the hope that the International Peace   Day will bring lasting peace and stability in the country.

In his message, the president felicitated Afghans and people  around the globe on the Peace Day.

He said the day was being observed across the world and the Afghan people were fully aware of the importance of peace.

He said on this day, Afghanistan and the world community, should resolve to work for peace and point out reason responsible for unrest in Afghanistan and the world.

Afghan Government and people want talks with Taliban, UN envoy says

UN - 21 September 2007 – Afghanistan’s Government and its people are open to negotiations with the Taliban in the interests of ending the fighting there, a top United Nations envoy said today – the International Day of Peace, when thousands of Afghans marched in commemoration even as deadly violence exploded in parts of the country.

Speaking to reporters in New York, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Tom Koenigs, pointed to the activities across Afghanistan in observance of the Day as evidence of a deep-seated desire for lasting security.

“What we take from this broad support is there is a cry for peace in Afghanistan, from the civil society – from everybody – and there are possibilities for peace,” he said.

At the same time, the envoy acknowledged the outbreak of “war-like violence” in Helmand province and also in the capital Kabul, where a French solider was killed today along with a civilian by an improvised explosive device (IED) which wounded a number of others.

The UN will “continue to build on this broad support” for peace, marked by wide public and official calls for negotiations with the Taliban.

“It is obvious that among those who support the Taliban and even among those who support their violent actions, there are quite a number of people who are tired of war and who respond to the cry of the people for peace,” said Mr. Koenigs.

At the same time, he cautioned against expectations of an immediate change. “These negotiations we cannot expect to come to a quick result.”

The fact that the talks are called for “opens a possibility to act for those who might feel in charge to follow this up,” he said.

“We from the United Nations will certainly support peace talks because the insurgency cannot be won over by military means only and we have to keep the door open for negotiations,” he added.

“We don’t expect that the hardcore of the Taliban will negotiate, but there are certainly tribes who are alienated who can be brought back.” Mr. Koenigs said negotiations must be based on the Afghan Constitution.

“We call also for support of peace initiatives by the neighbouring countries,” he said, terming the Afghan-Pakistani frontier “a very difficult border.” A coordinated effort to address this problem is necessary, he said.

Mr. Koenigs heads the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), which is currently working to provide political and strategic advice for the peace process and carry out other tasks, including promoting human rights and managing all UN humanitarian relief, recovery, reconstruction and development activities in coordination with the Government.

Leveling With Pakistan on Afghanistan

FOX News, /22/2007 Lisa Curtis

In the years since Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush has often asserted his intention to pursue America’s terrorist enemies wherever they may hide.

Well, today we know where the terrorists are. Al Qaeda has retrenched in Pakistani tribal border zones. A recently foiled plot to kill Americans in Germany was traced to camps in Pakistan. A U.N. report indicates that 80 percent of the suicide bombings in Afghanistan originated in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

In short, we have more than enough reason to target the terrorists operating from this region. The question is, how do we do it without destabilizing Pakistan?

The first step to uprooting the terrorists from Pakistan’s tribal areas is to convince Islamabad to change its view of the Taliban’s role in Afghanistan. Al Qaeda has found sanctuary in Pakistan’s border regions because of the support it enjoys from the Taliban, who share a Pashtun identity with the local population of the region.

Remarkably, in a statement made during the closing ceremony of the August peace jirga in Kabul, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said the Taliban is part of Afghan society and can be brought into the political mainstream.

While promoting an inclusive political system that provides adequate representation of Pashtuns is important to stabilizing Afghanistan, Musharraf’s defense of the Taliban is alarming. Advocating a Taliban role affirms extremism as an acceptable ideology and undermines the establishment of pluralistic democracy in Afghanistan.

Many think that Pakistan is willing to allow the Taliban to undermine the government of Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, who’s seen as a close ally of India. But that’s shortsighted. After all, when Pakistan launched a military operation against Taliban-backed extremists at the Red Mosque in Islamabad in July, they responded with a wave of terrorist attacks. These extremists threaten the stability of the Pakistani state as much as they do Karzai’s government, especially since they know no borders. The most recent al Qaeda video declares war on Pakistan and praises the strengthening relationship between the Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters. Ultimately, support for the Taliban in Afghanistan -- tacit or otherwise -- seriously damages the security situation in Pakistan.

The Red Mosque crisis should have been a wake-up call for the Pakistani government to deal firmly with extremists. A sensible first step would be to confront the Taliban in Pakistan, especially in the border region, as well as Kashmiri groups that have received sanctuary and support within Pakistan because of their anti-India agendas. These groups plot with one another and support a pan-Islamic ideology.

Having nurtured extremists for so long to support their anti-India agenda and to maintain influence in Afghanistan, Pakistani security officials still believe they can placate some and eliminate others, while avoiding a comprehensive approach to tackling the problem. The confrontation at the Red Mosque reveals the fallacy of such assumptions.

Dealing effectively with the extremists also means Islamabad should work with the Karzai government, not against it. Washington, Kabul and Islamabad need to work more closely in tripartite military and intelligence operations that target Taliban and Al Qaeda heavyweights.

The three countries also should devise a strategy to siphon off “guns-for-hire” that would be willing to shun pan-Islamic goals and join civilian society. Furthermore, the U.S. needs to continue efforts like the recent peace jirga that encourage Kabul and Islamabad to develop people-to-people, trade and economic links that will help change their strategic perceptions of one another.

And for its part, Pakistan must take clear, pro-active steps to counter Taliban ideology. Following the violence in Pakistan that has left hundreds dead since July, Pakistan’s military has sent fresh troops to the border areas, reactivated military checkpoints and resumed limited military operations.

These are welcome steps, but they aren’t likely to address the serious threat from the region. It goes without saying that any unilateral U.S. military action in the area would have disastrous consequences for the Pakistani state and the long-term effectiveness of US policy in the region.

A more effective strategy would bring U.S. resources and military strength to bear through joint Pakistani-U.S. military operations in the border regions. We need a combination of targeted military operations against hard-core terrorists and economic assistance programs to drive a wedge between the Pashtun tribal communities and the international terrorists. To this end, Pakistan should allow greater U.S. access to the region.

It’s time for Washington to finally level with Pakistan on the future of Afghanistan, and for Pakistan to finally understand that our fight against extremism is theirs, too.

Lisa Curtis is a senior research fellow in the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation.

Taliban behead two former Afghan policemen

GHAZNI, Afghanistan (AFP) — Police in Afghanistan said they found Sunday the bodies of two retired policemen beheaded by Islamic Taliban rebels who had accused them of spying for the US-led military.

The headless corpses were found in Ghazni province's Qarabagh district, where Taliban militants kidnapped 23 South Koreans mid-July, police official Mohammad Zaman said. The rebels killed two of the Koreans before freeing the rest.

"The Taliban beheaded them for spying for the US forces here. But we know they were innocent and had even left their jobs in the police," Zaman told AFP.

The Taliban militia, waging a bloody insurgency against the US-backed administration of President Hamid Karzai, has killed scores of Afghans it has accused of having links to the government.

The police force is on the frontline of the violence, with around 700 policemen killed this year.

The rebels, removed from government in late 2001, have intensified their campaign in recent years, stepping up tactics such as beheadings, kidnappings and suicide bomb blasts.

Afghan forces kill two Taliban commanders-ministry

KABUL, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Afghan forces killed a number of Taliban militants and wounded two others during a sweep operation in southern Afghanistan, the defence ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

Among those killed in Friday's operation were two provincial-level Taliban commanders named Mullah Waseem and Mullah Abdullah, who were involved in "sabotaging activities" in Wardak province, the statement said.

On the same day, government forces detained Mullah Qaderi, the leader of 15 insurgents who was involved in "terrorist activities" in the Nirkh district of Wardak province, the statement added.

Southern Afghanistan has seen a sharp rise in violence during the past year-and-a-half, with daily clashes between Taliban insurgents and Afghan and foreign forces.

More than 7,000 people have been killed during the past 19 months, the bloodiest period since the Taliban government was overthrown by Afghan and U.S.-led forces in 2001.

Afghan police investigate reports two Italians kidnapped

HERAT, Afghanistan (AFP) — Afghan police said they were searching on Sunday for two Italian nationals after intelligence reports that they had been kidnapped in western Afghanistan.

The pair, believed to be journalists, went missing in the western province of Herat on Sunday, the criminal investigation police chief for western Afghanistan, Ali Khan Husseinzada, told AFP.

"We've intelligence reports that two Italians were kidnapped in Shindand district. Initial reports indicate they are journalists," Husseinzada said.

The Italian embassy in Kabul said it was not aware that any of its nationals were missing. The Italian military in Herat also said it did not know.

Czech police leave for Afghan mission

A Czech police team flew from the Prague Ruzyne airport for an EU mission in Afghanistan, Vendula Zikova from the police headquarters said on Saturday.

Zikova said that the five-member team will work in the province Kunduz and the town Faizabad as advisors to the border police and investigation experts.
"They can stage training at the police academy," Zikova added.

The police, who are from specialized police teams, are to stay in Afghanistan for one year, according to Czech news agency CTK. "All of them have experiences from foreign missions," Zikova said, adding that they had led training in Jordan.

At present, the Czech army has 225 soldiers in Afghanistan, together with Germans and Danes, deployed in the Provincial Reconstruction Team in northern province of Badakhshan.

Apart from Badakhshan, Czechs are also deployed in a field hospital in the international airport in Kabul and as members of special military police forces in southern Afghanistan.

The Czech government recently decided to increase the number of Czech troops in Afghanistan by about 70.

This year, the Czech government donated 20,000 submachine guns and 650 machine guns to Afghanistan worth over 30 millions crowns (one U.S. dollar equals 19.589 Czech crowns).

At the beginning of autumn, the Czech Republic is to send transport helicopters to Afghanistan.

McHale: Afghans need logistical aid

Sunday, September 23, 2007 - By BILL CAHIR The Express-Times

WASHINGTON, D.C. | Activated by the Marine Corps last year and deployed to Afghanistan, Col. Paul McHale Jr. served as a senior U.S. adviser to the Afghan Ministry of the Interior. He toured the country with Afghan authorities and attempted to help the emerging democracy strengthen its fledgling police force.

McHale, a retired Marine reservist now back at his job as the Pentagon's top homeland defense official, declined to discuss the details of his deployment. He agreed, however, to describe the Afghan army and police force, along with the broad strategic situation, in general terms.

Afghan soldiers and police personnel have proved themselves brave and capable of fighting the Taliban, McHale said.

When it comes to defeating a resurgent foe, the Afghan army and its police force require not more U.S. infantry troops but more logistical support from American forces and troops deployed by NATO, McHale said.

That would include air support, medical evacuation, food, water and fuel delivery, and ammunition re-supply.

"Throughout Afghanistan, and certainly in the contested areas around the Pakistani border and in the south of Afghanistan, the district police headquarters is the forward outpost of the (President Hamid) Karzai government," McHale said.

"As a matter of strategy and tactics, the Taliban have routinely conducted attacks upon district police headquarters both to kill police officers and diminish the authority of the Karzai government," he added.

The Afghan Ministry of Interior has made the defense of its district police offices its top priority.

The Afghan National Army, as it is constituted today, did not exist after U.S. and international forces routed the Taliban in December 2001.

Despite an increasing frequency of Taliban attacks, soldiers fighting for the Afghan government led by Karzai are more competent, better trained and better equipped than their Taliban foes, McHale said.

"The Afghan people, with our continuing support, are fully capable of defending themselves," McHale said.

Bill Cahir is Washington, D.C., correspondent for The Express-Times

Language barrier hampers Afghan army training

21 September 2007 (Jane’s) - While the Afghan National Army (ANA) has a continuing need for modern weapons and supplies, the more urgent priority for the service is language training, particularly in English, according to the second-in-charge officer of NATO's Joint Force Training Centre in Kabul.

The paucity of Afghan officers and non-commissioned officers (NCOs) with a passing knowledge of English "makes it difficult for NATO to even identify the most suitable candidates for language and technical training", said Brigadier General Ryszard Wisniewski, deputy director of the training centre, who added that many of the training, technical and operational manuals of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan - and all of NATO's - are in English.

The Polish official spoke from Kabul to reporters in Brussels during a 17 September video-conference at NATO headquarters.

Though not directly responsible for training, the Kabul centre co-ordinates ISAF training initiatives in support of the ANA. The centre works hand-in-hand with the US-led military post known as Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan, which sponsors overall training and equipment programmes for the ANA's benefit.

The Poppy Problem

The Washington Post, 9.22 Vanda Felbab-Brown

Nothing is likely to reduce cultivation of the crop in Afghanistan unless security is greatly improved throughout the country.

The expansion of poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has set off a scramble among policymakers for a magic counternarcotics policy that will rapidly reverse the trend. Opium production in Afghanistan this year topped the previous year's record by 34 percent. At 8,200 tons, the level of opium production is unprecedented in the history of the drug trade since World War I. But despite the frantic search for the counternarcotics silver bullet -- whether in the form of spraying or licensing -- no counternarcotics policy is likely to substantially and durably reduce poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, unless security is greatly improved and stability achieved throughout the country.

Effective government control over the entire territory and the absence of armed conflict are crucial preconditions for the suppression of illicit crops. During major insurgencies or civil wars, no counternarcotics policy has ever succeeded in eliminating cultivation. This rule applies to both coercive measures, such as forced eradication, and non-coercive approaches, such as alternative livelihoods programs and licensing.

China during the 1950s provides one example of successful forced eradication. Having won firm control throughout the country, Mao instituted draconian measures -- imprisoning millions of addicts, executing even those merely suspected of being traders, and leveling poppy fields -- that suppressed cultivation. But Mao undertook eradication only after he achieved full control over the country. During his insurgency years, understanding that he would antagonize the very farmers whom he was trying to court, Mao tolerated opium poppy cultivation just as the various Chinese warlords, the Chinese Nationalist Party and the Japanese occupation forces did; in fact they participated in the trade.

The one example of alternative livelihoods succeeding on a country-wide level to eliminate cultivation -- Thailand -- also confirms the security prerequisite for the success of counternarcotics policies. During the 1960s, in the midst of several insurgencies fighting the government, Thailand experimented with forced eradication in the hill regions where opium and the insurgencies coincided. But this counternarcotics approach only pushed the opium-growing population into the hands of the insurgents. The government thus suspended eradication and focused on improving security while providing comprehensive socio-economic development to the affected areas. Only after the insurgencies were defeated and alternative livelihoods programs were in place for about fifteen years, the Thai government reinstituted eradication and succeeded in eliminating cultivation. The defeat of the insurgents was crucial for the success of the well-designed, well-funded, and decades-sustained alternative livelihoods programs.

The licensing of opium poppy cultivation for medical purposes in Turkey during the 1970s succeeded in ending illicit cultivation there. The scheme succeeded for many reasons, including an auspicious international market for medicinal opiates and support from the United States. But the absence of conflict and the Turkish governments' effective control over the territory and ability to closely monitor cultivation and prevent diversion were key.

On the other hand, efforts to reduce illicit crop cultivation during conflict have largely failed. In Peru during the 1980s as the Shining Path was sweeping over the countryside, eradication, interdiction and alternative livelihoods efforts bankrolled by the United States came to naught while coca cultivation exploded to 130,000 hectares. It was only after the Shining Path was defeated in the early 1990s that counternarcotics measures reduced cultivation. Despite a massive spraying effort in Colombia for seven years, Colombia is still the world's largest producer of cocaine and cultivation is still estimated between 125,800 and 179,500 hectares. The presence of armed insurgency undermines the effectiveness of forced eradication, while the lack of security undermines the ability of alternative livelihoods programs to take off.

The counterargument holds that security cannot be achieved and belligerents cannot be defeated without the disruption of their drug income. But as yet nowhere has eradication bankrupted the belligerents: not in Thailand during the 1960s and 1970s; not in Peru or Burma during the 1980s; not even in Colombia today, where income from drugs after spraying to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia is still estimated at an enormous $60-115 million a year. But belligerents have been defeated or agreed to disarm without the governments' drying up their drug income. This applies to all the examples above except for Colombia.

What does this mean for Afghanistan today? Unless security is achieved, no counternarcotics policy, even if it is massive aerial spraying, is likely to substantially and durably reduce cultivation. Nor is the Taliban going to be defeated through the eradication of poppy: The belligerents will find other means of financing, including fundraising in Pakistan and other illicit activities. Moreover, massive eradication will only strengthen the bond between the belligerents and the poppy farmers. The most counternarcotics policies can achieve in the absence of stability is to limit the power of criminal elites through more effective interdiction. To improve security, NATO urgently needs more troops, fewer caveats, greater cooperation from Pakistan, and better techniques to discriminate between civilians and insurgents. Only after stability is achieved do counternarcotics policies have a chance to reduce cultivation, and then they should follow the Thailand model, rather than the China model.

The author is assistant professor at Georgetown University and non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution.

National Army Short Of Everything But Spirit

RFE/RL, 09/22/97 -The Afghan National Army (ANA) has a long way to go before it can stamp its authority on Afghanistan's southern provinces, where the Taliban insurgency is strong. Although the ANA's morale appears to be high, it lacks everything from weapons to basic literacy skills. RFE/RL correspondent Ahto Lobjakas files this report from the southern provinces of Afghanistan.

It is symptomatic of some of the woes of Afghanistan that the higher the rank of the person you talk to, the more optimistic they are.

Drawing on seemingly inexhaustible reserves of pride, the Afghan National Army's top officers are anxious to drum up respect for the institution they represent -- and talk down the prowess of their enemy.

The soldiers on the ground, however, appear a good deal more guarded in their assessments, and their accounts are more in keeping with the slow progress of the ANA and its Western backers in Afghanistan's deep south.

Brigadier General Gul Aqa Nahib commands about 10,000 soldiers who make up the ANA's southern 205th Corps, which has headquarters at the Kandahar Airfield, side by side with the International Security Assistance Force's (ISAF) Regional Command South.

In an interview on September 9, Nahib initially brimmed with optimism, saying the Taliban are no longer capable of defeating ANA units in combat.

"The enemy knows our abilities," Nahib said. "Before, they came to fight face-to-face with the ANA, but now they have lost that ability; they cannot come face-to-face in combat. They just have ambushes, terrorist attacks like suicide attacks, bombings, road bombings. They cannot stand up to us as fighters."

General Nahib says the ANA has beaten Taliban insurgents many times, taking their weapons and equipment. He says the four southern provinces of Kandahar, Helmand, Zabul, and Uruzgan -- each home to an ANA brigade -- are now secure. He said he is now "very happy with the security situation."

But this account does not match the news of continued fighting southwest of Kandahar -- and constant Taliban attacks in Helmand, Zabul, and Uruzgan -- which dominated the headlines in Afghanistan in mid-September.

When challenged, General Nahib concedes that "some areas" remain where the Taliban is still active, but says they will be "freed soon." He declines to predict when.

The core of the ANA's problem, Western officials say, is that it cannot hold on to the territory won for it by ISAF. It lacks the manpower, equipment, and experience necessary.

Asked if the ANA still needs ISAF, General Nahib conceded. "I can tell you that the ANA cannot stand on its own feet yet, but it will do so in the future," he said. "We are not fully equipped yet and we do not have enough men. When we have enough men and we are fully equipped then we can beat all of them." He noted that the ANA recently conducted two operations without the support of coalition forces.

The governments of ISAF allies are currently supplying the ANA with weapons and equipment, but that process has -- by all accounts -- not reached an advanced stage. Some NATO officials complain that the Afghan Defense Ministry has yet to make the basic policy decision of whether to adopt NATO standards or not.

The ANA soldiers interviewed all said that their worst deficiency was the lack of heavy weapons and air power. This, they said, is the main factor which makes the ANA dependent on ISAF.

In Zabul Province, at Forward Operations Base Massud -- which is operated by Romanian troops -- ANA Sergeant Rahimullah Abdullah said that "if it weren't for ISAF, no one would prevent the Taliban" from overrunning the province. He said the ANA needs "rockets, PKMs [machine guns], hand guns, vehicles, RPGs, all kinds of weapons."

In neighboring Uruzgan, at the Dutch outpost of Chora, hemmed in by mountains on all sides, the relatively well-equipped elite ANA soldiers said their biggest ambition is to acquire the ability to project their own air power.

Training is another problem. There are currently 26 ISAF "Operational Mentoring and Liaison Teams" (OMLTs, or "omelettes" as they are known in ISAF jargon) training ANA units across the country.

However, the number barely meets the needs of the 30,000-35,000 current ANA soldiers. The ANA is projected to grow to 70,000 men by the end of 2008, requiring 100 of the 20- to 30-person OMLTs, not an easy task for Western governments struggling to find troops for Afghanistan.

But there are some problems that are even more elementary. ISAF Brigadier General Ryszard Wisniewski, in charge of coordinating some Western training efforts, said in a video interview from Kabul on September 17 that a flagship project to attach 65 ANA officers to ISAF central and regional headquarters is in danger of foundering because many of these hand-picked officers cannot read or write.

"The biggest problem that we met is language skills," Wisniewski said. "Sometimes we have some examples of people who are not able to even read or write in Dari or Pashto." That leaves ISAF with the challenge of running training efforts when it cannot even recruit suitable candidates, he said.

If there is one commodity with which the ANA appears to be well-supplied, it is spirit. The ANA soldiers' morale appears to be high, and Dutch, Australian, and Canadian officers had only praise for the troops.

Some western officials sound a note of caution, however.

One leading ISAF figure pointed out that the ANA troops in the south overwhelmingly consist of non-locals -- mostly Tajiks and Uzbeks, with a greater motivation to fight an almost exclusively Pashtun insurgency.

Brigadier General Nahib, a Dari speaker from the country's north, confirms that although the ANA is "a symbol of national unity," its policy is to send Pashtuns away from the country's south to serve elsewhere.

Dion launches foreign-policy attack

Liberal Leader blasts Harper's 'ideological kinship' with Bush administration

CAMPBELL CLARK - From Friday's Globe and Mail September 21, 2007

MONTREAL — Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion yesterday fired a series of sharp blasts at what he called the Conservative government's "mediocre," "simplistic," and "incompetent" handling of foreign affairs, as he outlined his own call for a staunchly made-in-Canada foreign policy less aligned with the U.S. course.

In an interview later, he insisted that it is up to Prime Minister Stephen Harper to propose a post-2009 role for Canada in Afghanistan if he wants opposition support for some kind of mission there - and that he is open to discussions of a non-combat peacekeeping role.

Mr. Dion's broad indictment of Conservative foreign policy came one day after he personally took up the cause of accused terrorist Omar Khadr - and he again attacked the Tories as the only Western government that has failed to fight for the rights of its citizens imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay.

This time, in a speech to a foreign-policy group in Montreal, Mr. Dion delivered a broader accusation that the Conservatives have drifted from the independent-minded, multilateral policies of previous governments to divisive U.S.-inspired actions that are not broadly supported by Canadians.

"How can the Harper government's foreign policy have achieved such depths of mediocrity? Incompetence cannot be the only reason," he said.

"A deeper explanation seems to be an ideological kinship between the Harper government and the Bush administration. Mr. Harper has given Canada a foreign policy that draws its inspiration from the American right, a foreign policy that does little to advance Canada's interests."

Among his examples: that the Conservative government "insults China and absolves Colombia" of human-rights abuses "without doing anything whatsoever to advance the cause of human rights;" that it committed $30-billion for military-equipment spending that was often ordered without competitive bids and "was in many cases neither necessary nor wanted by the army;" and that it's a "government that plays no mediation role whatsoever, anywhere in the world."

Mr. Dion said that the government's decision to ignore the country's Kyoto Protocol obligations undermines Canada's credibility and will diminish its future influence in striking such a deal.

However, he said the Conservatives' worst blunder was its handling of the Afghanistan mission. The Tories "blackmailed" Parliament into extending the mission to 2009 under threat of an election before they obtained commitments from allies to play a greater role, and now the Tories are refusing to come clear on whether they want to extend the mission, he said.

"It's always worrisome when a politician constantly flip-flops, but when people's lives are at stake, it's inexcusable," Mr. Dion said.

The Conservatives responded that Mr. Dion was trying to distract from his own weak leadership, and charged that he did a flip-flop of his own because the Liberal cabinet he served in sent Canadian troops to Kandahar in the first place. "He helped put our troops in heavy combat," said Ottawa Tory MP Pierre Poilievre.

Mr. Dion said that if Mr. Harper notifies NATO allies that Canada will not extend its mission, then he can negotiate some other role and propose it to the other parties in the Commons.

"And it's for the government to come with leadership, and to say, this is what we have negotiated, with the premise that it's not a combat mission, and say this is what we are ready to do," Mr. Dion said in an interview.

All three opposition parties have threatened to vote against the Throne Speech that Mr. Harper's government is set to deliver Oct. 16 - which would defeat his government and trigger an election - over Canada's role in Afghanistan.

But Mr. Dion said that an appeal this week from Afghan President Hamid Karzai for Canadian troops to stay in the country shows that Mr. Harper has not been clear enough.

"The Prime Minister has not been clear, so we have President Karzai panicking, if I understand well," he said. "Replacement after three years in a military mission is normal practice in a multilateral body. And we need to know if NATO works."

Still seeking clarity on Afghanistan

Federal leaders continue to quibble about Canada's role

Don Martin, National Post Saturday, September 22, 2007

Many Canadian soldiers were pledging a return to Afghanistan even before they left the last lethal rotation, tempted as much by combat pay premiums of about $3,000 a month as by the mission's merits.

This weekend starts Canada's 500-day countdown to its mission-ending February 2009 deadline. That sounds like a long way off, except next week also marks Stephen Harper's 600th day as Prime Minister and he still calls his government "new".

But while those who actually go to ground in the war zone are locking in their combat-or-coverage intentions, federal leaders still quibble in circular rhetoric on what role, if any, Canada will play as it seeks a retreat with honour from the Kandahar battlefield.

This week could have brought clarity on three fronts. Instead matters only got muddier.

Defence Minister Peter Mac-Kay did a grin-and-go tour of our chicken-clucking allies in Europe, trying to scare up combat replacements for our troops this week from among those who deploy their soldiers for sunbathing duty in northern regions.

He returned without a hint of help, left to sniffle about rolling out the red carpet for terrorism if we withdraw, while taking some increasingly cheap shots at the Liberal letdown of an under-equipped military that's been his party's responsibility for 20 months.

Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier tried to be heard over hecklers at a Montreal luncheon crowd this week as he declared that "Canada cannot, without losing all credibility in the international arena, simply go back on its word and abandon such a crucial mission."

Funny, then, how our 600-day prime minister still can't articulate how Canada can pull back from the mission politically without appearing to cut-and-run militarily. Of course, there are a couple of strategic reasons the Conservatives are deliberately waffling over a new "configuration" of our duties in Afghanistan.

They didn't want to go hawkish on the eve of last Monday's by-elections in Quebec. And they hope their vagaries will lure the Liberals into a boxed position, letting them define themselves into trouble while the success or failure of the mission remains uncertain. The Liberals, of course, will have nothing to do with clarifying their position.

Liberal leader Stephane Dion ended his very bad week by delivering his party's foreign policy, a world where Canada would be guided by multilateral accords and peace would derive magically from "non-violent conflict resolution" --just the sort of Pollyanna view of war you'd expect from a guy who learned about counter-insurgency conflict from libraries instead of LAVs.

Given that Afghanistan will be the defining foreign policy question of our time, Mr. Dion could have done better than pledge to serve notice of our military pullout in 16 months, followed by some sort of humanitarian or redevelopment role.

How Canada could deliver effective help without a thick security blanket is beyond me. Whenever Canada's reconstruction troops venture out into the villages of Kandahar province, they are under heavy military escort. Even then, they spend a good deal of their time trapped on base due to security problems outside the walls.

If nobody replaces us militarily, what little security exists will deteriorate and Canada's ability to deliver even a bag of rice or shovels will be compromised. Mr. Dion did land one fine punch, however, although it's probably too obscure for most voters to appreciate.

"There will not be three to four times as many Defence Public Affairs Officers in Kandahar as there are Canadian International Development Agency personnel, as is the case today," he pledged. That's a killer observation because it's so true that Canada's mostly bad military spokesmen outnumber good government samaritans over there.

But as realistic Afghanistan policy, the Liberals continue to falter and the Conservatives persist in wavering with no date for a debate or decision in the offing. The Senlis Council, a think tank founded by Canadian Norine MacDonald, will put forward a new idea on Monday.

Despite its small size, it offers about the only bear-witness independent take of how Canada functions in Kandahar. And while it applauds our military deployment, it will call on Canada to work with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai on a peace process that would include negotiations with the political arm of the Taliban.

Mr. Harper supporting peace talks with the Taliban assassins of 69 Canadian soldiers? Not bloody likely. But at least it's a different and radical idea coming from people with ties to the region. That's refreshingly different from talk by politicians who only have eyes for re-election.

Bloc leader sets demands for continued support of Harper

CanWestnews- Sunday, September 23, 2007

RIMOUSKI, Que. -- Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe yesterday laid out five "non-negotiable" conditions for his party's support of next month's throne speech -- demands that could lead to a fall federal election.

Hoping to revive his party's fortunes, Duceppe used a meeting of Bloc faithful in Rimouski to harden the tone and raise the stakes in the leadup to the Oct. 16 throne speech.

That speech, in which Prime Minister Stephen Harper will set out his goals for the next parliamentary session, will be followed by a vote of confidence in which Harper's minority government could be defeated, sparking a November election.

Duceppe said the Bloc will not prop up the Conservatives unless Harper fulfils all Bloc demands, a wish list that includes pulling Canadian troops out of Afghanistan in 2009 and implementing Kyoto greenhouse-gas emission targets.

"For Conservatives, who have got by until now with half-truths and half-fulfilled promises, the throne speech will be a real test," Duceppe told supporters.

"That's when Quebecers will see whether the Conservatives' openness [to Quebec demands] is real or just a facade. And if by standing up for Quebec [the Bloc forces] a federal election, so be it."

Duceppe also demanded that Ottawa "eliminate federal power to spend" money in provincial jurisdictions, announce concrete measures to help Quebec's ailing forestry industry and continue supply management in the agricultural sector.

On Afghanistan, Harper has said he's in no rush to put the question of Canada's military involvement before Parliament. Harper has also said Canada won't honour the Kyoto climate-change agreement.

Duceppe's tough stand comes less than a week after his party's disappointing results in three Quebec byelections.

The party lost one riding to the Conservatives and saw support drop significantly in two others. Support for the Conservatives rose in two byelections. The Conservative government needs the backing of at least one other party to get the speech through Parliament.

New Democrat Leader Jack Layton, who wants an immediate Canadian withdrawal from Afghanistan, has said he will wait until he hears the speech before deciding how to vote. Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion has said he wants a commitment in the speech that Canada will formally notify NATO of the February 2009 deadline for Canada's Afghan pullout.

Flour up, rice, fuel prices down in Kabul

KABUL, Sept 20 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Prices of gold, petrol, rice and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) declined while price of flour shot up during the outgoing week in Kabul.

A gas seller in the city told Pajhwok Afghan News price of one kilogram LPG had decreased by five Afs. Last week, the price was 75 Afs/kg which dropped to 70 during the outgoing week.

In the same token, prices of petrol, which were continue to register upward trend over the previous two months, have decreased during the outgoing week. Petrol price had reached 50 afghanis per litre just two weeks back. However, it drooped to 42 afghanis during the outgoing week.

The recent decrease in the petrol price is believed to be due to the government announcement of import of more petrol from the neighbouring countries as well as an agreement between the government and the petrol selling companies under which the price was fixed at 39 Afs/litre.

As for edible, decrease was observed in price of rice as the week concluded. Khan Ali, a retailer in Kart-i-Seh locality of Kabul, said rate of 50 kilogram sack of rice came down to 2,650 afghanis from last week price of 2,700.

Flour was the only commodity price of which increased during the outgoing week. A 100 kilogram sack of flour registered an increase of 120 afghanis over the weekened. Last week, the price was 1,720 Afs/100 kg. However, it reached 1,820 during the outgoing week.

Eng. Shafi, head of retailers' association, said the increase in flour prices was because of the additional tax imposed by the government of Pakistan on the commodity. Khan Ali said prices of other foodstuff stayed stable.

Contrary to the previous trend in the market, prices of gold also dropped this week. Abdul Basir, a jeweler at the upscale Shahr-i-Now market, said price of one gram of Arabian gold had dropped from 1,030 to 1,020 afghanis while that of Iranian gold from 870 to 850 afghanis.

In the money exchange market, afghani stayed stable against US dollar and Pakistani rupee. Exchange rate of one US dollar was 49.80 Afs while 1,000 Pakistani rupees were available for 822 afghanis. IDLO organises course for prospective Afghan lawyers

KABUL, Sept 17 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Analyzing evidence, writing defense statements and making oral arguments are just some of the skills that students at Kabul University's faculties of Sharia and Law will learn during "Practical Lawyer Skills Training Course".

The course is organised by International Development Law organisation (IDLO) with financial assistance from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). During the three-month course, which runs from September 5 to December 5, the International Development Law Organisation will provide students with practical assistance on how best to defend clients in a courtroom.

In addition to studying examples of real-life criminal and civil cases, students will also have the opportunity to visit a working court and participate in a mock trial to be held at IDLOs training centre.

A high level of interest in this years course saw strong competition for each place and IDLO agreed to fund extra places to bring the total number of trainees to 56, says a press release.

Notably, this year, women have gained half the places on the course at the Faculty of Sharia.Discussing objectives of the course, Chief of Party for the IDLO-CIDA project, Ms. Ele Pawelski, highlighted the urgent need for more qualified defense lawyers in Afghanistan.

"Adequate legal representation is a practical necessity if the state justice system is to have an effective role in protecting the rights of vulnerable people. Yet there is currently a chronic shortage of professional lawyers offering this service.

Pawelski said progress was being made as a "culture of criminal defense advocacy is gradually being instilled within the legal community in Afghanistan, and the hope is that all or most of those trained on the IDLO course will pursue careers as defense lawyers."

[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.]