In this bulletin:

• 2 NATO soldiers killed in Afghanistan
• Infamous Taliban Leader Killed In Pakistan
• New special envoy to Afghanistan says international support growing
• U.S. official: reports on ISAF support to Taliban groundless
• Ahmadinejad casts doubt on 'suspect' Sept 11
• Pakistan: Pro-Taliban militants vow to 'hang Musharraf to death'
• Afghans leave Pakistan refugee camp
• Afghan opposition says it's been talking to Taliban
• MPs accuse Karzai of fuelling Hazara-Kuchi clash
• Assailants throw grenades at home of female Afghan journalist, no one hurt
• Condemned Afghan Journalist Wins Right to Appeal Death Sentence
• Ahadi: Afghanistan’s Economic Fortunes
• Canadian Companies Largely Absent from Afghanistan
• Architect Of Canada's Military Mission In Afghanistan Resigns
• Outspoken general bows out with no regrets
• Afghan tribal leaders welcome Harper's pledge not to meddle
• Panel to continue probe despite Ottawa
• Former CIA Official: U.S. Losing War in Afghanistan
• Public support grows for Afghanistan war
• Tooting MP Sadiq Khan goes to Afghanistan

2 NATO soldiers killed in Afghanistan

By FISNIK ABRASHI – KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An explosion in southern Afghanistan killed two NATO soldiers and injured two others Wednesday, the military alliance said.

The wounded were evacuated to a military base for treatment, NATO said in a statement. It did not disclose the nationalities of the casualties or the exact location of the blast. Southern Afghanistan is the center of the Taliban-led insurgency against Afghan and foreign troops.

Separately, militants abducted and beheaded two Afghan men working at a U.S. military base in the eastern Kunar province, provincial police Chief Abdul Jalal Jalal said.

The two men were abducted Monday after they left the base in Korangal Valley, the scene of fierce clashes between U.S. troops and insurgents in the past few years. Their bodies were discovered Tuesday, Jalal said. Militants regularly target people working for U.S. and other foreign forces.

More than 1,000 people, mostly militants, have died in insurgency related violence so far this year, according to an Associated Press tally of numbers provided by Western and Afghan officials.

Infamous Taliban Leader Killed In Pakistan

LONDON and PESHAWAR, Pakistan, April 16, 2008

(CBS)  This story was written by CBSNews.com's Tucker Reals in London, and Sami Yousafzai , reporting from Peshawar, Pakistan.

A senior Taliban commander who became a hero to Islamic militants for his role in shooting down a U.S. helicopter in 2005, killing all 16 special forces troops aboard, has been killed by Pakistani security forces, officials and Taliban militants tell CBS News.

Mullah Ismail, a notorious Taliban commander from the Afghan province of Kunar, was killed in a shootout with Pakistani police as he traveled with a kidnapped trader, a local police officer said Wednesday. He was apparently on his way into the lawless Northwest Frontier Province along the Afghan border.

Officer Mukarma Khan said Ismail, also known as Mullah Ahmad Shah, had kidnapped the trader from a camp for Afghan refugees in Pakistan and was trying to transport him back to the border when he failed to stop at the checkpoint. He apparently opened fire on the police and was killed in the following exchange of gunfire.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed the death of the key commander and said he was a prominent Taliban figure in the area.

Abdul Jalal Jalal, chief of police in Afghanistan's Kunar province, where Ismail was based, told CBS News that he was also aware about the militant's death in Pakistan. He described him as the "most wanted terrorist in Kunar province."

A Taliban sub-commander in Kunar province, who spoke on condition of anonymity, would not confirm the killing. But he told CBS News Ismail's death "would be a full-scale blow." He praised Ismail for the shooting down of the Chinook in 2005.

Ismail was also said to be a key facilitator of al Qaeda militants in the region - many of whom come from outside southeast Asia and do not speak the local languages. According to Taliban sources, Osama bin Laden personally honored Ismail's authority in the area after the Chinook attack in a letter sent through an intermediary.

Police chief Jalal said Ismail and the militants under his command were behind many attacks on NATO, U.S. and Afghan forces in the northeastern part of Afghanistan.

Ismail became a hero for al Qaeda and the Taliban after his group hit a U.S. Navy MH-47 Chinook helicopter in late June 2005, apparently with a shoulder-fired rocket. The helicopter was one of four aircraft ferrying special forces into the area on a reconnaissance mission.

It was considered a lucky shot from an inaccurate weapon; but it left eight Navy SEALs and eight Army air crew from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment dead. Read report from June 30, 2005.

It was the deadliest single attack on U.S. troops in Afghanistan since the invasion to topple the Taliban in 2001.

The Chinook was shot down as it ferried troops into the region to search for four Navy SEALs who had gone missing in the area in late June. Three of the men were found dead, but one, who was wounded, managed to escape - read report from July 3, 2005 - to a local home, where he was hidden from the Taliban and eventually rescued by U.S. forces.

On Wednesday, Afghan shepherd Gulab Khan, who says he's the one who saved the life of the only surviving SEAL, told CBS News that Mullah Ismail attacked his village the day after the helicopter was shot down, searching for any survivors.

Khan said he protected the SEAL, but his actions brought death threats from Ismail and his militants, which prompted the shepherd to relocate his entire family to the provincial capital. He described Ismail as the most powerful militant in Kunar province.

New special envoy to Afghanistan says international support growing
Canwest News Service Wednesday, April 16, 2008

PARIS - Kai Eide, the international community's second choice to co-ordinate the flagging global effort to rebuild Afghanistan, said Wednesday he is getting the support he needs inside and outside the country to fulfil his mandate as the United Nations' new special envoy.

The soft-spoken Norwegian diplomat, chosen in March when former British politician Lord Paddy Ashdown's candidacy was withdrawn, said western allies are proving to him they're sincere in wanting more top-down control.

"I sense today much more of a readiness from those who say, 'let's co-ordinate' to also be co-ordinated," he told reporters after a meeting in Brussels with national representatives of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, including Robert McRae, Canada's representative to the alliance.

Eide, appointed to deal with concerns about scatter-gun development projects and the failings of a Afghan government apparatus plagued by corruption, was careful to stress that the government in Kabul can't be seen to be taking orders from above.

"This is Afghanistan, it's their country," Eide, 58, told reporters.

"It's their plans and their priorities that have to be at the basis for everything we do."

Eide's diplomatic style couldn't be more different from Ashdown, whose candidacy for the "super-envoy" role was shot down by President Hamid Karzai.

Britain's former Liberal Democrat party leader was tapped for the job because of his high-profile role as the west's former high representative to Bosnia, but Karzai is thought to have viewed him as too strong a personality and a threat to his authority.

Eide didn't come across as a threatening force to anyone during his appearance in Brussels on Wednesday, speaking so quietly that one journalist had to adjust the audio on his headset each time Eide and NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Sheffer took turns speaking.

But an analyst familiar with the styles of both Eide and Ashdown said western allies have the right man in a sensitive post.

"I cheered to myself when I had heard he was appointed Afghan envoy, because he's probably the single most likely person to make a success of it," said Constanze Stelzenmuller, the Berlin office director for the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Eide has experience in senior diplomatic roles in hotspots like Kosovo and has a "subtle mind" that works well with tribal warlords, said Stelzenmuller, a former journalist who has worked in Afghanistan and the Balkans.

"He is exceptionally good in dealing in a deceptively low-key way with people from a background of roiling, convoluted tribal politics, and making them listen to him."

Ashdown, despite his lofty praise in the media, had a reputation in the Balkans of being "authoritarian" and not particularly effective, she said. "I would warn anyone against underestimating the effectiveness of Kai Eide."

U.S. official: reports on ISAF support to Taliban groundless

KABUL, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The Untied States Assistant Secretary of State Richard A Boucher has termed the reported support of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to Taliban militants as groundless and rejected it, a local newspaper reported Tuesday.

    "There is no logic that we or any other NATO member help Taliban. Taliban kill us, they kill you Afghans, they kill Pakistani and Europeans," daily Outlook quoted Boucher as saying.

    Reports emanating from Afghan circles said last week that ISAF troops drooped arms and munitions to Taliban insurgents in Arghandab of southern Kandahar province.

    A parliamentarian, Zalmai Mujadadi, told reporters early in the weekend that the international troops intentionally provided the arms and munitions to militants. However, NATO's spokesman Carlos Branco said on weekend that it was a mistake and the case is under investigation.

    Afghanistan intelligence chief Amrullah Salih also rejected the report, adding unintentionally a small of food stuff and munitions was dropped to the area and went to Taliban hand.    

Ahmadinejad casts doubt on 'suspect' Sept 11

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday reaffirmed his doubts about the accepted version of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, describing the strikes as a "suspect event".

"Four or five years ago a suspect event took place in New York," Ahmadinejad said in a speech to a public rally in the holy city of Qom broadcast live on state television.

"A building collapsed and they said that 3,000 people had been killed, whose names were never published."

"Under this pretext they (the United States) attacked Afghanistan and Iraq and since then a million people have been killed," he said.

This was the third time in just over a week that Ahmadinejad has publicly raised doubts about the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington carried out by Al-Qaeda militants which killed nearly 3,000 people.

He first raised the theme at a ceremony on April 8, Iran's national day marking its controversial nuclear programme, which the West fears could be used to make nuclear weapons.

A day later, he his doubts at an address at the shrine of the eighth imam of Shiite Islam, Reza, in the northeastern city of Mashhad, one of Iran's most sacred sites.

The speech in Qom, which was the first time he had described the September 11 attacks as "suspect," took place at the shrine of Massoumeh, the sister of Imam Reza.

Ahmadinejad did not say who he believed was behind the September 11 attacks. On April 8, he questioned how the two planes piloted by Al-Qaeda militants could have evaded surveillance to crash into the World Trade Centre.

At the time, the government of Iran's then reformist president Mohammad Khatami condemned the attacks.

However, hardline newspapers have occasionally described the attacks as a conspiracy that was devised by the White House to justify its eventual attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ahmadinejad also reaffirmed Wednesday his determination to change the international order.

"We have two missions," Ahmadinejad proclaimed. "To construct Iran and change the global situation. It is impossible to reach the summits of progress without changing the corrupt and unjust order of the world."

The controversial president has previously provoked outrage by describing the Holocaust as a myth and raising doubts over the scale of the mass slaughter of Jews in World War II.

He has also unleashed international outrage by calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map" and then repeatedly predicting that the Jewish state is doomed to destruction.

In an echo of Ahmadinejad's comments, a top Iranian army commander warned on Tuesday that Iran would "eliminate Israel from the global arena" if it were attacked by the Jewish state.

Iran and the United States have had no diplomatic relations since the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran in the wake of the 1979 Islamic revolution and remain at loggerheads over the Islamic republic's nuclear programme.

Tehran insists that its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful and aimed solely at generating energy for a growing population whose supply of fossil fuels will eventually run out.

Pakistan: Pro-Taliban militants vow to 'hang Musharraf to death'

Islamabad, 15 April (AKI/Asian Age) - Pro-Taliban militants in Pakistan have threatened to avenge the deaths of their comrades and kill the country's president Pervez Musharraf.

A report in the Asian Age newspaper quoted a Taliban spokesman who said the militants were not ready to forgive Musharraf and will "hang him to death shortly".

"He cannot be forgiven as he has ruthlessly bombed thousands of innocent Pakistanis and mujahideen (holy warriors) at the behest of America," said the spokesman of the group known as the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Maulvi Umer.

"The nation cannot forget the massacre of thousands of religious students along with their teachers at Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa in the federal capital," he said, referring to the seige of the Lal Masjid or Red Mosque in Islamabad in which at least 100 people were killed last July.

"Thousands of people have been killed in tribal areas and in the settled parts (of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province) under the pretext of the American-sponsored so-called war against terrorism," he said.

"The list, carrying the sins of Musharraf, is so long that he deserves to be hanged. Musharraf being the powerful person till yesterday has turned out to be the weakest person today, and the change has occurred with the blessing of Allah Almighty.

"The day is not far when Musharraf would be hanged to death," Maulvi Umer was quoted as saying by a local Urdu-language newspaper in Pakistan.

He said Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was optimistic about the outcome of impending peace talks between militants and the government. On the other hand, he said Peshawar and Islamabad have reached a consensus to constitute two separate jirgas, one each for the tribal areas and the settled areas, for negotiations with the Islamic militia.

"The shura (council) of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan met a few days back (at an undisclosed location), and welcomed the new government’s offer to settle the ongoing bloodshed in tribal as well as settled areas through negotiations," he was quoted as saying.

"Taliban Amir Baitullah Mehsud is looking forward to the future peace process," said the Tehrik-e-Taliban spokesperson.

Last month the police in Pakistan formally charged Mehsud with planning the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Bhutto was killed in a suicide bomb attack Rawalpindi on 27 December.

Maulvi Umer said the Taliban were united under the leadership of Baitullah Mehsud, who had always been in favour of resolving issues through peaceful means.

The coalition government in the North West Frontier Province led by Haider Hoti and the government led by prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani have formally agreed to constitute two separate jirgas for negotiating peace with the Taliban in tribal as well as in settled areas.

"We welcome the government’s move to constitute two separate jirgas, one each for talks with the Taliban in tribal areas and Islamic militia in settled parts of the frontier," said Maulvi Umer.

Maulvi Umer accused the government of having violated the peace treaties, signed between Taliban and government in the past. He expressed the hope that government would honour the peace accord if reached between Taliban and government in the near future.

"As far as the Taliban are concerned, we have always protected the peace accords. I assure that the Taliban would feel no hesitation to abiding by any such peace treaty in the future," Maulvi Umer said.

To a question about the tense relations between religious leaders Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Qazi Hussain Ahmad and the Taliban, he said that Maulana Rehman and Hussain had betrayed the Taliban.

Afghans leave Pakistan refugee camp

Afghans in Pakistan's largest refugee village have been forced to leave as a deadline to close the camp has passed.

More than 3,300 Afghans have left Jalozai for Afghanistan since March, following an agreement between elders in the camp and Pakistani authorities to leave between March 1 and April 15.

At least 70,000 Afghans in Jalozai, in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, must now either relocate to another camp or return to Afghanistan.

"We would have liked to get another extension in our stay in the refugee village," Haji Zulfiqar, a camp resident, told UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.

"But, as apparent today, the government wants us to move, so now we are ready for it.

"It may not be possible for all Afghans to vacate the refugee village in two or three days. It would be a gradual process and we will require an understanding from the authorities and UNHCR."

Kamal Hyder, Al Jazeera's correspondent, reporting from Jalozai, said: "This is a place that people have lived in for decades and therefore it is not difficult to imagine that there is a lot of pain that they have to go."

Abdul Rauf Khan, Pakistan's chief commissioner for Afghan refugees, said that Jalozai would be closed in an orderly and peaceful way, and that life-sustaining services such as food, water and electricity would not be stopped until the last Afghan leave the village.

Afghans are likely to either go back to Afghanistan with assistance of $100 per person from UNHCR, or to find another refugee camp.

Those who are registered in Pakistan and have a Proof of Registration (PoR) card have the right to stay in Pakistan until 2009, and any attempt to send them back by force would go against international law.

Guenet Guebre-Christos, UNHCR's representative in Pakistan, said: "We will continue to work with the government to ensure that the closure process is conducted in safety and dignity."

Haji Baaz Muhammad, an Afghan elder making arrangements for his family's return to Afghanistan, said: "We hope our last few days in Pakistan will be spent in a respectful manner so that we don't leave with a bad taste despite Pakistan's hospitality over the last 30 years."

Abdul Rehman, a Jalozai resident at the UNHCR's Hayatabad Voluntary Repatriation Centre in Peshawar, said: "Remember we are refugees, not permanent residents. This has to end one day. Wish us luck so Afghanistan is peaceful and prosperous for all returning Afghans."

Kilian Kleinschmidt, UNHCR representative in Pakistan, said: "We are now engaging with the new government in Pakistan so that there is a human solution for one of the world's largest refugee crises.

"Many of the people have found new lives in Pakistan ... So the question is, how do we deal with it? ... How do we ensure regional stability?"

However, the closure rolled over to 2007, when part of the camp was closed in August during the winter, and over 25,000 Afghans repatriated to Afghanistan.

UNHCR and Afghan elders in the camp appealed to the Pakistan government to postpone the closure for six months for humanitarian reasons, taking the deadline for closure to April 15.

Since UNHCR started assisting returns to Afghanistan in 2002, more than 3.2 million Afghans have returned home, including over 24,000 already in 2008. Pakistan currently hosts more than two million registered Afghans.

Afghan opposition says it's been talking to Taliban

By JASON STRAZIUSO – KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An opposition group says its leaders, including a former president, have been meeting with the Taliban and other anti-government groups in hopes of negotiating an end to rising violence in Afghanistan.

The contacts have taken place between leaders of the opposition National Front and "high level" militant leaders during the last few months, party spokesman Sayyid Agha Hussain Fazel Sancharaki said in an interview Sunday.

He said among those at the meetings were former President Burhanuddin Rabbani, now a member of parliament, and Mohammad Qasim Fahim, who is President Hamid Karzai's security adviser and a powerful northern strongman.

Rabbani said Afghanistan's six-year war must be solved through talks, echoing a view held by many in the country.

"There's no doubt that some inside the Taliban are not willing to negotiate, but there are some Taliban who are interested in solving problems through talks," Rabbani, Afghanistan's president from 1992-96, told The Associated Press in an interview.

"We in the National Front and I myself believe the solution for the political process in Afghanistan will happen through negotiations," he said.

Support for talks to end the increasingly bloody Afghan conflict have gained steam over the last year. President Hamid Karzai said for the first time in April 2007 that he had met with Taliban militants in attempts to negotiate peace.

Rabbani said opposition leaders will soon discuss and possibly select a formal negotiating team and that Taliban fighters, in their talks with Karzai, have also proposed sending a formal team for talks with the government.

The behind-the-scenes maneuverings come just as the United States is pouring more troops into the country. Some 32,000 U.S. forces are in Afghanistan, the most since the 2001 invasion to oust the Taliban for hosting al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Two NATO soldiers died and two others were wounded Wednesday in an explosion in southern Afghanistan, the military alliance said, while a clash in the same region left five Taliban militants and a policeman dead.

It did not disclose the nationalities of the casualties or the exact location of the blast. The wounded were evacuated to a military base for treatment, NATO said in a statement.

In Zabul province, militants ambushed a police convoy, killing an officer, said Gen. Abdul Raziq Khan, a provincial police official. In ensuing firefight, five militants were also killed, Raziq said. Authorities recovered their bodies alongside their weapons.

Separately, militants abducted and beheaded two Afghan men working at a U.S. military base in the eastern Kunar province, provincial police Chief Abdul Jalal Jalal said.

The two men were abducted Monday after they left the base in Korangal Valley, the scene of fierce clashes between U.S. troops and insurgents in the past few years. Their bodies were discovered Tuesday, Jalal said.

Militants regularly target people working for U.S. and other foreign forces. Despite the violence and heightened military posture, U.S. ambassador William Wood has said the U.S. supports talks with militants who will lay down arms and recognize the Afghan constitution. The U.S. does not support talks with al-Qaida fighters.

Across the border in Pakistan, where militant violence has spiked over the last year, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani late last month offered talks to militants ready to renounce violence there.

Negotiations will ultimately be the only way to end the Afghan conflict, said Wadir Safi, a professor of public and international law at Kabul University.

"Negotiations," he said. "Find the address of all of the Taliban, find out what they want. They will have their own suggestions, and if it's not anti-civilization, you can come to terms with them instead of spending money on military budgets."

Karzai, in a news conference this month, said the National Front efforts are good for the country. He said many rebels are Afghans who need to be brought back into society. For months, Karzai has trumpeted reconciliation, even offering to meet with Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

But the National Front says Karzai has not followed up his words with action. He needs to put a formal negotiations process in place involving all parties, Rabbani said.

"I told Karzai that when a person starts something he should complete it. On the issue of the negotiations it is not right to take one step forward and then one step back," he said. "This work should be continued in a very organized way."

Rabbani and Sancharaki declined to say who the National Front has met with. Sancharaki said their militant interlocutors were "important people."

The Taliban, through spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, denied there had been any contact. "If they are claiming they have contact with somebody, we don't know who," he said.

Thousands of former members of the hard-line Taliban regime, including a sprinkling of former senior commanders and officials, have made peace with the government through its national reconciliation commission.

But Safi, the university professor, said that because the National Front does not represent the government, its negotiations are "nonsense."

He said the group, whose leaders fought each other and then the Taliban in Afghanistan's devastating civil wars during the 1990s, only wants to advance its own power.

"They want the Taliban side to be on their side," Safi said. "It's an unholy alliance ... and the Taliban want to use Rabbani and Fahim against Karzai."

MPs accuse Karzai of fuelling Hazara-Kuchi clash

Written by www.quqnoos.com - Monday, 14 April 2008

Karzai accused of playing political games ahead of next year's elections

MEMBERS of Parliament have accused President Karzai of deliberately stoking the flames that surround the growing dispute between Hazaras and Kuchis, which human rights workers fear could break out into ethnic violence.

A handful of MPs blamed Karzai yesterday (Monday) for the current tension between the two groups, which was triggered last month when ethnic Hazaras accused Kuchis of taking their land by force.

MPs say Karzai is fuelling the land dispute by supporting the Pashtun-dominated Kuchis in an attempt to gain popularity among Pashtuns before the 2009 presidential elections.

Farah province’s MP, Naim Farahi, said today in Parliament: “It’s some kind of campaign by President Hamid Karzi to show Pashtun people ‘I’m with you’, to win their support. It’s part of his campaign for the next election.”

More than 50 MPs refuse to show up to sessions in the Lower House until the dispute between the Shia Hazaras and the nomadic Kuchis is resolved.

Last week, Kuchi MP Alam Gul Kuchi infuriated the country's main ethnicities by calling them immigrants and by claiming that Kuchis alone were the true owners Afghanistan's land.

Today, Gul Kuchi told the Lower House: “I’m saying Afghanistan belongs to the Kuchis and if you don’t believe me, then you should go and check your history books: you will find out.”

At the end of last month, thousands of Hazaras demonstrated in Kabul, accusing Kuchis

Hazaras protest in Kabul at Kuchi 'land-grabs' of using armed-force to grab territory in the Hazara heartland of Hazarajat. The demonstrators demanded the government and international community protect their land and their lives from the Kuchi’s “armed invasion”.

Human rights workers are worried the land dispute in central Afghanistan could break out in ethnic violence.

Last year, Hazaras claimed that thousands of armed Kuchi descended on the Beshud district of Wardak, killed 11 people and burned down villagers’ homes, forcing thousands to flee the area. The claims were never substantiated.

The Kuchi say they are legally allowed to settle anywhere in Afghanistan because King Nader Khan issued a royal decree that allows them to use any land which they see as fit for pasture.

Assailants throw grenades at home of female Afghan journalist, no one hur t

The Associated Press - Wednesday, April 16, 2008

KABUL, Afghanistan: Assailants hurled grenades at the home of a female radio reporter whose station was critical of the government, officials said Wednesday. No one was hurt.

Khadija Ahadi, the 30-year-old director of Faryat radio station in the western city of Herat, was targeted on April 6 and again on Sunday, said Rahimullah Samandar, head of the Afghan Independent Journalists Association.

He said no one was wounded in the attacks, which caused damage to her house.

"I have received threats on my mobile for two months, warning me not to work in this radio. I did not take these threats seriously," Ahadi said.

A stun grenade was hurled at her house on April 6, causing no damage. On Sunday, attackers lobbed a grenade at her house, smashing the windows. Ahadi, her husband and three children have fled to Kabul.

"Our radio focuses on politics, criticizes the government, and most of our programming is live," she said. The station employs 15 people, including five women.

Rauf Ahmadi, a spokesman for the regional police in the west, confirmed the attacks, but said it was because of "private hostility." He did not elaborate.

The Afghan media have flourished since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, but journalists often face threats for airing critical stories, playing music or employing women.

Last year gunmen assassinated Zakia Zaki, the female owner of a radio station. She had apparently criticized local warlords who warned her to change her station's programming.

Shaima Rezayee, a popular host for an MTV-style music show, was shot dead in 2005 after clerics criticized her show as "anti-Islamic."

Condemned Afghan Journalist Wins Right to Appeal Death Sentence

By Jeremy Gerard - Bloomberg

April 16 (Bloomberg) -- A young Afghan journalist, sentenced to death in January for spreading feminist criticism of Islam, has been granted an appeal, according to one of the international organizations monitoring his case.

The writer, Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh, 23, was transferred on March 28 from prison in the remote province of Balkh, in northern Afghanistan, to the capital, Kabul, according to Jean MacKenzie, program director in Afghanistan for the Institute for War & Peace Reporting. The London-based Institute is an international advocate for press freedom.

The move, Mackenzie said in a telephone interview, was accompanied by promises from officials in the government of President Hamid Karzai that Kambakhsh would be freed.

MacKenzie credited international protests in the wake of the death sentence as a key factor in getting Kambakhsh out of the control of regional religious and secular authorities. She also said that within Afghanistan, protests in several cities organized by the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), a banned group, had made local citizens aware of the case.

``There is a belief that the charges were trumped up as a political move,'' MacKenzie said. She added that Kambakhsh and his brother, also a journalist, had been outspoken about the rise of warlords in the north and the breakdown of centralized government authority. The transfer to Kabul effectively removed Kambakhsh from local jurisdiction.

``Privately, sources in the government have assured the family that Parwez will be released, but the family are not yet certain of that,'' MacKenzie said.

Kambakhsh, a journalism student at Balkh University and correspondent for Jahan-e-Naw (The New World), a local daily newspaper in the Balkh city of Mazar-i-Sharif, was arrested Oct. 27, 2007. The National Directorate of Security charged him with downloading and distributing anti-Islamic propaganda, according to the Institute and reports from other organizations reporting on the case.

The British Broadcasting Corp. reported that the material in question concerned the role of women in Islamic society. A report from PEN, the international organization of writers and editors, reported that the material ``allegedly said the Prophet Mohammed ignored women's rights.''

``He was also reportedly accused of possessing allegedly anti-Islamic books and starting un-Islamic debates in his classes.''

Kambakhsh has vehemently denied downloading or distributing the material. A local trial was held on Jan. 22.

``It was about 4 p.m. when guards brought me into a room where there were three judges and an attorney sitting behind their desks,'' Kambakhsh reported to the institute at the time. ``There was no one else. The death sentence had already been written. I wanted to say something, but they would not let me speak.

``They too said nothing,'' Kambakhsh continued. ``They just handed me a piece of paper on which it was written that I had been sentenced to death. Then armed guards came and took me out of the room and brought me back to the prison.''

News of the ``trial'' and death sentence sparked protests from human rights and journalists' organizations, including International PEN, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Committee and Reporters Without Borders.

On Jan. 31 Kabul demonstrators, organized by RAWA, marched in support of Kambakhsh, shouting ``Long live democracy!'' and demanding his release, ending up in front of the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan.

``This case is not an anomaly,'' MacKenzie said. ``It is symptomatic of what is happening in Afghanistan, the weakening of power at the center and the rise of local powerbrokers.

``It's entirely possible that if things continue this way,'' she continued, ``Afghan society will not look that different from the way it was under the Taliban.''

Ahadi: Afghanistan’s Economic Fortunes

Anwar-ul-Haq Ahadi, Minster of Finance, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

Greg Bruno, Staff Writer, April 15, 2008 Council on Foreign Relations

Afghanistan remains a country at war facing huge economic development challenges. But Finance Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Ahadi, in Washington for the spring IMF/World Bank meetings, says in the event of improved security and reforms in foreign aid, the country has prospects for steady long-term gains. He points to the natural resources sector as a prime revenue source, citing China’s investment in copper mines as a recent example. Yet he says that crucial foreign assistance programs are poorly managed and need greater Afghan oversight. The country’s nascent tax system also is strained, and it will be a number of years “before we can really depend on our own resources to finance the developmental projects.” He also cites resistance to transitioning from an opium-based economy, especially in the south, where Taliban support for poppy cultivation is strong.

NATO states recently met to discuss increasing troop commitments in the south and east, underscoring the continuing violence there. Afghanistan remains poor, but given the current security challenges how can Afghanistan turn the corner economically?

We have to fight on two fronts. I think the minimum level of security is sort of like a precondition for development. We hope that with the help of international forces and, over time, the Afghan national forces, that we will be able to provide the minimum level of security that is a precondition for development. But we cannot postpone the construction and development until the fighting is completely over. So we have to deal with this simultaneously. Of course, until we establish the minimum level of security, the emphasis is going to be greater on security.

what are your expectations for growth in Afghan’s economy in coming months and years?

Last [fiscal] year that we just finished our fiscal year growth rate was 13.5 percent and we were very pleased with that. In Afghanistan, the growth rate for the past few years has been very much dependent on the weather. When we have an adequate amount of rainfall and snowfall, then the agricultural sector does well, and consequently, we have high growth rate. This year, the snowfall was pretty good but the rainfall has not been that great and we hope that we don’t suffer from drought. If we suffer from drought, then obviously the growth rate will be lower.

On the agricultural front, there is a drive from the international community to help Afghanistan move from poppy cultivation and heroin production to other forms of agriculture. Talk about the challenges of moving farmers away from cultivating poppies.

It’s not just international pressure. We in Afghanistan also realize that narcotics are not good for the health of the country and we would like to gradually end our reliance on that share of economy. What should we do to help the farmers to move away from that? We have a number of public works kinds of projects, public goods-type of projects. [There is a] program for building rural access roads so that the districts would be connected to the provincial centers and therefore they could easily bring their products to the market. There is an alternative livelihood program that encourages farmers in various provinces to cultivate an alternative product. I think the long-run success of our alternative livelihood programs would very much determine how [successful] the reduction in the cultivation of poppies is going to be.

For this year, our target is to reduce the amount of land [under poppy cultivation] by almost 25 percent. I think we have been doing well in preventing the cultivation of poppies. I think within a month or two we would know exactly how many hectares of land were prevented from being cultivated. Our objective was 50,000, which is 25 percent of the total [hectares] that were under cultivation last year.

Would forced eradication play into that reduction?

Yes, forced eradication is part of that. We did not want the chemicals to be used, so mechanical means will be used for the purpose of eradication, and that campaign has been going on for the past two months in Helmand, in Kandahar, in Nangarhar, and I think also Badakhshan. These are the major areas where poppy cultivation takes place.

Have you seen or do you expect the Taliban to try and convince farmers not to participate in eradication?

I think so. I think they have already done that or somebody has done that. But you know that’s a government policy. It’s the illegal activity and I think the government is going to insist on this. So regardless of what the Taliban do, I think that we’ll go ahead with that.

International donors have showered tens of billions of dollars on Afghanistan since 2002. Yet in the past you have criticized the control Afghans have over the way that money is spent. What types of foreign assistance programs you think are helpful and which types of programs clearly don’t work?

Well, let me talk in general terms. Pledges that have been made for reconstruction of Afghanistan total about $39 billion dollars. Of that amount $25 billion has been committed. Of the $25 billion in the past six years, only $16 billion has been actually spent. This is the payment that has been done. And of that, slightly over $5 billion has been spent by the national government. So one third of the resources has been spent in Afghanistan has been spent through the national government. We believe that the effectiveness of aid is much larger when the money is spent by the national government. There’s much more rationalization to the allocation of the resources when it’s done through a budget than if it [is] done ad-hoc.  

A larger proportion of resources should be channeled through the national budget. This is the agreement we had with donors in the London conference more than two years ago. And we would like that to become a reality. It has not become a reality yet. We would also, to the extent that they spend their money directly, at least that they should take into considerations of our preferences—which area the government would like to spend money. Then each ministry can give specific projects to donors who are not willing to give their resources to the national government. And then they can implement those projects.

One of the concerns of the international community is capacity. Donors want evidence Afghanistan is moving away from a reliance on foreign assistance toward self-sufficiency. And one of the concerns international donors have is Afghanistan’s struggling tax collection system. What’s going on?

In terms of increasing domestic revenues, we’ve been very successful. The first year of the Karzai administration we had only $118 million as the revenue of the entire government. Now this past year we had $685 million, and this current year, we are expecting $887 million. So this is more than 500 percent increase in revenues compared to the first year. And every year we’re increasing our revenues by 25, 30 percent. But even though we have been quite successful in raising revenues, expenditures in Afghanistan, especially development expenditures, cannot be financed from the domestic revenues. We’re totally dependent on foreign assistance as far as the development budget is concerned. So in the near future, in the next five to six years, I don’t think it will be realistic to think that we can really finance developmental expenditure from our domestic revenues. Even if we were to double it, triple it, quadruple it, it still will not be enough.

Our aim is the next four or five years that we generate enough domestic revenues to pay for our recurrent expenses, but not so much for the developmental assistance. Because the developmental needs of the country are so huge and the reconstruction needs are so huge I think that will take awhile before we can really depend on our own resources to finance the developmental projects.

But specifically on tax collection, what are the problems with that system?

The tax collection system was completely broken. We’re now reintroducing taxes. There was tax law but there was no enforcement. Now we are enforcing it and as I said that’s one area that we have made a lot of progress. And we will continue to make the progress to modernize Afghanistan’s tax system, and to raise the level of the share of our domestic government revenues of the total GDP. The first year of President Karzai’s administration, the government revenues constituted about 3.2 percent of the total GDP. Now we are almost at the 8 percent. We expect that next two years to push that to 10 percent. Once we reach 10 percent, beyond that it’s a sort of like a level of revenues that a normal poor country or underdeveloped country would have. And of course then we’ll be hoping to increase beyond that too.

Some economists have called the 7 to 8 percent target of GDP “un-ambitious.” Do you think that’s unfair?

It’s un-ambitious if you look at it in isolation from where it started. But I would like to see which countries have really moved from 3.2 percent to 8 percent in five years time. So I think one has to look at the context, not just the level. I know it’s one of the lowest levels in the world. But a few years ago, too, it was one of the lowest levels, but it was 3.2 percent and now it is at 8 percent. And if we keep the present pace of increase in revenues, in another ten years time we might be pretty much [among] the average of the less developed countries’ rate of domestic revenues. [The average revenue-to-GDP ratio (PDF) for the least developed countries is about 20 percent, according to the World Bank].

There is a growing level of excitement among investors eyeing Afghanistan’s minerals and natural resources. What’s the status of resource development?

Well, we just had concluded contracts with Chinese for extractions of and processing the copper mines that we have. They’re going to invest about $2.8 billion and we are expecting to get about three to four hundred million dollars per year from royalties and taxes. But it will have other positive impacts on the rest of the economy. We’re beginning to prepare tender for the exploitation of iron ore, which is one of the richest and the largest [reserves] in the world. And we expect to have a significant amount of revenues to be generated from this. Same goes for coal and there are so many. Afghanistan is quite rich in minerals and we will be developing all these minerals through the private sector hopefully, international investment, and we’ll be developing them, and we think that we will be generating a significant amount of revenues from extracting mines.

How about petroleum?

Well, Afghanistan does have some petroleum resources. We’re beginning to prepare tender for that as well. In the [19]60s and 70s and early 80s we were exporting a large amount of natural gas to the former Soviet Union and there is a still significant amount of natural gas. But it’s not one of those oil-rich, natural gas-rich countries like Iran and the Persian Gulf countries or Algeria, which has a lot of natural gas. But I think it has substantial amount which is really going to help us with our economic development.

Canadian Companies Largely Absent from Afghanistan

While economic growth is considered essential for success, the government is not trying to entice businesses to the country because of insecurity.

By Jeff Davis - Embassy, April 16th, 2008

The Canadian and Afghan governments are finding some success in stimulating the Afghan economy through infrastructure and procurement projects, but according to senior government sources, the country is still too dangerous for Canadian companies to enter the market en masse.

The government is working to build the foundation for the Afghan economy by providing security, as well as developing road, water and health systems, a senior official from the Afghanistan task force told Embassy last week.

However, the official said, bringing Canadian companies into the country must wait until the country becomes more secure. "The one challenge in terms of traditional [trade] promotion is the security situation," he said. "Normally you would bring over business missions and things like that. We're just not quite ready for that yet."

The official pointed out that the Foreign Affairs Department has an official travel warning for Afghanistan, advising Canadians to "avoid all travel" due to "an extreme risk to personal safety."

Few except the largest of Canadian firms—such as ATCO-Frontec and SNC-Lavalin—are working in Afghanistan, and almost all are exclusively "inside the wire."

It is widely accepted that if Afghanistan is to emerge from decades of war, including its current instability, the country's economy must become self-sustaining. While development efforts are helpful, economic growth must follow.

The official acknowledged this. "A rising economy helps security, and rising security helps the economy," he said. "They're interlocked."

The Asian Development Bank said earlier this month that Afghanistan's economy grew by 13.9 per cent last year, double the rate in 2006. However, high inflation and unemployment of around 40 per cent remain problems.

The Afghan task force official said that while the government is not bringing in Canadian companies, it is helping to stimulate the local economy. One means is through an NGO called Peace Dividend Trust, he said, which helps international actors in Afghanistan buy local products for such things as development projects.

While finding products on the local market can be difficult, the official said, it's worth the effort.

"If there's a procurement project out of Afghanistan, the easiest thing for the procurement officer is to get it from the UAE, or fly it in from Karachi," he said. "We're saying, 'Let's work with local vendors; let's see if we can get it locally.'"

Ainsley Butler, an Ottawa-based projects director with Peace Dividend Trust who just returned from Afghanistan, said: "We can account for over $65 million in funds being invested in the Afghan economy through the purchasing of goods and services in-country."

The products and services that can be purchased locally, she said, include furniture, fresh produce, dried fruit, nuts, cell phone service, printing services, Internet services, construction and cleaning services.

Ms. Butler says the trust, which started working in Afghanistan in 2006, makes business matches through its offices around the world, in Kabul and through its website: www.BuyAfghan.af.

The senior official also pointed to the important role the Afghan diaspora in Canada is playing in developing economic ties between the two countries. He added that, like many diaspora communities, Afghan-Canadians are important matchmakers.

"Afghans in Canada are tremendously helpful in building business linkages," he said. "Afghan diaspora in places like Toronto, Montreal and Calgary can be helpful in terms of finding markets for Afghan products or finding technologies that can be really useful in Afghanistan."

The primary business matchmaker between the two countries these days is the Canada-Afghanistan Business Council, which was launched in 2006 to promote bilateral trade and investment.

Vice-president Ahmad Yarmand said the CABC has a presence in Ottawa, Toronto, Kabul and Dubai and now has close to 400 members and partners.

Mr. Yarmand said his organization is comprised of Canadians, Afghans and Afghan-Canadians resident in both countries, and receives support from theAfghan Investment Support Agency and the Afghan Embassy in Ottawa. CIDA and DFAIT, he added, have also lent a hand. Mr. Yarmand said the CABC is working hard, but it's a tough struggle.

"We don't have actual major companies we're in contact with," he said. "Some companies have been interested, but so far we're just working on those networks."

Afghan Ambassador to Canada Omar Samad told Embassy this week that while his country will remain a primarily agricultural economy for the foreseeable future, it is now aggressively courting international investments to develop its resource sector.

In addition to a $4-billion copper mining deal recently signed with a Chinese firm, Mr. Samad said the Ministry of Mines and Industry will put out at least four more mid- to large-scale tenders for developments in the energy and metals sectors.

"The potential is very great for the country relying on mining revenues in the future, once the infrastructure has been put in place and the security that is required is assured," he said. "We hope to generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the Afghan economy and create thousands of jobs."

And mining is not the only basket in which Afghanistan is placing its economic eggs, Mr. Samad said. He said his countrymen have been working to complete an underground fibre optics network, a ring-road highway to connect the country to its neighbours, and rail links that will help Afghanistan retake its historical position as a Central Asian transit corridor.

Mr. Samad added that in the past few years, Afghanistan has experienced a boom in commerce and services. The construction, hotelier and restaurant sectors are growing, he said, and there are now more than three million cellular telephone users.

And the proof is in the pudding, Mr. Samad said. According to the World Bank and IMF, he said, annual growth has been in the low teens for the past five years, and is predicted to hover between eight to 12 per cent for the next five years.

While Canadian microfinance projects have played an important role in this commercial success, Mr. Samad said, Afghans are now ready for larger loans. While $100 loans for widows to buy sewing machines are important, he said, Afghan families are now in need of bigger amounts of money to launch larger projects such as small-scale farms and industries.

With these strong economic indicators, he said, his government is hopeful its comprehensive poverty reduction strategy will ease the suffering of impoverished Afghans in the coming years.

Architect Of Canada's Military Mission In Afghanistan Resigns

April 15, 2008, Vittorio Hernandez - AHN News Writer

Ottawa, Canada (AHN) - The man behind Canada's successful military operations in Afghanistan resigned Tuesday as chief of the Defense Staff effective July 1. General Rick Hillier became Canada's highest ranking military official three years ago.

The Canadian Press broke the news, but did not state the reason behind his leaving the service. Hillier has been considered an asset and liability for the nation. He pushed for Canadian soldiers' deployment in Kandahar when most politicians would rather stay away from the Afghan war-torn area.

The general had a very public difference with former Defense Minister Gordon O'connor over the length of time it would take Canadian soldiers to train Afghan troops, which was vital in determining when would Ottawa pull out of Afghanistan. Hillier prevailed and O'connor lost his post.

Present Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his predecessor Paul Martin said they often relied on the general's military advice before coming out with major decisions concerning defense.

The resigning general joined the Canadian army 36 years ago with the sole dream to be a soldier. He had held various defense jobs from regimental tasks in a tank unit to staff jobs until he became Army chief prior to his appointment to his present post.

The likely replacement for Hillier, if Harper would accept his resignation, is Lieutenant Andrew Leslie, the present Army chief.

Outspoken general bows out with no regrets

Happy with Canada's progress in Afghanistan, Rick Hillier will be remembered for pushing the boundaries, transforming the Forces

STEVEN CHASE - From Wednesday's Globe and Mail April 16, 2008

OTTAWA — General Rick Hillier, Canada's charismatic and outspoken top military commander, announced he's stepping down after more than three years on the job, saying he'd stayed longer than planned to ensure the future of the military mission in Afghanistan was resolved.

He said he is happy with Canada's progress in Afghanistan since 2002, but acknowledged he's not satisfied. More than 6,500 Afghans were killed last year - making it by far the most violent since 2001 in the growing Taliban insurgency.

"Obviously you would always want more [success] in the south," Gen. Hillier said, referring to the conflict-ridden province of Kandahar where Canadian Forces operate. "But I am also a realist and understand it's very tough to make progress."

He said one good thing about the stiff battle in the south against the Taliban is that it has focused the conflict there and allowed the rest of the country to develop relatively free of strife.

Appointed in 2005 by former prime minister Paul Martin, Gen. Hillier quickly became the most high-profile Canadian military leader in more than a quarter century - sometimes to the dismay of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government, which didn't always appreciate his blunt assessments of defence policy.

After a meeting with Mr. Harper yesterday where he tendered his resignation, Gen. Hillier rejected the suggestion he'd been pushed, and sources said he'd been offered a two-year extension if he wanted it.

Gen. Hillier told reporters he'd previously talked with Mr. Harper about continuing to serve, but he felt now was a logical time to quit unless he wanted to stay on a lot longer.

"It was clear in that conversation that it wouldn't be an extension of six or 12 months ... the next [phase] was two to three years long and I am just not ready to commit to two to three more years," he said.

Gen. Hillier, who'd previously been ordered by the Harper government to tone down his interventions on defence policy, and once clashed with former defence minister Gordon O'Connor, sought yesterday to play down these conflicts.

"Disagreements are a part of our life," he said. He said he expects to stay on until July, by which time a successor will be chosen. Gen. Hillier, 52, flatly rejected suggestions he might enter politics and said he'll likely look for "private sector" work.

The Newfoundland-born soldier was the communicator-in-chief behind a transformation of the Forces from a Cold War relic into a modern military capable of sending expeditions overseas to fight small wars.

He was also the chief architect of Canada's war in Afghanistan and successfully urged MPs earlier this year to extend the mission to 2011.

Gen. Hillier used the Afghan mission as a springboard to upgrade the Forces' equipment, from aircraft to vehicles, which had suffered from decades of budget cuts. It was a resupply that both the Liberal government and later the Harper administration supported.

Equally important, he helped rebuild public support for the military - tainted and tattered after the 1993 Somalia affair - using his public-relations skills to build a bond with Canadians that had eroded long ago.

"It's a long time before we will see the likes of this guy again," said Alex Morrison, president of the Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies.

"He had the ability to capture the attention, the imagination and admiration of the average citizen. The Canadian Armed Forces are today held in the highest general esteem of any time I can recall - and I'm old enough to remember back to the Korean War."

Critics say the silver-tongued general may have overstepped his bounds by intervening in public debates on military policy and lobbying Parliament to extend the Afghan mission.

"One of the legacies that Hillier will leave behind is a blurring of lines between the role of the military in carrying out public policy and the role in actually shaping public policy," said Rideau Institute president Steven Staples, whose group has criticized the mission.

At his news conference, Gen. Hillier made no apologies for his blunt style. "Sometimes I think you need a little clarity as to what you're talking about."

The Tories thanked Gen. Hillier for his "outstanding service." Defence Minister Peter MacKay called him a "very hands-on" chief, saying his leadership style and knowledge of all three branches of the Forces are important criteria for choosing his successor.

Afghan tribal leaders welcome Harper's pledge not to meddle

April 16, 2008 Mitch Potter , Europe Bureau

LONDON–Ottawa's highly publicized misgivings about the governor of Kandahar may have inadvertently deepened the Afghan politician's support in the volatile province, according to Afghan sources.

Tribal leaders surveyed by the Toronto Star yesterday welcomed Prime Minister Stephen Harper's assurances that Canada has no intention of meddling in internal Afghan affairs. Harper's pledge came after Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier expressed public doubts as to whether Kandahar Governor Asadullah Khalid is the right man to tackle corruption in the province.

While Khalid himself declined to comment on the furor for the second day running, others spoke in his defence, acknowledging the governor is "young and spirited" but praising his ability to deliver security to their districts.

"When the Taliban came to Arghandab district the governor impressed us with his ability to respond. Within three or four days he and the Canadians and Americans together were able to chase them away," said Haji Mohammed Nabi, a tribal leader from the village of Kulk. "We want him to stay."

Such supportive expressions are predictable coming from elders such as Nabi, whose extended Alokozai tribe has shared generously in the glow of Khalid's 2 1/2 years in power as an appointee of President Hamid Karzai. Equally predictable was the ambivalence of the rival Barakzai tribe, many of whom have felt marginalized since Khalid displaced one of their own, former governor Gul Agha Sherzai.

"If the Canadians are not happy with this governor, we have no objection to a change," said Haji Mohammed Hashem Khan, a Barakzai leader from the district of Dund.

Few, however, anticipate any rapid moves now that Canada's top foreign diplomat has given his private message to Karzai a public airing. One Kandahar businessman who has consistently urged Canadian officials to pay far closer attention to the corrosive culture of corruption in the NATO-backed regime told The Star the undiplomatic delivery of Ottawa's message neutralized hope of immediate progress.

Panel to continue probe despite Ottawa

'... what the commission is doing is clearly outside of its jurisdiction,' Prime Minister says

STEVEN CHASE AND JOE FRIESEN - From Tuesday's Globe and Mail April 15, 2008

OTTAWA, WINNIPEG — The independent Military Police Complaints Commission has vowed to keep investigating whether Canada turned prisoners over to Afghan security forces knowing they would be tortured, despite the fact the Harper government has begun legal action to end the probe.

"We're surprised and disappointed by the government's decision to seek a court order to block the investigation and to prevent a public-interest hearing into this important case," chairman Peter Tinsley said. "It's especially surprising given the fact that the government did not challenge our jurisdiction a year ago when we first launched our investigation."

The Conservative government's attempt to shut down the probe, filed last Friday, came just weeks before the commission was to begin public hearings into whether the military knew detainees transferred to Afghan custody were likely to be tortured.

The hearings have the potential to cause grief for the government as it tries to shore up public support for the Canadian military mission in Afghanistan.

Yesterday, Tory ministers fended off accusations they were undermining an arms-length watchdog and defended their legal action as merely a bid to ensure the commission is operating within the law. But they failed to explain clearly why they did not act earlier.

"The advice I've received from officials is that what the commission is doing is clearly outside of its jurisdiction, and so we are going to court on that jurisdictional question," Prime Minister Stephen Harper told reporters in Winnipeg.

The complaints commission set the stage for a confrontation with the government in March, when it announced plans to hold public-interest hearings after growing frustrated with Ottawa's refusal to release uncensored versions of hundreds of pages of documents.

Ordering the hearings gives the commission the authority to issue subpoenas for witnesses and documents.

The government's run-in with the commission is just the latest in a string of conflicts it has had with arms-length watchdogs in Ottawa, opposition MPs noted, from former Canadian nuclear safety commission chairwoman Linda Keen to former environment commissioner Johanne Gelinas.

"The more they try to hide, cover up, slam the door, the more demanding people will be for the accountability and openness Stephen Harper promised," said New Democratic Party defence critic Dawn Black.

Liberal defence critic Bryon Wilfert said the government's move breaches the March parliamentary motion extending the Afghan mission until 2011. The motion called for "franker and more frequent reporting on events in Afghanistan."

The next point of conflict between Ottawa and the commission could be the complaints watchdog's planned May 1 public hearings.

It could take the Federal Court of Canada until late fall to begin hearing the government's request to stop the inquiry and public hearings. A judgment likely will not be rendered until early 2009.

The commission said it is now undecided whether it will proceed with the hearings, acknowledging that Ottawa might file another legal motion asking a judge to prevent them from taking place.

The panel is investigating a complaint from Amnesty International Canada and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association that alleges Ottawa and the Canadian Forces knew, or should have known, that torture and abuse were rife in Afghan prisons and that international law bars the handing over of prisoners under such circumstances.

The military stopped transferring detainees to Afghan security forces last November after Canadian diplomats reported credible evidence of torture. Detainee transfers resumed in February.

Former CIA Official: U.S. Losing War in Afghanistan

WTOP, DC, J.J. Green, WTOP Radio April 14, 2008 WASHINGTON

The U.S. is on the verge of losing the war in Afghanistan, says a former top CIA official who was involved in attempts to capture and kill Osama bin Laden.

"Afghanistan of course is a terrible disaster for the United States and NATO. NATO seems to be dying in Afghanistan," says Mike Scheuer, who headed the CIA's Osama Bin Laden unit when the war began.

Scheuer is no longer with the agency. His harsh assessment comes in his new book, "Marching Toward Hell: America and Islam After Iraq."

"What we managed to do was what invaders of Afghanistan always do. We took the cities and declared victory, but we didn't kill the enemy," Scheuer tells WTOP.

"The enemy escaped, the Taliban and al Qaida, now we have a growing insurgency in Afghanistan. And, we certainly don't very many more troops to send there."

So, why is the war a disaster? Scheuer says the U.S. made some horrible miscalculations. "We tried to do Afghanistan on the cheap," he says.

"We tried to win a war with several hundred intelligence officers and about a thousand special forces." What does Scheuer think should happen now?

"Unfortunately, it would involve several major politicians saying we've lied to you for the last 15 years." WTOP has contacted the Department of Defense but the department has yet to respond. (Copyright 2008 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)

Public support grows for Afghanistan war

By The Copenhagen Post - Published 15.04.08

A new Rambøll survey indicates that nearly half of Danes support the country's participation in the current Afghanistan military operation.

Despite 10 soldiers having been killed in the past seven months during the campaign, public support has grown from 43 percent in January to 48 percent today. The poll also found a corresponding 5 percent fall in those wishing a total withdrawal of troops from the Asian country.

Søren Gade, the defence minister, was pleased by the figures and said it meant a lot to the soldiers in Afghanistan. 'I think the increased support may have to do with the prominence of the debate in connection with the upcoming Nato summit,' said Gade.

Afghanistan expert Peter Dahl Thulesen of the Defence Academy said he believes the boost in support for the campaign is directly linked to Danes' security concerns at home.

'And politicians have become better at explaining why we're over there. It's also important that there is a broad political backing to the effort,' said Thulesen.

The Socialist People's Party (SF) and the Red-Green Alliance were the only two parties in parliament against the original decision to send troops to Afghanistan.

SF's defence spokesperson Holger Nielsen said the poll results showed that people 'still believe we should be in Afghanistan despite the death toll', but added there was a time limit before they would begin to question whether the campaign was worth the effort.

Tooting MP Sadiq Khan goes to Afghanistan

(Guardian) 15 April 2008 - From Mitcham Road to the Middle East - Tooting MP Sadiq Khan visited Afghanistan last week on a mission to change local people's perceptions of the West.

Mr Khan, London's first Muslim MP, spent eight days visiting aid projects, hospitals and farms and meeting British troops and local politicians.

He led a delegation of British Muslims including a human rights activist, a barrister and a community worker to debunk misconceptions among Afghanis about how Muslims are treated in the UK.

Mr Khan said: "The trip wasn't about governance meeting governance - it was people meeting people.

"People in Afghanistan have got quite agitated, for example about the Danish cartoons. The older people especially assume everyone in the UK makes blasphemous comments about the Prophet Mohammed.

"It makes the jobs of our teachers, aid workers and troops harder. I wanted to show them I am British, I am a Muslim and I can practice my religion. They couldn't believe that we have Muslim MPs."

Mr Khan spent several days in the capital Kabul, and then flew over rugged terrain to Mazar-e-Sharif province in the North. Here he met poppy farmers who had been given alternative crops to grow, as a strategy to tackle Afghanistan's heroin trade.

"There was no point just going to meet VIPs," said Mr Khan. "We wanted to get out and about and meet people."

In what he described as a "humbling" experience, the Tooting MP also visited British soldiers at Camp Souter, who are working to secure areas so aid workers can build schools, bridges and hospitals.

Mr Khan left the country feeling optimistic about its future after several inspiring conversations with Afghani people, who felt positive about the future of their country.

[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.]