In this bulletin:

• First insurance company swings into action in Kabul
• Resume turning over detainees, Canada told
• Kandahar means combat, Hillier says
• Fate of 18 to 20 detainees arrested by Canadians unknown: Afghan official
• Kandahar governor denies torture claim
• US Envoy: Iran Gained From US Invasions
• US fights to rescue Afghanistan mission
• Why the Afghan Taleban feel confident
• Afghan Prison Blues
• Emergency Services Collapse Under Bitter Cold
• Afghanistan's tribal complexity
• N.S. Grits say they’ll end Afghan mission
• Memo to the Democrats: Common sense on Afghanistan from a Canadian liberal

First insurance company swings into action in Kabul

By Mustafa Basharat - Jan 31, 2008 - 19:35

KABUL, Jan 31 (PAN): With a two million dollars investment, the first-ever private insurance firm Thursday launched operations in the capital Kabul.

Asad Sakhi Farhad, president of the Afghan Insurance Company, informed journalists here the firm had paid the Finance Ministry two million US dollars to obtain a licence.

He added in case of death or damage, the company promised payments to people, personnel, goods, vehicles and aircraft insured. Indemnity would be available to people falling ill, banks, private assets of traders and transport companies.

Farhad assured they would try to provide clients with quality services in a country ravaged by decades of conflict.

Rahmatullah Wardak Shadman, a senior official at the Finance Ministry, said it was the first private company investing in the field of insurance in Afghanistan, where a lack of a clear law and security discouraged investors.

Resume turning over detainees, Canada told

GRAEME SMITH - Globe and Mail Update February 1, 2008

Canada should resume transferring detainees to Afghanistan's notorious intelligence service because holding them would mean a propaganda victory for the Taliban, the country's largest human-rights agency says.

The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission says officials from Canada and other countries fighting in southern Afghanistan will meet at the AIHRC headquarters on Feb. 6, exactly three months after Canada halted the handovers.

“We will ask them to start transferring to the Afghan authorities,” said Farid Hamidi, a lawyer for the commission. “If they don't transfer these detainees to the Afghan authorities, it will raise some questions among the people of Afghanistan.”

He continued: “Maybe some people will do propaganda against the coalition forces in Afghanistan, they will raise questions about the mistreatment of these prisoners and some other things. It will open the way of propaganda against the coalition forces.”

Many ordinary Afghans have a deep mistrust of foreign prisons, which they associate with U.S. detention centres in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Bagram, Afghanistan.

The AIHRC recently had difficulty inspecting the Kandahar detention facilities of the National Directorate for Security, the Afghan intelligence service, but those problems have recently been solved, Mr. Hamidi added. “The problem of access is solved I think within one month,” he said.

The Afghan commission may also push for access to the detention facility operated by Canada, because of the recent decision to hold detainees longer than the customary 96 hours allowed under existing agreements, the lawyer said.

The AIHRC estimates that Canada now holds 18 to 20 detainees in Kandahar, Mr. Hamidi said. In addition to the Canadians, the Kabul meeting is expected to include representatives from Britain, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, the United Nations, and the NDS.

Kandahar means combat, Hillier says

The Canadian Press February 1, 2008

OTTAWA — Canadian soldiers cannot avoid combat if they are to remain in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, the chief of defence staff said Friday.

General Rick Hillier ruled out any possibility that troops could remain in the volatile region and perform strictly humanitarian and reconstruction duties.

“Certainly if you're in Kandahar you're going to be in combat operations,” Gen. Hillier told reporters after delivering a speech at an Arctic conference. “If you're there, you're going to be in the middle of a firefight some way or another.”

General Rick Hillier says Canadian soldiers cannot avoid combat if they are to remain in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar. Gen. Hillier made the comments while talking with reporters after a speech in Ottawa on Friday. (Fred Chartrand/The Canadian Press)

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has endorsed the recommendations a blue-ribbon panel that looked into Canada's options in Afghanistan.

It recommended that Canadians continue in a combat role beyond their scheduled pullout next February if other NATO countries pony up 1,000 reinforcements and the military can acquire combat helicopters and unmanned surveillance aircraft.

The Opposition Liberals have rejected the findings of the panel, headed by former Liberal cabinet minister John Manley. They have said they would leave Canadian troops in Kandahar only as long as they were not involved in combat.

But Gen. Hillier said that is impossible. The Afghan army has made great progress but is not capable of supporting its own counter-insurgency operations, he said.

“One of the (Afghan) battalions is very good; the other one is sort of relatively good and the other one is just getting into a training cycle,” he said. “The progress has been phenomenal, but it's going to take a while.”

Other NATO commanders recognize the need for more troops to fight the insurgency in southern Afghanistan, he said, but the challenge lies in persuading their political masters to provide them.

He said he has been saying for years that the overall mission needs better co-ordination and support. He said there are sufficient troops in the rest of the country “to do the job” and perhaps even enough to transfer some to Kandahar.

“That's where the need is right now and the need is not in the north or the west or the northeast. The need is in the south or the east.”

The Manley report will act as a blueprint for all of NATO in Afghanistan, he said, adding the relationship between him and Mr. Harper is “solid and good.”

“The political leaders in those countries are going to have to make decisions to set NATO up for success for this mission,” he said. “Canada is simply the leading edge of the spear.”

Gen. Hillier said he can accept whatever decision the federal government ultimately makes, as long as it honours the sacrifices made by the Canadians killed in Afghanistan.

Fate of 18 to 20 detainees arrested by Canadians unknown: Afghan official

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The Afghan human rights agency responsible for investigating the condition of arrested insurgents wants to reopen talks with Canada about turning them over to Afghan authorities once again.

Conditions at Afghan prisons have improved since allegations of torture were first raised in the spring, said Farid Hamidi of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.

But right now, Hamidi said, his organization is not being given access to the 18 to 20 people Canadian troops have arrested in Kandahar since Canada changed its policy of handing them over to Afghan authorities.

"We learned about (the policy change) last week through the media," Hamidi said.

"We were then officially informed by the Provincial Reconstruction Team about the persons being held since that time," Hamidi said.

Hamidi said the assumption is that the detainees are being held at Kandahar Airfield, the main coalition base, but he wasn't told for sure.

Under NATO policy, Canadian officials could detain suspected insurgents for a maximum of 96 hours and then had to either release them or deliver them into the custody of the Afghan National Directorate of Security, or NDS.

But it was revealed last week that after Canadian diplomats heard allegations of torture by the NDS in November, Canada shelved the policy of handing detainees over. It's been unclear what is happening to the people captured by Canadians since then.

One Kandahar district chief told The Canadian Press he thinks the Canadians are asking locals more questions about people they arrest and seem to be releasing them more often in the field.

A meeting will be held in Kabul next week with representatives from Canada, the United States, Britain, the Netherlands, the United Nations and the NDS to sort out questions over access to detainees, Hamidi said.

"The situation is better now in Kandahar province," Hamidi said, referring to Afghan prison conditions. "We've worked with the National Directorate of Security for the last two months to solve this."

Hamidi said a key issue was access to prisoners in NDS custody and that's no longer a problem in Kandahar, although he's still dealing with it elsewhere in the country.

"We want to find the best way to treat prisoners," Hamidi said. "And we want to raise that issue with Canadians and others."

He doesn't believe his agency has the right to be informed of detainees being held by the military, only those transferred to Afghan custody according to the agreement between the Canadian government and Afghan authorities.

Addressing a conference in Ottawa, Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier wouldn't comment on the whereabouts of the captives. "I'm not going to comment on numbers or locations whatsoever on detainees," he said.

In defending his government from charges that too much about the handling of prisoners is kept secret, Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the military makes the call on what is operational security.

Other NATO allies in Afghanistan release information on prisoners, such as numbers and where they were taken.

Hillier defended the army's reluctance to practise the same policy, saying Canadians operate in a smaller area than the Americans and the British. He spoke about the need to keep the Taliban guessing about what has happened to their captured people.

"The Taliban put a huge amount of effort to find out where their people have gone," Hillier told reporters. "When they're putting all of that activity into doing those things, they're not putting the activity designed to kill our soldiers."

But it wouldn't necessarily be difficult for the Taliban to ascertain where their people are even without the Canadians spilling the secret. The Red Cross estimates it passed along 13,200 messages in Afghanistan in 2007, the vast majority between detainees and their families.

A representative of the Afghan rights commission in Kandahar said he'd like to have access to wherever the Canadians are holding their prisoners. "Canadians didn't tell us they were there. How would I be able to check on them?" Abdul Qadar Noorzai said.

The Red Cross, however, does have access to the detention facility at Kandahar Airfield, said Graziella Piccolo, a Red Cross spokeswoman in Kabul.

She said the team makes regular visits to all detention centres in Afghanistan, whether run by Afghans or international forces. In 2007, the Red Cross carried out 285 visits to 78 places throughout Afghanistan

But they don't make the substance of their investigations public, and Piccolo couldn't say when the last time was that they had visited the coalition airfield.

She said it was likely a team had been on site since the policy change in November but she wasn't aware whether the Red Cross has been officially informed that Canada was no longer transferring detainees to the NDS.

The Red Cross never received the same written report given to the Canadian government concerning allegations that the governor of Kandahar was involved in the torture of detainees, Piccolo said.

But she said whether the agency was made aware of the allegations was a confidential matter. Hillier conceded he'd heard reports last spring that Gov. Assadu llah Khalid operated his own detention facilities but dismissed them as allegations only.

Opposition parties accused the government of a coverup. Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Khalid is appointed by President Hamid Karzai and the allegations do not involve a Canadian-captured prisoner.

After Canadian diplomats came across a case of torture last November in the detention facility of Afghanistan's intelligence service, MacKay met face-to-face with Khalid and told him torture of prisoners was unacceptable.

Khalid declined to discuss the allegations on Friday.

Kandahar governor denies torture claim

Khalid says he's never interrogated or abused a prisoner in custody; Hillier says governor is doing "phenomenal work"

BRIAN LAGHI and CAMPBELL CLARK AND PAUL KORING - Globe and Mail Update and Canadian Press February 2, 2008

OTTAWA and WASHINGTON — The governor of Kandahar says he's never interrogated, much less abused, a prisoner in his government's custody.

Asadullah Khalid told The Canadian Press that the treatment of Afghan prisoners should be a military issue, not a political one.

Mr. Khalid's response to allegations he was involved in the torture and abuse of prisoners comes a day after Canada's top soldier, General Rick Hillier, praised him for doing "phenomenal work."

Mr. Khalid said he doesn't go around to prisons and interrogate people because it isn't his job. And he said his accuser likely never met him but was just looking for a way out of jail.

Mr. Khalid said the government of Afghanistan is stronger now and in control of the conditions in prison.

Canada's top soldier says the governor of Kandahar province is doing "phenomenal work," and that allegations of torture against him are up to Afghans to investigate.

While the opposition has asked why Canadians weren't informed about the allegations 10 months ago, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said the prisoner who made the charges against Mr. Khalid was not handed over by Canadians and that it's an issue for Kabul to deal with.

Mr. MacKay and Gen. Hillier made their remarks as opposition members demanded that the Harper government put pressure on Afghan President Hamid Karzai to investigate the allegations. They also wanted to know what the Department of Foreign Affairs did with the information and why it has taken this long for it to emerge.

Gen. Hillier confirmed he was aware of allegations against the governor, but said it is up to the Afghan government to deal with them. He also praised Mr. Khalid for the work he has done in Kandahar.

"Governor Asadullah has been doing some phenomenal work in Kandahar province. Obviously, we have worked with him because he is the governor there. And we have seen some incredible changes in the province, and if there's an issue of any kind of impropriety whatsoever, that's an issue for the Afghanistan government."

According to a censored report published in The Globe and Mail yesterday, a prisoner held in Kandahar told two Canadian officials last April of interrogations as well as a beating and electric shocks he received from an individual whose identification was blacked out. Sources have told The Globe that "the governor" were the censored words, in reference to Mr. Khalid.

Outside the House of Commons, Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae said Canada should use its influence with Mr. Karzai to have the matter investigated. He was also angry that the federal government did not disclose the incident when it first occurred.

"We're not there to cover things up, we're not there to cover up for some guy who's corrupt. We're not there to cover up for some guy who's allowing beatings to go on in a private jail," Mr. Rae said.

In the House, Liberal House Leader Ralph Goodale called the incident a cover-up. "Has the government even bothered to investigate the allegations against Mr. Khalid as specifically required under Canada's detainee-transfer agreement?"

Mr. MacKay said that the prisoner who made the complaint had not been transferred by Canadian Forces into Afghan detention. "The allegation with respect to the governor is not a Canadian-transferred prisoner," Mr. MacKay said.

"Second, with respect to the governor of Kandahar, let us not forget that this is an individual appointed by the sovereign elected government of Afghanistan."

He noted that when Canada did hear of a credible complaint from a Canadian-transferred prisoner, an investigation was launched. The government also stopped transferring detainees in early November after that incident.

In Kandahar, Mr. Khalid's staff said yesterday that the governor would respond to the allegations that a secret prison was located inside his compound and that he had personally engaged in torture and abuse of detainees. However, the governor didn't return calls yesterday.

The International Committee of the Red Cross was told last spring by Canadian diplomats of the allegations against Mr. Khalid, Graziella Piccolo, an ICRC spokeswoman in Kabul, confirmed.

But the ICRC won't tell Canada whether it investigated the allegations nor the outcome of any investigation.

"Should an authority, such as the Canadian government, decide to share information with the ICRC about detainees held by another authority, such as the Afghan government, the ICRC would address these concerns only with the detaining authorities."

Former foreign affairs minister John Manley, who headed a recent panel looking into the Canadian mission in Afghanistan, could not be reached for comment over the allegations against Mr. Khalid.

Meanwhile, Gen. Hillier said yesterday that Canadian soldiers won't be able to avoid combat if they remain in Kandahar and that switching places with a NATO country in a quieter region of Afghanistan is not an option, The Canadian Press reported.

While the Liberals have suggested remaining in Afghanistan only for training rather than combat, Gen. Hillier said the need for troops is in the south and that means combat.

"Certainly, if you're in Kandahar, you're going to be in combat operations," he said.

Gen. Hillier said that the report of the panel led by Mr. Manley that more troops are needed in the south only echoes the frustration of NATO military commanders from many countries.

Finally, Gen. Hillier told reporters that he was not angry last week when he heard that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's communications director, Sandra Buckler, had said the military did not inform the government that transfers of prisoners had been suspended, a statement she retracted the next day.

"I was on the beach in the Dominican Republic. I had a little break, and I heard about that, and, can I say this without everybody beating up on me across Canada? I was on my third rum and Coke, and I really didn't give a damn."

Gen. Hillier said the military did inform the government right away when the transfers were suspended in November.

US Envoy: Iran Gained From US Invasions

By JOHN HEILPRIN – NEW YORK (AP) — Iran is stronger today because of the U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the American ambassador to the United Nations said Friday.

The 2003 invasion of Iraq removed a key rival of Shiite Iran with the ouster of Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated government. Iran has friendly ties with the Shiites now in power in Iraq.

"It's helped Iran's relative position in the region, because Iraq was a rival of Iran ... and the balance there has disintegrated or weakened," Zalmay Khalilzad said while answering questions from students at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. "And so one of the objectives of Iran, in my view, is to discourage a reemergence of Iraq as a balancer. And Afghanistan, too, the change was helpful to Iran."

Khalilzad's boss, President Bush, has called Iran a major sponsor of terrorism, and the U.S. is leading the push for a third set of U.N. sanctions against the country because of its nuclear program.

But to Khalilzad, a former U.S. ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan, there is no question that an unintended consequence of U.S. decisions in Afghanistan and Iraq has been to strengthen Iran's position in the Mideast.

Iran almost went to war with the Taliban in the late 1990s, because of its extremist theology and its killing of Afghan Shiite Muslims. With the United States' overthrow of the Taliban in 2001, Iran's relations with Afghanistan improved, their trade grew and Iran helped build roads and power lines in Afghanistan. But the Bush administration says Iran is now arming the Taliban to make life difficult for the U.S.

"I, as you know, have met with the Iranians many times over the years in my various positions, including in Afghanistan," he told the students after delivering a speech on the importance of solving the problems of Middle Eastern politics.

"And I used to tease the (Iranian) ambassador that we have done so much for you in Iraq and Afghanistan, the least you can do is to be helpful to this effort. Otherwise, one day you will get a big bill." He and the crowd laughed.

Whether or not U.S. actions have increased Iran's power, the country also has been playing a greater role in Iraq's economy, supplying Iraqis with electricity, household goods and food. Iraqi leaders from the Shiite bloc that are now in power have said their ties with Iran's governing Shiite Persians will grow.

Despite that, Khalilzad said, he believes "ultimately that Iraq will not be dominated by Iran. Iran would want them to be dependent, but it doesn't mean Iran will succeed. So I have tried to encourage other Arab states who see the change as permanently favoring Iran, not to think that way."

Khalilzad said a third round of U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran is justified because of the country's violations of previous resolutions intended to discourage it from pursuing nuclear weapons.

Iran insists its nuclear program is intended only to produce energy and has refused U.N. demands that it suspend its uranium enrichment program — technology that can produce both fuel for nuclear reactors and the fissile material for a bomb.

Khalilzad said that Iran has the "right to have access for nuclear energy," and the United States is willing to work with Iran and other nations to assure they have "reliable access to fuel for nuclear reactors."

But he said there must be controls. "Having this Iran have access to fissile material that brings it so close to a nuclear weapons capability, is just too risky for this region and for this world," Khalilzad said.

Khalilzad, who was born in northern Afghanistan and immigrated to the United States in high school, denied rumors that he might take a shot at running for Afghanistan's presidency, now held by Hamid Karzai.

"I didn't come here to collect contributions to my campaign. I know how poor students are," Khalilzad joked.

"I have seen those reports and rumors. I can say categorically that I'm not a candidate for the presidency of Afghanistan," he said. "I'm proud of my heritage and honored that I've had the opportunity to represent the United States in helping the Afghans. I will always have a place in my heart for Afghans and Afghanistan, and will do what I can to be helpful to them, they will always be part of me."

After speaking to the students, Khalilzad also defended himself against criticism that he had violated Bush administration rules by participating in talks with Iran's foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. They appeared onstage together on Jan. 26, and the U.S. State Department later said Khalilzad did not seek permission to participate.

"I think there was a misunderstanding, because some people thought that we had discussions or negotiations with them. There wasn't anything like that," he told The Associated Press. "There was no discussion, no negotiation, no greeting of them. Just answering questions."

US fights to rescue Afghanistan mission

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States has intensified its diplomatic drive to recruit more coalition troops for Afghanistan amid fears its allies could abandon a cornerstone of the US-led "war on terror."

Officials revealed that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has written letters to all the NATO allies to ask for more support while announcing that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would fly to Britain to discuss the stakes there.

The news came as Canada warned it could withdraw its 2,500 troops from Afghanistan if NATO fails to send reinforcements to the battle-ravaged south, a risk that appeared higher with Germany's refusal to deploy its forces there.

"NATO as an alliance has been looking at what it needs to do and what more needs to be done to fight the Taliban, to permit the Afghan people to have security so that reconstruction can take place," Rice told reporters Friday.

"We look forward to continued conversations with Poland and with all members of NATO," Rice said during a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski of Poland, which has increased its troop commitment in Afghanistan.

The talks with Sikorski came a day after Rice discussed Afghanistan -- for which last year was the bloodiest since the ousting of the Taliban in 2001 -- with French Defense Minister Herve Morin.

Rice said North Atlantic Treaty Organization foreign and defense ministers would be meeting over the next few weeks in the runup to a NATO summit in Bucharest in April.

Rice's spokesman Sean McCormack said Afghanistan will figure high on the agenda in Britain, the United States' staunchest ally in Afghanistan.

He masked the tension that reportedly exists behind the scenes when he did not give a direct reply on Germany's rejection of an urgent US call to deploy combat troops against a resurgent Taliban in the southern Kandahar region.

Nor would he comment directly on a report that Gates sent an "unusually stern" letter to his German counterpart last month demanding combat troops, helicopters and paratroopers for Afghanistan and charging that some NATO states were not pulling their weight.

But McCormack said: "I won't make a secret of the fact that we are encouraging all of our NATO allies to do everything they can in terms of contributing resources."

Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said Gates informed his counterparts of US plans to deploy 3,200 Marines in Afghanistan for six months, and asked them if their forces could replace the Marines when they come out.

Whitman declined to comment on the specifics of the letters, but indicated that they were not the same for each country.

General James Conway, the commander of the US Marine Corps, warned that as conditions improve in Iraq the US military should begin thinking about when to shift its focus to Afghanistan. Britain has already made a similar case.

Commanders in Afghanistan have been calling for around 7,500 extra troops to be deployed in the south. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) comprises some 42,000 troops from 39 countries.

In the last year, Britain has increased its presence in Afghanistan. There are about 7,700 British soldiers there, most of them in the restive southern region.

Belgium announced Friday that it would send four F-16 fighter-bombers and around a hundred soldiers from September 1 in Kandahar. Belgium currently has 418 troops in Afghanistan.

McCormack conceded there is "a risk the clock could be turned back on the gains" made since the Taliban and Al-Qaeda were toppled after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Richard Boucher, the State Department's pointman for Afghanistan, told a Senate hearing on Thursday that "the greatest threat to Afghanistan's future is abandonment by the international community."

US experts warned in reports earlier this week that Afghanistan will become a failed state unless urgent steps are taken to tackle worsening security.

Why the Afghan Taleban feel confident

By David Loyn BBC News / Friday, 1 February 2008

In Afghanistan, the Taleban now claim to have influence across most of the country and have extended their area of control from their traditional heartland in the south.

They are able to operate freely even in Wardak Province, neighbouring the capital Kabul, as a BBC camera crew who filmed them recently found.

One of their commanders in Wardak, Mullah Hakmatullah, said they do not control the roads nor the towns, but they hold the countryside and have increasing support because of the corruption of the administration.

"The administration do not solve people's problems. People who go there with problems have to give a lot of money in bribes and then they gut stuck there," Mullah Hakmatullah said.

Support from villagers is essential to their ability to continue operations through the winter months. Local people said that they were willing to help the Taleban because they supported their brand of justice.

In one of the villages under their control, people willing to come forward and talk to the BBC said that security was much better now that the Taleban were there.

One of them, Gul Wazir, said that the Taleban were prepared to try to resolve small problems.

"Even if it's a minor thing, the Taleban will sort it out. Before (when the government of President Karzai was in control) it was not like that. They did not pay attention to us and the poor people were ignored."

The Taleban group showed off weapons, including a heavy machine gun they said they had captured from government forces. They test-fired them in broad daylight, apparently not fearing retaliation from government nor international forces.

They were armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Nearby the burnt-out wreck of a government vehicle was left from a recent confrontation with Afghan national forces.

The overall military commander of the Taleban in Wardak, Mullah Rashid Akhond, claimed to have 2,000 active fighters.

He said that he was operating an administrative system with orders coming from Kandahar in the south, just like during the days of the Taleban government that fell in 2001.

He said that the Taleban were running their own courts. "People are taking their cases away from the government courts and coming to us. Now there is no robbery in our area."

Many of the suicide bombers who go to Kabul come from this area, just an hour's drive away. Mullah Akhond justified them, saying that most of the attacks are now carried out by Afghans themselves, not foreign fighters.

Six years ago the Taleban found it hard to recruit. They put their increasing success now down to official corruption, the slow pace of reconstruction and the presence of foreign troops.

Speaking in London, the former Afghan Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali said that the rise of the Taleban was caused by weakness in the central government.

"I think it is a major threat. What moves people is not ideology, but an unstable environment among the existing networks of clans, tribes, aggrieved people, drug traffickers, opportunists, and unemployed youth.

"It is the kind of problem that can be solved only with the establishment of good governance."

Mr Jalali is a potential presidential candidate in next year's election, as President Karzai faces increasing international pressure to deliver swift results.

But if anything, the battle for Afghanistan is harder now than it was after the Taleban were first forced out of power in Kabul.

Afghan Prison Blues

Why are so few Taliban in jail? Hundreds are buying their way out for cash. By Sami Yousafzai and Ron Moreau NEWSWEEKUpdated: 12:48 PM ET Feb 2, 2008

Abdul Bari is looking forward to springtime, when fighting will resume in eastern Afghanistan's Ghazni province. The Taliban field officer is in line for a possible promotion to succeed his commander, Mullah Momin Ahmed, who was killed in action late last year. Until the snows melt, though, Bari is quietly enjoying his freedom. "Thank God and my cousin," Bari told NEWSWEEK last week at his winter quarters on the Pakistani border. "Without them I'd be dead or spending many years in prison."

Bari was arrested on terrorism charges a little more than a year ago, when police caught him visiting relatives in Kabul. He ditched his mobile phone—filled with Taliban contacts—by passing it to his cousin, a woman in her 20s, but the cops seized a notebook containing his scribbled will. That evening the city's deputy police chief paraded Bari in handcuffs on television and called him the leader of a squad of suicide bombers that had infiltrated the capital. "Not true!" Bari shouted. But the officer had "proof" that Bari was on a suicide mission: the will in the notebook. The next day Bari was handed over to the government's draconian National Directorate of Security.

Bari was facing a decade or more in prison—if he survived. The NDS, controlled by a powerful and nearly untouchable political clique from the Panjshir Valley, runs its own secret court system. Canadian forces in Afghanistan stopped transferring captured Taliban to the directorate three months ago, because of allegations of NDS torture and corruption. But Bari's cousin acted quickly. By the third day, Bari says, she got in to visit him at the NDS lockup, bringing him food and paying off officers to stop beating and interrogating him. Instead of being hauled before a clandestine NDS court and sentenced, 52 days after his arrest Bari was back in the field with Taliban forces. The price, he says, was $1,100 in bribes to NDS officers. He also says the main topic of conversation among Taliban inmates was how payoffs were being arranged for their release.

Corrupt Afghan cops, judges and jailers are sabotaging the war effort in Afghanistan. While no official statistics are publicly available, hundreds of captured militants every year appear to be buying their way out of official custody. NDS spokesman Saeed Ansari denies that the directorate has ever taken payment for releasing prisoners. Nevertheless, sources in the U.S. and Afghan governments and inside the Taliban itself have told NEWSWEEK that in Afghanistan's detention system, freedom is always up for sale. "It's very true," says a U.S. counterterrorism official, declining to be named on such a sensitive issue. "It happens a lot, on a regular basis." The official rattles off the noms de guerre of fighters whose backdoor releases have caught the attention of U.S. authorities: " 'Red Eye' … 'Uncle' … 'Mullah Crazy' ... It's a continuing thing."

And it's everywhere. In southern Afghanistan, Western residents have remarked for years on the relative scarcity of Taliban detainees in local police holding cells, despite the hundreds of insurgents who are arrested there every year. In Ghazni province, Bari boasts that 60 to 70 percent of Taliban fighters detained by the local police are turned loose as soon as payoffs can take place. A senior government official in an- other eastern Afghan province, speaking anonymously because the topic is so sensitive, says Kabul's jails don't seem much better at keeping dangerous men locked up. His forces have captured "a significant number" of Taliban and sent them with "strong evidence" to Kabul. He expected them to be in jail a long time, he says, but thanks to crooked cops and the corrupt judicial apparatus, many detainees have already returned to the insurgents' ranks in his province. "It's a serious issue," he says, adding that the whole system urgently needs a cleanup.

Bari and other Taliban sources say their group has a network of agents across eastern and southern Afghanistan whose job it is to buy freedom for captured insurgents. The size of the bribe—from a few hundred dollars to more than $10,000—depends on various factors: how important the detainee is, what his mission was and what type of weapons he was carrying. The price and the complications rise exponentially with every transfer of a detainee up the official chain of command. If struck by a twinge of conscience, notoriously underpaid local members of the Afghan National Police can tell themselves that if they don't accept a payoff, someone higher on the ladder will. Too often, they're right.

Quick money is hard to resist in a land where the average person lives on a few hundred dollars a year. Taliban fighters Mullah Obeid and Mullah Hasinullah say they were arrested in different Ghazni districts late last year and taken to the provincial capital's police headquarters at the same time. The cops let them phone their relatives on one condition: that they urge their kin to raise cash and bring it as fast as possible. Hasinullah was out in two days, and Obeid in four. The cost was $3,000 for the pair, along with the weapons they had been carrying and the motorbikes they were riding when they were arrested.

Their families might have been spared the expense if the cops had been a little more patient. According to Mulvi Assad Khan, a Taliban intelligence agent in Ghazni who spent four years in an NDS prison—a governor was determined to keep him in jail —the Taliban's bribery fund for the four southern provinces alone amounts to $500,000. (The sum is uncheckable and may be an exaggeration.) Besides giving cash to police and NDS officers for the release of prisoners, the network also reimburses the detainees' families—in part or sometimes fully—for bribes the relatives have paid. Assad Khan says the Taliban agents know the right people to contact in the police and NDS, and crooked law enforcers also know the routine, often sending a message to the Taliban when they have a valuable militant in custody.

Even the Taliban sometimes marvel at the coziness of their dealings with law enforcers. Mullah Jumah Khan, a red-bearded, black-turbaned insurgent leader in his 30s, says he and five of his men were arrested in the summer of 2006 during a botched ambush in Helmand province. After confiscating their weapons, land mines and remote-control detonators, the cops took them to the district police station, allowing them to inform their families. When tribal elders arrived the next morning, Jumah Khan says an officer agreed to help them if the prisoners promised to quit the insurgency—a routine but meaningless stipulation—and put up a large-enough sum of cash. They said yes.

To seal the deal, the cops, the prisoners and the elders all drove to police headquarters in the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah. Jumah Khan and his men were held not in a cell but in a separate room, where they were fed and treated well while the price of their freedom was negotiated. After much haggling, the cops and the elders settled on a payment of $10,000 for the six men, Jumah Khan says. The police kept the elders' two pickup trucks as collateral until they got the money, but within days the six were free. "It's funny," says Jumah Khan. "We kill each other on the battlefield, but once a mujahedin is arrested, the police become friendly for a price." He's still leading missions for the Taliban in Helmand.

All the same, the shameless venality of some Afghan cops is too much to stomach even for former detainees like Jumah Khan. Villagers in the south complain that innocent civilians are often detained along with Taliban suspects just for the bribes. Jumah Khan speaks of one notoriously corrupt district police official in Helmand province who openly brags of making at least 20 arrests a day, picking up anyone he wants, Taliban or not. The crooked cop's standard price for freedom is $1,000 a head, according to Jumah Khan, who says the theory is that anyone in the district can afford that much because Helmand is flooded with narcodollars. Nearly half the world's annual opium harvest originates in that one province.

Many Afghan cops stay clean despite the filth among them. That's one reason some unlucky prisoners go all the way to the NDS. When that happens, buying their freedom becomes a longer, more complicated process—but it can be done, according to Taliban fighters. Black-bearded Hazrat Mohammad, 38, a former NDS prisoner, told his story to NEWSWEEK as he crouched over a gas heater, huddled in a heavy jacket at his mud-brick house on the Pakistani frontier. In late 2006, senior Taliban officers sent him to establish a foothold in the far northern Afghan city of Sheberghan. Police in the predominantly Uzbek town soon quickly spotted the Pashtun newcomers and arrested Khan along with his three fighters, transferring them to the NDS provincial office in the main city of Mazar-e Sharif. Mohammad's captors warned him that unless his relatives bought his release in a hurry, he could go to jail for years on terrorism charges.

A brother managed to get there in two days, but NDS officers said he was too late. They could no longer just let Mohammad go, they said, because Afghan radio had publicly reported his arrest. Mohammad says they tortured and interrogated him for two weeks before shipping him to NDS headquarters in Kabul. Eventually Mohammad's brother was able to strike a ransom deal: he would deposit $8,000 with a Kabul money-changer, who would release the cash to NDS officers once their prisoner was free. Two months later Mohammad walked out of the NDS detention center and phoned the money-changer, telling him the NDS men could have their $8,000. So far the Taliban's agents have repaid the family for half that amount.

Mohammad is only happy he didn't end up in American hands. Once a prisoner reaches a U.S.-run detention center, there's little hope of a getaway. One rare exception was the escape of Al Qaeda's No. 3 man, the Libyan known as Abu Yahya al-Libi, who broke out of the high-security U.S. lockup at Baghram air base with three other Qaeda prisoners in 2005. No Americans appear to have been involved in the plot, but U.S. government investigators think corrupt Afghan guards may have assisted in the jailbreak. Several former detainees told NEWSWEEK that Afghan police and NDS officers had threatened to turn them over to U.S. forces, largely as a way of extracting bigger bribes and speeding up the payments. Capture by the Afghan National Army is feared for similar reasons; the ANA works closely with U.S. forces and is carefully monitored by them, making bribery difficult.

Former detainees who talked to NEWSWEEK for this story were reluctant at first to discuss their experiences. They worried that exposing the extent of the corruption might draw the authorities' attention, making it tougher for other captured insurgents to bribe their way to freedom. That risk doesn't seem to bother some alumni of the revolving-door jails. An example is Taliban commander Mullah Sorkh Naqaibullah—also known as the Red Mullah—who recently gloated to the BBC that he had just bought his way out of an NDS jail in Kabul. The price, he said, was $15,000. He said it was the third time since 2004 that crooked law enforcers had set him free in exchange for cash. Now he's back home in Helmand province, once again leading a band of insurgents. The Taliban owe an incalculable debt to crooked cops. They would never have gained power the first time without the public's overwhelming disgust at the pre-Taliban regime's rampant corruption and abuses of power. The insurgents' greatest wish is that it might happen again.

Emergency Services Collapse Under Bitter Cold

By Tahir Qadiry - MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Feb 2 (IPS) - An unprecedented cold wave sweeping parts of Asia has been especially tragic in Afghanistan where emergency services have failed completely.

At least 3,000 people poured on to the streets on Jan. 27 in the northern border province of Jowzjan, asking the government for emergency aid in the wake of the severe weather, which has claimed at least 500 lives countrywide, mostly children.

Heavy snowfall over the past month in Afghanistan’s northern provinces has cut off most villages from the capital cities. People have run out of essential supplies because food and fuel supplies are not getting through, according to reports.

IPS visited Faizabad district in the southeast of Jowzjan. Families huddled together in dark, airless rooms, trying to survive the cold.

"I am a widow. I have four children. We do not have wood to light a fire. As you can see, my children are sick," said a helpless Shokriya, 32, whose husband killed himself because of poverty a year ago.

Her barefoot 14-year-old son Jawid, his face red from the cold, said he could not sleep at night because of the intense cold. "I shout, ask my mother to heat the room. She puts blankets on me, but I still feel the cold. I cry all night. My toes are cold," he said.

Anisa, 41, said her 2-year-old son died in the bitter cold a week ago. "He was sick and I could not take him to the hospital. The roads were cut off. I asked my neighbours for wood, but they did not have either. My son died," she cried, inconsolably.

According to Gawhar Khan Babori, Faizabad district chief, at least 22 people, mainly children, have died of the cold weather over the past one month.

When asked what the government was doing to prevent the death toll, he said: "The roads have been cut off. People come to me for help and I do not have anything to assist them. A German organisation gave some families some assistance, but that is not enough."

Meanwhile, provincial officials in northern Sar-e-Pol Province, south of Jowzjan, said at least 53 people have been killed over the past month. Speaking to IPS, Sayed Iqbal Monib, governor, said they were scared to see the death toll rising.

He said: "At least 53 people have died. Most of the roads are cut off. People do not have access to health clinics. They do not have bread or drinkable water in most villages".

Meanwhile, Akbar Wahdat, senator from Faryab Province told the Afghan Wolesi Jirga, lower house of parliament, Jan. 28, that at least 50 people had died in the province as a result of the cold weather.

He said: "We ask the government and other aid organisations for emergency aid. The casualties could rise if the aid is not assisted on time".

In Jawzjan, the German Agro Action and Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority have announced plans to distribute edibles and warm clothing worth 300,000 Afghanis (6,000 US dollars) to 3,000 families. In addition, 1,600 families in neighbouring Takhar province are to receive 5.5 million Afghanis (110,000 dollars) in cash, according to director, Ghulam Farooq.

According to officials and people, the winter this year has been unusually severe in Afghanistan.

Rohullah Amin Amani, secretary of the provincial council of Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan’s northern-most, said all roads to the districts from the capital city, Faizabad, have been blocked.

Reports from adjoining Takhar Province also claim that at least 10 people have succumbed to the cold. Speaking to IPS, governor Abdul Latif Ibrahimi, said two children and two women were amongst the dead.

Meanwhile, Sayed Ariq, representative of nomads in Balkh (Mazar-e-Sharif is the capital), said 15 people have died in the province. Nearly 18,000 heads of cattle have perished here, and in other cattle-rearing communities in the northern provinces.

Everywhere there are complaints of soaring food prices. Mawlawi Lotfollah Azizi, chief of Takhar provincial council, told IPS there was an acute shortage of essential items.

Sayed Faroq, who lives with his four children and wife in Rostaq District of Faryab Province, northwest Afghanistan, said many people do not even have access to bread.

Speaking on the phone, he said: "We are badly affected by the snow. We ask the government to send us emergency aid before we starve. It is a catastrophe."

Mahjabin Gul Andam, resident of Jowzjan Province, has moved to Balkh Province to live with her relatives. "It is a disaster. We did not have bread or water. People are starving. Why isn’t the government taking steps to prevent this natural disaster?" she lamented.

Provincial government officials who IPS spoke to said they did not have the money to provide relief. Yet, Public Health Minister Dr. Syed Muhamad Amin Fatemi told a press conference in Kabul that health centres were stocked with emergency supplies six months ago, according to the independent Pajhwok Afghan News (PAN).

Afghanistan's tribal complexity

In the dark - Jan 31st 2008 | SANGIN DISTRICT, HELMAND The Economist

Far more than two sides to the conflict - BEARDED like an Old Testament prophet, an old man tugs nervously at the sleeve of the British commander, Major Tony Chattin of the Royal Marines. “The Taliban come from the north and fire from this treeline at your base,” he murmurs. The tip-off in the fields south of the town of Sangin is spot on. An hour later soldiers are exchanging fire with Taliban fighters. British troops glean a lot of information from local people in Helmand, but it is hard to know what to believe. Major Chattin commands a new base nearby. He frankly compares himself to a man trying to work out his surroundings by feeling his way by touch in a darkened room.

It might be a metaphor for the whole campaign, which is leading to so much soul-searching in the West. Two years into their deployment in Helmand, British forces are still learning. The war in Afghanistan is not against a monolithic Taliban movement. In much of the country it is entwined with older struggles rooted in tribalism.

In Helmand a 20-year-old battle involves at least three main factions competing for control of the province's huge opium trade. The dominant grouping since 2001 has been that of the Akhundzada family, who are members of the Alizai tribe, and their various allies. Sher Mohammed Akhundzada was Helmand's governor till he was ousted in December 2005 under British pressure over his links to the drugs business. President Hamid Karzai has now called his ouster a mistake, citing the Taliban's successes in the area since then. It is true that Mr Akhundzada had kept the scale of the fighting in check. But the thuggery of his regime had also provoked widespread anger, and sowed the seeds for the Taliban's return.

In Sangin, power after 2001 was in the hands a warlord from the Alikozai tribe named Dad Mohammad Khan and his family, allies of the Akhundzadas. Predatory rulers, they favoured their own tribal faction and that of the Akhundzadas, while marginalising other groups, notably the Itzhakzai tribe, which had enjoyed considerable local clout under the Taliban.

In June 2006 40 members of Dad Mohammad's family were killed in a single day as the Taliban seized back control of the district. Few locals mourned their overthrow. The attackers were all Itzhakzais, according to other tribal leaders. It is not clear which affiliation mattered more: to the tribe, or to the Taliban.

Sensitivity to Afghanistan's tribal complexity has become all the rage. The American army has deployed anthropologists to help its troops understand the shifting mosaic of tribal interest groups. In Parliament in December, Britain's prime minister, Gordon Brown, lapsed into Pushto when he talked about beefing up “traditional Afghan arbakai” (ie, tribal policing arrangements); he said Britain needed to “understand the tribal dynamics”.

Easier said than done. A crude ethnic breakdown—about 40% of Afghans are Pushtun, 30% Tajiks, and the rest Hazaras, Turkmen, Uzbeks and others—masks baffling complexity. One veteran says that to fight in Afghanistan “you must approach every village as its own campaign.”

And that means understanding Pushtun tribal culture. There are some 60 Pushtun tribes and 400 sub-tribes, many at odds with each other. Since the 18th century, supremacy has been held almost continuously by the Durrani tribal federation. The NATO invasion of 2001, toppling the Taliban, enabled the three main Durrani tribes, the Popolzai (the tribe of President Karzai), the Barakzai and the Alikozai (Dad Mohammad's group), to reclaim their dominance. That angered both non-Durranis and some smaller Durrani tribes.

For their part, the Taliban have always held themselves above tribal politics. Indeed, they regard tribal custom as a deviation from sharia law. But where individual tribes feel badly treated, the Taliban are willing allies. Intriguingly, provinces where tribal structures are strongest, such as Paktia, Paktika and Khost, have proved most resistant to Taliban encroachment.

NATO commanders are now studying these areas hard. In Loya Paktia, as the region is known, the Taliban have struggled to gain ground against the ancient code of tribal behaviour known as Pushtunwali (literally, “do Pushtun”). It governs hospitality, honour and revenge. It has self-regulating systems of arbakai, tribal elders and arbitration. Loya Paktia remains startlingly egalitarian and determinedly suspicious of outsiders. Yet, tempting as it is to see such structures as the answer to the Taliban, Pushtunwali is also hostile to the central government and to Western ideals, particularly of education and sex equality. Feuds in Loya Paktia are still often settled by the exchange of women.

Away from Loya Paktia, in the south, and notably in the Taliban heartlands of Helmand and Kandahar, the old tribal structures have eroded. Yet the drug-financed warlords who hold the balance of power are still rooted in the tribal system. This makes them hard to dislodge. But they in turn find it difficult to extend their power across tribal lines. The upshot is perpetually indecisive factionalism.

N.S. Grits say they’ll end Afghan mission
Local MPs prepared to follow party - By STEPHEN MAHER Ottawa Bureau Thu. Jan 31

OTTAWA — Nova Scotia Liberal MPs all said Wednesday they’re prepared to vote against extending Canada’s combat mission in Kandahar if that’s what the party decides to do.

Last year, when most Liberal MPs voted against extending the Afghan mission until February 2009, the province’s six Liberal MPs all voted for the extension.

They had the option of voting as they liked because the party was between leaders at the time, but Stephane Dion has been steadfast in saying that Canada’s combat mission in Kandahar must end by February 2009.

Last week, former Liberal deputy prime minister John Manley released a report recommending that Canada continue with the mission so long as one of our NATO allies agrees to send 1,000 troops to help Canadians in Kandahar.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who wants the Canadian Forces to stay in their combat role in Kandahar, said this week that Parliament will vote this spring on extending the mission. Since the Bloc Quebecois and the NDP have said they won’t support an extension, Mr. Harper is hoping Mr. Dion can find a way to support the extension, and he promised to try to work with the Liberal leader to find common ground.

After the federal Liberals weekly caucus meeting Wednesday, the province’s Liberal MPs all suggested they’d be happy to see the party find common ground with the Tories on the issue, but if they have to, they’ll vote against extending the mission.

"The leader will decide, and we’ll go from there," said Mark Eyking. "We’re going to be united on it."

All the MPs pointed out that the Liberals don’t want to bring the troops home, as the NDP does, but instead move them out of a very tough job in Kandahar to work elsewhere in the country.

"There could be a possibility that we can assure security in some places in the future, working with our allies, even within that area," said Robert Thibault. "(Those are) questions that are being considered by our leader."

Most Nova Scotians want Canadian troops out of Kandahar, said Geoff Regan. "I think that’s what the vast majority of Canadians want," he said. "They don’t want Canada to abandon Afghanistan. They want us to be there in a reconstruction and peace-building role."

Rodger Cuzner is a high-profile backer of former leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff — who is generally seen as more of a hawk on Afghanistan than Mr. Dion. But the MPs support Mr. Dion, he said.

"I think his position is for the most part reflective of where caucus is," he said.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay would not say Wednesday whether he believes Nova Scotians would be unhappy with Liberal MPs who voted against extending the combat mission.

"At the end of the day, all politicians have to answer for their actions," said his spokesman, Dan Dugas.

"But to presuppose the outcome of this debate as an academic exercise doesn’t add to anything. It’s way early to be talking about what if it goes this way, what if it goes that way, what will people say if this happens. I don’t think it adds at all to the atmosphere that should prevail in this House for the most serious issue that faces us."

Meanwhile, Stephen Harper has told George W. Bush that Canada will not extend its mission in Afghanistan beyond next year unless it gets additional combat help and equipment.

The Prime Minister’s Office says Harper briefed the U.S. president by phone Wednesday on the findings of the Manley report on Afghanistan.

Seventy-eight Canadian soldiers and one Canadian diplomat have been killed in Afghanistan, 71 of them since 2006, when Canadians took charge of security in Kandahar province. Eight of the dead soldiers were from Nova Scotia.

Memo to the Democrats: Common sense on Afghanistan from a Canadian liberal

UNITED NATIONS — Amid an acrimonious debate over Canada’s continuing military presence in Afghanistan, comes a starkly realistic voice of common sense from a leading figure in the political opposition. Thus as key politicians in the Liberal party call for a downgrading of the Canadian commitment to the multinational forces in Afghanistan and bash the ruling Conservatives over that deployment, comes the sage advice from a former Liberal Deputy-Prime Minister to hold the course and not to pull troops out when the mandate ends in 2009.

In a significant independent report on the Afghanistan situation, former Liberal Deputy Prime Minister John Manley advised on the risks of a mission which he said cannot be completed by February 2009. He stressed there is no “operational logic” to pulling troops out on that date, and that such an immediate withdrawal would “squander our investment and dishonor our sacrifice to date.”

Manley said “We don't believe Canadians need sugarcoating on what's going on and that's why we've said the security situation in Kandahar seems to be deteriorating, not improving.” He added, “We think Canadians are quite prepared to undertake things that are tough, things that are difficult, things that are dangerous, but we've got to give them the facts.” Manley beseeched Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government to urge the international community to “get its act together,” both in Afghanistan and with other key countries in the region.

Yet this is not an open ended commitment. The report’s key recommendation remains that if Canada does not get more help from its NATO allies, it should serve notice that the Canadian Forces will be withdrawn from the volatile region. The report urges NATO to deploy at least one new battle group, about 1,000 troops, so Canada can concentrate on training the Afghan army.

Stephen Harper’s government remains committed to the multinational military mission in Afghanistan where Canada’s contribution of 2,500 troops fighting Taliban fundamentalist insurgents is based in Kandahar province, one of the country’s roughest regions. The casualty rate among the Canadians, which has reached 78 killed, is disproportionally high given that this southern sector remains a hotbed of Islamic militants. The troops were first deployed to Afghanistan by Ottawa’s former Liberal government in 2002, but it’s the Conservatives that are taking the heat for the ongoing deployment.

Though there are significant NATO forces in Afghanistan; the United States has 15,000 troops which will soon be reinforced by 3,500 Marines; Britain and the Danes have 7,700; the Dutch have 1,500 and the Germans 3,500 among many others, the Canadians are stationed in one of the most dangerous sectors and need backup.

Now Canada’s Liberals and New Democratic Party Left are playing a cheap political game, pandering to the polls and to the sages of short term electoral gain. Speaking in Ottawa, Manley presented an impassioned defense of his report and Canada’s role. “The world isn’t a pretty place, but I happen to believe that the people who came before me in the Liberal Party believed in a strong role for Canada on the international stage and would say that there are times when we have to be counted, times when it matters.”

There’s no question that Canada has every right to press for more multinational military assistance from NATO. Peter Heinbecker, a former Canadian UN Ambassador told Toronto’s National Post, “I think to some degree we’ve been taken for granted.” The Ambassador predicts that the ultimatum to NATO “that Canada will quit the mission without new military partner in Kandahar” will work.

As the National Post advised editorially, “Even if our allies disappoint us, we must not give up on our mission--not to mention the Afghan people — to spite the spineless… Canada has led by example on the world stage by making sacrifices in the defining struggles of our age — against Hitler, against communism and now against the scourge of Islamofascism. We should not deviate from our perfectly legitimate Afghan combat mission just because European backbones tend to bend a little more than do ours.”

There’s also a lesson here for the USA where the Democrat Party has used the American military commitment in Afghanistan and Iraq as a political football against the Bush Administration. Reflecting on what was once bi-partisan support for American foreign policies, it hardly honors the party of John F. Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey or Mike Mansfield, to allow the fight against Al Qaida and Islamic militants to turn into rowdy partisanship and myopic geopolitical visions.

John J. Metzler is a U.N. correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He writes weekly for World Tribune.com.

[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.]