In this bulletin:

• The Afghan delegation took part at 7th summit of JCMB
• Rice urges allies to share Afghan combat burden
• Rice: NATO facing test in Afghanistan
• Germany to send troops to N Afghanistan
• Rice to discuss condemned Afghan newsman
• Afghan government official says that student will not be executed
• Afghan Official Accused of Pecking With Impunity
• Canada PM tells Sarkozy it may pull out of Afghanistan
• Confidence motion on Afghan mission set for March
• Harper prepared to draw the line on Afghanistan
• Canada won't build, run Afghan jails, Bernier says
• Majority supports troops in Afghanistan
• UK to further increase diplomatic presence in Afghanistan
• Taliban set for windfall from Afghan opium crop
• UK aid effort in Afghanistan "dysfunctional"
• Afghan opposition front describes siege of northern general's house conspiracy
• Afghanistan: Prosecutor Suggests 'Some People' Cannot Be Tried
• The President Who Would Be King
• I Didn't Undercut Paddy Ashdown
• America's odd couple
• Add corruption to Afghans' top enemies

The Afghan delegation took part at 7th summit of JCMB

Posted On: Feb 06, 2008

A high Afghan official delegation under the chairmanship of H.E. Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan participated at the 7th summit of Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board in Tokyo, Japan.

The Afghan delegation included National Security Advisor, the President’s Senior Advisor for Economic Affairs, Minister of Finance, Minister of Justice, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Minister of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, In-Charge of Ministry of Counter-Narcotics, Director General of Independent Directorate of Local Governance, Deputy Minister of Interior Affairs, Deputy Minister of Finance and the Deputy of Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Committee (DDR).

The Afghan delegation on their first working day met H.E. Yasuo Fukuda, the Prime Minister of Japan.

In this meeting, the Foreign Minister of Afghanistan welcomed the decision of the Japanese government for fuel supply for Coalition Forces in Indian Ocean.

Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta emphasized on the impotence of the international coordination in war against terrorism. He also briefly informed the Japanese Prime Minister about the reconstruction and development process in Afghanistan and mentioned the challenges towards the Afghan government such as, terrorism and counter-narcotics and the willingness and commitment of the Afghan people to overcome these challenges.

H.E. Rangin Dadfar Spanta, the Afghan Foreign Minister appreciated the assistances of Japan to Afghanistan and hosting the JCMB.

H.E. Yasuo Fukuda, the Prime Minister of Japan said that the International Community is focused on Afghanistan and is confident that Afghanistan is going on in a good direction and has had significant achievements.

The Japanese Prime Minister emphasized that Japan as the head of G-8 would try to provide more opportunities for International Community to play a better role in the reconstruction process in Afghanistan.

The Afghan delegation also met H.E. Masahiko Komura, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan.

In this meeting, it was discussed on the issues relating to the international war against terrorism, counter-narcotics, the progress and achievements made through the last six years in Afghanistan and also, the significant role of Paris Conference for the continuation of international assistances to Afghanistan.

Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta appreciated the assistances of Japan in different fields such as rural developments and the process of building national institutions in Afghanistan.

In addition, in this meeting it was the discussed on the relations between the parliaments of the two countries, counter-narcotics and counter-terrorism and the other areas of interests of the two countries.

Rice urges allies to share Afghan combat burden

Sue Pleming, Reuters - Published: Wednesday, February 06, 2008

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday only a small number of NATO nations had troops in the most dangerous areas of Afghanistan and urged reluctant allies to share the combat burden.

Rice, speaking en route to London where she will discuss strategy on Afghanistan with British leaders, called for the quick appointment of an envoy to coordinate what she termed NATO's bumpy mission.

"It is true, and we have made no secret about it, that there are certain allies that are in much more dangerous parts of the country," Rice told reporters traveling with her.

"We believe very strongly that there ought to be a sharing of that burden throughout the (NATO) alliance," said Rice, adding she did not wish to denigrate the contribution of allies.

Some NATO countries have bristled at public criticism from Washington over the refusal of a number of alliance members to position their forces in the more dangerous south of Afghanistan to fight Taliban insurgents.

Germany, for example, under its parliamentary mandate can send only 3,500 soldiers to the less dangerous north as part of the 42,000-strong NATO mission.

That means most of the fighting against the Taliban is shouldered by Canada, Britain, the United States and the Netherlands. They all want others to contribute more.

The Taliban, ousted from power by a U.S.-led invasion in 2001, fought back strongly last year.

Western efforts in Afghanistan have been fragmented and Rice said she hoped a new international envoy could be appointed soon to coordinate this work.

In January, Afghan President Hamid Karzai rejected British politician Paddy Ashdown for the job.

"We want to be very clear that this is a sovereign Afghan government and it has to take its own decisions, but it has a heavy reliance on international support," said Rice.

"It is important to move ahead on an envoy as soon as possible," she said.

Rice, due to meet British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Foreign Secretary David Miliband, said she believed another European was likely to get the post.

Part of Rice's London visit is to smooth relations after U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates upset many close allies, including Britain, when he questioned the preparedness of some NATO members for counter-insurgency in southern Afghanistan.

"It is bumpy and there is a lot of maturing that the alliance is having to do ... Frankly, counter-insurgency is really hard for any traditional military, let alone (NATO)," said Rice.

The United States has 29,000 military personnel in Afghanistan, about half of them attached to the NATO mission. Washington plans to send an additional 3,200 troops and hopes this will encourage others to do the same.

Rice: NATO facing test in Afghanistan

LONDON (AP)6 Feb, 2008 - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday the military challenge in Afghanistan is sorely testing the NATO alliance and allied governments should be straightforward in telling their citizens that the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militants will be long and difficult.

"I do think the alliance is facing a real test here," Rice said after holding talks with British officials about the NATO-led effort in Afghanistan. "Our populations need to understand this is not a peacekeeping mission," but rather a long-term fight against extremists, she added.

Rice was speaking at a news conference with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband. They both had the same response to a new U.N. report Wednesday showing a spike in Afghan opium production, which is fueling the Taliban insurgency: it is a problem for both the alliance and the Afghan government.

The report, by the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, said that Afghanistan, in turmoil since a U.S.-led military operation toppled the repressive Taliban regime in 2001, is also steadily increasing its production of marijuana.

Afghanistan supplies some 90 percent of the world's illicit opium, the main ingredient in heroin, and the Taliban rebels fighting the U.S.-led forces receive up to $100 million from the drug trade, the U.N. estimates in the new report.

Germany to send troops to N Afghanistan

BERLIN (Khaleej News) 6 Feb, 2008 - Germany will send a combat until to help NATO forces in northern Afghanistan, German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung said Wednesday.

He said the quick reaction force would be deployed in the summer.

‘NATO has made the request. We have decided after consultation with the military that we cannot allow a gap to develop,’ Jung told a news conference.

The troops will replace a 250-strong Norwegian contingent that is being withdrawn after two years in Afghanistan.

It will be the first combat unit sent to Afghanistan by Germany, which already has around 3,200 soldiers serving with with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

Most of the German troops in Afghanistan are involved in reconstruction work in the relatively peaceful north and around the capital, Kabul.

Jung last week turned down a US request to deploy combat troops in the hostile south, where the bulk of fighting against the Taleban and Al Qaeda is taking place.

Rice to discuss condemned Afghan newsman

LONDON (AP) 6 Feb, 2008 - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she will rise with Afghanistan's U.S.-backed president the case of an Afghan reporter

sentenced to death for insulting Islam.

"This is a young democracy," Rice said. "It won't surprise you that we are not supportive of everything that comes up through the judicial system in Afghanistan, and I do think that the Afghans understand that there are some international norms that need to be respected."

Rice thus pitches herself into the middle of a case that has not drawn the same wide U.S. outrage or Bush administration intervention as one involving a Muslim condemned to death for converting to Christianity.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday while en route to Britain for meetings on Afghanistan strategy and other matters, Rice also said that NATO allies were examining whether plans for the future size of Afghanistan's police and Army forces were sufficient to fight the continued threat from the Taliban and other insurgent fighters.

The plight of violent, poor and strategically critical Afghanistan was expected to be the centerpiece of a gathering of NATO leaders later this year. In addition to perhaps expanding the planned size of Afghan forces, Rice said the alliance was considering ways to improve law enforcement to combat the lucrative opium poppy trade.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai 's spokesman said Tuesday he was concerned about the 23-year-old journalist's death sentence but he would not intervene until the courts have had their final say.

Sayed Parwez Kaambakhsh was sentenced to death on Jan. 22 by a three-judge panel in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif for distributing a report he printed off the Internet to journalism students. The article asked why under Islam men can have four wives but women cannot have multiple husbands.

The court found that the article humiliated Islam, the faith of the vast majority of people in deeply conservative Afghanistan. Members of a clerical council pushed for Kaambakhsh to be punished. He has appealed.

Rice had called Karzai in March 2006 to ask for a "favourable resolution" of the Christian convert case. The man was released a short time later. That case had attracted intense news coverage and caused an outcry in the United States and other nations that helped oust the hard-line Taliban regime in late 2001 and provide aid and military support for Karzai. President Bush and others had insisted Afghanistan protect personal beliefs.

Rice did not expressly condemn the sentence imposed on the reporter or say when she would discuss it with Karzai.

Days after a retired U.S. general she has hired as a Mideast adviser called Afghanistan a state at risk of failure, Rice said Karzai's democratic government is not threatened by a resurgent Taliban.

"You're not looking at a traditional military force that I think is a strategic threat to the government, but it is certainly causing insecurity for the population and that is something that is going to have to be dealt with," Rice said.

An independent study co-chaired by retired Marine Corps Gen. James Jones and former U.N. Ambassador Thomas Pickering warned that the United States risks losing "the forgotten war." It pointed to deteriorating international support and the growing Taliban insurgency. Rice also has appointed Jones as U.S. overseer for security matters between the Israelis and Palestinians.

The Taliban launched more than 140 suicide missions last year, the most since the regime was ousted from power in late 2001 by the U.S.-led invasion that followed the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

The refusal of some major European allies to send significant number of troops to the southern front lines has opened a rift within NATO.

Troops from the United States, Britain, Canada and the Netherlands have borne the brunt of a resurgence of Taliban violence in the region, and Canada has threatened to pull out unless other allies do more of the hard work.

The U.S. contributes a third of NATO's 42,000-strong International Security Assistance Force mission, making it the largest participant, on top of the 12,000 to 13,000 American troops operating independently. The U.S. plans to send an extra 3,200 Marines to Afghanistan this spring, including 2,200 combat troops to help the NATO-led force in the south.

Britain has about 7,700 soldiers in Afghanistan, up from 3,600 in 2006. Prime Minister Gordon Brown told lawmakers Wednesday he will continue to push European allies to provide more combat troops.

"What we are looking for, particularly when it comes to the NATO summit a few weeks from now, is a determination on the part of all our allies to ensure the burden sharing in Afghanistan is fair," he told legislators at the House of Commons.

Brown said Britain, Spain and France had pledged to send more troops.

"But we need a proper burden sharing — not only in terms of personnel, but also in terms of helicopters and other equipment," he said.

Afghan government official says that student will not be executed

The Independent- 6 Feb, 2008 The condemned student journalist Sayed Pervez Kambaksh will not face execution, a senior government official in Afghanistan indicated yesterday.

A ministerial aide, Najib Manalai, insisted: "I am not worried for his life. I'm sure Afghanistan's justice system will find the best way to avoid this sentence."

It was the clearest indication yet that the 23-year-old will have his death penalty revoked amid mounting international pressure on the Afghan authorities.

Mr Kambaksh was condemned to die by an Islamic court for insulting Islam. He was found guilty under sharia law after he distributed articles from the internet on women's rights at Balkh university in northern Afghanistan, an act he claims was aimed at provoking debate. His family say he was not allowed a defence lawyer and the trial was in secret.

The verdict, briefly endorsed by the Afghan senate before it retracted its opinion, caused international protests. More than 63,000 people have signed an Independent petition urging the Foreign Office to put all possible pressure on the Afghan government to prevent the execution. The United Nations' senior human rights advocate, Louise Arbour, has written to the President and his top officials, "reminding them of their responsibilities" under the country's constitution, which enshrines freedom of speech. President Hamid Karzai's staff said he had been inundated by appeals from pressure groups across the globe to pardon the student journalist.

The President is "concerned" about the case and is "watching the situation very closely", his spokesman, Humayun Hamidzada, said. But he added: "There is a judicial process ongoing."

Mr Manalai is the senior adviser in Afghanistan's Culture Ministry, which is in charge of arbitrating free speech disputes in the media. He condemned the student writer but maintained it was very unlikely he would face the gallows.

He said: "He cannot be defended in any way for what he has done. He was provoking trouble. He was insulting Islam's prophet. This is one of the biggest offences you can make. In Afghan law it is a capital offence. Islamic law allows the death penalty.

"But there's a saying of the Prophet, that you had better avoid applying a penalty because it is better to have someone guilty who has not been punished, than have someone not guilty who has been punished. One court has condemned him, but this is only the first step. We have three stages of justice. I am not worried for his life."

The President can pardon death-row prisoners if their sentence is upheld by the Supreme Court. But privately, government sources have hinted that President Karzai would prefer to see the verdict overruled by an appeal court, before it reaches his office.

Afghanistan's constitution incorporates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which enshrines free speech, and sharia law, which prohibits criticising the Prophet Mohamed. But Mr Manalai insisted that free speech can exist in Afghanistan within the confines of Islamic law.

He said: "Every country has its own limits on freedom. In Afghanistan, our limitations on freedom of speech are within the framework of sharia law." He compared those restrictions to European laws against Holocaust denial. He said: "European people have the right to protect their opinions about ideas which are supposed to be dangerous for their civilisation. We have the same conditions. We have sharia law."

But some analysts believe Mr Kambaksh is really a victim of complex political manoeuvring between Afghanistan's warlords and the President. Zia Bumia, head of the Committee to Protect Afghan Journalists, said some officials believe the Islamic court was hijacked by the President's enemies to force him to choose between the mullahs, who passed the death sentence, and the international community, which opposes it.

"It was a simple case that became a political issue," he said. "He [Mr Kambaksh] just printed an article but they are calling him an infidel. The religious conservatives are getting stronger day by day, because political figures, who are not interested in religion, are building their relations with conservative groups to serve their own interests. Islam is being used as political game. To get something you just use the name of religion."

The news had a cautious welcome in London. Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: "This affair raises serious questions about the direction Afghanistan is heading. It should not require international condemnation to prevent such a gross injustice."

William Hague, the shadow Foreign Secretary, said: "I hope no other Afghan citizen will be put through a similar experience. Moving towards the rule of law is a vital part of building peace in Afghanistan."

Afghan Official Accused of Pecking With Impunity

Washington Post, By Al Kamen Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Afghan President Hamid Karzai says he's not intervening for now in the controversial case of Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, 23, a reporter and journalism student who was sentenced to death by a three-judge panel two weeks ago for blasphemy. Kambakhsh had handed classmates a report, perhaps a satire, he found on the Internet that questioned why Muslim men are allowed to have four spouses but women don't have the same right.

After a five-minute trial with no lawyer, Kambakhsh was given a piece of paper saying he had acted against Islam and should be executed, according to his brother.

The case has sparked an international outcry, with human rights and news organizations condemning the arrest and sentence. Demonstrators in Kabul have demanded that the sentence be overturned. Lawmakers have been split.

The press groups, greatly aided by the blogosphere, are playing hardball. A Kabul Press editorial on Jan. 30 noted that Afghanistan's Senate supported the death sentence and noted Washington Post photos of the vice president of that chamber, Sayed Hamed Gailani, kissing first lady Laura Bush's hand at the State of the Union address in 2006.

"Kissing the hand of a woman is also a crime in Islamic law," the editorial said. "Shouldn't Hamed Gailani be arrested and tried?"

Well, our photos prove only intent to smooch. Could have been one of those "air kisses."

In any event, the Afghan Senate by the end of the week withdrew its support for the death sentence, noted its backing of defendants' rights to counsel (not unlike, for example, Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335) and to appeals, and said the earlier statement of support was a "technical mistake."

Meanwhile, Karzai is waiting for the courts to sort things out.

Canada PM tells Sarkozy it may pull out of Afghanistan

6 February 2008 FOCUS News Agency

Ottawa.Prime Minister Stephen Harper told French President Nicolas Sarkozy Tuesday that Canada will withdraw its troops from Afghanistan unless NATO sends reinforcements, his spokeswoman said.

Speaking by telephone, Harper first thanked Sarkozy "for the assistance France has provided to Canadians seeking to leave Chad in the wake of the violence there," spokeswoman Sandra Buckler said in an e-mail.

They then discussed a new report by a committee led by former deputy prime minister John Manley that urged Canada to keep its 2,500 troops in Afghanistan only if its NATO allies send at least 1,000 additional troops and equipment, including helicopters and drones, to bolster the Canadian force, AFP reported.

Heeding its findings, Harper has said he will bring Canada's troops home at the end of their current mandate in February 2009 unless NATO allies step up their support for the mission.

Harper has already informed US President George W. Bush, Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown and NATO's secretary general of Canada's position.
NATO defense ministers will meet this week in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Canada deployed 2,500 troops in Afghanistan's volatile southern Kandahar province as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) battling Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters.

Since 2002, 78 Canadian soldiers and a senior diplomat have died in roadside bombings and in melees with the insurgents.

Confidence motion on Afghan mission set for March

CTV- 6 Feb, 2008 The Tories are expected to table a confidence motion Thursday on extending the military mission in Afghanistan but a vote won't take place until March, according to a report.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper warned Liberal Leader Stephane Dion that the Conservative government was prepared to present the motion Thursday, sources told CTV's Robert Fife.

Opposition and government sources said Wednesday that the motion will be placed on the House of Commons order paper but won't be voted on until March, The Canadian Press reported.

Harper met Dion for 25 minutes in his Centre Block office to discuss the Manley panel recommendations on Afghanistan.

The report calls for Canada to extend the military deployment past 2009 if NATO nations provide another 1,000 combat troops and more equipment.

The government could fall if the Liberals do not support it, since the NDP and Bloc Quebecois are against Canada's extension of the NATO mission.

The Liberal party is deeply divided over the issue, with many members siding with former Liberal deputy prime minister John Manley and others supporting Dion, who wants all combat operations to end after 2009, reports Fife.

Ahead of the meeting, Dion told reporters he wouldn't budge on his position.

Dion has made it clear he will be pushing for a united caucus on the issue, and Liberal MPs will be expected to toe the party line when they vote, said Fife.

A source, in an interview with CP, called the motion a "Manley-minus" -- meaning it will call for an extension of the combat role but will not mention other recommendations pertaining to humanitarian aid, diplomacy and more open communication from Ottawa.

Harper has also discussed the mission with New Democrat Leader Jack Layton.

Layton is calling for Canada's role in Afghanistan to end by the current February 2009 deadline, with the mission then dismantled and reinvented as a United Nations project.

On Monday, Layton called the current mission a "dead end" with no hope in sight for a successful outcome.

Harper prepared to draw the line on Afghanistan

BRIAN LAGHI - From Wednesday's Globe and Mail February 5

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper is prepared to put his minority government on the line over the future of the Afghanistan mission after he warned Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion that the Tories are preparing a confidence motion that could be voted on as early as next week.

A source told The Globe and Mail that the government is prepared to give notice Thursday of the motion that Canada's role be extended. If the government were to lose, it could plunge the country into an election.

Mr. Harper issued the warning during a 25-minute meeting between the two men yesterday to discuss the future of the Afghan mission and a possible compromise over Canada's presence in the strife-torn province of Kandahar.

The Liberals are divided on the issue, but Mr. Dion has said that he will whip the vote, meaning the party must vote as one. The NDP and the Bloc Quebecois are already against the mission, demanding that it end by 2009. The Liberals, however, have said there may be room for some compromise.

However, Mr. Dion has told Mr. Harper that he won't budge from his condition that any Canadian role in Afghanistan after 2009 not include a combat function.

It's unclear what a confidence motion would say. For example, the prime minister could try to push through the recommendations of the report from the panel led by former foreign affairs minister John Manley, which suggests that Canada leave Kandahar in 2009 if NATO doesn't provide another 1,000 troops, helicopters and unmanned aircraft.

Or he might compromise with Mr. Dion in an effort to win over Liberal support. For example, the prime minister might put an end-date on the mission of 2011, which could garner Liberal backing.

Although a confidence vote is dangerous for the Liberals, it also has pitfalls for the Tories, hence the need for the prime minister to at least appear as though he is attempting to compromise.

Mr. Dion laid out his position as he and Mr. Harper discussed ways for Canada to move forward in warring country and attempted to find common ground on the Manley report.

“Mr. Dion made clear the Liberal Party's long-standing position on the mission in Afghanistan, including our firm and unwavering belief that the combat mission in Kandahar must end by February, 2009,” said a statement released by Mr. Dion after the meeting ended late yesterday afternoon.

Mr. Dion would release no further details yesterday. The Tories support the Manley proposal and need the backing of the Liberals to push ahead with continued Canadian presence in Kandahar. It's unclear whether Mr. Dion offered a compromise. His officials said yesterday that the leader plans to discuss the issue with his caucus today.

Tories were also tight-lipped about the meeting, saying only that Mr. Harper repeated his support for the Manley report.

“The Prime Minister reiterated the government's position – that we are adopting the bi-partisan recommendations of the Manley panel – and that if we are unable to secure extra combat troops and equipment, Canada will not be extending the mission in Afghanistan,” said a statement from the Prime Minister's Office.

A source said last night that the two sides seemed fairly entrenched in their positions.

Meanwhile, Mr. Harper yesterday continued his diplomatic efforts to get the necessary soldiers and materiel with a phone call to French President Nickolas Sarkozy. The Prime Minister's spokeswoman, Sandra Buckler, said Mr. Harper and Mr. Sarkozy reviewed the recommendations of the Manley panel, “including the recommendation that Canada remain in Afghanistan, in Kandahar, but only if we can secure additional troops from NATO allies and additional equipment for the Canadian Forces.”

She added that Mr. Harper and Mr. Sarkozy noted that their defence ministers will meet this week in Lithuania at the NATO Defence Ministers' meeting.

The British newspaper The Guardian reported yesterday that France may increase its military presence in Afghanistan. It is “looking at ways [to] share a greater burden,” an official said yesterday. The newspaper also said a fresh British force is to be sent to the country as the United States intensifies pressure on European allies to prevent civil war.

Also yesterday, Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier told the House of Commons that Canada won't build a detention facility in Kandahar or participate in the management of Afghan prisons to prevent future abuses of detainees.

“We will not be building a prison in Afghanistan; we will not manage a prison in Afghanistan,” he said.

Attorneys for Amnesty International and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association made the suggestion for Canada to help manage the jails in a Federal Court document as part of an effort to block transfers of prisoners to Afghan control.

Reached yesterday in Brussels, NATO spokesman James Appathurai said the decision to get involved in the management of Afghan detention facilities rests with individual countries, pointing to the U.S. detention facility in Bagram.

“NATO, as an organization, doesn't manage detention facilities,” Mr. Appathurai said.

Colleen Swords, an assistant deputy minister of Foreign Affairs, told Amnesty lawyer Paul Champ in court last year that “some discussions” have been held about building a NATO wing on an existing Afghan jail.

It's unclear what Canada has done with its captives since an army commander ordered a temporary end to transfers on Nov. 6, although it's been speculated that the detainees are being held at the Kandahar airport.

Canada won't build, run Afghan jails, Bernier says

OTTAW ( THE CANADIAN PRESS ) 6 Feb, 2008–Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier says Canada won't build a detention facility in Afghanistan or participate in the management of its prisons, despite suggestions that doing so might keep local authorities from abusing enemy captives.

"We will not be building a prison in Afghanistan; we will not manage a prison in Afghanistan," he told the House of Commons during question period on Tuesday.

"We are there to help the Afghan government and people to achieve prosperity and security in their country."

One way to protect enemy prisoners from abuse at the hands of Afghan authorities is to have Canadian and NATO officials help manage jails, lawyers for a pair of human-rights groups said in a court document filed last week.

Attorneys for Amnesty International and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association made the suggestion in a Federal Court document as part of their effort to block transfers of prisoners to Afghan control.

"Co-management of detention facilities by Afghan authorities and Canadian, NATO or other international officials could be one option that provides substantive safeguards against torture until Afghan officials have developed the capacity and training to reliably meet international standards," they said.

Reached Tuesday in Brussels, NATO spokesman James Appathurai told The Canadian Press the decision to get involved in the management of Afghan detention facilities rests with individual countries, pointing to the U.S. detention facility in Bagram.

"NATO, as an organization, doesn't manage detention facilities," Appathurai said.

Colleen Swords, an assistant deputy minister with Foreign Affairs, told Amnesty lawyer Paul Champ in court last year there has been "some discussions" about building a NATO wing to an existing Afghan jail.

Liberal defence critic Denis Coderre said building a Canadian or NATO wing might close a "loophole" in which Afghan soldiers – working with Canadian troops – hand over war prisoners to local authorities, circumventing Canada's decision to halt enemy handovers.

"That's a pretty big loophole considering that I'm not sure it will pass the validity test of the convention of Geneva," he said.

It was revealed last month that Canada had quietly stopped transfers in November after officials found credible evidence of torture while visiting an Afghan jail.

NATO policy allows Canadian troops to detain suspected insurgents for up to 96 hours before either releasing them or turning them over to the Afghan National Directorate of Security.

It's unclear what Canada has done with its captives since an army commander ordered transfers to temporarily end Nov. 6 after officials saw signs a prisoner in custody had been beaten unconscious with an electrical cable and a hose.

It's speculated the prisoners are being held at Kandahar Airfield, the main coalition base. One of the human-rights lawyers argues it's incumbent on Canada to help with Afghan detention facilities.

Amir Attaran, a lawyer for Amnesty International, said Afghanistan's justice system is still two years from its 2010 reform target, laid out in the Afghanistan Compact, the international reconstruction and development agreement.

Canada "put the cart before the horse" when it signed separate prisoner transfer agreements with Afghan authorities before the country's justice system was fully reformed, he said.

"If we, as Canada and NATO at large, truly meant what we signed up for in the Afghanistan Compact ... I don't think one prison is at all too much to ask in achieving that vision," Attaran said.

The human-rights groups took Ottawa to Federal Court to block transfers of prisoners to Afghan control until there's proof that detainees aren't at risk of torture.

However, government lawyers argue the case is moot since Canada has temporarily halted transfers, even though they concede the handovers could resume at any time. The government claims all decisions related to transfers rest with the military commanders on the ground.

Last week, it was revealed that Defence Minister Peter MacKay expressed concern during a Nov. 6 visit to Afghanistan about the alleged treatment of the prisoner within hours of officials discovering evidence of abuse.

But Asadullah Khalid, the governor of Kandahar, recently told The Canadian Press he didn't recall meeting with MacKay in November.

Khalid also denied allegations he was personally involved in the torture of at least one prisoner in Kandahar, as reported by Canadian diplomats in Afghanistan

Majority supports troops in Afghanistan

Aftenposten, Norway- 6 Feb, 2008 - A new public opinion poll indicates that a solid majority of Norwegians support their troops' participation in the NATO-led military operations in Afghanistan.

According to the survey, conducted by research firm Norstat for Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK), 57 percent of those questioned believe Norwegian soldiers should take part in NATO's Afghanistan operations.

The poll was taken after terrorists attacked the Serena Hotel in Kabul, where a Norwegian delegation was staying. A Norwegian journalist was among those killed, and an employee of the Norwegian Foreign Ministry was among those injured.

The poll showed only 32 percent of Norwegians questioned was opposed to Norway's military presence in Afghanistan. Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre of the Labour Party told NRK he was encouraged by the poll results, as were members of the political opposition in parliament.

Norway's centre-left government, dominated by Labour, has been at times torn by the Afghan issue. That's because the Socialist Left (SV), a member of the centre-left government coalition, is formally opposed even to Norway's membership in NATO, and many SV politicians have called for a pull-out of Norwegian troops in Afgjanistan.

"This shows we have succeeded with our arguments, and it's important that the government and the opposition stand together on this issue," Jan Petersen of the Conservatives told NRK. Petersen, a former foreign minister himself, gave current Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg much of the credit for the strong public opinion in favour of a Norwegian presence in Afghanistan.

Ingrid Fiskaa, who leads a peace initiative in Norway, wasn't convinced. "These figures show deep skepticism and opposition to the war, and that it's clear that NATO is making living conditions worse for people in Afghanistan," she said.

Most of the Norwegians interviewed at random for the NRK report disagreed, with many saying that Afghanistan likely will descend into chaos and civil war if NATO pulls out. They also fear the Taliban will then regain power in the war-torn nation.

UK to further increase diplomatic presence in Afghanistan

Feb 5, IRNA - The UK government is to further increase its diplomats in Afghanistan despite already having over 130 officials in the country, but does not expect the more than 50 diplomats in Iraq to change, Foreign Secretary David Miliband has revealed.

Miliband said that there were more than 100 UK-based civilian officials in the British Embassy in Kabul and over 30 in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar.

Their roles, which include staff from the Foreign Office as well as Defence Ministry and International Development Department, "include work in governance, reconstruction and development, and counter narcotics," he said.

"We plan to increase over the coming period staff numbers to further strengthen our efforts in Afghanistan: the precise details remain to be determined," the foreign secretary told MPs in a written parliamentary reply published Tuesday.

With regard to Iraq, he said there were over 50 UK-based civilian officials, who work in the British Embassy in Baghdad and embassy offices in Basra and Erbil.

"They are there to support the democratically elected Government of Iraq in their efforts to achieve reconciliation, democracy, good governance, economic prosperity and security," he said.

But Miliband added that his government does not expect staff numbers based in Iraq to change significantly over the next three years.

Taliban set for windfall from Afghan opium crop

KABUL (Reuters)6 Feb, 2008 - Afghanistan, the world's biggest opium producer, is set for another bumper crop in 2008, providing a windfall for the Taliban who tax farmers to finance their fight against government and foreign forces, the U.N. said on Wednesday.

More than six years after U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban, the failure to bring spiralling opium production under control means Afghanistan is now locked in a vicious circle -- where drug money fuels the Taliban insurgency and official corruption, weakening government control over large parts of the country, which in turn allows more opium to be produced.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) predicted the 2008 opium crop would be similar to, or slightly lower than, last year's record harvest. In 2007, Afghanistan had more land growing drugs than Colombia, Bolivia and Peru combined.

"While it is encouraging that the dramatic increases of the past few years seem to be levelling off, the total amount of opium being harvested remains shockingly high," said UNODC chief Antonio Maria Costa in a statement.

Opium is processed into heroin, increasingly inside Afghanistan, and smuggled mainly to Europe where users often turn to crime to pay for the highly addictive drug.

"Europe and other major heroin markets should brace themselves for the health and security consequences," he said.

Opium poppy cultivation has become more concentrated in southern Afghanistan, where the Taliban are strongest, while the more peaceful north is increasingly becoming poppy-free.

That trend is likely to increase this year, the UNODC said. The number of poppy-free provinces is expected to rise from 12 in 2007, to 14 or 15, mostly in the north and east, out of a total of 34 Afghan provinces, the UNODC said.

But opium production continues to grow "at an alarming rate" in the south and west, it said. All the poppy farmers surveyed in southern Afghanistan said they paid a tax of 10 percent of their opium income to the Taliban or corrupt government officials.

"In the north, we would need much more positive incentives for farmers, while in the south we have a very difficult situation with a kind of an alliance of convenience between drug-traffickers, corrupt officials and insurgents," UNODC representative Christina Gynna Oguz told reporters in Tokyo.

"So there you would have to fight all these three elements, meaning that you must have more emphasis on interdiction and fighting corruption."

The U.N. report comes as Afghan ministers and international donors are meeting in Japan to discuss developments in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan's Foreign Minister, Rangeen Dadfar Spanta, said his country was focused on eradicating opium fields, though he stressed that international financial support was needed to help farmers.

"We are committed to destroying 50,000 hectares of poppy lands this year," he told a news conference in Tokyo. "We have only one choice. (The) poppy can destroy us, or we destroy the poppy."

He reiterated Afghanistan's opposition to using chemicals to destroy crops, despite the U.S. government's push last year for aerial spraying. The idea to spray herbicide from the air was dropped and instead, a limited trial of ground spraying has been agreed.

The southern province of Helmand, where mainly British troops are engaged in almost daily battles with the Taliban, accounted for 53 percent of Afghan opium production in 2007. If Helmand were a country, it would still be the biggest opium producer.

UK aid effort in Afghanistan "dysfunctional"

LONDON (Reuters) 6 Feb, 2008 - Britain's aid efforts in Afghanistan are failing, undermining military gains and fuelling the Taliban insurgency, a think-tank with long experience in the country said on Wednesday.

The Senlis Council, an international policy group with offices across Afghanistan, said research in the country's violent southern provinces in recent weeks showed next to no impact from Britain's Department for International Development.

"DFID in Helmand is dysfunctional, totally dysfunctional. Basically it should be removed and its budget should go to the army, which might be better able to deliver assistance," Norine MacDonald, Senlis's president, told Reuters.

Senlis's outspoken comments come at a testing time for Britain, the United States and their NATO allies, with the seven-year struggle to bring security to Afghanistan under intense scrutiny and widely seen as falling backwards.

The Department for International Development (DFID), the government's foreign aid arm, has spent 490 million pounds ($980 mln) on Afghan reconstruction and development since 2001 and is budgeted to spend another $210 mln this year.

But Senlis, which has more than 50 employees conducting research in Afghanistan, said there was little evidence of aid and development projects working and said refugee camps that lacked aid were now hotbeds of Taliban recruitment.

"If DFID think they are making a difference in Lashkar Gah and other towns, they clearly haven't been out to take a look. I haven't seen any signs of DFID aid or development projects," MacDonald said, referring to the main city in Helmand province.

DFID dismissed the criticism, saying it had spent around $70 million in Helmand in the past two years, building roads and bridges, providing sanitation and wells, and supplying funds to boost small business development.

"Our funding has helped the Afghan government to set up almost 500 community development councils, empowering local communities to meet their needs," a spokesman for DFID said.

The organization said it was aware of 23,000 internally displaced people in Lashkar Gah and said it was working with the United Nations and other agencies to provide aid to them.

Senlis's criticism comes a time when Western powers our struggling to coordinate their effort to help Afghanistan.

The United States has criticized its European allies saying many of them don't know how to conduct counter-insurgency operations and that others have shown a distinct unwillingness to commit more troops to combat roles in Afghanistan.

Around 42,000 troops under NATO command are currently serving in Afghanistan, a fraction of the force in Iraq.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice flew to Britain on Wednesday for talks with Foreign Secretary David Miliband, ratcheting up efforts to coordinate the Afghanistan operation and see if it can strengthened.

But there are also frictions between NATO and the Afghanistan leadership. Afghan President Hamid Karzai last month rejected the United Nations' choice of Britain's Paddy Ashdown -- a former high representative in Bosnia -- to be "super-envoy" to the country, regarding him as too much of a "viceroy".

Senlis said in its report "Afghanistan - Decision Point 2008" that NATO needed to double its force if it were to have any impact against the Taliban, which it said was fully entrenched throughout southern regions of the country.

MacDonald said Taliban militants, or those allied to the movement, were in control of most roads in Helmand and were running checkpoints dressed in stolen Afghan police uniforms.

Afghan opposition front describes siege of northern general's house conspiracy

Text of report by Afghan independent Tolo TV, on 5 February

[Presenter] The National Front announced its strong political support for Gen Abdorrashid Dostum today.

Spokesman of the front says the front will not tolerate illegal behaviour against any of its members. He warned the government that such moves would harm stability in the country.

[Correspondent] Mr [Sayed Hosayn Fazel] Sancharaki rejects reports that Akbar Bai was beaten up by Gen Dostum. He says a number of leaders of the National Front will meet the president to discuss the siege of Gen Dostum's house. Sancharaki says the move by police is a conspiracy against prominent personalities of the National Front.

Mr Sancharaki was asked whether the National Front would disagree with legal prosecution of any member of the front if they commit a crime, Sancharaki said:

[Sancharaki] No. Any type of crime, breach of law, and violation should be investigated through legal channels. Look, Gen Dostum says, as an official of the country, he is ready t! o go and surrender himself to the attorney-general or other relevant sources when the president calls him and tells him to do so. But, he says, the siege of his house by officials of lower rank such as police or security forces is a humiliation.

[Homayun Hamidzada, presidential spokesman] We should not politicize a security issue. The stance of the government is that of the law. The Interior Ministry, not a higher organization, will look into the incident.

[Akbar Bai, head of the Association of Turks, in Pashto] The president is a very kind and experienced person. He thinks there will be problems in the north if he arrests Gen Dostum. This is a wrong perception. Gen Dostum does not even have influence among 10 per cent of the people living in the north.

[Correspondent] A number of Kabul residents want an end to the tension.

[Unidentified man] They only do so for the sake of their own interests, or for the sake of their personal hostilities.

[Second man] We cordially ask them to stop fighting and violence.

[ Third man] The time of violence and the use of force is over in this country.

[Correspondent] Kabul police surrounded Gen Dostum's house for 10 hours on Sunday [3 February], for alleged abduction and beating up of Akbar Bai by Gen Dostum.

Abdorrashid Dostum was a militia commander of Dr Najibollah's government. He played a key role in the fall of Dr Najibollah's regime.

Afghanistan: Prosecutor Suggests 'Some People' Cannot Be Tried

Radio Free- 6 Feb, 2008 Afghanistan's attorney-general says criminal charges are pending against Abdul Rashid Dostum -- a senior military adviser to the president and a powerful ethnic-Uzbek militia commander who allegedly abducted his former election campaign manager last weekend.

But Attorney-General Abdul Jabar Sabit claims that actually bringing Dostum to court will be difficult because it could lead to fresh factional fighting in northern Afghanistan -- where Dostum's militia holds sway. With some of Dostum's supporters threatening to take up arms if he is brought to trial, the case dramatically underscores the absence of the rule of law in those parts of Afghanistan where warlords still reign.

In an exclusive interview, Sabit tells RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan that prosecutors accuse Dostum of charges including kidnapping, breaking and entering, and assault. "These are not political accusations -- it is a criminal case," Sabit says.

He also says that a police investigation determined that on February 2, Dostum and about 50 members of his militia attacked the home of Akbar Bay, Dostum's former campaign manager, who is also variously described in the Afghan media as a tribal leader and the head of an ethnic-Turkic organization. Sabit says they then illegally entered Bay's home, beat him and members of his family, insulted female relatives, and abducted Bay.

But Sabit suggests that Dostum is such a powerful commander in northern Afghanistan that, in the current security environment, he might be above prosecution. "Anyone who commits a criminal act must be brought to justice," Sabit says. "But in reality, I must admit that there will be some difficulties. In this war situation, in many cases, it is difficult for us to implement the law."

Sabit says that "because of the war there is no law, and you cannot implement the law in the south of the country or in many districts -- even in those places where the rule of law does exist, sometimes we cannot enforce the law over some people."

Dostum has changed sides and alliances many times during Afghanistan's 30 years of war. He has been a key ally of U.S. forces since late 2001 in the fight against the Taliban. Dostum also became an adviser in Afghan President Hamid Karzai's transitional administration after the collapse of the Taliban regime.

After the presidential election of 2004, Karzai kept Dostum in the central government without appointing him as a minister. Instead, Karzai named Dostum as a special aide and gave him the title of "chief of staff to the commander in chief of the armed forces."

That move was generally regarded as an effort to avoid friction ahead of parliamentary elections in September 2005. But it also has helped reduce clashes between Dostum's militia and rival factions in northern Afghanistan.

The current governor of Balkh Province, Ata Mohammad Nur, is among those rivals whose own militia clashed periodically with Dostum's fighters in the struggle to control territory after the Taliban was driven from the north. Nur tells Radio Free Afghanistan that some political factions might try to use the current dispute over the case against Dostum as a pretext for partitioning the country and transforming the Islamic republic into a federation.

"We will not allow anybody to speak on their own as though they represent all of northern Afghanistan. The north is part of Afghanistan," Nur says. "The division of this country is an unattainable goal for those people who try to take advantage of this situation."

Meanwhile, Dostum's allies and supporters have threatened violence if he is brought to trial.

On February 3, after Afghan Interior Ministry police surrounded Dostum's house in Kabul, Dostum spokesman Mohammad Alem Sayeh rejected the accusations against the militia commander and suggested that "seven or eight" northern provinces could slide into civil war "if anyone touches even one hair on Dostum's head."

An opposition political movement to which Dostum belongs also has threatened "catastrophic consequences" if the ethnic-Uzbek general is put on trial. Sayed Hussain Sancharaki is the spokesman for the United National Front of Afghanistan -- a political group formed in 2005 by factional commanders and politicians who had once fought against the Taliban regime as the former Northern Alliance.

"General Dostum has a high profile among his people and is one of the famous political and military figures of Afghanistan," Sancharaki says. "He is [Karzai's] chief of staff for the armed forces and he is a senior member of the United Front of Afghanistan. It is natural that any kind of action against him will have repercussions. The consequences will be very dangerous -- catastrophic -- for the stability of Afghanistan."

Experts say Dostum is one of several factional militia commanders in northern Afghanistan who have been using the threat of a resurgent Taliban during the past year to get new weapons and more forcefully protect their interests.

"Obviously, what is happening in the north is really the growing Balkanization of the country," Sam Zia-Zarifi, a spokesman for Human Rights Watch (HRW) and a field researcher in Afghanistan who has monitored programs by the United Nations and Afghan government to disarm the factional militias, told RFE/RL recently. "It has been an ongoing trend in Afghanistan for warlords who are ostensibly allied with the government to entrench themselves even more fully."

He added that "a lot of [warlords] are now swollen with the narcotics trade -- profits from the sale of poppy and heroin...[and] have a lot of political clout because many of them have allies in the parliament, if they are not directly members of the parliament."

"The next step," he said, "is to openly flex their military muscle."

Zia-Zarifi said illegal ethnic-Tajik and Hazara militias in the north also appear to be hoarding weapons. He concluded that divisions and mistrust between regional commanders and the central government could exacerbate tensions at a time when the security situation already is on a razor's edge.

By AMIN SAIKAL and WILLIAM MALEY, Op-Ed Contributors, New York Times 2.6.08

Canberra, Australia - AFGHANISTAN is spiraling downward. Terrorist strikes in Kabul and an assassination campaign against local officials, schoolteachers and religious figures in the southern provinces have illustrated the reach of the Taliban and the vulnerability of the government.

The common reaction of the United States and Afghanistan’s other foreign backers has been to call for more international troops and to reaffirm their commitment to the government of President Hamid Karzai. But this approach has done little to alter the situation, because the root causes of Afghanistan’s deepest ills lie elsewhere.

Perhaps the biggest problem is that Afghanistan’s 2004 Constitution is inappropriate and ineffective. The strong presidential system it embodies has not served the country well.

At the time, many historians and constitutional scholars warned that such a system wouldn’t work in a war-torn state with so many tribal and ethnic divisions. Presidential systems typically produce many disgruntled losers intent on challenging or undermining the victor. In addition, they can also put too much formal power in the hands of the winner, leading to personalized politics in which lesser politicians fight viciously over access to the president.

Yet, paradoxically, the actual powers of the president are often less than they appear on paper, while his responsibilities are heavy and the expectations that citizens have of him are unrealistic. It is all too easy to create a job that no one could do adequately.

This is precisely what has happened to President Karzai. A decent and incorruptible man, he has nonetheless grown increasingly isolated from the public. His position has been undermined by associates in the executive branch who lack his personal qualities, and by the allocation of ministries to various factions as political prizes.

The result is a corrupt and dysfunctional government in which senior positions are filled not on the basis of merit but by family, tribal, ethnic and factional connections. The president and his key advisers increasingly attract the blame for all the failures of Afghanistan’s transition; the presidential system is cracking under the weight of the burdens it is expected to carry.

Afghanistan does have a two-chamber Parliament, and although it is far from ideal, it has provided a venue for a range of voices to be heard. Unfortunately, the executive branch has seen no compelling reason to coordinate its functions with the legislative. The relationship is so tense that President Karzai and Muhammad Yunus Qanooni, the speaker of the lower house (the Wolesi Jirga), haven’t been on speaking terms for the last six months.

Given its history of weak state structures in ever-changing relationships with tight-knit tribal and ethnic societies, Afghanistan would be far better served by a more inclusive parliamentary system of government. This would mean a ceremonial rather than an executive president, a prime minister and other cabinet members drawn from the upper and lower houses of Parliament, and stronger local and regional governments that would make ordinary Afghans feel connected to the political system.

Such a decentralized system would ensure that the government had a working parliamentary majority that could hold the executive branch accountable. At present, Mr. Karzai really answers to a fractious cluster of foreign donors, not to elected Afghan legislators, a situation that has made the Afghan public understandably skeptical of the democratic experiment.

A number of President Karzai’s political rivals have argued in favor of a parliamentary system, and for this reason alone, it seems, his supporters have spurned the idea. This is a pity: constitutional questions of this sort go far beyond the turmoil of day-to-day politics, and deserve measured and thoughtful responses.

In Afghan tradition, the proper forum for considering changes of this scope is the Loya Jirga, or grand assembly. It was the 2003 Loya Jirga that finally established the present constitutional arrangements. There is now a need for another grand assembly to repair them. This might cost Mr. Karzai his job, but it could also save his country.

Amin Saikal is the director of the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University and the author of “Modern Afghanistan.” William Maley is the director of the Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy at the university and the author of “Rescuing Afghanistan.”

I Didn't Undercut Paddy Ashdown

Washington Post Letter to the Editor Wednesday, February 6, 2008; Page A18

I was dismayed to read Jim Hoagland's Feb. 3 op-ed column quoting anonymous sources saying that I "abetted" the collapse of a plan to appoint Paddy Ashdown as the U.N. special representative for Afghanistan ["A Pair of Allies, Self-Destructing"].

Although Mr. Hoagland is a well-respected journalist, I am afraid he didn't get his facts right. I believed that Mr. Ashdown's qualifications fit nicely with the terms of reference for the U.N. special representative position, which require someone with the skills to implement the United Nations' mandate in Afghanistan and to lead international efforts to support and implement a comprehensive Afghan-led strategy for the country -- including with NATO, the European Union and other key players. I advocated for Mr. Ashdown's appointment with the United Nations and worked closely with the Afghan mission to the United Nations and other interested missions to make this appointment a reality.

The mission of the special representative remains the same and necessary. After Mr. Ashdown's withdrawal, the task is to find a capable individual as soon as possible. We will work with the secretary general and others in support of this objective.

ZALMAY KHALILZAD

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations

New York

America's odd couple

International Herald Tribune 02/05/2008 y H. D. S. Greenway

BOSTON - The World Economic Forum, with its unparalleled convening powers, often brings together strange bedfellows who might not otherwise appear together on the same stage.

Last month in Davos, for example, America's ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, sat next to Iran's foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, on a panel. According to news reports, the White House was furious. President George W. Bush is still taking a hard line against Iran, and to have one of his senior diplomats sit next to evil was apparently seen as a betrayal. A spokesman for Khalilzad had to quickly say "there was no separate meeting or separate conversation or handshake . . ." just a "multilateral conversation with the moderator."

It is pathetic that a former ambassador to Kabul and Baghdad should have to explain himself, but then again the administration is split on what to do about Iran, and Bush's policy has become incoherent. It was a sign of the times that the White House found out about the encounter only on YouTube.

On another Davos panel, Presidents Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, a blunt, sparkplug of a man with a military bearing in a business suit, appeared with the sinewy, almost feline Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, with his customary cape draped over his shoulders, and his lamb's-wool cap. Both are crucial U.S. allies who, if body language is any indication, can't stand each other. Both represent a U.S. policy in trouble.

Although both say they have held constructive talks, Karzai made it clear that he felt the entire problem of the Taliban resurgence lay with their safe havens in Pakistan. Musharraf claimed that Afghanistan was the problem.

Musharraf went to Davos to plead for understanding and continued support, stressing that the world should judge his country on the well being of its people rather than on Western definitions of democracy. There can be no doubt that Musharraf has transformed Pakistan's economy, but politically his support has seriously deteriorated. He promised a free and fair election later this month, but he is in a no-win situation because, no matter what the results, one side or the other will claim fraud.

While I have no doubt that both are the best their respective countries have to offer at the moment, Musharraf, upon whom the United States has placed all its chips, has fallen into deep trouble with his own people, beginning with the firing of his supreme court. He says the court abused its office, but the real reason may be that he feared it would disallow his run for another term as president.

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto, whom the United States hoped would legitimize Musharraf, has further clouded his reign, and left U.S. strategy in a shambles. Musharraf spent his time in Davos trying to convince anyone who would listen that he is still the best man to lead a transition to democracy and fight extremism. But democracy seemed further away than ever, and extremism ever closer.

Karzai, upon whom the United States has also placed all its chips, spoke of terrorism as a "political mutant, a Frankenstein," that was created through following "a short-sighted policy for the reckless pursuit of misperceived interests. It is a venomous snake that some among us tried to nurture and befriend at the expense of others, which I hope we realize was a mistake." The "some among us" was clearly Pakistan.

Karzai's problems are the opposite of Musharraf's. Musharraf is a good manager and a firm leader whose grip on power is too tight and unrelenting, frustrating his countrymen, many of whom think it is time for him to go. He rules the country with a firm hand, but his legitimacy seems to be fading.

Karzai, on the other hand, is a poor manger whose hold on power is too loose, frustrating many of his countrymen who think him too weak. He doesn't lack legitimacy, even though his writ does not run far outside the capital.

"In a way he is a bit like a king: He spends so much time listening to other people that he then doesn't know what to do," a diplomat in Kabul told the Financial Times. "He is completely overwhelmed in work, and has not taken a proper break since 2001. He has had no time for mental reflection."

When a reporter asked Karzai if he had seen "Charlie Wilson's War," he said that, although he used to see a lot of Charlie Wilson in the old days, he didn't have time to go to the movies anymore.

H. D. S. Greenway's column appears regularly in The Boston Globe.

Add corruption to Afghans' top enemies

Denton Record-Chronicle 2/05/2008 Jim Landers

KABUL - We know why young American soldiers are here. Terrorism came to America with this return address. As the terrorists retreated, Afghan-Americans came here as well to start businesses, make money and build an economy. Six years on, Washington is sending more soldiers to fight the resurgent Taliban and al-Qaeda.

Meanwhile, corruption within the Afghan government is crippling commerce and pushing some Afghan-Americans back to the United States. And they are saying that if we don't want Afghanistan to turn again into a failed state and a sanctuary for terrorists, fighting corruption must also be a priority.

One of those pushed out told his story over dinner last week at a Preston Road restaurant in Dallas. He'd started a multimillion- dollar business in Afghanistan. Then he joined the government. One day, his boss told him to sign a crooked contract. He refused.

A friend worried that he was putting his life at risk by standing between a thuggish company and a lot of money. His wife said, "I know what you're doing. Look at your children."

So he left, joining what he says is an exodus of Afghan- Americans who found it impossible to do business in a society rated by Berlin-based Transparency International as one of the most corrupt in the world.

"The commercial world is all but over in Afghanistan," he said.

I traded the businessman anonymity for his candor. But others are making the same points, on the record. Army Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, former commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, says the greatest threat to success in Afghanistan is not the resurgence of the Taliban but "the potential irretrievable loss of legitimacy of the government of Afghanistan."

Commerce hasn't stopped in the country. Per capita income has doubled since 2002, though that still leaves the average Afghan with an income of about $1 a day. Foreign aid from around the world continues to come. Last year's total was estimated at about $3 billion.

Foreign investors are still arriving. In November, China Metallurgical Group won the bidding to develop Afghanistan's Aynak copper deposits and said it would put $3 billion into the mines. An Abu Dhabi telecom firm said in August it would invest $300 million to expand mobile phone service in Afghanistan. Yet the International Monetary Fund has set a priority for helping Afghanistan get control over payroll thefts and bribery.

An Afghanistan study group led by former U.N. Ambassador Thomas Pickering and former NATO Supreme Commander Gen. James Jones released a report last week that suggests the Afghan government should get more recognition for the reconstruction there – but only after tougher anti-corruption measures are implemented.

The same report said stopping Afghanistan's opium economy must begin with "the removal of high officials benefiting from the drug trade in the government."

President Hamid Karzai has admitted there is a problem.

"All politicians in this system have acquired everything – money, lots of money. God knows it is beyond the limit. The banks of the world are full of the money of our statesmen," Mr. Karzai said in November.

He warned his corrupt government colleagues that the Afghan people are losing patience.

"They should know that the Afghan people will rise against us. And this time, there will be no place [abroad] for us to flee."

Mr. Karzai's ambassador to Washington, Said Tayeb Jawad, said that a few high-profile prosecutions of corrupt Afghan officials by the United States or others in the anti-Taliban coalition would have a major impact.
But rooting out corruption within the government, stopping the drug trade and fighting off the Taliban, he said, would be more than his government could handle at the same time.

"Why start another war?" he asked. "You cannot expect miracles."

[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.]