In this bulletin:

• Afghanistan sitting on a gold mine: minister
• Afghan mission vital for NATO's credibility: Scheffer
• NATO chief calls for more commitment to Afghanistan
• NATO chief: Afghan suicide bombers trying to sway public opinion in the West
• New Afghan motion sets 2011 as mission end date
• Afghan chief criticises Britain
• 'Two Taliban commanders' killed
• Over 30 Taliban militants killed in southern Afghanistan
• Nine arrested for Afghan bombings
• Taliban's bomb expertise grows as regard for civilians cast aside
• Over 200,000 Afghans hit by severe cold to receive UN assistance
• Economy a key to Afghan peace
• Iran refutes claims of expelling Afghans
• New Party To Focus On Women's Rights
• $1 billion a year U.S. pays Pakistan under new scrutiny
• To rescue the Afghan mission, honesty is the best policy
• Waving a white flag in Kabul

Afghanistan sitting on a gold mine: minister

Kabul(AFP) 21 February 2008- Afghanistan is sitting on a wealth of mineral reserves -- perhaps the richest in the region -- that offer hope for a country mired in poverty after decades of war, the mining minister says.

Significant deposits of copper, iron, gold, oil and gas, and coal -- as well as precious gems such as emeralds and rubies -- are largely untapped and still being mapped, Mohammad Ibrahim Adel told AFP.

And they promise prosperity for one of the world's poorest countries, the minister said, dismissing concerns that a Taliban-led insurgency may thwart efforts to unearth this treasure.

Already in the pipeline is the exploitation of a massive copper deposit -- one of the biggest in the world -- about 30 kilometres (20 miles) east of Kabul.

"There has not been such a big project in the history of Afghanistan," Adel said. A 30-year lease for the Aynak copper mine was in November offered to the China Metallurgical Group Corporation and the contract is being finalised.

"It is estimated that the Aynak deposit has more than 11 million tonnes (of copper)," he said, citing 1960s surveys by the Soviet Union and a new study by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). "With today's prices, it contains an 88-billion-dollar deposit," he said.

The mine is expected to bring the government 400 million dollars annually in fees and taxes, Adel said. That is on top of an 800-million-dollar downpayment from the developer who has also committed to build a railway line, a power plant and a village for workers, complete with schools, clinics and roads.

About 5,000 jobs will be created and mining is expected to start in five years. "Up to 40 percent of the income will pour into our pockets," Adel said.

The colossal Aynak project represents, however, only a fraction of Afghanistan's unexploited resources, he said. The scale of the deposits is still being charted.

The USGS is carrying out a nationwide survey of mineral wealth and oil and gas deposits that is expected to be completed in a year, Adel said.

Studies of only 10 percent of the country have discovered abundant deposits of copper, iron, zinc, lead, gold, silver, gems, salt, marble and coal, the ministry says.

The USGS estimates there are about 700 billion cubic metres of gas and 300 million tonnes of oil across several northern provinces.

A Soviet survey estimated there are more than two billion tonnes of iron reserves, the ministry says. One of the best known iron deposits is at Haji Gak, 90 kilometres west of Kabul.

"If everything goes as we desire, Haji Gak requires two to three billion dollars' investment," said the minister.

"Another 100 million to 1.5 billion dollars is needed to explore the gas and oil mines."

The government plans to offer more projects for private sector tender next year, Adel said.

There is already some mining underway such as ad hoc emerald extraction in the Panjshir valley region northeast of Kabul, where dynamite is used to blow gems out of the ground.

And the ministry has handed two coal mines to private Afghan companies, although they lack standard equipment.

The Aynak contract will be a model for others, with developers expected to put in basic infrastructure as Afghanistan's power grid is weak and its transport network limited.

There is also the challenge of the insurgency, which overshadows development and has made many areas off-limits to foreign companies.

Writer and analyst Waheed Mujda warned there could be no mining in Taliban-held areas, which are mostly in the south, without the permission of the Islamic extremists.

"Any kind of agreement with Taliban will have to involve money and that money obviously would finance the insurgency in part," Mujda told AFP.

But Adel is not concerned. "We can provide security for mining sites simply by hiring a private security company," he said.

Most of the deposits that have been discovered are in the relatively stable north. There are, however, uranium reserves in the southern province of Helmand, one of the worst for Taliban attacks, the minister said.

The minister's sights are firmly set on mining bringing his impoverished country a brighter future.

"In five years' time Afghanistan will not need the world's aid money," he said. "In 10 years Afghanistan will be the richest country in the region."

Afghan mission vital for NATO's credibility: Scheffer

KABUL (Reuters) 21 February 2008 - NATO's secretary-general on Thursday said the alliance's future rested on its mission in Afghanistan, amid tension among some of its members over sending troops to fight Taliban and al Qaeda militants.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and NATO ambassadors are on a visit to Afghanistan, which some Western politicians said recently "risked becoming a failed state" again because of rising insecurity, rampant corruption and a booming illegal drugs trade.

After holding talks with President Hamid Karzai, Scheffer said the alliance took the security crisis facing the Central Asian country very seriously and that the mission went to the heart of NATO's credibility.

The alliance has about 50,000 troops in Afghanistan.

"It is not a mission of choice but necessity with the fact that we are in this fight together," Scheffer told reporters in a joint news conference with Karzai.

"...Because if we do not prevail or lose, it will not only be Afghanistan on the losing side, it will be our community and society in the West and elsewhere as well. This is a very important notion we should see. And we take this very seriously."

NATO's mission to Afghanistan is the first major foreign deployment for the alliance.

The U.S. military leads a separate force in the country where frustration is rising among many ordinary people over the perceived lack of development and security Western leaders had promised before the Taliban were driven from power in 2001.

U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban's government after it refused to hand over al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, whom Washington says is the architect of the September 11 attacks on the United States.

The militants have made a comeback in the past two years and violence is at its worst since the Taliban's fall. More than 11,000 people, including more than 350 foreign troops, have been killed during the past two years.

U.S. troops form the bulk of foreign forces in Afghanistan and Washington has repeatedly urged its allies to shoulder more of the burden in the fight against the militants.

France, Germany, Italy and Spain have troops in relatively secure areas and have refused to send troops to southern and eastern provinces where the militants are most active.

During a recent meeting of NATO defense ministers, no NATO nation pledged to send additional soldiers to the volatile south and east. Scheffer said the alliance would another meeting in April to discuss Afghanistan

NATO chief calls for more commitment to Afghanistan

KABUL (AFP) 21 February 2008 - NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer called Thursday for more international commitment to the fight against the Taliban, saying extremists were intent on destabilising the West as well as Afghanistan.

Countries contributing to a 50,000-strong NATO-led force in Afghanistan must also rid themselves of the notion that the mission is failing, the alliance's secretary general said after talks with Afghan leaders.

Scheffer visited Afghanistan with 26 NATO ambassadors and other alliance officials amid tensions over contributions to the NATO-led force fighting Taliban and some countries hinting at pulling out.

"This is not considered by NATO as a mission of choice," he told reporters after talks with President Hamid Karzai. "It is a mission of necessity."

"The spoilers are not after destabilising the Afghan society, killing the Afghan society, but also ruining our societies," he said, referring to Taliban insurgents and other rebels in a violent campaign against the government.

"It is essential that not only NATO but also the other members of the international community are fully committed to Afghanistan," he said.

There have been calls from the main contributors to post-Taliban Afghanistan -- notably Britain and the United States -- for more "burden-sharing" in the gruelling fight against the rebels.

About a dozen countries are represented in the south, the violence hotspot where opium cultivation is flourishing, and taking heavy casualties that are feeding public dissatisfaction at home.

Others choose to operate in more stable areas, such as the north where Germany is in command.

The United States is sending more than 3,000 soldiers -- combat troops and trainers -- into Afghanistan in April to deal with a traditional surge in violence around spring.

It has been calling on other nations to give more support to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

Scheffer said ISAF had swollen by 8,700 soldiers over the past year to number about 50,000 and he was confident of more support in the coming year.

He said the perception in many countries in the ISAF force that "things are going wrong in Afghanistan or that the country is going downhill, is not true."

There has been much progress, notably in health, education and construction. "Of course we are not failing but I am ambitious. We can do better," he said.

NATO chief: Afghan suicide bombers trying to sway public opinion in the West

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) 21 February 2008 - Militants using mass-casualty suicide attacks in Afghanistan are trying to swing public opinion among NATO nations that have troops here, the top alliance official said Thursday.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said convincing people and Western parliaments that the situation is not deteriorating is of ''key importance.''

The bombers ''want to influence Afghan public opinion, but at the same time the public opinion in our nations who provide the forces,'' de Hoop Scheffer said at a news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. ''Let's not give them a ticket to ride.''

The NATO chief was leading a delegation of the alliance's North Atlantic Council, consisting of its 26 permanent representatives, that met with local and international officials in Afghanistan.

Two suicide bombings this week left more than 140 people dead in the south, mostly civilians.

Afghan authorities on Wednesday detained seven men suspected in the deadliest insurgent attack since the Taliban's ouster in 2001 - a bombing that killed more than 100 at a dog fight Sunday in the provincial capital of Kandahar, Gov. Asadullah Khalid said.

Also Wednesday, Afghan and U.S.-led coalition troops battled for five hours with militants north of Musa Qala, where Taliban militants were in control for much of 2007 before Afghan, U.S. and British troops took the town and surrounding areas in December.

The Afghan Defense Ministry said 30 suspected Taliban fighters were killed in the operation, during which coalition aircraft bombed militant hide-outs. The coalition, reporting no casualty figures, said 11 militants were detained in Wednesday's operation, and 1,000 pounds of heroin and an arms cache were seized.

Helmand is the world's largest opium-producing region, and officials estimate up to 40 percent of proceeds from the country's drug trade are used to fund the insurgency.

The southern region is also where the insurgency is most active, and NATO commanders have asked for more combat troops for the area. NATO's International Security Assistance Forces is now 50,000-strong.

De Hoop Scheffer said more troops would deployed, but did not say how many or where they would go.

NATO also lags in efforts to provide enough military trainers to mentor the fledgling Afghan National Army, de Hoop Scheffer said, calling it a ''mission of necessity.''

''If we do not prevail, if we lose, it will not only be Afghanistan on the losing side, it will be our community, our societies in ... the West and elsewhere,'' he said.

Countries like Canada, which has 2,500 troops in Kandahar, have threatened to end their combat role in Afghanistan unless other NATO countries provide an additional 1,000 troops to help the anti-Taliban drive there.

The United States, which has some 28,000 forces in the country - both in the NATO-led mission and as part of a separate U.S.-led counterterrorism coalition - is sending an additional 3,200 Marines in April, most of whom are expected to be stationed in Kandahar during their seven-month tour.

Insurgency-related violence in Afghanistan killed more than 6,500 people in 2007 - the deadliest year since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, according to a tally of figures from Afghan and Western officials. Most of those killed were insurgents.

An explosion in Helmand on Wednesday killed a British soldier and wounded another, Britain's Ministry of Defense said in London. The blast hit a British patrol trying to disrupt Taliban activity, the ministry said, adding that the cause of the explosion was not immediately known.

New Afghan motion sets 2011 as mission end date

CAMPBELL CLARK - Globe and Mail Update February 21, 2008

The Conservative minority government unveiled a new motion Thursday on extending the mission in Afghanistan in a bid to close a compromise deal with the opposition Liberals that would allow Canadian soldiers to stay another two years.

The new motion sets out July 2011 as the end date for the mission in Kandahar, with all troops out of the region by December. The Liberals had asked for the mission to end in February, with a pullout in July.

The motion also adopts Liberal language in terms of the mission being about training and providing security for reconstruction.

The motion refers to the need for 1,000 more troops from NATO allies, a key recommendation of the Manley report, although the Liberals had asked for a "sufficient" number and contested whether or not 1,000 would be enough.

The motion does not adopt the Liberal language on detainees, which would require continued suspension of transfers. Instead it commits to "meeting the highest NATO and international standards."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper outlined the new proposal in a speech Thursday to the Conference of Defence Associations in Ottawa. The government has set two days for debate on Afghanistan starting Monday, and the motion must be issued by Thursday.

“It seems obvious that we have arrived at a consensus that can be submitted to Parliament for ratification,” Mr. Harper said.

“We're pleased that the Liberal party recognizes that we should prolong the mission until 2011 and that we should leave operational decisions up to our military commanders who are on site in Afghanistan.”

Mr. Harper also told the conference his government will raise the "automatic" annual increases in the defence budget from 1.5 per cent to 2 per cent, starting in the 2011-12 fiscal year, to "thoroughly reverse the so-called rusting-out of the Canadian Forces."

A vote on Afghanistan is not expected until next month – although it would be delayed if the government is defeated on the budget to be tabled next week.

Canada's continued presence in the dangerous mission in southern Afghanistan will turn on a parliamentary vote.

The Liberals, the only opposition party not demanding the mission end completely next year, have called for a change in the mission away from combat and toward security and training.

Setting a clear end date in 2011 is key to winning Liberal support for extending the mission past February, 2009 – and Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion had accused Mr. Harper of being unwilling to commit to such a firm exit date.

The government presented its first motion on extending the Afghan mission less than two weeks ago, in which it called for a review of the mission in 2011 – a phrase that some said could lead to further extension, rather than bringing the troops home.

They said the motion could be a matter of confidence when it is voted on next month, which could trigger an election.

However, Mr. Dion, seeking to keep his caucus of MPs united and avoid fighting an election campaign on the Afghan war, offered a compromise that would see an extended mission given a new mandate after 2009 – but he conceded that the generals, not politicians, would decided what fighting is necessary.

The Liberals have also demanded a series of other concessions, including regular parliamentary reports on the progress of the mission, a NATO agreement on the treatment of prisoners, and a broadening of aid and reconstruction efforts.

The Conservatives have said that they will only extend the mission if NATO provides 1,000 troops as reinforcements, and help in obtaining helicopters and aerial drones, as recommended by a panel headed by former Liberal minister John Manley.

But the Liberals say more troops might be needed – as replacements in the heavy combat role, rather than reinforcements.

With a report from Brian Laghi

Afghan chief criticises Britain

Kandahar, Afghanistan (BBC) 21 February 2008- The governor of the Kandahar province in Afghanistan has criticised British attempts to negotiate with the Taleban.

Assadullah Khalid told the BBC that the way two European experts were trying to negotiate was a mistake, and that is why they were expelled last year.

The expulsion of experts was one factor in the UK's worsening relationship with President Hamid Karzai. That led President Karzai to block the appointment of Lord Paddy Ashdown to head the UN in Kabul.

The two acknowledged experts in Afghan affairs were expelled at the end of last year, after it surfaced that they were apparently trying to do deals for the British with some Taleban commanders.

Mr Khalid said that what the two men were doing was a mistake. It was important to find a way to talk to the Taleban for reconciliation, but it could only be done by Afghans, he said.

"We are talking for reconciliation, not giving more power to the terrorists," Mr Khalid said.

Mr Khalid said the fight against the Taleban was still going well despite three suicide bombings in Kandahar in as many days this week.

'Two Taliban commanders' killed

(BBC) 21 February 2008- Two prominent Taleban commanders have been killed in southern Afghanistan, the International Security Force in Afghanistan (Isaf) has said.

Commander Mullah Mateen was killed by Afghan troops in Baghran, a district of Helmand province, a spokesman said. His associate Mullah Karim Agha was also killed on 18 February in the operation, Isaf said on Thursday.

Also in the south, 30 suspected Taleban militants have been killed in Helmand, said the Afghan defence ministry. Mullah Mateen was the district administrator in Musa Qala, which was the last major town to be held by the Taleban in southern Afghanistan.

Isaf says he was the mastermind behind several suicide bombings in Helmand.

The 30 suspected militants were killed in a joint operation between Afghan and US-led coalition troops on Wednesday north of Musa Qala, the defence ministry said.

Coalition aircraft bombed militant hideouts during the five-hour battle, it said.

Over 30 Taliban militants killed in southern Afghanistan

KABUL, (RIA Novosti) 21 February 2008 - Over 30 Taliban militants have been killed and 12 captured in an army operation in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand, an Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman said on Thursday.

The spokesman said troops of the Afghan National Army clashed with large numbers of insurgents on Wednesday, and the soldiers were forced to call in NATO aviation, which destroyed Taliban positions from the air.

Among those captured was a Taliban field commander. He was delivered to a military hospital with serious injuries, and later died.

The spokesman said that after the enemy positions were captured, two laboratories producing drugs were discovered, containing about half a metric ton of pure heroin.

The Taliban carried out more than 140 suicide missions in Afghanistan last year. More than 6,000 people were killed in violence in the country in 2007, nearly 2,000 of them civilians, according to official sources.

Nine arrested for Afghan bombings

Brian Hutchinson, Canwest News Service

Published: Thursday, February 21, 2008

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Afghan authorities have arrested nine men suspected of co-ordinating three recent bombing attacks, the governor of Kandahar province told reporters Thursday.

Asadullah Khalid said earlier in the day that Afghan police and intelligence officers detained seven men, but he upped the tally later when approached by reporters at a local university, where he was watching students take exams.

Among those taken into Afghan custody was Sayed Ahmad, whom the governor described as the group's mastermind.

Taliban's bomb expertise grows as regard for civilians cast aside

The Associated Press, 02/21/2008

KABUL - A new generation of Afghan insurgents is casting aside old Taliban doctrine that called for minimizing civilian casualties, U.S. military officials say, while the Islamist militia itself is promising to inflict more deaths in its suicide bombings aimed at NATO forces.

Afghan authorities also report militants are making ball-bearing packed bombs using a powerful C-4 explosive not previously seen in the country — another sign that the Taliban is refining its deadly tactics by drawing on the experience of jihadists elsewhere, including Iraq.

"It's not like Baghdad, but the terrorists are learning lessons from each other," said Abdul Manan Farahi, the counterterrorism chief for the Interior Ministry. He did not identify the origin of the new explosive.

Reclusive Taliban leader Mullah Omar has in the past called on his fighters not to carry out attacks around civilians, apparently aware that killing the Afghan public hurts the militia's cause.

But an explosion in suicide attacks in Afghanistan in the past two years — aping tactics that had a devastating impact in Iraq — and the rise of a new breed of ruthless militants who have replaced dozens of insurgent leaders killed or captured in the past year have increasingly put Afghans in the line of fire.

Sunday saw the deadliest insurgent bombing since the Taliban's 2001 ouster, when a suicide attacker killed more than 100 people at a dog fighting match near the southern city of Kandahar. The next day, 38 Afghan civilians were killed when a suicide car bomber attacked a Canadian military convoy, officials said.

A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for Monday's attack — claiming that only police and soldiers were killed — but denied the militia was behind Sunday's killings.

The Afghan government has not formally accused the Taliban of that attack, but President Hamid Karzai's spokesman hinted that when he said it had "all the hallmarks of previous attacks."

"Whether they claim responsibility or not, they are held responsible by the people of Afghanistan and the government of Afghanistan," Humayun Hamidzada said Tuesday.

It marks a bloody trend in the deepening Afghan conflict as militants have stepped up attacks, and NATO has boosted its forces and taken the fight to the Taliban.

Last year was the deadliest since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, with more than 6,500 people killed in militant-related violence, mostly Taliban fighters, and there have been civilian deaths caused by both sides.

According to an Associated Press count based on figures from Afghan and Western officials, militants killed 480 civilians in 2007, while U.S. or NATO action killed 360 civilians — many of them in air strikes that the over-stretched forces often rely on to target militants.

Since a major spate of civilian deaths in June that drew stern warnings from Karzai and outraged the Afghan public, the U.S. and NATO have successfully worked to cut down on such killings in their military operations.

The Taliban also says it avoids targeting civilians.

But a militant spokesman said Taliban leaders have called on bomb-makers to increase the power of blasts against U.S. and NATO military forces.

"All these bombs that are stronger before, this is because of the growing experience of our jihadi fighters," spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told The Associated Press by phone from an undisclosed location. "We will continue to make these kinds of bombs to attack our enemies with."

While it is difficult to identify specific links between militants fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, military and counterterrorism officials have acknowledged that there is a crossover between Taliban and al-Qaida, and jihadists across the world share knowledge using the Internet and videos.

There were only six suicide bombings in Afghanistan in all of 2003 and 2004. But militants ramped up the use of such attacks in late 2005 and they've been on a steady rise since, culminating in more than 140 in 2007.

A recent analysis by NATO theorized that while the older Taliban leadership associated with Omar sought to avoid civilian casualties, "the new guys just don't care," said an official at NATO's headquarters in Kabul who asked not to be identified revealing internal reports.

The influence of a one such commander — Siraj Haqqani — is growing, the U.S says. Haqqani, a Taliban associated militant with close ties to al-Qaida, is accused of masterminding beheadings and massive suicide bombings reminiscent of the deadliest days of the Iraq war.

"We believe him to be much more brutal and much more interested in attacking and killing civilians. He has no regard for human life, even those of his Afghan compatriots," said Army Lt. Col. David Accetta, spokesman at the U.S. military's main base in Afghanistan, Bagram.

Accetta called the two Kandahar bombings "classic terrorist methodology — intimidate the population."

The U.S.-led coalition has said that the tactics used by Haqqani are more closely aligned with "international jihadism" — a reference to al-Qaida — than tactics used by Omar or even longtime insurgent leader Jalaluddin Haqqani, a veteran of the war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan of the 1980s and Siraj Haqqani's father.

Siraj Haqqani — who has a $200,000 bounty on his head by the U.S. military — is believed to oversee several madrassas in Pakistan that train insurgents, the U.S. says. He has expanded his operations from eastern Afghanistan to include Ghazni and Wardak in central Afghanistan and into Helmand and Kandahar in the south.

Hamidzada, Karzai's spokesman, condemned the Taliban for attacking "soft targets" — a tactic already scaring war-hardened Afghans in Kandahar, the former seat of the Islamist regime.

Ibrahim Khan, whose nephew was killed in Sunday's Kandahar bombing, said he told his family members to stay away from crowds.

"I told my family to especially not go to cultural festivals or dog fighting matches," Khan said. "These insurgents are carrying out attacks everywhere. There are no safe places. We are worried about our children. We are praying for God to bring peace to our country."
___

Associated Press writers Rahim Faiez in Kabul and Noor Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report.

Over 200,000 Afghans hit by severe cold to receive UN assistance

(IRNA) 21 February 2008- United Nations agencies are delivering emergency aid to ease the plight of more than 200,000 Afghans suffering under a harsh Central Asian winter that has already claimed hundreds of lives in recent weeks.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees is distributing relief items such as tents, blankets, plastic sheets, sleeping mats, lanterns, jerry cans, kitchen sets and soap to recent returnees from Pakistan and Iran, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and other vulnerable people.

Many of the new returnees are experiencing snow for the first time after nearly 30 years in exile.

UN Information Center (UNIC) in Tehran said that the agency has already assisted more than 85,000 Afghans in different parts of the country.

Along with other UN agencies, UNHCR has provided 2,500 families with winter supplies in two IDP settlements in the western province of Herat.

In addition, supplies have been sent to the local officials in Daikundi, Farah, Ghor, Badghis and Nimrooz provinces for further distribution.

Meanwhile, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has already distributed nearly 2,500 tons of food to 33,000 households - about 200,000 people - in several provinces, including Herat, Faryab and Jawzjan.

Along with the Government, the Afghan Red Crescent, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and provincial reconstruction teams, the UN has been mobilizing support in more than 50 districts in 13 provinces to help those most affected, said WFP Country Director Rick Corsino.

"What we are trying to do is try to reduce the hardship placed upon households, particularly where damage has been done to their dwellings through avalanches or excessive snowfalls that caused the collapse of buildings," he told a press briefing in Kabul.

The UN is also assisting those unable to move out of their areas due to winter conditions, to reach markets or obtain social services.

Along with the severe cold, many Afghans also have to contend with rising food prices in the country, particularly for staples such as wheat flour. Mr. Corsino noted that there has been an "immediate and very generous" response from donors for the appeal launched last month for more than $80 million to help over 2.5 million Afghans facing food shortages due to the soaring price of wheat.

Some $38 million has been contributed in the past three weeks, he said, adding that this will allow WFP to distribute 50,000 tonnes of food.

Harsh winter conditions have swept across much of Central Asia, and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) yesterday appealed for $25 million to help UN relief agencies provide assistance in Tajikistan. --

Economy a key to Afghan peace

OTTAWA(Ottawa Citizen) 21 February 2008- Building Afghanistan's economy and promoting "national reconciliation" have a greater chance of achieving a lasting peace than the use of military force, according to a military study of the parallels between the NATO mission and the Soviet invasion of the 1980s.

War planners have dismissed the notion that there are similarities between the two campaigns, but two Department of National Defence studies circulated at the highest levels of government and the military caution there are important lessons to be learned from the Soviet experience.

The studies come as Canada debates an extension of its Afghan presence to 2011 and a shift away from counterinsurgency toward training and development.

Quietly released on a DND website recently, the studies note that in both instances where the Afghan government relied on foreign forces to assert power, there were chronic imbalances between military and development efforts and the insurgency was "underrated."

Chief among the warnings is that Afghanistan must be weaned off foreign aid and become economically self-reliant, a tall measure given that much of the country's annual operating budget comes from foreign donors.

"The (Soviet) emphasis on the security situation in Afghanistan compromised sound economic development during the period 1979-89 ... Thus, the Afghan economy continued to be overly dependent on foreign aid," one study notes.

"Without breaking this dependency, no long-term solution to stabilize Afghanistan is possible."

Canada has pledged $1.2 billion for development in Afghanistan over a decade. Some of that money goes to programs like a micro-lending operation intended to spur entrepreneurship, but most goes to the Afghan government and to non-governmental organizations like the World Bank.

Experts say Kabul doesn't have the capacity to distribute all the money, and much is lost to corrupt local officials.

The studies say the Soviet push for "national reconciliation" three years before the Red Army left Afghanistan was "more successful than military operations." The authors suggested this be a guiding principle for NATO's diplomatic efforts today.

The Russian policy sought to be more inclusive by involving the various tribes, regions and armed fighting groups, allowing the country's Islamic character to take precedence over secular Communist principles and reaching out to resistance fighters by integrating them or buying them off.

By 1990, one-quarter of all armed fighters not aligned with the Soviet regime had signed reconciliation agreements, while 40 per cent had signed ceasefire pacts.

The Afghan government is open to talks with elements of the insurgency, even though NATO and the Canadian government have stayed clear of the proposition. The Taliban demands the withdrawal of all foreign troops before it will engage in talks.

Seediq Weera, a policy adviser to Afghanistan's education minister and a peace-building and diplomacy expert, said the only similarity between the Soviet reconciliation efforts and the current peace efforts are that both have been insufficient. The Soviets were not "genuine and sincere," he said last week.

"It was like, `Come and surrender, join us, put your arms down,'" Weera said. "The approach that we have so far, which is unfortunately failing, is also like that."

Fen Hampson, an international affairs expert at Carleton University in Ottawa, disagreed that the Soviet reconciliation efforts could be characterized as successful. He said it is unrealistic to expect the Afghan government or the Taliban insurgency to cede the ground necessary to come to a peaceful solution to the conflict.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's position is too weak to pressure the insurgents into a negotiated settlement.

"If you're going to be effective in sitting down with those elements of the Taliban who can be talked to, you've got to do it from a position of strength, not weakness, and he's still pretty weak."

In Ottawa, meanwhile, former Liberal foreign affairs minister John Manley has denied reports that the federal Tories have put his name forward as a potential United Nations "super envoy" for Afghanistan. Manley chaired a blue-ribbon panel on the future of Canada's presence in Afghanistan.

Iran refutes claims of expelling Afghans

(IRNA) 21 February 2008- Iran's Embassy in Kabul on Wednesday dismissed rumours that Afghan nationals had been expelled from Iran.

The Cultural Affairs Department of the Embassy in a statement on Wednesday said no Afghan has been expelled from Iran after the end of a temporary plan for deportation of the Afghans illegally residing in the country.

It said those wishing to travel to Iran illegally will not be allowed to step in the country and if crossed into its territory, they will be deported.

The Embassy reiterated that no Afghan has been ordered to leave Iran after the end of the project for expulsion of foreign nationals and any report to that effect is false.

Afghan Minister of Refugees and Returnees Affairs had recently claimed that since start of 2008, Iran had expelled 17,000 Afghan refugees.

Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Sultan Ahmad Behin too claimed that in the past month, 7,000 Afghans were deported from Iran. There are 2.5 million Afghans in Iran, 925,000 of whom having residence permits.

Those illegally residing in the country are not considered refugees and immigrants based on the world conventions. There are also five million Afghans living in other countries now. –IRNA

New Party To Focus On Women's Rights

RFE/RL, 02/20/2008 By Farangis Najibullah

For nearly three decades, Afghans have endured war and foreign occupation, extreme poverty, and the Taliban. Yet some suffer more than others. Not all Afghans are created equal. Fatima Nazari wants to change that.

Nazari, an Afghan parliamentarian, is the driving force behind the country's first political party dedicated to women's rights and issues. She launched National Need on February 19 at a ceremony in Kabul, saying the party hopes to put women's rights at the forefront of the national political debate. It intends to run in the next parliamentary elections, likely in three years' time.

"I believe women understand their own problems better than men would," she says, adding that National Need will seek to increase women's participation in politics and business. "We want to campaign for democracy, not only talk about democracy. In this way, we want to work with our brothers and the rest of Afghan society."

Some of Nazari's fellow deputies and officials in Kabul welcomed the creation of the country's first-ever women's political party. Some called it a step forward toward greater democracy and recognition of women's rights. Interestingly, the Afghan parliament already boasts fairly high representation by women: Twenty-three of 100 members in the upper house and 68 of 249 deputies in the lower house are women.

But in a deeply conservative Islamic country devastated by decades of war, poverty, and a lack of education, that's not enough. "I have already dealt with women's issues as a deputy," Nazari tells RFE/RL. "But I eventually felt that we Afghans needed a special party entirely focused on women to raise their profile."

Tradition Of Exclusion, Abuse

Not everyone is so optimistic. Nazari says the party already boasts 22,500 registered members, men and women, not only in Kabul but also conservative areas such as Paktika, Maidan Wardak, and Helmand. Yet can a neophyte political party hope to change traditional views about the role of women in a place like Afghanistan?

Maryam Panjsheri has her doubts. A female activist in the northern Panjsher Province, she says she is "highly skeptical" about National Need's potential to forge change beyond the capital and a few bigger cities, such as Mazar-e Sharif or Herat.

"It's all for show," Panjsheri tells RFE/RL. "The party leaders will give speeches, interviews, set up seminars -- and that's all they'll do. I don't think women's organizations play a significant role in Afghan women's lives. I don't believe there is such a group that fights for their economic well-being, rights, or health care. I'm just being realistic."

Besides all the war and poverty, Afghan women are also systematically excluded from social, political, and public life, and are often victims of domestic violence. Even Afghan officials admit that while women have improved job and educational opportunities since the fall of the Taliban, domestic violence against women is unchanged. It might be even more common than before. According to the Ministry of Women's Affairs, over the last year more than 2,000 cases of violence against women have been registered. Yet most abuse goes unreported.

Often, very young Afghan girls are also victims of fixed marriages. Some parents force their daughters -- sometimes as young as 8-years-old -- into marriage to settle debts or family feuds.

Moreover, women usually cannot leave their families or seek a divorce, because in many parts of Afghanistan divorce is considered dishonorable. A divorced woman cannot return to her parents' family and, in an impoverished country with widespread unemployment, she cannot rebuild her life on her own, either.

Some women seek escape by self-immolation, resulting in death or disfigurement. Last year, at least 30 women committed suicide in the western Farah Province alone, most of them by setting themselves on fire, according to Afghan media reports.

One Step At a Time

Panjsheri acknowledges her hopes may seem unrealistic. "We know our goals won't be easy to implement, but they are realistic," she says. "We know it won't happen overnight. It may take many years." Panjsheri adds that the biggest challenge will be to reach the women in the most conservative families.

For now, that's a tall order. "Parents who deny education for their daughters, force their young girls into marriage, or a husband who abuses his wife, definitely would not allow rights activists to meet their daughters and wives to educate them about their rights and invite them into politics and business," she says.

But you've got to start somewhere, says Malolai Rushandil Osmani, a women's rights activist in the northern Balkh Province. Speaking to RFE/RL, Osmani acknowledges the challenges facing both women and women's rights activists. "It's a difficult task, especially in the conservative southern and eastern provinces. But one way or another, you have to try."

Osmani, who runs the women's NGO Foundation to Defend Afghan Women's Rights, has her own tactics for promoting women's rights in sensitive areas. "When we go to a village, first of all we talk to the local elderly and the local religious leader," she says. "With their approval, we can then meet with their families. Everybody accepts the fact that it would be better if women dealt with women's issues."

Since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, millions of Afghan girls have returned to school all over the country. Many women now have access to jobs and medical care. In the past five years, in the southern city of Kandahar alone, some 5,000 women have graduated from special literacy courses where they were taught to read and write as well as skills such as dressmaking or computer knowledge. And recently, the government announced a strategy to give nearly one-third of state jobs to women by 2012.

"Let's just hope the new party's leaders really seek to improve Afghan women's lives, and that they include every woman everywhere -- from Kabul to the most remote villages," Osmani says.

$1 billion a year U.S. pays Pakistan under new scrutiny

The Washington Post, 02/20/2008 By Robin Wright

Washington - Once a month, Pakistan's Defense Ministry delivers 15 to 20 pages of spreadsheets to the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad. They list costs for feeding, clothing, billeting and maintaining 80,000 to 100,000 Pakistani troops in the volatile tribal area along the Afghan border, in support of U.S. counterterrorism efforts. No receipts are attached.

In response, the Defense Department has disbursed about $80 million monthly, or roughly $1 billion a year for the past six years, in one of the most generous U.S. military support programs worldwide. The U.S. aim has been to ensure that Pakistan remains the leading ally in combatting extremism in South Asia.

But vague accounting, disputed expenses and suspicions about overbilling have recently made these payments to Pakistan highly controversial - even within the U.S. government.

The poor showing in Monday's parliamentary election by the party of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, whose government has overseen local disbursement of the money, may make Congress look closer at all U.S. financial assistance to the country. Questions have already been raised about where the money went and what the Bush administration got in return, given that pro-American sentiment in Pakistan is extremely low and al Qaeda's presence is growing steadily stronger.

In perhaps the most disputed series of payments, Pakistan continued to receive about $80 million a month in 2006 and 2007 for military operations during cease-fires with pro-Taliban tribal elders along the border.

The Bush administration has acknowledged some problems, but still says that the program - part of a costly military program known as the Coalition Support Fund - is worth every penny. "Yes, we may have overpaid, but it's still a good deal," said a senior administration official involved in Pakistan policy.

"Padding? Sure. Let's be honest, we're talking about Pakistan, which has a legacy of corruption," said another U.S. official familiar with past U.S. payments.

To rescue the Afghan mission, honesty is the best policy

MARK SEDRA, Special to Globe and Mail Update February 21, 2008

The recent revelation that the federal government concealed a decision to halt the transfer of prisoners to the Afghan government amid suspicions of abuse reflects the lack of transparency that has characterized the Conservatives' handling of the Afghan mission. This disclosure followed close on the heels of John Manley's report, which criticized the Harper government's communications strategy on the mission and called for it to "engage Canadians in a continuous, frank and constructive dialogue about conditions in Afghanistan and the extent to which Canadian objectives are being achieved."

The government often cites "operational security" to justify withholding information about some of the more controversial aspects of the Afghan mission. Another tactic used by the government to play down news of setbacks and to counter questions on the mission's daunting challenges is to list the successes that have been achieved. The same achievements have been touted for almost three years now: the return of six million children to school, the repatriation of more than five million refugees, successful presidential and parliamentary elections. These are monumental achievements, but should not be used to stifle debate or conceal the severity of the growing security crisis.

It is not uncommon for states at war to attempt to control the flow of information reaching the domestic population. Concealing the complexities of the Afghan war from the Canadian public is seen by some as a legitimate strategy to secure public support. But while controlling the message received by the public might have been possible during the First World War, when even letters written home were vetted by censors, this is much more difficult in this information age.

In fact, efforts to control the message can have the opposite effect, creating public suspicion of the mission. The disparity between the government's depiction of the situation in Afghanistan and the information Canadians find elsewhere, such as images of ramp ceremonies for fallen soldiers and battlefield accounts by embedded journalists, have undermined the compelling arguments in favour of our continued involvement.

Ours is not the only government to attempt to gloss over the growing crisis in Afghanistan. Rather than admitting that the insurgency has built momentum, Washington and Kabul insist on citing every major new attack or shift in strategy as evidence of Taliban desperation.

I witnessed this spin firsthand in October, when I participated in a panel discussion at the British Parliament. I was shocked when one of my fellow panelists, an official from NATO headquarters in Brussels, stated that there was no definitive evidence that the Afghan security situation was deteriorating or that the Taliban were gaining strength. After the event, he privately admitted that the statement was wrong. Such willful manipulation of the facts undercuts public confidence in the mission and impedes the sense of urgency that can lead to innovative solutions.

In truth, the seriousness of the Afghan situation is no longer in doubt. In the last week of January, a report from the Atlantic Council of the United States, led by retired Marine Corps general James Jones, warned that "urgent changes are required now to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a failing or failed state." The same week, an open letter by Oxfam to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned of a "humanitarian catastrophe" unless Western countries undertake "a major change of direction." The International Crisis Group's latest report states that Afghanistan is not lost, "but the signs are not good."

While the government has been guilty of spinning the mission to the public, the positions of the opposition parties are similarly at odds with reality. Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion insists that Canada end the combat mission in February, 2009, and assume a humanitarian and reconstruction role that focuses on the training of Afghan security forces. This position ignores the fact that without a NATO partner to take Canada's place in Kandahar, the security situation will not be conducive to humanitarian work. The NDP's demand for an immediate withdrawal of all Canadian troops in favour of focusing on the provision of development assistance also ignores the fundamental tenet that you can't do development without security. The fact that much of the country's south is currently off-limits to aid agencies and Afghan government institutions reflects this.

To secure public support for the Afghan mission, this government must adopt a different approach. It must be frank with Canadians about Afghanistan. It must tell them that it is a long-term mission, that things may get worse before they get better, that it will cost significant amounts of money, that more soldiers may die. It must also tell them that the mission is in Canada's interest. It must convey the high stakes involved.

If the Afghan state collapses, it could destabilize the region and the entire world by providing a haven for terrorists and criminal organizations who export extremism and narcotics. It could undermine Canada's reputation and harm the integrity of NATO, a multilateral body of which we are a founding member, and which is vital to both our diplomatic clout and collective security.

Waving a white flag in Kabul

The Copenhagen Post- 21 February 2008

A Danish artist will march through the streets of Kabul bearing a white flag as part of a theatre project

Residents of Kabul will be greeted with an unusual sight on 28 February when a Danish man carrying a white flag walks through the streets of the war-torn city.

Part of a theatre project to promote democracy, Claus Beck-Nielsen will carry the flag of democracy, a white flag with a hole in the middle, where one would normally find a national symbol.

As part of the project, he will walk from the outskirts of Kabul to the National Theatre, a walk, between 10 to 20 km , that will take him onto centre stage where he will become part of the performance.

The play, 'The Parliament', written by Beck-Nielsen, is about an architect who wants to design and build history's first world parliament and introduce world democracy.

However, the endeavour is not without some danger and Beck-Nielsen was concerned about his safety.

'You never know what people will think. I carried flags with a colleague in Iran and we were constantly arrested by the secret police,' he told national broadcaster DR.

[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.]