In this bulletin:

• U.S.: Record Drug Growth Fuelling Taliban
• Need for more troops in Afghanistan tops Bush-NATO talks
• Governor of Afghanistan's volatile Helmand says 'transferred'
• Taliban Blows Up Phone Tower In Afghanistan "to Disable Tracking"
• Canada resumes transfer of detainees to Afghans
• Czechs support increase in troops in Afghanistan-PM
• RPT-Obama says Europe must do more in Afghanistan
• American Missing in Afghanistan Is Feared Dead
• Harry withdrawn from Afghanistan
• Prince Harry: 'I think this is as normal as I'm ever going to get'
• 29 Taliban killed protecting Afghan opium: police
• Canada's Manley says not Afghan envoy candidate
• Liberals still want answers on proposed 2011 extension
• Kandahar aid gets overhaul
• Canada clings to war as strategy for Afghanistan
• Missile strike on Pakistan militant hideout kills 13: officials
• Six foreigners among 8 killed in Waziristan: Locals suspect missile strike from across border
• New Message by al-Qaida Deputy Chief

U.S.: Record Drug Growth Fuelling Taliban

(AP) 29 February 2008-  Record illegal drug production in Afghanistan supplies the Taliban insurgency with money and arms and the U.S.-backed government must take direct, prompt action against poppy growers, a State Department report said Friday.

Afghan farmers grew more poppies for opium in 2007 than ever before, the second year in a row of record production in the nation the United States invaded after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. The drug trade deters progress toward a stable, economically independent democracy, the report said.

"The counterinsurgency nexus is both real and growing," said Assistant Secretary David Johnson, the State Department's top drug enforcement officer.

The International Narcotics Control Strategy Report said the largest and best-known insurgent group - the hard-line Taliban - benefits with money and weapons while offering protection to growers and traffickers.

"Eliminating narcotics cultivation and trafficking in Afghanistan will require a long-term national and international commitment," the State Department said.

"The Afghan government must take decisive action against poppy cultivation soon to turn back the drug threat before its further growth and consolidation make it even more difficult to defeat," the department said in the report.

The report noted that Afghan President Hamid Karzai considered limited aerial spraying to eradicate opium poppies last year, but opted not to do it. Such action would have been extremely dangerous and highly unpopular.

Afghanistan grew 93 percent of the world's opium poppy last year, according to United Nations figures cited in Friday's report. The haul, worth an estimated $4 billion on the illegal world market, represented more than a third of Afghanistan's combined total gross domestic product, or GDP, of $11.5 billion.

Production was up 34 percent above 2006 levels and was nearly double the total for 2005.

Land under cultivation for poppies increased 17 percent in 2007 and good weather helped increase production on land already under cultivation, the report said.

Johnson welcomed some projections that say Afghan drug production will fall in 2008.

The report measures foreign drug production and efforts to fight it. The report does not examine drug production, interdiction or eradication in the United States.

Need for more troops in Afghanistan tops Bush-NATO talks

Washington (Monster and Critics) 29 February 2008 - The need for more troops for NATO's mission in Afghanistan tops the list for discussion later Friday between US President George W Bush and NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, a White House official said.

'It is something the president is very much focused on,' said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the National Security Council.

The topic is also likely to be discussed when Bush meets later Friday with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who will be accompanying Bush to his private ranch in Texas for the weekend.

The United States is frustrated by the unwillingness of NATO allies to send troops into hostile areas, and US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates has recently been making the case quite strongly and openly over recent months.

Canada has proposed pulling its troops back from the front lines unless more countries are forthcoming with troops in combat areas.

The US recently sent in an added 3,200 marines to Afghanistan, and there is a 'need for more trainers to help set up the Afghan army and Afghan police,' Johndroe said.

The US has 26,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, to be boosted to 30,000 in March with the new troops. The main brunt of the fighting is carried by US, British, Danish, Dutch and Canadian troops.

Democratic presidential nominee hopeful Barack Obama has also called for more support from NATO allies in Afghanistan, media reports said.

NATO foreign ministers are due to meet in Brussels next week, where the issue of Afghanistan is likely to be an important item of discussion.

Governor of Afghanistan's volatile Helmand says 'transferred'

KABUL (AFP) 29 February 2008 - The governor of Afghanistan's volatile Helmand province, where Taliban hold some districts and opium cultivation is flourishing, has been transferred out of the job, he said Friday.

Asadullah Wafa, appointed provincial governor in December 2006, told AFP his "transfer" came after he had made repeated requests to President Hamid Karzai to be moved out of the tough post.

Wafa said he has been appointed as director of a complaints committee in the national security section of Karzai's office.

Karzai's office would not comment on the move, seen as significant with Helmand a key nexus of a Taliban-led insurgency and producer of most of Afghanistan's illegal opium.

No replacement has been announced.

A leading member of the Helmand provincial council said on condition of anonymity that Wafa was "dismissed" for weak administration and failing to crackdown on drugs mafia networks, and because of international pressure.

Wafa was involved in the expulsion last month of a leading European Union official and a top British diplomat working with the United Nations following allegations they had contacted Taliban in Helmand without Karzai's knowledge.

Most of the 7,500 British troops in Afghanistan are based in Helmand, including Britain's Prince Harry. The province experiences some of the worst violence of an insurgency led by the Taliban, who are trying to regain power after being ousted in late 2001.

On January 31, a Taliban suicide bombing in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah killed Wafa's deputy governor and five other people.

Taliban Blows Up Phone Tower In Afghanistan "to Disable Tracking"

(RTTNews) - On Friday, Taliban militants blew up a telecom tower in southern Afghanistan to "disable" the U.S. and other foreign troops from using mobile phone signals to track insurgents and launch attacks against them, the AP reported.

A spokesman for the Taliban warned on Monday that they would blow up towers across Afghanistan if the cell phone companies did not switch off their signals overnight.

Accordingly, the terrorists destroyed a tower along the main highway in the Zhari district of Kandahar province, the AP quoted Niaz Mohammad Serhadi, a top government official in Zhari, as saying.

Canada resumes transfer of detainees to Afghans

OTTAWA (Reuters) 29 February 2008 - Canada is once again handing over prisoners captured by its troops to Afghan authorities, a practice that was halted last November amid fears of abuse, military officials said on Friday.

"We exercise discretion each and every time we transfer a detainee," Lieutenant-Colonel Grant Dame told reporters at Canada's military base in the southern city of Kandahar.

The armed forces stopped transferring prisoners after receiving evidence that a detainee had been mistreated at the detention center in Kandahar.

Canadian officials said they had conducted more than 20 visits to the center, funded a series of improvements and would provide training on human rights to local officials.

Amnesty International Canada, which last month failed in an initial legal bid to have the transfers stopped permanently, said torture was still widespread in Afghan prisons.

"To think that somehow that's all been remedied almost overnight ... defies belief and is simply not something that should have happened," secretary-general Alex Neve told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

The question of detainee transfers has proven particularly troublesome for Canada's minority Conservative government.

Last year Ottawa regularly dismissed allegations that prisoners captured by Canadians had been abused in Afghan jails, only to concede last month that the transfers had stopped because of fears of torture.

Last month government officials appeared to blame the military for not telling ministers the transfers had stopped before withdrawing the remarks.

Czechs support increase in troops in Afghanistan-PM

Ottawa (OKI) 29 February 2008- Canada and the Czech Republic agree that the international military mission in Afghanistan should be reinforced, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said in Ottawa today.

Topolanek held talks with his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper on Thursday.

Canada is prepared to end its military presence in Afghanistan if other NATO countries do not send more troops to the turbulent south of Afghanistan. Canada has 2500 soldiers stationed in Kandahar. The mission has claimed the lives of 78 Canadian soldiers.

"Like Canada, the Czech Republic also calls for a wider participation of other NATO countries in the peace-keeping and reconstruction mission in Afghanistan," Topolanek said at a press conference.

He said that Afghanistan was also a test of success of a future international mission and that the allies should not therefore leave it.

Topolanek informed Harper, like he informed American President George Bush a couple of days ago, that the Czech Republic planned to send a special 120-member unit to Afghanistan if the Czech parliament approved the sending.

At the end of this year, the Czech army would have more than 500 troops in Afghanistan which would be sufficient and comparable with Canada that is a bigger country than the Czech Republic, Topolanek said.

Prague has also sent its own Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) to Logar, he added.

Topolanek and Harper also discussed NATO enlargement. They agreed with the admittance of Croatia, Albania and Macedonia to NATO at its forthcoming summit. Topolanek said Croatia was the best prepared country.

The two prime ministers agreed that Ukraine and Georgia should be members of NATO's Partnership for Peace programme that could lead to their membership.

"However, this does not mean automatically that they will become NATO members," Topolanek said.

He informed Harper about the Czech Republic's position on Kosovo that recently declared its independence from Serbia.

Topolanek said that Kosovo should not be serve as a model for similar problems. He reiterated that Prague was planning to recognise Kosovo's independence sooner or later.

Topolanek and Harper also discussed the planned building of a radar base in the Czech Republic as part of the U.S. missile defence shield.

According to Topolanek, Harper said that Canada would support a dialogue with Moscow that is very displeased by the plans to station the missile defence system in central Europe.

Another topic discussed was a plan to build a monument to victims of communism in Toronto. The initiative of the Czech community in Canada has not yet been completed.

Harper supported the construction of the monument. Poles, Cubans, Chinese, Tibetans, and Iranians said they wanted to participate in the project while Hungarians, Slovaks and people from the Baltic states have showed interest in it.

Topolanek today will move from Ottawa to Toronto where he will meet the Czech community, including writer Josef Skvorecky who will receive a honorary medal from Harper.

Topolanek will also visit a Bata museum and will open an exhibition in the local Jewish Museum called The Neighbours who have disappeared.

RPT-Obama says Europe must do more in Afghanistan

By Jeff Mason

BEAUMONT, Texas, Feb 28 (Reuters) - European nations must step up their efforts in Afghanistan and not count on the United States and Britain to do the "dirty work" in fighting the Taliban, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said on Thursday.

Obama, the front-runner to become his party's nominee for the White House, praised Britain's Prince Harry for secretly serving on the frontlines of the war and said other NATO allies should be doing more.

"With respect to our NATO allies, I've been very clear that we do need more support from them. We also may need to lift some of the constraints that they have placed on their forces there," Obama said on his campaign plane.

"You can't have a situation where the United States is called upon to do the dirty work, or the United States and Britain are called upon to do the dirty work, and nobody else wants to engage in actual firefights with the Taliban."

The Illinois senator said that characterization of avoiding combat did not represent each NATO country's position, and he did not single out specific nations.

Germany has faced growing pressure from NATO partners in past weeks to increase the number of German troops in Afghanistan and shift them from the north to dangerous southern regions.

Obama said Washington would pay closer attention to the opinions of its allies on foreign policy issues under an Obama administration, a nod to the strained relations that resulted between some European countries and the United States after the Iraq war, which he opposed.

"It is, I think, important for us to ask more from our European allies," he said. "It is also important for us to send a signal that we're going to be listening to them when it comes to policies that they find objectionable, Iraq being at the top of the list."

In a debate on Tuesday, Democratic hopeful and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton chastised Obama for not doing anything to address the situation in Afghanistan when he chaired a Senate subcommittee on Europe and was in a position to hold hearings.

On Thursday, Britain's Ministry of Defence said Prince Harry, third in line to the British throne, had served as a combat soldier on the front lines in Afghanistan for 2 1/2 months.

Obama praised the 23-year-old soldier: "I think that the fact that Prince Harry is serving is commendable, and I'm sure the people of Great Britain are very proud of him."

American Missing in Afghanistan Is Feared Dead

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — An American woman and her Afghan driver who were abducted at gunpoint on Jan. 26 are feared dead, the administrator of her aid organization said Wednesday.

The woman, Cyd Mizell, 50, a native of Eureka, Calif., worked for the Asian Rural Life Development Foundation starting in 2005. She taught English and ran educational and agricultural assistance programs in this southern city. Her driver was Muhammad Hadi, a father of five.

“We have received information through two police sources that they had been killed,” said Micah Berry, the financial administrator for the foundation. “We don’t know whether it is true or not.”

The provincial governor, Asadullah Khalid, said he could not confirm the report. The foundation said it was working with the International Committee of the Red Cross to find the two, Mr. Berry said.

Harry withdrawn from Afghanistan

Prince Harry is to be withdrawn from Afghanistan after news broke of him serving there on the front line.

The 23-year-old royal, who has spent the last 10 weeks serving in Helmand Province, is to be flown back to the UK amid concerns for his safety.

The move follows the collapse of a news blackout deal, after foreign media leaked the story.

There had been fears the prince, who is third in line to the throne, could become a target for the Taleban.

Chief of the Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, had been considering whether Harry should remain in the country after discussions with the head of the Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt.

No details are available on when the prince is due to arrive back in Britain.

Brigadier Patrick Marriott, a spokesman for the Army, earlier said the possibility that details of Prince Harry's deployment would be made public had always been in the minds of senior army figures.

"I think it's important that, throughout this whole process, risks have been managed incredibly well," he said.

"There's been an enormous amount of planning that's gone on into this, and the fact that this was going to break was always thought a possible outcome and so plans are there - and I think people can be reassured about that."

Sir Jock said the prince had been conducting himself "with professionalism" during his time out in Afghanistan.

"In serving his country with distinction in dangerous circumstances, he has shown the courage and determination that are the hallmarks of everyone in our armed forces, many of whom are operating under very challenging circumstances," Sir Jock said.

A member of the Household Cavalry, Prince Harry was based in a former madrassa along with a Gurkha regiment.

Work involved calling up allied air cover in support of ground forces and going out on foot patrols. Conservative leader David Cameron said Prince Harry had been "incredibly brave".

"He has pursued his desire to get on the front line and serve his country with huge determination and courage. I applaud the British press for not breaking the story and risking his life and others around him."

The prince's deployment was subject to a news blackout deal struck between the MoD and newspapers and broadcasters in the UK and abroad.

It is understood that the news was first leaked in an Australian publication in January but only after it appeared on the influential US website, The Drudge Report, did the deal break down.

In exchange for not reporting the prince's deployment, some media organisations were granted access to the prince in Afghanistan for interviews and filming.

The head of the Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt praised the UK media's "highly responsible attitude", but said he was disappointed that foreign websites had decided to run the story.

The prince's withdrawal is the second major blow to his army career. Last year, a planned tour to Iraq had to be cancelled at the last minute because of a security risk.

Prince Harry: 'I think this is as normal as I'm ever going to get'

By JOHN BINGMAN, in HELMAND PROVINCE

IT IS only 500 metres across no-man's-land to the Taleban front line, and the British soldiers come under fire several times a day. The night-time temperatures were minus 8C when Harry arrived and there is no heating in the sleeping quarters.

The "showers" are a bag hung up in a wooden cubicle, the urinals are a row of angled pipes half-buried in the sand, and the main toilets are the dreaded " thunderboxes" – plywood structures with a hole cut in the centre, inside flimsy wooden cubicles.

Welcome to the British Army's Forward Operating Base (Fob) "Delhi" in Afghanistan. It's not exactly the home comforts Prince Harry is used to, but he doesn't mind one bit.

"It's bizarre. I'm out here now, haven't really had a shower for four days, haven't washed my clothes for a week and everything seems completely normal.

"What am I missing the most? Nothing really," he said in January, as he sat in his bedspace at the camp, a former Taleban madrassa with bullet- holes peppering the walls.

"I honestly don't know what I miss at all: music, we've got music, we've got light, we've got food, we've got (non-alcoholic] drink."

Clearly conscious of his tabloid image back home, he quickly added: "No, I don't miss booze, if that's the next question. It's nice just to be here with all the guys and just mucking in as one of the lads.

"It's very nice to be a normal person for once – I think this is about as normal as I'm ever going to get."

On his arrival in war-ravaged Helmand province just before Christmas, the prince was sent to Fob Dwyer, the headquarters of the battlegroup headed by his own Household Cavalry Regiment.

But he didn't stay long in that dusty and isolated outpost in the middle of the desert, about six miles from the front line. He asked his commanding officer if he could spend Christmas Day with the Gurkhas at Fob Delhi, and it was agreed Harry could stay on there for a while to fulfil his dream on serving on the front line.

"I was hoping to come down here for Christmas Day to be with the Gurkhas," the prince explained.

"I don't know why, it was just something I wanted to do, just to be with them. They don't really celebrate Christmas that much, but we had some fantastic games, which we played in the yard there."

These Nepalese-style games included one that involved catching a chicken. This year, having left Britain too late for the Christmas post to be dispatched and arrive in time, Harry had no presents sent to him – although he did benefit from anonymous parcels sent to all British troops by wellwishers at home.

"I got nothing for Christmas; most of these guys got nothing for Christmas," he said with a shrug.

He did, however, have a chance to speak to his family over the festive period. As with all British troops, he was given an extra ten minutes' credit on his army satellite-phone account over the Christmas week as a Yuletide treat. Fob Delhi comes under attack several times a day from rocket-propelled grenades, mortar shells and machine-gun fire, and British troops operate out of old-fashioned trenches and bunkers.

But Harry said: "When you know you are with the Gurkhas, there's no safer place to be, really."

But asked if the base was a safe place for a prince, Major Mark Milford, of the 1st Battalion, the Royal Gurkha Rifles, replied matter- of-factly: "No, not really."

One of the observation posts, JTAC Hill, is built on the remains of a 19th- century fort, used by the British during a previous involvement in the seemingly perpetually war- torn country. The prince shared a room with a constantly changing con-tingent of Royal Artillery soldiers, alternating between stints up on JTAC Hill and the camp itself.

"This is what it is all about," he said. "What it's all about is being here with the guys rather than being in a room with a bunch of officers.

"I'm in here with all the guys; most of them are artillery guys basically doing a swap-over with the other ones on JTAC Hill, stagging on (performing guard duty], stagging off, doing a week because it's quite a lot of graft.

"It's good fun to be with just a normal bunch of guys, listening to their problems, listening to what they think. And especially getting through every day. It's not painful to be here, but you are doing a job and to be with such fantastic people, the Gurkhas and the guys I'm shar-ing a room with, makes it all worthwhile."

One good thing about Delhi is the standard of the food: the Gurkha fare is the envy of the Afghanistan theatre, with regular chicken or goat curries.

However, it has been important to try to keep news of the prince's deployment a se

cret, and other soldiers have been told not to mention him in their phone calls home.

Major Andy Dimmock, of 4th Regiment, Royal Artillery, who has spent the past six months attached to the Household Cavalry, said: "All the lads phone home as normal. We just say, 'Don't tell them who you are with'.

"We are not giving any special treatment to him. It's just a security risk, because if it gets out that he's here, the indirect fire threat will increase. At the moment, he's just the same as any other officer here."

Major Dimmock said there was a huge novelty factor in having a prince under his command, but he was now very much part of the team. And working closely with Harry, the major saw first-hand how he excelled in banter with pilots over the radio "net". But none of the pilots realised they were talking to the prince, they simply knew him by his call sign: "Widow Six Seven."

29 Taliban killed protecting Afghan opium: police

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) — Twenty-nine Taliban were killed trying to protect opium crops from eradication in southern Afghanistan, most of them in a six-hour gunfight with police, officials said Thursday.

A senior commander was among the dead in the clashes in Helmand province, the top opium-producing area in Afghanistan, which churns out 90 percent of the world's supply to make heroin for Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East.

Rebels on Wednesday used rockets and gunfire to attack a team that was destroying opium poppy crops in remote Marja district, provincial police chief General Mohammad Hussein Andiwal told AFP.

A police vehicle was badly damaged and a policeman was wounded. Police reinforcements were sent to the area and the fighting accelerated, lasting well into the night, Andiwal said. "The six-hour fighting killed 25 Taliban and two Taliban were arrested," he said.

On Thursday four more rebels were killed when a landmine exploded as they were planting it to target the eradication team, he said.

The interior ministry said a Taliban commander named Mullah Naqeebullah was among the dead in Wednesday's fighting. He had twice escaped from Afghan jails, it said in a statement.

A spokesman for the hardline Taliban movement, Yousuf Ahmadi, confirmed that Taliban fighters were involved in the incident but said only one was killed.

Helmand experiences some of the worst violence linked to a Taliban-led insurgency which officials say is funded in part by a 10 percent tax that the rebel movement takes from opium farmers.

Officials admit the Taliban, who were in government between 1996 and 2001, control a handful of districts in the province but say they will be removed.

The rebels used the Helmand town of Musa Qala as a base for 10 months before they were ejected in December by Afghan and international soldiers.

US intelligence officials told the US Congress Wednesday that the Taliban had retaken control of about 10 percent of the country since they were removed from power in a US-led invasion in late 2001.

The government of President Hamid Karzai meanwhile controlled just "30, 31 percent, and then the rest of it was local control," US Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell told the Senate's Armed Services Committee.

Afghanistan's defence ministry rejected this assessment as "far from reality." The government was in control of all 34 provinces and most districts, the defence ministry said in a statement.

Officials have said that militants control at least three districts in Helmand, but there are other areas where government authority is tenuous and security forces weak or allied with the rebels.

Last year was the deadliest of the Taliban insurgency, increasing pressure on the United States and its allies in NATO to beef up their military contingents to avoid the country falling again to the radical Islamists.

Canada's Manley says not Afghan envoy candidate

By David Ljunggren

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Former Canadian Deputy Prime Minister John Manley, responding to renewed talk he could be named the U.N.'s new "super envoy" for Afghanistan, said on Wednesday he was not a candidate and added it would be a bad idea for a Canadian to assume the job "at this point."

The United Nations is looking for someone to replace Britain's Paddy Ashdown, whose appointment was vetoed last month by Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Although Manley said last week he was not a candidate, diplomats say he is now one of the two front runners, along with Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide.

Manley headed an independent panel which last month urged Canada to pull its military mission out of southern Afghanistan on schedule next year unless NATO committed an extra 1,000 troops to the region. Ottawa accepted the recommendation.

"He again maintains that he is not a candidate and not seeking the job," a source close to Manley told Reuters.

"He feels it's not a good idea for a Canadian at this point to assume a position there, even if it's offered, because our commitment is wobbly and because of the precondition."

Canada's minority Conservative government is close to working out a compromise with opposition legislators to extend the country's combat mission into 2011. Parliament has yet to vote on the compromise, which depends on NATO sending in the extra troops.

The source said twice that the idea of Manley taking up the job "at this point" would not be advisable. This leaves open the possibility that he might be more interested if Canada decided to stay until 2011 and NATO provided more troops. 

The source declined to comment when pressed on this point.

A senior Western diplomat at the United Nations said that, given a choice between Eide and Manley, the Canadian would have the advantage.

"We would be happy with either candidate. We think both bring real qualities," the diplomat told Reuters.

"I think, usually, when there's a politician and an official in a race, then, other things being equal, it tends to go to the politician."

Another Western diplomat said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wanted the Afghan envoy to be named by March 6.

Manley, 58, is a blunt-spoken and highly respected figure who spent 10 years as a minister in the previous Liberal government, from 1993 to 2003. At various points he also served as the minister of industry, finance and foreign affairs.

He now works as a lawyer and a businessman in Ottawa.

Liberals still want answers on proposed 2011 extension

Advisory panel chair Manley to be asked to explain why 1,000 NATO troops required

BILL CURRY

February 27, 2008

OTTAWA -- Liberals said they have lingering concerns about the proposed extension of the Afghanistan mission to 2011 as the second day of debate on the issue wrapped up yesterday in Parliament.

John Manley, who chaired an advisory panel on the mission, will be asked to appear before the House foreign affairs committee to explain why his report chose 1,000 as the number of additional NATO troops that would be required for Canada to stay past 2009, Liberal MP Byron Wilfert said.

Mr. Wilfert, the Liberal foreign affairs critic, said other experts have suggested much higher numbers, and Liberals want more information before giving final approval when the extension is put to a vote next month. It is not clear whether more debate will be scheduled.

Conservatives have said the opposition had blocked their attempts to invite Mr. Manley to address MPs earlier, but Mr. Wilfert said his party now favours calling the former Liberal deputy prime minister before the committee.

"The issue of why 1,000 troops is a particularly sensitive issue," Mr. Wilfert said. "It's still a bit early, but we certainly want to put the government on notice that we want answers."

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion said on Monday that his party would support the motion, provided the government answered a few questions. The motion says the extension of Canada's mission is contingent on Canadian Forces getting help from an extra 1,000 troops in the Kandahar region and extra equipment such as helicopters.

Mr. Dion was also concerned about whether the government agreed with his party that troops should be rotated away from the front lines, but Mr. Wilfert said Liberals are generally satisfied that Conservatives are on the same page.

The second day of debate was largely overshadowed by the federal budget, which included an additional $100-million for reconstruction and development in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar said he was surprised that after two days of debate, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has yet to address the House.

"It's passing strange," Mr. Dewar said. "On an issue that is so important, the issue of this Parliament, the extension of the war, that he wouldn't be leading it off."

Carolyn Stewart-Olsen, a spokeswoman for Mr. Harper, said yesterday that the Prime Minister is not scheduled to take part in the debate, but has yet to rule out that option.

The Prime Minister is focused on achieving common ground on Afghanistan and his views are well known, she said.

Several MPs used their time in the debate to discuss personal stories about Afghanistan.

Conservative Whip Jay Hill spoke of a recent dinner he and his wife had with Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada, who was interrupted by a phone call.

"I could see he was upset," said Mr. Hill, adding that he asked why. "Two young girls were murdered on the roadside while walking home from school. What was their crime? Their crime was that they wanted an education. ...

"To me, the discussion that night very clearly exemplified why we are there."

Kandahar aid gets overhaul

Plans underway for signature Canadian project in country, federal minister says

Feb 28, 2008 04:30 AM

Allan Woods
Ottawa Bureau

OTTAWA–The government's overseas aid agency is overhauling the way it doles out development dollars in Afghanistan to make it quicker, more effective and better able to boost Canada's brand in Kandahar.

Plans are underway for a "signature" Canadian aid project in Kandahar, civilian staff in the region will be increased to 35 from 10, and officials on the ground will have more independence from slow-moving Ottawa bureaucrats to sign off on development work, said International Development Minister Bev Oda.

The agency was rapped in last month's report on the country's Afghan mission.

Former Liberal foreign minister John Manley said Canadian International Development Agency staff were cloistered behind the heavy walls of military bases and given only 15 per cent of Canada's total aid budget to respond independently to pressing needs.

Half of Canadian aid goes to multilateral agencies like the World Bank while 35 per cent goes to the Afghan government, with some of that lost to corrupt officials and institutions.

CIDA has had chronic difficulties displaying the results of Canadian tax dollars to visiting journalists and parliamentarians since officials accompanied the military south to Kandahar province.

Yet there is political pressure on the government to shift the Afghan mission toward development, reconstruction and training Afghanistan's military and police, issues that fall squarely in CIDA's court.

This week's budget earmarked an extra $100 million for the war-torn country, much of which will go to training efforts. Some of that money, and much of the other $180 million in next year's Afghanistan-bound aid, will be for more traditional development work, like digging irrigation ditches, paving roads and education.

Oda said Canada is actively searching for a "signature" aid project – an initiative recommended by Manley that can be "readily identifiable as supported by Canada."

"We are doing our due diligence currently to look at the most appropriate project, one that will make a significant difference in the lives of the Afghan people," she told reporters in a briefing yesterday.

Oda said any work must meet the standards of being effective and helping increase the capacity of local Afghans. Security takes a priority over aid, she said.

And unlike more stable, peaceful recipients of major Canadian aid – notably Haiti and Tanzania – she said the insurgency in Afghanistan makes it more difficult to fly the Canadian flag and flaunt Canada's presence and assistance.

Canada clings to war as strategy for Afghanistan

Feb 28, 2008 04:30 AM

Haroon Siddiqui

The Liberals are talking their way out of their political quagmire in Afghanistan. They are joining the Conservatives in extending our military mission there.

The Liberal-Tory consensus comes amid increasing divisions among NATO allies as well as in the emerging power centres of post-election Pakistan over what do about the endless Afghan war.

The Liberals are now as irrelevant on Afghanistan as the American Democrats have been on Iraq.

The Liberals initiated the combat mission in Kandahar and the Democrats supported the Iraq war. Each has had difficulty pretending to be the party of peace.

By contrast, the Conservatives have been as sure-footed as the Republicans. As advocates of war, both have had clarity of purpose.

Stephen Harper and Gen. Rick Hillier are also using the same unsavoury tactics as George W. Bush and the American commander in Afghanistan – namely, that any democratic expression of doubt about the war is tantamount to aiding and abetting the enemy.

You are either with the Tories or you are "an agent for the Taliban," says House Leader Peter Van Loan.

The Liberals had a chance to carve out a clear position between a continuing commitment to an overly American combat warfare or abandoning Afghanistan altogether. John Manley, besides recommending an extension of the military mission, had called for a series of parallel steps to boost the civilian component of our commitment: A re-engineering of CIDA's failed efforts, a greater emphasis on reconstruction (there hasn't been much, even in areas where there is little fighting), democracy-building initiatives and a regional solution in concert with Pakistan and others.

The Liberals did nod in that direction but, in the end, let the government cherry-pick Manley's report.

Harper's lobbying for another 1,000 NATO troops, and Tuesday's budget allocation of another $100 million primarily for security, attest to the Conservatives' priorities.

Had the Liberals forced Harper into a drastically new approach, Canada would have been well placed to provide the lead in fundamentally redefining NATO's Afghan mission.

The debate in Europe is not over how many more troops to commit but rather to what end.

As a French official put it to the Star's Mitch Potter in Paris: "How are we to going to rebuild and pacify Afghanistan? How are we to win? And what do we mean by `win'?"

NATO is not winning. As the head of U.S. National Intelligence told Congress yesterday, Kabul controls less than a third of the country. He also conceded that Pakistan couldn't quite control the Taliban in the semi-autonomous border region, despite repeated attempts by Pervez Musharraf.

Pakistanis recently voted against the president's party not just to protest his dictatorial ways but also his support for the U.S. war on terror.

Asif Zaradri and Nawaz Sharif, leaders of the two winning parties, have already called for more dialogue with the militants. So has the leader of a party that won the most seats in the North-West Frontier Province, home of the Taliban.

In turn, the militants have offered to end terror attacks in Pakistan. This may be a ruse, as Musharraf discovered during two previous ceasefires. But the hope is that elected leaders would have more legitimacy and hence success.

Six years after toppling the Taliban, NATO and its friends are bogged down in Afghanistan. Many are trying for a new strategy. But in Canada, we are being herded toward more war.

Missile strike on Pakistan militant hideout kills 13: officials

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — A suspected US missile strike destroyed an Al-Qaeda and Taliban hideout in a Pakistani tribal area Thursday, killing 13 alleged militants including several Arabs, security officials said.

Residents of Azam Warsak village in South Waziristan told AFP that a house was blown up by a missile fired from a pilotless drone and the loud blast was heard miles (kilometres) away in the rugged valley.

US drones have launched several strikes on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border targeting members of Osama bin Laden's network, although Islamabad never confirms such attacks due to issues of national sovereignty.

"A house used as a den by Al-Qaeda and Afghan Taliban militants was hit by a missile. Thirteen people were killed and around 10 were wounded," a senior Pakistani security official told AFP.

"There was no immediate information about the presence of any high-value target," the official said.

A security source based in the northwestern city of Peshawar, which adjoins the lawless tribal belt, said the missile was fired by a US drone at about 2:00 am Thursday (2100 GMT Wednesday).

Another security official said most of the dead were Arabs.

The militants were using the house as an "operational base" for attacks on NATO-led and US troops in Afghanistan, as well as a meeting place for Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants, the official said.

Armed militants cordoned off the site after the missile strike, residents said. They said four unidentified "guests" had arrived late Wednesday at the destroyed house, although their identities were not known.

South Waziristan is also the base of Baitullah Mehsud, an Al-Qaeda-linked warlord accused by Pakistan of masterminding the December slaying of former premier Benazir Bhutto, but officials said the strike was not in the area he commands.

A spokesman for the US-led coalition force based in Afghanistan said it had "no reports" that either it or the separate NATO-headed force were involved in the strike.

In its first official comment, the Pakistani military said late Thursday that the deaths were caused by an explosion at a hideout in the area.

"As per our information it was an explosion caused by explosive material in a house," chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP.

The blast reportedly killed 10 to 12 people, he said, adding that it was not clear if all those who died were foreigners.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan does not confirm US involvement in military action in the tribal belt since Islamabad has repeatedly stated that it will not allow foreign forces to operate on its soil.

But US forces have carried out several strikes in the past.

Amid pressure on President Pervez Musharraf to crack down on Al-Qaeda safe havens in Pakistan, the New York Times reported last week that US officials recently reached a "quiet understanding" with him to intensify such strikes.

The new arrangements included attacks by armed Predator drones operating from a secret base inside Pakistan, rather than Afghanistan.

Al-Qaeda number two Ayman Al-Zawahiri vowed to avenge the missile strike that killed al-Libi in a videotape message broadcast on an Islamist website on Wednesday.

"No chief of ours has died a natural death. Nor has our blood been spilled without a response," he said in the 10-minute recording which had English subtitles and was posted on the Al-Ekhlaas website.

A US Predator targeted al-Zawahiri in January 2006, killing several rebels and civilians but missing him and sparking protests in Pakistan.

Thousands of Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants fled into Pakistan's tribal belt after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.

The air strikes are also a political issue in the United States, where White House hopeful Hillary Clinton slammed Democratic rival Barack Obama Tuesday for saying he would order raids against Al-Qaeda in Pakistan if Musharraf failed to act.

Six foreigners among 8 killed in Waziristan: Locals suspect missile strike from across border

WANA, Feb 28: Eight suspected militants, four of them Arabs and two from Central Asian states, were killed and three others wounded in a missile attack on a house in Kalosha area of South Waziristan after Wednesday midnight.

Sources said that the militants belonged to the Abu Hamza group whose leader was said to be a follower of local militant commander Maulvi Nazir.

Maulvi Nazir won government’s support after launching an armed campaign against Uzbek militants in the Ahmadzai Wazir area in April last year.

Local people said they heard three loud explosions at about 2am and found the compound destroyed. They said three Turkmen occupants of the compound had been injured in the attack. They believed that missiles fired from Afghanistan might have caused the explosions.

The house belonged to one Shero Wazir of the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe who had rented it out to an Arab.

An official of the political administration said four Arabs, two Turkmens and two people hailing from Punjab had been killed in the air strike.

The sources said the bodies were charred and it was difficult to identify them. They were buried in a graveyard in Kalosha.

A large number of Arabs and other foreigners had been living and doing business in the area for years with local tribal names, the sources said.

A spokesman for Maulvi Nazir denied the killing of Arabs or Turkmens in the attack and said that some Afghans had died. “They were common Afghans and had been living in the area for a few years.” He claimed that missiles had been fired from Afghanistan.

Senior Al Qaeda commander Abu Laith Al Libi was reported to have been killed in a similar missile attack in Mirali, North Waziristan, on Jan 29.

US media reported last week that the Bush administration had reached an agreement with Pakistan to step up secret air strikes on targets in Pakistan.

AFP adds: Residents of Azam Warsak said the house was blown up by a missile fired from a drone and the blast was heard miles away in the valley.

“There was no immediate information about the presence of any high-value target,” an official said.

Armed militants cordoned off the site after the missile strike, residents said. They said four unknown ‘guests’ had arrived late on Wednesday at the house.

A spokesman for the US-led coalition force based in Afghanistan said it had no reports that either it or the Nato-headed force was involved in the strike.

Pakistan’s chief military spokesman Maj-Gen Athar Abbas told AFP that information from the area indicated the deaths were caused by explosive material stored in the house.

“As per our information it was an explosion caused by explosive material in a house,” he said, adding that the blast reportedly killed 10 to 12 people. Their nationalities were not known, he said.

New Message by al-Qaida Deputy Chief

By SALAH NASRAWI – 1 day ago

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — Al-Qaida's deputy leader issued a new video message Wednesday, praising one of the terrorist organization's slain commanders in Afghanistan.

The nine-minute, 59-second message from Ayman al-Zawahri, titled "An Elegy to the Martyred Commander Abu Laith al-Libi," was issued by al-Sahab, the group's media branch.

The video had English subtitles and was followed by a letter addressed to al-Qaida sympathizers and Muslims in general. Its authenticity could not be immediately verified, but SITE and the IntelCenter, two U.S. groups that monitor militant messages, also reported it.

Al-Libi is believed to have been killed by a missile from a U.S. Predator drone that struck his safehouse in Pakistan in late January. He was viewed as a top al-Qaida strategist in neighboring Afghanistan.

Pakistani intelligence considered him the operational commander of al-Qaida in the border region and one of the militant group's most high-profile figures after its leader, Osama bin Laden, and al-Zawahri.

In the message, al-Zawahri described al-Libi as a "knight" of al-Qaida's holy war. He was "a mountain of Jihad and a lion."

The al-Qaida No. 2 implicitly threatened the U.S. and its allies, saying new leaders would replace al-Libi to continue the fight. "You Americans and you the agents of the Americans: (al-Libi and others) are the pioneers of the march and the good omen of a new dawn," he said.

"Every time a martyr falls, another martyr grabs the banner from him, and every time a chief goes down in blood, another chief completes the march after him," he said.

Al-Zawahri, an Egyptian doctor, also lashed out at his former allies of Islamic Jihad in Egypt who have recently called for revising the group's radical ideology. He described the group's leaders, currently held in Egyptian jails, as "hypocrites and followers of despots" for softening their stance.

The video was posted on a Web site that usually releases al-Qaida messages. The site also displayed a banner advertising an upcoming "interview" of al-Zawahri by al-Sahab, with a picture of him in a traditional white Arab robe and black turban, seated before a bookshelf. Such advertisements are usually posted up to 72 hours before the message is released.

Al-Zawahri is believed to play a large role in directing al-Qaida's strategy and issues frequent video and audio messages, often laying out the network's doctrinal line. He issued 15 messages in 2007, and is seen by many counterterrorism experts to be al-Qaida's operational chief, rather than bin Laden.

The message released Wednesday was the first issued by al-Zawahri this year. It followed one on Feb. 6 by Mustafa Abu al-Yazeed, the self-proclaimed leader of the terrorist network's Afghanistan branch.

In that 12-minute video, Abu al-Yazeed said the death of al-Libi and other al-Qaida commanders only strengthened the group's resolve against "infidels."

[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.]