In this bulletin:

• Terrorism the key challenge, Afghan leader tells parliament
• Karzai seeks U.N. clarity on Ashdown's Afghan role
• Afghan president calls for unity against extremism
• Cold, snow kills 300 people in Afghanistan: authority
• Top Afghan official killed
• Roadside Bomb Kills 5 Afghans
• British soldier, Taliban rebels killed in Afghanistan
• UN: More Than One Million People in Afghanistan Need Food
• US Troops Kill, Wound 2 Dozen Taliban
• Ahmadinejad’s orders a positive step: Kabul
• Non-Governmental Security Group Says War in Afghanistan Just Beginning
• NATO tensions surface amid growing pressure in Afghanistan
• France to host int'l conference on development aid for Afghanistan
• EU parliament appeals to Karzai to spare journalist
• Sticks ’n’ Stones and Allies
• Bernier letter attempt to reassure Pakistan
• Keep troops in Kandahar until 2011, Manley to recommend
• CIDA-funded food-for-literacy program makes life easier for Afghan women
• General calls Afghan-bound soldiers best prepared in Canada's history
• Dion will never be pal of soldiers

Terrorism the key challenge, Afghan leader tells parliament

by Waheedullah Massoud Mon Jan 21, KABUL (AFP) - President Hamid Karzai opened the third working year of Afghanistan's post-Taliban parliament saying terrorism was the nation's biggest challenge and must be fought inside and outside the country.

Karzai also paid tribute to eight parliamentarians killed in violence last year, the bloodiest of an insurgency led by the hardline Islamist Tailban who were ousted from government in 2001.

Six of them were killed in Afghanistan's worst suicide bombing, a blast in November that killed nearly 80 people, two-thirds of them school pupils.

"Terrorism is still our main challenge," Karzai told more than 300 members of the upper and lower houses of parliament, the cabinet and other dignitaries gathered for the first session of the year.

He again called for extremism to be fought at its "original sources," a likely reference to neighbouring Pakistan where Afghan and Western officials say Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked rebels have bases.

"Without a broad-based strategy, the fight on terrorism can't be successful and meet its goals," Karzai said.

"Targeting its original sources, drying up its finance sources and stopping the expansion of extremism must be included as the key points in the fight on terrorism."

The president also repeated calls for the tens of thousands of NATO and US-led troops helping his government to coordinate their efforts with Afghan security forces so "the fight on terrorism would be achieved quicker."

This would also help to avoid "mistakes" such as civilian casualties, he said.

Another main challenge was opium production, the president also told the legislators -- who include men accused of atrocities in the country's decades of war and former Taliban officials.

Afghanistan is the world's top opium producer, accounting for more than 90 percent of the global supply of the drug that is the raw ingredient of heroin.

Officials say the Taliban's campaign is funded in part by profits from the drugs trade, which supplies Central Asia and Europe.

"Drugs cultivation, production and smuggling, the existence of international drugs mafia and the terrorism leaders' and drugs mafia connection are another major challenge of our country," he said.

An alliance of Afghan opposition groups and US-led forces overthrew the 1996-2001 Taliban regime when it did not surrender Al-Qaeda leaders after the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

The country was set on an internationally supported path to democracy that included the first full parliamentary elections in September 2005.

The house is due to sit for five years but Karzai has been pushing for an election in 2009, at the same time as the next presidential vote.

The president and his government clashed with parliament on several occasions last year.

One of the biggest disputes was over Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta whom parliament demanded should be sacked over the forced repatriation of hundreds of Afghans from Iran. Karzai refused.

The parliament was meanwhile internationally criticised for expelling for the rest of its term an outspoken female parliamentarian, Malalai Joya, after she compared parliament to a barn.

Her comments referred to "warlords" who have seats despite allegations that they were involved in the 1990s civil war, when around 80,000 people were killed in the capital alone, and whom she has demanded should go on trial.

Karzai seeks U.N. clarity on Ashdown's Afghan role

Reuters / January 21, 2008 - KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said politician Paddy Ashdown cannot become U.N. envoy to Afghanistan unless the world body clarifies his role, state newspapers said on Monday.

A Western source close to talks over the post said last week Ashdown, the former U.N. High Representative and EU special envoy for Bosnia, had agreed with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to be his special envoy for Afghanistan.

The United States wants Ashdown to have greater powers than previous U.N. envoys to coordinate with Karzai's government, the European Union and NATO which commands some 42,000 troops fighting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, Western sources said.

Karzai is wary that a powerful 'super-envoy', particularly one from former colonial power Britain, might make his government look weaker than it already is, diplomats say.

There was "some vagueness" about Ashdown's role, the Kabul Times state newspaper quoted Karzai as telling a cabinet meeting on Sunday, and unless the U.N. cleared it up, Ashdown could not begin his job.

"The administration is trying to resolve the issue with U.N. consent," it quoted the president as saying.

Using the words such as 'super-envoy' will cause indignation among the Afghan people and create difficulties in the coordination and cooperation between the government and the international community, another state-controlled daily said.

"Ashdown should know that he is only the coordinator of U.N. programmes in Afghanistan. He is void of competence to determine our policy," the Anis newspaper said.

The growing Taliban insurgency is benefiting from discontent over the slow pace of development in Afghanistan resulting from poor coordination between U.N. agencies, the 39-nation NATO-led military force, dozens of non-governmental organisations and the Afghan government, analysts say.

Afghan president calls for unity against extremism

KABUL (AFP) — Afghan President Hamid Karzai called on Muslims to unite against "tyrants" carrying out a wave of suicide attacks in the region under the name of Islam.

Muslim nations should work together to safeguard their religion, Karzai told about 2,000 people gathered at a Kabul mosque for Ashura ceremonies to mourn the death of the Prophet Mohammed's grandson in the seventh century.

"Our duty, the duty of Islamic nations and particularly the people of this region, is that we must join hands against those tyrants who, by killing themselves, kill ... Muslims under the cover and the name of Islam," he said.

Hundreds of people, mostly civilians, were killed in Afghanistan last year in more than 140 suicide attacks predominantly carried out by the extremist Taliban.

In the most recent attack in the capital, several Taliban gunmen and suicide bombers stormed the five-star Kabul Serena hotel on Monday and killed at least eight people, including three foreigners.

Pakistan, where many hardliners fled after the Taliban government was toppled in 2001, has also been hit by an increasing number of such attacks.

On Thursday a teenage suicide bomber blew himself up at a packed Shiite mosque in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar as people were marking Ashura. Eight people were killed and 20 wounded, officials said.

Cold, snow kills 300 people in Afghanistan: authority

KABUL, Jan 21, 2008 (AFP) - More than 320 people and thousands of livestock have been killed in Afghanistan this month in freezing weather and the heaviest snowfalls for 15 years, the country's disaster authority said Monday.

The latest figure from Afghanistan's National Disaster Management Authority is triple that issued by the agency five days ago.

The hardest-hit areas have been in the western province of Herat and its neighbouring provinces of Farah, Badghis and Nimroz -- all remote and mountainous regions near the Iranian border, the authority said.

"In Herat (province) alone we have 137 people who have died, mostly from cold," an agency official, Ahmad Shekib Humraz, told AFP. Humraz, who said the snow was the heaviest in 15 years, said freezing temperatures had also killed nearly 10,000 livestock this month.

Snowfalls of up to two metres (nearly seven feet) deep had damaged or blocked several roads, cutting off small communities from important centres, Humraz said.

While causing severe damage, the snow and rain may bode well for agriculture in Afghanistan, which has suffered from a severe drought.

Top Afghan official killed

Kabul, Jan 21 (DPA) A provincial head of Afghanistan's national reconciliation commission was killed by unidentified gunmen in the southern province of Zabul, an official said Monday.

Unidentified armed men, who intercepted Qayyum Mujaddedi's car Sunday afternoon, shot him dead and abducted his driver and one of the guards, said Gulab Shah Alikhel, a spokesman of Zabul's provincial governor.

Mujaddedi's body was found in Kakaran area near Qalat, the capital of Zabul, Alikhel said.

Mujaddedi was the director of the Commission for National Reconciliation, established by the Afghan government to persuade militants to eschew violence and join the government's peace efforts. He was on his way to Kabul.

Roadside Bomb Kills 5 Afghans

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A roadside bomb probably intended for Afghan or NATO forces killed five civilians in a taxi in an unstable part of southern Afghanistan, an official said Sunday.

The explosion late Saturday came in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province, the site of heavy battles between NATO troops and Taliban fighters over the last 18 months.

"Usually the Taliban are planting mines for Afghan and NATO forces, but this time it exploded on civilians," said Shah Baran, the local government leader.

Five civilians were killed and three wounded in the attack, he said.

The Afghanistan NGO Safety Office — a security company that surveys the security situation in Afghanistan for aid workers and other groups — said in a year-end report that 1,977 civilians were killed in insurgency related violence last year.

The report said that insurgent attacks — including suicide and roadside bombs, gunfire, hangings and mortar fire — killed 933 Afghan civilians last year. The report said that international military forces killed 525 Afghan civilians in aerial bombings and ground maneuvers.

An Associated Press count based on official figures found that more than 6,500 people — mostly militants — died in insurgency related violence in 2007, the deadliest year in Afghanistan since the 2001 ouster of the Taliban.

British soldier, Taliban rebels killed in Afghanistan

KABUL (AFP) — A British NATO soldier and seven insurgents were killed in incidents in southern Afghanistan near a town that troops recaptured from Taliban fighters last month, officials said.

The latest deaths in a Taliban-led insurgency came as President Hamid Karzai told parliament that terrorism is the country's chief challenge and must be tackled at its roots, including those outside of the country.

The International Security Assistance Force soldier was killed and five wounded Sunday when a bomb blew up their vehicle near the town of Musa Qala in troubled Helmand province, the Ministry of Defence in London said.

"The company were disrupting enemy forces and reassuring local Afghans when a vehicle they were travelling in was hit by a roadside minestrike," the ministry said in a statement.

The death took to 10 the number of international troops killed in Afghanistan in the past three weeks, mostly in Taliban-led violence.

Seven rebels were also killed near Musa Qala Sunday, the Afghan defence ministry said.

Musa Qala was in Taliban hands for 10 months until it was retaken by Afghan and international troops in December, having served as an important rebel base.

Another rebel fighter was killed Sunday in the neighbouring province of Zabul, the defence ministry said.

The head of a national reconciliation mission in Zabul, Abdul Qayoum Mujadeddi, was also killed Sunday in an incident already reported by police.

His body was found hours after he was captured by Taliban with his driver and bodyguard, who were still missing Monday, police said.

Karzai condemned the killing in a statement Monday, saying it would not stop efforts to promote reconciliation.

Thousands of people have joined up to the reconciliation programme, in which they agree to stop fighting in return for amnesty.

The past year was the deadliest in Afghanistan since the remnants of the 1996-2001 Taliban regime launched an insurgency to topple Karzai's Western-backed government.

The insurgency sees almost daily attacks, including suicide bombings, roadside explosions and guerrilla-type run-and-hit strikes on Afghan and international troops.

Karzai said in an address to the opening of the third working year of the post-Taliban parliament terrorism was the nation's biggest challenge and must be tackled at its bases outside the country, a likely reference to Pakistan.

"Targeting its original sources, drying up its finance sources and stopping the expansion of extremism must be included as the key points in the fight on terrorism," he said.

UN: More Than One Million People in Afghanistan Need Food

By Lisa Schlein – Geneva 20 January 2008

The United Nations says more than a million people in four western provinces of Afghanistan are in urgent need of food assistance. But, UN aid agencies say harsh winter conditions have cut off roads to dozens of villages in the Western and Central Highlands of Afghanistan, making food delivery virtually impossible. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva.

The Western and Central Highlands of Afghanistan are used to cold, snowy conditions. But, this year, the region has been buffeted with unusually heavy snow. And, this is taking a severe toll on the population.

The United Nations estimates at least 200 people, mainly children and elderly people, have died from exposure to cold. Many others have fallen ill. The Provinces of Herat, Farah, Badghis, Ghor in the Western Region and Dai Kundi are severely affected.

UN Humanitarian Spokeswoman Elizabeth Byrs says approximately 100 villages in Ghor are cut off. Avalanches in the area have killed several people. She says all roads are blocked.

"It is very difficult to access the most isolated villages. That is why the delivery of assistance is of concern and it is so difficult because of this extreme weather. And, even flight assistance is very difficult because helicopters or planes cannot fly with such a weather," she said.

As in previous years, UN agencies had pre-positioned stocks of food and other essentials in the region to tide people over the difficult winter period. But the agencies, along with the population, were unprepared for the extreme weather.

Byrs paints a grim picture of what confronts people trapped in these isolated villages. She says food stocks are running out and, for now, it is not possible to replenish them. She says the price of whatever food and fuel is still available is rising steeply.

She says the bad weather has killed about 42,000 goats, sheep and cows, further raising the price of meat.

"Traders who were traveling and bringing food to the local markets cannot travel anymore, cannot access the remote villages, so the markets are closed or without any food to buy," she said. "We would like to provide assistance to those populations very quickly in order to avoid more deaths among the population and among the most vulnerable."

The harsh weather is forecast to last at least another month. The United Nations says food is the greatest need. But it says hundreds of thousands of Afghans in the Western and Central Highlands also need blankets, warm clothing, plastic sheets and fuel for heating to keep out the cold.

US Troops Kill, Wound 2 Dozen Taliban

By JASON STRAZIUSO – KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. and Afghan troops killed or wounded more than two dozen Taliban fighters during a 21-hour battle in eastern Afghanistan that ended Saturday, military officials said.

The battle began Friday when U.S. and Afghan troops attacked a group of insurgents moving into position to attack a base in the eastern mountains of Kunar province, along the border with Pakistan, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said.

U.S. and Afghan forces received intelligence earlier Friday that insurgents were planning a mass attack, it said in a statement.

Kunar province is one of the most violent in the country. U.S. troops stationed there are routinely attacked by Taliban fighters and foreign insurgents allied with al-Qaida.

The U.S. and Afghan troops used mortars, artillery and helicopters to repel the attack. Fighter aircraft also dropped precision-guided bombs, ISAF said.

The mountainous terrain made it difficult to confirm the exact number of insurgent casualties but intelligence reports indicated that more than two dozen fighters were killed or wounded, ISAF said. No U.S. or Afghan forces were wounded or killed, and no civilian casualties were reported, it said.

Fighting in Afghanistan typically falls off during the winter, but sporadic engagements still take place. Last year, U.S. forces in the east saw suspected Taliban fighters move over the border en masse, and warplanes killed or wounded 130 of them.

Last year was Afghanistan's most violent since the 2001 ouster of the Taliban from power. More than 6,500 people — mostly militants — died, according to an Associated Press count based on official figures.

Ahmadinejad’s orders a positive step: Kabul

Online News- KABUL: Kabul has welcomed as a positive step Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejads orders suspending forced eviction of illegal Afghan refugees living in the neighbouring country.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman, addressing a news conference here, characterised Tehrans announcement as a result of hectic efforts by the Afghan government to alleviate the plight of unregistered Afghan citizens in Iran.

The Iranian Embassy in Kabul said the other day resident Ahmadinejad had issued the directives on humanitarian grounds and in deference to warm relations between the two Muslim countries.

Making use of the opportunity, the Iranian government hoped, Afghanistan would put in place the requisite facilities for accommodating the illegal families. Many of them have already been sent back to the conflict-torn country, which says it is unable to absorb large numbers of returnees.

Sultan Ahmad Baheen confirmed: We were formally informed yesterday that Iran has temporarily stopped expelling the Afghans. Its a positive step, particularly in the ongoing winter.

Kabul desired voluntary, not forcible, repatriation of Afghans from all countries, observed the spokesman, who hoped: The Iranian leaders orders would remain in force for a long time. Our demand is a voluntary and honourable return of the Afghans from all countries.

He added the Afghans coming back to their homeland of their own volition were provided full support by the government, which would organise a conference on reviewing the situation of refugees in Kabul this spring. Representative from donor countries will be invited to the moot.

A day earlier, Deputy Minister for Refugees Abdul Qader Ahady tended to be skeptical about the Iranian presidents instructions. In an exclusive chat with Pajhwok Afghan News, he alleged, Tehran had broken a similar promise held out at a meeting in Geneva some two months back.

Asked why he doubted the implementation of Ahmadinejads orders, the minister replied: Those who gave us assurances in Geneva were also genuine representatives of the Iranian government. He accused the neighbouring country of backing out of several commitments made to the Afghan government and the UN refugee agency.

Just a week before Iran asserted its adherence to humanitarian and Islamic considerations, around 5,800 Afghans were driven from that country. Most of them had to suffer tremendous hardships because of the frigid weather and other difficulties.

Answering another query, Baheen said President Hamid Karzai would fly to Switzerland next week to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Apart from other international issues, Afghanistans reconstruction, global assistance for the campaign and NATOs role in restoring peace and stability to the war-devastated country will figure at forum.

Karzai would be accompanied by Foreign Minister Dr Rangin Dadfar Spanta, Finance Minister Anwarul Haq Ahady and advisors to the president on national security and foreign affairs, the spokesman concluded.

Non-Governmental Security Group Says War in Afghanistan Just Beginning

By VOA News - 19 January 2008 - A non-governmental security group says the war in Afghanistan is just beginning, as Taliban militants gained more ground in 2007.

The Afghanistan NGO Security Office or ANSO released a report Saturday, saying 2007 will be looked upon in the future as the year the Taliban seriously rejoined the fight.

The U.S. ousted the Taliban government in 2001, but the report notes that with the Taliban resurgence, it has become obvious their easy departure was more of a strategic retreat than an actual military defeat.

Taliban-related violence surged in Afghanistan last year, and ANSO says the best case scenario for 2008 was more of the same.

Separately, officials Saturday said Afghan and NATO-led troops killed or wounded more than 20 insurgents in the eastern province of Kunar, bordering Pakistan. Officials say the militants were planning an attack on military targets.

Also Saturday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai called on Muslims to unite against terrorists carrying out suicide attacks in the country. Mr. Karzai made the remarks in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, to mark the Muslim observance of Ashura.

Eight people, including at least three foreigners, were killed when militants carried out a suicide attack at the heavily-guarded, luxury Serena Hotel in Kabul on January 14th.

And, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has announced an additional shipment of much-needed bomb-resistant vehicles to Afghanistan.

Troops in Afghanistan and Iraq are often killed in roadside bombings caused by improvised explosive devices or IEDs.

NATO tensions surface amid growing pressure in Afghanistan

BRUSSELS (AFP) — Tensions between NATO allies, notably with the United States, and doubts about the powers of a new UN envoy are a sign of growing pressure as the alliance struggles in Afghanistan, experts say.

A new peak was reached last week, when US Defense Secretary Robert Gates hit out at allied operations against Taliban fighters in south Afghanistan, which led to the Netherlands summoning the US ambassador for an explanation.

"The bitter criticism by Gates of the way that close US allies like Britain are conducting anti-insurgency operations is the sign of growing anger with the Europeans in Washington," said Joseph Herontin at the RMES network of strategic studies in Brussels.

While Gates later embarked on a fence mending exercise by praising those in the south -- like Britain, Canada, Denmark and the Netherlands -- some of his criticism was due, the Belgian expert said.

"Without sufficient numbers on the ground, the Dutch troops, for example, tend to use their artillery and this causes deaths among the civilian population," he said.

However, Herontin said, "in terms of counter-insurgency, British, Dutch and Canadian forces are not so bad, and the Americans aren't as good as Mr Gates suggests."

Elsewhere, Germany's former chief of defence staff Klaus Naumann made an extraordinary outburst last week, accusing Berlin of a lack of solidarity.

He was critical of its refusal to deploy German soldiers from the north to more dangerous areas near the mountainous southern border with Pakistan.

"The time has come for Germany to think whether it wants to be a reliable alliance partner," he said."The obligation doesn't stop in certain geographical regions."

Wherever the troops may be based, overall numbers remain a concern for commanders on the ground.

They are demanding an additional 7,500 troops, even though the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) keeps growing -- from around 33,000 in January 2007 to some 42,000 in December.

On Tuesday, the United States said it would send 3,200 marines, with about two-thirds to be deployed to the south for seven months, in time for yet another anticipated Taliban-led offensive in the spring.

The fighting has left around 6,000 people dead, including some 220 international soldiers trying to help spread the rule of President Hamid Karzai's government to outlying areas, as well as foster reconstruction.

But no matter how much firepower they have, according to Ronald Asmus, expert at the German Marshall Fund, success will not be achieved until there is good governance and the Afghan army can handle security.

He said that ISAF commanders "know that even if they do everything right militarily, we can lose this war."

Indeed most experts agree that the biggest problem lies outside the military sphere and is due to the lack of a serious plan and vision for what is NATO's most ambitious mission ever and its links to civilian efforts.

"The most glaring challenge is the lack of a coordinated strategy both at the military level and in the area of post-conflict reconstruction," said Julianne Smith at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies.

To address that in part, the United Nations is due to appoint soon British diplomat Paddy Ashdown -- an energetic former envoy to Bosnia and once a marine -- in a new more powerful civilian position.

But it is unclear if he will be able to coordinate the strands of international and Afghan efforts.

"Unless the coordinator presides over a pooled international budget for Afghanistan, including security sector reform, development aid and counter narcotics, he will just become another agency that needs to be coordinated," said Barnett Rubin, a pre-eminent Afghan expert at New York University.

The tensions, due to this glaring need for a comprehensive strategy, are set to cast a cloud over the upcoming summit of NATO leaders, in Bucharest from April 2 to 4.

France to host int'l conference on development aid for Afghanistan

By ASSOCIATED PRESS – 01.18.08 - France will host an international aid conference for Afghanistan, President Nicolas Sarkozy said Friday.

Sarkozy has boosted the French presence in Afghanistan since his election in May, and visited French troops there and Afghan President Hamid Karzai last month.

"According to an agreement with President Karzai, France will host the next conference for support to Afghanistan, and will reinforce its involvement," Sarkozy said in a New Year's speech to diplomats in Paris.

No date for the conference was set. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who oversaw an international donors conference for the Palestinians last month, will organize the Afghanistan meeting.

EU parliament appeals to Karzai to spare journalist

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European parliament appealed to Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday to intervene to spare the life of a young journalist after a report that religious leaders demanded he be killed for blasphemy.

Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, 23, a reporter of the Jahan-e Naw daily paper and a journalism student at Balkh University in northern Afghanistan, was detained three months ago.

He was accused of mocking Islam and the Koran and of distributing an article which said the Prophet Mohammad had ignored the rights of women.

The Paris-based worldwide media watchdog Reporters without Borders (RsF) said on Thursday a group of Afghan religious leaders called the Council of Mullahs had called for him to be executed.

Blasphemy is punishable by death in Islam and Afghanistan is a deeply conservative Islamic country.

"I would like to appeal to you in the strongest possible terms to use your good offices to intervene in this matter and ensure that the life of Mr Perwiz Kambakhsh is spared," the European parliament's speaker Hans Gert Poettering said in a letter to Karzai.

He said the Afghan government should be supporting efforts to improve conditions for women and added: "It is essential that persons working for civil rights and freedom of expression be afforded sufficient legal protection."

Since the ousting of the Taliban's radical Islamic government in 2001, dozens of newspapers and other publications, some funded by foreigners, have sprung up in a country enjoying an unprecedented wave of press freedom.

Sticks ’n’ Stones and Allies

NYTimes editorial 01.20.08

For the second time in a month, we saw Defense Secretary Robert Gates making headlines — and raising hackles — last week by publicly faulting NATO for what it is doing, and not doing well enough, in Afghanistan.

The public upbraiding of allies, especially those sacrificing lives, is risky. But Mr. Gates’s frustration is understandable given the need to fight a resurgent Taliban and Al Qaeda with too few troops and too little aid and the growing risk that the war could well be lost. Understandable, too, was the administration’s decision to send another 3,200 marines to Afghanistan after the allies refused to meet the need.

The administration and NATO have begun three top-to-bottom reviews of Afghanistan policy, but they won’t be completed for months and the threat is growing daily. A Taliban offensive is expected in the spring.

President Hamid Karzai and his government are weak. Pakistan, with Washington’s acquiescence, has not done nearly enough to root out Al Qaeda along Afghanistan’s border. NATO has about 40,000 troops in Afghanistan, but many countries seem to be losing enthusiasm for the effort. Mr. Gates added to months of rising U.S.-European tensions over the size of deployments when he told The Los Angeles Times that some NATO forces “don’t know how to do counterinsurgency operations.” He amended his remarks, but they struck a particular nerve with Britain, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands, whose troops are taking casualties in southern Afghanistan, where insurgents are most active.

Much is right about American complaints that NATO countries are not fully prepared to fight. Defense budgets and troop levels are insufficient; the Europeans lack necessary weapons. Countries like France, Germany, Italy and Spain place so many restrictions on their forces in Afghanistan that they are hobbling the effort.

When NATO took command in Afghanistan, many members expected to focus on development and stabilization, not combat. Many European leaders still have not told their constituents why fighting the Taliban and Al Qaeda is crucial. But the United States also made serious mistakes, including failing to deploy enough troops and shifting its attention to Iraq.

By this time next year, President Bush will be gone, along with Europe’s antipathy toward him. But it may be too late to salvage Afghanistan, especially if political unrest and a Taliban-Al Qaeda surge in Pakistan causes a crisis there. Afghanistan is NATO’s first out-of-area mission. What happens to the alliance if it fails?

Bernier letter attempt to reassure Pakistan

Saturday, January 19, 2008 - Canwest News Service

OTTAWA -- Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier sought to reassure Pakistan on Friday and distance the federal government from controversial comments made by Opposition Leader Stephane Dion about Pakistan's role in the war in neighbouring Afghanistan.

In a letter to Pakistan's high commissioner, Musa Javed Chohan, Bernier said Canada appreciates Pakistan's contribution to the fight against terrorism and expressed sympathy over the casualties it has suffered. He also insisted that the Conservative government's policy toward Pakistan remains consistent.

"Canada will continue to work with Pakistani and Afghan officials to improve the management of your shared border," Bernier wrote. "I believe it is necessary for me to reaffirm Canada's position at this time due to recent remarks made by the leader of the official Opposition which do not reflect the views of the government."

The diplomatic flap erupted Wednesday when Dion said success in countering terrorists in Afghanistan will only come with intervention in Pakistan. The Liberal leader hinted that NATO could take action in Pakistan if the Pakistani government isn't able to deal with the porous border "on their own."

"We could consider that option with the NATO forces in order to help Pakistan help us pacifyAfghanistan,"Dion said while in Quebec City. "As long as we don't solve the problem in Pakistan, I don't see how we can solve it in Afghanistan,"he said.

Pakistan responded sharply by calling Dion's comments "irrational" and making it clear the country would not allow any foreign forces on its soil. In a statement from the high commission released Thursday, Pakistan said it did not need any help, as Dion had suggested.

"The sovereignty of the state will not be compromised at any level as the government and people of Pakistan are fully capable of handling their security matters themselves," it read.

Dion later insisted that he meant NATO countries should apply diplomatic pressure on Pakistan to have its military deal more forcefully with Afghan insurgents who take advantage of the porous border between the two countries to evade NATO and Afghan forces in Afghanistan.

That clarification prompted even more criticism from the federal government and other critics who said Dion should know better, that NATO is a military alliance, not a diplomatic one.

Keep troops in Kandahar until 2011, Manley to recommend

BRIAN LAGHI - Globe and Mail Update January 21, 2008

OTTAWA — John Manley's report on Canada's future role in Afghanistan will likely recommend that troops stay in Afghanistan until 2011 while also criticizing the federal government agency responsible for delivering aid to the war-torn nation, CTV News reported last night.

The widely anticipated report from the former Liberal foreign affairs minister is also expected to criticize NATO for not taking on its share of the burden and will say that Canada's role should be reconfigured from counterinsurgency to training the Afghan police. The Canadian International Development Agency and Foreign Affairs will also come under fire for their aid programs, CTV said.

Mr. Manley, who was asked by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to chair a blue-chip panel to make recommendations on the mission, is expected to issue his report Tuesday.

Earlier Sunday, a University of Toronto expert said she expected that the report's analysis of Canada's effectiveness will be just as critical as its recommendations. Most informed sources have suggested over the past week or two that Mr. Manley will likely recommend retaining a Canadian presence in the area.

“I think the story of the report will not be only in the recommendations, but in the analysis that the commission does,” Janice Gross Stein, co-author of The Unexpected War, a book on how Canada got involved in the Afghan mission, told CTV's weekly current events program Question Period.

“I think we're going to have a look, a hard look at counterinsurgency, which we've really never had before.”

Ms. Stein said she believes the current strategy has not been an effective one. Sources told CTV that individuals Mr. Manley has spoken to believe that the report will be hard-hitting.

“I think Mr. Manley will really focus on effectiveness. There's no point in having a role, but not being able to be effective in that role,” she said.

“I'd be very surprised, knowing Mr. Manley, if he didn't have something to say about what it's going to take to be effective.”

On the same program, a military expert said Mr. Manley has been clear recently that Afghanistan has given Canada a significant role in the world and it shouldn't be given up easily.

“I would hope that would be reflected in his report,” said Colonel Alain Pellerin, the executive director of the Conference of Defence Associations.

The appointment of Mr. Manley in October as head of the panel raised eyebrows among some Liberals. But Mr. Manley insisted he still remains a strong Liberal.

The Conservative government is in favour of extending the current military mission, and a parliamentary vote on the mission is expected this spring.

The panel has been asked to examine four options including the status quo; complete withdrawal from Afghanistan; a transfer to another region of the country; or refocusing efforts on reconstruction that would allow for a new military contingent from another country to take the Canadian combat role. When his appointment was announced, Mr. Manley said he would not be restricted to the four broad policy options enumerated by Mr. Harper.

At the time, Mr. Manley said the panel would canvass a cross-section of specialists on foreign relations, defence and foreign aid. He said the panel would visit Afghanistan and meet with Canada's partners in the Afghan mission.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay, who recently visited the war-torn country, has made no secret of his minority government's desire to stay until 2011 — and possibly even longer. “We do not want to leave work undone. We want to make sure Afghanistan is a fully functional, secure, self-sustaining country,” he told reporters in Afghanistan last month. “That's the mission. And we want to complete that mission.”

On Monday, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion reiterated his call to alter the Afghan mission, saying Canada's goal should be to end its combat operations to focus on reconstruction, development and training Afghan soldiers and police to increase security.

"We will not abandon Afghanistan," Mr. Dion said at a Liberal caucus retreat in Kitchener, Ont., Monday morning.

"After February 2009 what we want is a mission to help Afghanis to build that country; a mission in the tradition of Canada."

Mr. Dion and and deputy Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff made a surprise whirlwind tour of Afghanistan earlier this month, visiting President Hamid Karzai in Kabul and Canadian soldiers and civilians stationed around Kandahar.

"You feel very proud to be a Canadian there when you see what our military staff, diplomats and others are all doing," Mr. Dion said of the trip. "We're very proud of our country and our generosity."

With files from Darren York

CIDA-funded food-for-literacy program makes life easier for Afghan women

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Within the gates of a private walled compound in the heart of Kandahar city along what is an otherwise unassuming street, a sprawling home has been transformed into a safe haven where women beyond school age go to learn to read and write.

Inside the dimly lit, narrow basement room, more than a dozen of them are discussing a chapter about the health benefits of vegetables as their teacher scribbles on a small blackboard at the head of the class.

Not unlike your typical Grade 1 classroom, crudely drawn pictures of fruit and flowers line the walls - remnants of an earlier exercise aimed at teaching basic math skills.

"During the Taliban time there were no girls schools," explained 19-year-old Shakila Rahmatullah, who unlike many Afghan women her age, isn't married and therefore doesn't have the responsibility of a home and family. "There was no opportunity for girls to go to school."

For 37-year-old Malika Sahak, school came to an abrupt end when she got married. After bearing seven children and maintaining a household, she'd forgotten most of what she'd once learned in school.

Like many of the women here who are either too old to try and reintegrate into regular, government run public schools or who've fallen too far behind their peers, she was thrilled to learn adult literacy classes were being offered to area women within walking distance of her home.

And not only would she get the benefit of an education, she would get a 50 kilogram bag of wheat, 1 kilogram bag of salt, 8 kilogram bag of beans and 3.7 kilogram container of oil to take home every two months.

While her husband is "an open minded person" who supports her return to the classroom, she knows other women who face beatings if they even leave their homes.

So for many women, the joint UNICEF-World Food Program (WFP) literacy initiative presents the perfect bargaining tool. "They are coming out on the pretext that they're bringing in food to the house, but in reality they are learning," Sam Mawunganidze of UNICEF said.

"There are some of these family members who say 'Yes, go. At least there is food. Yes we can sacrifice you not doing the household activities because we know you are bringing in food."'

Noting many of the women come from poor families and would otherwise be spending their days working as maids in other people's homes to earn money for food, Heera Shrestha of WFP said participation in the program is a no-brainer.

"This is a kind of income for their family for which they had to slug washing somebody's clothes or cleaning toilets," he said. "Now they don't have to do that and they are getting an education, knowledge and household income."

While some still suggest Kandahar men don't want their women to be educated, enrolment in the program appears to tell a different story.

What started in 2005 with about 400 students, both male and female, grew to some 2,700 in 2006. Last year's first time $1.5 million infusion from the Canadian International Development Agency saw enrolment jump to 6,000, about 80 per cent of them women.

While girls now comprise a good portion of the elementary school student population from Grades 1-4, enrolment tends to fall off by Grade 5 as the girls blossom into young women.

The security situation still in many ways deters fathers from sending their girls to school beyond Grade 4, Mawunganidze said, noting schools are often a significant distance from home and would require transportation which could be expensive.

While fathers are more apt to let their sons walk to school, such is not the case for girls, he added. Mawunganidze said a shortage of female teachers has also deterred many families from sending their girls to school in later years.

"It's not them saying we don't want them to go to school," Mawunganidze said. "We haven't provided the environment."

That is until now. Because the 174 literacy classes offered in and around Kandahar city take place within the local community, often in homes donated for the purpose by their owners for two hours a day, five days a week, accessibility is seldom an issue.

At the end of the 10 month program, the women - who range in age from 15 to 45 - receive a certificate and about 700 of them have already expressed interest in moving on to vocational training.

Given the drought of female teachers, many are also hoping to one day pass on the lessons they've learned to others. The teachers, of which there are now about 200, receive a slightly larger food ration for their efforts.

While some have criticized the program for poorly monitoring the classes to ensure teachers aren't just collecting food while delivering substandard lessons, most agree their hearts are in the right place.

"Education makes a person self-sufficient," said Sayeda Achekzai, a nurse and mother of six whose been participating in the program as a teacher for the last three years.

Knowing how to read and write, she said, gives women the confidence they need to leave their homes and function on their own without fear of misinterpreting things and embarrassing themselves.

"Education is power," she said. "Before these women were blind. They couldn't' read a thing and now they can understand where they're going."

General calls Afghan-bound soldiers best prepared in Canada's history

CFB SHILO, Man. - Family was the dominant theme as hundreds of Afghan-bound soldiers from Manitoba were recognized Saturday at a ceremonial farewell.

Hundreds of soldiers dressed in arid-pattern combat uniforms, many accompanied by loved ones, stood shoulder-to-shoulder as Brig.-Gen. Mark Skidmore talked to the departing troops at the Shilo base.

For Master Cpl. Michael Bursey, the farewell ceremony was important to his family, especially when Skidmore approached his sons - Noah, 9, and Damien, 6 - after the speech.

"That was certainly the highlight for me. He took the time when he was leaving to come over," the medic said, an arm around each teary-eyed son. The closer it gets to the day he leaves, it gets a little scarier and a little more daunting, says Bursey's wife Sheila.

"I've been trying to put up a brave front right from the get-go, and saying it's no big deal," she said, adding quickly, "and I do. It's his job."

Because he joined the Canadian Forces after Sept. 11, 2001, she says the couple knew what they were getting into.

"We knew going in that he was joining a military that was going to war." And that military, Skidmore told the soldiers, is the best-prepared force Canada has produced.

"Producing world-class, war-winning teams such as yours takes a lot of hard work and co-ordination, and these formations really did an outstanding job behind the scenes to enable a transformation into the world-class mission elements you are today," Skidmore said.

The 2,500-person task force heading to Afghanistan is made up mostly of soldiers from Western Canada. About 400 reservists from British Columbia to northwestern Ontario will join 800 Manitoba soldiers from units including Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry and the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery.

More than 1,000 soldiers are from Edmonton, where Skidmore gave a speech with a similar theme Thursday - the same day U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates tried to smooth relations with Canada after he was quoted being critical of NATO's work in Afghanistan.

Skidmore did not directly address Gates's comments, but instead offered thanks for the work the soldiers have done and the sacrifices their families have made.

"To you and your families, I offer the thanks of all Canadians for your most meaningful, personal contribution to Canada's international standing, and to our legitimacy on the world stage as a credible and respected voice in this world," Skidmore said.

Bursey says he tries not to pay too much attention to the politics. "All that stuff can be saved for someone higher than me. I don't concern myself with it, and neither does my family," said Bursey.

Treasury Board president Vic Toews said the troops have dedicated their skills to a noble cause, and he echoed the family theme.

"Military families are the lifeblood of communities like this one, and those military families make difficult sacrifices every day," said the Manitoba MP.

Part of a large training complex at the Manitoba military hub was turned into a mini-carnival Saturday. Children bounced around inside inflatable structures, played video games on projector screens, and soldiers offered tours of military vehicles.

Dion will never be pal of soldiers

Edmunton Sun 01.18.08 - From his visit last weekend to Afghanistan, it seems clear that if Stephane Dion ever becomes prime minister of Canada, the Armed Forces will be reduced to their previous depleted strength and their role limited as it was in the Trudeau years.

Jean Chretien, too, robbed the military -- preferring a $500 million penalty rather than honouring a contract to re-equip our soldiers and sailors with EH101 helicopters.

Unlike Deputy Leader Michael Ignatieff, who accompanied him to Kabul and Kandahar for a quick look-see, Dion has little appreciation, empathy or understanding of soldiers or things military. Come to think of it, he probably viscerally and intellectually dislikes soldiers.

In his press conference on leaving Afghanistan, Dion seemed to think our role should consist of turning soldiers into social workers -- no more seek and destroy stuff our troops have been doing so effectively.

Instead he wants our troops building schools, enhancing women's rights, digging wells for fresh water, training and assisting local communities. Silly ass. What escapes Dion's limited comprehension is that our troops have been doing all this social work stuff from day one, as well as kicking butt of the Taliban.

How can there be effective reconstruction if the Taliban retain a strong and malignant presence?

Ignatieff seems to realize this, and while careful not to contradict his boss, has acknowledged that the Taliban are a malignancy that must be exorcised. The weekend in Afghanistan was a first for Dion.

Ignatief has been there three times -- first when the Taliban was savaging the people, forcing the burka on women, stoning female offenders, lopping of hands of some, shooting others in an empty Soviet-built swimming pool.

If he had more nerve, Dion would probably echo the NDP's Jack Layton who wants all our troops immediately pulled out of Afghanistan. Layton wants them sent to Darfur, if his past statements mean anything.

("Exactly the kind of peacekeeping role that Canadians have always supported," he has said).

To paraphrase Bill Clinton's view of Barack Obama: "Give us a break!" The logical solution to genocidal horror in Darfur is to change the government in Khartoum. Is that what Layton wants Canadian soldiers doing?

The trouble with Dion's trip to Afghanistan is that he'll now pose as an expert, and use his brief visit to justify his every prejudice about that country, and our military's role. His future Parliamentary debates will aim at further curbing military competence.

Layton, for his part, demeans the panel chaired by former Liberal cabinet minister John Manley that's due to submit recommendations on Afghanistan. He says it is too "pro-American" and that he won't co-operate with it or NATO.

With Layton and Dion leading opposition parties, one would think a federal election would be a coronation for Stephen Harper's Conservatives. Not so. Unless the polls are wrong, Liberals and Conservatives are about equal, and an election would return another minority government.

The pity is that the party leaders all seem unable to connect with voters. None of them instill confidence, none has the personality to lead a parade.

To the dismay of some, the Canadian public likes and trusts its military. Gen. Rick Hillier, personifying the Armed Forces, is more popular and trusted than any politician. Perhaps this is more a condemnation of politicians than an endorsement of him, but it's a fact, and a reason why the mutterings of either Dion or Layton don't deserve much attention.

One hopes Harper holds steady on Afghanistan, and listens to realists and humanitarians -- our soldiers.

[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.]