In this bulletin:

• Police Killed in Afghan Operation
• Coalition Air Strike Kills Taliban, Afghan Police
• Attacks on Afghan Students Up Sharply
• Reporter death penalty not final: Afghan information ministry
• Karzai Warns of Spreading Terrorism
• U.S. Commander Orders Plans on Pakistan
• Afghan Attacks Drop as Al-Qaeda Focuses on Pakistan, U.S. Says
• Allies will ante up troops: Manley
• Manley urges `consensus' on Afghanistan
• Liberals keep options open on Afghan mission in wake of Manley report
• Redirect Afghan aid
• Canada quietly halts prisoner transfers
• In Kabul, Shattered Illusions

Police Killed in Afghan Operation

By RAHIM FAIEZ – KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Nine Afghan policemen were killed Thursday during an anti-Taliban operation by U.S.-led coalition troops in central Afghanistan, officials said.

Separately on Thursday, a NATO soldier was killed and two others were wounded when an explosion struck their patrol in southern Afghanistan, an alliance statement said, without giving their nationalities or the exact location of the blast.

The nine police, including a district police chief, died in Ghazni province during an operation that included U.S. ground forces and airstrikes, said a provincial official, Habeb-ul Rahman. Two civilians also died. It was unclear whether Afghan troops took part.

The U.S.-led coalition said it killed "several insurgents" and detained nine others during the operation, which targeted a Taliban commander associated with suicide bombings in Ghazni. The two sides exchanged fire and airstrikes were called in.

Afghan police officials in Ghazni, who spoke on condition of anonymity since they were not authorized to speak to the media, said the police appeared to have been killed by airstrikes, which also destroyed several houses.

Coalition spokesman Maj. Chris Belcher said four policemen were wounded by insurgents and that the coalition was looking into the reports of the police deaths.

However, an area resident named Ismail, who like many Afghans goes by only one name, said police approached the area as the U.S.-led operation was under way, and were attacked by American troops.

Hundreds of angry people protested the killings in Ghazni city and shouted anti-American slogans, Rahman said.

The bodies of the policemen, some showing bullet wounds, were taken to Ghazni's hospital. A tape obtained by the AP Television News shows a bullet-riddled police vehicle close to the area where American troops conducted the operation.

Faced with troop shortages, U.S. and NATO-led troops rely heavily on the use of airpower in their fight against the Taliban and other militants in Afghanistan. Such tactics have caused many civilian casualties in past years, and at times caused friction with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has urged caution and coordination with Afghan authorities.

U.S. and NATO officials accuse militants of using civilians as human shields.

Coalition Air Strike Kills Taliban, Afghan Police

By VOA News - 24 January 2008

Afghan officials say at least eight Afghan policemen and several suspected Taliban insurgents were killed during an operation by U.S.-led coalition forces in Ghazni province Thursday.

U.S. military officials confirmed the attack in a village outside Ghazni town, southwest of Kabul.  They say several insurgents were killed when ground troops called in an air strike after coming under fire. Military officials say they were checking reports of police casualties.

Separately, one NATO soldier was killed and two others wounded when a roadside blast struck their patrol in southern Afghanistan Thursday.  NATO did not disclose the nationalities of the soldiers, or the site of the attack.

U.S. and NATO-led forces depend on air strikes in their fight against Taliban and other militants throughout Afghanistan.

In the past, air strikes have resulted in civilian casualties and property damage, prompting Afghan President Hamid Karzai to urge caution and more coordination with Afghan authorities. U.S. and NATO officials accuse militants of using civilians as human shields.

Attacks on Afghan Students Up Sharply

By JASON STRAZIUSO – KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The number of students and teachers killed in Taliban attacks has tripled in the past year in a campaign to close schools and force teenage boys to join the Islamic militia, Afghanistan's education minister says.

While the overall state of Afghan education shows improvement, Education Ministry numbers point to a sharp decline in security for students, teachers and schools in the south, where the Taliban thrives: The number of students out of classes because of security concerns has hit 300,000 since March 2007, compared with 200,000 in the previous 12 months, while the number of schools closing has risen from 350 to 590.

The Taliban strategy is deliberate: "to close these schools down so that the children and primarily the teenagers that are going to the schools — the boys — have no other option but to join the Taliban," Education Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday.

The Taliban know that educated Afghans won't join the militants, so a closed school leaves students with two options — to join the Taliban or "to cross the border and go into those hate madrassas," Atmar said, referring to Islamic seminaries in Pakistan where "they will be professionally trained as terrorists."

Wakil Ahmad Khan, a top official at Pakistan's religious affairs ministry, said Pakistani "madrassas are doing a wonderful job by providing education to millions of students" and "if the Afghan officials have any such information, they should share it with Pakistan's Foreign Ministry."

Attacks on schools still in operation have actually fallen in the last 10 months — to 98 from 187 in the same period of 2006, Atmar said, attributing the drop to a community defense initiative. But the Taliban have switched to targeting students on their way to and from school or in other places where they congregate.

The U.N. said it couldn't confirm that Taliban fighters were upping efforts to recruit schoolboys, and no educational aid organizations that could confirm Atmar's claims are working in provinces such as Helmand in the dangerous south.

Adam Rutland, a spokesman at the British reconstruction team in Helmand province, said the perception in Helmand province was that more schools were open than in the past, although he added that it's well known that disaffected and poor young men are a recruiting base for the Taliban.

Atmar said 147 students and teachers have been killed in Taliban attacks since mid-March, compared with 46 in the previous year. The 147 include 58 students and teachers killed in a single bombing and gunfire attack in Baghlan province in November. The number of students and teachers wounded has gone from 46 to 200, he said.

Most of the schools closed for security reasons are in the south. In Helmand, the world's largest opium poppy growing region, 177 schools are closed, along with 150 in nearby Kandahar province, Atmar said.

He said dozens of students he talked with in Helmand province recently told him the Taliban are pushing them to enlist. Some 1,100 students from outlying areas are traveling to the relative safety of the Helmand provincial capital of Lashkar Gah to attend class. Atmar said he hopes soon to provide housing and food for these students.

Of the 13 districts in Helmand, seven have no schools in operation, said Sayed Abrar Agha, the director of education in Helmand. District leaders like Agha provide the figures that Atmar cites.

Agha said he recently visited the town of Musa Qala — which was controlled by the Taliban until last month — and the head education official refused to talk to him.

"He's still afraid of the Taliban and doesn't want to meet with government officials," Agha said.

Atmar predicted attacks on students and teachers would continue to increase unless the international community and the Afghan government delivered protection.

Still, overall there is good news in Afghanistan's educational comeback since the days of the Taliban, when girls couldn't attend schools and fewer than 1 million boys did. Some 5.8 million students now attend class, up from 5.4 million a year ago, 35 percent of them female, Atmar said.

The Education Ministry's goal is that within four years 75 percent of all boys will be in classes — up from roughly 50 percent currently — and 60 percent of all girls — up from less than 30 percent today.

Schools also suffer from a shortage of qualified teachers, particularly female ones, and of infrastructure.

U.S. forces in the eastern province of Kunar are linking Afghan children with schools in the U.S., Italy and Germany that can supply pens, notebooks and chalk, the military said Wednesday.

"Being in the U.S., it is hard to visualize the lack of resources they have here," Army Capt. Jay S. VanDenbos, 30, from Tahlequah, Okla., was quoted as saying in a military news release.

Teachers are underpaid, and of Afghanistan's 9,400 schools, only 40 percent have proper facilities, he said. "Ninety percent of the schools are open-air schools, which are sometimes a tarp and a dirt floor. They'll have a rock that they use as a chalk board, and kids sit underneath the tarp and learn."

"Most of the kids want to learn. They yearn for knowledge," said VanDenbos. "Anytime anyone goes on patrols, the kids are screaming to 'give me pen, give me pen.'"

Reporter death penalty not final: Afghan information ministry

KABUL (AFP) — Afghanistan's information ministry said Thursday a court's decision to sentence an Afghan reporter to death on blasphemy charges was not final and the case would be handled "very carefully."

However, the case involving 23-year-old Perwiz Kambakhsh did not relate to his journalistic activities and therefore was not a matter for the ministry, which handles media matters, it said in a statement.

The primary court in the northern province of Balkh issued the death penalty for Kambakhsh on Tuesday for distributing articles downloaded from the Internet that are said to question the Koran -- which is a crime in Islamic law.

"The ministry is concerned about Perwiz Kambakhsh's case," the ministry statement said.

"But his arrest and sentence given to him has not been in relation with his journalistic activities and thus has no connection with the work of this ministry," it added.

Afghan and international media rights groups say the case is about basic democratic rights and comes amid increasing pressure on journalists. They have called on President Hamid Karzai to intervene.

Kambakhsh, who was arrested three months ago, is a volunteer reporter on a small newspaper called Jahan-e Naw ("The New World") in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif and a media student at Balkh University.

The small daily has not published for about two months.

The information ministry however expressed optimism that the country's judiciary system would make sure proper justice was applied.

"The ministry is confident that since the primary court's ruling is not the final decision, Afghanistan's judicial system will handle issue of death penalty very carefully and implement justice," it said.

Karzai Warns of Spreading Terrorism

By GEORGE JAHN – DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Afghanistan's president warned Wednesday that the whole world could suffer from the "wildfire" of terrorism engulfing his region, a grim message for a meeting of political and business leaders already fretting over the threat of global recession.

Formally opening the World Economic Forum, Hamid Karzai gave a sobering rundown of recent attacks attributed to Islamic extremists — among them the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and bombings in Afghanistan and Pakistan that have killed hundreds, including many children.

With militant violence still on the rise in the two nations six years after the ouster of the Taliban, "it seems like the mutant of extremism is dangerously unleashed across the region," Karzai said. The trend "bodes terribly badly for the whole world," he said.

In an apparent allusion to Pakistan — whose president, Pervez Musharraf, originally supported the Taliban — Karzai called terrorism "a venomous snake that some among us tried to nurture and befriend at the expense of others, which I hope we realize now was a mistake."

Musharraf, now a U.S. ally in the war on extremist groups, has often been accused by Karzai of not doing enough to shut down sanctuaries for Taliban fighters in Pakistan's tribal region along the border with Afghanistan.

The Pakistani president is attending the conference in Davos as well, as part of a European tour seeking to reassure the West that he is in control of his country after months of political instability and increased attacks by Islamic militants.

Both leaders held separate talks Wednesday with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, but there was no indication they would meet with each other.

Musharraf spokesman Rashid Qureshi told The Associated Press the meeting with Rice "went very well," saying there was "total consonance and unanimity of views" on joint efforts to fight terrorism.

How to stem terrorism is one of the themes at this year's World Economic Forum, along with dealing with climate change, implementing a workable peace process in the Middle East and discussing how technology is ushering in a new age of social networking that knows no borders.

Still, with many participants sharing a realization that economic downturn can breed political turmoil, the main focus Wednesday was on the chances for worldwide recession.

World markets remained volatile Wednesday, with Asia closing up and Wall Street staging a stunning comeback but European stocks falling despite the U.S. Federal Reserve's surprise interest rate cut the day before aimed at shoring up the sagging American economy. The fireworks added weight to fears at Davos that the world could be sliding into recession.

Rice, in a nod to the economic anxiety, told an audience of chief executives, politicians and others that the U.S. economy is resilient and will remain an "engine of growth."

She urged the world to "have confidence in the underlying strength of the global economy — and act with confidence on the basis of the principles that lead to success in today's world."

But many leading participants shared the view that the world cannot escape the effects of America's economic slowdown, marked by the subprime mortgage crisis, loss of business confidence, poor corporate profits and a sharp drop in stock prices.

A year ago, Davos attendees predicted the global economy would move ahead with confidence. But now many seemed to share a glum mood that the world could be sliding into recession.

"We're in Round 1 or 2. This is a 15-round fight," said Guillermo Ortiz, governor of the Central Bank of Mexico, suggesting the worst might yet be coming.

Billionaire George Soros called for a radical cure — the imposition of heavy regulation and oversight over financial markets whose participants he accused of using "excessive" freedom to create "not a normal crisis but the end of an era."

"Authorities ought to go in and examine the books" of financial institutions, and provide assurance that "they will rescue and even take over banks that become insolvent," Soros said.

He argued the U.S. Federal Reserve has kept interest rates too low for too long.

Soros predicted a realignment of power and wealth, with the developed world suffering a recession while the developing world continues to grow.

Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin suggested his country and others with large gold and currency reserves could help the world economy weather the crisis by providing a financial cushion.

"Of course, we have become more dependent on the world economy, and this (crisis) will affect us, but we have a good system of defense and immunity," he said. "And therefore I think it will affect us less than the leading markets."

Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, said Asia, too, might weather the storm. If China's economic growth is reduced this year to 7-8 percent instead of the 10-11 percent it has registered in recent years, "that's not bad," he said.

Others painted a bleak picture for the United States.

Nouriel Roubini, chairman of New York-based Roubini Global Economics, said it was no longer a case of America sneezing and the rest of the world catching a cold, because "in this case the U.S. is going to have a protracted case of pneumonia."

"It's not about a soft landing or a hard landing," he said, but "rather how hard a landing it will be."

Still, some were more upbeat in the wake of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank's decision to cut its benchmark refinancing rate to 3.5 percent from 4.25 percent.

"The United States economy will correct itself," said David O'Reilly, chairman and CEO of Chevron Corp. "I'm an optimist when it comes to the length of what may be a slowdown or a mild recession. ... the outlook is still pretty good."

U.S. Commander Orders Plans on Pakistan

By ROBERT BURNS – 12 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The commander of U.S. forces in Central Asia has launched planning for more extensive use of U.S. troops to train Pakistani armed forces, a senior defense official said Wednesday.

Adm. William J. Fallon, commander of U.S. Central Command, issued a planning order, an internal instruction to lower-level commanders, to propose ideas for a long-term approach to helping Pakistan combat what has become an expanding, homegrown insurgency that threatens the stability of the government.

Fallon's intent is to develop new approaches to help Pakistan, with a time horizon stretching to 2015, the official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the order has not been made public.

A central assumption in the planning is that no such U.S. training contribution would be made without the Pakistani government's prior approval, the official said.

Fallon was in Pakistan this week meeting with senior Pakistani military officials.

In an interview last week during a conference with Middle Eastern defense chiefs in Florida, Fallon said Pakistan is taking a more welcoming view of U.S. suggestions for using American troops to train and advise its own forces in the fight against anti-government extremists.

Fallon said he believes increased violence inside Pakistan in recent months has led Pakistani leaders to conclude that they must focus more intensively on extremist al-Qaida hideouts near the border with Afghanistan.

"They see they've got real problems internally," Fallon said. "My sense is there is an increased willingness to address these problems, and we're going to try to help them." He said U.S. assistance would be "more robust," but he offered few details. "There is more willingness to do that now" on Pakistan's part, he said.

The Bush administration's anxiety about Pakistan's stability has grown in recent months, not only because of its potential implications for U.S. stability efforts in neighboring Afghanistan but also because of worry about the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Wednesday with Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf, the highest-level meeting of U.S. and Pakistan officials since the assassination last month of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto. While Rice praised Musharraf as a steadfast ally and promised continued U.S. support, she pressed him to keep his commitment to democracy and to free and fair elections in February.

At the Pentagon, one of Fallon's subordinate commanders, Army Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez, said the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan is unlikely to stage a spring offensive in the volatile eastern region bordering Pakistan.

Rodriguez, who commands U.S. forces in eastern Afghanistan, told a Pentagon news conference that Taliban and al-Qaida fighters operating from havens in the largely ungoverned tribal areas of western Pakistan appear to have shifted their focus toward targets inside Pakistan rather than across the border in Afghanistan.

"I don't think there'll be a big spring offensive this year," Rodriguez said.

That is partly due to ordinary Afghans' disillusionment with the Taliban movement, he said, and partly because the Taliban and al-Qaida fighters see new opportunities to accelerate instability inside Pakistan. He also said Afghan security forces are becoming more effective partners with U.S. forces.

The Taliban generally has staged stepped-up offensives each spring, when the weather is more favorable for ground movement, although an anticipated offensive last spring did not materialize.

U.S. officials have said in recent days that they do expect a spring offensive in the southern area of Afghanistan, a traditional Taliban stronghold where fighting is most intense. That is one reason Defense Secretary Robert Gates last week approved the deployment of an additional 2,200 Marines to the southern sector, where NATO forces are in command.

In all, there are about 28,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, of whom roughly half are under Rodriguez's command. Rodriguez said he needs no more U.S. troops in his area but looks forward to having two more Afghan National Army brigades, due to begin operating in his sector this spring.

Rodriguez also said he sees no sign that the United States is preparing to send forces into Pakistan without the Pakistan government's approval.

"We're not planning that," he said. "Pakistan is a sovereign government, and we have no plans that I'm involved in or have even heard of to do anything like that."

On Capitol Hill, the House Armed Services Committee heard testimony from retired Army Lt. Gen. David Barno, a former commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The committee chairman, Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., opened the session with an expression of concern about trends in Afghanistan.

"I believe that we currently risk a strategic failure in Afghanistan and that we must do what it takes to avoid this disastrous outcome," Skelton said in a prepared statement. "We must re-prioritize and shift needed resources from Iraq to Afghanistan. We must once again make Afghanistan the central focus in the war against terrorism — our national security and Afghanistan's future are at stake."

Afghan Attacks Drop as Al-Qaeda Focuses on Pakistan, U.S. Says

By Ed Johnson

Jan. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Al-Qaeda and Taliban forces based in Pakistan are reducing raids into neighboring Afghanistan as they focus instead on attacking President Pervez Musharraf's government, a U.S. commander said.

``Insurgents have declared war against the government of Pakistan'' and are taking advantage of the political turmoil there, Major General David Rodriguez, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, told reporters at the Pentagon yesterday.

Rodriguez described al-Qaeda as an ``opportunistic enemy'' that will ``go where it can get the biggest game and the best effect of their operations.''

Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, in an audio message released in September, called on Pakistanis to rebel against Musharraf to avenge an army assault on a pro-Taliban mosque in the capital, Islamabad. More than 800 people have been killed in suicide bombings and other attacks in Pakistan since the July raid on the Red Mosque.

A suicide bomber killed at least 50 people in northwestern Pakistan in a failed bid to assassinate former Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao on Dec. 21. Six days later, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was killed in a suicide bomb and gunfire attack in Rawalpindi after addressing an election rally. Musharraf has blamed Baitullah Mehsud, an al-Qaeda-linked Taliban leader, for organizing the killing.

Bhutto's assassination sparked countrywide riots that left at least 58 people dead and opposition parties say the terrorist threat is disrupting campaigning for parliamentary elections on Feb. 18.

Briefing reporters, Rodriguez was asked whether cross- border raids into Afghanistan had dropped because insurgents are remaining in Pakistan to fight the government.

``Yes, the enemy will try to take advantage of some of the challenges that they're having over there right now,'' the commander responded.

His comments echo those of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who said last month the number of fighters crossing the border is down about 40 percent because ``al-Qaeda right now seems to have turned its face toward Pakistan.''

Improved security by Afghan and coalition forces, and winter weather, which makes it difficult to cross mountain passes, have also stemmed the flow of international fighters across the border, Rodriguez said.

U.S. intelligence officials say that al-Qaeda has established a haven in Pakistan's tribal regions. More than 80 percent of suicide bombers staging attacks in Afghanistan are trained, recruited or sheltered in Pakistan, the United Nations said in a report published last year.

Musharraf, who has survived at least four assassination attempts since backing the U.S.-led war on terrorism in 2001, denies his forces are failing to tackle insurgents. Pakistan has deployed more than 100,000 soldiers in the tribal regions to combat extremists, he said last month.

The president has pledged tight security for next month's ballot to ensure militants don't disrupt the vote.

Musharraf, who is attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, met yesterday with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and briefed her on the counterterrorism effort, the official Associated Press of Pakistan said.

He also reaffirmed Pakistan's commitment to holding free and fair elections, according to the report.

Allies will ante up troops: Manley

Afghanistan mission risks 'futility' if no troops added

James Cowan,  National Post   Published: Thursday, January 24, 2008

TORONTO -- If Canada's NATO allies fail to provide additional troops for southern Afghanistan, it will be an indication that the entire international mission has moved "too close to futility" and will justify Canada abdicating its responsibility for the region, John Manley said yesterday.

Mr. Manley, a former Liberal Cabinet minister, led the panel that this week delivered a report to Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Canada's role in Afghanistan. The report calls for Canada to remain committed to the NATO-led mission beyond its scheduled end in 2009, but only if other countries provide 1,000 additional troops to bolster security and training activities in the dangerous region surrounding Kandahar.

Mr. Manley said it would signal a "failure of the mission overall" if NATO was unable to find additional troops to meet Canada's requirements. He added that it would be irresponsible for the government to leave troops in the region without adequate support.

"The obligation that any government has is to make sure it does not risk its troops in a cavalier fashion when there's no reasonable prospect of success," he told the National Post's editorial board.

"Looking at it on the continuum from utility to futility, then that would put us too close to futility where we'd have to say, with regret, that we can no longer look our kids in the eyes and say, 'You've got to go there.' "

Jake Epp, another panel member and a former Conservative Cabinet minister, added that a withdrawal would be "a failure of NATO" rather than Canada. Canada has approximately 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, mostly in Kandahar.

While other NATO countries have so far been reluctant to deploy their personnel in the southern region, Mr. Manley yesterday predicted a shift in attitudes toward the mission among European members.

"I've seen this movie before, when I was foreign minister and going to NATO meetings and the debate was about Bosnia," he said. "The Europeans weren't there and Canada had 1,800 troops there ... and [the Europeans] said they couldn't do it. Well, they did. Eventually, it became significant enough for NATO prestige and European prestige that they did come to the table."

Mr. Manley admitted it would be "extraordinarily messy" if Canada was forced to withdraw from southern Afghanistan. However, he suggested it was unlikely a withdrawal would ever come to fruition and said it "should not be difficult" to muster the additional troops. "It should be achievable; it should not be that difficult," he said.

Derek Burney, another panel member and a former Canadian ambassador, noted the United States last week committed to sending more than 2,000 Marines to southern Afghanistan for seven months. If just half of those assignments were made permanent, it would fulfill the panel's proposal, he said.

Panel members have suggested Mr. Harper delay any vote in the House of Commons on the mission until after a NATO meeting in April. The Prime Minister has not publicly commented on the report, but Stephane Dion, the Liberal leader, on Tuesday reiterated his call for Canadian troops to end their combat role by February, 2009.

Mr. Manley yesterday called upon his Liberal colleagues to support the panel's recommendations. He also cautioned it would be unwise for Liberals to try to fight an election over the future of the Afghan mission.

"I don't think this is an issue that would be a good one for either party to stake itself on in an election campaign. I'm not sure if Canadians want partisan politics to be the focal point of a mission like this," he said. "And certainly, if I was campaigning as a Liberal, there are a bunch of other things that I might want to put my focus on other than a military expedition that was started by a Liberal government."

The panel's report also advocates investments in new helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles as well as a focusing of reconstruction and development efforts on aid that directly helps Afghans. The panel suggests Ottawa should pursue a "signature" project in the country, such as a hospital.

Mr. Manley said the Prime Minister must also take a direct role in explaining Canada's role in Afghanistan to Canadians and lobbying his NATO allies for further support. "We would encourage the Prime Minister to be talking to his NATO counterparts starting now," he said.

Manley urges `consensus' on Afghanistan

Liberals, Conservatives should make concessions on approach to Afghan mission,

chair of panel says - January 24, 2008 Allan Woods toronto star

Political parties should put aside their differences to "fashion a consensus" on the future of the mission in Afghanistan, says John Manley, the chair of a blue-ribbon panel that studied the future of Canada's engagement in the country.

The Conservative government and the Liberal opposition need to make concessions in the political debate that will culminate in a vote on the fate of the present 2,500-troop mission when its mandate expires in February 2009, Manley said in an interview yesterday. The Tories favour a mission extension to 2011, while the Liberals want the troops rotated out next year. The Bloc Québécois has a similar position to the Liberals, and the New Democrats want Canadian soldiers to return to Canada immediately.

With a minority government situation and an election possible as early as this spring, the Conservatives and Liberals should, at the very least, agree not to make Afghanistan a major issue should the country go to the polls before the question is resolved, Manley said.

"If you put things in an electoral context, then parties have to find ways to differentiate themselves from other parties. It's about giving the electorate a choice and my hope is that, in this case, the least the government and the principal opposition party can do is find a way to seek out some common ground," he said.

Manley's report, released Tuesday, calls on Harper to increase diplomatic efforts to secure 1,000 additional troops to fight alongside the Canadians in Kandahar. The report also recommends the government buy or lease transport helicopters and aerial drones within the next year so that the military can more safely move troops and track insurgents. If that doesn't happen by February 2009, Canada should give notice of its intention to quit Kandahar, the report says.

Seventy-eight Canadian soldiers, and one diplomat, Glyn Berry, have died in Afghanistan since 2002.

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion said Tuesday that he hadn't read the report, but that his party still thinks Canada should end the combat mission early next year and focus more on training the Afghan army and contributing to development work. The report called that position irresponsible and would dishonour Canadian efforts and lives already lost.

However, Bob Rae, the Liberal foreign affairs critic, provided a more nuanced response to the report, saying that the party would have to take time to examine its contents and see how the Tories, NATO and others are prepared to respond.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is set to deliver a formal response to the report later this week.

Liberals keep options open on Afghan mission in wake of Manley report

KITCHENER, Ont. - Liberal Leader Stephane Dion is sticking - for now - to his position that Canada's combat mission in Afghanistan should end as scheduled in February 2009.

But foreign affairs critic Bob Rae isn't ruling out the possibility that the party might be able to live with the Manley panel's call for an indefinite extension if soldiers get more equipment and NATO allies step up with more troops.

"Until we know what the reaction is of NATO and all the other partners, quite frankly, it's hard to say if the recommendations are realistic," Rae told The Canadian Press.

"I think we're in for a period of intense discussion and consideration."

Dion, who was attending a party caucus retreat when the panel's report was released Tuesday, said he won't comment until he's read the report. Instead, he reiterated his long-held position that the combat mission must end next year, with Canadian troops then refocusing their effort on reconstruction, training of Afghan security forces and humanitarian aid.

"We think it's by far the most dangerous mission in Afghanistan. We have carried this mission during three years and it's time for Canada to do something else in Afghanistan, to help the people of Afghanistan," Dion said.

Rae said there's no need for Liberals to immediately take a hard position on the report until it's clear how the Conservative government and Canada's NATO allies intend to respond to the recommendations.

For the recommendations to be meaningful, Rae said Prime Minister Stephen Harper must first accept the report and then persuade NATO, at a meeting in Romania in early April, to provide more troops and equipment.

Rae hedged when asked if the Liberals might be able to support an extension of the combat mission should the Manley panel's conditions be met.

"I don't think we can answer an iffy question. Let's see what the government puts forward and whether it's compatible with our position."

The Liberals' response will also depend, he said, on how the Harper government proceeds - whether it allows a thoughtful debate and free vote or tries to politicize the issue with a surprise vote after minimal debate, as it did the last time the mission was extended.

Dion did not respond specifically when asked if Liberals are prepared to defeat the government over Afghanistan, should Harper make extension of the mission a matter of confidence.

Manley's report says a February 2009 end to the combat mission is not a viable option. That places Dion in the awkward position of having to either reject the advice of one his party's most respected stalwarts or backtrack on his own position.

Rae's refusal to outright reject the report suggests the party believes it's preferable not make that choice unless and until it's clear that the Manley recommendations are actually going to be implemented.

Rae noted that the report recommends Parliament not be asked to vote on the matter until after the NATO summit in early April.

Liberal House leader Ralph Goodale said his party will decide on an issue-by-issue, vote-by-vote basis, whether to support or oppose the government when Parliament resumes next week. He would not rule out abstaining on confidence votes to avoid toppling the government, as Liberals did throughout last fall.

"We're not ruling in or out any particularly parliamentary strategy," he said.

On Afghanistan, Goodale said: "We'll see how it's handled and managed by the government. Are they seriously seeking good public policy or are they simply seeking political opportunism?

"We'll have to make a judgment about that once we see how they play it."

When the Harper government forced a snap vote in 2006 on extending the mission to 2009, Liberals - who were in the midst of a leadership contest - were badly split. Dion was among those who voted against the extension while leadership rival Michael Ignatieff, now Dion's deputy leader, was among those who voted for it.

Upon becoming leader, Dion came up with the current position of ending the mission in 2009 as a compromise that all Liberals could live with.

When Manley agreed last month to advise Harper on the mission, many Liberals were furious. They complained privately that he was undermining Dion's position and would wind up giving Harper political cover for extending the mission.

Redirect Afghan aid

January 24, 2008 – Editorial Toronto Star

Canada may be pumping $1.2 billion into Afghanistan's redevelopment, and doing much good there, but people in Kandahar region where our troops are stationed see scant improvement in their lives.

That's the bleak conclusion from Prime Minister Stephen Harper's advisory panel on Afghanistan, led by John Manley. It should shame the government and the Canadian International Development Agency into an urgent rethink of the way we do business there.

Most Canadian aid, 85 per cent or so, is being channelled through the central Kabul government or through multilateral agencies like the Red Cross. That leaves just 15 per cent for "signature" Canadian projects across Afghanistan, such as hospitals and health stations, wells and irrigation, hydro, schools and roads. And even less for Kandahar, where CIDA too often fears to tread. What aid we do provide is slow in coming, the Manley panel found, in part due to CIDA's cumbersome procedures.

People in Kandahar, where Canadian troops are fighting Taliban insurgents, should not have to wait months or years for a health station or a well. The message that sends is that things are no better than before. That plays into the insurgents' hands.

Harper should heed Manley's advice that he make the Afghan file a personal priority and demand faster action from CIDA in Kandahar, less red tape, more staff in the field and greater transparency.

Whatever Canadians may think of our Afghan military role, there is strong public support for feeding refugees, educating children and giving families health care. The Prime Minister has the power to light a fire under the bureaucrats. Manley has held out the match.

Canada quietly halts prisoner transfers

Decision taken more than two months ago after diplomats found instruments of torture under chair in secret Kandahar prison

PAUL KORING - From Thursday's Globe and Mail January 24, 2008

Canada stopped transferring prisoners into Afghan custody months ago after discovering compelling evidence of torture, Ottawa admitted yesterday.

The government kept its decision under wraps, even as it prepared to fight rights groups seeking a halt to transfers in court today.

Justice Department lawyers acknowledged yesterday that Canadian Forces had stopped handing over detainees in November after a prisoner told diplomats visiting a secret jail in Kandahar that he had been beaten. He also told them where they could find the electrical cable and rubber hose used by his torturers, which the diplomats later discovered beneath a chair.

"Canadian authorities were informed on November 5, 2007, by Canada's monitoring team, of a credible allegation of mistreatment pertaining to one Canadian-transferred detainee held in an Afghan detention facility," the lawyers said in a letter to Amnesty International Canada and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association.

"As a consequence there have been no transfers of detainees to Afghan authorities since that date," the letter confirmed.

"It's staggering," Jason Gratl, president of the BCCLA said of the government's belated admission. "In matters as important as complicity in torture and its conduct of war, the government owes Canadians some explanations in an open and frank manner."

The government, which is trying to drum up support for extending the Afghan mission, only revealed it had ceased transfers as it tried to make a deal with Amnesty and the BCCLA to drop their application for an injunction.

But Ottawa refused a counteroffer in which it would have agreed to give seven days notice before resuming transfers.

The hearing on the injunction is expected to proceed this morning.

It's not clear whether troops are still taking prisoners only to release them, holding them in temporary cells run by Canadian Military Police on Kandahar Air Base or once again turning prisoners over to U.S. forces, which operate a prison at Bagram in Afghanistan.

"Concerning the matter of detainees, the number of detainees, if they are being transferred or not, these are all operational matters and are the responsibility of the Canadian Forces. The Government will not provide any comment on operational matters," said Sandra Buckler, spokeswoman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

The letter to Amnesty and the BCCLA continued: "Canada will resume transferring detainees when it believes it can do so in accordance with its international legal obligations."

Among those obligations is a Geneva Conventions prohibition against handing prisoners over to those who would abuse or torture them.

Given the widely documented and widespread abuse and ill-treatment that is rife in Afghan prisons, Mr. Gratl said he "could not foresee detainee transfers resuming in the foreseeable future.

"The government's decision amounts to a concession that the May, 2007, monitoring agreement has failed to prevent torture by Afghan authorities," he said.

That agreement, which allows for follow-up inspections, was negotiated only after former defence minister Gordon O'Connor's assurances that the International Committee of the Red Cross would report abuse of transferred prisoners back to the Harper government were shown to be wrong.

More than a month after it stopped handing prisoners over to Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security, the Harper government sent a senior general to give a sworn affidavit in the case brought by Amnesty and BCCLA.

The rights groups wanted transfers banned, claiming the government is bound by both international law and the Canadian Constitution from delivering detainees to those likely to torture or abuse them.

Brigadier-General André Deschamps, chief of staff to Canada's Expeditionary Forces Command, which runs the counterinsurgency operation in Afghanistan, asserted that Canada would have to quit fighting if it was barred from transferring detainees.

He also said, in his Dec. 14 affidavit, that more Canadian troops might be killed if detainee transfers were halted.

Listing a long series of possible embarrassments and defeats, Gen. Deschamps, outlined what he said would be the dire, war-losing consequences should Canada be barred from turning prisoners it captured on the battlefield over to Afghan security forces.

Taliban fighters might surrender in droves, warned the general, if they knew Canada would release them because it could not either hold them or transfer them.

"The insurgents could attack us with impunity knowing that if they fail to win an engagement they would simply have to surrender and wait for release to resume operations," he said.

"The Canadian Forces has no capacity or ability to hold detainees other than for transfer purposes," said Gen. Deschamps, an air force officer.

Building a NATO detention facility, perhaps on the Kandahar base, which currently houses more than 10,000 troops, has been repeatedly suggested by international human-rights groups. Canada and most NATO nations are opposed.

"The long-term, indefinite detention of detainees in such circumstances would be inconsistent with the sovereignty of Afghanistan," Gen. Deschamps said.

Madam Justice Anne Mactavish has ordered Gen. Deschamps to appear in Federal Court today where he is expected to face tough questioning from lawyers for Amnesty and the BCCLA.

Detainee timeline

2001

Dec. 19 Then-defence-minister Art Eggleton reveals that Canadian forces, specifically commandos from Joint Task Force 2, have joined the war, sparking concerns about whether troops would turn captured Afghans over to U.S. authorities.

2002

Jan. 21 Canadian commandos turn three captured al-Qaeda fighters over to the U.S. military.

Jan. 28 Then-prime-minister Jean Chrétien says the government is reviewing its policy on prisoners and that opposition concerns are "hypothetical" because none have been taken.

Jan. 29 Mr. Eggleton admits he learned eight days earlier that Canadian commandos had turned over prisoners without any assurances about whether they would be treated as prisoners of war.

Feb. 6 U.S. President George W. Bush says that Taliban prisoners would be considered POWs under the Geneva Conventions, but al-Qaeda prisoners would not.

Feb. 7 Both Mr. Chrétien and Mr. Eggleton say they are satisfied with this guarantee.

2005

Dec. 18 General Rick Hillier, Chief of the Defence Staff, signs an agreement with Afghanistan's Defence Minister stipulating that detainees handed from Canadian to Afghan custody will be treated in accordance with the third Geneva convention, which forbids torture and other inhumane treatment.

2006

May 31 Defence Minister Dennis O'Connor says the International Committee of the Red Cross is monitoring detainees, and will report prisoner abuse to Canada.

2007

February Investigations are launched into the treatment of Afghan detainees after The Globe and Mail publishes allegations of abuse.

Feb. 21 Amnesty International and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association file an application in Federal Court seeking a judicial review of the military's detainee-handover policy, questioning whether Canadian soldiers abroad are legally bound by the Geneva Conventions.

March 21 Mr. O'Connor apologizes for providing inaccurate information. "I would like to be clear: The International Committee of the Red Cross is under no obligation to share information with Canada on the treatment of detainees transferred by Canada to Afghan authorities," he tells the House of Commons. "The International Committee of the Red Cross provides this information to the country that has the detainees in its custody, in this case, Afghanistan."

April 23 During 30 face-to-face interviews with The Globe and Mail, Afghans detained by Canadian soldiers and sent to Kandahar's notorious jails say they were beaten, whipped, starved, frozen, choked and subjected to electric shocks during interrogation.

April 24 Stephen Harper brushes off calls for his Defence Minister's head and dismisses the furor over the torture of Afghans captured by Canadian soldiers as "allegations of the Taliban. ... We do not have evidence that [the torture] is true."

April 26 The Harper government buckles and announces a new deal providing Canadian officials with full access to Afghan jails.

July 9 It is learned that Gen. Hillier's office has halted the release of documents relating to detainees captured in Afghanistan under the federal Access to Information Act, claiming that disclosure of any such information could endanger Canadian troops.

Sept. 22 Canada is unable to account for at least 50 prisoners it captured and turned over to Afghan authorities, frustrating efforts to put to rest concerns the detainees were subject to torture. Canadian sources blame the Afghans' shoddy record-keeping and suggest the detainees have likely returned safely to their homes. But officials familiar with Kandahar's justice system say the possibility of foul play cannot be dismissed.

Nov. 13 Turning Afghan detainees over to known torturers breaks international law, and Canada, along with other NATO countries should impose an immediate halt to transfers, Amnesty International says.

Nov. 15 Canadian officials confirm they have evidence a Taliban detainee showed signs of physical abuse, the seventh such allegation made by detainees since Canada began systematically visiting Afghan prisoners in May.

2008

Jan. 22 Compelling evidence that Canadian-transferred detainees are still being tortured in Afghan prisons emerges from the government's own follow-up inspection reports.

In Kabul, Shattered Illusions

By JEAN MacKENZIE - Kabul, Afghanistan NY TIMES Oped

“WELL, at least we’re not in Baghdad,” we used to say when confronted by the vagaries of the Kabul winter. No heat, sporadic electricity and growing disaffection among the population might make us uncomfortable, but those of us living outside the smothering embrace of the embassies or the United Nations had relative freedom of movement and few security worries.

And of course we had the Serena hotel. Its spa offered solace, a gym and a hot shower; we could pretend for a few hours that we were in Dubai.

But a week ago last Monday, Taliban gunmen burst into the lobby, one exploding his ball-bearing vest, one running to the gym and spa area, spraying bullets as he went. Eight people died, and several more were wounded.

It was a rude shock for those of us who used to feel superior to those who cowered behind their reinforced walls, venturing out only in bulletproof glass surrounded by convoys of big men with big guns.

We shopped on Chicken Street for carpets and trinkets, we dined at the shrinking number of restaurants that still serve alcohol. We partied at L’Atmosphere, “L’Atmo” to its friends, the “in” spot for the international crowd, and had our hair and nails done at the Nova salon. And we patted ourselves on the back because we knew the real Kabul.

None of us was prepared for what happened at the Serena. The Taliban are following a new strategy, their spokesman announced. They will go after civilians specifically, and will bring their mayhem to places where foreigners congregate.

So much for L’Atmo.

I am no stranger to the insurgency, having spent three years in Afghanistan and much of the past 12 months in Helmand Province. Helmand, center of opium and Taliban, may be the most unstable region of the country. It is also the scene of some of the fiercest fighting in Afghanistan, with British troops clashing frequently with the rebels.

For the past several months we have been hearing that NATO is winning, that the insurgency is running out of steam. Each suicide attack is a last gasp, a sign that the Taliban are becoming desperate.

As the enemy melts away only to regroup, we are expected to believe that this time, surely, they will stay put in their hideouts. The head of the Afghan National Security Directorate described the Serena attack as a sign of the Taliban’s weakness. “An enemy that cannot hold territory, an enemy that has no support among the people, has no other means than suicide bombing,” the security chief, Amrullah Saleh, told assembled reporters.

But those of us who have covered the steady decline of hope in Afghanistan over the past three years know where the relative strength lies.

Not with the central government, whose head, Hamid Karzai, has largely lost the respect of his people with his increasingly bizarre behavior: weeping at the plight of children in Kandahar, begging the Taliban to send him their address, confessing that he is powerless to control the warlords, auctioning off his silken robe to feed widows and orphans.

Not with the foreign troops, who have been unable to provide security or usher in the development that Afghanistan so desperately needs. Civilian casualties, often hushed up or denied, have made NATO a curse in some parts of the country.

Not with the international assistance community, with its misguided counter-narcotics policies, high-priced consultants and wasteful practices. Out of the billions that have supposedly come into the country, only a trickle has been used to good effect.

The Taliban, under whose brutal regime Afghanistan became an international pariah, are steadily regaining ground. Even those who deplore their harsh rules and capricious behavior welcome the illusion of security they bring in their wake.

The United States Agency for International Development was talking about “relocating” some of its contractors to Dubai, at least temporarily. A Norwegian friend made plans with us for dinner one night, “provided I am not evacuated.”

Soon we will all be living in reinforced compounds, gathering for desperate, Masque of the Red Death parties, with guests being searched at the door.

Not me. I will be back at the Serena as soon as the blood is mopped up and the windows repaired. I’ll try not to fall off my exercise machine every time a door slams or a car backfires.

But I’ll miss Zeenia, the Serena’s sunny massage therapist. She was shot and killed on that terrible Monday.

Jean MacKenzie is the Afghanistan country director for the Institute of War and Peace Reporting.

[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.]