In this bulletin:

• Afghanistan says U.S. control estimates baseless
• NATO chief says alliance making headway in Afghanistan
• Russia warns U.S., NATO not to misuse Afghan mission
• Suicide bomb hits US base in Afghanistan
• Several Taliban killed in Afghanistan
• Musharraf Says Tribal Bombing Aimed at Ruining Peace Process
• General criticises Afghanistan troop restrictions
• Canadian soldier dies days before tour's end in Kandahar
• Comment: Afghan effort gets much-needed help
• Dr. Spanta speak to Danish Foreign Minister about the reissuing of the Prophet of Islam s cartoons
• The Afghan FM takes part in a political forum
• Dr. Spanta meets the Finnish Minister of Foreign Trade & Development
• Visiting Afghan FM met Finnish President and Prime Minister
• Dr Spanta meets with H.E. Mrs Tarja Halonen, President of the Republic of Finland
• Nato fears over Dutch Islam film
• Women MPs: Afghanistan ranks 27th
• UNFPA looks for more funds to support Afghan women
• Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation & Development
• US to Train Pakistan Military Officers
• EDITORIAL: Who is behind the terrorism?
• Taliban 'knew' Prince Harry was in Afghanistan
• Prince Harry Says He Wants to Return to Afghanistan

Afghanistan says U.S. control estimates baseless

By Sayed Salahuddin - Mon Mar 3, 5:15 AM ET

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan said on Monday it was stunned by a U.S. intelligence assessment that the Afghan government controlled only 30 percent of the country and Taliban insurgents held 10 percent, calling the report totally baseless.

The assessment by the U.S. Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell last week came amid warnings by Western think-tanks, politicians and diplomats that Afghanistan could revert to becoming a failed state and slide back into anarchy.

McConnell said the rest of Afghanistan, or 60 percent of its territory, was under the control of tribal groups.

NATO, which leads a 43,000-strong force in Afghanistan, has already disputed McConnell's account.

Afghanistan's intelligence chief, Amrullah Saleh, said the Afghan government was stunned by McConnell's assessment.

"We regard the percentage mentioned ... as totally baseless," Saleh told a news conference.

He conceded the government did not have a presence in numerous districts of Afghanistan, but said that did not mean the Taliban insurgents controlled them.

Afghanistan had a deeply rooted tribal society and traditionally tribes formed the basis of a successful administration of the country, Saleh said.

He said President Hamid Karzai's government enjoyed the support of political elites and tribal chiefs.

"Given the history of this country and its national formation and way of governance, we feel proud that we have the support of tribal leaders."

"While in America an administration fully backed by tribal chiefs or dominated by tribal chiefs may be seen as liability, here we see it as a strong asset," Saleh said.

When asked why his account of the Afghan government's control differed so much from that of McConnell, Saleh said: "I am in touch with reality. I am sitting in Afghanistan."

In the last two years, Afghanistan has gone through its worst period of violence since U.S.-led and Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001.

More than 11,000 people have been killed since 2006, the drugs industry is booming, corruption is rife and frustration is high among ordinary Afghans about the lack of security and development six years after the Taliban were removed from power.

NATO chief says alliance making headway in Afghanistan

AFP, 03/03/2008 WASHINGTON - NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said on Sunday the alliance's mission in Afghanistan was making progress in its fight against the Taliban insurgency.

Despite increasingly bloody clashes with a resurgent Taliban Islamist militia, the NATO chief said in an interview with CNN television the situation was "looking quite good."

"We are making a lot of progress. The international community should I think better know the meaning of the word 'patience,'" he said.

Saying he was "cautiously optimistic" after a recent visit to Afghanistan, Scheffer said the country was headed in a positive direction after years of poverty and war.

"We do see millions of children in school. We see the literacy rate going up. We see health care going up. Over 80 percent of Afghans have access to health care.

"In 2001, do not forget, Afghanistan was in the Middle Ages," he said. "If you look between '01 and '08, there is a lot of progress, although the challenges, of course, are formidable."

US-led forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to topple the Taliban regime allied with Al-Qaeda.

The NATO chief spoke after holding talks on Afghanistan and other issues Friday with President George W. Bush, who has urged alliance members to contribute more troops for combat in southern Afghanistan.

Scheffer said he expected more troop contributions for Afghanistan at an April summit in Bucharest. "You will see at the summit in Bucharest without any doubt even more of the forces coming in," he said, without providing further details.

The Bush administration has been pressing its allies to commit more troops to Afghanistan, but many countries face fierce opposition at home and will only allow their forces to be deployed for training missions -- not for combat in the south.

Russia warns U.S., NATO not to misuse Afghan mission

Reuters, 03/03/2008, By Sayed Salahuddin

KABUL - Russia has warned the United States and NATO to not use their presence in Afghanistan for any possible regional political or economic purposes other than fighting terrorism.

More than 50,000 foreign troops under the command of NATO and the U.S. military are stationed in Afghanistan where the U.S.-led coalition overthrew a Taliban government in 2001.

"We see the military presence of armed forces of the United States of America and NATO ... in Afghanistan just in the framework of our common campaign against terrorism," Russia's Ambassador to Kabul Zamir Kabulov told the BBC Persian service.

"As long as this presence goes on for this end, we have no concern. But if the military presence is for other political or economic gains in Afghanistan and in the region, (then) this certainly and definitely will cause special concerns."

Russia, he told the station in an interview aired on Monday, will "definitely react" if NATO and the United States were after economic and political gains in Afghanistan and in the region.

He did not elaborate further. "May it not be that our partners have other programmes ... under the pretext of war against terrorism," he added.

Russia is the inheritor of the former Soviet Union, which had invaded Afghanistan in 1979, pulling its forces out some 10 years later in the face of determined resistance from mostly Western-backed Afghan factions.

Its ties were at their worst when the radical Islamic Taliban movement was in power and it backed Afghan opposition groups that helped the coalition with the Taliban's removal.

Suicide bomb hits US base in Afghanistan

By RAHIM FAEIZ, Associated Press March 3, 2008

KABUL, Afghanistan - A suicide car bomber attacked a U.S. base in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, collapsing a guard post with American soldiers inside, an Afghan official said. Three NATO soldiers were wounded, a U.S. military official said.

Two Afghan policemen also were wounded in the attack, said Lutfullah Babakarheil, a district chief.

The attacker in the eastern Khost province rammed the explosives-laden car into the gates of the U.S. military base in Yaqoubi district, said Babakarheil.

"There are American soldiers inside the collapsed guard room, but we do not know whether any are wounded or killed," he said.

Sgt. 1st Class Brian Lamar, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan, said three soldiers serving under a separate command — NATO's International Security Assistance Force — were wounded in the explosion and evacuated for medical care.

Lamar would not disclose the soldiers' nationalities because of strict rules set by NATO. However, the majority of international forces in Khost province are American.

Clashes and raids in the south, meanwhile, left more than 20 Taliban fighters dead or wounded, officials said.

On Sunday, U.S.-led coalition troops targeted a Taliban commander in Garmser district of Helmand province, the coalition said.

"Several insurgents were killed when they fired on coalition forces," who detained four men with suspected links to the militants, the coalition said in a statement.

Also Sunday, Afghan and foreign troops clashed with militants in Helmand's Sangin district, resulting in 20 casualties, the Defense Ministry said. It did not provide a breakdown of the number of dead and wounded militants.

Separately, a Canadian soldier was killed by a roadside bomb west of Kandahar city on Sunday, said Brig. Gen. Guy Laroche, the commander of Canadian Forces in Afghanistan.

Since 2002, 79 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed in Afghanistan, including five soldiers this year. Most have been killed by roadside bombs.

Canada has deployed about 2,500 troops to fight the Taliban in the volatile south, but has threatened to withdraw if other NATO countries fail to provide 1,000 additional troops for Kandahar province, one of the centers of the Taliban-led insurgency.

Afghanistan's intelligence chief, meanwhile, rejected an assessment by his U.S. counterpart that 10 percent of the country is under Taliban control, calling the figures "completely baseless."

Michael McConnell, the U.S. National Intelligence Director, told a Senate committee last week in Washington that Afghanistan's central government controls just 30 percent of the country, the Taliban controls about 10 percent, and local tribes control the rest.

Afghan and Western officials have disputed the figures.

"All the percentages given are completely baseless for us," Afghan intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh told a news conference Monday in Kabul.

Saleh said only eight of Afghanistan's 364 districts — comprising 2 percent of the Afghan population or 5 percent of its territory — are not government controlled.

Saleh also took issue with McConnell's assertion that the 60 percent of the country controlled by tribal leaders is not under direct government control.

"We are a very distinct country, in our culture, in our way of governance, in our history," Saleh said. "While in America, an administration fully backed by tribal chiefs or dominated by tribal chiefs may be seen as liability ... here we see it as a very strong asset."

Last year was the deadliest in Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. More than 6,500 people — mostly militants — were killed in violence linked to the insurgency, according to an Associated Press count.

Several Taliban killed in Afghanistan

By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Mon Mar 3, 6:05 AM ET

KABUL, Afghanistan - Clashes and raids in southern Afghanistan killed or wounded more than 20 Taliban fighters, while a Canadian soldier died in a roadside blast, military officials said.

In the southern Helmand province, U.S.-led coalition troops targeted a Taliban commander in Garmser district on Sunday, the coalition said.

"Several insurgents were killed when they fired on coalition forces," who detained four men with suspected links to the militants, the coalition said in a statement late Sunday.

Also Sunday, Afghan and foreign troops clashed with militants in Helmand's Sangin district, resulting in 20 casualties, according to a Defense Ministry statement that did not provide a breakdown of the number of dead and wounded militants.

Four other suspected militants were detained by coalition troops in the Qalat district of Zabul province. The men were accused of involvement in attacks along the main highway connecting Kabul with the country's south, the coalition said.

Separately, a Canadian soldier was killed by a roadside bomb west of Kandahar city on Sunday, said Brig. Gen. Guy Laroche, the commander of Canadian Forces in Afghanistan.

Since 2002, 79 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed in Afghanistan, including five soldiers this year. Most have been killed by roadside bombs.

Canada has deployed about 2,500 troops to fight the Taliban in the volatile south, but has threatened to withdraw if other NATO countries fail to provide 1,000 additional troops for Kandahar province, one of the centers of the Taliban-led insurgency.

Afghanistan's intelligence chief, meanwhile, rejected an assessment by his U.S. counterpart that 10 percent of the country is under Taliban control, calling the figures "completely baseless."

Michael McConnell, the U.S. National Intelligence Director, told a Senate committee last week in Washington that Afghanistan's central government controls just 30 percent of the country, the Taliban controls about 10 percent, and local tribes control the rest.

Afghan and Western officials have disputed the figures. "All the percentages given are completely baseless for us," Afghan intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh told a news conference Monday in Kabul.

Saleh said only eight of Afghanistan's 364 districts — comprising 2 percent of the Afghan population or 5 percent of its territory — are not government controlled.

Saleh also took issue with McConnell's assertion that the 60 percent of the country controlled by tribal leaders is not under direct government control.

"We are a very distinct country, in our culture, in our way of governance, in our history," Saleh said. "While in America, an administration fully backed by tribal chiefs or dominated by tribal chiefs may be seen as liability ... here we see it as a very strong asset."

Last year was the deadliest in Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. More than 6,500 people — mostly militants — were killed in violence linked to the insurgency, according to an Associated Press count.

Musharraf Says Tribal Bombing Aimed at Ruining Peace Process

(Bloomberg) By Paul Tighe and Jay Shankar March 3 

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf said a suicide bombing that killed at least 40 people at a meeting of tribal leaders is aimed at sabotaging efforts to bring peace to the northwestern region bordering Afghanistan.

The attack in the Darra Adamkhel area near Peshawar occurred as leaders of five clans met yesterday to discuss peace in the region, the official Associated Press of Pakistan said. The bombing will strengthen the resolve of the government to tackle terrorists in the area, Musharraf said.

Extremists ``will meet their fate soon as the government and the people have joined hands to root them out for the sake of peace and stability,'' APP cited Owais Ahmed Ghani, the governor of North West Frontier Province, as saying yesterday.

Musharraf is trying to persuade tribal leaders to expel non-Pakistani terrorists sheltering in the border region where the army has deployed about 100,000 soldiers since it began an operation in 2003 to combat al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters. Suicide bombings and attacks on the army increased in tribal areas after the army raided the Red Mosque in Islamabad to end a standoff with clerics.

Al-Qaeda leaders have established a base in the border area, U.S. intelligence agencies said in a report last year, and Pakistan's army in recent months battled pro-Taliban fighters in the Swat Valley near Afghanistan.

Terrorists are receiving support from outside Pakistan to sustain their operations, APP cited Lieutenant General Hamid Nawaz Khan, the caretaker minister of the interior, as saying in an interview with Pakistani television yesterday. India's intelligence agency may also be involved, he said.

The suicide attacker yesterday blew himself up when elders and members of the Chaper Khel, Akwarwall, Zargoonkhel, Toor Chapper and Bosi Khel tribes were leaving the meeting, APP said. More than 1,500 people were at the gathering, known as a jirga, according to APP.

The attack in Darra Adamkhel, about 40 kilometers (16 miles) from Peshawar, occurred three days after 40 people were killed when a suicide bomber targeted a funeral procession in the region, the report said.

Yesterday's bombing was un-Islamic and a violation of tribal norms, APP cited Ghani as saying.

Musharraf reached agreements with tribal leaders in North and South Waziristan in 2004 and 2006 for non-Pakistani gunmen to be expelled from the region. That strategy failed to produce results, the U.S. State Department said last month.

Al-Qaeda deputy commander Ayman al-Zawahiri, in a videotape released last August, called on Pakistani Muslims to attack Musharraf to avenge the army's assault on the Red Mosque. Pro- Taliban clerics occupied the site to demand Islamic law be introduced in Islamabad, Pakistan's capital.

The authorities in Pakistan two days ago charged Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Taliban in Pakistan, and four other people with planning the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, the Associated Press reported, citing Chaudhry Abdul Majeed, the chief police investigator. Bhutto was killed Dec. 27 at a political rally in Rawalpindi.

Mehsud, who leads a force of about 5,000 fighters, formed an alliance with about five pro-Taliban groups last December known as the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, according to a report by the Combating Terrorism Center of the U.S. military academy at West Point.

The alliance, the Lashkar-e-Toiba, a group fighting Indian rule in Jammu and Kashmir state, and Tehrik Nefaz-I-Shariat Muhammad, led by Pakistani cleric Maulana Fazlullah, are fighting North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces in Afghanistan and receiving funds from al-Qaeda, insurgents, Major General David Rodriguez, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said last week.

Fazlullah is seeking to impose Islamic law in Pakistan's Swat Valley, a once popular tourist destination about 250 kilometers from Islamabad.

The number of people killed in terrorist attacks more than doubled to 2,116 in Pakistan last year, the government has said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Paul Tighe in Sydney at ptighe@bloomberg.net ; Jay Shankar in Bangalore at jshankar1@bloomberg.net

General criticises Afghanistan troop restrictions

Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom, By David Blair in Kabul 03/03/2008

Nato's commander in Afghanistan voiced his "frustration" with the restrictions imposed on the Alliance's forces yesterday and said these "national caveats" were hindering the fight against the Taliban.

General Dan McNeill, leader of Nato's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), called for more troops to be sent to Afghanistan and gave the Daily Telegraph a vivid description of the difficulties he faces.

Some of the 40 nations who have contributed troops to his command, including France and Germany, have imposed limits on what their soldiers can do.

"I would like the force to be resourced to a level which I think is appropriate for the task in hand and within the force I would like the caveats to be eliminated," said Gen McNeill.

A chart showing what each national contingent is willing to do hangs in Gen McNeill's office in Kabul. Red stickers denote jobs which are ruled out, yellow stickers show what a force might do but only with their home government's permission.

Germany, for example, insists on keeping its 3,200 troops in the relative safety of northern Afghanistan where reconstruction - not combat is their primary task.

Gen McNeill, an American veteran of the Vietnam war, said these restrictions were "frustrating in how they impinge upon my ability to properly plan, resource and prosecute effective military operations".

Gen McNeill, 61, added: "It's hard to mass [troops] when you sometimes have to ask all the way back to governments 'may I use your force in this location in this manner'?"

As for deploying rapidly, Gen McNeill said: "If we can move faster than our adversary we have an edge over him. If I have to take the time to see who can make this move and who cannot if I request them, it's hard to avail myself of speed. Therein lies the issue."

He added: "It requires me to expend energies that without an imposition of such restrictions and constraints, I'd be able to put that energy into things that are far more important."

When he took over ISAF a year ago, Gen McNeill tried to adopt a philosophical attitude. "I could rail and carry on as much as I wanted about the caveats," he said, but the most productive option would be to "look at what the possibles were".

Gen McNeill would duly refer to home governments whenever he needed their troops to perform a task ruled out by their national caveats.

"I'd make contact with their ministry of defence and say 'here's what I intend to do, here's where I need to do it. As you can clearly see, your force has the only capacity I have, I'm respectfully asking you to allow me to let this occur'," he said.

Gen McNeill's success rate for these requests was "excellent" for a "baseball batting average" but "terrible" for the purpose of fighting a war.

Meanwhile, the brunt of the fighting in the Taliban heartland of southern Afghanistan is borne by five Nato countries with no "caveats" - America, Britain, Canada, Denmark and Holland.

ISAF deploys 43,250 troops drawn from all 26 Nato member states and 14 other friendly countries. Britain, with 7,800 troops, and America with 15,000, are by the far the largest contributors.

But Afghanistan is 50 per cent bigger than Iraq and has at least three million more people yet ISAF is only a quarter of the size of the force in Iraq.

More troops were needed, said Gen McNeill, or Nato would "run the risk" of losing the support of the Afghan people.

Canadian soldier dies days before tour's end in Kandahar

GRAEME SMITH AND COLIN FREEZE - From Monday's Globe and Mail March 3, 2008 at 1:09 AM EST

KANDAHAR — From inside an army outpost carved into a craggy mountainside this winter, Trooper Michael Hayakaze reflected on the smiles of Afghan children. He said that whenever he saw them, it made him feel optimistic.

“When the kids come running up to the road and they smile, it's the best,” the 25-year-old soldier told a Washington Times reporter in December.

“When we first showed up, you know, they used to run and hide, or they would throw stones at our tanks,” he explained.

“And you know they get that from their parents. So if they're not afraid of us, that means it's getting better.”

Trooper Hayakaze was just days away from returning home when he was killed Sunday by a roadside bomb.

Part of the Lord Strathcona's Horse regiment based in Edmonton, he was part of the outgoing rotation of troops due to finish by mid-month. He is the 79th Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan.

The explosion hit a convoy driving supplies to an Afghan army outpost, about 45 kilometres southwest of Kandahar city. The attack occurred near a cluster of villages known as Mushan – a battleground since Canadian troops pushed the Taliban away from the area last winter.

Insurgents recaptured the area last spring before the latest rotation of Canadian troops took it back. The Canadians have been stocking the post with food, water and ammunition in hopes that Afghan forces will hold the position through anticipated battles this coming spring.

Road convoys ferry in the supplies because Canada is the only country engaged in major combat that has no helicopters in Afghanistan. Brigadier-General Guy Laroche said Sunday the Taliban “are still using the IED [improvised explosive device], their weapon of choice, and we have seen another example of that today.”

Betsy Pisik, a Washington Times reporter, Sunday recalled spending eight hours in a tank with Trooper Hayakaze and his fellow soldiers, just a couple of days before Christmas.

“He was convinced of the mission,” she said in an interview. She said “Kaze” was amused to learn his abbreviated name would've sounded like qasi to the local inhabitants – a term for an Islamic judge versed in sharia law.

Ms. Pisik said Trooper Hayakaze didn't seem to mind the privations of living at a hardship outpost, and that he could find humour in Afghanistan – he was amused, for example, by the fact the citizens grew eight-foot-tall marijuana plants and carted them around unrepentantly. But she also said he was a sharp-eyed soldier who was deadly serious whenever he popped his head outside a tank's hatch, to scour the countryside for possible threats.

“He would see stuff with his naked eye long before I ever did,” she said.

Canadian commanders have recently portrayed the security situation in Kandahar's core districts as improving. On Friday, a military official even described recent trends as indicating “the end of the reign of the Taliban.”

But the number of Taliban attacks climbed to 197 in southern Afghanistan as of Feb. 24, compared with 135 during the same period last year, according to a private consultant's report. Last year, more than 6,500 people, mostly insurgents, were killed in Afghanistan's violence, compared with roughly 4,000 in 2006, and 1,000 in 2005.

While the number of attacks against Canadians has been relatively low, Afghan forces and civilians associated with the government have been heavily targeted. Two more humanitarian workers, local Afghans, were kidnapped in Arghandab district last week, even as unconfirmed reports indicated that the kidnapping of U.S. aid worker Cydney Mizell and her driver have ended with their deaths in captivity.

Comment: Afghan effort gets much-needed help

Matthew Fisher, Canwest News Service Monday, March 03, 2008
AT KANDAHAR AIRFIELD -- Whether Canada, the United States, Britain and the Netherlands are getting the combat help they require from their NATO cousins to confront the Taliban in southern Afghanistan is a delicate matter that will preoccupy the alliance when its foreign ministers meet in Romania early next month.

Viewed from the Kandahar Airfield, NATO's manpower situation does not look nearly as gloomy as it does in Western capitals.

A building boom that started in the fall of 2005 in anticipation of the arrival of the Canadian task force, has never really stopped. In recent months it has clearly been gaining pace.

Over the past few months the U.S. Army has added armed surveillance helicopters to its Afghan arsenal. The Canadians are building new offices and have plans to move some of their troops from tents to much comfier trailers. The French are laying the foundations for what looks like a permanent camp for their airmen, who arrived last fall with Mirage attack aircraft and have since upgraded to new generation Rafale jets. According to the Belgian media, they are sending F-16 jets to Kandahar this summer.

As well as the Belgians, there have been Danish and Polish add-ons, too. They are joining Romanians, a smaller number of Bulgarians and Slovaks and a burgeoning community of Australians in their clown-like yellow and brown camouflage.

Space will get tighter with the pending arrival in southern Afghanistan of 3,200 Marines from bases in North Carolina and California. Not all of them will end up based at Kandahar, but enough men sporting the Corps' distinctive "high and tight" hair cuts are already here to have made a noticeable impact on the airfield's increasingly crowded and dusty roads, in the PX and the growing number of chow halls as well as at the Tim Hortons, which has already proven so popular with other U.S. troops as well as with the British and the Dutch that Canadians must sometimes wait half an hour for their "double" fix.

Although nothing has been confirmed, the chatter in Washington has been that some of the Marines, who are bringing badly needed helicopters as well as a large number of infantry, are likely to conduct joint operations with Canadian and British forces in Kandahar and neighbouring Helmand.

Additionally, as Britain's war in Iraq has wound down, the number of British troops in the south is set to increase from about 4,500 to 8,700 by the end of the year, according to media reports from London.

While NATO has been slowly cobbling together a bigger and better fighting force in the south, political leaders from London, Washington and Ottawa have continued to plead for more help from bigger NATO countries. Of the big four sitting out the war, or rather putting their troops on the war's margins in the west and north of Afghanistan, only France, which has had commandos in the south before, is likely to contribute a meaningful number of troops in the south.

Having attracted relatively little criticism, the Italians and the Spaniards seem content to remain below the parapet. The Germans have received by far the most heat because of NATO's non-combatants in Afghanistan they have such a large number of fresh combat troops, attack aircraft and transport helicopters back at home.

While most German soldiers have said they are keen to do their part, it remains highly unlikely that Berlin will change its stance, no matter how much its allies complain. Given the country's particular military history, the German media and public still adamantly resist the idea that their boys should be allowed to go anywhere with guns.

Notwithstanding the Germans, the Italians and the Spanish, a significant number of combat troops and combat aircraft are joining the fight at a time when senior commanders and military experts have declared that they are urgently needed. And more Marines may become available next year if the calmer trend in Iraq continues.

Whether the Marines, the additional Brits and the other NATO forces now converging on southern Afghanistan will be enough to help those already on the ground to turn the tide against a Taliban insurgency that got its second wind when the White House shifted its focus to Iraq in 2003, may not be known for two or three years. That would be just about the same time that Ottawa intends to bring its troops home after nine years on the far side of the globe.

Dr. Spanta speak to Danish Foreign Minister about the reissuing of the Prophet of Islam s cartoons

Posted On: Mar 03, 2008

Dr. Spanta, the Foreign Minister of Afghanistan met H.E. Per Stig Moller, the Foreign Minister of Denmark, today afternoon.

In the meeting, one of the points spoken on was the reissuing of the Prophet Mohammad’s cartoons in a Danish journal and the severe worry of the state and the people of Afghanistan about it.

Dr. Spanta said “this issue is disrespecting the values of more than one billion Muslims throughout the World.”

“The extremists want to make conflict and intensify it among civilizations taking advantage of such issues,” he added. “While Medias can play a significant role in strengthening cooperations between nations and spreading democracy and preventing violence”, He continued.

“We condemn such stimulations of all its kinds,” Dr. Spanta said.

The Afghan Foreign Minister also said, “‘Freedom’ means respecting the rights of other people and the right of freedom of press is not an exception.”

In addition, in the meeting between the Foreign Ministers of Afghanistan and Denmark, the issues related to fighting against terrorism and narcotics, the strategy of Denmark for assisting Afghanistan in various fields, the necessity of strengthening and expanding the Afghan authority and different parts in reconstruction of Afghanistan, strengthening of regional cooperations, Paris Conference as an opportunity for evaluating the challenges and the solutions, and generalizing the assistances of the Northern European countries to Afghanistan were discussed.

Dr. Spanta also appreciated the military presence and the contribution of Denmark in reconstruction process of Afghanistan.

In his part, Mr. Per Stig Moller, the Danish Foreign Minister assured his counterpart about the continuation of Danish military presence in Afghanistan.

“Fighting against terrorism, in fact, is an effort in providing security in our own country and enforcement of democracy and spreading human rights”, the Danish Foreign Minister said.

Mr. Moller also expressed his worry about the Afghan journalist, Parvis Kambakhsh’s court proceeding.

In response, Dr. Spanta with pointing that Afghanistan still passing a transferring time said, “The Afghan national institutions, including judiciary system have their own weaknesses, but the Afghan Constitutions as the most important national reference has guaranteed the rights of its citizens.

The Afghan Foreign Minister emphasized that H.E. Hamid Karzai, the President of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is committed to the rights of free press, freedom of expression, and the rights of citizenship.

The Afghan FM takes part in a political forum

The Afghan Foreign Minister, Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta took part in a political forum held by a recognized Danish newspaper and answered the questions on security, reconstruction, counter-narcotics, counter-terrorism, and other issues.

In response to the question about the reissuing of the Prophet Mohammad’s cartoons and the screening of a movie about the Holy Quran, Dr. Spanta said, “Such actions are just in the advantage of extremists of the two sides and nothing else.”

“Such actions are not in the advantage of coexistence among nations,” he added.

“All nations must respect to the values, religions and opinions of each other. Doing such things will cause to stimulate to create conflict among nations and civilizations which at last, will be in the advantage of extremists,” The Afghan Foreign Minister continued.

Dr. Spanta meets the Finnish Minister of Foreign Trade & Development

Posted On: Mar 01, 2008

Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta met the Minister of Foreign Trade & Development, the Foreign Relations Committee of the Parliament and the Defense Minister of Finland, on February 28.

In these meetings, the issues related to counter-terrorism, reconstruction process in Afghanistan, strengthening rule of law, and various areas of interest were discussed.

Minister of Foreign Trade & Development of Finland expressed his readiness to increase the assistance of his country through the Rule of Law Assistance Fund.

Also, the Minister of Foreign Trade & Development welcomed the suggestion of Afghanistan for the assistance of block of Northern European Countries to Afghanistan and its developmental programs.

He expressed the willingness of his country in fighting against terrorism and training of national security forces of Afghanistan and added that his country is studying to establish an independent PRT.

Now, Finland is working within the framework of the Swedish PRT.

In addition, the members of the Foreign Relations Committee of Faddish Parliament assured Dr. Spanta that the public view in Finland about the presence of their soldiers in Afghanistan is positive and they support it.

In this meeting, it was emphasized on the inter-parliamentary cooperation between the parliaments of the two countries and European Parliament.

Afghanistan is to be participated at a seminar that is going to be held with the participation of countries of Central Asia.

It is also noteworthy. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan visited Finland and presented a speech at a seminar which the Ministry of Defense of Finland had held. 

Visiting Afghan FM met Finnish President and Prime Minister

Posted On: Feb 29, 2008

Foreign Minister Dr Rangin Dadfar Spanta continues his visit in Finland

Dr Spanta meets with H.E. Mr Matti Vanhanen, Prime Minister of Finland
Prime Minister Vanhanen declared that Finland is strongly committed to continue its support of the peace and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan and stated that “ we have the support of our people and Parliament for our policy in Afghanistan”.

Foreign Minister Spanta thanked the Finnish government for its support towards the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan. Dr Spanta argued that “stability in Afghanistan means stability to the region and stability to the world”.

Dr Spanta meets with H.E. Mrs Tarja Halonen, President of the Republic of Finland

Dr Spanta conveyed his regards from President Karzai to president Halonen and the people of Finland In their discussion President Halonen and Foreign Minister Spanta spoke about women rights and human rights. Dr Spanta also elaborated about the complexities surrounding the fight to eliminate opium production. The narcotics issue is not only an Afghan issue, but also a global challenge that the international community need to fight together with a comprehensive strategy.

Foreign Minister Spanta also appealed to President Halonen for Finland’s active support and participation at the Paris conference in June this year.

Nato fears over Dutch Islam film

BBC News, UK, Monday, 3 March 2008

Nato's secretary general says he fears the airing of a Dutch film criticising Islam will have repercussions for troops in Afghanistan. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer's comments came after Afghans protested on Sunday against the film being made by far-right Dutch MP Geert Wilders.

The Dutch government has warned Mr Wilders that the film will damage Dutch political and economic interests. Mr Wilders says the film is about the Koran but has given few details.

In the past, he has called for the Koran to be banned and likened it to Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf. The project has already been condemned by several Muslim countries, including Iran and Pakistan.

Nato's secretary general said he was concerned about his troops after the protests against the film in Afghanistan.

"If the [troops] find themselves in the line of fire because of the film, then I am worried about it and I am expressing that concern," he said in a television interview.

On Sunday, hundreds of Afghans took to the streets in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif to protest against the film. Demonstrators burned Dutch flags, and called for the withdrawal of Dutch troops from the Nato force.

The demonstrators say they will step up their protests unless the Afghan government expels the troops.

The protesters also criticised the recent republication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad in several Danish newspapers, and called for the withdrawal of Danish troops.

"We don't want our government to have any diplomatic relations with these two countries," Maulawi Abdul Hadi, one of the protesters, told the Associated Press news agency.

"We don't want Danish and Dutch troops in Afghanistan. They should be kicked out of the Nato forces here."

Mr Wilders has said he expects his 15-minute work will be shown in the Netherlands in March and released on the internet.

Dutch authorities have told him he may have to leave the country for his own safety amid reports of death threats. Mr Wilders' film is called Fitna, an Arabic word used to describe strife or discord.

He has said his film will show how the Koran is "an inspiration for intolerance, murder and terror". Mr Wilders leads the Freedom Party, which has nine seats in the Dutch parliament.

He has had police protection since Dutch director Theo Van Gogh was killed by a radical Islamist in 2004. Van Gogh's film Submission included verses from the Koran shown against a naked female body.

Women MPs: Afghanistan ranks 27th

Online - International News Network, Pakistan
Sunday 02nd March, 2008

UNITED NATION: Afghanistan ranks 27 in a list of 188 countries on giving representation to women in national parliament, a UN report released said.

The report World Map of Women in Politics 2008 a joint publication of the UN and Inter-Parliamentary Union was released at the United Nations headquarters in New York. In fact, the report revealed that Afghanistan with 27.7 percent of women MPs in Lower House and 21.6 percent in Upper House is placed significantly above all the seven other South Asian Countries.

India that had its first women Prime Minister in 60s and at present has a woman President, besides the most powerful individual being a woman is ranked 107. Immediate neighbor Pakistan, which had its first women Prime Minister in 80s is ranked 51, the report said.

Releasing the report, Anders Johnsson, Secretary General of the Inter-parliamentary Union, said Afghanistan is in a better position at least in this sphere as compared to other South Asian countries because of the international effort in this regard in the post-Taliban era.

UNFPA looks for more funds to support Afghan women

KABUL, March 3 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Population Fund for Afghanistan (UNFPA) which currently has 5 million U.S. dollars for supporting women in Afghanistan is looking for more funds, according to country representative of the body on Monday.

"Our current budget this year is approximately 5 million U.S. dollars and we are looking forward to significantly increase it," Ramesh Penumaka, country representative of the UNFPA, told newsmen at a press conference here.

He also said that objective of the body is to foster women empowerment and gender equity in the war-torn country. Meanwhile, the official acknowledged the improvement of women rights in the country.

A report issued by the integrity said that out of 23.6 million of Afghanistan 48.9 percent is female. Women represent 27 percent of the post-Taliban country's National Assembly (68 out of 249 seats in Wolesi Jirga or Lower House and 23 out of 102 in Mushrano Jirga or Upper House of parliament).

Nevertheless, UNFPA admitted that forced marriage as a big problem of women in Afghanistan, and many Afghan girls are married before completing the age of 18.

Moreover, maternal mortality rate in Afghanistan is still high as one woman, according to Penumaka dies every 29 minutes due to reproductive health related complications (1,600 to 1,900 deaths per 100,000 live births, the second highest maternal mortality rate in the world).

Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation & Development

Press Release   PR-No: 310 Completion of 15 public projects

Kabul (Monday, March 3, 2008): 15 uplift projects of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development have been completed in Nooristan and Herat provinces while inaugurating a school construction project in Balkh province.

The completed projects include a 2500 m water supply network, 32 m wooden bridge, a road construction project in 3 villages of Wama district of Nooristan province, 4 projects of 3231m power cable repairing, a 400 m water supply project, two 1884 m Kariz construction projects, two 1800 m road repair and gravelling projects, a 1704 m retaining wall and a carpet weaving project in different villages of Guzra district of Herat province.

The total cost of these projects which benefited by 6020 families, raise up to AFs21million 137 thousand. The fund for these projects came from MRRD budget and implemented through National Solidarity Programme (NSP) and National Area Based Development Programme (NABDP) in collaboration with Community Development Councils (CDC’s).

Meanwhile, the construction work of a School in Islam-e Ulia village of Shortepa district in Balkh province has been inaugurated by MRRD. The school which houses up to 800 students over the two shifts will be built in half Jerib land through NABDP programme of MRRD. The total estimated cost of this project is more than AFs6,000,170 which include a drinking water well and school furniture besides.

Mr. Ajmal Paiman, the spokesperson of MRRD said, “These projects provide major facilities needed in commutation for social centers, transportation of crop to markets, enlightening rural houses, prevention of private properties and agricultural land destruction, irrigation of lands and gardens and provision of clear drinking waters for rural communities”.

The Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan through its various national programmes such as National Water and Sanitation Programme, National Rural Access Programme, National Area Based Development Programme and the National Solidarity Programme has brought development to the Most remote villages of all 34 provinces in Afghanistan.

US to Train Pakistan Military Officers

The Associated Press, By JASON STRAZIUSO 03/03/2008 ISLAMABAD, Pakistan

U.S. trainers will travel to Pakistan this year to teach military officials counterinsurgency techniques to aid soldiers along the Afghan border in the fight against al-Qaida and Taliban militants, U.S. officials said Sunday.

The training will also leave the Pakistani border force better able to cooperate with U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, a U.S. military official said.

Twenty-two U.S. trainers will arrive in "drips and drabs" this year and could be in place as soon as June or as late as October, the military official said on condition he not be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Militant attacks have increased sharply in Pakistan's border region in the last year. More than 40 people were killed in a suicide bombing in the North West Frontier Province on Sunday, the third suicide blast in the region in as many days.

Rising attacks in Pakistan have led to a corresponding drop in attacks across the border in eastern Afghanistan — where the majority of the 28,000 American troops in the country are based. But officials are worried the increasing instability is allowing al-Qaida to re-establish a presence in the border region.

President Pervez Musharraf — who has struggled to hold on to power over the last year — was the head of the military until late November, when he stepped down. U.S. officials believe Musharraf's political troubles have distracted him from the fight against militancy.

The U.S. trainers will primarily assist Pakistan military officials who will then do the actual training of the Frontier Corps, said Elizabeth Colton, the spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad.

The initial plans call for some 8,500 Frontier Corps members to benefit from the U.S. training, said the military official. Current plans call for the American personnel to be in Pakistan for up to two years.

The Pakistani army is having trouble dealing with the rising insurgency in part because the army is set up to defend Pakistan from outside invaders and not counterinsurgency warfare, the official said.

The military official said a report in the New York Times on Sunday saying up to 100 U.S. personnel would help train the Frontier Corps overstated the number involved. He said plans called for 22 trainers to travel to Pakistan.

The official refused to say what units the American personnel would be drawn from.

The Pakistan army — which is primarily ethnic Punjabi — is seen as a foreign force in Pakistan's border region, which is ethnic Pashtun.

The U.S. military official said it was necessary to train the indigenous Pashtun force that makes up the Frontier Corps so that the local population regards it and supports it as their own force.

EDITORIAL: Who is behind the terrorism?

Daily Times, Pakistan, Monday, March 03, 2008

The caretaker interior minister, Lieutenant General (Retd) Hamid Nawaz Khan, has done the predictable thing that he learned in PMA by saying on Saturday that India, Afghanistan and the United States had a hand in the terrorism in Pakistan. He admitted he had no proof of this involvement but that “people” had this perception. His “rational” explanation did not go further than the “circumstantial evidence” that the Taliban-Al Qaeda offensive in Afghanistan had gone down in the same measure as incidents of terrorism had gone up in Pakistan. He said suicide-bombings and other acts of organised violence needed big funding and this could come only from states unfriendly towards Pakistan.

The manner in which the charge was made was meant to be disingenuous; but it reflects lack of intellectual depth. The argument on offer is that that it was the “people’s” perception that these foreign powers are behind the trouble. But the framing of the sentence suggests that the establishment is once again ready to spread the evil rumour and make the political environment of Pakistan more toxic. Earlier, a similar charge was made in relation to the uprising which the Musharraf establishment faced in Balochistan. But in that instance, there was some proof in hand and there were some people — definitely excluding the Baloch — who were willing to buy the line.

Some of the national brainwash may accept the India angle contained in this newly refurbished “revelation”, but, more dangerously for Islamabad, the entire national psyche is also dying to believe that the United States too is deceiving Pakistan in its overtures of friendship while in fact it is pursuing the agenda of annihilating Muslims wherever they may be found. Since the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai is seen as a useless appendix of the American military dominance in Afghanistan, there is easy access to the domestic mind through an accusation of this kind.

What is the spokesman of the establishment trying to do? Is he expressing the anger of his establishment over the newborn tendency in the Washington establishment to speak with many voices, some of them not as loyal to President Musharraf as they used to be? Is he reacting to the change of tack in the State Department as expressed by its deputy secretary Mr John D Negroponte recently? By tilting at India again, is he reaffirming that Pakistan is miffed at India for not budging on Kashmir? If that is so, then he should know that the military point of view in the policy on Kashmir is passé, and it will bring no kudos to him from anyone who wants Pakistan to survive and grow.

Now let us look at the sub-text of what was said on Saturday. Since three countries are hounding Pakistan through terrorism, it was implied, it becomes incumbent on Pakistan to take countervailing action. But no one knows how our establishment will strike against the United States and deter it from making mischief in Pakistan. At the most we can withdraw the hundred thousand Pakistani soldiers away from the Durand Line and the Tribal Areas, which will of course compel the Americans to switch off the funds to Pakistan that sustain these operations (and possibly others not mentioned, as reported in the foreign media recently) and go after the terrorists directly. Or our establishment can set on feet conspiracies to create chaos in Afghanistan as it did in the 1990s in the name of “strategic depth”. In parallel to that, of course, it can teach India a lesson by reviving the old jihad there!

If the news has not reached the relevant quarters then let us inform them for the nth time that in the case of both India and Afghanistan, our “strategic” policies in the past have brought Pakistan nothing but a sense of defeat. These policies of jihad and strategic depth are discredited and Pakistan can adopt them again only at the risk of certain isolation and censure at the global level. It is a blunder of comprehension on the part of such disseminators to think that their message will resonate with the people of Pakistan or the politicians. The people of Pakistan may err now and then in welcoming military rule, but they certainly don’t love defeat.

The retort to this line of propaganda has come from the co-chairman of the PPP Mr Asif Zardari who has “de-linked” Kashmir from the process of normalisation of relations with India. In his latest statement delivered on the day the interior minister was delivering himself of his “anti-everybody” wisdom, Mr Zardari gave priority to the pursuit of bilateral trade, giving everybody “time to grow up” in India and Pakistan. The only elements who will buy the line fed by the establishment are the people who are carrying out terrorism in Pakistan, simply because it exonerates them. *

Taliban 'knew' Prince Harry was in Afghanistan

Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom, By Richard Edwards Last Updated: 03/03/2008

A senior Taliban commander claimed yesterday that he knew Prince Harry was in Afghanistan within weeks of his arrival but fighters could not get close to their target.

Mullah Abdul Karim, a veteran fighter, said he had received an urgent message from Taliban intelligence in late December or early January that "an important chicken" had joined British troops in his area of operations.

"He is our special enemy," said Mr Karim, speaking to a magazine by satellite phone from Helmand. "Our first option was to capture him as a prisoner, and the second, to kill him," he added, but he admitted that his fighters never found him.

Whether the Taliban would ever have the Prince in their sights again was in doubt last night as military chiefs admitted that he could never enjoy a "normal" career.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, the Chief of the Defence Staff, warned that the Prince's presence in war zones could put his comrades' lives at greater risk and said he was withdrawn from Afghanistan for the sake of others when news broke about his deployment.

He refused to be drawn on the Prince's chances of going on future operations but said any assessment would be made depending on the threat to other troops.

"I would have to be clear that the risks to the operation would be no higher than they would normally be in such circumstances," he said.

He acknowledged that Harry could never have a normal military career. "Of course it can never be like some ordinary person's career. He is in the line of succession to the throne and that's always going to make a difference.

"But so far he has been able to have as normal career as I think anyone in such circumstances ever could have."

Gen Sir Richard Dannatt, the Chief of the General Staff, said he would expect Prince Harry - an "enthusiastic young officer" - to want to deploy again.

But he added: "He's just had a deployment. We wouldn't expect to send any young officer in the normal course of events for another tour. "So the immediate prospect of Prince Harry going anywhere else is some way off."

Among those kept in the dark about Prince Harry's deployment in Afghanistan was General Dan McNeill, the commander of Nato forces in the country.

He only learned of the Prince's presence when the news was leaked on Thursday. But he understood the secrecy and paid tribute to the Prince's service.

"I believe the lad was a committed soldier and by all accounts he's a good soldier," said Gen McNeill. He added that it was a "pity" that Prince Harry had been unable to "stay a little longer with his mates".

Prince Harry Says He Wants to Return to Afghanistan

Voice of America News - Health By Tom Rivers London 02 March 2008

Speaking for the first time since flying back to Britain, Prince Harry says he is no hero. The third in line to the throne, known in the army as Lieutenant Windsor, was 10 weeks into a three-month deployment in turbulent Helmand Province when news about his duty was leaked on the Internet. For VOA, Tom Rivers in London has the latest.

Looking a bit tired and in a slightly somber mood, Prince Harry fielded a few questions in the terminal building of Brize Norton air force base, north of London. He rejected British tabloid coverage of him that widely labels him a returning hero.

"I would not say I am the hero at all. I am no more hero than anybody else. I mean, everyone, if you think about it there are thousands and thousands of troops out there. There are guys who, you know, two injured guys who came back on the plane with us who were essentially comatose throughout the whole way. One who had lost two limbs, a left arm and a right leg and another guy who was basically saved by his mate's body being in the way and took shrapnel to the neck. Both out cold throughout the whole of the flight, and you know, those are the heroes," he said.

It was widely known by the British media that Harry was serving in southern Afghanistan in Helmand Province. And a news blackout agreement between media organizations and the British Defense Ministry held for 10 weeks, but rapidly unraveled when the U.S.-based Drudge Report Internet site broke the story.

Harry says it has left him disappointed.

"I thought I could sit through to the end and come back with sort of our guys and the colonel himself. But you know, I am back here now and I suppose, I think deep down inside it would be quite nice looking forward having a bath. So, I think once I have had a bath, I think it is nice to be back early. But no, I would like to still be out there with the guys," he added.

Second Lieutenant Windsor will discuss various options once his commanding officer returns from Afghanistan. Although it may not happen, Harry would like to go back to Afghanistan in another front line position and he says he hopes his brother can see some overseas duty as well.

"I know there are a lot of people who are thinking, well, you have done it once now, you have got the medal, why would you ever want to go back again? Well, as you know, if you spoke to a lot of the other guys who came off the plane with me, there are plenty of people willing to go back again just to serve their country and do their bit," he added.

For the next month, it will be rest and relaxation for Harry, then it will be back to army life for the young prince. Just what he will do and where is anyone's guess.

[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.]