In this bulletin:

• Afghan intelligence official and ISAF soldier killed
• Osama and Omar ‘not enemies of Pakistan’
• Afghan clashes up in 2008 but in fewer places: NATO
• Danish cartoons: one Afghan's peaceful protest
• Council conclusions on Afghanistan - 2858th General Affairs Council meeting
• Netherlands calls to boost Afghan development
• Afghanistan: UN Food Agency Races To Prevent Humanitarian Crisis
  Crucial vote expected this week on Afghan mission
• "The situation in Afghanistan is worth this sacrifice"
• NATO allies wait with bated breath as parliamentarians get setto decide the future of Canada's mission in Afghanistan
• Tracing The Roots Of War
• Woman earns Silver Star in Afghan war

Afghan intelligence official and ISAF soldier killed

March 9, 2008 - KABUL (Reuters) - Unknown gunmen shot dead a district intelligence official in southeastern Afghanistan while a roadside bomb blast killed a foreign soldier in a neighbouring province, officials said on Sunday.

Violence has surged in Afghanistan in the last two years with some 6,000 people killed in 2007, the deadliest year since U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in 2001. The shooting took place on Saturday in the province of Khost.

"The incident took place in the Mandozai district when the district intelligence chief Habib Khan was leaving home for the office," said district chief Dawlat Khan. "The incident is under investigation and no one has been arrested yet."

Also on Saturday, a roadside bomb killed a soldier from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, (ISAF) and wounded another in the neighbouring province of Paktia, an ISAF statement said.

ISAF did not release the nationality of the dead soldier however, but most troops operating in eastern Afghanistan are American.

Osama and Omar ‘not enemies of Pakistan’

AFP, 03/10/2008 - KHAR - A pro-Taliban leader in Pakistan's tribal area yesterday said that Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and fugitive Taliban militant leader Mullah Omar were "not enemies of Pakistan."

Addressing a rally near Khar, the main town of Bajaur tribal district bordering Afghanistan, Maulana Faqir Mohamed said that US President George W Bush was the "biggest enemy" of Pakistan.

"America is the biggest terrorist in the world and the current war in Pakistan had been imposed as a consequence of American policy," Mohamed, who is also a Muslim cleric, said.

"As compared to Pakistani rulers, Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar are the biggest well-wishers of Pakistan. They are not enemies of Pakistan," the cleric said.

"US president Bush is the biggest enemy of Pakistan as Pakistani rulers' backing of Bush had caused grave harm to the country," Mohamed said, referring to the close alliance between Washington and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in the US-led "war on terror."

Mohamed said that the "Mujahedeen (holy warriors) had the right to wage jihad (holy war) against the rulers in the nook and corners of the country as a result of continued operations against them.

"We do not want to capture the government, but we want imposition of Islamic system in the country."

Addressing a press conference in December Mohamed had said that bin Laden could be in "some safe area inside Afghanistan," adding: "If he comes to Bajaur, we will give him a warm welcome."

Mohamed's relatively new umbrella group, United Taliban Movement of Pakistan, is said to have been established to unite Taliban activities in the semi-autonomous tribal belt and other parts of northwestern Pakistan.

Pakistani forces have fought increasingly fierce battles against Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in the tribal belt since 2003.

The Taliban were ousted from power in Afghanistan by a US-led invasion in November 2001, shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks blamed on bin Laden.

Musharraf has been seen in Washington as a bulwark against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, but northwestern Pakistan has seen the worst of a wave of violence blamed on Al Qaeda and Taliban rebels that has swept the country in recent months.

Afghan clashes up in 2008 but in fewer places: NATO

By Jon Hemming - KABUL (Reuters) - NATO forces in Afghanistan have clashed more times with Taliban insurgents in the first two months of 2008 compared to last year, though fighting has occurred in fewer places, the alliance-led force said on Monday.

NATO says it is making progress against the Taliban, but analysts say there is stalemate on the ground that is eating into Western support for keeping troops in Afghanistan and pulling out foreign forces would hand the Taliban strategic victory.

In the first two months of 2008, there have been 595 armed clashes in 101 districts in Afghanistan, compared to 550 clashes in 88 districts in the same period last year, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.

The increase in clashes was due to greater activity by troops going after Taliban rebels, an ISAF spokesman said.

"It is indicative of the increasing activity on behalf of ISAF," said Captain Mike Finney. "We have been more active than we were last year and, in fact, insurgent activities have gone down because we are going out to get them ... rather than them coming to us."

Meanwhile, the United Nations said there had been fewer security incidents this year, compared to the same period in 2007.

"We have quite simply not seen that kind of decline ever in Afghanistan," the UN deputy special envoy to Afghanistan Christopher Alexander told a news conference. "It does not mean that Afghanistan is heading towards peace immediately, but it does mean that with hard work security can improve.

ISAF and NATO measure incidents in different ways, another ISAF spokesman said, and pointed to the figures which showed fighting had taken place in fewer districts as evidence of improving security.

But an organization which monitors security for the dozens of non-governmental organizations said there had been a marked increase in Taliban attacks so far this year.

Data collected by the Afghanistan NGO Security Office (ANSO) said there had been a 39 percent increase in Taliban attacks until March this year compared to the same period in 2007.

The biggest increase had been in armed attacks rather than in suicide and roadside bombs, ANSO said, contradicting ISAF which has repeatedly said the Taliban are relying more on so-called asymmetric suicide and roadside bomb tactics due their inability to take on NATO and Afghan troops head on.

While there was a divergence in the figures, the perception among many Afghans and of Western public opinion is of a conflict still dragging on more than six years after U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban with no foreseeable end.

The United States is pressuring reluctant European allies to take a larger role in combating a resurgent Taliban in the more volatile south and east of the country, an issue expected to loom large at NATO's April 2-4 summit in Bucharest.

Canada has already threatened to pull its 2,500 troops from the southern province of Kandahar next year unless allies come up with 1,000 extra troops to support it.

Other NATO nations will also be looking for definite signs of progress by the end of this year before re-evaluating their role in Afghanistan, analysts and diplomats said.

Danish cartoons: one Afghan's peaceful protest

Christian Science Monitor, 03/10/2008 By Anand Gopal

Muhammad Sediq Afghan's hunger strike has inspired dozens to join his nonviolent efforts.

Kabul - Hundreds of demonstrators marched the streets of Kabul Sunday, calling for the eviction of Danish and Dutch troops, while in the western city of Herat, thousands assembled and burned the nations' flags.

Yet even as angry protests sweep the country in response to the republication of cartoon images of the prophet Muhammad, in one park in Kabul, protesters are taking a different approach – one they say better reflects their religion of peace.

Muhammad Sediq Afghan, a professor at the Kabul-based World Philosophical Mathematics Research Center, is sitting in a small tent near the center of town, where he has spent close to a week without food.

Mr. Afghan is leading a dozen others in a hunger strike to protest the Danish cartoons and a film by a Dutch politician that compares the Koran to Hitler's "Mein Kempf." "I will continue to fast until the authors apologize," he says. "Others are burning flags and rioting. We don't like this – we want to do things peacefully."

It is an unlikely tactic in a war-torn country with a history of violent protests. Two years ago, a Danish newspaper printed cartoon images of Muhammad that many Muslims considered offensive, sparking protests and riots across the Muslim world. Last month, Danish newspapers republished the images after police uncovered a plot to murder the cartoon's author. At the same time, Dutch papers announced the March release of a film that contends that the Koran is "an inspiration for intolerance, murder and terror."

Protests erupted again throughout the Muslim world, including in Afghanistan. In the eastern city of Jalalabad, furious protesters torched the Danish and Dutch flags, while more than 200 Afghan lawmakers shouted, "Death to enemies of Islam," in a demonstration outside the parliament building in Kabul.

But Afghan insists that the violent few do not represent most Muslims. When two locals passed by his solitary tent last week, they were inspired to plant tents of their own and join in the hunger strike.

"I was visiting from Kunduz [a distant province], when I saw Mr. Afghan's tent," striker Bashir Ahmad says. "I agreed with his message, and I don't think violence is the way to solve this issue. So I decided to join the strike, and I've been here ever since."

The following day a few more joined. By Day 5, more than 60 people had gathered in this small Kabul park, transforming one man's stand into a forum where strikers give passionate speeches defending Islam.

The protests come at a time when many Afghans feel that the West judges them unfairly, observers say. Local journalist Hamid Asir asks, "British newspapers agreed not to publish stories about Prince Harry's stay in Afghanistan. But when someone publishes something that is hurtful to over one billion people, why does the West talk about press freedom?"

Analysts warn that the specter of continued violence still looms large, especially if the Dutch film is released, and that some will seek to gain from the events. "Violent protests are often orchestrated or manipulated by powerful religious figures," says Nadim Shehadi, London-based analyst.

But Afghan and his fellow strikers hope their peaceful methods will strike a chord. "Europe has spent billions on Afghanistan," says the mathematician, pallid and emaciated from a week without food. "But we'd much rather just have them respect our religion."

Council conclusions on Afghanistan - 2858th General Affairs Council meeting

3.10.08 – The Council of Europe

The Council adopted the following conclusions:

"1. In line with its previous conclusions, the Council reaffirms the EU's commitment to long-term support for the people and government of Afghanistan and the core principles of promoting Afghan leadership, good governance, responsibility and ownership, and fostering the development of a democratic, secure and sustainable Afghan State with respect for human rights and the rule of law.

2. The Council supports the approach launched at the Joint Co-ordination and Monitoring Board in Tokyo on 5-6 February to prepare an international conference to be held in Paris in June to review progress in implementation of the Afghanistan Compact, reaffirm the commitment of the international community to Afghanistan and discuss the way forward. The Council calls on the Government of Afghanistan to make further progress on human rights and good governance, including through establishment of an independent Senior Appointment mechanism and the implementation of the national anti-corruption strategy and the approval of a media law consistent with freedom of expression. The EU remains committed to working with the Government of Afghanistan to strengthen its human rights institutions and mechanisms. The Council recalls its urgent appeal to halt any future executions and to re-establish a de facto moratorium on the use of the death penalty and to enhance its implementation of transitional justice action plan.

3. The Council underlines the continued engagement of the EU in Afghanistan, including through the bilateral cooperation programmes of EU Member States, as well as through EC's assistance strategy, which contains substantial multi-year commitment until 2013, and focuses on governance and rule of law, particularly on the judiciary and police, and on rural development and health. The Council looks forward to the finalisation, launch and implementation of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy and welcomes the participatory process this has involved to date.

4. The Council welcomes the progress of the EU police mission in Afghanistan towards full deployment at central, regional and provincial level by the end of March. The mission is supporting the development of the Afghan police force under local ownership, respecting human rights and operating within the framework of the rule of law. The EU remains committed to addressing the multiple challenges lying ahead in close cooperation with the Afghan authorities and international partners. The Council expresses its readiness to consider further enhancement of EU engagement, particularly in the field of police and wider rule of law.

5. The EU, underlining its overall coherence in objectives with UN and NATO on the basis of Afghanistan Compact, reaffirms its readiness to closely work with UNAMA and ISAF, inter alia through EUPOL Afghanistan, in order to strengthen overall coordination of the international community in Afghanistan. The Council will continue to follow developments with regards to Afghanistan closely, including at the forthcoming NATO summit in Bucharest.

6. The Council will keep the EU's policy towards Afghanistan under review in the coming months, in advance of the Paris conference.

7. The Council welcomes the appointment of Mr Kai Eide as Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan."

Netherlands calls to boost Afghan development

SYDNEY (AFP) — Greater commitment to development in Afghanistan is essential to ensure progress towards peace, the Dutch defence minister said Monday.

Military efforts against Taliban rebels need to be matched by major social programmes, Eimert van Middelkoop said in an open letter published here ahead of his visit to Australia that begins Tuesday.

"A greater commitment of the United Nations and other international organisations and NGOs (non-governmental organisations) is necessary to ensure that progress does not evaporate," he said.

"Development is essential in encouraging Afghans to support their government and the international community and in isolating the Taliban.

"Projects such as schools, health clinics, roads and power plants will not only help the economy, but also help the government to assert its authority throughout Afghanistan."

Australian and Dutch troops have been working together for 18 months in a NATO-led mission in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan, a former Taliban stronghold.

"We both believe that military means alone do not suffice to achieve our aims," Van Middelkoop said.

"We both believe that, parallel to the necessary active engagement of the Taliban, it is vital that we invest just as much energy in development and governance."

The NATO summit in Bucharest in April, which will be attended by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, needed to clearly state goals for the future and how they would be achieved.

"I am therefore pleased that NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has ensured that Australia will be closely involved in the drafting of this NATO political-military strategy for Afghanistan," he said.

Britain gives $6M to fight Afghan hunger

LONDON, March 9 (UPI) -- The British government says it will send more than $6 million to Afghanistan to help fight rampant food shortages in the troubled country.

International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander said his country's funds should help prevent a humanitarian crisis from occurring in Afghanistan, the BBC reported Sunday.

The British food aid appears to be in response to a joint United Nations and Afghan government appeal for more than $80 million in aid from the international community.

Alexander told the BBC the food shortages in Afghanistan were, in part, due to the rising cost of wheat and other food items worldwide.

"Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world, and least able to cope with spiraling food prices combined with severe winter weather," he said.

"Providing an immediate safety net will help avoid a humanitarian crisis and end the immediate suffering."

Afghanistan: UN Food Agency Races To Prevent Humanitarian Crisis

A crippling food shortage in Afghanistan exacerbated by a harsh winter and an astronomical rise in the price of wheat has led the UN's World Food Program (WFP) to begin distributing emergency food aid.

The UN food agency has begun providing emergency wheat deliveries to millions of Afghans in an attempt to prevent a humanitarian crisis. It plans to distribute aid packages this week containing wheat, beans, and cooking oil to some 650,000 people in and around Kabul, with aid shipments to remote areas to follow.

"We say that among these 6 million that we have estimated, 3.5 million are regularly in need of our food, and almost 3 million people are seasonally in need of our food," WFP spokesman Ebadullah Ebad tells RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan. "We are concerned about those people who are living in remote areas. We are concerned about the shortage of food and getting food to them in that rugged terrain. If we don't get that food there on time to those people in remote areas, we think that there will be a [humanitarian] crisis."

Ebad says recent price increases for wheat on the global market has meant that ordinary Afghans have seen wheat prices rise by 70 percent during the past year -- making it difficult for impoverished Afghans to purchase the food staple.

"The price of wheat last year per kilogram was 15 afghanis," Ebad says. "This year, one kilogram of wheat is about 27 to 28 afghanis -- which is almost 50 cents. This shows that people who have a very low income are vulnerable."

Indeed, three months ago, the UN appealed for donor countries to send $77 million in additional funds to help Afghans affected by the global surge in the price of wheat.

Ebad says the food is needed in both urban and rural areas of Afghanistan during the next three months: "We had asked for pledges to help about 2.5 million people who are vulnerable because of the increase of food prices in Afghanistan. We have asked the donor countries to help us with $77 million so we can buy about 89,000 metric tons of wheat."

So far, Ebad says, donor countries have responded by sending an additional $40 million in aid. Ebad adds that the remaining $37 million has been promised by donor countries but has not yet been sent, and stresses that it takes at least four months before contributions can make their way into the country, through warehouses, and to the people.

Ebad adds that violence and lawlessness in some parts of Afghanistan continue to hamper efforts to deliver aid to needy Afghans, in addition to adverse weather and rising costs.

"It's a mixture of man-made disasters and also natural disasters," Ebadi says. "The most vulnerable people are living in remote areas -- for example Badakhshan, Dai Kundi, Bamiyan, or Faryab. Those are the provinces mostly affected by natural disasters. Sometimes there are man-made disasters -- like in Helmand, one of the provinces where the conflict [continues] between the Taliban and coalition forces. And also, there are armed people on the way to Herat -- especially in Farah Province in the desert. They are attacking our convoys."

Rick Corsino, the World Food Program's Afghanistan director, says food distribution should be completed before the main midyear wheat harvest. Corsino says it is important that the additional food aid shipments do not discourage Afghan farmers from growing wheat for the domestic market.

RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent Freshta Jalalzai contributed to this report from Prague

Crucial vote expected this week on Afghan mission

Updated Mon. Mar. 10 2008 - The Canadian Press

OTTAWA -- A crucial vote is expected in the Commons this week to extend Canada's mission in Afghanistan.

The vote is expected Thursday, but it's already clear that the Opposition Liberals don't have plans to topple the minority Conservative government over it.

As Liberal leader Stephane Dion put it, Canadians don't want an election between "a snowstorm and Easter."

The motion would extend Canada's military mission in Kandahar to July 2011, but would refocus that mission on training Afghan military and police forces, as well as reconstruction and aid efforts.

The vote is expected to be the last confidence hurdle Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Tories will face before MPs return for their ridings for a two-week break.

The Liberals have given up their opposition day in the Commons this week so they can continue debating the Afghan mission.

"The situation in Afghanistan is worth this sacrifice"

One of Afghanistan's top female politicians speaks out on life before and after the Taliban—and Canadian lives lost

Michael Petrou | Mar 7, 2008 – MacLeans magazine

To understand why Fawzia Koofi, deputy speaker of the lower house of Afghanistan’s National Assembly, describes her country’s current turmoil as its “golden age,” it helps to know what her life was like before the fall of the Taliban.

In 1996, she was a 21-year-old medical student in Kabul with a seemingly bright future ahead of her. In September of that year, the Taliban captured Afghanistan’s capital and forbid women from getting an education. “I had nothing to do but get married,” she says in an interview with Maclean’s during a visit to Canada with five other Afghan women parliamentarians.

Ten days after her marriage, the Taliban arrested Koofi’s husband, Hamid Ahmadi, for the crime of marrying Koofi, whose father was a member of parliament during the reign of King Muhammad Zahir Shah. A local Taliban commander at the jail threw rocks at Koofi to keep her away from the prison. Her husband, Ahmadi, was tortured and kept in freezing conditions, which led to him contracting tuberculosis. He was released after three months. Koofi fled with her husband to Badakshan, a region of Afghanistan controlled by the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance. But Ahmadi’s sickness was terminal. He died several years later, leaving Koofi to raise two daughters on her own.

“That made me stronger,” she says. “It made me think about politics and working against fundamentalism and against people who impose their ideas on women in the name of Islam. That’s how I came to politics.”

Koofi returned to Kabul after the Taliban were overthrown and successfully ran for office as a representative of Badakshan province. She also enrolled in law school and will soon graduate.

“These are golden years for many reasons,” she says. “First of all is the fact that we have a democratically elected parliament.  We have 68 women in the lower house. We have the international community’s attention. This is an opportunity for us to build our country.”

Koofi doesn’t gloss over the problems that Afghanistan is facing, not least of all rising insecurity and the growing reach of the Taliban. “I’m not optimistic. I’m realistic,” she says. “With all the good things that are happening in Afghanistan, we face challenges. Fundamentalism is in a growth process. You have certain characters within the government even that do not believe in democracy. There are fundamentalist figures that have influenced the government. Those are the threats we face in Afghanistan, but we have to keep going.”

Women politicians face unique challenges. Some of Koofi’s fellow parliamentarians don’t even want to sit under the same roof as her, believing that doing so violates sharia, or Islamic law. And in a patriarchal society, women seldom have the money and power that tends to help political careers. On the other hand, Koofi says, women politicians in Afghanistan are developing a reputation for honesty that is earning them the support of voters.

Koofi believes that Afghanistan’s government needs to be much more decentralized to take into account its ethnic and geographic diversity. She’d also like to see the creation of the position of prime minister. In the meantime, she says, her country’s biggest challenge is the Taliban’s resurgence. She blames this primarily on the support the movement gets from Pakistan and abroad.

“We cannot afford to support democracy in Afghanistan and dictatorship in Pakistan,” she says. “Now, you have 37 countries in Afghanistan. With 37 countries, we are not able to defeat a small group of fundamentalists because the links [to extremists in Pakistan] have become very strong.”

Koofi points to the lawless, tribal areas of Pakistan, largely inhabited by Pashtuns, the same ethnic group that comprises most of the Taliban. Much of this territory, which borders Afghanistan, is beyond the formal control of Pakistan’s government and many Taliban recruits originate there. She says the Pakistani government needs to move into these areas – not just to hunt down extremists, but also to economically and politically integrate the people who live there into the Pakistani state.

Many analysts and politicians – most notably Jack Layton of the NDP – have suggested that the Afghan government should attempt to negotiate peace with the Taliban, especially its more moderate elements. “We don’t reject the principle of negotiations and discussions and talks,” Koofi says, “but it’s very important to make a definition of what we mean by moderate Taliban.” She says that there are “small commanders here and there” who can be integrated into Afghanistan’s democracy, just like any other citizen. But she cautions that most of these minor warlords don’t have much influence.

The Taliban’s top leaders might be powerful, Koofi says, but they are so opposed to Afghanistan’s fledgling democracy that she sees little room for negotiations. “Mullah Omar, Taliban leaders linked to al-Qaeda, they have their own constitution – the constitution of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. They don’t respect our constitution. They don’t respect our values and the democracy that we have created over the last five or six years. They don’t respect women’s rights at all. So how do we share power?” 

Koofi is aware, of course, of the debate in Canada over this country’s future involvement in Afghanistan, and she is careful to be diplomatic when discussing the topic. She hopes Parliament will vote to extend Canada’s mission in Afghanistan until 2011, and then “we will talk about it.”  She stresses, however, that the fight against Islamist extremism in Afghanistan is one with international repercussions.

“Before September 11, we were shouting in Afghanistan that we were the victims of terrorism, but the international community was saying it’s a civil war. Well, the extension of that civil war came to the twin buildings. That’s when the international community realized, ‘OK, the Afghan people are suffering from terrorism. Now we have to help them.’ If you don’t help Afghan people fight terrorism today, tomorrow, those same terrorists will come to your own border.”

“The Canadian public is pessimistic because you lose your soldiers in Afghanistan. Canada has lost 80 soldiers. This is absolutely understandable,” she says. “But in the meantime, we are building the police. We are building the army. The situation in Afghanistan is worth this sacrifice.”

MPs under the gun

Sun, March 9, 2008

NATO allies wait with bated breath as parliamentarians get setto decide the future of Canada's mission in Afghanistan

By KATHLEEN HARRIS, NATIONAL BUREAU, London Free Press

The eyes of the world will be fixed on Canada this week when MPs decide the fate of the nation's biggest military effort in a generation.

As overlapping scandals continue to rage over NAFTA-gate and an alleged million-dollar bribe to dying Independent MP Chuck Cadman, MPs will stand to be counted Thursday on a critical vote with life-and-death consequences to sign Canadian troops on for another three years in Afghanistan.

So far, 79 soldiers and one Canadian diplomat have died in the war zone from friendly fire, suicide, accidents, roadside bombs and improvised explosive devices. The Conservative government's motion extends deployment to 2011, shifting the mission in focus but not in geographic location from the dangerous Kandahar region.

Some Canadians have complained of a lack of public input in the decision-making process. But Government House Leader Peter Van Loan insists the Tories have made it an exercise in supreme democracy by putting the military engagement to a vote in the House of Commons.

He said the Afghanistan mission is key for Canada and its increasingly strong global reputation.

"In the past, there was a sense that Canada had retreated from its traditional leadership role on the world stage," he said. "But our NATO allies and others are quite aware of the significant work Canada has taken on, and that gives us the ability to speak with considerable authority. Not just on the Afghanistan question, but on all questions of international affairs."

Canada's extended stay rests on a condition that NATO supplies more equipment and 1,000 additional troops. The vote comes this week so Canada is armed with a firm position before a NATO summit in Bucharest next month.

Van Loan calls the motion "the product of an effort to build bi-partisan consensus," borrowing recommendations from the John Manley panel report and making concessions based on Liberal party demands.

Liberal defence critic Denis Coderre agrees, describing it as a "cut and paste" that reflects 95% of his party's position, especially the key issue of a fixed exit date. There will be demands for answers to outstanding questions this week, but he expects the motion will find overwhelming support from Liberal MPs.

Dismissing suggestions the Liberal party caved on its demand to end combat in 2009, Coderre insists they secured a balanced approach that focuses more on diplomacy and development than fighting and defence.

"Combat is a component of security, but security doesn't necessarily mean combat," he said. "At the same time, it's important for our troops to defend and protect ourselves, and we need the flexibility and capacity to protect civilians. But we don't believe in the continued offensive, counter-insurgency combat."

But NDP Leader Jack Layton, whose party will vote against the Conservative motion along with Bloc Quebecois MPs, points to a rise in civilian deaths, poppy production and corruption as signs the Afghanistan mission is failing on many fronts.

"The current trajectory shows that by virtually every measure things are getting worse now," he said.

No military victory is possible because of the permanent capacity of rebels and insurgents to cross the borders from neighbouring countries, Layton said. Instead, allies should shift from the military-minded NATO to a "blue beret" focus under the UN to de-escalate warfare, reduce violence and create a more secure environment.

Rideau Institute director Steve Staples agrees the mission is failing and criticized the Liberals for leaping "from the lifeboat to the deck of the Titanic" when it comes to charting its course.

"All the indicators on the ground is that the war is not going well and the situation is deteriorating," he said. "The word that is being spoken now is defeat, that we may not be able to win militarily and we've waited so long on the diplomatic and development front that we may not be able to succeed. We're going to spend a lot more money and likely suffer many more casualties as we go on for another three years."

Alain Pellerin, executive director the Conference of Defence Associations, is pleased all signs are pointing to a continued Canadian presence in Afghanistan. But he disagrees with the fixed troop-withdrawal date, arguing it says Canada is committed to the mission, but not for the long haul.

"It sends the wrong message to the Taliban," he said. "What it says to the other side is, just wait it out for another two years, we'll be gone by 2011. I can see the political reality in Canada that the government couldn't sell to the Opposition a mission without an end date, but it sends a negative signal, especially in an operation against insurgents where the primary function is to provide security in the region."

He suggests Canada determine its end date based on benchmarks for building Afghan security forces.

"If we leave or if NATO leaves before there's a credible security force on the ground to counter the Taliban, the country will fall apart again," Pellerin said. "Kandahar is vital ground. If you lose that province ... you can pretty well say the mission has failed."

NATO's chief spokesman James Appathurai said there are many signs of tangible. results in Afghanistan. The military alliance is watching Canada's debate very closely and hopes it ends with a decision to prolong the mission.

"To put it bluntly, we hope Canada will find a way to extend its mission in Afghanistan, and NATO is working hard to help make it possible," Appathurai said from NATO headquarters in Brussels.

"Kandahar is a strategically important province in the defence of the country; it's also the spiritual heartland of the Taliban. Canada's success there has sent a powerful signal of the international community's staying power and effectiveness. This is, of course, for Canadians to decide, but NATO would welcome a vote to extend Canada's participation, to reinforce the success this mission is clearly having -- sadly, at a high price for Canada and many other nations."

Tracing The Roots Of War

Kevin Newman's new documentary is a history lesson on the ground

Maria Kubacki,  Canwest News Service  Published: Monday, March 10, 2008

Early in, early out -- that was the plan back in February, 2002, when Jean Chretien's Liberal government sent Canadian troops to Afghanistan as part of an international coalition mandated to drive out the Taliban in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

It was supposed to be a short-term mission, but six years later, Canada is still mired in a messy war that's claimed the lives of 79 Canadian soldiers so far.

A new Global Television documentary examines how Canada ended up digging itself in deeper and deeper in Afghanistan.

Revealed: The Path to War airs tomorrow night in advance of a parliamentary vote on an extension of the mission that would see Canadian troops remain in the volatile southern province of Kandahar until 2011.

"I'm fascinated by trying to uncover how the decision was made," said Global National anchor Kevin Newman, who co-produced, co-wrote and narrated the film.

"It's not always about helping the people of Afghanistan."

Some of the choices made along the way have been more about pleasing the United States, the documentary suggests. Having decided against participating in the war in Iraq, Canada felt pressured to continue making a major contribution in Afghanistan.

"People ask, 'Why are we in Kandahar?' " Newman said. "It has less, probably, to do with Afghanistan than it has to do with not going to Iraq."

Based on the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize-winning book The Unexpected War: Canada in Kandahar by political scientist Janice Gross Stein and former defence department insider Eugene Lang, the documentary looks at Canada's involvement in Afghanistan from the inside.

It's a chronological account built around interviews with the politicians who made decisions on policy as the conflict developed -- including former prime ministers Jean Chretien and Paul Martin, as well as former defence ministers John Mc-Callum and Bill Graham.

The documentary also suggests that our military leaders --especially the current chief of the defence staff, General Rick Hillier -- saw Afghanistan as an opportunity to show the world that Canadian forces were capable not only of peacekeeping but of a combat role on the world stage.

Canada was compelled to participate in the initial Afghanistan mission once NATO invoked article 5, which states that an attack on one member is an attack on all. Beyond our responsibilities as a NATO member, there was also the need to show our loyalty to the U.S.

Still, Canada's part in the war in Afghanistan was never meant to be an open-ended contribution, notes Stein in the film. The original plan was "Six months in, six months out, tidy, wrap a bow around the package."

It's turned out to be anything but tidy as Canada's role grew to include leading the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul in 2003 and assuming responsibility for the provincial reconstruction team in Kandahar in 2005 -- a combat zone where 2,500 Canadian troops are still deployed.

"This is the story of Canada going to war by incremental steps, without ever fully realizing it," Stein says in the documentary.

"We put a small little toe in the water, and then we pull out," Newman said. "Then we go back a little longer, and then we pull out ... Now we're about to go in the longest with the proviso that we're pulling out in 2011, but as the documentary sort of suggests, sometimes things change in the fullness of time and the 2011 date which seems permanent today may not end up being that at the end."

Newman says the documentary was inspired in part by The Best and the Brightest, David Halberstam's book about how a series of incremental decisions led to the protracted U.S. war in Vietnam.

"Not to say that this is Canada's Vietnam. However, the way that the conflict has progressed, there are similarities in the ways decisions are made that make sense at the moment perhaps but in the long run end up getting you deeper into something. We are now in a position where people are reluctant to come and replace us. We're there and it's difficult for us to leave."

The current decision makers chose not to participate in the film, despite producers' best efforts to persuade key Tories, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper, to agree to interviews. Gen. Hillier was also approached.

"Nobody would agree to talk to us," Newman said.

The Liberals, on the other hand, were able to speak freely now that they're no longer in power.

Former defence minister John Mc-Callum, in particular, is disarmingly frank, speaking openly about how Canada ended up being stuck with the unenviable job of trying to bring security to the increasingly dangerous province of Kandahar. "We dithered, and so all the safe places were taken and we were left with Kandahar."

Newman hopes the film will generate "a lot of discussion" in advance of the critical vote that could put more Canadians in harm's way.

"Mostly I hope people start to recognize that we're living through history. This is the kind of film that you might have seen, about a different war, in a classroom. But this is happening to us now."

Talks on Czech elite unit's Afghan mission to be closed in month

České noviny (Czech Republic) - March 9, 2008

Prague- Prague's negotiations with the USA on sending a Czech military elite unit to Afghanistan are likely to be completed by the Bucharest summit of NATO in April, Czech Defence Minister Vlasta Parkanova said in a discussion on public Czech Television today.

"I think this would be logical," Parkanova (Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL) said in the Vaclav Moravec's Questions discussion programme.

The mission in question is mainly to involve members of the special forces unit from Prostejov, south Moravia, that has operated in Afghanistan twice already. About 100 troops could take part in the mission.

Parkanova said the best opportunity for the unit to help would be within the Enduring Freedom operation, led by the Americans, but it could join the NATO-led international forces ISAF as well.

Parkanova said she will present the special unit's mission in a document to be submitted to parliament for approval, as it would be an extra mission, added to those the parliament approved last autumn, which reckon with the operation of 415 Czech soldiers in Afghanistan.

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek (Civic Democrats, ODS) negotiated about an increase in the Czech military participation in Afghanistan during his recent visit to the USA and Canada.

Canada wants to terminate its military operation in Afghanistan unless other NATO countries send more soldiers to the dangerous southern provinces.

Ondrej Liska, Czech education minister and deputy head of the junior ruling Green Party (SZ) who participated in the debate today, voiced doubts about the planned mission's sense.

He said Afghanistan needs prospects different from a mere endless reinforcing of military units.

Afghanistan, surviving on foreign support and owing to the production of opium, needs a multilateral reconstruction plan, Liska said.

Michal Hasek, head of the senior opposition Social Democrat (CSSD) group of deputies, did not rule out the CSSD's support for the planned additional Czech mission.

The Czech reconstruction team (PRT) that has started work in the Logar province these days alone involves some 200 soldiers. Besides, a 100-member Czech military field hospital operates in Kabul.

In the Hilmand province, a Czech military police's special unit operates. The Czech military also wants to send 62 soldiers, members of the radiation, chemical and biological protection unit, to the south Afghan province of Uruzgan in support of the Dutch PRT.

Woman earns Silver Star in Afghan war

By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press / March 9, 2008

CAMP SALERNO, Afghanistan - A 19-year-old medic from Texas will become the first woman in Afghanistan and only the second female soldier since World War II to receive the Silver Star, the nation's third-highest medal for valor.

Army Spc. Monica Lin Brown saved the lives of fellow soldiers after a roadside bomb tore through a convoy of Humvees in the eastern Paktia province in April 2007, the military said.

After the explosion, which wounded five soldiers in her unit, Brown ran through insurgent gunfire and used her body to shield wounded comrades as mortars fell less than 100 yards away, the military said.

"I did not really think about anything except for getting the guys to a safer location and getting them taken care of and getting them out of there," Brown told The Associated Press on Saturday at a U.S. base in the eastern province of Khost.

Brown, of Lake Jackson, Texas, is scheduled to receive the Silver Star later this month. She was part of a four-vehicle convoy patrolling near Jani Kheil in the eastern province of Paktia on April 25, 2007, when a bomb struck one of the Humvees.

"We stopped the convoy. I opened up my door and grabbed my aid bag," Brown said. She started running toward the burning vehicle as insurgents opened fire. All five wounded soldiers had scrambled out.

"I assessed the patients to see how bad they were. We tried to move them to a safer location because we were still receiving incoming fire," Brown said.

Pentagon policy prohibits women from serving in front-line combat roles — in the infantry, armor or artillery, for example. But the nature of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, with no real front lines, has seen women soldiers take part in close-quarters combat more than previous conflicts.

Four Army nurses in World War II were the first women to receive the Silver Star, though three nurses serving in World War I were awarded the medal posthumously last year, according to the Army's Web site.

Brown, of the 4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, said ammunition going off inside the burning Humvee was sending shrapnel in all directions. She said they were sitting in a dangerous spot.

"So we dragged them for 100 or 200 meters, got them away from the Humvee a little bit," she said. "I was in a kind of a robot-mode, did not think about much but getting the guys taken care of."

For Brown, who knew all five wounded soldiers, it became a race to get them all to a safer location. Eventually, they moved the wounded some 500 yards away and treated them on site before putting them on a helicopter for evacuation.

"I did not really have time to be scared," Brown said. "Running back to the vehicle, I was nervous (since) I did not know how badly the guys were injured. That was scary."

The military said Brown's "bravery, unselfish actions and medical aid rendered under fire saved the lives of her comrades and represents the finest traditions of heroism in combat."

Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester, of Nashville, Tenn., received the Silver Star in 2005 for gallantry during an insurgent ambush on a convoy in Iraq. Two men from her unit, the 617th Military Police Company of Richmond, Ky., also received the Silver Star for their roles in the same action.

Talks on TAP gas pipeline project on April 22, 23

Daily Times, Pakistan, 03/10/2008

ISLAMABAD - Negotiations on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) gas pipeline project will be held in Islamabad on April 22 and 23, sources in the Petroleum Ministry told Daily Times on Sunday.

Turkmenistan would present a third-party certification of its gas reserves during the talks, they said.

Turkmenistan claims to have gas reserves of 159 trillion cubic feet (TCF) at its Daulatabad fields, but Pakistan wants a third-party certification. Issues of project structure, security problems in Afghanistan, transit fee and gas pricing would be also discussed, sources said.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) had earlier scheduled the talks for November 27 and then for February 23 and 24, they added, but other stakeholders were reluctant to join in, apparently due to emergency rule and then a caretaker setup in Pakistan.

They said the estimated cost of the proposed project was $6 billion to $7 billion. The ADB is the main sponsor, they added, but tenders would also be invited from other investors.

“Oil companies like Shell and British Petroleum Company will also be invited to participate in the project,” a source said.

Although India seems to be distancing itself from the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project, it could join the TAP project as the fourth stakeholder, the sources said.

India has earlier been participating as an observer in talks between Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The sources said Pakistan would import 3.2 billion cubic feet of gas from Turkmenistan and would share some of it with India.

A 1,680-kilometre pipeline will run from the Daulatabad gas fields through Afghanistan and Quetta to Multan, according to the proposed project.

Apology for Prince Harry Leak

By ROHAN SULLIVAN – SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — An Australian magazine apologized Monday to readers and troops serving abroad for publishing a story revealing that Prince Harry was fighting with British troops in Afghanistan.

New Idea magazine said when it ran the story in January it was unaware of an agreement between the British Ministry of Defense and major news organizations not to disclose Harry's deployment to protect the 23-year-old prince and his fellow soldiers.

The story eventually resulted in the royal being sent home.

The report went largely unnoticed until last February when the Drudge Report published it, citing the magazine and a German publication. British officials decided to pull Harry out of Afghanistan for his safety and that of his unit.

In an unsigned item in its latest edition issued Monday, New Idea did not explain the source of its January story on Harry and indicated it did not check with British military officials before publishing.

"We did not knowingly breach any embargo and were not party to any agreement for a media blackout on the story," the magazine said. "However, and more importantly, we do acknowledge that our actions in publishing the story can be reasonably viewed as insensitive and irresponsible."

The magazine apologized to its readers and to troops and their families who serve abroad.

Harry spent almost 10 weeks in Afghanistan's volatile Helmand province, with his deployment kept secret by a deal between officials and British and media — including The Associated Press.

New Idea is a celebrity and lifestyle magazine with a monthly circulation of about 390,000 copies. A magazine spokesman did not immediately return calls on Monday.

Terrorist sleeper cell 'within Met'

Scotland Yard has refused to discuss allegations that a sleeper cell of al Qaida spies is being kept under secret service surveillance after infiltrating the Metropolitan Police.

According to the News of the World, in the past few weeks MI5 agents have identified four officers suspected of passing secrets from the force.

All four are allegedly Asians living in London and are feared to have links with Islamic extremists in Britain and worldwide terrorist organisations.

[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.]