In this bulletin:

• Suicide attack, clashes kill 20 in Afghanistan
• 41 Taliban Killed in South Afghanistan
• AFGHANISTAN: UN Secretary-General warns of threats to "still fragile" country
• AFGHANISTAN INSURGENCY MORE RESILIENT THAN EXPECTED
• US forces in Afghanistan confirm strike in Pakistan
• South Asia: Pakistani Appointee Vows To Do Good By Afghanistan
• Britain regrets death of civilians in Afghanistan clash
• U.S. would support French move to east Afghanistan
• Afghan-born U.S. envoy says no presidential ambitions
• Afghan mission extension expected to pass today
• Canada demands 'one partner' in Kandahar
• Charter does not apply to Afghan detainees: ruling
• UN chief to attend Afghanistan meeting in Romania
• U.N. To Send New Kabul Envoy Amid Heightened Violence
• Afghanistan submits its Human Rights Report after a gap of 16 years
• Afghanistan's soaring drug trade hits home
• Afghanistan: Al-Qaeda Bloggers' Sparring With Taliban Could Signal Key Differences
• The Minister of Rural Rehabilitation and Development to Sign 19 Development Contracts in Kandahar
• Despite Islamic condemnations, fans throng to 'Afghan Star' TV show

Suicide attack, clashes kill 20 in Afghanistan

KABUL, March 13, 2008 (AFP) — A suicide car bomb attack on a convoy of US troops killed six Afghan civilians in Kabul on Thursday, while fresh violence in the restive south left at least 15 Taliban fighters and policemen dead.

The extremist Taliban movement claimed responsibility for the rush-hour blast on the road to the capital's international airport, in which four US troops also suffered minor injuries and 33 Afghans were wounded.

Kabul police chief General Salim Ahsas told AFP that six people were killed in the suicide car bomb attack on US-led coalition forces. Health minister Mohammad Amin Fatimi said 33 civilians were wounded and blamed the attack on "enemies of Afghanistan".

The US-led coalition in Afghanistan confirmed that one of its convoys was attacked on the road to the international airport, which has seen several attacks in recent months.

"There were four coalition soldiers that were part of this convoy and again none of them were seriously injured," coalition spokesman Lieutenant Colonel David Johnson told AFP.

Two coalition armoured vehicles were damaged, an AFP reporter at the scene said. Blood and scraps of human flesh littered the road along with the wreckage of cars, some of which were on fire.

The Taliban, an Islamic militant group that was in government in Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, said it was behind the blast -- similar to scores of others carried out by the insurgents.

"We claim responsibility for the suicide attack in Kabul today," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a telephone call from an unknown location.

"The attack was against two foreign military vehicles which killed all the soldiers in the two vehicles."

The Taliban have often made claims about casualties from attacks which subsequently prove exaggerated.

President Hamid Karzai, who is on an official visit to Senegal for a summit of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, condemned the attack in a statement.

The heavily guarded capital has suffered a rash of recent suicide bombings.

The last attack in Kabul was on January 31 when a suicide attacker detonated his explosives-laden vehicle near an army bus, killing a civilian and wounding a handful of people including an army officer.

The most brazen came on January 14 when Taliban militants staged a multiple suicide attack on the five-star Kabul Serena hotel that killed at least eight people, three of them foreign nationals.

In southern Afghanistan's violent Helmand province, US-led coalition forces said in a statement Thursday that they had killed nearly a dozen Taliban militants in raids on rebel hideouts.

Separately in southern Zabul province Afghan and NATO forces attacked a Taliban hideout in Daychopan district overnight, killing three "foreign" Taliban and wounding six others, district governor Mullah Fazel Bari said.

In a separate incident a roadside bomb struck a police convoy Thursday on a highway in southern Wardak province, killing three policemen and wounding four others, provincial police chief Muzafarudin told AFP.

Meanwhile neighbouring Pakistan lodged a protest with the US-led coalition after saying that a US artillery strike on a Pakistani village in a tribal area near the border left two Pakistani women and two children dead.

The coalition confirmed a "precision guided ammunition strike" in Pakistani territory but said it targeted a Taliban commander's network and said it was not aware of casualties.

Last year was the deadliest of an insurgency launched soon after the Taliban's five-year government was ended in an invasion led by the United States with the backing of anti-Taliban Afghan movements.

Around 6,000 people were killed, most of them insurgents but also about 1,500 civilians.

41 Taliban Killed in South Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan and international forces killed 41 Taliban militants in a battle in southern Afghanistan, and a suicide car bomb attack on a convoy of U.S. troops left six Afghan civilians dead in Kabul, U.S. and Afghan officials said Thursday.

None of the four American troops traveling in the two armored vehicles of the convoy was badly wounded in the Thursday attack, said Lt. Col. David Johnson, a spokesman for U.S. forces. The troops were traveling in one SUV and one truck, he said.

Six Afghan civilians were killed and up to 20 others wounded in the blast, Deputy Interior Minister Munir Mangal said. The attacker was driving a white Toyota Corolla, he said, a favorite among suicide car bombers.

In a mobile phone text message to an Associated Press reporter in Pakistan, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid identified the suicide bomber as Abdullah.

The suicide car bomb turned into a fiery hull that burned on the main airport road long after the attack, which also damaged several other vehicles.

U.S. troops and international security contractors surrounded the area after the blast.

Insurgents detonated 160 suicide attacks in 2007, a record number, the U.N. has said. Last year was the deadliest in the country since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion with more than 8,000 insurgency related deaths year, the U.N. said.

In southern Helmand province, Afghan and international forces attacked Taliban militants Wednesday morning as they traveled by motorcycle toward the Pakistan border, said Ghulam Dastagir Azad, governor of neighboring Nimroz province.

The troops employed airstrikes during the four-hour battle and killed 41 militants, including 17 from Nimroz, he said. A Taliban commander from Nimroz was among the dead.

The U.S.-led coalition could not confirm the attack. NATO said they were looking into the report, but did not immediately have any information.

In other violence, U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces killed nearly a dozen suspected militants in Helmand during a clash Tuesday in Garmsir district, the coalition said in a statement. The troops had been searching compounds for Taliban traffickers of weapons and foreign fighters when they were came under fire.

In Wardak province, a remote-controlled bomb hit a police vehicle Thursday in Saydabad district, killing one policeman and wounding four others, said district police investigator Mohibullah Khan.

In Zabul province, Afghan security forces and NATO troops launched an operation Wednesday against Chechen fighters meeting in Daychopan district, said district chief Fazel Bari. The ensuing two-hour gun battle left three Chechens dead and six wounded, he said.

On Wednesday in Farah province, authorities recovered the dead body of the Pusht Rod district police chief, a day after he was kidnapped along with five other policemen, said Bariyalai Khan, spokesman for the Farah provincial police. There was no information on the fates of the five other men.

AFGHANISTAN: UN Secretary-General warns of threats to "still fragile" country

KABUL, 12 March 2008 (IRIN) - More than six years after the ousting of the Taliban, violence and insurgency have intensified, and the scale of international support has also grown in Afghanistan, the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, said in a report to the Security Council.

"To meet the security challenge and stabilise Afghanistan, a common approach is needed that integrates security, governance, rule of law, human rights and social and economic development," said the report entitled The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security released on 10 March.

Ban praised progress made in the past few years in the war-torn country but warned that Taliban insurgents, narcotics and poor governance represent serious threats to "still fragile" Afghan institutions.

The Afghan government has denied assertions by Mike McConnell, USA's director of National Intelligence, that Taliban insurgents control about 10 percent of Afghanistan's territory. McConnell told a Senate Armed Services Committee on 28 February [http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/27/afghan.assessment/] the Afghan government effectively controls only 30 percent of the country.

In his report the UN Secretary-General said that out of Afghanistan's 376 districts at least 36 - in the east, southeast and south - are inaccessible to Afghan officials.

"Owing to insecure conditions, United Nations agencies are unable to operate in 78 districts in the south of the country," the report said. "United Nations road missions to almost all districts in the south have been suspended for several months," it said.

Aleem Siddique, a spokesman for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in Kabul, told IRIN the UN would work closely with the Afghan government to get access to all areas of the country in 2008.

Ban Ki-moon voiced particular concern about increasing attacks on local and international humanitarian workers.

In over 130 separate attacks on humanitarian workers 40 were killed and 89 abducted in 2007, of whom seven were later killed by their captors, Ban told the Security Council.

Armed conflicts between the Taliban and Afghan and international forces left over 8,000 people dead in 2007, of whom at least 1,500 were civilians, according to the UN.

Insurgency-related violence reached unprecedented levels in 2007 with an average of 566 incidents recorded per month, and 160 "actual suicide attacks" throughout the year, according to the report. However, the deadliest security breach in the past six years happened on 17 February 2008 in Kandahar Province when more than 67 people were killed in a single blast.

While Taliban insurgents are widely blamed for their disregard of civilian safety and systematic violations of the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law, many non-combatant Afghans also died in aerial bombardments and military operations conducted by US and NATO forces.

The UN and other aid organisations have repeatedly called on all warring parties in Afghanistan to avoid attacks on civilians and aid workers and ensure humanitarian access to all parts of the country.

AFGHANISTAN INSURGENCY MORE RESILIENT THAN EXPECTED

UN - Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guéhenno briefed the Security Council today on the UN’s work in Afghanistan, at the start of an open debate.

Guéhenno said that Afghanistan faces an insurgency that has proven to be more resilient than expected and more ruthless than imagined, while a massive illegal drug economy thrives in the vacuum of state authority.

Guéhenno said that the UN Mission in Afghanistan does not need additional powers, but in the face of the evolved situation, its mandate must be sharpened. In the Secretary-General’s most recent report: to the Security Council on Afghanistan, he proposes six areas to focus on: enhanced coordination, political outreach, subnational governance, humanitarian coordination, elections and strengthened cooperation with the International Security Assistance Force.

The new Special Representative for Afghanistan, Kai Eide, attended today’s debate but did not address the Council.

US forces in Afghanistan confirm strike in Pakistan

Thu Mar 13, KABUL (AFP) - The US-led coalition in Afghanistan Thursday said it had launched a "precision-guided" strike on a militant compound in Pakistan, after Pakistan's army said four civilians were killed by US fire.

Pakistan, which forbids all foreign military activity on its soil, said it had lodged a "very strong protest" after two women and two children were killed by stray US shells in the North Waziristan tribal region on Wednesday.

A Kabul-based spokesman for the coalition, which led the toppling of the Taliban regime in late 2001, said it could not comment directly on the Pakistani account but confirmed it had launched a strike.

"We can confirm a precision-guided ammunition strike on March 12 on a compound connected with Haqqani network 1.5 kilometres (about a mile) across the border in Pakistan," coalition spokesman Major Chris Belcher told AFP.

The Haqqani network refers to Islamist militants led by Taliban commander Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is allegedly based in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan.

"I do not have any information on any casualties that may have occurred," the spokesman said.

Chief Pakistani military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said earlier that "The coalition forces were firing at a group of militants when five shells landed in Pakistan, destroying a house and killing two women and two children."

"We have lodged a very strong protest with the coalition forces across the border," he said.

President Pervez Musharraf, a key US ally, said in a newspaper interview in January that any incursion by the US-led coalition in Afghanistan without permission would be treated as an invasion.

Belcher said that "The information I have is that the government of Pakistan was notified immediately following the strike."

"It is not the first time that they (coalition forces) have had to respond to an imminent threat across the border in Pakistan. Every time we do, we clear that with Pakistani authorities."

Several previous missile strikes in the region have been attributed to the United States, including one that killed senior Al-Qaeda commander Abu Laith al-Libi in North Waziristan in January.

South Asia: Pakistani Appointee Vows To Do Good By Afghanistan

By Abubakar Siddique, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty March 12, 2008

The Pakistani government's selection to serve as chief minister for restive western tribal areas has stressed the need to "restore peace and security" in the Pashtun-dominated area and foster good relations with neighboring Afghanistan.

Amir Haider Khan Hoti, who heads Pakistan's secular Pashtun nationalist Awami National Party (ANP), also warned in an exclusive interview with RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan of a growing Taliban and Al-Qaeda insurgency.

"We need stable, friendly, and cordial relations with Afghanistan," Hoti said. "Pakistan needs peace and stability in Afghanistan, and Afghanistan needs a stable and friendly Pakistan."

The U.S. intelligence community and Afghan central government have repeatedly asserted that Islamist radicals are exporting terror from hiding places in lawless regions of western Pakistan, particularly the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) where Hoti's responsibilities will lie.

Embattled Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has acknowledged that Islamic extremists pose a threat and has led sporadic efforts to root out militants and firebrand clerics who foment violence.

"Our priorities are clear. We first want to move toward peace through negotiations, jirgas (tribal councils), and dialogues," Hoti said. "God willing, we will learn from [failed talks and jirgas in the past] and will try not to repeat the same mistakes. We will try to take into confidence our people, our tribal elders, and our [clerics] -- and, together with them, we will try to move toward peace through negotiations."

He said such consultations had already begun in the district of Swat, a hotbed of tension and violence near the Afghan border where reports have stoked fears of increased Taliban influence.

Hoti outlined a need for reforms amid long-standing disappointment among NWFP residents, who have historically kept central authorities at arm's length and suffered economically.

"We definitely need change in that region, because these regions have been run under a [draconian] legal regime since the British [colonial rule in the 19th century]," Hoti said. "That system has alienated and disappointed our brothers living in those regions. We will try our best to bring economic and political reforms to those regions so that the lives of people can improve. Reforms there are a must."

Britain regrets death of civilians in Afghanistan clash

March 12, 2008 - LONDON (AFP) — Britain voiced regret Wednesday after four civilians were killed and one injured in a counter-strike by its forces in southern Afghanistan.

The Ministry of Defence said an investigation was launched after the incident, in which two Afghan women and two children were killed according to NATO forces in the country.

"We can confirm UK forces were involved in an operation in the south of Helmand Province," the MoD said in a statement.

"We deeply regret that this incident happened and do everything we can to mitigate this from happening. This incident is currently under investigation and it would be inappropriate for us to comment."

According to British media reports citing military officials, the incident happened when air strikes were called in by the British ground forces against Taliban positions.

Earlier, a statement released by NATO-led forces in Afghanistan said that two Afghan women and two children were killed when troops returned fire at insurgents who had attacked them.

"Tragically, a group of civilians received fire causing the death of two women and two children," it said. Neither the British nor the NATO statements said where the attack occurred.

The question of civilian casualties caused by international soldiers helping the Afghan government defeat a Taliban-led uprising is deeply sensitive, and President Hamid Karzai has regularly called on the troops to take more care.

U.S. would support French move to east Afghanistan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States wants France to put more troops in Afghanistan's restive southern region, but would agree to a proposal from Paris to boost forces in the east instead, according to U.S. officials.

France's commitment to add troops to Afghanistan could be critical to keeping Canada in the war. Ottawa has threatened to pull its troops from the south if NATO cannot muster reinforcements.

While Washington hopes France will deploy to the south to directly aid Canada, a decision to add French troops to the east could allow commanders to shift U.S. troops to the south and meet Canada's call for help, U.S. officials said.

"Either way it solves the Canadian problem," said one U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Washington has urged NATO allies repeatedly to boost troop levels in Afghanistan, where violence has soared more than six years after the U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban.

The call for troops became more urgent in January when Canada threatened to pull its force of 2,500 out of the Afghan south if NATO did not send 1,000 troops as reinforcements.

France, which has 1,900 troops primarily in the capital Kabul, had said it could be ready to help Canada. But it has said the choice between sending troops to the east or to Kandahar in the south has not been made.

While the east is seen as more dangerous than the relatively calm capital area, the toughest battles have been in the southern provinces of Kandahar, Uruzgan and Helmand.

U.S. officials expect French President Nicolas Sarkozy to announce his decision at a NATO summit in Bucharest in April. But some military officials said that may not be soon enough for Canada and senior U.S. officials were urging their counterparts in France to announce a decision sooner.

"It's not a done deal yet," a U.S. official said.

Another official said the Pentagon supports a decision by France to deploy to the east "from a policy perspective" but warned that NATO commanders would still need to do significant planning to shift U.S. troops to the south.

"It's not plug and play," one military official said, arguing that American troops cannot simply be swapped out with French forces. A senior U.S. defense official said those decisions and details could be worked out after the Bucharest meetings.

"Let's get to Bucharest. Let's see how much more, how many more forces countries offer up for Afghanistan and at that point we can then try to determine if forces need to be moved around to accommodate the additional forces coming in," that official said.

Afghan-born U.S. envoy says no presidential ambitions

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Washington's Afghan-born ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, rejected suggestions on Wednesday that he might run for president in his country of birth when Afghan President Hamid Karzai's term ends in 2009.

Asked about such reports while speaking at the Asia Society in New York, Khalilzad, who was US ambassador to Afghanistan after the 2001 US-led invasion, said he would always be happy to help Afghanistan but not by running for office there.

"I am not a candidate and I will not be a candidate," he said. He said he appreciated the "good thoughts" of those talking about him as a possible president, but he joked they might have another motive.

"These are people who want to get rid of me. Some of them are my competitors for jobs in this country so they want to export me to Afghanistan," he said. "I made a decision a long time ago to be exported from there to here."

Khalilzad first came to the United States as an exchange student in 1966, attending high school in California, and has long been a US citizen. A Bush appointee, his term at the United Nations is likely to end early in 2009.

Afghan mission extension expected to pass today

Updated Thu. Mar. 13 2008 9:10 AM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080313/liberals_confidence_080313/20080313?hub=TopStories

Parliament is expected to pass a motion to extend Canada's military mission in Afghanistan until 2011 today, just a few weeks before a crucial NATO meeting in Bucharest, Romania.

Canada has repeatedly told its NATO allies that it will not extend its mission in Kandahar, unless another nation antes up 1,000 more troops for the dangerous region.

The vote is as assured after a compromise was ironed out between the Liberals and the Conservatives on the Afghan issue last month.

A key part of the Liberals' demands was that the military mission shift from counterinsurgency to development and the training of Afghan forces.

A strong mandate from Parliament should strengthen Prime Minister Stephen Harper's hand during negotiations at the NATO meetings on April 2 to April 4. While NATO has not officially announced an additional 1,000 soldiers for Kandahar, officials from the U.S. and Britain have said that the troops will be provided in some manner.

Omar Samad, the Afghan ambassador to Canada, spoke to CTV's Canada AM Thursday and said that while nothing is guaranteed, he was confident Canada's demands would be met.

"We remain optimistic that those conditions will be met (at the NATO meeting in Bucharest)," Samad said. "I'm sure the discussions in NATO are continuing to address those issues and the resolutions to them."

Samad also discussed the recent UN report that painted a bleak picture of the NATO mission in Afghanistan. The report noted that the number of casualities in the country sharply increased in 2007.

"Unfortunately, the number of casualities has increased as a result of an increase of mostly Taliban activities against civilians . . . aid workers and of course, NATO troops," Samad said. "But the bulk of the casualities are on the Taliban side."

But Samad also said that an increasing number of civilians were being hurt by "all sides."

"This is something that is worrisome and we need to do everything possible to decrease that," he said.

The Afghan vote is not the only confidence motion on Parliament's agenda today.

A budgetary ways-and-means motion, which will cancel a new Liberal private member's bill giving tax breaks to parents saving for their kids' education, is also expected to pass.

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has signalled that his party is not ready for an election yet, which means the minority Conservatives can breathe easy for a few more weeks.

Dion has said that he will wait until a few weeks after next Monday's byelections to decide whether or not to topple the government. This would allow any potential new MPs a chance to show off their stuff in the House of Commons before another election.

Four federal byelections are being held across Canada on Monday, including one in Toronto where former Ontario premier and Liberal leadership contender, Bob Rae, is widely expected to win.

Canada demands 'one partner' in Kandahar

CAMPBELL CLARK – Globe and Mail, March 13, 2008

OTTAWA -- Canada wants one country to provide the entire 1,000-soldier contingent it needs as reinforcements in Afghanistan, Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier says, but it has not yet had a definitive answer from the three nations that could supply them: the United States, France and Britain.

Mr. Bernier's comments made clear that Canada will not accept a patchwork of smaller contingents from various countries - the sort of aid that the Netherlands was forced to accept when it set its own demand for help before it extended its mission in Afghanistan.

He also indicated none of the three countries that could come to Canada's aid has yet promised to do so.

"Concerning the position of the U.S. government or the French government or the U.K. government, I cannot tell you what will be their position," he said. "But what I can tell you is that we need one partner, and a partner that's going to be able to work with us in the south [of Afghanistan]."

He said it is very important that Canada find a single partner for its mission in Kandahar that will not be limited by "caveats" - the term used for restrictions that prevent a country's forces from engaging in serious fighting.

Few countries would be able to provide 1,000 well-equipped soldiers, and many of those that could have placed caveats on their troops in Afghanistan.

Mr. Bernier said he has had good talks with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who have all agreed that Canada's call for reinforcements is crucial to NATO.

"Who's going to be our partner? I don't know that," he said.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government had focused its early hopes for a partner in Kandahar on France, which had indicated some willingness to help. But some Canadian officials say those hopes have been fading, and it is now more likely that President Nicolas Sarkozy will send troops to Afghanistan's east.

British officials have said they are unlikely to send troops to Kandahar, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown has indicated his country will likely keep the same number of troops - just under 8,000 - in Afghanistan. The British military carries the heaviest load in Helmand province, just west of Kandahar province.

Canadian officials have always believed that the United States would probably send the additional 1,000 troops if no other country did. And some believe that if France sent troops to eastern Afghanistan, that would allow 1,000 Americans to be redeployed to Kandahar.

But the U.S. has not made commitments to do so, and has instead used the Canadian demand as an opportunity to press its NATO allies to carry a greater share of the burden in Afghanistan.

About 20,000 of the 42,000 international troops in Afghanistan are American.

Charter does not apply to Afghan detainees: ruling

Updated Wed. Mar. 12 2008 8:24 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Canada's Federal Court has rejected Amnesty International's bid to have the Charter of Rights and Freedoms apply to Afghan detainees captured by Canadian soldiers.

Justice Anne McTavish ruled that Afghan detainees do have rights under the Afghan constitution and international law, but they do not have rights under the Canadian Charter.

"(The court has) accepted the government's arguments. We are obviously very pleased about that," said Prime Minister Stephen Harper in question period.

Amnesty International had hoped to stop Canada from transferring prisoners to Afghan authorities. The move followed reports that some detainees were being tortured by the Afghans.

A lawyer for the group said troops are complicit in abuse if they know prisoners could be harmed by local authorities.

"If the Canadian Forces are aware that individuals they are handing over are likely to be tortured, or at risk of being tortured, they are complicit in the act," lawyer Paul Champ told CTV's Mike Duffy Live on Wednesday.

He acknowledged that soldiers temporarily halted transferring detainees on Nov. 5, 2007, after a detainee showed officials an electrical cable that he said local authorities beat him with.

But he said the transfers should have stopped earlier.

"Our concern is that they didn't stop transfers five months before that, when other detainees were telling Canadian officials they were being beaten with electrical cables, they were being shocked, they were having their toenails pulled out," he said.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay said it was wrong to infer that Canadian soldiers could be blamed for the torture of Afghan detainees.

"No one has ever proven or brought forward any substantial allegation of abuse by a Canadian soldier," MacKay told CTV's Mike Duffy Live.

"The issue is the treatment of Afghan prisoners by Afghan prison officials -- not by Canadians -- after a transfer."

While calling today's ruling a "big loss" for Amnesty International, CTV Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife noted that the human rights group did win on another matter today.

"The (Military Police Complaints Commission) is going to hold public hearings on the way Afghan detainees have been transferred by military police," reported Fife.

The move announced Wednesday comes more than a year after the commission first started to investigate the matter.

"The principal difficulty which has given rise to this decision has been the government's refusal to provide the commission with full access to relevant documents and information under the control of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) and the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC)," commission chair Peter A. Tinsley said in a news release.

"Ordering a public interest hearing is necessary to ensure a full investigation of the grave allegations raised in this complaint."

In question period, the prime minister said his government has been cooperative.

"There is no refusal to cooperate. In fact, the Justice Department has made very clear that it will provide all information that it can provide under the law," said Harper.

The commission began its investigation on Feb. 26, 2007 following a complaint by Amnesty International Canada and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.

Those groups allege that military police allowed detainees to be transferred to Afghan authorities even though they knew of evidence the detainees could be tortured.

But in investigating that claim, "there have been roadblocks put up all along the way," Robert Fife, CTV's Ottawa bureau chief, told Canada AM on Wednesday.

Jason Gratl, a spokesperson for the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said he believes the Tories will not be forthcoming with relevant information.

"The government is going to squirm and squirrel and use every means at its disposal, hoping to avoid disclosure," Gratl told The Canadian Press.

"We're expecting Mr. Tinsley to be up to the task of holding the government to account."

Tinsley said the probe could cost up to $2 million and add months to the investigation.

"However, we are simply left with no other choice. Given the relevance of the information under the control of DFAIT and CSC, the Commission must now seek to compel those documents which the government has failed to provide voluntarily," he said.

The hearings will have the power of subpoena -- and the commission promised it will be used. The hearings will begin in about one month.

"It will be aired in public, so we should be able to get to the bottom of whether ... we knew they were going to be tortured," Fife said.

Late last year, Canadian officials appear to have come across at least one case where an Afghan detainee was tortured. Canada stopped transferring prisoners to Afghan authorities after the revelations, but has recently resumed the practice.

The announcement of a complaints commission probe precedes Thursday's vote on whether to extend the current Afghan mission until July 2011.

The extension is contingent on NATO providing at least 1,000 more troops and some additional equipment to help Canadian troops.

Fife said Harper wants the resolution passed before he goes to a NATO meeting in Bucharest, Romania on April 2.

UN chief to attend Afghanistan meeting in Romania

UNITED NATIONS, March 12 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will attend an international meeting on Afghanistan in Romania next month, according to a UN spokesperson Wednesday.

    The meeting, slated for April 3, will be attended by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and key international stakeholders, Marie Okabe said.

    Participants will include high-level representatives of the NATO membership, of non-NATO contributing nations, of the International Security Assistance Force, and also representatives of key international organizations, such as the European Union and the World Bank, she added.

    In his latest report to the Security Council on Afghanistan, the secretary-general wrote that the country continues to face a number of serious challenges, including terrorism and a booming drug industry, and called for an integrated approach among all international partners to stabilize the fledgling democracy.

    "The Taliban and related armed groups and the drug economy represent fundamental threats to still fragile political, economic and social institutions," he noted.

    "Despite tactical successes by national and international military forces, the anti-government elements are far from defeated."

U.N. To Send New Kabul Envoy Amid Heightened Violence

By BENNY AVNI, Staff Reporter of the Sun March 13, 2008

UNITED NATIONS — With plans to strengthen the mandate of the new U.N. envoy to Afghanistan, the United Nations this week is reporting a significant uptick in violence in the country, as Western sources say a resurgent Taliban is receiving support from neighboring Iran.

The Afghan insurgency "has proven to be more resilient than we expected and more ruthless than we ever imagined," the U.N. undersecretary-general for peacekeeping, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, told the U.N. Security Council yesterday. He spoke as the new U.N. envoy to Kabul, Kai Eide of Norway, was meeting council members for the first time since his appointment last week by Secretary-General Ban. Earlier this week, Mr. Ban reported that violence in Afghanistan rose last year to its highest level since the 2001 American-led invasion that ousted the Taliban from power.

Yesterday, military efforts against the Taliban, which is seeking to regain control over the country, were marred when two women and two children were killed in an exchange of fire between insurgents and NATO forces in the south of Helmand province. In a statement, the British Ministry of Defense took responsibility for the accidental deaths, expressing its "deep regret" and promising an investigation.

"There are very worrying signs of Iranian support for the Taliban on the ground," a senior Western European diplomat said yesterday, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity. Last June, American officials said they intercepted an Iranian delivery of heavy arms, C4 explosives, and advanced roadside bombs intended for the Taliban to use against NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Western reports of Iranian cooperation with Afghan insurgents have been received with skepticism, as the Sunni Taliban — as well as its Al Qaeda backers — holds Shiite Islam, which is dominant in Iran, in deep contempt. But the director of Israel Radio's Farsi service, Menashe Amir, dismissed that notion, saying Tehran "will support any force that could help it promote the goal of Islamic victory over the West." Although there is not as much "flexibility" on the Sunni side on cooperating with the Shiites, he said, the isolated Taliban is known to be desperate and would take support from anyone who offers it.

With several allies withdrawing troops, President Bush on Tuesday called for more Western support for Afghanistan. America will raise its troop level in the country to more than 30,000, half of them in the 40,000-strong NATO force. "We're spending a huge amount of money on the reconstruction effort," the American ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, told reporters yesterday. "But this is truly an international effort."

The new U.N. envoy, Mr. Eide, "needs to be empowered" to be able to coordinate with outside donors, the various international actors in the country, and President Karzai's government, Mr. Karzai said.

Mr. Eide was appointed after Mr. Karzai rejected a previous candidate, Paddy Ashdown of Britain. According to news reports at the time, the Afghan government was uncomfortable with the idea of a "super-envoy" who would have too much power in state affairs. Although a proposed resolution circulated among Security Council members yesterday details similar powers for the new envoy, Mr. Karzai has accepted Mr. Eide's nomination. Mr. Eide said his policy would be based on an "Afghanization" of international efforts.

Afghanistan submits its Human Rights Report after a gap of 16 years

Posted On: Mar 12, 2008 -
A ceremony in relevance with announcing the completion of the Periodic Report of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was held on Tuesday.

First Ms. Zohra Rasekh, Director of Human Rights and Women’s International Affairs Dep. in a talk remarked that reporting on the condition of human rights in Afghanistan is an international obligation.

She also said, “The Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is reporting after a gap of 16 years about the condition of human rights in Afghanistan, in a time that Afghanistan has signed the international covenants on economic, social, cultural rights and eliminating violence against women, eliminating racial discriminations and eliminating violence against children.

Afterwards, Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta, the Foreign Minister of Afghanistan talked about the completion of this report as a great achievement and said, “According to the article 7 of the Afghan Constitution, respecting human rights holds a special place.”

 “Devoting to human rights issues, considering the present situations and the challenges ahead of us is not an easy task; as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has restarted the process of reporting after a long period interruption.” He continued.

Dr. Spanta added, “Afghanistan is among the first countries which joint the International Human Rights Convention and is committed to it.

Then, the Minister of Justice, Mr. Sarwar Danish in his part appreciated the reporting of the Human Rights and Women’s International Affairs Dep. of MFA.

He said, “The current laws in Afghanistan are in line with the provision of human rights. But, the three main cases which cause abusing human rights in Afghanistan are terrorism, poverty, and ignorance which need to be tackled.”

At the end, Mr. Ron Hoffman, the Charge-de-Affairs of Canadian Embassy to Kabul and Mr. Christopher Alexander, the Deputy Head of UNAMA in their parts expressed their happiness about the completion of this report and assured any possible cooperation in the future.

Afghanistan's soaring drug trade hits home

It faces one of the world's fastest rising rates of drug use.

By ANAND GOPAL | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN, Muhammad Nasir lives with 70 drug users on the outskirts of town. His home is an abandoned building sitting amid a mass of toppled concrete. This field of rubble is one of the most dangerous, least visited parts of Kabul – police say two people were killed here just weeks ago. Inside what used to be a Russian cinema house, Mr. Nasir and others sleep in flour sacks and smoke.

"I use a gram of opium a day. I don't have the money to get new clothes so that I can get a job," says Nasir, pointing to his filthy tunic and torn sandals.

Afghanistan's notorious, soaring drug trade is hitting home. The country now has one of the world's sharpest rising rates of drug use, especially in the cities. With few antidrug programs – and many of those poorly funded – aid agencies say drug abuse is now the fastest-growing social problem in the country.

There are twice as many heroin users on the streets of Kabul than just four years ago, says Mohammed Zafar, an official at the Ministry of Counter Narcotics.

The opium capital of the world, Afghanistan is responsible for 92 percent of global output. Each year, the country produces about $4 billion worth, or 53 percent of gross domestic product, making drug production easily Afghanistan's most lucrative industry, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

About 1 million of Afghanistan's 34 million people are drug users, and the majority of these live in the country's principal cities, UNODC estimates.

"When people cultivate poppies, they don't wash their hands, and they feed their children with these hands," says Zalmai Afzari, spokesperson for the Afghan Ministry of Counter Narcotics.

The majority of the addicts are men who have returned after spending years as refugees in Iran, which has one of the world's highest addiction rates.

"The returned refugees, who started using in Iran, have come back to a difficult situation," says Jehanzeb Khan, head of the UNODC's Afghan Drug Demand Reduction Program. "They return home to face uncertainty, post-traumatic stress, joblessness, and growing availability because of increased drug production."

Many addicts turn to begging and petty crime to support their habit. "Most of us here steal to get by," Nasir says. Areas frequented by addicts are now largely avoided, and experts worry that the large population of drug users is vulnerable – and dangerous. "When someone is drug dependent and has no money, anyone can buy him," says Mr. Khan. "They are vulnerable to insurgents, petty criminals."

For Nasir and his friends, the lack of state funds – Kabul has only one state-funded treatment clinic – and an unstable economy offer little hope. "I want to stop using," says Nasir. "But we need help from the government. We need a place to sleep, and we need a hospital."

Just down the road, hidden in a muddy alley off the highway, the Nejat Center is trying to provide just that. In a tiny room on the center's second floor sit about a dozen men, bone-thin from years of heroin use and with heads cleanly shaven as a mark of their patient status.

Rachman Farouk started using when he was in Iran. "By the time I came back to Kabul, I was addicted," he says. "After seeing my children suffer, I knew that I had to get better, so I came here."

"We take people in from the streets, give them a hot shower, new clothes, and cup of tea," says Tariq Suliman, the center's director.

The staff gives a three-week course to all patients on drug awareness, teaching patients the root causes of addiction and coaxing them to confront their problem. In the subsequent two weeks, doctors administer treatments, and the staff assigns a social worker to follow up with every successful case for up to one year.

Dr. Suliman founded the Nejat Center in Pakistan in 1991, after witnessing the effects of drug addiction on Afghan refugees there. He helped establish the center in Kabul following the fall of the Taliban.

While the Nejat Center is a boon to those who come, a dearth of funds and clinics means very few of Kabul's addicts get help. "We only have twenty beds," says Suliman. "Most people who come here for treatment have to sleep in the street or at the mosque. Only about 100 of Kabul's 50,000 addiction cases are receiving treatment."

Like many other clinics in the country, Nejat relies on foreign donors. Although some funds come through US-government related programs, Washington's supply-side reduction policy – pressing the Afghan government to spray opium fields and coaxing farmers to plant alternative crops – means that nonprofits and the UN bear the brunt of funding Kabul's clinics.

But without more government support, extensive treatment programs are difficult.

With few job prospects in this war-torn nation, experts worry that the underlying causes of addiction are going untreated.

This is a top concern of Ibrahim Mankhel, a graduate of Nejat's program after 12 years of drug abuse. "I now have a family. I have three children so I need a job to support them," he says. "I just hope there are jobs available."

Afghanistan: Al-Qaeda Bloggers' Sparring With Taliban Could Signal Key Differences

By Ron Synovitz – RFE/RL -

An Internet-fueled squabble between Taliban leaders and influential Al-Qaeda sympathizers over nonviolent tactics and foreign influence in Afghanistan hints at deep disagreements that could alter counterinsurgency efforts in that country.

Islamic extremists who regularly post messages to a pro-Al-Qaeda website in Egypt are accusing Afghanistan's Taliban of straying from the path of global jihad. Prominent Taliban have responded by lashing back with criticism of their own.

The development suggests a rift is emerging between the Taliban leadership and religious extremists in the Arab world -- including the Al-Qaeda network that the Taliban had hosted in Afghanistan while it planned the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.

Such a break could affect Afghan government efforts to convince Taliban fighters to lay down their weapons and peacefully resolve their differences with officials, which could in turn influence whether non-Afghan Al-Qaeda fighters continue to be welcomed among the Taliban.

Internet criticisms of the Taliban follow a February statement from Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar announcing that his movement wants to maintain positive and "legitimate" relations with countries neighboring Afghanistan.

Mullah Omar, who heads a Taliban leadership council that was purportedly formed in 2003, also has said that the Taliban is exploring the possibility of holding peace negotiations with Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government.

"We want to have legitimate relations with all countries of the world," Mullah Omar's statement said. "We are not a threat to anyone. America believes that the Taliban is a threat to the whole world. And with this propaganda, America wants to use all other countries to advance their own interests."

Pro-Al-Qaeda bloggers who were angered by Mullah Omar's statement were further outraged in early March when the Taliban expressed solidarity with Iran by condemning the latest round of sanctions imposed on Tehran by the UN Security Council over its nuclear activities.

Anyone with a password can post messages to the Al-Qaeda linked website. But some of the harshest remarks about the Taliban leadership have come from writers who are labeled as among the most influential on the website.

One of those bloggers -- who calls himself "Miskeen" or "The Wretched" -- responded to the Taliban declaration on Iran by writing: "This is the worst statement I have ever read.... [T]he disaster of defending the [Iranian] regime is on par with the Crusaders in Afghanistan and Iraq."

"Miskeen" also wrote that a "nationalist trend" appears to be penetrating the Taliban. Other pro Al-Qaeda bloggers have called for Al-Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri to censure the Taliban over their recent statements.

But the Taliban's former ambassador to Pakistan -- Mullah Salam Zaief -- tells RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan that the bloggers have no understanding of the topic.

"Somebody who is speaking from Egypt really doesn't have knowledge of the exact situation on the ground in Afghanistan," Zaief says. "He doesn't even convey the policies of the whole organization [of Al-Qaeda]."

"The conflict in Afghanistan doesn't mean [the Taliban] has to confront the world," Zaief continues. "Afghans are very tired of war. They want their homeland. They want peace in their country. They want independence. Whether they are Taliban or other Afghans, I don't think either wants to confront the entire international community. The Taliban doesn't want to rule the world."

Independent analysts link the Taliban's quest for international legitimacy to the possibility of future negotiations with Karzai's government.

Karzai said in September that he was ready to negotiate with the Taliban, including Mullah Omar himself, in order to put an end to the Afghan insurgency. In December, U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan William Wood said he would support reconciliation talks -- with some conditions.

One of the main sticking points for negotiations between Kabul and the Taliban appears to be the fate of Al-Qaeda. Formal negotiations could lead to the expulsion of Al-Qaeda fighters from Afghanistan if they did not commit themselves to supporting Karzai's government.

When asked what the Taliban thinks about Al-Qaeda extremists trying to dictate Taliban policies in Afghanistan, Zaief said foreign extremists are more interested in their own benefit than what is good for Afghans.

"I think every Afghan now has the experience that with intolerance toward each other -- if people do not live in peace and harmony with each other -- the bloodshed and devastation will continue for a long time," Zaief said. "Nobody has the right to ignore the importance of stability in Afghanistan. They should at least not be making such irresponsible comments. [The Al-Qaeda bloggers] were raising the question of the foreign-troop presence in Afghanistan. But now, I think Afghans have to tolerate the presence of foreign troops in the country because they have no other option."

Although Zaief lives in Kabul and his location is known by Karzai's government, he is still considered a prominent member of the Taliban whose views reflect those of the Taliban leadership. But his remarks about the need for Afghans to tolerate the presence of foreign troops were not supported by a Taliban statement on the issue released on March 11.

That statement says the Taliban's fight is aimed only at driving U.S.-led coalition forces from Afghanistan. It calls on U.S. allies to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan. It also calls on Afghanistan's former mujahedin factions to help the Taliban drive U.S. troops from the country.

Leaders of some of those mujahedin factions helped U.S. forces drive the Taliban regime from Kabul in late 2001 and now hold positions within Karzai's cabinet or are prominent members of the Afghan parliament.

The Minister of Rural Rehabilitation and Development to Sign 19 Development Contracts in Kandahar

Kabul (March 12, 2008): HE Mohammad Ehsan Zia the Minister of Rural Rehabilitation and Development signed 19 development contracts worth US$1,649,752 with the private companies in Kandahar province.

These project which are designed to provide needed facilities, respond the socio-economic necessities and improve the quality of life in rural communities and include construction of 2 health clinics, construction of 12.5km road, 2 water supply projects, digging of 4 wells, 3 checkdams, 3 retaining walls and construction of a canal. These projects are planned in 8 districts of Arghandab, Panjwaie, Takhtapul, Zherai, Arghistan, Dand, Marouf, Spinboldak and the capital city of Kandahar province.

These projects are implemented through the ministry’s National Area Based Development Programme NABDP and expected to be completed within 45-285 days.

The funding for these projects comes from Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and Belgium Government.

In a press conference following the signing ceremony, H.E. Mohammad Ehsan Zia the Minister of Rural Rehabilitation and Development said he is happy to note that numerous positive socio-economic changes took place in the life of the people upon the implement of these welfare projects. Also, he added: “The interest and cooperation of local communities and government has enabled us to speed up the development efforts”.

These projects will generate 36442 working days for local residents and upon completion will provide 28858 rural families with needed socio-economic facilities.

It is worth mentioning that with the signing of these development contracts during the10 th trip of H.E. Mohammad Ehsan Zia to Kandahar, the total number of development projects for this province has reached 426.

Despite Islamic condemnations, fans throng to 'Afghan Star' TV show

REUTERS

8:49 a.m. March 11, 2008

Fans clamour for Afghan stars – Hundreds of fans clamoured to get a glimpse of their favourites in the final of Afghan Star on Tuesday, Afghanistan's version of Pop Idol which is watched by millions but condemned by Islamic clerics as immoral.

The finalists, two men and for the first time a woman, will appear in Friday's competition, where one will be eliminated before the last show to decide the winner a week later.

Kabul's Islamic council of clerics has branded the show un-Islamic and demanded it be taken off the air.

'Afghan Star encourages immorality among the people and is against Sharia law,' the council said earlier this year.

But the few hundred young Afghan men and women seemed to care little as they banged on the gates of an office in Kabul where the three finalists gave a short news conference before signing autographs.

'I am dying to see and get the signature of my favourite star,' said Natasha, a young girl waiting to get in. 'It is a golden chance for fans especially girls to meet their beloved stars.'

Groups of fans competed with one another to chant the names of their favourites.

Such scenes would have been impossible a few years ago in the conservative and devoutly Islamic country. The Taliban, ousted in 2001 for failing to hand over al Qaeda leaders behind the Sept. 11 attacks, banned both music and television.

ETHNIC SPLIT

Most controversial is the appearance of a woman in the final three of Afghan Star, now in its third season.

Lima Sahar is a Pashtun, the ethnic group which forms the backbone of Taliban support, and she is also from the southern city of Kandahar, the movement's main former stronghold.

Most women in the south seldom venture outdoors and when they do, only in the all-enveloping blue burqa.

The raunchy dance routines of would-be Western stars are absent in her act. Instead, Sahar sways only imperceptibly as she sings Pashtun oldies, her face under heavy make-up and headscarf loosely hung over a bundle of glittered hair.

But even appearing on the show can cause problems.

'Singing brought changes and recognition to my life,' Sahar told the news conference. Asked if she feared returning to Kandahar, she said: 'I represent national unity and don't see any problem.'

Many have questioned how Sahar could have got so far given her less than perfect singing voice. Viewers vote by text message and have eliminated hundreds of hopefuls from around the war-torn country to get to the final three.

Voting appears to have followed ethnic lines with the finalists representing Afghanistan's three biggest ethnic groups; Sahar the majority Pashtuns, Rafi Nabzada the Tajiks of the north and Hamed Sakhizada, the Shi'ite Hazara minority.

Opinion is divided on whether Sahar is picking up votes from fellow Pahstuns, women or young men.

[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.]