In this bulletin:

• Seven mine clearing staff shot dead in Afghanistan
• 100 Afghan Drug Police Killed Last Year
• Militants blow up tankers in Pakistan, 65 hurt: officials
• Turkish leaders tells Cheney no Afghan help for now
• NWFP police continue deporting Afghan refugees
• Inside Afghanistan: Interview with Afghan VP Abdul Karim Khalili
• 'Hamid Karzai's diplomat expulsion move halted efforts to split Taliban'
• Younger leadership for Taliban in Afghanistan
• Afghans learning a better way to match Taliban pay
• Payments to Afghan civilians shrouded in secrecy: Opposition
• Tories knew 1,000 French troops were pledged before Manley recommended them, MP asserts
• Canadian Forces advisory team adopts Kabul orphanage
• Plan to curb corruption ready

Seven mine clearing staff shot dead in Afghanistan

KABUL (AFP) — Gunmen shot dead seven Afghan staff of UN-funded mine clearing teams in northern Afghanistan, their organisations said Monday, in some of the deadliest attacks on non-government workers in months.

In one incident, unknown attackers halted a convoy of deminers returning from work in the province of Jawzjan on Sunday and opened fire, killing five and wounding seven, Afghan Technical Consultants (ATC) said.

The gunmen shot into the first vehicle and then opened fire on the others, which included an ambulance, as they turned around and sped off, director Kefayatullah Eblagh told AFP.

"Three people stopped the vehicle and started shooting at them without saying anything," he said. Some of the men were able to use demining equipment to shield themselves from the barrage of bullets, Eblagh said.

It was the worst attack on the company in its 18 years of operations in Afghanistan, he said. "It was terrible."

Two more employees of a separate mine clearing team, the Mine Detection and Dog Centre (MDC), were shot dead in the northern province of Kunduz on Monday, their organisation and the United Nations said.

The men -- a deminer and a driver -- were gunned down after returning from a ceremony to hand over land they had cleared of mines to a community, MDC's deputy director, named only Enyatullah, told AFP.

After nearly three decades of war, Afghanistan is one of the world's most mined countries. Several groups are working with UN and other international funding to rid the country of mines, which kill or maim scores of people every year.

Insurgents, mainly from the Taliban, have killed dozens of people associated with an internationally-funded drive to help Afghanistan rebuild, including non-government workers, doctors and teachers.

Most of the attacks take place in the south and east but there have been several incidents in the north, where factional rivalry, warlords and criminality also have a hand in the violence.

The head of a district in Jawzjan and a highway police commander in northern Kunduz were murdered over the weekend in incidents that the Taliban claimed to have carried out.

The Taliban reportedly denied involvement in the Jawzjan killngs, with a spokesman telling the Afghan Islamic Press news agency, "Taliban never kill deminers... Deminers always work for public welfare and Taliban always cooperate with such people."

In August last year the bullet-riddled bodies of three mine clearers were found dumped in a village in the southern province of Kandahar, which sees a lot of Taliban activity, after they had been missing for several days.

In April 2007, dozens of Taliban attacked a US-funded mine-clearing team in the south, killing three deminers, three guards and a woman passing by. The UN mission in Afghanistan condemned the attacks on deminers.

"It is abhorrent that anyone would target individuals working to free the people of Afghanistan from the scourge of landmines," acting representative Bo Asplund said in a statement.

Afghanistan, backed by some of the world's most powerful militaries, is battling to put down the Taliban insurgency, which was its deadliest last year with more than 8,000 people killed -- most of them rebels.

There have already been several bloody clashes this year. A dozen Taliban were killed Sunday in the southern province of Uruzgan where about 40 were killed a day earlier, police said Monday.

Four Afghan villagers were meanwhile killed Monday in Ghazni province when a Taliban weapons cache blew up.

100 Afghan Drug Police Killed Last Year

By RAHIM FAIEZ, March 24, 2008

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Around 100 police officers on Afghanistan's poppy eradication force were killed in the line of duty over the last year, an official said Monday.

Gen. Doud Doud, who heads the Interior Ministry's counter-narcotics police, also said that about 90 percent of the country's poppies are grown in dangerous regions where insurgents hold sway and the government has little reach.

"The main challenge for us is security," Doud told a news conference.

Police poppy eradication teams — whose work brings them to remote and dangerous areas of the country — are often attacked by insurgents or farmers angered that their profitable crop is being destroyed, leading to the force's high number of casualties.

The U.N. says that Afghanistan supplies more than 90 percent of the world's illicit opium, the main ingredient in heroin. Tens of millions of dollars from the drug trade are believed to flow to Taliban fighters, who charge taxes on farmers and demand payment for safe passage through dangerous territory.

Farmers cultivated a record 477,000 acres of opium in 2007, a 14 percent increase over the previous year. Total production, spurred by unusually high rainfall, increased even further, by 34 percent, the U.N. has said.

About 820 people were arrested over the last year for drug trafficking by the counter-narcotics police force, Doud said.

He said a new battalion of Afghan army soldiers — approximately 800 troops — were about to graduate from training and would be assigned to work alongside eradication forces.

Last year, 13 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces were poppy-free. Doud said the government hopes to raise that number to 22 this year.

Many farmers in poppy-free provinces have started planting marijuana. Doud said some government leaders have promised to tackle the marijuana problem as well.

Militants blow up tankers in Pakistan, 65 hurt: officials

Mon Mar 24, 3:08 AM ET - PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) - Up to 65 people were injured when Islamic militants in a Pakistani border town blew up dozens of tankers supplying fuel for US and NATO troops in Afghanistan, officials said Monday.

The rebels late Sunday destroyed 36 tankers which were parked in Landikotal, the main town of the troubled Khyber tribal district where Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents have carried out a series of attacks.

"An improvised explosive device planted underneath a tanker went off, triggering a massive fire injuring up to 65 people and completely gutting 36 tankers," a security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

More than 80 tankers were parked in the town when the explosion took place.

"We believe that pro-Taliban militants are behind the attack," the official said, adding that 12 people sustained serious burn injuries.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

It was one of the worst attacks of its kind since June last year, when militants blew up at least 13 oil tankers supplying fuel to US bases in eastern and southern Afghanistan.

Turkish leaders tells Cheney no Afghan help for now

ANKARA (AFP) — Turkey's leaders told US Vice President Dick Cheney Monday that their campaign against Iraq-based Kurdish rebels means they cannot, for now, send more money or troops to Afghanistan, officials said.

"They were certainly, I think, happy to look at, to see whether there was any possibility of more they could do but (offered) no immediate short-term commitments," a senior US official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

He spoke after Cheney, in Ankara on the last leg of a nine-day overseas tour, met with President Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and chief of general staff, General Yasar Buyukanit.

Washington has been pushing its NATO allies, including Turkey, to step up help to rebuild war-wracked Afghanistan and crush the Taliban Islamist militia ahead of an alliance summit in Bucharest, Romania, in early April.

Last week, Turkey's Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said Ankara will soon decide whether to send more troops to Afghanistan, a day after Buyukanit opposed the idea, saying that his forces were already busy fighting separatist fighters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

"We give importance to security in Afghanistan and, as a NATO ally, we abide by NATO decisions. We can obey these decisions as long as they do not weaken our own struggle against terrorism," a Turkish official said in Ankara.

"A decision will be made based on these three factors," added the official, who also requested anonymity.

The Anatolia news agency reported that Cheney had made no direct request for extra troops. The anonymous US official, however, said Cheney had "made a strong case" for increased commitments to Afghanistan.

Cheney, who later flew to Istanbul, came to Turkey after surprise stops in Iraq and Afghanistan and scheduled visits to Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the West Bank.

The US vice president, who met March 18 with Kurdistan regional president Massoud Barzani in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil, reported to Turkish leaders that the Kurdish leader hoped to cooperate against the PKK, the US official said.

Barzani had told Cheney through an interpreter that he hoped to be "part of the solution, and not part of the problem" of Iraq's relations with its neighbours -- notably Turkey, which has struck at PKK targets inside Iraq.

Amid Iraqi Kurd anger over the attacks, the US official said Cheney and his Turkish hosts had discussed the need to fight the PKK while being "sensitive" to the "existing stresses on the Iraqi political balance."

Last month, Turkish troops stormed into neighbouring northern Iraq to hunt down PKK rebels for a week-long ground incursion that Baghdad condemned as a violation of its sovereignty.

"All the Turks he met agree that Turkey needs to work -- not only with the Iraqi central government -- but they need to work with political forces and political leaders in northern Iraq as well," the official said.

"They want to work cooperatively against the PKK. The vice president expressed appreciation for that and said that we would be fully supportive of trying to continue and enhance that cooperation," the official said.

Washington, which like much of the international community considers the PKK a terrorist organization provides Turkey with intelligence on rebel movements but was nonetheless wary that Turkish military action could destabilize the most stable, relatively calm part of Iraq.

"Both sides agreed that protecting Iraq's sovereignty, territorial integrity and political unity was of common interest to both Turkey and the United States," the anonymous Turkish official said.

The Turkish army said earlier this month it may conduct more strikes against PKK militants, who have waged a bloody campaign since 1984 for self-rule in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeast.

Turkey has twice taken the helm of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan and increased the number of its troops based in Kabul to 1,150 last year.

Cheney arrived in Ankara to minor protests against US policies in the Middle East, including dozens of demonstrators near the gates of Gul's official compound who chanted anti-US and anti-government slogans.

Watched by riot police, the protestors burned an effigy of Cheney, the NTV news channel reported.

NWFP police continue deporting Afghan refugees

* 60 refugees deported in a month during efforts to improve law and order in the province

By Akhtar Amin

PESHAWAR: The Frontier police has started deporting suspected Afghan refugees through courts to improve the law and order situation in the province, Daily Times learnt on Monday.

Frontier police sources said the police had started a crackdown against suspected Afghan refugees four months ago. They further revealed that the police had been arresting and deporting the refugees following a series of suicide attacks and bomb blasts in the province.

On Sunday, the Tatara Police Station situated in Hayatabad arrested four suspected Afghan refugees and charged them under Section 14 of Foreigners Act. The arrested Afghans are Mohammad Daud, son of Mohammad Qasim, Khan Kaku, son of Saeed Gul, Ahmad Zia, son of Shahji and Manzar Gul, son of Chando.

The police, on Monday, produced all the arrested in the court of Judicial Magistrate Syed Mudasir Shah. The public prosecutor in his submissions before the court stated that none of the refugees had legal documents to stay in Pakistan and thus had been charged under the Act.

The local court announced a sentence of five days for Mohammad Daud and a fine of Rs 2,000. The court also ordered his deportation to Afghanistan after he had served his prison sentence.

The court also handed out a six-day sentence to the other three suspected Afghans and a fine of Rs 1,000 to each. The court ordered the police to deport them to Afghanistan after they had completed their six-day imprisonment.

60 refugees deported in a month: The police sources said, first the police charged the suspected Afghans, who had no legal documents for their stay in Pakistan, under Section 14 of Foreigners Act.

The police then produced the arrested Afghans at courts in the jurisdiction of the concerned police stations. The courts ordered five to 10 days’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 for the refugees’ illegal stay in the country. The courts then passed deportation orders after the refugees completed their minor sentences. During the previous month, sources said, about 60 Afghan refugees had been deported through courts.

The Pakistan government had time and again warned the unregistered Afghan refugees to leave Pakistan through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) otherwise action would be taken against them under the country’s laws.

Out of 2.4 million, 2.15 million refugees have been registered and issued Proof of Registration Cards (PoRs) while 250,000 did not apply for registration. According to sources, police are trying to deport suspected Afghans through courts due to worsening law and order situation in the province and the country as well.

Inside Afghanistan: Interview with Afghan VP Abdul Karim Khalili

Asharq Al-Awsat (UK) March 24, 2008 By Mohammed Al Shafey in Kabul

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Will the 2009 presidential elections be held as scheduled?

[Khalili] We are all endeavoring, God willing, to hold the elections as scheduled. If there were any obstructions or postponement, it might be for two or three months; if goodwill prevails, the elections will be held as scheduled.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Are you going to stand by President Karzai at the next presidential elections, or you have another option?

[Khalili] I have not made my mind up yet, I shall decide when the time comes. The important thing is that the election be held next year.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] What have you done for the central regions of the Shiaa, given that you are their representative at the presidential level?

[Khalili] Afghanistan is a very poor country; it has been through three decades of continuous war and it is one of the poorest countries in the Islamic world. Moreover, Afghanistan has been destroyed over the past 30 years. It needs strong government institutions and it needs a huge reconstruction process; and that takes time. The regions with a concentration of Shiites, such as Mazar-e Sharif and Bamian, have been suffering from poverty and marginalization for years. According to official statistics, more than 6 million Afghanis live below the poverty line. We are trying to alleviate the people's sufferings as a whole. However, thank God, the people were victorious, in spite of all the pressure they came under, in driving the Russians out and in precipitating the fall of the Soviet Union. They have also succeeded in defeating the Taliban. The Shiaa has at present a political stake that it did not have before, and I am a vice-president. Many efforts have been made to alleviate the sufferings of the Shiaa. There is the road between Kabul and Bamian, and there is another road between Bamian and Mazar- e Sharif; work on the latter road will begin shortly. We have also built schools, hospitals, and health centers in cities and villages that have been suffering from poverty and marginalization, and we are looking forward to more and better things for our people as a whole, not just for the Shiaa.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Are you happy with the present situation on the streets of Afghanistan?

[Khalili] No, not entirely; but an effort is being made thanks to the aid of the international community, which has not left Afghanistan in the lurch.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] According to published figures $45 billion has been spent on security and stability in Afghanistan in the last five years, yet what we see on the ground is entirely different.

[Khalili] As far as I am aware, most of the financial aid that has come from the coalition states has not been delivered to the government. We have received only a small amount and we are not responsible for the sources of expenditure, so we do not know how that money has been spent.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Where do the Taliban draw their strength from?

[Khalili] I took part in the jihad war against the Russians. Even though they were a superpower, they found it difficult to defeat the mojahedin in 14 years, and that is because we waged a guerrilla war against them. And sure enough, the mojahedin managed to defeat the Russians in the end and to drive them out of Afghanistan. The Taliban today are a small splinter group and they will vanish, God permitting. They take shelter among unarmed civilians and bring ruin and destruction down on them. Regarding the Taliban's health, it is attributable to the fact that they receive finance and training from outside Afghanistan; not from states, but from groups in neighboring countries.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Do you believe that the foreign forces will one day leave Afghanistan?

[Khalili] Once security and stability prevail, and the terrorist flames of war and sedition have been extinguished, the foreign forces will have no excuse for staying on in our country.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Can you comment on allegations that state Afghanistan is in the grip of the worst administrative corruption?

[Khalili] Administrative corruption is present in every country in the world, but I have to admit that the degree of administrative corruption in Afghanistan is high. I believe that the ongoing and widespread administrative corruption in the corridors of government is giving the Taliban a new lease on life. However, the government is determined to fight this plague by all possible means. It will take some time to eradicate the corrupt on earth, because some of them occupy high places in government.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] What are your thoughts regarding a US intelligence report claiming that President Karzai's government controls only 30% of Afghanistan?

[Khalili] I have heard about this report, but I believe it to be untrue.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] If President Hamid Karzai were to run for another term in the next presidential elections, do you think he would win?

[Khalili] I believe that he would win, because he is popular and because the people love him.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] What is your comment on the fact that the Afghans abstained from growing opium after the fatwa issued by Mullah Omar during Taliban rule banning the crop; while at present, the heroin produced in Helmand province alone amounts to almost 50% of the world's overall production of heroin?

[Khalili] This is a very complicated matter: There are farmers who could not find an alternative; there is terrorism and the drug mafia, both of which help drug smuggling to flourish; and there are shared interests between the latter and the Taliban, who benefit from the growing of opium and from the trade in heroin. Yes, they did prohibit the growing of opium when they were in government, but today they are the main beneficiaries from drug smuggling. I can assure you that I am telling the truth when I say that the war on drugs and the war on terrorism are two sides of the same coin. And as long as terrorism continues to threaten our lives, opium growing will continue. For hundreds of years irrigation canals used to bring water to the fields and orchards and to produce a profitable agricultural harvest, but the irrigation system has fallen apart as a result of the conflict.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Are you happy with the coalition forces' performance in Afghanistan?

[Khalili] The Afghan forces and the coalition forces are working toward a shared goal, which is the restoration of peace and security in the country. Under the Taliban the people suffered from cruelty and from hardship, and life became more difficult as they prohibited education for girls and the means for living a respectable life. I have to say that the foreign forces are taking part in the reconstruction and restoration of security and stability to the Afghan streets. There are more than 6 million pupils in school. There is development, and there is a joint effort to restore security to our country, which is the crucial issue on which we are focusing. The foreign forces' mission is to give prominence to the values of stability and security; to provide assistance in the long-term reconstruction of the country; and to contain the opium industry, working in conjunction with the Afghan forces that they are helping to develop; as well as training the Afghan police force.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Before I entered your office to conduct this interview, I learned that the education minister was in your office. Could you tell us how many schools the Taliban have burned?

[Khalili] The Taliban have burned hundreds of schools in the towns and villages of the southern and eastern provinces of Afghanistan. It is a form of pressure that they practice against unarmed civilians. They want to put the clock back in time.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Is there a message that you would like to send to the Islamic world?

[Khalili] Both we and the Islamic world are busy coping with problems and with disasters. We call on the Muslim world to be of one mind and one word regarding the circumstances that it is experiencing. If we united our world, we could resolve many of the problems facing us on the international level. I call on the Arab world to be attentive to what is going on in Afghanistan. We are satisfied with what they are offering their brothers in religion, but we still need more in the field of health, of the economy, and of education. There is a great deal of poverty in most provinces. There is a report in the council of ministers, that tells us that 13 provinces are suffering from problems with public life and from a high poverty rate: provinces such as, Badakhshan, Bamian Faryab, Badghish, and Zabol. At the same time, we strongly desire to enjoy better relations with our Arab brothers; and this, for a whole host of reasons: Our religion is one, our values are one, and we are brothers with the same aspirations. The Arabs in general and Saudi Arabia in particular are especially esteemed in Afghanistan, since the heart of Islam is in Saudi Arabia. The Afghan people's feelings of love, of kindness, and of affection toward their Arab and Muslim brothers, especially toward our brothers in Saudi Arabia, are feelings that are a product of centuries of common faith and belief.

'Hamid Karzai's diplomat expulsion move halted efforts to split Taliban'

The Telegraph (UK), March 24, 2008 By Damien McElroy in Musa Qala

Efforts to split the Taliban have ground to a halt since President Hamid Karzai rejected a foreign-led reconciliation effort, British commanders in southern Afghanistan claim.

Progress against the Taliban was interrupted by Mr Karzai's decision in December to expel two diplomats - the EU's Michael Semple and the UN's Mervyn Patterson - who had led efforts to woo key Taliban commanders last year.

Brig Andrew Mackay, the commander of the British-dominated Nato force in Helmand, said: "We had indications that hundreds of Taliban were looking for reconciliation until Semple and Patterson's expulsion.

"What we thought we could embark on has come to a grinding halt as a result of a failure to distinguish between negotiating with the Taliban and reconciliation."

The impact on operations around Musa Qala is already being felt. Viewed as a model for Afghanistan by British officials, the town was recaptured in December after the Household Cavalry set up a cordon and Afghan troops moved on its streets for the first time in two years.

The diplomats played a crucial role in persuading Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Salaam to transfer his loyalties to the government.

Critically, this included a proposal to employ thousands of former rebels as village guards. But Mr Karzai insisted on replacing the two envoys after local officials accused them of doing deals behind their backs.

Lt Col Ed Smyth Osbourne, the Household Cavalry officer in charge of operations in Musa Qala, said that efforts to secure Taliban areas were starting to unravel.

He said: "Recapturing territory and holding it means you can't afford to take your foot off the pedal. But unless we get this right there will be a decline and, I fear, we will face serious problems."

The lack of Afghan government backing for the British drew an ominous prediction from Musa Qala's head of police, Commander Koka.

He said: "I think the international forces will be here forever. The people are ready to get away from war but they are afraid of the Taliban. They need their government on their side."

Younger leadership for Taliban in Afghanistan

The Telegraph (UK) March 24, 2008

The Taliban leadership in southern Afghanistan is passing into the hands of younger, more extreme insurgents as the relentless targeting of traditional commanders by British forces takes its toll.

In a week spent in Helmand province, The Daily Telegraph has found widespread evidence that special forces operations are degrading the Taliban's leadership and its ability to co-ordinate operations.

But there are also indications of increasing radicalisation within the Taliban as more extreme fighters, many of them al-Qa'eda-linked foreign militants, fill the gaps left when experienced Taliban leaders are killed.

Western military officials say privately that approximately 200 medium and high-level Taliban commanders were killed countrywide in targeted bombings or assassinations by American and British special forces last year, and a further 100 captured.

Using local intermediaries, the Telegraph was able to meet two mid-level Taliban commanders in the provincial capital Lashkargar. Both claimed that the Taliban was increasingly recruited from outside Helmand and that its hierarchies were becoming far less clear cut.

"There are a lot of small commanders now," said one, a veteran of several years of fighting but still in his 20s. He said that changes had come since the death of Mullah Dadullah, the high-profile overall commander in southern Afghanistan who was killed by the Special Boat Service last May.

"Now, after Dadullah's death, we have a motto that everyone has become a Dadullah," he added, speaking softly with the Arabic-accented speech characteristic of Taliban fighters trained in Pakistani madrassahs (religious seminaries).

He predicted victory in Afghanistan before the Taliban focused on imposing sharia in Pakistan. "There can be no negotiation with the West. This is a global jihad," he warned.

The other Taliban commander, who we met separately, was older. He said Taliban commanders were wary of becoming "a big name" as it made them a target.

Western military sources report that Taliban attacks have become steadily less co-ordinated in recent months.

"The Taliban have lost so many commanders, but it is not like losing a British general with 30 years' experience," said Hajji Mohammad Anwar, of the provincial council of Helmand. "Anyone who just comes from the madrassahs, tomorrow they are a big commander."

British and Afghan forces only have significant influence in six of Helmand's 13 districts. Many local people believe security is better in the Taliban-held districts, thanks to the imposition of strict sharia punishments, such as cutting off the hands of robbers.

But there are signs that the hard-line views of the Taliban put them at odds with local people.

"If we are too harsh to the community then we find it is really hard for us to survive," admitted the older commander. He said that more pragmatic Taliban figures were pushing for schools to be opened and for reconstruction work.

But he said such efforts met resistance from the increasingly extreme fighters moving into Helmand

As seen with al-Qa'eda in Iraq, Islamist terror groups have a history of progressively alienating local support through radicalisation. "The new Taliban are really emotional. They are very impulsive. They are war-addicted," said the older commander.

Afghans learning a better way to match Taliban pay

Assadabad (AFP) - Under the gaze of snowy peaks on which insurgents operate, Afghan and US officials open a trade centre they expect will find men jobs and take them out of the reach of rebel recruiters.

The gleaming new Kunar Construction Centre -- 10 kilometres (six miles) from the border with Pakistan, where extremists are said to have bases -- offers courses in plumbing, painting, masonry and other building skills.

"It is the graduates of this school who are going to rebuild your country," US Navy Commander Larry LeGree tells a room of local men in traditional dress guarded by heavily armed Afghan forces and US troops.

Afghanistan's rugged and remote Kunar province is a key battleground in an extremist insurgency hindering the government's efforts to bring stability to a country devastated by nearly three decades of war.

Twenty international soldiers have lost their lives here since May, a US commander says, and there are about three attacks on security forces a week.

It is near here that some say Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was sheltered by the 1996-2001 Taliban regime, was last sighted. Many now believe he is hiding just across the border in northwestern Pakistan.

There is also talk that wanted radical commander Gulbuddin Hekmatyar had a meeting in the area recently. His powerful deputy Kashmir Khan once lived on a mountain just behind the new centre, says a local.

"These insurgents are always on the top of the mountains," says Kunar governor Fazlullah Wahidi.

Most are from outside the country, he says. "They come and spend some time in Kunar and they go to other areas."

This section of the border does not see the same bulk of infiltration as the flatter southern part, where large groups of former madrassa students come over, says Lieutenant Colonel William Ostlund.

"Here smaller groups of command and control people bring in specialised equipment and finances to pay very poor and uneducated people that live in the mountains to attack," he said.

This includes an Al-Qaeda element from mainly Arab countries who have had some form of training in Pakistan, says Ostlund, the most senior US military commander in Kunar.

"They will sit on the hill and tell the young fighters what to do and how to do it but few of them engage in the fighting themselves."

The incentive for these fighters is cash, he says. And the US government-funded trade school aims to help "fighting-age males" to match, through legitimate jobs, the money they would get from insurgent activity.

"We need to pay construction workers more than the Taliban are paying their soldiers, fighters and porters," says Ostlund, putting porters' pay at about 100 dollars a month and fighters' at 150.

The new centre will plug into an expected construction boom that will be worth 3.5 billion dollars over the next few years, say its sponsors at the US government's aid agency, USAID.

It is targeted to the "at-risk population" -- men aged between 18 and 35 who may be persuaded to carry out a rocket-propelled grenade attack for about six dollars, says Captain Steve Fritz, who headed the centre's construction.

"There is a sense that this is more an economic fight," he says.

The strategy is one of several being used by the Afghan government and its international allies to defeat a Taliban insurgency that was countrywide its bloodiest last year with more than 8,000 people killed, most of them rebels.

In Kunar, as in other parts of the country, more police are being trained: provincial police chief General Abdul Jalal Jalal says, however, he needs at least double the 1,000 men he has.

There are also moves to draw insurgent leaders, like Hekmatyar, into dialogue. And there is new emphasis on improving provincial-level governance, with Wahidi's appointment in November seen as promising.

Military efforts are meanwhile making headway, Ostlund says. Troops in Kunar are initiating up to half of contacts with the rebels, up from only two to five percent about a year ago.

And the number of "significant acts" dropped from 156 in September to 60 in February, he says.

"The security allows a bubble for the government to develop, and behind development comes economic prosperity.

"As soon as people can tap into the good governance and the economic benefits of good government... they understand they have more to gain by being part of the government than by living up in those mountains there or over in Pakistan," says Ostlund.

Payments to Afghan civilians shrouded in secrecy: Opposition

OTTAWA — There have been at least eight instances in the last two years where the Canadian government has dipped into its pocket to compensate Afghan civilians or their families for accidental deaths or injuries.

But the figures and details of the settlements remain a closely held secret, despite calls in the Manley commission report for the Conservative government to be more open and forthright.

The Justice Department, which shares responsibility with the Defence Department for ex-gratia payments, refused to release any details. A recent access to information request by The Canadian Press was returned almost entirely censored.

Federal officials refused a subsequent request to release a global figure of what has been paid out since Canadian troops deployed to Kandahar in early 2006.

Opposition parties say the information is being suppressed for political reasons because the notion of civilian casualties - however inadvertent - is embarrassing to a government that made helping Afghans the central pillar of its strategy to extend the mission to 2011.

"We have no problem if they blank out the names and some of the details, but c'mon, this is taxpayer's money," said Liberal defence critic Denis Coderre.

"The public should know at least - at the very least - how much we have spent and what (the) criteria is for compensation ... even if it's only a few thousand dollars, it shouldn't be a secret."

New Democrat defence critic Dawn Black accused the Tories of trying to keep the truth from the public.

"They don't want Canadians to know what's happening in the war in Afghanistan," she said.

"In this case and others, they're to control the story and make it a sanitized version if what's happening."

A call to Justice Minister Rob Nicolson's office last week was not returned. Over a two-day period, justice officials were asked to respond to questions about ex-gratia payments, but the queries were eventually sent over to National Defence.

The military said it wasn't able to respond.

Coderre said the question of how payments are handled is vital because Afghan civilians who are accidentally injured or killed by Canadian soldiers have no legal right to compensation from Ottawa.

Instead, restitution depends upon an obscure claims process that provides payments under "moral considerations."

The waiver was signed in December 2005 by Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier and remained secret for six months afterward. It became public through an access to information request filed by The Canadian Press in the summer of 2006.

Over 30 pages of information on ex-gratia payments made since February 2006 were released by the Justice Department after a follow up access to information request by the news agency.

The records are almost entirely censored, but indicate at least eight payments were made between March 2006 and the end of 2007.

A subsequent search of public accounts documents, which are tabled openly in Parliament, turned up as many as eight ex-gratia payments to individuals with potentially Afghan surnames.

The payments ranged from $1,971 to $31,584.

The agreement signed by Hillier states that "Canadian personnel will not be liable for any damages to private or government property."

Under the arrangement, civilians can submit damage claims and lawyers deployed with the troops are allowed to make payments up to $2,000.

"Any higher amount must be approved by the deputy minister," said an undated Defence Department note. "In most circumstances, ex-gratia payments should not be made."

Part of the secrecy involves a genuine concern for the safety of Afghan families being compensated.

In the spring of 2006 the family of an Afghan man, mistakenly shot dead by a Canadian soldier at police checkpoint, received a settlement.

But the officer commanding the mission at the time - Brig.-Gen. David Fraser - warned that revealing compensation details would potentially make the family targets of bandits.

Tories knew 1,000 French troops were pledged before Manley recommended them, MP asserts

GLORIA GALLOWAY - With reports from The Canadian Press and Associated Press

March 24, 2008

OTTAWA -- France will send 1,000 troops to Afghanistan, allowing an equivalent number of Americans to assist Canadian forces in Kandahar, in a deal that was worked out even before the Manley commission recommended such an arrangement, according to a senior Liberal MP.

The Conservative government, with the help of the Liberals, recently approved a motion to extend the mission in Afghanistan to 2011 on condition that another NATO country send 1,000 troops to assist the Canadians in Kandahar. That was the recommendation of a commission led by former Liberal cabinet minister John Manley which issued its report in January.

But Denis Coderre, the Liberal defence critic, said the addition of 1,000 NATO troops was already a "done deal," although it is his understanding that the French soldiers will not be sent to Kandahar, the dangerous southern province where the Canadians are stationed.

Instead, said Mr. Coderre, they will go to the eastern region that is under the control of the Americans, allowing U.S. troops to go to Kandahar.

"What I have learned is that, even before the Manley report, there was already a deal that Americans, if they don't have anybody [to assist the Canadians], will step up to the plate and provide that 1,000 soldiers," said Mr. Coderre.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy will tell British Prime Minister Gordon Brown this week that France will send the soldiers to the war-ravaged country, the Times of London said Saturday. It cited unnamed senior ministers as saying Mr. Sarkozy wants to demonstrate his commitment to NATO's Afghan mission during his two-day visit to London, which begins Wednesday.

The newspaper report did not spell out where in Afghanistan the French troops would be heading. "President Sarkozy is said to be still deciding whether the extra troops should be sent to the south to fight alongside the Canadians or east to the border with Pakistan," it said.

In January, U.S. President George Bush approved the deployment of 3,200 Marines to Afghanistan to help the NATO-led security forces in the south. That included 2,200 combat troops and an additional 1,000 to help train the Afghan army and police.

"My understanding is that the Americans will take those 1,000 [dedicated to training] and they will remain in Kandahar," Mr. Coderre said.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay was unavailable for comment yesterday. His spokesman said the French deployment is speculation at this point.

But both Mr. Coderre and the British news report said the plans will be revealed at a North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting in Bucharest next week. "It's being orchestrated to make some announcement," said Mr. Coderre.

The Canadian military is said to prefer working with American soldiers because they train with Canadian troops and are familiar with the Canadian command structure.

But some experts have suggested that 1,000 troops will not be enough to bring the unruly state of Kandahar under control or to keep increasingly active Taliban insurgents at bay. Mr. Coderre agrees.

"We have to change the mission because you will never, ever accomplish the goal through military solutions," he said. "We need to refocus on reconstruction."

The New Democrats, on the other hand, say all Canadian troops should be returned home now.

Dawn Black, the NDP defence critic, said yesterday there is no way of knowing yet whether the American troops sent to Kandahar will work under NATO command or remain part of the U.S. Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), which is separate from the NATO mission.

The new deployment may mean "things are going to really heat up in Kandahar because, if they are under OEF, that's going to mean more air strikes, more poppy eradication, all of the things that have fuelled the insurgency," said Ms. Black.

Steven Staples, president of the Rideau Institute, a policy organization that has been critical of Afghan mission, holds similar views.

"The additional troops will have more political than military significance. With the 1,000 troops, French President Sarkozy scores points with U.S. President Bush, President Bush claims victory at NATO next month, and [Prime Minister] Stephen Harper can keep Canada in the war for another three years," Mr. Staples said in an e-mail yesterday.

"What is most concerning is that Canada, surrounded by 1,000 additional U.S. troops, will become increasingly implicated with U.S. forces and their aggressive war-fighting approach to the conflict."

Canadian Forces advisory team adopts Kabul orphanage

Canwest News Service , Sunday, March 23, 2008

It still is, as Col. Donald Dixon describes it, "a very, very humble" dwelling, in one of the poorest parts of war-torn Kabul.

The first time he walked into the Mirmon orphanage in 2006, the conditions were sobering. "It was a cement, two-storey house. It was a hollowed-out building on two floors. And it was bare. There was no indoor plumbing. No kitchen facilities to speak of. The walls were cracked, and peeling. The windows were bare."

By the time his tour of duty with the Canadian Strategic Advisory Team (SAT) ended in the fall of 2007, conditions had brightened considerably.

"They were our family. We really adopted those girls," Dixon says.

So have subsequent SAT units who are continuing a uniquely Canadian volunteer legacy.

Up to 30 girls, from babies to teens live at the orphanage in the heart of this city of five million. "Their parents have died, or been killed. Or the girls were abandoned," he says. 

The SAT consists of about 15 Canadian Forces soldiers and civilians who advise the Afghan government on developing effective and efficient government. But Dixon says, "it's more than just helping the government structure. It's also about helping people on the street."

He first got involved with the orphanage from August 2006 through to the summer of 2007.

Dixon's team dove in and did some basic structural work on the orphanage, putting in bathrooms and upgrading the kitchen. They organized special events and tapped into their communities back home to ensure the girls had clothing "for all three seasons," which can range from -15 C in the winter, to 30 C in the summer.

"Kids were in sandals walking in mud and snow," he said. "We immediately went out and bought them winter boots and winter coats."

Every member also contributed a small monthly stipend from their salaries to the orphanage, and some continue to do so, even though they have long since left Afghanistan. He says the temptation to "shower them with goods and effects," was great, "but you can't do that. We ensured they had the absolute basics. Clothing, heat and food. And quality of life as it pertains to medical and dental."

Lt.-Cmdr. Albert Wong, who began this grassroots cause on his first SAT tour to Afghanistan in 2005, said: "The thing about helping in Afghanistan is a small amount goes a long way.

"When we first went to see them in the fall of '05, it was a very chilly day, that day. I mean I had my winter coat on, my scarf and hat and gloves. It was really nice to see the girls. It was a real joy. But then we noticed in their bedrooms, which were in the basement, they had no heat. So between 15 of us, we raised enough to buy them three separate wood heaters that we had installed. They basically had one wood-burning heater for the whole house. We bought them three additional ones and fuel for the winter."

Wong said the stoves cost a total of about $250. The fuel cost about $100.

"The reason we picked them up was because it was a small orphanage for girls. The larger orphanages, other (non-government organizations) and foreign governments are looking after and helping. This one is small enough to fall below the radar," Wong says.

But he says, that commitment has to be practical and sustainable.

"So we didn't just flood them with money but we actually looked at what the needs were and bought according to the needs."

Wong says his unit also wanted to ensure the girls received some basic skills for adulthood.

"The girls had to go to school, as a condition of being in the orphanage. The second was that they had to learn the skills that a young girl would traditionally learn from their mother. Cooking, sewing, business, running the household. Things they would need if they got married off. So it was not just a warehouse . . . they had to come out of there with some life skills that would help them to survive in that environment."

"The fear would be sure, let's give them an education. Let's say they get to Grade 12. But have we set them up for success if all they have is Grade 12, but have been fed the whole way through and don't know how to cook? Are we setting them up for something that is impossible to sustain? That's always been foremost in our minds when we intervene."

Wong has returned to Toronto, but he says he keeps in touch with the orphanage.

"It's a team effort. I was in the first SAT rotation and what's gratifying is that each rotation subsequent to that has taken this on," he says.

"We have a track record, we have a history and when you meet the girls you just don't want to abandon them . . . I also personally believe that while the future of Afghanistan is still on the line, the only way forward is this generation of kids. And especially the girl child because if you can educate that girl child, the impact of when that child grows up and becomes a mother, is huge. When someone is educated, it's impossible to take that away from her."

Plan to curb corruption ready

[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.]