In this bulletin:

• Helmand market bomb 'kills eight'
• France offers more troops for Afghanistan
• 'Leave Taleban to Afghans' call – BBC
• Afghan ambassador predicts safer Afghanistan in next three years
• Afghanistan: Army Reaches 70,000 Mark, As Taliban Vows New Offensive
• 2012 earliest end to Afghan commitment, U.S. commander says
• Taliban again threaten spring offensive
• Abducted Afghan passengers released in Pakistan's tribal region
• Cell tower shutdown leaves 250,000 Afghans without phones after Taliban attacks
• Canada calls for German troop deployment in southern Afghanistan
• Afghan aid botched
• Aid failure undermines Afghan peace prospects
• Canadians 'doing the whole job' in Kandahar
• Fate of US aid worker a mystery two months on, say officials
• Afghanistan presses ahead to end polio
• New hydrological station at Qargha Dam to help manage Afghanistan’s water resources
• Afghan Parliament Wants Kabul Barriers Removed
• Afghan alarm
• New Pakistan leaders target militants
• NATO seeks new Afghan push from summit
• Taliban foot soldiers deeply ignorant of the world

Helmand market bomb 'kills eight' – BBC

A car bomb attack has killed at least eight people at a farmers' market in southern Afghanistan, police say.

They say the bomb in Gereshk district of Helmand province also wounded 17 people, including five children.

The bomb was left in an abandoned vehicle, police said. The Taleban has been blamed for the attack.

Nato troops frequently clash with the Taleban in Helmand - an opium production centre and insurgent stronghold.

Helmand police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal accused the Taleban of targeting civilians to "create fear in the people".

He told the Associated Press news agency that there were no security forces in the area at the time of the explosion.

Correspondents say that the Taleban frequently target Afghan and international security forces, but this year they have increased their attacks on civilians as well.

France offers more troops for Afghanistan

LONDON (AFP) — President Nicolas Sarkozy said that France will boost its military presence in Afghanistan, a move welcomed by his allies in Britain and the United States.

Sarkozy put no figure on the number of extra troops for NATO's battle against Taliban insurgents -- details may be confirmed next week at a NATO summit in Bucharest -- but sources in Paris said it would be more than 1,000.

France currently has some 1,600 soldiers in the country, mainly in the relatively peaceful capital Kabul. It is unclear if the new French troops will deploy to the volatile south of the country, or other less dangerous areas.

The United States, Canada and Britain have long pressed their European NATO allies to stump up more forces in Afghanistan to face down the threat of a Taliban spring offensive in the violence-scarred country.

"France has proposed to its allies in the Atlantic alliance a coherent and comprehensive strategy to allow the Afghan people and their legitimate government to build peace," Sarkozy said Wednesday.

"If these proposals are accepted, France will propose at the Bucharest summit strengthening its military presence," he added, in an address to both houses of Britain's House of Parliament on the first day of a state visit.

Although widely expected, Sarkozy's announcement was warmly welcomed in London and Washington. US national security adviser Stephen Hadley said: "Obviously that would be a very positive thing."

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband also welcomed Sarkozy's pledge. "A stronger French contribution will be more than welcome," he told AFP shortly after the address.

Sarkozy's offer was welcomed in Thursday morning's British press, with the Daily Telegraph writing that it "will have been music to the government's ears."

"Mr Sarkozy said the two countries were stronger when they stood with, rather than against, each other," the paper's editorial read.

Britain has some 7,800 soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, and has long pushed for other countries to do more, particularly in the south, where British troops in Helmand Province have suffered increasing casualties.

A total of 89 British troops have died in the country since US-led forces ousted the Taliban shortly after 9/11, according to the Ministry of Defence.

Sarkozy told the British lawmakers that "together, our two countries are determined to remain committed, side-by-side with all our allies, in Afghanistan where a crucial phase is being played out."

He did not elaborate on his new strategy in his address, but speaking to the BBC before arriving in Britain, Sarkozy said it meant putting more faith in the Afghans themselves, as military action could only be part of the solution.

Asked if France was planning to send more troops to Afghanistan, he replied: "It is a long-term commitment... If these conditions are fulfilled, why not go in with larger numbers?"

The April 2-4 NATO meeting in Bucharest is expected to see pledges of more troops from other countries in answer to calls for more assistance from the allies battling a resurgent Taliban in the south and east.

The hardline Islamist regime was ousted six years ago by a US-led invasion after it refused to give up Osama bin Laden, the Saudi-born militant and chief suspect for the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

Sarkozy arrived in Britain with his new wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, and was greeted by Queen Elizabeth II, who bestowed and honorary knighthood upon him.

'Leave Taleban to Afghans' call – BBC

An influential Afghan minister has called on the West to allow local communities in Afghanistan to take over the fight against the Taleban.

Education Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar said the answer lay in what he called the "Afghanisation" of security. Mr Atmar, who is a close ally of President Hamid Karzai, said Afghan forces needed more training.

In the latest violence, officials say the Taleban killed six people in the western province of Herat. While Nato leaders have been calling for member countries to commit more troops to Afghanistan, Mr Atmar told the BBC that this was not the answer.

He says a traditional Afghan system, with local communities being allowed to practice self-defence, would be more effective.

He believes that Afghan forces could defeat the Taleban in five years, instead of the 15 he believes Nato would need.

And with at least 10 times as much money being spent on foreign troops as on Afghan forces, he believes that money could be better spent in training and providing resources.

The BBC's Elettra Neysmith says "Afghanisation" is a popular concept at the moment within Nato. She says it has been cynically described as a "get out of jail free" card for Western countries mired in the deepening Taleban insurgency.

But Mr Atmar says the "Afghanisation" of security has worked successfully in provinces like Khost and Paktia in the south-east, where the Taleban are active.

Afghan ambassador predicts safer Afghanistan in next three years

(CP) MONTREAL 03.25.08 — Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada is hopeful the Canadian deployment to his country will have accomplished its mission in about three years time.

And Canadian troops remaining at their posts in southern Afghanistan until 2011 will buy that country the time it needs to bring about a significant change in security.

"We feel more confident that our army and police and other institutions are developing according to plan," Omar Samad told The Canadian Press on Wednesday.

"They will shoulder a large portion of the security burden over time as they already are," he said following a speech to the Montreal chapter of the Canadian International Council.

Samad says that with security will come an increased effort to address the questions of governance, corruption and development.

"In the next year or two, you're going to see some significant changes in all of those areas," Samad said. "I remain optimistic in the next two to three years, we're going to have a more secure Afghanistan."

Samad says the more stability that can be brought to Afghanistan, the less need there will be for NATO troops on the ground. But there is still hard work ahead, Samad warned.

Troop deployment to Afghanistan is among the topics to be discussed next week at a NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania.

The House of Commons voted this month to extend Canada's mission in Kandahar province until 2011. That is conditional on NATO sending 1,000 more troops and additional equipment to back them up. The U.S. and several European countries have indicated they will step up.

"Everyone feels confident that the right decisions will be made and the mission will be strengthened to help us accomplish our objectives," Samad said.

Canada has been at the forefront of fighting against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. Since the mission began in 2002, 81 soldiers and one diplomat have died.

Meantime, Canada's defence minister, Peter MacKay, said Wednesday that Samad's three-year estimate should be encouraging to Canadians.

"I think he's right and I think he has an important perspective and vantage point that is instructive and should be confidence-building," MacKay said following a speech in Halifax.

"Clearly, the security situation is key - that's the centerpiece for the necessity to do more development, to do more humanitarian aid work."

Samad says what happens after 2011 is dependent upon how much is accomplished now. "What happens beyond that will depend on the circumstances then, and I cannot predict what those circumstances will be," Samad said.

Samad said Canada and other foreign partners cannot give up on Afghanistan now. History has already shown what can happen when Afghanistan is forgotten.

"When you have attained a goal through military means, then you have to step in and you have to rebuild," he said. "Otherwise, you're creating a worse mess and a worse situation. "You're creating a power vacuum and who knows who will fill that void."

Afghanistan: Army Reaches 70,000 Mark, As Taliban Vows New Offensive

By Ron Synovitz, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, March 26, 2008

Officials in Kabul say the Afghan National Army soon will number 70,000 combat-ready soldiers -- the strongest the force has been since the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001.

The buildup has come amid urgent calls within NATO for more combat troops to be sent to assist counterterror and stabilization efforts in that country. But the Afghan government says it will be years before Afghan forces are able to provide security throughout the country by themselves -- and the Taliban says it's not worried about the growth of the army.

In early 2002, just weeks after the collapse of the Taliban regime, the transitional government in Kabul announced a bold schedule to build the Afghan National Army from scratch. That schedule called for the recruitment and training of 70,000 Afghan soldiers before the presidential election in the fall of 2004.

But that target proved to be overly optimistic. Until this year, desertions were so high among the fully trained Afghan soldiers that Kabul had difficulty maintaining a force of 30,000 troops.

Now, six years after the 70,000-soldier announcement, the goal is finally within reach.

General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, a spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry, tells RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan that the recruitment, training, and retention of Afghan soldiers during the winter has been better than ever.

"We have succeeded to bring about enormous changes in the quality and quantity of troops in the Afghan National Army compared to previous years. From [about early May], we will be able to have at least 70,000 soldiers deployed to fight against the enemy," Azimi says. "Last year, this number was about 30,000 soldiers. And our army is very well equipped this year. We have obtained new weapons and other military equipment. Our air force has been reestablished. And we have formed new commando and engineering battalions."

Taliban spokesman Qari Yusef Ahmadi, in an exclusive telephone interview with Radio Free Afghanistan, dismisses Azimi's remarks about the strengthening of the Afghan National Army.

"They can't do anything," Ahmadi says. "They have been claiming for years that they are going to have 70,000 soldiers, but our view is that these are only paid soldiers who are temporary workers. These people aren't able to fight against our mujahedin, who are fighting jihad on the basis of their faith."

Ahmadi claims the Taliban is planning a series of attacks in the coming days, called Operation Unforgettable Lesson, that is part of a spring offensive.

"It will cover all of Afghanistan -- the big cities and the small cities," Ahmadi warns. "We will attack all those areas where our enemy is present. We will use our old tactics as well as new tactics. I can't disclose what these new tactics are because that is a military secret, but you will see when it starts."

Ahmadi also tells Radio Free Afghanistan that Taliban militants will focus their attacks on military bases where foreign troops have been deployed. He says Taliban fighters will try to refrain from carrying out attacks in situations where there are many civilians.

"Everything will be included in this operation," Ahmadi says. "We will be looking at an area first and then we will attack according to the situation in each particular area. Suicide attacks will be included."

For his part, however, General Azimi dismisses Ahmadi's remarks as an attempt by the Taliban to manipulate public opinion in Afghanistan.

"Propaganda plays a significant role in military operations, especially in guerrilla and militia fighting," Azimi says. "It is a very strategic tactic. When the enemy does not have the ability to defeat a well-organized military force, they start trying to terrify innocents. [The Taliban] now fights a psychological battle. This is their pre-operational battle."

The strengthening of the Afghan National Army comes as the United States, Britain, and Canada have sought to get other countries in the NATO alliance to send more soldiers into the combat zones of southern and eastern Afghanistan.

Last week, during a visit to Kabul by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said that the growth of the Afghan Army will take some pressure off of NATO. But with militant violence on the rise, Karzai said international security forces were still needed to help provide security throughout the country.

"The continuation of NATO's role in Afghanistan and the fight against terrorism -- and providing stability for Afghanistan -- is very, very important. The Afghan army is also doing very, very well," Karzai said. "In my meetings with the Afghan people, I find out that the army is more and more seen as a force that brings stability. So as the Afghan army gets stronger and stronger, [there will be less] pressure on international security forces. Until then, the cooperation between Afghanistan and the rest of the international community is a must -- both for the war against terrorism and for stability in Afghanistan."

Karzai also warned that Kabul would be dependent "for a long time" on international security forces to help train and equip Afghan government forces.

"We like an effective continuation of the two missions that we have here. One is the fight against terrorism. The other is the rebuilding of Afghanistan -- and especially the rebuilding of the security institutions; the army," Karzai said. "As it is a gradual improvement on our side, it is also a gradual reduction of responsibility on the shoulders of the international community; but that is not going to be [completed] anytime soon. Afghanistan will need for a long time support from the international community in the rebuilding exercises here in Afghanistan and in the strengthening of the Afghan security institutions."

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

2012 earliest end to Afghan commitment, U.S. commander says

Training Afghan army and police the key to Canada's exit

Canwest News Service, 03.26.08

KABUL - International soldiers will be needed in Afghanistan until at least 2012, but troop levels could start dropping by then, the commander of coalition forces here said Wednesday.

Gen. Dan McNeill offered that timeline in an exclusive interview with Canwest News Service, as he expressed optimism that as more Afghan soldiers and policemen are competently trained, it would be fair to begin debating the merits of reducing the number of international troops here.

"I would say, at the rate the Afghan National Army is going, if the police can catch up with that rate, maybe it wouldn't take five years," he said. "But again, all I do is make my best military recommendations and leave it to the policy makers."

McNeill, the American four-star general who commands the 47,000 troops from 39 countries that comprise the International Security Assistance Force for Afghanistan, also made note of the skilled way Canada's minority Conservative government and Liberal opposition crafted a compromise resolution that will allow Canadian troops to remain in Afghanistan until 2011.

McNeill pointed to the fact that Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and his top soldier, Gen. Bishmullah Khan, have urged the North Atlantic Council, NATO's governing body, as well as other alliance commanders that the West should be patient with the training of Afghan security forces.

"In a couple of press interviews, both he (Wardak) and Gen. Bishmullah Khan thought that a fully capable Afghan National Army, probably you're looking at late 2012 before that came around."

"Here's what's really important," McNeill added, "As you see increasing Afghan national security force capacity, that not only includes the army but the police as well, I think you can reasonably have debate and ask the question: 'do we need the same size of international force here?'

"I think the answer to that is obvious: as the Afghan capacity increases, there probably is good reason that you cease to increase the international capacity and, at some point, you would actually be better served by beginning to decrease that."

The training of an 80,000-strong national army and a competent national police force of 82,000 is the key exit strategy for Canada and its allies.

"It looks like everybody's holding steady. A lot of rhetoric last year. Canadian brothers too. They were going to leave. Looks like they're around for another couple more years," McNeill said.

The Canadian Forces - there are about 2,500 stationed in the volatile south - have made great gains in making the Kandahar region more secure over the last year, McNeill said, adding: "We should point out that they have a lot of help."

Polish special forces and American troops outside of NATO command under Operation Enduring Freedom have also played a key role, he added.

In an earlier interview with Canwest, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, William Wood, credited Canadians with doing "the whole job" in Kandahar.

McNeill said he welcomes any show of solidarity that NATO leaders might offer at their summit next week in Bucharest. The summit is being billed by the alliance as an opportunity to put some very public differences behind it and show resolve for the long-term reconstruction of Afghanistan.

McNeill said he has no concern that the internal political debates over the merits of the Afghan mission in countries such as Canada, the Netherlands and Germany are undermining the military effort on the ground in Afghanistan.

Many observers have argued that those debates, including Canada's, provide incentive to the Taliban to keep up the insurgency because they  show a lack of resolve in coalition countries.

"I come from a democracy that's several hundred years old, so we're used to that kind of debate to tell you the truth," he said.

"Here's the incontrovertible fact: there's been a lot of debate but the force is more than 10,000 stronger than it was when I first took command" one year ago, said McNeill.

"If all this debate must continue, but the force continues to increase in size, I'm kind of OK with that debate. I just don't want to see it go in the other direction."

Both Wood, in his earlier interview with Canwest, and McNeill were adamant that the long-term solution to Afghanistan's problems was intricately linked with the countries in the region and that border it, including Pakistan, where militants continue to be based.

"Surely if there are sanctuaries for the insurgents, so that the insurgent at times of his choosing can remain just out of the reach of security forces, that's not going to be conducive to long-term security and stability," McNeill said.

Taliban again threaten spring offensive

By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Wed Mar 26, 6:23 AM ET

KABUL, Afghanistan - The Taliban says it will use new techniques and draw on years of fighting experience to again increase attacks in Afghanistan this spring.

A statement attributed to Taliban senior commander Mullah Bradar also warns Afghans working with the government to quit their jobs or risk being targeted.

Bradar said the Taliban is aiming to collapse the government of President Hamid Karzai. He said the militants would continue their attacks until the government is ousted and U.S. and NATO forces withdraw.

U.S. and NATO military officials dismiss the idea of a Taliban spring offensive and say the only offensive that will take place this year in Afghanistan is one by Western and Afghan troops.

"It's the same old story, it's the same old nonsense," Mark Laity, the NATO spokesman in Kabul, said Wednesday. "What are they saying they will do? More destruction, more unhappiness, more misery. What is there that will present any hope for the Afghan people?"

Violence has risen during the warmer months of spring and summer the last several years, usually through a spike in roadside and suicide bombs. But the Taliban does not have the number of fighters or the military equipment needed to mount a conventional offensive against the U.S., NATO or Afghan troops.

Still, last year was Afghanistan's most violent since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. More than 8,000 people were killed, including some 1,500 civilians, according to the U.N. But most of those deaths were of militants killed in U.S. and NATO strikes.

Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, spokesman for Afghanistan's Defense Ministry, said the Taliban announcement was nothing but propaganda.

"In the past they've used all their power against the Afghan National Army, but they failed," Azimi said. "Thousands of Taliban were killed last year. The ANA has increased its numbers. Important Taliban leaders have been killed."

The Afghan army, which is being trained and equipped by U.S. and other NATO experts, now stands at 63,000 strong, Azimi said. The international community has agreed to expand the army to 80,000 troops, though Azimi has called for the force of 200,000.

Azimi also said the Taliban is suffering from infighting in its ranks, including disagreements between Taliban leader Mullah Omar and powerful Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud.

The director of U.S. national intelligence said in February that the Taliban control about 10 percent of Afghanistan, and a U.N. report this month said 10 percent of the country's districts are inaccessible to aid workers. Afghanistan's top intelligence chief has said only eight of Afghanistan's 364 districts are not under government control.

Abducted Afghan passengers released in Pakistan's tribal region

ISLAMABAD, March 26 (Xinhua) -- The passengers kidnapped in northwestern Pakistan's tribal region were released on Wednesday, local TV channel DAWN NEWS reported.

The passengers were released after successful talks between the negotiation team sent by local authorities and the kidnappers, said the report.

Some armed tribesmen on Wednesday kidnapped 40 passengers in a bus heading to Afghanistan to demand release of their relatives arrested in Afghanistan earlier this month.

The Pakistan-Afghan Friendship Bus was heading to the eastern city of Jalalabad, the capital of Ningrahar province in Afghanistan, when hijacked by tribesmen at Zakhakhel area of Khyber agency, the News Network International news agency reported.

Witnesses said the driver was held at gun-point by the tribesmen and was forced to go to an unknown destination.

All the passengers were stated to be Afghan nationals. Kidnappers said the Afghan authorities had arrested three Pakistani tribesmen 20 days ago.

Pakistan and Afghanistan last year launched the friendship bus between Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan's northwest frontier province and Jalalabad to facilitate the people.

The local authorities started search of the hijacked bus to seek release of the hostages.

Cell tower shutdown leaves 250,000 Afghans without phones after Taliban attacks

The Associated Press, 03/26/2007 - KABUL - Ten Taliban attacks on telecommunication towers have prompted cell phone companies to shut down service across southern Afghanistan at night, angering an estimated quarter million customers who have no other telephones.

The communication blackout follows a warning late last month from the Taliban, which claimed the U.S. and NATO were using cell phone signals to track fighters at night and launch pinpoint attacks.

About 10 towers have been attacked since then _ seven of them seriously _ causing almost US$2 million (€1.3 million) in damages, the telecommunications ministry said. Afghanistan's four major mobile phone companies began cutting service across the south soon afterward.

The speed with which the companies shut down their service shows how little influence the government has in remote areas and how just a few attacks can cripple a basic service and a booming, profitable industry. The shutdown could also stifle international investment in the country during a time of rising violence.

But the decision to cut off cell coverage is proving extremely unpopular among Afghan citizens. Even some Taliban fighters are asking that the towers be switched back on, Afghanistan's telecommunications minister said.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid hinted in a telephone interview that the group could change its demands. “We see that some people are having problems, so we might change the times that the networks are shut down in the coming days,» Mujahid said.

That the Taliban could dictate the times the country's mobile phone networks are in operation shows the weakness of the central government and the international forces that operate here, said Mohammad Qassim Akhgar, a political analyst in Kabul.

«After the Taliban announcement, they were aware of the situation, and still they couldn't provide security for the towers,» Akhgar said. «Maybe destroying a few towers will not have any effect on the government, but the news or the message that comes out of this is very big, and all to the benefit of the Taliban.

All four of the major phone companies _ Roshan, AWCC, Areeba and Etsalat _ declined to comment. A. Sangin, the country's communications and information technology minister, said the government is not overly worried about the Taliban threat, because Afghans are becoming increasingly angered by the shutdown. He said seven destroyed towers, and three with minor damage, out of the 2,000 towers in the country was «not a big thing,» although he said the towers cost from US$150,000 to US$300,000 (€95,500 to €190,960) each.

«Our view of the people targeting the telecom infrastructure is that it's not a fight against the foreign troops, it's not a fight against the government, it's actually targeting the people, because the result of such activities is that the people will suffer,» Sangin said. «We believe the people will stand up and provide protection for the telecom towers.

Haji Jan Ahmed Aqa, a 45-year-old farmer from the remote and dangerous Zhari district of Kandahar province, said the loss of cell phone communication during the nights is a big problem.

«What do we do if someone is sick?» he said. «How can you agree to this Taliban demand? Maybe next the Taliban will say they have a problem in the daytime, and they'll shut down the network in the daytime as well.

Afghanistan's cell phone industry has seen explosive growth since towers first appeared in late 2002, Sangin said. The country now has 5.4 million cell phone users and the industry has invested more than US$1 billion (€640 million).

Sangin said he expects another US$500 million (€320 million) in investments over the next two years. Attacks on towers have taken place across the south, where the Taliban is most active. Companies have shut down service primarily in Helmand, Kandahar and Zabul provinces.

An official with knowledge of the situation said about 10 percent of the country's towers were being turned off at night, affecting up to 300,000 people. He spoke on condition he not be identified because he wasn't authorized to release that information.

The shutdown, Sangin noted, is causing problems both for civilians and for militants. «In these provinces I've actually received reports where the Taliban has gone to some towers and told the companies not to shut it down, and keep it running,» said Sangin. «I get the feeling that they are already regretting their decision to shut down the services.

Simon Baker, a Moscow-based analyst with the telecommunication firm IDC, said that despite the attacks, the outlook for the telecom industry in Afghanistan is still «pretty good,» given the country's large untapped user base.

«There are substantial amounts of capital behind it. I think people will try to find a solution to this,» Baker said. «Major international players will take the longer-term view.

Sangin said the Taliban's stated reason for wanting the networks shut down _ because the U.S. and NATO could track militants' movements _ doesn't make sense, because the fighters could simply turn their phones off or take out the battery. He said the militaries have other ways to track militants' movements.

U.S. Ambassador William Wood told reporters last month that the threat could cause investors to hesitate. «I don't think that it's a serious threat because the Taliban relies on cell phones, too,» Wood said. «But you can see how that would be a problem for a private investor.

Sangin said the Taliban closed down a cell tower in Ghazni province about four months ago, but villagers demanded it reopen. «The people said please send the operators back and let them repair the infrastructure and we will guarantee the security of the tower,» Sangin said.

«We believe that if the Taliban continue with these kinds of activities the hatred will increase against them, and as a result we are awaiting a change in their policy.

Associated Press reporters Rahim Faiez in Kabul and Noor Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report.

Canada calls for German troop deployment in southern Afghanistan

Berlin, March 26, IRNA

Canada has stepped up its pressure on Germany to shift its soldiers from the relatively peaceful north Afghan region to the war-stricken southern part of Afghanistan where NATO-led forces face a revitalized Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgency.

Talking to the online edition of the weekly Der Spiegel news magazine on Wednesday, Canada Defense Minister Peter MacKay warned of a "two-tiered NATO" since not all member states of the western military alliance were sharing the burden evenly.

He also alluded that Berlin was not meeting its international commitments within NATO's framework.

"I understand there are domestic challenges in Germany when it comes to troop deployment. Yet, there are also international responsibilities that we all share. Canada takes its role seriously, and we have had more than 80 casualties in Afghanistan," MacKay said.

Asked whether he wanted more German troops in southern Afghanistan, the minister replied, "Absolutely. We want more French, Spanish, Italian troops in the south, too."
"Just look at what countries are there or were there: The Romanians, the Estonians and the Danes. These are countries that arguably have less military capacity than Germany," MacKay added.

The minister stressed that Germany would also benefit from "a stable Afghanistan that is no longer the exporter of terrorism." Germany has based around 3,500 soldiers in northern Afghanistan and Kabul as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in addition to police instructors and civilian reconstruction workers.

Some 26 German soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since January 2002, according to official statistics.

Afghan aid botched

March 27, 2008 – Toronto Star

Canada promised Afghanistan $1.3 billion in aid, and by and large we are delivering. Sadly, the same can't be said for the broader $25 billion international aid effort. Donors have come up $10 billion (U.S.) short on pledges, and the program is a wasteful, ineffective mess that has undercut prospects for peace in a nation struggling to recover from 30 years of Soviet occupation, civil war and Taliban misrule.

That's the grim verdict in Falling Short, an eye-opening report this week from Oxfam, Save the Children and more than 90 other aid groups. It flatly states that "much aid to Afghanistan is wasted." It also strengthens the case for giving the United Nations' new aid envoy, Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide, the strong hand he needs to co-ordinate development work by Afghan officials, donor countries, banks and the military, to improve aid delivery and quality.

The report should be required reading when leaders from key donor countries, Canada included, meet in Bucharest next week for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit. Canada's status as a credible, effective donor gives Prime Minister Stephen Harper the moral leverage to demand better from our partners.

Of the $25 billion (U.S.) that Kabul was promised since 2001 under the Afghan Compact, only $15 billion has been delivered. Afghans got just $9 billion, as $6 billion went back to donor countries in salaries, security, transportation and housing for foreign development consultants, and in purchases of goods and services at inflated prices.

While the U.S. gets credit as the largest Afghan donor, the report also holds it responsible for half the international shortfall. Washington pledged $10.4 billion but has delivered only $5 billion.

Granted, Afghanistan's poor security hampers aid delivery. So does government corruption and the country's inability to absorb aid. And granted, the picture isn't entirely bleak: Democracy has been established, health improved, schooling expanded, Afghan security forces are being rebuilt, and the economy and infrastructure are improving.

But why pledge help, only to claw it back before it reaches the poor? That just demoralizes Afghans and feeds the insurgency.

Major donors should increase aid and deliver as promised, the report urges. They should also channel more help through the Afghan government to build up its credibility, redirect aid from urban centres to poorer rural areas and zero in on reducing poverty and building local capacity.

And as the report argues, they have no time to waste.

Aid failure undermines Afghan peace prospects

Meagan Fitzpatrick,  Canwest News Service  Published: Tuesday, March 25, 2008

The world's aid donors are undermining the prospects for peace in Afghanistan by failing to deliver on their promises, according to a study released by a coalition of aid agencies.

The report was produced by the Agency Co-ordinating Body for Afghan Relief, an umbrella group representing 94 Afghan and international non-governmental organizations operating in Afghanistan. It concludes that of the $25-billion pledged in aid to Afghanistan by the international community since 2001, only $15-billion has been delivered. Further, it concludes that 40% of aid spending is funnelled back to donor countries in corporate profits and consultant fees.

"The reconstruction of Afghanistan requires a sustained and substantial commitment of aid -- but donors have failed to meet their aid pledges to Afghanistan. Too much aid from rich countries is wasted, ineffective or uncoordinated," said the report's author Matt Waldman, Afghanistan policy adviser at the international aid agency Oxfam, in a statement.

Mr. Waldman said due to the link between poverty and conflict, the international community must "urgently get its act together."

The study stated that too many dollars are being spent on military and political operations instead of tackling poverty, which Mr. Waldman calls a "short-sighted policy."

"There must be strong support for development in the south, but if other provinces are neglected then insecurity could spread," he said.

The ACBAR report said insecurity and criminal activity are more likely to spread to areas where there is persistent poverty, so it is important that aid dollars are more evenly doled out.

The report says that although a lot of progress has been made and a number of donors have major projects underway, delivery of aid dollars is not on track. The U.S., for example, has disbursed only half of its $10.4-billion committed for 2002 to 2008. Overall, international donors have promised $39-billion up to 2011, but less than 40 per cent of that amount has been spent, according to the report.

The shortfalls are partly blamed on challenging operating conditions and corruption, the report said, adding that a shortfall can be expected because of those problems and the possible absence of some data on donor aid. But donors have to adapt to those problems and factor them in to their aid programs, ACBAR said.

Pledging $1.2-billion in aid since 2001, Canada is one of the largest donors, along with the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, the European Union and the World Bank. Canada and Japan are exceptions, ACBAR said, in that they have delivered more than 90% of their aid promises between 2002 and 2008.

In addition to highlighting the aid shortfall, ACBAR outlined a host of problems related to how aid is being delivered. It said too many projects are designed to deliver quick and visible results instead of achieving sustainable reductions in poverty and that a lot of technical assistance, intended to build government capacity, "has been wasteful, donor-driven and of limited impact." More help is needed in Afghanistan's rural areas and more than half of the aid, ACBAR says, is "tied" -- meaning donors are requiring that services or resources be procured from their own countries. The study also found that "vast sums of aid are lost" on salaries and other costs associated with expatriates working as contractors and consultants, and that there is limited transparency, monitoring or evaluation of donor aid.

The organization also said a large proportion of aid delivery is not only driven by the aim to win "the hearts and minds" of Afghans, but that many projects are designed to reflect expectations in donor countries -- what voters at home would consider reconstruction and development instead of what Afghan communities actually want and need.

No one from the Canadian International Development Agency was available for an interview Tuesday but, according to the agency's Web site, Canada's aid program follows the Afghanistan Compact's priorities of security, governance and development. Under that framework, Canada is focused specifically on community development projects, democratic development and effective governance and enhancing the role of women.

CIDA's programming has a special focus on Kandahar province, where Canada's 2,500 troops in Afghanistan are based. Of the $179-million in aid that Canada contributed in 2006-07, $49-million went to Kandahar.

The agency says it "has a rigourous accountability mechanism in place"to make sure money is well spent, including regular audits and site visits to projects.

Canadians 'doing the whole job' in Kandahar

Mike Blanchfield,  Canwest News Service  Published: Wednesday, March 26, 2008

KABUL - The Canadian Forces are single-handedly responsible for making Kandahar a more secure place, and the United States will make sure they receive the extra 1,000 troops needed to remain there, says the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.

In an exclusive interview last night at the U.S. Embassy compound in the Afghan capital, William Wood lauded Canada's battlefield efforts and acknowledged the Forces have suffered a disproportionate number of deaths.

Mr. Wood said that while the U.S. certainly would contribute extra forces in response to Canada's requirement for 1,000 soldiers, medium-lift helicopters and UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), he hoped other international partners would be required to pony up, as well.

"There's no question that Canadians are doing the whole job," he said. "There's no question that the Canadians have suffered an extraordinary proportion of losses, bravely and with dedication." Eighty-one Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have died in Afghanistan since 2002.

Fate of US aid worker a mystery two months on, say officials

March 25, 2008 - KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) — Mystery surrounds the fate of a US aid worker who was kidnapped with her Afghan driver two months as there has been no word from their captors, officials said.

Cyd Mizell, 50, and her driver Abdul Hadi were snatched on January 26 while driving to work at the Asian Rural Life Development Foundation (ARDLF), a small nongovernment group that works with poor communities in Asia.

ARDLF said in a statement a month later that it had received "information over the past few days indicating that our two aid workers have been killed."

This was, however, never confirmed and an ARDLF employee in southern Kandahar city, where they were taken, said Tuesday that they were just "rumours". "The case is still open," a US official said Tuesday.

The kidnappers never contacted authorities, said Assadullah Khalid, the governor of the volatile southern province of Kandahar, the heartland of the Taliban movement waging a deadly insurgency that has included kidnappings. "No conditions were set," he told AFP.

The Taliban have repeatedly denied involvement, with spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed saying again Tuesday: "Our military friends have not abducted the American woman."

Mizell was wearing a burqa, an all-covering garment worn by women in rural Afghanistan, when she went missing.

She speaks the local Pashtu language and had been teaching English, sewing and embroidery to women -- some of whom joined a protest days after her disappearance to demand her release.

But Khalid said she had not taken sufficient security for a foreign national in this volatile part of Afghanistan, where crime combines with insurgency to create a precarious environment.

"She was not careful at all," he told AFP. "She lived alone in her house, didn't accept any security. She didn't even live inside the city." The police have not been able to find out what happened.

"I don't think she is somewhere near Kandahar city," said provincial police chief Sayed Aqa Saqib. "It is possible that the abductors keep her somewhere far."

Sarah Chayse, another American woman who has been based in Kandahar for years, also thinks Mizell may have been moved away, perhaps to tribal areas of Pakistan where the Taliban have bases.

The kidnapping was an "enormous event because it is the first time that an American woman has been targeted in this manner," she said.

ARDLF work has, meanwhile, ground to a halt, said interim director Altaf Ahmad Rahimi, adding that he had no idea why Mizell would have been targeted. "We haven't done anything bad... This is the first tragedy, the first crisis."

Afghanistan presses ahead to end polio

By Dan Dixon, Source: Rotary International March 26, 2008

Afghanistan's relentless effort to finish polio has succeeded in cornering the virus in the country's southern region, according to a World Health Organization report in February. The region is part of a larger zone of virus transmission that includes southern Pakistan.

Strong immunization coverage of children living in the border areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan is critical to both countries' efforts to end polio. "This is a virus that does not respect borders," said Dr. Rudolf Tangermann, a medical officer with WHO's polio eradication initiative, following Afghanistan's National Immunization Days (NIDs) in 2007. "These two countries cannot eradicate polio in isolation."

Dr. Ali Ahmed Zahed, a provisional member of the Rotary Club of Jalalabad, heads up polio immunization efforts in Afghanistan's eastern provinces, where WHO considers endemic transmission of the virus unlikely. He has played an instrumental role in helping to carry out his country's NIDs, including those held 9-11 March.

Stephen Brown, past governor of District 5340 (California, USA), and Fary Moini, a fellow member of the Rotary Club of La Jolla Golden Triangle, have led several humanitarian projects in Afghanistan and participated in NIDs there. Brown is impressed with the Afghan medical community's high level of organization in support of polio eradication.

"Many individuals are involved and they keep very good records regarding not only the number of immunizations but, more importantly, the refusals or missed homes," he reported in his online journal.

Afghanistan's March NIDs reached about 6.9 million children. However, fighting between the Taliban and Afghan security forces prevented immunization of all children targeted by the effort.

Vaccinating children and keeping track of who has been immunized is a challenge in a country without a census and where families, especially in the southern region, are constantly on the move to avoid danger. "In the morning you can go in (a village), but in the afternoon you can't," says Dr. Rahmatullah Kamwak, who works in support of WHO efforts in southern Afghanistan.

Nevertheless, courageous volunteers armed with oral polio vaccine do an extraordinary job of finding children and ensuring they are protected against the crippling disease. The volunteers create a kind of mobile medical record as they work, staining children's fingers with colored markers to verify they've received the vaccine and writing notes in chalk on the doors of mud-brick dwellings to indicate households that have been reached.

"(Afghanistan's) polio campaign is nothing short of heroic," says Martin Bell, UNICEF's ambassador for humanitarian emergencies. "It is setting an example to the world of what can be achieved under the most dire circumstances. . . . If Afghans could eradicate polio from their country in a time of war, what could they accomplish in a time of peace?"

New hydrological station at Qargha Dam to help manage Afghanistan’s water resources

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

KABUL, 25 March 2008 (Ministry of Energy and Water/FAO) – A new hydrological station was opened today at Qargha Dam near Kabul by the Afghan Deputy Minister of Energy and Water, HE Eng. Shojaudin Ziaie, and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Eng. Mohammad Aqa.

The Qargha station is one of the network of 174 hydrological stations and 60 snow gauges and meteorological stations being supplied and installed around Afghanistan. The hydrological stations will measure water levels, precipitation, temperature and water quality in order to provide the information necessary for planning water supply, irrigation and hydropower projects, drought mitigation, operation of reservoirs, monitoring environmental trends and other water management activities.

'The installation and rehabilitation of hydrological stations in Afghanistan is a must for proper planning, development and management of water resources in the country,' said Deputy Minister of Energy and Water Shojaudin Ziaie at the opening ceremony of the Qargha station.

'There is no food security in Afghanistan without water security,' Mr. Shobair senior engineer of FAO added.

The hydrological station network is part of the nationwide Emergency Irrigation Rehabilitation Project, started in 2004, implemented by the Ministry of Energy and Water and funded by the World Bank and technical assistant of FAO. The aim of the project is to reduce poverty in rural areas by providing the water resources needed for the foundation for a dynamic rural economy in Afghanistan.

Parallel to the construction of the new hydrological station, reconstruction work was completed on the Qargha Dam. The water reservoir, aside from being a popular recreation site for the people of Kabul, provides irrigation water for 2,000 hectares of land, as well as water for the western part of the city. In the result of rehabilitation of Qargha dam, after 11 years, irrigation water is provided to Badam Bagh Research farm, Bagh-e Balah Garden and other irrigated areas under this dam.

Afghan Parliament Wants Kabul Barriers Removed

AFP, 03/25/2008 - KABUL - An Afghan parliamentary committee said Tuesday it wanted security barriers blocking roads in the capital, including around a five-star hotel attacked by Taliban in January, to be removed.

In a meeting with the city mayor and police, officials decided that "Kabul municipality (should) take necessary steps to remove the barriers and inform related organizations," the committee said in a statement.

Kabul traffic is often gridlocked because of barriers that block off entire roads and large concrete anti-blast blocks that are positioned in main thoroughfares.

The Taliban's sophisticated attack on the luxury Kabul Serena hotel in January has prompted even more barricades to be added, mostly around embassies, international agencies, foreign military bases and government offices

The Serena, where three foreign nationals were among eight people killed, has itself undergone a security overhaul and has sandbags at its gates.

The Taliban threatened after the attack to target more places frequented by foreign nationals.

The Afghan cabinet ruled in 2006 that concrete barriers must be cleared and streets opened. Some international groups objected, however, and the decision was never fully implemented.

Afghan alarm

The Baltimore Sun, 03/25/2008 By Karl F. Inderfurth

Without urgent action by the U.S. and its NATO allies, the war may be lost

"Make no mistake: NATO is not winning in Afghanistan."

So says the Atlantic Council of the United States, the sponsor of one of three recent independent U.S. reports on Afghanistan. The other two - by the Afghanistan Study Group, on which I served, and the National Defense University - arrive at a similar conclusion: Without prompt action by the U.S. and its allies, the mission in Afghanistan may fail, with disastrous results for U.S. strategic interests worldwide, including the war on terrorism and the future of NATO.

NATO leaders preparing for their summit meeting in Bucharest, Romania, next week should take heed. All three reports agree that achieving success in Afghanistan will require two things: a willingness to make the war in Afghanistan and the rebuilding of that country higher priorities, and for the world to recommit to a sustained, long-term effort.

According to the Afghanistan Study Group report, this is a crucial moment. The progress achieved after six years of international engagement is under serious threat from resurgent violence, weakening international resolve, mounting regional challenges and a growing lack of confidence among Afghans about the direction of their country.

What should be done? The independent reports offer recommendations to revitalize the U.S. and international effort in Afghanistan. Among the most important:

• The international community must get its act together in Afghanistan. More than 40 countries, three major international organizations and scores of other agencies and nongovernmental organizations are active in Afghanistan, setting their own priorities and often working at cross purposes with the Hamid Karzai government. The recent appointment of a new high-level U.N. envoy, Kai Eide of Norway, was a long-overdue step in the right direction.

• The international community's "light" military footprint must be replaced by the "right" footprint. This means increasing the number of NATO troops - currently 43,000 - and military equipment to the levels requested by field commanders (at least two combat brigades, an additional 7,500 troops). France appears the likeliest candidate to step forward. Nations unable to contribute more forces should significantly bolster their civilian assistance for development and governance programs. Greater assistance is also needed for training and equipping Afghanistan's national army and police, the keys to Afghanistan's long-term security and NATO's eventual departure.

• Creating crucial judicial, legal and police reforms essential to improve governance and the rule of law and curtail corruption must become a higher priority for the Afghan government and its international partners.

• More creative thinking is needed to prevent Afghanistan's slide into a narco-state (it currently produces 93 percent of the world's opium). The National Defense University report suggests fighting expanded opium production through a pilot program for licit sales of poppies or temporary and massive increases in payments to farmers for cultivating non-narcotic crops.

• A development and reconstruction "surge" is needed. Infrastructure projects - roads, power and water systems - should be accelerated, using the Afghan labor force and contractors as much as possible to create jobs and alleviate destabilizing unemployment.

Finally, there can be no successful outcome for Afghanistan if neighboring Pakistan is not part of the solution. The future stability of the two countries depends on the development of an effective strategy to counter the Taliban/al-Qaida sanctuary in Pakistan's tribal border areas. The U.S. and NATO need to develop a regional plan to address Afghanistan's security and development needs, including an overture to Iran to help stabilize Afghanistan. The U.S. refusal to talk directly to Tehran about Afghanistan is counterproductive.

In recent months, there have been some signs that the U.S. and its NATO partners have recognized the hard truth that defeat in Afghanistan is a possibility. They are beginning to rethink and adjust strategy and resources accordingly. On his recent trip to Kabul, NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told Mr. Karzai that Afghanistan "is not considered by NATO as a mission of choice. It is a mission of necessity."

That's a good message to restate to all 26 members of the NATO alliance at the coming Bucharest meeting, which will also be attended by representatives from the 60 donor nations to Afghanistan and President Karzai. So is this statement from the Atlantic Council report: "Urgency is the watchword. The international community must act, and it must act now."

Karl F. Inderfurth was a principal member of the Afghanistan Study Group. A former assistant secretary of state, he is a professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University.

New Pakistan leaders target militants

By Syed Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times Online / March 26, 2008

KARACHI - With Pakistan's democratically elected government now installed and Yousuf Raza Gillani sworn in as the new prime minister, the administration can get down to one of the main businesses of the day: dealing with militancy.

There has been much talk of a public backlash against the military operations orchestrated by President Pervez Musharraf against militants in the tribal areas and that the new government will seek to reverse the policies he adopted in the "war on terror" during his eight years as a military ruler.

However, Asia Times Online investigations reveal that the ruling coalition, dominated by assassinated former opposition leader Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) and the Pakistan

Muslim League (PML) of Nawaz Sharif, will attempt, through dialogue, to split the militants so that the Taliban and al-Qaeda will be exposed, much as has happened with the Sunni-dominated Awakening Councils that have turned against al-Qaeda in Iraq.

This decision comes at an important time. The Taliban have opened up a new front in Khyber Agency in Pakistan, as predicted by Asia Times Online last week (Same game, new rules in Afghanistan) . On Sunday, about 36 oil tankers that supply fuel to United States-led forces in neighboring Afghanistan were blown up in Khyber Agency. At least 70 people were injured. On Tuesday, US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher and Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte began talks in Pakistan to discuss, among other issues, the new government's role against militants.

Asia Times Online contacts maintain the government will stick to a script agreed with Washington before February's elections that all efforts will be made to bring public support behind the "war on terror" and more military operations against militants.

"Everything will remain the same. The only difference is that politicians will do their job and the military will do its job. Nobody will try to overlap with another," said a contact who is a close aide of the PPP's co-chairman, Asif Zardari, and who is also close to Washington.

The main role will be played by the Pashtun sub-nationalist Awami National Party (ANP), which leads the ruling coalition in North-West Frontier Province. The ANP has already scheduled tribal jirgas (councils) aimed to demilitarize the tribal areas and separate local tribals from radical jihadis, whether they be local or foreign.

Indeed, the anti-Taliban networking has already resulted in several al-Qaeda and Taliban targets being hit. And importantly, leading Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is on a "most wanted" list in Afghanistan, have left the North Waziristan tribal area for a safer district.

Apart from dealing with militancy, the new government has already tackled some sensitive issues.

On Monday, dozens of judges detained under emergency rule were released on the orders of Gillani, including former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. The judges were sacked last November by Musharraf shortly before the Supreme Court was to adjudicate on whether his re-election as president was legal.

The government is now expected to seek the release of insurgents from Balochistan province.

Former premier Sharif is said to be a conservative and he has already opened up dialogue with militants. He is using several channels, one being Javaid Ibrahim Paracha, a former member of Parliament from Sharif's PML who openly provided shelter for Arabs who had fled from Afghanistan into Pakistan after the US-led invasion there in 2001.

According to sources close to Sharif, the dialogue is aimed at stopping the militants from attacking Pakistani cities. But this does not mean that Nawaz is soft on the militancy. Rather, the sources say, Sharif's aim is to isolate the al-Qaeda leadership to get it arrested.

For the militants, the battle continues. "We will continue to choke all the supply lines to NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] forces that go through Khyber Agency. At the same time, we will also cut off food supplies that go over land routes. If this is successful for a few months, it will be more devastating than a spring offensive," commented a top Pakistani al-Qaeda leader from the tribal headquarters of Miranshah in North Waziristan.

NATO seeks new Afghan push from summit

By Mark John
March 27, 2008

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO's leaders want next week's summit in Romania to resolve internal tensions over its mission in Afghanistan and commit more troops, signaling its willingness to stay the course there and defeat the Taliban.

Months of noisy infighting about troop levels, tactics and the refusal of some European allies to send soldiers into the fiercest fighting have overshadowed what alliance officials say is modest but real progress in security and reconstruction.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday he could come to the April 2-4 Bucharest meeting armed with an offer of more troops, as part of a wider move to bolster operations in the heartlands of a stubborn Taliban-led insurgency.

The scheduled presence of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is designed to show Afghan authorities are serious about tackling corruption and that the world body is ready to address deficits in its aid effort.

NATO allies are putting the final touches to a four-page "vision statement" aimed at bracing skeptical publics for the prospect of a continued Afghan presence -- with all the ensuing casualties and costs to national purses -- for years to come.

"This is going to take a consistent long-term international effort," Canadian Defense Minister Peter Mackay, whose country has threatened to pull its troops out next year unless allies provide more support, told a conference in Brussels this month.

NATO's move in 2003 to assume the U.N. mandate to provide security in Afghanistan, two years after the U.S.-led ousting of the Taliban, has thrust the 26-nation alliance into its toughest ground war in a Muslim land far from its Euro-Atlantic patch.

NATO officials now put the presence of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) at 47,000 -- nine times more than the 5,000-strong force of four years ago.

END TO THE FINGER-POINTING?

Yet the alliance remains entrenched in a bitter dispute between nations doing the bulk of the fighting and those in safer zones, with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates raising the prospect of a "two-tiered" alliance.

Sarkozy left open where he would commit any new troops. NATO sources said they understood the choice was between sending them to the Afghan south to support the Canadians or -- more likely -- to east Afghanistan by the Pakistan border.

That, combined with Poland's announcement this month that it could add further troops, could allow some 1,000 U.S. Marines in that sector to be redeployed to the south and so avert the possibility of a damaging Canadian withdrawal.

But with countries such as Germany, Italy and Spain still reluctant to make major commitments to join the battle in the south, some analysts question whether NATO will be able to end the row over burden-sharing.

"You're going to see some efforts to try and get around some of that finger-pointing in Bucharest," said Julianne Smith, Europe program director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

"(But) we still have a number of members inside the alliance that have failed to transform their military to cope with expeditionary operations," she said.

RUSSIAN PACT

Last year saw record violence in Afghanistan, with nearly 6,000 killed -- a third of them civilians. Alliance officials say insurgents are relying more on suicide bombers and roadside bombs because efforts to take on ISAF directly have failed.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer hopes to seal a pact with President Vladimir Putin -- a summit guest -- for NATO troop and equipment transit routes via Russia to Afghanistan, plus more cooperation on tackling the Afghan narcotics trade.

With NATO keen to stress its long-term commitment to the country, there is no public talk of any date by which the alliance could start winding down its force and handing over operations to Afghanistan's fledgling security forces.

A U.S. document obtained by Reuters, with ideas for a "strategic vision statement" on Afghanistan to be unveiled at the summit, proposed a five-year plan with benchmarks such as completing the training of a 70,000-strong Afghan army and an 82,000-strong police force.

"The time of the (NATO) commitment will directly depend on the amount of support we get to grow our national security forces," Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak told reporters in a videoconference from Kabul on Thursday.

Taliban foot soldiers deeply ignorant of the world

Survey reveals Kandahar fighters know next to nothing about Canada or U.S., contradicting view Taliban are sophisticated terrorists

GRAEME SMITH
The Globe and Mail (Canada)

March 27, 2008

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN -- The typical Taliban foot soldier battling Canadian troops and their allies in Kandahar is not a global jihadist who dreams of some day waging war on Canadian soil. In fact, he would have trouble finding Canada on a map.

A survey of 42 insurgents in Kandahar province posed a series of questions about the fighters' view of the world, and the results contradicted the oft-repeated perception of the Taliban as sophisticated terrorists who pose a direct threat to Western countries.

Faced with a multiple-choice question about Canada's location, only one of 42 fighters correctly guessed that Canada is located to the north of the United States, meaning the insurgents performed worse than randomly.

None of them could identify Stephen Harper as the Prime Minister of Canada, and they often repeated the syllables of his name - "Stepheh Napper," "Sehn Hahn," "Steng Peng Beng," "Gra Pla Pla" - that reflected their puzzlement over a name they had never heard.

Nor did they seem to associate the word "Canada" with anything except, in some cases, the soldiers now serving in Afghanistan. Most could not distinguish between the French- and English-speaking rotations of troops.

One of The Globe and Mail's questions offered the Taliban a chance to volunteer any information about Canada: "Do you know about this country? What kind of people are there? Is it a big country or a small country? Poor country, rich country? Cold or warm? Do Muslims live there?" None offered any meaningful responses, and most of them simply declined to answer. One of the few who guessed, a 21-year-old farmer, seemed to think the word "Canada" indicated a faraway city.

"It might be an old and destroyed city," he said.

The results show the depth of ignorance among front-line insurgents in Kandahar. In a previous visit to the tribal areas of Pakistan, a reporter for The Globe and Mail personally met with more sophisticated Taliban who demonstrated a keen grasp of politics and appeared to know the latest news of the war. But those politically astute Taliban were hundreds of kilometres away from the battlefields, and it remains unclear how much control such organizers exert over the day-to-day operations of the insurgency.

The Taliban became synonymous with ignorance during their years in government, banning media such as television that might bring foreign ideas into the country. As insurgents, however, they've shown a newfound flair for technology, distributing video propaganda and sending press statements via text message to reporters' mobile phones.

"The Taliban also have a sophisticated media strategy and full grasp of modern technology," said a report by the European Council on Foreign Relations in January.

Canadian politicians and military officials often make public statements that suggest the Taliban monitor political trends in Ottawa and choose to attack at politically sensitive moments: General Rick Hillier, Canada's Chief of the Defence Staff, raised the possibility that a suicide bombing that killed more than 100 people in Kandahar province in February may have been connected with debates in the House of Commons about the future of the mission.

But a Western expert who reviewed The Globe's video footage said the kind of worldliness described by Gen. Hillier isn't the most likely explanation.

"Those [insurgents] making decisions are more sophisticated than those you are interviewing, so there is some chance of this being plausible," the expert said. "But I think they're working to their own calendar, not ours." Three fighters in the survey didn't recognize the name of U.S. President George W. Bush, and another mispronounced his name as "Bukh," suggesting he wasn't familiar with the word.

Those who had heard of the U.S. President often gave responses that revealed more of their parochialism. He was called a "Jew," and "King of America." Sometimes, amid the errors, the Taliban showed their simplistic view of world politics. "He is the son of George W, [and] he is the son of Clinton W, and he is American, and is a serious enemy of Islam," said one fighter in his description of Mr. Bush.

"Why is he an enemy of Islam?" he was asked.

"The Koran says: 'Jews and Christians will be unhappy until you obey them. When you obey them, they will be satisfied,' " the insurgent replied. "This means if you obey them they are happy, but if you don't accept their commands, they will fight you."

Some of the comments about Mr. Bush showed the Taliban's enthusiasm for crude violence: "If I were to capture him, I would cut a piece of his flesh even as he was still alive." They were equally vitriolic in their descriptions of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, calling him a "slave" of the Americans. "There is no difference between the red-faced and green-eyed infidel, and him," one said.

When the Taliban demonstrated any understanding beyond their immediate surroundings, it was often references to their own version of Islamic history. They invoked stories of ancient Egypt and compared the U.S. President to one of the pharaohs, also drawing a parallel between the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and the medieval Christians who launched Crusades.

Another described the war in Afghanistan as part of a conflict that stretches back to the founding of Islam as a religion.

"Non-Muslims have been against Muslims for a long time," he said. "Just as they attacked the Prophet Mohammed and broke his teeth, so they are against us since that era."

By the numbers

People 18 to 24 in several countries were surveyed in 2002 on what they knew about the world. Here's what Canadians and Americans knew about Afghanistan.

14 %

Number of Canadians who could identify Afghanistan on a map

12 %

Number of Americans who could

75 %

Number of Canadians who named Afghanistan as the base of the Taliban and/or al-Qaeda.

58 %

Number of Americans who did

[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.]