Bush Seeks $10.6B To Quell Afghan Violence
A NATO air strike killed a senior militant in southern Afghanistan and a bomb injured three people outside the office of a U.S.-funded aid group as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said President Bush would ask Congress for $10.6 billion in aid for Afghanistan.
An undisclosed number of the militant leader's deputies were also killed in Thursday's airstrike in Musa Qala district of southern Helmand province, a NATO statement said. It did not disclose the name of the leader.
The military alliance has claimed a string of successes against Taliban leaders — including the killing last month of a top lieutenant of the militia's fugitive chief, Mullah Omar — after a year of bitter fighting that has left thousands dead.
President Bush will formally as congress for the additional funds next month, after a year in which Taliban forces launched surprisingly fierce attacks across the country. U.S. and NATO forces are bracing for a renewed offensive by Taliban fighters in the spring
The money — intended to strengthen Afghan security forces and help rebuild after years of war — would come on top of $14.2 billion in aid the United States has already given to Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 that toppled the repressive Taliban.
"The challenges of the last several months have demonstrated that we want to and we should redouble our efforts," Rice told reporters flying with her to Brussels for NATO meetings on Afghanistan.
In a reminder as to why the efforts of both the U.S. and NATO require redoubling, a suicide bomber managed to blow himself up after being shot outside the offices of a U.S.-funded aid group in Helmand province's capital of Lashkar Gah, a police chief said.
Guards shot and wounded the man when he tried to enter the office but he still managed to set off his explosives, the chief said.
At least one policeman and two civilians were wounded in the blast, he said. The attacker died.
Rice said that of the total, $8.6 billion would be for training and equipping Afghan police and security forces, and $2 billion would be for reconstruction. The money would be spent over the next two years.
In other developments:
The U.S. aid proposal also comes as the U.S. appears to be stepping up its military commitment in the country.
The Defense Department has said that 3,200 soldiers from the New York-based 10th Mountain Division already in Afghanistan would have their tour extended by four months. In a visit to Afghanistan last week, new Defense Secretary Robert Gates indicated he is likely to ask President Bush for more troops for the country.
There are about 24,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the highest number since the war began in October 2001. About half are under the control of NATO, which is gradually gaining more control over operations.
A senior State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity gave another indication that U.S. forces in Afghanistan may grow, saying, "We will not be decreasing our military commitment in Afghanistan; quite the contrary."
Meanwhile, rebuffing months of U.S. pressure, Afghan President Hamid Karzai decided against a Colombia-style program to spray this country's heroin-producing poppies after the Cabinet worried herbicide would hurt legitimate crops, animals and humans, officials said Thursday.
The decision, reportedly made Sunday, dashes U.S. hopes for mounting a campaign using ground sprayers to poison poppy plants to help combat Afghanistan's opium trade after a record crop in 2006.
Karzai instead "made a very strong commitment" to lead other eradication efforts this year and said if that didn't cut production he would allow spraying in 2008, a Western official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
The spokesman for Afghanistan's Ministry of Counternarcotics, Said Mohammad Azam, said this year's effort will rely on "traditional techniques" sending laborers into fields to trample or plow under opium poppies before they can be harvested. A similar campaign during 2006 failed.
Fueled by the Taliban, a powerful drug mafia and poor farmers' need for a profitable crop that can overcome drought, opium production from poppies in Afghanistan last year rose 49 percent to 6,700 tons — enough to make about 670 tons of heroin. That is more than 90 percent of the world's supply and more than the world's addicts consume in a year.
The booming drug economy and the involvement of government officials and police in the illicit trade are compounding the many problems facing Afghanistan's fledgling democracy as its struggles with stepped-up attacks by insurgents loyal to the former Taliban regime.
On Thursday, Gen. David Richards, the top NATO commander in Afghanistan, said NATO-led troops battling resurgent Taliban militants will shortly be reinforced with another combat brigade. The NATO-led force is about 20 percent short of the troops levels pledged by its contributing nations.
Among other issues Rice will raise with her NATO colleagues are the divisions within the alliance on sharing the burden in Afghanistan. More NATO countries have shown a greater willingness than others to send troops to areas of conflict.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said there is a pressing need to address the problem of high levels of opium poppy production in Afghanistan.
"Everybody understands that it's a problem that needs to be addressed," he said. "We don't want an Afghanistan (economy) that is based solely on production of narcotics and international aid."
The U.S. budget request follows a review of U.S. policy in Afghanistan that the White House began last year.
"It had been over five years since we went into Afghanistan and the situation on the ground — economic and security — has changed," said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council. "There's now a viable government that we're working with. Substantial progress has been made in many areas, but it's also clear that the policy needed to be reviewed, so that we continue to improve the lives of Afghan citizens."