Rebuilding Afghanistan

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced up to $200 million in additional funding for reconstruction and development activities in Afghanistan.


The announcement was made following a meeting with Christopher Alexander, the Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General for Afghanistan.


“Taken together, the projects funded by today’s announcement will help build the peaceful, stable, democratic country the long-suffering Afghan people deserve,” said the Prime Minister. The funding, to be disbursed this year and next on top of Canada’s annual allocation of $100 million to development activities in Afghanistan, will flow to five priority areas: governance and development ($120 million); counter-narcotics ($30 million); policing ($20 million); de-mining ($20 million); and road construction ($10 million). More.


Canada is in Afghanistan at the request of the democratically-elected government of Afghanistan as part of a UN-sanctioned mission to help build a stable, democratic and self-sufficient society.



Photo: PM Harper visits the troops in Afghanistan in Mar, 2006.




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FOB (Forward Operating Base) Ma'sum Ghar, Afghanistan


London, U.K. - A British court on Monday ruled the government can deport radical Muslim cleric Omar Othman - known as Abu Qatada - to his native Jordan...Othman has been sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia in Jordan for involvement in a series of terror blasts and has been held in Britain since 2002 under terrorism and immigration laws.

Othman - who has always publicly distanced himself from al-Qaeda - became one of the Britain most wanted men in December 2001 when he went on the run before the government introduced new anti-terror laws. Othman was previously been described by a UK judge as "a truly dangerous individual, heavily involved in al-Qaeda". British authorities say 18 videotapes of his sermons were uncovered in an apartment in the north German city of Hamburg, used by some of the hijackers in the 11 September 2001 attacks on US cities. Othman - a Jordanian Palestinian - sought asylum in Britain in 1993.