AFGHANS TURNING AGAINST NATO LACK OF AID, POLICIES: STUDY

A survey from a European-based think-tank says Canada and other
Western countries are losing the battle for hearts and minds in
Afghanistan while the Taliban are seizing the advantage.

According to the Senlis Council, nearly half of the men in
Afghanistan's southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, where
Canadian troops are based, believe the international community will
lose the war against the Taliban.

"The military forces are doing a remarkable job in extremely difficult
circumstances," said Senlis's Canadian founder, Norine MacDonald. "But
woefully inadequate aid and development, and misguided
counter-narcotics policies are turning people against them and making
their work much more dangerous."

Canada is one of the world's top bilateral donors to Afghanistan, and
dedicates $100 million a year to the strife-torn country. But the
results often do not reach the neediest people, said MacDonald, a
Vancouver lawyer who moved to southern Afghanistan two years ago.

"The hospital doesn't deserve the name, there are no blood banks or
ability to do surgery on the injured," she said. "Although we are
running a military base to Western standards, we cannot get food aid
to Afghans who are starving."

The Senlis Council advocates an end to poppy eradication, instead,
using the opium-producing crops to create legally marketable drugs.