KABUL (PAN): Canada has urged Afghanistan's neighbours to help the conflict-devastated country restore peace and security and supplement international efforts at bringing prosperity and stability to the war-weary nation.

In a wide-ranging, exclusive interview with Pajhwok Afghan News, the Canadian ambassador in Kabul acknowledged that militants stole into Afghanistan from other countries and thus contributed to insecurity on this side of the border.

"Historically, the neighbours of Afghanistan have often played a role in supporting insurgents and different ethnic groups within this country. And that's something that needs to change," the ambassador stressed.

William Crosbie called for the neighbours of Afghanistan to join with the government in Kabul in support of the future that "we are all trying to create: A safe, prosperous and peaceful country that lives in peace with its neighbours. They need to be part of the solution here."

Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgents, enjoying safe havens in Pakistan's lawless tribal region, sneaked into Afghanistan, said the envoy, who described cross-border militant infiltration as an important part of the problem.

In some parts of Pakistan, the diplomat believed, the militants enjoyed safe havens. In the same breath, however, he explained the government of Pakistan was doing its bit to tackle in a serious way the issue of terrorist sanctuaries on its soil.

To a question, he said the international community had been in Afghanistan for the last eight years but every year had been very different. "Canada began its developmental activities in the country in 2006. Only in the past two or three years, Canadians were able to start implementing important development plans."

About the security situation in Kandahar, where Canadians soldiers are stationed, the ambassador admitted the soldiers' number was relatively small, compared to the size of population in the areas they were responsible for.

"In Kandahar province, Canada has less than three thousands troops to cover the entire province. So clearly, the resources devoted to security have not been enough," he remarked. Afghan security forces had started to grow and had increasingly been able to take on security challenges, he pointed out.

Crosbie said there were reasons why the insurgency was growing. "The insurgents are continuing to enjoy resources coming to Afghanistan from other countries -- a key part of the problem."

Commenting on the failure of the international community to restore peace in Afghanistan, he made it clear the problem did not come just from outside of the country. "The growth of insurgency is happening within the country as well and we have still the problem within the country that is also fundamental to be tackled."

In borders areas, he added, there were a number of people who had taken up arms "but they were not persuaded (to shun militancy), the vision we are trying to create. We need to persuade Afghans that, in fact, they can join this society and they can be part of the future of Afghanistan."

With regard to the capability of the Afghan government to tackle challenges, he saw a lot of dissatisfaction about how the administration was operating. "It has to do with corruption and lack of basic services. I can tell from a Canadian perspective that it is extremely frustrating that the efforts made to train Afghans and resources provided to improve the lives of Afghans are still not showing the results we would like to see. I think this is a difficult time for those of us who are trying to build a better future for Afghanistan."

On the so-called exit strategy being discussed by some countries, the envoy said: "If we look at the debate around the capitals of the world, there is a lot of soul-searching on whether or not the efforts we have made over these years and the sacrifices we made in terms of lives of Afghans, Canadians, Americans and Italians, why those sacrifices are not yielding the results that we wanted to see?"

Asked why there had been no positive change in Afghanistan, he replied after so many decades of war, in which people were not educated and denied jobs, and a society where people had to express themselves with guns could not be turned towards peaceful ends quickly.

"There are cultural misunderstandings where ordinary Afghans do not understand why the international committee is here. So these misunderstandings are something we need to correct."

To the question how he would convince his countrymen why peace could not be restored in Kandahar despite huge sacrifices rendered over the last eight years, the ambassador said he was trying to tell Canadians some of the success stories they had in Afghanistan.

"Building institutions, working with women and men and providing education for children that are slowly starting to build up the sort of the society that will bring peace, security and prosperity, but it takes a lot of time."

He went on: "I dont think we as international community have appreciated how difficult and how complex it is going to be to actually achieve the results we want to see. And perhaps the Afghans feel that way as well -- that they did not see the kind of peaceful society, they know, exists around many other countries."

He continued Canadian forces were willing to put their lives at risk because they hoped they were going to build a better society for Afghans, something that their compatriots wanted.

He tended to disagree with Libyan President Moammar Gaddafi's criticism of the US invasion of Afghanistan in the wake of the 9/11 tragedy. In a speech to the UN General Assembly, Gaddafi charged the aircraft took off from places within the United States but a sustained bombing blitz was carried out in Afghanistan.

Supportive of the US-led coalition's mission, Crosbie reasoned the September 11 attacks were plotted by elements based in Afghanistan and supported by the Taliban regime. "Canadians died in New York as a result of those attacks Canada was very (much) affected by 9/11 in many different ways."

The ambassador said Canadians felt the security of their country depended on beating the al-Qaeda terrorists. "We know the plots continue this part of the world, not just Afghanistan, is a place where terrorists are being trained, where young boys, young men are being brainwashed into becoming suicide bombers."

Evincing a keen interest in initial results from the August 20 presidential polls, Crosbie was optimistic the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) and the Independent Election Commission (IEC) would soon evaluate allegations of rigging and fraud.

While expecting the final results next week, he thought a second round -- if needed --should take place before the end of November, because "we need to have a government in power in Afghanistan in order to be a partner for the international community."

He opined the new Afghan government would be able to earn the trust of the people, demonstrate that they were on a new path that would bring about more services to the masses, better security and address corruption besides bringing good governance to the country.

Afghanistan received 200 million Canadian dollars annually, the biggest amount of development assistance to a country supported by Ottawa, Crosbie maintained. Canada's military mission in Afghanistan -- involving less than 3,000 soldiers -- was relatively small because his country did not have a large military, he said.

The soldiers were there primarily to create an enabling environment where development could take place, the diplomat said. "We have over 100 Canadian civilians working in Afghanistan to provide police training, to help launch new projects, to implement education and infrastructure plans such as the Dahla dam."

However, he described the military mission as central to the Canadian ability to bring development to the Kandahar. "I should also say that half our development assistance goes to Kandahar and half to national programmes and institutions. So we are actually working on projects all across Afghanistan." 

While presenting his credentials to Karzai, the ambassador was told Afghans would one day pay off Canada for what it was doing in Afghanistan. To this, the diplomat replied: "Mr. President, you can repay Canadians by helping us build a peaceful and stable Afghanistan, because that's what we want."

mud/ma