Canada to spend $4-million rebuilding Kandahar prison
BILL CURRY From Friday's Globe and Mail June 26, 2008 at 7:47 PM EDT
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OTTAWA — Canada will spend $4-million beefing up security at Kandahar's Sarpoza prison, half of it on rebuilding the walls, gates and towers that were blown up in this month's explosions that freed at least 400 insurgents.
Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson made the announcement on Thursday, saying the money will come from the previously announced peace and security fund for Afghanistan.
The June 13 prison break was quickly followed by an insurgent attack in the Arghandab district north of Kandahar that Afghan and Canadian forces defeated in a bloody confrontation.
Three senior Afghan officials – including police chief Syed Aqa Saqib – have been fired since the prison break, Ahmed Wali Karzai, head of the provincial council and brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, told The Canadian Press on Thursday in Kandahar
All three of them will be under investigation,” Mr. Karzai said.
Canada's ambassador to Afghanistan, Arif Lalani, told reporters by teleconference that anxiety in Kandahar over the prison break is dissipating. People who had been holed up in their homes for fear of the Taliban's return are back in the streets, shopping at Kandahar city's markets.
“It's pretty clear to us that life is returning back to normal in Kandahar city,” he said. “It's clear that a prison break of this size is obviously a major development and a negative development, but people are returning back to normal lives in Kandahar.”
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BILL CURRY From Friday's Globe and Mail June 26, 2008 at 7:47 PM EDT
Article Link
OTTAWA — Canada will spend $4-million beefing up security at Kandahar's Sarpoza prison, half of it on rebuilding the walls, gates and towers that were blown up in this month's explosions that freed at least 400 insurgents.
Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson made the announcement on Thursday, saying the money will come from the previously announced peace and security fund for Afghanistan.
The June 13 prison break was quickly followed by an insurgent attack in the Arghandab district north of Kandahar that Afghan and Canadian forces defeated in a bloody confrontation.
Three senior Afghan officials – including police chief Syed Aqa Saqib – have been fired since the prison break, Ahmed Wali Karzai, head of the provincial council and brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, told The Canadian Press on Thursday in Kandahar
All three of them will be under investigation,” Mr. Karzai said.
Canada's ambassador to Afghanistan, Arif Lalani, told reporters by teleconference that anxiety in Kandahar over the prison break is dissipating. People who had been holed up in their homes for fear of the Taliban's return are back in the streets, shopping at Kandahar city's markets.
“It's pretty clear to us that life is returning back to normal in Kandahar city,” he said. “It's clear that a prison break of this size is obviously a major development and a negative development, but people are returning back to normal lives in Kandahar.”
More on link
