Canada boosts aid to Afghan province

OTTAWA (AFP) - Canada said Saturday it would give 45 million dollars (42 million US) in extra aid to fund health and community development in the southern Afghanistan province of Kandahar.

"Today's contribution will build on previous successes by supporting projects aiming to enhance health services and community development in Kandahar, one of the provinces in greatest need of our assistance," said development minister Beverley Oda in a statement.

"Canada's new government is proud to stand beside the Afghan people as they strive to build better lives for themselves and secure a better future for their children."

The projects to be funded by the new aid add to a 200-million-US dollar package that Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced in February to boost rural development and pay teachers' and health workers' salaries, the statement said.

Canada's conservative government also announced in July aid worth more than 28 million US dollars to enforce the rule of law in the war-torn country.

Canada is among the foreign nations taking part in a NATO peacekeeping force, with troops patrolling Afghanistan since the US-led invasion that ousted the hardline Islamic Taliban regime in 2001.

It has 2,500 troops in the south of the country. Since 2002, 69 of its soldiers have been killed there, including 25 this year, as the international force faces a violent insurgency by pro-Taliban fighters.

Opposition parties have accused Harper's government of focusing excessively on military operations and neglecting reconstruction.