# Taliban stepping up attacks on Canadian troops



## CrazyCanuck (10 Dec 2006)

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061210/taliban_attacks_061210/20061210?hub=Canada

The main point of this article that I found of interest was the willingness of the Taliban to pay suicide bombers up to 23 000 dollars, must mean they are running out of religious fanatics and are now going after the poor of the region which is a practically endless supply. It goes to show that cutting off their funds is just as important as winning hearts and minds.


KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- The military's pre-convoy briefing last week said it all.

"Gentlemen, be aware of possible IED's (improvised explosive devices) on Highway 1 and Highway 4. And there are officially three less suicide bombers we need to worry about as of today,'' said Sgt. Christopher Murdy, 31, of London, Ont., who was the convoy commander that day.

You can make that seven fewer suicide bombers now.

The Taliban have stepped up their attacks on Canadian convoys over the past two weeks. As of Thursday there had been seven attacks in the previous 10 days.

The first attack, on Nov. 27, came after six weeks of relative quiet and was successful. Chief Warrant Officer Bobby Girouard, 46, of Bathurst, N.B., the regimental sergeant-major, and Cpl. Albert Storm, 36, of Fort Erie, Ont., were in a Bison, an eight-wheeled armoured personnel carrier, when a civilian vehicle drove alongside and detonated explosives. They were the 43rd and 44th Canadian soldiers to die in this country since 2002.

The others have been largely failures for the Taliban, although a suicide bomber killed two American civilian contractors across from the Canadian Provincial Reconstruction Team last week.

Military officials are hesitant to talk about the reason for the escalation in the Taliban attacks.

"Theorizing about why the enemy is employing a certain tactic drifts into the area of intelligence,'' said Capt. Ed Stewart, in turning down an interview request.

The public-affairs officer at Kandahar Airfield said there is always an ebb-and-flow when it comes to attacks from the Taliban.

"We have high points _ we have low points with regard to frequency,'' said Lt.-Cmdr. Kris Phillips.

"On the surface it certainly appears as though there has been an increase in attacks, but I'm not so sure that trend could be verified.''

The increase in Taliban activity doesn't surprise Capt. Jordan Schaub, stationed at the forward operating base at Mas'um Ghar in the Panjwaii District.

Schaub told The Canadian Press more than two weeks ago that he expected the Taliban was going to step up their attacks in the next month.

"I can expect we're going to have continued attacks from the Taliban just to see how far they can go. I do believe they are going to try and push to at least make a statement,'' he said.

"They're probably going to want to push before it gets too cold for them.''

Winter in Afghanistan, with freezing temperatures and snow in some areas, has traditionally signalled a slowdown in Taliban activity.

Suicide bombers are being recruited from refugee camps and trained by the Taliban in Pakistan before being sent to continue the war in Afghanistan. There is no cut-and-dried figure on how many suicide bombers will be sent in at any given time, but the recent number in the Kandahar area was believed to be five, according to police intelligence.

Three of the bombers were Arab, and the other two from Pakistan.

The families of the suicide bombers are paid compensation following their deaths. The payments from the Taliban range from between $C11,500 and $23,000.


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