# Operation Medusa



## big bad john (6 Sep 2006)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com//servlet/story/RTGAM.20060906.wafghan06/BNStory/Afghanistan/home

Canadian troops advance on Taliban
Soldiers cross rough terrain to surround insurgents as offensive continues 
GRAEME SMITH 

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

PANJWAI DISTRICT, AFGHANISTAN — Canadian troops pushed deep into the warren of fields in Panjwai district Wednesday morning, hunting Taliban under bright moonlight after enduring hours of co-ordinated attacks by the insurgents.

The soldiers crept forward on foot, into terrain so difficult that armoured vehicles could not advance for fear of getting stuck in the rutted fields, irrigation trenches and dry canals.

It was the first major incursion by either side in the past 24 hours, in the continuing struggle for control of Panjwai district. Operation Medusa, launched four days ago to control the volatile region southwest of Kandahar city, has settled into a siege, with hundreds of Canadian troops and their allies encircling about 700 insurgents who fiercely defend their foothold near Afghanistan's second-largest city. 

U.S. forces taking part in the battle said Tuesday they had killed between 50 and 60 suspected Taliban militants. NATO and Afghan officials have said about 200 insurgents have so far died in the operation.



An Afghan man is detained by Canadian troops at a checkpoint on Highway 1, west of Kandahar city, on Tuesday. The Canadians are enforcing a strict cordon around Panjwai district, where hundreds of Taliban militants are believed to have gathered. (Graeme Smith/The Globe and Mail)


 The Canadians were forced to cancel a major attack on Monday after a U.S. warplane mistakenly fired on a group of Canadian soldiers, killing one and injuring dozens. Canadian military police say they plan to probe the incident, and will work with American investigators to determine whether criminal charges are warranted. A board of inquiry will also be established as a fact-finding effort to determine whether any changes are needed to reduce the possibility of a similar incident in the future.

The Taliban did not immediately rush to counterattack during the lull after the friendly-fire incident. By noon, the battlefield was baking under the hot sun, with nothing moving except the flames from the soldiers' garbage fires.

The stillness broke around 1 p.m., when a white sedan carrying three men in traditional Afghan dress appeared on Highway 1, driving west, deep inside the Canadians' security cordon. The sedan was stopped by Canadian soldiers, who questioned the occupants about how they ended up driving along a road already blocked by other checkpoints.

“Our guys became suspicious right off the bat,” said Major Geoff Abthorpe, commander of Bravo Company. “Then we found the gunpowder residue on their hands.”

One of the men had fired a gun recently, according to a field test, while another had faint traces of gunpowder. The third was clean, but none of them could explain how they got inside the Canadian cordon. Soldiers have been hearing reports about Taliban trying to escape Panjwai district, and the three were taken for questioning at Patrol Base Wilson.

A mobile phone belonging to one of the detainees started ringing during the initial questioning, Major Abthorpe said. A military interpreter answered the call, and discovered that he was talking with a senior Taliban commander.

“At that point, all the gloves were off,” Major Abthorpe said. The questioning continued for three hours, before the detainees were transferred to Kandahar for further investigation.

The Canadians are hopeful that one of the captured men is a high-level insurgent, but declined to identify him. The man's importance might be connected to the flurry of violence that followed his detention, Major Abthorpe said.

“They've taken the fight to us,” he said. “We've seen a spike in activity after the heat of the day passed. It started a ripple effect, from west to east.”

Around 3 p.m., a group of four Taliban soldiers emerged from a line of trees just south of a Canadian unit, fired wildly and disappeared. The Canadians flushed the attackers back toward them using a barrage of artillery fire, until the Taliban were trapped in the mud-walled compound.

But even after an Apache attack helicopter hit the compound with rockets, Major Abthorpe said, a lone fighter still managed to stumble out and raise his AK-47 rifle toward Major Abthorpe's position. The 25-millimetre gun on his LAV-3 armoured vehicle destroyed the insurgent, he said.

About an hour later, a volley of eight to 10 explosive rounds, perhaps mortars or rocket-propelled grenades, hit another Canadian vehicle farther west.

Five soldiers suffered burns, shrapnel cuts and concussions, and a helicopter took them to Kandahar Air Field for treatment, but none of their injuries were considered life-threatening.

Later in the evening, a plume of fire and smoke could be seen rising several storeys high as the battles apparently destroyed a school building. Red tracers zipped across the farmland, as Canadian M777 artillery continued its regular pounding of Panjwai.

After a difficult start to the operation, with five Canadian deaths and dozens of injuries, the soldiers were excited about the prospects of Tuesday night's ground attack.

“The guys are chomping at the bit,” said Captain Piers Pappin, a platoon commander.



Kick their Buts!


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## foerestedwarrior (6 Sep 2006)

big bad john said:
			
		

> A mobile phone belonging to one of the detainees started ringing during the initial questioning, Major Abthorpe said. A military interpreter answered the call, and discovered that he was talking with a senior Taliban commander.



Thats actually really interesting.

Sounds like our boys our kickin buts and taking names.


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## geo (6 Sep 2006)

Oh to have been the interpreter - talking to the taliban's higher means........ 
Spin him along, take a message and conceal the fact the fella was "in da bag".

(wonder if they have call display on their phones?)


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## The Bread Guy (6 Sep 2006)

Not the time or place to have the boss call to check how things are going.....


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## big bad john (8 Sep 2006)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com//servlet/story/LAC.20060908.AFGHANBATTLE08/TPStory/

FROM THE BATTLEFIELD
Soldiers gain ground after days of setbacks, GRAEME SMITH reports
GRAEME SMITH 

PANJWAI DISTRICT, AFGHANISTAN -- After almost a week of laying siege to Taliban fighters from the relative safety of the open desert, Canadian troops seized control of suspected insurgent compounds yesterday and held new ground in Panjwai for the first time since they arrived in southern Afghanistan.

Engineers used an armoured bulldozer to carve a new road across a dry canal and smash a gap through a mud wall, allowing the Canadians' armoured vehicles to rumble out of the dusty scrub and break into the farmland where growing numbers of Taliban fighters are believed to be gathering.

As night fell, the Canadians were doing something that foreign soldiers rarely attempt in this volatile region, southwest of Kandahar city: They were digging into their new positions, hacking at mud walls with pickaxes to open firing holes and cutting down trees with chainsaws to clear their gunners' view of the terrain.

No insurgents challenged the advance in its first hours, but soldiers don't expect the calm to last. 

Print Edition - Section Front
  Enlarge Image 

 Still, the troops seemed enthusiastic about the prospect of finally making progress after days of setbacks, delays and false starts.

"This is great," said Captain Piers Pappin, commander of a Royal Canadian Regiment platoon nicknamed the Nomads.

"We're the first ones doing this. The Patricias came through here before, but they never stayed," Capt. Pappin said, referring to the 2nd Battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, which fought for months in Panjwai before handing over the task to the next rotation of soldiers in early August.

Operation Medusa was touted by military commanders as Canada's largest gathering of forces since the Second World War when the attack started on Saturday morning. So far, however, Taliban fighters have taunted the foreign troops' ineffectiveness as the insurgents hold a cluster of villages known as Pashmul, in northern Panjwai district.

The exact number of insurgents lurking in Pashmul isn't known. A NATO spokesperson estimated 700 fighters, but a top NATO official later described that as a "guesstimate." Whatever the number, local officials say, there's a growing problem with insurgents sneaking into the gap between Canadian positions on the north and south sides of Pashmul.

The Canadians' movements around Pashmul show they are cautiously applying new tactics. American soldiers previously stationed in the area usually preferred to sweep through lawless districts with overwhelming firepower, killing as many insurgents as possible, before returning to the well-protected base at Kandahar Air Field.

By occupying a handful of mud-walled compounds and fortifying them against attack, the Canadians are applying, in miniature, the NATO theory that success against insurgents can only be achieved by establishing so-called "ink spots" of stability. Just hours after the Canadians established control over a tiny patch of the dangerous area yesterday, soldiers reported seeing local farmers returning to their abandoned fields, to tend their crops of beans, cucumbers, melons, squash and marijuana.

Toward sunset, Major Geoff Abthorpe, commander of Bravo Company, walked the length of his new front line and inspected the Canadians' improvised defences.

"What we need from you is domination, beautiful dominating arcs of fire," he told Capt. Pappin, gesturing at the belt of green farmland from the roof of a barn.

"We can dominate all this," the captain replied.

Early yesterday morning, as soldiers kept watch under a full moon, military radios crackled with a warning that the Canadians' dominance might be challenged.

"[Intelligence] assets have picked up chatter," a soldier reported.

"There could be a possible attack." The report was followed by silence. At least for the moment, it seemed, the Taliban had lost a piece of Panjwai.


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## big bad john (8 Sep 2006)

http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Canada/2006/09/08/pf-1814172.html

Strange finds in Taliban compounds

PANJWAII, Afghanistan -- Canadian combat engineers took advantage of a lull in fierce fighting in southern Afghanistan yesterday to clear out compounds used by the Taliban for making roadside bombs, finding explosives as expected, but also coming across oddities such as a toy car converted into a detonator - and even a package of birth control pills. 

The engineers found dozens of mortar and artillery shells and other bomb-making materials, including dismantled radios and a remote-controlled doorbell - a favoured detonator for improvised explosive devices that have been used to devastating effect against coalition troops. 

Dozens of chickens scurried about one dusty compound among 155-mm artillery shells that had had their explosive material extracted. 

"By themselves, this stuff is no big deal. But when you put it all together, it creates something that you really don't want to be near," said Sgt. John White of the 2 Combat Engineer Regiment, based in Petawawa, Ont. 

The engineers are part of a Canadian-led offensive against Taliban forces in the Panjwaii district that was launched this week as part of NATO's Operation Medusa. The cost has been heavy, as five Canadian soldiers have been killed and dozens wounded in the fighting. 

U.S., British and Afghan forces are also involved in the offensive to put the Taliban-held region under Afghan government control. 

Despite NATO artillery barrages and aerial bombardment, insurgents have fought stubbornly and inflicted numerous casualties. 

The three compounds, located in a desolate desert area, appeared to be normal Afghan farmhouses, with each surrounded by a high mud wall. No trees were visible anywhere on the heat-baked plain - except for one struggling specimen inside one of the compounds. 

Inside one of the homes, the engineers painstakingly mapped out the dozen or so rooms and made note of all contents, while constantly remaining wary of booby traps. 

In one compound, an engineer used a pitchfork to gently search a haystack. 

But while the work was dangerous, the engineers went about their work with confidence, occasionally cracking jokes. The surprising discovery of a pack of birth control pills prompted chuckles and a round of off-colour remarks. 

The bomb squad has been busy defusing bombs over the past few weeks, but they expect to find more bomb-making facilities as they advance through the region.


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## dardt (20 Sep 2006)

Good work troops, Gen. James Jones says upwards of 1500 Taliban fighters may have been killed during Op. Medusa. He gives high praise for Canada's involvement in the mission and the strong leadership displayed by the Canadian government.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/09/20/jones-afghan060920.html

Canadian-led offensive may have killed 1,500 Taliban fighters
Last Updated Wed, 20 Sep 2006 13:07:40 EDT
CBC News
The U.S. general who heads all NATO military forces says a two-week campaign that cost five Canadian lives in southern Afghanistan may have wiped out half of the "hard-core" Taliban fighters in the country.

 Gen. James Jones, NATO's supreme allied commander, says Canadian forces did 'an absolutely superb job' in the latest offensive. (CBC) The Canadian-led push, Operation Medusa, ended on Sept. 15 when Taliban forces stopped fighting and slipped away, Gen. James L. Jones said on Wednesday.

The Taliban "suffered a tactical defeat in the area where they chose to stand and fight" and got "a very powerful message … that they have no chance of winning militarily," he told reporters at the Pentagon.

NATO estimates that "somewhere in the neighbourhood of around 1,000" Taliban fighters were killed, and the number could be higher, he said. "If you said 1,500 it wouldn't surprise me."

Half of Taliban force may be dead

He said he thought there were 3,000 to 4,000 regular Taliban fighters before Operation Medusa. In response to a question, he agreed that he was saying that one-third to one-half of them may have been killed.

Most of the combat units in Canada's Afghanistan contingent took part in the operation. Four Canadians were killed in the fighting and one died when U.S. jets mistakenly strafed Canadian troops.

On Monday, four more Canadians died in an attack by a suicide bomber on a bicycle. They were on patrol in the Panjwaii district of Kandahar province, where the Taliban had ostensibly been defeated the previous week. The bombing brought Canada's death toll in Afghanistan since 2002 to 36 soldiers and one diplomat.

Canada currently has more than 2,000 soldiers in Afghanistan.

Jones said it is unclear how quickly the Taliban dead will be replaced with fresh fighters. He stressed that he was not counting casual, short-term recruits. "They bring along a lot of other weekend warriors if they can pay for them. [They] say, 'Do you want to make 200 euros or $200?' Actually, they pay dollars."

Nor are Taliban forces the only problem, he added.

"There's also the al-Qaeda remnant, which is considerably less. Then there's the [opium] cartels with their own armies for security of their convoys, and this is a problem. Then you have the corruption, the criminal elements, the tribal fighting that goes on. So it's a lot of disparate groups."

High praise for Canada

He praised the countries that contributed troops to Operation Medusa.

"I think the governments have been very strong, particularly Canada. Canadian leadership has been very, very strong in this. Canadian forces did an absolutely superb job, augmented by their British colleagues, a Dutch company that came in and two companies from the U.S."

But he said he was not claiming total victory over the Taliban. "We have disturbed the hornets' nest and the hornets are swarming.… It remains to be seen how much more capacity they have for this kind of fight."


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## Signalman150 (20 Sep 2006)

Big Bad John,

Many thanks for the media updates and articles on Medusa.  In part they are calming fears I've had for a few months.

I've been worrying that NATO generally--and Canada specifically--were getting sucked into the same mistake that was so hard on US forces back in the Vietnam era: that of fighting for an area, and then leaving, rather than occupying.  In some instances I believe it meant the US was fighting over and over again for the same ground, at a horrendous cost in American lives. 

Reports from earlier suggested Canada was employing the same tactics, and that was a concern to me.  I know casualties are inevitable, but if we must incur them, let it at least be for real estate we keep and--in future--turn over to the legitimate Afgani forces. The reports are heartening, but I know that this is only a beginning. 

Again, thanks.


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## Big Red (20 Sep 2006)

Alot of good pictures from the Operation:

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=91924


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## McG (20 Sep 2006)

Signalman150 said:
			
		

> I've been worrying that NATO generally--and Canada specifically--were getting sucked into the same mistake that was so hard on US forces back in the Vietnam era: that of fighting for an area, and then leaving, rather than occupying.


This is an unavoidable method of operation when in place forces have insufficient strength to man the ground & maintain a striking element free to be employed where it is needed.


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## GAP (20 Sep 2006)

MCG said:
			
		

> This is an unavoidable method of operation when in place forces have insufficient strength to man the ground & maintain a striking element free to be employed where it is needed.



You are right. Coming into a hostile area, clearing and then trying to secure it is a nightmare. Maybe the ANA can be of some help in that respect, so long as it has heavy support.


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## Big Red (21 Sep 2006)

Has it ever been suggested to "surge" our forces during the summer months when the enemy is in greater numbers instead of keeping our same numbers year round? Perhaps bring over an extra infantry battalion for a short two month tour for a major op like Medusa.


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## CBH99 (21 Sep 2006)

Interesting food for debate...


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## Teddy Ruxpin (21 Sep 2006)

Big Red said:
			
		

> Has it ever been suggested to "surge" our forces during the summer months when the enemy is in greater numbers instead of keeping our same numbers year round? Perhaps bring over an extra infantry battalion for a short two month tour for a major op like Medusa.



Yes, unfortunately the other NATO "partners" didn't cough up...  It was tried for the elections two years ago too - with some success.


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## armyvern (23 Sep 2006)

Some more excellent Op Medusa Pics:

http://www.cbc.ca/photogallery/_world.html?dataPath=/photogallery/world/gallery_71/xml/gallery_71.xml

Good job everyone!!


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## orange.paint (23 Sep 2006)

A RCD side.Had a good party with some of you a few nights ago.Give em hell,wish I was there boys.

http://dragoons.ca/Regiment/OCDESK.html

Bold and Swift


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## Echo9 (24 Sep 2006)

Interesting interview I heard earlier this week.  It was with Lt Gen Richard, the Brit ISAF commander.  Most of his comment was pretty standard- Op Medusa was a great success, could prove to be the point where we broke the back of the Taliban, etc.

The thing that caught my attention was that he noted that in his opinion, the BG deserved a battle honour for this, because (in his words), these things are important for soldiers.


Hmmm, if it were to happen, this would be the first battle honour since when, Korea?  And, if it's awarded, who gets it?  RCR, because they're the lead?  PPCLI too because they've got a company in the TF?


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## HItorMiss (24 Sep 2006)

I would think both should recieve it but I haven't the foggiest on oh it all works.


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## Teddy Ruxpin (24 Sep 2006)

There are a couple of threads on this very subject - all pre-Panjwai.  Normally, a unit has to have at least a sub-unit (company or squadron) present to be eligible for a battle honour.


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## McG (24 Sep 2006)

> Inspiring tale of triumph over Taliban not all it seems
> GRAEME SMITH
> From Saturday's Globe and Mail
> 
> ...


Still sounds like a victory despite failings of ANP leading up to the battle.


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## kilekaldar (25 Sep 2006)

Don't know if this has been posted yet, but it had eyes rolling and people a little exasperated at how naive the press can be with the locals. Because everything they say MUST be the saintly unvarnished truth, and the military ALWAYS lies.  : 
But scandal sells, so what the heck!
The reaction by Globe and Mail posters takes the cake though, I added the link to it at the end

LINK TO ARTICLE http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060922.wmedusa0923/BNStory/Afghanistan/home

Inspiring tale of triumph over Taliban not all it seems
GRAEME SMITH 

From Saturday's Globe and Mail

The official story of Operation Medusa has been repeated many times in recent days, after NATO declared success with its biggest offensive to date in Afghanistan. 

In speeches from Kabul to Washington, military commanders described the two-week campaign as a simple, clear-cut triumph: The Taliban entrenched themselves in a swath of terrain, terrorizing local villagers; Canadian soldiers led a massive assault, killing more than 1,000 Taliban and routing others; and now villagers are welcoming the return of government rule. Military officials say the operation may have destroyed up to one third of the insurgency's hardcore ranks.

It's an inspiring tale, as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization calls on members for more troops and struggles to gain support for the war.

But interviews with tribal elders, farmers and senior officials in the city of Kandahar suggest a version of events that is more complicated, and less reassuring.

Many of the fighters killed — perhaps half of them, by one estimate — were not Taliban stalwarts, but local farmers who reportedly revolted against corrupt policing and tribal persecution. It appears the Taliban did not choose the Panjwai district as a battleground merely because the irrigation trenches and dry canals provided good hiding places, but because many villagers were willing to give them food, shelter — even sons for the fight — in exchange for freedom from the local authorities.

The government has regained control of this restive district southwest of Kandahar city, and has promised to muster donations from Canada and other countries to rebuild. The Canadian military says it will help local security forces establish a new base to make sure the Taliban do not return to Panjwai.

But there are troubling signs that the area may be sliding back toward the same conditions that sparked the violent revolt. 

Unconfirmed reports suggest that Taliban fighters continue to lurk around the district, and that police in the area have resumed the abusive tactics that originally ignited local anger. Farmers say gangs of policemen, often their tribal rivals, have swept into Panjwai behind the Canadian troops to search for valuables. They have been described ransacking homes, burning shops and conducting shakedowns at checkpoints.

"This is a case of bad governance," said Talatbek Masadykov, head of the United Nations mission in southern Afghanistan.

"Maybe half of these so-called anti-government elements acting here in this area of the south, they had to join this Taliban movement because of the misbehaviour of these bad guys," Mr. Masadykov said, referring to undisciplined local police.

Police commanders in Kandahar city declined to be interviewed. The allegations from local farmers are difficult to confirm, because it has been only two days since Panjwai was deemed safe enough for civilians to return home, and the area remains too dangerous for Western journalists to visit.

But even politicians who generally support the government concede that the situation in Panjwai was aggravated by the missteps of local authorities. 

The most notorious of the blunders was the case of Abdul Razik. Last month, concerned about the growing number of Taliban on the doorstep of Kandahar city, the provincial government assigned Mr. Razik to clear insurgents from Panjwai. Mr. Razik serves as a police commander in Spin Boldak, near the Pakistani border, but his fighters have a reputation as a kind of militia, all drawn from the same tribe: the Achakzai, a branch of the Pashtun ethnic group.

In the borderlands, the Achakzai often feud with another Pashtun tribe, the Noorzai. The two tribes also dominate the strip of farmland in Panjwai where Mr. Razik was dispatched, although the tribes have usually co-existed peacefully — until the arrival of Mr. Razik. Word spread quickly through Panjwai that the police commander intended to kill not only Taliban but any member of the Noorzai tribe; true or not, Mr. Razik soon found himself facing an armed uprising. His men were ambushed southwest of the village of Panjwai District Centre, and many of their bodies were left rotting on the road as Mr. Razik retreated to the borderlands.

But having fought off Mr. Razik, the local Noorzai tribesmen soon ended up fighting his more disciplined colleagues from the police and Afghan National Army.

"This was a bad idea, to bring Abdul Razik," said Haji Mohammed Qassam, a provincial council member in Kandahar with responsibility for security issues. 

"One village had 10 or 20 fighters against the government before he came, and the next day, maybe 200."

It was only one example among many complaints cited by people from Panjwai as they described the deteriorating relations between locals and the government. Well before Mr. Razik's arrival, villagers say, they were subject to police stealing their cash, cellphones and watches. Even motorbikes and cars were seized by police patrols, locals say.

Abid, 32, a farmer from the Pashmul area, roughly 15 kilometres southwest of Kandahar, said the thievery by police got so frequent that his friend tried a novel tactic when he encountered a checkpoint two months ago. 

Rolling toward a roadblock on a motorbike in the late evening, he said, his friend turned off the motor and started coasting toward the police.

"He took the keys out of the ignition and threw them into the bushes, so they couldn't steal it," Abid said. "This made them angry. They beat him, took his money and his watch. But he kept his bike."

The depredations stopped as the Taliban gained control of the area, villagers said. The insurgents imposed a strict order; some reports suggested they had returned to their habit of cutting off thieves' hands.

Abdul Ahad, 44, a wealthy farmer and landowner from the village of Sangisar, said he appreciated the Taliban, despite the terror he felt every time he passed through one of their checkpoints.

In a recent interview, Mr. Ahad removed a black leather diary from his breast pocket and showed a reporter where he had scribbled a few numbers for government officials. Those numbers could have got him killed, he said, if the Taliban had found the diary during their regular searches at checkpoints, because the fighters would have assumed he is a spy.

Still, risking death at the roadblocks was better, he said, than the random thievery and beatings meted out by the Afghan police.

"The Taliban didn't take any tolls at the checkposts," Mr. Ahad said. "Even when they came to my farm, they did not eat my grapes without permission."

The Taliban also endeared themselves to the locals by returning to their roots as a protest movement. The name Taliban first gained notoriety in Afghanistan in 1992, after a group of religious students started attacking the roadblocks in Panjwai to remove the corrupt jihadi commanders who once waged holy war against the Soviets but had settled into gangsterism after the Soviet withdrawal.

"Policemen [now] are like jihadi commanders in the past," said Mr. Masadykov, at the UN office in Kandahar. 

"They are misbehaving sometimes, looting, going to search and at the same time stealing everything in the houses. We are receiving a lot of complaints about it. We have to work on it."

Mr. Qassam said the government has learned from its Panjwai experience and will try to avoid repeating it. Taliban are now infiltrating the Khakrez district, he said, but the government will try sending more disciplined Afghan forces to maintain order, rather than requesting an onslaught of NATO power.

Mr. Qassam also emphasized an aspect of NATO's story about Operation Medusa that few people in Kandahar question: The city itself now feels a little more secure. 

The encroaching insurgency had left the educated city dwellers feeling unsafe. Housing prices, and even vehicle prices, were depressed in recent months. Some locals reported rental fees falling as much as ten times lower than last year's rates.

Merchants in the city were even sending packages of phone cards and cash to the Taliban in Panjwai, hoping to curry favour with the insurgents in case they overran the provincial capital, Mr. Qassam said.

"When the Taliban were in Panjwai, all the people in this area were worrying: 'Where will I move my family?'" Mr. Qassam said. "They are more relaxed and happy now."


**************************

And the reaction at the G&M BBS
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060922.wmedusa0923/CommentStory/Afghanistan/home


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## GAP (25 Sep 2006)

Just note your objection, quote pertinent parts and provide LINKS please. That's a long read. 

just so you know, I agree with your assessment of the bias of some of the press. If you think this is bad, you should see some of the outrageous ones I run across doing the Sandbox thread.


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## Blakey (25 Sep 2006)

Barry Burns from CJOB (other audio reports can be found on the same page), a Winnipeg Radio News station, interviews the G&M's Graham Smith who was on OPERATION MEDUSA.
Link to the Windows media file of the interview can be found Here


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## Ghoster (25 Sep 2006)

Ok I had to make this my first post, found this gem in the replies

Nick Wright from Halifax, Canada writes: Thanks to Graeme Smith for penetrating the official line on our operations in Afghanistan; we would never have heard this from our government. *This is real reporting, and I don't doubt that he took some personal risks to get the story*. This one article alone should make it clear to everyone that we are not fighting a conventional battle against an easily identifiable enemy--the mix of loyalties and who is relatively virtuous is ever-changing, which makes our current strategy and tactics completely inappropriate to the situation. There may be some merchants who feel safer (based on their own interests), but there are probably many more whose relatives we have killed and maimed, and whose homes and livelihoods we have destroyed, who see us as allies of their oppressors. We urgently need to redefine our mission in Afghanistan to reflect the Afghanistan reality, not our naive ideology or our Prime Minister's global ambitions.  :

*edit* posted a comment on the site and it says it has to be reviewed by an editor, whatcha bet it won't get posted?


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## a_majoor (26 Sep 2006)

I wonder if our intrepid reporter is going to follow up and see how the other two "D"'s are being deployed to deal with the local development and governence issues?

Hint; that is the *real* story; our troops providing the secure environment to deal with these issues is simply the prologue.


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## Infanteer (26 Sep 2006)

There is probably many good and interesting things to take out of this - there is no doubt truth to the tribal animosity that the author highlights.  But I feel alot of the comments on the G&M board lost sight of the forest for the trees.  Are people in an active warzone going to be discontented?  Yup.  Ask a German how he felt in May of 1945 and I doubt he would have been content.  Better yet, there was alot of angry Iraqis as soon as the euphoria of wapping a statue with your sandle wore off.  But the war never turned south there at that point - it was months after when nothing was done to address these concerns when the true insurgency broke out.

Does this mean the war is unwinnable?  I would hesitate to take local anecdotes of pissed of Pashtuns and project it onto the strategic level.  Hell, when I was in the Balkans alot of people were still pissed at eachother, pointed out how X ethnic group was stealing and screwing their own group over, blamed the US for something (anything really), and generally didn't like us.  However, you'd be surprised how they calm down when you give them the chance to do something productive with their lives and their family.  Then they just grumble over coffee or tea instead of shooting at each other....

My 2 cents


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## Teddy Ruxpin (26 Sep 2006)

Well, ya know, Smith's report could well be true and I'm reluctant to question his veracity.  Indeed, the article supports what some of us have been saying regarding the requirement for a concerted effort to reform both the ANA and ANP (particularly the latter).

The report hardly reflects poorly on the CF or on our offensive in Panjwai.  It may, however, reflect some of the challenges we face in sorting out the huge variety of problems facing the Afghan government.



> Im sure Mr.Smith went to Afganistan himself to make sure what he wrote was accurate



Actually, he did.


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## Kirkhill (26 Sep 2006)

> Im sure Mr.Smith went to Afganistan himself to make sure what he wrote was accurate



Ghoster, I don't think you need to roll your eyes.  If I am not mistook this is the same Graham Smith (Actually it is Graeme Smith) of the Globe and Mail that is being interviewed "Live from Afghanistan" at this link below.  Mr. Smith has filed a number of reports from Afghanistan.



			
				PB&J said:
			
		

> Barry Burns from CJOB (other audio reports can be found on the same page), a Winnipeg Radio News station, interviews the G&M's Graham Smith who was on OPERATION MEDUSA.
> Link to the Windows media file of the interview can be found Here


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## Infanteer (26 Sep 2006)

As the previous two posts highlight, probably the most important thing to understand here is not to dismiss the news because it doesn't fit into your mental box or you simply don't like what it has to say.  We've (as a collective West) been doing this too much in this war - on both sides of the political spectrum - and it has caused us to make some strategic errors.  As Teddy Ruxpin pointed out, this isn't really a reflection of our tactical performance, but more a reminder of the strategic realities.


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## McG (26 Sep 2006)

It seems to be fairly accurate reporting to me.


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## probum non poenitet (26 Sep 2006)

Graeme Smith has done some very good writing prior to this. From what I have read, he is not one to rip up the CF for the sake of ripping up the CF.

How accurate is this report? I don't know - I'm not there. It could be full of errors, it could be accurate, it could be a mix. Enemy info ops, or genuine concerns? 

If there is any truth to what Graeme Smith is saying, it is another problem we must address. But it's not really a shock, because the CF have been saying just that from the get go - the Afghan government is far from perfect, and until it is stable enough to stand on its own, NATO must be there until it functions at an 'acceptable' level.
So for all the comments from the readers saying "Finally - the truth!" - errrr, not really. Nobody's ever said the ANA and ANP were perfect. If they were, _we would come home!_

True, it's not enough to just defeat an enemy, you have to give the populace something to fight _*for*_. 
From what I've read on Vietnam, I've thought that the major reason the South lost was the inability to eradicate corruption and inefficiency in their regime.
I don't think the Communists would have been able to sustain support among the population, nor would U.S. opinion have been as strongly anti-war, if the Republic of Vietnam had been more of a credible, functioning democracy.
Again, these are two rather different wars, but there are some lessons to be learned.

This article might be totally wrong ... but it might be constructive criticism.

And in no way does it denegrate the bravery or professionalism of the CF. In fact, I think it is Western culture's ability to be self-analytical, self-critical, and adaptable that makes it so strong.


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## paracowboy (26 Sep 2006)

MCG said:
			
		

> It seems to be fairly accurate reporting to me.


moi aussi


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## McG (10 Oct 2006)

Looks like more troubles ahead:


> Afghan forces strength serious issue for Canadian troops
> Last Updated: Tuesday, October 10, 2006 | 9:46 PM ET
> CBC News
> 
> ...


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## big bad john (12 Oct 2006)

They are talking about "Our Lads" (Yes I mean Canadian)!

http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-2168008.php

Air, ground attacks kill 94 Taliban in Afghanistan

By Noor Khan
Associated Press



KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — NATO and Afghan forces killed 94 Taliban fighters in airstrikes and ground attacks in southern Afghanistan, while a suicide bomber on Sunday killed a provincial governor in the east, amid deepening violence across the insurgency-wracked country.

The U.S. military, meanwhile, said that a suicide bombing cell was operating in Kabul, with the aim of targeting foreign troops. The warning came two days after a car bomber rammed into a U.S. Army convoy near the U.S. Embassy, killing 16 people, the worst such attack in the capital.

“This cell is alive and working and remains very much a threat,” Col. Tom Collins, the chief U.S. spokesman, told a news conference in the Kabul.

Afghanistan is facing its worst upsurge in violence since the U.S.-led ouster of the Taliban regime nearly five years ago for hosting Osama bin Laden. While insurgents have stepped attacks across the country, the heaviest fighting has been focussed on the south.

NATO said the 94 militants were killed in Kandahar province’s Panjwayi and neighboring Zhari districts late Saturday and early Sunday, pushing the toll from a nine-day counterinsurgency operation there past 420. Six NATO soldiers and 14 British crew of a reconnaissance plane have also died.

Operation Medusa began Sept. 2 in Panjwayi, where hundreds of militants had mobilized just 15 miles west of the main southern city of Kandahar — the former seat of the Taliban government. It’s one of the most intense military confrontations since the U.S.-led campaign that toppled the Islamist regime.

NATO said in a statement that the latest insurgent casualties were inflicted in four separate engagements using artillery and air strikes.

There has been no independent confirmation of the casualty numbers given by NATO. Purported Taliban spokesmen have disputed them.

But the anti-insurgent blitz comes amid concerns that NATO lacks enough troops to succeed in its mission.

In Poland, Gen. Ray Henault, chief of NATO’s military committee, said Saturday he would formally ask the alliance’s 26 member states on Monday to provide up to 2,500 more troops to supplement the 8,000 mostly British, Canadian and Dutch forces it already has in the volatile region.

Meanwhile in eastern Afghanistan, a suicide bombing killed three people including the governor of Paktia province outside his office on Sunday, and wounded three, police said.

The attacker, with explosives attached to his body, ran into a car carrying Gov. Abdul Hakim Taniwal, his nephew and a bodyguard, killing all of them as they left the office in the Paktia capital of Gardez, U.S. and Afghan officials said. Taniwal died of his wounds in hospital.

Mohammed Hanif, who claims to speak for the Taliban, claimed responsibility in a satellite phone call to an Associated Press reporter in Pakistan. Hanif said the attacker was an Afghan from Paktia province and threatened more attacks.

“Our mujahedeen will conduct similar attacks. We have prepared a group of self-sacrificing attackers,” he said.

Taniwal had been governor of Paktia for about one and half years. Before that he was federal minister of mines and industry in the Cabinet of President Hamid Karzai.

Taliban-led militants have increasingly adopted tactics reminiscent of insurgents in Iraq, including suicide attacks.

Collins said that the coalition had had intelligence that a bomber was in the city before Friday’s devastating attack near the U.S. Embassy but lacked a description of the attacker or the vehicle he was using.

“The coalition had intelligence that a suicide bomber was lurking in Kabul. What we didn’t have was a description of the attacker or license plate for his vehicle, but somehow I believe somewhere out there someone knew this guy and had information that could have saved a lot of lives that day had they reported it,” he said.

Meanwhile, in western province of Farah, more than 100 Taliban fighters raided a government compound, killing two policemen and setting fire to several buildings, said provincial police chief Sayed Agha.

Taliban fighters riding in pickup trucks and firing rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 assault rifles attacked the compound in the town Kalaigar at about 1 a.m. on Sunday. They also burned two rooms of the compound and a health clinic in the town before fleeing.

Agha said the Taliban raid was the first in Kalaigar. Resurgent Taliban fighters have been most active in southern provinces. But attacks have started occurring in the west amid intense NATO military operations targeting Taliban in the south.

Separately, Taliban militants killed three Afghan soldiers and wounded eight in an ambush in southern Zabul province’s Shahjoy district Saturday, said Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi.

Afghan authorities also found the body of a district education chief Saturday who was kidnapped by suspected militants in central Ghazni province, said Abdul Ali Faquri, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

U.S. soldiers killed two suspected militants Sunday in a mortar barrage in the eastern Kunar province’s village of Darbart after they had fired on an American-Afghan army patrol, said Command Sgt. Maj. Jimmy Carabello.


Associated Press writer Amir Shah contributed to this report.


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## geo (12 Oct 2006)

well... the Talib are hard pressed to succeed in a head to head one on one fight against NATO or ANA troops so the only way they can minimize their losses and hopefuly cause some serious damages to our side is to use IEDs, VBIEDs and similar tactics


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