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Canadians go for strolls to build trust in the streets of Kabul
FRANCES BULA
CanWest News Service
Friday, April 23, 2004
What Sgt. Geuvens Guimont and his six men were doing yesterday morning looked like the most dangerous way to be a soldier in a country of suicide bombers, snipers and uncertain peace.
They were walking around. No helmets. No armoured vehicles. No vehicles of any kind, in fact. Instead, it was just them, face to face with everyone who was out in the early-morning bustle in this western neighbourhood of Kabul.
While Guimont‘s forward scout and rear guards scrutinized the street constantly for any sign of danger, Guimont and Master Cpl. Nicolas Girard shook hands with the dozens of children who ran up to gawk at the foreign soldiers.
At one point, a dense crowd gathered around Guimont as he stopped in front of a shopkeeper‘s stall.
He asked owner Mohammed Sadeq, through an interpreter, whether there have been any problems in the area - no, none these days - but also queried him about the boxes of henna the customer standing beside him was buying. After Sadeq explained it‘s used sometimes to dye hands and feet for celebrations, but also to help soothe blisters and soreness, Guimont bought a couple of boxes.
It all looks innocuous but what Guimont and his men were doing is as tactically thought out - from the guns-down stance to the smiles they show determinedly to everyone they meet - as any raid on an Al-Qa‘ida hideout and is considered as vital a piece of military strategy as hunting for Osama bin Laden.
In fact, it‘s something Lt.-Gen Rick Hillier, the Canadian commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, asked for when he arrived in February.
"What we assessed early in February was that attacks in December and January had caused the perception that a little bit of a gap was growing between us and the population," Hillier said recently. "We had taken a bit of a backward step, maybe, and that we had more armoured vehicle patrols and less foot patrols."
The orders Hillier sent out were he wanted to see three things happen:
- Go after the bad guys.
- Eliminate anything we‘re doing that is irritating, such as blocking traffic.
- But most importantly, connect with the population.
The Canadians and British have been the most enthusiastic in carrying out that approach while other countries such as France, Germany and Italy have been reluctant to move to any foot patrols at all.
A group like Guimont‘s does at least half of its patrols on foot.
Major Sylvain Beausejour, the deputy commanding officer for the Royal 22nd Regiment stationed in Kabul, read histories of Afghanistan before he came. "Every time people in their heart didn‘t want an invading force here, they always managed to get rid of it."
"Some people think it‘s more dangerous, but not for me," said Pte. Yann Surette, who used his time during a rest break to ask a woman passing by if he can get a picture of himself holding one of her children - a little boy close to the same age as his son at home.
"In a vehicle, you don‘t see nothing, you don‘t have any feedback. It‘s useless."
Vancouver Sun
FRANCES BULA
CanWest News Service
Friday, April 23, 2004
What Sgt. Geuvens Guimont and his six men were doing yesterday morning looked like the most dangerous way to be a soldier in a country of suicide bombers, snipers and uncertain peace.
They were walking around. No helmets. No armoured vehicles. No vehicles of any kind, in fact. Instead, it was just them, face to face with everyone who was out in the early-morning bustle in this western neighbourhood of Kabul.
While Guimont‘s forward scout and rear guards scrutinized the street constantly for any sign of danger, Guimont and Master Cpl. Nicolas Girard shook hands with the dozens of children who ran up to gawk at the foreign soldiers.
At one point, a dense crowd gathered around Guimont as he stopped in front of a shopkeeper‘s stall.
He asked owner Mohammed Sadeq, through an interpreter, whether there have been any problems in the area - no, none these days - but also queried him about the boxes of henna the customer standing beside him was buying. After Sadeq explained it‘s used sometimes to dye hands and feet for celebrations, but also to help soothe blisters and soreness, Guimont bought a couple of boxes.
It all looks innocuous but what Guimont and his men were doing is as tactically thought out - from the guns-down stance to the smiles they show determinedly to everyone they meet - as any raid on an Al-Qa‘ida hideout and is considered as vital a piece of military strategy as hunting for Osama bin Laden.
In fact, it‘s something Lt.-Gen Rick Hillier, the Canadian commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, asked for when he arrived in February.
"What we assessed early in February was that attacks in December and January had caused the perception that a little bit of a gap was growing between us and the population," Hillier said recently. "We had taken a bit of a backward step, maybe, and that we had more armoured vehicle patrols and less foot patrols."
The orders Hillier sent out were he wanted to see three things happen:
- Go after the bad guys.
- Eliminate anything we‘re doing that is irritating, such as blocking traffic.
- But most importantly, connect with the population.
The Canadians and British have been the most enthusiastic in carrying out that approach while other countries such as France, Germany and Italy have been reluctant to move to any foot patrols at all.
A group like Guimont‘s does at least half of its patrols on foot.
Major Sylvain Beausejour, the deputy commanding officer for the Royal 22nd Regiment stationed in Kabul, read histories of Afghanistan before he came. "Every time people in their heart didn‘t want an invading force here, they always managed to get rid of it."
"Some people think it‘s more dangerous, but not for me," said Pte. Yann Surette, who used his time during a rest break to ask a woman passing by if he can get a picture of himself holding one of her children - a little boy close to the same age as his son at home.
"In a vehicle, you don‘t see nothing, you don‘t have any feedback. It‘s useless."
Vancouver Sun
) The only way Afghanistan is going to get better is for the government to gain control of the outside areas. That is not going to occur when the Multi-national units won‘t step foot outside of Kabul. That is not happening because politicians have gotten casualty sensitive. Whatever happened to the Motto, "Those Who Dare Win) besides being the SAS‘ (I believe)? [/qb]
