- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 10
Article in Globe and Mail today:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071021.wafghancanada1021/BNStory/Afghanistan/home
If the mission extends, will soldiers stay on?
DENE MOORE
Canadian Press
October 21, 2007 at 12:45 PM EDT
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Parliament is poised for a great deal of debate in the coming months over Canada's role in the war in Afghanistan, but on the dusty battlefields of this central Asian country there is not much doubt over one central question.
Canadian soldiers, who regularly travel the mined roads of Taliban country and sleep with flak vests ready in case a mortar shell whistles in, seem to overwhelmingly believe that Afghanistan will not be ready for them to leave in February 2009.
What is less clear is how many of them would be willing to come back if the mission is extended.
In its recent throne speech, the Conservative government says Canada should stay involved in Afghanistan until at least 2011.
Ankle-deep in the dust of one of Canada's forward operating bases in Kandahar province, a 17-year veteran of the Canadian Forces says he'll leave the army first.
It's not the insufferable heat, the time away from his family back at home or even the danger that has convinced him.
“Things won't change,” says the soldier who has served previously in Bosnia and Haiti. He does not want to be identified.
Citing the corruption in government and the Afghan national police, and the fierce tribal rivalries that divide the country, he believes Afghanistan will fall back into chaos and civil war whether Canada leaves in 18 months, four years or a decade from now.
“I won't come back here,” he says.
His words are echoed at another base on another day by another soldier. This soldier is on his second tour in Afghanistan, having served in Kabul in 2004. With 14 years in the Forces, he, too, served in Bosnia and Haiti.
“It's hard to see the progress,” he says.
He's pleased to hear that fewer women wear the burka in Kabul these days, a marked change from his time there three years ago. But it is not enough.
“It will take generations for things to change here,” he says.
But there is no consensus on Afghanistan even among soldiers.
“I love it,” says Warrant Officer Nicolas Cote of his work with the Civil-Military Co-operation Team.
His CIMIC team in Panjwaii meets once a week with district leaders under the watchful eyes of up to 20 armed infantrymen.
The four members, along with their force-protection team, stay outside the secure perimeter of the nearby forward operating base at a house rented from locals in the village of Bazaar-E.
February 2009? “It's impossible,” he says.
But there's not even a hint of doubt from him that Afghans will one day stand on their own.
“We were in Croatia in 1991 and now they're here with us,” says Cote, a reservist who served in Bosnia in 1999 in the regular Forces.
Canada has lost 71 soldiers and one diplomat in Afghanistan. Public opinion about the mission is divided. Parliament is divided.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government wants Canadian military involvement in Afghanistan until at least 2011. The throne speech tied the eventual exit to the training of Afghan national security forces, including the army and police.
“This will not be completed by February 2009, but our government believes this objective should be achievable by 2011,” said the speech.
Mr. Harper has appointed a five-person panel to examine options for the future of the mission, including continued Canadian training of the Afghan army and police, leaving the volatile southern province of Kandahar for a quieter sector or withdrawing altogether.
The Liberals and the Bloc Québécois have called for an end to the combat mission when the current mandate ends in February 2009. The NDP wants an immediate pullout of combat troops.
Teams of Canadian military police and infantry recently began a mentoring program for Afghan National Police. They have a massive task ahead of them in bringing the notoriously ill-trained and corrupt police force up to an acceptable standard.
Canadian soldiers joined the five-year-old mentoring program for the Afghan army about a year ago.
Despite many difficulties and setbacks, there is a great deal of determination among those who have taken on these tasks: They are not ready yet but they will be.
“We haven't had time to do what we wanted to do. It would be better to continue,” says a young soldier the main base at Kandahar Airfield.
Without hesitation he says he would come back for another tour — and he is not alone.
Many say that this combat role on the front line in Afghanistan is the life they chose when they joined the Forces.
“This is what we trained for,” says one soldier who will serve his entire six-month tour at one of the rough forward operating bases scattered throughout the dangerous Zhari and Panjwaii districts of Kandahar. “This is the real thing.”
A U.S. marine making a pit stop at a Canadian base brings a totally different perspective.
“The problem with the Canadians is that they always have to be worried about what people think at home,” he says.
“When the Canadians are attacked, they worry about civilian casualties. When we're attacked, we hunt them down and kill them.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071021.wafghancanada1021/BNStory/Afghanistan/home
If the mission extends, will soldiers stay on?
DENE MOORE
Canadian Press
October 21, 2007 at 12:45 PM EDT
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Parliament is poised for a great deal of debate in the coming months over Canada's role in the war in Afghanistan, but on the dusty battlefields of this central Asian country there is not much doubt over one central question.
Canadian soldiers, who regularly travel the mined roads of Taliban country and sleep with flak vests ready in case a mortar shell whistles in, seem to overwhelmingly believe that Afghanistan will not be ready for them to leave in February 2009.
What is less clear is how many of them would be willing to come back if the mission is extended.
In its recent throne speech, the Conservative government says Canada should stay involved in Afghanistan until at least 2011.
Ankle-deep in the dust of one of Canada's forward operating bases in Kandahar province, a 17-year veteran of the Canadian Forces says he'll leave the army first.
It's not the insufferable heat, the time away from his family back at home or even the danger that has convinced him.
“Things won't change,” says the soldier who has served previously in Bosnia and Haiti. He does not want to be identified.
Citing the corruption in government and the Afghan national police, and the fierce tribal rivalries that divide the country, he believes Afghanistan will fall back into chaos and civil war whether Canada leaves in 18 months, four years or a decade from now.
“I won't come back here,” he says.
His words are echoed at another base on another day by another soldier. This soldier is on his second tour in Afghanistan, having served in Kabul in 2004. With 14 years in the Forces, he, too, served in Bosnia and Haiti.
“It's hard to see the progress,” he says.
He's pleased to hear that fewer women wear the burka in Kabul these days, a marked change from his time there three years ago. But it is not enough.
“It will take generations for things to change here,” he says.
But there is no consensus on Afghanistan even among soldiers.
“I love it,” says Warrant Officer Nicolas Cote of his work with the Civil-Military Co-operation Team.
His CIMIC team in Panjwaii meets once a week with district leaders under the watchful eyes of up to 20 armed infantrymen.
The four members, along with their force-protection team, stay outside the secure perimeter of the nearby forward operating base at a house rented from locals in the village of Bazaar-E.
February 2009? “It's impossible,” he says.
But there's not even a hint of doubt from him that Afghans will one day stand on their own.
“We were in Croatia in 1991 and now they're here with us,” says Cote, a reservist who served in Bosnia in 1999 in the regular Forces.
Canada has lost 71 soldiers and one diplomat in Afghanistan. Public opinion about the mission is divided. Parliament is divided.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government wants Canadian military involvement in Afghanistan until at least 2011. The throne speech tied the eventual exit to the training of Afghan national security forces, including the army and police.
“This will not be completed by February 2009, but our government believes this objective should be achievable by 2011,” said the speech.
Mr. Harper has appointed a five-person panel to examine options for the future of the mission, including continued Canadian training of the Afghan army and police, leaving the volatile southern province of Kandahar for a quieter sector or withdrawing altogether.
The Liberals and the Bloc Québécois have called for an end to the combat mission when the current mandate ends in February 2009. The NDP wants an immediate pullout of combat troops.
Teams of Canadian military police and infantry recently began a mentoring program for Afghan National Police. They have a massive task ahead of them in bringing the notoriously ill-trained and corrupt police force up to an acceptable standard.
Canadian soldiers joined the five-year-old mentoring program for the Afghan army about a year ago.
Despite many difficulties and setbacks, there is a great deal of determination among those who have taken on these tasks: They are not ready yet but they will be.
“We haven't had time to do what we wanted to do. It would be better to continue,” says a young soldier the main base at Kandahar Airfield.
Without hesitation he says he would come back for another tour — and he is not alone.
Many say that this combat role on the front line in Afghanistan is the life they chose when they joined the Forces.
“This is what we trained for,” says one soldier who will serve his entire six-month tour at one of the rough forward operating bases scattered throughout the dangerous Zhari and Panjwaii districts of Kandahar. “This is the real thing.”
A U.S. marine making a pit stop at a Canadian base brings a totally different perspective.
“The problem with the Canadians is that they always have to be worried about what people think at home,” he says.
“When the Canadians are attacked, they worry about civilian casualties. When we're attacked, we hunt them down and kill them.”
