The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread - (December 2007)

[GAP]

The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread (December 2007)    

News only - commentary elsewhere, please.
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Articles found December 1, 2007

NATO could fail if Canada quits Afghanistan, German leader warns
Peter O'Neil, CanWest Europe Correspondent, CanWest News Service  Published: Friday, November 30, 2007
Article Link

BERLIN -- The western alliance could collapse unless Canada remains committed to rebuilding Afghanistan and doesn't abandon efforts to convince reluctant European allies to send troops to that country's most dangerous areas, one of Germany's most prominent politicians says.

Hans-Ulrich Klose urged Canadian leaders, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper, to increase trips to Germany and other countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to press for a more muscular effort to develop Afghanistan and fight the Taliban insurgency.

The Canadian government has established a panel to advise on what role Canada should play in Afghanistan once its current commitment in Kandahar, where most of Canada's 2,500-soldier task force is based, expires in February, 2009. Meantime, the government has argued that other NATO partners, such as France and Germany, should rotate from relatively safe regions of Afghanistan to replace Canadians in Kandahar and other more dangerous Taliban-infested southern areas.

"There is a lot of fear that if Canada withdraws its troops, saying, 'We withdrew because we didn't get enough support from others,' this is the end of NATO," said Klose, a Social Democratic Party member of the Bundestag, Germany's parliament, and vice-chairman of the Bundestag's foreign affairs committee. "NATO cannot be allowed to fail."
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Rifles ready for ultimate test
By MICHAEL JIGGINS Staff Writer
Article Link

What a difference a year makes.

Last fall, a huge question mark hung over the future of the Brockville Rifles as the unit faced a merger with the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders over declining numbers in its ranks.

Well, no one's doubting the historic militia unit's future now as the Rifles prepare for what will be their biggest deployment of soldiers since the Second World War.

By next September, up to 20 reservists and regular forces members from the unit - about 15 per cent of its total effective strength - will have their boots on the ground in Kandahar as part of Canada's 2,500-member mission in Afghanistan.

Wearing green camouflage fatigues and sitting behind his desk in his office at the Brockville Armoury, Rifles commanding officer Lt.-Col. Robert Parent makes no effort to conceal the pride in how his unit and the local community responded to the challenge.

"I'm very proud of the way this regiment has stood up and contributed to the mission and I'm proud to be serving with Brocks overseas," he told The Recorder and Times.

Although Parent said there's a bond between every community and its regiment, he insisted the link between the Rifles and Brockville is unique.

"We're one of the few regiments fortunate enough to carry the name of our community on our cap badge. Everywhere we go, we're Brocks from Brockville."

As he speaks, the sounds of dozens of reservists training under the watchful eyes of their leaders echo from the floor of the massive training area
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Separate bomb explosions kill 3 civilians, 4 Taliban in southern Afghanistan
The Associated Press Saturday, December 1, 2007
Article Link

KABUL, Afghanistan: A roadside bomb hit a civilian vehicle in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, leaving three people dead, while a mine explosion killed four suspected Taliban fighters at a wedding party, officials said.

The militants were attending a wedding party in southern Zabul province when a land mine they were carrying exploded accidentally, killing four and wounding eight others, said provincial police chief Gen. Yaqoob Khan.

Khan said the insurgents had been planting roadside bombs hoping to hit NATO and U.S. forces.

Separately, a roadside bomb exploded near a car and killed three civilians 5 kilometers (3 miles) north of Lashkar Gah, the main city in Helmand province, provincial police chief Mohammad Hussain Andiwal said.
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[GAP]

Articles found December 2, 2007

Afghanistan army to reach targeted strength by March
Sun Dec 2, 2007 6:11am EST 
Article Link

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's army will reach a targeted strength of a trained force of 70,000 within four months, but that will be insufficient to stand against internal and external threats, a government spokesman said on Sunday.

Currently the Afghan National Army stands at around 57,000 out of the 70,000 target, set at an international conference after the Taliban's removal in 2001.

"We think we need a 200,000 (strong) Afghan National Army which is in the interest of both Afghanistan and the international community," defense ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi said at a news conference.

He said a force of that size was needed to deal with possible external threats and to tackle the insurgency led by the resurgent Taliban.

It will also be much cheaper than the military expenditures by the nearly 50,000 foreign troops under the command of NATO and the U.S. army in Afghanistan, Azimi said.

"If the 200,000 are capable of providing security to the entire country, it will cost international forces less than the
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Unsettling stillness in wake of battle
By BILL GRAVELAND, CP
Article Link
 
SANGISAR, Afghanistan -- Just two weeks ago in this tiny village - the birthplace of the Taliban - the sound of machine-gun fire and rockets shattered the air and fiery artillery rained down from the sky leaving huge craters in the dusty earth.

Yesterday there was near silence with only the sound of birds singing.

Operation Tashwish Mekawa (No Worries) was meant to send a message to the Taliban. The dusty village, surrounded by walled mud compounds and grape orchards is where the Taliban's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, founded the armed movement in 1994.

BASE FOR ATTACKS

It is also believed to have been the base from which a number of ongoing attacks on various outposts and police substations have been launched in recent months.

The goal of the mission was to build a strongpoint, essentially a small, heavily fortified base, to bring a level of stability to the region.

The strongpoint is now in place - large gravel-filled bags called Heskos and razor-sharp barbed wire surrounding an abandoned village compound.

As for the Taliban - things have been very quiet.

"Since we're here everything is quiet. We found some ammunition points and some weapon points. I am working with the ANA (Afghan National Army) and the ANA guys are really good soldiers," said Lieut. Stephan Tremblay, from Alma, Que.
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Canada to renew battle against Afghan landmines
Updated Sat. Dec. 1 2007 8:31 AM ET CTV.ca News Staff
Article Link

OTTAWA --  Canada is set to commit its largest cash infusion yet to battle the landmine scourge in Afghanistan.

Sources say International Development Minister Bev Oda will outline a major funding boost Monday that's expected to be worth at least $50 million dollars.

A federal source tells The Canadian Press it will be the biggest announcement ever made against mine action, and it will only be for Afghanistan.

Monday also marks the 10th anniversary of the Mine Ban Treaty, also known as the Ottawa Convention, that abolishes anti-personnel landmines.

Afghanistan signed on to the treaty on September 11th, 2002.

The war-ravaged country reported last year that almost 66-thousand stockpiled mines had been destroyed and that the pace of demining has accelerated since 2005.
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Canadian soldier in Afghanistan making a name for himself as a wood artist
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - What started as a hobby several years ago has catapulted a reluctant Canadian soldier into the spotlight as a wood artist.

Sgt. Major Gary Crosby has a secret life at Kandahar Air Field.

"My friends call me Bing," said the 27-year member of the Canadian Forces who now calls Meaford, Ont. home when he is not serving in Afghanistan.

His secret life involves intricate wood carvings that have caught the eye of members of the coalition forces here in Afghanistan.

His most visible work is a huge totem pole sitting in the Canadian compound at the airfield. The eagle at the top symbolizes the flights that brought soldiers to Kandahar. A native Canadian is a symbol of the fighting spirit and the third character is a Viking in tribute to Canada's European allies serving in the mission in Afghanistan.

But Crosby is doing his best to avoid the spotlight and works his magic with a mallet and chisels away from the curious eyes of his co-workers.

"I try and keep a low profile. I do it as a hobby," said Crosby standing in front of his latest work in the RC (Regional Command)-South Compound late in the afternoon.

"I go out about 5:30 in the morning until 6:30 or quarter to seven and then sometimes at night in the dark with the lights so no one gets to see me do it."

His first major effort involved a carving for a warehouse in Kabul in 2002, his second was at the ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) headquarters in 2003 and his last was the totem here at Kandahar Air Field earlier this year.

What started as a hobby four years ago after he viewed some wood carvings while on a mission to Africa has become almost a second job for the veteran soldier.

He credits his wife - sort of - for challenging him to become proficient at his craft.
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Afghanistan Welcomes Dutch Decision to Extend Military Mission
By VOA News 01 December 2007
Article Link

Dutch soldiers, part of the NATO forces, in Kandahar province, south of Kabul, 23 Dec 2007
Afghan officials are welcoming the Netherlands' decision to keep its troops in southern Afghanistan, but the officials say the international community must do more to equip domestic forces.

Afghan Defense Ministry officials Saturday said the extension of the Dutch mission is a positive step. But they said further training of Afghan troops is necessary to ensure long-term security in Afghanistan.

The Dutch government announced Friday it will extend the mandate of its troops until 2010. The soldiers serve as part of a NATO force.

Around 1,700 Dutch troops have been deployed in the southern Uruzgan province, where NATO and U.S.-led forces are fighting fierce battles against Taliban militants
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[MarkOttawa]

ARTICLES FOUND DEC. 3

Afghans 'still hopeful on future'
BBC, Dec. 3
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7124450.stm

Most Afghans are relatively hopeful about their future, an opinion poll commissioned by the BBC has suggested.

They also support the current Afghan government and the presence of overseas troops, and oppose the Taleban.

But the poll suggests that Afghans are slightly less optimistic than a year ago, and are frustrated at the slow pace of reconstruction efforts.

Charney Research spoke to 1,377 people in October and November in all 34 provinces for the BBC, ABC and ARD.

This is the third such survey, and is published to coincide with the sixth anniversary of the fall of the Taleban.

Overall, the figures indicate that the peaceful north of Afghanistan is significantly more satisfied than the troubled south. Most dissatisfaction is found in the south-west, where the Taleban are most active.

The poll suggests that despite another year of conflict, confidence and hope have been dented only a little in the past 12 months...

One of the most striking findings was the apparent unpopularity of the Taleban and their foreign supporters.

Only 5% of respondents said they supported or strongly supported the Taleban (against 4% last year), with 14% of respondents saying they supported or strongly supported jihadi fighters from other countries.

Only 4% would like to see the Taleban return to government.

Against this, 71% of respondents said they supported or strongly supported the presence of US military forces in Afghanistan, with 67% supporting or strongly supporting Nato and its Isaf peacekeeping mission [emphasis added].

Support for both of these has fallen in the past year, however, even though most respondents blamed the Taleban and their allies for most of the violence...

Afghans more critical of U.S efforts
AP, Dec. 3
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071203.wafghanpoll03/BNStory/Afghanistan/home

Afghans are increasingly critical of U.S. military efforts in their country, while support for the Taliban is on the rise in the violence-plagued southwest, according to a poll released today.

The survey — conducted for ABC News, the BBC and the German public TV station ARD — noted that Afghans overwhelmingly prefer the government of President Hamid Karzai to the Taliban.

But they also believe that government should negotiate with the Taliban to end the war.

The poll has found that in southwestern Afghanistan, support for NATO-led forces has plummeted to 45 per cent this year, from 83 per cent a year ago.

According to the survey, the civilian casualties blamed on the international forces is a prime complaint.

This year has been the most violent since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, and insurgency-related violence has killed nearly 6,200 people — a record number, according to an AP tally of figures from Afghan and western officials.

More than 800 civilians have died in insurgency attacks and military operations, causing a decline in support for foreign troops and the western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai...

The survey found that 42 per cent of Afghans rate U.S. efforts in Afghan positively, down from 68 per cent in 2005 and 57 per cent last year.

Just over half of Afghans still have confidence in the ability of U.S. and NATO forces to provide security, down from two-thirds a year ago.

Respondents were particularly critical in the southwestern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar. The former Taliban stronghold and now the biggest opium-producing region in the world has borne the brunt of violence in Afghanistan this year.

“Attitudes are far more negative in high-conflict areas, particularly the southwest provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, but also in western Herat and other areas that have seen Taliban attacks. Views are far more positive in the more peaceful north,” the report said.

In the southwest, the birthplace of the Taliban movement and an area of intense combat, two-thirds of Afghans rated U.S. efforts negatively. Twenty-three per cent of respondents there said local people support the Taliban — three times more than last year and compared to only eight per cent nationally.

Last year, 81 per cent of residents in the southwest said the Taliban had “no significant support at all.” Now, only 52 per cent say so.

Despite the increasingly negative view of U.S. activities in their country, 71 per cent of Afghans still support the American presence, and 76 per cent view the Taliban's overthrow as a good thing.

More than a third say the Taliban are the prime cause of violence in the country, followed by 22 per cent who blame al-Qaeda and foreign fighters. Nineteen per cent cite international forces or the U.S. government as the primary cause...

Canada pledges $80 million for Afghanistan de-mining efforts
CP, Dec. 3
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2007/12/03/4704564-cp.html

Bev Oda, the minister responsible for the Canadian International Development Agency, announced Monday that the money would go to the UN Mine Action Centre, to be used for clearing landmine-infested areas of Afghanistan, as well as to fund education programs and assist victims of landmines.

"Canada will continue its strong support of mine action activities in Afghanistan and the United Nations mine action service with a contribution of $80 million over the next four years," Oda told a news conference at the Canadian War Museum.

Critics, however, wondered out loud why only Afghanistan is being targeted when so many other countries are plagued with the deadly hidden devices...

5 Guard Units to Go to Iraq, Afghanistan
AP, Dec. 3
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Troop-Deployments.html

The Pentagon announced Monday that five Army National Guard units have been alerted that they are going to serve in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The units include some 8,000 troops going to the Iraq war and 7,000 to Afghanistan, all as replacement units to deploy in the summer of 2009...

Those going to Afghanistan are:

--The 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team from Georgia, which already has served in Iraq. It will concentrate on training Afghan National Security Forces.

--The 53rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team from Florida, which left for its first tour in Afghanistan in mid-2006. It is to assume battle space in Afghanistan, where it will perform a full range of operations, the Pentagon said...

Right now Guard members account for roughly a fifth of the Army in Iraq and Afghanistan -- dramatically lower than levels during part of 2005, when the Guard soldiers made up about 50 percent of the force in Iraq.

Under a Pentagon policy announced this year, Guard members will serve on active duty for a year.

Mark
Ottawa

 

[The Bread Guy]

Canada's new Leopards leap into Afghan theatre
Kelly Cryderman, Calgary Herald, 3 Dec 07
Article link

The boom that comes from a Leopard tank firing is a bone-shaking, deafening noise that can rattle even the most experienced soldiers if they aren't expecting it.  On Sunday, Canada's newest shipment of tanks, received this week, was tested against a craggy Afghan mountain in the desert west of Kandahar city. The new Leopard 2A6M created tidy, plate-shaped holes in paper targets, hitting bull's eyes from 500 metres.  Less accurately, they can fire at targets as far away as four kilometres.  "It's probably the most modern battle tank today in the world," said Maj. Trevor Gosselin, the officer in command of C Squadron, the battle group's tank squadron ....



Tactical Operation nerve centre for Canadian battle plans in Afghanistan
Canadian Press, 3 Dec 07
Article link

Whether it takes two hours or two months of planning, all of the major Canadian military decisions on the battlefield or otherwise in Afghanistan come through the Tactical Operations Centre at Kandahar Airfield.  Known as TOC, this operational nerve centre is in a large wooden building with a wall of computer screens stacked up to the ceiling and large maps throughout. It works around the clock with between 10 and 20 staff.  Like any major organization there is a definite hierarchy in the Canadian military. The Canadian commanders receive their marching orders from both Ottawa and ISAF - NATO's International Security Assistance Force.  It's the responsibility of those working in the centre to understand the wishes and ultimate goals of those in charge and translate them into orders for the troops in the field.  "We are the grey matter behind all those actions we see on the ground," explained Maj. Eric Laforest. "All that is aimed at speeding up the decision/action cycle. That's the bread and butter of all operations - the speed which you go through it." ....



Manley's war panel flooded with proposals
Advisory group on Canada's role in Afghanistan extends its deadline for public comment by a week
Allan Woods, Toronto Star, 3 Dec 07
Article link

They have sipped tea with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul and been treated like NATO royalty in Brussels, but the advisory panel on Canada's future in Afghanistan has also been flooded with advice from hundreds of individuals and organizations insistent that they have their say on the war.  The five-member group, headed by former deputy prime minister John Manley, will report late next month on what role they believe Canada's 2,500 soldiers in Afghanistan should occupy, if any, when the current mission expires in February 2009.  Submissions have been coming in so fast that they have decided to extend their Dec. 1 deadline for public comment by one week.  Insiders say individual Canadians have told the panel overwhelmingly that Canada should leave Afghanistan. But military historian Jack Granatstein, who met with the panel in mid-November, feels the Manley group may already be leaning in favour of recommending a mission extension ....



UN mission to boost dialogue with former insurgents, envoy says
UN News Centre, 3 Dec 07
Article link - news conference transcript

.....We also intend to continue reaching out to some groups hitherto involved in the insurgency, who are now seeking ways to end the violence. These people want to bring peace to their families and their communities and we know there are many such groups. Our objective is to help them re-connect with their government and their society, participate in strengthening institutions and join with us, in a concerted effort to consolidate peace....



Gulbuddin Hekmatyar Continued
Combined Joint Task Force 82 (Op Enduring Freedom) feature article, 3 Dec 07
Article link - More about Hekmatyar

Another of Afghanistan’s “old friends” crawled out from beneath his rock yesterday to add a little harmony to the latest meaningless threats from Osama Bin Laden. Hekmatyar, the leader of his own, outlawed branch of Hizb-i-Islami (HiG), didn’t come up with anything new, merely repeated his old hit “Foreign Troops Out, Elect an Islamic Government”. He praised the Japanese Government’s decision to withdraw their troops, failing to mention the millions of dollars in aid the decision withholds from the people of Afghanistan. In addition to demanding the withdrawal of “Foreign Troops” he wants the formation of a “Neutral Caretaker” Government to hold elections ....



Gates Arrives in Afghanistan to Assess Conditions
Donna Miles, American Forces Press Service, 3 Dec 07
Article link

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived here today on a fact-finding mission to get a face-to-face assessment from commanders about conditions on the ground, particularly in the volatile southern region.  The situation in the area will be the focus of a meeting the secretary is to attend next week in Scotland.  Gates, on his third trip here as defense secretary, told reporters he also plans get input from President Hamid Karzai and Defense Minister Abdul Raheem Wardak, following up his and Wardak’s recent Pentagon visit.  The secretary last visited Afghanistan in June.  He acknowledged “there’s clearly a lot going on” here and added that he plans to delve into the current situation with commanders and Afghan officials ....

Military Weighs Recruiting Afghan Tribes to Fight Taliban
Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post, 4 Dec 07
Article link

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived in Afghanistan on Monday to weigh new strategies for quelling insurgent violence, which has escalated here in recent years despite increases in U.S. and NATO troop levels.  Senior defense officials said that under one initiative being considered, local tribesmen would be trained and armed to fight Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan, the stronghold of the radical Islamic militia. Attacks in that region have been particularly intense, and one senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States is "seeing early indicators that there may be some stepped-up activity by al-Qaeda." ....

 

[MarkOttawa]

Afghan Military Seeks More Equipment
AP, Dec. 4
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Gates-Afghanistan.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

The Afghanistan military needs more trainers and equipment in order to gain control of their country's security, the Afghan defense chief told Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Tuesday.

Gen. Bismillah Khan said that while ''the U.S. has been more than generous,'' the Afghan army's weapons are inadequate and old, specifically its heavy artillery and armored vehicles. Speaking through an interpreter while sitting at a small table with Gates, Khan added that ''we don't have enough mentors, enough advisers [emphasis added].''

Gates told Khan that ''we know your interest in small arms and mortars and we are looking for ways to expedite'' the equipment. And he added that he also was well aware of the shortage of trainers -- a shortfall U.S. military officials said was as many as 2,000-3,000.

According to Maj. Gen. Robert Cone, the U.S. is about to begin providing M-16 rifles to the Afghans, and is poised to deliver about 10,000 a month, up to 60,000. And he said there is an ongoing effort to obtain helicopters for the Afghanistan forces, including plans for an additional 34 in the near future [emphasis added].

Cone said the helicopters will be key to relieving some stress on U.S. and NATO forces, which currently have to shuttle Afghan troops around the country...

As Gates was heading for Kabul from Djibouti, a U.S. defense official expressed concern that one reason for increased violence in Afghanistan could be an escalation of al-Qaida activity -- in addition to the ongoing Taliban insurgency.

On his third trip to Afghanistan, Gates said he has not yet seen data on any uptick in al-Qaida activity, but increasing levels of violence in the country are clear and that he plans to talk about it with other defense leaders from NATO nations operating in Afghanistan...

A senior defense official said the U.S. military is concerned and is looking for definitive signs of greater activity by al-Qaida and foreign fighters, but the U.S. has not seen enough proof to draw any final conclusions. The official discussed the terrorist network on condition of anonymity because of the security concerns.

The U.S. military has been pushing the idea that more attention must be paid to tribal leaders in the provinces in both Afghanistan and Iraq, rather than focusing all the attention on buttressing the central governments of those two nations. The thinking is that the locals are closer to the community and their people, and thus can better police their own streets...

US backs Lord Ashdown for Afghanistan role
Daily Telegraph, Dec. 4
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/04/washdown104.xml

The United States is backing Lord Ashdown, the former Liberal Democrat leader who served as the international community's "high representative" in Bosnia, to be the United Nations new "super envoy" to Afghanistan.

The proposed role would see Lord Ashdown being charged with uniting the efforts of both Nato and the UN in Afghanistan. Nato officials are understood to support his candidacy for a job with exceptional power.

"Yes, we are aware that he (Lord Ashdown) has been approached and asked if he will do the job," said one senior Western diplomat in the Afghan capital, Kabul. "This is very much a US-led initiative."..

The new post would replace the UN's Special Representative to Kabul and Nato's Civilian Representative who both complete their terms on Dec 31.

Lord Ashdown's rivals are believed to include Joschka Fischer and Hikmet Cetin, the former foreign ministers of Germany and Turkey respectively...

Understanding Afghanistan
Ottawa Citizen, Dec. 4
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/opinion/story.html?id=3580fb68-cd92-407e-9c67-432c13e809c5

The Senlis Council's November 2007 report, "Stumbling into Chaos: Afghanistan on the Brink," presents an oft-repeated argument that a one-dimensional, military-focused approach is a recipe for failure in Afghanistan. That human and economic development are quintessential elements of stabilization in conflict countries is a universally accepted concept.

Senlis further argues that the donor agencies are unable to deliver the essential development services "fast enough" and that Afghanistan's reconstruction and development is at a "stand-still." High child-mortality, and lack of access to basic education, safe drinking water and health services are cited, together with hunger, and a humanitarian crisis faced by returned refugees and people internally displaced by the ravages of war against the Taliban.

As usual, the Senlis Council offers a mixed bag of immediate crises requiring emergency relief efforts and longer-term development challenges. The common denominator is that Senlis tugs on the heartstrings of its audience without addressing the realities faced by complex organizations with specific mandates facing those same intransigent problems on the ground.

A series of Senlis Council reports has focused on visible short-term fixes that can only provide temporary relief through food distribution, hospital financing, road construction for quick and easy access to facilities and water supply, and so on. This reflects the chronic confusion between short-term relief and longer-term development.

Relief efforts, if not strategically planned for longer term development results, can have a negative impact...

Some of the longer term development inadequacies, cited by Senlis, are real. But the claim that no "visible" improvements have been made is grossly misleading. In fact, one may argue that the principal accomplishments in Afghanistan are in the realm of social and economic development, not in security, and undoubtedly the development progress made so far is under serious threat from deteriorating security...

It must be understood that there are no quick fixes in Afghanistan. In a country ravaged by decades of war and with a slim skilled human resource base, even massive reconstruction and development efforts will not yield immediate results, especially in remote rural areas. It will take generations to make the advances expected. Fanning unrealistic expectations of the Afghan public and the publics of the donor countries is the last thing that should be done to temper tensions at these critical times.

Sustainable social, economic and political transformation that will mark longer term development can only be done through Afghan state institutions and with the support of Afghan civil society. The institutions that will lead the transformation process must be strengthened. Continued international support is critical for this strengthening process. Diverting the resources and attention of development agencies toward the short-term will not help build a sustainable peace.

The Senlis Council's extraordinary proposal that NATO should "move into Pakistan," offered in its latest report, is of a piece with the lamentable penchant for moral indignation married to superficial policy that typifies its analysis of the overall challenges facing Afghanistan.

Nipa Banerjee served as the head of Canada's aid program in Kabul from 2003 to 2006.

The Senlis report is here:
http://www.senliscouncil.net/modules/publications/Afghanistan_on_the_brink

Mark
Ottawa

 

[GAP]

Articles found December 5, 2007

Afghan mission extension proposed
TheStar.com - December 05, 2007 Allan Woods Ottawa Bureau
Unrealistic for Canada to leave current role in a year, analyst says
Article Link

OTTAWA–Canada has run out of time to find foreign replacements for its 2,500 soldiers fighting in Kandahar when the mission expires in 2009, a former government foreign policy adviser says.

Roland Paris, a University of Ottawa professor and former analyst in the Privy Council Office, says it is no longer realistic to believe the government can pull Canadian troops out of their current role in February 2009, just over a year from now. Even a "partial drawdown" of soldiers is a recipe for disaster in Afghanistan's violent southern province, he told the Star in an interview.

"We would, in effect, need to find another country to supply additional forces to Kandahar this winter. I think the chances of finding another NATO country to fill the space that would be vacated by a partial drawdown of Canadian Forces this winter ... are quite low."

Paris was echoing the recommendations he gave to a panel that is to make proposals on the future of the mission to the government in late January. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has promised to hold a parliamentary vote on Canada's future in Afghanistan shortly after he receives the recommendations from the panel led by former deputy prime minister John Manley.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay has said Canada must give its final decision to NATO at a meeting in Romania next April.
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Wounded soldiers opt to return to Afghan conflict
Kelly Cryderman CanWest News Service; Calgary Herald Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Article Link

MASUM GHAR, Afghanistan - As Trooper Bryan Vallee was being flown away on a helicopter, just a half hour after being injured by a bomb explosion that damaged his Leopard 1 tank and lifted the floor beneath his feet, he decided to come back to the Afghan countryside as soon as possible.

Pulling Vallee, 22, back to the dangerous district he had just left was the thought of unaccomplished work, and the sense of "brotherhood" the Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians) tank gunner shared with his fellow soldiers.

"I thought, 'I gotta stay here some more and do my job,' " Vallee said, standing beside his tank on a recent cold, windy day. "It was about not leaving my buddies behind. I had been here for only three weeks and then, 'Hey, I get to go home.' All the others, they have to spend the whole six months here - maybe not getting injured - but still it wouldn't be fair."

Several weeks later, on leave back at his base in Edmonton with his fractured foot still healing, he found the idea of returning to Afghanistan much more difficult.
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Margate woman will spend holidays bringing piece of home to soldiers
Tanya Hamilton leaves for six-month tour in Afghanistan in mid-December
MIKE CARSON The Guardian
Article Link

MARGATE — While most Canadians look forward to celebrating the holidays with family and friends, one young Margate woman is foregoing these precious days to make Christmas a little more bearable for Canadian Armed Forces troops in Afghanistan.
Tanya Hamilton will be leaving for Afghanistan in mid-December, volunteering her time for a six-month tour to make the holidays a bit brighter for Canadian troops stationed so far away from home.
Hamilton learned of the opportunity through the Canadian Forces Personnel Support Agency and applied to take part.
She went to Kingston, Ont., for a two-week period while candidates for the program were reviewed and selected for the positions that were available.
“Their motto is Serving Those Who Serve,” Hamilton said. “It’s to boost the morale among soldiers. It’s to bring a little piece of home to them.”
Hamilton will be serving Tim Hortons coffee at the Afghanistan Tim’s as well as working in retail stores and an ice cream shoppe.
“You work in shifts from job to job,” she said. “Kind of like a jack of all trades.”
As heartwarming and unselfish as Hamilton’s decision is to give up her home holidays for the troops, there is the stark reality that she is going into an area that is unstable and one where she must be prepared for any eventuality.
Hamilton and others went through a series of training sessions to deal with their new environment.
“In Kingston in the training, we got to experience all aspects of military life,” she said.
“We got into the gas hut training (wearing full gas equipment and gas mask), to the mine awareness.”
She said they are restricted in their movements and security is extremely strict.
Hamilton is going into the program with her eyes wide open and knows what to expect on a daily basis.
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Canadian minister rejects poll that suggests Afghan support for NATO plummets
Article Link

OTTAWA - Canada's international development minister took issue with a new poll Monday that suggests Afghans are increasingly critical of the war in their country.

Bev Oda, the minister responsible for the Canadian International Development Agency, dismissed the findings of the survey, which suggested support for NATO has plummeted the last year and the Taliban is growing in strength.

"I disagree," Oda said following an announcement to increase funding for mine-clearing in the war-torn country.

"I was in Afghanistan myself. I saw the progress we are making. I saw the difference it's making in the lives of the Afghan people."

The survey - conducted for ABC News, the BBC and the German public TV station ARD - suggested that Afghans overwhelmingly prefer the government of President Hamid Karzai to the Taliban. But they also believe that government should negotiate with the Taliban to end the war.

The poll found that in southwestern Afghanistan, support for NATO-led forces has plummeted to 45 per cent this year, from 83 per cent a year ago. According to the survey, the biggest complaint is the rising number of civilian casualties.

Almost all of Canada's 2,500 troops are based in the volatile southern province of Kandahar.

But Oda said she's seen lots of evidence of lives being improved by the presence and security of international troops.
More on link

Canadian troops told loose lips can kill, Taliban spies everywhere
Article Link

SPERWAN GHAR, Afghanistan - On any dusty road, rural village or busy street corner they are there - waiting, watching and ready to report in.

Without meaning to sound melodramatic, the military is reminding Canadian soldiers at every turn that Afghanistan is a country full of spies.

"Someone will have already reported that we had arrived and that we are now leaving," Sgt. Jean-Francois De Wolfe said with a shrug as his patrol roared out of a forward operating base near the village of Sperwan Ghar.

The patrol's mission is to search for improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. "They will already have called ahead and let the Taliban know we are on our way," De Wolfe said.

"It could be him on a cellphone," he said, pointing to a farmer standing in a marijuana field. "Or it could be anyone in one of those homes there," he added, pointing to a collection of mud huts along the narrow highway known at Route Foster.

An hour later, the patrol came upon an IED that resulted in a vehicle being heavily damaged.

The Taliban once had control of this area - lush with vegetation including marijuana, opium and grape orchards in some parts while barren and dry in others.

The fact that the Taliban was once in power in Afghanistan means there are still plenty of supporters willing to report on anything that may be of interest to them regarding coalition forces, whether it be for ideological reasons or just a few extra dollars.

Operation security, or OPSEC, is a priority at the main coalition base at Kandahar Airfield. Details of troop movements, times for convoys or any other sensitive information is forbidden from being discussed on cellphones or e-mails.

A large number of Afghan civilians work at the base and there are constant reminders to Canadian soldiers to be very careful about what they say.
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3,300 Canadian soldiers to train at Fort Bliss
Times staff report  12/04/2007 09:28:33 AM MST
Article Link

A massive two-Canadian mechanized brigade will participate in Exercise Southern Bear at Fort Bliss in February, according to a news release from Canada's Land Force Central Area - Dept of National Defence.
The exercise, designed to prepare soldiers for deployment to Afghanistan in 2008, will involve roughly 3,300 soldiers, with the overwhelming majority of them based in Ontario at CFB Petawawa.

Involved in the exercise will be members of the Canadian Battle Group, Provincial Reconstruction Team, Observer Mentor Liaison Team, National Support Element and the Headquarters for Joint Task Force Afghanistan Rotation 5.
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Booming tanks give Canadian troops confidence
  By Kelly Cryderman CanWest News Service Sunday, December 02, 2007
Article Link

PANJWAII AND ZHARI DISTRICTS, Afghanistan - The boom that comes from a Leopard 2A6M firing is a bone-shaking, deafening noise that can rattle even the most experienced of tankers if they aren't expecting it.

On Sunday, Canada's newest shipment of tanks, received this week, was tested out against a craggy Afghan mountain in the desert west of Kandahar city. The new Leopards created tidy, plate-shaped holes in paper targets, hitting bull's eyes from 500 metres away.

Less accurately, they will be able fire as far away as four kilometres.

"It's probably the most modern battle tank today in the world," said Maj. Trevor Gosselin, the officer in command of C Squadron, the battle group's tank squadron.

The test results led to yelps of delight and high-fives from the armoured soldiers as they worked through a cold wind. The new tanks are bigger, offer greater protection from bombs and landmines, and break down less often than the old Leopards - which have no air-conditioning and are still in use in Afghanistan even after three decades of service.

"It's big, it's strong, it's aggressive and it's noisy," said Sgt. Dave Malenfant, a tank commander based in Valcartier, Que.

"When you go somewhere you know you have power. It's awesome," Malenfant said. "I'm glad that we bought these tanks. It save lives."

The tanks tested Sunday are part of a loan of 20 tanks from Germany through an agreement announced in April. Canada is also purchasing up to 100 used tanks from the Netherlands.

The type of war seen in Afghanistan has moved the previously sidelined tanks closer to centre stage. Before Canada became involved in heavy fighting in Afghanistan, tanks had not been used in any major way since the Korean War.

When Rick Hillier was still army commander in 2003, he said the Leopards were a "less relevant platform for the kinds of missions that we now undertake" and vowed to build Canada's future combat capability around a mobile gun system, according to Esprit de Corps, a Canadian military magazine.

Now Gen. Hillier, chief of the defence staff, says tanks are necessary and save lives.

"Tank use was on the decline because we didn't envision we'd need that capability," Gosselin said in Kandahar.
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Canadian security forces 'ride shotgun' for supply convoys to remote outposts
Article Link

GUNDY GHAR, Afghanistan - This barren mountain top in the heart of the Zhari district may be one of the most inhospitable places on earth.

While the greenery of grape orchards and marijuana crops add a splash of welcome colour to the landscape down below, here in Gundy Ghar there are a handful of tents to provide shelter against the harsh winds that invariably blow. The ankle-deep dust is heavy with the choking consistency of talcum powder and actually seems to suck at your boots as you walk through it.

It is areas like these that members of SecFor - Security Force - travel to on a regular basis. The roads, where IED's are a constant threat, are off the beaten track and lead to these remote outposts that require constant attention, including a long list of supplies such as food, ammunition, fresh water and - on this special occasion - a crude plywood shower to allow soldiers to have ice-cold showers.

SecFor provides protection for the convoy of trucks and, in essence, rides shotgun through the dangerous areas in Taliban-ridden southern Afghanistan.

"I think we have the most dangerous job," said Sgt. Sylvain Latulippe of Gaspe, Que. "We're on the road all the time and it's pretty bad sometimes. But I have a good crew. Everytime we finish a convoy we talk to each other and make sure everybody's OK."

The danger on the roads was evident. A loud explosion nearby shattered the stillness.

"They just found an IED (improvised explosive device) up ahead," said Latulippe, pointing to the road the convoy was going to be taking in a few minutes time.
More on link

 

[The Bread Guy]

Media Advisory: Land Force Central Area-Dept of National Defence-Media Invited to Attend Exercise Southern Bear
LFCA news release, 4 Dec 07
News release link

Media are invited to cover Exercise Southern Bear, a massive 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade group exercise taking place at Fort Bliss, Texas designed to prepare soldiers for deployment to Afghanistan in 2008.  Media are invited to the exercise from February 21st to the 26th, 2008.  The exercise will involve roughly 3,300 soldiers, with the overwhelming majority based in Ontario at CFB Petawawa.  Media will be able to capture the visible likeness of Southern Texas to Kandahar Province while observing Canadian soldiers conduct various training exercises specifically designed to prepare them for deployment next summer.  Involved in the exercise will be members of the Canadian Battle Group, Provincial Reconstruction Team, Observer Mentor Liaison Team, National Support Element and the Headquarters for Joint Task Force Afghanistan Rotation 5.  Media attending will need to secure transportation to the American base at Fort Bliss, located just outside El Paso, Texas ....



NATO revamps measures of Afghan progress
Andrew Gray, Reuters (UK), 4 Dec 07
Article link

NATO has developed a standardized system for tracking progress in Afghanistan because the war so far has been judged largely using anecdotal evidence, the alliance's top commander said on Tuesday.  NATO headquarters had drawn up a set of 63 indicators to measure trends in the fight against Taliban Islamists and other militants in Afghanistan, where violence has surged over the past two years, U.S. Army Gen. John Craddock said.  "These metrics may not be right and we will probably have to adjust them, but we want to start out now," Craddock, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, told a news conference in Washington ....



US Defence Secretary Gates calls for more help for Afghanistan
Agence France Presse, 4 Dec 07
Article link

KABUL (AFP) — US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday he was pushing the world's countries for more commitment to Afghanistan's fight against growing extremist violence.  Gates was here on a surprise visit to assess the international fight against the Taliban and their allies in Al-Qaeda, whom US officials say appear to have stepped up their activities here.  "I feel like I am the salesman around the world for Afghanistan," Gates said during a visit to the Kabul Military Training Centre where army leaders told him they needed more mentors and equipment.  "I asked the Chinese, the Koreans, Japan for more help," he said, adding he was also pressing countries in the 38-nation NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to "meet their promises" ....


British soldier killed in Afghanistan on 4 December
UK Ministry of Defence statement, 4 Dec 07
News release link

It is with much sadness that the Ministry of Defence must confirm that a soldier serving with the Brigade Reconnaissance Force (BRF), 5 Regiment Royal Artillery has been killed in an explosion today, Tuesday 4 December 2007, in southern Afghanistan.  Two other soldiers were also injured as a result of the blast.  Just after 1300 local time, the soldiers were conducting a tactical patrol to the north of Sangin, Helmand Province, when the vehicle they were travelling in was caught in an explosion.  Medical treatment was provided prior to all three soldiers being evacuated to the field hospital at Camp Bastion. Despite the best efforts of the medical team, one of the soldiers sadly died as a result of his wounds. The other two soldiers are currently receiving further medical treatment and their injuries are not thought to be life-threatening ....



Board of Inquiry published into loss of Nimrod XV230
UK Ministry of Defence statement/report, 4 Dec 07
Article link

The MOD has today published the report of the Board of Inquiry into the tragic loss of Nimrod XV230 in which 14 servicemen lost their lives on 2 September 2006 ....  Des Browne, the Secretary of State for Defence said:  "I pay tribute to the fourteen Service personnel who lost their lives in this tragic incident. My thoughts are with their families and friends and, indeed, the men and women of the Armed Forces who I know feel the loss of their colleagues very deeply.  The Board of Inquiry established the most probable cause of the fire and subsequent loss of XV230 and in doing so identified failings for which the Ministry of Defence must take responsibility. On behalf of the MOD and the Royal Air Force, I would like to apologise to the House of Commons, and most of all to those who lost their lives, and to their families. I am sorry...."


Leaked aid map of Afghanistan reveals expansion of no-go zones
Almost half of Afghanistan is now too dangerous for aid workers to operate in, a leaked UN map seen by The Times shows.         
Nick Meo, The Times (UK), 5 Dec 07
Article link

In the past two years most foreign and Afghan staff have withdrawn from the southern half of the country, abandoning or scaling back development projects in rural areas and confining themselves to the cities or the less risky north. The pullback compounds the problems of the Government in Kabul, which has struggled to extend its authority to the regions and provinces, which are increasingly lawless or Taleban controlled.  Development has always been touted as a key factor in Western efforts to win over Afghans and bolster support for President Karzai but in the past six years little has been done on the ground in the critical south and east.  The failure to help ordinary Afghans or to rebuild areas damaged by fighting in provinces such as Helmand has caused huge resentment and is exploited by Taleban propaganda ....

 

[MarkOttawa]

Training for Afstan: You read it first in the El Paso Times
The Torch, Dec. 5 (with video)
http://toyoufromfailinghands.blogspot.com/2007/12/training-for-afstan-you-read-it-first.html

Who knew in the Canadian media? (Via GAP and milnewstbay)...
http://forums.milnet.ca/forums/threads/68526/post-644269.html#msg644269
http://forums.milnet.ca/forums/threads/68526/post-644280.html#msg644280

Mark
Ottawa

 

[GAP]

Canadian bomb disposal squad kept busy with 'the long walk' in Afghanistan
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - They are the anonymous ones, soldiers who don't talk about their duties and who have perhaps the dirtiest and most dangerous jobs in the Canadian Forces.

Members of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit - EOD in military parlance, the bomb squad in layman's terms - have more than enough work to keep them busy in Afghanistan.

Over the past year, the Taliban have switched from head-on confrontations with coalition troops to devoting most of their time and energy to build improvised explosive devices, or IEDs.

Add to that the fact that Afghanistan has more landmines than any other country in the world from 30 years of civil war and a battle against the Soviets, and the problem gets even worse.

A lot of information about the bomb squad is classified and those doing the jobs are reluctant to discuss it.

But Lieut. C. Mackenzie, a veteran EOD specialist, spoke about what it feels like to be in his profession in an interview with The Canadian Press.

Mackenzie is a navy diver. There are bomb experts from the air force, too, working alongside the army; there is just so much work to do getting rid of explosives in Afghanistan.

While new tools, like the Husky mine detection unit, is capable of finding many of the newly hidden IEDs, ultimately it is often the EOD squad that still gets called out.

Mackenzie shies away from suggestions that his job is the most dangerous one in the military.

"I don't like to use the word dangerous," he said with a chuckle.

"My mother said, 'Is it dangerous what you do?' I would say Mom, what I do is hazardous ... At times it can be significantly hazardous, but if it was really dangerous not only would I not be doing it, nobody here would be doing it."
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More than just brothers in arms
TheStar.com -December 06, 2007 Kim Barry Brunhuber SPECIAL TO THE STAR
Article Link

Canadians helping to train soldiers in Sierra Leone have found the experience goes far beyond bullets

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone–"Bo! Bo! Bo!" the soldiers shout. They sprint a few metres, drop into the tall grass and aim. Their enemy is an enormous baobab tree. Their bullets are their voices. "Bo! Bo! Bo!"

"They don't always have money for blanks," Warrant Officer Kevin Junor says, then turns to the Sierra Leonean soldiers who are scurrying for cover. "Don't bunch up! You're firing at the men right in front of you!"

Junor, who lives in Bolton, Ont., is one of 11 Canadians taking part in Operation Sculpture, Canada's contribution to the British-led international military training team in Sierra Leone. Their mission: to help the government rebuild its army following the country's brutal civil war in which government troops committed almost as many atrocities as the rebels.

"We've got lots of experience in a training role," says Lt.-Col. John Feller, commander of the Canadian Forces in Sierra Leone. "Maybe not so much in the jungles of Africa, but the tactics, the leadership skills required are the same around the world."

Not everyone would jump at the chance to live in a country deemed by the United Nations as the poorest on the planet. But for Junor, a reservist who grew up in Jamaica and Scarborough, it was a chance to connect with his family's history. In the 18th century, hundreds of runaway slaves known as Maroons were deported from Jamaica to Canada. Many of them later resettled in Sierra Leone.

"My wife is a descendant of the Maroons, so this is like home," says Junor, who is with the Toronto Scottish Regiment. But it didn't take long for Junor and the other Canadians – many of whom are in Africa for the first time – to realize that the nearest Timbit was thousands of kilometres away.

"I came around the corner and there was a monkey cooking on the grill of a fan," says Sgt. Tom Yurkiw of Kemptville, Ont. "Just the smell of the burning hair and everything, I was floored, I couldn't believe it. But that's normal for them in Sierra Leone."

The Canadians say getting used to local customs has been easier than adjusting to the ragtag state of Sierra Leone's army. Some of the soldiers have to share boots. There's often no oil for the guns and no food for the troops. Even elite soldiers have trouble hitting targets. And the idea of military time is all but unknown to the military.
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Sault Legion sends mural to our troops in Afghanistan
By SooToday.com Staff  SooToday.com Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Article Link

NEWS RELEASE

BRANCH 25
ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION

*************************
A tree for our troops - a Legion Week project for 2007

With the Christmas season approaching, and with thoughts of our Canadian troops away from their loved ones, Legion Branch 25 of Sault Ste. Marie, has shipped a fabric mural of a decorated Christmas tree to be hung in the communal area at the Kandahar, Afghanistan Canadian Forces Base.

During Legion Week of 2007 on September 16, Branch 25 of the Royal Canadian Legion in Sault Ste. Marie welcomed local children to help create a fabric craft mural.

The canvas mural is 12 feet by eight feet and depicts a six-foot white felt tree with over 100 handmade decorations.

The mural was decorated by over two dozen local children, the Big Sisters Association and school groups over a two-month period.

Along with a donations from Legion Branch 25, the mural project was supported by Halina Peltonen who operates Arts & Crafts on Wheels.

This project exceeded the expectations of its organizers not only by the finished product created, but by the care and awareness of the young people who participated in the project.

The group was not only excited about sending something “cool” to the troops, but wanted to know more about what the soldiers and the Legion once the project was underway.

Organizers took this opportunity to play a recently produced DVD - Bridging the Generations - as part of the local Veterans Remembrance Project 2007.
More on link

 

[The Bread Guy]

Germany gets thank-you note from Canadian IED survivor
Murray Brewster, Canadian Press, 5 Dec 07
Article link

A Canadian officer in Afghanistan sent a personal thank you to the German government after he and his crew rumbling along in a tank borrowed from the NATO ally survived a powerful Taliban roadside bomb blast.  "My crew stumbled upon an (improvised explosive device) and made history as the first (crew) to test the (Leopard 2A6)M-packet," said the unidentified officer in an email to German defence officials about the specially-designed battle tank.  "It worked as it should."  The crew of four was battered by the blast and the driver broke a hip, but otherwise they were fine.  The note, passed to Berlin through a Canadian defence attache, has been quoted in the German media, but Canada's Defence Department was loath to acknowledge its existence.  Interview requests with both army and defence officials in Ottawa were denied and in what has become a troubling pattern for the department, it released only a series of written answers to questions about the incident posed by The Canadian Press.  The 13-line note failed to explain the unprecedented secrecy surrounding the incident ....



Dutch ISAF Apache track insurgents in Afghanistan
ISAF news/video release, 28 Nov 07
Link to page of videos

The following short video clips demonstrate how insurgent extremists in Afghanistan deliberately blend with the civilian population by adopting civilian clothing and mixing with children. These clips underscore the operational challenges for the Afghan National Security Forces and ISAF....



Afghan Security and Aid Top Committees' Agendas
Lee Berthiaume, Embassy, 5 Dec 07
Article link

....Afghanistan's security situation is the worst many NGOs have ever seen, civil society representatives told the committee on Thursday.  They added that Canada's current strategy in the south is making the situation more dangerous.  "This confusion in role between humanitarian and development projects, and military projects is a toxic brew," said Gerry Barr, executive director of the Canadian Council for International Co-operation, adding that it leads to failure.  Lina Holguin with Oxfam-Quebec raised concerns about the high number of civilian casualties in NATO airstrikes, adding that recent fighting in the south has displaced up to 80,000 more people ....



Afghan Mission Still a Priority for Opposition
The Liberal and Bloc Québécois defence critics deny they've let the government off the hook on an Afghan mission deadline. Lee Berthiaume, Embassy, 5 Dec 07
Article link

Defence critics for the Bloc Québécois and federal Liberal Party say they remain committed to seeing Canada's military mission in southern Afghanistan end in February 2009.  However, while the Liberals had threatened prior to the throne speech to use their first opposition day to hold a vote on the motion, the party instead put forward a motion on women's pay equity.  At the same time, Bloc Defence critic Claude Bachand said the government has managed to block the opposition from taking strong action on the file by establishing a panel to examine future options for the mission.  "This is the big difference," he said last week. "We have to wait for what [former Liberal deputy prime minister and panel chariman John Manley's] going to say." ....



Marines Won’t Move to Afghanistan for Now, Conway Says
Jim Garamone, American Forces Press Service, 5 Dec 07
Article link

The idea of Marine units moving into Afghanistan to replace Army units is off the table for now, the commandant of the Marine Corps said here today.  Gen. James T. Conway said he met with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and discussed the idea of Marine units moving to Afghanistan as they are drawn down from Iraq. “While it doesn’t appear that additional Marine units will be needed in Afghanistan in the near future, we will continue to be ready to respond if called to serve,” Conway said during a Pentagon news conference.  He and the secretary had a good exchange of ideas on the Marine proposal, Conway said. “My point to the secretary was when we are able to draw down in Iraq and it comes time for Marine units to leave the country – should we bring them home or should we start looking at putting them where there is still an active fight, in this case Afghanistan?” he said. “We were prepared to do that. That’s why young Americans join the Marine Corps -- to fight for their country. I think if there’s a fight going on, we need to be there.” ....

 

[The Bread Guy]

Attack leads some to believe Taliban targeting new armoured tanks
David ********, The Ottawa Citizen, 7 Dec 07
Article link

Afghan insurgents knocked out one of Canada's new Leopard tanks, sparking questions in the military about whether the attack was simply a lucky strike or a signal that enemy forces intend on targeting the armoured vehicles by increasing the amount of explosives used against them.  The Leopard 2A6M, on loan from Germany and outfitted with additional armour and protection to deal with landmines, was damaged beyond repair in an explosion last month. Military investigators believe the blast was caused by a landmine, but there have been suggestions that an improvised explosive device, or IED, was used.  At the time of the incident, the Canadian Forces only stated that a crew member was injured in the explosion, but did not give details about the extent of the damage to the vehicle. Members of Canada's tank community now privately confirm the Leopard was a write-off ....



Canadian journalist escapes an explosive device
Martin Croteau, La Presse, 7 Dec 07
GoogleEnglish - original French

A journalist of Radio and the cameraman who accompanied came to a whisker of losing life yesterday in Afghanistan.  Raymond St. Pierre and Sylvain Castonguay technician accompanying a convoy when a military vehicle drove over an explosive device.  St. Pierre was aboard the armored who was overthrown, not far from Kandahar. There were no injuries, nor among journalists nor in the military.  The pair had visited Afghanistan, where he was to produce a report for emitting an hour on earth. Spokesman for the CBC, Marc Pichette, was unable to clarify the circumstances of the accident, nor give details on the state of Saint-Pierre and Castonguay....



UNICEF boss 'optimistic' on Kandahar projects
Tobi Cohen, Canadian Press, 6 Dec 07
Article link

Boosting development work in southern Afghanistan is not only possible, it's happening despite heightened security concerns, UNICEF Canada president Nigel Fisher said today.  On his first visit to Afghanistan since 2005, Fisher admitted security is a worry both in southern Afghanistan and Kabul, where two suicide attacks in as many days occurred during his weeklong visit.  Still, Fisher disputed a recent report by the London-based Senlis Council that said the Taliban was regaining ground and suggested relief efforts ought to be handled by the military because it could be accomplished quicker and more efficiently.  "Saying that more than half the country is controlled by Taliban is dismissed by everybody I've talked to so there's a general feeling that (the Senlis Council) have really not done a great service to Afghanistan by over-dramatizing the situation," Fisher said during a stop at Kandahar Airfield ....



WFP chief condemns killing of humanitarian worker in southern Afghanistan
World Food Program news release, 6 Dec 07
News release link

The head of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today condemned the killing of a truck driver in Afghanistan, Ezatollah, while delivering WFP humanitarian assistance on 2 December in one of the most dangerous parts of the country. His assistant was abducted and remains missing.  “We strongly deplore this attack, as we do all acts of aggression against humanitarian workers assisting people in desperate need,” said WFP Executive Director, Josette Sheeran.  “No loss of life can be tolerated. Our deep condolences go to the family of Mr. Ezatollah.”  In the early hours of 2 December, a truck carrying 14 tons of high energy biscuits for WFP was ambushed by armed men on the road from Kandahar to Helmand in southern Afghanistan. The driver was shot dead. In October and November, two other attacks on trucks delivering WFP food occurred in the same area ....



Moscow wants Canada to extend its Afghan mission
Gilles Toupin, La Presse, 7 Dec 07
Original in French - GoogEnglish

The Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Canada, Georgiy Mamedov, said that the situation in Afghanistan is still "very difficult" and that the Taliban have not really been weakened by the Canadian military presence on the ground.  "They are still strong," said Georgiy Mamedov during a meeting with a few journalists in the federal capital. For the career diplomat, this is an unfortunate and painful fact that is not in any way a reproach to the Canadian military presence in Kandahar.  "It's in our interest even the most selfish that Canada remains in Afghanistan," he stresses. Because the day you get, we will be alone again.  And geographically, we can not fly to the moon or put our heads in the sand. "....



Australian troops in Afghanistan ’for a decade’
Pakistan Tribune, 6 Dec 07
Article link

Australian troops could remain in Afghanistan for more than a decade, a leading intelligence chief says.  The head of the Office of National Assessments Peter Varghese made the prediction in a rare and broad ranging public speech on Wednesday.  "Afghanistan will need heavy international support for 10 years and potentially much longer," Mr Varghese said.  The new Labor government is strongly committed to the fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan, a fight that has now been running since late 2001 when former prime minister John Howard committed troops following September 11 ....




Australian war on Afghanistan opium trade
Mark Dunn, Herald Sun, 5 Dec 07
Article link

The Rudd Government is preparing to send several teams of armed Australian Federal Police to help co-ordinate opium crop destruction in war-torn Afghanistan.  About 20 per cent of the heroin on Australian streets comes from Afghanistan.  The first batches appeared in Melbourne in 2004 as Taliban and al-Qaida-controlled crops entered a post-invasion boom phase.  About 12 federal police agents and a team of Australian civilian agricultural experts will be sent to Afghanistan, where they will travel in armoured vehicles and be guarded by private security contractors.  Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is expected to announce details of their deployment in the next few weeks.  Although the "Golden Triangle" of Burma, Laos and Thailand remains the major source of heroin into Australia, the growth in smuggling from Afghanistan to Australia has alarmed authorities ....



Dutch hearing on Afghanistan gets under way
Radio Netherlands, 7 Dec 07
Article link - permalink

The Lower House of the Dutch Parliament is holding a hearing on the Netherlands' mission in Afghanistan today. Representatives of NATO, the military, and aid organisations will testify at the hearing, as well as experts and government officials.  The first person to appear at the hearing is Afghan defence minister Abdul Rahim Wardak. NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has said he will not be attending, much to the irritation of many Dutch MPs. The aim of the hearing is to pave the way for a parliamentary debate on extending the Dutch mission in the Afghan province of Uruzgan until 2010 ....

 

[GAP]

Articles found November 7, 2007

Crew safe, but Afghan insurgents total our best tank
David ******** , CanWest News Service Published: Thursday, December 06, 2007
Article Link

Afghan insurgents knocked out one of Canada's new Leopard tanks, sparking questions in the military about whether the attack was simply lucky or a signal that enemy forces intend to target the armored vehicles by increasing the amount of explosives used against them.

The Leopard 2A6M, on loan from Germany and outfitted with additional armour and protection to deal with landmines, was damaged beyond repair in an explosion last month. Military investigators believe the blast was caused by a landmine but there have been suggestions that an improvised explosive device or IED was used.

At the time of the incident the Canadian Forces only stated a crew member was injured in the explosion but did not give details about damage to the vehicle. Members of Canada's tank community now privately confirm the Leopard was a write-off.
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Army lays down law on care parcels for Afghanistan troops
 CanWest News Service Thursday, December 06, 2007
Article Link

OTTAWA -- People wanting to show their support for troops in Afghanistan by sending parcels are being advised that certain rules need to be followed.

The Canadian Forces want people to know that care packages or other parcels addressed to "Any CF member" will not be delivered.

"This outpouring of support and generosity is very much appreciated," the army said. "Canadians should take note, however, that the resupply system cannot handle care packages addressed to 'Any CF member,' for a variety of reasons, including security and volume."

Space is limited on flights to military operations such as those in Afghanistan, so the Canadian Forces can't take anything and everything.

Postcards and letters addressed to "Any CF member" are acceptable, however, as are parcels addressed to a specific soldier. For packages to be delivered, they must include a soldier's full name, rank and the name of the operation. The guidelines also include restrictions on the size and weight of packages, which must also conform with certain customs rules.

For friends and family of deployed soldiers, Canada Post is offering free parcel delivery during the Christmas period, which runs until Jan.15. Canada Post should be contacted for more details on the offer.
More on link

Failed strategy connects Afghan fields, city streets
TheStar.com - December 07, 2007  David Eaves Taylor Owen
Article Link

In the coming months, under the leadership of the former U.S. ambassador to Colombia, U.S. private contractors will likely attempt to fumigate poppies in Afghanistan. Around the same time, the Canadian government will decide whether to shut down the Insite supervised injection site in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

The two policies are inextricably linked and unambiguously bad.

In April, the United States appointed William Wood, nicknamed "Chemical Bill," its new ambassador to Afghanistan. In his previous post, Wood championed and oversaw the fumigation of large swaths of the Colombian countryside. The result? For every 67 acres sprayed, only one acre of coca was eradicated. Moreover, production increased by 36 per cent. In addition, the spraying negatively impacted legitimate crops, contaminated water supplies and increased respiratory infections among the exposed populations.

Wood is in Kabul for a single reason – to execute a similar plan in Afghanistan. Poppy production, once held in check by the Taliban government, is exploding – up 60 per cent in 2006. Poppies yield 10 times the value of wheat, so it is unsurprising that about 10 per cent of an otherwise impoverished Afghan population partakes in the illicit poppy harvest. It earns them upwards of $3 billion (U.S.) a year, or roughly 65 per cent of Afghan GDP.

The short-term economic costs and long-term development and health impacts of fumigation will be borne by those whose livelihoods are both directly and indirectly connected to poppy cultivation. Spraying could easily cause public opinion to turn against the Karzai administration and NATO forces, further compromising the mission and increasing the danger to Canadian soldiers.

Given the increased risks this policy poses to both our soldiers and the overall mission, the government's silence is unconscionable. Others have not been so quiet. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently observed that there is little international support for fumigation. He announced an alternative policy to wean farmers off of opium, one that includes an ambitious plan to top up payments for legal crops, such as wheat.
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A giant card from Canada
Shoppers can send Christmas greetings
Ian Austin The Province Friday, December 07, 2007
Article Link

Soldiers stationed overseas will be getting some giant-size greetings this Christmas.

Sears Canada, along with the Canadian Forces Personnel Support Agency, is circulating 23 oversized Christmas cards and inviting shoppers to send soldiers their best wishes.

"In a season that's full of get-togethers, we are always worried about where our loved ones are and concerned for their safety," said Barb Lapointe at Sears on Robson, where one of the cards was unveiled yesterday.

"When my daughter was two years old, my husband was in Afghanistan."

Yesterday Lapointe brought along her latest edition, baby Declan, just 10 weeks old, who cried for his mama while she told her tale to the assembled media.

"When the soldiers see the cards, they will know that they have been signed by someone in Canada.

"I don't think anyone can realize how powerful that is -- they're in a foreign land."

Teresa Foreman, whose son Master Cpl. Jason Foreman is stationed in Afghanistan, said she welcomes the Christmas-card concept.

"It's wonderful," she said. "I hope it makes people aware what people are doing over there."

Her husband, Len Foreman, said signing the cards will show the troops they enjoy public support: "It's nice for them to know that people are thinking of them and supporting them."
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Treating Afghan kids hurt in roadside blast: day in life of Canadian medics
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - It was a scene not altogether uncommon for Canadian soldiers at Forward Operating Base Wilson: a passing Toyota Corolla brimming with four Afghan adults and five children rolled over an improvised explosive device and exploded.

The adults were killed instantly by the blast last week in the volatile Zhari district of Kandahar province.

The five terrified and injured children were swept away by the Canadians - gun-toting foreigners in military fatigues to them at the time - to be treated for shock, broken bones and lacerations.

"At first it was OK. They understood. We brought them toys to show them we were their friends and we were there to help them," Cpl. Patrick Aucoin said Wednesday during an interview at Kandahar Airfield.

"After about an hour they wanted to go home and see their parents, so it started to get delicate at that moment."

The ambulance driver was reading a book in his tent when a security patrol who had come upon the accident began rounding up medical technicians and those versed in critical combat care to help tend to the injured children, who ranged in age from four to 13 years old.

The oldest and most severely injured child was airlifted by helicopter to the military hospital in Kandahar, while the others were stabilized at FOB Wilson before they were taken to Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar City.
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Afghan, Coalition forces foil Taliban ambush in Afghanistan  
www.chinaview.cn  2007-12-07 16:34:21      Print
 Article Link

   KABUL, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and the U.S.-led Coalition soldiers foiled a Taliban ambush in Kariz-e Sadeqin area of western Afghan Farah province on Dec. 5, said a Coalition statement issued here Friday.

   "The combined force was conducting a reconnaissance mission fora weapons cache when two squad-size elements of insurgents ambushed them with small-arms, rocket and indirect fire," the statement said.

   ANSF returned small-arms and mortar fire, which allowed them to out-maneuver the insurgent forces and engage them with close air support, it said.

   "The combined forces overwhelmed the insurgents with superior firepower, despite the arrival of enemy reinforcements," the Coalition statement further added.

   It however did not give the figure of casualties on the militants.
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UN food agency driver shot dead in Afghanistan
Thu Dec 6, 2007 2:58pm GMT
Article Link

ROME, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The United Nations food aid agency said on Thursday one of its workers had been shot dead in an ambush while driving emergency rations through Afghanistan.

The World Food Program (WFP) said the Afghan man named Ezatollah had been driving a truck carrying 14 tons of high energy biscuits from Kandahar to Helmand in the early hours of Sunday when it was attacked.

The driver's assistant was abducted and has not been seen since, it said. The truck has not been recovered.

"We strongly deplore this attack, as we do all acts of aggression against humanitarian workers assisting people in desperate need," WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said in a statement.
More on link

 

[MarkOttawa]

NATO discusses "super envoy" for Afghanistan; Poland offers helicopters
AP, Dec. 7
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/07/europe/EU-GEN-NATO-Afghanistan.php

NATO foreign ministers discussed Friday the possible appointment of an international "super envoy" to coordinate civilian and military efforts better in Afghanistan.

"Allies believe there is a need for greater coordination across the spectrum," alliance spokesman James Appathurai said.

British media reports have suggested that Lord Paddy Ashdown, a former international envoy in Bosnia, is being considered for the job. But Appathurai said no names were discussed in the NATO talks.

Meanwhile, Poland gave a boost to the NATO military mission in Afghanistan, offering eight helicopters to address a key shortage affecting the allied force of 41,000 troops. The offer includes four aircraft for transport, four attack helicopters and a number of additional troops, Polish and NATO officials said.

NATO also said Jordan has sent troops to join the alliance-led force [emphasis added] in Afghanistan, the first time an Arab nation has publicly agreed to NATO's requests for assistance on the mission...

NATO's top commander Gen. U.S. Gen. John Craddock said last week that he is seeking contributions from Arab nations in North Africa and the Middle East to help train Afghan army units.

Jordan's foreign minister joined the NATO ministers for lunch Friday along with foreign ministers from Israel and five other Arab nations as part of the alliance's efforts to build closer cooperation on counterterrorism and other issues with Mediterranean countries.

Alliance diplomats said that any decision on appointing an international envoy would have to be made at U.N. headquarters. The discussions in Brussels have focused on the possibility of combining the roles of the current civilian representatives of the U.N., NATO and the European Union in Kabul...

Mark
Ottawa

 

[The Bread Guy]

"AFGHANISTAN:  Trends in Conflict and Cooperation"
FAST Update, swisspeace.org, No 5 (October to November 2007), issued 6 Dec 07
Report link (.pdf)

Outlook:  Given the reluctance of involved countries to significantly increase their troops, the international troops’ supremacy over the Taliban will continue to depend on aerial strikes, which raises the risk of civilian casualties.  Taliban violence might, however, decline in the winter months because many of the infiltration routes from Pakistan will be blocked. This pattern was observed throughout past years, although it will be less marked this year due to shifting combat techniques. Political polarization is expected to intensify while local power holders consolidate their power bases. Given the current high prices for basic commodities, a harsh winter would add an additional strain on the Afghan population. 

 

[MarkOttawa]

ARTICLES FOUND DEC. 8

Troops close in on Taliban town, NATO soldier killed: ministry
AFP, Dec. 8
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hAI2J-W7-f-Fke1RBQUiwbjvznuA

Troops closed in on a Taliban-held town Saturday as a major operation to reclaim the area killed 15 including a NATO soldier and two children, the defence ministry said.

Ground troops were approaching Musa Qala from three directions, the ministry said, after deploying from helicopters Friday to kick-off a long-awaited assault to eject Taliban rebels who stormed in 10 months ago.

The two children were killed when the vehicle they were travelling in was caught up in a firefight, ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi told reporters, adding five civilians were also wounded.

A Taliban patrol had attached itself to the vehicle, he said, accusing the rebels of using it as a shield.

"In this operation so far, 12 terrorists were killed, one captured and a number of weapons and ammunitions were seized," Azimi said.

A soldier with NATO's International Security Assistance Force soldier was killed in a mine explosion, his ministry said.

Another was wounded, ISAF said. It did not give their nationalities.

Azimi said between 200 and 300 residents had fled Musa Qala, in the opium-rich province of Helmand, which was overrun by hundreds of Taliban rebels in early February.

It had become a base for "foreign terrorists," Azimi said. "Hundreds of terrorists had massed there."

A rebel commander inside Musa Qala told AFP by telephone there were up to 2,000 rebel fighters in the area ready to defend themselves...

The US-led coalition, which works alongside the Afghan security forces and ISAF, said meanwhile it had dropped a precision-guided bomb on a militant compound in Musa Qala district Friday, killing several rebels including a commander...

Afghanistan: troops to stay on
Sydney Morning Herald, Dec. 9
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/afghanistan-troops-to-stay-on/2007/12/08/1196813079401.html

Mark
Ottawa

 

[GAP]

Articles found December 8, 2007

How we put our foot in it, in Afghanistan
JEFFREY SIMPSON From Saturday's Globe and Mail December 7, 2007 at 8:19 PM EST
Article Link

‘It is almost always far easier to get in than it is to get out,” write Janice Gross Stein and Eugene Lang in their must-read book about how Canada wound up in Kandahar.

Canada involved itself in that volatile Afghan province based on almost entirely false premises. Now there is no easy way out.

No NATO country wants to replace us, but Canada cannot leave Kandahar unoccupied, for it would soon be overrun by the Taliban and its disparate allies. Canada cannot leave without inviting defeat; Canada cannot stay with any reasonable assurance of success.

Canada is fighting a counterinsurgency war – against almost all the rules of that kind of combat. Our soldiers are undoubtedly brave and skilled, but there are too few of them, as there are too few NATO forces for the entire country. The ratio of troops to insurgents needed to “win” such a conflict is too low; the ratio of military to development deployment is too large.

The enemy has easy recourse to escape (into the hills, over the border to Pakistan), to money (from the drug trade, extortion and sympathizers elsewhere) and to time. Some of our allies in the Afghan government are corrupt; some of our allies in NATO are craven.
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Afghanistan: troops to stay on
Tom Hyland December 9, 2007
Article Link

AUSTRALIAN troops will remain in Afghanistan until at least 2010 - doubling the original two-year commitment - in a decision that has not been formally announced or debated.

This was revealed by the Dutch Government, which is extending its Afghan deployment until August 2010, in part because it says the Australians will also extend their stay.

When the Howard government sent reconstruction troops to Afghanistan in August last year, it said they were going for two years.

The Dutch announcement reveals Australia's deployment has blown out to at least four years, as defence chiefs warn that defeating the Taliban and securing Afghanistan could take at least a decade.
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Good News...Saturday?!!! (B*N*S*N3)
Article Link

In the US there are many campaigns to send holiday cheer to troops in the sandbox. One of those is the Holiday for Heroes that Soldiers' Angels does annually. I have written about that before. Canada has it's own campaigns, as Canadians also send greetings to show that our troops are remembered as they are far from family and loved ones at Christmas

Canadian Forces Personnel Support Agency (CFPSA) and a number of partners have joined together to create gift baskets for 3,250 Canadians deployed in Afghanistan, the 260 individuals on HMCS Charlottetown, and all other military personnel serving with the 17 operations Canada is currently involved in.

The gift baskets were put together and shipped from 25 Canadian Forces Supply Depot (25 CFSD) during the last week of October and will be opened by the recipients during the Christmas holiday season.

Packaging gifts for thousands of people is a major task, one which Michel Millette, the manager of special projects at 25 CFSD, is overjoyed to be part of`. "I love taking a part in this, it's the highlight of my year," he said. "Every deployed soldier and sailor has received a gift at Christmas since 1998. It's something special."
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NATO allies lend choppers to Afghan fight
Ministers unable to secure more troops
Mike Blanchfield, CanWest News Service  Published: Friday, December 07, 2007
Article Link

Canada continued to press some of its reluctant NATO allies Friday to contribute more to front-line fighting in southern Afghanistan, but had to settle for a few more Polish helicopters.

NATO foreign ministers ended their two days of meetings in Brussels on Friday by issuing a communique that stressed the need to more effectively deliver additional reconstruction help to legitimize the government of President Hamid Karzai, singling out the role of provincial reconstruction teams -- such as the one operated by Canada in Kandahar city -- as a crucial element.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier also got behind a push to create a new "super envoy" to better focus the international efforts on Afghanistan.

But Mr. Bernier wasn't able to significantly break new ground in an area that is crucial to Canada and its British, American and Dutch allies: persuading some reluctant NATO allies to lift caveats, or restrictions, which prevent them from fighting in the south, where the Taliban insurgency is strongest and where casualties have been the greatest
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Trees for Troops
Military families getting generous Christmas gift
Paul J. Henderson, The Times Published: Friday, December 07, 2007
Article Link

While artificial trees may be popular, for many families nothing says Christmas like the visceral experience of having a real live tree in the living room.

The trip to the farm, picking out and then hauling a nice bushy one back home, a trail of needles through the hallway, and finally the look, feel and smell of a real conifer is a tradition to hold onto.

In a show of support for Canadian troops overseas, Christmas tree growers across Canada including Pine Meadows Tree Farms in Chilliwack will be giving trees to the families of troops in Afghanistan.
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NATO nations make new offers of troops and equipment to Afghanistan
Article Link

BRUSSELS (AFP) — NATO nations on Friday made new offers of troops and equipment for Afghanistan, but the alliance is still seeking aircraft and at least 1,000 more military personnel, a spokesman said.

"A number of ministers mentioned the increased number of contributions that they would be making," spokesman James Appathurai said, after talks between NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.

He said that Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski "set out what will be an increased Polish contribution, including attack and transport helicopters and a significant number of troops -- more than we had foreseen."

Appathurai said the Czech Republic would also be setting up a provincial reconstruction team -- a civilian-military team helping to foster rebuilding in areas outside the Afghan capital Kabul.

Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer noted that the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force had swelled to 43,000 troops from 39 contributing nations.

Nevertheless ISAF is still looking for troops and equipment as it battles a tenacious Taliban-led insurgency, particularly in the south of Afghanistan.
More on link

 

[MarkOttawa]

A deadly Afghan battle like none other
Sunday Telegraph, Dec. 9
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/09/wafg209.xml&DCMP=EMC-new_09122007

...
More British forces are being used in this action than in any other battle in Afghanistan: anything up to 3,000 of the total force of 7,000 in the country, although commanders refused to be specific.

The plan is for the most difficult house-to-house fighting to be left to the soldiers of the Afghan National Army (ANA) which, with British training, has grown from a ragtag collection of volunteers to a professional force capable of holding its own in battle.

Using Afghan soldiers to help force the insurgents from Musa Qala is meant to send a message - not just to the Taliban but also to the people of Helmand. The main phase of the operation, which involves thousands of British, US and ANA troops, began last week when Nato forces began to encircle the town.

In a series of feints and probing attacks, the British troops from 52 Infantry Brigade, which includes Royal Marines from 42 Commando, soldiers from 2nd Bn the Yorkshire Regiment and the Household Cavalry, began testing rebel defences.

The town has been in Taliban hands for almost 10 months, and the insurgents had prepared heavily fortified bunkers and trench positions, protected by minefields. The size of the force inside is un- known. The Taliban say they have more than 2000 fighters, although the British say 300 is a more realistic figure.

As Nato forces pushed forwards, the Taliban withdrew in a series skirmishes. Apache attack helicopters, working in pairs, began to destroy enemy positions. Larger compounds were bombed by combat jets. Mortar and artillery barrages threatened any rebels venturing into the open.

British commanders call this the "break-in battle". Lt Col Richard Eaton, the Helmand task force commander, said: "We are kicking the door in so that others can enter."

Taliban commanders say they have inflicted many casualties on the British and Afghan forces.

Although this was denied by the Ministry of Defence, The Sunday Telegraph has established that at least two British soldiers have been killed and several wounded, bringing the total number killed in Afghanistan since 2001 to 86.

At dusk on Friday, several hundred US airborne soldiers, flying in on helicopters, swept in to the north of the town, and by yesterday, Musa Qala was completely surrounded.

Some time in the next two days, Operation Mar Kardad will enter its final and potentially most dangerous phase when the ANA moves in to flush out the Taliban...

Mark
Ottawa

 

[GAP]

Articles found December 9, 2007

A final farewell to Quebec soldiers
Returned home Killed in battle with insurgents
DAVID JOHNSTON, The Gazette
Article Link

From Kandahar, Afghanistan, to Trenton, Ont., and then from Trenton to Toronto, before finally coming home to their final resting place in Quebec.

This is the last journey taken by all Quebec soldiers killed in Afghanistan - including Cpl. Nicolas Beauchamp and Pte. Michel Lévesque, whose separate funerals were held yesterday.

But there was a difference.
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Afghan army capture insurgents' weapons in W Afghanistan 
www.chinaview.cn  2007-12-09 17:19:53      Print
Article Link

    KABUL, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- Afghan National Army (ANA) along with the U.S.-led Coalition forces captured insurgents' weapons in the western Afghan province of Herat on Dec. 6, said a Coalition statement released here on Sunday.

    The ANA, acting on credible information, followed leads to insurgent weapons caches at two different sites in a narrow ravine in the mountains of Khusf in Herat, the statement said.

    ANA soldiers climbed 200 meters up a sheer rock face, then down into the ravine to discover 19-107 mm rounds stacked inside, it said.

    The troops also searched a large cave in the ravine where they located an additional 16-107 mm rounds, it further said.

    "The ANA troops displayed great courage in their successful effort to deny the insurgents access to critical supplies," said a Coalition soldier.
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Think Tank Offers Wise Advice fo Afghanistan Panel
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Article Link

Senlis Council offers sound advice for Afghanistan panel

In testimony before the federal government's Afghanistan Panel, Senlis Council president Norine MacDonald offered what the Senlis council feels would be a rudimentary roadmap to success in Afghanistan.

The council recommends the following:

-Shifting responsibility for delivering aid to civilians in Khandahar from the Canadian International Development Agency to the Canadian Armed Forces in the short term.

-Planning CIDA's role in Afghanistan over the medium- to long-term in order to boost the Agency's effectiveness in the region.

-Calling a NATO meeting to discuss sharing of the Afghanistan mission with non-NATO countries, and increasing the troop presence in Afghanistan to 80,000.

-Adoping a "zero civilian casualties" policy to ensure that any and all civilian casualties are prevented.
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Wheat crisis: ‘Higher exports to Afghanistan lead to flour shortage’
By Ijaz Kakakhel
Article Link

ISLAMABAD: Export of wheat flour to Afghanistan in large quantities lead to a flour shortage in the country that forms the very genesis of the current wheat crisis, officials in the ministry of food, agriculture and livestock (MINFAL) told Daily Times here on Saturday.

As usual 1,200 to 1,300 tonnes of flour was exported to Afghanistan per day and the government made proper preparation for it but recently about 2,000 tonnes of wheat were exported to Afghanistan, said Additional Secretary and Spokesman, MINFAL Raja Hussain Shahid. The demand for flour has jumped up in Afghanistan that was why the export to Afghanistan increases.

In order to ensure smooth supply of flour in domestic market, the government has imposed 35 percent duty on export of the commodity to Afghanistan. However, the imposition of such duty has no impact on export of wheat flour to Afghanistan due to higher demand as well as higher prices there, he maintained.

The government provides subsidy on wheat to flour mills for selling the commodity in local markets on lower prices. But the millers are exporting the commodity to Afghanistan to earn abnormal profits instead of selling it in the local markets.
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Canada In Afghanistan – A Pointless Accident
Article Link

Canada has been, and remains, in Afghanistan as a way of not being in Iraq. 

All through the book, governments and especially the military worried incessantly about how the Americans would react to this or that decision.  Chief of the Defence Staff Rick Hillier drove the Kandahar mission.

Canada cannot leave without inviting defeat; Canada cannot stay with any reasonable assurance of success.

Canada is fighting a counterinsurgency war – against almost all the rules of that kind of combat.
- there are too few soldiers there, as there are too few NATO forces for the entire country.
- the Taliban has easy access to escape, money and to time.
- many in the Afghan government are corrupt
- we are trying to win the “hearts and minds” of a people we barely know
- we are aliens to their culture. - we have brought them some security, but not enough
- we have delivered some assistance, but not enough

The top civilian policy-maker in the Department of Defence, in 2003 said “We don't know anything about this country.”

The goal of commitment has never been clear,
- in 2002, a short-term combat mission
- in 2003-04, to a stabilization mission,
- later a lead role in Kandahar
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To save mediaeval minarets, Afghans close road
Sat Dec 8, 2007 2:02am EST
Article Link

KABUL, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Afghanistan has closed a road that threatened the foundation of a group of mediaeval minarets which Kabul wants to see listed among the World's Cultural Heritage sites.

The minarets, standing at more than 100 feet (30 metres), are all that remain of what was once a brilliantly decorated complex for Islamic learning and devotion along the Silk Road on the outskirts of the western city of Herat.

Just over a century ago, more than a dozen minarets stood in Herat, part of a madrasa-mosque complex built in the 15th century.

Most of the camel-coloured, mud-brick towers, which were once sheathed in sparkling blue, green, white and black mosaic tiles, have toppled during decades of war and neglect.

Experts had hoped the end of Taliban rule in 2001 and the advent of a new government would save the remaining towers.

However, the city's new-found wealth in the post-Taliban era had served only to heighten concerns about the towers' stability.
More on link

 

[MarkOttawa]

Canadian troops shut down bomb-making facility
CTV, Dec. 9
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071209/musa_qala_071209/20071209?hub=TopStories

Canadian forces clashed with the Taliban in Panjwaii district Saturday during a raid to disrupt bomb-making in the area.

CTV's Murray Oliver told CTV Newsnet from Kandahar on Sunday that the one-day raid by Canadian and Afghan forces, as well as troops from Nepal [emphasis added],
http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/MilitaryOperations/GurkhaBattalionJoinsAnaAndIsafEffortInUpperGereshkValley.htm
ended with the destruction of at least one facility.

Military officials said a number of Taliban forces were killed and that no Canadians were hurt during the raid.

One Afghan soldier did receive minor wounds to the eye in a "friendly fire" incident, Oliver said.

"There's been a real problem with bombs being planted all throughout the area, and attacking Canadian convoys," he said...

Panjwaii district is an active Taliban area 35 kilometres west of Kandahar city. Several battles have been fought there between NATO forces and the Taliban.

In September 2006, Operation Medusa -- a Canadian-led offensive in Panjawaii -- resulted in the deaths of five Canadian soldiers. NATO officials said 512 Taliban members were killed and 136 more were captured during the offensive, breaking the insurgents' hold on the district.

But insurgents have repeatedly re-entered the area despite a presence by the Canadian military and Afghan police.

"The Taliban seem to have a nearly limitless supply of troops, unfortunately. They continue to just keep pouring men into the area to try and show that they still can maintain a presence as soon as the Canadians pull out," Oliver said.

Taliban activities usually slow during the winter when supply routes through the mountains get covered in snow. But whether this winter will follow that pattern is unknown, he said.

Two Taliban commanders captured in Helmand province

Afghan and NATO-led forced captured two senior Taliban commanders during an attempt to retake a town in Afghanistan's Helmand province, officials said Sunday.

The Afghan Defence Ministry said one of the captives is the Taliban-appointed governor of Helmand - an area of southern Afghanistan that has become a major drug trafficking centre.

Afghan and British troops continue to advance on the town of Musa Qala...

Jonathan Kay on one of the best articles ever to be written about the war in Afghanistan
National Post blog, Dec. 9
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2007/12/09/jonathan-kay-on-one-of-the-best-articles-ever-to-be-written-about-the-war-in-afghanistan.aspx

The January, 2008 issue of Vanity Fair has an extraordinary article about the war in Afghanistan by Sebastian Unger, who embedded earlier this year in the singularly violent Korengal Valley with a platoon from Battle Company, part of the Second Battaltion of America's 503rd Infantry Regiment (airborne).
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/01/afghanistan200801

To read this article is to appreciate that thousands of American troops in Afghanistan are facing conditions as bad, or worse, than our own Canadian fighters. The portrayal of day-to-day life at a front-line firebase in this area of eastern Afghanistan is truly terrifying.

Reading the article, one simultaneously is filled with (1) admiration for the amazingly skilled, brave and humane American soldiers taking the fight to the Taliban in this part of Afghanistan; and (2) despairing of our chances of winning a war in a country where it seems so easy for terrorists to stir up local outrage at Western forces. Good soldiers like those of Battle Company can fight bravely and effectively, day in day out for months, killing dozens, or even hundereds, of bad guys and protecting the whole area while aid pours in. But let them slip up once and kill civilians being used as shields by the bad guys, and the whole valley declares jihad.

Unger makes a strong case that the Americans are doing a million times better than the Russians did in the 1980s, when they killed anything that moved, and thereby made enemies everywhere. But even so, the Afghan war may ultimately prove a failed effort for the simple reason that the traditional Muslim tribesmen in the country's rural areas can be whipped up against any Western force on the flimsiest of pretexts. That's a cultural fact, not a military one. And so the finest soldiers in the world may not be able to change it.

Australia denies plan to keep troops in Afghanistan to 2010
AFP, Dec. 9
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071209/wl_afp/australiaafghanistannetherlandsmilitary_071209100529;_ylt=ArmjDvXuibr0AW8zqQDjV8qQOrgF

The Australian government on Sunday denied reports that it has made a commitment to keep Australian troops in Afghanistan until 2010.

The denial came in response to newspaper reports that the Dutch government had told its parliament that Australia would join in an extension of troop deployments until that time.

But Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said there has been no decision made [emphasis added] on extending Australia's commitment beyond August next year.

"While the government continues to recognise the importance of continuing the effort in Afghanistan, no formal [emphasis added] decisions have yet been made about future commitments beyond the current mandate," his spokeswoman said.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's Labor Party, which took power in elections two weeks ago, had however "indicated for some time that they would consider further reasonable requests for military assistance in Afghanistan," [emphasis added] she said.

The Netherlands' government announced last month it would extend until December 2010 the mandate of its 1,650 troops serving under a 38-nation NATO-led force. It had been due to expire in August 2008.

Australia has some 900 troops in Afghanistan, the bulk of them assisting a Dutch-led reconstruction operation in the southern province of Uruzgan, a former Taliban stronghold.

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

Airmen Help Deliver Helicopters to Afghan Military
defense-aerospace.com, Dec. 17
http://www.defense-aerospace.com/cgi-bin/client/modele.pl?session=dae.31574760.1197230038.1yqn0H8AAAEAAEXQGNsAAAAM&modele=jdc_34

(Source: US Air Force; issued Dec. 6, 2007)

KABUL, Afghanistan --- Airmen from Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan Combined Air Power Transition Force help deliver the first three of 12 refurbished Soviet helicopters Dec. 5 at Kabul, Afghanistan. 

The Airmen are involved in mentoring the Afghan national army air corps and helped acquire the aircraft, donated by Czech Republic officials. 

The MI-17 helicopters are meant to help the Afghan national army air corps transport troops, evacuate casualties and provide humanitarian assistance during emergencies. 

This first step is part of a plan to field 200 aircraft for the Afghan national army air corps by 2011. More aircraft will be coming from the Czech Republic and from the United Arab Emirates in the next few months.

Mark
Ottawa