Articles found March 31, 2008
Six weeks worth of mail greets Canadian gunners in Afghanistan
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KANDAHAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan — It's a time-honoured tradition that's been around for as long as parents have been watching their children go off to war, and if this week's haul is any indication, it's alive and well.
Six weeks' worth of mail - letters, parcels, care packages and even telephone and utility bills - landed Thursday in the midst of the dusty outpost that's currently home to the gunners of C Troop, B Battery from the 1st Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, based in Shilo, Man.
Within days of their arrival in Afghanistan last month, C Troop's first rotation saw them spirited away to Maywand district, on the edge of the border with Helmand province, to support the Royal Gurkha Rifles, an elite British light infantry regiment.
Before the mail had a chance to catch them up, however, they were moved again, back to the slightly more hospitable confines of a patrol base familiar to Canadian troops, in a part of the province where the Canadians have done the bulk of their work.
On Thursday, their mail finally showed up, piled on the back of a Gator utility vehicle driven by Warrant Officer Shane Clouthier, the troop's sergeant-major.
"After a month and a half of not seeing mail, they start getting a little edgy," Clouthier laughed about the soldiers under his command.
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Mock advance trains reservists
By By ALEX MCCUAIG Mar 31, 2008, 04:26
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SUFFIELD — The face of the Canadian Forces reserve units is changing quite literally, as older, more experienced soldiers begin to fill the ranks of the regular army in Afghanistan.
This new breed of soldiers is mostly too young to remember the country’s peacekeeping missions in the Balkans or Somalia but are the first generation of troops who have grown up in the post 9/11 Canada. What was considered the “new normal” after those attacks is their normal.
Some reserve units are seeing a good chunk of their troops take positions overseas, leaving behind the smooth-skinned teenagers, and young men and women whose faces dominated the landscape of the weekend’s exercises at Canadian Forces Base Suffield.
The war games encompassed the South Alberta Light Horse (SALH), 18th Air Defence, 20th Royal Canadian Artillery, King’s Own Calgary and 15th Field Regiments in an artillery support role of a mock British Forces advance along the Helmand-Kandahar provincial border in Afghanistan.
One commander called the operation, “the little exercise that grew,” after several Alberta units decided to join the 18th and 20th Regiment’s artillery training.
Capt. Scott Payne of the SALH said most of his regiment’s privates are between 16 and 21 years of age, with many of the officers being under the age of 37.
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Tim Hortons franchise in Afghanistan a raging success
Matthew Fisher, Canwest News Service Published: Thursday, March 27, 2008
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KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - A newly arrived British soldier actually thought the hugely popular and profitable Department of National Defence-owned Tim Hortons franchise at this noisy airbase was a religious cult.
"Once he got to know us, he realized we clearly were not a church group," said Amy Barbarie of Sault Ste. Marie, who landed what she called 'the best job in the world,' serving thousands of Canadian and NATO troops deployed here to fight the Taliban and al-Qaida.
Of all the troops who crowd the Tim's counter, or queue at the 'walk thru' window outside, Barbarie's personal favourites have been the Royal Gurkhas, the diminutive, but notoriously lethal Nepalese mercenaries who have fought for the British Army for nearly two centuries.
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Canada's soldiers of misfortune
By KATHLEEN HARRIS, NATIONAL BUREAU CHIEF
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OTTAWA -- Soldiers who lose limbs, sight or hearing to roadside blasts or training accidents deserve more cash, say MPs who are demanding changes to the military amputee and injury compensation program.
They also want to see parity in compensation for part-time reservists.
Under 2003 guidelines, most Canadian Forces members are eligible for a maximum lump-sum payment of $250,000 if they lose both feet or hands or suffer another permanent major injury.
The figure is $125,000 for the loss of a single body part.
Some classes of reservists on service of less than six months see their claims capped at $100,000 and are eligible for only half or, in some cases, one quarter of the dismemberment claims for regular forces.
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Visions of family for troops
Free portrait sessions keep soldiers in the picture
Trish Audette, The Edmonton Journal Published: Sunday, March 30
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When Warrant Officer Dave Shultz goes on tour -- to Bosnia, Kosovo and now to Afghanistan -- the 39-year-old brings a single photo album with him.
The album is the story of his life in pictures, from the days before he married his wife Jennifer through to the arrival of his sons Ethan, 21/2, and Jett, six months.
It was his idea, Jennifer Shultz explained Saturday, for his family to take advantage of "Operation Homefront," providing free family portraits for Edmonton soldiers in Afghanistan
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Tories bar opposition members from NATO summit
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OTTAWA — Opposition members are furious that the Tory government has rescinded an invitation for them to take part in the NATO leaders summit, where the future of Canada's Afghan mission will be decided.
The Liberal, New Democratic and Bloc Quebecois defence critics were invited to accompany Defence Minister Peter MacKay to the meeting in Bucharest, Romania, next week.
The Department of Defence sent out the invitations, but then revoked them on Wednesday, saying that NATO had limited the size of the Canadian delegation.
A spokesman for the military alliance has denied a cap on delegates has been set.
"The official Opposition has tried at every opportunity to work in a constructive fashion regarding our mission in Afghanistan, but once again we see from this government an unacceptable level of partisanship, going so far as to hide the facts from Canadians," said Liberal defence critic Denis Coderre.
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Canadian gunners in Afghanistan grow frustrated as airstrikes take precedence
Published: Friday, March 28, 2008 | 1:33 PM ET Canadian Press: James Mccarten, THE CANADIAN PRESS
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KANDAHAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan - The fighter jet, probably an F-16, came from nowhere, invisible under cover of night as it unleashed a short but deadly burst of gunfire with a sound that seemed to rip a hole in the darkness.
Seconds later, an orange streak of light appeared as the jet fired up its afterburners and beat a hasty retreat, its mission over.
With that, so too was the latest fire mission for the dejected Canadian gunners on the hilltop nearby, mortars in hand and at the ready, firing tubes locked on the very same target.
"Get out of here," one gunner muttered under his breath, half-jokingly, moments earlier amid the distinctive sound of approaching aircraft.
Don't get them wrong: the gunners of C Troop, B Battery, from 1 Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, based in Shilo, Man., realize they're just one part of a larger objective in Afghanistan.
But they've grown familiar with the sound of incoming "fast air" and what it's likely to mean for the chance that they'll fire their considerable weapons - it's happened several times in recent days.
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Poland expected to offer more Afghan choppers until Canadian Chinooks arrive.
March 30, 2008 - 1:50 pm By: Murray Brewster, THE CANADIAN PRESS
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OTTAWA - On the eve of a crucial NATO summit, Poland appears ready to increase its offer of helicopter support for Canadian troops in Afghanistan who are awaiting the arrival of their own transports.
As many as four additional Mi-17 helicopters could be stationed at Kandahar airfield, bringing to six the number of aircraft the Polish government would put at the disposal of Canadians, defence sources told The Canadian Press.
The arrangement could be in place by this summer and last up to a year - long enough for National Defence to purchase and deploy six of its own CH-47D Chinook battlefield helicopters, said a source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
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French fume at plan to boost Afghanistan force
2008/03/28
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PRESIDENT Nicolas Sarkozy came under fire at home yesterday for offering to send more French troops to Afghanistan in an address to the British parliament that was seen as a snub to French lawmakers.
Socialist Segolene Royal and the leader of her party opposed the plan for deepening French military involvement, while several lawmakers called for a full debate in the French National Assembly.
Far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen charged that Sarkozy had “offended the nation” by announcing the beefed-up mission in his speech to Westminster on Wednesday, on the first day of his state visit to Britain. France has about 1600 soldiers in Afghanistan.
Deputy Jacques Myard, a member of Sarkozy’s Union for a Popular Movement party, said the decision highlighted France’s “alignment with American positions at a time when Washington’s foreign policy is an almost total failure.” — Sapa-AFP
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Two British soldiers killed in Afghanistan
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KABUL (AFP) — Explosions killed two British soldiers and wounded five Dutch troopers in Afghanistan at the weekend while a dozen Taliban were killed in security operations, military forces said Monday.
The violence occurred in southern Afghanistan, where Taliban militants focus their attacks in an insurgency launched after the hardline movement regrouped after being driven from government in late 2001 in a US-led invasion.
The Britons, Royal Marines, were killed in the southern province of Helmand on Sunday when an explosion blew up their vehicle, British Lieutenant Colonel Simon Millar told AFP.
They had been on a routine patrol near the remote Kajaki Dam, a vital water and power source for Helmand which the British military has been holding since Taliban were driven out nearly two years ago.
"The actual cause of the explosion is still being investigated," Millar said.
The pair were airlifted to a hospital at the biggest camp in Helmand, the British-run Bastion, where one was pronounced dead on arrival and the other died subsequently.
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Opium Brides on the Rise in Afghanistan as Government Moves to Eradicate Opium Production
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NEW YORK, March 30, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- As Afghanistan steps up its efforts to eradicate poppy crops, many poor farmers who rely on profits from the plants have had to sell their daughters to settle their debts from local traffickers who provide loans in exchange for opium. Many farmers have spent much of their lives raising opium in the stony hillsides of eastern Afghanistan and on the dusty southern plains since it is the only reliable cash crop.
In the April 7 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, March 31), Afghanistan Correspondent Sami Yousafzai and South Asia Bureau Chief Ron Moreau report that the practice began with the dowry a bridegroom's family traditionally pays to the bride's father in tribal Pashtun society. These days the amount ranges from $3,000 or so in poorer places like Laghman and Nangarhar to $8,000 or more in Helmand, Afghanistan's No. 1 opium-growing province. For a desperate farmer, that bride price can be salvation -- but at a cruel cost. Among the Pashtun, debt marriage puts a lasting stain on the honor of the bride and her family. It brings shame on the country, too. President Hamid Karzai recently told the nation: "I call on the people [not to] give their daughters for money; they shouldn't give them to old men, and they shouldn't give them in forced marriages."
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Afghanistan adrift in misplaced aid
By Aunohita Mojumdar
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KABUL - A map of Afghanistan dotted with colorful pins adorned the wall in the office of the aid agency official. Looking with relish at the embellished map, the official stuck in a handful more, noting with a sigh of satisfaction the increase in the number of "projects completed".
For several years, reconstruction in Afghanistan has been a "drawing board and drawing pin" approach, with aid delivery overwhelmingly focused on numbers, quick delivery, high visibility, meeting benchmarks, a production line approach to the rebuilding of a nation.
However, the short-term, low-cost approach of the donor community is coming under increasing criticism from development
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Kiwi patrol hit by roadside bomb in Afghanistan
2:44PM Monday March 31, 2008
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Four New Zealand soldiers in Afghanistan were fortunate to escape without injury after a roadside device exploded next to their patrol vehicle today.
A four-vehicle New Zealand Defence Force patrol from the provincial reconstruction team (PRT) was travelling to a village near the border of the Baghlan province with a doctor to set up a mobile medical clinic.
An improvised explosive device (IED) went off beside one of the vehicles, damaging the front and smashing the windscreen, but no shrapnel reached the four occupants.
While IEDs are commonly used in Afghanistan it was the first time NZDF personnel had encountered one.
NZDF spokesman Captain Zac Prendergast said the vehicles were not armoured and the occupants said they were lucky to get off with just cosmetic damage.
"The crater it made was 70cm across and 30cm deep. The dirt is quite hard-packed so there's fair whack of an explosion that's gone up.
"It obviously is a major threat to us and that's why there's drills and a high awareness of these."
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