The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread May 2010
- Thread starter GAP
- Start date
Articles found May 1, 2010
The enemy within: why coalition forces fear attack by Afghan comrades
Article Link
May 1, 2010
The battle was brief — a sudden stab of tracer fire into the remote police post from the surrounding mountains that left a US staff sergeant bleeding from his face, hit by a ricochet or fragment of flying rock. “It’s like shooting at ghosts,” the soldier beside him complained, staring into the silent darkness after the shooting had stopped.
At least the two soldiers knew which way to face — outwards from their gun position on the roof of Police SubStation 7, on the western outskirts of Kandahar. In the sleeping quarters below, a pair of Canadian police officers, sent there to help to mentor the Afghan National Police (ANP), had trained their guns inwards, on the door of their own accommodation.
“I don’t mind admitting it,” one said. “I thought the firing was coming from inside the post. I thought it was one of the ANP, a little unhappy with the way I spoke to him on the patrol today, turning his gun on us.”
For coalition troops working with the Afghan police, life has its unique strains and dangers. Five British soldiers were killed last year by a renegade Afghan police officer they were mentoring. American soldiers have died in similar circumstances. Afghan law enforcers, regarded as part of the key to stability, include the dregs of society — heroin addicts and common criminals — as well as professional officers. A word of criticism at the wrong moment, a perceived slight, a loss of face, can have fatal consequences.
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Afghan forces battle-fatigued, unmotivated: witnesses
Testimony paints picture of frequent friendly-fire incidents and describes national army as disorganized and sometimes farcical
Article Link
By Andrew Duffy, Canwest News ServiceMay 1, 2010
The court martial of a Canadian soldier has offered a ground-level view of the difficulties faced by coalition forces as they ready the Afghan National Army to take on the Taliban.
Capt. Robert Semrau, accused of first-degree murder in the shooting death of a wounded Taliban insurgent on a battlefield in Helmand province, served as the leader of a four-man Canadian team embedded with an Afghan rifle company.
Their job, by all accounts, was challenging and perilous. From forward operating base Sperwan Ghar, west of Kandahar City, Semrau's team was to mentor the Afghans in the art of war: planning, tactics, ethics.
But the Afghans were not always receptive to the message of Canada's Operational Mentor and Liaison Teams, the court martial, which resumes Monday in Gatineau, Que., has heard.
Witnesses have variously described the Afghan forces as battle-fatigued and unmotivated. Drug use was said to be common, while professional development among the officer corps was almost unknown. Lower level commanders often had trouble reading maps.
The Afghan National Army had trouble with supplies, and would scavenge everything from a battlefield, including the weapons of Taliban casualties.
Friendly fire accidents were a constant concern.
"They [the Afghans] had a tendency to shoot at noise," Col. Joseph Shipley, former commander of the mentoring program in Afghanistan, testified at Semrau's court martial.
About 200 Canadian soldiers remain embedded with the Afghan National Army in Kandahar province.
More on link
The enemy within: why coalition forces fear attack by Afghan comrades
Article Link
May 1, 2010
The battle was brief — a sudden stab of tracer fire into the remote police post from the surrounding mountains that left a US staff sergeant bleeding from his face, hit by a ricochet or fragment of flying rock. “It’s like shooting at ghosts,” the soldier beside him complained, staring into the silent darkness after the shooting had stopped.
At least the two soldiers knew which way to face — outwards from their gun position on the roof of Police SubStation 7, on the western outskirts of Kandahar. In the sleeping quarters below, a pair of Canadian police officers, sent there to help to mentor the Afghan National Police (ANP), had trained their guns inwards, on the door of their own accommodation.
“I don’t mind admitting it,” one said. “I thought the firing was coming from inside the post. I thought it was one of the ANP, a little unhappy with the way I spoke to him on the patrol today, turning his gun on us.”
For coalition troops working with the Afghan police, life has its unique strains and dangers. Five British soldiers were killed last year by a renegade Afghan police officer they were mentoring. American soldiers have died in similar circumstances. Afghan law enforcers, regarded as part of the key to stability, include the dregs of society — heroin addicts and common criminals — as well as professional officers. A word of criticism at the wrong moment, a perceived slight, a loss of face, can have fatal consequences.
More on link
Afghan forces battle-fatigued, unmotivated: witnesses
Testimony paints picture of frequent friendly-fire incidents and describes national army as disorganized and sometimes farcical
Article Link
By Andrew Duffy, Canwest News ServiceMay 1, 2010
The court martial of a Canadian soldier has offered a ground-level view of the difficulties faced by coalition forces as they ready the Afghan National Army to take on the Taliban.
Capt. Robert Semrau, accused of first-degree murder in the shooting death of a wounded Taliban insurgent on a battlefield in Helmand province, served as the leader of a four-man Canadian team embedded with an Afghan rifle company.
Their job, by all accounts, was challenging and perilous. From forward operating base Sperwan Ghar, west of Kandahar City, Semrau's team was to mentor the Afghans in the art of war: planning, tactics, ethics.
But the Afghans were not always receptive to the message of Canada's Operational Mentor and Liaison Teams, the court martial, which resumes Monday in Gatineau, Que., has heard.
Witnesses have variously described the Afghan forces as battle-fatigued and unmotivated. Drug use was said to be common, while professional development among the officer corps was almost unknown. Lower level commanders often had trouble reading maps.
The Afghan National Army had trouble with supplies, and would scavenge everything from a battlefield, including the weapons of Taliban casualties.
Friendly fire accidents were a constant concern.
"They [the Afghans] had a tendency to shoot at noise," Col. Joseph Shipley, former commander of the mentoring program in Afghanistan, testified at Semrau's court martial.
About 200 Canadian soldiers remain embedded with the Afghan National Army in Kandahar province.
More on link
Articles found May 2, 2010
Inside Canada’s ‘Hurt Locker’
For Canadian soldiers asked to clear improvised bombs in Afghanistan, every step may be their last
Article Link
Louie Palu Special to the Star
KHAIRO KALA, AFGHANISTAN—As I position my dusty boot above the dirt path my eyes scan for a safe spot. Will my next step be my last?
Canadian soldiers call this “IED hopscotch.” It’s part of the macabre humour that comes with patrolling the volatile Panjwaii District, where the ground is strewn with IEDs, or improvised explosive devices.
These home-made bombs are the weapon of choice in Afghanistan. Some are remote controlled; others are set off when you step on them. They are responsible for most of the Canadian casualties here. Every military activity now involves preparing for their deadly threat.
Khairo Kala is a small village west of Kandahar City surrounded by grape, poppy and wheat fields, as well as typical mud-walled structures and snaking, uneven paths. It is part of Canada’s new area of operations, a district where there are almost no gun battles but instead a tension-filled game of cat and mouse: The Taliban insurgents operate as ghosts, planting their explosive traps by night and disappearing during the day, leaving the Canadians to search for the buried bombs.
On April 15th, a small group from Delta Company of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry descended on Khairo Kala. The region has been hard on Delta Co. — four of its members have been killed by IEDs here: Sapper Steven Marshall, Lt. Andrew Nuttall, Sgt. John Faught and, only four days earlier, Pte. Tyler Todd.
We arrive in blistering, 35C heat, immediately greeted by the village malik (leader). He gets frisked and questioned; the Canadian soldiers can trust no one. The unit’s living quarters are established in an abandoned mud enclosure that could be a setting in the Bible.
More on link
From screams to whimpers on Afghan detainees
Article Link
Christie Blatchford
The same week that House of Commons Speaker Peter Milliken made his historic ruling that Parliament has the right to see all the documents about Afghan detainees, the very man whose sensational allegations fuelled the whole shooting match was being delivered a thumping.
How amusing, except it isn’t.
Richard Colvin is the diplomat whose testimony at a special committee last fall – chiefly, that torture of the Afghan prisoners Canadian soldiers handed over to their fellow Afghans was “standard operating procedure” and that he had warned senior military officials about it to no avail – was given war-sized treatment in the press.
His allegations were front-page news across the country, led to stern editorials in several major newspapers a day later, and added gasoline to the fire already simmering about alleged Canadian complicity in torture and government stonewalling of efforts to view uncensored documents on the subject.
But when Gavin Buchan, the former political director and senior official on the ground in Kandahar (but for two months, when Mr. Colvin replaced him) for most of 2006 and part of 2007, and Major General (Retired) Tim Grant, the commander of the Canadian military effort in Afghanistan during the same approximate time period, came to testify before the committee on Wednesday, their evidence collectively a profound rebuttal of Mr. Colvin’s claims, the media coverage was a whisper.
Of the four major newspapers that put Mr. Colvin’s claims on their front pages – The Globe and Mail, the National Post, the Toronto Star and the Ottawa Citizen – last November, only The Globe even deigned to cover Mr. Buchan’s and Mr. Grant’s evidence in a separate story, this a piece by my colleague Bill Curry. The story appeared on Page 13.
The Citizen, in a story about the really big news of the week – Mr. Milliken’s ruling – made passing mention of Mr. Grant’s evidence, but didn’t say what it was and didn’t refer at all to Mr. Buchan’s testimony.
The Post ran no story about what the two men said, nor did the Star, which did, however, devote a startling chunk of its front page to a photo of the backyard water park Celine Dion has built her son in Florida.
There were some extenuating circumstances: At the same time on Wednesday that Mr. Buchan and Mr. Grant addressed the special committee on the mission to Afghanistan, Nazim Gillani, the mysterious businessman involved with former Tory MP Rahim Jaffer, was sitting down before the microphone next door at another special committee.
More on link
CIDA and Afghanistan
By Alina Smirnova
Article Link
Canada’s role in Afghanistan after troop withdrawal will include training teachers.
The Canadian International Development Agency hopes that having better teachers will draw more students to go to school.
The CIDA is looking for companies that will certify and train teachers. They will pay $1 million for the firm to design the program which will include accrediting teacher training schools and creating a curriculum, Canadian Press reports.
Overall, the project will cost $10 million. According to the Canadian Press, it is not yet clear if the money will come from money already allocated to education in Afghanistan.
The CIDA is also looking at the possibility of setting up a long-distance program that will allow students to learn from teachers in different parts of the world.
After the decided troop withdrawal date of 2011, Canadian involvement may last up to another 10 years, Canadian Press reports.
More on link
Hotshot sniper in one-and-a-half mile double kill
Michael Smith May 2, 2010
Article Link
A BRITISH Army sniper has set a new sharpshooting distance record by killing two Taliban machinegunners in Afghanistan from more than 1 miles away.
Craig Harrison, a member of the Household Cavalry, killed the insurgents with consecutive shots — even though they were 3,000ft beyond the most effective range of his rifle.
“The first round hit a machinegunner in the stomach and killed him outright,” said Harrison, a Corporal of Horse. “He went straight down and didn’t move.
“The second insurgent grabbed the weapon and turned as my second shot hit him in the side. He went down, too. They were both dead.”
The shooting — which took place while Harrison’s colleagues came under attack — was at such extreme range that the 8.59mm bullets took almost three seconds to reach their target after leaving the barrel of the rifle at almost three times the speed of sound.
The distance to Harrison’s two targets was measured by a GPS system at 8,120ft, or 1.54 miles. The previous record for a sniper kill is 7,972ft, set by a Canadian soldier who shot dead an Al-Qaeda gunman in March 2002.
In a remarkable tour of duty, Harrison cheated death a few weeks later when a Taliban bullet pierced his helmet but was deflected away from his skull. He later broke both arms when his army vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb.
Harrison was sent back to the UK for treatment, but insisted on returning to the front line after making a full recovery.
“I was lucky that my physical fitness levels were very high before my arms were fractured and after six weeks in plaster I was still in pretty good shape,” he said. “It hasn’t affected my ability as a sniper.”
Harrison, from Gloucestershire, was reunited in Britain with his wife Tanya and daughter Dani, 16, last month. Recalling his shooting prowess in Helmand province, he said: “It was just unlucky for the Taliban that conditions were so good and we could see them so clearly.”
Harrison and his colleagues were in open-topped Jackal 4x4 vehicles providing cover for an Afghan national army patrol south of Musa Qala in November last year. When the Afghan soldiers and Harrison’s troop commander came under enemy fire, the sniper, whose vehicle was further back on a ridge, trained his sights on a Taliban compound in the distance. His L115A3 long-range rifle, the army’s most powerful sniper weapon, is designed to be effective at up to 4,921ft and supposedly capable of only “harassing fire” beyond that range.
More on link
Inside Canada’s ‘Hurt Locker’
For Canadian soldiers asked to clear improvised bombs in Afghanistan, every step may be their last
Article Link
Louie Palu Special to the Star
KHAIRO KALA, AFGHANISTAN—As I position my dusty boot above the dirt path my eyes scan for a safe spot. Will my next step be my last?
Canadian soldiers call this “IED hopscotch.” It’s part of the macabre humour that comes with patrolling the volatile Panjwaii District, where the ground is strewn with IEDs, or improvised explosive devices.
These home-made bombs are the weapon of choice in Afghanistan. Some are remote controlled; others are set off when you step on them. They are responsible for most of the Canadian casualties here. Every military activity now involves preparing for their deadly threat.
Khairo Kala is a small village west of Kandahar City surrounded by grape, poppy and wheat fields, as well as typical mud-walled structures and snaking, uneven paths. It is part of Canada’s new area of operations, a district where there are almost no gun battles but instead a tension-filled game of cat and mouse: The Taliban insurgents operate as ghosts, planting their explosive traps by night and disappearing during the day, leaving the Canadians to search for the buried bombs.
On April 15th, a small group from Delta Company of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry descended on Khairo Kala. The region has been hard on Delta Co. — four of its members have been killed by IEDs here: Sapper Steven Marshall, Lt. Andrew Nuttall, Sgt. John Faught and, only four days earlier, Pte. Tyler Todd.
We arrive in blistering, 35C heat, immediately greeted by the village malik (leader). He gets frisked and questioned; the Canadian soldiers can trust no one. The unit’s living quarters are established in an abandoned mud enclosure that could be a setting in the Bible.
More on link
From screams to whimpers on Afghan detainees
Article Link
Christie Blatchford
The same week that House of Commons Speaker Peter Milliken made his historic ruling that Parliament has the right to see all the documents about Afghan detainees, the very man whose sensational allegations fuelled the whole shooting match was being delivered a thumping.
How amusing, except it isn’t.
Richard Colvin is the diplomat whose testimony at a special committee last fall – chiefly, that torture of the Afghan prisoners Canadian soldiers handed over to their fellow Afghans was “standard operating procedure” and that he had warned senior military officials about it to no avail – was given war-sized treatment in the press.
His allegations were front-page news across the country, led to stern editorials in several major newspapers a day later, and added gasoline to the fire already simmering about alleged Canadian complicity in torture and government stonewalling of efforts to view uncensored documents on the subject.
But when Gavin Buchan, the former political director and senior official on the ground in Kandahar (but for two months, when Mr. Colvin replaced him) for most of 2006 and part of 2007, and Major General (Retired) Tim Grant, the commander of the Canadian military effort in Afghanistan during the same approximate time period, came to testify before the committee on Wednesday, their evidence collectively a profound rebuttal of Mr. Colvin’s claims, the media coverage was a whisper.
Of the four major newspapers that put Mr. Colvin’s claims on their front pages – The Globe and Mail, the National Post, the Toronto Star and the Ottawa Citizen – last November, only The Globe even deigned to cover Mr. Buchan’s and Mr. Grant’s evidence in a separate story, this a piece by my colleague Bill Curry. The story appeared on Page 13.
The Citizen, in a story about the really big news of the week – Mr. Milliken’s ruling – made passing mention of Mr. Grant’s evidence, but didn’t say what it was and didn’t refer at all to Mr. Buchan’s testimony.
The Post ran no story about what the two men said, nor did the Star, which did, however, devote a startling chunk of its front page to a photo of the backyard water park Celine Dion has built her son in Florida.
There were some extenuating circumstances: At the same time on Wednesday that Mr. Buchan and Mr. Grant addressed the special committee on the mission to Afghanistan, Nazim Gillani, the mysterious businessman involved with former Tory MP Rahim Jaffer, was sitting down before the microphone next door at another special committee.
More on link
CIDA and Afghanistan
By Alina Smirnova
Article Link
Canada’s role in Afghanistan after troop withdrawal will include training teachers.
The Canadian International Development Agency hopes that having better teachers will draw more students to go to school.
The CIDA is looking for companies that will certify and train teachers. They will pay $1 million for the firm to design the program which will include accrediting teacher training schools and creating a curriculum, Canadian Press reports.
Overall, the project will cost $10 million. According to the Canadian Press, it is not yet clear if the money will come from money already allocated to education in Afghanistan.
The CIDA is also looking at the possibility of setting up a long-distance program that will allow students to learn from teachers in different parts of the world.
After the decided troop withdrawal date of 2011, Canadian involvement may last up to another 10 years, Canadian Press reports.
More on link
Hotshot sniper in one-and-a-half mile double kill
Michael Smith May 2, 2010
Article Link
A BRITISH Army sniper has set a new sharpshooting distance record by killing two Taliban machinegunners in Afghanistan from more than 1 miles away.
Craig Harrison, a member of the Household Cavalry, killed the insurgents with consecutive shots — even though they were 3,000ft beyond the most effective range of his rifle.
“The first round hit a machinegunner in the stomach and killed him outright,” said Harrison, a Corporal of Horse. “He went straight down and didn’t move.
“The second insurgent grabbed the weapon and turned as my second shot hit him in the side. He went down, too. They were both dead.”
The shooting — which took place while Harrison’s colleagues came under attack — was at such extreme range that the 8.59mm bullets took almost three seconds to reach their target after leaving the barrel of the rifle at almost three times the speed of sound.
The distance to Harrison’s two targets was measured by a GPS system at 8,120ft, or 1.54 miles. The previous record for a sniper kill is 7,972ft, set by a Canadian soldier who shot dead an Al-Qaeda gunman in March 2002.
In a remarkable tour of duty, Harrison cheated death a few weeks later when a Taliban bullet pierced his helmet but was deflected away from his skull. He later broke both arms when his army vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb.
Harrison was sent back to the UK for treatment, but insisted on returning to the front line after making a full recovery.
“I was lucky that my physical fitness levels were very high before my arms were fractured and after six weeks in plaster I was still in pretty good shape,” he said. “It hasn’t affected my ability as a sniper.”
Harrison, from Gloucestershire, was reunited in Britain with his wife Tanya and daughter Dani, 16, last month. Recalling his shooting prowess in Helmand province, he said: “It was just unlucky for the Taliban that conditions were so good and we could see them so clearly.”
Harrison and his colleagues were in open-topped Jackal 4x4 vehicles providing cover for an Afghan national army patrol south of Musa Qala in November last year. When the Afghan soldiers and Harrison’s troop commander came under enemy fire, the sniper, whose vehicle was further back on a ridge, trained his sights on a Taliban compound in the distance. His L115A3 long-range rifle, the army’s most powerful sniper weapon, is designed to be effective at up to 4,921ft and supposedly capable of only “harassing fire” beyond that range.
More on link
Articles found May 3, 2010
Canada expanding Kandahar memorial to include American soldiers
Article Link
By: Murray Brewster, The Canadian Press 2/05/2010
It is a sign of unwavering respect, but also a sign of the times, and perhaps a sign of things to come.
The Canadian memorial to soldiers at Kandahar Airfield is about to undergo a major expansion, adding two wings to the existing structure to accommodate American soldiers who've been killed serving under Canadian command.
The white marble and black granite cenotaph has grown steadily over the years. It started in 2006 as a simple boulder where plaques of fallen soldiers were hung.
But as the casualties mounted with heartbreaking regularity, the tribute quickly outgrew its place and the current open-air vault was created.
Over the past year, 26 American soldiers serving under a Canadian commander have died in action, the vast majority through insidious homemade bombs and mines. There are three U.S. army battalions — a couple of thousand soldiers — under the direction of Task Force Kandahar.
U.S. casualties started to outpace Canadian losses late last year and that is before the summer fighting season and NATO's planned Kandahar offensive gets underway.
Brig.-Gen. Dan Menard, the commander of Canadian troops in Afghanistan, says the two countries have been fighting alongside each other here for months and the losses should be recognized, regardless of nationality.
"This memorial is extremely important for Canadians, but we want to make it a more all-inclusive," he said.
"When you look at this memorial, it is just not representative enough as far as I'm concerned. A lot of (U.S. soldiers) have paid the ultimate price and it's important that there's room here for them."
Plans for the additions were drawn up by the task force engineers. They expect the job to be finished with the help of local contractors by the end of June. Each of the 142 Canadian soldiers and two civilians killed since the Afghan war started are remembered with their pictures etched on to a black granite plate.
Menard said the same honour will be accorded to each of the American casualties.
More on link
Afghanistan vets at risk for homelessness: experts
Article Link
CTV.ca News Staff
Date: Sun. May. 2 2010 9:57 PM ET
As Canada prepares to withdraw from Afghanistan next year, veterans' advocates say they worry shell-shocked soldiers may end up without a home, like many of those who served before them.
Veterans accustomed to the rigid structure and unique culture of the military often find it difficult to adapt to civilian life -- a struggle that can lead them to the streets or the bush, experts say.
"Sometimes when people come back and they've experienced very traumatic experiences, if they don't have a good support network in place or they don't have advanced coping skills, they may end up falling through the cracks," Adrienne Alford-Burt, director of the Veterans Affairs Vancouver office, told CTV News.
It is unclear how many of the country's nearly 80,000 veterans are currently homeless.
In one Vancouver neighbourhood alone – the downtown eastside, Canada's poorest postal code – Veterans Affairs found 33 homeless veterans, as part of an outreach project launched last summer. All of them are men, mostly in their mid-30s.
That number has alarmed government officials. "I was thinking around 10 or 15, so the fact that we've seen 33 in such a small community is concerning," Alford-Burt said.
Canada's Veterans Ombudsman, retired Col. Pat Strogan, warns many more will end up on the streets once the Afghan mission wraps up.
"It's important that we get this safety net established to prevent them from becoming embedded in the homeless lifestyle," said Strogan, the first to hold the ombudsman position established in 2007.
A handful of projects have cropped up recently to help ex-soldiers find their feet once they return to Canada.
Among them is Cockrell House, a facility just outside Victoria, B.C., believed to be the nation's first homeless shelter for veterans.
The privately funded shelter opened in April. It presently houses six veterans, including some who served as far back as the Second World War. Organizers plan to welcome 11 residents by the end of the year.
Luke Carmichael lived in the bush until he heard about Cockrell House during a visit to a Legion.
More on link
Rising tide of insurgency looms as Kandahar election nears
Article Link
Sonia Verma
Kandahar, Afghanistan — From Monday's Globe and Mail Published on Sunday, May. 02, 2010 10:59PM EDT Last updated on Monday, May. 03, 2010 12:38AM EDT
On the same day Rangina Hosala decided to run as a candidate in Afghanistan’s upcoming parliamentary elections, she sat down at her kitchen table and wrote her memoirs, convinced she was going to die.
The Taliban sent her threats by text message: Quit now or we will kill you. Her children begged her to withdraw from the race; instead she smashed her cell phone.
For now, the middle-aged mother of seven is keeping her candidacy a secret in Kandahar. She hopes by the time elections roll around in September, this city will have changed so she can campaign, unless the insurgents find her first.
“I am hope things will improve. For now, I am scared from every place, from every person,” Ms. Hosala says, removing a billowing green burqa to reveal a face etched with worry over fears a white Toyota Corolla might have followed her to the guesthouse where the interview is conducted.
Those hopes, hemmed by raw fear, represent the current paradox of Kandahar city.
Optimism among officials
NATO has promised that by August, its surge of 30,000 American troops in the south, armed with a new counterinsurgency strategy and backed by an Afghan government that vows reform, will succeed in wrestling control of Kandahar city back from Taliban insurgents, just in time for parliamentary elections.
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Empowerment blooms for Afghans
Article Link
Barb Stegemann blends philanthropy and business savvy in her orange blossom perfume
By KINDA JAYOUSH, FreelanceMay 3, 2010 5:05 AM
Thanks to her business acumen, Barb Stegemann has managed to foster the production of orange blossoms instead of opium-producing poppies in Afghanistan, while at the same time empowering women in the war-damaged country.
Stegemann buys orange blossom oil from Afghans who pick flowers from orchards around Jalalabad. In Canada, the oil is turned into perfume and sold in high-end boutiques.
"I am an entrepreneur and a philanthropist at the same time," said Stegemann, who launched her perfume, Afghanistan Orange Blossom, in Ottawa in March.
"I do not believe in charity," she said. "I believe in the empowerment of women, men and children in a nation like Afghanistan.
"When I purchase the precious yet licit crops of orange oil from Afghanistan, I am encouraging these brave people not to be under the complete mercy of drug lords."
Stegemann grew up in Montreal but is based in Halifax now. She has taken this perfume to such prestigious stores as Mills Brothers in Halifax and the Noor Boutique in Toronto. Montreal's upscale Holt Renfrew chain is considering selling the scent. Her goal is to market it across North America.
A 50-millilitre bottle of the eau de parfum is $70. Its packaging features quotes from poets and political leaders.
"I am using the buying power of women in North America to empower women, men and children in Afghanistan," Stegemann said.
"For this season, I have already told them I will buy all their stock of rose oil.
More on link
Canada expanding Kandahar memorial to include American soldiers
Article Link
By: Murray Brewster, The Canadian Press 2/05/2010
It is a sign of unwavering respect, but also a sign of the times, and perhaps a sign of things to come.
The Canadian memorial to soldiers at Kandahar Airfield is about to undergo a major expansion, adding two wings to the existing structure to accommodate American soldiers who've been killed serving under Canadian command.
The white marble and black granite cenotaph has grown steadily over the years. It started in 2006 as a simple boulder where plaques of fallen soldiers were hung.
But as the casualties mounted with heartbreaking regularity, the tribute quickly outgrew its place and the current open-air vault was created.
Over the past year, 26 American soldiers serving under a Canadian commander have died in action, the vast majority through insidious homemade bombs and mines. There are three U.S. army battalions — a couple of thousand soldiers — under the direction of Task Force Kandahar.
U.S. casualties started to outpace Canadian losses late last year and that is before the summer fighting season and NATO's planned Kandahar offensive gets underway.
Brig.-Gen. Dan Menard, the commander of Canadian troops in Afghanistan, says the two countries have been fighting alongside each other here for months and the losses should be recognized, regardless of nationality.
"This memorial is extremely important for Canadians, but we want to make it a more all-inclusive," he said.
"When you look at this memorial, it is just not representative enough as far as I'm concerned. A lot of (U.S. soldiers) have paid the ultimate price and it's important that there's room here for them."
Plans for the additions were drawn up by the task force engineers. They expect the job to be finished with the help of local contractors by the end of June. Each of the 142 Canadian soldiers and two civilians killed since the Afghan war started are remembered with their pictures etched on to a black granite plate.
Menard said the same honour will be accorded to each of the American casualties.
More on link
Afghanistan vets at risk for homelessness: experts
Article Link
CTV.ca News Staff
Date: Sun. May. 2 2010 9:57 PM ET
As Canada prepares to withdraw from Afghanistan next year, veterans' advocates say they worry shell-shocked soldiers may end up without a home, like many of those who served before them.
Veterans accustomed to the rigid structure and unique culture of the military often find it difficult to adapt to civilian life -- a struggle that can lead them to the streets or the bush, experts say.
"Sometimes when people come back and they've experienced very traumatic experiences, if they don't have a good support network in place or they don't have advanced coping skills, they may end up falling through the cracks," Adrienne Alford-Burt, director of the Veterans Affairs Vancouver office, told CTV News.
It is unclear how many of the country's nearly 80,000 veterans are currently homeless.
In one Vancouver neighbourhood alone – the downtown eastside, Canada's poorest postal code – Veterans Affairs found 33 homeless veterans, as part of an outreach project launched last summer. All of them are men, mostly in their mid-30s.
That number has alarmed government officials. "I was thinking around 10 or 15, so the fact that we've seen 33 in such a small community is concerning," Alford-Burt said.
Canada's Veterans Ombudsman, retired Col. Pat Strogan, warns many more will end up on the streets once the Afghan mission wraps up.
"It's important that we get this safety net established to prevent them from becoming embedded in the homeless lifestyle," said Strogan, the first to hold the ombudsman position established in 2007.
A handful of projects have cropped up recently to help ex-soldiers find their feet once they return to Canada.
Among them is Cockrell House, a facility just outside Victoria, B.C., believed to be the nation's first homeless shelter for veterans.
The privately funded shelter opened in April. It presently houses six veterans, including some who served as far back as the Second World War. Organizers plan to welcome 11 residents by the end of the year.
Luke Carmichael lived in the bush until he heard about Cockrell House during a visit to a Legion.
More on link
Rising tide of insurgency looms as Kandahar election nears
Article Link
Sonia Verma
Kandahar, Afghanistan — From Monday's Globe and Mail Published on Sunday, May. 02, 2010 10:59PM EDT Last updated on Monday, May. 03, 2010 12:38AM EDT
On the same day Rangina Hosala decided to run as a candidate in Afghanistan’s upcoming parliamentary elections, she sat down at her kitchen table and wrote her memoirs, convinced she was going to die.
The Taliban sent her threats by text message: Quit now or we will kill you. Her children begged her to withdraw from the race; instead she smashed her cell phone.
For now, the middle-aged mother of seven is keeping her candidacy a secret in Kandahar. She hopes by the time elections roll around in September, this city will have changed so she can campaign, unless the insurgents find her first.
“I am hope things will improve. For now, I am scared from every place, from every person,” Ms. Hosala says, removing a billowing green burqa to reveal a face etched with worry over fears a white Toyota Corolla might have followed her to the guesthouse where the interview is conducted.
Those hopes, hemmed by raw fear, represent the current paradox of Kandahar city.
Optimism among officials
NATO has promised that by August, its surge of 30,000 American troops in the south, armed with a new counterinsurgency strategy and backed by an Afghan government that vows reform, will succeed in wrestling control of Kandahar city back from Taliban insurgents, just in time for parliamentary elections.
More on link
Empowerment blooms for Afghans
Article Link
Barb Stegemann blends philanthropy and business savvy in her orange blossom perfume
By KINDA JAYOUSH, FreelanceMay 3, 2010 5:05 AM
Thanks to her business acumen, Barb Stegemann has managed to foster the production of orange blossoms instead of opium-producing poppies in Afghanistan, while at the same time empowering women in the war-damaged country.
Stegemann buys orange blossom oil from Afghans who pick flowers from orchards around Jalalabad. In Canada, the oil is turned into perfume and sold in high-end boutiques.
"I am an entrepreneur and a philanthropist at the same time," said Stegemann, who launched her perfume, Afghanistan Orange Blossom, in Ottawa in March.
"I do not believe in charity," she said. "I believe in the empowerment of women, men and children in a nation like Afghanistan.
"When I purchase the precious yet licit crops of orange oil from Afghanistan, I am encouraging these brave people not to be under the complete mercy of drug lords."
Stegemann grew up in Montreal but is based in Halifax now. She has taken this perfume to such prestigious stores as Mills Brothers in Halifax and the Noor Boutique in Toronto. Montreal's upscale Holt Renfrew chain is considering selling the scent. Her goal is to market it across North America.
A 50-millilitre bottle of the eau de parfum is $70. Its packaging features quotes from poets and political leaders.
"I am using the buying power of women in North America to empower women, men and children in Afghanistan," Stegemann said.
"For this season, I have already told them I will buy all their stock of rose oil.
More on link
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 160
Afghan army not ready to lead big raid-U.S. officer
03 May 2010 23:01:26 GMT
Source: Reuters
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SGE6420D6.htm
* Commanders wanted Afghans to take charge of air assault
* Scrapped just weeks before war's biggest planned offensive
* "We're nowhere near the stage where they can lead"
By Jonathon Burch
KANDAHAR AIR FIELD, Afghanistan, May 4 (Reuters) - NATO commanders scrapped a helicopter assault by hundreds of U.S. and Afghan troops last week because the Afghans weren't able to take charge, a U.S. military officer familiar with the planning said. The decision to cancel the assault, designed to prepare the ground for the biggest offensive of the nearly nine-year-old war, has frustrated U.S. officers on the ground who say their local partners are not ready to lead.
"It wasn't Afghan enough ... approval was denied," a U.S. Army officer with knowledge of the plans told Reuters. "The implication is that the Afghans are in the lead. The bottom line is we're nowhere near the stage where they can be in the lead."
The assault in a rural part of Kandahar -- due to take place in March and repeatedly postponed -- would have been one of the biggest operations so far in the province, where U.S. troops are massing to carry out a major offensive beginning in June.
Its abrupt cancellation exposes limitations of the Afghan security forces and raises doubts over whether they are ready to start taking control of the country's security this year.
The U.S. officer, who asked not to be identified while discussing the cancelled operation, said approval for it had been blocked by a senior NATO commander in the south.
The commander, a general, stood up during a planning briefing and told the U.S. officers to come back once the Afghan army was in charge of the operation, he said.
PREPARING GROUND
The battalion-sized operation would have seen three companies from a U.S. Stryker Brigade and a company of Afghan soldiers launch a helicopter assault into a Taliban-controlled area to the west of Kandahar city. Their job would have been to prepare the district for the arrival of new troops for the summer offensive.
The operation was repeatedly postponed when officers met resistance from NATO commanders concerned that Afghan involvement was insufficient, the officer said. The plan was ditched altogether last Thursday.
Since taking command of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan last year, General Stanley McChrystal has pushed for increased partnering between foreign and Afghan forces, saying Afghans should take part in all operations. Increasingly, he has sought to give Afghans a lead role in planning and execution.
But military officers on the ground who work with Afghan soldiers on a daily basis say that while the Afghan army has made strides on the battlefield, it still lacks leadership and effective coordination with its foreign partners.
The rank-and-file Afghan troops slated to go on the cancelled air assault were capable enough but their leadership was not up to the task, the U.S. officer said.
"Tactically they are very good. They are excellent on patrol and under fire, what they lack is leadership and guidance," he said. "There is no higher level partnership between coalition forces and the Afghans. They expect us to start at the bottom and work up," he added.
The cancelled assault would have formed part of the "shaping operations" currently under way ahead of the major offensive that is being billed as the central objective of McChrystal's campaign plan to turn the tide in the war this year.
Over the next few months, the Kandahar operation will make use of the bulk of the 30,000 reinforcements pledged by President Barack Obama in December. It will directly involve more than 23,000 ground troops, including about 8,500 Americans, 3,000 Canadians and 12,000 Afghan soldiers and police.
U.S. commanders stress that Afghan police are expected to be in the lead throughout the campaign, which they hope will clear most Taliban fighters out of Kandahar city by August.
NATO leaders have said they are ready to start handing over security to Afghans in parts of the country at the end of this year, although they stress they will still act in a supportive role and the handover would be gradual.
The U.S. officer said the drive from the top to get Afghans more involved was affecting routine day-to-day operations, potentially putting the lives of soldiers and civilians at risk.
Operations such as route clearance patrols, where troops search for and clear roadside bombs known as improvised explosive devices (IEDs), were being called off because no Afghan troops were available at the time, he said.
"They have issued an edict from the top saying 100 percent of all route clearance patrols must be patrolled with Afghans. Sometimes Afghans aren't available and route clearance patrols are getting cancelled," he said.
"We normally find two to three IEDs on every patrol, IEDs that could potentially blow up and kill people if we hadn't got to them first."
03 May 2010 23:01:26 GMT
Source: Reuters
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SGE6420D6.htm
* Commanders wanted Afghans to take charge of air assault
* Scrapped just weeks before war's biggest planned offensive
* "We're nowhere near the stage where they can lead"
By Jonathon Burch
KANDAHAR AIR FIELD, Afghanistan, May 4 (Reuters) - NATO commanders scrapped a helicopter assault by hundreds of U.S. and Afghan troops last week because the Afghans weren't able to take charge, a U.S. military officer familiar with the planning said. The decision to cancel the assault, designed to prepare the ground for the biggest offensive of the nearly nine-year-old war, has frustrated U.S. officers on the ground who say their local partners are not ready to lead.
"It wasn't Afghan enough ... approval was denied," a U.S. Army officer with knowledge of the plans told Reuters. "The implication is that the Afghans are in the lead. The bottom line is we're nowhere near the stage where they can be in the lead."
The assault in a rural part of Kandahar -- due to take place in March and repeatedly postponed -- would have been one of the biggest operations so far in the province, where U.S. troops are massing to carry out a major offensive beginning in June.
Its abrupt cancellation exposes limitations of the Afghan security forces and raises doubts over whether they are ready to start taking control of the country's security this year.
The U.S. officer, who asked not to be identified while discussing the cancelled operation, said approval for it had been blocked by a senior NATO commander in the south.
The commander, a general, stood up during a planning briefing and told the U.S. officers to come back once the Afghan army was in charge of the operation, he said.
PREPARING GROUND
The battalion-sized operation would have seen three companies from a U.S. Stryker Brigade and a company of Afghan soldiers launch a helicopter assault into a Taliban-controlled area to the west of Kandahar city. Their job would have been to prepare the district for the arrival of new troops for the summer offensive.
The operation was repeatedly postponed when officers met resistance from NATO commanders concerned that Afghan involvement was insufficient, the officer said. The plan was ditched altogether last Thursday.
Since taking command of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan last year, General Stanley McChrystal has pushed for increased partnering between foreign and Afghan forces, saying Afghans should take part in all operations. Increasingly, he has sought to give Afghans a lead role in planning and execution.
But military officers on the ground who work with Afghan soldiers on a daily basis say that while the Afghan army has made strides on the battlefield, it still lacks leadership and effective coordination with its foreign partners.
The rank-and-file Afghan troops slated to go on the cancelled air assault were capable enough but their leadership was not up to the task, the U.S. officer said.
"Tactically they are very good. They are excellent on patrol and under fire, what they lack is leadership and guidance," he said. "There is no higher level partnership between coalition forces and the Afghans. They expect us to start at the bottom and work up," he added.
The cancelled assault would have formed part of the "shaping operations" currently under way ahead of the major offensive that is being billed as the central objective of McChrystal's campaign plan to turn the tide in the war this year.
Over the next few months, the Kandahar operation will make use of the bulk of the 30,000 reinforcements pledged by President Barack Obama in December. It will directly involve more than 23,000 ground troops, including about 8,500 Americans, 3,000 Canadians and 12,000 Afghan soldiers and police.
U.S. commanders stress that Afghan police are expected to be in the lead throughout the campaign, which they hope will clear most Taliban fighters out of Kandahar city by August.
NATO leaders have said they are ready to start handing over security to Afghans in parts of the country at the end of this year, although they stress they will still act in a supportive role and the handover would be gradual.
The U.S. officer said the drive from the top to get Afghans more involved was affecting routine day-to-day operations, potentially putting the lives of soldiers and civilians at risk.
Operations such as route clearance patrols, where troops search for and clear roadside bombs known as improvised explosive devices (IEDs), were being called off because no Afghan troops were available at the time, he said.
"They have issued an edict from the top saying 100 percent of all route clearance patrols must be patrolled with Afghans. Sometimes Afghans aren't available and route clearance patrols are getting cancelled," he said.
"We normally find two to three IEDs on every patrol, IEDs that could potentially blow up and kill people if we hadn't got to them first."
Articles found May 4, 2010
Kudos on Canadians' Approach in Afghanistan
Monday, May 03, 2010
Article Link
Buried in this piece on a contractor's blog out of Afghanistan, talking about how the U.S. military isn't optimally organized for the "build" phase following "taking" and "holding", is a little atta-boy for the approach of some Canadians re: monitoring development and reconstruction projects:
.... The future of war for the rest of our lifetimes will feature very little peer to peer wars pitting one state against another and a lot of what we see in Afghanistan which is battle in the daily context of everything else. The United States needs to develop the force structure to function in this kind of an environment and the proven solution would be to grow the Marine Corps (who has the mission of expeditionary warfare) and couple to them a contractor based organization which would be just like the old East India Company, but different. Different in the sense that it works directly for the Marine Corps as armed reconstruction implementers and project managers. The natural choice for the management side would be guys like me, retired Marines who are well known to the commanders and have to answer to those commanders for everything they do and fail to do. Just like they did on active duty. Project management of that nature coupled with implementers who work just like Team Canada is working now would make lines of authority and accountability clean, simple and efficient ....
Some earlier praise here:
On 24 February Panjawaii Tim was called to the Kandahar PRT to see if he could help mitigate the damage caused by flooding to the irrigation system of northern Kandahar Province. Knowing why he was going, he called the USAID official in Kabul who adminsters the cash for work program Tim and company are implementing to see if he could free up some cash for a massive emergency project. The AID official immediately gave him permission – to the credit of USAID they do work with incredible speed when they have a vehicle in place which is proving successful. Tim arrived at the PRT and was asked how soon he could get workers to clear 36 canals of an estimated 600,00 cubic meters of silt and debris. The conversation went something like this:
PRT SgtMaj (Canadian Army): ”When can you get started, eh?”
Tim: “Tomorrow, eh?”
SgtMaj: “No, Tim, I mean when can you really get started, eh?”
Tim: “Tomorrow SgtMaj no shit, eh?”
As promised Team Canada was on the job the next day. Yet they still had to deal with senior guys from other agencies who seemed to be upset by the speed at which they got a massive project off the ground. Every day Team Canada expats are out in the bad lands performing the time intensive task of monitoring and evaluation. As usual, they travel in local garb without armored vehicles or armed PSC escorts (PSC gunmen raise your profile, which increases risk for very little gain in security). They did not have to do this job, they are not paid more cash for taking this additional risk, they could have said no and saved themselves hundreds of man hours of additional work for which (I need to stress this point) they receive not one penny of additional compensation. Team Canada is comprised of mission-focused former Canadian soldiers who look upon these dangerous tasks as yet another opportunity to perform. That is what military men are raised to do – accomplish any and all assigned missions to the best of their ability. You would think for doing this they would receive at least a hearty handshake and an ata boy, not a ration of shit from senior bureaucrats who could not manage to do the same no matter how much time and money is thrown at them ....
Well done, whoever the heck "Team Canada" is, on the work you appear to be doing.
end
PASHMUL, Afghanistan – They call it The Green Hell.
Article Link
Not coincidentally, that’s also how the Russians used to describe Zhari district – the tangled, sometimes swampy, berm-laced patch of land northwest of Kandahar city.
The U.S. troops who now patrol Zhari’s perilous, bomb-sown grape fields and laneways have appropriated the nickname, and the irony is not lost on them.
Since taking over for Canadian troops, both in this volatile district and in Arghandab to the east, the Americans have suffered serious casualties – 19 dead and 51 wounded since early December. Nine Canadian soldiers and one civilian have died during the same stretch.
The U.S. deaths, which occurred under the command of a Canadian general, have largely gone unnoticed in Canada but they have caught the attention of worried NATO commanders as they prepare for an upcoming summer offensive in Kandahar.
The U.S. has a different reporting system for casualties, one that sees news of combat deaths released days after the incidents.
Looking back a full year to just before Canada took command of three U.S. battalions in its sector, the figures become even more startling: 26 U.S. combat deaths and 176 wounded since May 2009.
"It’s been a roller-coaster fight," said Capt. Duke Reim, the commander of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, which is near the end of a year-long tour.
Reim commands a combat outpost – a dusty burrow – known as JFM, an acronym of the first letters of the last names of three of their buddies killed in action last August.
The region is soaked in Canadian blood.
It is where the landmark battle Operation Medusa was fought almost four years ago; from the towers of this remote station, U.S. soldiers and their Afghan partners can see the hollowed remnants of compounds destroyed in those battles.
Ever since 2006, when Canadian casualties topped 36 dead, the country has nursed a sense that they were largely alone doing the fighting and dying in Kandahar. The Americans are now being bloodied in a big way.
More on link
Canadian soldiers help canine refugees
Article Link
Rebecca Dube
From Monday's Globe and Mail Published on Monday, May. 03, 2010 9:23AM EDT Last updated on Monday, May. 03, 2010 12:29PM EDT
The four-week-old puppy stumbled into the Canadian soldiers’ mess tent in Afghanistan, orphaned and malnourished.
The soldiers took pity on the tiny refugee and fed him their rations, which he gobbled so quickly that his stomach bloated, earning him the name “Guts.”
In short order the dog became the mascot of the remote outpost, greeting the soldiers when they returned from patrols and curling up on one of their cots every night.
But soon it was time for the troops to move on, and if Afghanistan is a tough place for people, it’s even bleaker for puppies. Dogs are generally used for protection or for fighting. Rabies and distemper run rampant, and stray dogs are commonly shot – the fate that befell Guts’s mother and litter-mates.
The soldier”s credo kicked in: Leave no man behind.
“They were putting dogs down at most of the camps. We couldn't let that happen and he was too small to fend for himself in the wild,” writes Private Geordon Roy-Hampton in an e-mail from Afghanistan.
Pte. Roy-Hampton, who had formed a strong bond with Guts, recalled hearing a rumour that there are ways to get dogs out of Afghanistan – for a price. After dozens of e-mails, he connected with Nowzad Dogs (www.nowzaddogs.co.uk), an organization dedicated to bringing soldiers’ dogs – and the occasional cat – home from Afghanistan and Iraq. With its help, Guts was transported to Kabul.
More on link
It's secrecy or death, army says
Article Link
By: David O’Brien 3/05/2010
Casual observers of the war in Afghanistan can be forgiven if they are under the impression Canadian troops have been having it easy this year, while their allies have been suffering numerous casualties. The number of Canadians wounded in action, as well as non-battle injuries, has not officially increased since the end of 2009, which would be a miracle if it were true.
In fact, based on the experience of previous years, an estimated 40 to 50 Canadians have been wounded in combat so far this year, while twice that number have suffered non-battle injuries caused mainly by accidents. The real numbers, however, are a military secret and they will not be disclosed until the end of the year.
The Canadian military decided about two years ago to withhold these statistics, updating them once a year only, because it "did not want to provide insurgents with a direct, incident-specific correlation to the impact of their actions," according to a statement from defence headquarters in Ottawa.
The information falls under the rubric of operational secrecy, the prime directive for reporters covering the war in Afghanistan. A lot of it makes sense. No responsible commander wants to advertise his capabilities, particularly sensitive subjects such as the ability to detect and disrupt mines and roadside bombs, or counter-measures to protect troops in armoured vehicles.
The long delay in reporting casualty numbers, however, is an example of caution carried to the point of absurdity. Among other things, it prevents Canadians from getting a proper sense of what the troops are doing, the risks they face and the tempo of fighting. The media have reported on campaigns that are billed as a big deal, but then... nothing. No numbers of wounded, enemy killed or injured, nothing. Maybe it was a big deal, maybe it was a waste of time.
It's not unusual for a Canadian journalist to arrive in Kandahar with only a vague impression of what's going on, and return home no wiser for the experience.
The best example of this obsession with secrecy surrounds Canada's special forces, particularly Joint Task Force 2, an elite group of commandos and counter-terrorism specialists. Just about everything involving their work is top secret, including their strength, current and past deployments and casualties. Again, some of it makes sense, but a lot does not.
Former lieutenant-colonel Pat Stogram, who led a battalion in Afghanistan in 2002, told the Toronto Star recently that JTF2 was secretive "to the point of being silly." The Star article was a rare expose of JTF2's work in Afghanistan at the end of 2001 following the American invasion.
The story was full of accounts of heroism and derring-do, but Brig.-Gen. Mike Day, a former member and commander of JTF2 who now leads all of Canada's special operations, told me in an interview from Ottawa he was upset with the article, even though it was about events that occurred nearly 10 years ago and there was no evidence it had put anyone at risk.
I suggested his response illustrated the view that the military is unduly secretive. He replied that he needed to weigh the media's desire to "satisfy your curiosity" against the moral duty to ensure the safety of his soldiers,
More on link
Kudos on Canadians' Approach in Afghanistan
Monday, May 03, 2010
Article Link
Buried in this piece on a contractor's blog out of Afghanistan, talking about how the U.S. military isn't optimally organized for the "build" phase following "taking" and "holding", is a little atta-boy for the approach of some Canadians re: monitoring development and reconstruction projects:
.... The future of war for the rest of our lifetimes will feature very little peer to peer wars pitting one state against another and a lot of what we see in Afghanistan which is battle in the daily context of everything else. The United States needs to develop the force structure to function in this kind of an environment and the proven solution would be to grow the Marine Corps (who has the mission of expeditionary warfare) and couple to them a contractor based organization which would be just like the old East India Company, but different. Different in the sense that it works directly for the Marine Corps as armed reconstruction implementers and project managers. The natural choice for the management side would be guys like me, retired Marines who are well known to the commanders and have to answer to those commanders for everything they do and fail to do. Just like they did on active duty. Project management of that nature coupled with implementers who work just like Team Canada is working now would make lines of authority and accountability clean, simple and efficient ....
Some earlier praise here:
On 24 February Panjawaii Tim was called to the Kandahar PRT to see if he could help mitigate the damage caused by flooding to the irrigation system of northern Kandahar Province. Knowing why he was going, he called the USAID official in Kabul who adminsters the cash for work program Tim and company are implementing to see if he could free up some cash for a massive emergency project. The AID official immediately gave him permission – to the credit of USAID they do work with incredible speed when they have a vehicle in place which is proving successful. Tim arrived at the PRT and was asked how soon he could get workers to clear 36 canals of an estimated 600,00 cubic meters of silt and debris. The conversation went something like this:
PRT SgtMaj (Canadian Army): ”When can you get started, eh?”
Tim: “Tomorrow, eh?”
SgtMaj: “No, Tim, I mean when can you really get started, eh?”
Tim: “Tomorrow SgtMaj no shit, eh?”
As promised Team Canada was on the job the next day. Yet they still had to deal with senior guys from other agencies who seemed to be upset by the speed at which they got a massive project off the ground. Every day Team Canada expats are out in the bad lands performing the time intensive task of monitoring and evaluation. As usual, they travel in local garb without armored vehicles or armed PSC escorts (PSC gunmen raise your profile, which increases risk for very little gain in security). They did not have to do this job, they are not paid more cash for taking this additional risk, they could have said no and saved themselves hundreds of man hours of additional work for which (I need to stress this point) they receive not one penny of additional compensation. Team Canada is comprised of mission-focused former Canadian soldiers who look upon these dangerous tasks as yet another opportunity to perform. That is what military men are raised to do – accomplish any and all assigned missions to the best of their ability. You would think for doing this they would receive at least a hearty handshake and an ata boy, not a ration of shit from senior bureaucrats who could not manage to do the same no matter how much time and money is thrown at them ....
Well done, whoever the heck "Team Canada" is, on the work you appear to be doing.
end
PASHMUL, Afghanistan – They call it The Green Hell.
Article Link
Not coincidentally, that’s also how the Russians used to describe Zhari district – the tangled, sometimes swampy, berm-laced patch of land northwest of Kandahar city.
The U.S. troops who now patrol Zhari’s perilous, bomb-sown grape fields and laneways have appropriated the nickname, and the irony is not lost on them.
Since taking over for Canadian troops, both in this volatile district and in Arghandab to the east, the Americans have suffered serious casualties – 19 dead and 51 wounded since early December. Nine Canadian soldiers and one civilian have died during the same stretch.
The U.S. deaths, which occurred under the command of a Canadian general, have largely gone unnoticed in Canada but they have caught the attention of worried NATO commanders as they prepare for an upcoming summer offensive in Kandahar.
The U.S. has a different reporting system for casualties, one that sees news of combat deaths released days after the incidents.
Looking back a full year to just before Canada took command of three U.S. battalions in its sector, the figures become even more startling: 26 U.S. combat deaths and 176 wounded since May 2009.
"It’s been a roller-coaster fight," said Capt. Duke Reim, the commander of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, which is near the end of a year-long tour.
Reim commands a combat outpost – a dusty burrow – known as JFM, an acronym of the first letters of the last names of three of their buddies killed in action last August.
The region is soaked in Canadian blood.
It is where the landmark battle Operation Medusa was fought almost four years ago; from the towers of this remote station, U.S. soldiers and their Afghan partners can see the hollowed remnants of compounds destroyed in those battles.
Ever since 2006, when Canadian casualties topped 36 dead, the country has nursed a sense that they were largely alone doing the fighting and dying in Kandahar. The Americans are now being bloodied in a big way.
More on link
Canadian soldiers help canine refugees
Article Link
Rebecca Dube
From Monday's Globe and Mail Published on Monday, May. 03, 2010 9:23AM EDT Last updated on Monday, May. 03, 2010 12:29PM EDT
The four-week-old puppy stumbled into the Canadian soldiers’ mess tent in Afghanistan, orphaned and malnourished.
The soldiers took pity on the tiny refugee and fed him their rations, which he gobbled so quickly that his stomach bloated, earning him the name “Guts.”
In short order the dog became the mascot of the remote outpost, greeting the soldiers when they returned from patrols and curling up on one of their cots every night.
But soon it was time for the troops to move on, and if Afghanistan is a tough place for people, it’s even bleaker for puppies. Dogs are generally used for protection or for fighting. Rabies and distemper run rampant, and stray dogs are commonly shot – the fate that befell Guts’s mother and litter-mates.
The soldier”s credo kicked in: Leave no man behind.
“They were putting dogs down at most of the camps. We couldn't let that happen and he was too small to fend for himself in the wild,” writes Private Geordon Roy-Hampton in an e-mail from Afghanistan.
Pte. Roy-Hampton, who had formed a strong bond with Guts, recalled hearing a rumour that there are ways to get dogs out of Afghanistan – for a price. After dozens of e-mails, he connected with Nowzad Dogs (www.nowzaddogs.co.uk), an organization dedicated to bringing soldiers’ dogs – and the occasional cat – home from Afghanistan and Iraq. With its help, Guts was transported to Kabul.
More on link
It's secrecy or death, army says
Article Link
By: David O’Brien 3/05/2010
Casual observers of the war in Afghanistan can be forgiven if they are under the impression Canadian troops have been having it easy this year, while their allies have been suffering numerous casualties. The number of Canadians wounded in action, as well as non-battle injuries, has not officially increased since the end of 2009, which would be a miracle if it were true.
In fact, based on the experience of previous years, an estimated 40 to 50 Canadians have been wounded in combat so far this year, while twice that number have suffered non-battle injuries caused mainly by accidents. The real numbers, however, are a military secret and they will not be disclosed until the end of the year.
The Canadian military decided about two years ago to withhold these statistics, updating them once a year only, because it "did not want to provide insurgents with a direct, incident-specific correlation to the impact of their actions," according to a statement from defence headquarters in Ottawa.
The information falls under the rubric of operational secrecy, the prime directive for reporters covering the war in Afghanistan. A lot of it makes sense. No responsible commander wants to advertise his capabilities, particularly sensitive subjects such as the ability to detect and disrupt mines and roadside bombs, or counter-measures to protect troops in armoured vehicles.
The long delay in reporting casualty numbers, however, is an example of caution carried to the point of absurdity. Among other things, it prevents Canadians from getting a proper sense of what the troops are doing, the risks they face and the tempo of fighting. The media have reported on campaigns that are billed as a big deal, but then... nothing. No numbers of wounded, enemy killed or injured, nothing. Maybe it was a big deal, maybe it was a waste of time.
It's not unusual for a Canadian journalist to arrive in Kandahar with only a vague impression of what's going on, and return home no wiser for the experience.
The best example of this obsession with secrecy surrounds Canada's special forces, particularly Joint Task Force 2, an elite group of commandos and counter-terrorism specialists. Just about everything involving their work is top secret, including their strength, current and past deployments and casualties. Again, some of it makes sense, but a lot does not.
Former lieutenant-colonel Pat Stogram, who led a battalion in Afghanistan in 2002, told the Toronto Star recently that JTF2 was secretive "to the point of being silly." The Star article was a rare expose of JTF2's work in Afghanistan at the end of 2001 following the American invasion.
The story was full of accounts of heroism and derring-do, but Brig.-Gen. Mike Day, a former member and commander of JTF2 who now leads all of Canada's special operations, told me in an interview from Ottawa he was upset with the article, even though it was about events that occurred nearly 10 years ago and there was no evidence it had put anyone at risk.
I suggested his response illustrated the view that the military is unduly secretive. He replied that he needed to weigh the media's desire to "satisfy your curiosity" against the moral duty to ensure the safety of his soldiers,
More on link
- Reaction score
- 147
- Points
- 710
U.S. to Send Trainers to Afghanistan as Stopgap
NY Times, May 3
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/world/asia/04trainers.html?ref=todayspaper
Mark
Ottawa
NY Times, May 3
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/world/asia/04trainers.html?ref=todayspaper
Mark
Ottawa
- Reaction score
- 147
- Points
- 710
ARTICLES FOUND MAY 5
U.S. scraps assault due to weak Afghan partnership
Reuters, May 4
http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE6425RL20100504?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0
Mark
Ottawa
U.S. scraps assault due to weak Afghan partnership
Reuters, May 4
http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE6425RL20100504?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0
Mark
Ottawa
Articles found May 5, 2010
Bomb teams grapple with unseen enemy
Article Link
By South Asia correspondent Sally Sara in Kandahar
Updated Wed May 5, 2010 9:22am AEST
Australian and other coalition forces operating in Afghanistan know their lives depend on keeping their eyes peeled for IEDs - the explosive devices that have claimed the lives and limbs of so many soldiers.
One of the most dangerous spots is around the southern city of Kandahar. There, the bomb disposal teams play a constant game of cat and mouse with Taliban bombmakers targeting civilians and security forces.
Here, a small Canadian unit has the job of finding and defusing the deadly bombs laid by the Taliban.
Warrant Officer Kris Dlouhy says the shadowy nature of the enemy can be frustrating for troops who want to fight back.
"You have to keep going, you have to persevere and it's just the way that it is. You cannot allow that to set you back because once you've done that, they win," he said.
Warrant Officer Dlouhy knows just how deadly IEDS can be. He wears a wrist band to remember one of his best mates, who was killed in an IED blast.
"He was on his last patrol. He had a week left in theatre. He struck an IED coming back in and I've worn this every day on this tour to remind me and to motivate me to do the job that I do," he said.
The members of the counter-IED unit use a bomb disposal robot, but often they have to defuse the explosives by hand.
The soldiers wear a bomb suit that weighs almost 40 kilograms. It is so hot and heavy that they can only work in it for up to 15 minutes during the peak of the Afghan summer.
Petty Officer Yves Clement says it is one of the most dangerous but rewarding jobs in the military.
"It's rewarding not only for myself [but also] as a team, because it's always a team effort," he said.
More on link
Bomb teams grapple with unseen enemy
Article Link
By South Asia correspondent Sally Sara in Kandahar
Updated Wed May 5, 2010 9:22am AEST
Australian and other coalition forces operating in Afghanistan know their lives depend on keeping their eyes peeled for IEDs - the explosive devices that have claimed the lives and limbs of so many soldiers.
One of the most dangerous spots is around the southern city of Kandahar. There, the bomb disposal teams play a constant game of cat and mouse with Taliban bombmakers targeting civilians and security forces.
Here, a small Canadian unit has the job of finding and defusing the deadly bombs laid by the Taliban.
Warrant Officer Kris Dlouhy says the shadowy nature of the enemy can be frustrating for troops who want to fight back.
"You have to keep going, you have to persevere and it's just the way that it is. You cannot allow that to set you back because once you've done that, they win," he said.
Warrant Officer Dlouhy knows just how deadly IEDS can be. He wears a wrist band to remember one of his best mates, who was killed in an IED blast.
"He was on his last patrol. He had a week left in theatre. He struck an IED coming back in and I've worn this every day on this tour to remind me and to motivate me to do the job that I do," he said.
The members of the counter-IED unit use a bomb disposal robot, but often they have to defuse the explosives by hand.
The soldiers wear a bomb suit that weighs almost 40 kilograms. It is so hot and heavy that they can only work in it for up to 15 minutes during the peak of the Afghan summer.
Petty Officer Yves Clement says it is one of the most dangerous but rewarding jobs in the military.
"It's rewarding not only for myself [but also] as a team, because it's always a team effort," he said.
More on link
- Reaction score
- 147
- Points
- 710
Afghan mission now about supporting local forces
Toronto Star, May 5
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/804734--afghan-mission-now-about-supporting-local-forces
Mark
Ottawa
Toronto Star, May 5
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/804734--afghan-mission-now-about-supporting-local-forces
Mark
Ottawa
- Reaction score
- 147
- Points
- 710
ARTICLES FOUND MAY 6
Kandahar Deployments Augur Key Fight in Afghan War
WS Journal, May 6
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704866204575224543809280642.html
Mark
Ottawa
Kandahar Deployments Augur Key Fight in Afghan War
WS Journal, May 6
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704866204575224543809280642.html
Mark
Ottawa
Articles found May 6, 2010
CIA drones have broader list of targets
The agency since 2008 has been secretly allowed to kill unnamed suspects in Pakistan.
Article Link
By David S. Cloud, Los Angeles Times May 5, 2010
The CIA received secret permission to attack a wider range of targets, including suspected militants whose names are not known, as part of a dramatic expansion of its campaign of drone strikes in Pakistan's border region, according to current and former counter-terrorism officials.
The expanded authority, approved two years ago by the Bush administration and continued by President Obama, permits the agency to rely on what officials describe as "pattern of life" analysis, using evidence collected by surveillance cameras on the unmanned aircraft and from other sources about individuals and locations.
The information then is used to target suspected militants, even when their full identities are not known, the officials said. Previously, the CIA was restricted in most cases to killing only individuals whose names were on an approved list.
The new rules have transformed the program from a narrow effort aimed at killing top Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders into a large-scale campaign of airstrikes in which few militants are off-limits, as long as they are deemed to pose a threat to the U.S., the officials said.
Instead of just a few dozen attacks per year, CIA-operated unmanned aircraft now carry out multiple missile strikes each week against safe houses, training camps and other hiding places used by militants in the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.
As a matter of policy, CIA officials refuse to comment on the covert drone program. Those who are willing to discuss it on condition of anonymity refuse to describe in detail the standards of evidence they use for drone strikes, saying only that strict procedures are in place to ensure that militants are being targeted. But officials say their surveillance yields so much detail that they can watch for the routine arrival of particular vehicles or the characteristics of individual people.
"The enemy has lost not just operational leaders and facilitators — people whose names we know — but formations of fighters and other terrorists," said a senior U.S. counter-terrorism official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We might not always have their names, but ... these are people whose actions over time have made it obvious that they are a threat."
In some cases, drones conduct surveillance for days to establish the evidence that justifies firing a missile, the officials said. Even then, a strike can be delayed or canceled if the chance of civilian casualties is too great, they said.
But some analysts said that permitting the CIA to kill individuals whose names are unknown creates a serious risk of killing innocent people. Civilian deaths caused by Western arms is a source of deep anger in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
More on link
Suicide bombers, gunmen attack Afghan governor's compound
Thirteen people, including the nine assailants, are killed as security forces fend off the assault in Nimruz province, officials say.
By Laura King, Los Angeles Times May 6, 2010
Article Link
A squad of suicide bombers and gunmen on Wednesday stormed a provincial governor's compound in southwestern Afghanistan, setting off a fierce gun battle. Security forces managed to fight off the attackers, but 13 people died, including all nine assailants, officials said.
A squad of suicide bombers and gunmen on Wednesday stormed a provincial governor's compound in southwestern Afghanistan, setting off a fierce gun battle. Security forces managed to fight off the attackers, but 13 people died, including all nine assailants, officials said.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault in Zaranj, the capital of Nimruz province. The attackers wore police uniforms, a tactic commonly used by insurgents to cause initial confusion when striking government buildings and security installations.
A female provincial council member, two police officers and another civilian were among those killed in the assault, said Gen. Jabar Purdili, the police chief of Nimruz. About a dozen people were reported to have been wounded in the attack on the heavily guarded compound, which came as the provincial council was holding a meeting.
Nimruz shares a border with Helmand province, where some of the heaviest fighting of the nearly 9-year-old Afghan conflict has taken place in recent months.
Complex, coordinated attacks on government installations have become more common as an emboldened insurgency has braced for an expected confrontation with North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces this summer in Kandahar province, the hub of Afghanistan's south.
More on link
CIA drones have broader list of targets
The agency since 2008 has been secretly allowed to kill unnamed suspects in Pakistan.
Article Link
By David S. Cloud, Los Angeles Times May 5, 2010
The CIA received secret permission to attack a wider range of targets, including suspected militants whose names are not known, as part of a dramatic expansion of its campaign of drone strikes in Pakistan's border region, according to current and former counter-terrorism officials.
The expanded authority, approved two years ago by the Bush administration and continued by President Obama, permits the agency to rely on what officials describe as "pattern of life" analysis, using evidence collected by surveillance cameras on the unmanned aircraft and from other sources about individuals and locations.
The information then is used to target suspected militants, even when their full identities are not known, the officials said. Previously, the CIA was restricted in most cases to killing only individuals whose names were on an approved list.
The new rules have transformed the program from a narrow effort aimed at killing top Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders into a large-scale campaign of airstrikes in which few militants are off-limits, as long as they are deemed to pose a threat to the U.S., the officials said.
Instead of just a few dozen attacks per year, CIA-operated unmanned aircraft now carry out multiple missile strikes each week against safe houses, training camps and other hiding places used by militants in the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.
As a matter of policy, CIA officials refuse to comment on the covert drone program. Those who are willing to discuss it on condition of anonymity refuse to describe in detail the standards of evidence they use for drone strikes, saying only that strict procedures are in place to ensure that militants are being targeted. But officials say their surveillance yields so much detail that they can watch for the routine arrival of particular vehicles or the characteristics of individual people.
"The enemy has lost not just operational leaders and facilitators — people whose names we know — but formations of fighters and other terrorists," said a senior U.S. counter-terrorism official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We might not always have their names, but ... these are people whose actions over time have made it obvious that they are a threat."
In some cases, drones conduct surveillance for days to establish the evidence that justifies firing a missile, the officials said. Even then, a strike can be delayed or canceled if the chance of civilian casualties is too great, they said.
But some analysts said that permitting the CIA to kill individuals whose names are unknown creates a serious risk of killing innocent people. Civilian deaths caused by Western arms is a source of deep anger in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
More on link
Suicide bombers, gunmen attack Afghan governor's compound
Thirteen people, including the nine assailants, are killed as security forces fend off the assault in Nimruz province, officials say.
By Laura King, Los Angeles Times May 6, 2010
Article Link
A squad of suicide bombers and gunmen on Wednesday stormed a provincial governor's compound in southwestern Afghanistan, setting off a fierce gun battle. Security forces managed to fight off the attackers, but 13 people died, including all nine assailants, officials said.
A squad of suicide bombers and gunmen on Wednesday stormed a provincial governor's compound in southwestern Afghanistan, setting off a fierce gun battle. Security forces managed to fight off the attackers, but 13 people died, including all nine assailants, officials said.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault in Zaranj, the capital of Nimruz province. The attackers wore police uniforms, a tactic commonly used by insurgents to cause initial confusion when striking government buildings and security installations.
A female provincial council member, two police officers and another civilian were among those killed in the assault, said Gen. Jabar Purdili, the police chief of Nimruz. About a dozen people were reported to have been wounded in the attack on the heavily guarded compound, which came as the provincial council was holding a meeting.
Nimruz shares a border with Helmand province, where some of the heaviest fighting of the nearly 9-year-old Afghan conflict has taken place in recent months.
Complex, coordinated attacks on government installations have become more common as an emboldened insurgency has braced for an expected confrontation with North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces this summer in Kandahar province, the hub of Afghanistan's south.
More on link
Articles found May 7, 2010
Nato gambles on collaboration with Ahmad Wali Karzai in Kandahar
Article Link
May 7, 2010
Nato has taken one of the biggest gambles of its mission in Afghanistan by reluctantly deciding to collaborate with Ahmad Wali Karzai, the notorious power-broker of Kandahar — despite allegations that the half-brother of the President is involved in the drugs trade.
The decision comes as Nato planners continue preparations for their next big push against the Taleban in Kandahar and as the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, prepares to depart for Washington, where he is expected to meet President Obama next week.
Senior coalition officers would prefer to see the back of Wali Karzai but they have come to the conclusion that their only option is to work with him. They are trying, in the words of one officer, to “remodel” a man accused of running a private fiefdom in the south.
On Saturday Wali Karzai held a meeting with the US Central Command commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus; the latest in a series of contacts designed to rehabilitate and influence the activities of the chairman of Kandahar’s provincial council.
“The plan is to incorporate him, to shape him. Unless you eliminate him, you have to [do this],” said a senior coalition official involved in planning what is viewed as this summer’s make-or-break military operation in Kandahar. “You can’t ignore him,” he added. “He’s the proverbial 800lb gorilla and he’s in the middle of a lot of rooms. He’s the mafia don, the family fixer, the troubleshooter.”
Although the meeting with General Petraeus was described as friendly, insiders say that the American commander reminded Wali Karzai of a number of key areas, including the appointments of local district and police chiefs, that he was encouraged not to interfere with.
More on link
Dutch Afghan experience a lesson for Harper?
You can't leave trainers behind without combat troops, Dutch PM says
Article Link
Dutch Prime Minister Jan Pieter Balkenende has offered some telling advice to Ottawa as Canada prepares to pull its soldiers from Afghanistan — you can't do training without troops.
The Netherlands is poised to withdraw a force of about 2,000 from Afghanistan's Uruzgan province, starting this summer, and is debating what to do next.
“At this moment there is some room for talking about a police training mission. Of course these trainers must be accompanied by people who will protect them,” Balkenende said.
That, too, has emerged as one possibility for Canada's future role – with a caveat. Stephen Harper's Conservatives have bluntly said all soldiers will be brought home next year, leaving behind a civilian mission, likely to take on development, perhaps a training mission.
Harper drove home that point Thursday here as he all but ruled out a parliamentary debate on Canada's future in Afghanistan, saying the new “civilian” mission doesn't need to be discussed in the Commons.
“Our plan is for Canada's military mission to end next year, and we will be pursuing a humanitarian and development and governance mission after that,” Harper told reporters.
But if a training mission is in the cards, Christa Meindersma cautions against any notions it would imply an end to fighting — or that it can be done without having soldiers on the ground.
More on link
Tweed reception makes soldier 'proud to be a Canadian'
Posted By Janet Richards Updated 22 hours ago
Article Link
weed – It's become a rite of passage for Canadian troops on their way to war overseas: They stop in Tweed en route from Petawawa to CFB Trenton for deployment to Afghanistan and there waiting for them are young and old eager to show their support.
Reeve Jo-Anne Albert has described the stopovers as very emotional.
Continuing a tradition begun almost two years ago residents, schoolchildren and veterans took time to greet three buses of troops Wednesday.
The troops made a brief visit at Tim Hortons where each was given a gift card and then headed over to the legion.
Students from St. Carthagh's Catholic School walked to the coffee shop to show their support, while students from S.H. Connor and Tweed-Hungerford Senior School greeted the soldiers at the Tweed Legion.
Five-year old Landon Wright was in a line greeting troops outside Tim Hortons.
"I shake their hand and wave my flag," Landon said.
His mother Lindsay said it was the fifth time she had come out to greet the soldiers.
More on link
Scholar doubts soldiers could be convicted in detainee transfer
By Juliet O'Neill, Canwest News Service May 6, 2010
Article Link
Canadian military commanders could not be successfully prosecuted under Canadian criminal law for "aiding and abetting" the torture of Afghan detainees unless it were proved they intentionally handed them over to Afghan custody to be mistreated, legal scholar Craig Forcese told the Military Police Complaints Commission Thursday.
Commanders would not only have to know the detainees would be tortured by Afghan authorities but would have to want them to be tortured, the University of Ottawa law professor testified.
"In domestic law they need knowledge and intent," he said, adding that he has seen nothing on the public record suggesting Canadians purposely transferred detainees to be tortured.
The Geneva Conventions Act also could not be plausibly invoked against the Canadian transfer of detainees to a risk of torture by Afghan authorities because that law applies only to international conflicts, he said. The situation in Afghanistan, where Canada is among dozens of NATO countries with forces on the ground, is generally not regarded as an international conflict by governments and legal bodies around the world.
Forcese testified he believes there is "a plausible basis" for invoking Canada's rarely used 1998 Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, which might be breached if there is evidence that "commanders transferred in knowledge that torture was probable." But Forcese suggested prosecution is a long shot and conceded a conviction is "totally uncertain."
More on link
Nato gambles on collaboration with Ahmad Wali Karzai in Kandahar
Article Link
May 7, 2010
Nato has taken one of the biggest gambles of its mission in Afghanistan by reluctantly deciding to collaborate with Ahmad Wali Karzai, the notorious power-broker of Kandahar — despite allegations that the half-brother of the President is involved in the drugs trade.
The decision comes as Nato planners continue preparations for their next big push against the Taleban in Kandahar and as the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, prepares to depart for Washington, where he is expected to meet President Obama next week.
Senior coalition officers would prefer to see the back of Wali Karzai but they have come to the conclusion that their only option is to work with him. They are trying, in the words of one officer, to “remodel” a man accused of running a private fiefdom in the south.
On Saturday Wali Karzai held a meeting with the US Central Command commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus; the latest in a series of contacts designed to rehabilitate and influence the activities of the chairman of Kandahar’s provincial council.
“The plan is to incorporate him, to shape him. Unless you eliminate him, you have to [do this],” said a senior coalition official involved in planning what is viewed as this summer’s make-or-break military operation in Kandahar. “You can’t ignore him,” he added. “He’s the proverbial 800lb gorilla and he’s in the middle of a lot of rooms. He’s the mafia don, the family fixer, the troubleshooter.”
Although the meeting with General Petraeus was described as friendly, insiders say that the American commander reminded Wali Karzai of a number of key areas, including the appointments of local district and police chiefs, that he was encouraged not to interfere with.
More on link
Dutch Afghan experience a lesson for Harper?
You can't leave trainers behind without combat troops, Dutch PM says
Article Link
Dutch Prime Minister Jan Pieter Balkenende has offered some telling advice to Ottawa as Canada prepares to pull its soldiers from Afghanistan — you can't do training without troops.
The Netherlands is poised to withdraw a force of about 2,000 from Afghanistan's Uruzgan province, starting this summer, and is debating what to do next.
“At this moment there is some room for talking about a police training mission. Of course these trainers must be accompanied by people who will protect them,” Balkenende said.
That, too, has emerged as one possibility for Canada's future role – with a caveat. Stephen Harper's Conservatives have bluntly said all soldiers will be brought home next year, leaving behind a civilian mission, likely to take on development, perhaps a training mission.
Harper drove home that point Thursday here as he all but ruled out a parliamentary debate on Canada's future in Afghanistan, saying the new “civilian” mission doesn't need to be discussed in the Commons.
“Our plan is for Canada's military mission to end next year, and we will be pursuing a humanitarian and development and governance mission after that,” Harper told reporters.
But if a training mission is in the cards, Christa Meindersma cautions against any notions it would imply an end to fighting — or that it can be done without having soldiers on the ground.
More on link
Tweed reception makes soldier 'proud to be a Canadian'
Posted By Janet Richards Updated 22 hours ago
Article Link
weed – It's become a rite of passage for Canadian troops on their way to war overseas: They stop in Tweed en route from Petawawa to CFB Trenton for deployment to Afghanistan and there waiting for them are young and old eager to show their support.
Reeve Jo-Anne Albert has described the stopovers as very emotional.
Continuing a tradition begun almost two years ago residents, schoolchildren and veterans took time to greet three buses of troops Wednesday.
The troops made a brief visit at Tim Hortons where each was given a gift card and then headed over to the legion.
Students from St. Carthagh's Catholic School walked to the coffee shop to show their support, while students from S.H. Connor and Tweed-Hungerford Senior School greeted the soldiers at the Tweed Legion.
Five-year old Landon Wright was in a line greeting troops outside Tim Hortons.
"I shake their hand and wave my flag," Landon said.
His mother Lindsay said it was the fifth time she had come out to greet the soldiers.
More on link
Scholar doubts soldiers could be convicted in detainee transfer
By Juliet O'Neill, Canwest News Service May 6, 2010
Article Link
Canadian military commanders could not be successfully prosecuted under Canadian criminal law for "aiding and abetting" the torture of Afghan detainees unless it were proved they intentionally handed them over to Afghan custody to be mistreated, legal scholar Craig Forcese told the Military Police Complaints Commission Thursday.
Commanders would not only have to know the detainees would be tortured by Afghan authorities but would have to want them to be tortured, the University of Ottawa law professor testified.
"In domestic law they need knowledge and intent," he said, adding that he has seen nothing on the public record suggesting Canadians purposely transferred detainees to be tortured.
The Geneva Conventions Act also could not be plausibly invoked against the Canadian transfer of detainees to a risk of torture by Afghan authorities because that law applies only to international conflicts, he said. The situation in Afghanistan, where Canada is among dozens of NATO countries with forces on the ground, is generally not regarded as an international conflict by governments and legal bodies around the world.
Forcese testified he believes there is "a plausible basis" for invoking Canada's rarely used 1998 Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, which might be breached if there is evidence that "commanders transferred in knowledge that torture was probable." But Forcese suggested prosecution is a long shot and conceded a conviction is "totally uncertain."
More on link
- Reaction score
- 147
- Points
- 710
"Slow But Steady Progress" - General McC
Conference of Defence Associations' media round-up, May 7
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1273249480/0#0
Mark
Ottawa
Conference of Defence Associations' media round-up, May 7
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1273249480/0#0
Mark
Ottawa
- Reaction score
- 8,027
- Points
- 1,360
And which other MSM outlets have picked this up so far?GAP said:
>>insert crickets chirping here<<
Articles found May 8, 2010
Statement by the President of the Board of Inquiry Into the June 2006 Afghanistan Detainee Incident
Article Link
May 07, 2010 14:46 ET
OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - May 7, 2010) - Thank you all for being here today. Before I begin I would like to introduce the members of my Board, Colonel Bruce Ploughman from 12 Wing Shearwater and Colonel Michael Pearson, Commander of 3 Area Support Group in Gagetown. Both of these officers are superb and highly respected leaders, and both brought great energy, intellect and experience to the Board, for which I am very grateful. Thank you.
On December 9, 2009 Gen Natynczyk the Chief of Defence Staff publicly raised concerns over inconsistencies in statements that had been made related to a detainee incident that occurred on 14 June 2006 in southern Afghanistan. At that time he directed that a BOI be conducted with a mandate to clarify the events around the mistreatment of an Afghan male who had been in CF custody, who had then been handed over to Afghan authorities, and then taken back by CF personnel.
The CDS, as does the entire leadership of the Canadian Forces, places great emphasis on the transparent, honest and expeditious reporting of actions involving your soldiers, sailors and airmen and women, especially when those actions pertain to the treatment of detainees.
The BOI was formally convened by VAdm Rouleau, the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff on 20 January 2010, with a deadline for the Board's findings to be submitted 1 March. The Board, supported by a team of six dedicated subject matter experts and a very hardworking administrative staff, began our work in Halifax the following day. We quickly mapped out a plan of investigation, built a witness list, began collecting documentary evidence, and commenced taking sworn evidence 27 January. Most interviews occurred in Halifax, however we did spend a week in Ottawa seeing witnesses here. We also took some testimony via secure video conference from witnesses who were deployed with Op Podium in operations supporting the Vancouver Olympics.
In total, the Board interviewed 30 witnesses, reviewed about 500 documents and delivered a comprehensive report to the Vice Chief on March 3rd – five weeks after we were officially convened. We are pleased to be here in front of you all today to summarize our findings and to answer any questions you may have.
The Board was tasked to describe the specific details of the 14 June incident, to identify the reports that were submitted pertaining to the 14 June incident, to identify the process for reporting detainees in Afghanistan in 2006, and to determine to what a soldier was referring when he wrote that the Afghan male had been assaulted by Afghan police "as it happened in the past".
I think it is important to emphasize at the outset that these events took place nearly four years ago. As you would expect, the CF organizations and processes that are in place now at the tactical level in Afghanistan and at the operational level here in Ottawa are much improved over those that were in effect when the mission began. These improvements reflect a constant drive by successive leaders at all levels of the chain of command to identify best practices in the field, and to apply lessons learned, always with a view to protecting our soldiers, and to training and when necessary fighting alongside Afghan security forces, in accordance with the Laws of Armed Conflict.
More on link
Siddiqui: Afghan mission has become incoherent
Article Link
You may disagree with Stephen Harper’s warfare with Parliament to keep Afghan detainee documents secret. But there’s some logic to it.
The papers may implicate our army, diplomats and/or allies. Or blow holes in the Conservative defence that it did not preside over any actions in violation of the Geneva Conventions, which make it a war crime to knowingly hand detainees over for torture.
You may also disagree with Harper’s refusal to hold a parliamentary debate on what Canada should do in Afghanistan after our July 2011 deadline for military withdrawal. But there’s logic to that as well.
Harper does not want MPs reminding Canadians that he has changed his Afghan policy. After famously posing for the cameras in a military vest in 2006 and pledging that Canada would never cut and run, that’s precisely what he plans to do next year. He wants Canada to undertake only civilian and humanitarian duties. He won’t countenance any role for the military except training Afghan troops and police, even though said training cannot be done without leading the trainees into combat. He just does not want to go into an election this year or next with Afghanistan as a campaign issue, especially with his own caucus divided on it.
That makes perfect sense from his partisan perspective.
However, there’s little logic left in Canada’s military mission in Afghanistan. That’s because the NATO mission itself has become incoherent.
Initially it went awry under George W. Bush. But Barack Obama was not going to become the first president to admit defeat in war, so he opted for the contradictory goals of a military surge and a military withdrawal.
“We must win in Afghanistan.” Yet “America has no interest in fighting an endless war.” But how do you win by telling the enemy to just wait you out?
You settle for a limited goal: “We must deny Al Qaeda safe haven. We must reverse the Taliban’s momentum and deny it the ability to overthrow the government in Kabul.”
Your aim is not to win but rather not to lose.
More on link
Travers: Abu Ghraib photos frame Afghanistan prisoner problem
Canadian decisions took root on a fine spring day in the Oval Office
Article Link
Canada's predicament with Afghanistan prisoners burst into full, awful bloom on a 2004 spring day in Washington. At the White House, George W. Bush, in distraught denial over Abu Ghraib torture photos, raised a rhetorical doubt with his Secretary of State and Canada's visiting foreign minister. “Real Americans,” the president insisted, would never do anything so horrifying.
For Colin Powell, urgently summoned to the Oval Office that morning along with Canadian counterpart Bill Graham, the point was moot. Powell immediately understood that U.S. soldiers were responsible for physically abusing and sexually humiliating Iraqi prisoners.
Graham's reaction was different, if just as swift. He instantly grasped that public outrage at home would make it impossible to transfer Afghanistan prisoners to Canada's closest ally.
Graham's conclusion was steeped in more than a keen professional interest in humanitarian law. Along with widespread concern about was happening at Cuba's Guantanamo Bay prison, Graham's thinking was influenced by two memories, one military, one political. At defence headquarters, scars were still fading from the beating death of Somali teenager Shidane Arone, a grotesque murder that rogue Airborne soldiers, like the Americans at Abu Ghraib, captured in trophy snapshots. On Parliament Hill, Art Eggleton's 2002 failure to warn Jean Chrétien that Canadian JTF2 special forces had transferred prisoners to the U.S., and presumably to Guantanamo, was still remembered as a seminal lesson on how to cripple a cabinet career.
Witnesses at a military police inquiry and parliamentary committee put varying weight on how those factors contributed to the culture at the centre of the continuing Afghan prisoner controversy. Sometime between Somalia and Kandahar the military concluded that the best way to manage PoWs was to wash Canada's hands of them as quickly as possible.
Whatever the motivation, it's certain Graham returned from Washington tightly focused on the problem. With transfers to Americans out of the question, Canada desperately needed an agreement with Afghanistan extending Geneva Convention protection to prisoners.
More on link
Battle for Kandahar could turn into deadly urban fight
By Matthew Fisher, Canwest News Service May 7, 2010
Article Link
Canadian and American troops will probably be drawn into fighting the Taliban inside Kandahar City — a task that can quickly turn nasty — during the unfolding offensive that is expected to begin soon, a NATO official says for the first time.
"But actions by NATO forces in the provincial capital will be targeted and precise," and would not involve clearing operations in the classic military sense, Mark Sedwill, NATO's senior civilian representative in Afghanistan, says.
"It is quite likely that in some areas there will be resistance and that is why the military forces have to be strong enough and well-equipped enough to deal with that effectively."
Urban warfare is something that Canada and its allies have tried to avoid in Afghanistan, with officials previously suggesting that the potentially decisive battle of the nearly decade-long Afghan war would only take place around the provincial capital and not in the city itself.
Sedwill, who was Britain's ambassador to Afghanistan before joining NATO's International Security Assistance Force here four months ago, emphasized that the looming battle for Kandahar "is to be undramatic and unexciting," when compared with a recent offensive centred around Marja in neighbouring Helmand province that began with a spectacular helicopter assault.
"The whole point is that there is not going to be a big D-Day, climactic moment where security is imposed everywhere" in Kandahar, he said. "The reason we did that in Marja was because it was out of the hands of the government entirely, with the Taliban flag flying everywhere. To minimize the risk to civilians, we had to be everywhere at once."
This time, NATO will "really stand up the police capability on the streets of Kandahar City and the areas immediately around it, with Afghan and ISAF forces standing one step behind them."
More on link
Statement by the President of the Board of Inquiry Into the June 2006 Afghanistan Detainee Incident
Article Link
May 07, 2010 14:46 ET
OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - May 7, 2010) - Thank you all for being here today. Before I begin I would like to introduce the members of my Board, Colonel Bruce Ploughman from 12 Wing Shearwater and Colonel Michael Pearson, Commander of 3 Area Support Group in Gagetown. Both of these officers are superb and highly respected leaders, and both brought great energy, intellect and experience to the Board, for which I am very grateful. Thank you.
On December 9, 2009 Gen Natynczyk the Chief of Defence Staff publicly raised concerns over inconsistencies in statements that had been made related to a detainee incident that occurred on 14 June 2006 in southern Afghanistan. At that time he directed that a BOI be conducted with a mandate to clarify the events around the mistreatment of an Afghan male who had been in CF custody, who had then been handed over to Afghan authorities, and then taken back by CF personnel.
The CDS, as does the entire leadership of the Canadian Forces, places great emphasis on the transparent, honest and expeditious reporting of actions involving your soldiers, sailors and airmen and women, especially when those actions pertain to the treatment of detainees.
The BOI was formally convened by VAdm Rouleau, the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff on 20 January 2010, with a deadline for the Board's findings to be submitted 1 March. The Board, supported by a team of six dedicated subject matter experts and a very hardworking administrative staff, began our work in Halifax the following day. We quickly mapped out a plan of investigation, built a witness list, began collecting documentary evidence, and commenced taking sworn evidence 27 January. Most interviews occurred in Halifax, however we did spend a week in Ottawa seeing witnesses here. We also took some testimony via secure video conference from witnesses who were deployed with Op Podium in operations supporting the Vancouver Olympics.
In total, the Board interviewed 30 witnesses, reviewed about 500 documents and delivered a comprehensive report to the Vice Chief on March 3rd – five weeks after we were officially convened. We are pleased to be here in front of you all today to summarize our findings and to answer any questions you may have.
The Board was tasked to describe the specific details of the 14 June incident, to identify the reports that were submitted pertaining to the 14 June incident, to identify the process for reporting detainees in Afghanistan in 2006, and to determine to what a soldier was referring when he wrote that the Afghan male had been assaulted by Afghan police "as it happened in the past".
I think it is important to emphasize at the outset that these events took place nearly four years ago. As you would expect, the CF organizations and processes that are in place now at the tactical level in Afghanistan and at the operational level here in Ottawa are much improved over those that were in effect when the mission began. These improvements reflect a constant drive by successive leaders at all levels of the chain of command to identify best practices in the field, and to apply lessons learned, always with a view to protecting our soldiers, and to training and when necessary fighting alongside Afghan security forces, in accordance with the Laws of Armed Conflict.
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Siddiqui: Afghan mission has become incoherent
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You may disagree with Stephen Harper’s warfare with Parliament to keep Afghan detainee documents secret. But there’s some logic to it.
The papers may implicate our army, diplomats and/or allies. Or blow holes in the Conservative defence that it did not preside over any actions in violation of the Geneva Conventions, which make it a war crime to knowingly hand detainees over for torture.
You may also disagree with Harper’s refusal to hold a parliamentary debate on what Canada should do in Afghanistan after our July 2011 deadline for military withdrawal. But there’s logic to that as well.
Harper does not want MPs reminding Canadians that he has changed his Afghan policy. After famously posing for the cameras in a military vest in 2006 and pledging that Canada would never cut and run, that’s precisely what he plans to do next year. He wants Canada to undertake only civilian and humanitarian duties. He won’t countenance any role for the military except training Afghan troops and police, even though said training cannot be done without leading the trainees into combat. He just does not want to go into an election this year or next with Afghanistan as a campaign issue, especially with his own caucus divided on it.
That makes perfect sense from his partisan perspective.
However, there’s little logic left in Canada’s military mission in Afghanistan. That’s because the NATO mission itself has become incoherent.
Initially it went awry under George W. Bush. But Barack Obama was not going to become the first president to admit defeat in war, so he opted for the contradictory goals of a military surge and a military withdrawal.
“We must win in Afghanistan.” Yet “America has no interest in fighting an endless war.” But how do you win by telling the enemy to just wait you out?
You settle for a limited goal: “We must deny Al Qaeda safe haven. We must reverse the Taliban’s momentum and deny it the ability to overthrow the government in Kabul.”
Your aim is not to win but rather not to lose.
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Travers: Abu Ghraib photos frame Afghanistan prisoner problem
Canadian decisions took root on a fine spring day in the Oval Office
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Canada's predicament with Afghanistan prisoners burst into full, awful bloom on a 2004 spring day in Washington. At the White House, George W. Bush, in distraught denial over Abu Ghraib torture photos, raised a rhetorical doubt with his Secretary of State and Canada's visiting foreign minister. “Real Americans,” the president insisted, would never do anything so horrifying.
For Colin Powell, urgently summoned to the Oval Office that morning along with Canadian counterpart Bill Graham, the point was moot. Powell immediately understood that U.S. soldiers were responsible for physically abusing and sexually humiliating Iraqi prisoners.
Graham's reaction was different, if just as swift. He instantly grasped that public outrage at home would make it impossible to transfer Afghanistan prisoners to Canada's closest ally.
Graham's conclusion was steeped in more than a keen professional interest in humanitarian law. Along with widespread concern about was happening at Cuba's Guantanamo Bay prison, Graham's thinking was influenced by two memories, one military, one political. At defence headquarters, scars were still fading from the beating death of Somali teenager Shidane Arone, a grotesque murder that rogue Airborne soldiers, like the Americans at Abu Ghraib, captured in trophy snapshots. On Parliament Hill, Art Eggleton's 2002 failure to warn Jean Chrétien that Canadian JTF2 special forces had transferred prisoners to the U.S., and presumably to Guantanamo, was still remembered as a seminal lesson on how to cripple a cabinet career.
Witnesses at a military police inquiry and parliamentary committee put varying weight on how those factors contributed to the culture at the centre of the continuing Afghan prisoner controversy. Sometime between Somalia and Kandahar the military concluded that the best way to manage PoWs was to wash Canada's hands of them as quickly as possible.
Whatever the motivation, it's certain Graham returned from Washington tightly focused on the problem. With transfers to Americans out of the question, Canada desperately needed an agreement with Afghanistan extending Geneva Convention protection to prisoners.
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Battle for Kandahar could turn into deadly urban fight
By Matthew Fisher, Canwest News Service May 7, 2010
Article Link
Canadian and American troops will probably be drawn into fighting the Taliban inside Kandahar City — a task that can quickly turn nasty — during the unfolding offensive that is expected to begin soon, a NATO official says for the first time.
"But actions by NATO forces in the provincial capital will be targeted and precise," and would not involve clearing operations in the classic military sense, Mark Sedwill, NATO's senior civilian representative in Afghanistan, says.
"It is quite likely that in some areas there will be resistance and that is why the military forces have to be strong enough and well-equipped enough to deal with that effectively."
Urban warfare is something that Canada and its allies have tried to avoid in Afghanistan, with officials previously suggesting that the potentially decisive battle of the nearly decade-long Afghan war would only take place around the provincial capital and not in the city itself.
Sedwill, who was Britain's ambassador to Afghanistan before joining NATO's International Security Assistance Force here four months ago, emphasized that the looming battle for Kandahar "is to be undramatic and unexciting," when compared with a recent offensive centred around Marja in neighbouring Helmand province that began with a spectacular helicopter assault.
"The whole point is that there is not going to be a big D-Day, climactic moment where security is imposed everywhere" in Kandahar, he said. "The reason we did that in Marja was because it was out of the hands of the government entirely, with the Taliban flag flying everywhere. To minimize the risk to civilians, we had to be everywhere at once."
This time, NATO will "really stand up the police capability on the streets of Kandahar City and the areas immediately around it, with Afghan and ISAF forces standing one step behind them."
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Articles found May 9, 2010
Afghan Army official: 4 Afghans beheaded, 10 militants killed in fierce gunbattle
Article Link
Published on May 9th, 2010
An Afghan army official says four members of an informal community defence force protecting villagers in western Afghanistan have been beheaded during a fierce battle with insurgents.
The commander of the Afghan National Army's rapid-response team in Herat province says the fighting occurred Saturday in a Taliban area of Shindand district. Maj. Zainudin Sharifi said Sunday the defence force came under fire when it was investigating reports suicide bombers were planning to attack a coalition outpost.
Four were captured and beheaded during the fighting.
Coalition forces and the quick-response force responded, killing 10 militants. Sharifi says four of the militants died when they were hit by bullets that detonated their suicide vests.
end
Victims of Afghan wars speak out ahead of major government-backed peace conference
Article Link
May 09, 2010 Associated Press KABUL
Mothers of slain teenage sons, men wounded by mine blasts and tearful widows were among Afghans who spoke out Sunday at a conference billed as the first major gathering of victims of decades of war in their country.
The so-called "victims' jirga" at a Kabul hotel brought together dozens of Afghans from across the country to build pressure on the government ahead of a national peace assembly called by President Hamid Karzai for later this month.
Legal advocates who organized the gathering in the capital want to make sure the voices of the Afghan people who have suffered at the hands of insurgents, warlords and under the former Taliban and Soviet regimes are heard at the government's peace assembly.
Some 1,500 people from across Afghan society have been invited to the assembly to seek a consensus for reconciling with insurgents willing to lay down their arms. Some victims don't want those who perpetrated violence over the years to be allowed to regain a measure of power, and for them to pay the consequences for their actions in order to resolve the more than eight-year-old war.
"We cannot lose hope for a peaceful life," said Sima Hussiani, a woman from Badakhshan province in northern Afghanistan. The former Taliban regime killed her two brothers, both teachers, in the late 1990s, she said. "I don't want blood for blood, but the perpetrators should acknowledge their mistakes."
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Troops stitch camo jersey for Cherry
Article Link
By Tara Brautigam, THE CANADIAN PRESS Last Updated: May 8, 2010
Don Cherry doesn’t know it yet, but his well-known support for the Canadian Forces over the years has earned him a rare souvenir: a custom-made hockey jersey worn on the dusty battlefields of southern Afghanistan.
Capt. Steven Defer was as far from an ice rink as one can get when he decided to have a military fatigue-style jersey designed to express the army’s gratitude to a select few Canadians.
Last fall, while at a forward operating base in Sperwan Ghar west of Kandahar city, the padre was wrestling with ways to lift the spirits of battle-weary soldiers while recognizing the support the military receives back home.
“What I wanted to do was to come up with an idea that got our soldiers to think about our nation before they came home,” Defer said.
He was in a colleague’s room that was adorned with hockey jerseys, “kind of like pretty much every other den that any (hockey) fan has,” when he came up with the idea.
From across the growing expanse of Kandahar Airfield, Defer collected discarded scraps of camouflage netting — formerly used to cover windows, buildings and tents — and stuffed them into a garbage bag.
He hauled the bag to Neil Wall and Tommy Burke, two Canadian corporals who are as proficient with a needle and thread as they are with a C7 service rifle.
From Defer’s heap of fabric they created four beige and brown hockey jerseys, each with a maple leaf stitched on the chest. They mimic the fatigues Canadian Forces personnel wear in the desert terrain of Afghanistan.
More on link
The insurgents will be back
Article Link
This is the year of the surge in Afghanistan. Pro-government forces are being reinforced by more than 30,000 North Atlantic Treaty Organization soldiers, most of them American. In the spring, they surged into Helmand. Next month, it will be Kandahar.
These offensives, the largest in Afghanistan since 2001, are modelled on the 2007 surge in Iraq. The surge was led by U.S. General David Petraeus, who now oversees all American military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan and is the commander of General Stanley McChrystal, head of all international troops in Afghanistan. Endorsed by presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, Gen. Petraeus is the instrument of a military transformation that’s being put to the test for the first time in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The transformation began when some military leaders began to revise received analysis of the Vietnam War. Instead of looking beyond the military for causes of failure in Vietnam, the real possibility of meeting similar failure in Iraq and Afghanistan prompted them to criticize the significantly unchanged anti-insurgency approach. As a result, these surges are using new counterinsurgency tactics.
Instead of merely killing insurgents, the aim is to increase friends in the local population as much as to reduce enemies. According to proponents, the 2007 surge in Iraq was successful, and it is true that after initial spikes in violence, stability did improve significantly. However, critics have argued that factors other than counterinsurgency tactics (most importantly, the conclusion of a bloody civil war) were largely responsible for the increased stability. They have a case, and since it took the U.S. military until 2007 to question the Vietnam experience sufficiently to change course in Iraq, it would be prudent not to buy into the hype just yet.
The Afghan surges will certainly put significant pressure on insurgents in Helmand and Kandahar, who have been gaining momentum since about 2006. A massive concentration of military force backed by the strongest military alliance on Earth, in support of an intervention force that has been on the ground for more than eight years, supported by both absolute air dominance and incredibly deep pockets – this will scare off the insurgents, who lack organization, equipment and financing and are often characterized as cowardly, cruel and backward.
But why wouldn’t the insurgents simply wait out the surges, or regroup and pop up elsewhere? Isn’t that what happened in 2001, when it took only one month to rout the Taliban and liberate Afghanistan? Indeed, that is what has been happening for years now. Some areas, cleared once or even multiple times, continually fall back under control of insurgents who simply return when the odds are better. What will stop them from coming back after the surges?
More on link
Canadian Elite Forces: Heroes Put in the ‘Cross-Hairs’
Article Link
An elite unit of snipers went from standouts to outcasts — victims, many say, of a witch hunt driven by jealousy and fear
By that point, Rob Furlong, Tim McMeekin and three other Canadian sharpshooters — Graham Ragsdale, Arron Perry and Dennis Eason — had spent nearly a week in the rugged terrain of Afghanistan’s Shahikot Valley, reaching out and touching the enemy from distances even they had never trained for. But that shot was something special. Rob Furlong had just killed another human being from 2,430 m. It was — and still is — the longest-ever recorded kill by a sniper in combat, surpassing the mark of 2,250 m set by U.S. Marine Gunnery Sgt. Carlos Hathcock during the Vietnam War.
It should have been a moment of pride for the Canadian army. Five of its most talented snipers — men trained to kill without remorse, then turn around and kill again — did exactly that. They destroyed al-Qaeda firing positions, saved American lives and tallied a body count unmatched by any Canadian soldier of their generation. U.S. commanders who served alongside the snipers nominated all five for the coveted Bronze Star medal. “Thank God the Canadians were there,” is how one American soldier put it.
Yet days later, their heroics on the mountain would be overshadowed by suspicion, including stunning allegations that one sniper, in a subsequent mission, sliced himself a souvenir from the battlefield: the finger of a dead Taliban fighter. Military police launched a criminal investigation, but uncovered nothing but denials. As the months wore on, there emerged so many conflicting accusations and supposed explanations that no charges were ever laid. Even Rob Furlong’s record-breaking shot became lost in the confusion. In fact, until now, a different sniper has been widely — and incorrectly — credited with pulling the trigger on that long-distance kill.
Today, more than four years later, three of the five decorated snipers who served in Afghanistan are no longer in the army, brushed aside by a military machine that seemed all too willing to watch them go. Persecuted instead of praised, they fell victim to what many still believe was a witch hunt driven by jealousy and political correctness. Arron Perry was pushed out the door. Furlong left on his own, so disillusioned that he could barely stomach the thought of putting on his uniform. Graham Ragsdale — the leader of the unit — suffered perhaps the worst fate. Stripped of his command and later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, he has spent the ensuing years battling deep depression.
More on link
Afghan Army official: 4 Afghans beheaded, 10 militants killed in fierce gunbattle
Article Link
Published on May 9th, 2010
An Afghan army official says four members of an informal community defence force protecting villagers in western Afghanistan have been beheaded during a fierce battle with insurgents.
The commander of the Afghan National Army's rapid-response team in Herat province says the fighting occurred Saturday in a Taliban area of Shindand district. Maj. Zainudin Sharifi said Sunday the defence force came under fire when it was investigating reports suicide bombers were planning to attack a coalition outpost.
Four were captured and beheaded during the fighting.
Coalition forces and the quick-response force responded, killing 10 militants. Sharifi says four of the militants died when they were hit by bullets that detonated their suicide vests.
end
Victims of Afghan wars speak out ahead of major government-backed peace conference
Article Link
May 09, 2010 Associated Press KABUL
Mothers of slain teenage sons, men wounded by mine blasts and tearful widows were among Afghans who spoke out Sunday at a conference billed as the first major gathering of victims of decades of war in their country.
The so-called "victims' jirga" at a Kabul hotel brought together dozens of Afghans from across the country to build pressure on the government ahead of a national peace assembly called by President Hamid Karzai for later this month.
Legal advocates who organized the gathering in the capital want to make sure the voices of the Afghan people who have suffered at the hands of insurgents, warlords and under the former Taliban and Soviet regimes are heard at the government's peace assembly.
Some 1,500 people from across Afghan society have been invited to the assembly to seek a consensus for reconciling with insurgents willing to lay down their arms. Some victims don't want those who perpetrated violence over the years to be allowed to regain a measure of power, and for them to pay the consequences for their actions in order to resolve the more than eight-year-old war.
"We cannot lose hope for a peaceful life," said Sima Hussiani, a woman from Badakhshan province in northern Afghanistan. The former Taliban regime killed her two brothers, both teachers, in the late 1990s, she said. "I don't want blood for blood, but the perpetrators should acknowledge their mistakes."
More on link
Troops stitch camo jersey for Cherry
Article Link
By Tara Brautigam, THE CANADIAN PRESS Last Updated: May 8, 2010
Don Cherry doesn’t know it yet, but his well-known support for the Canadian Forces over the years has earned him a rare souvenir: a custom-made hockey jersey worn on the dusty battlefields of southern Afghanistan.
Capt. Steven Defer was as far from an ice rink as one can get when he decided to have a military fatigue-style jersey designed to express the army’s gratitude to a select few Canadians.
Last fall, while at a forward operating base in Sperwan Ghar west of Kandahar city, the padre was wrestling with ways to lift the spirits of battle-weary soldiers while recognizing the support the military receives back home.
“What I wanted to do was to come up with an idea that got our soldiers to think about our nation before they came home,” Defer said.
He was in a colleague’s room that was adorned with hockey jerseys, “kind of like pretty much every other den that any (hockey) fan has,” when he came up with the idea.
From across the growing expanse of Kandahar Airfield, Defer collected discarded scraps of camouflage netting — formerly used to cover windows, buildings and tents — and stuffed them into a garbage bag.
He hauled the bag to Neil Wall and Tommy Burke, two Canadian corporals who are as proficient with a needle and thread as they are with a C7 service rifle.
From Defer’s heap of fabric they created four beige and brown hockey jerseys, each with a maple leaf stitched on the chest. They mimic the fatigues Canadian Forces personnel wear in the desert terrain of Afghanistan.
More on link
The insurgents will be back
Article Link
This is the year of the surge in Afghanistan. Pro-government forces are being reinforced by more than 30,000 North Atlantic Treaty Organization soldiers, most of them American. In the spring, they surged into Helmand. Next month, it will be Kandahar.
These offensives, the largest in Afghanistan since 2001, are modelled on the 2007 surge in Iraq. The surge was led by U.S. General David Petraeus, who now oversees all American military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan and is the commander of General Stanley McChrystal, head of all international troops in Afghanistan. Endorsed by presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, Gen. Petraeus is the instrument of a military transformation that’s being put to the test for the first time in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The transformation began when some military leaders began to revise received analysis of the Vietnam War. Instead of looking beyond the military for causes of failure in Vietnam, the real possibility of meeting similar failure in Iraq and Afghanistan prompted them to criticize the significantly unchanged anti-insurgency approach. As a result, these surges are using new counterinsurgency tactics.
Instead of merely killing insurgents, the aim is to increase friends in the local population as much as to reduce enemies. According to proponents, the 2007 surge in Iraq was successful, and it is true that after initial spikes in violence, stability did improve significantly. However, critics have argued that factors other than counterinsurgency tactics (most importantly, the conclusion of a bloody civil war) were largely responsible for the increased stability. They have a case, and since it took the U.S. military until 2007 to question the Vietnam experience sufficiently to change course in Iraq, it would be prudent not to buy into the hype just yet.
The Afghan surges will certainly put significant pressure on insurgents in Helmand and Kandahar, who have been gaining momentum since about 2006. A massive concentration of military force backed by the strongest military alliance on Earth, in support of an intervention force that has been on the ground for more than eight years, supported by both absolute air dominance and incredibly deep pockets – this will scare off the insurgents, who lack organization, equipment and financing and are often characterized as cowardly, cruel and backward.
But why wouldn’t the insurgents simply wait out the surges, or regroup and pop up elsewhere? Isn’t that what happened in 2001, when it took only one month to rout the Taliban and liberate Afghanistan? Indeed, that is what has been happening for years now. Some areas, cleared once or even multiple times, continually fall back under control of insurgents who simply return when the odds are better. What will stop them from coming back after the surges?
More on link
Canadian Elite Forces: Heroes Put in the ‘Cross-Hairs’
Article Link
An elite unit of snipers went from standouts to outcasts — victims, many say, of a witch hunt driven by jealousy and fear
By that point, Rob Furlong, Tim McMeekin and three other Canadian sharpshooters — Graham Ragsdale, Arron Perry and Dennis Eason — had spent nearly a week in the rugged terrain of Afghanistan’s Shahikot Valley, reaching out and touching the enemy from distances even they had never trained for. But that shot was something special. Rob Furlong had just killed another human being from 2,430 m. It was — and still is — the longest-ever recorded kill by a sniper in combat, surpassing the mark of 2,250 m set by U.S. Marine Gunnery Sgt. Carlos Hathcock during the Vietnam War.
It should have been a moment of pride for the Canadian army. Five of its most talented snipers — men trained to kill without remorse, then turn around and kill again — did exactly that. They destroyed al-Qaeda firing positions, saved American lives and tallied a body count unmatched by any Canadian soldier of their generation. U.S. commanders who served alongside the snipers nominated all five for the coveted Bronze Star medal. “Thank God the Canadians were there,” is how one American soldier put it.
Yet days later, their heroics on the mountain would be overshadowed by suspicion, including stunning allegations that one sniper, in a subsequent mission, sliced himself a souvenir from the battlefield: the finger of a dead Taliban fighter. Military police launched a criminal investigation, but uncovered nothing but denials. As the months wore on, there emerged so many conflicting accusations and supposed explanations that no charges were ever laid. Even Rob Furlong’s record-breaking shot became lost in the confusion. In fact, until now, a different sniper has been widely — and incorrectly — credited with pulling the trigger on that long-distance kill.
Today, more than four years later, three of the five decorated snipers who served in Afghanistan are no longer in the army, brushed aside by a military machine that seemed all too willing to watch them go. Persecuted instead of praised, they fell victim to what many still believe was a witch hunt driven by jealousy and political correctness. Arron Perry was pushed out the door. Furlong left on his own, so disillusioned that he could barely stomach the thought of putting on his uniform. Graham Ragsdale — the leader of the unit — suffered perhaps the worst fate. Stripped of his command and later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, he has spent the ensuing years battling deep depression.
More on link
Articles found May 11, 2010
Red Cross confirms 'second jail' at Bagram, Afghanistan
By Hilary Andersson BBC News
Article Link
The US airbase at Bagram in Afghanistan contains a facility for detainees that is distinct from its main prison, the Red Cross has confirmed to the BBC.
Nine former prisoners have told the BBC that they were held in a separate building, and subjected to abuse.
The US military says the main prison, now called the Detention Facility in Parwan, is the only detention facility on the base.
However, it has said it will look into the abuse allegations made to the BBC.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that since August 2009 US authorities have been notifying it of names of detained people in a separate structure at Bagram.
"The ICRC is being notified by the US authorities of detained people within 14 days of their arrest," a Red Cross spokesman said.
"This has been routine practice since August 2009 and is a development welcomed by the ICRC."
The spokesman was responding to a question from the BBC about the existence of the facility, referred to by many former prisoners as the Tor Jail, which translates as "black jail".
More on link
Afghanistan readies program to reintegrate Taliban
Article Link
Small pockets of Taliban foot soldiers ready to switch sides are waiting for the Afghan government to roll out a nationwide program to lure them off the battlefield and make peace with their leaders.
The plan won't be completed until after this month's peace assembly in Kabul, but according to a 36-page draft, it would attract low- to midlevel fighters with promises of jobs, literacy and vocational training plus development aid for their villages.
Reaching out to top Taliban leaders would be done through political channels, perhaps by striking them off the U.N. sanctions list or granting a few exile to another nation, according to the draft, obtained Monday by The Associated Press.
The Afghanistan Peace and Reconciliation Program, backed by a trust fund soon to be flush with $160 million in pledges from the U.S., Japan, Britain and other nations, has been in the works for months. It is a topic of talks Afghan President Hamid Karzai is having in Washington this week with President Barack Obama.
A successful political resolution to the nearly 9-year war is key to any U.S. exit strategy, and Pakistan and other neighboring nations have a stake in any design of a post-conflict Afghanistan.
Reintegration is "more than just a few mullahs changing sides," Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai, a top Karzai adviser who is crafting the reintegration program, said before leaving for Washington.
According to Stanekzai and NATO officials, insurgents in a handful of provinces _ including Herat in the west, Baghlan and Balkh in the north and Daykundi in the south _ have already expressed interest in signing up for the reintegration program. To join, insurgents must renounce violence, respect the Afghan constitution and sever ties with al-Qaida or other terrorist networks.
Because the program isn't yet ready, the Afghan government recently sent the country's 34 provincial governors a nine-page letter with guidance for dealing with insurgents who say they are ready to quit the insurgency.
More on link
Technology shocks and awes but can’t guarantee victory
SCOTT TAYLOR ON TARGET Mon. May 10 - 4:53 AM
Article Link
For the past two weeks I have been travelling continuously throughout the United States and France on what could best be described as a professional development tour.
The chockablock itinerary involved an extensive series of defence industry briefings combined with equipment demonstrations and production facility visits.
I have reported extensively from war zones but this was a rare insight into just how international arms manufacturers are responding to the challenges of the modern battlefield.
In recent years, the arsenals of NATO allies have been fully stocked with weaponry required to battle the conventional forces of the Soviet Union, but were ill-prepared to wage a non-linear counterinsurgency in Central Asia.
As a result, many of the same obstacles confronting the Canadian military have been encountered by our coalition partners. These have been met or overcome with varying degrees of success.
Canadian senior defence officials are certainly not alone in their frustration with our ponderous and complex procurement process. Like Canada, many of our allies have had to find inventive ways to circumvent the normal procedures in order to acquire the necessary new equipment in a timely fashion.
For major ticket conventional items — such as strategic lift planes and heavy lift helicopters — the sudden increase in demand has far exceeded the industries’ ability to produce. Aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing, producer of the C-17 Globemaster cargo plane and the CH-47 Chinook helicopter, have a staggering backlog of orders.
While Canada has already received four new C-17s, the 15 new Chinooks we’ve ordered will not be delivered until well after Canada’s mission in Afghanistan expires in 2011.
The result of the common supply-and-demand problem has led to an unprecedented number of allied government-to-government contracts, wherein recipients borrow an existing weapon system from an ally — usually the U.S. — in anticipation of their own equipment order being built and delivered.
More on link
Red Cross confirms 'second jail' at Bagram, Afghanistan
By Hilary Andersson BBC News
Article Link
The US airbase at Bagram in Afghanistan contains a facility for detainees that is distinct from its main prison, the Red Cross has confirmed to the BBC.
Nine former prisoners have told the BBC that they were held in a separate building, and subjected to abuse.
The US military says the main prison, now called the Detention Facility in Parwan, is the only detention facility on the base.
However, it has said it will look into the abuse allegations made to the BBC.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that since August 2009 US authorities have been notifying it of names of detained people in a separate structure at Bagram.
"The ICRC is being notified by the US authorities of detained people within 14 days of their arrest," a Red Cross spokesman said.
"This has been routine practice since August 2009 and is a development welcomed by the ICRC."
The spokesman was responding to a question from the BBC about the existence of the facility, referred to by many former prisoners as the Tor Jail, which translates as "black jail".
More on link
Afghanistan readies program to reintegrate Taliban
Article Link
Small pockets of Taliban foot soldiers ready to switch sides are waiting for the Afghan government to roll out a nationwide program to lure them off the battlefield and make peace with their leaders.
The plan won't be completed until after this month's peace assembly in Kabul, but according to a 36-page draft, it would attract low- to midlevel fighters with promises of jobs, literacy and vocational training plus development aid for their villages.
Reaching out to top Taliban leaders would be done through political channels, perhaps by striking them off the U.N. sanctions list or granting a few exile to another nation, according to the draft, obtained Monday by The Associated Press.
The Afghanistan Peace and Reconciliation Program, backed by a trust fund soon to be flush with $160 million in pledges from the U.S., Japan, Britain and other nations, has been in the works for months. It is a topic of talks Afghan President Hamid Karzai is having in Washington this week with President Barack Obama.
A successful political resolution to the nearly 9-year war is key to any U.S. exit strategy, and Pakistan and other neighboring nations have a stake in any design of a post-conflict Afghanistan.
Reintegration is "more than just a few mullahs changing sides," Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai, a top Karzai adviser who is crafting the reintegration program, said before leaving for Washington.
According to Stanekzai and NATO officials, insurgents in a handful of provinces _ including Herat in the west, Baghlan and Balkh in the north and Daykundi in the south _ have already expressed interest in signing up for the reintegration program. To join, insurgents must renounce violence, respect the Afghan constitution and sever ties with al-Qaida or other terrorist networks.
Because the program isn't yet ready, the Afghan government recently sent the country's 34 provincial governors a nine-page letter with guidance for dealing with insurgents who say they are ready to quit the insurgency.
More on link
Technology shocks and awes but can’t guarantee victory
SCOTT TAYLOR ON TARGET Mon. May 10 - 4:53 AM
Article Link
For the past two weeks I have been travelling continuously throughout the United States and France on what could best be described as a professional development tour.
The chockablock itinerary involved an extensive series of defence industry briefings combined with equipment demonstrations and production facility visits.
I have reported extensively from war zones but this was a rare insight into just how international arms manufacturers are responding to the challenges of the modern battlefield.
In recent years, the arsenals of NATO allies have been fully stocked with weaponry required to battle the conventional forces of the Soviet Union, but were ill-prepared to wage a non-linear counterinsurgency in Central Asia.
As a result, many of the same obstacles confronting the Canadian military have been encountered by our coalition partners. These have been met or overcome with varying degrees of success.
Canadian senior defence officials are certainly not alone in their frustration with our ponderous and complex procurement process. Like Canada, many of our allies have had to find inventive ways to circumvent the normal procedures in order to acquire the necessary new equipment in a timely fashion.
For major ticket conventional items — such as strategic lift planes and heavy lift helicopters — the sudden increase in demand has far exceeded the industries’ ability to produce. Aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing, producer of the C-17 Globemaster cargo plane and the CH-47 Chinook helicopter, have a staggering backlog of orders.
While Canada has already received four new C-17s, the 15 new Chinooks we’ve ordered will not be delivered until well after Canada’s mission in Afghanistan expires in 2011.
The result of the common supply-and-demand problem has led to an unprecedented number of allied government-to-government contracts, wherein recipients borrow an existing weapon system from an ally — usually the U.S. — in anticipation of their own equipment order being built and delivered.
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Articles found May 12, 2010
Walking the beat with Canadian police in Afghanistan
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When the paramount concern is death by Taliban suicide attack, the little things go unnoticed.
So small wonder that nobody – not the Canadian police, nor the American MPs, nor even the Afghan cops – was aware of the pungent little plant at their feet Tuesday afternoon as they stepped with considerable relief back inside the bomb-pocked walls of the Afghan Provincial Police Headquarters in downtown Kandahar.
Together, they had just completed an extended foot patrol through the heart of the city the Taliban vows will soon be theirs again. They rubbed shoulders with hundreds upon hundreds of Kandaharis – everyday people far more accustomed to soldiers barging through town in hermetically sealed armoured vehicles.
And from the Toronto Star’s vantage, a good three-quarters of Kandahar was happy to meet them face to face, eye to eye. Better this than being run off the road by a convoy of LAVs. There were many smiles, waves and friendly “Salaams.” Bakers handed out flatbread fresh from the oven to the passing patrol. One woman even reached beneath her burqa, wagging a hand of welcome.
It was a sitting-duck scenario and everyone knew it. But however nerve-ratting the job of dismounting and patrolling on foot – one of the Americans on Tuesday called it a “sphincter-tightener” – it also is crucial to the counter-insurgency strategy NATO is rolling out to bring the population to its side.
And crucially, there were newly minted Afghan police in the mix, all graduates of the Canadian-led training program at nearby Camp Nathan Smith, where RCMP, OPP, even Toronto cops still toil in relative obscurity.
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US air campaign in Pakistan zeroes in on North Waziristan, Bahadar
By Bill Roggio and Alexander MayerMay 12, 2010 12:01 AM
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The controversial US air campaign in Pakistan’s tribal areas has continued unabated in 2010, and is on track to exceed the number of strikes carried out in 2009. So far this year, the US has carried out 35 strikes, just 18 shy of the 2009 total. With six and a half months left in 2010, the 2009 total should be surpassed sometime in July at the current pace. The strikes continue to target top leaders of al Qaeda, the Taliban, and allied jihadist groups based in the tribal areas, as well as the jihadist infrastructure and operatives used to carry out attacks against the Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the West.
Some interesting trends have developed since the beginning of 2010. North Waziristan, the hub for the Taliban, al Qaeda and allied jihadists, has become the primary focal point of the attacks. More than half of the strikes have taken place in the tribal areas controlled by North Waziristan Taliban leader Hafiz Gul Bahadar, while attacks against the Haqqani Network’s sanctuaries have decreased. And the strikes continue to hit a wide variety of targets.
North Waziristan is the eye of the storm
The shift in focus from South Waziristan to North Waziristan that began in September 2009 has continued, with 100 percent of the 35 strikes so far this year occurring in North Waziristan. Miramshah has been the most frequently targeted region within North Waziristan, accounting for nearly more than a third of all strikes so far this year, (13 of 35 strikes, or 37 percent). The Datta Khel region, a known haven for al Qaeda's military and command, is second on the targeting list, accounting for a quarter of the strikes (13 of 35 strikes, or 23 percent).
Hafiz Gul Bahadar’s territory is most hit
So far in 2010, more than half of the Predator strikes (19 of 35 Predator strikes, or 54 percent), have hit targets in territory controlled by Hafiz Gul Bahadar, far more than any other Taliban commander. Looking at the last 10 strikes, eight of those have taken place in Bahadar's areas. And the last seven strikes have hit targets in Bahadar's areas. The concentrated focus on Bahadar represents a significant shift in targeting priorities -- prior to 2010, Bahadar's territory had only been targeted four times in the past 5 years. At the end of 2009, the Haqqani Network was the primary focus of US strikes in Pakistan.
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Afghan secret police chief fired over torture of detainee, top soldier testifies
By Juliet O'Neill and Mike De Souza, Canwest News Service May 11, 2010
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The firing of the "head honcho" of the Afghan secret police at a prison in Kandahar confirmed the allegations of torture that a Canadian-transferred detainee made on Nov. 5, 2007, to Foreign Affairs monitors, Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche testified Tuesday.
Laroche, then commander of Canadian troops in Afghanistan, said the dismissal and transfer to Kabul of the head of the National Directorate of Security at the unnamed detention facility after an internal investigation "was probably due to the fact that the allegations were founded or at least partially founded."
Laroche told the Military Police Complaints Commission the incident — during which the victim showed Canadian Foreign Affairs (DFAIT) detainee monitors the braided electric cable and rubber hose with which he was beaten unconscious during interrogation — was "disappointing" because he thought progress was being made under a Canada-Afghan detainee transfer agreement aimed at reducing and deterring prisoner mistreatment.
"The fact that people might still be torturing other people was unacceptable and I think that people from DFAIT would agree," he said during questioning by Amnesty International lawyer Paul Champ. "We thought we'd gotten past that and it wasn't the case."
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CSIS watchdog probes spy services role with Afghan detainees
By: Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press 11/05/2010
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OTTAWA - The watchdog over the Canadian Security Intelligence Service will look into the spy agency's role in interrogating Afghan prisoners.
Gary Filmon, chairman of the Security Intelligence Review Committee, said members are planning a report on CSIS involvement with detainees.
The spy agency's role in Afghanistan, where it has been operating alongside Canadian troops since 2002, has recently come under scrutiny amid concerns that prisoners transferred to Afghan authorities were subsequently tortured.
Filmon's comments Tuesday in an appearance before the Commons public safety committee came as CSIS officials defend the spy service's work in Afghanistan.
CSIS director Dick Fadden told MPs on the committee the agency regularly talks with suspected Taliban insurgents to gather information.
"We try and talk to people in Afghanistan who would have some intelligence, some information about threats to both Canada and to our allies. By definition those people are either terrorists themselves — they're Taliban insurgents — or they're people who know something about them," Fadden said.
Early on, in helping the military interview detainees, CSIS was "frequently brought in to ask them questions" — usually to try to determine a suspected insurgent's identity and figure out what they were up to, Fadden said.
"In most cases, these interviews lasted less than 15 or 20 minutes. They were then transferred at the call of the Canadian Forces, or not, to the Afghan authorities."
Fadden said the service's efforts had saved lives.
The CSIS chief said the agency is investigating over 200 individuals in Canada whose activities meet the definition of terrorism.
Liberal MP Mark Holland pressed Michel Coulombe, CSIS's assistant director for foreign collection, on use of information that may have been obtained through torture.
Coulombe reiterated recent comments that it is sometimes impossible to know if information was collected by allies through abusive means.
"When it's possible, we try to find out more about how information was gathered by asking questions of the officials involved."
Asked Holland: "Is it OK to use information obtained by torture in those circumstances?"
Coulombe said when there is doubt, "we don't rely on the information."
Filmon, of the intelligence review committee, said the watchdog has assured itself CSIS does not rely on potentially tainted information without first cross-checking it.
"We are satisfying ourselves that they have clear direction and that their approach to it is clear," said the former Conservative premier of Manitoba.
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Buildup of top Afghan police seen as key for NATO
By JAMEY KEATEN (AP) – 21 hours ago
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KABUL — One by one, the graduating Afghan police cadets marched onto a stage, clicked their heels and shouted vows of dedication to their war-weary country as they proudly hoisted their diplomas overhead.
"I am serving our suffering nation of Afghanistan!" one yelled to the audience, prompting enthusiastic applause from his classmates.
Fifty cadets became lieutenants last week in the Afghan National Civil Order Police, the first alumni of a 22-week program to train a force modeled on European police services such as French gendarmes and Italian carabinieri.
Officials say the graduates of the European Gendarmerie Force program will play a key role as the elite of "Afghanistan's finest" in a country badly in need of reliable, competent and respected police.
The ANCOP, one of six categories of Afghan police, is considered the brightest spot in what is largely an otherwise troubled force beset by an array of ills including corruption, drug use, illiteracy and desertion.
Tanned and wearing blue-gray fatigues, the cadets listened intently as Afghan and allied officials praised their service to country.
"Today is a day for you to stand proud," said Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell, NATO's head of the Afghan training mission. "Today you join an elite force: the best trained, educated and most professional element within the Afghan National Police — and the most respected by the international community."
More on link
Walking the beat with Canadian police in Afghanistan
Article Link
When the paramount concern is death by Taliban suicide attack, the little things go unnoticed.
So small wonder that nobody – not the Canadian police, nor the American MPs, nor even the Afghan cops – was aware of the pungent little plant at their feet Tuesday afternoon as they stepped with considerable relief back inside the bomb-pocked walls of the Afghan Provincial Police Headquarters in downtown Kandahar.
Together, they had just completed an extended foot patrol through the heart of the city the Taliban vows will soon be theirs again. They rubbed shoulders with hundreds upon hundreds of Kandaharis – everyday people far more accustomed to soldiers barging through town in hermetically sealed armoured vehicles.
And from the Toronto Star’s vantage, a good three-quarters of Kandahar was happy to meet them face to face, eye to eye. Better this than being run off the road by a convoy of LAVs. There were many smiles, waves and friendly “Salaams.” Bakers handed out flatbread fresh from the oven to the passing patrol. One woman even reached beneath her burqa, wagging a hand of welcome.
It was a sitting-duck scenario and everyone knew it. But however nerve-ratting the job of dismounting and patrolling on foot – one of the Americans on Tuesday called it a “sphincter-tightener” – it also is crucial to the counter-insurgency strategy NATO is rolling out to bring the population to its side.
And crucially, there were newly minted Afghan police in the mix, all graduates of the Canadian-led training program at nearby Camp Nathan Smith, where RCMP, OPP, even Toronto cops still toil in relative obscurity.
More on link
US air campaign in Pakistan zeroes in on North Waziristan, Bahadar
By Bill Roggio and Alexander MayerMay 12, 2010 12:01 AM
Article Link
The controversial US air campaign in Pakistan’s tribal areas has continued unabated in 2010, and is on track to exceed the number of strikes carried out in 2009. So far this year, the US has carried out 35 strikes, just 18 shy of the 2009 total. With six and a half months left in 2010, the 2009 total should be surpassed sometime in July at the current pace. The strikes continue to target top leaders of al Qaeda, the Taliban, and allied jihadist groups based in the tribal areas, as well as the jihadist infrastructure and operatives used to carry out attacks against the Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the West.
Some interesting trends have developed since the beginning of 2010. North Waziristan, the hub for the Taliban, al Qaeda and allied jihadists, has become the primary focal point of the attacks. More than half of the strikes have taken place in the tribal areas controlled by North Waziristan Taliban leader Hafiz Gul Bahadar, while attacks against the Haqqani Network’s sanctuaries have decreased. And the strikes continue to hit a wide variety of targets.
North Waziristan is the eye of the storm
The shift in focus from South Waziristan to North Waziristan that began in September 2009 has continued, with 100 percent of the 35 strikes so far this year occurring in North Waziristan. Miramshah has been the most frequently targeted region within North Waziristan, accounting for nearly more than a third of all strikes so far this year, (13 of 35 strikes, or 37 percent). The Datta Khel region, a known haven for al Qaeda's military and command, is second on the targeting list, accounting for a quarter of the strikes (13 of 35 strikes, or 23 percent).
Hafiz Gul Bahadar’s territory is most hit
So far in 2010, more than half of the Predator strikes (19 of 35 Predator strikes, or 54 percent), have hit targets in territory controlled by Hafiz Gul Bahadar, far more than any other Taliban commander. Looking at the last 10 strikes, eight of those have taken place in Bahadar's areas. And the last seven strikes have hit targets in Bahadar's areas. The concentrated focus on Bahadar represents a significant shift in targeting priorities -- prior to 2010, Bahadar's territory had only been targeted four times in the past 5 years. At the end of 2009, the Haqqani Network was the primary focus of US strikes in Pakistan.
More on link
Afghan secret police chief fired over torture of detainee, top soldier testifies
By Juliet O'Neill and Mike De Souza, Canwest News Service May 11, 2010
Article Link
The firing of the "head honcho" of the Afghan secret police at a prison in Kandahar confirmed the allegations of torture that a Canadian-transferred detainee made on Nov. 5, 2007, to Foreign Affairs monitors, Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche testified Tuesday.
Laroche, then commander of Canadian troops in Afghanistan, said the dismissal and transfer to Kabul of the head of the National Directorate of Security at the unnamed detention facility after an internal investigation "was probably due to the fact that the allegations were founded or at least partially founded."
Laroche told the Military Police Complaints Commission the incident — during which the victim showed Canadian Foreign Affairs (DFAIT) detainee monitors the braided electric cable and rubber hose with which he was beaten unconscious during interrogation — was "disappointing" because he thought progress was being made under a Canada-Afghan detainee transfer agreement aimed at reducing and deterring prisoner mistreatment.
"The fact that people might still be torturing other people was unacceptable and I think that people from DFAIT would agree," he said during questioning by Amnesty International lawyer Paul Champ. "We thought we'd gotten past that and it wasn't the case."
More on link
CSIS watchdog probes spy services role with Afghan detainees
By: Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press 11/05/2010
Article Link
OTTAWA - The watchdog over the Canadian Security Intelligence Service will look into the spy agency's role in interrogating Afghan prisoners.
Gary Filmon, chairman of the Security Intelligence Review Committee, said members are planning a report on CSIS involvement with detainees.
The spy agency's role in Afghanistan, where it has been operating alongside Canadian troops since 2002, has recently come under scrutiny amid concerns that prisoners transferred to Afghan authorities were subsequently tortured.
Filmon's comments Tuesday in an appearance before the Commons public safety committee came as CSIS officials defend the spy service's work in Afghanistan.
CSIS director Dick Fadden told MPs on the committee the agency regularly talks with suspected Taliban insurgents to gather information.
"We try and talk to people in Afghanistan who would have some intelligence, some information about threats to both Canada and to our allies. By definition those people are either terrorists themselves — they're Taliban insurgents — or they're people who know something about them," Fadden said.
Early on, in helping the military interview detainees, CSIS was "frequently brought in to ask them questions" — usually to try to determine a suspected insurgent's identity and figure out what they were up to, Fadden said.
"In most cases, these interviews lasted less than 15 or 20 minutes. They were then transferred at the call of the Canadian Forces, or not, to the Afghan authorities."
Fadden said the service's efforts had saved lives.
The CSIS chief said the agency is investigating over 200 individuals in Canada whose activities meet the definition of terrorism.
Liberal MP Mark Holland pressed Michel Coulombe, CSIS's assistant director for foreign collection, on use of information that may have been obtained through torture.
Coulombe reiterated recent comments that it is sometimes impossible to know if information was collected by allies through abusive means.
"When it's possible, we try to find out more about how information was gathered by asking questions of the officials involved."
Asked Holland: "Is it OK to use information obtained by torture in those circumstances?"
Coulombe said when there is doubt, "we don't rely on the information."
Filmon, of the intelligence review committee, said the watchdog has assured itself CSIS does not rely on potentially tainted information without first cross-checking it.
"We are satisfying ourselves that they have clear direction and that their approach to it is clear," said the former Conservative premier of Manitoba.
More on link
Buildup of top Afghan police seen as key for NATO
By JAMEY KEATEN (AP) – 21 hours ago
Article Link
KABUL — One by one, the graduating Afghan police cadets marched onto a stage, clicked their heels and shouted vows of dedication to their war-weary country as they proudly hoisted their diplomas overhead.
"I am serving our suffering nation of Afghanistan!" one yelled to the audience, prompting enthusiastic applause from his classmates.
Fifty cadets became lieutenants last week in the Afghan National Civil Order Police, the first alumni of a 22-week program to train a force modeled on European police services such as French gendarmes and Italian carabinieri.
Officials say the graduates of the European Gendarmerie Force program will play a key role as the elite of "Afghanistan's finest" in a country badly in need of reliable, competent and respected police.
The ANCOP, one of six categories of Afghan police, is considered the brightest spot in what is largely an otherwise troubled force beset by an array of ills including corruption, drug use, illiteracy and desertion.
Tanned and wearing blue-gray fatigues, the cadets listened intently as Afghan and allied officials praised their service to country.
"Today is a day for you to stand proud," said Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell, NATO's head of the Afghan training mission. "Today you join an elite force: the best trained, educated and most professional element within the Afghan National Police — and the most respected by the international community."
More on link
- Reaction score
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- Points
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Behind the fence line, NATO says
Little chance of combat for troops kept in Afghanistan, Canada told
Ottawa Citizen, May 12, by Matthew Fisher
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Somnia/3015851/story.html
Mark
Ottawa
Little chance of combat for troops kept in Afghanistan, Canada told
Ottawa Citizen, May 12, by Matthew Fisher
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Somnia/3015851/story.html
Mark
Ottawa
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