bobdina
08-26-2010, 01:34 PM
Canadian soldiers gird for coming battle for Panjwaii
The Associated Press
Date: Thursday Aug. 26, 2010 9:56 AM ET
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Canadian soldiers are girding for what may well be their final fight in Kandahar as they expand their counter-insurgency strategy this fall into a key district that has remained a stubborn Taliban stronghold throughout four years of battle.
The third phase of Operation Hamkari will get underway in the Panjwaii district, where Canadian Forces are now concentrated, and neighbouring Zhari, which has been handed over to the U.S. military.
Hamkari is the word for co-operation in Afghanistan's Dari language, but the initial stages of what's shaping up to be Canada's final chapter will be anything but co-operative.
"We estimate that there are probably between 500 and a thousand insurgents who regularly operate in the Arghandab and in the areas of Zhari and Panjwaii, and they will be a military challenge to resolve," said a report earlier this summer from NATO's military coalition, known as the International Security Assistance Force.
It will be a difficult battle to win, and a difficult win to retain. In their four years in Kandahar, Canadian Forces have cleared Taliban strongholds again and again, but lacked the personnel to remain in the areas, maintain security and foster local development.
"That challenge, on a military perspective, is felt by the troops who wrestle every day with the encroachment of the insurgency into populated areas, the IED threat, the threat against ourselves and Afghans," said Brig.-Gen. Jonathan Vance, commander of Canada's Task Force Kandahar.
"More forces are required in more concentration to deal with that more thoroughly, and more forces are coming. They're arriving as we speak, but nonetheless it's a challenge."
With an end to the Canadian combat mission slated for the next July, and a drawdown of U.S. troops beginning that same month, pressure is on for the coalition to make speedy, tangible progress.
Operation Hamkari in Kandahar has been dubbed by some American media as the most critical operation in the nine-year war.
The first phase of Hamkari began in the spring, aimed at improving security and government services in Kandahar city. Security checkpoints have gone up, construction is booming and some time this fall the city should have diesel generators to provide stable power until a massive hydro-electric project is finished.
The second phase of the operation began in July, when U.S. and Afghan forces -- some with their Canadian military mentors -- began a clearing operation in the Arghandab district.
Early reports indicated the coalition hoped to control all of Arghandab by the start of Ramadan, but three weeks into the Muslim holy month the fight continues furiously in the lush river valley on Kandahar city's northern doorstep.
"It's a tough fight," said American Brig.-Gen. Frederick Hodges, director of operations for the coalition's Regional Command South, which includes Kandahar province.
Once the heavy fighting slows, the plan is to follow up with jobs, development, and an effective government presence.
The U.S. military averaged two deaths a day in Afghanistan last month, but the hope is that a reinforced coalition can yet gain the upper hand in Kandahar.
"It is from Kandahar that the Taliban attempt to control the hearts and minds of the Afghan people," Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said. "It is my belief that should they go unchallenged there and in the surrounding areas, they will feel equally unchallenged elsewhere.
"As goes Kandahar, so goes Afghanistan."
Hodges said that by late fall, there will be enough Afghan and international forces in the restive province -- with Kandahar city and the Arghandab having reached "a point of irreversible momentum" -- that the coalition can then set its sights on Panjwaii and Zhari.
In Panjwaii, where Canada saw some of its fiercest, deadliest battles in Afghanistan to date, the heavy lifting will once again fall to Canadian troops and Afghan security forces.
A transitional phase for Canada's withdrawal will start next spring, Hodges said. Until then, the war continues.
"Not only are they extremely busy right now, but they're going to be even more busy as we get into the fall in Phase III," Hodges said.
"There's no slackening of effort or attention or commitment by Task Force Kandahar or by Canadian Forces or civilians. And we absolutely need them to be that way all the way through to the spring."
Canada has seen success in the Dand district that lies between Panjwaii and Kandahar city, where its counter-insurgency strategy has been in place for about 18 months. The area is relatively quiet, for Kandahar, and development is underway.
"The efforts this fall are intended to drive that wider and more thoroughly into Panjwaii. As we're leaving here in 2011, we want Panjwaii, or a good portion of Panjwaii, to be where Dand is now."
The Associated Press
Date: Thursday Aug. 26, 2010 9:56 AM ET
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Canadian soldiers are girding for what may well be their final fight in Kandahar as they expand their counter-insurgency strategy this fall into a key district that has remained a stubborn Taliban stronghold throughout four years of battle.
The third phase of Operation Hamkari will get underway in the Panjwaii district, where Canadian Forces are now concentrated, and neighbouring Zhari, which has been handed over to the U.S. military.
Hamkari is the word for co-operation in Afghanistan's Dari language, but the initial stages of what's shaping up to be Canada's final chapter will be anything but co-operative.
"We estimate that there are probably between 500 and a thousand insurgents who regularly operate in the Arghandab and in the areas of Zhari and Panjwaii, and they will be a military challenge to resolve," said a report earlier this summer from NATO's military coalition, known as the International Security Assistance Force.
It will be a difficult battle to win, and a difficult win to retain. In their four years in Kandahar, Canadian Forces have cleared Taliban strongholds again and again, but lacked the personnel to remain in the areas, maintain security and foster local development.
"That challenge, on a military perspective, is felt by the troops who wrestle every day with the encroachment of the insurgency into populated areas, the IED threat, the threat against ourselves and Afghans," said Brig.-Gen. Jonathan Vance, commander of Canada's Task Force Kandahar.
"More forces are required in more concentration to deal with that more thoroughly, and more forces are coming. They're arriving as we speak, but nonetheless it's a challenge."
With an end to the Canadian combat mission slated for the next July, and a drawdown of U.S. troops beginning that same month, pressure is on for the coalition to make speedy, tangible progress.
Operation Hamkari in Kandahar has been dubbed by some American media as the most critical operation in the nine-year war.
The first phase of Hamkari began in the spring, aimed at improving security and government services in Kandahar city. Security checkpoints have gone up, construction is booming and some time this fall the city should have diesel generators to provide stable power until a massive hydro-electric project is finished.
The second phase of the operation began in July, when U.S. and Afghan forces -- some with their Canadian military mentors -- began a clearing operation in the Arghandab district.
Early reports indicated the coalition hoped to control all of Arghandab by the start of Ramadan, but three weeks into the Muslim holy month the fight continues furiously in the lush river valley on Kandahar city's northern doorstep.
"It's a tough fight," said American Brig.-Gen. Frederick Hodges, director of operations for the coalition's Regional Command South, which includes Kandahar province.
Once the heavy fighting slows, the plan is to follow up with jobs, development, and an effective government presence.
The U.S. military averaged two deaths a day in Afghanistan last month, but the hope is that a reinforced coalition can yet gain the upper hand in Kandahar.
"It is from Kandahar that the Taliban attempt to control the hearts and minds of the Afghan people," Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said. "It is my belief that should they go unchallenged there and in the surrounding areas, they will feel equally unchallenged elsewhere.
"As goes Kandahar, so goes Afghanistan."
Hodges said that by late fall, there will be enough Afghan and international forces in the restive province -- with Kandahar city and the Arghandab having reached "a point of irreversible momentum" -- that the coalition can then set its sights on Panjwaii and Zhari.
In Panjwaii, where Canada saw some of its fiercest, deadliest battles in Afghanistan to date, the heavy lifting will once again fall to Canadian troops and Afghan security forces.
A transitional phase for Canada's withdrawal will start next spring, Hodges said. Until then, the war continues.
"Not only are they extremely busy right now, but they're going to be even more busy as we get into the fall in Phase III," Hodges said.
"There's no slackening of effort or attention or commitment by Task Force Kandahar or by Canadian Forces or civilians. And we absolutely need them to be that way all the way through to the spring."
Canada has seen success in the Dand district that lies between Panjwaii and Kandahar city, where its counter-insurgency strategy has been in place for about 18 months. The area is relatively quiet, for Kandahar, and development is underway.
"The efforts this fall are intended to drive that wider and more thoroughly into Panjwaii. As we're leaving here in 2011, we want Panjwaii, or a good portion of Panjwaii, to be where Dand is now."