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Canada in Afghanistan thread
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...y/National/home
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Troops flex muscle in Taliban stronghold
Confidence-building operation the largest since Canadians arrived in Kandahar
JEFF SALLOT
From Friday's Globe and Mail
Ottawa — Hundreds of Canadian troops have moved deep into Taliban insurgent territory north of Kandahar, Afghanistan, as an early show of force, defence officials in Ottawa say.
The troops, fresh to the Afghan theatre of operations, are trying to quickly establish freedom of movement over a wide swath of territory and to flush out Taliban fighters.
The Canadian units, accompanied by Afghan government forces, are also trying to win the confidence and support of local villagers who might be able to help identify Taliban hideouts, the officials say.
The operation began several days ago, but was kept under wraps for security reasons until yesterday when embedded reporters with The Canadian Press and the CBC were able to report the activities of the two companies from the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.
The Canadian soldiers are patrolling in light-armoured vehicles. U.S. helicopter gunships provide air cover as needed.
This is the largest Canadian operation since troops began arriving in Kandahar province last month, replacing U.S. forces.
A key part of the counterinsurgency strategy is to win the confidence -- and even friendship, if possible -- of the local population. Thus in every village the units participate in sit-down sessions, or shuras, with the elders.
Army Captain Trevor Greene was critically wounded at one such shura when a man hit him in the head with an axe.
The operation is being run from a forward base some distance from the main Canadian base at the city of Kandahar. It is scheduled to continue for most of March.
Over the past month, Canadian troops have encountered ambushes, including rockets, roadside bombs and the axe attack in the mountainous region north of Kandahar.
The ongoing violence has forced Canadians to pay more attention to their country's beefed-up mission in Afghanistan, General Rick Hillier, Chief of the Defence Staff, said.
"Last week they really did wake up to this mission and what you are doing here," Gen. Hillier said during a chat with troops taking part in the Canadian-run provincial reconstruction team in Kandahar.
"I've been telling them for some time, but people don't really listen to words."
Canada's top soldier paid a visit to the team after meeting with Kandahar's governor and used the opportunity to rally the troops.
"You've had a tough week or so, I know. You have a tough mission, I know that, too," he said, referring to the overall mission in Afghanistan.
Several small pockets of insurgents, numbering in the dozens, according to departing U.S. commanders, still operate in the area. In the spring, they often gather and organize larger offensives.
Six U.S. soldiers and 18 Afghans, including police, soldiers and civilian leaders, died in operations in the area last year.
"If we meet these bad guys, we destroy them. Simple as that," Captain Martin Larose, the acting commander of Company A, said during a briefing for platoon commanders.
Capt. Larose warned his troops to watch for the commonly known arsenal used by insurgents: roadside bombs, AK-47 assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
It's the biggest mission so far for the Canadian contingent of 2,200 troops based in Kandahar who have arrived in the region over the past month. Smaller units have patrolled in the northern part of the province since early February.
The mission coincided with a big anti-narcotics operation in neighbouring Helmond province, where hundreds of Afghan police and soldiers backed up by coalition troops have been plowing under illicit poppy fields.
Canadians moved into a forward operating base near Gumbad, 60 kilometres north of Kandahar, several weeks ago. They almost immediately came under a rocket-propelled grenade attack, answered by a barrage of Canadian howitzers.
Then, Capt. Greene, a civil-military co-operation officer, was attacked by an axe-wielding youth while on a visit with local elders in Shingai village.
Captain Kevin Schamuhn, Capt. Greene's platoon commander who was among three soldiers who killed the attacker and repelled a subsequent ambush, briefed his troops for their return to the region to again meet elders and collect intelligence.
Capt. Schamuhn told soldiers in a briefing that the local residents might feed them misinformation. "We're spending a lot of time trying to sort out the truth. Call them on it directly, it seems to get much better information."
The push into rural areas comes one week after a spate of suicide bombings and ambushes in Kandahar that injured eight Canadian soldiers.
Two others were killed and six injured in vehicle accidents around the same time.
With a report from Canadian Press
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Good luck boys and girls. Kick some ass and come back safe.
PS: Interesting to read some of the comments. Some real wackos (on both sides)
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| quote: | Originally posted by chinamon
not true. i say "ugh"
but i am a tranny. |
| quote: | Originally posted by kotsy
lol colour me retarded |
Last edited by Yohan on Mar-13-2006 at 17:08
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