Cruising Kandahar

The New York Times has published this photo of a Canadian patrol attacked in Kandahar city on Wednesday. I think the picture of the lead vehicle and soldiers milling about speaks for itself.

 

We’re Winning in Kandahar

How’s this for logic? If we abandon territory, they won’t fight us for that territory and therefore we can claim victory because there’s less fighting. I guess that means if we packed up all our soldiers and flew them back to Canada we could claim total victory. From the Globe & Mail:

“Secret military statistics show that Taliban attacks have decreased in Kandahar’s core districts in the past year, illustrating the success of Canada’s new strategy of pulling back its troops into the heart of the province, a top military commander says.

Insurgent ambushes have fallen in four of Kandahar’s 17 districts as the latest rotation of troops has focused on protecting the vital zone around the provincial capital, said Lieutenant-General Michel Gauthier, although he did not give specific numbers.

“In relation to where we’re focused, I think we are winning,” he said.

Geographic focus was a key part of the general’s assessment. While saying that security has improved in the districts of Panjwai, Zhari, Spin Boldak and Kandahar city, he repeatedly declined to comment about the provincial situation as a whole.

In places just beyond the Canadians’ zone of control, the Taliban have established a parallel court system, enforced curfews, and mounted road checkpoints.

But Gen. Gauthier described his troops in a dilemma similar to that faced by a hospital triage nurse, deciding which patients require the most urgent attention: “You have to prioritize,” he said.”

Trying to secure a territory the size of Kandahar province with a battle group of but 1,000 soldiers was never more than a preposterous fantasy anyway so it makes sense that the Canadian force would retreat and concentrate on holding the most critical assets, the cities. Is that what “winning” looks like? I guess so, if you can define “victory” as going on the defensive.

 

Kandahar – The Deadliest Zone

Canadian casualty rates in Kandahar are the highest in Afghanistan or even Iraq. Canadian forces have a higher sustained fatality rate than either the Americans or British forces in Afghanistan, even higher than the US fatality rates in Iraq.

The National Post forced the release of the figures from the Canadian military under a Freedom of Information Act demand.

Canadian soldiers died at a rate 2.6 to four times higher than the British and Americans in Afghanistan and two to 2.6 times higher than U.S. forces in Iraq, according to the April, 2007, number-crunching by Barbara Strauss, an official with the Forces’ health services group.

The proportion of Canadian soldiers killed by enemy action is higher even than it was in all but one year of World War Two, the government document indicates.

All manner of explanations are coming out – Kandahar is tougher than anywhere else, not enough transport helicopters, operating in the homeland of the Taliban, etc.

Here’s a couple I haven’t seen mentioned – when you field one rifle for every 30 sq. kms. of very hostile territory, you’re easy meat. When your enemy’s numbers multiply from dozens to hundreds and perhaps even thousands and you don’t reinforce to meet the growing threat – well, you’re easy meat. When you’re fighting a kind of war in which the cardinal rule is “go big or go home”, there is no third option.

 

Afghanistan’s Child Soldiers

Afghan boys are being pressed into service with the Afghan National Police, various militias and, of course, the Taliban.

A report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs states that these young boys routinely suffer physical and sexual abuse.

Abdul Qader Noorzai, head of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) in Kandahar Province said, “Children are used for different purposes. The majority of them experience sexual abuse, others do all kinds of jobs such as cooking, cleaning, day patrols and even fighting.”

In Kandahar Province, Canada’s bailiwick, it’s estimated that some 200 boys under 18 are serving with the Afghan National Police and the police auxiliary.

Under-age males have also been seen working for private security companies, particularly in Kandahar and Helmand provinces, said a senior government official who insisted on anonymity.

“The auxiliary police and private security contractors widely use child soldiers while the government and the AIHRC do not have the capacity to monitor, investigate and stop them,” the official said.

Afghan officials also accuse the Taliban and other anti-government elements of deliberately using children for various military and illegitimate purposes. The Taliban use boys as foot soldiers and force children to engage in violent acts, they say.

Over 7,500 child soldiers went through Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programmes between April 2003 and June 2006 under Afghanistan’s post-Taliban peace building arrangements, according to the UN.