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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - The outgoing leader of NATO's southern command in Afghanistan says the country is growing more confident under the waning influence of the Taliban. Maj.-Gen Ton van Loon says religious scholars and elders in the south are beginning to speak out more freely against militants and extremists. He says the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, is also making progress in its efforts to train local Afghan police forces and the Afghan National Army. And he says there are reports that Taliban insurgents are being driven out of local communities by the people of Afghanistan themselves, with...

Leaders label slain soldiers 'truest heroes' Nearly 5,000 people packed an auditorium in New Brunswick to honour the eight. By CP London Free Press Thursday, April 26, 2007 OROMOCTO, N.B. -- Military leaders used a memorial service yesterday for eight slain Canadian soldiers to defend their mission in Afghanistan as a just and crucial cause. Standing on a stage featuring large photographs of the soldiers along with eight helmets sitting atop eight rifles, speakers hailed the men as Canada's "truest heroes" during a sombre service at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown. About 5,000 people packed an auditorium to pay tribute...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, April 17 (Reuters) - A roadside bomb killed four people in a U.N. vehicle in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar on Tuesday, a Reuters cameraman said. Two of those killed in the blast appeared to be foreigners, he said. A U.N. spokesman said the report was being checked.

Read on for my interview with Frontpage Magazine’s 2003 "Man of the Year," retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Allen B. West. Currently stationed in Kandahar, Afghanistan, West is planning a congressional run in Florida later this year. He was kind enough to share his thoughts on military strategy, politics, race, media and the lessons of the ancient world. *** Q: You’re a retired Army officer currently working as a private contractor for the Department of Defense (DOD) in Kandahar, Afghanistan, advising and training the Afghan Army. To the extent you can divulge information, explain in more detail what you’re doing...

KABUL (AP) - Taliban fighters seeking to regain power in Afghanistan are taking advantage of a recent peace deal with the Pakistan government to dramatically increase attacks on NATO-led forces in eastern and southeastern Afghanistan, several American military officials said Tuesday. Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said in an interview that Taliban attacks surged by 200 per cent in December, and a U.S. military intelligence officer said that since the peace deal went into effect Sept. 5 the number of attacks in the border area has grown by 300 per cent. Eikenberry did not explicitly...

Rebuilding Afghanistan, one project at a timeCanadians overcome obstacles to help By CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD Toronto Globe and Mail Saturday, December 16, 2006 Print Edition, Page A27 KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN -- The other day, a 34-year-old Canadian reservist named Corporal Shawn Denty got to deliver the medical supplies his friends and colleagues in Oakville, Ont., had collected after reading an e-mail about his distressing visit to Mirwais Hospital, the lone civilian hospital in Kandahar city. "I was shocked," Cpl. Denty wrote home. "The dirt, the dust . . . it was a shambles. There I was, standing in the middle of...

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia has extended for two more years the imprisonment of a terror suspect linked to al-Qaeda's attempts to produce chemical and biological weapons, saying he has more information about terrorist operations. Yazid Sufaat, a U.S.-trained biochemist and former Malaysian army captain, was arrested in late 2001 as he returned home from Afghanistan, where officials say he was working on a biological and chemical weapons program for al-Qaeda that was ended by the U.S.-led war. Since then, he has been held without trial under Malaysia's Internal Security Act on accusations of being a member of Jemaah...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - A suicide car bomber rammed a NATO military convoy in southern Afghanistan on Monday, killing three Afghan civilians and wounding one NATO soldier, officials said. Four Afghan civilians were also wounded in the blast that damaged one NATO military vehicle on the outskirts of Kandahar, said police officer Abdul Wasai. The attacker also died in the attack and the car he used was destroyed, Wasai said. Maj. Daryl Morrell, a spokesman for the NATO-led force, blamed the Taliban for the attack, saying the hardline militia wanted to disturb law and order in Kandahar province. He confirmed...

Media AdvisoryFallen Soldier Returning HomeMA 06-26 - October 10, 2006OTTAWA, Ont. — Our fallen soldier, Trooper Mark Andrew Wilson, a member of the Royal Canadian Dragoons (RCD), based at Canadian Forces Base Petawawa, is scheduled to return home to Canada tomorrow. Where: 8 Wing Trenton, Canadian Forces Base Trenton, Ontario. When: Wednesday, October 11, 7:55 p.m. What: At the wishes of the families, media are invited to view the arrival, though no interviews will be given. Present to pay their respects will be The Minister of National Defence, Gordon O’Connor, and other dignitaries. Trooper Mark Andrew Wilson was killed October...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - A suicide bomber on a motorbike attacked a Canadian military convoy in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, but no troops were injured, officials said. One military vehicle was engulfed in flames after the bomber rammed into the convoy in western Kandahar city, said Maj. Daryl Morrell, a NATO-led force spokesman. The bomber was killed in the blast, but no alliance troops were hurt, Morrell said. Insurgents have increasingly used suicide bombers in their campaign against foreign and Afghan government troops throughout the country this year. A suicide bomber in the capital, Kabul, killed 12 people and wounded...

StatementStatement by the Minister of National Defence on the Death of Private Josh KlukieNR-06.071 - September 30, 2006OTTAWA – The Honourable Gordon O'Connor, Minister of National Defence, issued the following statement today on the death of Private Josh Klukie: “On behalf of the Defence family and our brave men and women in uniform I extend my deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Private Josh Klukie. This brave soldier gave his life providing hope for a brighter future, free from hardship and struggle, to the people of Afghanistan. Canada is in Afghanistan helping to stabilize and reconstruct the country....

OTTAWA - Even though NATO failed to find an additional 2,500 troops for Afghanistan after a major meeting Friday, Canada's defence minister says alliance countries on the front lines plan to keep the pressure on other less willing partners. "I don't say I'm disappointed. You continue to put pressure on people. My sense is they are going to come across as the pressure continues," Gordon O'Connor said Friday in a telephone interview from Portoroz, Slovenia, after attending the NATO defence ministers meeting. O'Connor said the fact that upwards of 12,000 American troops have joined the NATO mission would bolster the...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - The end of summer often brings more calm to Afghanistan, but the weekend start of a Muslim holy month combined with a Taliban intent on revenge may bring a spike in violence for Canadian soldiers. Canadian troops are still days away from the end of September, already their deadliest month in Afghanistan since their presence in the country began in 2002. Last spring, military officials predicted an upsurge in violence as temperatures rose into the traditional Afghan summer season for battle. Twenty of Canada's 37 deaths in Afghanistan took place in the summer of 2006, including...

CFB TRENTON, Ont. -- Four grief-stricken families received their fallen loved ones today during a military ceremony to mark the return of this country's latest casualties in Afghanistan. Four flag-draped caskets were loaded into four black hearses on the tarmac of this eastern Ontario military base as fathers, mothers, wives and children took comfort in each other's embraces. Each casket was removed from a military airbus in turn and escorted by military pallbearers led by a padre as a piper played the stirring lament "Flowers of the Forest." Family members were joined on the tarmac by dignitaries, including Defence Minister...

Taliban fighters in a pocket of Kandahar province in Afghanistan "paid a very heavy price" for going on the offensive against North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces, and the NATO response, called Operation Medusa, resulted in a Taliban retreat, General James Jones, commander of European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe for NATO, said during a Pentagon briefing on Wednesday. The arrival of 6,000 NATO troops in Kandahar was "a culture shock to the region," and the Taliban "decided to make a test case of this region," Jones said. While NATO forces were surprised by the level of violence, "what...

WASHINGTON (RTRS): Nato’s southern Afghanistan offensive this month killed 1,000 to 1,500 Taleban fighters, a large chunk of the entire force, passing a major test on the battlefield, its top operational commander said on Wednesday. Gen. James Jones, Nato’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, also said alliance allies have committed to provide at least 2,000 of the roughly 2,000-2,500 extra troops he sought to bolster the 20,000-strong Nato force in Afghanistan. “There are some countries that I’m not free to announce that are going to make some contributions in the near future,” the US Marine Corps general told a Pentagon briefing....

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - Two Afghan bystanders were wounded Saturday after a Canadian soldier fired a warning shot toward a vehicle approaching an army convoy. A man suffered minor cuts from flying debris and a teenaged boy had surgery Saturday to remove a piece of bullet from his leg. Neither of their injuries were considered life-threatening. The boy's angry father, Faeed Ifaq, wondered why Canadians hurt Afghan civilians in their efforts to stay safe from suicide and roadside bombs. "This is not the way to operate, my boy has done nothing," Ifaq said as he waited for his son to...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - Bibi Sagima took a humiliating seat on a busy downtown street Friday, putting out her hand to beg for food with her eight-year-old son while clinging to faded hopes that her husband is still alive. Sagima and her boy, Ghami, are two of the thousands of refugees who poured from the Panjwaii district after the Canadian army led an offensive there to root out Taliban insurgents. Local officials estimate some 1,500 families left Panjwaii and surrounding areas to avoid fighting and intense bombardment by Canadian and NATO forces backing the assault. Sagima took refuge with a...

OTTAWA (CP) - Canada has loaned its Dutch comrades five heavily-armoured Nyala patrol vehicles for use in southern Afghanistan. And in an exchange steeped in irony, our European ally has offered up flight time on helicopters - some of which more than likely belonged to Canada and were sold to the Netherlands by the Mulroney government in 1991. A defence spokesman said the loan of the armoured vehicles will not affect the army's ability to carry out operations - nor will it imperil Canadian troops who routinely face roadside bomb attacks. "It's a temporary loan until the Dutch are ready...

PANJWAII, Afghanistan (CP) - Canadian troops collected Taliban weapons and nuggets of intelligence Tuesday as the battle to enforce NATO control over the restive Panjwaii district entered a final phase. Afghan and Canadian soldiers have a last push and weeks of mop-up ahead, but the major battle they expected against hardcore Taliban fighters has dissolved for the moment. For the third straight day, soldiers encountered little resistance as they approached the southern front in this fight. As the sun set, a trio of Taliban fighters put up a brief skirmish against a combined force of U.S., Canadian and Afghan troops....