On guard in Kabul

Toronto Sun ^ | October 10, 2004 | Peter Worthington

[Clive]

KABUL, Afghanistan -- While the ultimate winner of yesterday's presidential election in Afghanistan won't be known for at least a month, there's a rare feeling of confidence throughout the battered, teeming capital of Kabul.

The 9,000 troops of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have been on increased alert all this month, intensified because they really don't have links in the community to tell them when Taliban or al-Qaida zealots plan disruptive incidents.

I know not what other ISAF units are up to, but as far as the 700 Lord Strathcona Horse (armoured reconnaissance) and supportive Princess Patricia's infantry are concerned, they've had things pretty well in hand. Canadian soldiers don't interfere locally, and work more and more closely with the ANA, which is a fighting army that's learning discipline and tactics.

Kabul refutes much of the mythology that persists at home about Afghanistan -- and its parallels with Baghdad and Iraq.

For example, the big noise back home about the burka being cast aside by Afghan women is not true.

Here in Kabul, women are no longer required to hide their faces (a Taliban dictum), but the reality is that an uncovered woman's face is rare.

Burka is everywhere

The burka is everywhere there are women -- and to the observer, men outnumber women by, oh, 100 to one. Where are the women? Presumably behind the ubiquitous high stone walls that surround homes, because there's no shortage of children here.

On the hills in and surrounding Kabul, where the Strathconas have observation posts (OPs), what the troopers call "sand kids" seem to appear from nowhere.

Strathcona troopers man the OPs for three day-shifts of three hours on, nine hours off, monitoring movement and suspicious activity.

OP duty is relished by soldiers who are on their own and away from Camp Julien and military bureaucracy for a spell, despite the fact that their mobility is often restricted by land mines as yet uncleared.

Alive with people

Kabul streets that were subdued and fearful under the Taliban, are now alive with people.

People remember Taliban putting suspect offenders, into a local empty swimming pool, where they were shot.

Afghans I spoke to said they expect trouble if interim President Hamid Karzai doesn't get a majority. When elections for their parliament are held, it'll be a dogfight of primitive proportions.

Afghans don't know much about Iraqis, but they know enough to be contemptuous of them. The terror bombings, the beheadings, etc., are not the Afghan way. Afghans may kill you, but they prefer to do it from the front.

Strathcona squadron commander, Maj. Derek Macaulay of Comox, B.C., put it succinctly: "The Afghanis seem pretty good at killing, but not much at discipline." Train them (which the Canadians are doing) and they have the potential to be soldiers as lethal as the Gurkhas.

The Afghans seem to harbour no resentment towards the foreign troops in their midst but other outsiders are unwelcome. Pockets of Taliban and al-Qaida misfits seem resented. People have had a bellyful of religious zealotry.

A final observation: Afghanistan is the harshest, roughest country in the world, without resources, whose people are tough, hospitable, warlike. To suppose democracy here will thrive taxes credulity.

But Afghanistan has had it with a king who wielded little power but was tolerated, if not adored. Maybe that indicates an encouraging future for this gallant but threadbare country.

[Clive]

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[leadpenny]

If the writer has one, I don't get his point.

[NorthOf45]

I believe he is saying that democracy is proving to be successful in Afghanistan.