Canada's top general says training Afghan army now first priority

Canadian Press via Sun Media ^ | 2007-06-17 | Stephanie Levitz

[Clive]

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - With Canada's top military brass feeling comfortable with their tactics on the ground in Afghanistan, Chief of Defence staff Gen. Rick Hillier said his first priority now is to bolster the country's national security forces.

Hillier and the top leadership of the Canadian forces met over the weekend in Kandahar for discussions on the state of Canada's military efforts in Afghanistan as the clock ticks toward the February 2009 deadline for the mission.

"What we said is what can we do right now, we've still got a long way to go in the present mandate, as you know more than 18 months here, and we can accomplish a heck of a lot in that time frame," he said Sunday.

"Our focus was how much can we actually get to accomplish and put our shoulder behind, so that's what we focused on, what are we doing right now, summer, fall, early winter to put the Afghan security forces specifically in a much better position."

Two full battalions of Afghan National Army soldiers are already at work in Afghanistan, and a third is set to graduate in July.

It's a marked improvement from this time last year, Hillier said, when the

strength of the Afghan National Army was virtually zero.

He said he is heartened by what he is hearing from Canadian soldiers on the ground who work with and train the ANA.

"My soldiers told me when I was here the last two times in early May and back in March, this battalion is doing extremely well," he said.

"What they said was 'Hey sir, it's like looking in a mirror to see us doing our own skills and drills. These guys are good."'

Hillier said in order to nurture a national security force that can maintain the stability desperately needed by Afghanistan, more work is needed.

The military plans to step up training on the ground, including assigning more soldiers from existing Canadian battle groups to work with new army grads and procuring better equipment for the soldiers.

Though the capacity of the Afghan National Army is growing, their brother force, the Afghan National Police, lags behind, Hillier concedes.

The ANP have become the target of increased insurgent attacks in recent weeks, and on Sunday a bomb ripped through a police bus in Kabul, killing more than 35 people and wounding at least 35 others.

"What the Taliban realize is perhaps that they have (a) short window that until the police get more capable, get better trained, better leadership, better equipment, better supported overall, that they are perhaps the weaker of the security forces around and there is an opportunity to attack them and occasionally have some success," Hillier said.

"What we want to do is close that window as quickly as possible."

The weekend meetings in Kandahar included the chiefs of the land and air staff, as well Canadian Operational Support command, the Canadian Expeditionary Force Command and the chief of military personnel. They were designed to pull together the entire command of the mission in Afghanistan in one place to devise a strategy for the months ahead.

It's a different battlefield than the one troops encountered when they arrived in Afghanistan in 2002, and Hillier acknowledged the mission has been a constant learning process.

Military officials believe the Taliban insurgency has weakened over the last few months as key Taliban leaders have been killed by coalition forces. But IED strikes are occurring throughout Afghanistan on a near-daily basis - one on Sunday killed three coalition soldiers and an interpreter in Kandahar.

"In a counter insurgency campaign that the Taliban are running you can always have an attack that eventually will get through somewhere and cause the kind of losses that occurred in Kabul," Hillier said.

"That was a tragedy, yes the losses were high, but overall the insurgency isn't as strong as it was and they are relatively incoherent in most of the things they are trying to do."

Hillier said Canada's commanders feel the vast majority of the tactics they are using are working.

"We really actually validated many of the tactics we are using here and we are feeling pretty comfortable with that, having said that we do learn every single day."

Hillier arrived in Kandahar on Friday night, forcing him to miss the repatriation ceremony in Trenton, Ont., that night for Trooper Darryl Caswell, killed earlier in the week by a roadside bomb north of Kandahar city.

The general apologized for missing the ceremony, expressing his condolences Caswell's family and saying "I think they know just how much we share their grief with them, how much we will support them."

"I just want to say we are very proud of their boy, we are very proud he was one of us," Hillier said. "We're very proud he wore his uniform and very proud of the job he did and I know they are proud of him too."

[Clive]

Gen. Rick Hillier.
(CPimages/Stephanie Levitz)

[Clive]

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[Clive]

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[hsalaw]

Though the capacity of the Afghan National Army is growing, their brother force, the Afghan National Police, lags behind, Hillier concedes.

I've read elsewhere that the same is true of the Iraqi Army vs. Iraqi Police Force. And God bless our Canadian friends, and may He keep them safe during this important and dangerous work.

[fanfan]

Good news Clive.
Thanks for posting

Canada ping.

Please send me a FReepmail to get on or off this Canada ping list.

[headsonpikes]

“And God bless our Canadian friends, and may He keep them safe during this important and dangerous work.”

Thank you, sir. They’re good men.

And they get little enough support at home.

[hsalaw]

Thank you, sir. That would be "ma'am." And you're very welcome to whatever I can do to show support for our friends in Canada. We'll never forget how our Canadian neighbors took in and cared for our bewildered and frightened citizens on 9/11 and thereafter, when we closed all our airports, with no questions asked and nothing demanded in exchange. It was the act of a true friend, and we will never forget it.