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Afghanistan
Canada says has broken S. Afghan Taliban uprising
2006-11-09
Canadian troops have broken the back of an insurgency by Taliban militants near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, the scene of fierce recent fighting, Defense Minister Gordon O'Connor said on Tuesday. Canada has 2,300 soldiers based in Kandahar. Since 2002, 42 Canadian soldiers have died in Afghanistan, most of them in battles in the south of the country over the past few months.

"We have already broken the back of the insurgency in the Kandahar area in the sense that they (the Taliban) are not prone to attacking us directly. They are going to have to revert to suicide bombings and IEDs (improvised explosive devices)."
Although an opinion poll over the weekend showed most Canadians pessimistic about the future of the mission and want the troops to come home, O'Connor struck an upbeat tone. "It is a critical time in the south. ... I believe that we are going to succeed," he said in a Parliamentary debate on the Canadian military. "We have already broken the back of the insurgency in the Kandahar area in the sense that they (the Taliban) are not prone to attacking us directly. They are going to have to revert to suicide bombings and IEDs (improvised explosive devices)," he said.

Canadian troops were part of a major NATO operation that attacked the Taliban for two weeks in September. The clashes have since died down. Canada's armed forces are tightly stretched but O'Connor said top military officials felt they had enough troops to ensure no units were forced to return to Kandahar for a second term of duty before the mission ends in February 2009. He added some engineers as well as artillery and tank crews already in Afghanistan could be asked to fight as infantry if necessary.
Posted by:Fred

#7  Baba, today's enemy is not as visible as Hitler. Adolph had an army, tanks, airplanes, etc, all of which he used to devastating effect against both militaries and civilians. He invaded numerous other countries. There was no way the appeasers could deny that he had to be defeated.

Today's enemy is quite different as I'm sure you understand. They are far far less visible. Their threat is much less overt. Thus it becomes extraordinarily difficult to convince average joe public who neither sees nor is directly impacted by the conflict that it is worth the death of any soldiers. The media is absolutely complicit in this ignorance, but the ignorance is there nevertheless. That is why there will be little or no support to fight this war the way it must be fought until one or a series of significant attacks occurs in the west.
Posted by: remoteman   2006-11-09 14:36  

#6  most Canadians pessimistic about the future of the mission and want the troops to come home

It occurs to me that the enemies of the West may be right about us; we have no will to fight and will recall our troops rather than risk bloodshed. My father's generation had to cope with the news that Allies had 9,000 casualties in one morning in 1944 and had secured only a few feet along the coast of Normandy for that. Armored German counterattacks would take tens of thousands more lives and the war would go on for almost a year, with massive civilian casualties. If that happened today the "peace" movement would insist the troops come home and we begin discussions for a diplomatic end to hostilities. Hitler would remain a revered figure throughout central Europe. The US, UK, Canada and Australia would be the only liberal democracies in the world, the UK would be under tremendous pressure to ally itself with fascist Europe. But we would have "peace" and our heroes would be home.

Today's enemies may be too tough and too scary for us moderns to confront. They may have us figured.
Posted by: Baba Tutu   2006-11-09 12:42  

#5  Beauty!

Now to find the people supplying the suicide vests and making the IEDs. Therein lies the hard part.
Posted by: eLarson   2006-11-09 11:06  

#4  Frankly, I'd prefer the Taliban doing the dying.
Posted by: Frank G   2006-11-09 09:23  

#3  When we turn tail in Iraq, it's going to be hard to keep Canadians dying in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble   2006-11-09 08:43  

#2  Absolutely Shep - the Coalition are winning? Best keep that hush hush as it doesn't suit the hand-wringing agenda. I await the Taliban's black flag appearing permanently on the Al-Grauniad's masthead. Sheesh. Go on the Canadians! Nice work.
Posted by: Howard UK   2006-11-09 06:17  

#1  Odd init, if that were the taliban saying we have broken the backs of the westerners christ you'd never hear the end of it from the media for weeks, infact here in the Uk the average person probably dosnt even know the canadians are there fighting em. I await this report on the media but i do not hold my breath for fear of collapsing though...
Posted by: Shep UK   2006-11-09 05:17  

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