Taking the Fight to the Taliban
That U.S. troops in the Kandahar region of Afghanistan are under the overall command of a Canadian general is a tribute to the professionalism and competence of Canada’s army.
Americans are traditionally wary of anyone but Americans commanding their troops. But in the present Afghan “surge, ” troops of the 82nd Airborne Division are under the command of Brig.Gen. Daniel Menard in the Kandahar sector.
Combined with 2, 800 Canadian soldiers, the “enhanced” brigade now totals some 5,000 troops to form a proposed “ring of stability” around the provincial capital which is the nerve center of Taliban operations.
President Barack Obama’s commitment of 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan (bringing the total U.S. forces to around 100,000 – one-fifth of the maximum that served in Vietnam at any one time), indicates there’ll be serious fighting until withdrawal is scheduled to begin in July, 2011.
Obama hopes for an additional 10,000 NATO troops.
For three years Canada’s battle group has been stretched thin around Kandahar, but have become adept at both conventional warfare and counter-insurgency.
The fact that the U.S. military, under four-star General Stanley McChrystal, seems not only willing but eager to have his troops under Canadian command, is recognition that the Canadians are, arguably, the best allied soldiers in Afghanistan.
Also significant in the U.S. trusting Canadian command of its soldiers, is that Canada’s present Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Walter Natynczyk, was Deputy Commander of the U.S. Army’s III Corps both at Fort Hood and in Iraq – ironically, at a time when then Canadian P.M. Jean Chretien was posturing that no Canadian military people would serve in Iraq.
Natynczyk - the Canadian with the most experience at high command since WWII - replaced Gen. Rick Hillier as CDS. Although he may share Hillier’s philosophic views on military matters, Natynczyk has not been the clarion call that Hillier was in the job.
Hillier’s extroverted and outspoken personality rallied the Canadian public into supporting its military, and was emotional adrenaline to rank and file soldiers, His penchant for expressing his views on practically everything, often seemed to catch politicians by surprise.
Not that he was ever disloyal, but once his views on a topic became public, it inhibited government politicians - including the PM - from expressing alternate views that the media might exploit as contradictory.
Governments far prefer their generals to shut up. Pity, because today’s soldiers are knowledgeable, and worth listening to about Afghanistan – if they dare speak up.
Coincidentally, Obama’s 18-month deadline (July, 2011) for U.S. forces to begin pulling out of Afghanistan, coincides with Canada’s declared intent to withdraw all its troops – a polite cut-and-run, if you ask me.
Deadlines are dangerous things in wartime, and can give sustenance to the enemy. But they also indicate that for the next 18 months, the U.S. doesn’t intend to fool around, and will take the fight directly to the Taliban, hopefully with the Pakistani military cooperating. A hammer-anvil strategy, with the Taliban in the middle.
Gen. Menard is a VanDoos, and for what it’s worth, the VanDoos have been exemplary in carrying the fight to the Taliban. With greater resources in manpower and equipment than in the past, and a smaller area to be responsible for, the combined Canadian-American “enhanced” brigade should be well placed to tip the scales.