Deadly Toll For Canada
One country's defenders, another country's terrorists. Hard to really get the true picture about how ordinary Afghans think of the resurgent Taliban. True, they suffered under their iron grip on the country until their ouster by NATO, in the wake of al Qaeda's attack on the United States, but we're not exactly talking about the urban residents at this point, but the distant countryside, where in any event it's a hardscrabble existence with poor farmers looking to feed their families through growing a saleable crop; poppies, with their sure return.In the rural areas, far from the nation's capital, tribal culture prevails, where girl children and women are considered possessions, and where Sharia law is a given, for the most part. Do these people view the Taliban, their brethren, after all, as their enemies? They want peace, they want stability, just as any population would aspire to, long assaulted through warfare brought to them by outsiders, foreigners who have invaded the country, time after time.
And here are the Canadian troops placed by NATO and through Canada's assent in the very heart of the most troubled region in the country. Canada has 2,500 troops deployed in the south of Afghanistan where, apart from the United States, Holland and the United Kingdom, other NATO countries fear to send their troops. Our mission, is to roust the Taliban entirely from the area, and assist in reconstruction. Easier said than done.
"Winning hearts and minds" is the phrase, but it's a hopeful mantra and inadequate to the situation. The troops do their best, meeting with village elders, talking through interpreters, trying to persuade them that they are there for the purpose of aiding and assisting, knowing all the while that some of the people in the villages they visit may very well be farmers during the day, but low-level Taliban during the stealthy dark hours.
Canadian soldiers distribute pencils and coloured paper to the children in the villages. Give them candy, crayons, rubber balls and yo-yos, courtesy of the families of Canadian soldiers, anxious to make a positive impact on the villagers, and hoping thereby, by some magic medium to help save the lives of their beloved sons and daughters. Canada has now lost 66 of those beloved sons and daughters.
Protective vehicles - we have them; the RG-31 Nyala armoured vehicle is the best that money can buy. It has a steel hull designed to withstand a double TM57 level mine explosion, equivalent to 14 kg of TNT under each wheel. As well as a single concentrated detonation equivalent to 7 kg of TNT centrally under the vehicle. Its thick metal floor is curved, designed to deflect the impact of a blast sideways.
Canadians are posted in Kandahar province, approximately 20 kilometres from Kandahar City. In Panjwaii region, where the troops feel fairly confident they have the trust of the locals and where the roadway had been cleared, the safest armoured vehicle in the Canadian fleet hit a buried explosive device, and the resulting blast killed six Canadians a day ago. Question: in that 'safe' area how did Taliban manage to plant and detonate such a device?
And not just any device; this one was far deadlier than previous such improvised explosive devices; this deadly adversary is becoming far more adept at wreaking havoc, death and destruction on the foreigners who have 'invaded' their country. They're no longer in the category of less lethal devices of string and spit, put together using abandoned bits and pieces of armaments, sticking them together for a blast.
Terrorists need not fight in conventional ways, meeting troops better armed, provisioned and prepared than they are. The IEDs have replaced warfare of a more direct nature. They've been successful in a way that direct conflict hasn't been. Killing by stealth may not be approved by the Geneva Convention, but it is effective and it is the way of guerrillas since time immemorial.
Only the much larger U.S. force stationed in Afghanistan has suffered greater losses than the Canadians, but the British forces come a fairly close second. Despite Canadian efforts and their belief in their mission and the quality of the armoured vehicles they use, they're suffering disproportionate fatalities simply because of their determination to do their job, despite their placement in Afghanistan's most volatile area.
Moreover, they face greater exposure in that more dangerous enclave. Conducting active military operations, not remaining sheltered in camps; present but not accounted for, as some other NATO countries' troops are spending their time in the country. It isn't just the physical toll these attacks take on NATO troops, but the psychological aspect, which can be just as troubling.
Little wonder there are increasing civilian casualties when NATO responds to Taliban provocations and attacks. Knowing that you cannot be safe anywhere in that country while actively pursuing the goal you've been sent there to achieve is extremely nervous-making. And there is always the realization that foreigners representing an 'army of occupation', whatever the end design, do not represent the familiarity of your Taliban neighbours.
The proof is right there, on the ground; the Taliban encouraging farmers to grow their poppies as a lucrative trade option, while the Afghan government and NATO enforce crop destruction; the NATO forces increasingly gaining a reputation for killing innocent civilians, now in excess of what the Taliban were formerly accused of.
The war in all its twists and turns, the gritty little details, represents the ultimate booby trap.
Labels: Terrorism, World Crises
posted by Pieface @ Thursday, July 05, 2007
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