CASR

Canadian
American
Strategic
Review

Afghan Mission  –   New US Troops  –  Kandahar City  –  NATO~ISAF  –  February  2010 Task  Force  Kandahar  –  Troops  from  Canada  and  America Deployed  in  a  ' Super  Brigade '  to  Defend  Kandahar  Area Edited  excerpts  from  article  in  the Victoria  Times - Colonist ,  29  January  2010      [1]  The Canadian commander of  Task  Force Kandahar,  Brig.-Gen. Daniel  Ménard will soon have almost 6000  Canadian  and  American  troops  under  his command. Gen. Ménard  did not say exactly where the new  US  troops  would  be  deployed,  but the area covers Kandahar City  and three nearby districts. Ménard's  brigade  already  includes  two  US  battalions  from  the  82nd Airborne  Division  based  at  Fort  Bragg ,  Kentucky:  2nd Battalion,  502nd  Parachute  Infantry  Regiment and the  97th  Military  Police  Battalion. In addition,  the Task  Force includes  the 1st Battalion,  12th Infantry Regiment,  from  Fort Carson,  Colorado. This battalion will be replaced in the spring [ March 2010 ]  by a battalion from the ' 101st Airborne Division ' from  Fort Campbell,  Kentucky.  Another  US Army unit has received orders to join the war as part of the Canada-led  ' Super Brigade '  in Kandahar. The 1st  Squadron,  71st  Cavalry  Regiment of  the  10th  Mountain  Division will be placed under  Canadian command in  March  when it arrives from  Fort  Drum in upstate  New York. There have also been hints that the 71st Cavalry may not be the last US troops to join Ménard's brigade before his tour ends in the fall. It is expected to take at least six months for all the troops surging from the US to arrive in theatre. Gen. Ménard's 'super brigade', also includes about 2,850 Canadian troops. They are mostly drawn from the Alberta-based Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI), but will include troopers from the Ontario-based Royal Canadian Dragoons as well as reservists, mostly from western Canada. Edited excerpts from an article published in the Wall Street Journal,  01 February 10    [2] Each spring as the weather warms up, Taliban fighters return from wintering in Pakistan to intensify attacks and intimidation in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan's biggest city and the Islamist  movement's  birthplace.  But  coalition  commanders  and Afghan  officials say that in the coming months the US troop surge and a new strategy will allow the coalition to block the annual militant advances  –  and possibly change the course of  the war by reversing the Taliban's momentum. "If Kandahar falls, so goes Afghanistan. Everyone understands that it's a jewel that needs to be protected," says US Army Lt. Col. Reik Andersen, commander of the 1st Battalion of the 12th Infantry Regiment. This battalion has been deployed to secure northwestern approaches to the city.  Until American units started pouring into Kandahar province in the second half of last year [ 2009 ],  Canadian troops tackled the Taliban here largely on their own. They lacked the numbers to hold the ground around the city. In recent months, two American battalions under Gen. Ménard's command took over restive areas north and west of Kandahar, and an American military police battalion focused on patrols within the city limits. Fresh American forces scheduled to arrive in mid-March would take over the southern approaches to Kandahar, letting the Canadian troops concentrate on the violent Panjwaii district in the southwest. In Kandahar, the fighting season traditionally reaches full force in May, when thick foliage in the grape, pomegranate, and poppy fields around the city provides cover for the militants. Canadian and US forces are busy establishing combat outposts throughout those areas. " By  the  time  the  spring  comes,  and  the  leaves  grow  on  the  trees,  the  security  forces will  be  in  place,  [ keeping  the  Taliban  insurgents ]  well  away  from  the  city,"  says  the Governor  of  Kandahar  Province,  Tooryalai  Wesa.  " At this  time  last  year,  we  weren't even  able  to  talk  about  some  of  these  villages,  and  now  our  checkpoints  are  there." Gen. Ménard says that his battle plan divides his area of responsibility into concentric rings. The center, which he calls the ' ring of stability ', includes Kandahar City  and  major  satellite towns.  While  there  won't  be a  large  increase in  foreign  troop  presence  inside  the  city, the coalition  plans to stabilize  that area  by  the  spring,  bolstering Afghan security  forces there.  [ The coalition plans to launch ]  wide-scale  public-works  projects  that  would  help to keep  potential  recruits  for  the  insurgency busy digging canals and constructing roads. Most of the ' hard ' combat in coming months, Gen. Ménard said, will take place in an inter- mediate ' ring of security ' around Kandahar city.  This  rural  belt  "is where I intend to fight the  insurgents during  the campaign  season,"  Gen. Ménard said.  By  May  2010,  four  (4) battalion-sized  combat task  forces  will  be in place in  that  area. The residents of Kandahar, a metropolis of one million people where markets are bustling and a recent soccer tournament went off without a hitch, are divided over the strategy's chances. "With the arrival of more troops the fighting will increase, and the ordinary people will bear the brunt," said Noor Mohammad, a 52-year-old shopkeeper. "No matter how many soldiers are sent,  the Taliban are already in the city and don't need to come here from the outside." Mohammadullah, a 28-year-old driver, disagreed:  "More soldiers will kill more Taliban,  and I  think  this  is  the  only  language  that  they  understand."   [1]  Article written by  Matthew Fisher  at  Kandahar  Airfield  for  Canwest  News  Service.   [2]  Article written by  Yaroslav Trofimov  in  Kandahar City  for  the  Wall  Street  Journal.          ( Habib  Zahori  in  Kabul  also  contributed  material  for  this  article. )