Operation Embargo: Canada spins the truth in AfghanistanBrian Hutchinson, National Post: Acts of murder and terror are nothing new. But in Ottawa, government and military officials insist -- at least in public -- that the Canadian mission in Kandahar is making steady progress...
While [Kandahar Provincial Council deputy chairman Muhammad] Ehsan's unvarnished analysis brings little comfort, it's useful. 'The truth is, things are deteriorating. The truth is, we are despondent.'...
In a remarkably candid exchange with reporters earlier this year, Brigadier-General Denis Thompson, the outgoing commander of troops in Kandahar, described the results of local surveys conducted on behalf of the military. To no one's surprise, 55% of Kandahar residents surveyed said they felt relatively safe when asked in 2007. But only 25% said the same last year...
That was more than enough clarity for the Canadian Forces. The unflattering survey results were put back in the vault. A military spokesman told me they 'have been reclassified and aren't available for public consumption.'...
As expectations around the mission in Kandahar diminish, information about Canadian operations and results in the province are either withheld, or scrupulously finessed by the government and senior military brass. Case in point: Canadians were not informed that their military had permanently withdrawn from hard-won territory in western Panjwali district last fall...
Muhammad Ehsan is blunt... 'It was not wise to leave an area after you have pledged to eliminate the Taliban and bring stability to it. The money spent there, and the cost to Canadians, the soldiers they have lost there, and for what? You just left.'
Brian Stewart, CBC News: Canadians are unaware that the exhaustion of the combat mission is far worse than it has appeared... Only Lt. Gen. Andrew Leslie, the head of Canada's army has said enough to raise eyebrows. He insisted in the spring that his troops will need a year's rest after Afghanistan, along with replacement of worn-out equipment.
It's known within military circles that Leslie is far more concerned about the state of the army than he's admitted publicly... I was able to obtain a leaked internal military report on the state of the forces, signed by Leslie. The report actually refers to 'the hollow army.'
The restricted report... points out the current efficiencies in all branched of the military. Its most searing conclusion is that the army 'is now operating beyond its capacity.' 'The war in Afghanistan,' the report warns, 'illustrates deficiencies in the army and the Canadian Forces... The Afghanistan mission is particularly taxing on army capabilities and the current operations tempo is not sustainable.'...
Outside military observers insist the army still downplays its problems. Even the term 'hollow army' is not stark enough; it's now close to being a 'broken army,' suggests Doug Bland, a highly regarded military lecturer and historian from Queen's University... Bland recently suggested the military is so battered and worn by Afghanistan that any further service abroad, after Afghanistan, is unlikely for the foreseeable future... The concern, he said, should be less about leaving in 2011 and more about getting to 2011...
The Ottawa attitude seems to be: 'Oh well, Canada will be out of there soon.' Which Canada won't be, unless you consider 2012 a short time away.
