memphiz
07-28-2004, 01:37 AM
Small groups will train fledgling state's army
KABUL (CP) — Defence Minister Bill Graham is expected to sign an agreement next week committing Canadian army trainers to Afghanistan through 2008, the first long-term undertaking Ottawa has made to the war-ravaged country.
The long-awaited deal with the U.S. military and Afghan government will also allow Canadian advisers to accompany Afghan National Army troops to the war front — 16 Canadian soldiers are expected to deploy north by mid-August.
"Canada is looking at repackaging and redefining a whole new mandate custom-made for this work," said Col. Alain Tremblay, commander of the 2,000-member Canadian contingent in Afghanistan's capital city.
Training a national army and breaking the 1,400-year dominance of Afghanistan's warlord culture is probably the most critical element of the country's reconstruction, said Tremblay.
"No central government will be able to survive in such an environment without the proper institutions — the judicial, the military," he said.
"It took us six to eight months to ... convince Ottawa of the strategic value and return investment of getting into that initiative."
Until now, Canada's role in the U.S.-led training program has been ad hoc, based solely on Ottawa's relatively short-term commitments to NATO's International Security Assistance Force.
However, the program, which aims to train the first 70,000 ANA troops, is independent from NATO and its Canadian Operation Athena. Called Operation Archer, it is only the second time Canada has been involved in large-scale training of a foreign military force — Sierra Leone was the other.
Just under 15,000 soldiers are so far enrolled with the Afghan National Army, which is slowly shoring up its numbers as the country's disarmament, demobilization and reintegration program retires regional militias.
The total training process, from recruitment through deployment, lasts two years. Tremblay said he expects Canada will stay with the training program regardless of its future role in ISAF, which now expires in August 2005.
"It's not a short-term commitment," said Tremblay. "It takes a long time to bring them to a proper and decent level of efficiency as a modern military force.
"You cannot think that you can be playing at this on a six-month to six-month basis. It cannot work that way."
Small groups of Canadian soldiers have been embedded with ANA and U.S. troops since last fall, training two kandaks, or battalions. But when it came time for their trainees to deploy, the Canadians had to stay behind.
Several Canadian-trained ANA units have been involved in heavy fighting in southern Afghanistan.
"The whole team was very frustrated by that," said Maj. Sylvain Rheaume, the officer who commanded the training group for the past six months.
"We have trained these soldiers to do a job and when it was time to do the real stuff, we were not allowed to be with them. We developed a really good relationship and trust and it was very, very difficult to let them go."
All the soldiers trained by Canadians have deployed either on their own or with U.S. advisers, many to war, said Rheaume, a Quebec City native. Asking the Americans to accompany Canadian trainees was humiliating, he said.
"There was a loss of credibility for us in the eyes of the Afghans and the Americans. It's difficult for the Afghans to understand why every time they went somewhere we could not go. The Americans always asked us: Why?"
It was also difficult for the Afghans to invest time and trust in Canadians only to be deployed with, advised by and sometimes ordered by American officers they did not know or even necessarily trust, Rheaume said.
Now, 16 Edmonton-based soldiers from the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry expect to deploy to a secret location with an Afghan support battalion for two to three months, said Tremblay.
The Afghans they are deployed with are to provide reconnaissance and security for October's presidential elections.
Commanded by Maj. Brian Hynes, who served a combat tour with 3PPCLI out of Kandahar two years ago, the Canadian trainers will be provided with slightly more robust rules of engagement than their NATO colleagues are allowed.
Hynes, originally from Comox, B.C., arrived in Kabul this week and has been going through the transition process with Rheaume.
Besides a woeful lack of equipment, the biggest shortcomings the Canadians had to address in the ANA were planning, organization and command structure, Rheaume said. Afghan officers had no concept of how to delegate authority.
"It was one of the best jobs I ever had in my career," said Rheaume, who has put in four overseas tours with Quebec's Royal 22nd Regiment, or Vandoos. "It was very, very challenging and rewarding.
"We go back home with the feeling that we have accomplished something and that we have done something to make this country better because they are the ones who are going to take care of the security and bring peace."
KABUL (CP) — Defence Minister Bill Graham is expected to sign an agreement next week committing Canadian army trainers to Afghanistan through 2008, the first long-term undertaking Ottawa has made to the war-ravaged country.
The long-awaited deal with the U.S. military and Afghan government will also allow Canadian advisers to accompany Afghan National Army troops to the war front — 16 Canadian soldiers are expected to deploy north by mid-August.
"Canada is looking at repackaging and redefining a whole new mandate custom-made for this work," said Col. Alain Tremblay, commander of the 2,000-member Canadian contingent in Afghanistan's capital city.
Training a national army and breaking the 1,400-year dominance of Afghanistan's warlord culture is probably the most critical element of the country's reconstruction, said Tremblay.
"No central government will be able to survive in such an environment without the proper institutions — the judicial, the military," he said.
"It took us six to eight months to ... convince Ottawa of the strategic value and return investment of getting into that initiative."
Until now, Canada's role in the U.S.-led training program has been ad hoc, based solely on Ottawa's relatively short-term commitments to NATO's International Security Assistance Force.
However, the program, which aims to train the first 70,000 ANA troops, is independent from NATO and its Canadian Operation Athena. Called Operation Archer, it is only the second time Canada has been involved in large-scale training of a foreign military force — Sierra Leone was the other.
Just under 15,000 soldiers are so far enrolled with the Afghan National Army, which is slowly shoring up its numbers as the country's disarmament, demobilization and reintegration program retires regional militias.
The total training process, from recruitment through deployment, lasts two years. Tremblay said he expects Canada will stay with the training program regardless of its future role in ISAF, which now expires in August 2005.
"It's not a short-term commitment," said Tremblay. "It takes a long time to bring them to a proper and decent level of efficiency as a modern military force.
"You cannot think that you can be playing at this on a six-month to six-month basis. It cannot work that way."
Small groups of Canadian soldiers have been embedded with ANA and U.S. troops since last fall, training two kandaks, or battalions. But when it came time for their trainees to deploy, the Canadians had to stay behind.
Several Canadian-trained ANA units have been involved in heavy fighting in southern Afghanistan.
"The whole team was very frustrated by that," said Maj. Sylvain Rheaume, the officer who commanded the training group for the past six months.
"We have trained these soldiers to do a job and when it was time to do the real stuff, we were not allowed to be with them. We developed a really good relationship and trust and it was very, very difficult to let them go."
All the soldiers trained by Canadians have deployed either on their own or with U.S. advisers, many to war, said Rheaume, a Quebec City native. Asking the Americans to accompany Canadian trainees was humiliating, he said.
"There was a loss of credibility for us in the eyes of the Afghans and the Americans. It's difficult for the Afghans to understand why every time they went somewhere we could not go. The Americans always asked us: Why?"
It was also difficult for the Afghans to invest time and trust in Canadians only to be deployed with, advised by and sometimes ordered by American officers they did not know or even necessarily trust, Rheaume said.
Now, 16 Edmonton-based soldiers from the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry expect to deploy to a secret location with an Afghan support battalion for two to three months, said Tremblay.
The Afghans they are deployed with are to provide reconnaissance and security for October's presidential elections.
Commanded by Maj. Brian Hynes, who served a combat tour with 3PPCLI out of Kandahar two years ago, the Canadian trainers will be provided with slightly more robust rules of engagement than their NATO colleagues are allowed.
Hynes, originally from Comox, B.C., arrived in Kabul this week and has been going through the transition process with Rheaume.
Besides a woeful lack of equipment, the biggest shortcomings the Canadians had to address in the ANA were planning, organization and command structure, Rheaume said. Afghan officers had no concept of how to delegate authority.
"It was one of the best jobs I ever had in my career," said Rheaume, who has put in four overseas tours with Quebec's Royal 22nd Regiment, or Vandoos. "It was very, very challenging and rewarding.
"We go back home with the feeling that we have accomplished something and that we have done something to make this country better because they are the ones who are going to take care of the security and bring peace."