EvanL
12-24-2003, 12:07 PM
Mission could be extended: Troops might become enforcers of peace, not monitors
Matthew Fisher
CanWest News Service
December 24, 2003
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KABUL - Canada's top general in Afghanistan has told his troops their mission might change from monitoring the peace to enforcing it as terrorists attack "soft targets."
Major-General Andrew Leslie, deputy commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, also said the NATO mission in Afghanistan would extend for five, perhaps 10 years, and Canada's commitment might last longer than the original one-year mission.
"The government's never said that we're pulling out in August," he said. "They just said that, hey, we promise you 2,000 people for a year."
Maj.-Gen. Leslie told his Canadian troops yesterday the role of soldiers could change from monitoring the peace by patrolling the streets in Kabul to enforcing it.
"Taliban, al-Qaeda and HIG (Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin) are now targeting the soft targets ... schoolchildren, lightly armed police forces," he said.
"A bunch of us think that this may be desperation measures on their part."
In his first interview since returning from several weeks in Canada, Maj.-Gen. Leslie offered the opinion that Osama bin Laden, who is once again the world's most wanted fugitive, was alive.
"I believe Osama bin Laden is somewhere along Afghanistan's northeastern border with Pakistan," the General said. "I just don't know in which country. The desire to get him remains constant."
U.S. soldiers and Marines will soon begin to protect Provincial Reconstruction Teams from attack across a wide swath of southeastern Afghanistan, where the Taliban still reign supreme. For more than a year, U.S. forces in Afghanistan have mostly only deployed from their bases in Kandahar and near Kabul on missions against specific Taliban and al-Qaeda targets.
Protecting PRT's and getting troops to move out of Kabul has been a top priority of ISAF, NATO and the Pentagon for many months, but until now only the German army has actually done so.
"This [new U.S.] strategy is bang-on," Maj.-Gen. Leslie said. "It's the maturation of a policy. The hunt to kill al-Qaeda and the Taliban continues. But the U.S. will be setting up safe havens where the UN and other organizations can work."
The U.S. move to protect "PRTs in the disaffected south may well entice other countries to step up to the plate," the General said.
Canada's own commitment to ISAF ends in August, but having invested hundreds of millions of dollars in bases here, it is widely expected in Kabul that Ottawa will announce by this April that it intends to continue being a major military player in Afghanistan. One of its new duties will likely be to protect at least one PRT.
"There is no change in policy yet," Maj.-Gen. Leslie said. "We remain very focused on doing all we can to keep or improve the current security situation in Kabul and to prepare for the transfer of 2,000 fresh [Canadian] troops in late January.
"What Canada's contribution looks like post-August, 2004, I don't know. I do know we are working hard to get other countries involved. If every country in NATO contributed to Afghanis-tan what Canada has, it would go a long way toward making [ISAF] a more effective force."
As it is, ISAF has had its hands full keeping the peace in Kabul. With the constitutional Loya Jirga, or Grand Assembly, now entering its second week, there are almost daily rocket attacks around Kabul.
"I saw two rockets go off and heard two more myself," while out on patrol on Saturday night, Maj.-Gen. Leslie said. "There are more attacks now than there were last month."
Matthew Fisher
CanWest News Service
December 24, 2003
ADVERTISEMENT
KABUL - Canada's top general in Afghanistan has told his troops their mission might change from monitoring the peace to enforcing it as terrorists attack "soft targets."
Major-General Andrew Leslie, deputy commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, also said the NATO mission in Afghanistan would extend for five, perhaps 10 years, and Canada's commitment might last longer than the original one-year mission.
"The government's never said that we're pulling out in August," he said. "They just said that, hey, we promise you 2,000 people for a year."
Maj.-Gen. Leslie told his Canadian troops yesterday the role of soldiers could change from monitoring the peace by patrolling the streets in Kabul to enforcing it.
"Taliban, al-Qaeda and HIG (Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin) are now targeting the soft targets ... schoolchildren, lightly armed police forces," he said.
"A bunch of us think that this may be desperation measures on their part."
In his first interview since returning from several weeks in Canada, Maj.-Gen. Leslie offered the opinion that Osama bin Laden, who is once again the world's most wanted fugitive, was alive.
"I believe Osama bin Laden is somewhere along Afghanistan's northeastern border with Pakistan," the General said. "I just don't know in which country. The desire to get him remains constant."
U.S. soldiers and Marines will soon begin to protect Provincial Reconstruction Teams from attack across a wide swath of southeastern Afghanistan, where the Taliban still reign supreme. For more than a year, U.S. forces in Afghanistan have mostly only deployed from their bases in Kandahar and near Kabul on missions against specific Taliban and al-Qaeda targets.
Protecting PRT's and getting troops to move out of Kabul has been a top priority of ISAF, NATO and the Pentagon for many months, but until now only the German army has actually done so.
"This [new U.S.] strategy is bang-on," Maj.-Gen. Leslie said. "It's the maturation of a policy. The hunt to kill al-Qaeda and the Taliban continues. But the U.S. will be setting up safe havens where the UN and other organizations can work."
The U.S. move to protect "PRTs in the disaffected south may well entice other countries to step up to the plate," the General said.
Canada's own commitment to ISAF ends in August, but having invested hundreds of millions of dollars in bases here, it is widely expected in Kabul that Ottawa will announce by this April that it intends to continue being a major military player in Afghanistan. One of its new duties will likely be to protect at least one PRT.
"There is no change in policy yet," Maj.-Gen. Leslie said. "We remain very focused on doing all we can to keep or improve the current security situation in Kabul and to prepare for the transfer of 2,000 fresh [Canadian] troops in late January.
"What Canada's contribution looks like post-August, 2004, I don't know. I do know we are working hard to get other countries involved. If every country in NATO contributed to Afghanis-tan what Canada has, it would go a long way toward making [ISAF] a more effective force."
As it is, ISAF has had its hands full keeping the peace in Kabul. With the constitutional Loya Jirga, or Grand Assembly, now entering its second week, there are almost daily rocket attacks around Kabul.
"I saw two rockets go off and heard two more myself," while out on patrol on Saturday night, Maj.-Gen. Leslie said. "There are more attacks now than there were last month."