Canada In Afghanistan

(Photo from the CBC News)

Canada Highlights Small Victories Over Taliban -- Canada.com

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Sounding much more upbeat than many of his international colleagues, the commander of Canada's Afghanistan mission insisted Friday that his troops have scored a series of important victories lately.

Canadians have eliminated Taliban commanders, seized bomb factories and broken up supply centres, said Brig.-Gen. Denis Thompson.

Now the soldiers plan to deny the insurgents their safe havens over the winter, helped by Pakistani security forces on the other side of the border, he said.
Brig-Gen. Denis Thompson speaking to reporters in Kandahar Friday.

"We've faced some interesting challenges," he told reporters. "For every challenge, however, there are successes that we don't hear enough about . . . This summer we were able to significantly disrupt the insurgents' command and control network. Many of their mid- and senior-level commanders were neutralized, including several key IED experts."

Meanwhile, the heavy-lift helicopters that Canada is expected to acquire from the U.S. by this January should help tactically, allowing troops to push "deeper, with a larger force" into insurgent country, he said.

A day after a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a heavily guarded government building in Kabul, Thompson acknowledged there is a "perception" in Afghanistan that security is deteriorating.

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My Comment: I wish some other members of NATO were this committed in the fight in Afghanistan.