Violent Surge in Kandahar Province
| 2/19/2008 | Posted by Patti under Afghanistan |
On Sunday a suicide bomber blew himself up in the middle of a dog fight event just outside Kandahar city killing about 100 people, including the anti-Taliban police chief of Kandahar province. The Taliban denied any responsibility for the attack, yeah right. The governor of Kandahar claims he warned the police chief several times that he was in danger but he was ignored.
On Monday, a suicide bomber apparently targeted a Canadian military convoy in Spin Boldak a busy town near the Afghan / Pakistan border. Four Canadian soldiers were slightly injured and about 38 Afghan civilians were killed. The Taliban claimed responsibility and at the same time claimed that no civilians were killed, just security forces.
The governor of Kandahar again claimed that the Canadians were warned of the suicide bomber at large in Spin Boldack and then blamed the bombing taking place on the Canadian failure to stay away from the area. By now, I’m beginning to wonder where the governor is getting his information and if he’s part of the problem or the solution.
In case he hasn’t figured it out, you don’t establish security in an area by hiding when there is a threat. Rosie Dimano writes an excellent piece in the Toronto Star today. She’s been there, she’s been embedded with the troops and has a better understanding of what they are facing than most of those reading her work.
As I write this piece another bomb has gone off in the city of Kandahar, this one planted in a car left on a city street. It went off, triggered remotely, just after a police convoy passed.
I suspect that the timing is not coincidental. In addition to unnerving the Afghans and generating questions in their mind if they are better under the Taliban or the Afghan and international forces the Taliban is not unaware of the debate here in Canada on the future of Canada’s role in Afghanistan.
In the past I’d have some confidence that the Canadian response would be resolve to stay the course and see the mission accomplished. I’m not as sure that Canadian politicians have the gonads to take the stand solidly behind the troops getting the job done.
Yes, the mission needs some serious scrutiny but it should be done with the eye firmly on the goal, getting the Afghan security forces to a point of self-sufficiency and the infrastructure in the country developed. Taliban bombers need to stiffen our spines, not weaken them.
[...] Apparently I wasn’t really making a broad leap earlier this week when I speculated that the three suicide bombings in Kandahar province, one clearly targeting Canadians, may be as much about the Taliban terrorizing and killing as it was about them trying to influence politics back here in Canada: I suspect that the timing is not coincidental. In addition to unnerving the Afghans and generating q… [...]
[...] 10 Mar 2008 Hillier Calls for Clarity ASAP Posted by dinosaur under Military the Taliban is not unaware of the debate here in Canada on the future of Canada’s role in Afgh…Making a similar connection yesterday Canada’s top soldier, Rick Hillier, appealed to the [...]
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