Less than a month after the signing of the regulation giving the Pakistan Taliban control over the Swat Valley and the ability to impose their form of Islam on the people, the deal has collapsed. What a non-surprise. Shortly after the Taliban moved their forces into Bruner and tried to take control there which would have placed their forces some scant 35km from the Pakistani capital Islamabad.

How many times are the Taliban, Pakistani or Afghani, going to have to demonstrate they can’t be trusted before the two governments are going to stand firm against them? It has taken 25 years for that conclusion to be reached in Sri Lanka in their fight against the Tamil Tigers. The Taliban, like the Tigers, will never be fully wiped out, that’s a given. With enough resolve and resources their ability to openly and freely regroup, train and finance their operations can be seriously restrained. That will not happen while the Pakistan government continues to waffle. Read the rest of this entry »

Earlier this month, the Pakistani government inked a deal with the Taliban allowing them to impose their extreme form of Islam in the Swat valley. The Swat area is in the largely lawless Northwest regions along the Pakistan/Afghanistan border. The Taliban being who they are barely allowed the ink to dry before moving their forces into the neighbouring Buner district.

They have since pulled some of their forces out but reportedly still have about 450 militants still in the area. That’s definitely enough to be terrorising the population. Control of Buner would place the Taliban within about 60km of Islamabad, the seat of government in Pakistan. Read the rest of this entry »

The godfather of Canada’s latest fallen hero seems to feel that his goddaughter died for nothing. He believes that Canada’s military should return to its “peacekeeping roots”. Canada’s roots are not in peacekeeping any more than his roots are English instead of French.

In the next few days the remains of Trooper Blais will land at CFB Trenton and like all those who arrived before her, she and her family will travel the Highway of Heroes. On one of those bridges I’ll be standing in my place as a Legion officer to the left of the Canadian flag flying in her honour, saluting her service and sacrifice. I’m assuming her godfather, Mario Blais, will be in one of the vehicles passing under us.

I’d like opportunity to sit down with him and have a quiet talk about the legacy that his goddaughter signed up to. I’d like to talk to him about how his claim (and he’s not the only one to do this) that Canada’s roots are in peacekeeping diminishes the memory of those warriors Karine followed in the footsteps of. I’d like to talk to him about how even peacekeeping missions were not without danger and death, in fact at times the danger was even more while our soldiers were denied access to weaponry to protect themselves. Read the rest of this entry »

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has signed the regulation which gives the Taliban legal control over the Swat Valley near the Afghanistan border. The Taliban came into existence wtih the help of Pakistani security forces.  They were originally meant to operate in controlling Afghanistan after the Russians pulled out in the 1990s.

The Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies have terrorised that area of Pakistan since being pushed from power in Afghanistan. They have used the area to launch attacks against international forces, including Canadians, engaged in trying to bring stability to Afghanistan. They have also used it as a base to attack the Pakistani government. It also appears the attack in Mumbai earlier this year were planned and controlled from this area. Read the rest of this entry »

On Friday, US President Obama announced the result of the American review of the mission in Afghanistan. In addition to sending the already announced 17,00 troops to Afghanistan, the US plans on sending 4,000 military to accelerate and expand the training of Afghan military and police forces. That is right in line with what Canada has been doing in addition to our combat role. Although Canada is unable to send more troops.

Another aspect of Obama’s new focus is a willingness to reach out to more moderate Taliban sympathizers. Mostly those who have taken up the cause more out of cohersion or economic need. This is something Afghan President Karzai has previously indicated a willingness to do, the difference is that Karzai has even opened the possibility of the highest level of the Taliban being invited to the negotiating table. Wonder if Karzai has ever tried negotiating with an active rattlesnake?

Many, if not most of the, Taliban command structure has been placed on the UN’s “Consolidated List” which makes them subject to things like travel bans and seizure of assets. That seems to be a pretty fair response to those who not only harboured Al Qaeda prior to and after 9/11 but have been part of the command structure responsible for Afghan and coalition deaths, including 116 Canadians to date. Read the rest of this entry »

This week, as we’ve done all too often since 2002, Canadians received and honoured more war dead from Afghanistan. Sitting at the Legion prior to heading to the bridge I heard the question asked that is asked so often there: “Why are we there? Those people have been fighting for thousands of years, we’re not going to change them”‘

The speaker knows we are there as part of our commitment to both the UN and NATO and in part as a friend and ally of our American neighbours. He, like thousands of other Canadians, want some understanding that this mission isn’t just about our soldiers dying in numbers greater than our allies. It’s an extremely valid question as we prepared to go to the bridges to honour four more fallen Canadians, a total of eight in just three weeks.

One thing we need to remember that makes the NATO mission in Afghanistan different from past wars in that country. We are not fighting the Afghan people, we are fighting FOR the Afghan people. We are fighting to allow them to form a free society with a democratic government. It will not likely be exactly as we have but that is ok, they are different culture to us. Freedom can translate many ways. Read the rest of this entry »

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 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.

Making a similar connection yesterday Canada’s top soldier, Rick Hillier, appealed to the government to bring the debate on the future of Canada’s mission in Afghanistan to a conclusion as soon as possible. He also suggested that once concluded that an all party motion declaring support of the troops could go a long way toward good troop morale. Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »