Corporal Steven Kuzevski, a Canadian Forces MP, trains Afghan National Police officers on the firing range. Handling weapons is just one of the course being offered by Canadian military and civilian police to their Afghan counterparts, who will be on the frontline guarding polling stations when Afghans vote in presidential and provincial council elections.DENE MOORE/The Canadian Press
There was nothing especially remarkable about the weapons cache - a suicide vest, some walkie-talkies, medical kits and the makings of explosives. What was extraordinary, at least to Canadian Forces Captain Alain Aubé, who was speaking to reporters during a briefing here, was who found it: The Afghan National Police.
"This is very significant for them," Capt. Aubé said Tuesday, referring to the discovery by Afghan officers during Operation Constrictor, a four-day sweep of a violent cluster of villages in the Panjwai district, just west of Kandahar City.
As Afghanistan girds for elections on Aug. 20, the briefing underscored broader efforts to bolster confidence in the Afghan forces, notoriously corrupt and ineffective, that are responsible for securing polling stations across the country.
In some ways, the Afghan Police have come to represent NATO's greatest ambitions and frustrations in Afghanistan, particularly in the south, where the insurgency rages.
Here, Canadian soldiers have taken the lead in training Afghan forces to assume eventual control over their own security through mentoring and running joint patrols.
The upcoming elections will be their first major test and the stakes are high with an upsurge of violence, particularly in the south, despite an influx of U.S. troops.
On the ground, Canadian soldiers are keenly aware of the limitations of the Afghan counterparts, and will often voice their frustrations over the incompetence of those they train.
"When it's basic soldiering they are pretty good, but when we go to a higher level, it's more complicated," Capt. Aubé said.
Operation Constrictor ranks as one of the largest operations involving Canadian forces so far this year, and was aimed at flushing the Taliban from a key district, south of Kandahar.
That region has been the focus of similar missions in recent months, reflecting a broader strategy of returning to Taliban strongholds again and again, in an effort to drive insurgents out for good.
Last month, a joint Canadian-U.S. operation dismantled four Taliban bomb-making factories in the same district.
This time, Afghan forces were given a more prominent role. Operation Constrictor was carried out in phases, with Canadian soldiers accompanying Afghan forces into position.
The Canadians then withdrew, leaving the Afghans to sweep through several villages alone, without any supervision.
"This was a good operation. It was all planned by them ... The whole thing was executed by them," Capt. Aubé said.
"So contrary to some of the stuff that's out there, this is a visible sign of the improvement that's taken place," he said.
Afghan forces were tipped off to the cache while interrogating a detainee, who led them to the weapons.
Insurgents have vowed to discredit the election through violence. It was unclear, however, whether the equipment uncovered last week was meant to target polling stations.
Also, it was an admittedly small victory relative to the scale of the security threat surrounding next week's vote.
Lieutenant-Colonel Mike Patrick, chief of operations for Task Force Kandahar, said the timing of the mission, prior to the election, was purely coincidental.
Capt. Aubé suggested the work of the Afghan battalion on Operation Constrictor nonetheless marked a "milestone."
Col. Patrick predicted greater Afghan involvement would help neutralize opposition to Canada's presence in Afghanistan.
"Eventually we're going to go back [to former Taliban strongholds]and we're going to present ourselves in an non-threatening posture and drive through town and talk to people as opposed to looking for the Taliban," he said.
"Hopefully, we won't find any Taliban because they've given up and left."