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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier wrapped up a whirlwind tour of Afghanistan on Sunday by conceding that the country is still a dangerous place.
But Mr. Bernier insisted progress has been made and said he's proud of the work of Canadian soldiers in the central Asian country.
“It's difficult. Yes, I will admit it,” Mr. Bernier told reporters on the tarmac at Kandahar Airfield just before he and International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda boarded their flight home.
“It's a difficult situation but we have improvement because our civilian humanitarian workers are able to go out there and do their work,” he said.
Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier, centre, sits in a Chinook helicopter on his way Sunday to visit Patrol Base Wilson at Zhari District. (Paul Chiasson/Reuters)
There was no mistaking the enthusiasm of Mr. Bernier and Ms. Oda on the weekend as they took their first steps on the dusty ground of the country that will dominate their portfolios. Both were recently appointed to their jobs in a cabinet shuffle by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Mr. Bernier moved from one military machine to another during his tour Sunday, clapping his hands together like a kid in a candy store.
“So, what do you have here?” Mr. Bernier asked as he moved from a Nyala RG-31 with a remote control gun to a LAV-3 armoured vehicle.
Mr. Bernier and Ms. Oda both donned flack vests and helmets, took rides aboard an immense twin-rotor Chinook helicopter and quizzed soldiers about the workings of the military and its machines.
But outside the small talk, the ministers stuck to prepared statements and left tough questions to high-level civil servants.
The visit included about a dozen carefully staged photo-opportunities, a couple of funding announcements and just a handful of questions about affairs of state.
It wasn't until the pair were leaving, faced with a boycott of another photo-op, that Mr. Bernier agreed to answer questions from reporters.
While he said the situation has improved, Mr. Bernier, who visited two of Canada's forward operating bases outside Kandahar Airfield, said the presence of Canadian soldiers is still needed.
“The territory is more secure today here in Kandahar than it was a year ago,” he said.
Last year there were many attacks, he added.
“Those attacks have diminished,” Mr. Bernier said. “It's still difficult. I saw that it's still difficult. But the situation has greatly improved.”
A recent review by the UN Department of Safety and Security described the situation in Kandahar as “volatile.”
Across the country, 2007 has been the bloodiest year since the Taliban was ousted from power in a U.S. invasion six years ago.
So far this year, there have been an average of 525 violent incidents a month, compared with 425 last year.
Ms. Oda made two announcements on the trip. She reconfirmed Canada's commitment to the World Food Program, pledging $25-million to help some 400,000 people in Kandahar.
She also pledged $3-million over three years to finance an archeological dig in Kabul where an ancient market neighbourhood is being rebuilt.
The ministers shook hands and made small talk with troops on several occasions, including during the now mandatory stop at the Tim Hortons at Kandahar Airfield.
Later, Mr. Bernier borrowed from an assassinated U.S. president to rally soldiers of the Provincial Reconstruction Team in downtown Kandahar.
“John F. Kennedy said to the Americans: ‘Don't ask what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,”' Mr. Bernier said.
“Now, today, I'm asking Canadians, ‘Don't ask the Afghan government what it can do for us in Canada, but what we Canadians can do for the Afghan people.”'
His words echoed a recent statement by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who gave another of a recent series of high-profile appeals for support for the mission.
On one of the final stops of the tour, Mr. Bernier hauled out a crate of gooey cakes and handed them to troops holding down Patrol Base Wilson, about 40 kilometres west of Kandahar city.
“We've got a surprise for you!” Mr. Bernier said, wishing the soldiers a happy Thanksgiving as he handed out the cakes, which are manufactured in Mr. Bernier's hometown of Beauce, south of Quebec City.
Five soldiers who shared the cakes nearby were asked what the ministerial visit meant to them.
Four soldiers shrugged, but the fifth said it was important.
“At least they're letting us know they know we're here,” said Cpl. Michel Turcotte a member of the Royal 22nd Regiment from Mont Laurier, Que.
Canada has some 2,300 soldiers based in southern Afghanistan. A total of 71 have died since Canada began its Afghan mission in 2002.
