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OTTAWA and KABUL, AFGHANISTAN — Canada's Chief of the Defence Staff has acknowledged that the situation in Afghanistan is getting worse and more troops are required in the face of mounting Taliban attacks aimed at derailing next year's Afghan election.
General Walter Natynczyk faced criticism last week when he dismissed the growing violence in the Kandahar region as “insignificant” during a tour of the country, in spite of claims to the contrary by observers and other NATO countries.
But he's now offering a far more sombre analysis, stepping back from his previously upbeat picture of security in the country.
“We have two contrasting pictures here. On the one hand, what I got from the people in Kabul is a worsening security situation across the country. That is really clear,” Gen. Natynczyk said in an interview broadcast yesterday on CTV's Question Period. Specifically, he said, the situation is getting worse in Kabul, in eastern Afghanistan where U.S. forces have the lead and in southern Afghanistan where Canadian troops are based.
Gen Walter Natynczyk (second from left), Canada's new Chief of the Defence Staff, addresses soldiers at a forward operating base during his first visit with Canadian troops in Kandahar Province in Afghanistan, July 9, 2008. (Stevo J McNeil/The Canadian Press)
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“On the other hand, when I was in Kandahar from the soldiers' perspective, what they see are localized fragile signs of success. Very, very localized,” he said.
The House of Commons voted just four months ago to extend Canada's Afghan mission until 2011, based in large part on NATO's commitment to support Canada with an extra 1,000 troops in southern Afghanistan. While the general said that a U.S. battalion is on its way to help in the south, he noted that a surge in military strength in Iraq had “a significant, positive effect.”
The comments from Canada's top military leader come as military observers have been questioning why recent Canadian analysis of the Afghan situation has been relatively upbeat compared with increasingly dire reports from Americans.
Canadian officials had suggested that recent incidents of violence were to be expected because of the time of year. But the general now says the spate of attacks is part of a larger Taliban campaign aimed at next year's election in Afghanistan.
“There's a sense the Taliban are throwing everything against the Afghan government and ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] in the work up to the election which will take place next year,” he said.
Western officials say Kandahar province has not been an exception to the general trend of deteriorating security in southern Afghanistan.
But the general's comments about localized improvements within the province reflect the views of Canadian military officers who say they have reduced Taliban activity in a limited number of locations such as Pashmul, a cluster of villages 15 kilometres west of Kandahar city.
Such zones of relative security are geographically limited, however; another group of villages known as Ashokay, only a few kilometres east of Pashmul, has become a notorious hideout for insurgents.
Nor has the Canadian military effort of the past two years pushed the insurgents farther away from Kandahar city, since some of the air strikes against suspected Taliban positions in the past few days have targeted locations near Zala Khan, only 10 kilometres south of the city limits.
Next year's election is a subject of heated debate among policy makers in Kabul, some of whom say the vote should be delayed because of the security situation.
Retired major-general Lewis MacKenzie was among those who had questioned why Gen. Natynczyk and other Canadians were speaking so positively of late.
“It's a pretty good clarification,” Mr. MacKenzie said yesterday in response to the general's comments. Mr. MacKenzie said he suspects Gen. Natynczyk was simply trying to encourage the troops with his comments in Kandahar.
“[He was] trying to put a positive spin on for the soldiers. Sure can't blame him for that.”
NDP MP Paul Dewar was less charitable.
“I think reality caught up to the general,” he said, expressing concern at the call for more troops. “To point to Iraq is not helpful.”
A spokesman for Defence Minister Peter MacKay said the minister and the general are on the same page in their assessment of Afghan's security situation.
“Minister MacKay has said on several occasions, including the last NATO defence ministers meeting in Brussels, that more troops would always be welcomed for this important mission,” Dan Dugas said Sunday.
