Afstan: Bad news, good news

1) Bad news: dissension (with some reason) within NATO:

U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan need to change tactics to limit civilian casualties and prevent a backlash from locals, Germany's defense minister said Monday, reflecting European unease about reports of high death tolls in incidents involving American units.

"We have to make sure that in the future, operations do not take place in this way," Franz Josef Jung told reporters at a meeting of EU defense ministers. "We don't want the population against us. We have to prevent that."

NATO governments are concerned that recent reports of civilian casualties could undermine public support for the international security mission in Afghanistan, both among the local people and with public opinion in Europe.

Airstrikes called in by U.S. special forces fighting some 200 Taliban militants near Sangin in southern Afghanistan killed 21 civilians last week, Afghan government officials said, while villagers said nearly 40 civilians were killed.

The U.S.-led coalition — which operates outside NATO's force of 36,000 troops — confirmed that the battle caused civilian casualties, killing at least one child, and that a joint Afghan-U.S. team would investigate.

In March, U.S. Marines' special forces fired on civilians after a suicide attack in eastern Afghanistan, killing 19 civilians and wounding 50. Fighting late last month killed some 50 civilians in the western province of Herat, Afghan and U.N. officials say.

Jung made a distinction between the work of NATO's International Security Assistance Force and the U.S.-led counterterrorism mission, which was known until recently as Operation Enduring Freedom.

"It's not the way of going about it," he said. "I'm not talking about ISAF, I'm talking about OEF."

Jung said he had raised the issue of civilian casualties with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and added that NATO's top commander in Afghanistan, U.S. Gen. Dan McNeill, was "looking into the issue."..

2) Good news (from same story): EU is stepping up training of Afghan police:

The German minister spoke after chairing the meeting of EU defense ministers, which approved plans to send about 160 experts on a mission to train Afghan police starting next month under the command of Brig. Gen. Friedrich Eichele of the German police.

NATO has long pressed for the EU to step up training for Afghan police [see second part of story at link], saying effective local security forces are essential to support international security efforts. Jung said building effective Afghan forces was an essential element of any eventual exit strategy for international troops...

And this may be good news from two aspects given the current controversy involving the Americans:

Canadian military personnel have officially taken over the training of Afghan National Army soldiers -- a task that will eventually become a key component of any exit strategy.

"This is the key strategy, according to Canadian commanders, to get Canadian soldiers out of here," CTV's Steve Chao told Canada AM.

"The idea is that if they can get the Afghan army onto their own feet, and able to protect their own country, then Canadian soldiers can leave."

For now, the Canadian military is committed to the Afghanistan mission until 2009.

The Afghan soldiers, operating in Kandahar and Uruzgan provinces, were previously being trained by the United States. The official transfer to Canadian forces took place Tuesday morning in a ceremony at Kandahar airfield.

About 100 Canadian senior military professionals will act as mentors, teaching Afghan soldiers discipline, how to engage in combat, and how to operate as a large-sized army...

Update: Scott Taylor is not particularly optimistic:

Soldiering on
Efforts to build Afghan National Army have long way to go

Upperdate: Another view:

New Afghan forces gaining momentum
Canadians mentoring; Reduction in AWOL Rate one sign of progress