How our developing strategy in Afstan is being implemented

Working with the Afghans to spread security and then development; sounds sensible to me:

FOB WILSON, AFGHANISTAN -- Amid a flurry of construction, one of the most ambitious projects at Forward Operating Base Wilson has little to do with tanks or artillery. It's an unassuming building where Canadians hope to bring representatives from various Afghan emergency agencies together around a desk and a phone to create Kandahar's first 911 service.

For Canadian troops in Afghanistan, combat missions are increasingly taking a back seat to mentoring and construction projects, a tour of virtually every major forward operating base in the province suggests.

In the past few months, almost exactly coinciding with the arrival of Quebec's Royal 22nd Regiment, the Vandoos, Canadian soldiers have made the mentoring of their Afghan counterparts the top priority, implementing programs designed to ensure Afghan soldiers are able to hold on to the territory Canadians fought to claim - and then reclaim, after the Afghans lost the ground again - from the Taliban.

The Canadians are also greatly expanding the infrastructure they plan to hand over to the Afghans. The FOBs, which used to be small Canadian outposts in the dangerous Panjwai district, have grown considerably, becoming launch pads for ambitious projects ranging from an integrated 911-type service to an elite Afghan police division...

"The idea is that you have to take real estate," said Sergeant-Major Gerry Trottier, who heads up the engineering functions at the base, as he surveys the construction from atop one of the command buildings. "The [FOB] is a means of securing that real estate." Like many soldiers at other bases, Sgt. Trottier points to the nearby road system as a measure for gauging the progress Canadians are making here. Cars, trucks and the occasional cyclist pass by under the afternoon sun without hassle.

"You can see it in the movement on the road," he said.

Still, just a few hours earlier in the day, insurgents opened fire on one of Sgt. Trottier's dump-truck drivers as he drove toward the base, and such attacks are still a daily occurrence in many parts of the province.

While Canadian troops may have the means to effectively fight back against anyone who fires on the base, their Afghan national army counterparts - those who are expected to take over when the Canadians leave - are not as well equipped and trained.

Lieutenant-Colonel Alain Gauthier, head of the Canadian battle group in Kandahar, points to a number of steps the Canadians have taken to make sure they won't be fighting for the same ground again after handing control over to the Afghans. Recently, members of the Canadian police mentoring teams began living at police checkpoints with the Afghans, partially as a means of reducing harassment of the local population by the notoriously corrupt Afghan police force...

More on training:

The Afghan police and Army are in dire need of more training, and when US Defense Secretary Robert Gates attends a summit of NATO defense chiefs starting Wednesday in the Netherlands, he is expected to demand that member countries send additional trainers to a nation considered crucial in the war on terror.

As violence rises in parts of Afghanistan, the mission to build a strong security force there is flagging in part because NATO members that had pledged support as recently as last year have yet to fulfill all their commitments, US defense officials say.

Secretary Gates said last week that pressing those countries to step up will top his agenda during the two-day meeting.

"I expect this subject to be the centerpiece of those discussions – of people meeting the commitments they have made," Gates said.

Gates is seeking not only more trainers, but also a "strategic plan" for adding trainers and better coordination of economic and civil development in the country [see link for Canadian view]...

...Gates, who was in Kiev Sunday, is asking Ukraine and other Eastern European countries for help, according to a Reuters report.

"The greatest shortfall that we face right now, both in terms of increasing the size of the training base and in taking units into combat and employing them, are trainers," said Army Maj. Gen. Robert Cone, commanding general of the Combined Security Transition Command for Afghanistan, during a briefing at the Pentagon last Thursday...

The training mission needs an additional 60 training teams – consisting of about 16 individuals each – to help the Afghan Army and police, according to Major General Cone. Currently, about 22 teams are on the ground and another 20 or so are promised by NATO countries. The 60 new teams would bring the overall program to 100 training teams...