The Torch: Afghan National Army operations

Not the sort of story found too often in the Globe and Mail:

KANDAHAR PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN — In the mountains and fields southwest of the provincial capital, far from the high-level NATO deliberations last week, are the men on whom the alliance is pinning its hopes for an exit strategy from Afghanistan.

Here in Zhari district, where the poppies are beginning to bloom and patrols regularly come face to face with Taliban fighters, a battalion generally considered to be one of the best in the Afghan National Army has assumed an increasingly independent role.

The men of the unit have worked nearly two years with Canadians, and their mentors say the Afghans have learned to plan and mount autonomous infantry operations. They still need artillery and air support, officers from both countries add, but the increased local capacity in this volatile area has freed up Canadian personnel and the battle group now assists only when requested.

The Afghans revel in their independence, with the commander saying that they conducted a successful operation in Nalghan last weekend to prove to naysayers that they could.

"I heard that the enemy said the government will not be able to come in this area," explained Lieutenant-Colonel Shirin Shah, 43, a Tajik from the north who has been fighting all his adult life. "That's why we made the plan."

A robust Afghan army has long been seen by Western leaders as a prerequisite for NATO troops being able to leave. Training has been going on for years but there is a widespread acknowledgment here that capabilities still vary widely throughout the Afghan military.

The cream of the crop is arguably Lt.-Col. Shah's kandak, the local term for a battalion-style formation, typically about 500 strong. After extensive operations in the area, though, this unit is preparing to pull out for leave and then further training elsewhere.

"The challenge is that we haven't been mentoring all the kandaks for two years," said Major Bob Ritchie, the Canadian officer leading the liaison team in Zhari. "[The new one] will need direct and continuous mentoring at the company and kandak level or it will not be successful on operations."

But the Canadians don't believe the process will take as long to replicate.

"Mentoring is an acquired skill," explained Major Ritchie, 32, an Ottawa native who moved to Edmonton in the late 1990s and serves with the 3rd Battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. "I think it will be expedited but I don't think it will be quartered."

It will be up to the new men to take up the fight in Zhari, where there have been persistent clashes in the past few years and where many locals are reluctant to reveal whom they support. Along with neighbouring Panjwai, on the other side of the Arghandab River, the area has been dotted with army outposts, police substations and forward operating bases."The amount of ground we own is actually very, very small," one Canadian soldier said. "But it's important to show that we can go where we want, when we want."..

The Canadians are not trying to bring these men up to a NATO standard, and argue that it is key to let the Afghans determine the best solution to a problem. The result can be mixed.

On one recent foot patrol, the Canadian advisers would have preferred to go farther afield, but the Afghans opted for a route closer to the road. The mentors agreed, but drew the line when a potentially unstable mortar round was found. The Afghans were keen to get back to base for lunch and suggested that it probably wouldn't be too dangerous for one of the Canadians to carry the mortar in his backpack. The idea was rejected, gently, by the highest-ranking Canadian present and the ordnance was left for disposal later.

"It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't have to be Canadian," Major Ritchie stressed. "It has to work."..