Afghanistan benchmarks

The government gives more details; some useful specifics, I'd say:

The Tory government has laid out a few more details of its Afghanistan exit strategy just days before an expected federal election call.

But the so-called benchmarks for success in Kandahar - things the country wants to accomplish before Canada's scheduled military withdrawal in 2011 - come with qualifications.

As expected, the training of more Afghan National Army and local police units, as well as correctional officers, top the to-do list.

Ottawa won't consider its job complete in Kandahar until at least four Afghan army battalions - known as kandaks - are in the field and operating on their own. There's only one kandak that's currently operational and independent [emphasis added--more on training the ANA here].

The goals for police training are less specific. The federal government wants to see 80 per cent of the police forces in key districts able to do their jobs without supervision [much more on the police here].

The 21 so-called benchmarks for the next three years need to be somewhat vague given the volatility in the troubled province, said an Ottawa official.

"It's important to remember that Canada alone does not control the outcomes of these objectives," said David Mulroney, deputy minister of Canada's Afghanistan Task Force.

"They are also dependent on the efforts of the Afghan government and of the international community."

Establishing benchmarks was a key recommendation of the independent Manley commission report, which proposed an extension of the military deployment until 2011.

Mulroney dismissed suggestions that the impending election affected the timing of Friday's announcement, saying the complex goals needed to be vetted by both the Afghan government and NATO allies before they were made final.

A Canadian Press/Harris-Decima poll released Thursday suggested Canadians are uncertain whether progress is being made in the war-torn region.

Mulroney said these goals and expectations, along with the quarterly reports the government intends to file, will help Canadians gauge whether the loss of lives and the money spent has been worth it.

"Monitoring our progress in Afghanistan will not be easy," he said at a technical briefing.

"Progress on some indicators may not be visible or even quantifiable in each quarter."

In June, the federal government announced a series of key projects meant to improve the lives of Afghans and demonstrate the success of the mission to Canadians.

The projects include the $50-million refurbishing of a dilapidated irrigation dam in the Arghandaub Valley, north of Kandahar.

One of the benchmarks sets out the specific aim of creating 10,000 seasonal jobs to support the Dalah dam restoration, an effort that could irrigate up 10,000 hectares for farming.

In addition to building 50 schools, Canada hopes to train to up to 3,000 teachers [emphasis added].

Here's the government news release--note the detailed Backgrounder. And here's a detailed post I did on the government's extensive June report on Afstan.