Civilian-Military Cooperation team in Kandahar

Gloria Galloway of the Globe and Mail is continuing to do reporting that gives a broader picture of the Afghan mission:

...
Gunfire and pat-downs are routine for the citizens of Kandahar.

"We always explain why things like this happen," said Sergeant John Dawson of Winnipeg, one of two members of the Civil Military Co-operation [CIMIC] team who were travelling with the patrol to do public relations work on behalf of the local Afghan government.

But the Kandaharis know that almost anyone in their city can pose a threat. Men with wheelbarrows, old men on scooters, young boys in flowing robes - all have been used by the Taliban as suicide bombers. And they know the Canadian soldiers are targets.

"We explain that the insurgents are cowards," Sgt. Dawson said [here's a story about Sgt. Dawson from the CF]. They use innocents to carry out their attacks. The people of Kandahar "understand they have to keep away from us."

Which makes the PR work of soldiers like Sgt. Dawson and team leader, Captain Tylere Couture of Campbell River, B.C., all that much more difficult.

But, several times a week, Canadian patrols move cautiously along the dirt roads of this city, side-stepping the open sewers, keeping a careful eye on dark doorways and high earthen walls that provide opportunity for an ambush.

Most times they are accompanied by members of the Afghan National Police who are learning that public security forces are meant to uphold the law rather than provide money-making opportunities for uniformed criminals.

But on this patrol early one Sunday morning, the ANP did not show up.

There are many things that could have accounted for their absence, explained one of the Canadian police mentors who is helping train them. The force could have been stretched too thin, or they might not have had gas for their vehicle.

But, even without their Afghan colleagues, the military foot patrols go on because it is important to reinforce the notion that the government and its allies, the Canadians, are not afraid to walk the streets of this city. And it's important to spread the word that the local elected officials, as imperfect as they may be, are better friends of the Kandaharis than the Taliban.

"There is no one thing that we do here that is going to magically change the situation overnight," Sgt. Dawson said. Everything is "baby steps." Still, he said, he has observed a big difference in the Afghan attitude toward the Canadian patrols over the past three months.

Which apparently makes the risk worthwhile. Twice in three hours the soldiers are stopped by the sounds of nearby gunfire. Once they are halted by an explosion.

Then they move on.

At the village of Gachkhanay, a Kandahar suburb, Sgt. Dawson approaches an old man keeping watch over his tiny, mud-walled store. The man invites Sgt. Dawson to sit down and have a cup of tea.

The soldier asks the man whether he knows that the local district manager is named Abdul Khadr. The answer is no.

He is a good man, Sgt. Dawson said. He is the person to talk to if culverts or roads or bridges need building. "You are an elder," he said. "It's important that you tell the younger people that that they should support the local government."

The sergeant asked the man for his thoughts on security and the Afghan police. "Now they are better than before," conceded the shop owner.

"They are a little bit better, but they have a lot of work to do," Sgt. Dawson said [lots on the police at this post--see esp. the end].

A little farther down the dirt road, the patrol came across another compound of shops in the village of Karfta-i-Malimeen.

One of the owners was a middle-aged man whose store was swarming with children, five of them his own.

The man praised Sgt. Dawson for the work the Canadians have done to build the local infrastructure.

"There used to be nothing," the man said through an interpreter. "Now we have bridges and culverts, thanks to you."

"It's only because we are helping the local government," Sgt. Dawson said. "They are the ones delivering the services to you."

But when the discussion turned to security - as it almost always does in Kandahar - it was apparent the man had not completely processed the message being delivered.

Sgt. Dawson asked the man's opinion of the Afghan National Army.

The interpreter listened intently and then turned to the Canadian sergeant whose patrol had arrived outside his shop with machine guns on this Sunday morning in an attempt to bring peace and stability - whose soldiers occasional fire rounds into the dirt and frisk ordinary Afghans as they go about their daily business in Kandahar.

"He said he wants the ANA to be just like you guys."

And here's a piece about CIMIC training from the CF.