Afstan: Maybe the war isn't quite lost yet

Things are tough indeed but not necessarily hopeless--A CP story:

Canadian troops find massive Taliban stash of weapons, supplies

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan have seized a series of major Taliban supply depots containing everything from winter clothing and medical supplies to bomb-making equipment and anti-tank weapons.

The discoveries came after three days of patrolling in a village long believed to be an important staging point for insurgents.

The operation was intended to increase security in Kandahar City by disrupting the flow of Taliban fighters into the region.

Together with soldiers from the Afghan National Army, the Canadians found dozens of homemade explosives, mines, mortars, radios and an 82-millimetre recoilless rifle - a weapon capable of taking out an armoured vehicle.

The soldiers also found what appeared to be a Taliban infirmary, complete with IV bottles, bloodstained clothes and two 50-kilogram sacks of dried peas from the United Nations, originally donated by Canada.

Insurgents declined to tangle directly with the heavily-armed battle group from the Royal Canadian Regiment, although the operation did encounter several improvised explosive devices.

I wonder what play this will get in our major media.

Update: Nothing in the print Globe and Mail. These are the headlines in the National Post and Ottawa Citizen, respectively, for the same story by Tom Blackwell:

'A big morale booster' in Afghanistan

Soldiers unearth Taliban arms, medicine cache
But Canadian patrol fails to find enemy

Oh well. Plus some interesting differences in editing--the start of the Post story:

Nakoney, Afghanistan -- The Afghan soldier rustled vigorously about in the grape vines, then jumped back and jubilantly held up his find. "Alahu Akbar!" -- God is great! -- he cried, as cheers erupted from fellow troops scattered throughout the vineyard.

In the soldier's hands was an 82-millimetre recoilless rifle: an anti-tank rocket launcher that is one of the Taliban's most fearsome weapons. It was the pinnacle of a major find by Canadian and Afghan troops of insurgent arms, ammunition and bomb-making supplies hidden innocuously in a farmer's field.

"That's a big morale booster," said a Canadian soldier watching the scene.

"That's f---ing glorious," added another.

The cache also included a treasure trove of sophisticated, Western-made medical products ideal for treating combat casualties. One Canadian medic estimated the drugs, intravenous bags, dressings and even surgical instruments were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars...

The start of the Citizen story:

The Afghan soldier rustled vigorously in the grape vines, then jumped back and jubilantly held up his find. "Alahu Akbar!" -- God is great! -- he cried, as cheers erupted from fellow troops scattered throughout the vineyard.

In the soldier's hands was an anti-tank rocket launcher that is one of the Taliban's most fearsome weapons.

It was the pinnacle of a major find by Canadian and Afghan troops of insurgent arms, ammunition and bomb-making supplies hidden innocuously in a farmer's field.

Perhaps more intriguingly, the cache also included a treasure trove of sophisticated, western-made medical products ideal for treating combat casualties. One Canadian medic estimated the drugs, intravenous bags, dressings and even surgical instruments were worth in the hundreds of thousands of dollars...