Afstan: PM Harper's warm and fuzzy sell/Update: Not quite as generally reported

I suppose that, in sad reality, this is the only way to try and make the great number of complacent Canadians at least somewhat comfortable with the mission:

Harper touts development projects in surprise visit to Afghanistan

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - Attempting to shift attention from Canada's combat role in Afghanistan to less controversial civilian-led reconstruction efforts, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk paid a surprise visit to this growing military base Thursday.

In his remarks to several hundred soldiers gathered at an open-air ball hockey rink, Harper stressed the evolution of what was primarily a military mission to one focused on reconstruction and development. He described a number of high-profile ``signature'' development projects that have been launched in the troubled province, and he made a minor funding announcement.

Canada, he told reporters afterwards, is ``moving to a mission with more defined civilian objectives . . . That really is where the future of the mission is going [emphasis added].'..

The Canadian combat component is to refocus its efforts on major population centres in and around Kandahar City, said Natynczyk.

Last week, Canadian soldiers drew back from territory west of Kandahar city. A two-year-old, Canadian-built strong point was dismantled and Afghan and Canadian soldiers were relocated closer to Kandahar City. The area is now without a fixed Canadian and Afghan National Army presence. The western Panjwaii district is controlled by the Taliban, Canadian officers admit.

The Canadian mission in Kandahar was forced to change, said the prime minister.

``We did not come here as permanent occupiers, and we do not measure our success by the length of our stay,'' Harper said. The real mission ``is to leave Afghanistan in control of its people . . . We are in the process of transforming our mission to focus on reconstruction and development. Already, our civilian component on the ground has doubled'' to almost 100 people [from a late March post: "..the Canadian government has an unprecedented military/civilian joint deployment, with civilians now integrated with much of military headquarters, as well as with the Canadian PRT (more here and here). There will soon be over 100 Canadian government civilians in the country...]. The military component is scheduled to end in the summer of 2011.

Rather than dwell on controversial aspects of the Canada's engagement in Afghanistan, Harper emphasized key development projects, undertaken mostly by civilian groups such as CIDA and supported by Canadian soldiers.

He announced an additional $2 million in funding to UNICEF, money that he said will assist almost 20,000 children in Kandahar.

Harper also stressed the three ``signature'' development projects that his government identified last year and which are now being advanced on the ground.

The largest of those projects is the rehabilitation of a vital irrigation system in the province. The $50-million Arghandab Irrigation Rehabilitation Project, funded entirely by Canada, will revitalize an ailing, 57-year-old dam that sits 37 kilometres north of Kandahar AirField. The Dahla dam and a downstream canal had once allowed this desert province to lay claim as Afghanistan's breadbasket...

Harper toured the Dahla dam soon after arriving at Kandahar Air Field Thursday morning, along with Natynczyk and Brig.-Gen. Jonathan Vance, Canada's commander of Joint Task Force Kandahar ["Joint Task Force Afghanistan" actually, Task Force Kandahar is subsidiary]. They were accompanied by Ron Hoffman, Canada's ambassador to Afghanistan.

The group flew to the site in a Chinook helicopter, one of six recently procured for the military [and not for warm and fuzzy things].

``It sure was nice not to have to catch a ride (in another country's aircraft) for a change,'' joked the prime minister. The line drew sustained applause from Canadian soldiers gathered before him.

Of course, someone else can go some way to relieving us of that nasty combat stuff:

...
Harper said the arrival of 17,000 U.S. troops in the summer [hardly all for Kandahar province] will allow Canadian troops to focus more on providing security in the city of Kandahar and spend less time in the surrounding countryside...

Compare with what the Brits and Aussies stress. I fear that, should there be a major and deadly Islamist terrorist attack within Canada, at least 70% of the population (90% in Quebec) would, in effect, say it was really our fault for having taken such a strong role in Afstan (a decision made by, remember, the Liberal government in 2005) .

As for polls:

Almost 90 per cent of Canadians want their troops out of Afghanistan by the scheduled end date in 2011 or before, despite new American commitments to the conflict, a new poll suggests.

Forty per cent of those surveyed in The Canadian Press Harris-Decima poll said the troops should be brought back early, while 46 per cent said they should be withdrawn in July 2011 as approved by Parliament.

Eight per cent of respondents said Canada should extend its mission in Afghanistan...

As I was saying...back to "traditional peacekeeping" next, one supposes. Not that there is much of that left these days but most Canadians don't seem to have noticed, though even the CBC has.

Update: I think I was rather unfair to the prime minister but I was reacting to most of the media coverage. This Toronto Star story (with video of the PM) contains a quote in which he puts the ongoing mission quite clearly:

...
"Obviously the Americans coming will bring an interesting dynamic. The are going to bring a large force that will give us new capacities with which to essentially multi-task, to take on the insurgency [emphasis added] and at the same time continue to press forward on training and on development," Harper said...

The Star story also contains this piece of lunacy:

...
The U.S. has decided to pump about 30,000 soldiers into the region surrounding Kandahar, a city of about 1.2 million, in an effort to cut the flow of Taliban fighters and arms in and out of Pakistan...

Who ever said journalists need to be really accurate.