Kandahar province: Reculer pour mieux sauter? Well, he would say that, wouldn't he?

This does not, however spun, look like good news:

'Taliban hate our guts,' top soldier says
Withdrawal from strong point has improved conditions: Natynczyk

Villagers in a Taliban-controlled area west of Kandahar City are applauding last week's drawback of Canadian and Afghan troops, saying the presence of coalition forces in their communities had only complicated their lives.

"Canadian and Afghan soldiers did not bring peace into the area where we are living," says one landowner in Mushan village, western Panjwaii district.

A Canadian-built strong point in Mushan was dismantled during a complex, well-executed coalition operation that ended April 30. The strong point's 64 Afghan National Army soldiers and eight Canadian military mentors were redeployed closer to Kandahar City.

Even though insurgents in western Panjwaii are now "walking around freely and with rifles, (residents) are more relaxed than when the fort was here," the man added.

It's not a flattering assessment, but it is one Canada's top soldier accepts.

Chief of Defence Staff Walter Natynczyk told Canwest News Service in an interview this week the Mushan strong point did not help clear the area of Taliban.

Instead, the installation drew insurgents to Mushan like moths to a flame.

"The Taliban hate our guts," noted Natynczyk. "So if we're in there, the Taliban will come. You have the Taliban who can move into some areas and intimidate people, which makes it very hard on them.

"The folks out there are really on the edge. I mean, I think they've been banged up a lot by the Taliban." The landowner added: "We were living in fear when the fort was there. The Taliban would attack it, and of course the Canadian and Afghan army would react. Civilians suffered casualties." Panjwaii is a key area of Canada's military responsibility, and officers acknowledge a large portion of it is overrun with Taliban insurgents.

And fear still pervades the area. The landowner says he and his family loathe the Taliban but they are afraid of retribution; he requested that neither his name nor a description of his farmland be used in this article.

The firefights and IED attacks that terrorized Mushan have stopped...

...It was the Afghan National Army's decision to dismantle [emphasis added] the Mushan substation and to leave the area, he stressed.

Handing to the Afghans decisions such as the Mushan drawback "is about allowing them the flexibility to actually exercise their command and control, their plans, their initiatives," said Natynczyk...

Hmmm.