Canada in Afstan: Government's latest quarterly report

Lots of security problems impeding progress. Quelle surprise, but pretty honest:

The rising tide of violence that hit Kandahar last spring and the arrival of thousands of U.S. troops has forced Canada to "refine" its targets for success in the war-ravaged region, says the latest federal report on the Afghan mission.

The number of roadside bomb or booby trap attacks skyrocketed by 108 per cent when compared with spring 2008 in the volatile province where 2,850 Canadian troops have been fighting Taliban militants for more than three years.

The bombings coincided with the arrival of thousands of U.S. reinforcements in southern Afghanistan and sharply slowed progress on development projects, says the report covering April to June 2009.

"We have made several revisions – refining targets and responding to changing circumstances in Afghanistan," said the 31-page quarterly review.

Measuring the level of security provided by the Afghan National Army has been one of the key pillars of Ottawa's 2011 exit strategy. But instead of tracking the number of districts where local troops are present and effective, Ottawa now intends to count the number of operations conducted by the fledgling force.

The question of how much territory the Afghans will be able to control or influence by the time Canada withdraws its battle group has been an important benchmark, mostly in the public's mind.

Yet even before the Manley commission report forced Ottawa to put down yardsticks, the Conservative government clung to the mantra that it was preparing Afghans to take over their own security.

The report says the American military buildup has allowed Canadian troops to concentrate on defending Kandahar city and its populated approaches, and the ceding of territory to the Americans prompted the revision...

International Trade Minister Stockwell Day, who is in charge of the cabinet committee on Afghanistan, tried to put the best face on the report, noting that Canada is the only NATO country that publicly reports "on progress – or lack of progress."...

...despite Day's assurances of progress, the report paints a picture of bloody stalemate, where Canada's lofty development goals are being held hostage to the escalating counter-insurgency war.

Bright spots in the review show the Afghan Uniformed Police, often considered corrupt and unreliable, are quickly moving forward with advanced level training. But there are still precious few of them.

The delivery of aid has improved as has literacy education, especially among women.

But no new schools have been completed beyond the five that were reported last spring. Ottawa has promised to build or repair 50 schools.

The Canadian government set as a benchmark the creation of 10,000 seasonal jobs in the reconstruction of the Dahla dam but, so far, only 199 Afghans are working one year after the project was announced...

Meanwhile the Globe and Mail continues its mightily torqued "news" agenda:

Afghan mission becoming impossible task
Increasing violence intensifies debate about whether the operation is aiming too high in its military and development expectations

This story, amazingly, fails to mention the massive US force build-up at Kandahar. That--and maybe even more US forces in the future (more here)--will be rather relevant to what is or is not "impossible". Both Globe reporters and editorial writers seem astoundingly oblivious to the most important development at Kandahar (from our side).

Update: A comment by BruceR at Flit on an excerpt from the Globe piece:

...
Canadians, and their politicians, who question Canada's presence in Afghanistan need to be realistic about the tiny size of the mission and what it can accomplish, Dr. Bercuson said. If Canada leaves in 2011, he said, it will be able to point to keeping Kandahar city out of Taliban hands for several years with limited resources - but little else. (exactly right --B.)..