Preparing for the coming Kandahar offensive

Further to this post,

The coming Kandahar offensive and a certain reality

here's a further example of that reality (spot the Canadians)--from the Christian Science Monitor:

Afghanistan war: Fight for Kandahar won't be like fight for Marjah

In the next stage in the Afghanistan war, coalition forces are expected to build up gradually on the outskirts of the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, perhaps for months. That strategy departs from the one executed in the Marjah offensive, in which troops entered quickly.

...
Fresh off a recent success, so far, in Helmand Province, American military planners are thinking ahead to the next phase of challenging the Taliban in southern Afghanistan: Kandahar. But the fight for Kandahar – described as the New York City of Afghanistan for its cultural, political, and economic significance – is expected to be more measured than the operation in Marjah in Helmand, which was a precision strike that began with the insertion of hundreds of US marines by helicopter.

“There won’t be a D-Day that is climactic,” said Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top commander there told reporters in Kabul, during a trip in which he escorted Defense Secretary Robert Gates. “It will be a rising tide of security when it comes.”

The operation in Marjah included about 2,500 marines and 1,500 Afghan soldiers – with as many as 10,000 troops in support. The top Marine commander in Marjah said last week the objective there was to come in “big, strong, and fast, [to] put the enemy on the horns of a dilemma.”

By contrast, the mission in Kandahar, expected to begin by summer, will be more gradual. Few details are clear, even in a counterinsurgency in which the NATO command has telegraphed its intentions before starting an operation, such as in Marjah last month. But military officials say Kandahar will require a more nuanced, measured approach in which forces will build up slowly, probably on the outskirts, before entering the city itself perhaps months later...

As for Marjah, a piece on Canadians with the ANA there:

Canadians, Afghans beat back Taliban in 'crazy' fighting: Soldier

"It was crazy," was how Capt. Terry MacCormac described the fighting that he and several dozen other Canadians were involved in while mentoring Afghan troops who took part in the biggest offensive of the eight-year war against the Taliban in neighbouring Helmand province.

The only Canadian ground forces to be involved in Operation Moshtarek, which focused on the town of Marja, returned to Kandahar on Tuesday after spending more than a month in Helmand with a kandak or battalion of Afghan troops that they normally advise in this province's Zhari District.

Several dozen Canadian mentors and the 250 Afghans they instructed there were involved in several days of heavy fighting to the east of Marja, including one wild exchange of about three hours during which "we were engaged from three different firing points simultaneously," MacCormac said [our Air Force also had a role in the operation]...

Meanwhile, the CF and ANA are doing some prep work:

Canada pushes into Panjwaii to disrupt Taliban lines before spring offensive

Canadian and Afghan troops are pushing deep into southern Afghanistan's Panjwaii district, the cradle of the Taliban, to cut off enemy supply lines in advance of a major coalition offensive in Kandahar planned for the spring.

The move, designed to capitalize on recent NATO efforts to maintain a presence in enemy territory, is meant to interrupt Taliban movements into Kandahar city, said Lt.-Col. Jerry Walsh, the commanding officer of Canada's battle group in Afghanistan.

"The insurgency in Panjwaii right now is in a state of disarray," Walsh said...

The Panjwaii push is part of Operation Cerberus [an earlier, pretty successful, operation of the same name], the first in a comprehensive series of "shaping operations" aimed at securing the areas around Kandahar city.

Canadian and Afghan soldiers have spent the last four or five months living together in central and western Panjwaii, a key staging ground for the insurgency, in an effort to make their sustained presence felt by the enemy.

"This represents a significant, significant piece of ground," Walsh said.

"Significant to the insurgents because ... these are the approaches to Kandahar city that the insurgents have relied on so heavily for the last number of years. And now they're unable to use them."

The Afghans have been leading operations in Panjwaii, Walsh added...

No date has been announced for the Kandahar attack. Operation Cerberus is scheduled to continue through May.

Expected to take part in the Kandahar assault are the 101st Airborne's second brigade [more here], the 205 Corps of the Afghan army's first brigade and British troops [emphasis added].

I'd imagine some of the US Army troops with the CF's Task Force Kandahar are also involved in the current op.