Aussie special forces at Kandahar/The silence of the Canadians
The Diggers are part of the er, "shaping" process for coming activities (more on the terminological confusion here):
But our special forces are there and presumably now doing similar "wet" shaping work--a bit of the secrecy was breached last summer:
AUSTRALIAN special forces have begun ramping up their presence in Kandahar ahead of a major NATO-led push to oust Taliban insurgents from the key southern province.Via Spotlight on Military News and International Affairs. And lookie here at this May 17 Aussie official media release:
The increasing troop numbers was confirmed today in a briefing by Defence head Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, who said the offensive would involve Australian special forces, Chinook transport helicopters and possibly Afghan National Army kandaks (battalions) mentored by Australian forces...
...members of Australia's Special Operations Task Group (SOTG) [more here] are already conducting operations in Kandahar province, with Air Chief Marshal Houston reporting that the SOTG would be involved in what were termed “shaping operations” ahead of the main event.
“If there is a particular area where there's a lot of Taliban, you might go in and disrupt that Taliban sanctuary,” he said.
“Shaping is quite a demanding form of operation and precedes more conventional forces going in and doing clearing operations.”..
Taliban networks targeted in Special Forces operationsFrom their Department of Defence "Fact Sheet":
Taliban insurgent networks have suffered a series of blows with three commanders killed in Oruzgan in the past week.
Mullah Jalil, an insurgent commander known to be responsible for Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attacks against Coalition soldiers operating from Multi-National Base Tarin Kowt, has been shot and killed in an Afghan National Security Force led operation supported by the Special Operatons Task Group (SOTG).
Several components used to manufacture IEDs were recovered during the incident.
The Taliban leader believed to be responsible for the IED that killed two Dutch soldiers on the 17th of April, Abdul Malik has also been killed in a Special Forces operation.
The recent operations in the Deh Rafshan area will disrupt Taliban activities.
Additionally, the last known Taliban leader in the Gizab district was also killed in a combined operation over the weekend, which will allow the Afghan Government to continue to restore services to the locals.
The Commanding Officer of the Australian Special Operations Task Group, said the operations are examples of the successful training and partnering with Afghan security forces by Australian forces in Afghanistan.
“Every time we remove an insurgent leader, we make the area safer for Afghan civilians and help the Afghan government forces to regain control of their communities from the Taliban.”
In the past month, the SOTG and its partnered Afghan National Security Force element have also detained two key insurgent leaders who operated in the Mirabad and Gizab regions of Oruzgan Province...
For more information on Australia's operations in Afghanistan go to: http://www.defence.gov.au/op/afghanistan/index.htm
...Now see if you can find any mention of CF special forces at their Afstan fact sheet. And can you imagine our government permitting the CF to put out news releases highlighting our role in targeted killings of Talibs? Not something delicate Canadian sensitivities can cope with, I guess.
Special Operations Task Group (SOTG) - A Special Operations Task Group (SOTG) is deployed to Oruzgan and is focused on conducting population-centric operations. The Task Group works with the Dutch led Task-Force Uruzgan and provides a level of enhanced force protection to ADF MTF-1 activities in the province.
Australia’s Special Forces commitment is structured to ensure that pressure is maintained against Taliban extremists throughout Afghanistan’s harsh winters.
The SOTG consists of Commandos, members of the Special Air Service Regiment and enabling and support personnel...
But our special forces are there and presumably now doing similar "wet" shaping work--a bit of the secrecy was breached last summer:
Canadian special forces ops in Afstan (and CSIS)We have been permitted a bit of historical information (and I point out the much greater openness of our allies):
JTF 2 ops in Afstan, 2001-2/Today? Allied SOFMore on recent shaping:
Elite U.S. Units Step Up Effort in Afghan City Before AttackBy the way, the Aussies even permit photos (guess what these fellows are doing):
Update: Babbling's response is here.Soldiers from the Special Operations Task Group provide over watch during a counter insurgency operation.
Nov 5, 2009
posted by Mark, Ottawa at 8:25 a.m.
6 Comments:
Does make you wonder about the tall forehead types pushing paper in the Brick Brain sur Rideau . . . can't hey figure our that support of the troops & the mission is enhanced by good news stories of what the troops are doing ?
If our allies can figure out how to do it without breaching OPSEC, why can't our rear echelon staffie types do it ?
Or is it they know how but the leadership is failing?
Fred: It's the politicians who don't want the people to know that soldiers kill people.
I was in gov't during the First Gulf War (Mulroney government); PCO-PMO did everything they could to downplay any CF involvement (they were there) that had any pointy end.
Mark
Ottawa
Mark - Do you think the unit would have something to do with it as well? I only say that because of the secrecy JTF-2 seems so hell bent on keeping. If they won't even tell other Canadian units in the field all that they have done (as some reports suggest), I would think they would be even less likely to want to go public.
Ahhhh, our politicians . . the same fools who think we don't have the right to examine their expenses.
Memo to politicians: Why are you all stuck on stupid?
I'd be interested in knowing where the information clog is, too.
Certainly, this gov't is keen on keeping a tight grip on information, but how much do you think institutional inertia plays into it? Gotta admit, life IS easier when you don't have to do the work to communicate externally to an environment eager to nitpick every syllable.
There's a lot that goes into the decisions. Each country has a different standard, and those standards are different depending upon the specific unit involved, and the mission undertaken. Rememeber, there are different tiers of Special Forces, and I don't know of a single country that lets much out about their Tier 1 units/troops. Here in Canada, there are a bunch of issues. First is the legal environment - there's pretty strict legislation about disclosure (maybe too strict). The troops themselves are also very much focused on OPSEC and PERSEC issues. And since they know how much intel they can glean from supposedly innocuous information about their enemy, they figure the reverse could be true as well. I asked a buddy if he was on Facebook, and he said he didn't like the idea - "Too much time with 427 has made me paranoid." But some of the reluctance definitely comes from the bureaucrats and political staffers, who see only the downside to telling Canadians about what our pointiest-end people are doing.
So while you can apparently get everyone to agree around a briefing room table that Canadians need to know more, when it comes to which information about which exercise or mission, one party might be willing while another one says no. And so nothing gets released.
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