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The Usual Disclaimer and permission to move:
Winning in Afghanistan
Worry over recent Canadian casualties obscures the very real reconstruction progress -- exactly the way the Taliban wants it
SEAN M. MALONEY | July 23, 2007 |
It is 03:37 hours at a dusty forward operating base near Zharey district, in the Kandahar province of southern Afghanistan. It's a clear night under the stars of the Milky Way, but it's far from quiet. The deep, throbbing rumble of Leopard tanks undercuts the higher-pitched LAV III motors as a combined Afghan-Canadian force of 200 men prepares to move out of the gates. In the back of the command LAV III, the "situational-awareness camera" has already been switched on: the white and grey night vision imagery catches a Canadian soldier as he stubs out a cigarette and ambles past a Ford Ranger pickup full of soldiers from the Afghan National Army. While Canadian troops wait inside their amoured vehicles, the Afghans are busily putting on their body armour. They're all part of an Operational Mentor and Liaison Team -- nicknamed "omelettes" over here -- and they're getting ready for battle. Overhead, you can just hear the hum of the unmanned drones orbiting the area, standing by to tell us what lies ahead
I am in the lead LAV with Lt.-Col. Rob Walker, the commanding officer of the battle group, and his staff. We all know, as the LAV plows through the cool, damp wadi air, that the lead vehicle is the most vulnerable to mines, so the gunner on top keeps a close eye on the road, looking for ground that's been disturbed, while others scan beside us with night vision equipment in case the enemy has anticipated this move and prepared an ambush.
Troops from the Royal Canadian Regiment's India Company, along with soldiers from the Afghan National Army and tanks from the Lord Strathconas' Horse, have been keeping Taliban forces off balance for the better part of the spring and summer. The combined effects of last summer's operations in Zharey district, the blunting of the enemy's fall offensive, and the anti-leadership campaign that killed enemy commander Mullah Dadullah, have set the conditions for today's mission. The target is a series of drab compounds south of a town called Howz-e Madad, in the western end of Zharey. Howz-e Madad is important: it's here that the vital east-west route, Highway 1, curves off into the desert toward Helmand province. It's the last place the Taliban can ambush truck traffic and then escape into the densely packed vineyards, wadis and compounds of Zharey district. If they try it further west, air power can be brought to bear to kill them in the open, where they have no civilians to hide behind. A quick thrust into Howz-e Madad will send a message that the Afghans and Canadians can go anywhere at any time and have no compunction about close-in fighting, unlike certain NATO allies who refuse to commit forces to the region.
At 04:35 hours, as the command vehicle pulls into position north of the compound complexes, the staticky call of "contact" comes over its radio speakers. I look out the hatch and a stream of red tracer fire arcs in the distance, followed by several bangs. Two more contact reports come from India Company, and the battle is on. Canadian infantry dismount and move into the first complex. As the Leopard tanks roar in with the Afghan infantry moving parallel with them, the Taliban opens up with rocket-propelled grenade (RPGs) fired from a grape hut. Two Afghan soldiers are wounded and an armoured ambulance is sent forward to collect them, once a Badger armoured engineering vehicle breaches a high mud wall so it can get through.
The Afghan infantry clean out this complex room by room as the Leopards stand watch. The ANA are a much more professional force than even a year ago: they are uniformly kitted out, they are confident and their clearance tactics are fluid. India Company prepares to move to a new objective but then takes fire from another grape hut. Two tanks move to support, as India Company's platoons fire every weapon they've got at the Taliban fortification. Just then, an aerial drone spots the enemy moving in small groups in pickup trucks to reinforce a line just south of the two objective areas. Canadian M-777 artillery is called in and a succession of six rapid "wumps" sends shock waves through the morning air, and makes short work of the Taliban.
But amid all the noise and destruction, something even more remarkable is going on. As I stand on the rear deck of the LAV, I can see that civilian truck traffic has not let up along Highway 1. The battle is less than one kilometre from Kandahar province's equivalent of Highway 401, but that hasn't put a dent in what passes for the morning rush hour here. Taxi cabs swing north into the desert next to us -- they're tracked by the LAV's 25-mm cannon just in case -- but even as artillery, small-arms fire and tank rounds go off, truck after truck after truck continues on the way to Helmand, Herat and beyond, carrying Kandahari produce to market.Meanwhile, back in the complexes, the Afghan troops have discovered something. The Canadian tanks and infantry go into a "hedgehog," a defensive posture south of the objectives. Close air support has arrived in the form of two U.S. Air Force A-10 "Warthogs." A Leopard tank crew then spots two Taliban RPG teams, and fires off a 105-mm round that obliterates the enemy before they can fire. Reports flow in that more Taliban are trying to reinforce from the south. An A-10 is sent to overfly the enemy to ensure collateral damage is limited -- as we all know, air power can be a blunt instrument -- and word comes in that a U.S. army Blackhawk helicopter is ready to extract the casualties. The battlefield is suddenly becoming a very crowded place.
Then a sound like the heavens being ripped open with a chainsaw overrides everything. And again. The A-10 has just sprayed the enemy reinforcements. Another Leopard fires and destroys a Taliban pickup truck with a mounted RPG team. India Company has got into their objectives and are fighting for them, sometimes at ranges of less than five metres. So far, there are only four Afghan and two Canadian wounded, but no "VSA" or Vital Signs Absent -- the new euphemism for Killed in Action. Enemy weapons litter the field and they're used as bait: when a Taliban tries to retrieve one, a sniper takes him down -- one way to discourage their recovery and reuse against us..........continues for five more pages.......................
http://www.macleans.ca/world/global/article.jsp?content=20070723_107269_107269&page=2
Winning in Afghanistan
Worry over recent Canadian casualties obscures the very real reconstruction progress -- exactly the way the Taliban wants it
SEAN M. MALONEY | July 23, 2007 |
It is 03:37 hours at a dusty forward operating base near Zharey district, in the Kandahar province of southern Afghanistan. It's a clear night under the stars of the Milky Way, but it's far from quiet. The deep, throbbing rumble of Leopard tanks undercuts the higher-pitched LAV III motors as a combined Afghan-Canadian force of 200 men prepares to move out of the gates. In the back of the command LAV III, the "situational-awareness camera" has already been switched on: the white and grey night vision imagery catches a Canadian soldier as he stubs out a cigarette and ambles past a Ford Ranger pickup full of soldiers from the Afghan National Army. While Canadian troops wait inside their amoured vehicles, the Afghans are busily putting on their body armour. They're all part of an Operational Mentor and Liaison Team -- nicknamed "omelettes" over here -- and they're getting ready for battle. Overhead, you can just hear the hum of the unmanned drones orbiting the area, standing by to tell us what lies ahead
I am in the lead LAV with Lt.-Col. Rob Walker, the commanding officer of the battle group, and his staff. We all know, as the LAV plows through the cool, damp wadi air, that the lead vehicle is the most vulnerable to mines, so the gunner on top keeps a close eye on the road, looking for ground that's been disturbed, while others scan beside us with night vision equipment in case the enemy has anticipated this move and prepared an ambush.
Troops from the Royal Canadian Regiment's India Company, along with soldiers from the Afghan National Army and tanks from the Lord Strathconas' Horse, have been keeping Taliban forces off balance for the better part of the spring and summer. The combined effects of last summer's operations in Zharey district, the blunting of the enemy's fall offensive, and the anti-leadership campaign that killed enemy commander Mullah Dadullah, have set the conditions for today's mission. The target is a series of drab compounds south of a town called Howz-e Madad, in the western end of Zharey. Howz-e Madad is important: it's here that the vital east-west route, Highway 1, curves off into the desert toward Helmand province. It's the last place the Taliban can ambush truck traffic and then escape into the densely packed vineyards, wadis and compounds of Zharey district. If they try it further west, air power can be brought to bear to kill them in the open, where they have no civilians to hide behind. A quick thrust into Howz-e Madad will send a message that the Afghans and Canadians can go anywhere at any time and have no compunction about close-in fighting, unlike certain NATO allies who refuse to commit forces to the region.
At 04:35 hours, as the command vehicle pulls into position north of the compound complexes, the staticky call of "contact" comes over its radio speakers. I look out the hatch and a stream of red tracer fire arcs in the distance, followed by several bangs. Two more contact reports come from India Company, and the battle is on. Canadian infantry dismount and move into the first complex. As the Leopard tanks roar in with the Afghan infantry moving parallel with them, the Taliban opens up with rocket-propelled grenade (RPGs) fired from a grape hut. Two Afghan soldiers are wounded and an armoured ambulance is sent forward to collect them, once a Badger armoured engineering vehicle breaches a high mud wall so it can get through.
The Afghan infantry clean out this complex room by room as the Leopards stand watch. The ANA are a much more professional force than even a year ago: they are uniformly kitted out, they are confident and their clearance tactics are fluid. India Company prepares to move to a new objective but then takes fire from another grape hut. Two tanks move to support, as India Company's platoons fire every weapon they've got at the Taliban fortification. Just then, an aerial drone spots the enemy moving in small groups in pickup trucks to reinforce a line just south of the two objective areas. Canadian M-777 artillery is called in and a succession of six rapid "wumps" sends shock waves through the morning air, and makes short work of the Taliban.
But amid all the noise and destruction, something even more remarkable is going on. As I stand on the rear deck of the LAV, I can see that civilian truck traffic has not let up along Highway 1. The battle is less than one kilometre from Kandahar province's equivalent of Highway 401, but that hasn't put a dent in what passes for the morning rush hour here. Taxi cabs swing north into the desert next to us -- they're tracked by the LAV's 25-mm cannon just in case -- but even as artillery, small-arms fire and tank rounds go off, truck after truck after truck continues on the way to Helmand, Herat and beyond, carrying Kandahari produce to market.Meanwhile, back in the complexes, the Afghan troops have discovered something. The Canadian tanks and infantry go into a "hedgehog," a defensive posture south of the objectives. Close air support has arrived in the form of two U.S. Air Force A-10 "Warthogs." A Leopard tank crew then spots two Taliban RPG teams, and fires off a 105-mm round that obliterates the enemy before they can fire. Reports flow in that more Taliban are trying to reinforce from the south. An A-10 is sent to overfly the enemy to ensure collateral damage is limited -- as we all know, air power can be a blunt instrument -- and word comes in that a U.S. army Blackhawk helicopter is ready to extract the casualties. The battlefield is suddenly becoming a very crowded place.
Then a sound like the heavens being ripped open with a chainsaw overrides everything. And again. The A-10 has just sprayed the enemy reinforcements. Another Leopard fires and destroys a Taliban pickup truck with a mounted RPG team. India Company has got into their objectives and are fighting for them, sometimes at ranges of less than five metres. So far, there are only four Afghan and two Canadian wounded, but no "VSA" or Vital Signs Absent -- the new euphemism for Killed in Action. Enemy weapons litter the field and they're used as bait: when a Taliban tries to retrieve one, a sniper takes him down -- one way to discourage their recovery and reuse against us..........continues for five more pages.......................
http://www.macleans.ca/world/global/article.jsp?content=20070723_107269_107269&page=2
