Afghanistan 2009

Canadian and American brass prepare for Afghan changeover

Matthew Fisher, Canwest News Service

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- With thousands of U.S. troops descending on Kandahar, Canadian and American diplomats, development experts and soldiers are involved in scores of meetings to try to ensure that the marriage of American and Canadian military and civil operations in the war-plagued province is successful.

"There is a lot going on," confirmed Ken Lewis, Canada's top diplomat in southern Afghanistan. "A big part of the laydown is being co-ordinated through their [U.S.] very big embassy in Kabul. We are meeting with them and with their embassy with followup meetings at KAF (Kandahar Airfield) and the PRT (provincial reconstruction team)."

Other meetings have taken place in London and at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Mr. Lewis said.

The plan is for American forces, ordered to Afghanistan by U.S. President Barack Obama, to take over military responsibility from overstretched Canadian troops in an arc from northwestern Kandahar to southeastern Kandahar. Canadian forces will remain in charge of Kandahar City and its Taliban-infested western approaches and, as crucially, will retain the lead role for all governance issues and economic development activities for the entire province.

Similar plans are in place for neighbouring Helmand, where British forces are turning over the southern half of the province to U.S. Marines, while retaining primacy for governance and economic development everywhere.

"The mood is very collaborative," Mr. Lewis said. "So far, we are in the initial stages. We are still discussing back at headquarters [Ottawa] and with the [State] Department in Washington who is coming and what positions to fill."

The growing U.S. presence has already been felt at the Canadian army headquarters at Kandahar Airfield. A steady flow of U.S. army officers and senior NCOs have been discussing with their Canadian counterparts how they will work together. Among the recent visitors have been the top commanders of the Stryker Brigade from Fort Lewis, Wash., which is to be based in Kandahar, beginning this summer.

But the two armies are used to working together. A greater challenge may be to achieve the same level of co-ordination between the U.S. State Department and USAID officials and representatives of Canada's foreign affairs ministry and its CIDA branch.

"Having a province-wide representation with a U.S. influence, you really need close co-operation and synchronization of all activities," said Lieutenant-Colonel Carl Turenne, the Franco-Manitoban who leads the PRT, where 360 soldiers work alongside 60 men and women from other branches of the Canadian government.

"We welcome the American surge," said Rhonda Gossen, Canada's deputy director of development, and a former CIDA official in Africa and Asia.

Brigadier-General John Nicholson, the top American soldier in the south understands development and how critical it is to achieving the end state of peace and security, she said.

"It is important to engage with Afghans at all levels, especially the provincial level -- and that there is an Afghan face on everything. Brig-Gen. Nicholson understands the basis of that."

Canada spent nearly $350 million on aid and reconstruction in Afghanistan during the last fiscal year, according to figures supplied by Foreign Affairs. Much of that money was spent in Kandahar.

"To have that much money flowing into one province, for us, that is very big," Ms. Gossen said. "Such a figure might usually be for an entire country.

"We are certainly addressing the most difficult part of the country and, from the development perspective, the poorest. So, this is where we should be."

As well as working closely with the U.S. military and the State Department, Canada's military and civilian representatives are co-ordinating strategies with the United Nations, Afghan line ministries and local non-governmental organizations.

"How many organizations are involved in this? I wouldn't even guess. It's mind-boggling," said Lt.-Col. Turenne, the PRT head.