Afghanistan Watch: The serpents of Medusa's hair

September 17, 2007

The serpents of Medusa's hair

The latest epilogue to Operation Medusa: Canadian forces have re-established control in Zhare and Panjwai (in August, Taliban militants overran local authorities when Canadian troops rotated...) However, this week’s victory was hardly decisive -- the Taliban mostly ceded ground, as has been their modus operandi in recent months -- and will retaliate against the lightly armed police force left behind to consolidate NATO’s gains.

A spokesman for the Canadian forces argued that incorporated learning and new approaches -- e.g. joint checkpoints -- will ensure that this time is different. Army and police training has advanced, and Canada even forced the resignation of a corrupt police chief in Zhari district. Patience is key, as General Champoux has argued: "This has been a shaping year,'' he said, "I think next year will be a decisive year."

But we’ve heard this before. The Canadians have a lot of terrain to cover and a low density of force -- is it realistic to expect the ANA and ANP to hold this area on its own? Can this week’s gains be anything more than ephemeral without additional resources or a new approach?

Canadian Forces Regain Part of Strategic Area in Southern Afghanistan KABUL, Sept. 14, by David Rohde — Canadian forces this week regained control of roughly half of a strategic area outside of the southern city of Kandahar that fell to the Taliban in August, according to Afghan and Canadian officials…Seven hundred Canadian troops, backed by airstrikes and Leopard tanks, met little resistance from Taliban fighters…The Taliban generally have avoided direct clashes with heavily armed NATO forces and instead attacked lightly armed Afghan police forces or carried out suicide and roadside bomb attacks. MORE

Image: Tête de Méduse by Rubens

In the last year, Zhare and the neighboring Panjwai district have emerged as bellwethers in the struggle between Canadian-led NATO forces and the Taliban in Kandahar. Last September, Zhare and Panjwai were the scene of the largest battle in Afghanistan since 2002. In weeks of fierce fighting, Canadian and American forces drove hundreds of Taliban fighters out of a network of trenches and bunkers in the two districts. Hundreds of Taliban and 12 Canadians died in the fighting, which NATO and American officials declared a major victory and vowed to follow with sweeping reconstruction projects.

Instead, Taliban forces took back roughly two-thirds of Zhare and one-third of Panjwai after Canadian forces withdrew from the area during a troop rotation in August. The Taliban struck vulnerable police posts and, in recaptured areas, began hanging civilians they declared “spies,” according to Afghan officials.

Captain Chalifour, the Canadian spokesman, said the Canadians had “found out some lessons” and were establishing new, joint checkpoints with Afghan soldiers and police officers in Zhare. He said that Canadian forces were training Afghan police and soldiers and that they would not withdraw from the checkpoints until the Afghans could defend themselves...

After moving though the area in large groups last summer, the Taliban now operate in bands of no more than 20. Instead of sleeping in freshly dug bunkers and trenches, they sleep in mosques and houses, apparently to avoid NATO airstrikes, or, in the event of an attack, to increase the likelihood of civilian casualties, villagers said.

Posted by Carl Robichaud on September 17, 2007 at 05:32 PM in ISAF / NATO, Politics, Rule of Law, Security, Taliban | Permalink