As U.S. begins Afghan surge, Canada plans its exit

It was a mission the Canadians have accomplished countless times before in other Afghan places. But, this time, they weren't officially running the show. The local police chief was, and he wasn't there yet.

“You have to work on Afghanistan time,” Master Cpl. Jason Dunnett, 27, of Oshawa, Ontario, said after the soldiers were issued their orders and briefed on what to expect. “We'll go when they are ready.”

For Canada, Afghanistan has been a long slog.

Fighting its bloodiest conflict since the Korean War, Canada has paid a heavy price — 139 Canadian troops have died. With about 2,800 soldiers in the country, the third-largest contingent in the United States (U.S.)-led coalition, the Canadians have taken more casualties, proportionately, than any other.

But by the end of next year, they will be gone.

After four years of often-intense combat since moving down to Kandahar, the spiritual center of the Taliban, Canadian military planners are now fine-tuning their exit strategy, bringing the Afghans in as closely as possible to ensure that their hard-fought progress doesn't evaporate after they leave.

“We are killing insurgents with our right hand, and killing the insurgency with our left,” said Capt. Jade Watson, a planning officer for the Canadian Battle Group in Kandahar. “We can offer a future. The insurgents can only offer a past.”

Even as new U.S. troops are flowing in to begin their surge, however, the Canadians have learned that progress can vanish as easily as footprints in the sand.

Their departure will be deeply felt. The Afghan police and army, who will be called upon to fill the gap, are understaffed and poorly trained. Their ranks are riddled with corruption, and they are often not respected or trusted by the Afghan people.

Out in the field, the shift toward winning hearts and minds — and giving local forces as big a role as possible — is striking, but problematic.

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