U.S. brings Iraq-like surge to Afghan conflict

LASH KARGAH, AFGHANISTAN — A force of 3,500 U.S. Marines charged into southern Afghanistan this morning in an effort to reduce the heavy casualties suffered by Canadian and British soldiers in the region, bringing with them new pressures on Canada and its allies to adapt to U.S. tactics and methods.
The planned marine attack on Taliban positions on the southern border, described as an Iraq-like "mini-thrust" by some U.S. officers, is a welcome development to Canadian and British NATO commanders who have seen ground lost to the insurgents and increasing deaths and terrorist attacks during the past year.

But this new U.S. contribution is accompanied by a push to "Americanize" the 40-nation NATO mission, especially in the British-Canadian Southern Command. General Dan McNeill, the U.S. Army officer who currently commands the 40-nation NATO coalition fighting in Afghanistan, said in an interview that he hopes Canada and other nations will adopt U.S.-style tactics and doctrines, including lengthier deployments for soldiers, harder-line opium-poppy-eradication strategies and the use of military forces in reconstruction and humanitarian work.

Canadian and British senior officers, in interviews yesterday, said the marines are a welcome relief to their faltering missions. But they expressed reservations about the American commanders' efforts to get their forces to adopt U.S. approaches.

The marines, who have set up their headquarters next to the Canadian troops at Kandahar Air Field over the past month accompanied by 30 aircraft and hundreds of armoured vehicles, have spent the past three days on an aggressive drive into the far south of Helmand province, an area along the Pakistani border that remains held by Taliban militants.

The marines last night planned to take over an abandoned airfield built in the barren south of Helmand. From there, they plan an aggressive, large-scale assault on Taliban positions, designed to regain control of the vital area along the border, according to interviews with marine commanders in Kandahar.

"We want to move into some areas where [NATO] hasn't been, to disrupt the pattern of life for the insurgents," said Colonel Peter Petronzio, commander of the marine force, in an interview at his Kandahar base this weekend. "We hope to interdict their routes: weapons and fighters going north; drugs, money, casualties going south."

The Americans hope that their contribution will reverse a trend that has seen control of some regions slipping away from NATO troops and into the hands of insurgents, and has been accompanied by a dramatic rise in violence across Afghanistan.

Newly released figures from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization show that in the past four months, troop casualties across Afghanistan have increased 89 per cent over the same period in 2007, to 187 from 99. And attacks by improvised explosives have gone up by 43 per cent, to 211 in the four-month period.

Gen. McNeill said that the 20,000 troops currently in the war-torn Afghan south, including the 2,500 Canadians in Kandahar and 7,750 Britons in neighbouring Helmand, have been unable to maintain control of the region, with Taliban going unchallenged in districts across the south. That has allowed a large-scale influx of Taliban fighters and arms from the neighbouring, lawless regions of Pakistan.

"We simply haven't had enough force to push down there. We know there are things down there. We know it's a hive of transit of all kinds: common criminals, ordinary people, narcos, insurgents, truly intractable dudes," Gen. McNeill said. "And if we start to lean on that area, indeed it's going to stir things up, and we're going to keep up steady pressure on the enemy force. And we're going to maintain a presence down there for a while."

While the marines are a short-term force that is scheduled to stay for only seven months, most observers expect further U.S. forces to be added to the campaign. U.S. military leaders are now talking openly about a renewed focus on the Afghanistan side of their global war on terrorism, bolstering troops in the troubled nation as the United States withdraws from Iraq. This week, U.S. President George W. Bush appointed General David Petraeus, who ordered the "surge" of soldiers in Iraq last year, to take over command of all forces in the Middle East and Asia, including Afghanistan.

In recent weeks, senior U.S. generals have visited the Kandahar base to try to persuade Canadian commanders to adopt the tactics they have practised in the eastern provinces, which involve an aggressive military-led approach to drug eradication and economic development, combined with deployments of 15 months for most soldiers. Canadians serve for six months.

Canadian officials in Kandahar largely agreed with the U.S. assessment, but expressed wariness at the suggestion that an Americanization of the approach to the Afghan war is under way.

But the arrival of the U.S. Marines at Kandahar Air Field has caused some anxiety among the Canadians. Other countries have already committed troops under Canadian leadership in the province - Nepalese Gurkhas, Portuguese soldiers, and a British parachute regiment - but it's not clear how much guidance the Canadians will be able to give the American newcomers.

For now, the question of how the new U.S. troops will fit into the Canadians' planning has been rendered mostly irrelevant with the decision to send the first group into neighbouring Helmand province. But the issue will be raised again in the coming months, as 1,000 U.S. soldiers are expected to arrive in Kandahar after the French deployment to backfill the Americans in the eastern provinces.

"It's a good thing they're going to Helmand first," a Canadian official said. "They can do their learning over there, make their mistakes over there."
The Globe and Mail