.U.S. general goes silent on Canada’s Afghan withdrawal
OTTAWA – The key to fighting the war in Afghanistan is the experience of Canada and other nations, but the international force will muddle through when Ottawa starts withdrawing soldiers and equipment from Kandahar next year, a top U.S. commander says.
Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command, flew to the nation’s capital Thursday to lay out his country’s military strategy in Afghanistan. But he took great care to brace for the existential question facing the Canadian government, which he compared to an explosive lying in wait for visiting American officials: what role, if any, to play on the Afghan battlefield after a scheduled 2011 withdrawal?
“When we were coming up on the plane, we had a little discussion about that,” Petraeus told reporters following a speech to the Conference of Defence Associations. “Generally if you reach this point in life you figure out that there’s some minefields that you can go around rather than going through. So with respect if I could I’m not going to get into national decisions.”
The Conservative government says it is committed to the planned withdrawal of all Canadian forces from Kandahar between July and December 2011. It is not clear what role Canadian diplomats, aid workers or corrections officials will play in the country without the security currently provided by soldiers, but the government says it is committed to the Afghan people long past 2011.
The Dutch government also plans to pull out its troops from the southern province of Uruzgan later this year, a decision that came last month and kicked off a wave of existential angst over the future of the coalition effort in Afghanistan.
“If forces are adjusted by any nation adjustments are made by the others. That’s the essence of what a commander needs to do,” Petraeus said, noting that he coped with withdrawing forces several times while commanding operations in Iraq.
All of this comes as the U.S. has surged troops into the country in an effort to end the insurgency and build the capabilities of the Afghan government and security forces over the next year and a half.
Gen. Walter Natynczyk, Canada’s Chief of Defence Staff, said the U.S. troops surge and decision to better protect the population as they fight the insurgents, points to “something significant that’s happening.”
Like 2009, this year could be both difficult and bloody, “but it could also be the year that we turn the corner in Afghanistan.” he said.
Natynczyk noted that more enlightened counterinsurgency tactics in Afghanistan are being matched with an aggressive hunt of Taliban fighters in Pakistan, which have resulted in a number of arrests in recent weeks.
Still, Petraeus acknowledged an impatience in his country and in capitals aroud the world to find a successful resolution to the long war, and he said countries like Canada had the experience to accomplish the job.
“A number of your (Canadian) troopers have now made multiple deployments to the same districts and this has been invaluable in the effort there, and yet another example of the importance of continuity and key people to the mission in Afghanistan.”
Just don’t expect the celebrated general to get misty-eyed or start begging reconsideration when Canadian soldiers start packing up their equipment next year.
“I don’t do frustration, just like I don’t do optimism or pessimism. I do realism,” Petraeus said. “At the end of the day what you have to do is take what you’ve been provided and use it as skillfully as you can.”
The Star
Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command, flew to the nation’s capital Thursday to lay out his country’s military strategy in Afghanistan. But he took great care to brace for the existential question facing the Canadian government, which he compared to an explosive lying in wait for visiting American officials: what role, if any, to play on the Afghan battlefield after a scheduled 2011 withdrawal?
“When we were coming up on the plane, we had a little discussion about that,” Petraeus told reporters following a speech to the Conference of Defence Associations. “Generally if you reach this point in life you figure out that there’s some minefields that you can go around rather than going through. So with respect if I could I’m not going to get into national decisions.”
The Conservative government says it is committed to the planned withdrawal of all Canadian forces from Kandahar between July and December 2011. It is not clear what role Canadian diplomats, aid workers or corrections officials will play in the country without the security currently provided by soldiers, but the government says it is committed to the Afghan people long past 2011.
The Dutch government also plans to pull out its troops from the southern province of Uruzgan later this year, a decision that came last month and kicked off a wave of existential angst over the future of the coalition effort in Afghanistan.
“If forces are adjusted by any nation adjustments are made by the others. That’s the essence of what a commander needs to do,” Petraeus said, noting that he coped with withdrawing forces several times while commanding operations in Iraq.
All of this comes as the U.S. has surged troops into the country in an effort to end the insurgency and build the capabilities of the Afghan government and security forces over the next year and a half.
Gen. Walter Natynczyk, Canada’s Chief of Defence Staff, said the U.S. troops surge and decision to better protect the population as they fight the insurgents, points to “something significant that’s happening.”
Like 2009, this year could be both difficult and bloody, “but it could also be the year that we turn the corner in Afghanistan.” he said.
Natynczyk noted that more enlightened counterinsurgency tactics in Afghanistan are being matched with an aggressive hunt of Taliban fighters in Pakistan, which have resulted in a number of arrests in recent weeks.
Still, Petraeus acknowledged an impatience in his country and in capitals aroud the world to find a successful resolution to the long war, and he said countries like Canada had the experience to accomplish the job.
“A number of your (Canadian) troopers have now made multiple deployments to the same districts and this has been invaluable in the effort there, and yet another example of the importance of continuity and key people to the mission in Afghanistan.”
Just don’t expect the celebrated general to get misty-eyed or start begging reconsideration when Canadian soldiers start packing up their equipment next year.
“I don’t do frustration, just like I don’t do optimism or pessimism. I do realism,” Petraeus said. “At the end of the day what you have to do is take what you’ve been provided and use it as skillfully as you can.”
The Star
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