By Carlotta Gall
The New York Times, 11 December 2005
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Dec. 7 - Foreign soldiers in desert fatigues and helmets sealed off the main road of this southern city last Sunday to inspect the site where a suicide bomber, wrapped in a blanket, had thrown himself at a convoy of military jeeps, killing himself and an Afghan civilian.
To the Afghans watching, the soldiers looked the same as the United States troops that have been a constant presence in Kandahar since the departure of the Taliban four years ago. But these were from Canada, whose forces have quietly begun an important shift in the international military presence in Afghanistan.
Canadian troops will take over responsibility for the turbulent southern province of Kandahar in February; by spring, British troops also will have deployed in Kandahar and the other large province in southern Afghanistan, Helmand.
The Canadian and British forces will conduct military operations as well as run the civil affairs program created by provincial reconstruction teams. More than 1,000 Dutch troops are expected to join them in the south, possibly in Uruzgan Province.
[On Dec. 8, NATO foreign ministers met in Brussels and endorsed a plan for expanding the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, which operates under a peacekeeping mandate from the United Nations. The force's 10,000 troops, now operating in northern and western Afghanistan and in the capital, Kabul, will grow by 6,000 and move into southern Afghanistan.]
By June or July, the international force will take over from the United States-led Regional Command South, the military district headquartered at Kandahar air base and stretching over five provinces. The shift will allow some 4,000 of the 6,000 United States troops in the south to leave and reduce the overall American presence to about 14,000 troops. The international force will then become the main military force in Afghanistan with responsibility for three-quarters of the country.
The United States-led command will remain in charge of the provinces of eastern Afghanistan that border Pakistan's unruly North-West Frontier Province. But in 2007, the United States forces there will also move under the NATO flag, making the international force the country's sole military command.
These changes are under way even as some NATO countries have noted with concern the sharp rise in American military deaths in Afghanistan this year, and new, deadly tactics by insurgents. Those include suicide bombings and the downing of helicopters - two were shot down by enemy fire last weekend. Afghans also describe a larger presence of Taliban supporters in the villages than at any time since the Taliban government was ousted.
"It's a major undertaking under NATO," said Col. Steve Noonan, commander of the Canadian task force at Kandahar air base, as he prepared for the arrival of over 2,200 Canadian soldiers in the coming months. "ISAF has had success in the north and west, but there is a difference between the north and south."
Lt. Col. Riccardo Cristoni, chief spokesman for in the international force in Kabul, said that the mission would remain a peace support mission, but that the rules of engagement would have to be strengthened.
A NATO delegation that visited Afghanistan in September noted that counterinsurgency operations were still necessary in the south and so the international force would inevitably become involved.
Canadians troops have been hit at least twice by suicide bombers in Kandahar since they first arrived four months ago, although their armored jeeps have prevented serious casualties, and civilian bystanders have borne the brunt of the attacks.
Colonel Noonan said he expected trouble, especially during the transfer periods in February, June and July, when the Taliban and other insurgents would be expected to try to turn the departure of the Americans into propaganda gains and exploit any weakness of the newcomers.
"The U.S. Army is the most advanced military in the world, so whatever we put in, there will be a gap, both in technical capability, and size and capacity," he said.
The United States military will continue to run the airport at Kandahar, and the detention facility for suspected insurgents there. No other country is prepared to over take that responsibility, NATO military officials said.
Troops in the international force will bring their own focus to the mission. The Canadians say they will concentrate on training the Afghan National Police and the Afghan National Army.
"The perspective is to put an Afghan face on the operation," Colonel Noonan said. "The day of unilateral operations without intelligence is gone."
Colonel Noonan said there would be fewer raids on villages without approval from the government, in keeping with demands from President Hamid Karzai.
Britain will have about 3,500 soldiers in the south, most of them in Helmand Province, the biggest opium producing province, where drug lords have joined with criminal gangs and insurgents in some spectacular attacks recently on Afghan police officers.
Afghans who hear of these approaching changes offer mixed reactions. Tribal leaders and newly elected legislators have asked with alarm if it is true that the Americans are leaving.
"At the moment I would not like them to leave" said Mullah Naquibullah, a leading tribal elders in Kandahar Province. "Until they train our Afghan soldiers and police in big numbers, they should not leave."
The governor of Kandahar, Asadullah Khalid, observed that "the British and Canadians will come in the place of the Americans, which is very important for us." But he added, "We are very concerned and afraid that the international community will go and forget us."
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Citation: Carlotta Gall. "As NATO Forces Ease Role of G.I.'s in Afghanistan, the Taliban Steps Up Attacks," The New York Times, 11 December 2005.
Original URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/international/asia/11kandahar.html
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