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June 17, 2008
Taliban Ready an attack on Kandahar
Rick Moran
Thanks to our good friends in the Pakistani government, several hundred Taliban fighters have inflitrated across the border from their bases in the northwest frontier provinces and are seizing villages on the outskirts of Kandahar:
The Afghan Army flew four planeloads of soldiers to Kandahar from the capital, Kabul, on Tuesday. Canadian forces have also moved in to the region.
"When we get permission from commanders, we will attack the Taliban," Mohammad said.
Aircraft from the NATO-led security force dropped leaflets in the Arghandab area, telling residents that 700 Afghan troops were coming to force out the Taliban and warning residents to say indoors in case fighting breaks out, said a spokesman, Mark Laity.
The Taliban assault Monday on the outskirts of Kandahar was the latest display of strength by the militants despite a record number of U.S. and NATO troops in the country.
The push into the Arghandab district, a lush region filled with grape and pomegranate groves that the Soviets could never conquer, came three days after a coordinated Taliban attack on a Kandahar prison that freed several hundred insurgent fighters. To the Canucks, this is a broken record. Several times in the last few years they have swept the Taliban from the area surrounding Kandahar only to see more of the enemy infiltrate across the virtually non-existent border with Pakistan and re-occupy the same ground.
It is driving the Canadian government to distraction that NATO can't send more troops to help their boys hold this vital area. However, the Afghan army has performed well in the past - under Canadian leadership - so expect a similar scenario to develop here. The Candadians and Afghans will engage the Taliban and, after a few days of intense fighting, send them flying back across the border considerably diminished in numbers.
The fact that NATO can't spare a couple of hundred combat soldiers to give the Canadians a hand is one of the real disappointments of the war. And it's not going to change anytime soon.
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