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Conquering Canadians take stock
With the Taliban having melted away, commander reflects on lessons learned
GRAEME SMITH
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
PANJWAI DISTRICT, AFGHANISTAN — Sitting on the rooftop of a shrapnel-scarred building in southern Afghanistan, Lieutenant-Colonel Omer Lavoie squinted into the sunset and looked over the swath of farmland that his soldiers had conquered.
About 10 days earlier, the commander of Canada's battle group was staring down hundreds of Taliban fighters in those fields. His command post was filled with urgent bursts of radio traffic.
But the Taliban appear to have run away, after enduring heavy attacks from the air and a steady Canadian advance on the ground, and the operation has slowed into a methodical mop-up. One officer compared yesterday's mood around the command post to a schoolyard in June.
On his metal folding chair, Col. Lavoie allowed himself a moment of quiet reflection. But the 40-year-old commander couldn't entirely relax while many of his troops were still pushing south, across this former Taliban stronghold about 15 kilometres southwest of Kandahar city. The steady drive from the north won't stop, Col. Lavoie said, until his soldiers meet their counterparts waiting for them on the southern edge of the battlefield, near the Arghandab River.
A NATO statement confirmed yesterday that most of the journey is already finished; about 65 per cent of the contested area, measuring perhaps four kilometres by five kilometres, has been formally cleared of insurgents. The only Canadian injury yesterday happened in a vehicle accident.
While still unwilling to declare victory, the Canadian commander was already musing about the lessons of the battle.
"If you'd asked me five months ago, 'Do you need tanks to fight insurgents?' I would have said, 'No, you're nuts,' " he said. "But . . . the tactics they've now transitioned to, very seldom do insurgents mass and concentrate the way they've done here and dig their feet into a stronghold. From my perspective, they're acting more like a conventional enemy."
Canada will send 15 Leopard tanks to Afghanistan, The Globe and Mail has reported, although this hasn't yet been confirmed by the military. Some military planners had considered the tanks obsolete, assuming the fight against insurgents in places such as Afghanistan would require nimble infantry.
But the boldness of the insurgents has forced a re-evaluation of the need for heavy war-fighting equipment, Col. Lavoie said.
"Because they're acting conventionally, then conventional assets like tanks, armoured engineering vehicles, and armoured bridge-laying vehicles certainly have their place here," he said. "The lesson learned is that you need to maintain those capabilities."
He continued: "If you're truly going to operate on the full spectrum of conflict, you've got to put your money where your mouth is. You need things that can operate on the far end, which are combat enablers like tanks, artillery and close-air support." Casualties are difficult to estimate, he said, but the operation appears to have killed 230 to 300 insurgents -- a number lower than NATO totals, but higher than the figure admitted by the Taliban.
"The numbers that came at us surprised me," he said. "I'd say their tenacity surprised me as well, to be honest. I wouldn't be honest if I said it didn't." Despite the fact that many insurgents escaped, he added, the showdown between Canadians and Taliban will probably improve the prestige of the foreign troops.
"Any misperception the insurgent forces may have had, that NATO didn't have the capacity to go in hard, well I'm sure there's no doubt in their mind now," he said. "I'm not sure they've ever seen, under any previous coalition, this amount of pressure." After the most serious battle Afghanistan has witnessed since the fall of the Taliban government in 2001, Col. Lavoie said he's hopeful that the insurgents won't repeat such large-scale escalations.
"They'll have no choice," he said "We had the combat power to break them. The remnants will have no choice but to go back to operating in a typical insurgent, two- to 10-man sort of insurgent sections.
"My mission statement still says, Task Force 76 battle group will conduct counterinsurgency operations in the province of Kandahar. That mission statement still stands, because after this is done we'll go back to conducting those operations."
*****
The battle for Panjwai
After more than a week of fighting to oust insurgents from the warren of lush farms and mud-walled compounds in Panjwai, NATO estimates that 65 per cent of the objective territory is now under their control.
Aug. 3, 2006: Soldiers from the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry are ambushed in the Pashmul area.
Aug. 19: Hours after the PPCLI transfers command to their replacements from the Royal Canadian Regiment, the RCR fights to stop an estimated 300 to 500 insurgents sweeping north through Panjwai toward the village of Panjwai District Centre. It was among the largest Taliban battle groups that NATO officials had witnessed in recent months.
Aug. 31: NATO officials warn villagers in Panjwai District about an impending attack, using local radio, television, and leaflets dropped from the air.
Sept. 2: Operation Medusa starts. Described by Canadian officials as the country's largest-ever mustering of forces since the Second World War, the operation is led by Canadian soldiers but involves Afghan forces and troops from four other NATO countries. It begins around daybreak with an intense aerial barrage from Canadian artillery; British Harrier jets; Dutch Apache helicopters and F-16 jets; and U.S. A-10 warplanes and B-1 bombers. Reconnaissance aircraft cover the area with intense surveillance.
Sept. 3: The ground offensive starts. Canadian soldiers hold blocking positions on the north edge of Panjwai District while others push up from the south, across the dry bed of the Arghandab River. Four Canadian soldiers are killed as they climb out of their troop carrier near the river's north bank. The casualties halt the offensive, temporarily. About 80 suspected insurgents are captured.
Sept. 4: The Canadians plan to re-launch their ground offensive in the early morning, but a U.S. A-10 Warthog mistakenly strafes a group of Canadian soldiers just minutes before the planned attack. One Canadian dies, more than 30 are injured, and the offensive is delayed again.
Sept. 5: A small patrol of Canadian troops advances from the north for reconnaissance but returns to their position near Highway 1 without taking any ground.
Sept. 6: Afghan officials complain that Taliban fighters are re-supplying themselves from the poorly guarded western side of the Canadian cordon around Pashmul.
Sept. 7: After some discussion, NATO decides to press ahead with the operation. The plan is reversed: The main force advances from the north, rolling out of the desert around Highway 1 and breaking into the lush farmland south of the highway.
The Canadians take ground in Panjwai for the first time, unopposed by the Taliban.
Sept. 8: Firefights erupt along the length of the northern front, in what military officials describe as a systematic effort to test the strength of the foreign troops. No NATO soldiers are killed or injured.
Sept. 10: Most of the Canadian and NATO forces along the northern front pull back to a staging ground north of Highway 1, gathering for a major attack.
Sept. 11: The gathered forces drive deep into the heart of Pashmul, seizing a warren of suspected insurgent hideouts. The mud-walled compounds contain weapons, ammunition, bomb-making supplies, and a crude medical station -- all left behind, showing the haste of the insurgents' retreat. Freshly dug trenches also suggest the Taliban had prepared to defend their enclave, before abandoning the plan. Western intelligence and the Taliban themselves say the insurgents have largely retreated and dispersed.
Sept. 12: Canadian troops continue mop-up operations in the area.
SOURCE: GRAEME SMITH IN AFGHANISTAN"
Link: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060913.wxafghan13/BNStory/International/home
Regards,
Mourning 8)
With the Taliban having melted away, commander reflects on lessons learned
GRAEME SMITH
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
PANJWAI DISTRICT, AFGHANISTAN — Sitting on the rooftop of a shrapnel-scarred building in southern Afghanistan, Lieutenant-Colonel Omer Lavoie squinted into the sunset and looked over the swath of farmland that his soldiers had conquered.
About 10 days earlier, the commander of Canada's battle group was staring down hundreds of Taliban fighters in those fields. His command post was filled with urgent bursts of radio traffic.
But the Taliban appear to have run away, after enduring heavy attacks from the air and a steady Canadian advance on the ground, and the operation has slowed into a methodical mop-up. One officer compared yesterday's mood around the command post to a schoolyard in June.
On his metal folding chair, Col. Lavoie allowed himself a moment of quiet reflection. But the 40-year-old commander couldn't entirely relax while many of his troops were still pushing south, across this former Taliban stronghold about 15 kilometres southwest of Kandahar city. The steady drive from the north won't stop, Col. Lavoie said, until his soldiers meet their counterparts waiting for them on the southern edge of the battlefield, near the Arghandab River.
A NATO statement confirmed yesterday that most of the journey is already finished; about 65 per cent of the contested area, measuring perhaps four kilometres by five kilometres, has been formally cleared of insurgents. The only Canadian injury yesterday happened in a vehicle accident.
While still unwilling to declare victory, the Canadian commander was already musing about the lessons of the battle.
"If you'd asked me five months ago, 'Do you need tanks to fight insurgents?' I would have said, 'No, you're nuts,' " he said. "But . . . the tactics they've now transitioned to, very seldom do insurgents mass and concentrate the way they've done here and dig their feet into a stronghold. From my perspective, they're acting more like a conventional enemy."
Canada will send 15 Leopard tanks to Afghanistan, The Globe and Mail has reported, although this hasn't yet been confirmed by the military. Some military planners had considered the tanks obsolete, assuming the fight against insurgents in places such as Afghanistan would require nimble infantry.
But the boldness of the insurgents has forced a re-evaluation of the need for heavy war-fighting equipment, Col. Lavoie said.
"Because they're acting conventionally, then conventional assets like tanks, armoured engineering vehicles, and armoured bridge-laying vehicles certainly have their place here," he said. "The lesson learned is that you need to maintain those capabilities."
He continued: "If you're truly going to operate on the full spectrum of conflict, you've got to put your money where your mouth is. You need things that can operate on the far end, which are combat enablers like tanks, artillery and close-air support." Casualties are difficult to estimate, he said, but the operation appears to have killed 230 to 300 insurgents -- a number lower than NATO totals, but higher than the figure admitted by the Taliban.
"The numbers that came at us surprised me," he said. "I'd say their tenacity surprised me as well, to be honest. I wouldn't be honest if I said it didn't." Despite the fact that many insurgents escaped, he added, the showdown between Canadians and Taliban will probably improve the prestige of the foreign troops.
"Any misperception the insurgent forces may have had, that NATO didn't have the capacity to go in hard, well I'm sure there's no doubt in their mind now," he said. "I'm not sure they've ever seen, under any previous coalition, this amount of pressure." After the most serious battle Afghanistan has witnessed since the fall of the Taliban government in 2001, Col. Lavoie said he's hopeful that the insurgents won't repeat such large-scale escalations.
"They'll have no choice," he said "We had the combat power to break them. The remnants will have no choice but to go back to operating in a typical insurgent, two- to 10-man sort of insurgent sections.
"My mission statement still says, Task Force 76 battle group will conduct counterinsurgency operations in the province of Kandahar. That mission statement still stands, because after this is done we'll go back to conducting those operations."
*****
The battle for Panjwai
After more than a week of fighting to oust insurgents from the warren of lush farms and mud-walled compounds in Panjwai, NATO estimates that 65 per cent of the objective territory is now under their control.
Aug. 3, 2006: Soldiers from the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry are ambushed in the Pashmul area.
Aug. 19: Hours after the PPCLI transfers command to their replacements from the Royal Canadian Regiment, the RCR fights to stop an estimated 300 to 500 insurgents sweeping north through Panjwai toward the village of Panjwai District Centre. It was among the largest Taliban battle groups that NATO officials had witnessed in recent months.
Aug. 31: NATO officials warn villagers in Panjwai District about an impending attack, using local radio, television, and leaflets dropped from the air.
Sept. 2: Operation Medusa starts. Described by Canadian officials as the country's largest-ever mustering of forces since the Second World War, the operation is led by Canadian soldiers but involves Afghan forces and troops from four other NATO countries. It begins around daybreak with an intense aerial barrage from Canadian artillery; British Harrier jets; Dutch Apache helicopters and F-16 jets; and U.S. A-10 warplanes and B-1 bombers. Reconnaissance aircraft cover the area with intense surveillance.
Sept. 3: The ground offensive starts. Canadian soldiers hold blocking positions on the north edge of Panjwai District while others push up from the south, across the dry bed of the Arghandab River. Four Canadian soldiers are killed as they climb out of their troop carrier near the river's north bank. The casualties halt the offensive, temporarily. About 80 suspected insurgents are captured.
Sept. 4: The Canadians plan to re-launch their ground offensive in the early morning, but a U.S. A-10 Warthog mistakenly strafes a group of Canadian soldiers just minutes before the planned attack. One Canadian dies, more than 30 are injured, and the offensive is delayed again.
Sept. 5: A small patrol of Canadian troops advances from the north for reconnaissance but returns to their position near Highway 1 without taking any ground.
Sept. 6: Afghan officials complain that Taliban fighters are re-supplying themselves from the poorly guarded western side of the Canadian cordon around Pashmul.
Sept. 7: After some discussion, NATO decides to press ahead with the operation. The plan is reversed: The main force advances from the north, rolling out of the desert around Highway 1 and breaking into the lush farmland south of the highway.
The Canadians take ground in Panjwai for the first time, unopposed by the Taliban.
Sept. 8: Firefights erupt along the length of the northern front, in what military officials describe as a systematic effort to test the strength of the foreign troops. No NATO soldiers are killed or injured.
Sept. 10: Most of the Canadian and NATO forces along the northern front pull back to a staging ground north of Highway 1, gathering for a major attack.
Sept. 11: The gathered forces drive deep into the heart of Pashmul, seizing a warren of suspected insurgent hideouts. The mud-walled compounds contain weapons, ammunition, bomb-making supplies, and a crude medical station -- all left behind, showing the haste of the insurgents' retreat. Freshly dug trenches also suggest the Taliban had prepared to defend their enclave, before abandoning the plan. Western intelligence and the Taliban themselves say the insurgents have largely retreated and dispersed.
Sept. 12: Canadian troops continue mop-up operations in the area.
SOURCE: GRAEME SMITH IN AFGHANISTAN"
Link: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060913.wxafghan13/BNStory/International/home
Regards,
Mourning 8)
