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For crying out loud.
http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2004/08/13/fCanada109.raw.html
Major embarrassment
Canadian soldiers frustrated at having to abandon Afghan trainees due to delay on Ottawa's part
By Stephen Thorne / The Canadian Press
KABUL - In what they see as a blow to their credibility in Afghanistan, Canadian soldiers have to abandon the Afghan army battalion they trained for more than seven months, just as it deploys, because of a delay in Ottawa.
Soldiers from Valcartier, Que., and, more recently, Edmonton have been nurturing bonds with the 4th Kandak, or battalion, of the Afghan National Army since last winter.
They were to accompany their trainees on their first two-month deployment but had to inform them on Thursday - the day they were supposed to leave on a reconnaissance mission - that American troops would be going instead.
"The past three or four days have probably been the most embarrassing I've ever had in my career," a veteran member of the Canadian embedded training team told The Canadian Press. "Our vehicle was packed and ready to go.
"Trust is now gone," said the soldier, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The Americans are pissed off. The ANA guys were ecstatic that Canada was going with them; you could see it in their faces. Now they're crushed.
"There is serious disappointment. These guys work off of respect, honour, loyalty and we're turning around and saying 'We don't respect you, we're no longer loyal.' A black mark is an understatement."
Defence Minister Bill Graham was expected to sign an agreement last week committing Canadian army trainers to Afghanistan through 2008, the first long-term undertaking Ottawa has made to the war-ravaged country.
The deal would also permit the Canadians to leave the NATO operations area around Kabul on extended deployments with their trainees.
However, officials in the Prime Minister's Office and in the office of the deputy chief of defence staff have delayed the signing, forcing the 16-member training team to adopt a new battalion that will remain in Kabul through Afghanistan's Oct. 9 presidential election.
Ironically, Kabul is expected to be more dangerous than the region to which they were to have deployed, soldiers said.
After the reconnaissance mission, members of Edmonton's 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, were expecting to move with their trainees by Sunday. However, the battalion the Canadians have been training since last winter was turned over to a U.S. officer Thursday.
It is at least the fourth time since last September that Canadians have been forced to abandon their trainees before a deployment, frustrating the Americans, who are in charge of the program, and forcing them - in this case at least - to make last-minute plans.
The sergeant-major of the 4th Kandak, Asadullah Barkzai, was disappointed at the news, delivered by the new embedded training team commander, Maj. Brian Hynes of Comox, B.C., Thursday morning.
"It is very bad news for us," said Barkzai. "They trained us very well and we would like to stay with them. Unfortunately, the Canadian government won't allow them to stay with us.
"It hurt a lot. We were a team. We didn't think of them like Canadians and we are Afghan. We were one, working as a team. It is very hard for us that they are leaving."
"There are obviously requests for Canadians to assist in training all over," said the new Canadian contingent commander, Col. Jim Ellis. "The senior leadership of the military and the government are looking at that. They have all the paperwork right now.
"We should hear one way or the other later on. However, it doesn't mean our commitment to the forces here in town is going to change. It's a bit tough for our guys because they've taken their troops to this point."
Small groups of Canadian soldiers have been embedded with Afghan and U.S. troops since last fall, training two battalions. Several Canadian-trained ANA units have since been involved in heavy fighting south of Kabul.
"The whole team was very frustrated" by previous roadblocks to missions with the trainees, Maj. Sylvain Rheaume, the Quebec-based officer who commanded the training group for six months, said last week.
"We have trained these soldiers to do a job and when it was time to do the real stuff, we were not allowed to be with them. We developed a really good relationship and trust and it was very, very difficult to let them go."
The long-awaited deal with the U.S. military and Afghan government would "repackage and redefine a whole new mandate custom-made for this work," Col. Alain Tremblay, Ellis's predecessor, said July 27.
Tremblay said training a national army and breaking the 1,400-year dominance of Afghanistan's warlord culture is probably the most critical element of the country's reconstruction.
"No central government will be able to survive in such an environment without the proper institutions - the judicial, the military," he said.
"It took us six to eight months to . . . convince Ottawa of the strategic value and return investment of getting into that initiative."
Until now, Canada's role in the U.S.-led training program has been ad hoc, based solely on Ottawa's relatively short-term commitments to NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Kabul.
However, the program, which aims to train the first 70,000 ANA troops, is independent from NATO and its Canadian Operation Athena. Called Operation Archer, it is only the second time Canada has been involved in large-scale training of a foreign military force; Sierra Leone was the other.
"It's not a short-term commitment," Tremblay said. "It takes a long time to bring them to a proper and decent level of efficiency as a modern military force.
"You cannot think that you can be playing at this on a six-month to six-month basis. It cannot work that way."
Just under 15,000 soldiers are so far enrolled with the Afghan National Army, which is slowly shoring up its numbers as the country's disarmament, demobilization and reintegration program retires regional militias.
Maybe it won't matter because, in a yr, Canada won't touch Afghanistan again with a 10 foot pole? :
http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2004/08/13/fCanada109.raw.html
Major embarrassment
Canadian soldiers frustrated at having to abandon Afghan trainees due to delay on Ottawa's part
By Stephen Thorne / The Canadian Press
KABUL - In what they see as a blow to their credibility in Afghanistan, Canadian soldiers have to abandon the Afghan army battalion they trained for more than seven months, just as it deploys, because of a delay in Ottawa.
Soldiers from Valcartier, Que., and, more recently, Edmonton have been nurturing bonds with the 4th Kandak, or battalion, of the Afghan National Army since last winter.
They were to accompany their trainees on their first two-month deployment but had to inform them on Thursday - the day they were supposed to leave on a reconnaissance mission - that American troops would be going instead.
"The past three or four days have probably been the most embarrassing I've ever had in my career," a veteran member of the Canadian embedded training team told The Canadian Press. "Our vehicle was packed and ready to go.
"Trust is now gone," said the soldier, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The Americans are pissed off. The ANA guys were ecstatic that Canada was going with them; you could see it in their faces. Now they're crushed.
"There is serious disappointment. These guys work off of respect, honour, loyalty and we're turning around and saying 'We don't respect you, we're no longer loyal.' A black mark is an understatement."
Defence Minister Bill Graham was expected to sign an agreement last week committing Canadian army trainers to Afghanistan through 2008, the first long-term undertaking Ottawa has made to the war-ravaged country.
The deal would also permit the Canadians to leave the NATO operations area around Kabul on extended deployments with their trainees.
However, officials in the Prime Minister's Office and in the office of the deputy chief of defence staff have delayed the signing, forcing the 16-member training team to adopt a new battalion that will remain in Kabul through Afghanistan's Oct. 9 presidential election.
Ironically, Kabul is expected to be more dangerous than the region to which they were to have deployed, soldiers said.
After the reconnaissance mission, members of Edmonton's 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, were expecting to move with their trainees by Sunday. However, the battalion the Canadians have been training since last winter was turned over to a U.S. officer Thursday.
It is at least the fourth time since last September that Canadians have been forced to abandon their trainees before a deployment, frustrating the Americans, who are in charge of the program, and forcing them - in this case at least - to make last-minute plans.
The sergeant-major of the 4th Kandak, Asadullah Barkzai, was disappointed at the news, delivered by the new embedded training team commander, Maj. Brian Hynes of Comox, B.C., Thursday morning.
"It is very bad news for us," said Barkzai. "They trained us very well and we would like to stay with them. Unfortunately, the Canadian government won't allow them to stay with us.
"It hurt a lot. We were a team. We didn't think of them like Canadians and we are Afghan. We were one, working as a team. It is very hard for us that they are leaving."
"There are obviously requests for Canadians to assist in training all over," said the new Canadian contingent commander, Col. Jim Ellis. "The senior leadership of the military and the government are looking at that. They have all the paperwork right now.
"We should hear one way or the other later on. However, it doesn't mean our commitment to the forces here in town is going to change. It's a bit tough for our guys because they've taken their troops to this point."
Small groups of Canadian soldiers have been embedded with Afghan and U.S. troops since last fall, training two battalions. Several Canadian-trained ANA units have since been involved in heavy fighting south of Kabul.
"The whole team was very frustrated" by previous roadblocks to missions with the trainees, Maj. Sylvain Rheaume, the Quebec-based officer who commanded the training group for six months, said last week.
"We have trained these soldiers to do a job and when it was time to do the real stuff, we were not allowed to be with them. We developed a really good relationship and trust and it was very, very difficult to let them go."
The long-awaited deal with the U.S. military and Afghan government would "repackage and redefine a whole new mandate custom-made for this work," Col. Alain Tremblay, Ellis's predecessor, said July 27.
Tremblay said training a national army and breaking the 1,400-year dominance of Afghanistan's warlord culture is probably the most critical element of the country's reconstruction.
"No central government will be able to survive in such an environment without the proper institutions - the judicial, the military," he said.
"It took us six to eight months to . . . convince Ottawa of the strategic value and return investment of getting into that initiative."
Until now, Canada's role in the U.S.-led training program has been ad hoc, based solely on Ottawa's relatively short-term commitments to NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Kabul.
However, the program, which aims to train the first 70,000 ANA troops, is independent from NATO and its Canadian Operation Athena. Called Operation Archer, it is only the second time Canada has been involved in large-scale training of a foreign military force; Sierra Leone was the other.
"It's not a short-term commitment," Tremblay said. "It takes a long time to bring them to a proper and decent level of efficiency as a modern military force.
"You cannot think that you can be playing at this on a six-month to six-month basis. It cannot work that way."
Just under 15,000 soldiers are so far enrolled with the Afghan National Army, which is slowly shoring up its numbers as the country's disarmament, demobilization and reintegration program retires regional militias.
Maybe it won't matter because, in a yr, Canada won't touch Afghanistan again with a 10 foot pole? :
