Posted on 01/04/2006 6:14:33 PM PST by NorthOf45
Elite troops bound for Afghanistan
Allies consider backing out of dangerous mission
Chris Wattie
National Post
January 04, 2006
The Canadian Forces is sending up to 100 commandos from its elite Joint Task Force 2 to Afghanistan this month, the largest contingent of special forces Canada has ever sent overseas, the National Post has learned.
Between 75 and 100 soldiers of JTF-2 will arrive just ahead of a 2,000-member Canadian battle group that is deploying to the restive southern province of Kandahar amid growing warnings of high casualties and a looming enemy offensive in the region.
Defence sources familiar with the mission said the commandos will arrive in the Kandahar region by the end of the month, part of an unprecedented surge of troops by the secretive JTF-2. "They're coming in in a big way," one source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "This is more boots on the ground than they've ever had in one place before."
Captain Stephanie Godin, a military spokeswoman, would neither confirm nor deny the unit's deployment to Afghanistan. "We can't confirm the numbers or specific missions of JTF-2 for reasons of operational security," she said.
But military experts said it only makes sense to "flood the zone" with special forces after new warnings from key NATO allies to expect high casualties from the Kandahar mission.
"The situation's going to get more hazardous there, so they'd be foolish not to flood the whole area with special forces in advance of the deployment," said John Thompson, the director of the MacKenzie Institute, a Toronto-based think-tank specializing in defence and security issues. "The first few weeks of any deployment is one of the most dangerous times for the troops."
British officials have warned the public to expect high casualties from the mission to Kandahar, a hotbed of support for Afghanistan's former Taliban rulers and their al-Qaeda allies.
The Dutch, who were to provide a third of the troops for the Canadian-led Task Force Aegis in Kandahar, may pull out of the mission entirely. And Australia, which has an estimated 190 special forces in Afghanistan, is considering delaying a 200-strong military reconstruction team that was to be sent to the south.
However, Alain Pellerin, director of the Canadian defence lobby group Conference of Defence Associations, said the Dutch will likely join the mission despite their misgivings.
But he said the dangers should not be understated. "In the south of Afghanistan you're really moving into bandit country," he said. "The Americans have lost more than 100 soldiers there in the past year -- the war is not over in the south."
"There's bound to be encounters with fairly large groups of Taliban. ... The Canadians and other NATO troops will be a magnet. They'll be tested as soon as they arrive, I'm sure."
The large Canadian force will be comprised of soldiers from the Alberta-based Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, the same regiment that served in Afghanistan in 2001-02.
Mr. Thompson said the JTF-2 is being sent in such large numbers to help the Princess Patricia's deal with the Taliban threat.
The deployment to Kandahar would represent between a third and half of JTF-2's total strength. The military has never officially acknowledged the total strength of the special forces unit, based in a facility just outside Ottawa, but most observers place their numbers at between 200 and 250 soldiers.
"Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are planning a major offensive starting sometime in March -- a really big offensive," he said. "So this is the time for special forces to be out there looking for concentrations of Taliban forces, supply lines [or] infiltration routes and go after them."
The Canadian military has acknowledged that JTF-2 has been working with U.S. and allied special forces in the Kandahar region since last summer but has given no details.
Last month, a military spokesman issued a rare news release on the unit revealing that three of its members had been wounded in a firefight in Afghanistan, one of them seriously.
The Canadian Forces again refused to release any details about the incident, believed to be the first time a JTF-2 soldier had been wounded in a combat operation.
However, U.S. officers in Afghanistan issued a statement saying that three coalition troops -- believed to be JTF-2 commandos -- had been wounded during a Dec. 4 attack on enemy forces in a small village north of Kandahar. The American news release said 13 Taliban fighters were killed in that battle.
There has been a steady increase in fighting over the past year, particularly in the south.
The Sunday Times reported this week that British military intelligence officers expect that trend to continue and predict their troops could sustain losses on a scale not seen since the 1982 Falklands war, when 255 British servicemen died.
The British officers say Taliban and al-Qaeda forces in southern Afghanistan are preparing for a large offensive soon after the Canadian and British troops arrive, backed by sophisticated weapons and training from Iran and Iraq.
Britain is contributing a battle group to the Canadian-led task force in Kandahar and is to set up its own task force in the neighbouring province of Helmand, for a total of about 3,000 troops.
The warnings of increased danger in the region have given the Dutch pause. Their Cabinet approved the deployment of 1,400 Dutch troops, including Apache attack helicopters and F-16 fighter-bombers, last month, but the full Dutch parliament will vote later this month on whether to withdraw that commitment.
Canadian Military Ping
Thank you for your support.
Welcome to Hell.
God bless 'em.
Sounds like Kandahar should experience the sound of a nuke. Like Fallujah, give the people warning and strike.
Canada's snipers have made an excellent reputation for themselves in Afghanistan
Canadian commandos - an oxymoron.
Don't make the mistake of assuming that just because a country's government is not up to much, that it's armed forces aren't.
The Canadian Forces are generally competent, but more than that, there are troops in the Canadian Forces that are the equal of any on Earth.
The longest-ever confirmed sniper kill was made by Master Cpl. Arron Perry of the Canadian Armed Forces in Afghanistan during combat in 2003. Using a .50-caliber MacMillan TAC-50 rifle, Perry shot and killed an Afghan soldier from a distance of 2,430 metres.
The record was set during Operation Anaconda when a Canadian three-man sniper team from the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, (PPCLI), set the new record with a shot on a Taliban fighter That's about 1.5 miles. That, my friends, is a truly amazing feat. The bullet was in the air for four seconds and dropped 146 feet. About 250 meters longer than Carlos Hathcock's famous shot.
We're grateful for the help!
And then give them the full authority to actively hunt!
Capturing Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Jalaluddin Haqqani remain key - Both these men need to be captured (preferably) or killed. Much continued success in Stan (and Pak) would come from either of these events (a new/hot UBL trail would likely be found).
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1552004/posts
I was a soldier once, and young, and I have lived, worked and eaten around the Canadian Forces at Kandahar Air Field. They are polite, professional, and proud to be there. Thrown in amongst USAF, RAF, RNLAF, 173rd ABN, Romanian Army, British Army, NVARNG, HIARNG, TXARNG, Dutch Marines and Norwegian Commandoes, they compare quite favorably. They'll do to ride outside the wire with.
The annoying thing is that JTF2 is starting to regularly appear in news articles. The existence of this unit, let alone its comings and goings, was not supposed to be the subject of public discussion. It was only because a former Minister of Defence went on a publicity hunt that it became known in 2003 that JTF2 was being deployed to Afghanistan.
But Canadian civilians are also generally ignorant of the comings and goings of our conventional light infantry and cavalry in Afghanistan and our frigates and destroyers rotating into the Gulf of Arabia, which is not how I would have preferred it but which seems to be just how our Liberal government and our liberal media want it.
Put me in that category also. Listening to the Liberals talk, I'd come away with the idea that they had disdained any co-operation with the US at all. From what you say, they do still recognizes some value in being involved with the US in the WOT effort, in spite of their posturing. Thanks.
"Elite (Canadian) Troops Bound for Afghanistan"
And, as a consequence, I forsee Taliban-scum joining legions of Germans, North Koreans, Communist Chinese and North Vietnamese in Hell...
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