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Toronto Star
Can-do training in Kabul
By Levon Sevunts
Special to The Star
June 19, 2005
Page: A14
Section: News
KABUL
– As Afghan security forces increasingly take the lead
in fighting the insurgency by
the remnants of Taliban fighters
and their allies, Canadian instructors have taken a major role in
training the fledging Afghan National Army.
Fifteen Canadian military instructors have been assigned to the
Afghan National Training Centre, a multinational training,
mentoring and assistance
program at the new Afghan army garrison
in Pol-e-Chakri, on the outskirts of
Kabul.
Canadian Forces Maj. Randy Little, chief instructor at the
centre, says Canadians have
taken the lead in training Afghan
"kandaks" - battalion-size military units.
The goal of the multi-year program is to train a disciplined,
professional and an ethnically balanced modern army loyal to the
government in
Kabul as part of the U.S.-led
coalition's exit
strategy.
The sooner the Afghan army is able to stand on its feet without
support from coalition forces, the sooner the United States can
pull out most of its forces from
Afghanistan.
The Afghan army currently has about 24,200 soldiers and an
additional 6,250 recruits are being trained across the country,
according to U.S. Army Lieut.
Cindy Moore, a spokesperson for the
Combined Forces Command. Canadians are in charge of the final
stage in the training of kandaks.
France
has assumed responsibility for the basic training of
officers, British instructors
train non-commissioned officers and
mobile training teams from the
United States, Romania, Bulgaria
and Mongolia train the lower ranks.
It's the job of Canadians to bring all the ranks together
and train them as a unit during an intensive 12-day course, says
Little, a veteran of
peacekeeping operations in
Bosnia
and
Rwanda.
But training a new army in the midst of a continuing
counter-insurgency war is no
easy task, says Little, observing
training at a parched proving ground littered with unexploded
ordinance and mines.
"It's an operational theatre," notes Little. "There is a real risk that people
could plant stuff to
target the training. And, of course, there is the proverbial
presence of mines left from the previous wars.
"There is no place in
Afghanistan
where you can dismiss the
mine threat."
Another problem is the Afghan army's shortage of weapons,
ammunition and logistical
capabilities, Little adds.
"The government of
Afghanistan
needs resources to fund
these ambitious programs" without depending of foreign
donations.
Canadian trainers have overcome cultural barriers and brought
together different training philosophies of contributing nations
as they build cohesive military units deployed to fight the
insurgency almost immediately
after graduating from the course.
One of the biggest challenges is changing the mentality of the
army from a rigid Soviet model, under which officers make all
decisions, to a modern military
of what Little calls
"thinking soldiers" who can take the leadership role in
some tactical situations.
Canadian instructors have boiled down the training to the most
likely tasks that Afghan soldiers could be called upon to perform
in fighting the insurgency - attack and defence; ambushes and
raids; defence of a forward
operating base; patrolling and search
missions.
"When they come here, they don't know anything about
patrols," says Sgt. Eric
Leclair of the First Royal Canadian
Regiment, who has trained nine since his arrived at the end of
January.
"By the time we're done with them, they can do one on
their own."
Maj. Mohammed Sarwar, once an officer in the communist Afghan
army who now commands a company, said he was very impressed by
the training.
"These tactics are new for me, we learn a lot from this
training," Sarwar said. "We are
now ready to fight the
enemy."
Maj. Kimbal Taylor, a
U.S.
training officer, says the Canadians
have mastered the job of "teaching American tactics - they
get our doctrine and they teach according to our doctrine."
But Forces Capt. Raymond Brown, who teaches a cordon and search
course, tries to imbue his charges with some Canadian
sensibilities.
"Part of the exercise is how to properly search a building,
how to treat civilians with dignity and respect," explains
Brown.
"They've been taught not to shoot everyone in
sight."
Levon Sevunts is a Canadian
freelance journalist travelling in
Afghanistan.
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