Afghan attacks will not deter troops: Graham
Meeting terrorists in the field is part of the job in Kabul, Minister says
Recent Taliban attacks on Canadian targets will not affect plans to take a more active and aggressive role in helping stabilize Afghanistan, Defence Minister Bill Graham said yesterday.
Mr. Graham, speaking in a telephone news conference from Kabul, said Canadian soldiers will not be deterred by attacks like the rocket blast that struck the Canadian embassy in the Afghan capital late on Tuesday.
“Our troops ... will be out looking for people who are doing exactly this type of thing,” Mr. Graham said. “ That’s going to be their job: to go out and meet them in the field and destroy them and destroy their capacity to attack our troops and to attack innocent Afghan people.
“ There’s no question but that is the nature of that mission and it will bring those consequences with it.”
The rocket that slammed into the wall surrounding the Canadian embassy compound in Kabul’s Wazir Akbar Khan district left two Afghan guards with minor injuries.
It was the second attack on Canadians in a week, and many observers say our more prominent role in Afghanistan — particularly the planned deployment of a 1,500-man battle group to the restive southern half of the country early next year — will raise Canada’s ranking on terrorists’ “ hit list.”
Last week, two Afghan civilians were killed in a suicide bombing aimed at a Canadian convoy in Kandahar. Dr. Sean Maloney, a professor at Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont., said more such attacks are almost certain.
“ This is what happens in Afghanistan, this is the environment, and there will be more of this,” he said. “ These guys want to send a message that Canadians aren’t wanted.”
Mr. Graham said the Canadian mission will nonetheless continue, despite violence that has killed 21 people in the past two days. “ There’s no question but that our mission in Kandahar is a much more dangerous mission than the one here in Kabul — we’ve always said that.”
But he played down suggestions that Canadians were being singled out for special attention by remnants of the Taliban, the hardline Islamist militia that ruled Afghanistan until it was ousted in 2001.
“Our own intelligence people are not of the view that this was an attack specifically on the Canadian embassy,” the Minister said, adding it was simply “ unfortunate it landed near the embassy.”
However, Dr. Maloney, who spent several months in Afghanistan last year researching the U. S.-led military coalition, said it was almost certainly not coincidence that the rocket struck the Canadian compound.
“It’s the only potential target in that area — there’s nothing else on that street they would want to hit,” he said. “I’m not buying that this was a coincidence ... these things aren’t accidental — this is deliberate targeting of Canadians.”
The rocket was one of four launched overnight at coalition military or Afghan government targets, including the base of the Norwegian contingent to the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul and a government building in the city’s downtown.
The rocket attacks came as Condoleezza Rice, the U. S. Secretary of State, made an official visit to Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Five Afghans working for a non-governmental organization were killed in an ambush near the southern city of Kandahar yesterday while on a mission to a local refugee camp.
Meanwhile, Afghan and U. S. officials reported at least 10 militants were killed and three civilians wounded in an air strike on a suspected Taliban hideout in southern Afghanistan.
Mr. Graham said a goodwill tour by Canadian athletes and celebrities will go ahead as planned. Defence spokesmen refused to give details of the trip, but news reports last week said a group including comedian Rick Mercer, former hockey great Guy Lafleur, Olympic speed skating gold medallist Catriona Le May Doan and retired general Lewis MacKenzie will travel to Kabul this week to visit the troops.
“I can assure you that they would not be brought here under any circumstances where anybody’s lives would be put in danger,” Mr. Graham said. “This is an opportunity for eminent Canadians to familiarize themselves with the nature of the mission here [and] it’s an opportunity for the troops to meet some of them.”
The Minister also said he has dispatched the Canadian commander in Kabul, Colonel Steve Noonan, with a small team of officers to conduct a “reconnoitering mission” to the scene of a devastating earthquake in neighbouring Pakistan.
He said the team will spend four days assessing what help Canada can offer to victims, including whether or not to send the army’s 250-member Disaster Assistance Response Team.
“I know there’s been speculation about the possible use of the DART,” Mr. Graham said. “ This will give us an opportunity to ascertain what assets are needed and what Canada can contribute.”
“It could well be the type of asset that the Pakistani government will ask us for. If they do ask, I can tell you the DART is now on notice and it can be pulled together very quickly and its airlift capabilities are there.”