KANDAHAR AIRFIELD — The district north of Kandahar known as Arghandab is now under the control of Canada's military operations in Afghanistan, NATO has confirmed.

Canadian Forces held the area - once a Taliban stronghold - near the provincial capital from 2006 until July of this year when American soldiers moved in.

American forces will now be responsible for the area under Canadian command. 
Task Force 3-09 Battle Group commander Lt.-Cl. Jerry Walsh of 1PPCLI Edmonton earlier this week stressed that it's not how much ground soldiers take in a counter-insurgency operation like this one. It's about gaining the confidence of the people by providing a "security bubble" - held by Afghan forces - over areas once claimed by the Taliban.

"You don't measure success by how much ground you've taken which we as soldiers often train for - seize the next objective, whoever holds that ridgeline wins. That's not counter-insurgency. Nor is it how many insurgents you kill.

"There's no prize at the end of a battle to say, 'We win.' Not at all, because you can't measure it. It's intangible. Counter-insurgency is fought on a moral plain."

Success in Afghanistan, he said, is to influence and exercise control on another level, building credibility in a government.

"At our district and provincial level, it can be done through delivery of addressing the basic needs. Then they start to have some faith, just as we do in our city councillors that we're gonna get a second sheet of ice for our kids. It's no different here," said Walsh.

Success is already being seen in villages throughout the Canadian area of operation in southern Kandahar province - areas like Deh Bagh, says Walsh. 
"Within the last seven months, Deh Bagh has turned and they now have a highly regarded district leader, a flourishing market.

"Where there were 10 stalls, now there's over 200. People feel safe to come to the market with their goods, they feel safe moving on the roads to get there, that the market won't be bombed in the middle of the afternoon."

That sense of security has finally arrived because - with the help of International Security Assistance Force - the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police have proven their ability to protect.

So increasingly the populations in other villages are "pointing up the road," said Walsh, asking for help to attain what Deh Bagh has.

And they understand international forces will not be here forever, that the ANA and the ANP are the future.


"Afghans understand that Canada is a multicultural society and that our foreign policy objectives has nothing to do with occupation,” he said.

"They know that we are part of a war on terror. They understand that al-Qaeda and others used Afghanistan but they see in us a very sincere objective to help them. That it's not about us."