Tue, October 5, 2004

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/EdmontonSun/News/2004/10/05/656304.html

PAUL COWAN, EDMONTON SUN

CAMP JULIEN, AFGHANISTAN -- Canadian troops were last night involved in a raid which netted an improvised bomb near their base on the outskirts of Kabul. Intelligence sources learned of the bomb, packed into a propane gas cylinder, yesterday and reconnaissance specialists from the Edmonton-based B company of the 1st Battalion of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry began watching a building a few kilometres from Camp Julien.

"Around 17:30 Afghan National Police went in and secured a house," said Kabul-based army spokesman Capt. Brian Martin.

The bomb was disabled by police and handed over to explosives experts from Edmonton's 1 Combat Engineer Regiment.

"Our team made sure it was disarmed and then removed it for safe disposal," said Martin. "This is an excellent example of the co-operation between the Afghan security forces and Canadian troops aimed at making Kabul a safer place for everyone."

Sunday night a vehicle check by Afghan police uncovered a car containing explosives outside the Education University in Kabul. Three people were arrested.

Police believe they intended to detonate the car bomb in a busy part of downtown Kabul.

There was no word of any arrests from Monday night's raid involving Canadian troops.

Earlier, members of an Edmonton-based army unit played a key role in helping to capture 25 suspected terrorists just outside of Kabul early Saturday.

Canadian Forces spokesman Capt. Brian Martin confirmed that soldiers from the reconnaissance squadron of Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians) were involved in the raid.

They used their high-tech surveillance equipment to keep watch on a neighbourhood in the Pol-e Charkhi area - just east of Kabul - before and during the swoop by members of the Afghan National Directorate of Security, supported by British troops.

The 25 detained men are believed to have links to al-Qaida, the Taliban and to renegade Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

Soldiers were acting on a tip that a shipping container with rockets, suicide bomb waistcoats and explosives had arrived in the city.

A security source told a French news agency (AFP) that there were supposed to have been seven suicide-bomb vests in the container but only one was found.

That has led to fears that the other six are already in the hands of other terrorists.

Wed, October 6, 2004

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/EdmontonSun/News/2004/10/06/657534.html

PAUL COWAN, EDMONTON SUN

The shooting is good, the counting not so good. Canadian troops involved in training the new Afghan National Army in marksmanship are finding that the concept of "10 rounds rapid fire" is beyond some of their students. "Some of these guys have been shooting since they were little kids," says Sgt. Barry Renwick of the Edmonton-based 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.

"They are very comfortable with a weapon. They shoot differently from us but they seem to be able to hit the target."

Hitting the target got easier for these members of the Afghan National Army recently when they were issued with new Hungarian-made AK-47s.

The old Soviet, East German and Iraqi AK-47s are worn out and throw bullets all over the place.

But there's little doubt some of these soldiers - some veterans of the struggle against the Soviets while others have combat experience during the civil wars which have convulsed Afghanistan for more than two generations - include some expert marksmen.

Renwick, an 18-year forces veteran, cites the example of one of the company sergeants in the 3rd Kandak (battalion) of the ANA's First Brigade.

"He took six AK-47 cartridge cases and placed them 25 metres out," says Renwick.

"He hit five out of six and put a bullet through the middle of one of the casings."

The ANA also includes members of the former Afghan army, which served alongside the Soviets against the Mujahedeen.

"It hasn't been a problem," says team member Maj. Jean-Marc Doucet. "Everyone seems to be united in a desire to see Afghanistan prosper.

"I was worried that the various ethnic groups, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Pashtuns, wouldn't meld together but they have - united to help make Afghanistan a stable and prosperous country."

As well as taking the soldiers out on the ranges, Renwick and the other members of the Canadian Embedded Training Team also teach other military skills such as patrolling and setting up observation posts.

"They soak it up like sponges," says Captain Craig Higgins of the Winnipeg-based 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.

"They pick things up very quickly despite the fact that many of them are not used to formal education.

"Not all of them can count 10 rounds."

Doucet says while some of the recruits have some military training, they lack a rounded military training and the technical expertise which comes with it.

"The Afghan army is a force in the making," he adds. "We are here to help it grow and mature into a professional force."

In contrast to the local militias who man many of the checkpoints around Kabul in a mixture of civilian and military clothing, the ANA troops are smartly turned out in green, black and brown U.S. camouflage uniforms and either green berets or Soviet-style steel helmets.

There turns out to be a small hitch on the firing range when it is discovered no one has brought the tool for correcting the front sights on the AK-47s.

There is only enough ammunition for each soldier to fire 20 rounds.

Higgins gets them to fire 10, then checks each target individually and corrects the front sight if necessary.

The soldiers then shoot again and, despite the adjustments, the sandbank behind several targets erupts in spouts of dust as the bullets continue to go wide.

The training is being pushed through to allow the soldiers to deploy in time to provide security for the Oct. 9 presidential election.

The 15 Canadian trainers will go with the troops when they deploy to act as advisers.

Maj. Mohammad Aslam, the smartly turned out commander of the company being trained by Higgins and Renwick, says the Canadians are good instructors.

"They teach well and the soldiers like them," says Aslam. "They are very friendly."

The Afghan army is still very small. So far it numbers only 13,700 out of a planned 70,000.

The training by Canadian and other western teams is paying off. In southern Afghanistan the ANA has been mounting joint operations with U.S. troops against Taliban holdouts.

Just over a week ago they killed major Taliban commander Maulvi Abdul Ghafar.

And two ANA battalions were sent to Herat in early September after fighting broke out between two rival warlords, one of them the provincial governor.

The ANA restored peace and the governor, Ismail Khan, was fired.

The soldiers are regularly paid. Previous wars saw soldiers from all sides looting and robbing the general population.

The troops earn $140 US a month.

Rachmin Din, 23, joined the ANA three months ago after learning some English while working as a painter in Bagram, which is a major airbase for U.S. and other western troops.

"I am coming here to help my country of Afghanistan," he says. "The army will mean there will be no more fighting in Afghanistan soon."