[R-G] Surge of U.S. soldiers to boost Afghan occupation to 70,000

[Anthony Fenton]

http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=b9082842-5818-45e3-8c96-d923d9e27db5&sponsor=

Surge of U.S. soldiers to boost allied presence to 70,000
2009 Afghan election 'most important objective,' U.S. defence  
secretary says

Richard Foot
Canwest News Service

Saturday, November 22, 2008

CORNWALLIS, N.S. - The United States will send about 20,000 more  
soldiers into Afghanistan next year in a bid to make the country  
secure enough for elections expected there in the fall, U.S. Defense  
Secretary Robert Gates said yesterday following a meeting with  
Canadian Defence Minister Peter MacKay and other allied governments.

The troop surge -- one of the largest single reinforcements of  
coalition armies since the ouster of the Taliban in 2001 -- has  
already begun, Mr. Gates said, with a 1,800-strong U.S. marine  
battalion having deployed this year and the first of five new U.S.  
brigades scheduled to arrive in January.

"The most important objective for us for 2009 in Afghanistan is a  
successful election," Mr. Gates said. "One of the things we talked  
about his morning was trying to surge as many forces as we can prior  
to the election, to try and provide a secure environment for the  
election." Mr. Gates said many of the new troops are likely to be  
deployed to southern Afghan- istan, including Kandahar province, where  
Canadian soldiers have been fighting the Taliban since late 2005.

There are currently about 50,000 coalition soldiers stationed across  
Afghanistan.

A successful election, expected in September or October, is considered  
vital, not only so that Afghan citizens can participate in a  
democratic process without intimidation by the Taliban, but as a way  
for NATO to prove that coalition forces control security across the  
country.

"The world will be watching these elections," said Mr. MacKay, who  
hostedyesterday's day-long meeting of defence ministers from the U.S.,  
Britain, Holland, Australia, Estonia, Denmark and Romania.

The group met in a former military training base in this quiet village  
in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley.

Mr. MacKay reiterated Canada's position to end its military mission in  
Kandahar in 2011. He also downplayed any suggestion that Canada might  
reconsider its decision in response to an appeal by Barack Obama, the  
incoming U.S. president, for an ongoing Canadian commitment.

"The reality is that there are other military doors that president- 
elect Obama should be knocking on first," Mr. MacKay said.

"Clearly the (eight countries now with troops in southern Afghanistan)  
have been carrying what I would describe as a disproportionate share  
of the load. I suspect, having said that, there's an enormous amount  
of goodwill that's been engendered by president-elect Obama, that he  
might be willing to spend for a cause that he clearly believes in."  
The meeting comes at the end of a year in which the security situation  
in Afghanistan has continued to deteriorate, not only in the south,  
but also in and around the capital Kabul.

Canada and its NATO allies appear unable to stop suicide and roadside  
bomb attacks against their own forces, and the ongoing intimidation  
and violence against Afghan civilians.

There is now increasing pressure on the U.S. and NATO for a political  
and diplomatic solution to the conflict, including negotiations with  
Pakistan and even with moderate elements of the Taliban.

But Mr. Gates and his colleagues rejected any suggestion of  
negotiations with the Taliban or other extremist groups.

"This conflict will not be resolved purely by military means alone,"  
said British Secretary of State for Defence John Hutton. "That is a  
view across all of the countries involved in this campaign." But Mr.  
Hutton said any negotiations must be led by the Afghan government. He  
also said: "Taliban and those elements that are not prepared to either  
embrace the democratic process or lay down their weapons, there can't  
be any role for them in a peaceful, stable Afghanistan.

"Hardline terrorists that threaten our citizens are not welcome, and  
will never be welcome in the government of Afghanistan."
© The Ottawa Citizen 2008