Nato, mistakes and failures in Afghanistan

Canadian efforts have backfired, writer says
Veteran AP reporter paints grim picture of fear and failed policies in Kandahar
Mar 09, 2007 TheTorontoSun Olivia Ward

Canada and other NATO countries are making dangerous mistakes that have alienated people in Afghanistan, says one of the longest-serving foreign correspondents in the region.

"What they have failed to do is make allies of Afghans. Instead they have made enemies of ordinary Afghans," says Kathy Gannon, an award-winning journalist who has worked in the strife-torn country for more than 20 years.

"That to me is the biggest error that has occurred, (and) it has occurred because they've gone in with a mixed mandate to reconstruct and rebuild as well as go on the offensive. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to do both."

Gannon, a special correspondent for Associated Press who was born in Timmins, Ont., was delivering the annual Atkinson Lecture yesterday at Ryerson University. The lecture is sponsored by the Atkinson Charitable Foundation endowment in honour of former Toronto Star publisher Joseph E. Atkinson.

Gannon made a recent trip to the Kandahar region, where Canadian troops are based, and paints a picture that is in sharp contrast to the popular one of Canadians winning Afghan hearts and minds. As the level of attacks against the troops has risen, she said, "They've gone from having an idealistic idea of what they want to do, to being terribly frightened."

Fear has boomeranged, making soldiers trigger-happy, and apt to fire "at the drop of a hat" if they feel threatened, she said. But attacks infuriate villagers whose family members have been killed or injured, and they are more easily recruited by the Taliban. After suffering more than 45 casualties, Gannon said, Canadians can expect attacks "will increase because people are increasingly angry."

Many Afghans are also "terrified of the international (forces). They're not prepared to help them. They're not prepared to help their government, because they're so fed up with (its) lawlessness, and the international troops are seen as supporting the government ... so they lose on both counts."

The Western countries that ousted the Taliban have also made a serious mistake in allowing vicious warlords back into power, said Gannon, who witnessed the collapse of communism, the rise of Osama bin Laden and the war that ousted him along with the Taliban in 2001.

Because of the return of the warlords who killed, raped and pillaged before the Taliban seized power, the Afghan government has lost credibility, Gannon said.

"The Afghans knew exactly who it was that was coming back to power. But ... they really believed the international community understood who they were. That (it) would keep them in line. That (it) wouldn't let them gain control and reduce the country to the anarchy that it was in before."

But, she said, the warlords "behaved exactly as they had the last time. They reduced the country to what it was before, and now you have all those international soldiers in the mix. They are halfway around the world in a completely alien environment to what they know."

Gannon said Pakistan, which shares a 2,400-kilometre border with Afghanistan, should take control of its lawless frontier provinces, which harbour Taliban officials and supporters.

But she emphasized: "The forces against NATO are a complex mix. To be sure, you have the Taliban ... but today ordinary people are now seeking revenge because of attacks on their villages or heavy-handed searches.

"Now they're so angry that it's easy to amass people (to fight NATO). It's a guerrilla war. You go out, you plant a bomb, you go home and go to bed."

Even if the border were closed to insurgents, Gannon said, "the problem in Afghanistan lies with the Afghan government. Because it is so lawless and so `business as usual,' people are so frustrated now."

In spite of the mistakes made by the international community, there is still time for improvement, Gannon said.

"You have to make allies of the Afghans. You have to stop using a mixed mandate, doing reconstruction as well as an offensive. You have to have better intelligence so you can go after specific individuals."

And, she said, the Canadian forces in Kandahar should find out information on the whereabouts of Afghan prisoners removed by American forces from areas where the Canadians are now posted: that would win them "goodwill from the entire village," she said.