Canadian soldiers push deeper into insurgent territory

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Canadian and Afghan forces captured a key Taliban-controlled village Saturday in eastern Panjwaii as they continued to expand their control over the approaches to the provincial capital.


Nakhonay, which has long been a Taliban supply point on the way to Kandahar City, was the second village to fall with little violence since Canadian and Afghan forces launched a major combat operation last weekend.


Nearby Hajji Baba was the first community to be taken by coalition forces this week. This happened at the beginning of what has been a slow, deliberate operation that had teams of Canadian combat engineers frequently finding and disarming homemade landmines planted by the Taliban.


"We know that some of the insurgents remain in Hajji Baba and the Nakhonay and it will take time for us to build relationships with locals and determine who is a local national and who is an insurgent," the Alberta-based Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry battle group said in a statement.


"We don't know the composition of the insurgency in those areas, but it's likely that some are fighting for the cause for economic reasons because they have no other means of supporting their families. Some, we expect, are hard-core fundamentalists, but until we screen them, we don't know."


Those who were prepared to lay down their arms will be given a chance to become involved in Canadian-funded projects repairing irrigation systems and building schools, as have residents of several other villages in neighbouring Dand District.


As well as taking important ground from the Taliban, the Patricia's said they regarded the battalion-sized operation as a success because Afghan troops were sustained in the field by their own logistics battalion. The Afghan National Army troops were also complimented for their "amazing ability" to find improvised explosive devices.


"They just have an amazing ability to find IEDs, and we have the technology to diffuse them," the statement said.


Joint patrols and detailed clearances of Hajji Baba were continuing, while patrols and meetings with locals were taking place in Nakhonay.


Meanwhile, troops with Canada's provincial reconstruction team gave gifts of sugar, rice, raisins, rice, prayer carpets and scarves to local families in Kandahar City on Saturday as part of preparations to mark Eid al-Adha. The Muslim festival marks the holy month of pilgrimage to Mecca and commemorates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael at the command of God.


Similar donations to mark what is one of Islam's two major holidays were made by Canadian troops in Dand, Panjwaii and Zhari on Saturday.

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