According to Gen. Richard Hillier, Canada’s Chief of Defense Staff, the tank squadron and soldiers needed to run them will allow Canadian soldiers to “reach out and touch” the enemy.

“I think those are very good enhancements,” said Hillier. “I think they are going to do wonders for the morale of the troops in theatre and let them know that this country, right to and inclusive of our Prime Minister, supports them in what they do.”

Up to 150 of the troops will come from Valcartier, Quebec. Polls show that support for Ottawa’s intervention in Afghanistan is weakest in Quebec.

Hellier said the troop increase is not a direct response to NATO’s call for reinforcements but a reassessment of what Ottawa needs in response to new weapons such as mortar fire used by the Taliban, the Islamist party that ruled the country until it was toppled in 2001 by the U.S.-led imperialist invasion. Thirty-six Canadian troops and one diplomat have been killed in combat in Afghanistan, most of them this year.

Liberal party defense critic Ujjal Dosanjh said he supports the increase but is concerned that the tanks will not help to win the “hearts and minds” of the Afghan people.

The New Democratic Party, which has called for withdrawal of combat troops by February 2007, complained that Ottawa should be centering its intervention on “reconstruction.”

“Ottawa’s military operation is part of imperialism’s efforts under the guise of the ‘war on terror’ to install a stable pro-imperialist government in Kabul,” said Joseph Young, the Communist League candidate for mayor of Toronto. “Our campaign calls for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all Canadian and all other imperialist and allied military forces from Afghanistan.”

On September 18, Gen. James Jones, the U.S. general who is NATO’s supreme allied commander in Europe, announced the Canadian-led troops had successfully completed Operation Medusa, the two-week-long offensive that sought to drive the Taliban from an area near its old stronghold in Kandahar province. According to the Financial Times, 500 Taliban fighters were killed in that assault along with five Canadian and 14 British troops.

Meanwhile, British forces are leading a smaller offensive in the neighboring Helmand province, and U.S. forces on September 16 opened Operation Mountain Fury in central and eastern Afghan provinces.
 
 
Related article:
War in Afghanistan is imperialist war  
 
 
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