From a recent post:

Afstan: I’ll bet you didn’t know…

…about this American military contract for helicopter services to a Canadian company…

So Canadian civilians will be helping the US military–and probably the Afghan Air Corps–chopper effort after the government pulls out most of the CF. Nice. And nastily ironic given that the government refuses to keep our Air Wing, or part of it, at Kandahar.  The Americans for their part have noticed our Air Force’s coming departure. From the Update at this post yesterday:

…
Filling the hole left by departing Canadian Forces was “a great concern,” [Brig.-Gen. Fred] Hodges said. “It is not just the battle group, with a squadron of tanks, but all the enablers. They are a big chunk of our aviation. They have some of the best ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) collection capabilities…

Now more from Andrew Potter, recently back from Afstan, at his Maclean’s blog:

Afghanistan: Sorry about the mess…

…The surge was only completed in early September, the crucial operations in Kandahar have only been underway for about six weeks, and it simply is not clear yet how things are going to turn out. There are plenty of negative signs, a few positive signs, and it won’t be clear which way the wind is really blowing until the “fighting season” resumes in early spring. Which is why Canada’s decision to cease combat operations next July 1 is increasingly turning into a big headache for our allies.

In private, American and British military officers have never hidden their disdain for the way Canada is handling this pullout. In February, a British general I was speaking with in Kabul called it “bad campaign work, and bad coalition work”…

This is not to say that Canada’s combat commitment to Afghanistan should be permanent…

…maybe that mission is impossible. But it is the way we are leaving that is making our NATO allies and our Afghan friends extremely unhappy. As [Afghan] ambassador Ludin noted in his opening remarks at the panel last week (repeating a plea he made back in March) despite frequent promises to do so, the Canadian government has given no indication of what form our engagement in the country will take after we cease combat operations. The military people are desperate for trainers [emphasis added, more here], Ludin says his country is desperate for our expertise on governance, but the message we’ve been giving is that we’re leaving, but we’re staying, but we’re not sure how.

This didn’t come up as one of the purported reasons for why Canada didn’t win a seat on the security council at the UN. But given the ignoble way we’re skulking out of one of the UN’s biggest security and development operations in decades [more here], it is mystifying why we ever thought we deserved the seat.

On the other hand one could just not give a damn, my dears–at least about that seat.  But it truly is crass and callous for this government basically to be giving up on the Afghans.

Plus the regular Conference of Defence Associations’ media round-up:

The Future in Southern Afghanistan…
…
On his blog, Matthew Fisher points out that Canadian casualties in Kandahar have fallen nearly 80 percent, and the region is becoming increasingly safe and pacified [do read the whole piece, one excerpt: "...you'd never know about this sea change from reading and hearing the usual doom and gloom about Afghanistan that passes for informed commentary in much of the Canadian media.].
http://communities.canada.com/shareit/blogs/canada-at-war/archive/2010/11/03/…

Update: The Bundeswehr is now getting seriously into the action:

Blitzkrieg in Kunduz
…
Photo: Bundeswehr/Von Söhnen
…

Mark
Ottawa