Archived Document
II. The Quarterly Context
The security environment in Afghanistan remained challenging in the final months of Canada’s combat mission, with overall levels of violence up from the last quarter but approximating those of the same quarter of 2010. The traditional fighting season began in earnest following the poppy harvest in April, which also saw a number of high profile, larger scale security incidents take place. The most dramatic of these events included the assassination of Kandahar’s chief of police by a suicide bomber on April 15, and the escape of more than 480 inmates from Sarpoza Prison on April 24.
Such events highlight the difficulties faced by the Government of Afghanistan and the international community when working in a complex environment with an active insurgency. Yet, despite these events and the onset of the fighting season, the majority of Kandaharis polled continued to report feeling safe in their own communities—a result that served to reinforce the trend developed over previous quarters, particularly when compared to the same quarter last year.
Such perceptions on the part of the Afghan people may be due in part to the significant growth, in numbers and capabilities, of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). Indeed, two of the Afghan National Army (ANA) kandaks in the 1st Brigade of 205 Corps effectively reacted without direction from higher command to both the Sarpoza prison break and the riots following the burning of the Koran in the United States. This speaks to the increasing capability of the ANA to carry out near-autonomous operations, as the ANA continued its steady growth to more than 171,000 soldiers.
This quarter was also marked by the ongoing, successful efforts of the Government of Canada to achieve or surpass its key objectives set out in 2008. In this quarter, more training and growth targets for the ANA were met, and all training and infrastructure targets in the policing, justice and corrections sector were previously reached or surpassed—important achievements given the new process for transition of responsibility for security to Afghan leadership.
Canada also continued to implement its projects for education, health and irrigation rehabilitation, focusing not only on program transition to Afghan civil society, but on sustainability through knowledge transfer in order to ensure Afghan authorities are equipped with the tools and the skilled personnel necessary to build on achievements to date.
