Governance, not gunshots, will end Afghan war, says Cdn commander

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The commander of Canada's Task Force Kandahar is greeted with back-slapping hugs at a meeting with local officials, in the way Afghan men welcome one another.

Inside the meeting, Brig.-Gen. Jonathan Vance listens intently as the local official makes his way through a long list of queries, kudos and complaints. He makes note of what he can help with, makes clear what he can't.

This is what war sometimes looks like in Afghanistan. It is not always played out on the front lines, but in stuffy meeting rooms and small villages where Afghans are just beginning to believe in a better future.

"I want Canadians to realize that what we're trying to deliver is not kinetic effect, not gunshots, not dead Taliban; what we're trying to deliver is a population that is experiencing the satisfaction of political assembly and political voice and responsive government," Vance said in a recent interview with The Canadian Press.

The solution to Afghanistan's woes is not military, he said. The military can set the right conditions but ultimately it will be up to the people of Afghanistan.

"We don't expect the population to take up arms and somehow be soldiers," he said. But the insurgency is irrelevant once the people of Afghanistan reject it.

Vance is nearing the end of an unexpected second tour at the helm of Canadian Forces in Kandahar, and will hand over command in the coming weeks to the headquarters staff that will turn out the lights on Canada's combat mission next July.

His parting gift to the country has been to set in motion a Canadian effort to secure the Taliban stronghold of the Panjwaii district, where Canada lost many of its soldiers in four years of fighting.

Vance would like to see Canada leave Afghanistan next year with Panjwaii in a similar state as the neighbouring Dand district, where he unveiled the Canadian Forces' "model village" counter-insurgency strategy early last year.

"If you think of where Dand was 18 months ago, they didn't have political voice, it was tribally fractured and therefore weakened in the face of the insurgency," Vance said.

"Not only was government incapable of performing because of the security situation, they had no resources to perform with. That dynamic has changed a great deal."

Today, soldiers can walk into the village of Deh-e-Bagh without their vests and buy food from the market, surrounded by chattering children.

Locals in Dand have started to resist the insurgency and trust in the coalition, Afghan police and local officials, Vance said.

"We have seen in Kandahar city and in Dand and in small parts of Panjwaii, this has occurred," Vance said. "To me that is the most important thing and it is the path to the future for Afghanistan."

There remain many challenges. Afghans have a legitimate fear for their future, he said.

"But where we operate such that political security and development work is felt by the population, they are encouraged. So that's encouraging to me and that's where I see where our success will lie. We just need to continue to do that and we are."

The insurgency does not operate as freely as it once did — but it does still operate, the commander said.

"Some of this stuff takes a great deal of time to mature. What we're trying to do is set the conditions for the maturity to begin."

Vance is extremely proud of the soldiers in his command, and equally disgusted with the toll Taliban attacks have taken on the Afghan population.

"We don't try and kill civilians; we don't even like it when it's an accidental byproduct of a life-saving event.

"We don't prop up corrupt practices; we root them out. We don't ever kill indiscriminately, and we are dealing with an insurgency that is using the most barbaric means of terror to try and stop this country from getting on its feet," he said.

Canadians need to realize that Canada's military and civilian presence in Afghanistan has given Afghans hope, said Vance.

"They would rather us not have to be here but they sure are glad we are."