Canada in Afghanistan

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

RIP to:

Sgt. George Miok, 28, Cpl. Zachery McCormack, 21, both of Edmonton, Sgt. Kirk Taylor, 28, of Yarmouth, N.S., and Pte. Garrett Chidley, 21, of Cambridge, Ont.

Along with journalist Michelle Lang, 34, of the Calgary Herald, of course.

My prayers are with their families at this difficult time.

[Mark W. Tonner]

CEFCOM NR - 09.035 - December 31, 2009

OTTAWA – Four Canadian soldiers and one Canadian reporter embedded with Joint Task Force Afghanistan (JTF-Afg) were killed, while four other Canadian soldiers and one Canadian civilian official were injured in an IED incident in Kandahar province, on Wednesday December 30, 2009.

The incident occurred 4 km south of Kandahar City at approximately 4:00 p.m., Kandahar time, Wednesday afternoon as a result of an improvised explosive device attack on an armoured vehicle during a patrol.

Killed in action was Sergeant George Miok a member of 41 Combat Engineer Regiment, based in Edmonton, Alberta and serving with the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team.

Killed in action was Sergeant Kirk Taylor a member of 84 Independent Field Battery, Royal Canadian Artillery, based in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia and serving with the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team.

Killed in action was Corporal Zachery McCormack a member of the Loyal Edmonton Regiment, 4th Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton, Alberta and serving with the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team.

Killed in action was Private Garrett William Chidley a member of the 2nd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based in Shilo, Manitoba and serving with the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team.

Michelle Lang, a Canwest journalist from Calgary, embedded with the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan was killed in the same incident.

Four Canadian soldiers and one Canadian civilian official were also seriously wounded in the incident. All of the injured were evacuated by helicopter to the Multi-National Medical Facility at Kandahar Airfield. The injured soldiers and civilian are reported to be in stable condition.

Members of Task Force Kandahar are committed to improving security and increasing development in Kandahar Province. Our thoughts are with the loved ones of our fallen comrades and our prayers go out to the family and friends of our fallen civilian reporter during this sad time, but we are determined to continue working with our Afghan and international partners towards a better future for the people of Afghanistan.

[John McGillivray]

Canadian soldier killed after stepping on IED
CTV.ca News Staff
Date: Sat. Jan. 16 2010 4:36 PM ET
A Canadian soldier, Sgt. John Faught, 44, has died in a roadside bomb blast in Afghanistan. He was the first Canadian casualty in the war torn country this year.
Faught was killed after stepping on an improvised explosive device in the Panjwaii district of Kandahar province while on a joint foot patrol.
He was a member of the 1st Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based out of Edmonton.
Faught was described as a "father figure" among the soldier, who was affectionally known as "Toast" because he was "hard and crusty."
"He could always be counted on to tell it like it is when asked for his opinion," Brig.-Gen. Daniel Menard said late Saturday.
"He was a very conscientious and thorough section commander who always put the needs of his soldiers above his own."
Faught was from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
The explosion occurred at about 2 p.m. local time on what was described as a routine foot patrol, about 15 kilometres southwest of Kandahar City.
No one else was hurt in the incident.
There have been 139 Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan, and two Canadian civilians.
The death was the first since Dec. 30, when four Canadian soldiers, Sgt. George Miok, Sgt. Kirk Taylor, Cpl. Zachery McCormack and Pte. Garrett Chidley -- along with Calgary Herald reporter Michelle Lang were killed when their armoured vehicle was struck by a massive roadside bomb.
With files from The Canadian Press

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew...b=TopStoriesV2

[John McGillivray]

Canadian soldier killed during weapons training
CTV.ca News Staff

Date: Saturday Feb. 13, 2010 8:01 AM ET

The body of the latest Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan began the journey home Saturday after a solemn ramp ceremony at Kandahar Air Field.

Cpl. Joshua Caleb Baker was killed in a training accident northeast of Kandahar City around 5 p.m. local time Friday.

The military has not released many details about Baker's death except to say it happened during a routine training exercise.

"This type of training is normal for soldiers in theatre and essential in helping them maintain high levels of expertise," Brig. Gen. Daniel Menard said.

Baker, 24, was serving with the Loyal Edmonton Regiment.

Menard said Baker had a laugh that lightened any situation.

"Joshua had a laugh rumoured to cure cancer," he said. "No matter where you were or how down you got, his laugh would find your ears and bring a smile to your face."

Baker, from Edmonton, was "an extremely positive, passionate" person, Menard said.

"He had a deep love for his family and worried constantly about them."

Four other soldiers were injured in the incident. They were taken by helicopter to the medical facility at Kandahar Airfield. They are in stable condition, the Department of National Defence said in a statement. Their names will not be released.

The Defence Department announced it will launch an investigation to determine exactly what happened.

Baker is the second Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan this year, and the 140th killed during Canada's eight-year mission in the country.

With a report from CTV's Janis Mackey Frayer in Afghanistan and files from The Canadian Press

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew...b=TopStoriesV2

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

[John McGillivray]

It looks like it will be a long hot spring and summer in the sandbox.

Planning underway for NATO offensive in Kandahar
CTV.ca News Staff
Date: Fri. Feb. 26 2010 4:28 PM ET
Canadian Forces and local Afghan officials are preparing for a major assault in Kandahar province this spring,, following in the footsteps of Afghan and NATO soldiers who are currently flushing out Taliban fighters from neighbouring Helmand province.
In Helmand province, some 15,000 troops are clearing the area around the town of Marjah, a Taliban stronghold the Afghan government intends to reclaim. Only two weeks into Operation Moshtarak -- the name for the NATO offensive launched earlier this month -- an Afghan flag has been raised in Marjah and a town administrator appointed.
But more than 2,800 families have been displaced by the offensive according to the independent Afghan Organization of Human Rights and Environmental Protection.
In Kandahar province, local officials have begun stockpiling the supplies needed to take care of their own residents, who are sure to face similar stresses once the local offensive begins in the spring.
Tooryalai Wesa, the Afghan-Canadian governor of Kandahar province, believes that once the fighting gets underway as many as 10,000 people may have to leave their homes.
Wesa said local authorities must be ready to help the people who will be displaced by the fighting.
"People will be moving from those districts toward the city in the first place, then maybe some other districts. So we have to be prepared," Wesa said.
On the military side, Canadian officials are eyeing the battle in Marjah as they work through the early stages of planning the coming offensive.
Canadian Brig.-Gen. Craig King, the coalition's director of future plans in southern Afghanistan, compared the planning process to sculpting.
"I take the block of marble and hew out the thing and get it to a point, and then there's some fine chiselling and then the polishing is done by someone else," King said.
King said NATO began laying the groundwork for the spring offensive last December, when it assigned more troops to provide security along Kandahar roads.
As the battle draws closer, Canadian troops should be expected "to be in the thick of it," said King.
The 101st Airborne's second brigade and the 205 Corps of the Afghan army's first brigade are expected to take part in the spring offensive along with British troops.
The Kandahar offensive will see a "comparable" number of troops taking part as are involved in the Marjah assault, said King.
But there will be differences between the two military operations. In Kandahar, insurgents are spread out and thus more difficult to target.
"It's going to be different from what happened in Helmand because Kandahar's a different environment," King said.
"Kandahar's environment is a much more political environment. There's a lot more people. I think it's fair to say that the makeup around the area here in terms of tribal influences and whatnot is certainly different and probably much more complex than it was elsewhere.
"So that just means that we have to start earlier."
With files from The Canadian Press
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew..._name=&no_ads=

and

First Marja, then we take Kandahar, US official says
February 28, 2010
A BIG US-led offensive against the Taliban stronghold of Marja in Afghanistan was a "tactical prelude" to a larger operation in Kandahar City later this year, a senior US official said yesterday.
The official, who asked not to be named, said the southern stronghold was the "capital city" for Taliban Islamist militants.
"It's their centre of gravity," he said. "Bringing security, comprehensive population security to Kandahar City is the centrepiece of operations this year. Therefore, Marja is the prelude, a sort of a preparatory action."
The US General, Stanley McChrystal, commander of 121,000 US and NATO troops in Afghanistan, said last week the Marja offensive to restore government control and eradicate the Taliban in the poppy-growing valley in Helmand province was a "model for the future".
Helmand and Kandahar have been hot spots of the insurgency launched after the US-led invasion
http://www.smh.com.au/world/first-ma...0227-pa5j.html

[Alex Blair (RIP)]

Another warrior has passed the torch...God bless you and your family..
RIP...

Governor General of Canada


Governor General of Canada
Mar 22, 2010 13:38 ET
Message From Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaelle Jean, Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada, on the Death of Corporal Darren James Fitzpatrick

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - March 22, 2010) - It was with great sadness that my husband Jean-Daniel Lafond and I learned that the war in Afghanistan had claimed a new victim from among the ranks of our valorous and courageous soldiers.

Corporal Darren James Fitzpatrick was on patrol west of Kandahar when he was wounded by an anti-personnel mine on March 6. Unfortunately he succumbed Saturday to his injuries, surrounded by his loved ones in Edmonton.

Canada and its extended military family have lost a remarkable and very generous man.

Corporal Darren James Fitzpatrick cared very deeply about serving his country. On mission in Afghanistan, he was convinced of the crucial importance of humanitarian assistance for the communities of Kandahar province, where poverty, insecurity and terrorism are daily realities.

From the bottom of our hearts and on behalf of all Canadians, we extend our most sincere condolences to the family, friends and comrades of Corporal Fitzpatrick, in particular those serving in the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. We share their pain, and our thoughts are with them.

Michaëlle Jean

For more information, please contact
Rideau Hall Press Office
Annabelle Cloutier
613-993-2569
www.gg.ca
Click here to see all recent news from this company

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

He held on, but not long enough...

August 30, 2010
Canuck soldier dies of battle wounds

By Laura Payton, QMI Agency


OTTAWA - A Canadian soldier has died in Germany, days after he was wounded by an explosive in Afghanistan.

Cpl. Brian Pinksen, 21, was badly injured in an improvised explosive device attack in the Panjwaii district of Afghanistan on Aug. 22. He was on foot.
Pinksen was evacuated to Kandahar Airfield, then to Landstuhl Regional Medical Centre in Ramstein, Germany.

He died of heart failure after suffering injuries to his limbs and internal organs in the Aug. 22 attack.

Pinksen served with the 2nd battalion of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment in Corner Brook, N.L.

A second soldier was also hurt in the blast. Brig. Gen. Jonathan Vance is expected to make a statement around 3:15 p.m. Eastern Time.

Since the Canadian Forces deployed to Afghanistan in 2002, 152 soldiers have been killed.

[John McGillivray]

By Brian Hutchinson, Postmedia News September 3, 2010 3:02 PM
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/...279/story.html

SPERWAN GHAR, Afghanistan — Measuring the success or failure of Canada's combat mission in Kandahar will depend on how events unfold this month and next, around a downtrodden village cluster deep in Panjwaii district.
After four years of effort and heavy sacrifices, Canada's military is still confounded by this place, the seat of Taliban power and home to a tiny, unhappy populace. Panjwaii is not secure. Insurgents continue to assemble here, kill troops and plan attacks on Kandahar City and places beyond.
Maj. Eleanor Taylor is blunt: "We cannot protect the population the way we're currently configured."
The Antigonish, N.S., native commands Charles Company, 1st Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment Battle Group (1RCR).It's placed inside a Soviet-era military instalment at Sperwan Ghar, 30 kilometres west of Kandahar's capital and right on the Taliban's doorstep. This is the western front, where the most Canadian soldiers can manage are short patrols and attempts to "disrupt" Taliban activities.
Taylor's company does its best and enjoys "some rays of hope," she says, but it's caught in the same numbers game as others that came before it. Resources are spread too thin. There aren't enough soldiers. And the Afghan National Army troops operating in the area are often a hindrance, not a help.
Knowing the battle for Panjwaii was once considered a high point for Canadian battle groups makes the current predicament seem worse.
Canadians arrived in Panjwaii in 2006. First the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI), and then 1RCR, including Charles Co. They beat back the insurgency. Charles Co. played a crucial role in Operation Medusa, a notable offensive campaign that opened up most of the district and allowed Canadians to build a string of forward operating bases and strong points, all the way to Panjwaii district's western boundary.But the tables turned. The Taliban came back in force and by 2008 the Canadians were drawing back. Those western strong points are long gone.
With security disrupted, development in Panjwaii has stalled. Road paving projects are on hold because contractors and local workers risk being killed. Irrigation repairs and health clinics have been postponed.
The district lacks transparent, effective governance. Panjwaii's illiterate district governor, Haji Baran, is by most accounts dispirited, unengaged, and suspicious of those around him. He has no staff to help him govern; civil servants from the cities will not venture into Panjwaii. Kandahar Gov. Tooryalai Wesa seldom visits.
The Taliban have filled the vacuum. The insurgents run a medieval court system from Zangabad, a village just west of Sperwan Ghar. It's their district council, where mercy, not vengeance, is spared.
Last winter, insurgents rarely strayed east of Zangabad. A PPCLI company in Sperwan Ghar had to go looking for them, explained Taylor. She inherited a fairly quiet area. When Charles Co. arrived at the beginning of May, Sperwan Ghar and points east were considered "permissive," or relatively safe to move around.
"Then everything transitioned," said Taylor. The Taliban prepared for another fighting season. They assembled a larger fighting force and started launching regular attacks on Charles Co. and on other Canadian and Afghan units nearby. They used small arms, rocket propelled grenades and mortars.
"We knew we were facing something new," said Taylor. "They had foreign fighters. We took direct contact for the first time. Then, there was contact every day." Petty Officer Second Class Douglas Craig Blake, a navy explosive ordnance disposal officer, was killed by an IED blast near Sperwan Ghar on May 3.
The Taliban also began planning their response to Operation Hamkari, a large, three-phase coalition campaign aimed at securing key Kandahar districts, including Panjwaii. Hamkari may be the last, large-scale operation involving Canadian planning and combat teams before troops are withdrawn next summer.
Phase 1 saw U.S. and Afghan forces establish a network of security checkpoints around Kandahar City. Phase 2 saw them aggressively clear Arghandab district, north of the capital. According to senior military sources, Phase 2 was more "kinetic," or combat-intensive, than had been anticipated.
The Taliban fought back, hard.
Phase 3 is scheduled for Panjwaii and the adjoining Zhari district, once a Canadian area of operation and now an American responsibility. Phase 3 won't likely start in earnest before mid or late September. Much depends on the readiness of Afghan national security forces, and on the Afghan government's resolve, which can seem shaky.
British Maj.-Gen. Nick Carter, commander of coalition forces in southern Afghanistan, says the intention is to sweep through all of Panjwaii, including Zangabad, and reclaim territory formerly held by Canadians.Insurgents are warning locals to avoid the "infidels."
Villagers and farmers thought to be sympathetic to the coalition have had threatening notes pinned to their front doors. These so-called night letters instruct their recipients to either leave the area or to appear before the Taliban court in Zangabad.
Some have decided to defy the orders and to remain in their homes instead. Most have fled Panjwaii. A few have gone to Zangabad, to the Taliban court. They've returned with cuts and bruises on their legs, said Taylor. Several didn't return at all.
Taliban tactics are increasingly vile, Taylor added. They use children to conduct attacks on Canadian forces. A local insurgent, a man in his 20s, is known to recruit boys at least as young as eight to "emplace IEDs" near Canadian positions and routes at Sperwan Ghar.
"They know we can't take action against children," said Taylor.
"I've given up trying to explain to people back home how ugly the insurgency is."
Taliban activities intensified in July and August but have recently tapered, perhaps thanks to Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting and prayer. Ramadan concludes next week.
More troops will mass in Panjwaii. Until then, says Taylor, "we can build obstacles around here and take a bite out of the insurgency. We can disrupt."
© Copyright (c) Postmedia News

[John McGillivray]

Its look like things will be heating up in 1RCR area of ops in the coming weeks. Who would have thought on 9-11, that nine years later, our troops would be going into harms way in that far off land.

'Massive activities' from Canadian troops coming in Afghanistan: Lieutenant-General

By Brian Hutchinson, Postmedia News September 11, 2010 8:12 AM

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/...252/story.html

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — Describing the efforts of his soldiers in Kandahar this summer as "good, but not good enough," the commander of Canadian troops overseas said "massive activities" are coming to win over key districts in the troubled Afghan province.
Speaking to reporters at Kandahar Airfield on Saturday, Lieutenant-General Marc Lessard said that "in the fall, high level security operations" will be conducted in Panjwaii and Dand districts, involving Canadian and Afghan National Security Forces.
" There’ll be a flurry of military operations starting with the major ones this fall, (and) there’ll be other ones certainly in the winter and spring," said LGen Lessard, head of Canadian Expeditionary Force Command. "We’re ready to launch."
Focused combat and counterinsurgency activities will continue for ten months, to the conclusion of Canada’s combat mission in Kandahar in July 2011, he added. "Until the last minute we’re going to do every military operation."
If Canadian troops do not improve conditions in the districts before leaving next year, their sacrifices since 2006 will have been wasted, he suggested.
"At the end of the day, when we cease operations in July ... we have to ensure the situation is better in Dand and better in Panjwaii," he said. " Because that’s part of our legacy. With the 150-plus killed, the hundreds of seriously injured, from our Canadian point of view, that’s our legacy."
Afghan president Hamid Karzai "is aware of these operations," he said. "They will be as, if not more, important than a large-scale military offensive in neighbouring Helmand province launched earlier this year.” Centred around the Taliban-controlled town of Marjah, the February campaign involved some 15,000 troops from Great Britain, the U.S., Canada and Afghanistan.
The next round of operations in Kandahar " will be at a very, very high level, in Zhari, Panjwaii and Dand (districts)" said LGen Lessard, without going into specifics. Zhari district is now an American area of operation but the plans in place involve it as well.
MGen Lessard acknowledged that his troops have encountered significant setbacks since 2008, when hard-won territory in Panjwaii district was ceded to insurgents. "Let’s face it, it’s been a tough go," he said.
As late as this June, the Canadian mission was in his view "regressing ... There was a lot more enemy presence and a lot more activity ... The enemy in eastern Panjwaii was definitely taking the initiative. I believe in the last two months, we’re holding. We, I believe, have stopped the enemy initiative. That’s good, but that’s not good enough."
Clearing the district of Taliban insurgents is just one element of a successful campaign, he added. Delivering services to long-suffering civilians is another.
LGen Lessard has stressed to his new commander in Kandahar, Brigadier-General Dean Milner, that "when we cease operations, we want to make sure that we’ve improved the stability effects in our area of operation. That means Dand district and Panjwaii."
Most important is building on what he calls the "enduring effects" of a military operation. "After we do these operations we (must) have something to ensure we keep the security, and we’re definitely looking to our Afghan partners, police and ANA (Afghan National Army) to have a foot on the ground, ensure security, be seen to ensure security. (Local) perception is sometimes more important than what we perceive," said LGen Lessard.
Copyright (c) Postmedia News

[John McGillivray]

Canadians Help Corral Taliban as Major Operation Begins
Matthew Fisher, Postmedia News • Sunday, Oct. 17, 2010
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Can...923/story.html

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan —The Royal Canadian Regiment battle group established blocking screens to try to trap the Taliban this weekend as U.S. and Afghan forces swooped down on the Horn of Panjwaii, which has been one of insurgents’ last strongholds in Kandahar.
The long-anticipated air assault to clear the Horn, where many Canadians have lost their lives in recent years, is part of a much larger operation that has been evolving for weeks. The crucial part of the campaign in western Panjwaii was declared to have officially begun Saturday, with about 800 Afghan troops supported by a much smaller number of Americans, the New York Times quoted Maj.-Gen Nick Carter, NATO’s commander in the South, as saying.
To support the operation, Canadian engineers have recently built trenches, berms and other barriers on the eastern margins of the Horn. They are designed to funnel travellers into checkpoints manned by Afghan and Canadian forces. Other Canadian soldiers have taken up key ground near the Horn to deter insurgents from trying to run this gauntlet.
“(The Canadian) job is primarily to enable the operations in the Horn of Panjwaii by stopping uncontrolled movement to the east,” said Lt.-Col. Doug Claggett, Task Force Kandahar’s chief of staff.
The farming area about 50 kilometres west of Kandahar City is home to about 8,000 Afghans, many of whom are well known for being sympathetic to the Taliban and its leader, Mullah Omar, who was born in the area. It has long been used by the Taliban as a bed-down area and logistics hub for insurgents headed to the provincial capital.
Clearing this area of Taliban is considered necessary because “the Horn of Panjwaii has been an area that has not had the same security emphasis for the last little while,” Lt.-Col. Claggett said. The intent now was, he said “to provide the same security effect in the west of Panjwaii as elsewhere.”
If the operation is successful, it would undoubtedly enhance security in the much more densely populated Canadian sector, too, because “anything that happens in one part of Panjwaii effects the other part,” he said.
Holding the Horn has proven to be a persistent problem for NATO since Canadian troops arrived in the South in 2006. The first task force to take a crack at the area was led by Brig.-Gen. Tim Grant in 2007. Not a shot was fired during Operation Baaz Tsuka and the area remained quiet for several months before security began to deteriorate.
A year later, in a bloody operation that lasted several months, Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche’s task force eventually launched an attack on the Horn from north of the Arghandab River. But the small Canadian force, which was still virtually alone in Kandahar, did not have anywhere near enough troops to hold the area, nor was the Afghan government able at that time to provide sufficient security personnel or administrators to maintain effective control.
As a result of these shortcomings, Canada closed several patrol bases it had established in the area.
After the Canadians quit the Horn, the Taliban moved in to fill the vacuum created with large numbers, heavily sowing the area with homemade landmines and meting out their own particularly violent form of Islamic justice.
“They have had courts set up, but not in one specific area,” said Lt.-Col. Roger Cotton, who does future battle planning for Task Force Kandahar.
“It is an area where they have had freedom of movement because there has not been enough GIROA (Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan) and coalition presence.”
Should the campaign in the Horn and others that have taken place in the Canadian sector in Panjwaii finally result in an enduring Afghan and NATO presence, “if they (insurgents) come back in the spring, it is going to be a lot harder for them to establish a foothold,” Lt.-Col. Cotton said.
This weekend’s assault involved far more troops than Canada and the Afghans were able to devote to this task in the past.
The effort has been enormously helped by the recent arrival of more than 10,000 U.S. combat troops in Kandahar as well as a big increase in the number of Afghan soldiers available.
Since the U.S. troop surge and the arrival of additional Afghan forces, Canada’s task force has been able to concentrate almost its entire focus on the Panjwaii and Dand districts.
As well as transferring command responsibility to U.S. forces for Kandahar City, Arghandab and Zhari at the beginning of July, the Canadians handed control for the Horn of Panjwaii directly to NATO’s Regional Command South during that month.

[John McGillivray]

He’s now home after his second tour over there!

Van Doos take over as last Canadian combat group
The Canadian Press
Date: Saturday Nov. 27, 2010 12:43 PM ET
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/World/2010...keover-101127/
KANDAHAR — The new commander of Canada's battle group in Kandahar will have an iron fist, but hopes to use a velvet touch with the war-weary population of this embattled province.
Lt.-Col. Michel-Henri St-Louis, who is in charge of the 1st Battalion Royal 22e Regiment combat team, officially took charge Saturday and will carry the baton through to the end of the country's combat mission in July.
In an earlier deployment, he spent time in Kabul as part of a military team that advised the Afghan government on ways to reconstruct a shattered civil service.
It made a profound impression on him.
Years of war have hardened Canadian soldiers and made them wary of locals, a mindset that St-Louis said must change.
"At the end of the day, not all Afghans are your enemy and I tried to instill that in my troops before getting here," St-Louis said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
"The (Strategic Advisory Team) showed me that there are some devoted Afghans who want a better future and have seen a better past."
Urbane and articulate, St-Louis seems perfectly in sync with NATO's strategy to win over recalcitrant Afghans, especially after a hard, bloody summer of fighting.
He brings to the job a keen awareness of cultural sensitivity, being born in Nicaragua and growing up the son of a Canadian father and a Central American mother.
The battle group will concentrate on building confidence in the hardscrabble hamlets of Panjwaii, Dand and Daman districts, said St-Louis, who wants to take full advantage of the current ebb in fighting.
It's unclear whether the lull is related to the onset of winter -- or whether the Taliban has been soundly defeated, he added.
The outgoing commander of Canada's mentoring team, Col. Ian Creighton, declared on Friday that the back of the insurgency was broken by the NATO offensive on the outskirts of Kandahar this fall.
"I'll reserve my assessment of that for a while, and maybe the real test will be in the next spring and summer" when traditional fighting season returns, St-Louis told reporters shortly after a ceremony that marked the departure of the [ 1st Battalion Royal Canadian Regiment battle group .
Soldiers coming in from the forward bases and patrol shacks west of the provincial capital were happy to see the fighting ease off.
"Boring is good. I'll take boring any day," said Master Cpl. Colin Chabassol, a Pictou County, N.S.-native who fought with India Company.
One trouble spot awaiting St-Louis is Nakhonay, a notorious Taliban redoubt that Canadian troops have chipped away at year after year with repeated clearing operations.
"There was outright disapproval of the leadership of the town to our presence this summer; they had to disapprove because they were forced to disapprove by the insurgents," said Lt.-Col. Conrad Mialkowski, the outgoing battle group commander from Petawawa, Ont.
"Yet, we still remained and were interactive with them. That spoke volumes to the local population."
Mialkowski acknowledged there is likely more hard fighting ahead, but the growing Afghan National Army will be there to carry a bigger share of the burden.
The fledgling Afghan force, which is 134,000 strong on paper, is due to be expanded to 260,000 over the next few years. But one of the biggest drawbacks it faces is its lack of what the military calls enablers -- specialized units such as artillery, air support and engineers.
It is the combat engineers who've drawn the most applause from soldiers who are headed home.
Sgt. Chris Jeapes, a member from 8 Platoon of [Charles Company, 1st Battalion Royal Canadian Regiment, couldn't say enough good about the troops whose job it is detect and clear away improvised explosives.
"A lot of foot patrols, engineers were able to actually pick up and find them before we moved into an area and found them ourselves by stepping on them," Jeapes said in a recent interview.
"It saved our lives numerous times on this tour."