to move up and down
Taliban alarm clock: My first day back in Afghanistan and the Taliban take out the pizza place
I was so tired my first night at Kandahar Air Field (KAF) that the wailing-screaming-shreaking-shouting rocket attack siren was easily incorporated into my dream. It was a good ten minutes later and someone banging on my door to tell me to get my ass in the bunker that finally got me out of my borrowed bed.
I had memorized the location of the bunker but it took me a few strides in the wrong direction before I remembered where it was. I joined the two other occupants at the doorway. It was 5.30 a.m.
An MP truck drove by a nearby bunker and warned people to get inside and not stand in the doorway. We all backed in.
The alarm was not a ruse. We heard at least two impacts and could see dust from the explosion across the rooftops of the base. I was told that with the end of the holy month of Ramadan at midnight last night, the Taliban had gotten themselves filled with food and decided to stir things up a little.
The National Post’s Richard Johnson begins his third journey to Afghanistan this week. Work from his earlier assignments won international awards and a place in the Smithsonian Museum’s permanent collection.
Follow his work here nationalpost.com/kandaharjournal
On Twitter at @newsillustrator
Or see more of his work here at newsillustrator.com
Or contact Richard in the field at kandaharartist@gmail.com
This week, I head back to Afghanistan to spend time with International Security Assistance Force troops. Here’s what I’m taking:
Kandahar Journal 2012 – Warmup Gallery
The National Post’s Richard Johnson begins his third journey to Afghanistan this week. Work from his earlier assignments won international awards and a place in the Smithsonian Museum’s permanent collection. Follow his daily Afghan blog and gallery here nationalpost.com/kandaharjournal or follow him on Twitter, at @newsillustrator. To see more of his work go to newsillustrator.com
Taliban vows revenge against ‘sick-minded American savages’ after U.S. massacre of 16 Afghan civilians
Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgents on Monday vowed revenge against “sick-minded American savages” for the weekend rampage by a U.S. soldier who killed 16 villagers in their homes.
The Taliban would “take revenge from the invaders and the savage murderers for every single martyr,” the Islamists said in a statement on their website.
The U.S. soldier walked off his base and broke into the homes of villagers in Kandahar province’s Panjwayi district before dawn Sunday, killing 16 people including women and children.
A soldier has been detained and the United States has offered condolences to the families and pledged that action will be taken against anyone found guilty of the massacre. (Photo: Ahmad Nadeem/Reuters)
Beyond the call of duty: Master Bombardier to be awarded medal for valour
It was almost fully dark and the Canadian Leopard C1 main battle tank was resting awkwardly at a 60-degree angle, one set of tracks invisible in the water flowing down the wadi. For a vehicle with impressive “go-anywhere” capabilities, this tank was going nowhere. The return to base was on hold.
What had been a confident, show-of-force, quick-reaction rescue was suddenly a big, fat vehicle convoy target strung out along 500 metres of Afghan farm road. A Taliban mortar team’s dream.
I dropped into a handy ditch and three Canadian soldiers welcomed me with an offer of a smoke and a joke about tank drivers. But when a Kalashnikov started firing all three were on their feet, running in the direction of the sound. I ran after them — for about 10 paces until my brain caught up.
Master Bombardier Adam Holmes was the first to climb out of the trench that night in the summer of 2007.
This Thursday morning in Ottawa Master Bombardier Holmes will be awarded the Medal of Military Valour (MMV), in recognition for valour and devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy in 2010.
This is how he earned it.
Thursday, February 21, 2008: Aman Kamran worked for years in New York and became an American citizen. He returned to Kandahar in 2003, expecting to build a thriving business and something like a normal life. That didn’t happen. But he did manage to nurture his love for sport, soccer in particular. He volunteered to coach a local squad, Breshna, and had helped move the team from a lower form to the city’s top division. He invited me to a team practice, on a large grass field at the edge of Kandahar city. The air was still. No dust, no noise, no anxiety.
It was a peaceful scene, and to these eyes, at least, quite unfamiliar. Aman blew his whistle. His players formed a cluster. Time for knee bends and more stretching. “Look at their faces,” said Aman. “You see? They are smiling. But underneath I know there are frustrations.” They weren’t world-beaters, but Aman said the players inspired him. “They have hard lives. Just getting out to practice can be dangerous. But they’re here. It says something about the guts of these people. They still have spirit. And they won’t surrender to terrorism.” Aman was later maimed in a roadside suicide attack.
Photo/Text: Brian Hutchinson, National Post
Source: Scenes from our war | The Long Road
Photos of the day
Afghan girls walk past a female Canadian soldier from 6th Platoon, Bulldog Company, 1st Battalion, 22nd Royal Regiment as she rests during a patrol in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province southern Afghanistan, June 13, 2011. Canada will end its combat role in Afghanistan by the end of July, after nearly ten years fighting in Afghanistan. (Baz Ratner/Reuters)
Canada left Taliban ‘on its knees’: Afghan commander
Canada’s efforts have left the insurgency in southern Afghanistan “on its knees,” says the commander of the Afghan troops who have been fighting alongside Canadian soldiers.
“It is a matter of fact that the Canadians sacrificed a lot here,” said Brig.-Gen. Ahmed Habibi. “I remember there were 400 or 500 Taliban in the area when the Canadians came to Kandahar in 2006. They are the ones who stood with us and fought not only in Panjwaii but across the province. The enemy is on its knees here now. The truth of it is that it is because of the hard work of the Canadians.”
Photos of the day
U.S. Army soldiers from the 2nd Platoon, B battery 2-8 field artillery, fire a howitzer artillery piece at Seprwan Ghar forward fire base in Panjwai district, Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, June 12, 2011. (Baz Ratner/Reuters)
Photos: Harper lauds troops on surprise Afghanistan visit
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Prime Minister Stephen Harper declared during a surprise visit with the troops in Kandahar on Monday that, because of their efforts, “Islamist terror” generated in Afghanistan “no longer represents a geo-strategic threat to the world — it is no longer a source of global terrorism.”
After addressing about 500 soldiers in a makeshift amphitheatre adorned with a gigantic Canadian flag, Mr. Harper told journalists, “We have to look at this mission as a great success, remembering that we did this in the most difficult province.”
Kandahar Journal: Oh Shura
The “Security Shura” is a regular meeting with the local village elders to discuss any security concerns they may have. This particular Shura was held in under a large tree in a farm field near the COP.
I helped Sergeant Tony Swainson load water into the back of a gator, and then hitched a ride to where some sixty villagers waited in the shade.
The scene was reminiscent of a big family picnic. Captain Legros started out by shaking the hand of everyone waiting. The soldiers took off their body armour. Plates of dates and nuts were passed out. The water we had brought was given out too. There were smiles and casual banter as we waited for everyone to arrive.
It was only as I stepped away from the group to try and get everyone in frame that the illusion of a casual gathering started to disintegrate. There were ANA sentries posted in the far distance every thirty degrees – then inside that a further phalanx of Canadians. And then for those who thought even that too trusting — there was this guy on a nearby rooftop.
Kandahar Journal: One last patrol
Before patrols, I always feel a little trepidation. As everyone stands around checking equipment, communications, and the order of march. While they do that, I like to fret. I always feel better once we are moving. Between every couple of Canadians, an ANA or two are dropped into the mix. And as we moved off, I lost the nerves and concentrated on taking it all in and not getting in the way.
The patrol left the Combat Outpost (COP) around 6:30 a.m. My previous patrol buddy, Cpl. Gabriel Ferland, was along as well, somewhere up ahead. In front of me was a Cpl. Fortin Breton and just behind me was Private Jean-Francois Laplante from Cabano, Que. Depending on where they position the baggage (me) within the patrol, very much affects the access I have to the soldiers on the patrol. They like to keep me in one position in the group so I don’t wander off on my own by mistake.
Kandahar Journal: Respite
The LAVs were generally parked with their rear doors open and I thought perhaps I could sit within one of those and draw the scene beyond. Unfortunately most of them faced either concrete walls or Hesco barriers. But in the mix was a TLAV that faced the end of the Artillerymen’s tent. I stopped one of them coming out. Gunner Yannick Seguin was a little concerned about OpSec, but when I explained I was only drawing and not taking photographs he gave me the OK.
The to hatch on the TLAV was open and the rain – blown by the wind – occasionally spattered in through the gap onto the paper. The rain was brown. During a big gust I would hold the paper up against my chest. Like this I worked for the next couple of hours.
The sketch was really just that, a sketch. The perspective was interesting, and it was nicely rendered – I guess, but did not have any real value. Then a couple of the artillerymen came out and started playing darts just inside the tent canopy and I suddenly knew I was on to something. I drew all around them and then took a few pictures of them throwing the darts and headed back to the tent to finish it off. Later in the evening I had to clear this sketch for OpSec as I had drawn a little of the interior. But the Major he say “yes.”
National Post front page for May 9, 2011
Captors release video of Canadian
Geert Wilders: Islam’s most outspoken critic
NDP takes a hawkish turn
Kandahar Journal: Grape hut patrol
We are sitting together on my railway tie when Private Jonathan Arseneau tells me. “We blew up once with our LAV just 300-metres from the gate. We were going out in response to a reported IED and as we pulled over we rolled on a pressure plate. It was a pretty big explosion.”
“There was so much dust when the IED went off … it was the dust that was already in the vehicle … I could not see my hand in front of my face. I had to wait almost a minute … so I could see if I still had my legs and my arms.”
Jonathan has great confidence in the LAV and never hesitated to get back in his replacement vehicle. “Two days later we were back on the same road … I feel pretty safe in a LAV.”
Kandahar Journal: Sammie’s dead
Private Sebastien Tremblay and Private Jean Francois (JF) Milet both remember the 9/11 quite clearly. They were both in school when it happened. They both recollect – as pre-teens – watching for days and days, footage of the planes crashing again and again and again.
They are neither excited nor happy about the death – only realistic.
“I think this is going to affect the Taliban in Kabul, but here on the ground I am not sure.” says Tremblay …
I think he was saying that the war would be the same for him. He continued
… “Because I am here – because I am in Afghanistan. I think that every Canadian soldier and every American soldier has that same feeling … with the death of Bin Laden.”
With that I leave them to their duties and head back to finish up the art and get this day over with.
As I am walking back to the tent I remember the explosion from this morning, and I realize that Private Tremblay is probably correct. The death of Osama will change nothing for the soldiers on the ground here.
