CALGARY - Increased insurgent activity in Afghanistan over the past month isn't a sign the Taliban is regaining its strength, Canada's top soldier said Saturday.
A dramatic prison break in Kandahar and a surge of Taliban activity near the city is a "setback" but it won't be a problem in the long run according to Gen. Walter Natynczyk, who took over as Chief of Defence Staff this month.
"This is that summer campaign season that we've talked about. We're in the middle of it and that's the reality of it," shrugged Natynczyk, in Calgary for meetings with the commander of NORAD and to take in the Calgary Stampede.
"At the same time our soldiers, working with the Afghan army and Afghan police, as you've just seen in the Arghandab, have been able to take it back to the Taliban which is absolutely superb."
The prison break last month freed hundreds of Taliban militants, who swarmed villages surrounding Afghanistan's second-biggest city, littered area roads with landmines and declared themselves in charge.
Coalition and Afghan troops pounded the insurgent fighters back from villages along the Arghandab river with the help of aircraft and superior weapons.
Attacks are up by 40 per cent from a year ago and a new Pentagon report suggests the Taliban has regrouped after its initial fall from power in Afghanistan.
Noting that insurgent violence continues to climb, the U.S. report says that despite efforts to capture and kill key leaders, the Taliban is likely to `maintain or even increase the scope and pace of its terrorist attacks and bombings in 2008.'
Natynczyk said he doesn't think the Taliban is making a comeback.
"There's highs and lows and we're in that period of campaign season where we knew there was going to be additional activity," he said.
Natynczyk, who plans to make his first appearance in Afghanistan as head of the armed forces within the next few months, prefers to focus on the positive when talking about progress that the Afghan military is making.
He said that in the past it was Canadian and NATO soldiers who would take the lead in military operations with the Afghan providing support. Natynczyk said the events in the Arghandab should not be downplayed.
"It was their plan that they executed with our support. That's a significant turning point and especially since it is the Afghan military, who get better intelligence," he said. "As a result this event should not be underplayed whatsoever in terms of how this theatre evolves."
Natynczyk said the escape from the Kandahar prison is an event that needs to be learned from. It was an Afghan-run prison, he said, and Canada did its best in training correctional staff there.
"I think it's difficult to come to any conclusion unless you have the full story. When something doesn't seem right then you don't have all of the information," he said. "That's why it's important for ourselves, working with the Afghans and all of the NATO partners to determine what actually occurred here."
Natynczyk said with the current mission scheduled to end in 2011 Canada has a "very focused mission" and a lot of work to complete.
That includes making sure that Afghan security forces are able to stand alone.
"We can develop soldiers pretty quickly - the Afghan army takes a few months to develop a soldier but it takes years to develop those NCO's and officers to take ownership of operations," he said. "Who knows what we can do in three years but that is the focus of our effort."
