The Taliban decided to target Canadian troops in order to drive Canadians from the field:
The Taliban strategy of concentrating their attacks and media efforts on Canadian troops may be paying off. The Taliban believe that if they can give the political opposition in Canada enough support (in the form of dead and wounded Canadian soldiers and rumors of Canadian troops committing atrocities), they can get the Canadian troops withdrawn. Canadian media and opposition politicians are responding as the Taliban hoped they would.
I hope that the Canadians remain stalwart. Once the enemy thinks you are prey and not the hunter, there will be no getting rid of that target from your backs. For the Taliban, the French tricolor is virtually indistinguishable from a target:
The Taliban have given France one week to withdraw their 1,100 troops, otherwise, two kidnapped French aid workers would be killed. France is hoping the kidnappers can be persuaded to take a large ransom instead.
A very nuanced approach to an enemy that is losing:
Everyone is still waiting for the Taliban Spring Offensive to start, but nothing is happening. Well, that's not true, a lot is happening throughout southern Afghanistan. NATO and Afghan troops are all over the place, killing dozens of Taliban at a time and arresting hundreds.
I won't ridicule the Canadians for wavering when so many in this country waver over Iraq. I'll just say thank you to Canada and hope that the burden of defending the West is one they will bear.
