Lt.-Col. Ian Hope is in charge of the Canadian battle group, based on the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, which is returning to Afghanistan to fight our common enemy.
Thank you Princess Pats and good hunting. We need you.
This move is part of a general transition to NATO command of operations:
Canadians have been patrolling the area for weeks, but Friday's ceremony marks the first in a series of command transitions that will culminate next week with the installation of Canadian Brig.-Gen. David Fraser as the head of coalition forces in southern Afghanistan.
His command will include major Dutch, British and U.S. contingents in the three provinces around Kandahar, replacing U.S. dominance with a multinational brigade.
The troops will all remain under the U.S. umbrella of Operation Enduring Freedom until summer, when NATO is expected to take over the southern region. NATO already leads the effort in northern and western Afghanistan through the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF.
This will free up more of our forces and further reduce the stress on our ground forces. As I've noted before, the tempo of deployments and combat is giving our troops tremendous experience. This is making our military better. The tempo is also causing stress that could--although it is not now--reduce the effectiveness of our force by harming retention and morale. If we can reduce the stress on the force before we experience that negative trend, our ground forces will remain outstanding.
And I have to wonder if the American troops being freed up won't hang around for a while just in case they need to head west into Iran. You never know.
