Operation Medusa: Great Success

The Canadian news media constantly gives the impression that Canadian Forces are in a quagmire and face a hopeless situation.

The CBC reports on a press conference by NATO commander General James Jones, who praised Canada’s central role in killing, in his estimate, half the Taliban fighters in Afghanistan:

NATO estimates that “somewhere in the neighbourhood of around 1,000″ Taliban fighters were killed, and the number could be higher, he said. “If you said 1,500 it wouldn’t surprise me.”

Half of Taliban force may be dead

He said he thought there were 3,000 to 4,000 regular Taliban fighters before Operation Medusa. In response to a question, he agreed that he was saying that one-third to one-half of them may have been killed.

Most of the combat units in Canada’s Afghanistan contingent took part in the operation. Four Canadians were killed in the fighting and one died when U.S. jets mistakenly strafed Canadian troops.

On Monday, four more Canadians died in an attack by a suicide bomber on a bicycle. They were on patrol in the Panjwaii district of Kandahar province, where the Taliban had ostensibly been defeated the previous week. The bombing brought Canada’s death toll in Afghanistan since 2002 to 36 soldiers and one diplomat.

Now, as John Irving’s Garp says, body counts are for epilogues, which means this ain’t anywhere near finished. However, Canadians are killing Taliban at a rate of about 40 for every Canadian death (including friendly-fire deaths). This, with limited air and armor cover, as the Brits and Americans have noted of the Canadians.

We owe Canadian troops great thanks. The world is also on notice that they are also among the most talented and fearsome fighters in the world.