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The first time I set foot in southern Afghanistan wasunforgettable. Groggy and jet-lagged from an overseas flight, Ilanded at Kandahar Airfield, where the Canadian Forces had set upcamp the previous year. No sooner had I reached the media tent than a stern-faced publicaffairs officer approached. There had been a casualty, she told us.He had survived but was being flown out with severe injuries. I didn't know till much later that it was the son of someone Iknew. His foot had been blown off by an IED during a night mission. That was four years ago. Since the beginning of Task Force Kandahar , as the contingent of Canadian and international forces based inthe southern province of Kandahar is known, in 2006, nearly 160Canadians have died. In that time, 9,000 Afghan civilians have beenkilled. Kandahar is soon to be military history for Canadians. Fromthat first afternoon until my most recent trip to Kandahar inMarch, much has changed and also so little. Kandahar construction booming Kandahar today has shades of a boomtown, albeit a medieval boomtownin parts, with its share of gang-like violence in this case,carried out by insurgents. War dollars are flowing into a hugesyringe going straight into the city's economic artery. I've neverseen so much heavy construction machinery: cranes, flatbed trucks,huge hoists, more convoys of heavy trucks than armoured ones. Heavyindustrial yards line the main highway now. Much of the economic steroid is coming from the U.S. troop surgeinto southern Afghanistan more than a year ago. And there are realconcerns that contractors who live nowhere near Kandahar arereaping, some say stealing, the profits. But the place looks like abuild zone. If you believe people like the chair of the provincial council ofKandahar province, Ahmed Wali Karzai, security is much better, too. That's a mugs game. For the average Kandahari, not even the world'smightiest armies have been able to stop the carnage. Today, policetrained by NATO forces have to be protected by the military whenthey go collect their paycheques at a local bank. The insurgents who five years ago fought Canadians in the ruralareas in Operation Medusa now attack in the city, often targetingtheir own countrymen. They're trying to pluck off the leadership ofKandahar: two deputy mayors have been assassinated in the last 11months; two deputy chiefs of police have been killed; and even acook who worked for the governor of the province has fallen victimto the violence. Terror hasn't changed all that much in Kandahar; if anything, it'sgotten closer to home. Small changes Back in 2008, I spent a morning at Sarpoza prison Afghanistan'ssecond largest. Canada had invested money and expertise intoimproving the security and management of the prison in Kandahar. InJune of that same year, insurgents blew open the front gate,freeing hundreds of prisoners. The international community huddled, more money from donors wasfound. Never again, officials promised. Then this spring, theprison bust open again. This time, the attack came by way of atunnel, dug for months under the noses of Afghan security forcesand the U.S. troops who are helping secure the city. Not so much had changed, it seemed. What has changed might not be recognized for another decade. Thereare the beginnings of an educated female class. Girls are going toschool now just not all of them, about 37 per cent. And only inthe urban areas. I've met lots of mothers who are sending theirgirls to school and lots of young women who are training to beteachers. Canada has invested in a teachers college in Kandahar inparticular, in building women's dorms so they can travel to thecollege from the rural areas to train and have somewhere to stay.That project came about in part because of the determination ofKandahar's governor, Toor Wesa, an Afghan Canadian, and his wife,whose own daughters were highly educated in Canada. Wesa returnedto Kandahar to encourage similar opportunities for higher educationthere. Kabul a different world from south Kabul, which I visited in 2009 for the national elections , is like a different world from the south. Women wear businesssuits and not near as many burkas. Upstart television programs aretaking on subjects that were taboo not long ago, such as domesticabuse, divorce and open political debate. But every year that I returned to Kabul, the security barriers gothigher, thicker and more numerous. Suicide bombings, while not asfrequent, still strike terror. And the city is breaking down underits population explosion and pollution. But there is electricity a big change. It is so common now thatevening food markets string bright neon orange, yellow and greenlights over their stalls. It looks festive. And in Kabul, which isnow secured by Afghan security forces, you don't see as many armedconvoys of international forces. The government of Afghanistan has been the country's one constant,particularly, its president, Hamid Karzai, who was appointedinterim leader in 2001, first elected in 2004 and re-elected in2009. The perception of him hasn't changed in that time. For many, he isa weak ineffectual leader; for others, he is the only choice tolead a still-divided country. Canada will end its combat mission in Afghanistan in July and takeup a training-only mission some time after that. Its effort inAfghanistan has not been futile not at all but there is muchin the country that remains unchanged, and that is a worryinglegacy. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as PVC Binding Cover Manufacturer , Frosted Binding Covers Manufacturer for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Clear Laminating Pouches.
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