An interesting, if rare, article on Canadian Special Forces activities in Afghanistan, 'Elite force operates in Kandahar shadows':
"There are facts – few and far between – about the exploits of JTF2 in Afghanistan and then there are the long, dark shadows. The unknown is as black as the operations that Canada's premier counterterrorist force conducts in Afghanistan. The facts, relayed by Col. Bernd Horn, former deputy commander of the military wing that runs Joint Task Force Two, are shocking to the uninitiated. "Few realize Canadian (special operation forces) personnel have removed an entire generation of Taliban leadership in Kandahar, many of whom were responsible for the deaths of Canadian service personnel," he wrote in the Canadian Military Journal. "For individuals who have no understanding of special operation forces, that they exist, how they operate, what they do ... sure it is (a surprise)," Horn said in an interview Thursday from Kingston, where he is now a professor at the Canadian Defence Academy... [I]f JTF2 makes it into the news, it often means something has gone wrong...Sean Maloney, a historian at the Royal Military College, said the difficulty as an academic is sorting out whether the rank-and-file army or the secretive work of JTF2 should get credit for battlefield victories. "This is spy-versus-spy stuff," he said. "There's two wars. There's the conventional war and there's the shadow war and they intersect"...Horn says the strategic boost that special operation forces have provided to the Canadians in Kandahar is like an "invisible hand." "You don't hear about them. However, they are having a dramatic effect in the operational theatre." [Toronto Star]
This brings to mind the final question in Jim White's recent unpacking of the most recent shift in command structure in Afghanistan, 'More Shell Games: Command Structure for US Prisons and Special Operations in Afghanistan." White quotes an AFP report which describes the shift:
"General Stanley McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan, is being given expanded authority over US and NATO forces in the country [in advance of the upcoming offensive in Kandahar], a defense official said. The move will put all but a small number of US special operations forces and some support troops from other nations under the command of the American army general."
Later, White asks, "At a later date, it is probably worth some digging to look into that third category not commanded by McChrystal, the "some support troops from other nations". What do they do?"
There are of course several candidates; among the more shadowy are the Jordanians and the Colombians, but there's also the Special Operation forces of other countries such as Canada. Although it rarely garners attention in the US press (or blogosphere), no "other nation" is more integrated with US COIN doctrine and operations than the Canadians. General 'King' David Petraeus had high praise for the Canadian-US 'shoulder to shoulder' relationship in Afghanistan when he spoke to the pro-war lobby Conference of Defence Associations annual seminar, this year themed 'Protecting Canada's National Interests in an Uncertain World':
"The bonds of goodwill and friendship between our two countries are,
indeed, unique. And for all of this, I’d like to pass along my deepest
thanks to all of you here, to all of your magnificent troopers, and
indeed to the Canadian people as well. Because it is a great privilege
to work with Canada’s finest in the CENTCOM area of responsibility, and
I can assure you that all engaged in Afghanistan, in particular, are
enormously grateful for the opportunity to soldier shoulder-to-shoulder
in a mission of enormous importance to both our countries."
Despite its not meriting mention in the Toronto Star article above, a major part of the strategic transformation of the Canadian Forces has been the creation of a second-tier Canadian Special Operations Regiment. CSOR was created, in part, "to complement the secretive [JTF2]," and, also, "to do things with the United States that they otherwise wouldn't be able to do." The latter comment came from none other than Michael Vickers, one of the Bush Admnistration's appointees who was tapped to stay on under President Obama, as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict. In addition to being a key Cold Warrior during the CIA's covert war to bring the Soviets their own Vietnam in Afghanistan in the 1980's, Vickers is today the key shadow warrior who has overseen the massive expansion of the US Special Forces capability (still underway). Ticked pink by the creation of CSOR, in 2006 Vickers called it "a good move in Canada."
First approved in 2005 under Chief of Defence Staff Rick Hillier, CSOR is slated to be a 750-strong unit by this year (2010). Included among their mandates, and potentially apropos to the "support troops from other nations" category above, is "training foreign soldiers," as well as "special reconnaissance operations or direct-action missions, military parlance for attacking enemy targets or individuals." Both JTF2 and CSOR have been/are active in Afghanistan. The secrecy surrounding their operations along with the fact that Canadian special forces assets were among the first to arrive in Afghanistan (in 2001), suggests that if there is a post-2011 'combat' role for the Canadian Forces it will may be executed by one or both of these CANSOF units. Operating in the shadows makes these units less accountable and more difficult to scrutinize, the perfect choice for a country that wants to continue to have "dramatic [operational] effect" in the ongoing counterinsurgency campaign, as well as maintain its 'seat at the table' with the US, while giving its regular forces a rest and keeping domestic dissent at bay. While Canada's possible role as one of the "other nations" whose special operators may not fall under McChrystal's command (by virtue, possibly, of their 'jointness' with US SOCOM, if not also being "support units") is clear, the question posed by White, "What do they do?" remains.