Taliban attack Canada’s 'model village'

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- An Afghan soldier was killed and seven others injured in a suicide attack Monday night at an outpost guarding what Canada introduced just last month as a model village in the counter-insurgency war.

The electricity-free community of Deh-e-Bagh, in Dand district, has gained a higher profile thanks to Canada's adopt-a-village approach designed to win the trust of locals by providing improvements such as solar-powered street lights, canal construction, road repair, mosque rejuvenation and more.

"The Taliban is trying to make trouble because of the election," Afghan army corps commander Gen. Shir Muhammad Zazai said Tuesday. "So they want to strike places like Deh-e-Bagh, where there is a project going on. But luckily, we realized what they were doing and we stopped them."

The southern Afghanistan outpost sits about 800 metres from the gates of the Dand District Centre, which houses Canadian and Afghan troops, and where some village improvements have already happened.

Besides the vehicle blast that occurred just before 8 p.m. Monday, Afghan soldiers were hit with small-arms fire, though they fought back and thwarted the attack. Several Canadian soldiers were at the outpost at the time, though none were injured.

"The security worked," Canadian Brig.-Gen. Jonathan Vance said. "They tried to get into Dand, but they did not get past the outer perimeter that was being manned by the ANA (Afghan National Army).

"The people of Dand were not touched."

Despite having only 800 to 1,000 residents, Deh-e-Bagh has garnered local fame since the Canadian Forces unveiled its municipal-improvement project there in late June. Two days later, the new International Security Assistance Force commander in Afghanistan, U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, came to visit Deh-e-Bagh -- and suggested that the initiative be replicated elsewhere in the country.

"The insurgency doesn't like what we're doing here," Vance said. "It places ISAF ambitions and intent in stark contrast to what the insurgency can do or wants to do.

"So, yeah, they're certainly going to try to prevail against us here. But they won't."