KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Ben Rowswell, formerly deputy chief of Canada's mission to Afghanistan and a past Canadian emissary in Iraq, has taken over the top civilian post in Kandahar.
Rowswell, 39, has already clocked 16 years of foreign service experience and plans to take a definite hands-on approach now that he has been installed as the Representative of Canada in Kandahar -- a title known more colloquially among Canadians in Afghanistan as the "RoCK."
"We need to engage with a wide range of Kandaharis and try as much as possible to get in touch with the actual people that are living through this insurgency," Rowswell said Wednesday following a transfer ceremony at Kandahar Airfield.
Those are the people, he said, who "can tell us in better terms than anyone to defeat it and do the best job to stabilize their country."
Rowswell replaces Ken Lewis, who had held the position -- essentially the civilian equivalent of Brig.-Gen. Jonathan Vance, the commander of Task Force Kandahar -- since January, providing leadership to Canada's diplomats, development officers, police and corrections officials.
Rowswell, who answers to Canadian Ambassador Bill Crosbie, said he understands why some Canadians are losing faith in the Afghan mission, particularly in Kandahar province, which is where Canada's efforts -- and losses -- have been focused.
"We have spent several years now working with Kandaharis. There are definitely challenges and frankly I think this is going to be one of the most difficult jobs I ever expect to have in my career," he said.
"Yet those of us on the ground have this sense that it is possible to see through this effort and leave this country more stable than when we found it."
Much of Rowswell's attention will focus on the Dand district outside Kandahar city and Canada's "model village" project in the town of Deh-e-Bagh, where local leaders have rejected the Taliban and are prospering from an influx of government assistance and security.
The project "has permitted us a degree of mobility that we have not had in recent months," he said."We were there (Tuesday), again meeting with some of the people of Dand to get their views on how to move forward with development and governance."
Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, has indicated the situation is growing worse and the war could fail without a significant influx of military personnel.
McChrystal said the U.S. needs to interact better with the Afghan people and better organize its efforts with NATO allies over the next 12 months, a critical period -- a view Rowswell said he shares.
"We're into a phase where the Afghan government needs to expand its presence and deliver those effects to the population so they come to have confidence in the government and see it as the preferred way forward in advancing their interests," Rowswell said.
"It's a turning point because the international community has shown the full extent of its resolve."
There is also the feeling that a number of countries involved in the war in Afghanistan are beginning to lose patience with the slow rate of progress, he added.
"We have been hearing that all along. One of the major components of the transformation of the mission was the effort to try and identify specific benchmarks, so we can show progress in terms that are meaningful - by focusing on things that are realistic and achievable."
