The top commander for all deployed Canadian forces made a grim but not unexpected prediction for Afghanistan Tuesday morning, warning violence levels are likely to increase.
Lt.-Gen. Michel Gauthier spoke to reporters in Kandahar, and said he expects a spike in fighting next year when U.S. troop levels increase in the south.
Gauthier also said it will likely be 2010 before violence levels begin to decrease. Canada's commitment to Afghanistan is scheduled to end in 2011.
"With respect to the security situation, it is improving greatly in some places, but as you all know, violence levels overall have increased from a year ago," Gauthier said.
He also said two suspected insurgents were killed in an air strike Tuesday morning while they were attempting to plant a roadside bomb. The strike occurred on a road where six Canadians have been killed by IEDs in recent weeks.
Gauthier's comments follow those of Brig.-Gen Richard Blanchette, a Canadian spokesperson for the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, who recently predicted an increase in violence following the troop surge next year.
By year's end, 3,500 additional U.S. Marines will be arriving in Afghanistan, followed by an Army brigade of about 5,000 soldiers for early 2009. As many as three additional Army brigades could follow in the months after that.
Blanchette said the troop surge will strengthen the fight against the Taliban and lead to more "kinetic activity" on the ground.
