Priority 2. Strengthen Afghan institutional capacity to deliver core services and promote economic growth, enhancing the confidence of Kandaharis in their government.

Afghans desire dependable basic services such as education, health care, sanitation, roads, and water for homes and agriculture. Improving the delivery of these services is a litmus test for the Afghan government in earning greater public confidence. Canada’s focus on reinforcing such institutional capacity directly improves lives and livelihoods in Kandahar.

Canadian Objective for 2011: By 2011, we expect that Kandahar’s provincial administration and core ministries of the Afghan government will be better able to provide basic services to key districts of Kandahar province.

Progress continued in Canada’s signature projects, two of which are under this priority—building, expanding or repairing 50 schools in key districts, and rehabilitating the province’s largest irrigation system.

Construction was finished on seven new schools in Kandahar, for a total of a dozen completed since the project began in 2008, and work continued on 21 more. None of the Canadian-funded schools were among those that Afghan education authorities reported in mid-September were not holding classes because of physical damage, insurgent action or threats against students or staff. An example of such intimidation was the acid attack in November 2008 on a group of girls walking to school in Kandahar City. To counter such threats, Canada is now funding a year’s rental of five school buses, providing safety for schoolgirls and female teachers to attend classes. Canada also supports more than 3,000 community-based schools across the country, reaching in excess of 80,000 students, predominately girls.

Operation Plan Kantolo: Focusing on the Population

Enduring stability in Afghanistan cannot be achieved through military efforts alone; development and diplomacy must go hand-in-hand, and Afghans and their government must be involved. Operation Plan Kantolo is the military operational plan based on counterinsurgency principles, which aims to bring lasting security to Kandahar City and key villages in the surrounding districts. It focuses on protecting the population and providing a secure space for governance and development to take root. Operation Kalay is the village-level application of Kantolo consisting of four key evolutions: Shape, Clear, Hold and Build.

Shape: Canadians work with Afghan village, district and provincial leadership to select potential villages where the clear-hold-build phases can occur.

Clear: The Canadian Forces along with Afghan security partners and U.S. forces work together to clear the area of insurgent fighters, establishing and maintaining local security, a necessary precondition for development programs and governance initiatives. Capacity building by Canadian civilian police helps to ensure that the ANP can play a vital role in protecting the population.

Hold: Once the village has been cleared, stabilization teams enter and address immediate needs, reinforce security and assess mid- to long-term needs such as water access and electricity. Concurrently, military and police mentors work with the ANSF to provide security. This combination of immediate aid, along with persistent security, builds trust and support from the local population and their leaders. Responsibility for development and governance slowly shifts to Afghan authorities under the continuing mentorship of Canadian civilian experts.

Build: With security in place and immediate needs being addressed, the Afghan government and development partners can provide basic social services, build schools and undertake agriculture projects. The population can see tangible results being provided by their government with the assistance of Canadian partners. As the population feels more secure, they will return to work and school. As basic social services are provided, the population will feel more confident in the ability of their government to provide for them, and will be more supportive of government efforts to rid the country of insurgent elements. Ultimately, Afghanistan can be left to Afghans as a stable, more democratic and self-sufficient country.

Operation Kalay I: The village approach is still new and it is too early to assess its long-term effects, although initial results have been positive. The Canadian approach in the village of Deh-e-Bagh has attracted positive commentary from the international community, and has been described as the model for ISAF counterinsurgency operations. Security in and around the village has improved, allowing the UN to downgrade the security warning in the area. Several projects have provided employment for hundreds of Afghans to pave roads, repair mosques and dig new irrigation canals.

Other education initiatives also moved ahead: a new intake of trainees (mostly women) continued in a community-based adult literacy course already successfully delivered to more than 10,000 individuals; funds were made available to significantly upgrade a teacher training college with classrooms and a female dormitory, and to improve the water supply; and another 44 teachers were prepared to be “master” trainers (teacher-trainers), making a total of 144 so far in Kandahar. (By the end of the year, these master trainers should have helped upgrade about 300 teachers already in classrooms in the province.) As well, Canada is providing $1.5 million over three years to strengthen anti-corruption measures at the Ministry of Education.

The three-year, $50-million rehabilitation of the Dahla Dam with its canals and associated irrigation system is a second Canadian signature project and one of the highest development priorities of the Afghan government. Completion will mean reliable delivery of water to an area supporting four out of five Kandaharis, with the irrigation encouraging farmers to shift from opium poppies to legal high-value crops like pomegranates. In the quarter, Canadian project engineers tackled technical aspects of the project, and a manufacturer for the gates and weirs of the irrigation canals was identified.

Finally, one 2011 target under this priority has already been exceeded. As of this quarter, more than 500 Afghans in key districts of Kandahar have received microfinance loans, which make available much-needed credit to people unable to obtain traditional financing.

None of the encouraging news above, however, can obscure the reality that insurgent activity in Kandahar continues to hamper the efforts of both the Afghan government and the international community in extending basic services. Some development partners can travel in parts of key districts only in armoured vehicles and under close military protection; in other areas even such constrained movement is impossible.