Not that it comes as much of a surprise, the Taliban have broken their truce with British soldiers in Afghanistan's Helmand province.

The Black Rod, who's been doing a great job with his weekly Afghanistan updates, writes about the British Helmand Protocol.

Under the deals, known as the Helmand Protocol, the International Security Assistance Forces surrender control of provincial districts to councils consisting of local clerics and tribal elders. Nato troops and Taliban fighters are supposed to withdraw from the districts. The councils chose their own police chiefs and pledge loyalty to the central government. They are in charge of keeping Taliban insurgents out.

Yeah, sure.

Well, the Black Rod was right. The very first agreement made with the central Afghan government, and the Taliban broke the deal the first chance they had.

This shouldn't come as a surprise, the lesson should have been learned from Pakistans Waziristan region. The peace deals the Pakistani government signed with the Taliban have failed equally. Not only have cross border attacks on coalition forces in Afghanistan increased, but Pakistan now has to deal with its own internal Taliban threat.

This should squash any ideas Canadian forces are having about agreeing to such deals in Kandahar. The plan was to follow the British example in Musa Qala, but that example should make clear that the Taliban will only use such opportunities to regroup for more attacks.

Labels: Afghanistan