Afghan training mission details

CBC News reports details of the new Canadian training mission in Afghanistan (James Cudmore, “Canada’s Afghan training mission details revealed,” CBC News, 17 May 2011):

In a first look at details of the training mission, Col. Peter Dawe, deputy commander of the mission, talked to CBC News about the new effort announced last year as the replacement to Canada’s combat mission in Kandahar….

* The contingent will be 950 soldiers strong, based mostly in and around Kabul.
* Roughly 200 soldiers will form Dawe’s headquarters, and work in a command and support unit that will administer the mission.
* Another 250 will be based at the Kabul Military Training Centre, a key Afghan training facility near the capital’s downtown core.
* About 150 Canadian troops will find themselves at a field training centre on the eastern outskirts of Kabul, and 50 more will be at a similar facility south of the capital.
* In total, 750 Canadian troops will work as trainers, including roughly 50 soldiers at a far-flung outpost in Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, and another 25 in the far west of the country near Herat.

The report provides a lot more detail than has previously been made available, but it still leaves the locations of some 225 Canadian trainers unaccounted for.

Tags: Afghanistan, Canadian mission in Afghanistan