Taliban Says They Forced Canadian Withdrawal

The Afghan insurgents also warn that they won't make life easy for the Canadian Forces for the upcoming training mission.

The Taliban is claiming that they are responsible for the Canadian Forces ending their combat mission in Afghanistan this week, while threatening to continue to wreak havoc on the three-year training mission that's just begun. A Taliban statement said that Canada withdrew from Kandahar because the insurgents had inflicted “heavy casualties” on the rotating contingent of 2,500 soldiers that had patrolled the southern province since 2002. That claim sort of overlooks the fact that the Taliban, whose death toll at the hands of Canadians is probably well into the thousands, have been all but routed in the areas under Canadian control over the past two years, but if it makes them feel better, sure, whatever. The statement also congratulated the Canadian people for taking a “responsible step” in withdrawing the forces, and urged the other NATO forces in Afghanistan to follow that lead.