Kandahar, Afghanistan – A suicide car bomber attacked a Canadian armored vehicle Monday, killing two soldiers a day before NATO leaders gather in Europe for a summit that will focus on the strengthening Taliban insurgency.
The bomber attacked a convoy of military vehicles traveling from the main NATO base in Kandahar to the Panjwayi district, an area that has seen heavy fighting between NATO and the Taliban over the past several months.
“The Taliban cannot defeat us militarily in the field and so from time to time they resort to these very desperate measures,” said Brig. Gen. Tim Grant, commander of the Canadian mission in Kandahar. “This was the home where the Taliban movement started. It makes sense the Taliban want to fight here.”
Shortly after the bombing, a Black Hawk helicopter landed in the road and NATO troops ferried one of the Canadian casualties into the chopper.
The deaths bring to 44 the number of Canadian troops killed in Afghanistan, including 36 this year, the majority of which occurred after the troops moved into the volatile south during the summer.
The Canadian deaths come a day before a NATO summit opens in Riga, Latvia, where 26 presidents and prime ministers will focus on Afghanistan and the violence that has killed more than 3,700 people this year.
NATO officials said the Taliban was most likely trying to increase its attacks before the summit. “They are probably aware of the Riga summit and the sensitivities around it and about the issues of debate there,” said Lt. Cmdr. Kris Phillips, a Canadian spokesman. “This will have no impact in our operations.”
A new report, meanwhile, found that despite recent advances in the country’s education system, more than half of Afghan children still do not attend school and only one in 20 girls goes to secondary school.
The report from the aid and development organization Oxfam said 5 million children now attend school in Afghanistan, up from fewer than 1 million during the rule of the hard-line Taliban. But 7 million children still do not receive formal instruction.
Girls, in particular, are on the losing end, with just one in five attending primary school and one in 20 attending secondary school, the report said.
The reappearance of girls in schools has been hailed as a major success in Afghanistan’s reconstruction since the ouster of the Taliban regime, which did not allow education for girls.
