Hundreds Escape in Taliban Prison Attack

Prison break a setback for Canadian efforts in Afghanistan

Prison break a setback for Canadian efforts in Afghanistan

1 hour ago
OTTAWA — The prison outbreak that freed captured Taliban fighters will bolster criticism that the Afghan government can't control its territory and will force Canada and its NATO allies to improve their intelligence capabilities, military experts say.
The jailbreak is also a devastating setback for a small team of Corrections Canada officers who were training local guards, some of whom were killed in the bombing that set an estimated 1,200 prisoners free.
"The hardest thing to swallow is that it's a step back," said Lee Windsor, a New Brunswick professor who is concluding a book on one of the Canadian troop rotations through Kandahar province.
Windsor said the assault was a blow to Canadian security, coming so close to the Canadian forces' main base of operations. But he said it's also a setback for Canada's attempts to improve humanitarian conditions for inmates who had been held in the prison and their families.
"It's not an issue just because there were Taliban in it," said Windsor, with the Gregg Centre for Studies on War and Society.
"It's an issue because it's one of our signature areas, in which the Canadians were trying to make Kandahar a better place. In that sense, it's a great blow."
Canada last fall announced $1.5 million for projects at the Sarposa prison, where the escape occurred, and another detention facility in Kandahar. A spokesman for Defence Minister Peter MacKay said the aid went to such things as upgrading the septic system and infirmary, beds, humane hand and leg restraints and coloured detainee uniforms that would allow the reduction of physical restraints >>>cont

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