Interview with Lieutenant-General Andrew Leslie

Ottawa, Ontario.

Sergeant Craig Reid:
Let me start off by asking you why did we send our Leopards into theatre?

Lieutenant-General Andrew Leslie:
The reason why the Canadian tanks are going to Afghanistan is because our soldiers need them. And over the course of the last little while, the focus has been on protection; protection of our soldiers, and there is nothing more protected in the inventory of land fighting machines than a main battle tank.

So, the soldiers are getting Leopards overseas because they need them. They are in the inventory and they are going. As a result, there will be a full squadron there shortly. There is already a troop on the ground with some engineer dozers and armour recovery vehicles. And, by the way, we are going to end up sending M11A3A's as well.

If you look at the terrain where our troops are currently in combat, and that is what it is, it is mid-intensity combat, it is criss-crossed by a series of very small, dry ditches, old irrigation canals. They are almost scientifically designed, built many, many years ago to stop a wheeled vehicle cold. As well, there is a whole bunch of small berms, mud walls, and wheeled vehicles can't cross them, that is why we need some tracked vehicles.

And I guess the other reason is that the tanks themselves are essentially the symbol of the Government of Canada's willingness and the Armed Forces willingness to give the troops what they need to accomplish what is arguably the most dangerous and complex mission that Army troops have undertaken since the end of the Korean war.

Sgt Craig Reid:
Do we know how long the Leopards will stay in theatre with our troops?

LGen Andrew Leslie:
The tanks will stay there for so long as the troops in theatre need them. And if you look at classic counter insurgency operations, the insurgents, in this case a combination of the Taliban, drug lords, war lords, al-Qaida, an amalgam, when they get to a certain stage, they try to consolidate their positions by taking and holding ground, and that's what has occurred recently in the South of Afghanistan.

Afghanistan has 34 provinces and in 25 or 26 of the provinces, the situation is actually an awful lot better than it used to be. To be blunt though, in the six southern provinces, the five that Canada is currently commanding and one other, the situation is an awful lot worst. And so as the Taliban try to seize control of the territory, we can't let that happened.

So they have established themselves some fortresses and they are willing to die, to hurt some of us or to attack the weak and the innocents whom we are charged to protect. Once again, we can let that happened, so we go in after them. We are going after them using every tool in our inventory to make sure our soldiers have the best possible chance of fighting survival.

Sgt Craig Reid:
Lieutenant-General Leslie, thank you for doing this.

LGen Andrew Leslie:
Sergeant Reid, thank you very much indeed, you guys keep up the great work.

Photos: Sgt Lou Penny