Meanwhile in the forgotten war

CALGARY -- Calm in Kabul is as elusive as the sinister Taliban and al-Qaeda forces that blend into the city's population of three million people, says a Canadian soldier already in Afghanistan.
"There's no law and order. Right now you can hear explosions in the city and gunshots at night," said Cpl. Aaron Lauritsen in a telephone interview. "The locals are always armed. There's lots of weapons in Kabul."
Cpl. Lauritsen, 24, is one of an advance team of 350 Canadian soldiers in the Afghan capital preparing for an 1,800-member force which began deploying yesterday. They are part of Operation Athena, this country's contribution to the 5,000 troops from 29 nations forming the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. The force's mandate is to keep warring factions apart and support the transitional government of President Hamid Karzai.
"There's constant dangers out there. Everybody knows there's a constant threat. There's al-Qaeda and Taliban forces working here. They're operating in and around Kabul and they're operating around ISAF and that means Canadian soldiers," said Cpl. Lauritsen.
"You know there's threats out there and you're going to have to deal with them -- just don't dwell on them. I just want to go home in one piece," said Cpl. Lauritsen who is with 2 Royal Canadian Regiment, based in Gagetown, N.B.
Twenty international soldiers have been killed in the 19 months since a U.S.-led coalition ousted the ruling Taliban and the al-Qaeda terrorist network it hosted, including four Germans killed by a suicide bomber.
Yesterday, three coalition soldiers were wounded when an improvised bomb exploded in the middle of their convoy in eastern Afghanistan's Kunar province. The nationalities of the soldiers were not disclosed.