Not such a bad break

Well, wasn’t that a jailbreak?

Taliban terrorists gathered in Kandahar last weekend, attacked the Sarapoza prison, breached its weak walls and sprung some 870 inmates - including a number of their colleagues.

Soon, real and suspected terrorists, drug dealers, murderers - even jaywalkers - were headed to Kandahar and supposed freedom; free to take part in the terror campaign again. In fact, some temporarily took over villages outside the city.

This is seen by some as a major setback for the Afghan government and its NATO allies in its war against the Taliban. Some mistakenly feel NATO should have its own prisons. That move would be in the face of Afghanistan’s sovereignty, and - despite what the Americans are doing - a no-go. Canada has no right to set up such a prison on sovereign soil.

But it’s not all bad news.

Sure, the attack took place in the Kandahar stronghold and probably had inside cooperation.

It’s also good news, in that the counterinsurgency forces get to see where the escapees are headed. As well, once they are out in the field, either in their own small groups or with others they may have rejoined; they can be dealt with accordingly: with heavy firepower. Those who stay closer to heavier populated civilian communities can be dealt with by police measures.

Either way, it opens the door for active counterinsurgency/ counterterrorism.

Sunday, veteran television journalist Craig Oliver invoked the example of the 1968 Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War. I have to agree this jailbreak smacks of that event, though at much more scaled down level.

At Tet in late January, 1968, the Viet Cong, the communist insurgents in South Vietnam; went on a major offensive the length of the country, hitting targets from the capital of Saigon to cities well into the countryside. In fact, it has been suggested the Viet Cong’s North Vietnamese masters had tricked them into the slaughter in order to seize total control of the war effort. After all, it brought the Viet Cong out into the open, where American and South Vietnamese firepower eventually destroyed them as a military force.

Until the end of the war - brought on by the North Vietnamese blitzkrieg invasion in 1975 -Viet Cong units and formations were largely manned by North Vietnamese. As well, the Viet Cong political infrastructure was badly battered by the infamous Phoenix Program, which was like using a sledgehammer to kill a fly. Let’s remember: sledgehammers kill flies.

The problem was, many Americans mistakenly saw the Tet Offensive as a defeat. After all, how could the Viet Cong get so many people in so many strategic places and do so much damage?

Good point, but, more importantly, they were never in the position to do it again.

The objective in Afghanistan now has to be proactive in following up the trail of the escapees. Who knows: maybe there could be a few more prison breaks in the future – when the follow-up drills are even more effective.