INDEPTH: A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE
Lieutenant-General Rick Hillier, Officer Commanding ISAF
CBC News Online | February 17, 2004
Interviewed by Peter Mansbridge
For decades, war and death have stalked this valley. It's still a very real threat. Wednesday is dawning. Camp Julien is the biggest of the Canadian bases here. The king who built the palace beside the camp tried to change Afghanistan. He brought in constitutional reforms and co-education. He made it possible for women to go outside without a veil. That was 80 years ago. His efforts ended in a civil war.
Now a new leadership is trying to make many of the same changes, and the Canadians in this city are helping, trying to make a world of difference.
The Americans aren't the only troops facing danger in this land. More than 30 nations contributed to the NATO-led military force here, and they're all commanded by a Canadian. Lieutenant-General Rick Hillier is in charge of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
When Hillier arrived last week to take command of NATO's first operation outside Europe, it was the British who lost his bags. But when he showed up at his own handover ceremony, he'd turned adversity to advantage. With new boots from the Turks and a watch from the Dutch, from top to bottom, Lt.-Gen. Rick Hillier was now the embodiment of an international commander.
Lt.-Gen. Rick Hillier:
Now some 34 nations have entrusted me with the responsibility for their soldiers.
Peter Mansbridge:
Those nations have a total of 5,500 soldiers who will now fall under the command of this former head of the Canadian army.
Lt.-Gen. Rick Hillier:
And to those representatives of the countries who have soldiers here and are here today, my commitment to you is that for this mission, I will make your soldiers my soldiers...
Peter Mansbridge:
That shouldn't be a problem for the Newfoundland native who's been commanding soldiers from other nations for much of the last decade, both in the United States and in Bosnia.
Lt.-Gen. Rick Hillier:
No nation can send a more precious resource to help a people in need than the young men and women who wear their nation's uniform.
Peter Mansbridge:
Still, Afghanistan has not been kind to foreign generals or their armies. The British spent a century in a bloody, ultimately futile attempt to control the country. More recently, it was the Russians who were forced to walk away after suffering terrible losses. Hillier, of course, is here to secure a city, not conquer a country. And as the guest list at his handover ceremony highlights, he's here for something else as well.
Andrew Wilder is a security expert based in Kabul.
Andrew Wilder (security expert):
ISAF doesn't just have a military role here, a security role. It has a political role. And I think that's true of the broader coalition presence in Afghanistan, too, and I think we would be smarter to use our military presence for political ends, often, than just narrow military ends.
Peter Mansbridge:
Lt.-Gen. Hillier joins us now. Because of your position, you're a target of those who would like to see the ISAF forces fail in this country, whether it's the Taliban, al-Qaeda, maybe the warlords. How does it feel for you – you're surrounded constantly by security personnel – to be that target?
Lt.-Gen. Rick Hillier:
Well, Peter, we don't make too much of the specific threat to ISAF. There is a threat here in Kabul, certainly. It is a threat to every single citizen, which includes all of our soldiers, and, of course, other members of the international community. We have a lot of training, we have a lot of preparation, we have the right tactics and techniques and procedures, and so we do our job here regardless of that threat, but there is a threat and our soldiers know that and respond accordingly.
Peter Mansbridge:
Well, let's talk for a moment about the current assessment of that threat. We all know what happened a couple of weeks ago. How does ISAF see the threat against the foreign troops, especially the Canadians right now?
Lt.-Gen. Rick Hillier:
There is a threat out there and, of course, folks in the Taliban and al-Qaeda certainly had some defeats recently, and they want to crow and proclaim that they've got a greater capability than we do, so we hear a lot about large numbers of people moving to the country, moving into Kabul itself. We assess that continuously. There's a threat. We don't believe it's nearly as large as it's proclaimed to be, and of course we take many measures with the Afghanistan government, of course, to defeat that threat.
Peter Mansbridge:
So you're suggesting that a recent claim by a Taliban official in Pakistan that there were as many as 30 or 40 suicide bombers in Kabul now, you don't take that seriously?
Lt.-Gen. Rick Hillier:
We certainly don't believe there are 30 to 40, and we also don't like the term suicide bombers. That adds a little mystique and elegance to what is a blasphemy against human dignity. They are murderers and killers. Certainly we expect they will do those things again, and we are prepared to work with the police forces, the army, the intelligence services and, of course, coalitions force to help defeat that.
Peter Mansbridge:
Tell me a little about your role and how it fits for you. You, of course, wear a Canadian patch on your shoulder because you are a Canadian general, but in this particular job, how do you maintain that balance between being a Canadian and yet really in command of all the different forces that are involved in ISAF?
Lt.-Gen. Rick Hillier:
Well, first of all, wearing a Canadian flag on my shoulder brings me the credibility of all the great Canadian soldiers that are here. And, in fact, I met with the minister of defence yesterday who said to me he wished he had 50,000 Canadian soldiers. My response is I wished I had 50,000 Canadian soldiers also. That gives me credibility, first of all, with the local folks, with the international community, and also with the countries who send soldiers here. So I treat those soldiers as my soldiers. We establish a rapport very quickly as soldiers and we get on with the job. It's actually not very difficult to establish that basic work understanding.
Peter Mansbridge:
Part of your job is a bit of politics as well as the military, perhaps a lot of politics. You're dealing, as we just saw, with President [Hamid] Karzai at times. How does that balance work for you as somebody who obviously... most of your training was on the military aspect, but you've had a lot of the other training as well?
Lt.-Gen. Rick Hillier:
It's actually a great balance. I'm here to do a security job and all the folks I deal with want me to do a security job, so it's pretty easy. The aim is to just ensure that we're working together in concert with the local government here, starting with President Karzai, certainly, who views the NATO force here as his force, to help this country establish some kind of stability. And I work with all the representatives of the different nations here, to try to get them to ensure that the value is here, they see it and provide soldiers to NATO, to help us execute out mission. And that's worked so far very well.
Peter Mansbridge:
You know your military history certainly better than I do, but the military history of this country has seen a lot of foreign generals come in here to try and make a difference and things haven't worked out that well. Does that sort of sit on your mind in your position now as one of the top military figures here?
Lt.-Gen. Rick Hillier:
I have no intention of being one of those generals where the situation didn't work out so well. We're here at the invitation of the Afghan people. Every single day, everywhere you go, we hear nothing from those people other than: "We love you, we want you here, you're our only hope in life and we'd actually like more of you." So we're here as their guests, and the relationship is superb. I believe the soldiers have won the hearts and minds of the people and given them some hope for the future. And that, I think, gives us great reason for optimism for what we do here.
Peter Mansbridge:
General, it's been good of you to talk to us. Thanks very much, stay safe.
Lt.-Gen. Rick Hillier:
Peter, my pleasure. Thank you.
^TOP
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