KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, July 8 (UPI) -- The Taliban asserted Friday it drove Canadian forces from Kandahar, a day after Canada officially ended its combat role in Afghanistan.
The last Canadian commander of Task Force Kandahar, Brig. Gen. Dean Milner, signed the zone over to U.S. Col. Todd Wood of the 1st Stryker Combat Brigade Thursday in a ceremony presided over by NATO's top officer in the south, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. James Terry, and attended by many provincial and military leaders.
Milner praised his Afghan partner, Brig. Gen. Ahmed Habibi, for "leading from the front."
Habibi, in turn, hailed Milner's "the kind heart."
Lt. Gen. Marc Lessard, head of the Canadian Expeditionary Force Command, said the Canadians "held the line from 2005 to 2009" before a U.S. surge in the south turned the tide against the insurgents.
A Taliban spokesman calling himself Qari Mohammad Yousaf Ahmadi crowed that the Canadians "sustained heavy casualties ... at the hands of mujahedin," Postmedia News reported.
In fact, Canada lost 157 soldiers during its nearly decade-long involvement in Afghanistan.
