ZHARI DISTRICT, Afghanistan - Every day gunfire erupts on the other side of the barriers of this rugged Canadian base in the middle of Taliban country. All too often of late, insurgent rockets and mortars have breached the perimeter.
This is the heart of the insurgency in Afghanistan, and for three years Canadian troops have battled to hold this ground and keep their enemy from the gates of Kandahar city.
The fight is about to change drastically.
Everywhere on base, people are busy building -- a new kitchen, thick concrete barriers, sleeping quarters. The base where soldiers have seen some of the fiercest action of this war is about to get a whole lot bigger.
The U.S. government's decision to refocus its military efforts from Iraq to the eight-year-old war in Afghanistan, and the ensuing influx of American troops, means the base in the volatile Zhari district will be the new home of the U.S. 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment.
"They're obviously a lot bigger than we are," said Maj. Tim Arsenault, the highest-ranked Canadian officer on the base and commander of the Royal 22eme Regiment's combat troops there. "Just to get them in here, we have to do some preliminary construction."
While some Canadian troops will remain on the base with the U.S. battalion, the combat contingent will be relocating to another Canadian base in Panjwaii, to the south.
The U.S troops, who will operate under Canada's Task Force Kandahar command, will significantly increase the combat capability in the two volatile districts where many of Canada's slain soldiers have given their lives.
The commander of Canadian troops in Kandahar calls the area west of Kandahar city the "heart of darkness" in the fight against the insurgency. The Van Doos based here now have lost three comrades during their tour.
The dust and heat and patchwork grape and poppy fields of Zhari and Panjwaii offer a glimpse into why, all these years after the Taliban were toppled from power, Afghanistan is facing the worst security situation yet.
Canadians have operated in the two districts since 2006, vastly outnumbered by the Taliban.
"Generally speaking, in Zhari as a whole it's really, really obvious that being so big, and having such a small Canadian element working here, we can't be everywhere all at once. I can go someplace and try to do some work but I'll have to come back and go someplace else," Arsenault said.
"The Taliban are there every day. In dealing with the local population, it's really obvious that the Taliban have a very strong intimidation campaign going on. They're scared to talk to us."
When Canadians arrived here, they had hoped to provide security, development and governance to the area. Several projects were undertaken, including irrigation projects, road-building and bridges. Again and again those projects were targeted by insurgents. Afghan contractors were shot, roads blown up.
Today, Arsenault said, Canadian troops concentrate on improving security, realizing that the region was not secure enough for the development and governance pieces.
"It's really hard to do that unless you saturate the area with a lot of troops," he said. "With what we had here, we couldn't work on all three lines of operation."
The U.S. troops will greatly boost the combat power in the region but it still may not be enough. "Even with that whole battalion they're almost short to be able to deal with that. It's very manpower consuming," Arsenault said.
If not an entirely new war, the influx of American troops will certainly put a new face on the battle-fatigued and, until now, undermanned international effort. It'd better.
U.S. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. joint chiefs of staff, has called situation in Afghanistan "serious and deteriorating."
Three years ago, the U.S. had about 20,000 troops in the country. By year's end there will be 68,000 and the NATO-led combat forces in Kandahar province will more than double.
For the Canadian troops, the coming months will see much change in the mission. The 5,000-strong U.S. 5th Stryker Brigade will be deployed in Kandahar, where for more than three years Canada has had about 2,800 soldiers battling insurgents hell bent on wresting control of the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban.
The Canadians will be handing off about the half the vast area they've been responsible for and concentrating their efforts on Kandahar city and key districts to the south and west.
"I think what we're about to see is the emergence of the war we've been wanting," said Brig.-Gen. Jonathan Vance, commander of Canadian troops.
Canadians will continue training and mentoring Afghan national security forces, and work with the growing Canadian and U.S. civilian contingent to reconstruct and develop.
There will still be combat operations, Vance said, but the focus will be on the kind of development and reconstruction work already underway in the Dand district, south of Kandahar city, where Canada has unveiled a "model village" in the district centre of Deh-e-Bagh.
With U.S. troops taking over responsibility for security to the north and east of Kandahar city, Canadian troops will take the approach being employed in Dand into Zhari and Panjwaii.
Canadian troops will live among the Afghans, as they do in Deh-e-Bagh, to provide protection and allow reconstruction.
The U.S. forces have a "highly compatible" doctrine, and Vance said he expects development on a massive scale in Kandahar.
Although the U.S. contingent is considerably larger, Vance said the Canadians will operate and deliver on par.
"We're punching a bit above our weight here, but nonetheless, I think in terms of effect on the province, although they've got larger space but much of that is sparsely populated, we are actually delivering on par as a smaller task force, with the Stryker Brigade," Vance said. "There are more of them on the ground, but we're pretty good at what we do. We have some pretty key terrain."
It's a "pivotal moment," Vance said.
Top U.S. military officials have bluntly admitted the situation is bad in Afghanistan and said there must be visible progress within 12 to 18 months or the American public may decide the war is unwinnable. Vance agrees. But he said it's not just the western public that expects progress.
"We need to remember that there is also an Afghan population watching this," he said in a recent interview with The Canadian Press. "All parties want to see tangible progress -- our populations at home, the population here, and we ourselves, those who are actively involved."
Violence could spike in coming months as U.S. troops venture into areas that have seen little international presence. The Canadian contingent chose to focus on seven of the most populated of the province's 17 districts.
Maj. Christopher Hormann, operations officer for the 1-12th, said that with more combat troops, the environment in Zhari is about to change.
"For the combat power that they had, they were doing phenomenal," he said of the Canadians. "It's a difficult piece of terrain ... I know that the Taliban are going to fight hard for it."
Hormann said the U.S. strategy will be based on the success of the Canadian approach in Dand.
"Because that model's been successful we're going to continue with that kind of model," he said of the Deh-e-Bagh district centre. "We're learning from each other."
Hormann said his battalion is consulting closely with the Canadians.
As for the Canadian combat troops, Arsenault said the change will be good.
"In the end, it's a very high-stress environment for guys here. It's not because of the firefights. Soldiers handle that surprisingly well," he said. It's the improvised explosive devices that litter the roads.
"We're constantly rolling up and down these roads. It's nerve-wracking," he said. "I think a change of scenery will be a positive thing."
